Sometimes Alterations Are Made
At My Suggestion, And Then They Believe That They Can Cook
In Thorough White Man's Fashion.
The cook always comes in
for something left in the pot, so all are eager to obtain the office.
I taught several of them to wash my shirts, and they did it well,
though their teacher had never been taught that work himself.
Frequent changes of linen and sunning of my blanket kept me more comfortable
than might have been anticipated, and I feel certain that
the lessons of cleanliness rigidly instilled by my mother in childhood
helped to maintain that respect which these people entertain
for European ways. It is questionable if a descent to barbarous ways
ever elevates a man in the eyes of savages.
When quite beyond the inhabited parts, we found the country abounding
in animal life of every form. There are upward of thirty species of birds
on the river itself. Hundreds of the `Ibis religiosa' come down the Leeambye
with the rising water, as they do on the Nile; then large white pelicans,
in flocks of three hundred at a time, following each other
in long extending line, rising and falling as they fly so regularly all along
as to look like an extended coil of birds; clouds of a black
shell-eating bird, called linongolo (`Anastomus lamelligerus');
also plovers, snipes, curlews, and herons without number.
There are, besides the more common, some strange varieties.
The pretty white `ardetta' is seen in flocks, settling on
the backs of large herds of buffaloes, and following them on the wing
when they run; while the kala (`Textor erythrorhynchus') is a better horseman,
for it sits on the withers when the animal is at full speed.
Then those strange birds, the scissor-bills, with snow-white breast,
jet-black coat, and red beak, sitting by day on the sand-banks,
the very picture of comfort and repose. Their nests are only little hollows
made on these same sand-banks, without any attempt of concealment;
they watch them closely, and frighten away the marabou and crows
from their eggs by feigned attacks at their heads. When man approaches
their nests, they change their tactics, and, like the lapwing and ostrich,
let one wing drop and make one leg limp, as if lame. The upper mandible
being so much shorter than the lower, the young are more helpless
than the stork in the fable with the flat dishes, and must have every thing
conveyed into the mouth by the parents till they are able to provide
for themselves. The lower mandible, as thin as a paper-knife,
is put into the water while the bird skims along the surface,
and scoops up any little insects it meets. It has great length of wing,
and can continue its flight with perfect ease, the wings acting,
though kept above the level of the body. The wonder is,
how this plowing of the surface of the water can be so well performed
as to yield a meal, for it is usually done in the dark.
Like most aquatic feeders, they work by night, when insects and fishes
rise to the surface. They have great affection for their young,
its amount being increased in proportion to the helplessness of the offspring.
There are also numbers of spoonbills, nearly white in plumage;
the beautiful, stately flamingo; the Numidian crane, or demoiselle,
some of which, tamed at Government House, Cape Town, struck every one
as most graceful ornaments to a noble mansion, as they perched on its pillars.
There are two cranes besides - one light blue, the other also light blue,
but with a white neck; and gulls (`Procellaria') of different sizes abound.
One pretty little wader, an avoset, appears as if standing on stilts,
its legs are so long; and its bill seems bent the wrong way, or upward.
It is constantly seen wading in the shallows, digging up
little slippery insects, the peculiar form of the bill enabling it
to work them easily out of the sand. When feeding, it puts its head
under the water to seize the insect at the bottom, then lifts it up quickly,
making a rapid gobbling, as if swallowing a wriggling worm.
The `Parra Africana' runs about on the surface, as if walking on water,
catching insects. It too has long, thin legs, and extremely long toes,
for the purpose of enabling it to stand on the floating lotus-leaves
and other aquatic plants. When it stands on a lotus-leaf five inches
in diameter, the spread of the toes, acting on the principle of snow-shoes,
occupies all the surface, and it never sinks, though it obtains a livelihood,
not by swimming or flying, but by walking on the water.
Water-birds, whose prey or food requires a certain aim or action
in one direction, have bills quite straight in form, as the heron and snipe;
while those which are intended to come in contact with hard substances,
as breaking shells, have the bills gently curved, in order that the shock
may not be communicated to the brain.
The Barotse valley contains great numbers of large black geese.*
They may be seen every where walking slowly about, feeding.
They have a strong black spur on the shoulder, like the armed plover,
and as strong as that on the heel of a cock, but are never seen to use them,
except in defense of their young. They choose ant-hills for their nests,
and in the time of laying the Barotse consume vast quantities of their eggs.
There are also two varieties of geese, of somewhat smaller size,
but better eating. One of these, the Egyptian goose, or Vulpanser,
can not rise from the water, and during the floods of the river
great numbers are killed by being pursued in canoes. The third is furnished
with a peculiar knob on the beak. These, with myriads of ducks
of three varieties, abound every where on the Leeambye.
On one occasion the canoe neared a bank on which a large flock was sitting.
Two shots furnished our whole party with a supper, for we picked up
seventeen ducks and a goose.
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