Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London/Volume 34/Geographical Notes of an Expedition to Mount Kilimandjaro in 1862-63
The following account of the elevated country of Djagga, and its principal mountain Kilima-ndjaro, has been written almost entirely from memory, aided by the map[1] which I brought with me; my journals and memoranda having been left behind in Zanzibar, it being my intention to make a second journey into Eastern Africa.
I pass over my first unsuccessful journey from Kilua, in November and December, 1860, when I endeavoured to reach the spot, in the vicinity of Lake Nyassa, where the unfortunate Dr. Röscher was murdered. There was but little of interest in that expedition, but it pretty plainly showed with what disadvantage an inexperienced European traveller has to struggle, and how great is the hatred and contempt entertained for white men, and especially for Christians by the Negroes, who are there called the “Arabs of the coast.” In like manner I refrain from making more than a passing allusion to my first journey to Djagga (in which I had for my companion the late Mr. Richard Thornton, whose death I have more and more occasion to lament), inasmuch as my second tour, in which I again visited the mountain of Kilima–ndjaro, led me over precisely the same ground, though with more important results. The last-named circumstance is due to the fact that the instruments I had with me on the last occasion were better, and that Dr. Kärsten, a pupil of the well-known Professor Erman, who then accompanied me, was a trained astronomical observer, and in that respect superior to Mr. Thornton and myself.[2]
On the 3rd of October, 1862, Dr. Kärsten and I, in company with two other Europeans, set out from Mombas. The caravan consisted of 110 men, which number was afterwards increased by a party of 32 elephant-hunters, whom I met with in the interior, and took into my service. I had in addition a large train of asses for transport of the sick, and four dogs for sporting purposes.
I proceeded first along the coast as far as the little port of Wanga, in 4° 45' south latitude, and 39° 20' east longitude. I knew my way thence as far as Lake Jipé, this being part of my former route; and I adopted it both because I wished to be independent of a guide, and because there was water to be had along it almost every day, despite the advanced season. On the sixth day out from Wanga, I reached Baramu in the northern part of Usambara, having for five days together continued to ascend along the banks of the river Umba. Here we halted for two days, and, after another five days’ journey, reached the extreme south point of Lake Jipé in 3° 42' 52" south, leaving the Paré Range to the southward, and taking a path over a saddle-like depression in the Kisungu hills. Baramu is about 1475 English feet above the level of the sea; the foot of the Paré range about 1900 feet, and Lake Jipé from 1969 to 2101 English feet. On travelling inland the ascent is very abrupt to a plateau or table-land, which afterwards rises very gradually. The soil is tolerably uniform, with thinly-wooded land alternating with several steppe-like plains. The prevailing trees are the mimosa, the acacia, the African oak, ebony, baobab, tamarind, and a species of plane-tree. The herbage is thin, and euphorbim and cacti are in great abundance. The mineral specimens which I collected here consisted of micaceous slate (which formation extends as far as Baramu), and the same rock with injected lumps of garnet, and with irregular roughened corners, and occasional felspar, which occurred at Paré,—the nodules of garnet in these latter were often two inches in diameter. Between Paré and Lake Jipé the formation is lime stone, occasionally siliceous. This may prove eventually to be a fresh-water formation.
During my explorations in the previous year, I had only visited the eastern shore of the lake, but on the present occasion I determined to pass to its western side, and at the same time ascend the Ugono Range, in order to ascertain how the iron there existing is worked. These mountains are not above 5800 feet high, but I did not ascend to the top, the highest point I reached being 3975 feet. The Ugono tribe supply almost the entire adjacent country with iron, which they procure by smelting, in large holes, a kind of sand strongly impregnated with the metal, which they find in the streams. It is extraordinary how they are able, with their rude smelting apparatus and primitive tools, to turn out such neatly-fashioned weapons and utensils of all sorts.
I here first had to use my boat, made of iron and gutta-percha, which I had brought from the coast, and in which I now embarked upon the lake. Every furlong or so I caused soundings to be taken, which gave a maximum depth of 17 feet. The surface of the lake was in constant agitation, caused by the movements of hippopotami, crocodiles (some 19 feet long), and fresh-water turtle. The bottom is almost everywhere sandy, with little or no mud. There are but few shells, and those of very minute size.
I spent a couple of days on the lake, enjoying good sport, and then directed my steps to its outlet, passing to the north-eastward of the Arusha hills. The river Daffeta, which rises in the mountains of Djagga, empties itself into the lake, after which it forms almost a right angle, and, where it passes out, takes the name of the River Jipé, which a little lower down changes to Rufu, and still lower down to Pangani, under which designation it falls into the ocean at the little town of the same name.
Another three days’ march brought me to the Arusha Mountains, which barely exceed 4000 feet in height. Of a certain Lake Arusha, which is delineated on many maps, I could not find the slightest trace. In the rainy season the river Arusha may possibly overflow here and there, and thus have given rise to the notion of there being a lake.
W.S.W. of our encampment and about 30 miles distant, we could perceive the Mount Meru, a very beautifully-proportioned and peculiarly-formed hill. On my first journey, we had no favourable opportunity of examining it, as it was always enveloped in clouds, and Mr. Thornton and myself both assigned to it a greater height than my last measurement proved it to possess. Of course, with my present deficient means, I am unable to give the precise elevation, but I believe an accurate computation will scarcely make it more than 13000 feet.
Kilima-ndjaro itself was often visible with wonderful clearness for half a day together, and the snow was plainly seen from a very great distance, more especially when the sun was near the horizon in the morning and evening. I remained in Arusha 6 days. The Wa-massai, Heaven only knows through whom, had got wind of my intentions, and had sent a band of some 2000 men to meet me and resist my passage. All manner of negotiations, entreaties, promises of presents, and threats availed nothing: I always received the same reply—“The red man must not set foot on their soil, else their cattle would surely perish.” They insulted my people who were sent out to fetch firewood and water, and chased them back into camp, until my porters got so thoroughly cowed that, dreading desertion on an extensive scale, I resolved to pursue my way due north, and at once undertake the ascent of the snowy peak.
Three days’ march over the table-land, about 2200 feet high, which separates Arusha from Djagga, brought me within the territory of Uru. Here everything seemed at first to be going on well, but very soon it became apparent that treachery was meditated, so I quitted it just as the unfriendly feeling began to manifest itself, fortunately without any loss on my side. In two days more I reached another small kingdom, that of Mossi.
I was at first most hospitably received here, and the youthful Sultan Kimandara was most courteous; but very soon he began the old African habit of lying and shuffling. I perceived that I could not hope to be any more successful with him than with others, unless I undertook to do something unusual. I therefore, under these circumstances, requested the young sultan to drink blood with me, since, as his warriors had told me, I must either do this or leave the country. Of course the brother in blood of their sultan was now an entirely different personage, and two days later I set out for Kilima-ndjaro, Dr. Kärsten, six of my own people, and two Wa-Djagga forming my company. We passed the first night at an elevation of about 6500 feet, the second at 11,000. For the first 8500 feet or thereabouts, there was a beautiful growth of underwood, after which vegetation thinned off quite suddenly; trees and brushwood continued to grow as high as 9500 feet, but above this there were no more ferns, nothing but shrubs with very short stems, and a species of Erica. At last only a few roots covered the soil, where it was not strewn over with huge masses of rock.
On the third day I left my people behind at an elevation of 12,800 feet, and went forward with Dr. Kärsten; ere long, however, my two negroes refused to advance farther, and my white companion was suffering so severely from headache that I was compelled to halt. Barometric and hypsometric observations gave an elevation of 13,900 feet. The actual snow limit, however, was full 2000 feet above us, though we both remarked several spots at which the snow lay at a far lower level. The easternmost peak showed very little snow, which was to be accounted for by its very precipitous sides, thus preventing the snow from clinging to the surface. The prospect was not very encouraging, except where, here and there, the strong breeze drove the clouds asunder; in other parts they collected in confused masses, and prevented us from getting a single glimpse over the Saddle, to the northwards, I now determined to retreat, and, amid deluges of rain, succeeded at 5·30 in reaching our late encampment. Up to midnight the bad weather continued, the wind blowing icy cold, though the thermometer never fell below 32·9° (Fahr.).
At sunrise we perceived that it had been snowing heavily, the snow lying, in fact, upon the spot we had reached the previous evening. The snow, however, at the lowest point considerably farther down, must have been of inconsiderable depth, for at 8 a.m. it had entirely disappeared under the influence of the sun. Two days more brought us back in safety to Mossi, after numerous delays caused by our losing the track.
The rock-specimens collected on the ascent are, 1, Volcanic slag; 2, Trachyte, with felspathic crystals injected; and 3, Basalt, with a few crystals of augite, and here and there a few fragments of olivine. The whole soil around consists of micaceous slate, which has been penetrated by volcanic rocks of ancient eruptions, by later molten rocks of similar nature, especially basalt, and (more rarely) trachyte, as described by Professor Rose of Berlin, after a careful inspection of the specimens I brought back. I saw no traces of fossil organic remains in the stratified rocks of this region.
My return journey led me back to Daffeta and Lake Jipé, whence I prosecuted my route over the Bura hills, and so by Endara to Mombas.
As to the various tribes of men I encountered, they seemed to me to differ greatly in speech and feature. In the limited territory visited by me, I found no fewer than eight distinct languages, having no dialectic affinities whatever. Of the various natives, the Wa-Massai and Wa-Ugono are the most powertfully-built people, but I never met with a man so tall as six feet. The Wa-Djagga, however, are the finest-looking race. A rule which prevails here that no young girl shall marry before she has completed her fifteenth year has doubtless much to do with this well-marked and distinctive superiority of physique.
I wish, here, to call attention to a very remarkable insect called the Donderobo. Through these flies I lost all my asses on my first journey. The Tsetse of South Africa, as is well-known, is dangerous only to cattle and horses; the sting of the Donderobo, on the other hand, is fatal only to goats and asses. The malady caused by it developes itself by enormous swellings of the scrotum and adjacent mucous membrane, and the animals breathe with difficulty. Blood and purulent matter flow from the nostrils, and death frequently ensues within two days after the puncture. On making a dissection I found the intestines covered with small tubercles, and what looked like blisters. I have never myself seen the Donderobo, and, notwithstanding the offer of a high reward, have never been able to obtain a single specimen. The natives told me that it looks like a large thick-bodied fly, and is most plentiful after the rainy season, when their flocks of goats are sometimes decimated.
- ↑ The map was drawn from the orignal sketch by Mr. Richard Thornton, corrected from observations made during the second visit.
- ↑ The following is a list of the instruments we took with us :—1 Theodolite (by Piston and Martins); 1 Sextant (Dollond); 1 Equatorial Circle (Piston and Martins); 1 Apparatus for measuring magnetic intensity (Meyerstein); 2 Barometers(I Negretti and Zambra); Maximum Thermometers (Casella and others); Azimuth Compasses; Thermometers (various); Chronometers (Tiede, Hant, Barraud, and others); 1 Telescope (Steinhofer). Observations for latitude were obtained from meridian altitudes of the sun and stars; the longitude was deduced from lunar distances, moon culminating stars, and by chronometric measurements; several positions were determined by triangulation with the theodolite and compass bearing, the variation of the compass being carefully observed. The measurements of height were determined by the barometer and boiling-point hypsometer; the regular magnetic and meteorological observations were also taken.