Signs of Vegetation.--The Fantastic Notion of a French Author.--A Magnificent Country.--The Kingdom of Adamova.--The Explorations of Speke and Burton connected with those of Dr. Barth.--The Atlantika Mountains.--The River Benoue.--The City of Yola.--The Bagele.--Mount Mendif.
From the moment of their departure, the travellers moved with great velocity. They longed to leave behind them the desert, which had so nearly been fatal to them.
About a quarter-past nine in the morning, they caught a glimpse of some signs of vegetation: herbage floating on that sea of sand, and announcing, as the weeds upon the ocean did to Christopher Columbus, the nearness of the shore--green shoots peeping up timidly between pebbles that were, in their turn, to be the rocks of that vast expanse.
Hills, but of trifling height, were seen in wavy lines upon the horizon. Their profile, muffled by the heavy mist, was defined but vaguely. The monotony, however, was beginning to disappear.
The doctor hailed with joy the new country thus disclosed, and, like a seaman on lookout at the mast-head, he was ready to shout aloud:
"Land, ho! land!"
An hour later the continent spread broadly before their gaze, still wild in aspect, but less flat, less denuded, and with a few trees standing out against the gray sky.
"We are in a civilized country at last!" said the hunter.
"Civilized? Well, that's one way of speaking; but there are no people to be seen yet."
"It will not be long before we see them," said Ferguson, "at our present rate of travel."
"Are we still in the negro country, doctor?"
"Yes, and on our way to the country of the Arabs."
"What! real Arabs, sir, with their camels?"
"No, not many camels; they are scarce, if not altogether unknown, in these regions. We must go a few degrees farther north to see them."
"What a pity!"
"And why, Joe?"
"Because, if the wind fell contrary, they might be of use to us."
"How so?"
"Well, sir, it's just a notion that's got into my head: we might hitch them to the car, and make them tow us along. What do you say to that, doctor?"
"Poor Joe! Another person had that idea in advance of you. It was used by a very gifted French author-- M. Mery--in a romance, it is true. He has his travellers drawn along in a balloon by a team of camels; then a lion comes up, devours the camels, swallows the tow-rope, and hauls the balloon in their stead; and so on through the story. You see that the whole thing is the top-flower of fancy, but has nothing in common with our style of locomotion."
Joe, a little cut down at learning that his idea had been used already, cudgelled his wits to imagine what animal could have devoured the lion; but he could not guess it, and so quietly went on scanning the appearance of the country.
A lake of medium extent stretched away before him, surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, which yet could not be dignified with the name of mountains. There were winding valleys, numerous and fertile, with their tangled thickets of the most various trees. The African oil-tree rose above the mass, with leaves fifteen feet in length upon its stalk, the latter studded with sharp thorns; the bombax, or silk-cotton-tree, filled the wind, as it swept by, with the fine down of its seeds; the pungent odors of the pendanus, the "kenda" of the Arabs, perfumed the air up to the height where the Victoria was sailing; the papaw-tree, with its palm-shaped leaves; the sterculier, which produces the Soudan-nut; the baobab, and the banana-tree, completed the luxuriant flora of these inter-tropical regions.
"The country is superb!" said the doctor.
"Here are some animals," added Joe. "Men are not far away."
"Oh, what magnificent elephants!" exclaimed Kennedy. "Is there no way to get a little shooting?"
"How could we manage to halt in a current as strong as this? No, Dick; you must taste a little of the torture of Tantalus just now. You shall make up for it afterward."
And, in truth, there was enough to excite the fancy of a sportsman. Dick's heart fairly leaped in his breast as he grasped the butt of his Purdy.
The fauna of the region were as striking as its flora. The wild-ox revelled in dense herbage that often concealed his whole body; gray, black, and yellow elephants of the most gigantic size burst headlong, like a living hurricane, through the forests, breaking, rending, tearing down, devastating every thing in their path; upon the woody slopes of the hills trickled cascades and springs flowing northward; there, too, the hippopotami bathed their huge forms, splashing and snorting as they frolicked in the water, and lamantines, twelve feet long, with bodies like seals, stretched themselves along the banks, turning up toward the sun their rounded teats swollen with milk.
It was a whole menagerie of rare and curious beasts in a wondrous hot-house, where numberless birds with plumage of a thousand hues gleamed and fluttered in the sunshine.
By this prodigality of Nature, the doctor recognized the splendid kingdom of Adamova.
"We are now beginning to trench upon the realm of modern discovery. I have taken up the lost scent of preceding travellers. It is a happy chance, my friends, for we shall be enabled to link the toils of Captains Burton and Speke with the explorations of Dr. Barth. We have left the Englishmen behind us, and now have caught up with the Hamburger. It will not be long, either, before we arrive at the extreme point attained by that daring explorer."
"It seems to me that there is a vast extent of country between the two explored routes," remarked Kennedy; "at least, if I am to judge by the distance that we have made."
"It is easy to determine: take the map and see what is the longitude of the southern point of Lake Ukereoue, reached by Speke."
"It is near the thirty-seventh degree."
"And the city of Yola, which we shall sight this evening, and to which Barth penetrated, what is its position?"
"It is about in the twelfth degree of east longitude."
"Then there are twenty-five degrees, or, counting sixty miles to each, about fifteen hundred miles in all."
"A nice little walk," said Joe, "for people who have to go on foot."
"It will be accomplished, however. Livingstone and Moffat are pushing on up this line toward the interior. Nyassa, which they have discovered, is not far from Lake Tanganayika, seen by Burton. Ere the close of the century these regions will, undoubtedly, be explored. But," added the doctor, consulting his compass, "I regret that the wind is carrying us so far to the westward. I wanted to get to the north."
After twelve hours of progress, the Victoria found herself on the confines of Nigritia. The first inhabitants of this region, the Chouas Arabs, were feeding their wandering flocks. The immense summits of the Atlantika Mountains seen above the horizon--mountains that no European foot had yet scaled, and whose height is computed to be ten thousand feet! Their western slope determines the flow of all the waters in this region of Africa toward the ocean. They are the Mountains of the Moon to this part of the continent.
At length a real river greeted the gaze of our travellers, and, by the enormous ant-hills seen in its vicinity, the doctor recognized the Benoue, one of the great tributaries of the Niger, the one which the natives have called "The Fountain of the Waters."
"This river," said the doctor to his companions, "will, one day, be the natural channel of communication with the interior of Nigritia. Under the command of one of our brave captains, the steamer Pleiad has already ascended as far as the town of Yola. You see that we are not in an unknown country."
Numerous slaves were engaged in the labors of the field, cultivating sorgho, a kind of millet which forms the chief basis of their diet; and the most stupid expressions of astonishment ensued as the Victoria sped past like a meteor. That evening the balloon halted about forty miles from Yola, and ahead of it, but in the distance, rose the two sharp cones of Mount Mendif.
The doctor threw out his anchors and made fast to the top of a high tree; but a very violent wind beat upon the balloon with such force as to throw it over on its side, thus rendering the position of the car sometimes extremely dangerous. Ferguson did not close his all night, and he was repeatedly on the point of cutting the anchor-rope and scudding away before the gale. At length, however, the storm abated, and the oscillations of the balloon ceased to be alarming.
On the morrow the wind was more moderate, but it carried our travellers away from the city of Yola, which recently rebuilt by the Fouillans, excited Ferguson's curiosity. However, he had to make up his mind to being borne farther to the northward and even a little to the east.
Kennedy proposed to halt in this fine hunting-country, and Joe declared that the need of fresh meat was beginning to be felt; but the savage customs of the country, the attitude of the population, and some shots fired at the Victoria, admonished the doctor to continue his journey. They were then crossing a region that was the scene of massacres and burnings, and where warlike conflicts between the barbarian sultans, contending for their power amid the most atrocious carnage, never cease.
Numerous and populous villages of long low huts stretched away between broad pasture-fields whose dense herbage was besprinkled with violet-colored blossoms. The huts, looking like huge beehives, were sheltered behind bristling palisades. The wild hill-sides and hollows frequently reminded the beholder of the glens in the Highlands of Scotland, as Kennedy more than once remarked.
In spite of all he could do, the doctor bore directly to the northeast, toward Mount Mendif, which was lost in the midst of environing clouds. The lofty summits of these mountains separate the valley of the Niger from the basin of Lake Tchad.
Soon afterward was seen the Bagele, with its eighteen villages clinging to its flanks like a whole brood of children to their mother's bosom--a magnificent spectacle for the beholder whose gaze commanded and took in the entire picture at one view. Even the ravines were seen to be covered with fields of rice and of arachides.
By three o'clock the Victoria was directly in front of Mount Mendif. It had been impossible to avoid it; the only thing to be done was to cross it. The doctor, by means of a temperature increased to one hundred and eighty degrees, gave the balloon a fresh ascensional force of nearly sixteen hundred pounds, and it went up to an elevation of more than eight thousand feet, the greatest height attained during the journey. The temperature of the atmosphere was so much cooler at that point that the aeronauts had to resort to their blankets and thick coverings.
Ferguson was in haste to descend; the covering of the balloon gave indications of bursting, but in the meanwhile he had time to satisfy himself of the volcanic origin of the mountain, whose extinct craters are now but deep abysses. Immense accumulations of bird-guano gave the sides of Mount Mendif the appearance of calcareous rocks, and there was enough of the deposit there to manure all the lands in the United Kingdom.
At five o'clock the Victoria, sheltered from the south winds, went gently gliding along the slopes of the mountain, and stopped in a wide clearing remote from any habitation. The instant it touched the soil, all needful precautions were taken to hold it there firmly; and Kennedy, fowling-piece in hand, sallied out upon the sloping plain. Ere long, he returned with half a dozen wild ducks and a kind of snipe, which Joe served up in his best style. The meal was heartily relished, and the night was passed in undisturbed and refreshing slumber.
出现植物的迹象——一位法国作家的异想天开——世外桃源——阿达马瓦王国①——把斯皮克和伯顿的考察活动与巴尔特的活动连成一体——大西洋山——贝奴埃河——约拉城——巴热雷山——芒蒂夫山
①为尼日利亚贡戈拉州世袭酋长国。
从动身以来，三位旅行家一直在以很快的速度飞行。他们急于离开这个险些成了他们葬身之地的大沙漠。
将近9点一刻的时候， 地上隐隐约约开始显示出一些有植物的迹象。在这片沙海已能看到疏疏落落几簇绿草。这对他们来说，犹如哥伦布发现了新大陆，说明沙漠就要到头了！绿色的萌芽畏畏缩缩地从石子缝中钻了出来。渐渐地，石子变成了这片沙海浅滩上的岩石。
微微隆起的山丘呈波浪状出现在地平线上。薄雾中，它们的轮廓朦朦胧胧，让人很难完全分辨清。沙漠中的单调景色消失了。博士满怀喜悦地向这个新的地区致意。他像船上的了望水手一样，就要喊出“陆地！陆地！”了。
一个小时后，大陆展现在了博士的眼前。这块大陆的外貌仍然很荒凉，但它不再是平展展，光秃秃的了。灰蒙蒙的天空中显现出一些树的轮廓。
“我们这是到了开化的地区吗？”猎人问。
“开化？肯尼迪先生，这要看怎么讲了，现在还没有看到居民呢。”
“不会太久了。”弗格森回答说，“照我们这样飞下去，很快就会看到人烟的。”
“我们还是在黑人地区吗，弗格森先生？”
“是的，乔，在到达阿拉伯联合酋长国地区之前，都是黑人地区。”
“阿拉伯人？先生，是那些骑骆驼的地道阿拉伯人吗？”
“不是的，是不骑骆驼的阿拉伯人。那种动物，这个地区很少见，可以说还不认识呢，要再往北飞几度才能碰得上。”
“真不巧。”
“为什么，乔？”
“因为，如果变成了顺风，骆驼就可以帮我们的忙了。”
“怎么？”
“先生，我想了个主意，可以把骆驼套在吊篮上，让它们拖我们走。您认为我这个点子怎么样？”
“可怜的乔，这种想法在你之前已经有人想到了。真的，一位非常风趣的法国作家梅利先生在一本小说中就想出过这种办法。书中，几位旅行家用骆驼拉着他们的气球。一只狮子扑过来吃掉了骆驼，吞下了拖索。于是，旅行家们就把狮子捉住，用它来代替骆驼拉气球，旅行就这样继续下去。你看这一套故事编得够离奇的了，可是，它和我们气球的前进方法没有一点共同之处。”
一听到点子已经被人用过，乔的脸上有些挂不住了。他又寻思哪种动物能把狮子吃掉。但是，思量来思量去，也没想出个结果，于是，他干脆打量起周围的地区来。
展现在眼前的是一个不大不小的湖；湖周围环绕着一些还称不上山的丘陵；丘陵间，蜿蜒蛇行着许许多多山间小道；丘陵上，杂乱无章地生长着各种各样的树木，其中，油棕树最多。这种树的树叶长达15英尺，就长在布满了尖刺的树干上；木棉树则把自己毛茸茸的种子交给了路过的风；香杉，这种阿拉伯人称为“康达”的树木，它那浓烈的香气弥漫在空气中，甚至在“维多利亚号”路过的高度都能闻得到；叶子像手掌的番木瓜树，一种结苏丹胡桃的梧桐树，猴面包树和香蕉树，使得这块土地上汇集了热带地区所有植物的品种。
“这可真是个好地方啊！”博士赞叹道。
“有动物了。”乔说，“这么说，有人烟的地方也不会离得太远了。”
“嘿！那些象多大！”肯尼迪喊道，“我们就没办法下去打会儿猎吗？”
“亲爱的肯尼迪，你说说看，这么大的风，我们怎么停得下来？算了，你就尝尝‘望梅止渴’的滋味吧！晚一会儿，你会过足打猎瘾的。”
的确，有种说不上来的感觉刺激着猎人。肯尼迪的心怦怦直跳，手指握着枪托直发紧。
这个地方的动物多得不亚于这个地方的植物。野牛懒散地躺卧在茂密的草中，身形完全被隐住。灰色、黑色或黄色的大象，身材最为高大。它们风卷残云般地穿行于树林中，一路上连折加咬，身后留下一片狼籍，仿佛只有这样才能证明它们路过似的。在丘陵树木丛生的坡面上，挂着许多小瀑布，条条水流奔向北方。一群河马正在水中洗浴，时不时弄出巨大的声响。长达12英尺、身形像鱼一样的海牛，挺着被奶水胀得鼓鼓的乳房，仰面趟在岸边歇息。
这简直像在一个神奇美妙的暖房中进行的珍稀动物展览。里面无数五颜六色的小鸟映着阳光，在乔木状植物中闪着绚丽多彩的光点。
看到大自然的这种奇观，博士意识到，他们已到了美丽的阿达莫瓦王国上空。
“我们已踏上现代发现的考察地了。”博士宣称，“我已经接上了一些旅行家中途而废的线索。朋友们，真走运，我们就要把伯顿上尉和斯皮克上尉的工作与巴尔特博士的考察活动连接起来了。我们已离开了伯顿和斯皮克两位英国人的路线，去寻找汉堡人巴尔特博士的踪迹。很快，我们就将抵达这位勇敢的科学家曾到过的最远点。”
“根据我们走过的路判断，我觉得似乎这两条考察路线之间还有一大块地区没有人到过。”肯尼迪说。
“这很好计算。你拿出地图来，看看斯皮克上尉到过的乌克雷维湖的南端是在什么纬度上。”
“差不多在37度上。”
“那么，我们今晚要到的约拉①城呢？就是巴尔特到过的那座城，它处在什么方位？”
①位于现在的尼日利亚。
“大约东经12度。”
“也就是说25度。每度为60英里，一共1500英里。”
“对于步行的人来说，这么远的距离走下来可真够受的。”乔说。
“不过，还是有人做了。利文斯通和莫法特②一直在向内陆走。他们考察过的尼亚萨湖，距伯顿考察的坦噶尼喀湖并不远。在本世纪末之前，这一大片地区肯定要有人来考察。但是，”博士边查看罗盘，边补充说，“很可惜，风在把我们一直往西吹去。我原想往北去的，看来，现在不行了。”
②1795—1883，在非洲活动的苏格兰基督教传教士，《圣经》翻译家，利文斯通的岳父。
往西飞了12个小时后，“维多利亚号”到了尼格利提①国边界的上空。在这个地区最初看到的居民是苏阿—阿拉伯人。他们正赶着羊群游牧。大西洋山巍峨的山峰高耸在地平线上。这座山还没有一个欧洲人登上过。山的高度估计有1300尺左右。非洲这一带的河流都顺着山的西坡流向大西洋。这就是这个地区的月亮山。
①尼格利提是黑人的意思。
终于，一条真正的大河出现在3位旅行家的眼前。一看到河边密密麻麻的茅屋，博士马上意识到，这儿是贝奴埃河。它是尼日尔河的一条重要支流，当地人把这条河称为“万水之源”。
“这条大河早晚一天要成为与尼格利提国内地进行联系的天然交通线。过去，在我们的一位勇敢的船长指挥下，‘昴星团号’轮船曾经沿河向上一直开到约拉城。你们知道了，我们现在是在被考察过的地区。”博士对他的同伴说。
许多奴隶正在田间里忙着干活，耕种蜀黍，一种充当他们基本食物的黍。看到“维多利亚号”流星闪电般地从头顶上飞过，他们一个个惊得目瞪口呆。这天晚上，气球在距约拉城40英里的地方停了下来。博士望见前面远远地耸立着芒蒂夫山的两个尖峰。
博士让乔抛下锚，锚勾住了一棵高树的树冠。但是，大风把“维多利亚号”刮得乱晃，气球甚至平身躺了下来，有几次吊篮险些倾翻。博士一夜没敢合眼，他不止一次差点就要砍断锚索，躲开风暴。最后，暴风终于停息了，气球也不摇摆得那么利害，完全可以让人放心了。
第二天，风小了好多，但是，旅行家们已经被吹得远离了约拉城。这座由富拉人新建造的城使博士很感兴趣。不过，风是往北，甚至有点偏东方向刮的。他只好恋恋不舍地放弃了看一眼的念头。
肯尼迪建议在这个打猎的好地方停一停，乔也声明需要弄些新鲜肉，但是，这个地区的风俗野蛮，居民的态度不够友好，时不时有人往气球的方向打枪，现实使博士决定继续前进。这时，他们正飞越一个充斥着烧杀场面的地区。那里的战争看来还没有打完，苏丹们正拿着自己的王国作赌注在相互残杀。
大块大块的牧场之间铺展着许多人口稠密，有着长形茅屋的村庄。牧场上茂密的青草里开满了紫色的花朵。模样像大蜂箱一样的草房隐蔽在上面带有尖头的栅栏后面。丘陵蛮荒的坡地使人想到苏格兰山地的幽谷，连肯尼迪也多次提到这点。
不管博士怎么努力，气球仍然被风带着一直往东北方向，朝着隐没在乌云后面的芒蒂夫山飘去。尼日尔盆地和乍得湖盆地就是被这座山相隔开来。
功夫不大，巴热雷山出现了。18个村庄星星点点散落在半山坡上，如同一群婴儿紧紧依偎在母亲的怀抱中。凭高俯瞰，整个景象尽收眼里，好一幅美妙的画面，稻田和花生地覆盖着大大小小的山谷。
3点钟时， “维多利亚号”到了芒蒂夫山前。既然气球无法避开这座大山，只好飞过去了。博士把温度提高到华氏180度（100摄氏度），给气球提供了约1600斤的升力。这么大的升力能使“维多利亚号”升到8000多尺的高空。旅行迄今，气球还从未升那么高过。在这个高度，气温降得很低，博士和他的同伴们不得不披上被子御寒。
刚越过山，弗格森博士急忙降低高度，因为，再这么下去，气球就有破裂的危险。其间，博士只来得及注意这座山最初是座火山，那些早已熄灭的火山口不过是些无底的深洞。山坡上堆积的大量鸟粪已化成一层厚厚的钙铝岩。拿这些鸟粪肥田的话，足够整个英国用的了。
为避开南来的风， “维多利亚号”靠着山坡轻轻地飞行。下午5点时，气球停在了一个远离人到的宽敞地面上空。吊篮一触地，博士就采取了预防措施使气球稳稳停住。之后，肯尼迪握着枪马上冲进倾斜的原野，没多大一会儿，他带着半打野鸭和一只沙锥鸟及时赶了回来。乔用这些野味又露了一手他的烹调绝活。这顿晚饭大家吃得很舒服；这一夜，大家睡得也挺安稳。