THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2581, 26 January 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE EMIN PASHA RELIEF EXPEDITION.

Mk Ward (writes Mr Joseph Huttou in the lllnstrated London News) lias often assured mo of the existence ol* cannibalism in certain Central African districts. Last year ho forwarded mo sets of cannibal knives and forks. In the general way lie has referred to this subject as one about which thcio was no longer reason for doubt. Mr Stanley himself had not been altogether explicit in his evidence one way or the other, although the alleged Soko or chimpanzee skulls which he sent to Professor Huxley, as liii readers will remember, turned out to Vie human. Whatever they were, the natives of the village where Stanley found tl-.cm confessed they had en ten the bodies, which they called " Wajiini inea." It is only cjuito recently that the truth has come out. Stanley suspected it. He offered large rewards for a specimen of a "Noiio" alive or dead. He saw plenty of skulls of the creature, but could procure no other evidence. This was at a village above Stanley Falls. It is now pretty well understood that these trophies must have been the remains of human beings. Cannibalism exists in the great basin of the Congo, en sundry of its tributaries, and was active in the neighborhood of the camp at Aruwiini. In a speciiii letter from Mr AVard lately received, he gives trie not only some startling details of cannibalism on tlio Aruwimil.viver, but an illustration of the ghastly business drawn on the spot. On Sunday, 2Gl,h February, IBSS, lie says : —

"1 went this morning to Nassibu's Camp, which is situated about an hour's march from our camp oil the Falls (Aruwiini). Ho received me with much ceremouy, and, at my request, drummed to the natives, who were in two clearings at

tho back of his camp. A number came and went through thou sual demonstrations of surprise at seeing a white man. Among them were aluut a dozen younu' women, with pleasing countenances and beautifully-moulded limbs. They would have been worthy models for a sculptor. I selected a man as a model fv>r myseli , but it was very diflinult to induce him to stand still while I sketched him. I then started for their village with Majuta, Mr .Jameson's boys carrying my bag. and Fida, a native woman who has been with the Arabs some time, to interpret from Sawhili into the native language."

" Almost tho first man I .saw was carrying four lumps of human flesh (with the skin on) on a stick, and through Fida I found that they had killed a man this morning and had divided the flesh. She took mo over to a house where some half dozen men were squatting, and showed me more meat on sticks in front of a fire; it. was frizzling, and the yellow fat was dripping from it, whilst all round was a strong odour, which reminded me of the sniell given out by griddlcd clojdiant. meat. It was not the general meal time, they told mo, hut one or two of the natives cutoff pieces oi' the frizzled flesh and ate it and laughed atMajnta, who, being disgusted, held his nose and backed into the bush. I spoke to the native through Fida, and they told me from what part the meat was cut. Ono tall, sturdy native was quietly leaning against a tree, and picking off pieces of flesh with groat relish. Other dainty joints were grilling at tho Arc. I send you a sketch of the scone, and somo day shall hope to tell you all the horrible details of the cannibal habits and customs which prevail in this strange country."

Says Ward in a letter dated 18th February:—"l went to Selim's camp to-day, and they told me that two more of their men (Arabs) had been caught and eaten by natives, whose village they had raided and burnt somo weeks ago. This will probably make Selim angry, as he went with Barttulot much against his will, and only left a few men and Ins women. This eternal waiting is awfulwaiting for what never comes! Day after day passes ; we see no fresh faces, we hear no news, Many of our men pro daily growing thinner and weaker, and are dying oil'! Poor wretches ! they lie out in the sun, on the dusty ground, most of them with only a narrow strip of dirty loin cloth ; and all the livelong day they stare into vacancy, and at night gaze at a bit of fire. It was a pitiable sight, a few days ago, to see an emaciated skeleton crawl, with the aid of a stick, after a corpse that was being carried ou a pole for interment. He staggered along, poor chap, and squatted down alongside the newly-made grave and watched the proceedings with large round sunken eyes, knowing that it would only bo a matter of a few days and he himself would be a dead man. He told mo in a liusky voice, ' Amekwa rapiki angu' (he was my friend). Another poor fellow is a mass of bones, yet persists in doing his work, and every evening staggers into camp. He has been told to lay up, and that his manioc shall be provided for him, but he refuses ; and in replying to my sympathetic remark that ho was very thin, he said, ' Yes, only a short time more, master.' Death is written in his face, and just as plainly iu tho faces of many others in this camp. Almost as many lives, I fear, will bo lost iu this philanthropic mission as there are lives in Emin Bey's people to save."

Ward does not say positively that Tippoo Tib is chiefly to blame for this, hue he had continually referred to the suspicious nature of his delay in supplyingl the men ho had undertaken to provide. On ISth January he writes:— " Selim-bin-Mahomed, who has hitherto been most pleasant and agreeable, is now beginning to got 'touchy.' Evidently we shall never get the 700 inenTipno Tib promised us." In another of his letters, dated fjtli February, he seems to forecast poor Barttelot's fate. "To.day." he writes, " I am orderly officer. An old empty cartridgobox was picked up i i the river (Arinvimi) to-day; it was miuli broken and sodden ; it must have been floating dou n the river for a very long distance. Selim-bin-Mahomed told mo this morning that Bunyari, the escaped prisoner, had told him, preparatory to escaping, that his life was not worth living, mnrchiii!.; up and down in the hot sun all day, and that he knew he would bo shot when caught, and that he inteii-

clod shooting Barttelot dead before ho would be captured." A sketch of the Aruwimi near the camp was made after a botanising trip with poor Jameson, whose death by fever is one of the latest known calamities of the expedition. " This picture," lie writes, "I have done in Indian ink, but it is very uncomfortable painting out- of doors ; this is one of our hottest days, and there are swarms of black sandflies which draw blood whenever they attack one." In January he writes in regard to the sketch (No. •!) of a corner of our " Entrenched camp, Yambuya, Aruwimi river," that it is pictures!|ue but dull and wretched with waiting and hoping for orders to move. "'] he weather liuo," he writes ; "liver very low." Massibu, an Arab of Tippoo Tib's, visited us, bringing some Stanley Falls rice and a goat. He told us an absurd yarn of Abdullah having seen Stanley. Jameson continued colkctiug birds, and painting them. Wc sketched the second rapids from below the camp. AYo have not snffio'eiit medicine and very liti.le food. The Zanzibaries and Soudanese arc suffering seriously, and there are many deaths." •' The carved wood tobacco-bowl," he writes, " I bouj/ht from one of Sclim's Manyemas. The bowl is constructed on the back of some legendary animal—half leopard, half elephant. On this day of

the tobacco-bowl (3rd March), one of Sclim's head Arabs is below with twenty tusks of ivory. Bonny has seen some Arabs from Abdullah's camp, 10 days above. They say they will bring us back the two men who deserted from Stauley some months ago. This awful delay of news from Stanley bodes misfortune, and wo are all compelled to conclude that he has met with trouble and is in difficulties—if not worse. A brave, skilful and determined man, a hero, one hopes and trusts he may he safe and well. The unknown diiiieuUies which Mr Stanley must have encountered are sulliciently demonstrated by the known diiliculties which have beset his followers in a region which had become familiar to them, anil under the express oognisancc of Stanley's Arab ally, Tippoo Tip. If this gentleman and his ollicers have boon so remiss in the fulfilment of their undertakings almost within easy reach of | settled Congo stations, what may have happened to Stanley in the wilderness is lull of painful possibilities. Major Barttelot lost his life in endeavouring to organise a party to follow his leader. Mr Jameson had succumbed to fever, probably induced by anxiety and worry in the same direction. In one of Ward's letters, dated early in the year, ho states, with a sympathetic expression of regret, that both Jameson and Barttclot look very ill. The obstacles in the path of an advance towards Wadelai must be enormous. The dangers, while they have in some respects been reduced by the Arab alliance, have in other ways been increased by it. The Arabs harass the natives, and plunder them of ivory and slaves. The natives everywhere seek reprisals on the Arabs; it must be a dillieult thing for the native mind to discriminate between Stanley's people and their Arab allies.