CHAPTER VIII.
Fighting -betimes—Blazing a path—We take an island by
storm— A desperate dilemma— Road-making under fire—
A miraculous escape—A terrible march—Peace by stratagem
—Below the Fifth Cataract— Our cannibal captives—Fighting
the Wana-Rukura — The Wana-Rukura islanders—Approaching
the Seventh Cataract— A deserted island—The
Seventh Cataract of the Stanley Falls—The fish of the
cataracts— Clear of the Stanley Falls.
(January 4— 18, 1877,)
A t 4 A.M. of the 4th January we were awake,
cooking betimes the food that was to strengthen
us for the task that lay before us, while the
screaming lemur and the soko still alarmed the
dark forest with their weird cries.
We were left undisturbed until 8 A.M., when
the canoes of the Mwana Ntaba were observed
to cross over to the left bank, and in response
to their signals the forest behind our camp was
soon alive with wild men. Frank distributed
thirty rounds to each of the forty-three guns
which now remained to us. Including my own
guns, we possessed only forty-eight altogether,
as Manwa Sera had lost four Sniders' in the
Ukassa Rapid, and by the capsizing of the two
r Jan. 4, I®77- 1 A S E V E N HOURS* FIGHT.
[Mwana N tabaJ
nnoes in the tempest, which struck us as we
crossed the Livingstone below its confluence
with the Lowwa, we had lost four muskets.
Rut more terrible for our enemies than Sniders
or muskets was the courage of despair that no
n e r v e d every heart and kept cool and resolu
WBy river'the cannibals had but little chance
of success, and this the Mwana Ntaba aft«
very few rounds from our guns discover, th y
therefore allied themselves with the Baswa tribe,
which during the night had crossed over from
its islands, below the first falls. Until ro “ k
we held our own safely in the camp, but then
breaking out of it we charged on the foe,^ .
until 3 P.M. were incessantly at wor
„«r men received wounds, and were
killed To prevent them becoming
cannibals, « consigned them to the swift brown
flood of the Livingstone.
The Mwana Ntaba and the Baswas at length
retired and though we momentarily expec e
a visit from th J each day, for the next two
or three days we were unmolested.
Early on the morning of the 5 * I began o
explore the First Cataract of the
I found a small stream about two hundred yards
wide, separated by a lateral dyke of igneous
rocks from the main stream, whtph‘
boat safely down for a couple of mile* Then
th ro u gh t h e d a r k co n t inen t , v o l . III.