Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark ContinentFeather, A. G., Col.
History
Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark Continent
Feather, A. G., Col.
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Livingstone, David, 1813-1873; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
On the 15th of July, war was declared between Mirambo and the Arabs. In
this war, it will be recollected, Mr. Stanley with his men took part.
The result was disaster, ensuing from Mirambo’s stratagem, as so
graphically related in the cable telegram. The continuation of this war
is thus described:
“Mirambo, with one thousand guns, and one thousand five hundred
Watuda’s, his allies, invaded Unyanyembe, and pitched their camp
insolently within view of the Arab capital of Tabora. Tabora is a large
collection of Arab settlements, or tembes, as they are called here. Each
Arab house is isolated by the fence which surrounds it. Not one is more
than two hundred yards off from the other, and each has its own name,
known, however, to but few outsiders. South by west from Tabora, at the
distance of a mile and a half, and in view of Tabora is Kwihara, where
the HERALD expedition has its quarters. Kwihara is a Kinyamwezi word,
meaning the middle of the cultivation. There is quite a large settlement
of Arabs here--second only to Tabora. But it was Tabora and not Kwihara
that Mirambo, his forest thieves and the Watula came to attack. Khamis
bin Abdallah, the bravest Trojan of them all--of all the Arabs--went out
to meet Mirambo with eighty armed slaves and five Arabs, one of whom was
his little son, Khamis. As Khamis bin Abdallah’s party came in sight of
Mirambo’s people Khamis’ slaves deserted him, and Mirambo then gave the
order to surround the Arabs and press on them. This little group in this
manner became the targets for about one thousand guns, and of course in
a second or so were all dead--not, however, without having exhibited
remarkable traits of character.
“They had barely died before the medicine men came up, and with their
scalpels had skinned their faces and their abdominal portions, and had
extracted what they call ‘mafuta,’ or fat, and their genital organs.
With this matter which they had extracted from the dead bodies the
native doctors or waganga made a powerful medicine, by boiling it in
large earthen pots for many hours, with many incantations and shakings
of the wonderful gourd that was only filled with pebbles. This medicine
was drunk that evening with great ceremony, with dances, drum beating
and general fervor of heart.
“Khamis bin Abdallah dead, Mirambo gave his orders to plunder, kill,
burn, and destroy, and they went at it with a will. When I saw the
fugitives from Tabora coming by the hundred to our quiet valley of
Kwihara, I began to think the matter serious and began my operations for
defence. First of all, however, a lofty bamboo pole was procured and
planted on the roof of our fortlet, and the American flag was run up,
where it waved joyously and grandly, an omen to all fugitives and their
hunters.
[Illustration: A FIERCE BATTLE WITH THE NATIVES.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account