CHAPTER XV.

MEETING OF STANLEY AND EMIN.

The Albert Nyanza--The camp at Kavalli--Where is Emin?--Stanley makes retreat--Fort Bodo--Dwarfs of Central Africa--Travels of Lieutenant Stairs--Illness of Stanley--On the march--Return to the Lake--A letter from Emin--Jephson reconnoitring--Meeting of Stanley, Emin, and Casati--In council.

From the ridge of the plateau whence the expedition first sighted the Nyanza the view extends to an indefinite horizon.

The confluence of the Aruwimi is about 1250 feet above the level of the sea; thence the laborious ascent of the wooded terraces had to be made between which the river runs to join the Congo, forming numerous rapids and cascades as it rolls along. The pathway kept on a gradual rise, and eventually obtained an altitude of 5200 feet. After arriving at the eastern limit of the basin, they soon found that the plateau was making a sudden decline, and widening out so as to form a great hollow, in which, some 2900 feet below them, the surface of the waters of the southern shore of the lake lay outstretched, like a sheet of quicksilver in the midday sun.

About twenty miles away towards the east the peaked summits of Unyoro are conspicuous. The hills appear to rise immediately from the water to a height of 1000 or perhaps 1500 feet. So clear is the atmosphere that every indentation of the outline can be distinguished. Beyond these, in remoter distance, are the elevated plains of Kabrega’s kingdom, where for two years Casati has been stationed in order to keep open the route towards the East Coast.

To the southward lies the valley of the Semliki, a river that flows at the foot of one of the most Alpine districts in Africa, its mountains rising in domes and peaks, some of them, like the Gordon-Bennett and Edwin Arnold, assuming the most striking forms; whilst the whole region is dominated by the majestic Ruwenzori, clad in eternal snow, and 15,000 feet in height.

Northwards the lake becomes wider; but the view in that direction is not extensive. About 250 miles from Kavalli the lake gives birth to the White Nile, which passes Wadelai as it flows towards Khartoum.

It is asserted that about a century ago the length of the lake was certainly fifteen miles more than its present measurement; its waters must therefore have covered the forests of ambatch and the tracts of reeds and papyrus which are now traversed by the lower course of the Semliki. The cause of this retreat of the water from its ancient bounds may not improbably be attributed to the gradual wearing away of sandy shoals and rocks in the Nile below Wadelai. The encroachment of the shore is greatest on the western side, and Emin asserts his belief that several islands (one in particular called Tunguru) which some years ago were at a considerable distance from the margin of the lake, are now quite contiguous to the mainland, and are tenanted by residents. In a good many places towards the southern end of the lake, the brown tint of the water indicates its shallowness, and not unfrequently, even some miles out, the bottom can be reached by a sounding pole.

As they descend towards the water the slopes of the hill-sides are somewhat steep; they are not covered with very much vegetation, except in the moist ravines and interstices where magnificent shrubs and giant euphorbiæ are sure to be found in large profusion; and if anywhere the glitter of a tiny cascade shines through the foliage, there, almost to a certainty, may be seen the date-palm rearing on high its graceful plume.

On the narrow strips of level ground between the mountain foot and the water’s edge are various little groups of huts, with their adjoining fields, on which they grow their bananas, or where, on the rich short pasture, they keep the herds of cows and goats that graze peacefully together.

Occasionally the waters of the lake will lose themselves in enormous banks of reeds, floating masses of vegetation, too dense for any canoes to penetrate; elsewhere they gently ripple over beds of white pebbles where the fishing-boats are moored.

In Indian file, on the evening of December 13, the expedition made its descent along the zigzag pathway, and settled itself in an encampment at the base of the hills, about half a mile from the lake, between the villages of Kavalli and Kakongo.

Just as it had happened on the higher ground, the natives here, too, manifested considerable disquietude at the unlooked-for appearance of so large a caravan of strangers, with white men at their head. They did not proceed to any overt hostility, but it was quite evident that they did not approve of such a body of intruders coming amongst them. In the conversations into which they entered with Stanley they avowed that they had never seen any boats upon the lake, except their own. If this were so, what was the conclusion to be drawn? Was it not obvious that the couriers who had been sent from Zanzibar to prepare Emin beforehand, for the arrival of an expedition in January, must have been delayed? Otherwise Emin would have been sure to send over his two steamers to the south-west, and to make proper provision for securing from the natives a hospitable reception for the caravan whenever it should come. Every indication seemed to point to the conclusion that Emin Pasha had not been apprised of Stanley’s near approach.

What now should be done? The journey from Kavalli to Wadelai was far too long and too arduous to be attempted without boats by an expedition so reduced in strength, and yet no canoes were to be had; as for Stanley’s own boat, that had been left at Kilonga-Longa’s, 190 miles away.

Stanley took his two officers, Messrs. Stairs and Jephson, into consultation, and after prolonged discussion arrived at the conviction that the only practicable course to be followed was to make a retreat to Ibwiri on the Aruwimi, where he would build a fort, and whence he would send a detachment to Kilonga-Longas to fetch his boat and bring on Captain Nelson and Dr. Parke. Within the fort he determined to store every load that would be left behind, and he would arrange for an adequate garrison to defend it, and to grow sufficient maize and manioc for supplying themselves with food. He would then return to Lake Nyanza, and while encamped there he would despatch his boat with an officer and some men to go forward and institute inquiries as to Emin’s whereabouts.

Such was the programme which it was resolved to carry out.

Accordingly on the 15th the retreat commenced. The movements of the caravan were more or less harassed by the ill-will of the natives of Kavalli, who succeeded during the march of the retiring cavalcade on the upward slope in killing one man and wounding a second.

By 10 A.M. on the 16th the crest of the plateau was reached, and the progress back along the plain was not interrupted by Mozamboni’s people. The march was continued steadily day by day without hindrance, and on the 8th of January 1888 the caravan was once more in Ibwiri, the hospitable refuge where two months previously it had found a welcome abundance and much needed repose.

No time was lost by Stanley in setting about the construction of his fortified quarters. He named the erection Fort Bodo. He likewise hurried off Lieutenant Stairs to Kilonga-Longa’s to get the boat, and to come back with Dr. Parke and Captain Nelson, who had been staying there ever since the previous September.

All the forests of this region, as well as those extending south-east to the Sankullu, are the last refuge of a race of beings of whom the two that were brought over by the Italian traveller Miani in 1873 were the only examples that have ever been seen in Europe. These are the dwarfs of Central Africa.

Ages back Herodotus had testified to the existence of dwarf races in Africa, and Aristotle had asserted that the region whence the Nile had its sources was the abode of pygmies; but of modern travellers Dr. Schweinfurth, in 1871, was the first, as an eye-witness, to verify the existence of such a race in the heart of the continent. At the court of Munza, King of the Mombuttu, south of the Welle, the Doctor for the first time beheld the living incarnation of the myth of 2000 years. This was a regiment of dwarf soldiers belonging to Munza’s brother, a chief who resided further south in the valley of the Nepoko.

The existence of such dwarfs may now be said to have been ascertained throughout the central basin of the Congo. Stanley saw one individual of the race on the Lualaba, below Nyangwé; Grenfell saw one on the Lalongo; Wolf fell in with another between the Lulua and the Sankullu; Delcommune met one on the Lomani; and Escayrac de Lauture and Koellé assert that they are numerous in the northern basin of the Mobangi.

Amongst the Mombuttu they are known by the name of Akka or Tikki-tikki; further to the south and east they are called Batua, whilst on the Aruwimi they are distinguished as the Wambutti.

[Illustration: AKKA BOY.

(_From a Drawing by Dr. Schweinfurth in the “Heart of Africa.”_)]

Physically, they are well made; they are by no means the deformities which are frequently exhibited as dwarfs in the shows of European fairs; they are simply small men, well proportioned, endowed with much bravery, and by no means deficient in adroitness. Their average height may be stated as about 4 feet 7 inches. Their complexion is a yellowish brown, of a lighter shade than that of the taller African races. They form themselves into nomad communities, devoting themselves to hunting and to the manufacture of palm-wine, rarely intermingling with tribes of ordinary stature. The agility they display in climbing the palm-trees to extract the sap is very remarkable, and they are exceedingly cunning in devising artifices for setting traps and snares for game. On their hunting excursions they bound over the tall herbage like grasshoppers, fearlessly approaching antelopes, buffaloes, and elephants; first discharging their arrows at them with unerring precision, and then rushing forward to despatch the wounded victims with their spears. They can hardly at present be said to constitute a nation, but it may be held as not improbable that their communities, dispersed among other and more powerful peoples, are the expiring remnants of an aboriginal race.

It was chiefly in the district of the Aruwimi, between the confluence of the Nepoko and the region of the grass-plain, that Stanley came across the dwarfs; but there he computes he saw about one hundred and fifty of their villages in the recesses of the forests.

On January 14th, Lieutenant Stairs arrived back from Kilonga-Longa’s, accompanied by Dr. Parke and by Captain Nelson, who had now regained his health; but of the thirty-eight men who had been left in charge of these two officials only eleven now remained; the rest had either died or deserted. The lieutenant had likewise brought up the boat he had gone to fetch, with the goods that had been left at the Arab settlement. Having accomplished this, he was now once more sent down the river, this time as far as Ugarrowwa’s, to bring up the convalescents and a part of the baggage that had been deposited there.

While Stairs was absent on this commission, Stanley was seized with illness, having an attack of gastritis and an abscess on his arm; but though he was unwell for nearly a month, he received such careful nursing at the hands of Dr. Parke that he was convalescent before the return of the lieutenant, who was away longer than had been anticipated. Anxious to lose no more time, Stanley, without waiting, gave the order to start, and the expedition, now composed of no more than 140 men, took up an ample stock of provisions and set out a second time for the Nyanza.

Captain Nelson was placed in charge of Fort Bodo with a garrison of 43 men and lads, who would be reinforced by Lieutenant Stairs and the men he would bring with him from Ugarrowwa’s.

Once more, on the 20th of April, did the expedition find itself in Mazamboni’s country. The reception that awaited it was very different to what it had been before; instead of the palavers ending in a declaration of war, they resulted in a consent from Mazamboni to make blood-brotherhood with Stanley.

It may be accepted, as a general rule, that Europeans on the Congo, arriving in any unexplored district, would be received with hostilities. Whilst descending the river in 1877 Stanley found himself involved in no less than thirty skirmishes, and Wissman, Kund, Tappenbeck, Van Gèle and de Brazza have all had similar experiences. But when after a lapse of time the white man reappears on the scene, the natives are usually found to be ready to lay aside the temper of defiance, and after brief recognition to conclude peace by exchange of blood. And this is pretty sure to be followed by a solicitation that the strangers will settle down and open traffic in the place.

Although the strength of the expedition was now diminished by the loss of fifty rifles, the example of Mazamboni to desist from opposition was followed by the other chiefs as far as the Nyanza, and no further difficulty occurred. Food was supplied on the easiest terms, cattle, sheep, and poultry were brought in abundance, and never had Stanley and his followers lived more luxuriously.

Thus, once again, on the 21st of April was Stanley in full view of the Nyanza.

And now once more the question arose as to what he should hear or see of Emin. Surely by this time the Pasha must have been apprised of the arrival of the expedition; but how should he be found?

On his way down to the lake some natives from Kavalli had met him and had told him that a white man from the north had given their chief a packet which was to be handed to another white man who was coming from the west; they had also some wonderful story to tell about “big boats, as large as islands,” which they averred had been seen near their villages.

Stanley entertained little doubt but that these big boats must be the steamers from Wadelai, and he indulged the hope that Emin Pasha might be himself on board, a hope that was soon changed to certainty; for next day Kavalli came and brought him a packet protected by a strip of black American oil-cloth and enclosing a letter from Emin. The letter was dated from on board the _Khedive_, on the 26th of March, and addressed to “Mr. Stanley, commander of the relief expedition.” The tenour of the letter was to this effect:--

“A report having been circulated that a large caravan had arrived from the west under the conduct of white men, I proceeded in one of my steamers to the south end of the lake to make enquiries; but the natives were so afraid of Kabrega, the King of Unyoro, with whom they are at war, that they associated every stranger with him. Thus, at first, I could obtain no trustworthy information.

“Shortly afterwards, however, the wife of the Nyamsassie chief told the chief Mogo, who is on friendly terms with me, that she had seen the white men and their caravan in Mozamboni’s country. At once I felt no doubt that you were in this district and that we should soon meet.

“I entrust this letter to Kavalli to hand to you when you reach the lake.

“I am glad to know you are here. I beg you to encamp where you are until I can communicate with you.

(DR.) EMIN.”

Here, then, was good news. Emin Pasha was alive and was at liberty; here he was on one of his steamers, on his way to meet the expedition. The end was on the point of being attained; here was success (about which all but a few staunch believers in Europe had despaired) coming to crown the labours of a year of toil, uncertainty, and suffering!

Stanley quickly determined that his own boat should be sent northwards by the west coast to reconnoitre, and in a few hours it was launched and despatched with Mr. Jephson and a sufficient staff of men on board. Meanwhile, the bulk of the caravan made their encampment on the shore.

Days passed without further news. Stanley and Dr. Parke, the only one of his staff now with him, scanned the distance constantly with their glasses, but in vain. For five days nothing disturbed the solitude of the great lake, and the sixth day was declining when a distant vessel was discerned, which further scrutiny made it evident was not their own boat, but a steamer. From its stern floated the red flag, with the star and crescent. To a certainty here was the _Khedive_, one of the Wadelai ships.

On the deck were white men, Emin and Casati both. Mr. Jephson had fallen in with them on the 26th at Mswa, the southernmost of the Egyptian stations.

The camp was soon in the liveliest commotion; inaction was changed to hubbub and excitement; musketry salutes were fired, and in the midst of noisy acclamations the Pasha and his faithful companion landed to exchange their mutual greetings with Stanley.

It was in the evening of the 29th of April, at about 7 P.M., that this meeting was effected.

For six years Emin and Casati had been cut off from all communication with the civilised world; and for the last two they had been awaiting the relief which Dr. Junker had been despatched to Europe to secure. Meanwhile it had fallen to Emin’s lot to fight and drive back the Mahdists, to repress the revolts of the Bari, and to punish the insubordination and cowardice of his own Egyptian contingent; he had had to encounter unnumbered dangers and to surmount enormous difficulties in providing for the sustenance of more than 8000 men, women, and children. Yet here he was; he had overcome every obstacle and was still master of the situation!

Captain Casati for three years had had no enviable residence at the court of Kabrega, King of Unyoro. The conveyance of any correspondence between the two Europeans, by way of Uganda, was a perfect bugbear to Kabrega. Naturally cruel and suspicious, he was ever working himself into such a temper of rage and alarm as to render Casati’s position very critical. And now the intelligence of the approach of an armed troop from the west, which to his mind must threaten Unyoro, gave the finishing touch to his state of wrath, and almost cost the white resident his life.

It was while Stanley was erecting Fort Bodo (on the 9th of the preceding January), after his first visit to the lake, that Kabrega treacherously caused Casati to be arrested, bound with cords, driven on from village to village, and finally sent to the domains of the chief Kokora, who had instructions to put him to death. Fortunately, the prisoner succeeded in making his escape, and for eight days wandered, absolutely destitute, along the eastern margin of the lake. Chancing to find a boat amongst the reeds on the water-side, he sent it off by one of his servants to Emin, who at that time was at Tunguru on the opposite shore. A few days later Emin arrived and took his recovered friend on board the _Khedive_; thus, when they together met Stanley at Kavalli, they had only been re-united for a few weeks after their long and anxious separation.

Emin’s armed force consisted of about 1400 soldiers, forming two battalions. The first of these, numbering about 750 men, was divided into seven detachments, occupying the stations of Dufilé, Khor-Aju, Lahore, Muggi, Kiri, Bedden, and Rejaf; the second, consisting of 640 men, was divided into five detachments, in garrison at Wadelai, Tunguru, and Mswa. In the interior, west of the Nile, he had three more outposts, making in all thirteen stations, extending along the Nile and the Nyanza for a distance of more than 200 miles. Around these stations fields of manioc, maize, beans, and sorghum had been cultivated, and there were herds containing some thousand heads of cattle.

Asked as to whether he was prepared to quit the country, Emin hesitated. “The Egyptians,” he said, “are very willing to leave. There are of these about 100 men, besides their women and children. Even if I stayed here, I should be glad to be rid of them, because they undermine my authority, and nullify all my endeavours to retreat. When I informed them that Khartoum had fallen, and Gordon Pasha was slain, they always told the Nubians that it was a concocted story, and that some day we should see the steamers ascend the river for their relief. But of the regulars who compose the 1st and 2nd battalions, I am extremely doubtful: they have led such a free and happy life here that they would demur at leaving a country where they have enjoyed luxuries they cannot command in Egypt.”

In fact from the time that Stanley arrived Emin never seemed to know what course to take. From his hesitation it might appear that his position was not altogether so secure as in Europe it was generally believed to be. He wished to take counsel with his officers, to tell his troops exactly how matters stood, and to make them aware of this arrival of the relief expedition. In short, he asked for time in which he might make up his mind. It was agreed that this time for deliberation should be conceded. Stanley left Mr. Jephson with a guard of thirteen Soudanese, and sent a message to be communicated to Emin’s troops. After this Emin and Mr. Jephson were to proceed and pay a visit to Fort Bodo, bringing with them, on their return to the lake, Messrs. Stairs and Nelson, with the men that had been left under their charge.

Meanwhile Stanley himself, with the rest of the caravan, and about 100 Madi porters, with which he had been supplied by Emin, was to set out to meet his large contingent in the rear.

Stanley and Emin had been together for twenty-five days when the former once more betook himself to the weary task of making his way through the same interminable forest where so recently he had endured sickness, peril, and privation. But he had given his word to Major Barttelot that he would go to meet him, and go he would.