Harry A. Lewis - "Hidden Treasures"

W.C.C. Weetman - "The Sherwood Foresters in the Great War 1914 1919"

George Mueller - "A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Mueller"

Amy E. Blanchard - "Little Maid Marian"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Five Weeks in a Balloon

J >> Jules Verne >> Five Weeks in a Balloon




"But," said the Scotchman, "how are you to make
sure of the identity of this river with the one recognized
by the travellers from the north?"

"We shall have certain, irrefutable, convincing, and
infallible proof," replied Ferguson, "should the wind hold
another hour in our favor!"

The mountains drew farther apart, revealing in their
place numerous villages, and fields of white Indian corn,
doura, and sugar-cane. The tribes inhabiting the region
seemed excited and hostile; they manifested more anger
than adoration, and evidently saw in the aeronauts only
obtrusive strangers, and not condescending deities. It
appeared as though, in approaching the sources of the
Nile, these men came to rob them of something, and so
the Victoria had to keep out of range of their muskets.

"To land here would be a ticklish matter!" said the Scot.

"Well!" said Joe, "so much the worse for these natives.
They'll have to do without the pleasure of our conversation."

"Nevertheless, descend I must," said the doctor,
"were it only for a quarter of an hour. Without doing
so I cannot verify the results of our expedition."

"It is indispensable, then, doctor?"

"Indispensable; and we will descend, even if we have
to do so with a volley of musketry."

"The thing suits me," said Kennedy, toying with his
pet rifle.

"And I'm ready, master, whenever you say the word!"
added Joe, preparing for the fight.

"It would not be the first time," remarked the doctor,
"that science has been followed up, sword in hand. The
same thing happened to a French savant among the mountains
of Spain, when he was measuring the terrestrial meridian."

"Be easy on that score, doctor, and trust to your two
body-guards."

"Are we there, master?"

"Not yet. In fact, I shall go up a little, first, in order
to get an exact idea of the configuration of the country."

The hydrogen expanded, and in less than ten minutes the
balloon was soaring at a height of twenty-five hundred
feet above the ground.

From that elevation could be distinguished an inextricable
network of smaller streams which the river received into
its bosom; others came from the west, from between numerous
hills, in the midst of fertile plains.

"We are not ninety miles from Gondokoro," said the
doctor, measuring off the distance on his map, "and less
than five miles from the point reached by the explorers
from the north. Let us descend with great care."

And, upon this, the balloon was lowered about two
thousand feet.

"Now, my friends, let us be ready, come what may."

"Ready it is!" said Dick and Joe, with one voice.

"Good!"

In a few moments the balloon was advancing along
the bed of the river, and scarcely one hundred feet above
the ground. The Nile measured but fifty fathoms in width
at this point, and the natives were in great excitement,
rushing to and fro, tumultuously, in the villages
that lined the banks of the stream. At the second degree
it forms a perpendicular cascade of ten feet in height, and
consequently impassable by boats.

"Here, then, is the cascade mentioned by Debono!"
exclaimed the doctor.

The basin of the river spread out, dotted with numerous
islands, which Dr. Ferguson devoured with his eyes.
He seemed to be seeking for a point of reference which he
had not yet found.

By this time, some blacks, having ventured in a boat
just under the balloon, Kennedy saluted them with a shot
from his rifle, that made them regain the bank at their
utmost speed.

"A good journey to you," bawled Joe, "and if I were in
your place, I wouldn't try coming back again. I should
be mightily afraid of a monster that can hurl thunderbolts
when he pleases."

But, all at once, the doctor snatched up his spy-glass,
and directed it toward an island reposing in the middle
of the river.

"Four trees!" he exclaimed; "look, down there!" Sure
enough, there were four trees standing alone at one
end of it.

"It is Bengal Island! It is the very same," repeated
the doctor, exultingly.

"And what of that?" asked Dick.

"It is there that we shall alight, if God permits."

"But, it seems to be inhabited, doctor."

"Joe is right; and, unless I'm mistaken, there is a
group of about a score of natives on it now."

"We'll make them scatter; there'll be no great trouble
in that," responded Ferguson.

"So be it," chimed in the hunter.

The sun was at the zenith as the balloon approached
the island.

The blacks, who were members of the Makado tribe,
were howling lustily, and one of them waved his bark hat
in the air. Kennedy took aim at him, fired, and his hat
flew about him in pieces. Thereupon there was a general
scamper. The natives plunged headlong into the river,
and swam to the opposite bank. Immediately, there came
a shower of balls from both banks, along with a perfect
cloud of arrows, but without doing the balloon any damage,
where it rested with its anchor snugly secured in the
fissure of a rock. Joe lost no time in sliding to the ground.

"The ladder!" cried the doctor. "Follow me, Kennedy."

"What do you wish, sir?"

"Let us alight. I want a witness."

"Here I am!"

"Mind your post, Joe, and keep a good lookout."

"Never fear, doctor; I'll answer for all that."

"Come, Dick," said the doctor, as he touched the ground.

So saying, he drew his companion along toward a
group of rocks that rose upon one point of the island;
there, after searching for some time, he began to rummage
among the brambles, and, in so doing, scratched his hands
until they bled.

Suddenly he grasped Kennedy's arm, exclaiming:
"Look! look!"

"Letters!"

Yes; there, indeed, could be descried, with perfect
precision of outline, some letters carved on the rock. It
was quite easy to make them out:

"A. D."

"A.D.!" repeated Dr. Ferguson. "Andrea Debono--
the very signature of the traveller who farthest ascended
the current of the Nile."

"No doubt of that, friend Samuel," assented Kennedy.

"Are you now convinced?"

"It is the Nile! We cannot entertain a doubt on that
score now," was the reply.

The doctor, for the last time, examined those precious
initials, the exact form and size of which he carefully noted.

"And now," said he--"now for the balloon!"

"Quickly, then, for I see some of the natives getting
ready to recross the river."

"That matters little to us now. Let the wind but
send us northward for a few hours, and we shall reach
Gondokoro, and press the hands of some of our countrymen."

Ten minutes more, and the balloon was majestically
ascending, while Dr. Ferguson, in token of success, waved
the English flag triumphantly from his car.



CHAPTER NINETEENTH.

The Nile.--The Trembling Mountain.--A Remembrance of the Country.--The
Narratives of the Arabs.--The Nyam-Nyams.--Joe's Shrewd Cogitations.--The
Balloon runs the Gantlet.--Aerostatic Ascensions.--Madame Blanchard.

"Which way do we head?" asked Kennedy, as he
saw his friend consulting the compass.

"North-northeast."

"The deuce! but that's not the north?"

"No, Dick; and I'm afraid that we shall have some
trouble in getting to Gondokoro. I am sorry for it; but,
at last, we have succeeded in connecting the explorations
from the east with those from the north; and we must
not complain."

The balloon was now receding gradually from the Nile.

"One last look," said the doctor, "at this impassable
latitude, beyond which the most intrepid travellers could
not make their way. There are those intractable tribes,
of whom Petherick, Arnaud, Miuni, and the young traveller
Lejean, to whom we are indebted for the best work
on the Upper Nile, have spoken."

"Thus, then," added Kennedy, inquiringly, "our discoveries
agree with the speculations of science."

"Absolutely so. The sources of the White Nile, of
the Bahr-el-Abiad, are immersed in a lake as large as a
sea; it is there that it takes its rise. Poesy, undoubtedly,
loses something thereby. People were fond of ascribing
a celestial origin to this king of rivers. The ancients gave
it the name of an ocean, and were not far from believing
that it flowed directly from the sun; but we must come
down from these flights from time to time, and accept
what science teaches us. There will not always be scientific
men, perhaps; but there always will be poets."

"We can still see cataracts," said Joe.

"Those are the cataracts of Makedo, in the third degree
of latitude. Nothing could be more accurate. Oh, if we could
only have followed the course of the Nile for a few hours!"

"And down yonder, below us, I see the top of a mountain,"
said the hunter.

"That is Mount Longwek, the Trembling Mountain of
the Arabs. This whole country was visited by Debono,
who went through it under the name of Latif-Effendi.
The tribes living near the Nile are hostile to each other,
and are continually waging a war of extermination. You
may form some idea, then, of the difficulties he had to
encounter."

The wind was carrying the balloon toward the northwest,
and, in order to avoid Mount Longwek, it was necessary
to seek a more slanting current.

"My friends," said the doctor, "here is where OUR passage
of the African Continent really commences; up to this time
we have been following the traces of our predecessors.
Henceforth we are to launch ourselves upon the unknown.
We shall not lack the courage, shall we?"

"Never!" said Dick and Joe together, almost in a shout.

"Onward, then, and may we have the help of Heaven!"

At ten o'clock at night, after passing over ravines,
forests, and scattered villages, the aeronauts reached the
side of the Trembling Mountain, along whose gentle slopes
they went quietly gliding. In that memorable day, the 23d of
April, they had, in fifteen hours, impelled by a rapid
breeze, traversed a distance of more than three hundred and
fifteen miles.

But this latter part of the journey had left them in
dull spirits, and complete silence reigned in the car. Was
Dr. Ferguson absorbed in the thought of his discoveries?
Were his two companions thinking of their trip through
those unknown regions? There were, no doubt, mingled
with these reflections, the keenest reminiscences of home
and distant friends. Joe alone continued to manifest the
same careless philosophy, finding it QUITE NATURAL that
home should not be there, from the moment that he left
it; but he respected the silent mood of his friends, the
doctor and Kennedy.

About ten the balloon anchored on the side of the
Trembling Mountain, so called, because, in Arab tradition,
it is said to tremble the instant that a Mussulman sets
foot upon it. The travellers then partook of a substantial
meal, and all quietly passed the night as usual, keeping
the regular watches.

On awaking the next morning, they all had pleasanter
feelings. The weather was fine, and the wind was blowing
from the right quarter; so that a good breakfast,
seasoned with Joe's merry pranks, put them in high good-humor.

The region they were now crossing is very extensive.
It borders on the Mountains of the Moon on one side,
and those of Darfur on the other--a space about as
broad as Europe.

"We are, no doubt, crossing what is supposed to be
the kingdom of Usoga. Geographers have pretended that
there existed, in the centre of Africa, a vast depression,
an immense central lake. We shall see whether there is
any truth in that idea," said the doctor.

"But how did they come to think so?" asked Kennedy.

"From the recitals of the Arabs. Those fellows are
great narrators--too much so, probably. Some travellers,
who had got as far as Kazeh, or the great lakes, saw
slaves that had been brought from this region; interrogated
them concerning it, and, from their different narratives,
made up a jumble of notions, and deduced systems
from them. Down at the bottom of it all there is some
appearance of truth; and you see that they were right
about the sources of the Nile."

"Nothing could be more correct," said Kennedy. "It
was by the aid of these documents that some attempts at
maps were made, and so I am going to try to follow our
route by one of them, rectifying it when need be."

"Is all this region inhabited?" asked Joe.

"Undoubtedly; and disagreeably inhabited, too."

"I thought so."

"These scattered tribes come, one and all, under the
title of Nyam-Nyams, and this compound word is only a
sort of nickname. It imitates the sound of chewing."

"That's it! Excellent!" said Joe, champing his teeth
as though he were eating; "Nyam-Nyam."

"My good Joe, if you were the immediate object of
this chewing, you wouldn't find it so excellent."

"Why, what's the reason, sir?"

"These tribes are considered man-eaters."

"Is that really the case?"

"Not a doubt of it! It has also been asserted that
these natives had tails, like mere quadrupeds; but it was
soon discovered that these appendages belonged to the
skins of animals that they wore for clothing."

"More's the pity! a tail's a nice thing to chase away
mosquitoes."

"That may be, Joe; but we must consign the story to
the domain of fable, like the dogs' heads which the
traveller, Brun-Rollet, attributed to other tribes."

"Dogs' heads, eh? Quite convenient for barking, and
even for man-eating!"

"But one thing that has been, unfortunately, proven
true, is, the ferocity of these tribes, who are really very
fond of human flesh, and devour it with avidity."

"I only hope that they won't take such a particular
fancy to mine!" said Joe, with comic solemnity.

"See that!" said Kennedy.

"Yes, indeed, sir; if I have to be eaten, in a moment
of famine, I want it to be for your benefit and my master's;
but the idea of feeding those black fellows--gracious! I'd
die of shame!"

"Well, then, Joe," said Kennedy, "that's understood;
we count upon you in case of need!"

"At your service, gentlemen!"

"Joe talks in this way so as to make us take good care
of him, and fatten him up."

"Maybe so!" said Joe. "Every man for himself."

In the afternoon, the sky became covered with a warm
mist, that oozed from the soil; the brownish vapor scarcely
allowed the beholder to distinguish objects, and so, fearing
collision with some unexpected mountain-peak, the doctor,
about five o'clock, gave the signal to halt.

The night passed without accident, but in such profound
obscurity, that it was necessary to use redoubled vigilance.

The monsoon blew with extreme violence during all
the next morning. The wind buried itself in the lower
cavities of the balloon and shook the appendage by which
the dilating-pipes entered the main apparatus. They had,
at last, to be tied up with cords, Joe acquitting himself
very skilfully in performing that operation.

He had occasion to observe, at the same time, that the
orifice of the balloon still remained hermetically sealed.

"That is a matter of double importance for us," said
the doctor; "in the first place, we avoid the escape of
precious gas, and then, again, we do not leave behind us
an inflammable train, which we should at last inevitably
set fire to, and so be consumed."

"That would be a disagreeable travelling incident!"
said Joe.

"Should we be hurled to the ground?" asked Kennedy.

"Hurled! No, not quite that. The gas would burn
quietly, and we should descend little by little. A similar
accident happened to a French aeronaut, Madame Blanchard.
She ignited her balloon while sending off fireworks,
but she did not fall, and she would not have been killed,
probably, had not her car dashed against a chimney and
precipitated her to the ground."

"Let us hope that nothing of the kind may happen to
us," said the hunter. "Up to this time our trip has not
seemed to me very dangerous, and I can see nothing to
prevent us reaching our destination."

"Nor can I either, my dear Dick; accidents are generally
caused by the imprudence of the aeronauts, or the
defective construction of their apparatus. However, in
thousands of aerial ascensions, there have not been twenty
fatal accidents. Usually, the danger is in the moment of
leaving the ground, or of alighting, and therefore at those
junctures we should never omit the utmost precaution."

"It's breakfast-time," said Joe; "we'll have to put up
with preserved meat and coffee until Mr. Kennedy has had
another chance to get us a good slice of venison."



CHAPTER TWENTIETH.

The Celestial Bottle.--The Fig-Palms.--The Mammoth Trees.--The Tree of
War.--The Winged Team.--Two Native Tribes in Battle.--A Massacre.--An
Intervention from above.

The wind had become violent and irregular; the balloon
was running the gantlet through the air. Tossed
at one moment toward the north, at another toward the
south, it could not find one steady current.

"We are moving very swiftly without advancing
much," said Kennedy, remarking the frequent oscillations
of the needle of the compass.

"The balloon is rushing at the rate of at least thirty
miles an hour. Lean over, and see how the country is
gliding away beneath us!" said the doctor.

"See! that forest looks as though it were precipitating
itself upon us!"

"The forest has become a clearing!" added the other.

"And the clearing a village!" continued Joe, a moment or two
later. "Look at the faces of those astonished darkys!"

"Oh! it's natural enough that they should be astonished,"
said the doctor. "The French peasants, when they
first saw a balloon, fired at it, thinking that it was an aerial
monster. A Soudan negro may be excused, then, for opening his
eyes VERY wide!"

"Faith!" said Joe, as the Victoria skimmed closely
along the ground, at scarcely the elevation of one hundred
feet, and immediately over a village, "I'll throw them
an empty bottle, with your leave, doctor, and if it reaches
them safe and sound, they'll worship it; if it breaks, they'll
make talismans of the pieces."

So saying, he flung out a bottle, which, of course, was
broken into a thousand fragments, while the negroes
scampered into their round huts, uttering shrill cries.

A little farther on, Kennedy called out: "Look at that
strange tree! The upper part is of one kind and the
lower part of another!"

"Well!" said Joe, "here's a country where the trees
grow on top of each other."

"It's simply the trunk of a fig-tree," replied the doctor,
"on which there is a little vegetating earth. Some fine
day, the wind left the seed of a palm on it, and the
seed has taken root and grown as though it were on the
plain ground."

"A fine new style of gardening," said Joe, "and I'll
import the idea to England. It would be just the thing
in the London parks; without counting that it would be
another way to increase the number of fruit-trees. We
could have gardens up in the air; and the small house-owners
would like that!"

At this moment, they had to raise the balloon so as to
pass over a forest of trees that were more than three
hundred feet in height--a kind of ancient banyan.

"What magnificent trees!" exclaimed Kennedy. "I
never saw any thing so fine as the appearance of these
venerable forests. Look, doctor!"

"The height of these banyans is really remarkable,
my dear Dick; and yet, they would be nothing astonishing
in the New World."

"Why, are there still loftier trees in existence?"

"Undoubtedly; among the 'mammoth trees' of California,
there is a cedar four hundred and eighty feet in
height. It would overtop the Houses of Parliament, and
even the Great Pyramid of Egypt. The trunk at the
surface of the ground was one hundred and twenty feet in
circumference, and the concentric layers of the wood
disclosed an age of more than four thousand years."

"But then, sir, there was nothing wonderful in it!
When one has lived four thousand years, one ought to be
pretty tall!" was Joe's remark.

Meanwhile, during the doctor's recital and Joe's response,
the forest had given place to a large collection of
huts surrounding an open space. In the middle of this
grew a solitary tree, and Joe exclaimed, as he caught
sight of it:

"Well! if that tree has produced such flowers as
those, for the last four thousand years, I have to offer
it my compliments, anyhow," and he pointed to a gigantic
sycamore, whose whole trunk was covered with human
bones. The flowers of which Joe spoke were heads freshly
severed from the bodies, and suspended by daggers thrust
into the bark of the tree.

"The war-tree of these cannibals!" said the doctor;
"the Indians merely carry off the scalp, but these negroes
take the whole head."

"A mere matter of fashion!" said Joe. But, already,
the village and the bleeding heads were disappearing on
the horizon. Another place offered a still more revolting
spectacle--half-devoured corpses; skeletons mouldering
to dust; human limbs scattered here and there, and left
to feed the jackals and hyenas.

"No doubt, these are the bodies of criminals; according
to the custom in Abyssinia, these people have left them a
prey to the wild beasts, who kill them with their terrible
teeth and claws, and then devour them at their leisure.

"Not a whit more cruel than hanging!" said the
Scot; "filthier, that's all!"

"In the southern regions of Africa, they content themselves,"
resumed the doctor, "with shutting up the criminal
in his own hut with his cattle, and sometimes with his
family. They then set fire to the hut, and the whole
party are burned together. I call that cruel; but, like
friend Kennedy, I think that the gallows is quite as cruel,
quite as barbarous."

Joe, by the aid of his keen sight, which he did not fail
to use continually, noticed some flocks of birds of prey
flitting about the horizon.

"They are eagles!" exclaimed Kennedy, after reconnoitring
them through the glass, "magnificent birds, whose flight
is as rapid as ours."

"Heaven preserve us from their attacks!" said the
doctor, "they are more to be feared by us than wild
beasts or savage tribes."

"Bah!" said the hunter, "we can drive them off with
a few rifle-shots."

"Nevertheless, I would prefer, dear Dick, not having
to rely upon your skill, this time, for the silk of our
balloon could not resist their sharp beaks; fortunately, the
huge birds will, I believe, be more frightened than attracted
by our machine."

"Yes! but a new idea, and I have dozens of them,"
said Joe; "if we could only manage to capture a team of
live eagles, we could hitch them to the balloon, and they'd
haul us through the air!"

"The thing has been seriously proposed," replied the
doctor, "but I think it hardly practicable with creatures
naturally so restive."

"Oh! we'd tame them," said Joe. "Instead of driving
them with bits, we'd do it with eye-blinkers that would
cover their eyes. Half blinded in that way, they'd go to
the right or to the left, as we desired; when blinded
completely, they would stop."

"Allow me, Joe, to prefer a favorable wind to your
team of eagles. It costs less for fodder, and is more
reliable."

"Well, you may have your choice, master, but I stick
to my idea."

It now was noon. The Victoria had been going at
a more moderate speed for some time; the country merely
passed below it; it no longer flew.

Suddenly, shouts and whistlings were heard by our
aeronauts, and, leaning over the edge of the car, they saw
on the open plain below them an exciting spectacle.

Two hostile tribes were fighting furiously, and the air
was dotted with volleys of arrows. The combatants were
so intent upon their murderous work that they did not
notice the arrival of the balloon; there were about three
hundred mingled confusedly in the deadly struggle: most
of them, red with the blood of the wounded, in which they
fairly wallowed, were horrible to behold.

As they at last caught sight of the balloon, there was
a momentary pause; but their yells redoubled, and some
arrows were shot at the Victoria, one of them coming
close enough for Joe to catch it with his hand.

"Let us rise out of range," exclaimed the doctor; "there
must be no rashness! We are forbidden any risk."

Meanwhile, the massacre continued on both sides, with
battle-axes and war-clubs; as quickly as one of the combatants
fell, a hostile warrior ran up to cut off his head,
while the women, mingling in the fray, gathered up these
bloody trophies, and piled them together at either extremity
of the battle-field. Often, too, they even fought
for these hideous spoils.

"What a frightful scene!" said Kennedy, with profound disgust.

"They're ugly acquaintances!" added Joe; "but then,
if they had uniforms they'd be just like the fighters of all
the rest of the world!"

"I have a keen hankering to take a hand in at that
fight," said the hunter, brandishing his rifle.

"No! no!" objected the doctor, vehemently; "no,
let us not meddle with what don't concern us. Do you
know which is right or which is wrong, that you would
assume the part of the Almighty? Let us, rather, hurry
away from this revolting spectacle. Could the great
captains of the world float thus above the scenes of their
exploits, they would at last, perhaps, conceive a disgust
for blood and conquest."

The chieftain of one of the contending parties was
remarkable for his athletic proportions, his great height,
and herculean strength. With one hand he plunged his
spear into the compact ranks of his enemies, and with the
other mowed large spaces in them with his battle-axe.
Suddenly he flung away his war-club, red with blood,
rushed upon a wounded warrior, and, chopping off his arm
at a single stroke, carried the dissevered member to his
mouth, and bit it again and again.

Copyright (c) 2007. topboookz.com. All rights reserved.