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
Jan,. 19th.-At 8 A.M. we emerged from the apparently endless regions of
marsh grass, and saw on the right bank large herds of cattle, tended by
naked natives, in a country abounding with high grass and mimosa wood.
At 9.15 A.M. arrived at the Zareeba, or station of Binder, an Austrian
subject, and White Nile trader; here we found five noggurs belonging to
him and his partner. Binder's vakeel insisted upon giving a bullock to
my people. This bullock I resisted for some time, until I saw that the
man was affronted. It is impossible to procure from the natives any
cattle by purchase. The country is now a swamp, but it will be passable
during the dry season. Took equal altitudes of sun producing latitude 7
degrees 5' 46". The misery of these unfortunate blacks is beyond
description; they will not kill their cattle, neither do they taste meat
unless an animal dies of sickness; they will not work, thus they
frequently starve, existing only upon rats, lizards, snakes, and upon
such fish as they can spear. The spearing of fish is a mere hazard, as
they cast the harpoon at random among the reeds; thus, out of three or
four hundred casts, they may, by good luck, strike a fish. The harpoon
is neatly made, and is attached to a pliable reed about twenty feet
long, secured by a long line. Occasionally they strike a monster, as
there are varieties of fish which attain a weight of two hundred pounds.
In the event of harpooning such a fish, a long and exciting chase is the
result, as he carries away the harpoon, and runs out the entire length
of line; they then swim after him, holding their end of the line, and
playing him until exhausted. The chief of this tribe (the Kytch) wore a
leopard-skin across his shoulders, and a skull-cap of white beads, with
a crest of white ostrich-feathers; but the mantle was merely slung over
his shoulders, and all other parts of his person were naked. His
daughter was the best-looking girl that I have seen among the blacks;
she was about sixteen. Her clothing consisted of a little piece of
dressed hide about a foot wide slung across her shoulders, all other
parts being exposed. All the girls of this country wear merely a circlet
of little iron jingling ornaments round their waists. They came in
numbers, bringing small bundles of wood to exchange for a few handfuls
of corn. Most of the men are tall, but wretchedly thin; the children are
mere skeletons, and the entire tribe appears thoroughly starved. The
language is that of the Dinka. The chief carried a curious tobacco-box,
an iron spike about two feet long, with a hollow socket, bound with
iguana-skin; this served for either tobacco-box, club, or dagger.
Throughout the whole of this marshy country it is curious to observe the
number of white ant-hills standing above the water in the marshes: these
Babel towers save their inmates from the deluge; working during the dry
season, the white ants carry their hills to so great a height (about ten
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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