Kambira goes to hunt,
Yo ho!
Him's spear am nebber blunt,
Yo ho!
Him kill de buff'lo quick,
An' lub de porridge thick;
Him chase de lion too,
An' stick um troo an' troo.
De 'potimus as well,
An' more dan me can tell,
Hab down before um fell,
Yo ho!
De English come to see,
Yo ho!
Dat werry good for we,
Yo ho!
No' take us 'way for slaves,
Nor put us in our graves,
But set de black mans free,
W'en cotch um on de sea.
Dem splendid shooters, too,
We knows what dey can do
Wid boil an' roast an' stew,
Yo ho!
One makes um's gun go crack,
Yo ho!
An elephant on um's back,
Yo ho!
De drefful lion roar,
De gun goes crack once more,
De bullet fly an' splits
One monkey into bits,
Yo ho!
De glow-worm next arise,
De Englishman likewise
Wid werry much surprise,
An' hit um 'tween de eyes,
"Hooray! hooray!" um cries,
An' run to fetch um's prize--
Yo ho!
The last "Yo ho!" was given with tremendous energy, and followed by
peals of laughter.
It was at this point that the veritable lion thought proper to join in,
which he did, as we have said, with a roar so tremendous that it not
only put a sudden stop to the music, but filled the party with so much
alarm that they sprang to their arms with surprising agility.
Mindful of Chimbolo's previous warning, neither Harold nor Disco sought
to advance, but both looked at their savage friend for advice.
Now, in some parts of Africa there exists a popular belief that the
souls of departed chiefs enter into lions and render them sacred, and
several members of Harold Seadrift's party entertained this notion.
Chimbolo was one of these. From the sounds of growling and rending
which issued from the thicket, he knew that the lion in question was
devouring part of their buffalo-meat which had been hung on the branch
of a neighbouring tree, not, however, near enough to the fires to be
visible. Believing that the beast was a chief in disguise, Chimbolo
advanced a little towards the place where he was, and, much to our
traveller's amusement, gave him a good scolding.
"_You_ call yourself a chief, do you--eh?" he said sternly. "What kind
of a chief can _you_ be, to come sneaking about in the dark like this,
trying to steal our buffalo-meat! Are you not ashamed of yourself? A
pretty chief, truly; you are like the scavenger-beetle, and think of
yourself only; you have not the heart of a chief. Why don't you kill
your own beef? You must have a stone in your chest, and no heart at
all."
"That's werry flowery lingo, but it don't seem to convince him," said
Disco, with a quiet smile, as the lion, which had been growling
continuously over its meal all the time, wound up Chimbolo's speech with
another terrific roar.
At this point another believer in transmigration of souls, a quiet man
who seldom volunteered remarks on any subject, stepped forward and began
seriously to expostulate with the lion.
"It is very wrong of you," he said, "to treat strangers in this fashion.
You might have more respect for Englishmen who have come to see your
land, and never did you any harm. We are travelling peaceably through
the country; we never kill anybody, and never steal anything; the
buffalo-meat is ours, not yours, and it ill becomes a great chief like
you to be prowling about in the dark, like a hyena, trying to steal the
meat of strangers. Surely you can hunt for yourself--there is plenty of
meat in the forest." [See Livingstone's _Zambesi and its Tributaries_,
page 160.]
As the lion was equally deaf to this man's reasoning, Harold thought it
right to try a more persuasive plan. He drew up in a line all the men
who had guns, and at a word of command they fired a volley of balls into
the jungle, in the direction whence the sounds issued. A dead silence
followed, but it was deemed advisable not to venture in to see the
effect, as men had frequently lost their lives by so doing. A watch,
however, was kept during the night, and the fires were well replenished,
for they knew that the king of the forest usually shrinks from doing his
evil deeds in the light of a strong camp-fire. We say usually--because
they are not always thus shy. Authentic instances are on record of
lions having leaped into the centre of a bivouac, and carried off one of
the men in spite of being smitten in the face with flaming firebrands.
Fortunately the lion of which we write thought "discretion the better
part of valour." He retired peaceably, nevertheless Disco and his
friend continued to dream of him all night so vividly that they started
up several times, and seized their rifles, under the impression that he
had roared his loudest into their very ears, and after each of these
occasions they crept back into their sleeping bags to re-dream of the
lion!
The "bag" which formed each man's couch was made simply of two mats
sewed together, and left open, not at one of the ends but at one of the
sides, so that a man could roll out of or into it more easily than he
could have slid, feet first, into a sack. It was large enough also for
two to sleep inside together, always supposing that the two were of
accommodating dispositions!
That they had now reached a land which swarmed with wild animals was
intimated to some extent by the running past, within fifty yards of
their bivouac, of a troop of elephants. It was daybreak at the time, so
that, having been thus rudely aroused, they did not deem it necessary to
return to rest but after taking a hasty mouthful of food, set forth on
their journey.
The usual mode of proceeding on the march was as follows:--They rose
about five o'clock, or soon after the appearance of dawn, and swallowed
a cup of tea, with a bit of biscuit, then some of the men folded up the
blankets and stowed them away in the bags, others tied up the cooking
utensils, etcetera, in bundles, and hung them at the ends of
carrying-sticks, which they bore upon their shoulders. The process did
not take long. They were soon on the march, either in single file, if
the path were narrow, or in groups, according to fancy, where the ground
admitted of their spreading out. About nine, a convenient spot was
chosen for a halt to breakfast, which meat, although not "_eaten_ the
night before in order to save time in the morning," was at all events
_cooked_ on the previous evening for the same end, so that it only
needed warming up. Then the march was resumed; a short rest was allowed
in the heat of the day, when, of course, Disco had a pipe and much
sagacious intercourse with his fellows, and they finally encamped for
the remainder of the day and night early in the afternoon. Thus they
travelled five or six hours at a stretch, and averaged from twelve to
fifteen miles a day, which is about as much as Europeans can stand in a
hot climate without being oppressed. This Disco called "taking it
easy," and so it was when compared with the custom of some travellers,
whose chief end would appear to be the getting over as much ground as
possible in a given time, in order that they may afterwards boast of the
same, and for the accomplishment of which they are obliged to abuse and
look ferocious at the blacks, cock their pistols, and flourish their
whips, in a manner which is only worthy of being styled contemptible and
cowardly. We need not say that our friends Harold and Disco had no such
propensities. They had kindly consideration for the feelings of their
"niggers," coupled with great firmness; became very sociable with them,
and thus got hearty, willing work out of them. But to return from this
digression.
During the day, the number of animals of all sorts that were seen was so
great as to induce Disco to protest, with a slap of his thigh, that the
whole land, from stem to stern, seemed to him to be one prodigious
zoological garden--it did, an' no mistake about it.
Disco was not far wrong. He and Harold having started ahead of the
party, with Chimbolo as their guide, came on a wonderful variety of
creatures in rapid succession. First, they fell in with some large
flocks of guinea-fowl, and shot a few for dinner. As they advanced,
various birds ran across their path, and clouds of turtle-doves filled
the air with the blatter of their wings as they rose above the trees.
Ducks, geese, and francolins helped to swell the chorus of sounds.
When the sun rose and sent a flood of light over a wide and richly
wooded vale, into which they were about to descend, a herd of pallahs
stood gazing at the travellers in stupid surprise, and allowed them to
approach within sixty yards before trotting leisurely away. These and
all other animals were passed unmolested, as the party had sufficient
meat at the time, and Harold made it a point not to permit his followers
to shoot animals for the mere sake of sport, though several of them were
uncommonly anxious to do so. Soon afterwards a herd of waterbucks
were passed, and then a herd of koodoos, with two or three
magnificently-horned bucks amongst them, which hurried off to the
hillsides on seeing the travellers. Antelopes also were seen, and
buffaloes, grazing beside their path.
Ere long they came upon a small pond with a couple of elephants standing
on its brink, cooling their huge sides by drawing water into their
trunks and throwing it all over themselves. Behind these were several
herds of zebras and waterbucks, all of which took to flight on "getting
the wind" of man. They seemed intuitively to know that he was an enemy.
Wild pigs, also, were common, and troops of monkeys, large and small,
barked, chattered, grinned, and made faces among the trees.
After pitching the camp each afternoon, and having had a mouthful of
biscuit, the two Englishmen were in the habit of going off to hunt for
the daily supply of fresh meat accompanied by Chimbolo as their guide
and game-carrier, Antonio as their interpreter, and Mokompa as their
poet and jester. They did not indeed, appoint Mokompa to that post of
honour, but the little worthy took it upon himself, for the express
purpose of noting the deeds of the white men, in order to throw his
black comrades into convulsions over supper by a poetic recital of the
same.
"It pleases them, an' it don't hurt us," was Disco's observation on this
head.
On the afternoon, then, of which we write, the party of four went out to
hunt, while the encampment was being prepared under the superintendence
of Jumbo, who had already proved himself to be an able manager and cook,
as also had his countrymen Masiko and Zombo.
"What a rich country!" exclaimed Harold, looking round in admiration
from the top of a small hillock on as fine a scene as one could wish to
behold, "and what a splendid cotton country it might be if properly
cultivated!"
"So it is," said Disco, "an' I shouldn't wonder if there wos lots of
gold too, if we only knew where to look for it."
"Gold!" exclaimed Antonio, who sat winking placidly on the stump of a
fallen tree; "dere be lots ob gold near Zambesi--an' oder ting too."
"Let's hear wot are some of the other things," said Disco.
"What are dere?--oh, let me see: der be coal, lots ob coal on Zambesi,
any amount ob it, an' it burn fuss-rate, too. Dere be iron-ore, very
much, an' indigo, an' sugar-cane, an ivory; you hab hear an' see yooself
about de elephants an' de cottin, an' tobacco. [See Livingstone's
_Zambesi and its Tributaries_, page 52.] Oh! great plenty ob eberyting
eberywhere in dis yere country, but," said Antonio, with a shrug of his
shoulders, "no can make noting out ob it on account ob de slave-trade."
"Then I 'spose 'ee don't approve of the slave-trade?" said Disco.
"No, dat am true," replied Antonio; "de country very good for
slave-trader, but no good for man like me what want to trade proper."
"H'm! I've more respect for 'ee than I had," said Disco. "I 'spose
you've bin up in these parts before now, have 'ee?"
"No, nevah, but I hab sister what marry one nigger, one slave, what sold
himself, an' him tell me much 'bout it. Hims bin up here many time."
"Sold himself!" repeated Harold in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Mean dat," returned Antonio. "Him was a black free-man--call him
Chibanti; him was all alone in de world, lose fader, moder, broder,
sister, wife, eberyting by slave-trader, who steal dem all away or
murder dem. So Chibanti him say, `What de use of be free?' So him go
to one master, who berry good to hims niggers--gib dem plenty to eat an'
little to do--an' sole hisself to him."
"An' wot did he get for himself?" asked Disco.
"Got ninety yard ob cottin cloth."
"Did he consider himself cheap or dear at that?" inquired Disco.
"Oh, dear--awful dear!"
"What has come of him now?" asked Harold.
"Dunno," answered Antonio. "After him got de cloth, hims master send
him to Quillimane wid cargo ob ivory, an' gib him leave to do leetil
trade on hims own account; so him bought a man, a woman, an' a boy, for
sixty yard ob cottin, an' wid de rest hired slaves for de voyage down,
an' drove a mos' won'erful trade. But long time since me hear ob him.
P'raps hims good master be dead, an' him go wid de rest of de goods an'
chattels to a bad master, who berry soon make him sorry him sole
hisself."
Pushing forward for several days in the manner which we have attempted
to describe, our travellers passed through many varied scenes, which,
however, all bore one mark in common, namely, teeming animal and
vegetable life. Human beings were also found to be exceedingly
numerous, but not so universally distributed as the others, for,
although many villages and hamlets were passed, the inhabitants of which
were all peacefully inclined and busy in their fields, or with their
native cotton, iron, and pottery manufactures, vast expanses of rich
ground were also traversed, which, as far as man was concerned, appeared
to be absolute solitudes.
Entering upon one of these about noon of a remarkably fine day, Harold
could not help remarking on the strange stillness which pervaded the
air. No sound was heard from beast, bird, or insect; no village was
near, no rippling stream murmured, or zephyr stirred the leaves; in
short, it was a scene which, from its solitude and profound silence,
became oppressive.
"W'y, sir," said Disco, whose face was bathed in perspiration, "it do
seem to me as if we'd got to the fag-end of the world altogether. There
ain't nothin' nowhere."
Harold laughed, and said it looked like it. But Disco was wrong. It
was only the hour when animals seem to find a _siesta_ indispensable,
and vegetables as well as air had followed their example. A few minutes
sufficed to prove their mistake, for, on entering a piece of woodland, a
herd of pallahs, and another of water-bucks, appeared, standing as quiet
and still as if they were part of a painted landscape. Then, in passing
a thick clump of thorns, they could see, through openings in the bushes,
the dim phantom-like forms of buffaloes, with heads lowered and eyes
glaring at them, ready to charge, if need be, though too lazy from heat,
apparently, to begin the 'fray, and willing to act on the principle of
"let be for let be." Still farther on, a native was observed keeping at
a respectful distance. He had seen the travellers from afar, and come
with noiseless tread to get a nearer view.
Halting to rest the party for a few minutes in a shady hollow, Harold
threw himself at full length on the grass, but Disco, who, strange to
say, did not feel inclined to smoke at the moment--probably because he
had only just finished his fifth pipe a few minutes previously--
sauntered on alone to the top of the next ridge.
He had barely reached the summit when Harold, who chanced to be looking
after him, observed that he crouched suddenly behind a bush, and, after
gazing steadfastly for a few seconds over the hill, turned and ran back,
making excessively wild demonstrations with head and arms, but uttering
no sound.
Of course the whole party sprang up and ran towards the excited mariner,
and soon were near enough to understand that his violent actions were
meant to caution them to make no noise.
"Hush!" he said eagerly, on coming near enough to be heard; "keep quiet
as mice. There's a slave-gang, or somethin' uncommon like it, goin'
along on right athwart us."
Without a word of reply, the whole party hurried forward and gained a
point of observation behind the low bushes which crowned the ridge.