What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the NileSpeke, John Hanning
History
What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile
Speke, John Hanning
Horn of Africa -- Description and travel; Nile River; Tanganyika, Lake
Now we did land at Kaolé, close to Bagamoyo, but the route from Kilwa
to Nyassa was afterwards safely traversed by Dr Boscher, though, after
that, Boscher was murdered by some thieves in Whiyow.[41] Having said
this much, which shows that Captain Burton was bent on going by the
great caravan road to Ujiji, I shall first of all dwell on the nature
of the men we took with us, what agreements they made, and what pays
they received. I feel bound to state this, as I was called on by the
Consul to witness the agreements, and much of the journey was
performed by myself alone; added to which, the funds of the expedition
fell short, and as soon as it did so, I made a compact with Captain
Burton that, in the event of the Government not paying our excess of
expenditure, I would pay him the half of all those expenses; and I did
so to the extent of £600 after the journey was over.
Our cafila bashi (head of caravan) was Sheikh Said, who went with us
to Mombas. He said he would go with us if we only went to Ujiji on the
Tanganyika Lake, but he would not go on any other line, as his
relatives feared some accident might befall him. For this he received
from Colonel Hamerton 500 dollars; and he was promised, if he
succeeded in pleasing us, 1000 dollars more, and a gold watch, on his
return. There was a little more difficulty in getting a Beluch escort,
for the Consul cautioned us that we could not expect the Sultan to
give one gratis. He asked the Sultan, however, for men, and we were
told we might have them out of his army if they would volunteer. The
head jemadar then came to make a bargain, and we said we would give to
each man five dollars a-month, besides rations and clothing the same
as Bombay got. This bait would not take, and we could not get one man
until the Consul again spoke to the Sultan about it. A party then were
marched up to the Consulate, when, in addition to the pay already
offered, they demanded flesh as often as we killed a goat, bullock, or
sheep, but they would not serve more than six months. To this last
stipulation, arguing on my Somali experiences, I stoutly objected, but
was overruled both by Colonel Hamerton and Captain Burton. The Colonel
then gave the jemadar of our party a present of 25 dollars, and to
each of the privates 20 dollars, to set themselves up for the journey.
Further, he promised them a handsome reward on their return if they
served us well, to be paid out of some public fund in the same way as
he paid Sheikh Said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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