Cinq semaines en ballon. English

  CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH.

  The Karagwah.--Lake Ukereoue.--A Night on an Island.--TheEquator.--Crossing the Lake.--The Cascades.--A View of the Country.--TheSources of the Nile.--The Island of Benga.--The Signature of AndreaDebono.--The Flag with the Arms of England.

  At five o'clock in the morning, preparations for departure commenced.Joe, with the hatchet which he had fortunately recovered, broke theelephant's tusks. The balloon, restored to liberty, sped away to thenorthwest with our travellers, at the rate of eighteen miles per hour.

  The doctor had carefully taken his position by the altitude of thestars, during the preceding night. He knew that he was in latitude twodegrees forty minutes below the equator, or at a distance of one hundredand sixty geographical miles. He swept along over many villages withoutheeding the cries that the appearance of the balloon excited; he tooknote of the conformation of places with quick sights; he passed theslopes of the Rubemhe, which are nearly as abrupt as the summits of theOusagara, and, farther on, at Tenga, encountered the first projectionsof the Karagwah chains, which, in his opinion, are direct spurs of theMountains of the Moon. So, the ancient legend which made these mountainsthe cradle of the Nile, came near to the truth, since they really borderupon Lake Ukereoue, the conjectured reservoir of the waters of the greatriver.

  From Kafuro, the main district of the merchants of that country, hedescried, at length, on the horizon, the lake so much desired and solong sought for, of which Captain Speke caught a glimpse on the 3d ofAugust, 1858.

  Samuel Ferguson felt real emotion: he was almost in contact with oneof the principal points of his expedition, and, with his spy-glassconstantly raised, he kept every nook and corner of the mysteriousregion in sight. His gaze wandered over details that might have beenthus described:

  "Beneath him extended a country generally destitute of cultivation; onlyhere and there some ravines seemed under tillage; the surface, dottedwith peaks of medium height, grew flat as it approached the lake;barley-fields took the place of rice-plantations, and there, too, couldbe seen growing the species of plantain from which the wine of thecountry is drawn, and mwani, the wild plant which supplies a substitutefor coffee. A collection of some fifty or more circular huts, coveredwith a flowering thatch, constituted the capital of the Karagwahcountry."

  He could easily distinguish the astonished countenances of a ratherfine-looking race of natives of yellowish-brown complexion. Womenof incredible corpulence were dawdling about through the cultivatedgrounds, and the doctor greatly surprised his companions by informingthem that this rotundity, which is highly esteemed in that region, wasobtained by an obligatory diet of curdled milk.

  At noon, the Victoria was in one degree forty-five minutes southlatitude, and at one o'clock the wind was driving her directly towardthe lake.

  This sheet of water was christened Uyanza Victoria, or Victoria Lake, byCaptain Speke. At the place now mentioned it might measure about ninetymiles in breadth, and at its southern extremity the captain found agroup of islets, which he named the Archipelago of Bengal. He pushed hissurvey as far as Muanza, on the eastern coast, where he was receivedby the sultan. He made a triangulation of this part of the lake, buthe could not procure a boat, either to cross it or to visit the greatisland of Ukereoue which is very populous, is governed by three sultans,and appears to be only a promontory at low tide.

  The balloon approached the lake more to the northward, to the doctor'sgreat regret, for it had been his wish to determine its lower outlines.Its shores seemed to be thickly set with brambles and thorny plants,growing together in wild confusion, and were literally hidden,sometimes, from the gaze, by myriads of mosquitoes of a light-brown hue.The country was evidently habitable and inhabited. Troops of hippopotamicould be seen disporting themselves in the forests of reeds, or plungingbeneath the whitish waters of the lake.

  The latter, seen from above, presented, toward the west, so broad anhorizon that it might have been called a sea; the distance between thetwo shores is so great that communication cannot be established, andstorms are frequent and violent, for the winds sweep with fury over thiselevated and unsheltered basin.

  The doctor experienced some difficulty in guiding his course; he wasafraid of being carried toward the east, but, fortunately, a currentbore him directly toward the north, and at six o'clock in the eveningthe balloon alighted on a small desert island in thirty minutes southlatitude, and thirty-two degrees fifty-two minutes east longitude, abouttwenty miles from the shore.

  The travellers succeeded in making fast to a tree, and, the wind havingfallen calm toward evening, they remained quietly at anchor. They darednot dream of taking the ground, since here, as on the shores of theUyanza, legions of mosquitoes covered the soil in dense clouds. Joe evencame back, from securing the anchor in the tree, speckled with bites,but he kept his temper, because he found it quite the natural thing formosquitoes to treat him as they had done.

  Nevertheless, the doctor, who was less of an optimist, let out as muchrope as he could, so as to escape these pitiless insects, that began torise toward him with a threatening hum.

  The doctor ascertained the height of the lake above the level of thesea, as it had been determined by Captain Speke, say three thousandseven hundred and fifty feet.

  "Here we are, then, on an island!" said Joe, scratching as though he'dtear his nails out.

  "We could make the tour of it in a jiffy," added Kennedy, "and,excepting these confounded mosquitoes, there's not a living being to beseen on it."

  "The islands with which the lake is dotted," replied the doctor, "arenothing, after all, but the tops of submerged hills; but we are luckyto have found a retreat among them, for the shores of the lake areinhabited by ferocious tribes. Take your sleep, then, since Providencehas granted us a tranquil night."

  "Won't you do the same, doctor?"

  "No, I could not close my eyes. My thoughts would banish sleep.To-morrow, my friends, should the wind prove favorable, we shall go duenorth, and we shall, perhaps, discover the sources of the Nile, thatgrand secret which has so long remained impenetrable. Near as we are tothe sources of the renowned river, I could not sleep."

  Kennedy and Joe, whom scientific speculations failed to disturb to thatextent, were not long in falling into sound slumber, while the doctorheld his post.

  On Wednesday, April 23d, the balloon started at four o'clock in themorning, with a grayish sky overhead; night was slow in quitting thesurface of the lake, which was enveloped in a dense fog, but presently aviolent breeze scattered all the mists, and, after the balloon had beenswung to and fro for a moment, in opposite directions, it at lengthveered in a straight line toward the north.

  Dr. Ferguson fairly clapped his hands for joy.

  "We are on the right track!" he exclaimed. "To-day or never we shall seethe Nile! Look, my friends, we are crossing the equator! We are enteringour own hemisphere!"

  "Ah!" said Joe, "do you think, doctor, that the equator passes here?"

  "Just here, my boy!"

  "Well, then, with all respect to you, sir, it seems to me that this isthe very time to moisten it."

  "Good!" said the doctor, laughing. "Let us have a glass of punch. Youhave a way of comprehending cosmography that is any thing but dull."

  And thus was the passage of the Victoria over the equator dulycelebrated.

  The balloon made rapid headway. In the west could be seen a low and butslightly-diversified coast, and, farther away in the background, theelevated plains of the Uganda and the Usoga. At length, the rapidity ofthe wind became excessive, approaching thirty miles per hour.

  The waters of the Nyanza, violently agitated, were foaming like thebillows of a sea. By the appearance of certain long swells that followedthe sinking of the waves, the doctor was enabled to conclude that thelake must have great depth of water. Only one or two rude boats wereseen during this rapid passage.

  "This lake is evidently, from its elevated position, the naturalreservoir of the rivers in the eastern part of Africa, and the
sky givesback to it in rain what it takes in vapor from the streams that flow outof it. I am certain that the Nile must here take its rise."

  "Well, we shall see!" said Kennedy.

  About nine o'clock they drew nearer to the western coast. It seemeddeserted, and covered with woods; the wind freshened a little toward theeast, and the other shore of the lake could be seen. It bent around insuch a curve as to end in a wide angle toward two degrees forty minutesnorth latitude. Lofty mountains uplifted their arid peaks at thisextremity of Nyanza; but, between them, a deep and winding gorge gaveexit to a turbulent and foaming river.

  While busy managing the balloon, Dr. Ferguson never ceased reconnoitringthe country with eager eyes.

  "Look!" he exclaimed, "look, my friends! the statements of the Arabswere correct! They spoke of a river by which Lake Ukereoue dischargedits waters toward the north, and this river exists, and we aredescending it, and it flows with a speed analogous to our own! And thisdrop of water now gliding away beneath our feet is, beyond all question,rushing on, to mingle with the Mediterranean! It is the Nile!"

  "It is the Nile!" reeechoed Kennedy, carried away by the enthusiasm ofhis friend.

  "Hurrah for the Nile!" shouted Joe, glad, and always ready to cheer forsomething.

  Enormous rocks, here and there, embarrassed the course of thismysterious river. The water foamed as it fell in rapids and cataracts,which confirmed the doctor in his preconceived ideas on the subject.From the environing mountains numerous torrents came plunging andseething down, and the eye could take them in by hundreds. There couldbe seen, starting from the soil, delicate jets of water scattering inall directions, crossing and recrossing each other, mingling, contendingin the swiftness of their progress, and all rushing toward that nascentstream which became a river after having drunk them in.

  "Here is, indeed, the Nile!" reiterated the doctor, with the tone ofprofound conviction. "The origin of its name, like the origin of itswaters, has fired the imagination of the learned; they have sought totrace it from the Greek, the Coptic, the Sanscrit; but all that matterslittle now, since we have made it surrender the secret of its source!"

  "But," said the Scotchman, "how are you to make sure of the identity ofthis river with the one recognized by the travellers from the north?"

  "We shall have certain, irrefutable, convincing, and infallible proof,"replied Ferguson, "should the wind hold another hour in our favor!"

  The mountains drew farther apart, revealing in their place numerousvillages, and fields of white Indian corn, doura, and sugar-cane. Thetribes inhabiting the region seemed excited and hostile; they manifestedmore anger than adoration, and evidently saw in the aeronauts onlyobtrusive strangers, and not condescending deities. It appeared asthough, in approaching the sources of the Nile, these men came to robthem of something, and so the Victoria had to keep out of range of theirmuskets.

  "To land here would be a ticklish matter!" said the Scot.

  "Well!" said Joe, "so much the worse for these natives. They'll have todo without the pleasure of our conversation."

  "Nevertheless, descend I must," said the doctor, "were it only for aquarter of an hour. Without doing so I cannot verify the results of ourexpedition."

  "It is indispensable, then, doctor?"

  "Indispensable; and we will descend, even if we have to do so with avolley of musketry."

  "The thing suits me," said Kennedy, toying with his pet rifle.

  "And I'm ready, master, whenever you say the word!" added Joe, preparingfor the fight.

  "It would not be the first time," remarked the doctor, "that sciencehas been followed up, sword in hand. The same thing happened to aFrench savant among the mountains of Spain, when he was measuring theterrestrial meridian."

  "Be easy on that score, doctor, and trust to your two body-guards."

  "Are we there, master?"

  "Not yet. In fact, I shall go up a little, first, in order to get anexact idea of the configuration of the country."

  The hydrogen expanded, and in less than ten minutes the balloon wassoaring at a height of twenty-five hundred feet above the ground.

  From that elevation could be distinguished an inextricable network ofsmaller streams which the river received into its bosom; others camefrom the west, from between numerous hills, in the midst of fertileplains.

  "We are not ninety miles from Gondokoro," said the doctor, measuringoff the distance on his map, "and less than five miles from the pointreached by the explorers from the north. Let us descend with greatcare."

  And, upon this, the balloon was lowered about two thousand feet.

  "Now, my friends, let us be ready, come what may."

  "Ready it is!" said Dick and Joe, with one voice.

  "Good!"

  In a few moments the balloon was advancing along the bed of the river,and scarcely one hundred feet above the ground. The Nile measured butfifty fathoms in width at this point, and the natives were in greatexcitement, rushing to and fro, tumultuously, in the villages that linedthe banks of the stream. At the second degree it forms a perpendicularcascade of ten feet in height, and consequently impassable by boats.

  "Here, then, is the cascade mentioned by Debono!" exclaimed the doctor.

  The basin of the river spread out, dotted with numerous islands, whichDr. Ferguson devoured with his eyes. He seemed to be seeking for a pointof reference which he had not yet found.

  By this time, some blacks, having ventured in a boat just under theballoon, Kennedy saluted them with a shot from his rifle, that made themregain the bank at their utmost speed.

  "A good journey to you," bawled Joe, "and if I were in your place, Iwouldn't try coming back again. I should be mightily afraid of a monsterthat can hurl thunderbolts when he pleases."

  But, all at once, the doctor snatched up his spy-glass, and directed ittoward an island reposing in the middle of the river.

  "Four trees!" he exclaimed; "look, down there!" Sure enough, there werefour trees standing alone at one end of it.

  "It is Bengal Island! It is the very same," repeated the doctor,exultingly.

  "And what of that?" asked Dick.

  "It is there that we shall alight, if God permits."

  "But, it seems to be inhabited, doctor."

  "Joe is right; and, unless I'm mistaken, there is a group of about ascore of natives on it now."

  "We'll make them scatter; there'll be no great trouble in that,"responded Ferguson.

  "So be it," chimed in the hunter.

  The sun was at the zenith as the balloon approached the island.

  The blacks, who were members of the Makado tribe, were howling lustily,and one of them waved his bark hat in the air. Kennedy took aim athim, fired, and his hat flew about him in pieces. Thereupon there was ageneral scamper. The natives plunged headlong into the river, and swamto the opposite bank. Immediately, there came a shower of balls fromboth banks, along with a perfect cloud of arrows, but without doing theballoon any damage, where it rested with its anchor snugly secured inthe fissure of a rock. Joe lost no time in sliding to the ground.

  "The ladder!" cried the doctor. "Follow me, Kennedy."

  "What do you wish, sir?"

  "Let us alight. I want a witness."

  "Here I am!"

  "Mind your post, Joe, and keep a good lookout."

  "Never fear, doctor; I'll answer for all that."

  "Come, Dick," said the doctor, as he touched the ground.

  So saying, he drew his companion along toward a group of rocks that roseupon one point of the island; there, after searching for some time, hebegan to rummage among the brambles, and, in so doing, scratched hishands until they bled.

  Suddenly he grasped Kennedy's arm, exclaiming: "Look! look!"

  "Letters!"

  Yes; there, indeed, could be descried, with perfect precision ofoutline, some letters carved on the rock. It was quite easy to make themout:

  "A. D."

  "A.D.!" repeated Dr. Ferguson. "Andrea Debono--the very signature of t
hetraveller who farthest ascended the current of the Nile."

  "No doubt of that, friend Samuel," assented Kennedy.

  "Are you now convinced?"

  "It is the Nile! We cannot entertain a doubt on that score now," was thereply.

  The doctor, for the last time, examined those precious initials, theexact form and size of which he carefully noted.

  "And now," said he--"now for the balloon!"

  "Quickly, then, for I see some of the natives getting ready to recrossthe river."

  "That matters little to us now. Let the wind but send us northward for afew hours, and we shall reach Gondokoro, and press the hands of some ofour countrymen."

  Ten minutes more, and the balloon was majestically ascending, while Dr.Ferguson, in token of success, waved the English flag triumphantly fromhis car.