News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-07-26
FIGHTING FOR DEAR LIFE.
Experience of Explorers who In
CURED the Enmity of Natives.


When the explorers Kund and Tap.
penbeck reached the coast more dead
than alive in March last they told q
thrilling story of their five months jour.
ney among the unknown tribes of West
Africa, back of the CAMERON district.
All the Information We have yet received
Of this tTagical journey is contained in o
long letter written by Lieut.. Kund. No
map helps us to trace their route, for
not tribe or place they mention is
found on any map. They marched into
wholly new region, and they probably
suffered more than any other modern
explorers of Africa who survived to tell
their story.
Starting some ways south of Came
room they marched over 200 miles into
the interior with caravan numbering
over 100 men. They met with no seri-
Gus opposition till they had travelled
about 100 miles east, when the Johngu-
ana tribe attempted to prevent the expe-
dItlon from crossing a river. The cara
van embarked in canoes, crossed the
river while firing rapidly at the natives,
and stormed up the bank, driving the
heightened savages before them. After
two days skirmishing peace was made
with this tribe, and the expedition went
on its way. The little war had cost
quite number of lives, the natives suf-
fering most of the loss. Then they en-
tered prosperous andpeaceful country,
where the natives expressed their great
delight at seeing white men among
them. They brought plenty of fool
which they sold at remarkably low
prices.
It has been known for some time that
line drawn east from CAMERON to the
Nile roughly approximates the boundary
between the Soudan negroes and the
great family of Bantu tribes who spread
over the southern part of the continent
Our explorers, far inland, touched the
great race boundary, and on the banks
of the Greater Ndjong River they found
~ tribe of Soudan negroes, who, mistak-
ing the visitors for slave hunters, decid-
ed to prevent the further march of the
expedition. Here occurred O cruel mas
sacre of the natives. Unable to speak
any of the languages which were known
to the members of the expedition, the
situation could not be easily explained
to them. The white men, using little !!
tact or discretion, so far as now appears, |
attempted to force their way along, and |
were attacked on the march. In turn |
they stormed big palisaded village, in !
whose defence the brave negroes, armed .
only with bows and arrows and spears,
fought as well as they could against the !
well-armed foe. Of course they were
defeated, and the village was laid in
ashes. "We were sorry" writes Kund, |
''for the dead who lay about in the vii !
lage, for they had lost their lives in de-
Tending their homes against those who, |
they believed, had come with bad inten-
tons"
OF course, as the expedition had made
implacable enemies of these negroes, all
further progress through this country
was out of the question. The party
sought by another route to regain the
coast, and when only about a weeks
march from CAMERON they met their
greatest misfortune. While following
narrow path in very large region where
the reedy grass grows about 16 feet high,
the expedition was most Unexpectedly
by the Bakoka armed with
guns. Hidden in this grass the enemy
kept up an almost constant firing upon
the party, who were almost defenceless. !
They could not see the crouching ne /
grOes, and could only blaze away now |
BakOka had fired. As the party with diff 9
Guilty pushed its way through the grass :
he natives, knowing every elephant t
path, were able to get in advance of the t
expedition or to keep abreast of it. A o
arge part of the caravan threw down "
heir loads, content if they were able to D
ret out of the scrape with their lives. L
t was also necessary to leave much of
he baggage in order to carry the Il
rounded. If
That terrible days work cost the lives G.
T the efficiency of one third of the ex h
edition. Tappenbeck, with bullet in t
lis head, was borne senseless ON Ii
tretcher. kund was shot in two places, V
me bullet breaking his left arm. W
twenty six men were wounded and quite Il
! number of them had to be carried. v
OnlY three rounds of ammunition were e
eft for each man, and if the enemy had u
nergeticalIy renewed the attack next u
ay the entire party would have persisted al
/ the grass. Fortunately, however, IL
lie natives, whose own loss had been -
ute heavy, kept at q respectful distance L
ld tired only an occasional shot.
ther miseries were stillin store for the eV
arty, for they nearly starved to death b.
| the six days before they were met by In
le relief party that had been fastened 81
inward in response to the appeal of I'll
ler messenger. OF
1t may take many years to remove the
Unfortunate impression that this expedi-
on has made upon the minds of the ma
yes. Nothing but the direst necessity
-ould have forced the great explorers of
frica to slaughter the natives as Kund IL
nd Tappenbeck, according to their own &C
tory, appear to have done on the c
ireater Ndjong River. In their former s.
xpedition, while OF Explorers were OF
pushing to- way through IL
ut the Congo basin, kund and Happen tt
eek managed to get into an ugly scrape RS
nth the Ikatta natives, south of the
'ongo, and one of the explorers was NJ
ably wounded. They would seem to
HEX the rare tact and patience without m
7hich it would be better for the cause il
humanity and science that would-be
xplorers should choose some other G.
ocation. cI