What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile | Page 3

embarked on board one of the P.
and O. Company's steamers at Calcutta, and left the Indian shore for
Aden; but previously to my departure I purchased various cheap
articles of barter, all as tempting and seductive as I could find, for the
simple-minded negroes of Africa. These consisted principally of cheap
guns, revolving pistols, swords, cheap cutlery of all sorts, beads, cotton
stuffs of a variety of kinds, and sewing material, &c. &c. &c., to the
amount of £390 sterling. Arrived at Aden, my first step was to visit
Colonel Outram, the political resident, to open my views to him with
regard to penetrating Africa, and to solicit his assistance to my doing so,

by granting introductory letters to the native chiefs on the coast, and in
any other manner that he could. But to my utter astonishment and
discomfiture, with the frank and characteristic ardour which has
marked him through life, he at once said he would not only withhold
his influence, but would prohibit my going there at all, as the countries
opposite to Aden were so extremely dangerous for any foreigners to
travel in, that he considered it his duty as a Christian to prevent, as far
as he was able, anybody from hazarding his life there. This opposition,
fortunately, only lasted for a time. After repeated supplications on my
part, the generous kind nature of the Colonel overcame him, and he
thought of a pretext by which, should anything serious happen to me,
there would not remain any onus on his conscience.
The Bombay Government at that time had been induced to order an
expedition to be organised for the purpose of investigating the Somali
country--a large tract of land lying due south of Aden, and separated
only from the Arabian coast by the Gulf of Aden--and had appointed
three officers, Lieutenant Burton to command, and Lieutenants Stroyan
and Herne to assist in its conduct. To this project Colonel Outram had
ever been adverse, and he had remonstrated with the Government about
it, declaring, as his opinion, the scheme to be quite unfeasible. The
Somali, he said, were the most savage of all African savages, and were
of such a wild and inhospitable nature that no stranger could possibly
live amongst them. The Government, however, relying on the ability of
one who made the pilgrimage of Mecca, were bent at least on giving
the Lieutenant a chance of showing what he could do in this even
darker land, and he was then occupied in Aden maturing his plans of
procedure.[2]
This, then, was the opportunity the Colonel took advantage of, advising
me to ask Lieutenant Burton to incorporate me in his expedition, at the
same time saying that, if it was found to be agreeable to Lieutenant
Burton, he would back my application to the Indian Government,
obtain a cancel of my furlough, and get me put on service-duty as a
member of the expedition.
Nothing could have suited me better, as it brought me on service again,
and so saved my furlough leave for a future exploration. Lieutenant
Burton consented, and I was at once installed in the expedition. My
travelling, mapping,[3] and collecting propensities, it was thought

would be of service to the ends of the expedition; and by my being
incorporated in it, there would be no chance of my running counter to it,
by travelling on its line of march, and possibly giving rise to
disturbances with the natives.
Before proceeding further in the narrative of events as they occurred, it
may be as well, perhaps, to anticipate a little, and give a general
impression of the geography, ethnology, history, and other
characteristics of the country under investigation--the Somali land--and
the way in which it was intended that those investigations should be
carried out. As will appear by the following pages, my experiences
were mostly confined to the north central parts, in the highlands of the
Warsingali and Dulbahanta tribes. The rest of my information is
derived from conversations with the natives, or what I have read in
some very interesting pages in vol. xix. of the 'Transactions of the
Royal Geographical Society,' written by Lieutenant Cruttenden.
The Somali country is an elbow of land lying between the equator and
the 11th degree of north latitude, which, from its peculiar form, might
well be designated the Eastern Horn of Africa. The land is high in the
north, and has a general declination, as may be seen by the river system,
to the south and eastward, but with less easting as we come westward.
It is separated from the main body of Africa by the river Jub, a large
and fertilising stream, which, rising in the mountains of southern
Abyssinia, passes between the territories of the Gallas on the west and
the Somali on