CHAPTER III.

THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCES.

The land of rivers--The Bongo--The Denka--Rumbek--Meshraer-Rek and Amadi--Lupton Bey--The province of the Equator--Rapids of the Upper Nile--Paradise of botanists--The Makraka--The Bari--The Lattuka--Lado, Dufilé, and Wadelai--Emin Bey.

The two most southern provinces that had been brought under the dominion of Egypt, and entrusted to the subordinate rule of European pashas and beys, were those of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and of the Equator. The former of these had come under the command of Lupton Bey, and the latter had been assigned to the charge of Emin Bey.

By the victorious progress of the Mahdi’s bands, both provinces alike had been cut off from communication with Khartoum, and consequently with Cairo and Suakin.

The authority of the Khedive had hitherto been sufficiently maintained by the establishment of a limited number of fortified stations defended by small garrisons, varying from 100 to 200 men. Placed along the watercourses in positions selected either for their political or strategical advantages, these stations were for the most part merely enclosures protected by palisades or by trenches, to resist any sudden outbreak on the part of the natives. The majority of the men composing the garrisons were liberated slaves belonging to the various Soudanese tribes, and were commanded sometimes by Egyptian, sometimes by native officers.

The province of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, as its name implies, includes the larger portion of the basin watered by that important tributary of the Nile. Eliseé Reclus was quite justified in designating it “the land of rivers,” inasmuch as the Gazelle, with its great affluents, the Rol, the Roa, the Jur, the Bahr-el-Arab, and the countless subaffluents which run into them, extends over a vast triangular area, and forms a perfect labyrinth of streams. The soil is exceptionally fertile, the flora is rich and rare, the crops are abundant, elephants abound in the virgin forest, and herds of cattle swarm in the populated parts. It may be avowed that there are few regions in Africa that hold out greater promise for the future, when the time shall come for the culture of the natural products of the earth to supersede the traffic in flesh and blood, and when a systematic communication for commerce has been opened between its three or four millions of inhabitants and the civilised world.

First amongst the explorers of the Bahr-el-Ghazal were the Frenchmen Peney, Lejean, and Poncet, the English Petherick, and the Italians Miani and Piaggia; but although their discoveries were diversified and interesting, they must be reckoned as comparatively incomplete. It was Dr. Schweinfurth who could first lay claim to a really scientific delineation of the country, of which his elaborate work, “The Heart of Africa,” must long be regarded as the standard of geographical knowledge. He devotes several chapters to the description of the various tribes, including the Nuer, the Agar, the Denka, the Jur, the Bongo, the Moru, the Golo, and the Sheir. Of these the most considerable are the Bongo and the Denka.

It was about 1850 when the Khartoumers first made their way among the Bongo. They found the country split up into small independent communities, all in a state of anarchy; consequently there was little difficulty in reducing it to subjection, and in establishing settlements in the divided territory, so providing for a system of raids to secure both ivory and slaves for traffic. Reduced by two-thirds, the population has for the most part concentrated itself around the _zeribas_, where it is devoted almost exclusively to agriculture, contributing largely to the support of the garrisons.

No doubt it is to the scantiness of the larger kinds of cattle that the Bongo, in their subjugation, owe much of their comparatively peaceable relations with “the Turks,” as they ordinarily call the owners of the _zeribas_; and the same reason may probably account for the feeble resistance that they made. Their domestic animals, in fact, include little beyond goats, dogs, and poultry.

So essentially are they agriculturists that they may be said to depend entirely upon the products of the soil for their subsistence. Men and women alike labour in the fields, cultivating sorghum as the principal crop, although tobacco is grown well-nigh everywhere throughout the country. They have a singular aptitude for smiths’ work. Iron is abundant, and almost by instinct the people have learned to utilise it. Their tools are of the rudest description, yet they produce a large variety of articles, such as spear-heads, arrows, rings, bells, buttons, clasps, pins, and knives, that for workmanship might compare not unfavourably with any that are made in Europe. The smelting season commences when the harvest is housed and the rainy season is over. To their skill in the manipulation of iron must be added, although in an inferior degree, a certain dexterity in the carving of wood, as is exhibited in various utensils and articles of furniture, notably in the little four-legged stools with which every household is provided.

As regards their physical appearance, the Bongo are of medium height. Their skin is of a reddish brown, not dissimilar in colour to that of the soil on which they reside. The men, as a rule, wear nothing but a little apron of skin or other material attached to their girdle, the women contenting themselves with a leafy bough, or not unfrequently with a tuft of grass. Vanity induces some of them to load themselves with necklaces, whilst on any occasion of a feast they deck the head with feathers, the rest of the body being entirely unclothed.

North of Bongo-land lies the territory of the Dyoor, or Jur, situated in which is the _zeriba_ of Ghattas, one of the largest in the whole country. Still farther north is the district occupied by the Denka, a tribe which has recently played a prominent part in the history of the province.

So numerous are the Denka, and so extensive are their lands, that in all probability they will continue to hold their own, whatever may be the confusion of the various tribes by which they are surrounded. They may be classed amongst the tallest and strongest as well as the darkest of negro races. Tattooing is practised, but only by the men. The observation made by Barth, that many heathen tribes consider clothing more necessary for men than for women, is not applicable to them, inasmuch as, according to their views, any attire, however limited in quantity, is unworthy of the stronger sex; whilst, on the other hand, their women are scrupulously covered with two aprons of skins reaching to their ankles. It is to be remarked that bows and arrows are unknown among them; their most effective weapon is the lance, although they frequently arm themselves with sticks or clubs.

The Denka do not live in what are ordinarily known as villages, their dwellings consisting of small groups of huts scattered in farmsteads over the cultivated plains, the huts for the most part being solidly built and spacious, frequently forty feet in diameter. The people are clean in their homes, and in culinary matters better skilled than the Arabs, or even than the Egyptians themselves; in fact, in the choice and preparation of their food they are in advance of all other African tribes. Crocodile flesh they refuse to eat; iguanas, frogs, and mice they never touch; but, like true European connoisseurs, they use the turtle for making soup; the hare is considered a great delicacy. As to cannibalism, they would have as great a horror of it as ourselves.

Their domestic animals are oxen, sheep, goats and dogs; but, for some unexplained cause, they have no poultry. The oxen are of the zebu kind, of small size, and for the most part white, or nearly white; they are brought together from separate districts into one large enclosure, and the sole ambition of the owner seems to be to increase his stock; they are regarded with a sort of reverence, and whenever a Denka has been robbed of one of them, either by rapine or by death, there is hardly any sacrifice which he is not ready to make to repair his loss.

So far as regards their race, their mode of life, and their customs, the Denka have all the elements of national unity; but they fail on account of their several tribes making war upon each other, and submitting to be enlisted as instruments of plunder by foreign intruders. Nevertheless, the Khartoumers have hitherto been unable to bring them into subjection. A considerable number of Denka slaves, remarkable alike for their fine stature and native courage, were enlisted into the army of the Soudan; and Adam Pasha, who in 1870 commanded the Soudan forces, was himself a Denka by birth.

Of all the _zeribas_ established in the country by Khartoum traders the most important is Rumbek, formerly the headquarters of an Egyptian _Mudirieh_. The population of the settlement is estimated by Dr. Felkin to be about 3000, whilst he further reckons the adjacent villages to make up an aggregate of hardly less than 30,000 inhabitants. It is peculiar to the district that the wearing of clothes is regarded as a religious privilege, and no woman, except she is married to an Arab, has a right to appear with any kind of covering whatever. A fortified post named Bor defends the eastern portion of the settlement.

On the north is situated the cluster of warehouses known as Meshra-er-Rek (or landing-place of the Rek), which is the starting-point for all caravans proceeding on their way to the basin of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. Up to the date of the recent wars a steamer from Khartoum periodically ascended to this point.

South of the Denka territory, in the country of the Moru, situated amidst extensive fields of millet and sesame, is another important trade-centre, the fortified village of Amadi, on the banks of the Yei. It is one of the chief ivory-depôts; at one time it had the ambiguous reputation of being the _zeriba_ whence the harems of Egypt and Arabia were supplied with eunuchs.

The first European Governour of the Bahr-el-Ghazal was Gessi Pasha, who in 1878, after suppressing the revolt of Suleiman Bey and purging the country of its hordes of slave-dealers, took up his residence, in the very camp of his adversary, at Dem Suleiman, which has since developed into the largest township on the Upper Nile. Dem Idris, to the east, in the Golo country, has also of late grown into a store of such proportions that at the end of 1883, when Bohndorf, the companion of Dr. Junker, was passing along that way, he was informed that the accumulated stock of ivory exceeded 200 tons.

In 1881 Gessi was succeeded in the government of the province by Lupton Bey.

Frank Lupton, a native of Ilford, in Essex, was born in 1853. Being of an adventurous nature, he entered the navy at an early age. In 1878, having been chief officer of a steamer on the Red Sea, between Suakin and Jeddah, he formed a resolution that he would visit Central Africa. By the advice of a friend he tendered his services to Gordon, who invited him to Khartoum, and there offered him the charge of a flotilla that was about to be sent to the relief of Emin Bey and Gessi Pasha, who were in the south, shut in by “the Sett,” that notorious grass-barrier which blockades the Upper Nile.

[Illustration: LUPTON BEY.]

This mission accomplished, Lupton was associated with Emin in the administration of the Equator, and afterwards, upon Gessi’s removal, was raised by the Khedive to the rank of Bey and appointed to the Governourship of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, where, such were the activity and intelligence that he brought to bear, he made that rich district, which had hitherto been a heavy burden to Egypt, become a source of profit, so that his budget for 1883 showed a surplus for the year of nearly £100,000. Unfortunately the events of the year’s close put a check for an indefinite time upon that promise of prosperity.

The other province--the province of the Equator--next demands to be described.

Extending along both banks of the Nile from its egress from Lake Albert right away to Lado, this includes the northern portion of Unyoro and the territories of the Shuli, Madi, Bari, Lattuka, Makraka, and Moru.

Travellers seem to be unanimous in representing the Equator province as a picturesque, fertile, well-populated, fairly healthy, and promising region. Its productions are caoutchouc, various kinds of gum, wax, vegetable butter, cotton, skins, fruits, grain, and vegetables, in addition to the ivory which is to be obtained in large abundance. Europeans can stand the climate provided they lead an active life, and would be even more likely to maintain good health if opportunities were secured for periodical recruiting in sanatoriums which might easily be erected in the hills to the south and east.

From north to south the Equator is traversed by the Nile, receiving the Asua on the right and the Yei on the left, and affording all the way from Lake Albert to Dufilé a channel from fifteen to thirty feet deep, capable of being navigated at all seasons by the largest boats. Between Dufilé and Lado navigation is arrested by a succession of rapids at Fola, Yerbora, Gudji, Makeo, Teremo-Garbo, and Jenkoli-Garbo, which, although they may permit boats to be carried over in the time of floods, are utterly impassable when the water is low.

Westward from the Nile, at some distance, the chain of the Blue Mountains is in sight, stretching towards the north, and forming the boundary of the Congo basin. The range is not lofty, but it presents a number of conspicuous peaks, which have been severally named after Schweinfurth, Junker, Speke, Emin, Baker, Gordon, and Gessi. On its western slope are the sources of the Welle. Its soil gradually rises through the country of the Shuli and Lattuka until it is finally overhung by granite crags elevated more than 3000 feet above the level of the river.

Considered as a whole, the province may be described as one prolonged productive valley, divided into broad plains rich with luxuriant pasturage for the innumerable flocks, studded over with forests of splendid growth, adorned with natural parks, where the trees are fine and the glades are open, and relieved ever and again by undulations, every eminence of which is crowned by a well-placed village. The land of the Shuli, or more especially the district of Fatiko, has been called “the paradise of botanists,” so diversified and so abundant is its flora.

Most important amongst the native tribes are the Makraka and Madi, on the west of the Nile, and the Bari and Lattuka, on the east.

The Makraka really belong to the powerful Niam-niam people, whose vast territories extend south-westwards as far as the Congo basin. They are most expert cultivators of the soil, and their substantial prosperity has secured them a foremost standing amongst the tribes. Their courage is notorious, although a suspicion that they are given to cannibalism has caused them to be regarded with a certain degree of terror. When the Egyptian rulers are enlisting soldiers they prefer, as a rule, the Makraka to any others.

Like the Makraka, the Madi, their neighbours on the same bank of the Nile, are mainly occupied in agriculture. They grow excellent tobacco, in addition to the many kinds of fruits and vegetables that have been introduced by Arabs and Europeans, whilst around their villages the fields of sesame and sorghum stretch away far as the eye can reach. Characterised by hospitality, they have ever a ready welcome for a stranger, and amongst them, as indeed with the Makraka, the traveller’s safety is so assured that he may approach them, cane in hand, with no other escort than his porters.

More warlike as a tribe, the Bari soldiers are reputed to be the bravest and fiercest of all the river-settlers along the Nile. Both Gondokoro, the first residence of Baker when he was Governour, and Lado, subsequently built by Gordon, are situated in their territory. It is probable that the atrocities perpetrated against them by the Khartoumers have inflamed their animosity towards the invaders of their home, as for a long period Gondokoro was a pandemonium, a perfect den of thieves and assassins, glutted with the cattle and the slaves that they had carried off in plunder from the surrounding parts. The arrival of Europeans happily put a limit to this state of things, but it must be long before the memory of the enormities can be entirely obliterated.

Similarly to the Denka in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the Bari in the Equator are a pastoral people, being owners of large herds of diminutive cattle; they likewise regard the cow with a species of reverence, and, like the Denka too, they go unclothed, esteeming the wearing of any garment a degradation of masculine dignity. The French traveller, Peney, observes that they have a dread of clothing, and relates of himself that in order to secure a good reception at their hands he was obliged to divest himself of every garment. As a rule, no doubt, they are a fine race of men, remarkable for well-proportioned limbs and for dignity of carriage. Their villages and the interior of their huts are models of cleanliness, the huts very frequently having granaries attached, made of wicker, protected by thatch, and raised upon a kind of platform.

Away to the west dwell the Lattuka, a tribe which in the opinion of most travellers is of Galla origin. Ravenstein remarks that their dialect resembles that of the Masai. Baker, during his residence amongst them, visited several of their largest villages, and considers that the people are the finest savages he ever met with; their average height is six feet, their physiognomy is pleasant, and in comparison with neighbouring tribes their manners are polished. They are open-hearted, cheerful, and always ready for a laugh.

A peculiarity of the tribe that arrests attention is the _coiffure_ of the men. It is arranged in the form of a helmet, and is most delicately manipulated with burnished copper and bits of red and blue glass, intermixed with shells, and surmounted by a plume of ostrich feathers. European ladies might be astonished to learn that a period of eight or ten years is scarcely sufficient for the arrangement and adorning of a Lattuka’s hair.

Tarrangole, the capital of the country, was also visited by Baker. It is quite a town, and at that time contained 3000 houses. Not only was the whole place environed by a palisade of iron-wood, but separate dwellings were protected by small fortified enclosures of their own, and raised platforms three stories high were erected at intervals to serve as watch-towers whence sentinels might give alarm in time of danger.

With the Lattuka, as with the Denka and the Bari, cattle is the staple of their wealth, and thousands of heads may be seen around every important village; they are kept in huge kraals. A Lattuka’s main possessions are his wives and his oxen; of these, in time of battle, he will make languid efforts to protect the former, in contrast with the desperate energy with which he will defend the latter.

It is in the Equator province that the exertions of European Governours have attained the best and apparently the most lasting success; here it was that Baker, Gordon, and Emin alike established many civilising centres, the majority of which are still in existence. Lado, the station by which Gondokoro was replaced as the Governour’s residence, is quite a good-looking town; its buildings are of brick, roofed with iron, and it boasts an ample quay and promenade. Rigaf, Bedden, and Kiri lie to the south, all of them on the left bank of the river.

Several fortified settlements have been made among the Madi, the foremost being Dufilé, in an excellent strategic and commercial position, a little above the confluence of the Asua. This is the extreme point which steamers can reach from Lake Albert and the Upper Nile, as farther progress is barred by the Fola rapids. Below the rapids, on the river-bank, are the small forts of Laboré and Muggi.

There are also several important stations in the district of the Shuli. On the bank of the river is Wadelai, which for the last two years has been occupied instead of Lado as the abode of the Governour, and which will henceforth be associated with the name of Emin Bey. In the interior are Fadibek, to the east of Dufilé; Faloro, a populous mart, one of the granaries of the Egyptian Soudan; and Fatiko, in the heart of a picturesque and healthy country.

[Illustration: EMIN PASHA.]

Formerly the Egyptians had a settlement in the north of Unyoro, inhabited by the Lango tribe, named Foweira, which they abandoned; but they still retain Magungo, in a situation overlooking the spot where the Nile, after forming the imposing Murchison Falls, flows into Lake Albert. In the Aluri country, on the western shore of the lake, they have Mahagi, near which are some hot sulphur springs; and at a considerable distance to the west, in the middle of the Makraka country, close to the sources of the Yei, are the two small outposts of Wandy and Makraka-Sugaire. All these stations owe their establishment to Baker or Gordon, Englishmen, or to Emin, the German, who have successively been Governours since 1872.

Emin Effendi, whom Gordon, on leaving the Soudan in 1879, raised to the rank of Bey, and placed in charge of the province of the Equator, was born at Oppeln, in Prussian Silesia, on the 28th of March 1840. His real name is Edward Schnitzer. After completing his studies at Berlin, Vienna, and Paris, and having obtained the degree of doctor both in medicine and in natural science, he went in 1869 to Albania, where he found an engagement in the Ottoman service at Scutari. Some years later, when Gordon assumed the government of the Soudan, Dr. Schnitzer, under the name of Emin Effendi, accompanied him as medical officer, and never failed to distinguish himself in any business that was entrusted to him. Under commission of the Governour, he was sent to Mtesa, king of Uganda, and to Kabrega, king of Unyoro, and succeeded in securing them both as allies. In all his expeditions he diligently made scientific notes, the substance of which appeared at intervals between 1878 and 1883 in the “Mittheilungen” of the Geographical Institute of Gotha.

Under his administration the province of the Equator went on well. He assiduously continued the work that Gordon had begun, opening fresh communications, making new settlements, stimulating the industry of the population, and securing their support in the suppression of abuses. Last but not least, he was successful in gaining for the Egyptian Government a surplus revenue where hitherto there had been only a deficit.

In a letter to Dr. Felkin of Edinburgh in 1883, Emin Bey said that although for some years he had not received any assistance from Khartoum, yet he had persevered in insisting on the cultivation of cotton, indigo, sugar-cane, and rice, and had established numerous farms for ostrich-breeding and cattle-breaking; and that, in spite of the heavy outlay entailed by the formation of new roads, his budget for 1880 showed for the first time a surplus of £8000. “If only,” he added, “I could get a few Europeans to support me, and a small subsidy for the purchase of seed and agricultural implements, I have not the slightest doubt that in four or five years I could realise an annual profit of £20,000, exclusive of ivory, which is the monopoly of the Government.”

Such were the hopes he cherished. The disastrous events at Khartoum checked them all. From the first Emin had his forebodings. In March 1882 he went to Khartoum to put Raouf Pasha on his guard, and even offered to go and try to conciliate the Mahdi in a personal interview; his alarm was regarded as exaggerated, his proposal was declined, and he was instructed to return to his post and to do his utmost for the interests of the province. He left Khartoum on the 15th of June, not again to return.

Results have demonstrated how great was the error of distrusting his far-sightedness; it was a mistake not to attempt, while perhaps there was still time, to avert catastrophe by making use of his talents for negotiation.