work, when to my horror I saw the Crocodile
in mid-river far below the point which we had
rounded, gliding with the speed of an arrow
towards the falls over the treacherous calm water
Human strength availed nothing now, and we
watched it in agony, for I had three favourites
in her Kalulu, Mauredi, and Ferajji; and of the
others, two, Rehani Makua and Wadi Jumah
were also very good men. It soon reached the
island which cleft the falls, and was swept down
the left branch. We saw it whirled round three
or four times, then plunged down into the depths,
out of which the stern presently emerged pointed
upward, and we knew then that Kalulu and his
canoe-mates were no more.
Fast upon this terrible catastrophe, before we
could begin to bewail their loss, another canoe
with two men in it darted past the point, borne
by irresistibly on the placid but swift current
to apparent, nay, almost certain destruction. I
despatched my boat’s crew up along the cliffs
to warn the forgetful people that in mid-stream
was certain death, and shouted out commands
for the two men to strike for the left shore.
The steersman by a strange chance shot his
canoe over the falls, and, dexterously edging
his canoe towards the left shore a mile below,
he and his companion contrived to spring ashore
and were saved. As we observed them clamber
over the rocks to approach a point opposite us,
rMarch 29,18771 A DAY OF HORROR.
[ Kalulu Falls. J
and finally sit down, regarding us in silence
across the river, our pity and love gushed strong
towards them, but we could utter nothing of it.
The roar of the falls completely mocked and
overpowered the feeble human voice.
Before the boat’s crew could well reach the
descending canoes, the boulders being very large
and offering great obstacles to rapid progress,
a third canoe—but a small and light one— with
only one man, the brave lad Soudi, who escaped
from the spears of the Wanyaturu assassins in
1875, darted by, and he cried out, as he perceived
himself to be drifting helplessly towards the
falls, “ La il Allah,' il Allah”—There is but one
God .“ I am lost! Master!” He was then seen
to address himself to what fate had in store for
him. We watched him for a few moments, and
then saw him drop. Out of the shadow of the
fall he presently emerged, dropping from terrace
to terrace, precipitated down, then whirled round,
caught by great heavy waves, which whisked
him to right and left, and struck madly at him,
and yet his canoe did not sink, but he and it
were swept behind the lower end of the island,
and then darkness fell upon the day of horror.
Nine men lost in one afternoon!
This last accident, I was told, was caused by
the faithlessness of the crew. One man, utterly
unnerved by his fear of the river, ran away and
hid in the bushes; the two others lost their hold