As to you,” I went on, turning towards the headmen,
“ remember that you are getting double pay and double
rations, and, therefore, if you misbehave yourselves, you
will get double punishment. I have but one thing to
add : if a single one of you fires at a native and kills him
without my orders, I will have him shot or hanged on the
spot. That is a ll; go to your quarters.” The next two
days were spent in distributing the loads, nearly forty of
which consisted of curios I had collected since I had left
Lake Nyasa.* I also had a good lot of ivory I had
purchased, and on which I lost some £20. Then, having
taken leave of the King and Katikiro, and bidden goodbye
to the missionaries, who had shown me much kindness,
on the 6th February I shook hands with Captain Gibb and
Scott Elliot, and at last turned my steps towards the
coast
That day we camped near a village only one hour’s
march from Kampala.
There had been as yet no news from Colonel Colvile,
and I was to wait in Usoga for twenty porters, already
overdue, who were to bring the Colonel’s mail from
Unyoro. Captain Macdonald had most nobly given me
a pair of boots, which caused me, however, considerable
torture, and on the third day I had to give them up
and walk in an old pair of shoes I had bought from
a native. Some of the loads were too heavy, and It was
a difficult question how I could carry the twenty-three
days’ food necessary for my men. On the second day
I had, as is usually the case with new porters, to estab*
All these curios were presented by me to the French Museums—Musee
ethnographique du Trocadiro and Museum cFhistoire naturette—but I am sorry
to say that I have not yet had time to classify them. The cost and transport
of these curios came to over £ iooo, but I only received from the French
Government 4000 francs {£160) towards the cost of the whole of my journey,
and on my return I received no thanks and still less reward. If, following
the example of one of my countrymen on the Niger, I had pretended that
Colonel Colvile had tried to poison me, I should most likely, like this traveller,
have been rewarded by a governorship.
456
lish my authority by punishing one of them for stealing
bananas from the natives.
Several of my porters broke down on the third day , but
my anxieties on account of food were somewhat alleviated
by the amiable chief Nansombo, who brought me a good
supply of bananas for my men. I also had the luck to buy
a saddle ox, who carried me magnificently : his only fault
was that he was so fat that his skin rolled about on his
back, and it required the skill of a circus rider to maintain
a balance on him. The men, however, became worse and
worse; on February 10th one of them deserted, and all
were in bad condition. I needed at least twenty fresh
ones before I could get started in earnest.
I camped on the night of the 10th at Kamanyro, in
the midst of a hilly country covered with high grass,
bush, and stones. Next morning I started for the Ripon
. Falls of the Nile. They consist of three cascades divided
by small islands, whence the natives fish, spearing their
prey with a sort of two-pronged harpoon. The current
above the falls is most powerful, and the boats going to the
small islands that stand between the different cascades
are frequently carried away by the current; this had
happened the very day before. On the near banks of the
falls, which are overlooked by steep hills some 160 ft. high,
are a few huts where the native fishermen live; the fish
appear very numerous and are very large. At the foot of
the falls, swim large numbers of cormorants, while above
them crocodiles and hippopotami are as plentiful as in
the Shire itself. During the day I shot a hippopotamus
and two crocodiles. Wishing to send a letter to Mr. Grant,
the official in charge of Usoga, asking him to send me
boats to get my caravan over the river, I hired a native
boat, but when my askari was about to step into it the
boatmen rowed away and disappeared. I sent another
askari to fetch the chief from whose village the boat came
—a certain Molyoa; nothing was heard of him till next
morning, when his Katikiro arrived at half-past six. He
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