The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-05-23
ARI THROUGH THE HEART OF THE AFRICAN JUNGLE


son falls, over which the river leaps, a.
through a nozzle, into Lake Albert Nv.
anza; and from which 1t flows northwarf
tive OF travel In the heart OF Africa or
foot through big game and disease
haunted jungles and down the Me iseauej and
across lake In dug-out canoes
Everywhere great pathways are he.
ing cut into Africa. We have fol.
lowed for nearly 1000 miles one lead.
ing from the east toward the cenfor
from Mombassa to the source of the
Nile at RIpon falls Far awav from
the north another line has been thrust
forward by British efforts in pcsne
and war. From Alexandria to i,,iro
from Cairo to Khartoum. from Kbar'
foum to Gondokoro, on the Nile and
the Soudan frontier, over distance of
nearly 5000 miles. stretches an min.
terrupted service Of trains and stean
ers. But between the landing stage
at JlnJa, where the Nile is born and
the landing stage at Gondokoro. thara
opens wide gulf Of vet unbridoed
unconquered wilderness and Jungle
across which and through which fbe
tfsveler must crawl painfully and at
foot S pace, always amid djfficnltv
and never wholly without danger. II
is this gulf which We arc now TO trav.
erse by marches through the Cornst
around the Nile rapids, and in canoes
end steel sailing boats, towed by a
launch along the navigable portions of
the Nile and across Lake Chiopa IN
the soudsn steamers at GondoEoro@
sbout 900 miles in twenty DAYS
travelling by marhces from camp TO
camp plays regular part in the life
OF the average Central African officer.
lie goes ''on safari,' as the Boer ~ on
trek. 1t is recognized state of
peing, "hlch often lasts for weeks, and
sometimes for months. He learns to
think OF ten days safari as a Pbila.
delphian thinks of going to New York
City, and twenty DAYS safari as jf # |
were less than the journey from New
ork 10 Buffalo.
Safari itself is a Swabili word Of
AraolG origin, meaning an expedition
and all that pertains 10 it, It com
priseS yourself and everybody and |
everything you take with vou--food. |
tents, rifles clothing, cooks servants
escort. porters-but especially porters. |
Ont OF the range OF steam the porter ,
IS the primary factor, This ragged |
figure, tottering along under his load,
Is the unit OF locomotion and The limit
OF possibility, Without porters Won
cannot move With them you move
len or twelve miles a dav, if all is
well
Every morning the porters are di-
Nlded INTO patches of about twenty.
each under its head man The loads,
winch are supposed TO average about
slxty-ilTe pounds, arc also roughly par
celcd ont As each batch starts off.
the next rushes up 10 the succeeding
heap of loads. and there is n quarter
of an aonr of screaming and pushing
the strongest men making a beeline for
the lightest looking bundles and be-
ing beaten off By the grim but voIuble
En
hcslde. mountainous pile, till IA dis.
tTlbutIoD has been achieved with rough
justice aud the troop in lis turn
marches of with indescribable ulula-
lions, tnStlfylDg and mjnisterinC Ia the I
spirit in which they mean TO accom-,
plish the days journey,
Plunging Into the Jungle.
With final look at Ripon falls.
cleaning and resounding below,
climb the slopes, of the river bank and
walk off into the forest | had trav-
eled through tropical forests in Cuba
and in India. and had often before ad-
mired their enchanting vet sinister lux
nriauce. But the forests of Uganda.
for, magnificence, for variety of form
and color, for profusion OF brilliant
ufe-plant, bird, insect, reptile beast
for the vast scale OF awful fecundity
nf the natural processes that are be-
held at work, eclipsed and, indeed, eff
raced all previous impressions.
One becomes, not without q secret
sense of aversion, the spectator of an
intense convulsion of life and death.
Reproduction and decay are locked
struggling in infinite embraces. In
this differing equatorial sium, huge
trees lostle one another for room to
live; slender growths stretch upward
as 1t seems in agony-toward sunlight
and hfe. The soil bursts with ire
pressible vegetations, Every victor.
trampllng on the rottlng mold of ex-
terminated antagonists, scars aloft
only TO encounter another host of aerial
rivals, to be burdened with masses of
parasitic foliage, smothered in the
glorious blossoms of crecpers, laced and
bound and interviewer with intermin-
able tangles of vines and trailers. Birds
are as bright as butterflies; butterflies
aTs as big as birds, The air huns with
meath your foot.
AS we advanced, continually rising
or falling with the waves Of the land.
and moving in rapid alterations from
blazing patch Of sunshine into n
cloistered dimness, every now and then
firm sandstone. And here one could ,
watch the columns of marching soldier
ants.
Perhaps in 100 yards the road would
be crossed four times by these fierce
armies. They move in regular array
aud upon purpose at once lnScrutablo
and answering. A brown band. per-
haps two inches broad and an inch and
one-half deep, is drawn across your
track. It's ends are lost in the recesses
Of the jungle. 1t moves increasingly
and with a multiplied rapidity, for
each ant runs swiftly forward, whether .
upon the ground or upon the bucks Of
his already moving comrades.
About yard away. on each side Of
the main column, are the screening
lines of the flank guards, and for five
yards beyond this every inch is
searched, every object is examined by
tireless and fearless accommodating
patrols. Woo to tho enemy who is
overtaken by these hordes. No matter
what his size or nature he is attacked
at once by an ever increasing number .
Of assailants each one Of whom. upon
remorseless instinct, plunges his strong