National Geographic: The Jungle Navy Page #4

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and the thing stopped... it was so

damn near it came."

In the weeks that follow, the oxen

prove their worth.

"The top of the plateau was

reached on September 8, 1915,

and this was a very triumphant

moment for the expedition,

for there were some who had said

that it was impossible to get there.

Our difficulties were by no means

at an end,

for on the downward trek from this point to Sankisia

there was some risky work to be done

in lowering the boats down the

sharp spurs of the mountain..."

They are still weeks away from

the combat zone.

Using 42 oxen, 2 road locomotives,

and hundreds of men,

the expedition struggles to get

down the mountain.

"On more than one occasion

the wheels of the boats dropped

into ant-bear holes.

The only way to get out was to fill

up the hole with logs,

gradually jacking the boat up until

it reached the level.

It was only by good luck that they

received no damage."

"There is a great deal of thunder

and it appears the rains are not

far away.

The journey now, has become a

race to get to the railway

before the rains brake and the

roads become impassable."

Finally, the land is level, but the

dangers remain deadly.

This is the country of the tse tse

fly

- carrier of the sleeping sickness

that kills both men and beasts...

villages are nearly deserted

- the ghost towns of central Africa.

No rain falls... this is a dreadful

blessing -

drought scorches the plains.

"At one point the traction

engines came to a standstill

for want of water,

and the members of the expedition

were getting only half a pint a day."

Lt-Commander Spicer offers local

women a bolt of colored cloth

if they will trek eight miles to the

nearest well

- hundreds accept the bargain,

and the convoy moves on.

For the first time since he tested

them on the Thames,

Geoffrey Spicer's two-boat flotilla

reaches water deep enough

to sail upon

- Mimi and Toutou are reassembled

and lowered into the Lualaba River.

October 1, 1915.

Stage Four.

They will float, or drag their boats,

- strange apparitions to the

resident wildlife.

"Progress on the river is very slow.

I think Mimi and Tou-Tou hold the

record for grounding,

as on October 7 they were

aground 14 times

in twelve miles."

Even on water, Spicer's flotilla

manages barely ten miles a day

- then, at the rail depot at Kabalo,

Mimi and Toutou must be

- packaged safely for another

journey by rail.

October 22, 1915.

Stage Five.

The final phase of the long

odyssey

- 173 miles across precarious

trestles and crumbling bridges

- to the Belgian shores of Lake

Tanganyika.

Spicer rivals are already

preparing their reception

- Gustav Zimmer has followed every

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