Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 38
CHAPTER XXXVIII
RAPID TRAVELING
The 17th of May passed quietly and without incident. The desert was again encountered, a moderate wind impelled the "Victoria" to the southwest, it deviated neither to the right nor left, and its shadow was traced in a direct line upon the sand.
Before his last departure the doctor had taken care to replenish his store of water. He was afraid of not being able to obtain water in those countries infested by the Touaregs. The plain, about 1,800 feet above the level of the sea, depressed towards the south. The travelers having crossed the route from Aghades to Mourzouk frequented by caravans, arrived in the evening in 16° lat. and 4° 55′ long., having had a long and monotonous journey of 180 miles. During that day Joe cooked the last head of game, which was very summarily prepared. He sent up a most appetizing little supper of frochette of snipe. The wind being favorable, the doctor resolved to continue his journey by night, as the full moon was shining brightly. The "Victoria" rose to 500 feet, and during this night journey of about 60 miles, an infant's slumber would not have been disturbed.
On Sunday there was another change in the wind, viz., to the northwest. Some ravens were perceived, and further off a flock of vultures, who fortunately kept aloof.
The sight of these birds induced Joe to compliment his master upon his idea of two balloons.
"Where should we be now," said he, "if we had had but one envelope? This second balloon is like a ship's launch; in case of shipwreck, one can always take to it for safety."
"You are right, my friend, only my launch makes me a little nervous, it is not like the ship."
"What do you mean?" asked Kennedy.
"I say that the new 'Victoria' is not up to the old one. Whether the tissues have been stretched, or whether the gutta-percha is melted with heat of the serpentine, I am aware of a certain escape of gas. This is not much matter at present, but it is appreciable; we have a tendency to fall, and to keep us up I am obliged to dilate the hydrogen to a greater extent."
"Whew!" cried Kennedy, "I don't see any remedy for that!"
"There is none, my dear Dick. That is the reason we are pressing on, and even at night."
"Are we far from the coast?" asked Joe.
"What coast, my lad? We cannot tell where chance may lead us; all I can say is, that Timbuctoo is 400 miles to the west."
"And what time shall we take to get there?"
"If the wind do not drop, I expect to see the town on Tuesday afternoon."
"Then," said Joe, pointing out a long train of men and beasts on the plain, we shall arrive before that caravan!"
Ferguson and Kennedy leaned over, and saw a vast multitude; there were more than 150 camels of the kind which, for twelve golden "mutkals," march from Timbuctoo to Tafilet, with a load of 500 lbs.
These camels of the Touaregs are of the best breed. They can travel from three to seven days without water, and for two days without food; their speed excels that of horses, and they obey the commands of the "khatir," or leader of the caravan. They are known in the country by the name of "Mehari."
Such were the details furnished by the doctor, while his companions were studying this multitude of men, women, and children, traveling over the yielding sand with difficulty. The wind effaced their traces almost as soon as they had passed.
Joe asked how it was that the Arabs succeeded in guiding themselves in the desert, and reaching the wells so sparsely scattered throughout the immense solitudes.
"The Arabs," replied Ferguson, "have naturally a wonderful instinct for finding their way—where a European would be entirely puzzled an Arab would not hesitate; a small stone, a pebble, a tuft of grass, a shadow, the difference in the sand, will suffice for their safe direction. During the night they guide themselves by the polar star; they do not travel more than two miles an hour, and rest during the great heat of the day; so you can calculate what time they take to traverse the Sahara, a desert more than 900 miles long."
The "Victoria" had by this time disappeared from the wondering gaze of the Arabs, who envied her her rapid progress. In the evening the three travelers came to long. 2° 20′, and during the night they made more than another degree.
On Monday the weather changed completely. It rained tremendously. They were obliged to put up waterproof to resist this deluge, and the consequent increase of weight in the balloon and the car. This continual rain accounted for the marshes and swamps, which spread over the surface of the country. Here vegetation reappeared, with mimosas, baobabs, and tamarinds.
Such was Souray, with its villages roofed in the shape of Arminian caps. There were few mountains, but hills sufficient to make ravines and reservoirs, over which the guinea-fowl and snipe skimmed; here and there an impetuous torrent crossed the road. The natives crossed these by passing hand over hand from one branch to another of the overhanging trees. The forests now gave place to jungles, in which sported the alligator, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.
"It will not be long before we see the Niger," said the doctor, "the country usually alters in the neighborhood of large rivers. These moving roads, as they have been rightly termed, first brought vegetation, and subsequently civilization. Thus in its course of 2,500 miles, the Niger has sprinkled on its banks the largest cities in Africa.
"Ah!" said Joe, "that reminds me of the story of the great admirer of Providence, who extolled the great care which had sent rivers flowing through great cities!"
At mid-day, the "Victoria" passed over a small town of wretched-looking huts, called Gao, which had been formerly a celebrated capital.
"'Twas here," said the doctor, "that Barth crossed the Niger on his return to Timbuctoo. This was a famous stream in old days—the rival of the Nile, to which Pagan superstition gave celestial origin. Like the Nile, it has occupied the attention of travelers for ages, and like it, also, has claimed numerous victims."
The Niger, with a wide stream, ran with great rapidity southwards; but the travelers, carried along, as they were, could scarcely note its curious windings.
"I wish to speak about this river," said Ferguson; "it is already at some distance. Under the names of Dhiouleba, Mayo, Egghirreon, Quorra, and others, it flows through an enormous tract of country, and rivals the Nile in length. All its titles signify simply 'The River,' according to the language of the region through which it flows."
"Has Doctor Barth followed this route?" asked Kennedy.
"No, Dick; when he departed from Lake Tchad he visited the chief towns of Bornou, and crossed the Niger at Say, four degrees below Gao. He then penetrated into the midst of the unexplored region enclosed by the bend of the Niger, and after eight months of unheard-of suffering, he arrived at Timbuctoo, where we shall be in three days if the wind lasts like this."
"Has the source of the Niger been discovered?" asked Joe.
"Long ago," replied the doctor. "The discovery of the Niger and its affluents attracted numerous expeditions, of which I can mention the principal ones. From 1749 to 1758 Adamson surveyed the river and visited Goree. From 1785 to 1788, Goldberry and Geoffroy penetrated the deserts of the Senegambia and ascended as far as the Maures country, where Saugnier, Brisson, Adam, Riley, Cochelet, and many others were murdered. Then there was the celebrated Mungo Park, the friend of Walter Scott, and a Scot likewise. Sent out by the African Society of London, in 1795, he reached Bambarra and the Niger, marched 500 miles with a slave dealer, discovered the Gambia river, and returned to England in 1797. On the 30th January, 1805, he started again with Anderson, his brother-in-law, Scott, the draughtsman, and thirty-five soldiers, revisited the Niger on the 19th August, but by that time, owing to fatigue, privation, ill-treatment, bad weather, and an unhealthy country, only eleven out of forty Europeans remained alive. On the 16th November the last letters of Mungo Park reached his wife, and a year later they learnt, through a merchant, that the unfortunate traveler, having reached Boussa on the Niger, on the 23rd December, his boat was upset in the rapids, and that he had been murdered by the natives.
"And did not his sad fate deter others?"
"On the contrary, Dick, for then they had not only to explore the river but to find the travelers' papers. In the year 1816, an expedition was organized in London, in which Major Gray took part, which arrived at Senegal, penetrated into Fonta Djallon, visited the Foullahs and Manduignes, and returned to England without having achieved anything further. In 1822, Major Laing explored all the western part of Africa, bordering upon the British possessions, and it was he who first reached the sources of the Niger, and according to his report the source of this immense river is only two feet wide!"
"All the easier to jump over!" said Joe.
"Yes, easy enough," replied the doctor. "If we can credit tradition though, whoever attempts to jump over this source is immediately swallowed up in the act, and whoever wishes to draw water there is pushed away by an invisible hand."
"I suppose we needn't believe all that unless we like?" said Joe.
"Just as you please. Five years later Major Laing journeyed across the Sahara and penetrated up to Timbuctoo, and was strangled some miles beyond it by the Oulad-Shiman, who wanted to become a Mussulman."
"Another victim!" said Kennedy.
"Then a brave young fellow undertook, with his limited resources, and actually succeeded in making the most wonderful of modern journeys. I refer to the Frenchman, René Caillé. After frequent trials in 1819 and 1824, he set out anew upon the 19th April, 1827, from Rio Nunez; on the 3rd August he arrived at Timé, so completely exhausted, that he could not resume his journey for six months. He then joined a caravan, and protected by his oriental costume, reached the Niger on the 10th March, entered the town of Jeuné, took boat on the river and descended it as far as Timbuctoo, where he arrived on the 30th April.
"Another Frenchman, Imbert, in the year 1670, and an Englishman, Robert Adams, in 1810 had perhaps beheld this curious town; but René Caillé is entitled to the credit of being the first European who brought back authentic reports. On the 4th May he left that queen of the desert; on the 9th, he visited the very place where Major Laing had been killed; on the 19th, he arrived at El-Eraouan, and left that flourishing town to cross, amid a thousand dangers, the vast solitudes included between the Soudan and the northern regions of Africa. At length he reached Tangier, and on the 28th September he embarked for Toulon. So, in nineteen months, notwithstanding one hundred and ninety days of sickness, he had crossed Africa from west to north. Ah! if Caillé had been born in England he would have been honored as the greatest traveler of modern times—as the equal of Mungo Park. But in France he is not sufficiently appreciated."
"He was a brave fellow. What became of him?" asked Kennedy.
"He died at the age of thirty-nine, worn out by fatigue. It was thought reward sufficient to award him the prize of the Geographical Society in 1828; the greatest honor would have been paid him in England. Finally, while he was occupied in this wonderful journey, an Englishman started on the same enterprise, with as much courage, but not the same good fortune. This was Captain Clapperton, the companion of Denham. In 1829, he entered Africa by the west, at the Gulf of Benin; he took up the traces of Mungo Park and Laing, found in Boussa the documents relating to the death of the former traveler, and arrived at Sackatou on the 20th of August, where he was kept a prisoner, and subsequently died in the arms of his faithful follower, Richard Lander.
"And what became of this Lander?" asked Joe, who was much interested.
"He regained the coast and returned to England, bringing with him the captain's papers, and an exact account of his travels. He then offered his services to the Government to complete the survey of the Niger. His brother John joined him, and these two, from 1829 to 1831, redescended the Niger from Boirssa nearly to its mouth, describing it village by village, and mile after mile."
"Then these brothers escaped the usual fate?" said Kennedy.
"Yes, for the time at least, but in 1833 Richard undertook a third journey to the Niger, and was killed by an unknown hand close to the mouth of the river. So you see, my friends, that this country which we are traversing has witnessed noble acts of devotion, which have but too often met with their reward in death!"