Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 29
CHAPTER XXIX
MOUNT ATLANTIKA
From the moment of departure our travelers went at a tremendous pace—they longed to quit this desert, which had nearly proved so fatal. Towards nine o'clock some appearance of vegetation was perceived—herbs floating, as it were, upon the sea of sand, and announcing, as to Christopher Columbus, the approach of land—green blades pushed themselves up timidly between the stones which were themselves the rocks in this ocean.
A low-lying chain of hills appeared upon the horizon; their profile, dwarfed by the haze, was rather indistinct, but the monotony was over. The doctor joyously saluted this new region, and, like a sailor, he was on the point of exclaiming, "Land! land!"
An hour later the continent was extended before his gaze—still wild, but less flat, less bare, for some trees rose against the gray sky.
"We are, then, in a civilized country at last!" said the Scot.
"Civilized, Mr. Dick? that is your way of looking at it; we can see no inhabitants yet."
"We shall soon," replied Ferguson, "at the rate we are going."
"Shall we always be among negroes, Mr. Samuel?"
"Always, Joe, until we arrive amongst Arabs."
"Arabs, sir; real live Arabs, with camels?"
"No, without the camels; these animals are scarce, not to say unknown, in these districts; we must go some degrees farther north to meet them."
"That is unfortunate."
"Why, Joe?"
"Because, if the wind shifted, we might make them help us!"
"How?"
"Sir, it is an idea that has come into my head. We could yoke them to the car, and be dragged by them. What do you think of it?"
"My poor Joe, this idea has been started before. It has been exploded by a very excellent French writer—in a romance, it is true. Travelers harness camels to their balloon; they come in contact with a lion, who eats the camels, swallows the harness, and does the dragging instead of the camels—and so on. You see that all this is imagination, and has nothing in common with our system of locomotion."
Joe, who was somewhat humiliated at the thought that his notion had been already made use of, began to think of some animal who could devour a lion, but, finding none, he set about examining the country again. A lake of moderate extent was now in sight, with an amphitheater of hills, which had not yet attained the dignity of mountains. Here numerous fertile valleys were stretched out, and boasted an inextricable variety of trees.
"The country is splendid," said the doctor.
"Look at those animals; men cannot be far distant," said Joe.
"Ah! what magnificent elephants," said Kennedy. "Is there no chance of a little shooting?"
"How on earth are we to stop, my dear Dick, with a current of this velocity. No, you must taste a little of the torture of Tantalus. You shall have amends by and by."
There was something to excite the hunter's imagination. Dick's breast bounded and his hands mechanically gripped his "Purdey."
The fauna of the country equaled the flora. The wild oxen disported in the thick grass, in which they were entirely concealed; elephants, gray, black, and yellow, of enormous size, passed like a hurricane through the forest, crashing, biting, destroying, as they went, and making their progress by devastation. On the wooded slope of the hills, cascades and streams ran down towards the north. There the hippopotami bathed with much noise; and the manatees, twelve feet in length, with fish-like bodies, disported themselves on the banks, raising towards the sky their rounded breasts distended with milk.
It was a rare menagerie in a wonderful conservatory, where birds without number, of a thousand different hues, presented varied changes of color as they flew amongst the arborescent plants.
At this prodigality of nature the doctor was reminded of the superb kingdom of Adamosa. "We are now drawing near the traces of modern discovery," he said. "I have caught up the missing trace of the travelers; it is by a happy fatality, my friends, that we are enabled to connect the labors of Captains Burton and Speke with the explorations of Doctor Barth. We quitted England to find a Hamburgher, and we shall soon reach the extreme point attained by that adventurous professor."
"It appears to me," said Kennedy, that between the two discoveries there is a vast extent of country, if one may judge from the distance we have traveled."
It is easy to calculate; take the map, and see what is the longitude of the southern point of Lake Ukéréoné attained by Speke."
"Close upon the 37th degree."
"And the town of Yola, which we shall see to-night, and to which Barth penetrated—how is it situated?"
"On the 12th degree of longitude nearly."
"That makes it twenty-five degrees, which, at sixty miles each, is 1,500 miles."
"A nice journey," said Joe, "for people who walk."
"That will nevertheless be accomplished. Livingstone and Moffat are always advancing towards the interior; the Nyassa, which they have discovered, is not very far distant from Lake Tanganyika, found by Burton; before the end of the century these immense tracts will be explored. But," added the doctor, as he consulted the compass, "I regret that the wind is carrying us so much towards the west; I would have preferred to go northward."
After twelve hours' progress the "Victoria" arrived at the boundary of Nigritia. The first inhabitants of this territory, the Chouan Arabs, were feeding their horned flocks. The vast summits of Mount Atlantika appeared above the horizon, mountains which no European foot had ever trodden, and whose altitude is estimated at 7,800 feet. Their western slopes determine the direction of the streams of this part of Africa to the ocean. They are the "Mountains of the Moon" of this region.
At length a true river greeted the eyes of the travelers, and by the immense ant-hills which bordered it, the doctor recognized the Benoué, one of the great tributaries of the Niger, that which the natives have named the "Source of Waters."
"This river," said the doctor to his companions, "will one day become the natural channel of communication with the interior of Nigritia. Under the command of one of our brave captains, the Pleiad advanced as far as the town of Yola. You see that we are in a known country."
Numerous slaves were employed in tilling the fields, cultivating the "sorgho," a species of millet which forms the staple food of the community. The most stupid astonishment was apparent as the "Victoria" passed like a meteor. In the evening our travelers stopped at forty miles from Yola, and in front, but at a distance, the two sharp peaks of the Mount Mendif raised themselves.
The doctor threw out the grapnels, and they caught in the summit of a high tree, but the high wind bent the "Victoria" down almost horizontally, and rendered the position of the car very dangerous.
Ferguson did not close his eyes all night, he was frequently on the point of cutting the cable and flying before the hurricane. At last the storm lulled and the oscillations of the balloon were no longer alarming.
Next day the wind was more moderate, but it carried the travelers beyond the town of Yola, which, newly built by the Foulannes, had excited the curiosity of Ferguson. Nevertheless he was obliged to resign himself to be carried to the north, and even a little to the east.
Kennedy suggested a halt for hunting purposes. Joe pretended that the want of fresh meat was beginning to be felt; but the savage customs of the country, the attitude of the population, some shots sent in the direction of the "Victoria," all determined the doctor to continue his journey. They then crossed a region—a theater of massacres and burnings, where fighting is incessant, and in which the sultans rule their kingdoms in the midst of the most horrible slaughter.
Numerous and populous villages, composed of long huts, appeared between splendid pastures, of which the thick grass was mixed with violet blossoms; the huts resembled vast hives, and were screened behind bristling palisades. The wilder slopes of the hills recalled to Kennedy's mind the glens of the Scottish Highlands, and he frequently made the remark.
Despite the doctor's efforts the balloon was drifted towards the northeast, in the direction of Mount Mendif, which was hidden in the clouds. The high summits of these mountains separate the basin of the Niger from that of Lake Tchad.
Bagalé, with its eighteen villages hung upon its flanks, soon appeared, like a group of children round their mother; a magnificent group for those who, being overhead, could take the whole in at once. At three o'clock the "Victoria" was opposite Mount Mendif. They could not avoid it, so were obliged to go over it. The doctor, by means of a temperature of 180°, gave to the balloon a new ascensional force of nearly 1,600 lbs. It rose more than 8,000 feet. This was the greatest elevation obtained during the journey, and the temperature was so low that the doctor and his companions were glad to make use of their rugs.
Ferguson hastened to descend, for the envelope of the balloon threatened disruption. He had time, however, to verify the volcanic origin of the mountain, whose extinct craters were only deep chasms. Great agglomerations of the dung of birds gave the sides of the Mendif the appearance of calcareous rocks, and there was sufficient there to manure the whole United Kingdom.
At five o'clock the "Victoria," impelled by the south wind, sailed slowly along the slopes of the mountain, and halted in a large open space at a distance from any habitation. So soon as they touched the ground, precautions were taken to secure the balloon firmly, and Kennedy, gun in hand, started in the plain. He was not long before he returned with half-a-dozen wild ducks and a sort of snipe, which Joe served up to the best of his ability. The meal was a pleasant one, and the night passed without any disturbance.