May 14, 1891 



NATURE 



47 



gentle and modest, yet full of vivacity. They told us that the 

 name of their village was Pamu, and that it was governed by an 

 Emir, who was under the jurisdiction of the Emir of Yola. The 

 men were armed with spear and bow and arrows, though they 

 are said to be an agricultural people, and certainly it would seem 

 so, for every yard of ground in the neighbourhood of Pamu was 

 under cultivation. We asked them if they would bring us pro- 

 visions in exchange for cloth ; this ihey readily did, and we soon 

 were hard at it, bartering pieces of cloth, salt, &c., for live stock, 

 weapons, ornaments, and indeed anything. The whole time 

 nothing but the greatest good temper prevailed, and I was much 

 .struck by their gentleness and courtesy ; albeit the ladies were 

 very good at a bargain, and I noticed that when it came to 

 bartering their ornaments, members of the fair sex, who were not 

 so young or so fair as their more fortunate sisters in this respect, 

 surreptitiously handed their ornaments to the latter to dispose of, 

 hoping thereby to get better value, and I am bound to confess 

 they did." 

 Shortlyafter this the steamer cameto a deserted strip of country, 

 ■me fifteen miles in length, which was evidently the barrier be- 

 veen the Mahommedan and Pagan tribes ; it was of an undulating 

 character, with isolated hills, and well wooded. The river was 

 -till about 100 yards wide, but commenced to be dotted with 

 i,'rassy islands, and was in parts very shallow with a sandy bottom. 

 Next day, as the steamer advanced, the river narrowed again 

 and made a sharp bend to the eastward, and approached a 

 grassy range of mountains, leaving a higher range to the north. 

 Half an hour after starting the party arrived at the foot of the 

 grassy slopes of the former ; a pathway, which could be traced 

 for a considerable distance, wound up the face of the mountain 

 and disappeared over one of its grassy ridges. Patches of cul- 

 tivation could be seen dotted here and there ; the main valley 

 stretched back some three or four miles, but we could see no 

 >igns of a village. 



" We were, however," Major Macdonald stated, " not left long 

 in doubt as to whether the country was inhabited or not, nor as to 

 the character of the inhabitants, for down the winding path, 

 which was distant some 600 yards from where we were, came a 

 line of warriors, some 200 in number ; the majority of them 

 were quite naked, though some few had a small cloth 

 round their waists. They were all armed, mostly with spears, 

 the almost invariable number being three. Leaving the pathway, 

 they advanced in excellent order across the boulder-covered 

 grassy piece of ground which lay between the river and the moun- 

 tain side. We accordingly moved into mid-stream, which was 

 only some 15 yards from the bank, and dropped anchor in about 

 4 feet of water. Our friends advanced straight at us, not a word 

 being spoken, but an excellent line being maintained, when sud- 

 denly they all took cover behind boulders and tufts of grass, 

 nothing being visible but the gleaming points of their spears. 

 It was a source of some gratification to us that the points were 

 gleaming, for it showed that at any rate they were not poisoned. 

 There was now a pause. Then our Fulbe interpreter, under 

 my directions, opened fire in a dialect of the Battawa, with 

 satisfactory results, for they appeared to understand him. Their 

 first question was as to whether ' we were Mahommedans ? 

 because if so we could not pass, as they were the outposts of 

 the Pagan tribes, and had orders not to allow Mahommedans to 

 pass.' We assured them that we were not Mahommedans. 

 They then told us, in answer to our queries, that the name of 

 their village was Katsho, and that it lay back from the river 

 amongst the hills ; they said that if we went on we would come 

 to more villages. After a great deal of persuasion two of their 

 number consented to come on board. So we sent a six-oared 

 gig, which we had towed up with us in case of accidents, to fetch 

 them. They were fine, well-made men, but were trembling with 

 fright at the sight of the steamer and white men, and prostrated 

 themselves on the deck at our feet. These two men wore loin 

 cloths of native manufacture ; the great majority of the others 

 were, as I have said, naked. After getting as much information 

 out of these men as we could, which information, on account of 

 their terror and the difiSculty in interpreting, was somewhat 

 meagre, we proceeded on our way. By this time large numbers 

 of men and boys had assembled, and ran along the banks ges- 

 ticulating and pointing at our little ship. They, men and boys 

 alike, were all armed, mostly with spears ; we saw very few 

 bows and arrows. 



" The scenery now was very picturesque ; to our right, i.e. the 

 south of the river, some few yards from the water's edge, the 

 mountains rose in some places quite abruptly. These mountains 



were for the most part covered with green wavy grass verj 

 pleasant to the eye. One or two streams trickled down the 

 mountain side, forming now and again picturesque waterfalls. 

 The river had suddenly broadened out to a lake, or, more 

 properly speaking, marsh, some three miles long by two wide. 

 The range of grassy mountains I have mentioned ran along the 

 southern shores of the lake and terminated with it. The country 

 on the east and north shores of the lake, as far as the eye could 

 see in the direction of the Tuburi marsh (near the Shari river) 

 was open and gently undulating, while from the western shores 

 of the lake the beautiful range of mountains, with their needle- 

 shaped peaks, stretched back apparently for many miles. In 

 the north-east corner of the lake we saw a very large village 

 some two miles distant ; this we afterwards ascertained was 

 Bifare. The channel of the river evidently followed the base 

 of the southern hills. We accordingly steamed gaily along, 

 I followed on the shore by an ever-increasing crowd, till we 

 arrived at a large village prettily situated almost on the edge 

 of the lake. The houses or huts were built in clusters, each 

 cluster apparently belonging to a different family. The huts 

 were very well constructed, having round walls some 6 feet 

 high, with flat roofs formed by beams covered over with mud 

 and thatch. The walls of the huts were made of black and in 

 some places red mud, and the workmanship of both walls and 

 roof was excellent. Several hamlets were prettily situated on 

 the slopes of the hill, surrounded with patches of cultivation, 

 and had the appearance of the country places of the richer 

 inhabitants of the village. 



"A large crowd had now assembled, and regarded our move- 

 ments with great curiosity. We asked to see the chief of the 

 village, and after a good deal of palaver, a man appeared attired 

 in a very tattered * tobe ' or gown. He had something of the 

 Fulbe in his countenance, and was a tall fine man, though of 

 rather a forbidding appearance. He came on board, and we 

 endeavoured to get what information we could out of him. He 

 said the name of the big water we saw was Nabaret, but that 

 it was only a fourth that size in the dry season. The name of 

 his village was Kaku. The channel of the river ran along by 

 the mountains. He knew of the Tuburi marsh, but had never 

 been there ; he did not think the river came from there as it 

 was distant many days' journey. He knew of no other big 

 water, but would give us a guide to show us the way. The 

 people of the Nabaret district are possessed of cattle, but no 

 horses ; they live principally, on dhurra, which they cultivate 

 largely, and on fish which abound in the lake. They also hunt 

 the hippopotami, of which we saw a dozen in the lake, though 

 doubtless there may be many more. 



" We took our guide on board and endeavoured to make for 

 Bifare, already mentioned, which appeared to be a village of 

 quite 6ooo inhabitants, situate on the north-east shores of 

 the lake, and distant some two miles from where we were. 

 After proceeding about loo yards we found that the water 

 shoaled about a foot, and even less, and though we made every 

 effort to proceed, we were completely baffled ; turning back, by 

 direction of the guide, we went for an opening in the high 

 dhurra, which grew in immense quantities about here, and found 

 ourselves once more in the channel of the stream, which was, 

 however, only some 8 yards wide and 2\ feet deep, flowing with 

 a swift current. After proceeding with great difficulty for 

 almost a mile, with fields of dhurra growing to a height of 8 

 feet on either side and completely shutting out the view, the 

 navigation became so difficult that we had to turn back, having 

 already smashed in the bow of our gig, bent our rudder into the 

 shape of a bow, and more than once berthed our little ship 

 amongst the dhurra stalks. The stream was so narrow that we 

 could not turn, but had to float down backwards for a good half 

 mile. The highest point reached was a mile and a half from the 

 village of Kaku, and from what the people said, a good thirty 

 miles from Dawa, in the Tuburi country, the furthest point 

 reached by any European entering Africa from the north, viz. 

 Dr. Vogel in 1854. The stream at the point where we re- 

 luctantly turned back was not more than 2 feet deep, and 

 from 15 to 20 feet wide, and this at the period of high 

 water. I should say that in the dry season (and this is 

 corroborated by the natives themselves) that a man could step 

 across it. It is more than probable, therefore, that had we 

 been able to proceed another three miles or so, we should have 

 arrived at its source," 



It seems evident, then, from Major Macdonald's observations, 

 that no connection can exist between the Shari and the Beaue. 



NO. I I 24, VOL. 44] 



