Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-09-08
SCENES IN AFRICA.
THE PLEASURES OF TRAVELLING IN THE
TROPICAL wILDs.
Monstrous ge-Blood-sucking Flies
-Foaming Palm wine-A Troop of
Monkeys-The Congo,

WITHOUT aScerLainlnS tnat everything Wnlcn
could aid me in my journey had been
placed at my disposal. Above all, he gave
orders that three "picked" Zanzibaris
were to accompany me as an escort during
my journeyings and it was thus that l
made the acquaintance of three servants of
the " treasure" type, dependents who be.
came valuable friends and it will be long
before l forget Farsji, Mafti and Imbono,
or cease to regret the almost affectionate
service they bestowed on me. Now we
trudge along through high grass that very
much circumscribes the view-it is terribly
exasperating, that all.obscuring grass one
of the first and foremost of Africa's petty
disagreeables. Some of this
INDUSTRIOUS HERBAGE
Scatters on us barbed seeds that are armed
at one end by sharp needle point, and
surrounded with short reversed hairs, so
that once the seed enters the clothing it
can only work inward and not backward
Soon our bodies are pricked and scratched
and irritated by the sharp pointed awns
that have penetrated through the inner.
most clothing to the skin. Here, however,
we are at another village, Nguvi Mpanda,
surrounded, as are most Congo hamlets,
| by splendid forest trees and well-kept
plantations. Before we enter it, the path
winds through many fields of manioc
| (which gives the edible root so largely con.
sumed in these regions), and In these fields
women, who are cleaning the weeds away
with strongly-made native hoes, look up
and scream to one another. "Mundele,
mundele!' white man, white manly OF
course, we comport ourselves with dignity
before this keen public curiosity, and be-
nignly smile and pat the little wondering
children on the head, as we pursue our
road through the village. But our progress
is momentarily stopped. The Chief-he is
my blood brother now, and l am ashamed
to say that l
CANNOT TODAY RECALL HIS NAME
Will not hear of our passing his village
without a rest or a drink. 50 we sit un-
derneath his cool thatched veranda and
drink delicious, foaming palm wine, like
new-made ginger beer. As it is served to
us in a silver-gilt jug, and we quaff it out
of silver. gilt goblet, you will remark that
civilization has lately hovered near Nguvi
Mpanda. Now on again through more
plantations of manioc, ground nuts and In-
dian corn, till we arrive at another village,
with another hospital Chief, this time
wearing very bushy beard and whiskers.
"No, we can't stop here. thank you" is
our firm reply to his ardent invitations
tive must reach the River Loa tonight"
Then an eXasperating rocky path all sharp
stones and sudden descents then little
bit OF marsh intervenes, and so we are in
the valley of the Loa, or in the valleys.
rather, for canyons and ravines intersect
the hills in all directions. 1t is not beau
tiful country hereabouts. 1t looks
Scared AND YELLOW ON THE HILLsIDEs,
And spotted with unpleasant scrubby little
bushes, giving no shade and bearing lead
colored fruits. Along the little stream,
where 1 go to take bath, through the tall,
rank grass that borders the channel, buffa.
loes have passed and browsed some few
hours before, and left some traces of their
pasturing. 1 undress and place my clothes
on the stones. Oh the woes of inexperi.
ence. All along the road have seen my
men slapping themselves with leafy
branches to keep off the flies, but l, being
clothed, felt no inconvenience, and there.
fore drew no inference from their actions.
Now that am unclad myself, myriads of
small black flies settle on me, and raise
little points of blood where they pierce the
skin with their red-hot needle-like lancets.
My bath is but a short one, and is, while it
lasts, total immersion, after which [ hur-
risdly drag on my clothes to screen my
smarting, itching skin. African disagree.
able number two is black, blood.sucking
flies.
DISMAL REGION.
Between the River Bundi and the Lulu
lies dismal region. One would say it was
under the enchantment of some wicked
wizard, who had cast spell over every
thing perhaps the evil Genius of Africa |
trying his hardest to discourage the pene.
tration of white men into his secrets. The |
grass is tall, sometimes eight or nine feet |
high. When it is dry, it cuts you like !
razor. 1t slashes you across the face and !
the backs of your hands. The blades ill., !
tercross and bar your way like hostile sa-
bers they insultingly whip off your hem.
let they fetter your legs and interlace |
themselves around your ankles but, like !
most African difficulties, they lose much
of their resisting power if boldly encoun-
tered. Squeeze your hat on tightly, lower
your head, put your hands IN your pockets
and charge through them, and they will |
yield before you. But evidently the |
wicked Genius, seeing this does not deter
US, calls another agent to his aid. About |
midday, the sky being fairly serene, no.
tice near the horizon little masses of blue
gray clouds, but, as they are blowing away
from us, think them unworthy of atten-
tion until my men, who better know the |
tokens of African weather than |, look at
them and say "rain, and although 1 hope |
they may be wrong, gradually these little
masses of elond creep around the horizon,
lifting themselves up bit by bit, and soon
the whole heaven becomes covered with
A PAIL OF AWFUL BLACK CLOUD.
We have arrived at little camping. place
under some shade, and here, in spite of my
ideas of the connection between trees and
lightning, my carriers advise me to stop.
The rain had already begun to hiss down,
but fortunately my tent was soon pitched
and my baggage brought under shelter.
The ground, however, was very dank, and
oppressed by the gloomy sky l felt disposed
to be miserable, especially as clouds of hor-
rible little black flies and venomous mos.
1uitoes tormented me continually, and
sadly inhamed my hands with their bites.
However, with that adroitness which most
uncivilized races possess of quickly light
ing fire, my men had soon made splendid
and comforting blaze out of the fragments
of wet timber that lay around, and pres
emily had water boiling and steaming hot
cup of coffee ready. Then when l had
out round space in the center of
the tent and filled it with red-hot wood
ashes, which ditfused grateful sense of
warmth and dryness and at the same time
routed the many insects, and when my
tent was firmly shut against the rain, and
| sat down to drink my coffee and read
;ome old newspapers, my feeling of
DIsCoNTENT HAD COMPLETELY VANISHED,
And I passed not unpleasant evening,
writing and reading 1t is thus by taking
, little trouble to make ones self comfort-
able under unpromising circumstances that
one may alleviate many African troubles
md avoid much ill-health. On the other
,ide of the River Lulu every one seemed
Inclined to repose from their fatigues. The
Dads were all disposed round the camping.
place, the tent was pitched, and the break
asst put in preparation. In the meantime
,he majority of the men went down to
oathe. took off my wet things and laid
hem on great powders to dry, and also {
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