The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-04-18
GREAT TALES OF AFRICA
The Adventures Of Joseph Thomson, F. R,
G. S. in the Nasal Land.*

Difficulties of the >tart-A Voyage in a
Dhow-Encouniers with BuGaloes, Ele-
plants, EIooa-ib'"sty Naive, -Descrip-
ton of Genital .Ic.ican Scenery.
PhUddctphid .S"t'icH Pes.
Towering nearly 10000 feet above
the sea stands Mt. Kilimanjaro, like a
giant guardian of the secrets of inner
Africa. \ few missionaries armed with
umbrellas and the equipment recon-
mended by the Apostle Paul, have sue
ceeGed in reaching its mighty slopes
and climbing 10 its crown OF everlasting
snow but met by the guile of the
mountain spirits and their heutenants,
the willy chiefs of the Nasal tribes, they
have one and all been turned back sad
der ald wiser men, stripped of all save
their lives and their invisible armOr.
Thus down to the year 1883 Nasal
Land was an enigma waiting solution.
Jo-eph Thomson, young Scotchman,
known to fame even as a beardless boy
by his explorations along the Africa
Coast, was the Oidipous destined to
wrest the answer rom the unwilling
SPHINX.
Having been appointed by the Royal
Geographical Society to lead an exhi-
bition through Nasal Land to Lake
Victoria Nyanza, he arrived at Zanzibar
the last Of January, 1883. After re-
newing Old acquaintances, he started
out IN a dhow for a reconnaissance up
the coast. This is his description Of
the boat in which he took a voyage.
the most awful in lis varied combina-
ton of miserits that he had ever eXper-
iCnCed:
AN AFRII AN DHOW.
Imagine a curiously-shaped boat
capable of carrying about thirty tons.
partially decked aft, high in the stern
and low in the bow, suggesting to the
nervous mind a suicidal tendency ir
The shape of dcie, mined purpose o.
diving beneath the FIRST advancing
wave. \ single mast. fifteen to twenty
ieet high, supports an unwiedly lateer
sal of dimensions enormous compared
with the size of The ciait and held by
rorten COG Janut fibre ropes, which
not unirequently static the crew ano
passen3ers-;f they do no worse-by
breaking and Icing their whole bu den
crash d wn On deck. The water leaks
in at innumerable points, continually
reQuir39 several men to bail night and
day. Then from Stern to stem, there
r:scs a combina, on of abominable
smells, ttulv s;Ckcning. The rott'ns
wood. with It's Cos,;ng of rancid cocoa
nut oil. the accumulated grecse anC
filth OF years, the bilse water, the con
tents of the cargo, and the effluvia from
the persprins skins of the crowded
ne. :ocs, all contribute Their quota tt
the ef,ec., which words cannot de
scl.be.
Nermin swarmgd over the devoted
men, rats paid him unpleasant atten
tons, the hot tropic sun pierced hin
with peepcnd.cllar rays, the sea swellc(
in mons rous pillows, the lishtnlp!
| flashed, the thunder roarcd in all TIL
| fury of an Atric storm, the most dan
eerous of coral reefs threatened to daSl
them to pieces. At last, having mad
a lucky plunge across The suri-whitcnet
rocks, he was transferred to canoe
mot unlike a dogs hind leg" in whicl
though half filled with water, he man
aged to reach terra hrma. A Cocoanu
grove promised rescue, and som
friendly Wadiao fed them on vegetabl
milk, boiled eggs and plump fow
and then I'VE made our grass beds,
he says, ':under the caves of the hut:
and, soothed by the signing palm tree
overhead, the myriad voices of tn
c ickv,S around us and the roar of III
'breakers in the distance, we soon fe
asleep, 10 dream Of seas under hal
cyon spell, I'M roubled by nightmare
dhows and their contents.'