Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 125.djvu/88

74 he was as arrant a dealer as even Aboo Saood, the pet aversion of Sir Samuel Baker. Such was the man who now offered his protection to Schweinfurth, and in spite of the remonstrances of Idrees, Ghattas' chief agent at the seriba, who declared that the traveller would be starved to death in those wildernesses, and that then the firm would be held responsible for his death, Schweinfurth had little hesitation in throwing in his lot with the Nubian who was to guide him into unknown regions of botanical research, especially when he considered that if he continued his travels with Ghattas it would cost him some thousand dollars, while with Aboo Sammat he would travel free. Having made up his mind, Schweinfurth joined the caravan of his new friend at Kulongo, near the Tondy, with his six Nubians, three slaves, and an interpreter, his baggage being cut down to thirty-six packages. Then on November 17, 1869, the whole caravan, two hundred and fifty in number, crossed the Tondy, then in full flood, by swimming and wading, the baggage being carried over on a great raft of straw, the stream being about two hundred feet wide. They were now bound south-east for Sabby, the chief seriba of Aboo Sammat, which they reached on the 23rd of November, at the latitude of 6° 20m. north. There Schweinfurth was received with Oriental hospitality and respect, so that the natives, when they saw Aboo Sammat providing the stranger with a palanquin for every brook, and even with cows that he might "have new milk," said, "This white man is a lord over all the Turks," a superiority which, continued into the Niam Niam and Monbuttoo tribes, contributed not a little to the success of his journey. While the Nubian, who, besides his quarrels with the natives, had an old feud with one Shereefee, a rival ivory-trader, was looking after his interests in that district, Schweinfurth explored the country and enriched his collections. Now he became acquainted with the Mittoo country, and its fauna and flora, and after meeting Aboo Sammat at an outlaying seriba, on January 7, 1870, he prepared for his journey into the country of the hostile and cannibal Niam Niam. Before starting, however, the adventurous Nubian held a review of his force to strike awe into the natives whom he had laid under contribution; and it must be admitted that his method of proceeding and style of speaking were most effective. His people, numbering five hundred, were divided into groups according to their tribes, and with each of these, now arrayed as a savage with lance and shield, now with bow and arrow, the indefatigable Nubian danced from morning till night; now taking the character and dress of a Bongo, now as a Mittoo, now as a Niam Niam, and now as a Monbuttoo. This scene, which shows that dancing is as common to the tribes of Central Africa as it is in Dahomey and Ashantee, was followed by a gathering of chiefs to whom Aboo Sammat delivered a terrible oration. He did not want their women and children, nor their corn, but he must insist on the regular transport of provisions to his expedition and on a proper system of bearers. "If one of the bearers runs away or throws down his load, I will tear out his eyes; and if a package is stolen," turning to the chief, "I will have your head." Here he brandished a huge scimitar, like Blue Beard, over the head of his intended victim. Proceeding, he warned two other chiefs that a rival trader's people had lately come into that district, and carried off two elephants, but that this could not be allowed, or if it happened again they should pay for it in their lives. "If any ivory is taken by any one of you to a strange seriba, I will have him burnt alive." If they ran away into caves he would smoke them with cayenne pepper — à la Pélissier — till they crawled out and begged for mercy. This and much more of the same sort convinced Schweinfurth, as it must convince every one, that ivory-dealing in Central Africa has its rough as well as its smooth side, and that this chivalrous Nubian, so gentle and so scientific, was, when his blood was up, as great a cut-throat as any pirate that ever sailed under the black flag.

On January 14th, the whole caravan returned to Sabby, and in a fortnight more, which Schweinfurth spent in making up his diary and providing for the transmission of his fresh treasures to Europe, the bulk of the caravan started for the Niam Niam. As this journey would have been impossible except by the aid of the Nubian, Schweinfurth is quite right to say that all the museums of Europe which have been enriched by his collections owe an endless debt of gratitude to Aboo Sammat. This was one of the occasions on which it was prudent for the ivory-dealers to combine, and so the caravan was swollen by a number of Ghattas' people, besides which it was followed by a whole troop of 