To Such Lengths
Did The Bangala, A Tribe Near To Which We Had Now Approached,
Proceed A Few Years Ago,
That they compelled the Portuguese traders
to pay for water, wood, and even grass, and every possible pretext
was invented
For levying fines; and these were patiently submitted to
so long as the slave-trade continued to flourish. We had unconsciously
come in contact with a system which was quite unknown in the country
from which my men had set out. An English trader may there hear a demand
for payment of guides, but never, so far as I am aware, is he asked to pay
for leave to traverse a country. The idea does not seem to have entered
the native mind, except through slave-traders, for the aborigines
all acknowledge that the untilled land, not needed for pasturage,
belongs to God alone, and that no harm is done by people passing through it.
I rather believe that, wherever the slave-trade has not penetrated,
the visits of strangers are esteemed a real privilege.
The village of old Ionga Panza (lat. 10d 25' S., long. 20d 15' E.) is small,
and embowered in lofty evergreen trees, which were hung around
with fine festoons of creepers. He sent us food immediately,
and soon afterward a goat, which was considered a handsome gift, there being
but few domestic animals, though the country is well adapted for them.
I suspect this, like the country of Shinte and Katema, must have been
a tsetse district, and only recently rendered capable of supporting
other domestic animals besides the goat, by the destruction of the game
through the extensive introduction of fire-arms. We might all have been
as ignorant of the existence of this insect plague as the Portuguese,
had it not been for the numerous migrations of pastoral tribes
which took place in the south in consequence of Zulu irruptions.
During these exciting scenes I always forgot my fever,
but a terrible sense of sinking came back with the feeling of safety.
The same demand of payment for leave to pass was made on the 20th
by old Ionga Panza as by the other Chiboque. I offered the shell
presented by Shinte, but Ionga Panza said he was too old for ornaments.
We might have succeeded very well with him, for he was
by no means unreasonable, and had but a very small village of supporters;
but our two guides from Kangenke complicated our difficulties
by sending for a body of Bangala traders, with a view to force us
to sell the tusks of Sekeletu, and pay them with the price. We offered
to pay them handsomely if they would perform their promise of guiding us
to Cassange, but they knew no more of the paths than we did;
and my men had paid them repeatedly, and tried to get rid of them,
but could not. They now joined with our enemies, and so did the traders.
Two guns and some beads belonging to the latter were standing
in our encampment, and the guides seized them and ran off.
As my men knew that we should be called upon to replace them, they gave chase,
and when the guides saw that they would be caught, they threw down the guns,
directed their flight to the village, and rushed into a hut.
The doorway is not much higher than that of a dog's kennel. One of the guides
was reached by one of my men as he was in the act of stooping to get in,
and a cut was inflicted on a projecting part of the body which would have made
any one in that posture wince. The guns were restored, but the beads
were lost in the flight. All I had remaining of my stock of beads
could not replace those lost; and though we explained that we had no part
in the guilt of the act, the traders replied that we had brought the thieves
into the country; these were of the Bangala, who had been accustomed
to plague the Portuguese in the most vexatious way. We were striving to get
a passage through the country, and, feeling anxious that no crime whatever
should be laid to our charge, tried the conciliatory plan here,
though we were not, as in the other instances, likely to be overpowered
by numbers.
My men offered all their ornaments, and I offered all my beads and shirts;
but, though we had come to the village against our will, and the guides
had also followed us contrary to our desire, and had even sent
for the Bangala traders without our knowledge or consent, yet matters
could not be arranged without our giving an ox and one of the tusks.
We were all becoming disheartened, and could not wonder
that native expeditions from the interior to the coast had generally failed
to reach their destinations. My people were now so much discouraged
that some proposed to return home; the prospect of being obliged to return
when just on the threshold of the Portuguese settlements
distressed me exceedingly. After using all my powers of persuasion,
I declared to them that if they returned I would go on alone,
and went into my little tent with the mind directed to Him
who hears the sighing of the soul, and was soon followed
by the head of Mohorisi, saying, "We will never leave you.
Do not be disheartened. Wherever you lead we will follow.
Our remarks were made only on account of the injustice of these people."
Others followed, and with the most artless simplicity of manner
told me to be comforted - "they were all my children; they knew no one
but Sekeletu and me, and they would die for me; they had not fought because
I did not wish it; they had just spoken in the bitterness of their spirit,
and when feeling that they could do nothing; but if these enemies begin
you will see what we can do." One of the oxen we offered to the Chiboque
had been rejected because he had lost part of his tail,
as they thought that it had been cut off and witchcraft medicine inserted;
and some mirth was excited by my proposing to raise a similar objection
to all the oxen we still had in our possession.
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