Part 8 (1/2)
The water was got aboard without trouble, as the car was nearly resting on the ground Joe then found it easy to loosen the anchor and leaped lightly to his place beside the doctor The latter then replenished the flame in the cylinder, and the balloon majestically soared into the air
It was then about one hundred miles from Kazeh, an important establishment in the interior of Africa, where, thanks to a south-southeasterly current, the travellersat the rate of fourteendifficult, as they dared not rise very high without extree height of three thousand feet Hence, the doctor preferred not to force the dilation, and so adroitly followed the sinuosities of a pretty sharply-inclined plane, and swept very close to the villages of Thembo and Tura-Wels The latter fornificent country, where the trees attain enorantic size
About two o'clock, in nificent weather, but under a fiery sun that devoured the least breath of air, the balloon was floating over the town of Kazeh, situated about three hundred and fifty miles from the coast
”We left Zanzibar at nine o'clock in thehis notes, ”and, after two days' passage, we have, including our deviations, travelled nearly five hundred geographical miles Captains Burton and Speke took four months and a half to make the same distance!”
CHAPTER FIFTEENTH
Kazeh-The Noisy Market-place-The Appearance of the Balloon-The wangaga-The Sons of the Moon-The Doctor's Walk-The Population of the Place-The Royal Tembe-The Sultan's Wives-A Royal Drunken-Bout-Joe an Object of Worshi+p-How they Dance in the Moon-A Reaction-Two Moons in one Sky-The Instability of Divine Honors
Kazeh, an important point in Central Africa, is not a city; in truth, there are no cities in the interior Kazeh is but a collection of six extensive excavations There are enclosed a few houses and slave-huts, with little courtyards and sardens, carefully cultivated with onions, potatoes, cucu most luxuriantly
The Unyamwezy is the country of the Moon-above all the rest, the fertile and arden-spot of Africa In its centre is the district of Unyaneion, where soin, live in luxurious idleness
They have, for a long period, held the commerce between the interior of Africa and Arabia: they trade in gums, ivory, fine muslin, and slaves Their caravans traverse these equatorial regions on all sides; and they even make their way to the coast in search of those articles of luxury and enjoyment which the wealthy merchants covet; while the latter, surrounded by their wives and their attendants, lead in this char country the least disturbed and hing, s
Around these excavations are nus; wide, open spaces for the markets; fields of cannabis and datura; superb trees and depths of freshest shade-such is Kazeh!
There, too, is held the general rendezvous of the caravans-those of the south, with their slaves and their freightage of ivory; and those of the west, which export cotton, glassware, and trinkets, to the tribes of the great lakes
So in the ns perpetual excitement, a nameless hubbub, made up of the cries ofof dru ofof woe rattan, wielded by the jemadar or leader of the caravans, who beats time to this pastoral syard to order-indeed, we lass beads, the ivory tusks, the rhinoceros'-teeth, the shark's-teeth, the honey, the tobacco, and the cotton of these regions, to be purchased at the strangest of bargains by customers in whose eyes each article has a price only in proportion to the desire it excites to possess it
All at once this agitation, ic The balloon had just coht, far aloft in the sky, where it hovered majestically for a fewfrom its perpendicular Men, woroes, as suddenly disappeared within the ”tembes” and the huts
”My dear doctor,” said Kennedy, ”if we continue to produce such a sensation as this, we shall find so commercial relations with the people hereabouts”
”There's one kind of trade that we h,” said Joe; ”and that would be to go down there quietly, and walk off with the best of the goods, without troubling our heads about the et rich that way!”
”Ah!” said the doctor, ”these natives are a little scared at first; but they won't be long in coh curiosity”
”Do you really think so, doctor?”
”Well, we'll see pretty soon But it wouldn't be prudent to go too near to them, for the balloon is not iron-clad, and is, therefore, not proof against either an arrow or a bullet”
”Then you expect to hold a parley with these blacks?”
”If we can do so safely, why should we not? There must be some Arab merchants here at Kazeh, who are better informed than the rest, and not so barbarous I re but praises to utter concerning the hospitality of these people; so we , round, one of the anchors lodged in the top of a tree near the market-place
By this ti-places stealthily, thrusting their heads out first Several ”waganga,” recognizable by their badges of conical shellwork, came boldly forward They were the sorcerers of the place They bore in their girdles sourds, coated with tallow, and several other articles of witchcraft, all of them, by-the-way, athered beside therouped around the uproar, hands were violently clapped together, and then raised toward the sky
”That's their style of praying,” said the doctor; ”and, if I'reat part”
”Well, sir, play it!”
”You, too, ood Joe-perhaps you're to be a God!”
”Well, master, that won't trouble me much I like a little flattery!”
At this n, and all the clamor died away into the profoundest silence He then addressed a feords to the strangers, but in an unknown tongue
Dr Ferguson, not having understood them, shouted some sentences in Arabic, at a venture, and was ie
The speaker below then delivered hiue, which was also very flowery and very gravely listened to by his audience Fro that the balloon wasless than the moon in person, and that the amiable Goddess in question had condescended to approach the toith her three sons-an honor that would never be forgotten in this land so greatly loved by the God of day
The doctor responded, with nity, that thethe necessity of showing herself nearer at hand to her worshi+ppers He, therefore, begged thee of it to s
The sorcerer, in his turn, replied that the sultan, the ”mwani,” who had been sick for many years, implored the aid of heaven, and he invited the son of the moon to visit him
The doctor acquainted his co to call upon this negro king?” asked Kennedy
”Undoubtedly so; these people appear well disposed; the air is cal to fear for the balloon?”
”But, ill you do?”
”Be quiet on that score, my dear dick With a little h the affair!”
Then, addressing the crowd, he said: ”The n who is so dear to the children of Unyaed us to restore him to health Let his and demonstrations of all kinds increased twofold, and the whole iain in uson, ”webeforehand; we may be forced to leave this at any moment, unexpectedly, and be off with extra speed dick had better remain, therefore, in the car, and keep the cylinder warm so as to secure a sufficient ascensional force for the balloon The anchor is solidly fastened, and there is nothing to fear in that respect I shall descend, and Joe will go with me, only that he oing alone into that blackao with you?”
”No! I shall go alone; these good folks iine that the Goddess of the moon has come to see them, and their superstition protects me; so have no fear, and each one rened to hihed Kennedy
”Look closely to the dilation of the gas”
”Agreed!”