LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7065, 17 January 1891, Page 1

LITERATURE.

STIRRING STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAY.

A SAILOR'S ADVENTURES IN

EASTERN AFRICA.

(New York Sun.)

A Bailor, who deserted from his ship on the East African coast and joined a tribe of natives, met with a number of sensational adventures. In the following he tells how he was

MADE GENERAL OF THF- TKOOP3

AND LED THEM TO VICTOEY.

It did not take me over three months to pick tip enough of the dialect of the Worumbu people to make myself plainly understood, and in six I could talk like a native, though, my errors in pronunciation continued to amuse them. Taking our Tillage as a common centre, you could not have radiated a hundred miles without striking another tribe, and one speaking a different language. I knew, for a fact, of eight different tribes within that distance, no two of whom had the same dialect. If they had any business with each other it wa3 carried on in the sign language. When I had mastered one dialect, I found that the others were comparatively easy to get hold of. None of them are founded on any arbitrary law. and the rules of grammar do not bother the new beginner. In the course of a year I could speak with the Eißbtis, the Ombia, and the Zerbs, and as a consequence was looked upon as a man of great importance. While these tribes were comparative strangers to each other, they were on friendly terms, and did more or leas trading. None of the four were •classed aa war tribes, and all suffered more or less at the hands of the cattle-stealing tribes from the West. The latter were strong in numbers, better armed than we we were, and their raids were attended with direful consequences. On their last laid they had taken from the Zerbs two hundred cattle, twenty-two women, five young men, and ten children. These aaptivea were to be sold to the Arab slavers. As soon as I had learned the respective dialects, I broached the subject of an offensive and defensive alliance to our head man, TJmbhi. He favoured it, and runners were Bent out to the other tribes, and a big meeting held. The result was an agreement to combine for mutual protection. It was found that the Kishtis could raise 420 men, the Ombia 350, the Zerbs 400, and our own tribe could turn out fully 500, making almost 1700 warrior c. In no case had the cattle stealers ever come with more than 200 men. In most cases they numbered from seventyfive to one hundred. At least every Becond one was armed with a musket. Our consolidated force could raise only thirty muskets, but was well fixed with lances, apears, and war clubs. After the agreement to combine came the question tof who should handle the troops. It was readily seen that if each tribe acted for .itself and by itself the grand aim would be lost. Much to my astonishment I was elected Commander-in-chief of the allied forces. They would not hear of any other .proposition, but the meeting broke up with cries of " Mbowan ! Mbowan !" <('" General ! General !") and I was carried about the village on the shoulders of the sturdy blacks in triumphant procession.

There had not been a raid for about two years, bat certain signs indicated that one might come pretty soon, as a party of slave hunters was known to have entered the country to the west of us. Finding that I moat serve as General, I began operations that very same day. Our geographical position was as follows -.—The Zerbs were to the west df us, the Ombis to the. north, andtbe Kishtis to the south. A party of invasion ramtft cross the other territory to reach us, atrd the Zerbs were the most exposed. I selected 150 men from each tribe, making 600 in all. Each party was pat in command of a well-known brave, and he was allowed two subordinate officers. My next in command was a Kishti about 30 years old.

I knew I could never train these natives to obey the commands given to white soldiers, and so a different code was adopted. We had "advance," "fall back," "retreat," &c, and after three days of drill in a body they could form two ranks, come into line, dress to the right or left, and execute other simple manoeuvres. The greatest trouble was with the mnsketeers. The African fires at hia enemy without muchidea of hitting, depending upon the noiße of the report to spare him. I taught them to fire low, keep cool, and take advantage of natural shelter, casting about for something new in the way of weapons, I bethought me of aßling. As soon as I had made one the natives eagerly seized upon the idea, and the result was that I formed fifty of them into what might be called a " sling company." In a week from the time they saw me throw the first stone they had become wonderfully adept in the use of the article, and the army, as a whole, had great confidence in itself.

T9e now had a second rumour regarding the cattle Btealerß, and I marched my men to the western limits of the Zerb territory. The remainder of the active men were left behind as a reserve, to be called forward in case of necessity. The western line of the Zerbs was abont twenty-two miles long, being defined by a stretch of high hills. Beyond these hills was a sort of No Man's Land for a distance of fifty miles. In other words, the slave hunters had depopulated it. There were but three passes in these hills through which a large ; party could make its way, and they were -only three miles apart. On arriving at our limit I sent three men to the outer passes, encamped the army at the centre one, and waited for news. It was five days before we heard anything definite, and then the news ■was very important, only two marches away was a band of abont 200 cattle stealers and slave hunters, led by Arabs. The force was armed with muskets, and the intention was an invasion of our territory on a grand scale. They were headed for the middle pass. On receipt of the news I called a council of officers, and was rejoiced to find them i full of enthusiasm. The middle pass was at Igast fifteen miles long. In some places it waa a valley a mile wide, and in others it was a ravine not over thirty feet wide, with high walls on either side. The spot selected by ns was about five miles up the j pass. Here, for the distance of a mile, the path was narrow and the banks high. Beyond it, to the West, was a "valley half a mile wide and the same in breadth. Beyond that again the path led through another ravine. War among the natives of Africa means to kill. To be able to check this invasion, or even to defeat the party with heavy loss, would not have satisfied my people. They wanted to wipe it clean out. Our first ivoric was to build a barricade across the path. This was done just at elbow in the gorge. I then sent fifty men to the northern pass, and the same number to the southern, with orders to make their way to the western end and follow down the middle pa 33 behind the invading army. pArtieß were detailed to occupy the wooded Bidea of the gorge and use rocks for missiles, and the musketeers were placed at the barricade. I had only about fifty men with me in the gorge, the others were Strung ou on either bank to the valley. We had figured that the invaders would encamp in this ,v*lley for the night, as there was a great plenty of wood, water, and grasß. The; appeared about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the cora-

mander of the expedition at once ordered camp to be made. The force oould now be counted by our men on the hills, and they reported it at 230, with at least four white men along. Firearms were plentiful, and there were at least fifty native porters bearing food and ammunition. During the night I got word from both the parties Bent out. They had come down the middle pass behind the invaders and were building barricades in the gorge lon the other aide of the valley. We had the fellows in a trap, and if my men only stood there was no hopo for them. The invaders, conscious of their strength, were so careless that they did not even guard their camp, and had we thought best we could have fallen upon them in the night. Some of the officers urged this plan, but I objected, knowing that many of us would be hurt by our own men in the confusion, and that darkness would be fatal to the discipline I had been at co much pains to drill into them.

The enemy were astir at an early hour in the morning, and as the inarch was taken up it had no particular order, except that two of the white men, each mounted on an ox, were in the advance. These two were at our barricade before the last of their party had left camp, and they were within twenty feet of as before they noticed the obstruction. Then one-half of my musketeers poured in a point-blank fire, and the battle had opened.

The first volley killed or disabled at least a dozen men and created a panic. The invaders retreated out of range, but were rallied after a time and came charging down upon the barricade. They had never met with any opposition before, and were apparently ashamed of their surprise and retreat. I let them come within pistol shot and then ordered another volley, and the slugs and bullets created terrible havoc in their crowded ranks. At this moment our men on the banks began to pelt them with stones and to roll huge rocks down upon them, and after wasting much powder shooting at random, the enemy retreated back to the valley to make a stand: In following them up the gorge I counted twenty-one dead men. These had all been armed with muskets, and we not only secured these weapons, but there was an abundance of ammunition for them. As we pressed them out of the gorge we threw up another barricade at its western end, and I then instructed an officer to take fifty more men and cross the hills and join the men at the further barricade. About half this force knew how to load and fire, and were equipped with muskets.

There were two places from which the invaders could leave the valley for the crest of the hill, and I ordered men to these points to resist any such effort. They did not propose to leave, however, until they had made an effort to wrest victory from defeat. Having fallen back to the valley, they took such cover as they could find and opened fire whenever they could see any of oar men. It was such wild shooting that no one was hurt. It was here that the sling brigade came into play. Standing in open spaces, their front protected by trees or ledges, they hurled hundreds of stones high into the air to drop into the valley, and there was no place secure from these missiles. They wounded and annoyed, even if they did not kill. At about ten o'clock the commander of the invaders had his plans perfected and made another move. He knew of the other passes, and he Btarted a body of men to the West to come down and take us in the rear. They were hardly out of sight at the other end of the valley before we heard the fire of musketry from the barricade, and presently caught sight of the party hastening back. The party had shrunk in size, and we judged they had met with a warm reception. No sooner had they reported than a charge was made on our barricade. The invaders knew the situation now, and were desperate. The fight lasted about ten minutes, and as my men would expose themselves in spite of all I could do, we had four killed and three wounded before we drove the assailants back. As an offset, however, the enemy lost a dozen or fifteen, and hiß defeat dispirited him. Upon returning to the valley all discipline was at an end, and the remaining Arab sought in vain to rally his people. Parties of them rushed for the hillside, but only to be driven back, and soon after noon I saw that we had only to march into the valley to complete our work. Word was sent to the force at the other barricade, and we advanced from both sides at once. We now had more than one hundred muskets in our ranks, and the resistance offered was Boon overcome. The number surrendering to us waa about one hundred. They were from the slave-hunting and cattle-Btealing tribeß, out on a foray, in which they expected to burn, kill' and destroy, and show mercy to no living thing. Their plan was to sweep the entire country occupied by our four tribes, and they would have left nothing but desolation behind them. For these reasons, and that the terrible lesson might strike terror to similar bands, I withdrew and left the prisoners to their fate. In an hour the last one was dead. Not one single soul out of that band escaped death.

Our spoils of victory included 200 muskets, 3000 rounds of ammunition, fully 2000dols worth of goods, a great lot of camp equipage, and nearly 1000dols-in gold coin. There were many knives, axeß, hatchets, and cooking utensils. When divided between the four tribes each, felt itself rich and powerful, and the rejoicings over our great victory were carried on for thirty days and nights.