There was a division among his own people, some wishing to fight and to serve the Turks as the Latookas had served the party of Mahommed Her, and others yielding to his advice, and agreeing to remain quiet.

I inquired whether the chief, Moy, intended peace or war. He said, "That Bokke, his wife, had made him very angry against the Turks by describing their conduct towards the women."

This was rather an unsatisfactory state of things. Commoro departed, frankly admitting that the natives were much excited and wished to attack, but that he would do his best with them.

These rascally TRADERS set every country in a blaze by their brutal conduct, and rendered exploring, not only most dangerous but next to impossible, without an exceedingly powerful force.

The sun set; and, as usual in tropical climates, darkness set in within half an hour. Not a woman had returned to the town, nor was the voice of a man to be heard. The natives had entirely forsaken the portion of the town that both I and the Turks occupied. The night was perfectly calm, and the stars shone so brightly, that I took an observation for the latitude—4 degrees 30 minutes. There was a death-like stillness in the air. Even the Turks, who were usually uproarious, were perfectly quiet, and although my men made no remark, it was plain that we were all occupied by the same thoughts, and that an attack was expected.

It was about 9 o'clock, and the stillness had become almost painful. There was no cry of a bird; not even the howl of a hyena: the camels were sleeping; but every man was wide awake, and the sentries well on the alert. We were almost listening at the supernatural stillness, if I may so describe the perfect calm, when, suddenly, every one startled at the deep and solemn boom of the great war-drum, or nogara! Three distinct beats, at slow intervals, rang through the apparently deserted town, and echoed loudly from the neighbouring mountain. It was the signal! A few minutes elapsed, and like a distant echo from the north the three mournful tones again distinctly sounded. Was it an echo? Impossible. Now from the south, far distant, but unmistakeable, the same three regular beats came booming through the still night air. Again and again, from every quarter, spreading far and wide, the signal was responded; and the whole country echoed those three solemn notes so full of warning. Once more the great nogara of Tarrangolle sounded the original alarm within a few hundred paces of our quarters. The whole country was up.

There was no doubt about the matter. The Turks well knew those three notes were the war-signal of the Latookas. I immediately called Suleiman. It was necessary to act in unison. I ordered him to beat the drum loudly for about five minutes to answer the nogara. His men were all scattered in several small inclosures. I called them all out into the open quadrangle; in the centre of which I placed the baggage, and planted the English ensign in the middle, while the Turks fixed their flag within a few paces. Posting sentries at each corner of the square, I stationed patrols in the principal street. In the meantime Mrs. Baker had laid out upon a mat several hundred cartridges of buck-shot, powder-flasks, wadding, and opened several boxes of caps, all of which were neatly arranged for a reserve of ammunition; while a long row of first-class double guns and rifles lay in readiness. The boy Saat was full of fight, and immediately strapped on his belt and cartouche-box, and took his stand among the men.

I ordered the men, in the event of an attack, to immediately set fire to all the huts around the quadrangle; in which case the sudden rush of a large body of men would be impossible, and the huts being of straw, the town would be quickly in a blaze.

Everything was in order to resist an attack in five minutes from the sounding of the nogara.

The patrols shortly reported that large bodies of men were collecting outside the town. The great nogara again beat, and was answered at intervals as before from the neighbouring villages; but the Turks' drum kept up an uninterrupted roll as a challenge whenever the nogara sounded. Instead of the intense stillness that had formerly been almost painful, a distinct hum of distant voices betokened the gathering of large bodies of men. However, we were well fortified; and the Latookas knew it. We occupied the very stronghold that they had themselves constructed for the defence of their town; and the square being surrounded with strong iron-wood palisades with only a narrow entrance, would be impregnable when held, as now, by fifty men well armed with guns against a mob whose best weapons were only lances. I sent men up the watchmen's stations; these were about twenty-five feet high; and the night being clear, they could distinctly report the movements of a dark mass of natives that were ever increasing on the outside of the town at about two hundred yards' distance. The rattle of the Turks' drum repeatedly sounded in reply to the nogara, and the intended attack seemed destined to relapse into a noisy but empty battle of the drums.

A few hours passed in uncertainty, when, at about midnight, the chief Commoro came fearlessly to the patrol, and was admitted to the quadrangle. He seemed greatly struck with the preparations for defence, and explained that the nogara had been beaten without his orders, and accordingly the whole country had risen; but that he had explained to the people that I had no hostile intentions, and that all would be well if they only kept the peace. He said they certainly had intended to attack us, and were surprised that we were prepared, as proved by the immediate reply of the Turks' drum to their nogara. He assured us that he would not sleep that night, but would watch that nothing should happen. I assured him that we should also keep awake, but should the nogara sound once more I should give orders to my men to set fire to the town, as I should not allow the natives to make use of such threats with impunity. I agreed to use what little interest I had to keep the Turks in order, but that I must not be held responsible by the natives for their proceedings, as I was not of their country, neither had I anything to do with them. I explained, that upon Ibrahim's return from Gondokoro things might improve, as he was the captain of the Turks, and might be able to hold his men in command. Commoro departed, and about 2 A.M. the dense crowds of armed men that had accumulated outside the town began to disperse.

The morning broke and saw the men still under arms, but the excitement had passed. The women soon reappeared with their water jars as usual, but on this occasion they were perfectly unmolested by the Turks, who, having passed the night in momentary expectation of an attack, were now upon their best behaviour. However, I heard them muttering among themselves, "Wait until Ibrahim returns with reinforcements and ammunition, and we will pay the Latookas for last night."

The town filled; and the Latookas behaved as though nothing out of the common had occurred; but when questioned, they coolly confessed that they had intended to surprise us, but that we were too "wide awake.". It is extraordinary that these fellows are so stupid as to beat the drum or nogara before the attack, as it naturally gives the alarm, and renders a surprise impossible; nevertheless, the war-drum is always a preliminary step to hostilities. I now resolved to camp outside the town, so as not to be mixed up in any way with the Turks, whose presence was certain to create enmity. Accordingly I engaged a number of natives to cut thorns, and to make a zareeba, or camp, about four hundred yards from the main entrance of the town, on the road to the stream of water. In a few days it was completed, and I constructed houses for my men, and two good huts for ourselves. Having a supply of garden seeds, I arranged a few beds, which I sowed with onions, cabbages, and radishes. My camp was eighty yards long, and forty wide. My horses were picqueted in two corners, while the donkeys and camels occupied the opposite extremity. We now felt perfectly independent. I had masses of supplies, and I resolved to work round to the south-west whenever it might be possible, and thus to recover the route that I had originally proposed for my journey south. My present difficulty was the want of an interpreter. The Turks had several, and I hoped that on the return of Ibrahim from Gondokoro I might induce him to lend me a Bari lad for some consideration. For the present I was obliged to send to the Turks' camp and borrow an interpreter whenever I required one, which was both troublesome and expensive.

Although I was willing to purchase all supplies with either beads or copper bracelets, I found it was impossible to procure meat. The natives refused to sell either cattle or goats. This was most tantalizing, as not less than 10,000 head of cattle filed by my camp every morning as they were driven from the town to pasturage. All this amount of beef paraded before me, and did not produce a steak! Milk was cheap and abundant; fowl were scarce; corn was plentiful; vegetables were unknown; not even pumpkins were grown by the Latookas.

Fortunately there was an abundance of small game in the shape of wild ducks, pigeons, doves; and a great variety of birds such as herons, cranes, spoonbills, &c. Travellers should always take as large a supply of shot as possible. I had four hundred weight, and prodigious quantities of powder and caps: thus I could at all times kill sufficient game for ourselves and people. There were a series of small marshy pools scattered over the country near the stream that ran through the valley; these were the resort of numerous ducks, which afforded excellent sport. The town of Tarrangolle is situated at the foot of the mountain, about a mile from the stream, which is about eighty yards wide, but shallow. In the dry weather, water is obtained by wells dug in the sandy bed, but during the rains it is a simple torrent not exceeding three feet in depth. The bed being sandy, the numerous banks, left dry by the fluctuations of the stream, are most inviting spots for ducks; and it was only necessary to wait under a tree, on the river's bank, to obtain thirty or forty shots in one morning as the ducks flew down the course of the stream. I found two varieties: the small brown duck with a grey head; and a magnificent variety, as large as the Muscovy, having a copper-and-blue coloured tinselled back and wings, with a white but speckled head and neck. This duck had a curious peculiarity in a fleshy protuberance on the beak about as large as a half-crown. This stands erect, like a cock's comb. Both this, and the smaller variety, were delicious eating. There were two varieties of geese—the only two that I have ever seen on the White Nile—the common Egyptian grey goose, and a large black and white bird with a crimson head and neck, and a red and yellow horny protuberance on the top of the head. This variety has a sharp spur upon the wing an inch long, and exceedingly powerful; it is used as a weapon of defence for striking, like the spurred wing of the plover.

I frequeutly shot ten or twelve ducks, and as many cranes, before breakfast; among others the beautiful crested crane, called by the Arabs "garranook." The black velvet head of this crane, surrounded by a golden crest, was a favourite ornament of the Latookas, and they were immediately arranged as crests for their helmets. The neighbourhood of my camp would have made a fortune for a feather-dealer; it was literally strewn with down and plumes. I was always attended every morning by a number of Latooka boys, who were eager sportsmen, and returned to camp daily laden with ducks and geese.

No sooner did we arrive in camp than a number of boys volunteered to pluck the birds, which they did for the sake of the longest feathers, with which they immediately decked their woolly heads. Crowds of boys were to be seen with heads like cauliflowers, all dressed with the feathers of cranes and wild ducks. It appears to be accepted, both by the savage and civilized, that birds' feathers are specially intended for ornamenting the human head.

It was fortunate that Nature had thus stocked Latooka with game. It was impossible to procure any other meat; and not only were the ducks and geese to us what the quails were to the Israelites in the desert, but they enabled me to make presents to the natives that assured them of our good will.

Although the Latookas were far better than other tribes that I had met, they were sufficiently annoying; they gave me no credit for real good will, but they attributed my forbearance to weakness. On one occasion Adda, one of the chiefs, came to ask me to join him in attacking a village to procure molotes (iron hoes); he said, "Come along with me, bring your men and guns, and we will attack a village near here, and take their molotes and cattle; you keep the cattle, and I will have the molotes." I asked him whether the village was in an enemy's country. "Oh no!" he replied, "it is close here; but the people are rather rebellious, and it will do them good to kill a few, and to take their molotes. If you are afraid, never mind, I will ask the Turks to do it." Thus forbearance on my part was supposed to be caused from weakness, and it was difficult to persuade them that it originated in a feeling of justice. This Adda most coolly proposed that we should plunder one of his own villages that was rather too "liberal" in its views. Nothing is more heartbreaking than to be so thoroughly misunderstood, and the obtuseness of the savages was such, that I never could make them understand the existence of good principle;—their one idea was "power,"—force that could obtain all—the strong hand that could wrest from the weak. In disgust I frequently noted the feelings of the moment in my journal—a memorandum from which I copy as illustrative of the time. "1863, 10th April, Latooka.—I wish the black sympathisers in England could see Africa's inmost heart as I do, much of their sympathy would subside. Human nature viewed in its crude state as pictured amongst African savages is quite on a level with that of the brute, and not to be compared with the noble character of the dog. There is neither gratitude, pity, love, nor self-denial; no idea of duty; no religion; but covetousness, ingratitude, selfishness and cruelty. All are thieves, idle, envious, and ready to plunder and enslave their weaker neighbours."

CHAPTER VI
THE FUNERAL DANCE

Drums were beating, horns blowing, and people were seen all running in one direction;—the cause was a funeral dance, and I joined the crowd, and soon found myself in the midst of the entertainment. The dancers were most grotesquely got up. About a dozen huge ostrich feathers adorned their helmets; either leopard or the black and white monkey skins were suspended from their shoulders, and a leather tied round the waist covered a large iron bell which was strapped upon the loins of each dancer, like a woman's old-fashioned bustle: this they rung to the time of the dance by jerking their posteriors in the most absurd manner. A large crowd got up in this style created an indescribable hubbub, heightened by the blowing of horns and the beating of seven nogaras of various notes. Every dancer wore an antelope's horn suspended round the neck, which he blew occasionally in the height of his excitement. These instruments produced a sound partaking of the braying of a donkey and the screech of an owl. Crowds of men rushed round and round in a sort of "galop infernel," brandishing their lances and iron-headed maces, and keeping tolerably in line five or six deep, following the leader who headed them, dancing backwards. The women kept outside the line, dancing a slow stupid step, and screaming a wild and most inharmonious chant; while a long string of young girls and small children, their heads and necks rubbed with red ochre and grease, and prettily ornamented with strings of beads around their loins, kept a very good line, beating the time with their feet, and jingling the numerous iron rings which adorned their ankles to keep time with the drums. One woman attended upon the men, running through the crowd with a gourd full of wood-ashes, handfuls of which she showered over their heads, powdering them like millers; the object of the operation I could not understand. The "premiere danseuse" was immensely fat; she had passed the bloom of youth, but, "malgre" her unwieldy state, she kept up the pace to the last, quite unconscious of her general appearance, and absorbed with the excitement of the dance.

These festivities were to be continued in honour of the dead; and as many friends had recently been killed, music and dancing would be in fashion for some weeks.

There was an excellent interpreter belonging to Ibrahim's party—a Bari lad of about eighteen. This boy had been in their service for some years, and had learnt Arabic, which he spoke fluently, although with a peculiar accent, owing to the extraction of the four front teeth of the lower jaw, according to the general custom. It was of great importance to obtain the confidence of Loggo, as my success depended much upon information that I might obtain from the natives; therefore, whenever I sent for him to hold any conversation with the people, I invariably gave him a little present at parting. Accordingly he obeyed any summons from me with great alacrity, knowing that the interview would terminate with a "baksheesh" (present). In this manner I succeeded in establishing confidence, and he would frequently come uncalled to my tent and converse upon all manner of subjects. The Latooka language is different to the Bari, and a second interpreter was necessary; this was a sharp lad about the same age: thus the conversation was somewhat tedious, the medium being Bari and Latooka.

The chief Commoro (the "Lion") was one of the most clever and common-sense savages that I had seen in these countries, and the tribe paid far more deference to his commands than to those of his brother, "Moy," although the latter was the superior in rank.

One day I sent for Commoro after the usual funeral dance was completed, and, through my two young interpreters, I had a long conversation with him on the customs of his country. I wished if possible to fathom the origin of the extraordinary custom of exhuming the body after burial, as I imagined that in this act some idea might be traced to a belief in the resurrection.

Commoro was, like all his people, extremely tall. Upon entering my tent he took his seat upon the ground, the Latookas not using stools like the other White Nile tribes. I commenced the conversation by complimenting him on the perfection of his wives and daughters in the dance, and on his own agility in the performance; and inquired for whom the ceremony had been performed.

He replied, that it was for a man who had been recently killed, but no one of great importance, the same ceremony being observed for every person without distinction. I asked him why those slain in battle were allowed to remain unburied. He said, it had always been the custom, but that he could not explain it.

"But," I replied, "why should you disturb the bones of those whom you have already buried, and expose them on the outskirts of the town?"

"It was the custom of our forefathers," he answered, "therefore we continue to observe it."

"Have you no belief in a future existence after death? Is not some idea expressed in the act of exhuming the bones after the flesh is decayed?"

Commoro (loq.).—"Existence AFTER death! How can that be? Can a dead man get out of his grave, unless we dig him out?"

"Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is ended?"

Commoro.—"Certainly; an ox is stronger than a man; but he dies, and his bones last longer; they are bigger. A man's bones break quickly—he is weak."

"Is not a man superior in sense to an ox? Has he not a mind to direct his actions?"

Commoro.—"Some men are not so clever as an ox. Men must sow corn to obtain food, but the ox and wild animals can procure it without sowing."

"Do you not know that there is a spirit within you more than flesh? Do you not dream and wander in thought to distant places in your sleep? Nevertheless, your body rests in one spot. How do you account for this?"

Commoro (laughing).—"Well, how do YOU account for it? It is a thing I cannot understand; it occurs to me every night."

"The mind is independent of the body; the actual body can be fettered, but the mind is uncontrollable; the body will die and will become dust, or be eaten by vultures, but the spirit will exist for ever."

Commoro.—"Where will the spirit live?"

"Where does fire live? Cannot you produce a fire (The natives always produce fire by rubbing two sticks together.) by rubbing two sticks together, yet you SEE not the fire in the wood. Has not that fire, that lies harmless and unseen in the sticks, the power to consume the whole country? Which is the stronger, the small stick that first PRODUCES the fire, or the fire itself? So is the spirit the element within the body, as the element of fire exists in the stick; the element being superior to the substance."

Commoro.—"Ha! Can you explain what we frequently see at night when lost in the wilderness? I have myself been lost, and wandering in the dark, I have seen a distant fire; upon approaching, the fire has vanished, and I have been unable to trace the cause—nor could I find the spot."

"Have you no idea of the existence of spirits superior to either man or beast? Have you no fear of evil except from bodily causes?"

Commoro.—"I am afraid of elephants and other animals when in the jungle at night, but of nothing else."

"Then you believe in nothing; neither in a good nor evil spirit! And you believe that when you die it will be the end of body and spirit; that you are like other animals; and that there is no distinction between man and beast; both disappear, and end at death?"

Commoro.—"Of course they do."

"Do you see no difference in good and bad actions?" Commoro.—"Yes, there are good and bad in men and beasts."

"Do you think that a good man and a bad must share the same fate, and alike die, and end?"

Commoro.—"Yes; what else can they do? How can they help dying? Good and bad all die."

"Their bodies perish, but their spirits remain; the good in happiness, the bad in misery. If you have no belief in a future state, WHY SHOULD A MAN BE GOOD? Why should he not be bad, if he can prosper by wickedness?"

Commoro.—"Most people are bad; if they are strong they take from the weak. The good people are all weak; they are good because they are not strong enough to be bad."

Some corn had been taken out of a sack for the horses, and a few grains lying scattered on the ground, I tried the beautiful metaphor of St. Paul as an example of a future state. Making a small hole with my finger in the ground, I placed a grain within it: "That," I said, "represents you when you die." Covering it with earth, I continued, "That grain will decay, but from it will rise the plant that will produce a reappearance of the original form."

Commoro.—"Exactly so; that I understand. But the ORIGINAL grain does NOT rise again; it rots like the dead man, and is ended; the fruit produced is not the same grain that we buried, but the PRODUCTION of that grain: so it is with man—I die, and decay, and am ended; but my children grow up like the fruit of the grain. Some men have no children, and some grains perish without fruit; then all are ended."

I was obliged to change the subject of conversation. In this wild naked savage there was not even a superstition upon which to found a religious feeling; there was a belief in matter; and to his understanding everything was MATERIAL. It was extraordinary to find so much clearness of perception combined with such complete obtuseness to anything ideal.

Giving up the religious argument as a failure, I resolved upon more practical inquiries.

The Turks had only arrived in the Latooka country in the preceding year. They had not introduced the cowrie shell; but I observed that every helmet was ornamented with this species; it therefore occurred to me that they must find their way into the country from Zanzibar.

In reply to my inquiries, Commoro pointed to the south, from which he said they arrived in his country, but he had no idea from whence they came. The direction was sufficient to prove that they must be sent from the east coast, as Speke and Grant had followed the Zanzibar traders as far as Karagwe, the 2 degrees S. lat.

Commoro could not possibly understand my object in visiting the Latooka country; it was in vain that I attempted to explain the intention of my journey. He said, "Suppose you get to the great lake; what will you do with it? What will be the good of it? If you find that the large river does flow from it, what then? What's the good of it?"

I could only assure him, that in England we had an intimate knowledge of the whole world, except the interior of Africa, and that our object in exploring was to benefit the hitherto unknown countries by instituting legitimate trade, and introducing manufactures from England in exchange for ivory and other productions. He replied that the Turks would never trade fairly; that they were extremely bad people, and that they would not purchase ivory in any other way than by bartering cattle, which they stole from one tribe to sell to another.

Our conversation was suddenly terminated by one of my men running in to the tent with the bad news that one of the camels had dropped down and was dying. The report was too true. He was poisoned by a well-known plant that he had been caught in the act of eating. In a few hours he died. There is no more stupid animal than the camel. Nature has implanted in most animals an instinctive knowledge of the plants suitable for food, and they generally avoid those that are poisonous: but the camel will eat indiscriminately anything that is green; and if in a country where the plant exists that is well known by the Arabs as the "camel poison," watchers must always accompany the animals while grazing. The most fatal plant is a creeper, very succulent, and so beautifully green that its dense foliage is most attractive to the stupid victim. The stomach of the camel is very subject to inflammation, which is rapidly fatal. I have frequently seen them, after several days of sharp desert marching, arrive in good pasture, and die, within a few hours, of inflammation caused by repletion. It is extraordinary how they can exist upon the driest and apparently most innutritious food. When other animals are starving, the camel manages to pick up a subsistence, eating the ends of barren, leafless twigs, the dried sticks of certain shrubs, and the tough dry paper-like substance of the dome palm, about as succulent a breakfast as would be a green umbrella and a Times newspaper. With intense greediness the camel, although a hermit in simplicity of fare in hard times, feeds voraciously when in abundant pasture, always seeking the greenest shrubs. The poison-bush becomes a fatal bait.

The camel is by no means well understood in Europe. Far from being the docile and patient animal generally described, it is quite the reverse, and the males are frequently dangerous. They are exceedingly perverse; and are, as before described, excessively stupid. For the great deserts they are wonderfully adapted, and without them it would be impossible to cross certain tracts of country for want of water.

Exaggerated accounts have been written respecting the length of time that a camel can travel without drinking. The period that the animal can subsist without suffering from thirst depends entirely upon the season and the quality of food. Precisely as in Europe sheep require but little water when fed upon turnips, so does the camel exist almost without drinking during the rainy season when pastured upon succulent and dewy herbage. During the hottest season, when green herbage ceases to exist in the countries inhabited by camels, they are led to water every alternate day, thus they are supposed to drink once in forty-eight hours; but when upon the march across deserts, where no water exists, they are expected to carry a load of from five to six hundred pounds, and to march twenty-five miles per day, for three days, without drinking, but to be watered on the fourth day. Thus a camel should drink the evening before the start, and he will carry his load one hundred miles without the necessity of drinking; not, however, without suffering from thirst. On the third day's march, during the hot simoom, the camel should drink if possible; but he can endure the fourth day.

This peculiarity of constitution enables the camel to overcome obstacles of nature that would otherwise be insurmountable. Not only can he travel over the scorching sand of the withering deserts, but he never seeks the shade. When released from his burden he kneels by his load in the burning sand, and luxuriates in the glare of a sun that drives all other beasts to shelter. The peculiar spongy formation of the foot renders the camel exceedingly sure, although it is usual to believe that it is only adapted for flat, sandy plains. I have travelled over mountains so precipitous that no domestic animal but the camel could have accomplished the task with a load. This capability is not shared generally by the race, but by a breed belonging to the Hadendowa Arabs, between the Red Sea and Taka. There is quite as great a variety in the breeds of camels as of horses. Those most esteemed in the Soudan are the Bishareen; they are not so large as others, but are exceedingly strong and enduring.

The average value of a baggage camel among the Soudan Arabs is fifteen dollars, but a good "hygeen," or riding dromedary, is worth from fifty to a hundred and fifty dollars, according to his capabilities. A thoroughly good hygeen is supposed to travel fifty miles a day, and to continue this pace for five days, carrying only his rider and a small water-skin or girba. His action should be so easy that his long ambling trot should produce that peculiar movement adopted by a nurse when hushing a child to sleep upon her knee. This movement is delightful, and the quick elastic step of a first-class animal imparts an invigorating spirit to the rider; and were it not for the intensity of the sun, he would willingly ride for ever. The difference of action and of comfort to the rider between a common camel and a high class hygeen is equal to that between a thoroughbred and a heavy dray-horse.