From the Cape to Cairo; the first traverse of Africa from south to north

Front matter

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Preface

Owing to the difficulties inseparable from writing jointly a connected account of the trip, we have thought it best for E. S. Grogan to write from the joint notes the whole of the book, with the exception of Chap. XYL, "Uganda to the Coast."

We desire to offer our sincere thanks to Mrs. Eyres, of Dumbleton Hall, Evesham, without whose hearty assistance the journey could not hav^e been l)rought to a successful conclusion.

E. S. G.

A. H. S.

Contents

CHAP.

I. THE CAPE TO BEIRA AND THE SABI ....

II. THE PUXGWE FLATS ......

Introduction

8 a child, I had four ambitions : to shiy a lion, a rhinoceros, and an elephant, and to see Tanganyika. With the passage of years, these crystallized into a desire to be the first to traverse Africa from end to end- So rapid is the course of events in Africa, that that Avhich ten years ago was the wildest impossibility, has in this short space of time, by the untiring energy of Mr. Rhodes, and eventually the crushing defeat inflicted on the Khalifa by Lord Kitchener, been rendered possible, and is now past history.

What was originally but a childish idea became latterly an all-absorbingdesire to see the possibilities of the magnificent conception of the Cape to Cairo connection. Having absolutely convinced myself, I trust to convince my readers that the trans-continental communication by electricity and steam, so far from being the wild dream, treated with such shameless cruelty by those whose range of vision is limited to the end of their nose, is now, thanks to the land-accumulating, wind-raising, and administrative ability of Mr. Rhodes, and provided that the scheme can be kept free from the blighting touch of British Red Tape, a looming reality of the near future temporarily dependent on Throgmorton Street.

xvi INTRODUCTION

As the route followed the vast central trough of Africa which is bound, I believe, to be the eventual line of communication between North and South, the ever-growing interest that attaches to this great natural highway will, I trust, be considered sufficient excuse for the publication of this account of our tramp. For those who, under the title of " The Cape to Cairo," look for a bewildering tangle of hairbreadth escapes, I have no wares.

Africa has entered the sphere of practical politics and searching criticism ; it is no longer a happy, or even a safe, hunting-ground for speculative journalism ; there are too many people there.

As native proper names are most misleading — in fact, a name, as we regard a name, has no existence in Central Africa — I have in the main omitted them, and confined myself merely to physical features in the country. All native names are really descriptive, and what is Pimbalonga to-day may be Bongowongo to-morrow; as an instance, I obtained thirty-six different names for one mountain. For this reason, in filling in my maps, I have supplied names for the salient features. The diversity of the country covered and the consequent variety of interest will, I trust, be counted as a set-off against the paucity of strictly scientific results ; difficulties of transport, and the work entailed in thoroughly keeping in hand a caravan, so necessary when travelling without an armed escort, rendered collecting impossible, and our cameras were spoilt by the neglect of the Transport Company, responsible for their delivery. This has, to some extent, been remedied by the excellent drawings made by Mr. McCormick from the numerous sketches that I brought home.

To the probable objection that I have devoted too much attention to the sporting side of our trip, I would answer that were it not for the big-game shooting, for no earthly consideration would I j)ut my foot one mile south of the Pyramids.

To my Alpine friends I apologize for my insignificant Alpine results, and plead that my intentions were good. Were there elephant in the valley of the Visp, I should tremble for the climbing element in the Alpine Journal, and the Dent Blanche might still whisper her secrets to the skies, proudly unconscious of the festive sardine-tin.

My ice-axe is digging trenches round a tent, my ice-glasses shade the optics of a sable chief, and the gleaming peaks of Ruwenzori still battle with the mists, unsullied by human tread.

To a generous public I confide this, my first-born, trusting that, despite countless shortcomings, they will discern an honest desire to see the prospects of the realization of a great Imperial idea, fulfilled in the face of some difficulties and hardships, without inflicting unnecessary suffering on man or beast.

Chapter I The Cape To Beira And The Sabi

I — >•> O describe the first stage of the route from the CajDe to Cairo, that is to say, as far as the Zambesi, which I accomplished four years ago, would, if time be counted by progress, be reverting to the Middle Ages. The journey to Buluwayo, which meant four dismal days and three yet more dismal nights, in a most dismal train, whose engine occasionally went off on its own account to get a drink, and nine awful days and nine reckless nights in a Gladstone bag on wheels, labelled coach, can be accomplished in, I believe, two and a half days in trains that rival in comfort the best efforts of our American cousins. When I think of those

ZULU DOUBLE SLEEPING PILLOWS, CARTED OUT OF ONE PIECE OF WOOD. FhDM NAT.VI-.

awful hundreds of miles through dreary wastes of sand and putrefying carcases, the seemingly impossible country that the Buluwayo road passed through, the watercourses, the hills, the waterless stages, and the final oasis, where one could tuy a bottle of beer for 10.5. Qd., and a cauliflower for 36s., and that now men sit down to their fresh sole or pheasant for breakfast, where the old scramble daily took place for a portion of bully beef and rice ; and when I think that the sole and pheasant epoch is already old history, then I know that the hand of a mighty wizard is on the country, and that yet on3 more name will go down to the coming ages which will loom big midst the giants that have built up an Empire such as the world has never seen. When I think too of my numerous friends in the country who have given their heave, some a great heave, some a little heave, yet a heave all together, and who toil on unaware of their own heroism, turning aside as a jest the vituperation of their countrymen ; and when I think how I have seen the old Viking blood, long time frozen in Piccadilly and the clubs, burst forth in the old irresistible stream, then I know that it is good to be an Englishman, and a great pity fills me for those whose lives are cast in narrow ways, and who never realize the true significance of Civis Brifannicns siim. '

My first experience of Africa was gained in the second Matabele war, when Rhodesia was yet young. The railway had only reached Mafeking, and my experiences were not such as to make me desire a second visit. But the spirit of the veldt was upon me, and in comfortable England these trials sank into the misty oblivion of the past, and a short twelve months after I again started for those inhospitable shores.

However, I will not weary the reader with what he has had dinned into his ears for the last four years, by describing Rhodesia ; nor will I dilate on how, at Lisbon, through a Bucellas-induced haze, I noticed that all the men had a patch in their trousers, all the women were ugly, all the food was dirty, and all the friendly-disposed were thieves ; nor will I hurt the feelings of the Deutsch Ost Ai'rika Cie. by telling how badly managed their boats are ; how they are perambulating beershops, disguised as liners ; how conducive to sleep is a ten-strong brass band at live yards, seized with religious enthusiasm at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, — all these I will pass over, knowing that a Cicero redivivus alone could do justice to the theme.

But crossing the line was rather amusing, as the German sailors had got up a sort of stage-play — with Neptune and his lifeguards and policemen. First his Watery Majesty made a long speech in German, complimenting the captain on his skill in navigating the ship, the chief engineer on his ability, then one or two German officers on their future successes in German East Africa. Afterwards he called on us, said he heard there were two celebrated lion-hunters on board, to whom he offered tin hearts in case their own failed at a critical time, and a pinch of salt to put on the lions'

THE CAPE TO BEIRA AND THE SABI 3

tails. After that, all who had not previously crossed were smothered ; in flour or soot, and thoroughly ducked in a large bath made of sails. One sporting German baroness, hearing it was the correct thing, turned up on deck in her role dc nuit, a skirt and coat, and desired to undergo the ordeal, but to our dissatisfaction, the captain put his veto on it.

Beyond this, suffice it to say, that on February 28th of the year of our Lord 1898, Arthur Henry Sharp and Ewart Scott Grogan, in company of sundry German officers and beer enthusiasts, took part in the usual

'DIVING BOY.S AT ADKN.

D.O.A.'s Liner manoeuvre of violently charging a sandbank in the bay of Beira on a flood-tide, to the ear-smashing accompaniment of the German National Anthem. In the intervals of waiting to be floated, and finding out how many of our loads had been lost, we amused ourselves by catching sharks, which swarmed round the stern of the vessel. Beira, as every one knows, is mainly composed of galvanized iron, sun-baked sand, drinks, and Portuguese ruffians, and is inhabited by a mixed society of railway employes, excellent fellows, Ohio wags, and German Jews. The Government consists of a triumvirate composed of a " king," who also at odd times imports railways, the British Consul, and the Beira Post, and sundry minor Portuguese officials, who provide entertainment for the town, such as volley-firing down the main streets, dredging operations in the lagoon at the back of the town, bugle-blowing, etc. etc. The dredging operations and the subsequent 'depositing of the mud on the highways were undertaken, I believe, in a friendly spirit of rivalry as to the death-rate with Fontesvilla (a salubrious riverside resort about thirty miles inland) ; a consequent rise to thirty in one day established a record that, I believe, is still unbeaten. There was a Portuguese corvette in the bay, and I had the pleasure of dining on board ; the doctor, a most charming specimen of the Portuguese gentleman (and a Portuguese gentleman is a gentleman), helped

OUR OX-WAGl)N AT UMTALl.

me to priss my things through the Custom House, and those who know Beira will understand what that means. At Beira I met many old friends, amongst them the evergreen Mr. Lawley, indefatigable as of yore, and was surprised to see the immense strides that the town had made in fourteen months. If it is not washed away some day, it should become second only in importance to Delagoa Bay. Before starting north, we determined to have a few months' shooting, and with this end in view took train to Umtali with the necessary kit. The new site of Umtali township is a more commanding position than the old one, and already a large number of fine buildings had been put up, but now that the temporary activity consequent on its being the railway terminus has passed away, I cannot foresee much future for the place, as the pick of the mines appear to be over the new Anglo-Portuguese boundary, and will be worked from Macequece.

THE CAPE TO BEAR A AND THE SABI

We decided to try the Sabi, a river running parallel to, and south of the Pungwe, having heard great accounts of the lions in that part ; and with this end in view, hired a wagon, which after many days landed us and ours at Mtambara's Kraal on the Umvumvunivu, a nice stream running into the Udzi, which is a tributary of the Sabi. Mtambara was formerly a chief of considerable importance, but the advent of the white man has reduced him to the position of a mere figure-head ; he is a phthisical old gentleman of no physique, decked out in a dirty patch of cloth and a bandolier of leather and white beads ; he squats and takes snuff, takes snuff and squats, and has not yet joined the Blue Ribbon Arm}-. The heir-apparent is an even more insignificant creature, while, on the other hand, his second son Jim is smart and full of "go." Jim volunteered to accompany us, and turned out most useful. There being no road to the Udzi, we had to send the wagon back and collect carriers for our loads. Two days' hard walking brought us to the edge of the high veldt, whence the path dived down the most fantastic limestone valley, between high cliffs thickly clothed with foliage, and topped by rows of square rock pillars, splashed with the warm tints of the moss and lichens that festooned their sides. At our feet lay the bush-clad plain of the Udzi, a carpet of green picked out with the occasional silver of the

river itself, and in the hazy distance stretched an unbroken range of purple hills, backed by the silvery green and dull smoke -red of sunset. On the third day we camped on the Udzi, about six miles above its junction with the Sabi. The whole country is covered with low black scrub, and though there are many impala^ and small buck, there are very i'ew large antelopes, so after a few days' inspection we came to the conclusion that it was not good enough, and decided to return to Umtali and risk the climate of my old shooting grounds on the Pungwe. But here Sharp saw and missed his first lioness.

An amusing incident occurred while buying food. One day as Jnii was cutting brass wire to pay for a goat, the seller tried to get a bit extra, and 1 A small antelope {Mi)>jveros mdampus).

BUSHBUCK HOIiXS.

on Jim refusing, called him names — " white man's dog," etc. ; the discussion soon evolved into a fight — Jim, 5 ft. 2, against a 6 ft. 1 amateur (Jim had been a policeman's boy in Umtali, and knew a bit). The "little 'un " led every time, but with the wrong hand, yet got home time after time on the " big 'un's " nose and jaw, till there was a certain amount of gore about, and eventually ended up by knocking him down, Avhen two of our boys, who had been interested spectators, rushed in and jumped on the defeated one's face. We could barely pull them off for laughing.

Honey was plentiful, and so were bees; we had no flour, so rice and honey was our staple diet, and to eat that, one had to get under a

CAMP WITH FLAG ON THE SAIil.

mosquito-net, or one ate more bees than honey ; they were the friendliest bees I ever struck, with one exception.

The natives here were very cheeky, and porters almost impossible to obtain. So much are they spoiled by the paternal Government that you daren't kick them, and we eventually had to pay ten shillings a load for a thirty-five mile trip, and cash down in advance.

We were very glad to get out of that country, the heat was too awful ; sun, twelve and a half hours a day, and full moon the rest. There was any quantity of fish in the river, and they gave excellent sport, though our tackle was a bit heavy.

Sharp went back by the road to pick up the loads and sick men at Mtambara's, while I followed up the Udzi for about twenty miles, and then struck across country to reach Umtali quickly in order to send out a wagon.

THE CAPE TO BEIRA AND THE SABI 7

After leaving the river-basin, I camped on a kopje about 1000 ft. high, where I had one of the finest views it has ever been my fortune to see.

Beyond the valley lay range upon range of hills, stretching far as the eye could reach ; fleecy clouds covered the sun, bursting with every conceivable shade, from delicate rose to deepest purple, backed by that wondrous green (or is it blue) that so often in the tropics accompanies Phoebus to his rest ; rarely one may see it at home in summer-time, as intangible as it is delicate, and, permeating the whole landscape, a sinuous mesh of molten red, a ghostly sea from which the peaks reared their purple silhouettes, until they faded into the uncertainty of lilac mists, like some billowy sea nestling to the bosom of the storm-cloud. From here I walked to Umtali, a distance of sixty miles, in nineteen hours, as I was anxious about the sick men at Mtambara's, and long will the ripple of the ensuing brandy-andsoda linger in my memory. After securing the services of a wagon, I had to la}' up for a couple of days with fever and a bad foot, but turned out for a concert given as a house-warming by the latest hotel. It was a typical South African orgie, in a long, low, wooden room, plainly furnished with deal tables, packed to overflowing with the most cosmopolitan crowd imaginable, well-bred 'Varsity men rubbing shoulders with animal-faced Boers, leavened with Jews, parasites, bummers, nondescripts, and every type of civilized savage. Faces yellow with fever, faces coppered by the sun, faces roseate with drink, and faces scarred, keen, money-lustful, and stamped with every vice and some of the virtues ; a substratum of bluff, business advertisement, pat-on-the-back-kick-you-when-you're-not-looking air permeated everything, and keen appreciation of both musical garbage and real talent.

Starting- for Salisburv, where I wanted to look up some old friends, I was made the victim of one of those subtle little jests so much appreciated by many of the petty officials in South Africa, who are for ever reminding one of their importance. I turned up at three, the advertised time for the coach's departure, and, finding no mules or signs of activity, learned that (being an official case) three meant three Cape time, or four Umtali time. So I went back to my hotel, and again turning up at ten to four, found that the coach had left at a quarter to four without blowing the bugle, and knowing that there was one passenger short ; this necessitated a nine-mile walk to old Umtali in the rain, which, after three days' fever, was very enjoyable. The company, a pleasant one, was somewhat marred by the presence of a fat Jew of the most revolting type ; unkempt curly black hair, lobster-like, bloodshot eyes with the glazed expression peculiar to tipplers and stale fish, a vast nose pronouncedly Bacchanalian, the hues of which varied from yellow through green to livid purple, and lips that would shame any nigger, purple as the extremity of the nose, a small, straggling moustache and a runaway chin, the wliole plentifully smeared with an unpleasant exudation, kept perpetually simmering by his anxiety lest some one should steal a march on him, made a loathsome tout ensemUe that is by no means rare in South Africa. The way that creature fought for food ! Well ! I have seen hysenas and niggers fighting for food, but never such hopelessly abandoned coarseness as he displayed at every meal on the road, and for no apparent reason, as there was plenty for all, and by general consent he had the monopoly of any dish that he touched.

Salisbury, which is quite the aristocratic resort of Rhodesia, had made very little progress during my eighteen months' absence, though there had been some activity in the mining districts. The business of ferreting out the murderers in the late rebellion was still proceeding, and I saw about thirty condemned niggers in the gaol, and more were daily added, the court being kept busy. I went to one of the sittings and saw so many gruesome relics, burnt pipes, charred bones, skulls, etc., that I did not repeat my visit. I was forcibly struck by the absolute justice meted out, the merest technicality of law, or the faintest shade of doubt sufficing for acquittal. Many of the natives in custody thus escaped, although their guilt was certain and w^ell known. My return journey to Umtali was enlivened by the comj^any of one of the civic dignitaries of Salisbury, who was going to " give it hot to Rhodes," shake him up a bit, and generally put things straight. In one day I had the whole future policy of Rhodesia and all outstanding difficulties like labour, etc., disposed of as though they were the merest bagatelles. So struck wns I with the masterly grasp of gigantic questions that I fell into a profound slumber, whereupon, realizing that after all I was but an ordinary mortal, and consequently possessed of but ordinary intelligence, he roused me, and in five minutes sketched out a plan that would make my intended trip north a certain success ; this with more personal advice on a score of points, lasted till Umtali, where we found so-called celebrations in fall swing. These celebrations (or barmen's benefits, as they should more appropriately be called), are of common occurrence, and are invariably got up on any sort of excuse ; they take the outward form of a few pieces of bunting, and result in every one but the licensed few finding themselves next morning considerably poorer, and in an abnormal demand for Seidlitz powders. Society at Umtali groups itself into two classes, those wdio have liquor and those who have not, and each into three divisions : first, a small number who have killed lions and say very little about it ; secondly, a large number of persons who have not killed lions, but tell you they have, and say much about it ; and thirdly, a very large number who have not killed lions, but think it necessary to apologize for the fact by telling you that they have not lost any.

Chapter II The Puxgwe Flats

HARP had meanwhile arrived and gone down to Fontesvilla, where he had met Mr. Dan Mahom', the famous Nimrod of Portuguese East Africa, an old friend of mine, whom I had persuaded to join us, and together they had collected boys and were only waiting for me to make a start. Mr. Mahony, who had only just recovered from a severe shaking, administered by a cow-elephant, has hunted the Pungwe district for nine years, and is well known as the great lion-slayer of that part of Africa. No one knows the hunting-grounds between the Busi and the Zambesi as he does, and as he is a keen observer, as w^ell as a first-class shikari, I only hope that he will yield to my persuasions, and some day give us a book of his experiences.

On the first of May we started, and marching up the Dingi-Dingi (as the northern loop of the Pungwe is called), and then up its tributary the Urema, arrived near Gorongoza's hills, where we camped. On the road we came on a nice herd of buffalo, but failed to kill, and the day before arriving at our destination met Mr. Upcher, another old Pungwe hunter, and a well-known figure on the East Coast for many years.

The country is exceedingly fertile, the white millet growing to a height of 12 ft., and carrying enormous heads of grain ; and the people, who are evidently flourishing, build neat huts and keep them clean.

We found our camping-place tenanted by a herd of nine eland and about a hundred impala, but some zebras gave the alarm, and they all made off before we could get a shot. Our camp was in a splendid position with plenty of shooting room ; huge plains stretched away to the north and west, while to the east lay a beautiful park -I ike country wdth tall trees, thin strips of jungle, and small glades carpeted with short grass.

The first morning we sallied forth in different directions, and though I saw quantities of game, I shot very badly, and only secured a warthog and a small impala ram ; when returning to camp I nearly walked against the head of a 14-foot python, who was watching a game-path ; I caught the gleam of his eye in the grass while my leg was on the swing, but managed to jump back and put a bullet through his head. I do not suppose he would have tackled me, but had he done so he would have

MILLET FIELD ON UREMA.

been quite capable of disposing of me ; his strength was terrible, and eight boys failed to hold him out straight. I much regretted afterwards that I had not made an effort to catch him.

Sharp, who had been much more successful, brought home a reedbuck, a Lichtenstein hartebeeste, and a tsessibe, all good bulls.

Our boys, who were of course quite raw, were at first rather a trial to the flesh ; a request for soap brought forth in succession a bottle of Worcestershire sauce, a suit of pyjamas, and some boot-trees ; and having told my boy to make cocoa for two, I found two cups standing in the fire

THE FUNG WE FLATS with water in them, while the kettle, nicely cleaned, held the place of honour on the breakfast-table.

The following day I crossed the Urema with Mahony, and made for the vast plain that runs up to the hills. The profusion of mud and obvious presence of crocodiles made the crossing anything but pleasjint. It was still misty when we struck out into the plain, and suddenly a fine male waterbuck loomed forth looking twice his actual size. I hit him fair in the shoulder, and after a desperate gallop of a hundred yards he fell dead. We then crossed a sandy donga (that was to play such an important part

UREMA, SHO'WIXG INCIPIENT '• SCBD " FORMATION.

in the future), where we saw fresh lion, hippo, crocodile, and wildebeeste spoor, and striking south-west, came to a park-like country; here I bagged my first blue wildebeeste amidst a screaming flight of guinea-fowl. Turning home, we saw sLx waterbuck rams, twenty does, four tsessibe, and three zebras. I dropped the best waterbuck and then opened fire on the tsessibe, which stood at four hundred yards ; shot after shot I fired, and still they remained motionless, till finally I had brought my sights down to point-blank, when I dropped two with one shot, while Mahony turned over a third. I found my gun was sighted very high, and fired point-blank with a full sight to four hundred yards.

Some lions kept up a terrible concert all night in the direction of my kill, and Sharp and Mahony, crossing the river in pursuit, walked into a pack of ten in the sandy donga, where I had seen the spoor the day before. Sharp droj^ped one splendid lioness, and unfortunately two or three escaped wounded, all the chances being in their favour, owing to the long grass that stretched for miles on both sides ; they were in no hurry to go away, but sloped round and round the guns in the edge of the long grass ; however they eventually made off. Had the lions attacked, or had even one charged, the guns would have had no chance. Fortunately for the guns, the donga at their back enabled them to concentrate their fire on those who showed in front. The sight of the old lady's pelt in camp roused me to a frenzy of desire, and for days I haunted that donga and the banks of the Urema, working morning, noon, and night, till at last one misty morning, as I was starting out on my by now hackneyed beat, I heard the rumbling roar of an old lion, and the sob, sob of the chorus. The mist seemed to stagger at the volume of sound, and to my uninitiated ears they sounded about a hundred yards off, and I would not believe my boys, who said they were in the donga about a mile and a half away, but persisted in advancing with the greatest caution till I reached the river, when they again gave tongue, and then I realized where they were. The joy of it ! Never had I heard such music ; were my wildest dreams of ambition at last to be realized ? And a lump like cold porridge rose in my throat. Supposing I miss them ! Five years of my life would I gladly give to live that morning again, but like one's first pair of trousers, it can never be the same, no amount of lions will ever again bring back that lump, it is gone where the taste for peppermint and mud pies goes, to the irrevocable land of first experiences and boyhood's joys. I hurried forward, and when about a quarter of a mile from the donga sent a boy up a tree to pi'ospect. He soon came down trembling Avith excitement, and told me that he had seen tliree skellem^ lyi^S under a tree about three hundred yards from where we were. With loving care I loaded the double '500 magnum, and crept cautiously in the direction indicated ; when I had advanced about one hundred yards, two heads suddenly appeared above the intervening grass, and to my mad joy I dropped them with a right and left ; at the same instant I saw a body dash past the scrub on the ant-hill where they had been lying, and pojjping in another double-barrel, he spun round and came rolling down the slope, a loathesome mangy hyaena. Ye gods ; Never shall I forget that moment 1 Then a fourth dashed past, and, mad with rage, I spoiled his sedentary capabilities as he plunged into the grass. Then I sat down on that ant-hill and looked at them lying there, my three lionesses in the guise of disgusting grinning hyaenas, while