Transcribed from the 1894 John Murray edition by David Price, email
ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF
DR. LIVINGSTONE'S EXPEDITION TO THE ZAMBESI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES:
AND THE DISCOVERY OF LAKES SHIRWA AND NYASSA
1858-1864
TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD PALMERSTON,
K.G., G.C.B.
My Lord,
I beg leave to dedicate this Volume to your Lordship, as a tribute justly
due to the great Statesman who has ever had at heart the amelioration of
the African race; and as a token of admiration of the beneficial effects
of that policy which he has so long laboured to establish on the West
Coast of Africa; and which, in improving that region, has most forcibly
shown the need of some similar system on the opposite side of the
Continent.
DAVID LIVINGSTONE.
NOTICE TO THIS WORK.
The name of the late Mr. Charles Livingstone takes a prominent place
amongst those who acted under the leadership of Dr. Livingstone during
the adventurous sojourn of the "Zambesi Expedition" in East Africa. In
laying the result of their discoveries before the public, it was arranged
that Mr. Charles Livingstone should place his voluminous notes at the
disposal of his brother: they are incorporated in the present work, but
in a necessarily abridged form.
PREFACE.
It has been my object in this work to give as clear an account as I was
able of tracts of country previously unexplored, with their river
systems, natural productions, and capabilities; and to bring before my
countrymen, and all others interested in the cause of humanity, the
misery entailed by the slave-trade in its inland phases; a subject on
which I and my companions are the first who have had any opportunities of
forming a judgment. The eight years spent in Africa, since my last work
was published, have not, I fear, improved my power of writing English;
but I hope that, whatever my descriptions want in clearness, or literary
skill, may in a measure be compensated by the novelty of the scenes
described, and the additional information afforded on that curse of
Africa, and that shame, even now, in the 19th century, of an European
nation,--the slave-trade.
I took the "Lady Nyassa" to Bombay for the express purpose of selling
her, and might without any difficulty have done so; but with the thought
of parting with her arose, more strongly than ever, the feeling of
disinclination to abandon the East Coast of Africa to the Portuguese and
slave-trading, and I determined to run home and consult my friends before
I allowed the little vessel to pass from my hands. After, therefore,
having put two Ajawa lads, Chuma and Wakatani, to school under the
eminent missionary the Rev. Dr. Wilson, and having provided
satisfactorily for the native crew, I started homewards with the three
white sailors, and reached London July 20th, 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Webb, my
much-loved friends, wrote to Bombay inviting me, in the event of my
coming to England, to make Newstead Abbey my headquarters, and on my
arrival renewed their invitation: and though, when I accepted it, I had
no intention of remaining so long with my kind-hearted generous friends,
I stayed with them until April, 1865, and under their roof transcribed
from my own and my brother's journal the whole of this present book. It
is with heartfelt gratitude I would record their unwearied kindness. My
acquaintance with Mr. Webb began in Africa, where he was a daring and
successful hunter, and his continued friendship is most valuable because
he has seen missionary work, and he would not accord his respect and
esteem to me had he not believed that I, and my brethren also, were to be
looked on as honest men earnestly trying to do our duty.
The Government have supported the proposal of the Royal Geographical
Society made by my friend Sir Roderick Murchison, and have united with
that body to aid me in another attempt to open Africa to civilizing
influences, and a valued private friend has given a thousand pounds for
the same object. I propose to go inland, north of the territory which
the Portuguese in Europe claim, and endeavour to commence that system on
the East which has been so eminently successful on the West Coast; a
system combining the repressive efforts of H.M. cruisers with lawful
trade and Christian Missions--the moral and material results of which
have been so gratifying. I hope to ascend the Rovuma, or some other
river North of Cape Delgado, and, in addition to my other work, shall
strive, by passing along the Northern end of Lake Nyassa and round the
Southern end of Lake Tanganyika, to ascertain the watershed of that part
of Africa. In so doing, I have no wish to unsettle what with so much
toil and danger was accomplished by Speke and Grant, but rather to
confirm their illustrious discoveries.
I have to acknowledge the obliging readiness of Lord Russell in lending
me the drawings taken by the artist who was in the first instance
attached to the Expedition. These sketches, with photographs by Charles
Livingstone and Dr. Kirk, have materially assisted in the illustrations.
I would also very sincerely thank my friends Professor Owen and Mr.
Oswell for many valuable hints and other aid in the preparation of this
volume.
Newstead Abbey,
April 16, 1865.
THE ZAMBESI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
INTRODUCTION.
Objects of the Expedition--Personal Interest shown by Naval
Authorities--Members of the Zambesi Expedition.
When first I determined on publishing the narrative of my "Missionary
Travels," I had a great misgiving as to whether the criticism my
endeavours might provoke would be friendly or the reverse, more
particularly as I felt that I had then been so long a sojourner in the
wilderness, as to be quite a stranger to the British public. But I am
now in this, my second essay at authorship, cheered by the conviction
that very many readers, who are personally unknown to me, will receive
this narrative with the kindly consideration and allowances of friends;
and that many more, under the genial influences of an innate love of
liberty, and of a desire to see the same social and religious blessings
they themselves enjoy, disseminated throughout the world, will sympathize
with me in the efforts by which I have striven, however imperfectly, to
elevate the position and character of our fellow-men in Africa. This
knowledge makes me doubly anxious to render my narrative acceptable to
all my readers; but, in the absence of any excellence in literary
composition, the natural consequence of my pursuits, I have to offer only
a simple account of a mission which, with respect to the objects proposed
to be thereby accomplished, formed a noble contrast to some of the
earlier expeditions to Eastern Africa. I believe that the information it
will give, respecting the people visited and the countries traversed,
will not be materially gainsaid by any future commonplace traveller like
myself, who may be blest with fair health and a gleam of sunshine in his
breast. This account is written in the earnest hope that it may
contribute to that information which will yet cause the great and fertile
continent of Africa to be no longer kept wantonly sealed, but made
available as the scene of European enterprise, and will enable its people
to take a place among the nations of the earth, thus securing the
happiness and prosperity of tribes now sunk in barbarism or debased by
slavery; and, above all, I cherish the hope that it may lead to the
introduction of the blessings of the Gospel.
In order that the following narrative may be clearly understood, it is
necessary to call to mind some things which took place previous to the
Zambesi Expedition being sent out. Most geographers are aware that,
before the discovery of Lake Ngami and the well-watered country in which
the Makololo dwell, the idea prevailed that a large part of the interior
of Africa consisted of sandy deserts, into which rivers ran and were
lost. During my journey in 1852-6, from sea to sea, across the south
intertropical part of the continent, it was found to be a well-watered
country, with large tracts of fine fertile soil covered with forest, and
beautiful grassy valleys, occupied by a considerable population; and one
of the most wonderful waterfalls in the world was brought to light. The
peculiar form of the continent was then ascertained to be an elevated
plateau, somewhat depressed in the centre, and with fissures in the sides
by which the rivers escaped to the sea; and this great fact in physical
geography can never be referred to without calling to mind the remarkable
hypothesis by which the distinguished President of the Royal Geographical
Society (Sir Roderick I. Murchison) clearly indicated this peculiarity,
before it was verified by actual observation of the altitudes of the
country and by the courses of the rivers. New light was thrown on other
portions of the continent by the famous travels of Dr. Barth, by the
researches of the Church of England missionaries Krapf, Erkhardt, and
Rebman, by the persevering efforts of Dr. Baikie, the last martyr to the
climate and English enterprise, by the journey of Francis Galton, and by
the most interesting discoveries of Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria Nyanza
by Captain Burton, and by Captain Speke, whose untimely end we all so
deeply deplore. Then followed the researches of Van der Decken,
Thornton, and others; and last of all the grand discovery of the main
source of the Nile, which every Englishman must feel an honest pride in
knowing was accomplished by our gallant countrymen, Speke and Grant. The
fabulous torrid zone, of parched and burning sand, was now proved to be a
well-watered region resembling North America in its fresh-water lakes,
and India in its hot humid lowlands, jungles, ghauts, and cool highland
plains.
The main object of this Zambesi Expedition, as our instructions from Her
Majesty's Government explicitly stated, was to extend the knowledge
already attained of the geography and mineral and agricultural resources
of Eastern and Central Africa--to improve our acquaintance with the
inhabitants, and to endeavour to engage them to apply themselves to
industrial pursuits and to the cultivation of their lands, with a view to
the production of raw material to be exported to England in return for
British manufactures; and it was hoped that, by encouraging the natives
to occupy themselves in the development of the resources of the country,
a considerable advance might be made towards the extinction of the slave-
trade, as they would not be long in discovering that the former would
eventually be a more certain source of profit than the latter. The
Expedition was sent in accordance with the settled policy of the English
Government; and the Earl of Clarendon, being then at the head of the
Foreign Office, the Mission was organized under his immediate care. When
a change of Government ensued, we experienced the same generous
countenance and sympathy from the Earl of Malmesbury, as we had
previously received from Lord Clarendon; and, on the accession of Earl
Russell to the high office he has so long filled, we were always favoured
with equally ready attention and the same prompt assistance. Thus the
conviction was produced that our work embodied the principles, not of any
one party, but of the hearts of the statesmen and of the people of
England generally. The Expedition owes great obligations to the Lords of
the Admiralty for their unvarying readiness to render us every assistance
in their power; and to the warm-hearted and ever-obliging hydrographer to
the Admiralty, the late Admiral Washington, as a subordinate, but most
effective agent, our heartfelt gratitude is also due; and we must ever
thankfully acknowledge that our efficiency was mainly due to the kind
services of Admirals Sir Frederick Grey, Sir Baldwin Walker, and all the
naval officers serving under them on the East Coast. Nor must I omit to
record our obligations to Mr. Skead, R.N. The Luawe was carefully
sounded and surveyed by this officer, whose skilful and zealous labours,
both on that river, and afterwards on the Lower Zambesi, were deserving
of all praise.
In speaking of what has been done by the Expedition, it should always be
understood that Dr. Kirk, Mr. Charles Livingstone, Mr. R. Thornton, and
others composed it. In using the plural number they are meant, and I
wish to bear testimony to the untiring zeal, energy, courage, and
perseverance with which my companions laboured; undaunted by
difficulties, dangers, or hard fare. It is my firm belief that, were
their services required in any other capacity, they might be implicitly
relied on to perform their duty like men. The reason why Dr. Kirk's name
does not appear on the title-page of this narrative is, because it is
hoped that he may give an account of the botany and natural history of
the Expedition in a separate work from his own pen. He collected above
four thousand species of plants, specimens of most of the valuable woods,
of the different native manufactures, of the articles of food, and of the
different kinds of cotton from every spot we visited, and a great variety
of birds and insects; besides making meteorological observations, and
affording, as our instructions required, medical assistance to the
natives in every case where he could be of any use.
Charles Livingstone was also fully occupied in his duties in following
out the general objects of our mission, in encouraging the culture of
cotton, in making many magnetic and meteorological observations, in
photographing so long as the materials would serve, and in collecting a
large number of birds, insects, and other objects of interest. The
collections, being Government property, have been forwarded to the
British Museum, and to the Royal Botanic, Gardens at Kew; and should Dr.
Kirk undertake their description, three or four years will be required
for the purpose.
Though collections were made, it was always distinctly understood that,
however desirable these and our explorations might be, "Her Majesty's
Government attached more importance to the moral influence that might be
exerted on the minds of the natives by a well-regulated and orderly
household of Europeans setting an example of consistent moral conduct to
all who might witness it; treating the people with kindness, and
relieving their wants, teaching them to make experiments in agriculture,
explaining to them the more simple arts, imparting to them religious
instruction as far as they are capable of receiving it, and inculcating
peace and good will to each other."
It would be tiresome to enumerate in detail all the little acts which
were performed by us while following out our instructions. As a rule,
whenever the steamer stopped to take in wood, or for any other purpose,
Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone went ashore to their duties: one of our
party, who it was intended should navigate the vessel and lay down the
geographical positions, having failed to answer the expectations formed
of him, these duties fell chiefly to my share. They involved a
considerable amount of night work, in which I was always cheerfully aided
by my companions, and the results were regularly communicated to our warm
and ever-ready friend, Sir Thomas Maclear of the Royal Observatory, Cape
of Good Hope. While this work was going through the press, we were
favoured with the longitudes of several stations determined from observed
occultations of stars by the moon, and from eclipses and reappearances of
Jupiter's satellites, by Mr. Mann, the able Assistant to the Cape
Astronomer Royal; the lunars are still in the hands of Mr. G. W. H.
Maclear of the same Observatory. In addition to these, the altitudes,
variations of the compass, latitudes and longitudes, as calculated on the
spot, appear in the map by Mr. Arrowsmith, and it is hoped may not differ
much from the results of the same data in abler bands. The office of
"skipper," which, rather than let the Expedition come to a stand, I
undertook, required no great ability in one "not too old to learn:" it
saved a salary, and, what was much more valuable than gold, saved the
Expedition from the drawback of any one thinking that he was
indispensable to its further progress. The office required attention to
the vessel both at rest and in motion. It also involved considerable
exposure to the sun; and to my regret kept me from much anticipated
intercourse with the natives, and the formation of full vocabularies of
their dialects.
I may add that all wearisome repetitions are as much as possible avoided
in the narrative; and, our movements and operations having previously
been given in a series of despatches, the attempt is now made to give as
fairly as possible just what would most strike any person of ordinary
intelligence in passing through the country. For the sake of the
freshness which usually attaches to first impressions, the Journal of
Charles Livingstone has been incorporated in the narrative; and many
remarks made by the natives, which ho put down at the moment of
translation, will convey to others the same ideas as they did to
ourselves. Some are no doubt trivial; but it is by the little acts and
words of every-day life that character is truly and best known. And
doubtless many will prefer to draw their own conclusions from them rather
than to be schooled by us.
CHAPTER I.
Arrival at the Zambesi--Rebel Warfare--Wild Animals--Shupanga--Hippopotamus
Hunters--The Makololo--Crocodiles.
The Expedition left England on the 10th of March, 1858, in Her Majesty's
Colonial Steamer "Pearl," commanded by Captain Duncan; and, after
enjoying the generous hospitality of our friends at Cape Town, with the
obliging attentions of Sir George Grey, and receiving on board Mr.
Francis Skead, R.N., as surveyor, we reached the East Coast in the
following May.
Our first object was to explore the Zambesi, its mouths and tributaries,
with a view to their being used as highways for commerce and Christianity
to pass into the vast interior of Africa. When we came within five or
six miles of the land, the yellowish-green tinge of the sea in soundings
was suddenly succeeded by muddy water with wrack, as of a river in flood.
The two colours did not intermingle, but the line of contact was as
sharply defined as when the ocean meets the land. It was observed that
under the wrack--consisting of reeds, sticks, and leaves,--and even under
floating cuttlefish bones and Portuguese "men-of-war" (Physalia), numbers
of small fish screen themselves from the eyes of birds of prey, and from
the rays of the torrid sun.
We entered the river Luawe first, because its entrance is so smooth and
deep, that the "Pearl," drawing 9 feet 7 inches, went in without a boat
sounding ahead. A small steam launch having been brought out from
England in three sections on the deck of the "Pearl" was hoisted out and
screwed together at the anchorage, and with her aid the exploration was
commenced. She was called the "Ma Robert," after Mrs. Livingstone, to
whom the natives, according to their custom, gave the name Ma (mother) of
her eldest son. The harbour is deep, but shut in by mangrove swamps; and
though the water a few miles up is fresh, it is only a tidal river; for,
after ascending some seventy miles, it was found to end in marshes
blocked up with reeds and succulent aquatic plants. As the Luawe had
been called "West Luabo," it was supposed to be a branch of the Zambesi,
the main stream of which is called "Luabo," or "East Luabo." The "Ma
Robert" and "Pearl" then went to what proved to be a real mouth of the
river we sought.
The Zambesi pours its waters into the ocean by four mouths, namely, the
Milambe, which is the most westerly, the Kongone, the Luabo, and the
Timbwe (or Muselo). When the river is in flood, a natural canal running
parallel with the coast, and winding very much among the swamps, forms a
secret way for conveying slaves from Quillimane to the bays Massangano
and Nameara, or to the Zambesi itself. The Kwakwa, or river of
Quillimane, some sixty miles distant from the mouth of the Zambesi, has
long been represented as the principal entrance to the Zambesi, in order,
as the Portuguese now maintain, that the English cruisers might be
induced to watch the false mouth, while slaves were quietly shipped from
the true one; and, strange to say, this error has lately been propagated
by a map issued by the colonial minister of Portugal.
After the examination of three branches by the able and energetic
surveyor, Francis Skead, R.N., the Kongone was found to be the best
entrance. The immense amount of sand brought down by the Zambesi has in
the course of ages formed a sort of promontory, against which the long
swell of the Indian Ocean, beating during the prevailing winds, has
formed bars, which, acting against the waters of the delta, may have led
to their exit sideways. The Kongone is one of those lateral branches,
and the safest; inasmuch as the bar has nearly two fathoms on it at low
water, and the rise at spring tides is from twelve to fourteen feet. The
bar is narrow, the passage nearly straight, and, were it buoyed and a
beacon placed on Pearl Island, would always be safe to a steamer. When
the wind is from the east or north, the bar is smooth; if from the south
and south-east, it has a heavy break on it, and is not to be attempted in
boats. A strong current setting to the east when the tide is flowing,
and to the west when ebbing, may drag a boat or ship into the breakers.
If one is doubtful of his longitude and runs east, he will soon see the
land at Timbwe disappear away to the north; and coming west again, he can
easily make out East Luabo from its great size; and Kongone follows
several miles west. East Luabo has a good but long bar, and not to be
attempted unless the wind be north-east or east. It has sometimes been
called "Barra Catrina," and was used in the embarkations of slaves. This
may have been the "River of Good Signs," of Vasco da Gama, as the mouth
is more easily seen from the seaward than any other; but the absence of
the pillar dedicated by that navigator to "St. Raphael," leaves the
matter in doubt. No Portuguese live within eighty miles of any mouth of
the Zambesi.
The Kongone is five miles east of the Milambe, or western branch, and
seven miles west from East Luabo, which again is five miles from the
Timbwe. We saw but few natives, and these, by escaping from their canoes
into the mangrove thickets the moment they caught sight of us, gave
unmistakeable indications that they had no very favourable opinion of
white men. They were probably fugitives from Portuguese slavery. In the
grassy glades buffaloes, wart-hogs, and three kinds of antelope were
abundant, and the latter easily obtained. A few hours' hunting usually
provided venison enough for a score of men for several days.
On proceeding up the Kongone branch it was found that, by keeping well in
the bends, which the current had worn deep, shoals were easily avoided.
The first twenty miles are straight and deep; then a small and rather
tortuous natural canal leads off to the right, and, after about five
miles, during which the paddles almost touch the floating grass of the
sides, ends in the broad Zambesi. The rest of the Kongone branch comes
out of the main stream considerably higher up as the outgoing branch
called Doto.
The first twenty miles of the Kongone are enclosed in mangrove jungle;
some of the trees are ornamented with orchilla weed, which appears never
to have been gathered. Huge ferns, palm bushes, and occasionally wild
date-palms peer out in the forest, which consists of different species of
mangroves; the bunches of bright yellow, though scarcely edible fruit,
contrasting prettily with the graceful green leaves. In some spots the
Milola, an umbrageous hibiscus, with large yellowish flowers, grows in
masses along the bank. Its bark is made into cordage, and is especially
valuable for the manufacture of ropes attached to harpoons for killing
the hippopotamus. The Pandanus or screw-palm, from which sugar bags are
made in the Mauritius, also appears, and on coming out of the canal into
the Zambesi many are so tall as in the distance to remind us of the
steeples of our native land, and make us relish the remark of an old
sailor, "that but one thing was wanting to complete the picture, and that
was a 'grog-shop near the church.'" We find also a few guava and lime-
trees growing wild, but the natives claim the crops. The dark woods
resound with the lively and exultant song of the kinghunter (_Halcyon
striolata_), as he sits perched on high among the trees. As the steamer
moves on through the winding channel, a pretty little heron or bright
kingfisher darts out in alarm from the edge of the bank, flies on ahead a
short distance, and settles quietly down to be again frightened off in a
few seconds as we approach. The magnificent fishhawk (_Halietus
vocifer_) sits on the top of a mangrove-tree, digesting his morning meal
of fresh fish, and is clearly unwilling to stir until the imminence of
the danger compels him at last to spread his great wings for flight. The
glossy ibis, acute of ear to a remarkable degree, hears from afar the
unwonted sound of the paddles, and, springing from the mud where his
family has been quietly feasting, is off, screaming out his loud, harsh,
and defiant Ha! ha! ha! long before the danger is near.
Several native huts now peep out from the bananas and cocoa-palms on the
right bank; they stand on piles a few feet above the low damp ground, and
their owners enter them by means of ladders. The soil is wonderfully
rich, and the gardens are really excellent. Rice is cultivated largely;
sweet potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes, cabbages, onions (shalots), peas, a
little cotton, and sugar-cane are also raised. It is said that English
potatoes, when planted at Quillimane on soil resembling this, in the
course of two years become in taste like sweet potatoes (_Convolvulus
batatas_), and are like our potato frosted. The whole of the fertile
region extending from the Kongone canal to beyond Mazaro, some eighty
miles in length, and fifty in breadth, is admirably adapted for the
growth of sugar-cane; and were it in the hands of our friends at the
Cape, would supply all Europe with sugar. The remarkably few people seen
appear to be tolerably well fed, but there was a dearth of clothing among
them; all were blacks, and nearly all Portuguese "colonos" or serfs. They
manifested no fear of white men, and stood in groups on the bank gazing
in astonishment at the steamers, especially at the "Pearl," which
accompanied us thus far up the river. One old man who came on board
remarked that never before had he seen any vessel so large as the
"Pearl," it was like a village, "Was it made out of one tree?" All were
eager traders, and soon came off to the ship in light swift canoes with
every kind of fruit and food they possessed; a few brought honey and
beeswax, which are found in quantities in the mangrove forests. As the
ships steamed off, many anxious sellers ran along the bank, holding up
fowls, baskets of rice and meal, and shouting "Malonda, Malonda," "things
for sale," while others followed in canoes, which they sent through the
water with great velocity by means of short broad-bladed paddles.
Finding the "Pearl's" draught too great for that part of the river near
the island of Simbo, where the branch called the Doto is given off to the
Kongone on the right bank, and another named Chinde departs to the secret
canal already mentioned on the left, the goods belonging to the
expedition were taken out of her, and placed on one of the grassy islands
about forty miles from the bar. The "Pearl" then left us, and we had to
part with our good friends Duncan and Skead; the former for Ceylon, the
latter to return to his duties as Government Surveyor at the Cape.
Of those who eventually did the work of the expedition the majority took
a sober common-sense view of the enterprise in which we were engaged.
Some remained on Expedition Island from the 18th June until the 13th
August, while the launch and pinnace were carrying the goods up to
Shupanga and Senna. The country was in a state of war, our luggage was
in danger, and several of our party were exposed to disease from
inactivity in the malaria of the delta. Here some had their first
introduction to African life, and African fever. Those alone were safe
who were actively employed with the vessels, and of course, remembering
the perilous position of their fellows, they strained every nerve to
finish the work and take them away.
Large columns of smoke rose daily from different points of the horizon,
showing that the natives were burning off the immense crops of tall
grass, here a nuisance, however valuable elsewhere. A white cloud was
often observed to rest on the head of the column, as if a current of hot
damp air was sent up by the heat of the flames and its moisture was
condensed at the top. Rain did not follow, though theorists have
imagined that in such cases it ought.
Large game, buffaloes, and zebras, were abundant abreast the island, but
no men could be seen. On the mainland, over on the right bank of the
river, we were amused by the eccentric gyrations and evolutions of flocks
of small seed-eating birds, who in their flight wheeled into compact
columns with such military precision as to give us the impression that
they must be guided by a leader, and all directed by the same signal.
Several other kinds of small birds now go in flocks, and among others the
large Senegal swallow. The presence of this bird, being clearly in a
state of migration from the north, while the common swallow of the
country, and the brown kite are away beyond the equator, leads to the
conjecture that there may be a double migration, namely, of birds from
torrid climates to the more temperate, as this now is, as well as from
severe winters to sunny regions; but this could not be verified by such
birds of passage as ourselves.
On reaching Mazaro, the mouth of a narrow creek which in floods
communicates with the Quillimane river, we found that the Portuguese were
at war with a half-caste named Mariano _alias_ Matakenya, from whom they
had generally fled, and who, having built a stockade near the mouth of
the Shire, owned all the country between that river and Mazaro. Mariano
was best known by his native name Matakenya, which in their tongue means
"trembling," or quivering as trees do in a storm. He was a keen slave-
hunter, and kept a large number of men, well armed with muskets. It is
an entire mistake to suppose that the slave trade is one of buying and
selling alone; or that engagements can be made with labourers in Africa
as they are in India; Mariano, like other Portuguese, had no labour to
spare. He had been in the habit of sending out armed parties on slave-
hunting forays among the helpless tribes to the north-east, and carrying
down the kidnapped victims in chains to Quillimane, where they were sold
by his brother-in-law Cruz Coimbra, and shipped as "Free emigrants" to
the French island of Bourbon. So long as his robberies and murders were
restricted to the natives at a distance, the authorities did not
interfere; but his men, trained to deeds of violence and bloodshed in
their slave forays, naturally began to practise on the people nearer at
hand, though belonging to the Portuguese, and even in the village of
Senna, under the guns of the fort. A gentleman of the highest standing
told us that, while at dinner with his family, it was no uncommon event
for a slave to rush into the room pursued by one of Mariano's men with
spear in hand to murder him.
The atrocities of this villain, aptly termed by the late governor of
Quillimane a "notorious robber and murderer," became at length
intolerable. All the Portuguese spoke of him as a rare monster of
inhumanity. It is unaccountable why half-castes, such as he, are so much
more cruel than the Portuguese, but such is undoubtedly the case.
It was asserted that one of his favourite modes of creating an impression
in the country, and making his name dreaded, was to spear his captives
with his own hands. On one occasion he is reported to have thus killed
forty poor wretches placed in a row before him. We did not at first
credit these statements, and thought that they were merely exaggerations
of the incensed Portuguese, who naturally enough were exasperated with
him for stopping their trade, and harbouring their runaway slaves; but we
learned afterwards from the natives, that the accounts given us by the
Portuguese had not exceeded the truth; and that Mariano was quite as
great a ruffian as they had described him. One expects slave-owners to
treat their human chattels as well as men do other animals of value, but
the slave-trade seems always to engender an unreasoning ferocity, if not
blood-thirstiness.
War was declared against Mariano, and a force sent to take him; he
resisted for a time; but seeing that he was likely to get the worst of
it, and knowing that the Portuguese governors have small salaries, and
are therefore "disposed to be reasonable," he went down to Quillimane to
"arrange" with the Governor, as it is termed here; but Colonel da Silva
put him in prison, and then sent him for trial to Mozambique. When we
came into the country, his people were fighting under his brother Bonga.
The war had lasted six months and stopped all trade on the river during
that period. On the 15th June we first came into contact with the
"rebels." They appeared as a crowd of well-armed and
fantastically-dressed people under the trees at Mazaro. On explaining
that we were English, some at once came on board and called to those on
shore to lay aside their arms. On landing among them we saw that many
had the branded marks of slaves on their chests, but they warmly approved
our objects, and knew well the distinctive character of our nation on the
slave question. The shout at our departure contrasted strongly with the
suspicious questioning on our approach. Hence-forward we were recognized
as friends by both parties.
At a later period we were taking in wood within a mile of the scene of
action, but a dense fog prevented our hearing the noise of a battle at
Mazaro; and on arriving there, immediately after, many natives and
Portuguese appeared on the bank.
Dr. Livingstone, landing to salute some of his old friends among the
latter, found himself in the sickening smell, and among the mutilated
bodies of the slain; he was requested to take the Governor, who was very
ill of fever, across to Shupanga, and just as he gave his assent, the
rebels renewed the fight, and the balls began to whistle about in all
directions. After trying in vain to get some one to assist the Governor
down to the steamer, and unwilling to leave him in such danger, as the
officer sent to bring our Kroomen did not appear, he went into the hut,
and dragged along his Excellency to the ship. He was a very tall man,
and as he swayed hither and thither from weakness, weighing down Dr.
Livingstone, it must have appeared like one drunken man helping another.
Some of the Portuguese white soldiers stood fighting with great bravery
against the enemy in front, while a few were coolly shooting at their own
slaves for fleeing into the river behind. The rebels soon retired, and
the Portuguese escaped to a sandbank in the Zambesi, and thence to an
island opposite Shupanga, where they lay for some weeks, looking at the
rebels on the mainland opposite. This state of inactivity on the part of
the Portuguese could not well be helped, as they had expended all their
ammunition and were waiting anxiously for supplies; hoping, no doubt
sincerely, that the enemy might not hear that their powder had failed.
Luckily their hopes were not disappointed; the rebels waited until a
supply came, and were then repulsed after three-and-a-half hours' hard
fighting. Two months afterwards Mariano's stockade was burned, the
garrison having fled in a panic; and as Bonga declared that he did not
wish to fight with this Governor, with whom he had no quarrel, the war
soon came to an end. His Excellency meanwhile, being a disciple of
Raspail, had taken nothing for the fever but a little camphor, and after
he was taken to Shupanga became comatose. More potent remedies were
administered to him, to his intense disgust, and he soon recovered. The
Colonel in attendance, whom he never afterwards forgave, encouraged the
treatment. "Give what is right; never mind him; he is very (_muito_)
impertinent:" and all night long, with every draught of water the Colonel
gave a quantity of quinine: the consequence was, next morning the patient
was cinchonized and better.
For sixty or seventy miles before reaching Mazaro, the scenery is tame
and uninteresting. On either hand is a dreary uninhabited expanse, of
the same level grassy plains, with merely a few trees to relieve the
painful monotony. The round green top of the stately palm-tree looks at
a distance, when its grey trunk cannot be seen, as though hung in mid-
air. Many flocks of busy sand-martins, which here, and as far south as
the Orange River, do not migrate, have perforated the banks two or three
feet horizontally, in order to place their nests at the ends, and are now
chasing on restless wing the myriads of tropical insects. The broad
river has many low islands, on which are seen various kinds of waterfowl,
such as geese, spoonbills, herons, and flamingoes. Repulsive crocodiles,
as with open jaws they sleep and bask in the sun on the low banks, soon
catch the sound of the revolving paddles and glide quietly into the
stream. The hippopotamus, having selected some still reach of the river
to spend the day, rises out of the bottom, where he has been enjoying his
morning bath after the labours of the night on shore, blows a puff of
spray from his nostrils, shakes the water out of his ears, puts his
enormous snout up straight and yawns, sounding a loud alarm to the rest
of the herd, with notes as of a monster bassoon.
As we approach Mazaro the scenery improves. We see the well-wooded
Shupanga ridge stretching to the left, and in front blue hills rise dimly
far in the distance. There is no trade whatever on the Zambesi below
Mazaro. All the merchandise of Senna and Tette is brought to that point
in large canoes, and thence carried six miles across the country on men's
heads to be reshipped on a small stream that flows into the Kwakwa, or
Quillimane river, which is entirely distinct from the Zambesi. Only on
rare occasions and during the highest floods can canoes pass from the
Zambesi to the Quillimane river through the narrow natural canal _Mutu_.
The natives of Maruru, or the country around Mazaro, the word Mazaro
meaning the "mouth of the creek" Mutu, have a bad name among the
Portuguese; they are said to be expert thieves, and the merchants
sometimes suffer from their adroitness while the goods are in transit
from one river to the other. In general they are trained canoe-men, and
man many of the canoes that ply thence to Senna and Tette; their pay is
small, and, not trusting the traders, they must always have it before
they start. Africans being prone to assign plausible reasons for their
conduct, like white men in more enlightened lands, it is possible they
may be good-humouredly giving their reason for insisting on being
invariably paid in advance in the words of their favourite canoe-song,
"Uachingere, Uachingere Kale," "You cheated me of old;" or, "Thou art
slippery slippery truly."
The Landeens or Zulus are lords of the right bank of the Zambesi; and the
Portuguese, by paying this fighting tribe a pretty heavy annual tribute,
practically admit this. Regularly every year come the Zulus in force to
Senna and Shupanga for the accustomed tribute. The few wealthy merchants
of Senna groan under the burden, for it falls chiefly on them. They
submit to pay annually 200 pieces of cloth, of sixteen yards each,
besides beads and brass wire, knowing that refusal involves war, which
might end in the loss of all they possess. The Zulus appear to keep as
sharp a look out on the Senna and Shupanga people as ever landlord did on
tenant; the more they cultivate, the more tribute they have to pay. On
asking some of them why they did not endeavour to raise certain highly
profitable products, we were answered, "What's the use of our cultivating
any more than we do? the Landeens would only come down on us for more
tribute."
In the forests of Shupanga the Mokundu-kundu tree abounds; its bright
yellow wood makes good boat-masts, and yields a strong bitter medicine
for fever; the Gunda-tree attains to an immense size; its timber is hard,
rather cross-grained, with masses of silica deposited in its substance;
the large canoes, capable of carrying three or four tons, are made of its
wood. For permission to cut these trees, a Portuguese gentleman of
Quillimane was paying the Zulus, in 1858, two hundred dollars a year, and
his successor now pays three hundred.
At Shupanga, a one-storied stone house stands on the prettiest site on
the river. In front a sloping lawn, with a fine mango orchard at its
southern end, leads down to the broad Zambesi, whose green islands repose
on the sunny bosom of the tranquil waters. Beyond, northwards, lie vast
fields and forests of palm and tropical trees, with the massive mountain
of Morambala towering amidst the white clouds; and further away more
distant hills appear in the blue horizon. This beautifully situated
house possesses a melancholy interest from having been associated in a
most mournful manner with the history of two English expeditions. Here,
in 1826, poor Kirkpatrick, of Captain Owen's Surveying Expedition, died
of fever; and here, in 1862, died, of the same fatal disease, the beloved
wife of Dr. Livingstone. A hundred yards east of the house, under a
large Baobab-tree, far from their native land, both are buried.
The Shupanga-house was the head-quarters of the Governor during the
Mariano war. He told us that the province of Mosambique costs the Home
Government between 5000_l_. and 6000_l_. annually, and East Africa yields
no reward in return to the mother country. We met there several other
influential Portuguese. All seemed friendly, and expressed their
willingness to assist the expedition in every way in their power; and
better still, Colonel Nunes and Major Sicard put their good-will into
action, by cutting wood for the steamer and sending men to help in
unloading. It was observable that not one of them knew anything about
the Kongone Mouth; all thought that we had come in by the "Barra
Catrina," or East Luabo. Dr. Kirk remained here a few weeks; and,
besides exploring a small lake twenty miles to the south-west, had the
sole medical care of the sick and wounded soldiers, for which valuable
services he received the thanks of the Portuguese Government. We wooded
up at this place with African ebony or black wood, and lignum vitae; the
latter tree attains an immense size, sometimes as much as four feet in
diameter; our engineer, knowing what ebony and lignum vitae cost at home,
said it made his heart sore to burn wood so valuable. Though botanically
different, they are extremely alike; the black wood as grown in some
districts is superior, and the lignum vitae inferior in quality, to these
timbers brought from other countries. Caoutchouc, or India-rubber, is
found in abundance inland from Shupanga-house, and calumba-root is
plentiful in the district; indigo, in quantities, propagates itself close
to the banks of the Aver, and was probably at some time cultivated, for
manufactured indigo was once exported. The India-rubber is made into
balls for a game resembling "fives," and calumba-root is said to be used
as a mordant for certain colours, but not as a dye itself.
We started for Tette on the 17th August, 1858; the navigation was rather
difficult, the Zambesi from Shupanga to Senna being wide and full of
islands; our black pilot, John Scisssors, a serf, sometimes took the
wrong channel and ran us aground. Nothing abashed, he would exclaim in
an aggrieved tone, "This is not the path, it is back yonder." "Then why
didn't you go yonder at first?" growled out our Kroomen, who had the work
of getting the vessel off. When they spoke roughly to poor Scissors, the
weak cringing slave-spirit came forth in, "Those men scold me so, I am
ready to run away." This mode of finishing up an engagement is not at
all uncommon on the Zambesi; several cases occurred, when we were on the
river, of hired crews decamping with most of the goods in their charge.
If the trader cannot redress his own wrongs, he has to endure them. The
Landeens will not surrender a fugitive slave, even to his master. One
belonging to Mr. Azevedo fled, and was, as a great favour only, returned
after a present of much more than his value.
We landed to wood at Shamoara, just below the confluence of the Shire.
Its quartz hills are covered with trees and gigantic grasses; the buaze,
a small forest-tree, grows abundantly; it is a species of polygala; its
beautiful clusters of sweet-scented pinkish flowers perfume the air with
a rich fragrance; its seeds produce a fine drying oil, and the bark of
the smaller branches yields a fibre finer and stronger than flax; with
which the natives make their nets for fishing. Bonga, the brother of the
rebel Mariano, and now at the head of the revolted natives, with some of
his principal men came to see us, and were perfectly friendly, though
told of our having carried the sick Governor across to Shupanga, and of
our having cured him of fever. On our acquainting Bonga with the object
of the expedition, he remarked that we should suffer no hindrance from
his people in our good work. He sent us a present of rice, two sheep,
and a quantity of firewood. He never tried to make any use of us in the
strife; the other side showed less confidence, by carefully
cross-questioning our pilot whether we had sold any powder to the enemy.
We managed, however, to keep on good terms with both rebels and
Portuguese.
Senna is built on a low plain, on the right bank of the Zambesi, with
some pretty detached hills in the background; it is surrounded by a
stockade of living trees to protect its inhabitants from their
troublesome and rebellious neighbours. It contains a few large houses,
some ruins of others, and a weather-beaten cross, where once stood a
church; a mound shows the site of an ancient monastery, and a mud fort by
the river is so dilapidated, that cows were grazing peacefully over its
prostrate walls.
The few Senna merchants, having little or no trade in the village, send
parties of trusted slaves into the interior to hunt for and purchase
ivory. It is a dull place, and very conducive to sleep. One is sure to
take fever in Senna on the second day, if by chance one escapes it on the
first day of a sojourn there; but no place is entirely bad. Senna has
one redeeming feature: it is the native village of the large-hearted and
hospitable Senhor H. A. Ferrao. The benevolence of this gentleman is
unbounded. The poor black stranger passing through the town goes to him
almost as a matter of course for food, and is never sent away hungry. In
times of famine the starving natives are fed by his generosity; hundreds
of his own people he never sees except on these occasions; and the only
benefit derived from being their master is, that they lean on him as a
patriarchal chief, and he has the satisfaction of settling their
differences, and of saving their lives in seasons of drought and
scarcity.
Senhor Ferrao received us with his usual kindness, and gave us a
bountiful breakfast. During the day the principal men of the place
called, and were unanimously of opinion that the free natives would
willingly cultivate large quantities of cotton, could they find
purchasers. They had in former times exported largely both cotton and
cloth to Manica and even to Brazil. "On their own soil," they declared,
"the natives are willing to labour and trade, provided only they can do
so to advantage: when it is for their interest, blacks work very hard."
We often remarked subsequently that this was the opinion of men of
energy; and that all settlers of activity, enterprise, and sober habits
had become rich, while those who were much addicted to lying on their
backs smoking, invariably complained of the laziness of the negroes, and
were poor, proud, and despicable.
Beyond Pita lies the little island Nyamotobsi, where we met a small
fugitive tribe of hippopotamus hunters, who had been driven by war from
their own island in front. All were busy at work; some were making
gigantic baskets for grain, the men plaiting from the inside. With the
civility so common among them the chief ordered a mat to be spread for us
under a shed, and then showed us the weapon with which they kill the
hippopotamus; it is a short iron harpoon inserted in the end of a long
pole, but being intended to unship, it is made fast to a strong cord of
milola, or hibiscus, bark, which is wound closely round the entire length
of the shaft, and secured at its opposite end. Two men in a swift canoe
steal quietly down on the sleeping animal. The bowman dashes the harpoon
into the unconscious victim, while the quick steersman sweeps the light
craft back with his broad paddle; the force of the blow separates the
harpoon from its corded handle, which, appearing on the surface,
sometimes with an inflated bladder attached, guides the hunters to where
the wounded beast hides below until they despatch it.
These hippopotamus hunters form a separate people, called Akombwi, or
Mapodzo, and rarely--the women it is said never--intermarry with any
other tribe. The reason for their keeping aloof from certain of the
natives on the Zambesi is obvious enough, some having as great an
abhorrence of hippopotamus meat as Mahomedans have of swine's flesh. Our
pilot, Scissors, was one of this class; he would not even cook his food
in a pot which had contained hippopotamus meat, preferring to go hungry
till he could find another; and yet he traded eagerly in the animal's
tusks, and ate with great relish the flesh of the foul-feeding marabout.
These hunters go out frequently on long expeditions, taking in their
canoes their wives and children, cooking-pots, and sleeping-mats. When
they reach a good game district, they erect temporary huts on the bank,
and there dry the meat they have killed. They are rather a
comely-looking race, with very black smooth skins, and never disfigure
themselves with the frightful ornaments of some of the other tribes. The
chief declined to sell a harpoon, because they could not now get the
milola bark from the coast on account of Mariano's war. He expressed
some doubts about our being children of the same Almighty Father,
remarking that "they could not become white, let them wash ever so much."
We made him a present of a bit of cloth, and he very generously gave us
in return some fine fresh fish and Indian corn.
The heat of the weather steadily increases during this month (August),
and foggy mornings are now rare. A strong breeze ending in a gale blows
up stream every night. It came in the afternoon a few weeks ago, then
later, and at present its arrival is near midnight; it makes our frail
cabin-doors fly open before it, but continues only for a short time, and
is succeeded by a dead calm. Game becomes more abundant; near our
wooding-places we see herds of zebras, both Burchell's and the mountain
variety, pallahs (_Antelope melampus_), waterbuck, and wild hogs, with
the spoor of buffaloes and elephants.
Shiramba Dembe, on the right bank, is deserted; a few old iron guns show
where a rebel stockade once stood; near the river above this, stands a
magnificent Baobab hollowed out into a good-sized hut, with bark inside
as well as without. The old oaks in Sherwood Forest, when hollow, have
the inside dead or rotten; but the Baobab, though stripped of its bark
outside, and hollowed to a cavity inside, has the power of exuding new
bark from its substance to both the outer and inner surfaces; so, a hut
made like that in the oak called the "Forest Queen," in Sherwood, would
soon all be lined with bark.
The portions of the river called Shigogo and Shipanga are bordered by a
low level expanse of marshy country, with occasional clumps of palm-trees
and a few thorny acacias. The river itself spreads out to a width of
from three to four miles, with many islands, among which it is difficult
to navigate, except when the river is in flood. In front, a range of
high hills from the north-east crosses and compresses it into a deep
narrow channel, called the Lupata Gorge. The Portuguese thought the
steamer would not stem the current here; but as it was not more than
about three knots, and as there was a strong breeze in our favour, steam
and sails got her through with ease. Heavy-laden canoes take two days to
go up this pass. A current sweeps round the little rocky promontories
Chifura and Kangomba, forming whirlpools and eddies dangerous for the
clumsy craft, which are dragged past with long ropes.
The paddlers place meal on these rocks as an offering to the turbulent
deities, which they believe preside over spots fatal to many a large
canoe. We were slily told that native Portuguese take off their hats to
these river gods, and pass in solemn silence; when safely beyond the
promontories, they fire muskets, and, as we ought to do, give the canoe-
men grog. From the spoor of buffaloes and elephants it appears that
these animals frequent Lupata in considerable numbers, and--we have often
observed the association--the tsetse fly is common. A horse for the
Governor of Tette was sent in a canoe from Quillimane; and, lest it
should be wrecked on the Chifura and Kangomba rocks, it was put on shore
and sent in the daytime through the pass. It was of course bitten by the
tsetse, and died soon after; it was thought that the _air_ of Tette had
not agreed with it. The currents above Lupata are stronger than those
below; the country becomes more picturesque and hilly, and there is a
larger population.
The ship anchored in the stream, off Tette, on the 8th September, 1858,
and Dr. Livingstone went ashore in the boat. No sooner did the Makololo
recognize him, than they rushed to the water's edge, and manifested great
joy at seeing him again. Some were hastening to embrace him, but others
cried out, "Don't touch him, you will spoil his new clothes." The five
headmen came on board and listened in quiet sadness to the story of poor
Sekwebu, who died at the Mauritius on his way to England. "Men die in
any country," they observed, and then told us that thirty of their own
number had died of smallpox, having been bewitched by the people of
Tette, who envied them because, during the first year, none of their
party had died. Six of their young men, becoming tired of cutting
firewood for a meagre pittance, proposed to go and dance for gain before
some of the neighbouring chiefs. "Don't go," said the others, "we don't
know the people of this country;" but the young men set out and visited
an independent half-caste chief, a few miles to the north, named Chisaka,
who some years ago burned all the Portuguese villas on the north bank of
the river; afterwards the young men went to Bonga, son of another half-
caste chief, who bade defiance to the Tette authorities, and had a
stockade at the confluence of the Zambesi and Luenya, a few miles below
that village. Asking the Makololo whence they came, Bonga rejoined, "Why
do you come from my enemy to me? You have brought witchcraft medicine to
kill me." In vain they protested that they did not belong to the
country; they were strangers, and had come from afar with an Englishman.
The superstitious savage put them all to death. "We do not grieve," said
their companions, "for the thirty victims of the smallpox, who were taken
away by Morimo (God); but our hearts are sore for the six youths who were
murdered by Bonga." Any hope of obtaining justice on the murderer was
out of the question. Bonga once caught a captain of the Portuguese army,
and forced him to perform the menial labour of pounding maize in a wooden
mortar. No punishment followed on this outrage. The Government of
Lisbon has since given Bonga the honorary title of Captain, by way of
coaxing him to own their authority; but he still holds his stockade.
Tette stands on a succession of low sandstone ridges on the right bank of
the Zambesi, which is here nearly a thousand yards wide (960 yards).
Shallow ravines, running parallel with the river, form the streets, the
houses being built on the ridges. The whole surface of the streets,
except narrow footpaths, were overrun with self-sown indigo, and tons of
it might have been collected. In fact indigo, senna, and stramonium,
with a species of cassia, form the weeds of the place, which are annually
hoed off and burned. A wall of stone and mud surrounds the village, and
the native population live in huts outside. The fort and the church,
near the river, are the strongholds; the natives having a salutary dread
of the guns of the one, and a superstitious fear of the unknown power of
the other. The number of white inhabitants is small, and rather select,
many of them having been considerately sent out of Portugal "for their
country's good." The military element preponderates in society; the
convict and "incorrigible" class of soldiers, receiving very little pay,
depend in great measure on the produce of the gardens of their black
wives; the moral condition of the resulting population may be imagined.
Droughts are of frequent occurrence at Tette, and the crops suffer
severely. This may arise partly from the position of the town between
the ranges of hills north and south, which appear to have a strong
attraction for the rain-clouds. It is often seen to rain on these hills
when not a drop falls at Tette. Our first season was one of drought.
Thrice had the women planted their gardens in vain, the seed, after just
vegetating, was killed by the intense dry heat. A fourth planting shared
the same hard fate, and then some of the knowing ones discovered the
cause of the clouds being frightened away: our unlucky rain-gauge in the
garden. We got a bad name through that same rain-gauge, and were
regarded by many as a species of evil omen. The Makololo in turn blamed
the people of Tette for drought: "A number of witches live here, who
won't let it rain." Africans in general are sufficiently superstitious,
but those of Tette are in this particular pre-eminent above their
fellows. Coming from many different tribes, all the rays of the separate
superstitions converge into a focus at Tette, and burn out common sense
from the minds of the mixed breed. They believe that many evil spirits
live in the air, the earth, and the water. These invisible malicious
beings are thought to inflict much suffering on the human race; but, as
they have a weakness for beer and a craving for food, they may be
propitiated from time to time by offerings of meat and drink. The
serpent is an object of worship, and hideous little images are hung in
the huts of the sick and dying. The uncontaminated Africans believe that
Morungo, the Great Spirit who formed all things, lives above the stars;
but they never pray to him, and know nothing of their relation to him, or
of his interest in them. The spirits of their departed ancestors are all
good, according to their ideas, and on special occasions aid them in
their enterprises. When a man has his hair cut, he is careful to burn
it, or bury it secretly, lest, falling into the hands of one who has an
evil eye, or is a witch, it should be used as a charm to afflict him with
headache. They believe, too, that they will live after the death of the
body, but do not know anything of the state of the Barimo (gods, or
departed spirits).
The mango-tree grows luxuriantly above Lupata, and furnishes a grateful
shade. Its delicious fruit is superior to that on the coast. For weeks
the natives who have charge of the mangoes live entirely on the fruit,
and, as some trees bear in November and some in March, while the main
crop comes between, fruit in abundance may easily be obtained during four
months of the year; but no native can be induced to plant a mango. A
wide-spread superstition has become riveted in the native mind, that if
any one plants this tree he will soon die. The Makololo, like other
natives, were very fond of the fruit; but when told to take up some mango-
stones, on their return, and plant them in their own country--they too
having become deeply imbued with the belief that it was a suicidal act to
do so--replied "they did not wish to die too soon." There is also a
superstition even among the native Portuguese of Tette, that if a man
plants coffee he will never afterwards be happy: they drink it, however,
and seem the happier for it.
The Portuguese of Tette have many slaves, with all the usual vices of
their class, as theft, lying, and impurity. As a general rule the real
Portuguese are tolerably humane masters and rarely treat a slave cruelly;
this may be due as much to natural kindness of heart as to a fear of
losing the slaves by their running away. When they purchase an adult
slave they buy at the same time, if possible, all his relations along
with him. They thus contrive to secure him to his new home by domestic
ties. Running away then would be to forsake all who hold a place in his
heart, for the mere chance of acquiring a freedom, which would probably
be forfeited on his entrance into the first native village, for the chief
might, without compunction, again sell him into slavery.
A rather singular case of voluntary slavery came to our knowledge: a free
black, an intelligent active young fellow, called Chibanti, who had been
our pilot on the river, told us that he had sold himself into slavery. On
asking why he had done this, he replied that he was all alone in the
world, had neither father nor mother, nor any one else to give him water
when sick, or food when hungry; so he sold himself to Major Sicard, a
notoriously kind master, whose slaves had little to do, and plenty to
eat. "And how much did you get for yourself?" we asked. "Three thirty-
yard pieces of cotton cloth," he replied; "and I forthwith bought a man,
a woman, and child, who cost me two of the pieces, and I had one piece
left." This, at all events, showed a cool and calculating spirit; he
afterwards bought more slaves, and in two years owned a sufficient number
to man one of the large canoes. His master subsequently employed him in
carrying ivory to Quillimane, and gave him cloth to hire mariners for the
voyage; he took his own slaves, of course, and thus drove a thriving
business; and was fully convinced that he had made a good speculation by
the sale of himself, for had he been sick his master must have supported
him. Occasionally some of the free blacks become slaves voluntarily by
going through the simple but significant ceremony of breaking a spear in
the presence of their future master. A Portuguese officer, since dead,
persuaded one of the Makololo to remain in Tette, instead of returning to
his own country, and tried also to induce him to break a spear before
him, and thus acknowledge himself his slave, but the man was too shrewd
for this; he was a great elephant doctor, who accompanied the hunters,
told them when to attack the huge beast, and gave them medicine to ensure
success. Unlike the real Portuguese, many of the half-castes are
merciless slave-holders; their brutal treatment of the wretched slaves is
notorious. What a humane native of Portugal once said of them is
appropriate if not true: "God made white men, and God made black men, but
the devil made half-castes."
The officers and merchants send parties of slaves under faithful headmen
to hunt elephants and to trade in ivory, providing them with a certain
quantity of cloth, beads, etc., and requiring so much ivory in return.
These slaves think that they have made a good thing of it, when they kill
an elephant near a village, as the natives give them beer and meal in
exchange for some of the elephant's meat, and over every tusk that is
brought there is expended a vast amount of time, talk, and beer. Most of
the Africans are natural-born traders, they love trade more for the sake
of trading than for what they make by it. An intelligent gentleman of
Tette told us that native traders often come to him with a tusk for sale,
consider the price he offers, demand more, talk over it, retire to
consult about it, and at length go away without selling it; next day they
try another merchant, talk, consider, get puzzled and go off as on the
previous day, and continue this course daily until they have perhaps seen
every merchant in the village, and then at last end by selling the
precious tusk to some one for even less than the first merchant had
offered. Their love of dawdling in the transaction arises from the self-
importance conferred on them by their being the object of the wheedling
and coaxing of eager merchants, a feeling to which even the love of gain
is subordinate.
The native medical profession is reasonably well represented. In
addition to the regular practitioners, who are a really useful class, and
know something of their profession, and the nature and power of certain
medicines, there are others who devote their talents to some speciality.
The elephant doctor prepares a medicine which is considered indispensable
to the hunters when attacking that noble and sagacious beast; no hunter
is willing to venture out before investing in this precious nostrum. The
crocodile doctor sells a charm which is believed to possess the singular
virtue of protecting its owner from crocodiles. Unwittingly we offended
the crocodile school of medicine while at Tette, by shooting one of these
huge reptiles as it lay basking in the sun on a sandbank; the doctors
came to the Makololo in wrath, clamouring to know why the white man had
shot their crocodile.
A shark's hook was baited one evening with a dog, of which the crocodile
is said to be particularly fond; but the doctors removed the bait, on the
principle that the more crocodiles the more demand for medicine, or
perhaps because they preferred to eat the dog themselves. Many of the
natives of this quarter are known, as in the South Seas, to eat the dog
without paying any attention to its feeding. The dice doctor or diviner
is an important member of the community, being consulted by Portuguese
and natives alike. Part of his business is that of a detective, it being
his duty to discover thieves. When goods are stolen, he goes and looks
at the place, casts his dice, and waits a few days, and then, for a
consideration, tells who is the thief: he is generally correct, for he
trusts not to his dice alone; he has confidential agents all over the
village, by whose inquiries and information he is enabled to detect the
culprit. Since the introduction of muskets, gun doctors have sprung up,
and they sell the medicine which professes to make good marksmen; others
are rain doctors, etc., etc. The various schools deal in little charms,
which are hung round the purchaser's neck to avert evil: some of them
contain the medicine, others increase its power.
Indigo, about three or four feet high, grows in great luxuriance in the
streets of Tette, and so does the senna plant. The leaves are
undistinguishable from those imported in England. A small amount of
first-rate cotton is cultivated by the native population for the
manufacture of a coarse cloth. A neighbouring tribe raises the sugar-
cane, and makes a little sugar; but they use most primitive wooden
rollers, and having no skill in mixing lime with the extracted juice, the
product is of course of very inferior quality. Plenty of magnetic iron
ore is found near Tette, and coal also to any amount; a single cliff-seam
measuring twenty-five feet in thickness. It was found to burn well in
the steamer on the first trial. Gold is washed for in the beds of
rivers, within a couple of days of Tette. The natives are fully aware of
its value, but seldom search for it, and never dig deeper than four or
five feet. They dread lest the falling in of the sand of the river's bed
should bury them. In former times, when traders went with hundreds of
slaves to the washings, the produce was considerable. It is now
insignificant. The gold-producing lands have always been in the hands of
independent tribes. Deep cuttings near the sources of the gold-yielding
streams seem never to have been tried here, as in California and
Australia, nor has any machinery been used save common wooden basins for
washing.