Broomfield was a 19th-century British adventurer who made
his own way.
I left Greencock by the sailing vessel Mary Ann in
June 1868 to go to the Zambesi river to explore, shoot big game, and
trade ivory or anything worth trading. I took muskets, powder, caps and
lead, and a few lines of calico prints and blankets with me, as well as
my own private rifles, guns, and revolvers.
By turns, he made his living as an ivory hunter,
prospector, specimen collector, pioneer, pearl fisher and doctor of
medicine. Also, we was always ready for a righteous fight. At one point in
Africa he organized and lead a group of natives against a gang of Arab
slave traders. He tracked the Arabs, who were driving their captured
slaves ahead of them, for sixty miles.
It was near sundown when I took a steady shot at one
of the bearded chaps, and a snap shot at another. ... The scap was on
now. After about five minutes my position was rushed, about twenty coast
men and a bearded Arab leading. I baged him and one other. Fighting
became a bit mixed. I stopped one in my leg and found myself sitting on
the ant heap using my two cap and ball Colt revolvers.
Broomfield's military organization worked.
Our loss was forty-eight killed and seventy-one,
including myself, wounded. The Arabs lost sixty-three killed, and
seventeen slaves lost their lives: eleven women, two girls about twelve
years of age, and four young children.
This book covers four of his wanderings: East Africa in
1868-1869 and again in 1872-1874, then on to Southern Asia and the Dutch
East Indies in 1874-1875, and finally in New Guinea in 1875-1876.
The pace leaves us breathless. Like Sir Richard Burton and
T. E. Lawrence, Broomfield had a eye (and a taste for) local culture that
many thought improper at the time. We're glad he dallied.
|
View Large