One of the affairs which had been intrusted by Shinte to Intemese
was the rescue of a wife who
Had eloped with a young man belonging to Katema.
As this was the only case I have met with in the interior
in which a fugitive was sent back to a chief against his own will,
I am anxious to mention it. On Intemese claiming her as his master's wife,
she protested loudly against it, saying "she knew she was not going back
to be a wife again; she was going back to be sold to the Mambari."
My men formed many friendships with the people of Katema,
and some of the poorer classes said in confidence, "We wish our children
could go back with you to the Makololo country; here we are all
in danger of being sold." My men were of opinion that it was only
the want of knowledge of the southern country which prevented
an exodus of all the lower portions of Londa population thither.
It is remarkable how little people living in a flat forest country like this
know of distant tribes. An old man, who said he had been born
about the same time as the late Matiamvo, and had been his constant companion
through life, visited us; and as I was sitting on some grass
in front of the little gipsy tent mending my camp stool, I invited him
to take a seat on the grass beside me. This was peremptorily refused:
"he had never sat on the ground during the late chief's reign,
and he was not going to degrade himself now." One of my men handed him
a log of wood taken from the fire, and helped him out of the difficulty.
When I offered him some cooked meat on a plate, he would not
touch that either, but would take it home. So I humored him
by sending a servant to bear a few ounces of meat to the town behind him.
He mentioned the Lolo (Lulua) as the branch of the Leeambye
which flows southward or S.S.E.; but the people of Matiamvo had never gone
far down it, as their chief had always been afraid of encountering
a tribe whom, from the description given, I could recognize as the Makololo.
He described five rivers as falling into the Lolo, viz.,
the Lishish, Liss or Lise, Kalileme, Ishidish, and Molong.
None of these are large, but when they are united in the Lolo
they form a considerable stream. The country through which the Lolo flows
is said to be flat, fertile, well peopled, and there are
large patches of forest. In this report he agreed perfectly
with the people of Matiamvo, whom we had met at Quendende's village.
But we never could get him, or any one in this quarter, to draw a map
on the ground, as people may readily be got to do in the south.
Katema promised us the aid of some of his people as carriers,
but his rule is not very stringent or efficient, for they refused to turn out
for the work. They were Balobale; and he remarked on their disobedience that,
though he received them as fugitives, they did not feel grateful enough
to obey, and if they continued rebellious he must drive them back
whence they came; but there is little fear of that, as all the chiefs
are excessively anxious to collect men in great numbers around them.
These Balobale would not go, though our guide Shakatwala
ran after some of them with a drawn sword. This degree of liberty to rebel
was very striking to us, as it occurred in a country where people may be sold,
and often are so disposed of when guilty of any crime;
and we well knew that open disobedience like this among the Makololo
would be punished with death without much ceremony.
On Sunday, the 19th, both I and several of our party were seized with fever,
and I could do nothing but toss about in my little tent,
with the thermometer above 90 Deg., though this was the beginning of winter,
and my men made as much shade as possible by planting branches of trees
all round and over it. We have, for the first time in my experience
in Africa, had a cold wind from the north. All the winds from that quarter
are hot, and those from the south are cold, but they seldom blow
from either direction.
20TH. We were glad to get away, though not on account of
any scarcity of food; for my men, by giving small presents of meat
as an earnest of their sincerity, formed many friendships
with the people of Katema. We went about four or five miles
in a N.N.W. direction, then two in a westerly one, and came round
the small end of Lake Dilolo. It seemed, as far as we could
at this time discern, to be like a river a quarter of a mile wide.
It is abundantly supplied with fish and hippopotami; the broad part,
which we did not this time see, is about three miles wide,
and the lake is almost seven or eight long. If it be thought strange
that I did not go a few miles to see the broad part, which,
according to Katema, had never been visited by any of the traders,
it must be remembered that in consequence of fever I had eaten nothing
for two entire days, and, instead of sleep, the whole of the nights
were employed in incessant drinking of water, and I was now so glad to get on
in the journey and see some of my fellow fever-patients crawling along,
that I could not brook the delay, which astronomical observations for
accurately determining the geographical position of this most interesting spot
would have occasioned.
We observed among the people of Katema a love for singing-birds.
One pretty little songster, named "cabazo", a species of canary,
is kept in very neatly made cages, having traps on the top to entice
its still free companions.
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