Litchfield enquirer., 1877-12-06
WHOLE NO 26Ss
gTArtrY DOWN THx COxaO.

| Stanleys accounts of desperate fighting. on
 his recent voyage down the OOngosre certain l ly very interesting We cannot help reflect ing, however, that he was the only white man who has survived the attempts lapd thns it
 would De bsEangsEi ASIIerald reporter dldnOt
 make the most of &giori0us an opportunity.
 To reassure the public, the next exploring ex-
 petition shouldhave Sun reporter along, too, l to see that the Herald man don'texaggerate.
 FALLS, FIGHTS AND HEAVY MARCHES. On January4 1877, we came to the first of what proved series of cataracts; or, to use a
 more correct term, falls, below the confluence of the Lumami, and the Dualaba, or the Lowa, as the river was now called Our troubles be-
 game. Night and day every nerve was strain ed to defend ourselves. Fosr times on Janua- " 4, we broke through the lines of canoes | brought out against us and finally we were
 halted by the Baswa falls, in latiMide 0 degrees, 8 minutes 86 seconds s0uths The savages seemed to think we had no resource left but to
 surrender and be eaten at their leisure. Again and again were we compelled to repuise the furious charges that they nude to drive us over the falls The people of the Falls Islands also
 came up to assist the cannibals of Mwana Nta-
 ba. We were at bay, and became desperate. | Return we could not, as we could not pull against stream and fight. We pulled ashore first on the right bank, then across river to the left, and made a camp in the w0Ods drawing
 our canoes and boat up after us. After con- ! structing fence of brush around on the forest
 side the best sharpshooters, were placed in po- rition for defense. After short time the na- tives retired and left us to rest. For the ensu- ing 24 days we had fearful work, constructing
 camps by night along the line marked out dur l ing the day, cutting roads fromabove to below each fall. dragging our heavy canoes during the l day, while the most active of the young men the boats Crew-repulsed the savages and for
 aged for food. On January 27, we had passed l in this desperate way 42 geographical miles by
 six falls, and, to effect it, had dragged our ca | noes distance of 13 miles by land by roads
 which we had cut through the forest. Our
 provisions in the meantime we had to procure 1 as we best could. When we had cleared the
 last fall, latitude o degrees, IA minutes 52 sec- Ohds north, we halted two days for rest, which
 we all very much needed. In the passage. of
 these falls we lost five men only. ONE RIFLE BETTER THAN TEN ARROWS. The river was gradually widening from the
 usual 1900 to 2000 yards breadth to two and
 three miles. It then began to receive grander athuents, and soon assumed alacustrine breadth | from four to ten miles. Islands also were 30
 numerous that only once a day were we able
 to obtain glimpse of the opposite bank We ! had reached the great basin lying between the maritime and lake regions. The first day we
 entered this region we were attacked three
 times by three separate tribes the second day
 we maintained rIihning fight almost the en-
 tire day, which terminated in the grandsnaval fight at the confluence of the Aruwimi-the Welle (?)-with the Lualaba. AS we crossed
 over from the current of the Lualaba to that of
 the Aruwimi, and had taken glance at the
 breadth of the magnificent affluent we were
 quite taken aback at the grand preparatiOnsfor
 our reception Fifty-four canoes rushing down
 on us with such fury that saw must act at
 once ii wished to save the expedition. Four
 of our canoes, in a desperate fright, became
 panic stricken and began to pull fast down
 stream, but they were soon brought back.
 We dropped our stone anchors formed close line and calmly waited events Down
 the natives came, fast and furious and in mag nificent style, Everything about them was su- perb. Their canoes were enoffn0us tfiings. one especially monster. eighty uaddiers fosty on
 side, with paddles eight feet long, spear4point- ed, and really pointed withiron blades for close
 quarters, presume. The top of each paddle shaft was adorned with ivory balls. The chiefs pranced up and down planking that ran from stem to stern. In a platform near the bow were ten choice young fellows swaying their long spears ready. At the stern of this great war canoe stood eight steersmen, guiding her toward us. There were about twenty three fourths of her ize-also fine looking, but none made such an imposing show. At 8 rough guess there must have been from fifteen hun dred to two thousand savages within these 64 canoes. l cannot think that these belonged to one power. l imagine that it wasa prOcOn- certed arrangement with neighbOring tribes got up specially for our entertainment The big monster, as it shot past us, launched a spear-the first. Every gun in our little fleet angr1ly gave response to our foes. We were in asecond al most surrounded and clouds of spears hurled and missed fora short time-say, ten minutes. They then gave way, and we lifted anchors and charged them, following them with fatal result. We followed them to the shore, chased them on land into their villages and, after securing some of the abundance of food we found there, sounded the recall
 To the -victors belong the spOils-at least SO thought my people the amount of ivory they discovered lying about astonished me. There was an ivory ..temple," structure of solid tusks surrounding an idol; ivory logs, which, by the marks of hatchets visible on them, they must have used to chop wood up- on; ivory war-hOrns, some of them three feet long; ivory malletts, ivory wedges to split, ivory pestles to grind their cassava, and be- fore the chLefs house was veranda, or bur- Zah, the posts of which were long tusks of ivory. There were 133 pieces of ivory, which according to rough calculation, would realize, about $1S,OOO. These, I told the men, they must consider as their prize money. In this . fight we only lost one man.
 THE LAST FIGHT BUT oNR.
 The 14th of February we lost the island olu md falya e<Se.l l.so
 turn-along a channel which took us to the right bank to the powerful tribe of Mangara, or Mangala, of whom we had heard so much, sometimes as very bad people, at other times as great traders The fact that they pursued trade caused us to imagine that we should be permitted to pass by quietly. We were wo- fully deceived Despite the war drums and horns summoning the tribe to war, as it was near noon and a bright sun shone, and there was sufficient stretch of river to take a good observation, 1 would not lose such splendid opportunity to fix the position of this impor- tant locality. ascertained it to be latitude 1 degree, 16 minutes, 50 seconds, north; by count, longitude 21 degrees east. closed my sextant and put it away carefully, and then prepared to receive the natives-if they came for war, with war if they came for.peace, with gifts. We cast loose from Obi island and started downstream. Sixty-three canoes of light, even elegant, make approached. Some of the natives were gorgeous in brass decora- tions, and they wore head-dresses of the skins of white goats, while skins of the same color hung down their shoulders, like short mantles: the principal men. wore robes of crimson blank. ct cloth. We ceased rowing When they were about three hundred yards off held a crirn- son cloth up to view in one hand and coil of brass wire in another, and by signs offered it to them My answer was from three muskets, a shower of iron-stone sltlgs, and four of my boats crew and one in my canoes wounded. A fierce shout of exultatiOn announced to the hundreds on the banks their first success. We formed our usual close line, and allowed the canoes and boat to float down, every rife and revolver being required here. The battle con sisted of bullets against slugs We were touched frequently boat and canoes pftted. but mi Y1nV-forofod fhroa.rh naaI aa,<4.. 4.ll