296 THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT. rJan- 8, 1877,
L Cheandoah. J
steer clear of the Bakumu savages of the left
bank, whose shouts and fierce yells came pealing
to our ears, and were heard even above the
roar and tremendous crash of the cataract. As
I travelled round the island, many desperate
ideas suggested themselves to me, and if I had
been followed by a hundred practised and daring
men it might have been possible to have
dragged the canoes the length of the island
past the first terrace of the cataract, and, after
dashing across to Ntunduru Island, to have
dragged them through its jungle and risked the
falls by Asama Island; but there were not thirty
men in the entire Expedition capable of listening
to orders and implicitly obeying instructions.
To the east of Cheandoah the right branch
was again forked by another island, and the
whole face of the river was wild beyond description,
and the din of its furious waves stunning;
while the western branch, such was its force,
went rushing down a terrace, and then swept
round in an extensive whirlpool, with a central
depression quite eighteen inches below the outer
rim. We pushed a rotten and condemned canoe
above the fall, watched it shoot down like an
arrow, and circle round that terrible whirling
pool, and the next instant saw it drawn in by
that dreadful suction and presently ejected stern
foremost 30 yards below. Close to the bank
were nooks and basin-like formations in the trap
rjan. 9. 1877-1 TAKING THE BULL 1 B Y THE HORNS. 2 9 7 Bakumu. J
rocks in which every now and again the water
became strongly agitated, and receding about
twelve inches, would heave upwards with a
rushing and gurgling that was awful.
There was only one way to resolve the
problem, and that was to meet the Bakumu and
dare their worst, and then to drag the canoes
through the dense forest on the left bank.
Accordingly, we prepared for what we felt
assured would be a stubborn contest. At early
dawn of the 9th January, with quick throbbing
pulses, we stole up river for about a mile, and
then with desperate haste dashed across to the
shore, where we became immediately engaged.
We floated down to the bend just above the
cataract, and there secured our boats and canoes
out of the influence of the stream. Leaving
Frank with eight musketeers and sixty axes to
form a stockade, I led thirty-six men in a line
through the bushes, and drove the united Baswa
and Bakumu backward to their villages, the first
of which were situated a mile from the river.
Here a most determined stand was made by
them, for they had piled up heaps of brushwood,
and cut down great trees to form defences, leaving
only a few men in front. We crept through
the jungle on the south side and succeeded in
forcing an entrance, and driving them out. We
had thus won peace for this day, and retreated
to our camp. We then divided the Expedition