The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile, And Explorations of the Nile SourcesBaker, Samuel White, Sir
History
The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile, And Explorations of the Nile Sources
Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Albert, Lake (Congo and Uganda); Nile River; Sudan
After an hour's walk always on the tracks of the party, we saw a large
Latooka town in the distance, and upon a nearer approach we discovered
crowds of people collected under two enormous trees. Presently guns
fired, the drums beat, and as we drew nearer we perceived the Turkish
flags leading a crowd of about a hundred men, who approached us with the
usual salutes, every man firing off ball cartridge as fast as he could
reload. My men were already with this lot of ragamuffins, and this was
the ivory or slave trading party that they had conspired to join. They
were marching towards me to honour me with a salute, which, upon close
approach, ended by their holding their guns, muzzle downwards, and
firing them almost into my feet. I at once saw through their object in
giving me this reception;-they had already heard from the other party
exaggerated accounts of presents that their leader had received, and
they were jealous at the fact of my having established confidence with a
party opposed to them. The vakeel of Chenooda was the man who had from
the first instigated my men to revolt and to join his party, and he at
that moment had two of my deserters with him that had mutinied and
joined him at Gondokoro. It had been agreed that the remainder of my men
were to mutiny at this spot and to join him with MY ARMS AND AMMUNITION.
This was to be the stage for the outbreak. The apparent welcome was only
to throw me off my guard.
I was coldly polite, and begging them not to waste their powder, I went
to the large tree that threw a beautiful shade, and we sat down,
surrounded by a crowd of both natives and trader's people. Mahommed Her
sent me immediately a fat ox for my people: not to be under any
obligation I immediately gave him a double-barrelled gun. The ox was
slaughtered, and the people preferring beef to antelope venison, I gave
the flesh of the waterbuck to the Latooka porters belonging to Ibrahim's
party. Thus all teeth were busy. Ibrahim and his men occupied the shade
of another enormous tree at about a hundred and fifty yards' distance.
The town was Latome, one of the principal places in the Latooka country,
and was strongly palisaded, like the town of Wakkala. I did not go
through the entrance, but contented myself with resting under my tree
and writing up the journal from my note-book. Before we had been there
many hours the two parties of Ibrahim and Mahommed Her were engaged in a
hot contention. Mahommed Her declared that no one had a right of way
through that country, which belonged to him according to the customs of
the White Nile trade; that he would not permit the party of Ibrahim to
proceed, and that, should they persist in their march, he would resist
them by force.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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