CHAPTER VI.
Mutiny in the camp — Again among the cataracts — Frank’s
body found— The fall of the Edwin Arnold River—Tired
out!— Wholesale desertiqn — More cataracts— “ Good-bye
my brother; 'nothing can save you!”—Three miles in thirty
days—Saved again!—The Jason found.
(June 4— Ju ly 3, 1877.)
‘ June 4.—We are all so unnerved with the
terrible accident of yesterday that we are utterly
unable to decide what is best to do. We
have a horror of the river now, and being far
apart— over eighty men being at Mowa— we are
unable to communicate with each other, for the
journey overland to Mowa is long and fatiguing.
The natives of Zinga strongly sympathize with
me, which is a consolation in my affliction.
June 5.—My troubles increase. A messenger
came this morning from Manwa Sera bearing
the terrible news that the people have mutinied
and refuse to work. They say they would
prefer hoeing for the heathen to following me
longer, for they say that the end of all will be
death. The Mowa natives have also infected
them with their silly superstitions, by talking
about the Spirits of the Falls, for it appears
that the late catastrophe has elicited a host of
legends in connection with Massassa. Had we
sacrificed a goat to the two falls, they say, the
accident would never have occurred! Though
Muslims by profession, my people are also
heathen. But I have not myself recovered from
the shock, and I judge their feelings by my
own, therefore it is better they should rest
where they are. . , IT,
“ June 9.—-I left Zinga before dawn with Uledi
and the boat’s crew, travelling along the river,
and took a closer view of Massassa, and the
cove where they had halted their canoe. Poor,
rash Frank! had he only crawled over the rocks
a few yards he would have realized the impossibility
of safely shooting the Massassa. The
rocky projections, which raise the curling waves
in mid-river, are single blocks from 10 to 40 feet
high piled one above another, lying at the base
of a steep cliff of Massassa. The cliff is of
course impassable, as it is from three hundred
to four hundred feet high. The colossal size of
the blocks is a serious impediment. The falls
we have had enough of, at least for the present.
From Massassa I proceeded to Mowa, and
reasoned with the men. They were extremely
depressed, rueful of face, and apparently sunk
in despair. Only Manwa Sera, the chiefs, and
boat’s crew seemed alive to the fact that neces