The Discovery of the Source of the NileSpeke, John Hanning
History
The Discovery of the Source of the Nile
Speke, John Hanning
Africa, East -- Description and travel; Nile River; Nile River Valley -- Discovery and exploration; Uganda -- Description and travel
We slept under a tree, and this morning found a comfortable residence
under the eaves of a capacious hut. The Wanyamuezi porters next came
in at their own time, and proved to us how little worth are orders in
a land where every man, in his own opinion, is a lord, and no laws
prevail. Zungomero, bisected by the Mgeta, lies on flat ground, in a
very pretty amphitheatre of hills, S. lat. 7 deg. 26' 53", and E. long.
37 deg. 36' 45". It is extremely fertile, and very populous, affording
everything that man can wish, even to the cocoa and papwa fruits;
but the slave-trade has almost depopulated it, and turned its once
flourishing gardens into jungles. As I have already said, the people who
possess these lands are cowardly by nature, and that is the reason why
they are so much oppressed. The Wasuahili, taking advantage of their
timidity, flock here in numbers to live upon the fruits of their
labours. The merchants on the coast, too, though prohibited by their
Sultan from interfering with the natural course of trade, send their
hungry slaves, as touters, to entice all approaching caravans to
trade with their particular ports, authorising the touters to pay such
premiums as may be necessary for the purpose. Where they came from we
could not ascertain; but during our residence, a large party of the
Wasuahili marched past, bound for the coast, with one hundred head of
cattle, fifty slaves in chains, and as many goats. Halts always end
disastrously in Africa, giving men time for mischief;--and here was an
example of it. During the target-practice, which was always instituted
on such occasions to give confidence to our men, the little pepper-box
Rahan, my head valet, challenged a comrade to a duel with carbines.
Being stopped by those around him, he vented his wrath in terrible
oaths, and swung about his arms, until his gun accidentally went off,
and blew his middle finger off.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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