IN THE VALLEYS OF THE CHOBE AND THE ZAMBESI.
Vegetation in the valley of the Chobe--Notification
of my arrival--Scenery by the rapids--A party of
Masupias--My mulekow--Matabele raids upon Sekeletu’s
territory--Gourd-shells--Masupia graves--Animal life on the
Chobe--Masupia huts--Englishmen in Impalera--Makumba--My
first boat-journey on the Zambesi--Animal life in the
reed-thickets--Blockley’s kraal--Hippopotamuses--Old Sesheke.
[Illustration: BOATING ON THE ZAMBESI.]
[Illustration:
_Vol. II._ IMPALERA. _Page 111._]
Towards its mouth the valley of the Chobe varies from half a mile to
three miles in breadth, and the valley of the Zambesi under the
hills above the Victoria Falls has very much the same character. Except
in places where the rocky spurs abut directly on to the stream, the
shores of both rivers are sandy, corresponding with those of the Zooga
and most of the feeders of the highland basin of central South Africa;
the rocks which I have described above the confluence of the stream,
being chiefly the declivities of a sandy plateau. Down the Chobe, and
throughout the district in that direction, we found the vegetation
luxuriant and quite tropical in its character, but upstream, so far as
I went, this feature seemed to be less marked. Upon entering the valley
a stranger can hardly fail to be struck by the number of strange trees
and bushes, nearly all of them producing fruit that may either be eaten
or used for some domestic purpose. A notable exception to the general
rule is afforded by the moshungulu, a tree of which the fruit, about
two feet long and several inches thick, something like a sausage, is
poisonous. The difference between the vegetation of the Zambesi valley
with its adjacent plateau, and that of the more southern districts,
is manifest from the single circumstance, that throughout the entire
course of the river the natives can subsist all the year round on the
produce of their own trees, as each month brings fruits or its edible
seeds to maturity. Animal life is everywhere abundant; birds, fishes,
snakes, insects, and especially butterflies, being too numerous to be
reckoned. The human race itself may be said to be in a higher state of
development.
Nearly opposite Impalera was a little creek overhung by a fine
moshungulu. Understanding that this was the usual landing-place for
natives coming across the river, I gave orders for a little grass-hut
to be put up there for my use. The Chobe was here between 200 and 300
yards across, and so deep that its water was of quite a dark blue
colour. As I strolled along beside it I saw considerable numbers of a
small water-lily floating on its surface; the species seemed to produce
a very limited quantity of petals. The masses of reeds were beyond a
question the lurking-places of many crocodiles.
Blockley’s people had been at the place several times before, and at
their suggestion I fired off several shots to give the residents of
Impalera notice of my arrival. Before long two men put off in a canoe
and landed on our shore. The canoe was only the stem of a tree hollowed
out with an axe; it was about ten feet long, fourteen inches wide,
and ten inches deep. The men were tall and strongly built, and wore
the primitive vesture of the Bantu family in the most graceful way I
had ever seen, their dark brown skins being set off by their leather
waistbands, to which one of them had attached three small and handsome
skins, and the other some yards of calico, skilfully arranged before
and behind, with the ends gathered round his loins.
On their undertaking to report my arrival to their chief, Makumba, I
gave them each a knife. At the same time one of our party made them
understand that Georosiana Maniniani (i.e. little George), the name
given to Blockley to distinguish him from Westbeech (who, on account
of his size, was known as Georosiana Umutunya, or great George), was
waiting in the Leshumo valley, expecting a number of bearers to convey
the king’s goods to Impalera; also that they were to take down some
corn with them, for which Georosiana Maniniani would give them sipaga,
talama, and sisipa (small beads, large beads, and strips of calico).
All the time we were talking the two men were squatting down on the
ground; but as soon as the Manansa servant had made them comprehend his
instructions they rose, and saying “Autile intate” (we understand you,
friend), proceeded to take leave of me, with the further remark “Camaya
koshi” (we go, sir).
Next morning, in an early walk up the valley, I found a surprising
variety of traces of animals; there were tracks of buffaloes, koodoos,
waterbocks, duykerbocks, orbeki gazelles, jackals, leopards, and lions.
I likewise observed a good many hyæna-tracks, and kept continually
hearing baboons barking on the hills, being induced several times
to send a stray shot among the bushes. Amongst the birds I noticed
two kinds of francolins, the guinea-fowl, the scopus, three kinds of
plovers, saddle-storks (_Mycteria Senegalensis_, Shaw), several
varieties of ducks, a kind of plectropterus, some spurred geese, a
darter, and a kind of cormorant (_Phalacrocorax_).
To me the scenery that was most attractive was just above the rapids,
three miles from our encampment, and about six miles from the mouth of
the river. Here it was quite possible to trace the connexion of the
Chobe with the Zambesi. Natural channels, full of calm flowing water,
opened into the vast expanse of reeds, and the stream spread itself
out over the wide marshy region. The rapids themselves rushed through
a multitude of rocks, of which some were bare, some covered with sand,
some overgrown with sedge, some clothed with trees and brushwood. In
one place where the water had worn itself a way between two of the
rocky islands, I noticed some well-constructed fish-wheels very similar
to those we use in Europe. Birds, especially swamp-birds, were very
numerous, having taken up their quarters both on the rocks and on the
shore. I was confirmed in my conviction that the river was very full of
crocodiles; and at the rapids (which, by the way, I named the Blockley
rapids) I noticed some water-lizards.
Our camp in the evening of the same day was visited by a party of
seventeen Masupias. They were fine-looking men, with their hair
tied up at the top of their heads in little tufts, and adorned with
ornaments of great variety, bunches of the hair of gazelles or other
small animals, pieces of coral, and strings of beads. They also
wore bracelets, mostly of leather, occasionally of ivory. I bought
everything that they had brought with them in the way of assegais,
knives, kaffir-corn and beans, paying them in beads and calico. One
of the men to whom I had given a knife on the previous day brought me
a clay pitcher made by their women and full of butshuala (kaffir-corn
beer); it was an offering on his part, I was given to understand, that
established between us the relationship of “mulekow,” that is to say, I
had henceforth the right to claim anything I liked in his house; it is
a custom of the nation that sometimes results in much that is evil, as
even the women of the household are included in the licence; and when
a few days later I was in Impalera it seemed to excite a good deal of
astonishment that I made no further use of my mulekow privilege than
to ask for fish, beer, corn, and a few insignificant curiosities.
Through “August,” the Manansa servant who acted as interpreter, the
visitors informed me that Makumba, the chief, was now on the farther
side of the Zambesi elephant hunting; and, moreover, that he was not
at liberty to receive me until an answer had been received from Sepopo
authorizing my admission. They even declined on this account to take
any present from myself to Makumba, and when I afterwards saw the
chief, he entered fully into the particulars of the relations of his
people with the monarch of the Marutse.
It was soon very evident that our guests had very little regard for the
law of “meum and tuum,” and we had to keep a very sharp look-out upon
their proceedings throughout their visit.
Next day I received more visits from the Masupias. They were
continually asking the servants, who understood their Makololo dialect,
whether Georosiani Maniniani had any Matabele people with him in the
Leshumo valley, as they were forbidden to permit them to enter the
kingdom, even though they might declare that they had the king’s pass,
and had I myself insisted upon taking any Matabele attendants, it is
quite certain that, like Stanley, I should have had to make my way by
force.
By the Marutse and Mashonas the Matabele are held in just as much
detestation as are the Mohammedan slave-dealers from the east coast
by the natives of Central Africa. Although it is quite possible
that with a party of Matabele servants I might have traversed the
whole continent from south to north, any white man coming after me
would have had to suffer for my exploit. Twice during the reign of
Sekeletu on the central Zambesi the Matabele attempted to carry their
incursions north of the river, but each time they failed. On the first
occasion they crossed the rapids above the Victoria Falls, and got on
to an island planted with manza by the Batokas, a people subject to
Sekeletu, but the water rose and cut off their retreat, leaving them
no means of subsistence except the roots of the manza; the result was
that the whole of them died, for the roots, although wholesome enough
when dried, are poisonous if they are eaten fresh. The second of the
failures occurred to a party of Matabele that was conveyed down the
river by a Masupia, who, having conducted them to an island, declared
he was so weary that he must go away and fetch some of his people to
help him. The Matabele, with a credulity quite unusual to them, allowed
the man to depart, and soon found themselves in a trap. The man did not
turn up any more. They had a hard time of it; they were quite unskilled
in the art of spearing fish; they were afraid on account of the
crocodiles to attempt to swim across the river; they could find nothing
whatever to eat except the fruit of a few fan-palms, and in a short
time their hunger became intense; they were reduced to the emergency
of trying to sustain life by eating their leather sandals, which they
cut up into pieces with their spears, and soaked; but most of them
died, and the rest were easily overpowered by Sekeletu, who sent a few
well-manned canoes from Linyanti and carried them off to the Barotse
valley, the mother-country of the Marutse, who at that time were his
subjects. During my second visit to the Marutse royal quarters I had
the opportunity of seeing some of these Matabele, who had come to
Sesheke to pay tribute. They still wore the well-known headdress of
feathers, but seemed to have lost all the warlike spirit of the Zulus,
and Sepopo told me that they had become first-rate husbandmen.
Amongst other visitors on the 12th was a Masupia, a grey-headed
little man, who prided himself upon having served under the late king
Sekeletu, during whose reign the Makololo empire had been annihilated.
Various commodities were brought over to me from Impalera with the hope
that I might purchase them, and I bought a goat for about four yards
of calico; the creature was wretchedly thin, having suffered from the
stings of the tsetse-fly. It was no sooner slaughtered than I found my
mulekow acquaintance sidling up to me; he evidently expected a portion
of it as a present, and considered that he had an unquestionable right
to visit me as often as he chose at meal-times.
During this day and the following about forty of the Masupias started
off in detachments to the Leshumo valley to fetch Blockley’s goods,
and to take him the corn he had ordered. The corn was packed in
gourd-vessels containing about half a peck each, slung upon poles,
the gourd-shells being covered with bast, and tied on with the same
material.
Utilized by all the South African tribes, gourd-shells are nowhere
put to more various uses than in the Marutse district. By the Mabunda
tribe they are branded with ornamental devices of men and animals,
and nearly everywhere they are employed for carrying water, being
frequently covered with a network of leather; but the vassal tribes of
the Bechuanas, the Makalaharis, Barwas, Masarwas, and Madenassanas, not
practising agriculture, use ostrich eggs instead. Most of the Bantu
tribes preserve fatty substances in the medium-sized gourd-shells, and
south of the Zambesi the very small shells are made into snuff-boxes,
and some of a flattened cylindrical form are converted into musical
instruments.
On the 13th I was joined by a Basuto named April, who had been
travelling with Blockley, and was now on his way to get permission
from Sepopo to hunt elephants on his territory. He had come in company
with eighteen of the Masupias who were returning with Blockley’s
merchandise, each man carrying a load of about 60 lbs. They brought
word that probably Blockley himself would arrive in the evening, but he
did not appear.
That night, for the first time, I heard the deep grunt of the
hippopotamus.
In the course of a walk down the river-side next morning I came to some
deserted farms of the Masupias, who had fled to the opposite shore
after the destruction of the Manansa kingdom, and in several places
along the valley I saw the graves of some Masupia chiefs. These graves
were mere oval mounds, covered with antelope-skulls and elephant-tusks,
so arranged that the points protruded and bent downwards; some were
bleached and cracked by exposure, but the smaller ones, weighing about
20 lbs., near the centre of the graves, were generally in a better
state of preservation; those which had been deposited most recently
were only milk-teeth, and consequently worthless; in all probability
they had been placed there since the Marutse had become better
acquainted with the value of ivory, so that the deeds of reverence
for the departed had not defrauded the rulers of any portion of their
revenue. As I returned I passed several sycamores growing on the bank,
their stems as well as their branches thickly covered with figs, none
of which, however, were yet ripe.
Blockley arrived in the afternoon. He gave each of his bearers a
quarter of a pound of beads as payment for their services, but the
Masupias rejected all the red beads, refusing to take any but the dark
blue. They wanted them, they said, to purchase assegais, and the tribe
from which they bought them insisted on having blue beads and no other.
The embarkation of the bearers on their return was an interesting
scene. Their canoes, about twenty in number, had been waiting for them
in the creek, and late in the afternoon they all pushed off to the
opposite shore. They were very slim, varying in length from seven to
sixteen feet, and manned by one, two, three, or four men, according to
their size. A few of them had to carry back the empty shells that had
contained the corn, several were full of firewood, and some conveyed
various pieces of the carcase of a great buffalo-cow that had just
been killed. The last to leave were my mulekow friend and four others.
They were in a large canoe, while he, anxious to display his skill in
paddling, had his canoe to himself. He made a great effort to outstrip
the others, who did not feel inclined to be left in the rear. He had
succeeded in getting a good start, but just as he reached the middle of
the stream, the wind caught the folds of his kubu (mantle), and getting
entangled by it his movements were obstructed, and he was easily
beaten. It was his vanity that had brought about his defeat. He had
sold me a couple of hatchets for seven yards of calico, and had made
Pit cut him out a garment, which he insisted should use up the whole of
it.
Without loss of time Blockley crossed on the 15th, but I was obliged to
remain where I was until I heard from the king. I roved about in all
directions, and discovered some warm salt springs, and I likewise added
to my collection some fish that the Masupias had speared in the creek.
Just as I had done on the Limpopo, I stood and watched the crocodiles
raise their heads above the water, and snap at the kingfishers and
water-birds on the bushes and reeds.
In order to watch the nocturnal movements of the animals I spent the
whole of the next night by the river. I chose a sandy spot, shut off on
the side towards the water by a thicket of reeds, and waited for the
moonlight to enable me to see all that went on in the lagoon. About
eleven o’clock a herd of pallahs made their appearance, the leader
growling with a low note by way of assuring the rest that all was safe.
But nothing interested me so much as the manœuvres of a pair of large
otters that emerged from the reeds opposite, and began hunting all
round the margin of the creek, their success in catching their prey
being far greater than that of the crocodiles. They stood for a few
seconds about two feet from the edge of the water, then darted into
the nearest clump of reeds, where they foraged with their snouts, and
kept returning to devour their prey, which, as far as I could see,
consisted entirely of small fish.
Having time on my hands, I next made a longer excursion; but though I
much enjoyed my ramble, I was disappointed in not being able to secure
either a pallah or a baboon. However I saw some very fine kingfishers
(_Ceryle maxima_), as well as bee-catchers and cuckoos.
In due time the “rumela,” or salute, was fired from the opposite
shore by Makumba, as a signal that the messengers had arrived from
Sesheke, bringing a favourable answer from the king. It was my duty to
acknowledge the salute by returning it, and I took the opportunity of
having a few shots at the fruit of the moshungulu-tree; and by knocking
down some, and splitting others, I received great applause from the
Masupias who were present. A short time afterwards two little canoes
were sent over to carry me across.
I estimated both the lower Chobe and the Zambesi as having a depth
of between thirty and forty feet, and consequently being quite large
enough for ships of considerable burden, but the different reaches are
separated so frequently by ridges of rock, that the rapids make all
navigation impracticable.
[Illustration: REMOVAL TO NEW SESHEKE.]
On landing I was again greeted by Makumba with a salute, which I had
again to return in due form. I was much struck as I entered the village
by the construction of the huts and their enclosures. They were made
of reeds, and built in the double style that I had noticed in the
ruins of Mosilili’s town. Their diameter was about nine feet, that
of the enclosure in which they stood being twenty-five. The ordinary
height of every fence was nearly twelve feet. Never elsewhere had I
seen any so tall. The entire length of the reeds was used partly as a
protection from the floods of the summer months, but principally as a
shelter from the wind. Some of the huts were made of grass as well as
reeds. They were shaped like an oven, and consisted of two rooms and a
verandah.
On a grass-plot near the middle of the settlement stood the
council-hut, a conical roof of straw supported on a few not very
substantial piles. Under it I noticed one of the morupas, or drums,
that, as I afterwards learnt, are to be found in most Marutse and
Masupia villages. The skin of the drum is pierced, and a short stick
inserted into the opening, with another stick fixed transversely at
its end, the whole instrument being a cylinder of about a foot to a
foot and a half long. Their sound, which cannot be compared to anything
much better than the creaking of new boots, is made by rubbing the
stick with a piece of wet baobab-bast twisted round the hand of the
performer. They are rarely brought into use except on occasions when
the inhabitants are celebrating the return from a successful lion or
leopard hunt with music and dancing.
Makumba himself, a dark skinned Masupia about forty years of age,
received me very kindly. He was entertaining three other visitors, two
English officers, Captain McLeod and Captain Fairly, and a Mr. Cowley,
who had all come from Natal for the sake of some hunting. They had
already obtained permission from Sepopo to enter his territory. They
had sent him their presents, and were now on the point of returning to
their waggon at Panda ma Tenka to complete all their preparations for
their expedition. It subsequently transpired that they were greatly
disappointed, and received anything but honourable treatment at the
hands of the Marutse king. Captain McLeod informed me that he had
killed an elephant with tusks weighing 100 lbs., and that Sepopo had
taken them, under a promise to give him two others instead on his
return to Sesheke.
We were entertained at one of Makumba’s residences with butshuala
(kaffir-corn beer), which was brought in wooden bowls, and served
out in gourd-shell cups. He was a staunch supporter of the king,
and ultimately lost his life in his service. While I was with him,
he took the opportunity of enlightening me as to some of Sepopo’s
peculiarities, that I might regulate my proceedings accordingly.
Before leaving Impalera I took several walks about the village, and
found that it was divided into three groups of homesteads; that nearest
the river contained 135 huts; another, where the natives took refuge
during floods, contained twenty-five huts; the third, made up of
thirty-two huts, lay farther to the west. The women did not wear aprons
like the Bechuanas, but had little petticoats reaching to the knee. On
the whole, the people were decidedly superior in looks to the Bechuana
tribes.
Makumba left the village on the same day that we arrived. His proper
home was on the left bank of the Zambesi, the residence at Impalera
being occupied by one of his wives and some maids who attended to the
fields, and kept the place prepared for him whenever he might choose
to pay it a visit. The only reason for his being here now was that he
might welcome me in the king’s name; I thanked him for his courtesy,
and offered him a present, which he declined, saying that it was as
much as his head was worth to accept a gift from either a black man or
a white before the king had received one.
Late in the afternoon of the 17th we made our way to a great baobab
close to the landing-place on the Zambesi known as “Makumba’s haven.”
The boatmen put up a temporary shelter for Blockley and myself, and
there I spent my first night on the bank of that great river that for
years it had been my chief ambition to behold.
The landing-place was close to the rapids of which I have spoken,
and about four miles above the mouth of the Chobe. Before us in the
stream were numbers of small islands, some wooded and others overgrown
with weeds. Darters were perching on the overhanging branches, and
cormorants had taken up their quarters on the ledges of the dark brown
rocks. Carefully avoiding the deeper places frequented by crocodiles,
the birds kept on diving for fish and returning to their old positions,
where they spread out their wings to dry. We shot several of them,
but only managed to secure two, as the rest, like a bald buzzard
(_Haliaëtus vocifer_) that I also killed, were carried down the
stream and devoured by crocodiles. Hippopotamuses could be heard every
ten minutes throughout the night, but the large fire that we made
deterred them from coming close to us.
Soon after sunrise I took my first boat-journey on the Zambesi. I
found myself in a fragile canoe made of a hollowed tree-stem scarcely
eighteen inches wide, its sides being scarcely three inches above
the surface of the deep blue stream, that made a dark belt around
the diversified verdure of the islets. On the right, like a strong
wall six feet in height, rose masses of reeds, extending very often
miles away, and occasionally broken into regular arcades by the
passage of the hippopotamuses between the river and their pasturage.
Rose-coloured convolvuluses, countless in number, twined themselves up
the reedstalks, and gave brightness and colour to the rustling forest.
On the other hand was a reedy island, encircled with a hedge of the
bristly papyrus, the feathery heads of the outer clumps trembling with
the motion of the current; in well-nigh every gap of the fantastic
foliage glimpses were caught of gaily-feathered birds, crimson, or
grey, or white; ever and again a silver or a purple heron would dart
out for a moment, whilst aquatic birds, in strange variety, were
watching for fish behind the sedge.
Whenever the boatmen turned into one of the less frequented
side-channels, there were always to be seen flocks of wild geese and
ducks, with spoonbills, sandpipers, and three kinds of mews swarming
on the sand-banks; nor could my attention fail to be attracted by
the long-drawn cry of the bald buzzards, sitting in pairs upon the
trees and hillocks. Every instant seemed to bring to light some fresh
specimen of animal life, contributing new interest to the mighty stream.
The very mode of travelling gave an additional charm to the scene, as
nothing can be imagined much more picturesque than the canoes, always
fleet, however heavily laden, and manned with their dark-skinned crews,
deftly plying their paddles, while their leather aprons, bound with
coloured calico, fluttered in the wind. The steersman was always at the
bow, next to him would sit the passenger, behind whom the oarsmen,
varying in number from three to ten or eleven, would row in perfect
time, often regulating their movements to a song. Some canoes that I
saw were not less than twenty-two feet in length.
Taking into account the dimensions of the islands, I should estimate
that the stream, in some parts only 300 yards across, occasionally
attained a width of 1000 yards. In many places the shores had been
washed away, so that there were no shelving banks. In sedgy spots,
about eight feet from the shore, the water was six feet deep, and where
the reeds were thick, it got no deeper for twenty feet away from land.
[Illustration: MASUPIA GRAVE.]
After paddling along for close upon three hours, I found that the reeds
and bushes on the right gave way to a wide grass-plain, to which the
Marutse and Masupias had given the name of Blockley’s kraal. It seemed
to be full of game, and we left our canoes for a time and went ashore.
Herds of buffaloes were visible on the outskirts; here, too, for the
first time I saw some letshwe and puku antelopes; they were cropping
the pasturage by hundreds; the letshwes were larger and the pukus
smaller than blessbocks, and both, like all waterbocks, had shaggy,
light-brown hair, and horns bent forward. I likewise saw some groups
of rietbocks in the long grass, and in the direction of the woods were
herds of zebras, as well as striped gnus, sometimes as many as twenty
together.
After re-embarking, we kept close to the shore, with the object of
avoiding the hippopotamuses that in the day-time frequent the middle
of the stream, only rising from time to time to breathe. Whenever the
current made it necessary for us to change to the opposite side of the
river, I could see that the boatmen were all on the _qui-vive_
to get across as rapidly as possible, and I soon afterwards learnt by
experience what good reason they had to be cautious. We had occasion
to steer outwards so as to clear a papyrus island, when all at once
the men began to back water, and the one nearest me whispered the
word “kubu.” He was pointing to a spot hardly 200 yards ahead, and on
looking I saw first one hippopotamus’s head, and then a second, raised
above the surface of the stream, both puffing out little fountains from
the nostrils. They quickly disappeared, and the men paddled on gently,
till they were tolerably close to the place where the brutes had been
seen. Both Blockley and I cocked our guns, and had not long to wait
before the heads of two young hippopotamuses emerged from beneath
the water, followed first by the head of a male and then by that of
a female. We fired eight shots, of which there was no doubt that two
struck the old male behind the ear. The men all maintained that it
was mortally wounded, and probably such was the case; but although we
waited about for nearly an hour, we never saw more than the heads of
the three others again. It was only with reluctance that the men were
induced to be stationary so long; except they are in very small boats
and properly armed with assegais they are always anxious to give the
hippopotamus as wide a berth as they can.
[Illustration: ON THE BANKS OF THE CHOBE.]
Of all the larger mammalia of South Africa I am disposed to believe
that to an unarmed man the hippopotamus is the most dangerous. In
its normal state it can never endure the sight of anything to which
it is unaccustomed or which takes it by surprise. Let it come upon a
horse, an ox, a porcupine, a log of wood, or even a fluttering garment
suddenly crossing its path, and it will fly upon any of them with
relentless fury; but let such object be withdrawn betimes from view,
and the brute in an instant will forget all about it and go on its way
entirely undisturbed.[3] Although in some cases it may happen that
an unprotected man may elude the attacks of a lion, a buffalo, or a
leopard except they have been provoked, he cannot indulge the hope of
escaping the violence of a hippopotamus that has once got him within
reach of its power.
When out of several hippopotamuses in a river one has been wounded,
the rest are far more wary in coming to the surface; and should the
wound have been fatal, the carcase does not rise for an hour, but
drifts down the stream. The Marutse have a very simple but effectual
way of landing their dead bodies; a grass rope with a stone attached
is thrown across it, and by this means it is easily guided to the
shore. The whole river-side population is most enthusiastic in its love
of hippopotamus-hunting, and it is owing to the skill of the Marutse
natives in this pursuit that they have been brought from their homes in
the Upper Zambesi, and established in villages down here, where they
may help to keep the court well supplied not only with fresh and dried
fish, but particularly with hippopotamus-flesh.
The boats that are used as “mokoro tshi kubu” (hippopotamus-canoes)
are of the smallest size, only just large enough for one; they are
difficult to manage, but are very swift; the weapons employed are long
barbed assegais, of which the shafts are so light that they are not
heavier than the ordinary short javelins for military use.
While I was in Sesheke I heard of a sad casualty that had occurred near
the town in the previous year. A Masupia on his way down the river saw
a hippopotamus asleep on a sandy bank, and believing that he might make
it an easy prey, approached it very gently and thrust his spear right
under the shoulder. The barb, however, glinted off its side, inflicting
only a trifling wound. In a second, before the man had time to get
away, the infuriated brute was up, and after him. In vain he rolled
himself over to conceal himself in the grass; the beast seemed resolved
to trample him to pieces; he held up his right hand as a protection,
and it was crushed by the monster’s fangs; he stretched out his left,
and it was amputated by a single bite. He was afterwards found by
some fishermen in a most mutilated state, barely able to recount his
misfortune before he died.
Although I have often tasted hippopotamus-meat, I cannot say that I
like it. The gelatinous skin when roasted is considered a delicacy;
in its raw state it makes excellent handles for knives and workmen’s
tools, as it shrinks as it dries, and takes firm hold upon the metal.
If a hippopotamus is killed within fifty miles of Sesheke half of
it is always sent to the king, and the breast reserved for the royal
table. It is at night-time that the hippopotamus generally goes to its
pasturage, in the choice of which it is very particular, sometimes
making its way eight or nine miles along the river-bank, and returning
at daybreak to its resort in the river or lagoons, where its presence
is revealed by its splashes and snorts. Occasionally it is found asleep
in the forests ten miles or more away from the water. In eastern and
southern Matabele-land, and in the Mashona country, where they are
found in the affluents of the Limpopo and the Zambesi it is a much less
difficult matter to capture them, and Matabele traders have told me
that they have seen Mashonas attack them in the water with broad-bladed
daggers, and soon overpower them.
In time past hippopotamuses were common throughout South Africa, and
the carvings of the bushmen would go to prove that they not only
frequented the rivers, but found their way to the salt rain-pans; they
are still to be found in the rivers of Natal, and I was told in Cape
Colony that they are in existence in Kaffraria; but in Central South
Africa they are not seen south of the Limpopo.
The Zambesi abounds with crocodiles, but we did not see one that day.
[Illustration:
_Vol. II._ HIPPOPOTAMUS HUNTING.
_Page 132._]
[Illustration:
_Vol. II._ GAME COUNTRY NEAR BLOCKLEY’S KRAAL.
_Page 133._]
The shores of the river here consisted of alternate strata of clay and
earth, varying from two to eighteen inches in thickness, the mould made
up of alluvial soil and decayed vegetable matter. In some places where
the outflow from some hollow in the plain had made itself a channel to
the river, the natives had dammed it up by an embankment of rushes ten
feet high. We travelled at the rate of three to three-and-a-half
miles an hour; and in the course of the day crossed the river ten
times, either to cut off a bend in the stream or to avoid the full
current. Towards the right we had an extensive view of Blockley’s
kraal, full of life with its innumerable heads of game and cattle, but
towards the south and west we were quite shut in by towering banks of
reeds grown up into thickets, which, together with the lagoons they
form, are the resort of elephants as well as of hippopotamuses. Finding
a deserted hut upon a sandy bank, we resolved to spend the night
beneath its shelter.
Several of the men set to work immediately with their knives and
assegais to cut down a number of reeds, which they tied together into
bundles; others with the same implements dug a series of holes into
which the reeds were put upright as props; meanwhile three canoes had
been sent across the stream to fetch dry grass which was spread over
the top of the supports, and thus in marvellously quick time some huts
were erected from four to six feet in height.
Next morning on the left-hand shore we passed the mouth of the Kasha
or Kashteja, the river called by Livingstone the Majeela, the name by
which it is known amongst the Makololos. A few hundred yards above its
mouth the stream was in some places hardly more than fifteen yards
wide, but although it was only three feet deep, it was quite unsafe
to try to wade across it, on account of the crocodiles with which its
seething waters abounded. We met several canoes full of people from
Makumba’s town, who had been to Sesheke with ivory for Sepopo, and were
now returning, having received a present of some ammunition and two
woollen shirts apiece.
We paused on our way to refresh ourselves with a bath in a shallow
place which we ascertained was safe, and then hurried on with all
speed, that we might reach the royal quarters before evening. Some
small herds of cattle grazing along the river-side, under the close
_surveillance_ of their keepers, apprised us of our approach to
the new settlement, which enjoys the advantage of being free from the
tsetse fly.
Old Sesheke lay on a lagoon about a mile and a half west of the place
where the river makes a sudden bend to the east, and the original
Marutse royal residence was in the fertile mother-country of the
Barotse, which was eminently fitted for cattle-breeding. Sepopo,
however, the present king, had made himself unpopular amongst the
Barotse, and had moved away into the Masupia country, although it was a
district which, except in a few detached places, was much infested with
the tsetse. He had, however, another reason for the change he made; he
was dissatisfied with the dealings of the Portuguese traders, whose
goods he found to be of very inferior quality as compared with those
brought by Westbeech, and accordingly he was anxious to make a move
that would bring him into nearer connexion with the traders from the
south.
As we approached the royal residence, Blockley proposed that we should
announce our arrival by a rumela. The echoes of our shots had hardly
died away before some groups of men gathered under the trees, and our
salute was answered by another; manifestly the king was amongst the
people, superintending the organization of the new settlement. Our
boatmen joined in the shouting that was commenced upon the beach, where
the clamour lasted for a quarter of an hour, until we reached the
landing-place, where several canoes were drawn up under the trees.
In order to have audience of the ruler of the Central Zambesi, I felt
that it was becoming on my part to dress myself in my very best, but it
was rather aggravating at the last moment to find that my hat had been
mislaid. Blockley would scarcely allow me time to overhaul my baggage
to get at the missing article, but dragged me off, telling me that the
sound of the myrimba was already begun.
I have already mentioned that Sepopo had been expecting me for some
months; he had often inquired of Westbeech and Blockley when the nyaka
was coming, to travel through the country like Monari (Livingstone);
and although since the visit of the great explorer he had had
interviews with at least fifteen white men, he was desirous to give me
a more imposing reception than any of them.