Chapter X Lake Kivu
An abrupt descent led us through many straggling villages and endless banana plantations to the German Soudanese post on the extreme south-west point of the lake.
We camped on a small rise opposite the Government stockade and overlooking the lake; the outlet is a long, thin arm, narrowing to where the Rusisi tumbles over the first cascades, and starts on its broken course through the hills to the point whence it finally issues on its long, long journey by Tanganyika to the sea. The body of water leaving the lake is small, but, with the numerous tributaries from east and west, soon swells to a considerable size; and forty miles from Tanganyika it is of about the same volume as the Thames at Richmond.
The south-western extremity of Kivu is really a small lake in itself, separated as it is from the main body of the lake by a narrow neck, which is again almost blocked by a network of islands.
On all sides long straggling promontories jut out into the water, cutting the coast-line into a multitude of lochs and bays.
They are the spurs of the wild groups of hills which enclose Kivu on the east, south, and west sides, and which, ever increasing in height as they recede from the lake-shore, eventually culminate in the mighty peaks which crown the enclosing walls of this vast Rift Valley, in which Tanganyika, Kivu, the Albert Edward, and the Albert Lakes are but residuary pools.
Miles and miles of banana plantations clothe the lower hills, and vast fields of peas give a touch of green to the purples, reds, and yellows of the luxuriant pastures. There are no trees in all the Kivu region nearer than the summits of the distant peaks and the slopes of the volcanoes, with the exception of a very occasional solitary tree on the extreme summit of some of the conspicuous hills. These latter are left untouched, despite the value of wood, and would appear to be held in reverential awe; they form conspicuous landmarks, which may be the primary cause of the superstitions that attach to them. Their existence points to the country having been at one time more or less wooded; and the trees which served no essential purpose have fallen before the requirements of the enormous population.
This same enormous population, and the pervading air of prosperity, are a striking indication of the possibilities of native races left to work out their own destiny.
The far-famed unity and power of the Ruanda people have deterred the Arabs from making slave-raids into their country, and with the exception of one or two Belgian looting expeditions, which fortunately met with no success, they have been left in peace.
All the southern and eastern coast-line drops abruptly into the lake, and there is no beach or marshland such as are found on the other lakes of Central Africa, but the feeding-streams, at their junction with the lake, become papyrus swamps.
There were only ten soldiers in the fort, and they rolled in the lap of luxury, calmly relieving the neighbouring population of what they (the soldiers) considered superfluities, such as goats, sheep, fowls, etc. This is the invariable result of placing natives in a post of responsibility without constant supervision.
As to their duties, they had none; and it was patent that the sole raison d’être of these posts was to be able on the day of reckoning to show a definite asset, a claim to effective occupation—in fine, a fulfilment of the duties imposed upon European powers by the Berlin Conference.
The Soudanese officer in charge was most friendly, and the neighbouring chiefs arrived in long procession and paid their respects. They presented us with several goats and sheep, and when we expressed the wish to purchase more, they brought them along in a ceaseless stream. Subsequently we discovered that the affable Soudanese officer and his brother ruffians, hearing of our approach, had annexed several herds from some villages two days north; these were the beasts that arrived in such bewildering profusion. They had insisted on the owners accepting a handful of beads, thereby establishing a claim to legitimate purchase, and compelled the local natives to bring the beasts in to us as their own property.
There are numerous small villages in the vicinity of the post, and the people, who live in the most wretched huts, thrown up like hayricks, appear to have been very thoroughly bled by their undesirable neighbours.
An extraordinary feature of Kivu, and the rivers and small lakes of the Kivu system, is the absence of hippopotami and crocodiles. As they swarm in Tanganyika and the Rusisi to the south, and in the Rutchuru and Albert Edward Lake to the north, this is very remarkable. Probably the abrupt nature of the shore, the depth of water, and the absence of sandbanks and shelving beaches may account for it. The only possible landing-and-resting-places would be the papyrus swamps that I have mentioned as existing at the mouths of the streams; and the water, hurrying down from high altitudes, and shaded from the sun by the papyrus, is here intensely cold, and therefore unsuited to their requirements.
The natives brought us quantities of fish similar in appearance to bream, and of most delicate flavour. The same fish is common in Tanganyika and the Albert Edward. This was the only species that I saw in Kivu, and the natives told me that there are no large fish, such as are found in the other lakes. A conspicuous feature is the extraordinary number of large otters, which are to be seen in scores swimming and diving in every bay. Lake Ngami in South Africa is also remarkable for the number of otters, the skins of which are obtainable in quantities from the natives.
There are many butterflies on the rich pasture-land, the most common kind being almost identical with our Coleas edusa.
After a day’s rest we marched to Ishangi, the base of Dr. Kandt, who is making an exhaustive study of all the “district.” He was most kind, and gave us much useful information and advice.
His work is being done with characteristic German thoroughness. In a recent surveying expedition, in the course of which he travelled 560 miles, he found his error on rounding up the trip amounted to less than a quarter of a mile. This astounding result was obtained by counting every step, and taking three bearings a minute. It is this amazing attention to detail which makes the Teuton so formidable a competitor. Amongst many most interesting specimens, he had the finest pair of tusks that it has ever been my fortune to see. Unfortunately we had no scales, and it was impossible to judge of their weight. The elephant had been shot in Mushari, the country where I afterwards narrowly escaped being eaten. Hearing from the natives that the beast was in a small gully close to camp, Dr. Kandt sallied forth with four soldiers; only the back of the elephant was visible over the scrub, and they fired a volley at four hundred yards. One lucky shot hit the knee and disabled the beast, when the gallant doctor established a valid claim to having killed an elephant, as he naïvely remarked, by finishing it off. Close to Ishangi is Lubengera, the site of a former Congo Free State station, where a few black troops had been posted to raid cattle from the rich cattle districts of Lubengera and Bugoie.
The mean of my aneroid readings on the lake level was 5,000 ft., and the height of the hills contiguous with the lake ranged between 5,500 and 6,000 ft.
At Ishangi we purchased some spears, amongst others an interesting specimen from Bunyabungu, on the west side of the lake. It was simply a long, coarse spike, and the natives said that the people of Bunyabungu could not manage the final stage of beating it out into a blade. Dr. Kandt warned us about the thieving propensities and light-fingered ability of the Wa Ruanda, and told us how he had suffered from their depredations. One thief had entered his closed tent under the nose of the sentry, and abstracted a pair of trousers from under the pillow on which the doctor was lying. Another had removed the fly of his headman’s tent. Consequently, the following night we took the precaution of carefully closing our tents, and of placing all the loads in the third tent, with men sleeping at each end. Notwithstanding, the following morning a tin box weighing 60 lbs. had been taken from my tent, and had completely vanished, while two canvas kit-bags had been abstracted, cut open, and the desirable contents removed. Thus, at one fell swoop, we lost our sextant, artificial horizon, boiling-point thermometers, a bag of one hundred sovereigns, all my trousers, stockings, and socks, and many valuable papers, books, and photographs. On this discovery we summoned the chief, our old friend Ngenzi, who had been hanging on our flanks for about forty miles. He arrived with a supercilious smile and a host of attendants. Having explained the situation, I asked him what he intended to do. “There are many bad men in my country of whom I know nothing,” he answered, and again that evil smile flitted over his countenance. It was obvious that bluffing was to be the order of the day; so, taking the same line, we clapped him into the guard-tent, stopped his drinks and smokes, put a guard with fixed bayonets over him, and delivered an ultimatum to the effect that, unless the stolen goods were restored intact by midday, we should take further steps. Of course he protested absolute ignorance, but the sudden and resolute nature of our proceedings took him unawares, and for once the guile of the native failed him. Instead of protesting to a finish, which would have left us powerless to act, he produced by his men a few of the articles that seemed most important to him, such as caps and native shirts. This proved his complicity, and at twelve noon we decided to act. Sharp opened a case of Snider cartridges, issued rounds to the ten men who carried guns, and prepared the camp for defence; while I took my revolver and an old French cutlass purchased in Cornhill, and with my two Watonga carrying my rifles, climbed the hill on which the chief village was situated. Hundreds of natives with spears turned out and showed signs of an intention to resist me.
I harangued them, explained what had happened, and told them that my quarrel was with Ngenzi, and with Ngenzi only; that he had allowed thieves to come and steal the goods of strangers in his country, strangers who had come to see their country, to pass through it on a long journey to far lands, and who had come in peace paying for what they (the natives) brought, receiving and giving presents. I then told them that I was going to take all Ngenzi’s cattle, drive it in to the German post, and let the Germans, their overlords, decide between us. I warned them that any man coming to the camp would be shot, but that they might bring food as usual for sale. Eventually, without firing a shot, I collected and drove in to the camp one hundred and ninety head of cattle.
They made a few tentative rushes at me, but were repulsed by the simple expedient of waving the cutlass in the air. Such were the terrible Ruanda people, whose reputation has spread far and wide, and whose country has been left alone for fear of their military organization. At least five thousand men sat on the hill-tops and watched three men with a revolver, cutlass, and two rifles drive off one hundred and ninety head of cattle; and I am inclined to think that most Central African warfare could be settled as easily. Had I had despatches to write I might have acted differently.
The Germans, overestimating the power of the Ruanda kingdom, had weakened the white man’s prestige by subsidizing Ngenzi with extravagant gifts of cloth; and he imagined that he could bleed any one who came into his country.
I have always utterly refused to pay “hongo”7 to any native, and never give presents until I have received one. Then, if the present is a liberal one, I give a yet more liberal present; but if the present is niggardly, I give the exact market value of the goods received, unless, of course, the niggardliness is due to poverty.
We placed a strong guard over the cattle, and removed our camp from the undesirable vicinity of the villages to a round, flat-topped hill half a mile to the south. At one end we pitched our three tents and arranged the boys’ tents to complete the circle. Inside we fixed a long rope plaited from banana fibre, and kept in position by spears. Inside this circle we drove all the cattle, and we placed pickets round the side of the hill to guard against surprise or an attempt to stampede the herd. The moon rose about midnight, and during the hours of darkness Sharp and I took it in turns to go the rounds. The noise was appalling, as some of the cows had lost their calves; and one or two attempts were made to break through, but we succeeded in quieting them before the panic became general. Thanks to our precautions, the night passed without incident, and in the morning Sharp drove the whole herd over to Ishangi and gave them into the charge of the Soudanese, whom we had summoned from the post at the tail of Kivu.
Of course, immensely exaggerated accounts of our proceedings spread throughout the land, and the chief near Dr. Kandt went to him and asked him whether he had better fly from the country. He was promptly reassured, and the doctor kindly came over to see if he could be of any assistance, while the Soudanese officer sent his men to scour the outlying villages to see if they could find any of our property, but without avail.
Fortunately the natives did not attack Sharp on the road, and with the exception of some difficulty in crossing bogs, he arrived without mishap.
We sent in an exhaustive report to Lieut. von Gravert, and released Ngenzi with a caution. He promptly made up for lost time in the way of tobacco and pombe, and was most respectful. That sinister smile has for ever faded from his dusky features, and I am sure the lesson has been of inestimable benefit to him.
For many days to come it was curious to see the military appearance of our Manyema: no one stirred from the camp without two spears, a sword-knife, and, if possible, a gun with fixed bayonet.
The smaller fry were delighted at the humiliation of the mighty Mtusi, and many came in to do obeisance and thank us for our action.
Society in Ruanda is divided into two castes, the Watusi and the Wahutu.
The Watusi, who are practically identical with the Wahuma, are the descendants of a great wave of Galla invasion that reached even to Tanganyika. They still retain their pastoral instincts, and refuse to do any work other than the tending of cattle; and so great is their affection for their beasts, that rather than sever company they will become slaves, and do the menial work of their beloved cattle for the benefit of their conquerors. This is all the more remarkable when one takes into consideration their inherent pride of race and contempt for other peoples, even for the white man. They are most jealous of their descent, and no Mtusi woman ever marries any one but a Mtusi. A Mtusi man will take another woman as a working wife, but his true wife is invariably of his own stock, and her children alone can succeed to his position.
The half-castes, and individuals with any trace of Mtusi blood, form a medium between the full-blooded Watusi and the aborigines, whom they call Wahutu, but associate only with the upper class, or are the paramount chiefs of insignificant districts. Many signs of superior civilization, observable in the peoples with whom the Watusi have come into contact, are traceable to this Galla influence.
The hills are terraced, thus increasing the area of cultivation, and obviating the denudation of the fertile slopes by torrential rains. In many places irrigation is carried out on a sufficiently extensive scale, and the swamps are drained by ditches. Artificial reservoirs are built with side troughs for watering cattle. The fields are in many instances fenced in by planted hedges of euphorbia and thorn, and similar fences are planted along the narrow parts of the main cattle tracks, to prevent the beasts from straying or trampling down the cultivation.
There is also an exceptional diversity of plants cultivated, such as hungry rice, maize, red and white millet, several kinds of beans, peas, bananas, and the edible arum. Some of the higher-growing beans are even trained on sticks planted for the purpose. Pumpkins and sweet potatoes are also common; and the Watusi own and tend enormous herds of cattle, goats, and sheep. Owing to the magnificent pasturage, the milk is of excellent quality, and they make large quantities of butter. They are exceedingly clever with their beasts, and have many calls which the cattle understand. At milking-time they light smoke-fires to keep the flies from irritating the beasts.
All the dairy utensils are of wood, and are kept scrupulously clean; but they have an unpleasant method of repairing cracked jars by filling up the crevices with cow-dung, and of using the urine as the cleansing medium.
They are tall, slightly-built men, of graceful, nonchalant carriage, and their features are delicate and refined. I noticed many faces that, bleached and set in a white collar, would have been conspicuous for character in a London drawing-room. The legal type was especially pronounced.
Centuries of undisputed sway have left their mark in the blasé, supercilious manner of the majority; and in many ways they are a remarkable and far from unattractive people.
The Wahutu are their absolute antithesis. They are the aborigines of the country, and any pristine originality or character has been effectually stamped out of them. Hewers of wood and drawers of water, they do all the hard work, and unquestioning, in abject servility, give up the proceeds on demand. Their numerical proportion to the Watusi must be at least a hundred to one, yet they defer to them without protest; and in spite of the obvious hatred in which they hold their overlords, there seems to be no friction.
Formerly there was a far-reaching and effective feudal system, which constituted the proverbial strength of the kingdom of Ruanda.
The king was supreme, and the sole owner of all the cattle in the country; the large provinces were administered by prominent Watusi, usually blood-relations of his Majesty, whose power locally was absolute, but who were directly responsible to him for the acts of the subordinate chiefs and for the loss of cattle. Each subordinate, again, had the use of a portion of the cattle, for which he was directly responsible to the satrap of the district. The king’s title is “Kigeri;” “Ntwala” is the title of the satraps; and the term “Sultani” is usually applied to the smaller chiefs. The old Kigeri died, and the rule passed to his son Musinga, who appears to have been a mere child.
There is a native superstition against the Kigeri being seen by strangers, and consequently a substitute, an individual known to the natives as Pamba Rugamba, has been presented to the Germans who have visited the Residence. The child appears also to have died, and the power now is divided between Kisunga and Gwamu or Mwami. Mwami was the name told to me by many natives, but it appears to be merely a title, as other natives addressed me as “Mwami.” These two men were described as the sons of the old Kigeri, possibly by another wife than the mother of Musinga; but son is such an elastic term with natives that they may have been nephews. This division has materially weakened the strength of the Ruanda kingdom.
In Africa almost every kingdom is divided against itself, as well as against every other, so that unity is indeed strength. And it was this unity which constituted the power of Ruanda and of the Zulus, just as at the present day it constitutes the power of the mighty Dinka and Shilluk tribes of the Nile.
While Sharp was away I purchased several curios from the natives, and amongst others a most curious bracelet that I was informed came from the Nyema district of the Congo. It consisted of a semi-tubular circle of iron, the hollow being filled up with a crude ivory mosaic held in place by rubber.
The Germans, who have a favourable opinion of the possibilities of the Ruanda country, are talking of sending emigrants there. The soil is very rich, but the country is so inaccessible that I fail to see how they could be self-supporting—a desirable condition for emigrants—or how they could cultivate anything for export that would bear the cost of transport.
Amongst the natives who brought produce for sale were two pigmies; they were most curious little fellows, and appeared to be immensely powerful. I fancy they were not quite pure-bred dwarfs, or else they had been enslaved when young, as they had none of the shyness so characteristic of this singular little people, and appeared to be living with the local natives.
To the south-east the enclosing line of hills culminates in four large peaks of 8,000 to 9,000 ft. All four are conspicuous landmarks for many miles.
A favourite device of the Manyema carriers, when in a country of thieves, is to conceal a load of cloth during the night; in the morning they arrive in great distress, and say that a load has been stolen; nothing can be done; the unsuspecting traveller abuses the natives, the land, and other things, and the wily Manyema annexes the lost load on his return home. To obviate this, we informed them that every man in future would be held responsible for his own load, and that he would have to make good, out of his pay, any loss or damage. This was doubly necessary, as Swahilis and Manyema generally contrive to find a boy or starveling who will carry their load for a consideration. Apropos of this point, I find the following in my diary: “Talk about Charles Kingsley’s description of sweating as a result of civilization! Here we have porters hiring natives who hire others to the fourth degree, each walking along like a gentleman and pocketing his proportion. There is nothing new in this world.”
The difficulty of preventing our Manyema ruffians from swindling the natives was almost insuperable. After the Ngenzi fracas, I discovered that they were making capital out of our action to extort things from the natives; so I insisted that for a time every transaction should be performed before me. If a carrier wished to buy a bunch of bananas from a native, he brought the native with the bananas to my tent, and they bargained, and the price was paid in my presence.
One of the blackest of our villains promptly sent his small boy out into a neighbouring plantation, whence he issued in the scanty garb of a local native with a bunch of bananas. The villain, the boy, and the bananas appeared before me, and they solemnly performed the bargaining and payment. But I had been waiting for that villain, and without appearing to do so, watched the issue. They all repaired to their tent, and the boy resumed his garments, when they fell to on what they fondly believed was a cheap feed—a belief which a ceaseless succession of fatigue-duties soon dispelled.
Three fiords, several miles in length, necessitated a wide detour. The scenery was superb: a lacework of bays, lochs, and inlets with endless choppy waves of hills sweeping away to the great purple surf of the distant ranges; islets galore, and the vast rugged mass of the island of Kwijwi as a background.
For several days we had much trouble in allaying the fears of the natives; terrible accounts had preceded us, and the entire population fled to the hills on our approach. The fact of our carriers being Manyema, a name of terror throughout Central Africa, was not reassuring to the poor creatures, whose only knowledge of Manyema had been gathered from the Congo Free State soldiers, who for a time had been posted on Kivu, and from reports of the atrocities committed by the revolted troops during the past five years. Accounts also of the cannibals who were battering at the gates of Bugoie must have reached them from their northern kinsfolk. Black masses of natives in a silvery sea of glinting spearheads watched us from every hill-top. Fortunately we had several days’ food for our men, and when the natives saw that we passed through without touching even a bunch of bananas, they were reassured, and a few were eventually induced to approach and talk. We caught two of our men stealing, and inflicted condign punishment before a small body of natives who were in camp, explaining the circumstances, and telling them, in case of a repetition of the offence, to come and lay a complaint. But it would be easier to stop a monkey from scratching than a Manyema from stealing; and as the state of unrest of the native population was a grave danger, and petty thefts would probably have precipitated an attack, which we were ill prepared to repulse, we confined all our boys to camp, made water-carrying for the whole camp a fatigue-duty, and established a market where the natives might sell their produce under our personal supervision. I explained the expediency of our action, and told them that there were some such abandoned ruffians amongst them that they must all suffer for the misdeeds of the miscreants. They appeared satisfied, but as we were sitting down to lunch, I noticed an unusual stir in the lines. On going out I found that they were all packing up their belongings and preparing to depart; about thirty were already moving off. It was obviously an attempt to bluff us, as the experience of the boys who ran away at Tanganyika had taught them that it would be impossible to avoid detection even if they succeeded in passing through Ngenzi’s country, which they knew would be impossible in view of the then state of the natives. It was a critical moment. If the camp broke up, the entire expedition would be inevitably massacred by the Ruanda. I took my rifle and dashed off in pursuit, accompanied by my two Watonga; while Sharp, revolver in one hand and rifle in the other, threatened to shoot the first man who moved. Rushing over a rise, I saw the ringleader, one of our worst villains, and the originator of the idea, leading about two hundred yards away; I fired at him, just as he turned the corner of the hill, fully intending to drop him. The bullet removed his fez. Down he dropped into the grass, and the whole thirty did likewise. After a few shots in the air, to keep up their anxiety, I sent a headman out to order them back to camp, saying that the affair was now ended, and that I should not know who had left camp. As I expected, every one was present at roll-call, half an hour after dark. The position was saved. In the course of a long harangue, I informed them again of the absolute necessity of confining them to camp till the natives should be reassured; explained that I had spared the ringleader this time, and had removed his hat to show him with what ease I could have killed him had I wished to do so (a remark that my gun-bearer, Makanjira, assured them was true); said that it was for their benefit that we desired friendly relations with the population; we had no desire to see a lot of dirty natives, we wished nothing from them; had we not, as they well knew, food for many weeks in boxes? But if the natives refused to come, where would they be able to buy goats, fowls, tobacco, and all the things that rejoiced the stomachs of men?
The bluff was outbluffed, and with ringing cheers the men returned to their fires to jabber and howl with laughter far into the night. From discontent to merry laughter is but a momentary transition with the African.
From the ridge on which we were encamped we looked down upon a perfect spot, a long arm of the lake winding in between striking hills, terminating in a small bay. Banana palms with the tiny villages nestling in their midst fringed the shore. Weird little islands covered with ibis and demoiselle crane were dotted about. A wall of papyrus showed where the tumbling stream that danced down the encircling hills entered the lake, and the glorious colouring and strong shadows brought out the picture into striking relief. Sharp said it reminded him of Japan; there was an air of dolce far niente heavy with the lush glamour of the tropics that carried me back to the South Seas.
The following day we succeeded, after much shouting, in inducing a half-bred Mtusi to come to us. We gave him a present, and told him to go and explain that we wanted to buy provisions; and that if the natives would not come we should be compelled, much against our will, to take what was necessary. He departed, promising to do so, but nobody appeared. After waiting several hours, I took ten men out with me, and cut sufficient bananas for the men; and though I tried for two days to induce the chief to come for payment, he never appeared. This was the sole occasion during the whole of my long trip in Africa when I had to commandeer anything from the natives. I quite agree with Colonel Lugard when he says that it is unnecessary. This was the last time that we had any difficulty with the natives. Seeing that we refrained from looting their fields, they plucked up courage, and came in the same numbers as when we first entered the country. The hordes of warriors whom we had seen sitting on the tops of the hills in the distance came and mingled freely with our men, and a brisk trade started in the numerous products of the country. From many of our camps the scenery was most beautiful; as we rounded the south-eastern corner of the lake, the whole expanse of water opened out before us. The track we followed often led over hills 1,500 ft. above the lake; and from many positions we could look down on the vast oily expanse of water, deep set in its basin of innumerable hills, dotted with a thousand islets, stretching far away till it was lost in the shimmering haze of the northern shore, where, crisp and clear, towered the mighty mass of Mount Götzen, whose jet of smoke alone broke the steel-blue dome of sky.
Close to this part are the sources of the Nyavolongo, which are the real sources of the Victoria Nile. At the actual angle of the lake there is an extensive valley, which is the real frontier of Ngenzi’s district, Mukinyaga. Every available inch of this extensive fertile valley is covered with luxuriant crops of beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and millet. To the east, up this valley, lies the road to the old Kigeri’s residence, which is about five days’ march from the lake.
Here there is a district which is divided up amongst many chiefs, and which seems to have no representative name. At the mouth of the stream that flows down this valley, the lake shores, if possible, are still more broken than elsewhere. The hills which cover the country around Kivu appear to have been sprinkled out of a pepper-pot, they are in the main disconnected, and the country seems almost to have boiled. The hollows are in places filled with papyrus swamps, many of which have drained dry, and now form level lawns a few feet above the lake.
The population round this valley is enormous. The northern wall of the valley rises very abruptly, and the path led along precipitous passes. The scenery is most striking. From the top of this plateau we caught our first glimpse of the volcanoes, the sharp outline of the four main peaks standing out clear and crisp above the misty haze that surrounds their base.
One day’s march brought us to the district of Lubengera, which is remarkable for the number of Watusi. There seems to be no prominent chief among them. The banana plantations are of amazing extent, and literally clothe many of the hills from top to bottom. In this district especially we remarked the extreme neatness of the fields and the scattered nature of the villages. The Ruanda do not live together in great numbers, but are scattered far and wide over the country; their villages would perhaps be more aptly described as farms.
It is remarkable that throughout the whole of this country, as in the valley of the Rusisi, there were no antelope, and until we arrived near the wooded slopes of the volcanoes, where a few of the natives had bushbuck skins, we never saw any traces of their having been obtained.
All the natives of Ruanda are great smokers; they use small, neatly-made, and sometimes grotesquely-carved, black clay pipes. At this stage we were much troubled by complaints from our boys of petty thefts. On going thoroughly into the question, I found that besides the numerous slave boys whom our Manyema carriers had brought up from Ujiji, they had picked up many more on the road. Some of these had recently bolted, taking everything upon which they could lay their hands. As it was desirable to stop this, we had all the boys’ boys brought up, and registered them. All those who could not show that they had come either from Ujiji or Usambara were given twenty-four hours’ notice to quit. I also forbade our carriers to hire local natives to carry their loads, and thus rendered our caravan on the march much more compact, and thereby less open to attack.
On the far coast of the lake two striking hills were plainly visible; these are evidently placed on the two promontories which I have suggested as existing in my map. From the numerous observations which I took, I came to the conclusion that the islands to the north of Kwijwi have either risen since Count Götzen’s visit, or else that he underestimated their size; which seems scarcely possible, as he actually landed on one or two of them.
As we were approaching the north end of the lake, several attempts were made to raid the camp at night, and at one place in particular the thieves were very resolute, and succeeded in stealing many small things from the boys. The sentry came and woke me up during the night, and told me that persistent attempts were being made to enter the camp; so I went out, and taking up my position outside the lines, under the cover of a small bush, I succeeded in capturing one of the thieves by collaring him low. This form of attack was unexpected, and though he was greased he failed to escape. The following morning he was handed over to the chief, and suffered the usual penalty of convicted thieves, his head being cut off and placed on the path, as a warning to others. This fortunate capture definitely settled the thieving question.
After crossing the Kashale, we entered the populous and fertile district of Bugoie. The chief is variously called Gwamu or Mwami, and is now, as I have before stated, one of the joint kings of Ruanda. All the way up this coast the scenery is exquisite; nowhere, except in the sounds of New Zealand, have I ever seen anything so fine, and the nearer we approached to the mighty volcanoes, the more dazzlingly beautiful and the more imposing it became.
At one of our camps we were besieged by an army of biting and poisonous ants, and I was just turning in when they assaulted my tent. Countless thousands swarmed all over my blankets and into my boxes and my clothes, and over every available inch both of my person and belongings. Calling my boys to my rescue, we endeavoured to save at least a blanket, and fled precipitately. But so thick were they that it was impossible to escape them. However, eventually the main body had moved on to other people’s quarters, and I succeeded in rescuing my camp-bed, which I fixed up in another tent with all four legs in basins of water; by this means I managed to pass the night without more than three or four hundred around me. Sharp, who at first had looked upon it as a great joke, became the main object of their attentions during the small hours of the morning.
Here the people became very friendly again, and one chief provided us with two guides and two cattle-men, who undertook to go with us as far as the northern slopes of the volcanoes. One of these guides and one of the cattle-men bolted the following day with a few trifles, but the other two stuck to us well, and found our company so agreeable that they even followed me right through to the Nile, where they met a sad fate.
The Ruanda people are even more superstitious than most Central African natives. They wear medicine (native name dawa) to guard them against every conceivable ill, such as pains in the stomach, leopards, death, etc., etc. It is curious that the natives, like the lower animals, seem to be unable to grasp the fact that they will die; such a thing as a natural death they cannot understand, and always attribute the event to some form of violence, which, if not obvious, they describe as the effect of the “evil eye.” The tip of a cow’s horn, inlaid with ivory, is considered particularly efficacious against a pain in the side; and if a man wears two small leather bottles round his neck, he can never die. A large red bean is a sure preventive against leopards. One native wore an extraordinary bracelet; it was made of wood, and beautifully worked with various metals; the total weight must have been at least two pounds. He promised to come into camp and sell it to me; but, having promised, naturally did not come. Of all the liars in Africa, I believe the people of Ruanda are by far the most thorough. I have pointed to a mountain 13,000 ft. high, at a distance of three miles, and asked my native guide whether there was a mountain there: he would say “No!” On the march, if I asked whether there was water near, and he told me “yes,” I knew that it would take at least six hours to find the next stream, and therefore camped where I was; if, however, he said that there was no water, one could be perfectly certain of finding several streams within the course of the next ten minutes. Even amongst themselves they appear to talk in the same way, and many of the instances, such as I have mentioned, are so extraordinary that I cannot help thinking that it is a custom. I believe at one place on the coast there is a form of Swahili which is spoken backwards, or rather the end of the word is put first. It seems to me to be just conceivable that the same train of reasoning may affect the habits of speech of the Wa Ruanda.
The natives assured me that there were many elephant on the north side of the volcanoes and also to the west, in the countries of Mushari and Gishari; for this reason I was sorely tempted to doubt their existence; however, from Dr. Kandt’s remarks we thought it would be worth while, later on, to go and see.
We had a lot of trouble with our cattle-folk. The head cattle-man was a most persistent, pertinacious scoundrel, and as soon as he was detected in one villainy he invariably tried another; the result being that, although we had ten cows, there was barely enough milk for two people, and butter was quite out of the question. So we determined to take the thing in hand, and make a big effort to find out where the leakage was. As we had expected, under our personal supervision, there was a quantity of milk, enough for us both, and plenty with which we could make butter.
The method of making butter, a task which was entrusted to the headman’s wife, is as follows: The woman squatted down on the ground, and taking an enormous flat gourd, containing milk which had been kept for three days, she proceeded to rock it to and fro, bringing it up short against her thigh. She assured us that, for the purpose of obtaining butter, it was absolutely necessary to insert two small pieces of wood as medicine. Judging from the quantity of butter, I doubted its efficacy; and suspecting that there was some new villainy in hand, as we obtained about a quarter of an ounce of butter from a bucket full of milk, we waited till the process was complete, and then told her to bring the gourd to us. All my doubts as to the efficacy of the two bits of wood were removed when I discovered that they were just large enough to jam in the neck of the gourd, and that, perched on the top of them, was a pound and a half of butter. She was quite unabashed at the discovery, and evidently mentally prayed that she would have better luck next time, which I have no doubt she did, although not in that particular method.
On our last march up the side of the lake the cattle were, owing to the steep nature of the road, left a long way behind; a band of natives attacked them, but the cattle-guard, firing a few rounds, which did more harm to themselves than to anybody else, repulsed the attack. Hearing about it, I sent Makanjira, my gun-bearer, back, and with his help they brought them all in without mishap.
At the north-east corner of the lake there is an abrupt descent, and to the north of the lake the country is flat, gently sloping to the base of the large, active volcano.
Notes
7 Tax on people passing through chief’s territory.