Five Weeks in a Balloon
not rise very high without extreme dilation of the gas, the country
itself being at an average height of three thousand feet. Hence, the
doctor preferred not to force the dilation, and so adroitly followed
the sinuosities of a pretty sharply-inclined plane, and swept very
close to the villages of Thembo and Tura-Wels. The latter forms part of
the Unyamwezy, a magnificent country, where the trees attain enormous
dimensions; among them the cactus, which grows to gigantic size.
About two o’clock, in magnificent weather, but under a fiery sun that
devoured the least breath of air, the balloon was floating over the
town of Kazeh, situated about three hundred and fifty miles from the
coast.
“We left Zanzibar at nine o’clock in the morning,” said the doctor,
consulting his notes, “and, after two days’ passage, we have, including
our deviations, travelled nearly five hundred geographical miles.
Captains Burton and Speke took four months and a half to make the same
distance!”
CHAPTER FIFTEENTH.
Kazeh.—The Noisy Market-place.—The Appearance of the Balloon.—The
Wangaga.—The Sons of the Moon.—The Doctor’s Walk.—The Population of the
Place.—The Royal Tembe.—The Sultan’s Wives.—A Royal Drunken-Bout.—Joe
an Object of Worship.—How they Dance in the Moon.—A Reaction.—Two Moons
in one Sky.—The Instability of Divine Honors.
Kazeh, an important point in Central Africa, is not a city; in truth,
there are no cities in the interior. Kazeh is but a collection of six
extensive excavations. There are enclosed a few houses and slave-huts,
with little court-yards and small gardens, carefully cultivated with
onions, potatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and mushrooms, of perfect
flavor, growing most luxuriantly.
The Unyamwezy is the country of the Moon—above all the rest, the
fertile and magnificent garden-spot of Africa. In its centre is the
district of Unyanembe—a delicious region, where some families of Omani,
who are of very pure Arabic origin, live in luxurious idleness.
They have, for a long period, held the commerce between the interior of
Africa and Arabia: they trade in gums, ivory, fine muslin, and slaves.
Their caravans traverse these equatorial regions on all sides; and they
even make their way to the coast in search of those articles of luxury
and enjoyment which the wealthy merchants covet; while the latter,
surrounded by their wives and their attendants, lead in this charming
country the least disturbed and most horizontal of lives—always
stretched at full length, laughing, smoking, or sleeping.
Around these excavations are numerous native dwellings; wide, open
spaces for the markets; fields of _cannabis_ and _datura;_ superb trees
and depths of freshest shade—such is Kazeh!
There, too, is held the general rendezvous of the caravans—those of the
south, with their slaves and their freightage of ivory; and those of
the west, which export cotton, glassware, and trinkets, to the tribes
of the great lakes.
So in the market-place there reigns perpetual excitement, a nameless
hubbub, made up of the cries of mixed-breed porters and carriers, the
beating of drums, and the twanging of horns, the neighing of mules, the
braying of donkeys, the singing of women, the squalling of children,
and the banging of the huge rattan, wielded by the jemadar or leader of
the caravans, who beats time to this pastoral symphony.
There, spread forth, without regard to order—indeed, we may say, in
charming disorder—are the showy stuffs, the glass beads, the ivory
tusks, the rhinoceros’-teeth, the shark’s-teeth, the honey, the
tobacco, and the cotton of these regions, to be purchased at the
strangest of bargains by customers in whose eyes each article has a
price only in proportion to the desire it excites to possess it.
All at once this agitation, movement and noise stopped as though by
magic. The balloon had just come in sight, far aloft in the sky, where
it hovered majestically for a few moments, and then descended slowly,
without deviating from its perpendicular. Men, women, children,
merchants and slaves, Arabs and negroes, as suddenly disappeared within
the “tembes” and the huts.
“My dear doctor,” said Kennedy, “if we continue to produce such a
sensation as this, we shall find some difficulty in establishing
commercial relations with the people hereabouts.”
“There’s one kind of trade that we might carry on, though, easily
enough,” said Joe; “and that would be to go down there quietly, and
walk off with the best of the goods, without troubling our heads about
the merchants; we’d get rich that way!”
“Ah!” said the doctor, “these natives are a little scared at first; but
they won’t be long in coming back, either through suspicion or through
curiosity.”
“Do you really think so, doctor?”
“Well, we’ll see pretty soon. But it wouldn’t be prudent to go too near
to them, for the balloon is not iron-clad, and is, therefore, not proof
against either an arrow or a bullet.”
“Then you expect to hold a parley with these blacks?”
“If we can do so safely, why should we not? There must be some Arab
merchants here at Kazeh, who are better informed than the rest, and not
so barbarous. I remember that Burton and Speke had nothing but praises
to utter concerning the hospitality of these people; so we might, at
least, make the venture.”
The balloon having, meanwhile, gradually approached the ground, one of
the anchors lodged in the top of a tree near the market-place.
By this time the whole population had emerged from their hiding-places
stealthily, thrusting their heads out first. Several “waganga,”
recognizable by their badges of conical shellwork, came boldly forward.
They were the sorcerers of the place. They bore in their girdles small
gourds, coated with tallow, and several other articles of witchcraft,
all of them, by-the-way, most professionally filthy.
Little by little the crowd gathered beside them, the women and children
grouped around them, the drums renewed their deafening uproar, hands
were violently clapped together, and then raised toward the sky.
“That’s their style of praying,” said the doctor; “and, if I’m not
mistaken, we’re going to be called upon to play a great part.”
“Well, sir, play it!”
“You, too, my good Joe—perhaps you’re to be a god!”
“Well, master, that won’t trouble me much. I like a little flattery!”
At this moment, one of the sorcerers, a “myanga,” made a sign, and all
the clamor died away into the profoundest silence. He then addressed a
few words to the strangers, but in an unknown tongue.
Dr. Ferguson, not having understood them, shouted some sentences in
Arabic, at a venture, and was immediately answered in that language.
The speaker below then delivered himself of a very copious harangue,
which was also very flowery and very gravely listened to by his
audience. From it the doctor was not slow in learning that the balloon
was mistaken for nothing less than the moon in person, and that the
amiable goddess in question had condescended to approach the town with
her three sons—an honor that would never be forgotten in this land so
greatly loved by the god of day.
The doctor responded, with much dignity, that the moon made her
provincial tour every thousand years, feeling the necessity of showing
herself nearer at hand to her worshippers. He, therefore, begged them
not to be disturbed by her presence, but to take advantage of it to
make known all their wants and longings.
The sorcerer, in his turn, replied that the sultan, the “mwani,” who
had been sick for many years, implored the aid of heaven, and he
invited the son of the moon to visit him.
The doctor acquainted his companions with the invitation.
“And you are going to call upon this negro king?” asked Kennedy.
“Undoubtedly so; these people appear well disposed; the air is calm;
there is not a breath of wind, and we have nothing to fear for the
balloon?”
“But, what will you do?”
“Be quiet on that score, my dear Dick. With a little medicine, I shall
work my way through the affair!”
Then, addressing the crowd, he said:
“The moon, taking compassion on the sovereign who is so dear to the
children of Unyamwezy, has charged us to restore him to health. Let him
prepare to receive us!”
The clamor, the songs and demonstrations of all kinds increased
twofold, and the whole immense ants’ nest of black heads was again in
motion.
“Now, my friends,” said Dr. Ferguson, “we must look out for every thing
beforehand; we may be forced to leave this at any moment, unexpectedly,
and be off with extra speed. Dick had better remain, therefore, in the
car, and keep the cylinder warm so as to secure a sufficient
ascensional force for the balloon. The anchor is solidly fastened, and
there is nothing to fear in that respect. I shall descend, and Joe will
go with me, only that he must remain at the foot of the ladder.”
“What! are you going alone into that blackamoor’s den?”
“How! doctor, am I not to go with you?”
“No! I shall go alone; these good folks imagine that the goddess of the
moon has come to see them, and their superstition protects me; so have
no fear, and each one remain at the post that I have assigned to him.”
“Well, since you wish it,” sighed Kennedy.
“Look closely to the dilation of the gas.”
“Agreed!”
By this time the shouts of the natives had swelled to double volume as
they vehemently implored the aid of the heavenly powers.
“There, there,” said Joe, “they’re rather rough in their orders to
their good moon and her divine sons.”
The doctor, equipped with his travelling medicine-chest, descended to
the ground, preceded by Joe, who kept a straight countenance and looked
as grave and knowing as the circumstances of the case required. He then
seated himself at the foot of the ladder in the Arab fashion, with his
legs crossed under him, and a portion of the crowd collected around him
in a circle, at respectful distances.
In the meanwhile the doctor, escorted to the sound of savage
instruments, and with wild religious dances, slowly proceeded toward
the royal “tembe,” situated a considerable distance outside of the
town. It was about three o’clock, and the sun was shining brilliantly.
In fact, what less could it do upon so grand an occasion!
The doctor stepped along with great dignity, the waganga surrounding
him and keeping off the crowd. He was soon joined by the natural son of
the sultan, a handsomely-built young fellow, who, according to the
custom of the country, was the sole heir of the paternal goods, to the
exclusion of the old man’s legitimate children. He prostrated himself
before the son of the moon, but the latter graciously raised him to his
feet.
Three-quarters of an hour later, through shady paths, surrounded by all
the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, this enthusiastic procession
arrived at the sultan’s palace, a sort of square edifice called
_ititénya_, and situated on the slope of a hill.
A kind of veranda, formed by the thatched roof, adorned the outside,
supported upon wooden pillars, which had some pretensions to being
carved. Long lines of dark-red clay decorated the walls in characters
that strove to reproduce the forms of men and serpents, the latter
better imitated, of course, than the former. The roofing of this abode
did not rest directly upon the walls, and the air could, therefore,
circulate freely, but windows there were none, and the door hardly
deserved the name.
Dr. Ferguson was received with all the honors by the guards and
favorites of the sultan; these were men of a fine race, the Wanyamwezi
so-called, a pure type of the central African populations, strong,
robust, well-made, and in splendid condition. Their hair, divided into
a great number of small tresses, fell over their shoulders, and by