Adventures on the great rivers

Preface

The adventures met with on great rivers by travellers and big-game hunters, and especially by explorers, are wonderful in their variety. And as a matter of fact, each zone of the earth seems to have its peculiar difficulties and dangers. In tropical regions there are the larger and more formidable wild beasts to encounter, the lion, the tiger, the elephant, the hippopotamus, [or the rhinoceros in the Old World, the puma, the jaguar, and what not in the New. As for the insects, and the creeping and crawling things innumerable, their attacks are so incessant, so determined, and so exasperating, that it is a question whether these smaller pests are not more to be dreaded than the bigger and apparently more dangerous beasts that roam the forests and plains, or infest the rivers and their banks. Then there is the whole family of deadly snakes to be reckoned with, and, by river travellers, the crocodile and the rest of the amphibious of streamhaunting reptiles.

The Arctic and sub-Arctic districts have their own dangers, the cold, the frozen torrent, the ice-floe, the scarcity, the starvation even. And the more temperate zones not seldom bring difficulties and risks to the adventurous traveller or the hunter. Floods, rapids, and

PREFACE

cataracts are there ; mountain valleys have their glaciers, their avalanches, their precipices; wolves and bears are foes not to be despised. Last, but not least, there are often enemies in human shape more formidable than even the fiercest of the lower animals — the cannibal or the brutal savage of civilized regions, or the more crafty and generally more unscrupulous semi-civilized man.

In meeting all these perils, the pluck, the endurance, the resourcefulness shown by many of the explorers — and not least amongst them our own countrymen — are often beyond praise. On the contributions to our geographical and scientific knowledge made by these adventurous and gallant men there is little need to dwell ; they are known to all intelligent folk.

The author hereby offers his grateful thanks to the several distinguished writers and eminent publishers who have so kindly granted permission to use their works — to Lady Stanley, Dr. Cheadle, and Messrs. Francis Galton, Trevor-Battye, and W. Lidstone amongst the former, and to Mr. J. Murray, Mr. E. Arnold, Mr. Fisher Unwin, Messrs. A. Constable and Co., Messrs. Hurst and Blackett, Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co., and Messrs. Sampson Low, and Co., amongst the latter. Fuller acknowledgements will be found appended to the various chapters concerned.

i

CROSSING THE YELLOW EIVER pages

The Abbe Hue, the great French missionary, travels in China and Tartary — Journeys from Pekin towards Thibet — Passage of the Yellow River a formidable difficulty — River in high flood — A wide belt of mud to be crossed first — Haggling with the Chinese ferrymen — Hoaug-ho banks reached — Night spent in a river temple — A struggle to get a camel on board — An unwieldy boatload — A novel plan — Another mud stretch — The " Little River " — Rescue by a native Christian. ...... 17-28

II WITH WATERTON ON THE DEMERARA RIVER

Waterton the famous naturalist — An adventurous life — On the Demerara River — Fever — Foot injured — A deadly coulacanara snake — A labarri made to poison himself — Baiting for a cayman — A formidable hook — Hook and bait swallowed — Waterton faces the brute — Jumps upon its back — Rides for forty yards — Another labarri adventure — Vampires and their attacks — A second coulacanara found under a fallen tree — Waterton and two niggers on the watch — Snake comes forth and is held down with spear — Waterton and negro throw themselves upon him — Snake made to coil itself round lance — Bagged ! — Snake in bedroom all night — Ten men release it from sack in the morning — Snake killed 29-39

III

Clapperton's failure to trace the Niger to its mouth — Richard Lander his servant undertakes another expedition, in company with his brother John Lander — They arrive at Badagry — Human sacrifices — Land journey to Boussa on the Niger — Attack by twenty savages — Some relics of Mungo Park's expedition recovered — Alarming demonstrations at the mouth of the Tchadda — Coolness of the Landers — A critical moment — Damuggoo and its friendly king — Attack by one of a crowd of canoes at Kirree — Narrow escape — Natives quarrel as to booty — The expedition party made prisoners — Native canoes overturned — A terrifying scene — A few things restored — King Obie demands enormous ransom — King Boy buys prisoners — Carried in war canoes down stream — Further demands by King Forday — The mystery solved. .......... 40-51

IV The White Chief On The Nile Pages

Mr. Petherick, once British Consul for the Soudan, undertakes the exploration of the Upper Nile, in conjunction with the ivory trade — Starts from Khartoum — Crocodiles and hippopotamuses — The crocodile and the fellah — Daring attack by hippopotamus — Hostile demonstration from the shore — Conference with hostile chief — Wh ite chief scores over black — A struggle for a tusk — Insulting conduct of chief — Rival expeditions in search of ivory come up the White Nile — One of them comes to grief — Rejoicing amongst natives — Their arrogance — Plot to attack Mr. Petherick — Englishman with six men out in the bush stockades his camp — Six weeks' siege — Reinforcements come up — Reprisals made on cattle-kraals of natives — A pitched battle — Signal victory for Englishman's forces — He astonishes the blacks by setting free every prisoner he had taken 52-62

The River Kouban — Dr. Clarke a traveller of the early part of the nineteenth centuiy — Plague of mosquitoes — Astonishing abundance of reptiles — Carriage dragged through swamps — Marshes and reed forests — The Englishmen make short excursion across river to Circassian territory — Extraordinary precautions taken for their safety — A threatening reception — The Ataman of Ekaterinedara — Peacemaking ceremonies — A magnificent display — Circassian camp on the bank of the river — Cossack troops drawn up on the heights above — Meeting between the notables on either side — Pasha crosses in a crowded canoe — Mutual mistrust between Cossacks and Circassians — An angry altercation — Fortunate escape. ........ 63-71

VI

Everything in South America on a large scale — The brothers Robertson, explorers in Paraguayan districts — The " thistleries " — Mr. W. Robertson sails in a brigantine up the Parana — Fearful tempest — Slow progress — Haulage operations — Lifting the ship off sand-banks — Mosquito plagues — Jaguars and their daring — Sad death of a young fellow on the eve of his marriage — An alligator in the canoe — Robertson leaves the brigantine at Corrientes — Crosses river in the dark — Dangers from the insurgent bands — The King's Ferry — In the hands of the insurgents — Terror of Robertson's servant — The two allowed to go — A terrible night — Jaguars in numbers — Risky way of crossing the rivers and deeper lagoons — Loss of bag with the money — Its wonderful recovery — A very narrow escape from jaguars — Scarcity of food — Lost in the woods — Arrival at Assuncion. ..... 72-82

VII Steaming Up The Danube Seventy Tears Ago

PAGES

Backward state of the Lower Danube peoples half-a-century ago — Miss Skene embarks on a Danube steamer — Bad weather in the Black Sea — Russian mouth of river entered — Solitary sentries on shore — A floating corpse in the river — River in high flood — Evidences of destruction caused in the late Balkan War — Turkish passengers — Their contempt for the Christians— A Bulgarian family — Miss Skene's cabin invaded — A frightful storm — Terror of a Turk on seeing a woman run at full speed — Passengers on shore attacked by villagers — A hasty retreat— Steamer left, and a long boat employed — Rapids — Dangers of the "Iron Gate" — New steamboat boarded at Orsova — A frightful gorge. . 83-93

VIII Dangers On The Euphrates And Its Tributaries

Sir Henry Layard's early travels in Persia — He takes passage in a fuel boat on the river Karun — Disagreeable passage — Violent dispute as to the fare — Pilgrims to Kerbela — Layard robbed of his money — Strange scenes on the Jerrahi — Whole population take to rafts — Layard left in a deserted village— Dogs and jackals — He makes a raft and gets away — Marauding cavalry — Layard travels along the Euphrates valley with a postman — Attacked by robbers — Blackmail — Chased by Arabs on dromedaries — Village attacked in the night by Shammar tribe — A Turk — Narrow escape — Stripped naked and left — The first steamer on the Karun — The rapids — Stranded on land away from the river — Fort constructed round ship — Sudden rise of the river in the night — Vessel floated back to the river — Navigability of the Karun 94-105

IX Livingstone As An Elephant Hunter

Livingstone not strictly a big-game hunter — Larder had to be replenished, however — Buffalo behind, elephants in front — Dam elephant and calf stalked by blacks — Animals apostrophized — Dam deserts calf at first — At bay — Hippopotamus destructive to crops — Marvellous amount of wild animals in Zambesi valley — The beasts have no fear of man — Speared elephant resembles gigantic porcupine — Mr. Oswell, Livingstone's companion — The terrible nature of the thorn scrub — Oswell encounters a huge elephant in the thorn thickets — Thrown from his horse — Under the elephant's body — Throws his legs apart — Remarkable escape 106-114

PAOBS

The Nile a mystery from very ancient times — Speke discovers Victoria Nyanza — Sent out again to prove whether the lake is the source of the Nile — Lands at Zanzibar — His men take to marauding — Natives terrified by guns— Speke and 'his companion Grant for a time follow different routes — A three-mile swamp— Bank of Nile reached— River traced up to the Victoria Nyanza — Speke's triumphant feelings — Ripon Falls — His men again turn piratical — The difficulties in the Unyoro territory — Wanyoro boats attack the expedition — Critical situation — "They are women !" — Grant returns with unfavourable news of N'yamyon jo, a native official— Speke and Grant compelled to abandon Nile passage. 115-125

XI

Wakassare river in Florida — English game hunter's camp on its bank Difficulties of crossing — Rude raft made of pine logs— First voyage — Great cane-brake to be cut through— Pony nearly causes disaster on the third crossing — Alligators plentiful — Dense fog — A bear dashes through the camp — Hue and cry in the fog — Bear found in a cane-brake — Rough experiences of the dogs — The doctor tumbles headlong in front of the bear— Two ineffectual shots, powder damp — Grave peril of the doctor — He throws his axe — Weapon misses — Bear off again — Takes refuge in a tree — Doctor's dog almost killed— Mike fires a lucky" shot — Bear falls 126-133

XII Tinder Fire On A Caucasian River

War between Russians and Turks in Trans-Caucasia — Laurence Oliphant, an English artist-correspondent with Turkish forces — Many British officers under Omar Pasha — Col. Ballard reconnoitres the banks of the river Ingour — No ford discoverable — Russian fire — The artist as a military engineer — His coolness and adroitness — Battery formed — Omar Pasha arrives with Turkish force— Ballard sent on with advance troops — Smaller branch of stream crossed — Wooded island traversed — A bit of open — A formidable Russian battery — Hot fight between Ballard's troops and the battery — A narrow escape — Osman Pasha crosses the river lower down — Russian guard overcome — Simmons makes good his passage higher up — Enemy taken in the reverse — Battery captured — Hidaiot's ruse — Victory of the Turks 134-144

XIII An Escapade On The Red River

M. Louis Riel, the President of the " Red River Republic" — Gen. Wolseley sent to punish him— Major Butler goes on ahead as scout — Butler takes steamer at Pembina for Fort Garry — During pas-

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sage down Red River, mounted horsemen seen on banks — It was clear that information was being taken in advance to insurgents at Fort Garry — Butler and a Canadian gentleman land, in darkness, short of Fort Garry — Butler makes tracks across country towards Lower Fort Garry, where was an English force — Meanwhile a hue and cry at the fort — Riel sends men in pursuit of Butler — "Dead or alive ! " — " Whisky Tom's " and its effects — Friendly clergyman — Lower Fort Garry reached — Palaver with friendly Ojibbeways — By help of these Indians, Butler begins ascent of Winnipeg river to meet Wolseley — A cataract and its difficulties — A gallant fight with the falls — The cataract conquered at last, an extraordinary victory. . . . 145-156

XIV Running The Gauntlet On The Oxus

The far-famed Oxus — American war - correspondent, Captain Mac Gahan, toilsacross the terrible desert of Kyzil-Kum — Desires to join column of Russian General Kaufmann — Five divisions of Russian army bearing down on Khiva — Mac Gahan reaches Oxus valley, tired, dispirited, and dreading dangers — No sign of General Kaufmann — A night amongst the sand dunes — Fascinated by sight of the mighty and mysterious Oxus — Marks of cannon — Whose ? — A score of Khivans seen on in front — A great storm — Constant alarms by sight of foes in the distance — "Nerves unstrung" — Sound of guns — A battle observed from hill-top — Approach of troop of horse — Mac Gahan and men hide in sand — New-comers prove to be friendly Kirghiz — Push joyfully on — Russians bombard fort across the river — Battle of Sheik-Arik — Khivans defeated — Mac Gahan complimented by Russian General Golovatchoff — "A molodyetz." . . 157-168

XV

Fort McDonald River — A fine elk found — Elk at bay crosses river — Two dogs follow — Straggle in the water — Near the edge of a great cataract — Danger imminent — Marvellous escape of dogs — Elk in stream now followed by the other hounds — One carried over the fall and lost — Hunters cross the river — Elk perched on a cliff three hundred feet high — An exciting scene on the ledge — Buck at bay — Leaps over the precipice — A doe chased by dogs also falls over the precipice — A dog drawn into a subterranean pool — Strange escape — Another buck chased by a single greyhound — Animals near the edge of a huge perpendicular rock — Hound stops short, elk goes over the cliff. . . 169-177

XVI

Glaciers as part of a river course — Mr. Ball, with four companions, approaches the Glacier du Tour — The ice-cornice — Fearful experience and narrow escape — Glacier de Trient — The "window " xi

PAGES

— Glacier de Salena — Dangerous descent — Great chasm with a torrent at bottom— An ice cataract — Precipices close in upon the mountaineers — Darkness comes on — Great torrent below — The climbers encamp for the night on a steep slope — Difficulty of keeping up the h're — Little food left — Sleep impossible — A start at earliest dawn — Another tremendous hollow — A great climb necessary — Level of the glacier reached again — Glacier rivers and pool — A cold bath and toilet — Long march down the river valley to Orsieres 178-190

XVII Hunting Adventures On The Nile Tributaries

Seven big-game hunters start for the Abyssinian tributaries of the Nile — Lions, giraffes and buffaloes on the Settite — Mr. Colvin charged by bull buffalo — The result of using conical bullets — Narrow escape from crocodile — Fine fishing in the Settite — The "kelb-el-bahr," a terrible fish — Wild beasts at the pool — Two "lions "wounded in the night — They pro\e to be panthers — Lion stalking — Sheep used to attract the lions — Two wounded, one a magnificent specimen — Both found and killed next day — Hippopotamus flesh much prized — Bad blood between Base tribes and Abyssinians — A war scare — Hunters surrounded by hostile Abyssinians — A "view-halloo" scares away the enemy — Mahomet, servant to the Englishmen, speared by the Abyssinians 191-202

XVIII

Amazon less explored than it deserves — The Amazon Steam Navigation Company sends out three Englishmen to survey — Mr. Lidstone, an engineer, ascends the Tapajos tributary— A crazy boat and a crew of two — The rains and the heat — Frightful thunderstorms — Mr. Lidstone spends time in a tumble-down hut — The two men in the boat swamped — Provisions spoilt — Novel caulking materials — A weary round of violent storms — Loss of rudder — Of oars — Fourteen hours for seven miles — Party make for Santarem — Another terrible tempest — Insect pests — Mosquitoes — "Wasps — Ants — Bees — An adventure with a centipede — Alligators and jaguars — Enormous toads — One of the explorers bitten by a scorpion — At death's door — Strange cure, and wonderful recovery. ......... 203-216

XIX

Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle attempt the North-West Passage by land — River McLeod reached — Horses set the forest on lire — Desperate efforts of the men to extinguish it — Horses in a panic — Fire mastered at last — Dangers in the Myette valley — A

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stream flowing west unexpectedly met with — The " divide " had been reached — Western or Pacific slope of Eocky Mountains — Fraser River struck — Narrow rock path blocked— Obstruction dislodged — Two horses get into the Fraser and are carried away — Indian rescues one — Pluckiest deed of the whole journey — Other horse lost with many valuable things. . . . 217-227

XX Stirring Scenes On The Irrawady

Mr. Gouger prepares to sail up the Irrawady to Ava — A Buddhist priest "blown up" at Rangoon — Visit to dropping- well — Shivering fits and fevers— Death of one of the party — A black servant drowned — Alligator story — Ava reached — Successful trading — War breaks out between Britain and Burmah — Review of Burmese army — Water manoeuvres — Serious position of Englishmen in Burmah — Gouger thrown into prison — Long and terrible imprisonment — Taken from prison and carried down the river in a Burmese war-boat — Boat stopped by a beaten Burmese general— Allowed to proceed — A British flotilla seen in the distance — Burmese boat brought up by a warning shot — Gouger rescued and seut on to the steamer Diana — Fright of the Burmese crew at the sight of the steamer — Peace signed — Unexpected attack from the river bank — Boat's crew go in chase — A final capture, a splendid Burmese war-boat. . 228-239

XXI

Mr. Francis Galton in Damaraland — A prowling lion — Lost in the thicket — Another night visit — Grand hunt organized and the lion killed — Hyena and lion attack horses and mules — Another hunt — Narrow escape of Galton — His marvellous coolness — Big game plentiful but shy — An empty larder — Giraffe sighted — Long stalk along bed of river — Giraffe at bay — Horse frightened — Hunter follows the chase on foot — Giraffe killed — Larder replenished — Frightful thunderstorm — Man killed — Baiting with an old woman — Hyena killed — Bare legs and thorns — Hyena killed in moonlight — A lively bit of work — Koodoo or lion ? — A great fright — Splendid black lion — Most critical situation for the traveller — Lion beats retreat 240-249

XXII On The Windings Of The San Juan

Major Rickard reaches the valley of the San Juan — River forded — Alarm in the night — Pumas attack mules — A fierce fight — Two pumas killed— Two mules also — The windings of the river— The Major tries a short cut — Steep and risky path — No sign of habitation — Darkness comes on — A wall of rock with a cleft in it — A tramp of three hours — Back at the cleft — A salt marsh — Make a fire and camp for night — No fresh water — A farm and breakfast — The San Juan river once more — Frequent crossings again — The Major thrown from his mule into the flood — Saved by the mule's tail — Arrival at the town of San Juan. . . . 250-259

XXIII A Flood In Queensland Paces

Floods even in Australia — A Danish emigrant on the banks of a Queensland river — Attacked by a ruffian, who comes off second best — Rains and storms set in — The Dane pitches his tent near the river — Tremendous floods — Imprisoned for three weeks by the waters — Food runs short — Traveller famishing — About to cross the swollen river — Finds a man dying of hunger — Eisks the passage to a farm on the opposite shore — Food refused — The Dane takes some by force for the dying man — Helps his sick friend forward — Necessary to cross the river again — A horse carried away by the floods — The Dane resigns his remaining horse to the sick man — Himself attempts the passage on foot — Exciting time — Narrowly escapes drowning — Black ingratitude of the befriended man 260-270

XXIV The First Steamer On Lake Ntassa

Mr. Young goes to superintend the building and launching of a steamboat on Nyassa — Vessel taken in sections to the Cape, thence to the Zambesi mouths — Difficulty in finding the proper channel — Bolts and nuts found to be rusty — Boat launched and the voyage up the Zambesi begun — Loss of the cutter — Difficulties with shallows — The Shire river entered — Heat and mosquitoes — Dangerous gorge — The Falls reached — Exceptional portage, 800 men employed — Boat, machinery, boiler, tackle, stores, all carried for 70 miles to a point above the cataracts — Food runs short, hippopotamuses killed— Hostility of the Arab slave-traders — Steamboat reconstructed — Steams out of Shire into the lake. 271-282

XXV

The Upper Parana streams — Mr. Bigg-Wither, an English engineer — Boat bearing down upon a series of cataract-rapids — First fall negotiated with difficulty — Boat dashed over second fall — Capsizes — Severe struggle in the waters — Canoe upside down — ■ Mr. Bigg-Wither and his servant Messeno saved at length — Tropical insects — The "berne" — Wild pigs — A formidable assailant — The boar killed — Dead boar given to a German to carry — Man chaffed by his mates- — Falls from tree bridge with his burden — An alarm — " Indians !" — A dark form enters hut in the night — Proves to be a fine ocelot — Snake on a man's arm — A tapir hunt — Another tapir chased by a jaguar — Animals collide with hut — Cobra drops into a canoe containing a single man — Man fell out as cobra fell in. .... 283-294

XXVI

Sir Henry Stanley, the discoverer of Livingstone — He sets himself to explore the great Congo river — Starts from the Tanganyika country — Within three degrees of the Ecpuator — A brush with the natives at Unya-N'sing6 — Frank Pocock — Poisoned arrows

TAOS

— Capture of three native women — Blood-brotherhood — Stanleyoccupies market-green of a village on bank — A terrific fight from behind the stockade — A night of fear — A village seized — Strongly fortified — A vain effort by the blacks to storm the camp — A second and more formidable attack — Stanley's men show admirable steadiness and pluck — A bad half-hour — Arrival of Tippu-Tib with reinforcements — Stanley makes a desperate resolve — Enemy's canoes cut adrift in the night and captured — Stanley dictates terms to the baffled negroes — Blood-brotherhood ceremonies — End of a memorable struggle. . 295-309

XXVII

Mr. Pike with two friends ascends the Stikine river — Description of canoe used — The current tremendous— Heavy hauling — Hard to keep to true river course — "Little Canon " — Almost insuperable difficulties— Whites and Indians in concert to navigate ' ' Little Carion " — Canoe drill — Success at last, and a better part of river reached — A seventy mile portage to Francis Lake — Intense cold of winter— Dangers attending it — A broken rifle and a grizzly bear — Map of Pelly river rectified by Mr. Pike— Yukon navigation — Portage into the Kuskokvim — Voyage down to Behring's Sea — Then on to Ounalaska Island. .... 310-319

XXVIII Klondyke Minees On The Rapids

The rush to Klondyke— Voyage out to Juneau, in Alaska— Chilcoot Pass — Break-up of ice— The Eva launched— A leak repaired —Voyage down the Yukon begun— Miles Canon— Three men in a boat come to grief — The Eva ventures the passage and accomplishes it— The White Horse Rapids— An inspection— A trial trip by a log— A thrilling experience— Safely through- Mosquitoes terrible— Dawson City reached— Cabin built outside the town — No success in getting claims for gold-mining — A miner brings a dead body to be taken care of— The leader of the Canadian mining party leaves Klondyke— By steamboat down the Yukon— Stranded on a sand-bar— Passengers taken off and carried to Behring's Sea. 320-329