Progress northwards. An African forest. Destruction by Mazitu.
Native salutations. A disagreeable chief. On the watershed
between the Lake and the Loangwa River. Extensive iron-workings.
An old Nimrod. The Bua Eiver. Lovely scenery. Difficulties of
transport. Chilobé. An African Pythoness. Enlists two Waiyou
bearers. Ill. The Chitella bean. Rains set in. Arrives at the
Loangwa.
We started with Chitikola as our guide on the 22nd of October, and he
led us away westwards across the Lilongwé River, then turned north
till we came to a village called Mashumba, the headman of which was
the only chief who begged anything except medicine, and he got less
than we were in the habit of giving in consequence: we give a cloth
usually, and clothing being very scarce this is considered
munificent.[34]
We had the Zalanyama range on our left, and our course was generally
north, but we had to go in the direction of the villages which were on
friendly terms with our guides, and sometimes we went but a little
way, as they studied to make the days as short as possible. The
headman of the last village, Chitoku, was with us, and he took us to a
village of smiths, four furnaces and one smithy being at work. We
crossed the Chiniambo, a strong river coming from Zalanyama and
flowing into the Mirongwé, which again goes into Lintipé. The country
near the hills becomes covered with forest, the trees are chiefly
Masuko Mochenga (the gum-copal tree), the bark-cloth tree and
rhododendrons. The heath known at the Cape as _Rhinoster bosch_ occurs
frequently, and occasionally we have thorny acacias. The grass is
short, but there is plenty of it.
_24th October, 1866._--Our guide, Mpanda, led us through the forest by
what he meant to be a short cut to Chimuna's. We came on a herd of
about fifteen elephants, and many trees laid down by these animals:
they seem to relish the roots of some kinds, and spend a good deal of
time digging them up; they chew woody roots and branches as thick as
the handle of a spade. Many buffaloes feed here, and we viewed a herd
of elands; they kept out of bow-shot only: a herd of the baama or
hartebeest stood at 200 paces, and one was shot.
While all were rejoicing over the meat we got news, from the
inhabitants of a large village in full flight, that the Mazitu were
out on a foray. While roasting and eating meat I went forward with
Mpanda to get men from Chimuna to carry the rest, but was soon
recalled. Another crowd were also in full retreat; the people were
running straight to the Zalanyama range regardless of their feet,
making a path for themselves through the forest; they had escaped from
the Mazitu that morning; "they saw them!" Mpanda's people wished to
leave and go to look after their own village, but we persuaded them,
on pain of a _milando_, to take us to the nearest village, that was at
the bottom of Zalanyama proper, and we took the spoor of the
fugitives. The hard grass with stalks nearly as thick as quills must
have hurt their feet sorely, but what of that in comparison with dear
life! We meant to take our stand on the hill and defend our property
in case of the Mazitu coming near; and we should, in the event of
being successful, be a defence to the fugitives who crowded up its
rocky sides, but next morning we heard that the enemy had gone to the
south. Had we gone forward, as we intended, to search for men to
carry the meat we should have met the marauders, for the men of the
second party of villagers had remained behind guarding their village
till the Mazitu arrived, and they told us what a near escape I had had
from walking into their power.
_25th October, 1866._--Came along northwards to Chimuna's town, a
large one of Chipéta with many villages around. Our path led through
the forest, and as we emerged into the open strath in which the
villages lie, we saw the large anthills, each the size of the end of a
one-storied cottage, covered with men on guard watching for the
Mazitu.
A long line of villagers were just arriving from the south, and we
could see at some low hills in that direction the smoke arising from
the burning settlements. None but men were present, the women and the
chief were at the mountain called Pambé; all were fully armed with
their long bows, some flat in the bow, others round, and it was common
to have the quiver on the back, and a bunch of feathers stuck in the
hair like those in our Lancers' shakos. But they remained not to
fight, but to watch their homes and stores of grain from robbers
amongst their own people in case no Mazitu came! They gave a good hut,
and sent off at once to let the chief at Pambé know of our arrival. We
heard the cocks crowing up there in the mountain as we passed in the
morning. Chimuna came in the evening, and begged me to remain a day in
his village, Pamaloa, as he was the greatest chief the Chipéta had. I
told him all wished the same thing, and if I listened to each chief we
should never get on, and the rains were near, but we had to stay over
with him.
_26th October, 1866._--All the people came down to-day from Pambé, and
crowded to see the strangers. They know very little beyond their own
affairs, though these require a good deal of knowledge, and we should
be sorely put about if, without their skill, we had to maintain an
existence here. Their furnaces are rather bottle shaped, and about
seven feet high by three broad. One toothless patriarch had heard of
books and umbrellas, but had never seen either. The oldest inhabitant
had never travelled far from the spot in which he was born, yet he has
a good knowledge of soils and agriculture, hut-building,
basket-making, pottery, and the manufacture of bark-cloth and skins
for clothing, as also making of nets, traps, and cordage.
Chimuna had a most ungainly countenance, yet did well enough: he was
very thankful for a blister on his loins to ease rheumatic pains, and
presented a huge basket of porridge before starting, with a fowl, and
asked me to fire a gun that the Mazitu might hear and know that armed
men were here. They all say that these marauders flee from fire-arms,
so I think that they are not Zulus at all, though adopting some of
their ways.
In going on to Mapuio's we passed several large villages, each
surrounded by the usual euphorbia hedge, and having large trees for
shade. We are on & level, or rather gently amdulating country, rather
bare of trees. At the junctions of these earthen waves we have always
an oozing bog, this often occurs in the slope down the trough of this
terrestrial sea; bushes are common, and of the kind which were cut
down as trees. Yellow haematite is very abundant, but the other rocks
scarcely appear in the distance; we have mountains both on the east
and west.
On arriving at Mapuio's village, he was, as often happens, invisible,
but he sent us a calabash of fresh-made beer, which is very
refreshing, gave us a hut, and promised to cook for us in the evening.
We have to employ five or six carriers, and they rule the length of
the day's march. Those from Chimuna's village growled at the cubit of
calico with which we paid them, but a few beads pleased them
perfectly, and we parted good friends. It is not likely I shall ever
see them again, but I always like to please them, because it is right
to consider their desires. Is that not what is meant in "Blessed is he
that considereth the poor"? There is a great deal of good in these
poor people. In cases of _milando_ they rely on the most distant
relations and connections to plead their cause, and seldom are they
disappointed, though time at certain seasons, as for instance at
present, is felt by all to be precious. Every man appears with hoe or
axe on shoulder, and the people often only sit down as we pass and
gaze at us till we are out of sight.
[Illustration: Women's Teeth hollowed.]
Many of the men have large slits in the lobe of the ear, and they have
their distinctive tribal tattoo. The women indulge in this painful
luxury more than the men, probably because they have very few
ornaments. The two central front teeth are hollowed at the cutting
edge. Many have quite the Grecian facial angle. Mapuio has thin legs
and quite a European face. Delicate features and limbs are common, and
the spur-heel is as scarce as among Europeans; small feet and hands
are the rule.
Clapping the hands in various ways is the polite way of saying "Allow
me," "I beg pardon," "Permit me to pass," "Thanks," it is resorted to
in respectful introduction and leave-taking, and also is equivalent to
"Hear hear." When inferiors are called they respond by two brisk claps
of the hands, meaning "I am coming." They are very punctilious amongst
each other. A large ivory bracelet marks the headman of a village;
there is nothing else to show differences of rank.
_28th October, 1866._--We spent Sunday at Mapuio's and had a long talk
with him; his country is in a poor state from the continual incursions
of the Mazitu, who are wholly unchecked.
_29th October, 1866._--We marched westwards to Makosa's village, and
could not go further, as the next stage is long and through an
ill-peopled country. The morning was lovely, the whole country bathed
in bright sunlight, and not a breath of air disturbed the smoke as it
slowly curled up from the heaps of burning weeds, which the native
agriculturist wisely destroys. The people generally were busy hoeing
in the cool of the day. One old man in a village where we rested had
trained the little hair he had left into a tail, which, well plastered
with fat, he had bent on itself and laid flat on his crown; another
was carefully paring a stick for stirring the porridge, and others
were enjoying the cool shade of the wild fig-trees which are always
planted at villages. It is a sacred tree all over Africa and India,
and the tender roots which drop down towards the ground are used as
medicine--a universal remedy. Can it be a tradition of its being like
the tree of life, which Archbishop Whately conjectures may have been
used in Paradise to render man immortal? One kind of fig-tree is often
seen hacked all over to get the sap, which is used as bird-lime;
bark-cloth is made of it too. I like to see the men weaving or
spinning, or reclining under these glorious canopies, as much as I
love to see our more civilized people lolling on their sofas or
ottomans.
The first rain--a thunder shower--fell in the afternoon, air in shade
before it 92°; wet bulb 74°. At noon the soil in the sun was 140°,
perhaps more, but I was afraid of bursting the thermometer, as it was
graduated only a few degrees above that. This rain happened at the
same time that the sun was directly overhead on his way south; it was
but a quarter of an inch, but its effect was to deprive us of all
chance of getting the five carriers we needed, all were off to their
gardens to commit the precious seed to the soil. We got three, but no
one else would come, so we have to remain here over to-day (30th
October).
_30th October, 1866._--The black traders come from Tette to this
country to buy slaves, and as a consequence here we come to bugs
again, which we left when we passed the Arab slave-traders' beat.
_31st October, 1866._--We proceed westwards, and a little south
through a country covered with forest trees, thickly planted, but
small, generally of bark-cloth and gum-copal trees, masukos,
rhododendrons, and a few acacias. At one place we saw ten wild hogs in
a group, but no other animal, though marks of elephants, buffaloes,
and other animals having been about in the wet season were very
abundant. The first few miles were rather more scant of water than
usual, but we came to the Leué, a fine little stream with plenty of
water sand from 20 to 30 yards wide; it is said by the people to flow
away westwards into the Loangwa.
_1st November 1866._--In the evening we made the Chigumokiré, a nice
rivulet, where we slept, and the next morning we proceeded to Kangené,
whose village is situated on a mass of mountains, and to reach which
we made more southing than we wished. Our appearance on the ascent of
the hill caused alarm, and we were desired to wait till our spokesman
had explained the unusual phenomenon of a white man.
This kept us waiting in the hot sun among heated rocks, and the chief,
being a great ugly public-house-keeper looking person, excused his
incivility by saying that his brother had been killed by the Mazitu,
and he was afraid that we were of the same tribe. On asking if Mazitu
wore clothes like us he told some untruths, and, what has been an
unusual thing, began to beg powder and other things. I told him how
other chiefs had treated us, which made him ashamed. He represented
the country in front to the N.W. to be quite impassable from want of
food: the Mazitu had stripped it of all provisions, and the people
were living on what wild fruits they could pick up.
_2nd November, 1866._--Kangené is very disagreeable naturally, and as
we have to employ five men as carriers, we are in his power.
We can scarcely enter into the feelings of those who are harried by
marauders. Like Scotland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
harassed by Highland Celts on one side and by English Marchmen on the
other, and thus kept in the rearward of civilisation, these people
have rest neither for many days nor for few. When they fill their
garners they can seldom reckon on eating the grain, for the Mazitu
come when the harvest is over and catch as many able-bodied young
persons as they can to carry away the corn. Thus it was in Scotland so
far as security for life and property was concerned; but the Scotch
were apt pupils of more fortunate nations. To change of country they
were as indifferent as the Romans of the olden times; they were always
welcome in France, either as pilgrims, scholars, merchants, or
soldiers; but the African is different. If let alone the African's
mode of life is rather enjoyable; he loves agriculture, and land is to
be had anywhere. He knows nothing of other countries, but he has
imbibed the idea of property in man. This Kangené told me that he
would like to give me a slave to look after my goats: I believe he
would rather give a slave than a goat!
We were detained by the illness of Simon for four days. When he
recovered we proposed to the headman to start with five of his men,
and he agreed to let us have them; but having called them together
such an enormous demand was made for wages, and in advance, that on
the 7th of November we took seven loads forward through a level
uninhabited country generally covered with small trees, slept there,
and on the morning of the 8th, after leaving two men at our depôt,
came back, and took the remaining five loads.
Kangené was disagreeable to the last. He asked where we had gone,
and, having described the turning point as near the hill Chimbimbé, he
complimented us on going so far, and then sent an offer of three men;
but I preferred not to have those who would have been spies unless he
could give five and take on all the loads. He said that he would find
the number, and after detaining us some hours brought two, one of
whom, primed with beer, babbled out that he was afraid of being killed
by us in front. I asked whom we had killed behind, and moved off. The
headman is very childish, does women's work--cooking and pounding; and
in all cases of that kind the people take after their leader. The
chiefs have scarcely any power unless they are men of energy; they
have to court the people rather than be courted. We came much further
back on our way from Mapuio's than we liked; in fact, our course is
like that of a vessel baffled with foul winds: this is mainly owing to
being obliged to avoid places stripped of provisions or suffering this
spoliation. The people, too, can give no information about others at a
distance from their own abodes. Even the smiths, who are a most
plodding set of workers, are as ignorant as the others: they supply
the surrounding villages with hoes and knives, and, combining
agriculture with handicraft, pass through life. An intelligent smith
came as our guide from Chimbimbé Hill on the 7th, and did not know a
range of mountains about twenty miles off: "it was too far off for him
to know the name."
_9th November, 1866._--The country over which we actually travel is
level and elevated, but there are mountains all about, which when put
on the map make it appear to be a mountainous region. We are on the
watershed, apparently between the Loangwa of Zumbo on the west, and
the Lake on the east. The Leué or Leuia is said by the people to flow
into the Loangwa. The Chigumokiré coming from the north in front,
eastward of Irongwé (the same mountains on which Kangené skulks out of
sight of Mazitu), flows into the Leué, and north of that we have the
Mando, a little stream, flowing into the Bua. The rivulets on the west
flow in deep defiles, and the elevation on which we travel makes it
certain that no water can come from the lower lands on the west. It
seems that the Portuguese in travelling to Casembe did not inquire of
the people where the streams they crossed went, for they are often
wrongly put, and indicate the direction only in which they appeared to
be flowing at their crossing places. The natives have a good idea
generally of the rivers into which the streams flow, though they are
very deficient in information as to the condition of the people that
live on their banks. Some of the Portuguese questions must have been
asked through slaves, who would show no hesitation in answering.
Maxinga, or Machinga, means "mountains" only; once or twice it is put
down Saxa de Maxinga, or Machinga, or Mcanga, which translated from
the native tongue means "rocks of mountains, or mountains of rocks."
_10th November, 1866._--We found the people on the Mando to be Chawa
or Ajawa, but not of the Waiyau race: they are Manganja, and this is a
village of smiths. We got five men readily to go back and bring up our
loads; and the sound of the hammer is constant, showing a great deal
of industry. They combine agriculture, and hunting with nets, with
their handicraft.
A herd of buffaloes came near the village, and I went and shot one,
thus procuring a supply of meat for the whole party and villagers too.
The hammer which we hear from dawn till sunset is a large stone, bound
with the strong inner bark of a tree, and loops left which form
handles. Two pieces of bark form the tongs, and a big stone sunk into
the ground the anvil. They make several hoes in a day, and the metal
is very good; it is all from yellow haematite, which abounds all over
this part of the country; the bellows consist of two goatskins with
sticks at the open ends, which are opened and shut at every blast.
[Illustration: Forging Hoes.]
_13th November, 1866._--A lion came last night and gave a growl or two
on finding he could not get our meat: a man had lent us a hunting net
to protect it and us from intruders of this sort. The people kept up a
shouting for hours afterwards, in order to keep him away by the human
voice.
We might have gone on, but I had a galled heel from new shoes. Wild
figs are rather nice when quite ripe.
_14th November, 1866._--We marched northwards round the end of Chisia
Hill, and remained for the night at a blacksmith's, or rather
founder's village; the two occupations of founder and smith are
always united, and boys taught to be smiths in Europe or India would
find themselves useless if unable to smelt the ore. A good portion of
the trees of the country have been cut down for charcoal, and those
which now spring up are small; certain fruit trees alone are left. The
long slopes on the undulating country, clothed with fresh foliage,
look very beautiful. The young trees alternate with patches of yellow
grass not yet burned; the hills are covered with a thick mantle of
small green trees with, as usual, large ones at intervals. The people
at Kalumbi, on the Mando (where we spent four days), had once a
stockade of wild fig _(Ficus Indica)_ and euphorbia round their
village, which has a running rill on each side of it; but the trees
which enabled them to withstand a siege by Mazitu fell before
elephants and buffaloes during a temporary absence of the villagers;
the remains of the stockade are all around it yet. Lions sometimes
enter huts by breaking through the roof: elephants certainly do, for
we saw a roof destroyed by one; the only chance for the inmates is to
drive a spear into the belly of the beast while so engaged.
A man came and reported the Mazitu to be at Chanyandula's village,
where we are going. The headman advised remaining at his village till
we saw whether they came this way or went by another path. The women
were sent away, but the men went on with their employments; two
proceeded with the building of a furnace on an anthill, where they are
almost always placed, and they keep a look-out while working. We have
the protection of an all-embracing Providence, and trust that He,
whose care of His people «xceeds all that our utmost self-love can
attain, will shield us and make our way prosperous.
_16th November, 1866._--An elephant came near enough last night to
scream at us, but passed on, warned, perhaps, by the shouting of the
villagers not to meddle with man. No Mazitu having come, we marched on
and crossed the Bua, eight yards wide and knee deep. It rises in the
northern hills a little beyond Kanyindula's village, winds round his
mountains, and away to the east. The scenery among the mountains is
very lovely: they are covered with a close mantle of green, with here
and there red and light-coloured patches, showing where grass has been
burned off recently and the red clay soil is exposed; the lighter
portions are unburned grass or rocks. Large trees are here more
numerous, and give an agreeable change of contour to the valleys and
ridges of the hills; the boughs of many still retain a tinge of red
from young leaves. We came to the Bua again before reaching Kanyenjé,
as Kanyindula's place is called. The iron trade must have been carried
on for an immense time in the country, for one cannot go a quarter of
a mile without meeting pieces of slag and broken pots, calcined pipes,
and fragments of the furnaces, which are converted by the fire into
brick. It is curious that the large stone sledge-hammers now in use
are not called by the name stone-hammers, but by a distinct word,
"kama:" nyundo is one made of iron.
When we arrived at Kanyenjé, Kanyindula was out collecting charcoal.
He sent a party of men to ask if we should remain next day: an old,
unintellectual-looking man was among the number sent, who had
twenty-seven rings of elephant's skin on his arm, all killed by
himself by the spear alone: he had given up fighting elephants since
the Mazitu came, whom we heard had passed away to the south-east of
this place, taking all the crops of last year, and the chief alone has
food. He gave us some, which was very acceptable, as we got none at
the two villages south of this. Kanyindula came himself in the
evening, an active, stern-looking man, but we got on very well with
him.
The people say that they were taught to smelt iron by Chisumpi, which
is the name of Mulungu (God), and that they came from Lake Nyassa
originally; if so, they are greatly inferior to the Manganja on the
Lake in pottery, for the fragments, as well as modern whole vessels,
are very coarse; the ornamentation is omitted or merely dots. They
never heard of aërolites, but know hail.
I notice here that the tree Mfu, or Mö, having sweet-scented leaves,
yields an edible plum in clusters. Bua-bwa is another edible
fruit-tree with palmated leaves.
Mbéu is a climbing, arboraceous plant, and yields a very pleasant
fruit, which tastes like gooseberries: its seeds are very minute.
_18th and 19th November, 1866._--Rain fell heavily yesterday
afternoon, and was very threatening to-day; we remain to sew a calico
tent.
_20th November, 1866._--Kanyindula came with three carriers this
morning instead of five, and joined them in demanding prepayment: it
was natural for him to side with them, as they have more power than he
has, in fact, the chiefs in these parts all court their people, and he
could feel more interest in them than in an entire stranger whom he
might never see again: however, we came on without his people, leaving
two to guard the loads.
About four miles up the valley we came to a village named Kanyenjeré
Mponda, at the fountain-eye of the Bua, and thence sent men back for
the loads, while we had the shelter of good huts during a heavy
thunder-shower, and made us willing to remain all night. The valley is
lovely in the extreme. The mountains on each side are gently rounded,
and, as usual, covered over with tree foliage, except where the red
soil is exposed by recent grass-burnings. Quartz rocks jut out, and
much drift of that material has been carried down by the gullies into
the bottom. These gullies being in compact clay, the water has but
little power of erosion, so they are worn deep but narrow. Some
fragments of titaniferous iron ore, with haematite changed by heat,
and magnetic, lay in the gully, which had worn itself a channel on
the north side of the village. The Bua, like most African streams
whose sources I have seen, rises in an oozing boggy spot. Another
stream, the Tembwé, rises near the same spot, and flows N.W. into, the
Loangwa. We saw Shuaré palms in its bed.
_21st November, 1866._--We left Bua fountain, lat. 13° 40' south, and
made a short march to Mokatoba, a stockaded village, where the people
refused to admit us till the headman, came. They have a little food
here, and sold us some. We have been on rather short commons for some
time, and this made our detention agreeable. We rose a little in
altitude after leaving this morning, then, though in the same valley,
made a little descent towards the N.N.W. High winds came driving over
the eastern range, which is called Mchinjé, and bring large masses of
clouds, which are the rain-givers. They seem to come from the
south-east. The scenery of the valley is lovely and rich in the
extreme. All the foliage is fresh washed and clean; young herbage is
bursting through the ground; the air is deliciously cool, and the
birds are singing joyfully: one, called Mzié, is a good songster, with
a loud melodious voice. Large game abounds, but we do not meet with
it.
We are making our way slowly to the north, where food is said to be
abundant. I divided about 50 lbs. of powder among the people of my
following to shoot with, and buy goats or other food as we could. This
reduces our extra loads to three--four just now, Simon being sick
again. He rubbed goat's-fat on a blistered surface, and caused an
eruption of pimples.
_Mem._--The people assent by lifting up the head instead of nodding it
down as we do; deaf mutes are said to do the same.
_22nd November, 1866._--Leaving Mokatoba village, and proceeding down
the valley, which on the north is shut up apparently by a mountain
called Kokwé, we crossed the Kasamba, about two miles from Mokatoba,
and yet found it, though so near its source, four yards wide, and knee
deep. Its source is about a mile above Mokatoba, in the same valley,
with the Bua and Tembwé. We were told that elephants were near, and we
saw where they had been an hour before; but after seeking about could
not find them. An old man, in the deep defile between Kokwé and Yasika
Mountains, pointed to the latter, and said, "Elephants! why, there
they are. Elephants, or tusks, walking on foot are never absent;" but
though we were eager for flesh, we could not give him credit, and went
down the defile which gives rise to the Sandili River: where we
crossed it in the defile, it was a mere rill, having large trees along
its banks, yet it is said to go to the Loangwa of Zumbo, N.W. or
N.N.W. We were now in fact upon the slope which inclines to that
river, and made a rapid descent in altitude. We reached Silubi's
village, on the base of a rocky detached hill. No food to be had; all
taken by Mazitu, so Silubi gave me some Masuko fruit instead. They
find that they can keep the Mazitu off by going up a rocky eminence,
and hurling stones and arrows down on the invaders: they can defend
themselves also by stockades, and these are becoming very general.
On leaving Silubi's village, we went to a range of hills, and after
passing through found that we had a comparatively level country on the
north: it would be called a well-wooded country if we looked at it
only from a distance. It is formed into long ridges, all green and
wooded; but clumps of large trees, where villages have been, or are
still situated, show that the sylvan foliage around and over the whole
country is that of mere hop-poles. The whole of this upland region
might be called woody, if we bear in mind that where the population is
dense, and has been long undisturbed, the trees are cut down to the
size of low bush. Large districts are kept to about the size of
hop-poles, growing on pollards three or four feet from the ground, by
charcoal burners, who, in all instances, are smiths too.
On reaching Zeoré's village, on the Lokuzhwa, we found it stockaded,
and stagnant pools round three sides of it. The Mazitu had come,
pillaged all the surrounding villages, looked at this, and then went
away; so the people had food to sell. They here call themselves
Echéwa, and have a different marking from the Atumboka. The men have
the hair dressed as if a number of the hairs of elephants' tails were
stuck around the head: the women wear a small lip-ring, and a straw or
piece of stick in the lower lip, which dangles down about level with
the lower edge of the chin: their clothing in front is very scanty.
The men know nothing of distant places, the Manganja being a very
stay-at-home people. The stockades are crowded with huts, and the
children have but small room to play in the narrow spaces between.
_25th November, 1866._--Sunday at Zeoré's. The villagers thought we
prayed for rain, which was much needed. The cracks in the soil have
not yet come together by the «welling of soil produced by moisture. I
disabused their minds about rain-making prayers, and found the headman
intelligent.
I did not intend to notice the Lokuzhwa, it is such a contemptible
little rill, and not at present running; but in going to our next
point, Mpandé's village, we go along its valley, and cross it several
times, as it makes for the Loangwa in the north. The valley is of rich
dark red loam, and so many lilies of the Amaryllis kind have
established themselves as completely to mask the colour of the soil.
They form a covering of pure white where the land has been cleared by
the hoe. As we go along this valley to the Loangwa, we descend in
altitude. It is said to rise at "Nombé rumé," as we formerly heard.
_27th November, 1866._--Zeoré's people would not carry without
prepayment, so we left our extra loads as usual and went on, sending
men back for them: these, however, did not come till 27th, and then
two of my men got fever. I groan in spirit, and do not know how to
make our gear into nine loads only. It is the knowledge that we shall
be detained, some two or three months during the heavy rains that
makes me cleave to it as means of support.
Advantage has been taken by the people, of spots where the Lokuzhwa
goes round three parts of a circle, to erect their stockaded villages.
This is the case here, and the water, being stagnant, engenders
disease. The country abounds in a fine light blue flowering perennial
pea, which the people make use of as a relish. At present the blossoms
only are collected and boiled. On inquiring the name, _chilóbé_, the
men asked me if we had none in our country. On replying in the
negative, they looked with pity on us: "What a wretched, country not
to have chilóbé." It is on the highlands above; we never saw it
elsewhere! Another species of pea _(Chilobé Weza)_, with reddish
flowers, is eaten in the same way; but it has spread but little in
comparison. It is worth remarking that porridge of maize or sorghum is
never offered without some pulse, beans, or bean leaves, or flowers,
they seem to feel the need of it, or of pulse, which is richer in
flesh-formers than the porridge.
Last night a loud clapping of hands by the men was followed by several
half-suppressed screams by a woman. They were quite _eldritch_, as if
she could not get them out. Then succeeded a lot of utterances as if
she were in ecstasy, to which a man responded, "Moio, moio." The
utterances, so far as I could catch, were in five-syllable
snatches--abrupt and laboured. I wonder if this "bubbling or boiling
over" has been preserved as the form in which the true prophets of old
gave forth their "burdens"? One sentence, frequently repeated towards
the close of the effusion, was "_linyama uta_," "flesh of the bow,"
showing that the Pythoness loved venison killed by the bow. The people
applauded, and attended, hoping, I suppose, that rain would follow her
efforts. Next day she was duly honoured by drumming and dancing.[35]
Prevalent beliefs seem to be persistent in certain tribes. That
strange idea of property in man that permits him to be sold to another
is among the Arabs, Manganja, Makoa, Waiyau, but not among Kaffirs or
Zulus, and Bechuanas. If we exclude the Arabs, two families of
Africans alone are slavers on the east side of the Continent.
_30th November, 1866._--We march to Chilunda's or Embora's, still on
the Lokuzhwa, now a sand-stream about twenty yards wide, with pools in
its bed; its course is pretty much north or N.N.W. We are now near the
Loangwa country, covered with a dense dwarf forest, and the people
collected in stockades. This village is on a tongue of land (between
Lokuzhwa and another sluggish rivulet), chosen for its strength. It is
close to a hill named Chipemba, and there are ranges of hills both
east and west in the distance. Embora came to visit us soon after we
arrived--a tall man with a Yankee face. He was very much tickled when
asked if he were a Motumboka. After indulging in laughter at the idea
of being one of such a small tribe of Manganja, he said proudly, "That
he belonged to the Echéwa, who inhabited all the country to which I
was going." They are generally smiths; a mass of iron had just been
brought in to him from some outlying furnaces. It is made into hoes,
which are sold for native cloths down the Loangwa.
_3rd December, 1866._--March through a hilly country covered with
dwarf forest to Kandé's village, still on the Lokuzhwa. We made some
westing. The village was surrounded by a dense hedge of bamboo and a
species of bushy fig that loves edges of water-bearing streams: it is
not found where the moisture is not perennial. Kandé is a fine tall
smith; I asked him if he knew his antecedents; he said he had been
bought by Babisa at Chipéta, and left at Chilunda's, and therefore
belonged to no one. Two Waiyau now volunteered to go on with us, and
as they declared their masters were killed by the Mazitu, and Kandé
seemed to confirm them, we let them join. In general, runaway slaves
are bad characters, but these two seem good men, and we want them to
fill up our complement: another volunteer we employ as goatherd.
A continuous tap-tapping in the villages shows that bark cloth is
being made. The bark, on being removed from the-tree, is steeped in
water, or in a black muddy hole, till the outer of the two inner barks
can be separated, then commences the tapping with a mallet to separate
and soften the fibres. The head of this is often of ebony, with the
face cut into small furrows, which, without breaking, separate and
soften the fibres.
[Illustration.]
_4th December, 1866._--Marched westwards, over a hilly, dwarf
forest-covered country: as we advanced, trees increased in size, but
no people inhabited it; we spent a miserable night at Katétté, wetted
by a heavy thunder-shower, which lasted a good while. Morning _(5th
December_) muggy, clouded all over, and rolling thunder in distance.
Went three hours with, for a wonder, no water, but made westing
chiefly, and got on to the Lokuzhwa again: all the people are
collected on it.
_6th December, 1866._--Too ill to march.
_7th December, 1866._--Went on, and passed Mesumbé's village, also
protected by bamboos, and came to the hill Mparawé, with a village
perched on its northern base and well up its sides. The Babisa have
begun to imitate the Mazitu by attacking and plundering Manganja
villages. Muasi's brother was so attacked, and now is here and eager
to attack in return. In various villages we have observed miniature
huts, about two feet high, very neatly thatched and plastered, here we
noticed them in dozens. On inquiring, we were told that when a child
or relative dies one is made, and when any pleasant food is cooked or
beer brewed, a little is placed in the tiny hut for the departed soul,
which is believed to enjoy it.
The Lokuzhwa is here some fifty yards wide, and running. Numerous
large pitholes in the fine-grained schist in its bed show that much
water has flowed in it.
_8th December, 1866._--A kind of bean called "chitetta" is eaten here,
it is an old acquaintance in the Bechuana country, where it is called
"mositsané," and is a mere plant; here it becomes a tree, from fifteen
to twenty feet high. The root is used for tanning; the bean is
pounded, and then put into a sieve of bark cloth to extract, by
repeated washings, the excessively astringent matter it contains.
Where the people have plenty of water, as here, it is used copiously
in various processes, among Bechuanas it is scarce, and its many uses
unknown: the pod becomes from fifteen to eighteen inches long, and an
inch in diameter.
_9th December, 1866._--A poor child, whose mother had died, was
unprovided for; no one not a relative will nurse another's child. It
called out piteously for its mother by name, and the women (like the
servants in the case of the poet Cowper when a child), said, "She is
coming." I gave it a piece of bread, but it was too far gone, and is
dead to-day.
An alarm of Mazitu sent all the villagers up the sides of Mparawé
this morning. The affair was a chase of a hyaena, but everything is
Mazitu! The Babisa came here, but were surrounded and nearly all cut
off. Muasi was so eager to be off with a party to return the attack on
the Mazitu, that, when deputed by the headman to give us a guide, he
got the man to turn at the first village, so we had to go on without
guides, and made about due north.
_11th December, 1866._--We are now detained in the forest, at a place
called Chondé Forest, by set-in rains. It rains every day, and
generally in the afternoon; but the country is not wetted till the
"set-in" rains commence; the cracks in the soil then fill up and
everything rushes up with astonishing rapidity; the grass is quite
crisp and soft. After the fine-grained schist, we came on granite with
large flakes of talc in it. This forest is of good-sized trees, many
of them mopané. The birds now make much melody and noise--all intent
on building.
_12th December, 1866._--Across an undulating forest country north we
got a man to show us the way, if a pathless forest can so be called.
We used a game-path as long as it ran north, but left it when it
deviated, and rested under a baobab-tree with a marabou's nest--a
bundle of sticks on a branch; the young ones uttered a hard chuck,
chuck, when the old ones flew over them. A sun-bird, with bright
scarlet throat and breast, had its nest on another branch, it was
formed like the weaver's nest, but without a tube. I observed the dam
picking out insects from the bark and leaves of the baobab, keeping on
the wing the while: it would thus appear to be insectivorous as well
as a honey-bibber. Much spoor of elands, zebras, gnus, kamas, pallahs,
buffaloes, reed-bucks, with tsetse, their parasites.
_13th December, 1866._--Reached the Tokosusi, which is said to rise at
Nombé Rumé, about twenty yards wide and knee deep, swollen by the
rains: it had left a cake of black tenacious mud on its banks. Here I
got a pallah antelope, and a very strange flower called "katendé,"
which was a whorl of seventy-two flowers sprung from a flat, round
root; but it cannot be described. Our guide would have crossed the
Tokosusi, which was running north-west to join the Loangwa, and then
gone to that river; but always when we have any difficulty the
"lazies" exhibit themselves. We had no grain; and three remained
behind spending four hours at what we did in an hour and a quarter.
Our guide became tired and turned, not before securing another; but he
would not go over the Loangwa; no one likes to go out of his own
country: he would go westwards to Maranda's, and nowhere else. A
"set-in" rain came on after dark, and we went on through slush, the
trees sending down heavier drops than the showers as we neared the
Loangwa; we forded several deep gullies, all flowing north or
north-west into it. The paths were running with water, and when we
emerged from the large Mopané Forest, we came on the plain of
excessively adhesive mud, on which Maranda's stronghold stands on the
left bank of Loangwa, here a good-sized river. The people were all
afraid of us, and we were mortified to find that food is scarce. The
Mazitu have been here three times, and the fear they have inspired,
though they were successfully repelled, has prevented agricultural
operations from being carried on.
_Mem._--A flake of reed is often used in surgical operations among the
natives, as being sharper than their knives.
FOOTNOTES:
[34] A cloth means two yards of unbleached calico.
[35] Chuma remembers part of the words of her song to be as follows:--
Kowé! kowé! n'andambwi, M'vula léru, korolé ko okwé, Waie, ona, kordi,
mvula!
He cannot translate it as it is pure Manganja, but with the exception
of the first line--which relates to a little song-bird with a
beautiful note, it is a mere reiteration "rain will surely come
to-day."--ED.