east, numerous volunteers came forward to accompany him. From among
them he selected a hundred and fourteen trustworthy men, and Sekeletu
appointed two, Sekwebu and Kanyata, as leaders of the company. Sekwebu
had been captured, when a child, from the Matabele, and his tribe now
inhabited the country near Tete; he had frequently travelled along the
banks of the Zambesi, and spoke the various dialects of the people
residing on them, and was, moreover, a man of sound judgment and
prudence, and rendered great service to the expedition.
On the 3rd of November Dr Livingstone, bidding farewell to his friends
at Linyanti, set out, accompanied by Sekeletu and two hundred followers.
On reaching a patch of country infested by the _tsetse_ it became
necessary to travel at night. A fearful storm broke forth, sometimes
the lightning, spreading over the sky, forming eight or ten branches
like those of a gigantic tree. At times the light was so great that the
whole country could be distinctly seen, and in the intervals between the
flashes it was as densely dark. The horses trembled, turning round to
search for each other, while the thunder crashed with tremendous roars,
louder than is heard in other regions, the rain pelting down, making the
party feel miserably cold after the heat of the day. At length a fire,
left by some previous travellers, appeared in the distance. The
doctor's baggage having gone on before, he had to lie down on the cold
ground, when Sekeletu kindly covered him with his own blanket, remaining
without shelter himself. Before parting at Sesheke, the generous chief
supplied the doctor with twelve oxen, three accustomed to be ridden on,
hoes and beads to purchase a canoe, an abundance of fresh butter and
honey; and, indeed, he did everything in his power to assist him in his
journey.
Bidding farewell to Sekeletu, the doctor and his attendants sailed down
the river to its confluence with the Chobe. Having reached this spot,
he prepared to strike across the country to the north-east, in order to
reach the northern bank of the Zambesi. Before doing so, however, he
determined to visit the Victoria or Mozioatunya Falls, of which he had
often heard. The meaning of the word is: "Smoke does sound there," in
reference to the vapour and noise produced by the falls. After twenty
minutes' sail from Kalai they came in sight of five columns of vapour,
appropriately called "smoke," rising at a distance of five or six miles
off, and bending as they ascended before the wind, the tops appearing to
mingle with the clouds. The scene was extremely beautiful. The banks
and the islands which appeared here and there amid the stream, were
richly adorned with trees and shrubs of various colours, many being in
full blossom. High above all rose an enormous baobab-tree surrounded by
groups of graceful palms.
As the water was now low, they proceeded in the canoe to an island in
the centre of the river, the further end of which extended to the edge
of the falls. At the spot where they landed it was impossible to
discover where the vast body of water disappeared. It seemed, indeed,
suddenly to sink into the earth, for the opposite lip of the fissure
into which it descends was only eighty feet distant. On peering over
the precipice the doctor saw the stream, a thousand yards broad, leaping
down a hundred feet and then becoming suddenly compressed into a space
of fifteen or twenty yards, when, instead of flowing as before, it
turned directly to the right, and went boiling and rushing amid the
hills.
The vapour which rushes up from this cauldron to the height of two or
three hundred feet, being condensed, changes its hue to that of dark
smoke, and then comes down in a constant shower. The chief portion
falls on the opposite side of the fissure, where grow a number of
evergreen trees, their leaves always wet. The walls of this gigantic
crack are perpendicular. Altogether, Dr Livingstone considered these
falls the most wonderful sight he had beheld in Africa.
Returning to Kalai the doctor and his party met Sekeletu, and, bidding
him a final farewell, set off northwards to Lekone, through a beautiful
country, on the 20th of November. The further they advanced the more
the country swarmed with inhabitants, and great numbers came to see the
white man, invariably bringing presents of maize.
The natives of this region have a curious way of saluting a stranger.
Instead of bowing they throw themselves on their backs on the ground,
rolling from side to side and slapping the outsides of their thighs,
while they utter the words "_Kina bomba! kina bomba_!" In vain the
doctor implored them to stop. They, imagining him pleased, only tumbled
about more fiercely and slapped their thighs with greater vehemence.
These villagers supplied the party abundantly with ground nuts, maize,
and corn.
When the doctor addressed them and told them of Jesus as their Saviour--
how He had come on earth to bring peace and goodwill to men--they
replied: "We are tired of flight. Give us rest and sleep,"--though, of
course, they could not understand the full import of the message.
These people appeared humbled by the scourgings they had received from
their enemies, and seemed to be in a favourable state for the reception
of the Gospel.
Their chief, Monze, came one Sunday morning, wrapped in a large cloth,
when, like his followers, he rolled himself about in the dust, screaming
out "_Kina bomba_!" He had never before seen a white man, but had met
with black native traders, who came, he said, for ivory, but not for
slaves. His wife would have been good-looking, had she not followed the
custom of her country by knocking out her teeth. Monze soon made
himself at home, and presented the travellers with as much food as they
required.
As they advanced, the country became still more beautiful, abounding
with large game. Often buffaloes were seen standing on eminences. One
day, a buffalo was found lying down, and the doctor went to secure it
for food. Though the animal received three balls they did not prove
fatal, and it turned round as if to charge. The doctor and his
companions ran for shelter to some rocks, but, before they gained them,
they found that three elephants had cut off their retreat. The enormous
brutes, however, turned off, and allowed them to gain the rocks. As the
buffalo was moving rapidly away the doctor tried a long shot, and, to
the satisfaction of his followers, broke the animal's fore leg. The
young men soon brought it to a stand, and another shot in its brain
settled it. They had thus an abundance of food, which was shared by the
villagers of the neighbourhood. Soon afterwards an elephant was killed
by his men.
Leaving the Elephant Valley, they reached the residence of a chief named
Semalembue, who, soon after their arrival, paid them a visit, and
presented five or six baskets of meal and maize, and one of ground nuts,
saying that he feared his guest would sleep the first night at his
village hungry. The chief professed great joy at hearing the words of
the Gospel of Peace, replying: "Now I shall cultivate largely, in the
hopes of eating and sleeping in quiet."
It is remarkable that all to whom the doctor spoke, eagerly caught up
the idea of living in peace as the probable effect of the Gospel.
This region Sekwebu considered one of the best adapted for the residence
of a large tribe. It was here that Sebituane formerly dwelt.
They now crossed the Kafue by a ford. _Every_ available spot between
the river and hills was under cultivation. The inhabitants select these
positions to secure themselves and their gardens from their human
enemies. They are also obliged to make pit-holes to protect their
grounds from the hippopotami. These animals, not having been disturbed,
were unusually tame, and took no notice of the travellers. A number of
young ones were seen, not much larger than terrier dogs, sitting on the
necks of their dams, the little saucy-looking heads cocked up between
the old one's ears; when older, they sit more on the mother's back.
Meat being required, a full-grown cow was shot, the flesh of which
resembled pork.
The party now directed their course to the Zambesi near its confluence
with the Kafue. They enjoyed a magnificent view from the top of the
outer range of hills. A short distance below them was the Kafue,
winding its way over a forest-clad plain, while on the other side of the
Zambesi lay a long range of dark hills. The plain below abounded in
large game. Hundreds of buffalo and zebras grazed on the open spaces,
and there stood feeding two majestic elephants, each slowly moving its
proboscis. On passing amidst them the animals showed their tameness by
standing beneath the trees, fanning themselves with their large ears. A
number also of red-coloured pigs were seen. The people in the
neighbourhood having no guns, they are never disturbed.
A night was spent in a huge baobab-tree, which would hold twenty men
inside.
As they moved on, a herd of buffaloes came strutting up to look at their
oxen, and only by shooting one could they be made to retreat. Shortly
afterwards a female elephant, with three young ones, charged through,
the centre of their extended line, when the men, throwing down their
burdens, retreated in a great hurry, she receiving a spear for her
temerity.
They were made aware of their approach to the great river by the vast
number of waterfalls which appeared. It was found to be much broader
than above the falls: a person might indeed attempt in vain to make his
voice heard across it. An immense amount of animal life was seen both
around and in it.
Pursuing their course down the left bank, they came opposite the island
of Menyemakaba, which is about two miles long and a quarter broad.
Besides its human population it supports a herd of upwards of sixty
buffalo. The comparatively small space to which the animals have
confined themselves shows the luxuriance of the vegetation. The only
time that the natives can attack them is when the river is full and part
is flooded: they then assail them from their canoes.
The inhabitants of the north side of the Zambesi are the Batonga; those
on the south bank the Banyai.
Both buffalo and elephants are numerous. To kill them the natives form
stages on high trees overhanging the paths by which they come to the
water. From thence they dart down their spears, the blades of which are
twenty inches long by two broad, when the motion of the handle, aided by
knocking against the trees, makes fearful gashes which soon cause death.
They form also a species of trap. A spear inserted in a beam of wood
is suspended from the branch of a tree, to which a cord is attached with
a latch. The cord being led along the path when struck by the animal's
foot, the beam falls, and, the spear being poisoned, death shortly
ensues.
At each village they passed, two men were supplied to conduct them to
the next, and lead them through the parts least covered with jungle.
The villagers were busily employed in their gardens. Most of the men
have muscular figures. Their colour varies from a dark to a light
olive. The women have the extraordinary custom of piercing the upper
lip, and gradually enlarging the orifice till a shell can be inserted.
The lip appears drawn out beyond the nose, and gives them a very ugly
appearance. As Sekwebu remarked: "These women want to make their mouths
like those of ducks." The commonest of these rings are made of bamboo,
but others are of ivory or metal. When the wearer tries to smile, the
contraction of the muscles turns the ring upwards, so that its upper
edge comes in front of the eyes, the nose appearing through the middle,
while the whole front teeth are exposed by the motion, exhibiting the
way in which they have been clipped to resemble the fangs of a cat or a
crocodile.
On their next halt Seole, the chief of the village, instead of receiving
them in a friendly way, summoned his followers and prepared for an
attack. The reason was soon discovered. It appeared that an Italian,
who had married the chief's daughter, having armed a party of fifty
slaves with guns, had ascended the river in a canoe from Tete, and
attacked several inhabited islands beyond Makaba, taking large numbers
of prisoners and much ivory. As he descended again with his booty, his
party was dispersed and he himself was killed while attempting to escape
on foot. Seole imagined that the doctor was another Italian.
This was the first symptom of the abominable slave trade they met with
on the east side of the continent. Had not the chief with whom they had
previously stayed arrived to explain matters, Seole might have given
them much trouble.
Mburuma, another chief of the same tribe, had laid a plan to plunder the
party by separating them, but the doctor, suspecting treachery, kept his
people together. They had on a previous occasion plundered a party of
traders bringing English goods from Mozambique.
On the 14th of January they reached the confluence of the Loangwa and
the Zambesi.
Here the doctor discovered the ruins of a town, with the remains of a
church in its midst. The situation was well chosen, with lofty hills in
the rear and a view of the two rivers in front. On one side of the
church lay a broken bell, with the letters IHS and a cross. This he
found was a Portuguese settlement called Zumbo. The conduct of Mburuma
and his people gave Dr Livingstone much anxiety, as he could not help
dreading that they might attack him the next morning. His chief regret
was that his efforts for the welfare of the teeming population in that
great region would thus be frustrated by savages, of whom it might be
said: "They know not what they do."
He felt especially anxious that the elevated and healthy district which
he had now discovered, stretching towards Tete, should become known. It
was such a region as he had been long in quest of as a centre from which
missionary enterprise might be carried into the surrounding country.
While the party were proceeding along the banks of the river, passing
through a dense bush, three buffaloes broke through their line. The
doctor's ox galloped off, and, as he turned back, he saw one of his men
tossed several feet in the air. On returning, to his satisfaction he
found that the poor fellow had alighted on his face, and, although he
had been carried twenty yards on the animal's horns, he had in no way
suffered. On the creature's approaching him he had thrown down his load
and stabbed it in the side, when it caught him and carried him off
before he could escape.
Soon after this they had evidence that they were approaching the
Portuguese settlements, by meeting a person with a jacket and hat on.
From this person, who was quite black, they learned that the Portuguese
settlement of Tete was on the other bank of the river, and that the
inhabitants had been engaged in war with the natives for some time past.
This was disagreeable news, as Livingstone wished to be at peace with
both parties.
As they approached the village of Mpende, that chief sent out his people
to enquire who the travellers were. The natives, on drawing near,
uttered strange cries and waved some bright red substance towards them.
Having lighted a fire, they threw some charms into it and hastened away,
uttering frightful screams, believing that they should thus frighten the
strangers and render them powerless. The Makololo, however, laughed at
their threats, but the doctor, fully believing that a skirmish would
take place, ordered an ox to be killed to feast his men, following the
plan Sebituane employed for giving his followers courage.
At last two old men made their appearance and enquired if the doctor was
a Bazunga, or Portuguese. On showing his hair and white skin, they
replied: "Ah, you must be one of the tribe that loves black men."
Finally the chief himself appeared, and expressed his regret that he had
not known sooner who they were, ultimately enabling them to cross the
river.
After this they were detained for some time by the rains on the south
bank.
In conversation with the people they exhibited the greatest hatred of
the slave-traders.
Meeting with native traders, the doctor purchased some American calico
in order to clothe his men. It was marked "Lawrence Mills, Lowell,"
with two small tusks, an interesting fact.
Game laws existed even in this region. His party having killed an
elephant, he had to send back a considerable distance to give
information to the person in charge of the district, the owner himself
living near the Zambesi. Their messenger returned with a basket of
corn, a fowl, and a few strings of beads, a thank-offering to them for
having killed it. The tusk of the side on which the elephant fell
belonged to the owner, while the upper was the prize of the sportsman.
Had they begun to cut up the animal before receiving permission they
would have lost the whole. The men feasted on their half of the
carcass, and for two nights an immense number of hyaenas collected
round, uttering their loud laughter.
The people inhabiting the country on this side of the Zambesi are known
as the Banyai. Their favourite weapon is a huge axe, which is carried
over the shoulder. It is used chiefly for ham-stringing the elephant,
in the same way as the Hamran Arab uses his sword. The Banyai, however,
steals on the animal unawares, while the Hamran hunter attacks it when
it is rushing in chase of one of his comrades, who gallops on ahead on a
well-trained steed.
Those curious birds, the "honey guides," were very attentive to them,
and, by their means, the Makololo obtained an abundance of honey. Of
the wax, however, in those districts no use appears to be made.
Though approaching the Portuguese settlement, abundance of game was
still found. The Makololo killed six buffalo calves from among a herd
which was met with.
They were warned by the natives that they ran a great risk of being
attacked by lions when wandering on either side of the line of march in
search of honey. One of the doctor's head men, indeed, Monahin, having
been suddenly seized with a fit of insanity during the night, left the
camp, and, as he never returned, it was too probable that he had been
carried off by a lion.
It was not till the 2nd of March that the neighbourhood of Tete was
reached. Livingstone was then so prostrated that, though only eight
miles from it, he could proceed no further. He forwarded, however, the
letters of recommendation he received in Angola to the commandant. The
following morning a company of soldiers with an officer arrived,
bringing the materials for a civilised breakfast, and a litter in which
to carry him. He felt so greatly revived by the breakfast, that he was
able to walk the whole way.
He was received in the kindest way by Major Sicard, the commandant of
Tete, who provided also lodging and provision for his men.
Tete is a mere village, built on a slope reaching to the water, close to
which the fort is situated. There are about thirty European houses; the
rest of the buildings, inhabited by the natives, are of wattle and daub.
Formerly, besides gold-dust and ivory, large quantities of grain,
coffee, sugar, oil, and indigo were exported from Tete, but, on the
establishment of the slave trade, the merchants found a more speedy way
of becoming rich, by selling off their slaves, and the plantations and
gold washings were abandoned, the labourers having been exported to the
Brazils. Many of the white men then followed their slaves. After this,
a native of Goa, Nyaude by name, built a stockade at the confluence of
the Luenya and Zambesi, took the commandant of Tete, who attacked him,
prisoner, and sent his son Bonga with a force against that town and
burned it. Others followed his example, till commerce, before rendered
stagnant by the slave trade, was totally obstructed.
On the north shore of the Zambesi several fine seams of coal exist,
which Dr Livingstone examined. The natives only collect gold from the
neighbourhood whenever they wish to purchase calico. On finding a piece
or flake of gold, however, they bury it again, believing that it is the
seed of the gold, and, though knowing its value, prefer losing it rather
than, as they suppose, the whole future crop.
Dr Livingstone found it necessary to leave most of his men here, and
Major Sicard liberally gave them a portion of land that they might
cultivate it, supplying them in the mean time with corn. He also
allowed the young men to go out and hunt elephants with his servants,
that they might purchase goods with the ivory and dry meat, in order
that they might take them back with them on returning to their own
homes. He also supplied them with cloth. Sixty or seventy at once
accepted his offer, delighted with the thoughts of engaging in so
profitable an enterprise. He also supplied the doctor with an outfit,
refusing to take the payment which was offered.
The forests in the neighbourhood abound with elephants, and the natives
attack them in the boldest manner. Only two hunters sally forth
together--one carrying spears, the other an axe of a peculiar shape,
with a long handle. As soon as an elephant is discovered, the man with
the spears creeps among the bushes in front of it, so as to attract its
attention, during which time the axe-man cautiously approaches from
behind, and, with a sweep of his formidable weapon, severs the tendon of
the animal's hock. The huge creature, now unable to move in spite of
its strength and sagacity, falls an easy prey to the two hunters.
Among other valuable productions of the country is found a tree allied
to the cinchona. The Portuguese believe that it has the same virtues as
quinine.
As soon as the doctor had recovered his strength he prepared to proceed
down the river to Kilimane, or Quillimane, with sixteen of his faithful
Makololo as a crew. Many of the rest were out elephant hunting, while
others had established a brisk trade in firewood.
Major Sicard lent him a boat, and sent Lieutenant Miranda to escort him
to the coast.
On their way they touched at the stockade of the rebel, Bonga, whose
son-in-law, Manoel, received them in a friendly way.
They next touched at Senna, which was found in a wretchedly ruinous
condition. Here some of the Makololo accepted employment from
Lieutenant Miranda to return to Tete with a load of goods. Eight
accompanied the doctor, at their earnest request, to Quillimane.
He reached that village on the 20th of May, 1856, when it wanted but a
few days of being four years since he started from Cape Town. He was
hospitably received by Colonel Nunes. A severe famine had existed among
the neighbouring population, and food was very scarce. He therefore
advised his men to go back to Tete as soon as possible, and await his
return from England. They still earnestly wished to accompany him, as
Sekeletu had advised them not to part with him till they had reached
Ma-Robert, as they called Mrs Livingstone, and brought her back with
them.
With the smaller tusks he had in his possession he purchased calico and
brass-wire, which he sent back to Tete for his followers, depositing the
remaining twenty tusks with Colonel Nunes, in order that, should he be
prevented from revisiting the country, it might not be supposed that he
had made away with Sekeletu's ivory. He requested Colonel Nunes, in
case of his death, to sell the tusks and deliver the proceeds to his
men, intending to purchase the goods ordered by Sekeletu in England with
his own money, and, on his return, repay himself out of the price of the
ivory.
He consented, somewhat unwillingly, to take Sekwebu with him to England.
After waiting about six weeks at Quillimane, HM brig "Frolic" arrived,
on board which he embarked. A fearful sea broke over the bar, and the
brig was rolling so much that there was great difficulty in reaching her
deck. Poor Sekwebu looked at his friend, asking: "Is this the way you
go?" The doctor tried to encourage him; but, though well acquainted
with canoes, he had never seen anything like it.
Having been three and a half years, with the exception of a short
interval in Angola, without speaking English, and for thirteen but
partially using it, the doctor found the greatest difficulty in
expressing himself on board the "Frolic."