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
Everything may be obtained for cattle as payment in this country. The
natives are now hard at work making zareebas (kraals) for the cattle
stolen from their own tribe and immediate neighbours, for the sake of
two or three bullocks as remuneration to be divided among more than a
hundred men. They are not deserving of sympathy; they are worse than
vultures, being devoid of harmony even in the same tribe. The chiefs
have no real control; and a small district, containing four or five
towns, club together and pillage the neighbouring province. It is not
surprising that the robber traders of the Nile turn this spirit of
discord to their own advantage, and league themselves with one chief, to
rob another, whom they eventually plunder in his turn. The natives say
that sixty-five men and women were killed in the attack upon Kayala. All
the Latookas consider it a great disgrace that the Turks fired upon
women. Among all tribes, from Gondokoro to Obbo, a woman is respected,
even in time of war. Thus, they are employed as spies, and become
exceedingly dangerous; nevertheless, there is a general understanding
that no woman shall be killed. The origin of this humane distinction
arises, I imagine, from their scarcity. Where polygamy is in force,
women should be too dear to kill; the price of a girl being from five to
ten cows, her death is equal to the actual loss of that number.
Fortunately for my party, who were not cattle lifters, there was the
usual abundance of game, and I could always supply myself and people
with delicious wild ducks and geese. We never were tired of this light
food as we varied their preparation. Sometimes I was able to procure a
goat, on which occasion a grand dish was made, the paunch being arranged
as a Scotch "haggis" of wild fowls' livers and flesh minced, with the
usual additions. My garden was flourishing; we had onions, beans,
melons, yams, lettuce, and radishes, which had quickly responded to
several invigorating showers; the temperature was 85 degrees F in the
shade during the hottest hours of the day, and 72 degrees F at night.
Salt is not procurable in Latooka; the natives seldom use it, as it is
excessively difficult to make it in any quantity from the only two
sources that will produce it; the best is made from goat's dung; this is
reduced ashes, and saturated; the water is then strained off, and
evaporated by boiling. Another quality is made of peculiar grass, with a
thick fleshy stem, something like sugarcane; the ashes of this produce
salt, but by no means pure. The chief of Latooka would eat a handful of
salt greedily that I gave him from my large supply, and I could purchase
supplies with this article better than with beads.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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