The Instrument Of Culture Over All This Region Is A Hoe,
The Iron Of Which The Batoka And Banyeti Obtain
From the ore by smelting.
The amount of iron which they produce annually may be understood
when it is known
That most of the hoes in use at Linyanti
are the tribute imposed on the smiths of those subject tribes.
Sekeletu receives tribute from a great number of tribes in corn or dura,
ground-nuts, hoes, spears, honey, canoes, paddles, wooden vessels,
tobacco, mutokuane (`Cannabis sativa'), various wild fruits (dried),
prepared skins, and ivory. When these articles are brought into the kotla,
Sekeletu has the honor of dividing them among the loungers
who usually congregate there. A small portion only is reserved for himself.
The ivory belongs nominally to him too, but this is simply
a way of making a fair distribution of the profits. The chief sells it
only with the approbation of his counselors, and the proceeds are distributed
in open day among the people as before. He has the choice of every thing;
but if he is not more liberal to others than to himself,
he loses in popularity. I have known instances in this and other tribes
in which individuals aggrieved, because they had been overlooked,
fled to other chiefs. One discontented person, having fled to Lechulatebe,
was encouraged to go to a village of the Bapalleng,
on the River Cho or Tso, and abstracted the tribute of ivory thence
which ought to have come to Sekeletu. This theft enraged
the whole of the Makololo, because they all felt it to be a personal loss.
Some of Lechulatebe's people having come on a visit to Linyanti,
a demonstration was made, in which about five hundred Makololo, armed,
went through a mimic fight; the principal warriors pointed their spears
toward the lake where Lechulatebe lives, and every thrust in that direction
was answered by all with the shout, "Ho-o!" while every stab on the ground
drew out a simultaneous "Huzz!" On these occasions all capable
of bearing arms, even the old, must turn out at the call.
In the time of Sebituane, any one remaining in his house
was searched for and killed without mercy.
This offense of Lechulatebe was aggravated by repetition,
and by a song sung in his town accompanying the dances, which manifested joy
at the death of Sebituane. He had enjoined his people to live in peace
with those at the lake, and Sekeletu felt disposed to follow his advice;
but Lechulatebe had now got possession of fire-arms, and considered himself
more than a match for the Makololo. His father had been
dispossessed of many cattle by Sebituane, and, as forgiveness
is not considered among the virtues by the heathen, Lechulatebe thought
he had a right to recover what he could. As I had a good deal of influence
with the Makololo, I persuaded them that, before they could have peace,
they must resolve to give the same blessing to others,
and they never could do that without forgiving and forgetting ancient feuds.
It is hard to make them feel that shedding of human blood is a great crime;
they must be conscious that it is wrong, but, having been
accustomed to bloodshed from infancy, they are remarkably callous
to the enormity of the crime of destroying human life.
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