Captain Singleton
Page 13
to the North; and therefore, if we went to the South now, it must be just so
much out of our Way at last: So having spent a good Part of the Day in our
Surprize at the Thing, and consulting what to do, we set forward to the North.
We travelled upon the Shore of this Sea full 23 Days, before we could come to
any Resolution about what it was; at the End of which, early one Morning, one of
our Seamen cried out Land, and it was no false Alarm, for we saw plainly the
Tops of some Hills at a very great Distance, on the further Side of the Water,
due West; but tho' this satisfied us that it was not the Sea, but an Inland Sea
or Lake, yet we saw no Land to the Northward, that is so say, no End of it; but
were obliged to travel eight Days more, and near a 100 Miles further, before we
came to the End of it, and then we found this Lake or Sea ended in a very great
River, which run N. or N. by E. as the other River had done, which I mention'd
before.
My Friend the Gunner, upon examining, said, that he believed that he was
mistaken before, and that this was the River Nile, but was still of the Mind,
that we were of before, that we should not think of a Voyage into Egypt that
Way; so we resolved upon crossing this River, which however was not so easy as
before, the River being very rapid, and the Channel very broad.
It cost us therefore a Week here to get Materials to waft our selves and Cattel
over this River; for tho' here were Store of Trees, yet there were none of any
considerable Growth, sufficient to make a Canoe.
During our March on the Edge of this Bank, we met with great Fatigue, and
therefore travell'd fewer Miles in a Day than before, there being such a
prodigious Number of little Rivers that came down from the Hills on the East
Side, emptying themselves into this Gulph, all which Waters were pretty high,
the Rains having been but newly over.
In the last three Days of our Travel we met with some Inhabitants, but we found
they lived upon the little Hills, and not by the Water Side; nor were we a
little put to it for Food in this March, having killed nothing for four or five
Days, but some Fish we caught out of the Lake, and that not in such Plenty as we
found before.
But to make us some amends, we had no Disturbance upon all the Shore of this
Lake, from any wild Beasts; the only Inconveniency of that Kind was, that we met
an ugly, venemous, deformed kind of a Snake or Serpent in the wet Grounds near
the Lake, that several times pursued us, as if it would attack us; and if we
struck at, or threw any thing at it, would raise it self up, and hiss as loud it
might be heard a great Way; it had a hellish, ugly, deformed Look and Voice, and
our Men would not be perswaded but it was the Devil, only that we did not know
what Business Satan could have there, where there were no People.
It was very remarkable that we had now travelled a 1000 Miles without meeting
with any People, in the Heart of the whole Continent of Africa, where to be sure
never Man set his Foot since the Sons of Noah spread themselves over the Face of
the whole Earth; here also our Gunner took an Observation with his Forestaff to
determine our Latitude, and he found now, that having marched about 33 Days
Northward, we were in 6 Degrees 22 Minutes South Latitude.
After having with great Difficulty got over this River, we came into a strange
wild Country, that began a little to affright us; for tho' the Country was not a
Desart of dry scalding Sand, as that was we had passed before, yet it was
mountainous, barren and infinitely full of most furious wild Beasts, more than
any Place we had past yet. There was indeed a kind of coarse Herbage on the
Surface, and now and then a few Trees or rather Shrubs; but People we could see
none, and we began to be in great Suspense about Victuals; for we had not killed
a Deer a great while, but had lived chiefly upon Fish and Fowl alway by the
Water Side, both which seemed to fail us now; and we were in the more
Consternation, because we could not lay in a Stock here to proceed upon, as we
did before, but were obliged to set out with Scarcity, and without any Certainty
of a Supply.
We had however no Remedy but Patience; and having killed some Fowls, and dried
some Fish, as much as with short Allowance we reckoned would last us five Days,
we resolved to venture, and venture we did; nor was it without Cause that we
were apprehensive of the Danger, for we travelled the five Days, and met neither
with Fish, or Fowl, or four-footed Beast whose Flesh was fit to eat; and we were
in a most dreadful Apprehension of being famished to Death; on the sixth Day we
almost fasted, or, as we may say, we eat up all the Scraps of what we had left,
and at Night lay down supperless upon our Matts with heavy Hearts, being obliged
the eighth Day to kill one of our poor faithful Servants the Buffloes, that
carry'd our Baggage; the flesh of this Creature was very good, and so sparingly
did we eat of it, that it lasted us all three Days and a half, and was just
spent; and we were upon the point of killing another, when we saw before us a
Country that promised better, having high Trees and a large River in the middle
of it.
This encouraged us, and we quicken'd our March for the River Side, tho' with
empty Stomachs, and very faint and weak; but before we came to this River we had
the good Hap to meet with some young Deer, a Thing we had long wished for. In a
Word, having shot three of them, we came to a full Stop to fill our Bellies, and
never gave the Flesh time to cool before we eat it; nay 'twas much we could stay
to kill it, and had not eaten it alive, for we were in short almost famished.
Through all that unhospitable Country we saw continually Lions, Tygers,
Leopards, Civet Cats, and Abundance of Kinds of Creatures that we did not
understand; we saw no Elephants, but every now and then we met with an
Elephant's Tooth lying on the Ground, and some of them lying as it were half
buried by the Length of Time that they had lain there.
When we came to the Shore of this River, we found it run Northerly still, as all
the rest had done, but with this Difference, that as the Course of the other
Rivers were N. by E. or N. N. E. the Course of this lay N. N. W.
On the farther Bank of this River we saw some Sign of Inhabitants, but met with
none for the first Day; but the next Day we came into an Inhabited Country, the
People all Negroes, and stark naked, without Shame, both Men and Women.
We made Signs of Friendship to them, and found them a very frank, civil, and
friendly sort of People. They came to our Negroes without any Suspition, nor did
they give us any Reason to suspect them of any Villainy, as the others had done;
we made Signs to them that we were hungry, and immediately some naked Women ran
and fetched us great Quantities of Roots, and of Things like Pumpkins, which we
made no Scruple to eat; and our Artificer shewed them some of his Trinkets that
he had made, some of Iron, some of Silver, but none of Gold: They had so much
Judgment to chuse that of Silver before the Iron, but when we shewed them some
Gold, we found they did not value it so much as either of the other.
For some of these Things they brought us more Provisions, and three living
Creatures as big as Calves, but not of that Kind; neither did we ever see any of
them before; their Flesh was very good; and after that they brought us twelve
more, and some smaller Creatures, like Hares, all which were very welcome to us
who were indeed at a very great Loss for Provisions.
We grew very intimate with these People, and indeed they were the civillest and
most friendly People that we met with at all, and mightily pleased with us; and
which was very particular, they were much easier to be made to understand our
Meaning, than any we had met with before.
At last, we began to enquire our Way, pointing to the West, they made us
understand easily that we could not go that Way, but they pointed to us, that we
might go North-West, so that we presently understood that there was another Lake
in our Way, which proved to be true; for in two Days more we saw it plain, and
it held us till we past the Equinoctial Line, lying all the Way on our left
Hand, tho' at a great Distance.
Travelling thus Northward, our Gunner seemed very anxious about our Proceedings;
for he assured us, and made me sensible of it by the Maps, which he had been
teaching me out of, that when we came into the Latitude of six Degrees, or
thereabouts, North of the Line, the Land trended away to the West, to such a
Length, that we should not come at the Sea under a March of above 1500 Miles
farther Westward than the Country we desired to go to. I asked him if there were
no Navigable Rivers that we might meet with, which running into the West Ocean,
might perhaps carry us down their Stream, and then if it were 1500 Miles, or
twice 1500 Miles, we might do well enough, if we could but get Provisions.
Here he shewed me the Maps again, and that there appeared no River whose Stream
was of any such Length as to do us any Kindness, till we came perhaps within 2
or 300 Miles of the Shore, except the Rio Grande, as they call it, which lay
farther Northward from us, at least 700 Miles; and that then he knew not what
kind of Country it might carry us through; for he said it was his Opinion, that
the Heats on the North of the Line, even in the same Latitude, were violent, and
the Country more desolate, barren, and barbarous than those of the South; and
that when we came among the Negroes in the North Part of Africa, next the Sea,
especially those who had seen and trafficked with the Europeans, such as Dutch,
English, Portuguese, Spaniards, &c. that they had most of them been so ill used
at some time or other, that they would certainly put all the Spight they could
upon us in meer Revenge.
Upon these Considerations, he advised us, that as soon as we had passed this
Lake, we should proceed W. S. W. that is to say, a little enclining to the
South, and that in Time we should meet with the great River Congo, from whence
the Coast is called Congo, being a little North of Angola, where we intended at
first to go.
I asked him, if ever he had been on the Coast of Congo; he said yes he had, but
was never on Shore there: Then I asked him, how we should get from thence to the
Coast where the European Ships came, seeing if the Land trended away West for
1500 Miles, we must have all that Shore to traverse, before we could double the
West Point of it.
He told me, it was ten to one but we should hear of some European Ships to take
us in, for that they often visited the Coast of Congo and Angola, in Trade with
the Negroes; and that if we could not, yet, if we could but find Provisions, we
should make our Way as well along the Sea-Shore, as along the River, till we
came to the Gold Coast, which he said was not above 4 or 500 Miles North of
Congo, besides the turning of the Coast West about 300 more; that Shore being in
the Latitude of six or seven Degrees, and that there the English, or Dutch, or
French, had Settlements or Factories, perpaps all of them.
I confess, I had more Mind all the while he argued, to have gone Northward, and
Shipt our selves in the Rio Grand, or as the Traders call it, the River Negro or
Niger, for I knew that at last it would bring us down to the Cape de Verd, where
we were sure of Relief; whereas at the Coast we were going to now, we had a
prodigious Way still to go, either by Sea or Land, and no Certainty which way to
get Provisions but by Force; but for the present I held my Tongue, because it
was my Tutor's Opinion.
But when, according to his Desire, we came to turn Southward, having passed
beyond the second great Lake, our Men began all to be uneasy, and said, we were
now out of our Way for certain, for that we were going farther from home, and
that we were indeed far enough off already.
But we had not marched above twelve Days more, eight whereof was taken up in
rounding the Lake, and four more Southwest, in order to make for the River
Congo, but we were put to another full Stop, by entring a Country so desolate,
so frightful, and so wild, that we knew not what to think or do; for besides
that it appeared as a terrible and boundless Desart, having neither Woods,
Trees, Rivers, or Inhabitants; so even the Place where we were, was desolate of
Inhabitants, nor had we any Way to gather in a Stock of Provisions for the
passing this Desart, as we did before at our entring the first, unless we had
marched back four Days to the Place where we turned the Head of the Lake.
Well, notwithstanding this we ventured, for to Men that had passed such wild
Places as we had done, nothing could seem too desperate to undertake: We
ventured I say, and the rather because we saw very high Mountains in our way at
a great Distance, and we imagined, wherever there was Mountains, there would be
Springs and Rivers, where Rivers, there would be Trees and Grass, where Trees
and Grass, there would be Cattel, and where Cattel, some Kind of Inhabitants.
At last, in Consequence of this speculative Philosophy, we entered this Wast,
having a great Heap of Roots and Plants for our Bread, such as the Indians gave
us, a very little Flesh, or Salt, and but a little Water.
We travelled two Days towards those Hills, and still they seemed as far off as
they did at first, and it was the fifth Day before we got to them; indeed we
travelled but softly, for it was excessive hot, and we were much about the very
Equinoctial Line, we hardly knew whether to the South or the North of it.
As we had concluded that, where there were Hills there would be Springs, so it
happened; but we were not only surprized, but really frighted, to find the first
Spring we came to, and which looked admirably clear and beautiful, be salt as
Brine: It was a terrible Disappointment to us, and put us under melancholy
Apprehensions at first; but the Gunner who was of a Spirit never discouraged,
told us we should not be disturbed at that, but be very thankful, for Salt was a
Bait we stood in as much Need of as any thing, and there was no Question but we
should find fresh Water as well as Salt; and here our Surge
on steps in to
encourage us, and told us, that if we did not know, he would shew us a Way how
to make that salt Water fresh, which indeed made us all more chearful, tho' we
wondered what he meant.
Mean time our Men, without bidding, had been seeking about for other Springs,
and found several, but still they were all salt; from whence we concluded, that
there was a salt Rock or Mineral Stone in those Mountains, and perhaps they
might be all of such a Substance: But still I wondered by what Witchcraft it was
that our Artist the Surgeon would make this salt Water turn fresh, and I long'd
to see the Experiment, which was indeed a very odd one; but he went to Work with
as much Assurance, as if he had try'd it on the very Spot before.
He took two of our large Matts, and sow'd them together, and they made a kind of
a Bag four Foot broad, three Foot and a Half high, and about a Foot and a Half
thick when it was full.
He caused us to fill this Bag with dry Sand, and tread it down as close as we
could, not to burst the Matts. When thus the Bag was full within a Foot, he
sought some other Earth, and filled up the rest with it, and still trod it all
in as hard as he could. When he had done, he made a Hole in the upper Earth,
about as broad as the Crown of a large Hat, or something bigger about, but not
so deep, and bad a Negroe fill it with Water, and still as it shrunk away, to
fill it again, and keep it full. The Bag he had placed at first cross two Pieces
of Wood, about a Foot from the Ground, and under it he ordered some of our Skins
to be spread, that would hold Water. In about an Hour, and not sooner, the Water
began to come dropping thro' the Bottom of the Bag, and to our great Surprize,
was perfect fresh and sweet; and this continued for several Hours: But in the
End, the Water began to be a little brackish. When we told him that, Well then,
said he, turn the Sand out, and fill it again; whether he did this by way of
Experiment from his own Fancy, or whether he had seen it done before, I do not
remember.
The next Day we mounted the Tops of the Hills, where the Prospect was indeed
astonishing; for as far as the Eye could look, South, or West, or North-West,
there was nothing to be seen but a vast howling Wilderness, with neither Tree or
River, or any green thing. The Surface we found, as the Part we passed the Day
before, had a kind of thick Moss upon it, of a blackish dead Colour, but nothing
in it that look'd like Food, either for Man or Beast.
Had we been stored with Provisions to have entred for ten or twenty Days upon
this Wilderness, as we were formerly, and with fresh Water, we had Hearts good
enough to have ventured; tho' we had been obliged to come back again; for if we
went North, we did not know but we might meet with the same; but we neither had
Provisions, neither were we in any Place where it was possible to get them. We
killed some wild ferine Creatures at the Foot of these Hills; but except two
things like to nothing that we ever saw before, we met with nothing that was fit
to eat. These were Creatures that seemed to be between the Kind of a Buffloe and
a Deer, but indeed resembled neither; for they had no Horns, and had great Legs
like a Cow, with a fine Head, and the Neck like a Deer. We killed also at
several times a Tiger, two young Lions, and a Wolf, but, God be thanked, we were
not so reduced as to eat Carrion.
Upon this terrible Prospect I renew'd my Motion of turning Northward, and making
towards the River Niger, or Rio Grand, then to turn West towards the English
Settlements on the Gold Coast, to which every one most readily consented, only
our Gunner, who was indeed our best Guide, tho' he happen'd to be mistaken at
this time. He moved, that as our Coast was now Northward, so we might slant away
North West, that so by crossing the Country, we might perhaps meet with some