Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 15
CHAPTER XV
THE SONS OF THE MOON
Kazeh, an important place in Central Africa, is scarcely a town properly so called; there is not a town in the interior, and Kazeh is only a collection of six immense intrenched camps. Within these are collected the houses and huts of slaves with small courts and gardens, carefully cultivated with onions, yams, melons, pumpkins, and mushrooms of a perfect flavor there grown to perfection.
Unyamwezy is the veritable Land of the Moon, the fertile and beautiful park of Africa, in the center of the district of the Unyanembé, a delightful country, where some Omani families, who are Arabs of the purest blood, live in idleness. These people have for a long time trafficked in the interior of Africa and in Arabia; they deal in gum, ivory, striped cloths, slaves; their caravans penetrate these equatorial regions in all directions; they there seek upon the coast objects of pleasure and luxury for the rich merchants, and they, surrounded by wives and slaves, live in this beautiful country and enjoy an existence the least agitated and the most horizontal possible, always stretched at full length, laughing, smoking, or sleeping.
Around the camps are numerous native huts, large spaces for the market fields of cannabis and datuna, of lovely trees and most refreshing shade. Such is Kazeh.
There is also the general rendezvous for the caravans, those from the south with slaves and ivory, and from the west, which bring cotton and glassware to the tribes around the Great Lakes. Also in the market there is a continual movement, a regular hubbub, in which the cries of the half-breed porters mingle with the sound of drums and cornets, the whinnying of mules, the braying of donkeys, the songs of women, the crying of children, and the blows of the rattan of the jemidar, who beats the time in this pastoral symphony.
There are the wares exposed for sale without any kind of order, even in a charming disorder. Showy stuffs, colored glass beads, ivory rhinoceros' teeth, sharks' teeth, honey, tobacco, and cotton. There they carry on the most strange bargains, each object having just so much value as it excites desire.
Suddenly this hubbub and movement ceased, the noise immediately subsided. The " Victoria" had appeared in the sky, sailing along majestically and descending slowly without losing its vertical position. Men, women, children, slaves, merchants, Arabs, and negroes all disappeared and glided away into the "tembes" and beneath the huts.
"My dear Samuel," said Kennedy, "if we continue to produce such an effect as this we shall have some difficulty to establish commercial relations with these people."
"There is, nevertheless, one very simple mercantile transaction to be carried out," said Joe; "that is, to quietly descend and carry away the most valuable merchandise without troubling the merchants. We should then get rich."
"You see," said the doctor, "that the natives have only been terrified for the moment. They will not delay to return, impelled either by superstition or curiosity."
"You think so, sir?"
"We shall soon see, but it will be prudent to keep at a little distance. The 'Victoria' is neither an ironclad nor armored. There is no shelter from a bullet nor from an arrow."
"Do you then intend to enter into conference with these Africans, my dear Samuel?"
"Perhaps so—why not? There ought to be in Kazeh Arab merchants who are not ignorant men. I remember that Messrs. Burton and Speke were much pleased with the hospitality of this town. So we can try our luck."
The "Victoria" gradually approached the earth, and made fast one of the grapnels to the top of a tree near the market-place.
The entire population now turned out; heads were cautiously advanced. Many "Waganga," easily recognizable by their badges of shell-fish, advanced boldly. They were the sorcerers of the place. They carried at the waist small gourds rubbed over with grease, and many objects of magic use of a dirtiness, nevertheless, quite professional. By degrees the crowd advanced to the sorcerers, the women and children surrounding them, the drummers rivaled each other in din, hands were clasped and held up towards the sky.
"That is their manner of praying," said Doctor Ferguson. "If I am not in error, we shall be called upon to undertake an important part."
"Very well, sir," said Joe, "play it."
"Even you, my brave Joe, may perhaps become a god."
"Well, sir, that won't worry me much, and the incense will be rather agreeable than otherwise."
At this moment one of the sorcerers, a "Waganga," made a gesture, and the clamor sank into profound silence. He addressed some words to the travelers, but in a tongue unknown to them.
Doctor Ferguson, not understanding what was said, replied at hazard in a few words of Arabic, and was immediately answered in that language.
The orator then delivered a flowing speech, very flowery and very distinct. The doctor had no difficulty in perceiving that the "Victoria" was actually taken for the moon in person, and that this amiable goddess had deigned to approach the town with her three sons, an honor which would never be forgotten in that country—beloved by the sun.
The doctor replied, with great dignity, that the moon made every thousand years a departmental tour, feeling the necessity of showing herself to her worshipers. He then prayed them to take advantage of her divine presence by making known their wants and vows.
The sorcerer replied that the sultan, the "Mwani," had been ill for many years, had asked the assistance of Heaven, and he now begged the sons of the moon to come to him.
The doctor imparted the invitation to his companions.
"And will you go to that nigger king?" said the Scotchman.
"Certainly. These people appear to me to be well disposed, the day is calm, there is scarcely a breath of wind. We have nothing to fear for the "Victoria."
"But what will you do?"
"Be quiet, my dear Dick; with a little medicine I will manage to get out of it."
Then addressing the crowd he said: "The moon, taking pity upon the sovereign, so dear to the people of Unyamwezy, has confided his recovery to our hands. Let him prepare to receive us."
The cries, shouts, and gesticulations were redoubled, and the entire vast "ant-hill" ant-hill" of black heads was in motion.
"Now, my friends," said Doctor Ferguson, "it will be necessary to be ready for anything; we may be obliged to retreat at any moment. Dick shall remain in the car, and by means of the blow-pipe, keep up a sufficient ascensional power. The grapnel is firmly fixed, so there is no danger on that score. I will get down, Joe will also get out, but will remain at the foot of the ladder."
"What, are you going alone to this blackamoor's house?" asked Kennedy.
"Why, Mr. Samuel, don't you wish me to accompany you through this?" said Joe.
"No, I shall go alone: these people imagine that the moon has come to pay them a visit. I am protected by their superstition, so have no fear, and let each one remain at his post as I have arranged."
"Since you wish it," said the Scot, "it shall be so."
"Mind you attend to the expansion of the gas."
"All right."
The cries of the natives again increased, they demanded the intervention of heaven very energetically indeed.
"Do you hear?" cried Joe. "I think they are a little too dictatorial to their beautiful moon and her sons."
The doctor, supplied with his medicine-chest, came out of the balloon, preceded by Joe, and descended. The latter was as grave and dignified as was in his nature to be. He sat down at the foot of the ladder, and crossed his legs, Arab-fashion—a portion of the crowd surrounded him at a respectful distance.
Meantime, Doctor Ferguson, preceded by musicians, and escorted by religious dancers, advanced slowly towards the royal "tembe," situated some distance from the town. It was now about three o'clock, and the sun was shining hotly—he could not do less under the circumstances.
The doctor advanced with dignity; the Waganga surrounded him, and kept back the crowd. Ferguson was soon joined by the natural son of the sultan, a well-made young fellow, who, following the custom of the country, was the sole inheritor of the parent's goods and possessions, to the exclusion of legitimate children. He prostrated himself before the son of the moon, who raised him with a gracious gesture.
Three-quarters of an hour afterwards, through shady paths in the midst of a luxuriant tropical vegetation, the enthusiastic procession arrived at the palace of the sultan, a kind of square house, called Ititenya, and situated upon the slope of a hill. A species of veranda, made by the straw roof, covered the exterior, and was supported by wooden posts, with some pretension to carving displayed upon them. Long streaks of reddish clay ornamented the walls, attempts to depict men and snakes, the latter being naturally more successful than the former. The roof of this habitation did not rest directly upon the walls, so the air could circulate freely, though there were no windows and scarcely a door.
Doctor Ferguson was received with great honors by the guards and favorites, men of a handsome race, the Unyamwezi, a pure type of the population of Central Africa, strong and healthy, well made, and erect in their bearing. Their hair, divided into a quantity of small curls, fell down upon their shoulders; and by means of incisions colored black or blue, they tattooed their cheeks from the temples to the mouth. Their ears, very much distended, were ornamented with discs of wood and gum copal; they were clothed with emeu, brilliantly colored; the soldiers, well armed with bows and arrows—the latter poisoned and barbed—with cutlasses and "simes," a long saw-toothed sword, and hatchets.
The doctor entered the palace. There, in describing the sultan's symptoms, the hubbub, already great, was redoubled. The doctor remarked on the lintel of the door that tails of hares and zebras' manes were suspended as talismans. He was received by a troop of Her Majesty's ladies to the harmonious accompaniment of the "upatu," a kind of cymbal constructed from the bottom of copper pots, and of the "kilindo," a drum about five feet high, hollowed out from the trunk of a tree, and which is played by two performers, hammering it as hard as possible with their fists.
The greater number of the women appeared very pretty, and laughingly smoked tobacco and "thang" in large black pipes. They appeared to be well formed, so far as the long and graceful robe permitted their figures to be seen, and wore a kind of kilt of calabash fibers fastened round their waists.
Six of them, though destined to be sacrificed, were by no means the least gay of the assembly. At the death of the sultan they were to be buried alive with him, so as to keep him company in his otherwise somewhat distressing solitude.
Doctor Ferguson, having taken all this in at a glance, advanced towards the monarch's couch. There he saw a man of about forty, perfectly brutalized by dissipation of all kinds, and for whom he could do nothing. His malady, which had lasted some years, was nothing but constant intoxication. This royal drunkard had by degrees lost consciousness, and all the ammonia in the world could not cure him.
The favorites and the women, bending their knees, bowed themselves down during this solemn visit. By means of a few drops of a strong cordial, the doctor for moment animated the stupefied body. The sultan moved, and for a corpse which had given no sign of existence for hours, to move at all was hailed with acclamation in honor of the doctor.
He, who had had enough of it, put his would-be worshipers aside by a rapid movement, and quitted the palace. He made towards the "Victoria," for it was now six o'clock.
Joe, during his master's absence, waited patiently at the foot of the ladder, the crowd paying him the greatest attention. As a true son of the moon he accepted the position. For a god he had the appearance of a brave man enough, not at all proud, even with young African ladies, who never ceased to stare at him. He also conversed amicably with them.
"Keep worshiping, ladies, keep it up," he said. "I am a pretty good sort of devil, although the son of a goddess."
They offered him propitiatory gifts, usually placed in the "mzimu" or fetish-houses. These consisted of barley and "pembe." Joe felt himself constrained to taste this species of strong beer, but his palate, though not unaccustomed to gin or whisky, could not stand that. He made a fearful grimace, which the audience took for an amiable smile.
Then the young girls, setting up a slow sort of chanting, executed a solemn dance round him.
"Ah! you dance, do you? Very well, I will not be behind-hand with you, and will show you a dance of my country."
He then began a most extraordinary kind of a jig, turning over, throwing himself about in all directions, dancing on his feet, on his knees, on his hands, and twisting himself in the most extraordinary contortions and incredible positions, accompanied by the most horrible grimaces, thus giving the people a strange notion of the manner in which the gods dance in the moon.
Now all Africans are as imitative as apes, and very quickly did his audience reproduce his behavior, gambols, and contortions; they did not lose a gesture, they did not forget an attitude; the result being a hubbub and commotion of which it is difficult to give the least idea. In the midst of all this festivity Joe perceived the doctor.
He was approaching hastily in the center of a yelling and disordered crowd. The sorcerers and priests appeared to be the most excited. They surrounded and pressed upon the doctor with threatening gestures. What a strange alteration. What had happened? Had the sultan unfortunately died under the celestial doctor's hands?
Kennedy, from his position, perceived the danger without comprehending the cause. The balloon, pulling strongly, was stretching the rope that held it as if impatient to rise into the air.
The doctor came to the foot of the ladder. A superstitious fear still kept back the crowd, and prevented their using violence; he rapidly ascended and Joe followed.
"There is not an instant to lose," said his master. "Never mind detaching the grapnel. We must cut the cord. Follow me."
"What is it?" said Joe, ascending.
"What has happened?" cried Kennedy, carbine in hand.
"Look there!" replied the doctor, pointing towards the horizon.
"Well?" asked the Scot.
"Well! it's the moon!"
In fact the moon, red and glorious as a globe of fire upon an azure background, was then rising—she and the "Victoria" together.
Either, therefore, there were two moons, or the strangers were nothing but impostors and false gods. Such were the natural thoughts of the crowd. Hence the change. Joe could not help laughing heartily. The people of Kazeh, beginning to understand that their prey would escape, gave vent to prolonged howls, and bows and guns were directed towards the balloon. But at a sign from one of the sorcerers the weapons were lowered, he jumped into the tree with the intention to seize the rope of the grapnel and bring the balloon to the ground.
Joe leaned over with a hatchet in his hand.
"Shall I cut it?" he asked.
"Wait a little," said the doctor.
"But that nigger———"
"We may perhaps save our grapnel, and I think so. We can cut it at any time."
The sorcerer, having gained the tree, went to work so vigorously in the branches that he detached the grapnel, which, being violently dragged by the balloon, caught the sorcerer between the legs, and so he, astride on this unexpected steed, set out for the region of the sky.
The crowd were stupefied to perceive one of their Waganga launched into space.
"Hurrah!" cried Joe, as the "Victoria" mounted very rapidly.
"He holds tight," said Kennedy; "a little journey will do him good."
"Shall we let him go altogether?" suggested Joe.
"For shame!" replied the doctor. "We will put him gently down presently, and I believe that after such an adventure his magical power will be singularly increased in his companions' estimation."
"I daresay they will make a god of him," said Joe.
The "Victoria" had now arrived at an elevation of about 1,000 feet. The negro held on to the cord with tremendous energy. He was quite silent, and his eyes were fixed. His terror mastered his astonishment completely. A light breeze carried the balloon below the town.
Half an hour later, the doctor, seeing the coast was clear, moderated the blow-pipe, and approached the earth. At twenty feet from the ground the sorcerer took courage and dropped, fell upon his feet, and ran towards Kazeh at the top of his speed, while the "Victoria" once more ascended into the air.