They Fled Precipitately
As Soon As They Saw The Makololo, Leaving Their Canoes
And All Their Utensils And Clothing.
My own Makalaka,
who were accustomed to plunder wherever they went, rushed after them
like furies, totally regardless of my shouting.
As this proceeding
would have destroyed my character entirely at Lobale, I took my stand
on a commanding position as they returned, and forced them
to lay down all the plunder on a sand-bank, and leave it there
for its lawful owners.
It was now quite evident that no healthy location could be obtained in which
the Makololo would be allowed to live in peace. I had thus a fair excuse,
if I had chosen to avail myself of it, of coming home and saying
that the "door was shut", because the Lord's time had not yet come.
But believing that it was my duty to devote some portion of my life
to these (to me at least) very confiding and affectionate Makololo,
I resolved to follow out the second part of my plan, though I had failed
in accomplishing the first. The Leeba seemed to come from the N. and by W.,
or N.N.W.; so, having an old Portuguese map, which pointed out the Coanza
as rising from the middle of the continent in 9 Deg. S. lat.,
I thought it probable that, when we had ascended the Leeba (from 14d 11')
two or three degrees, we should then be within one hundred and twenty miles
of the Coanza, and find no difficulty in following it down to the coast
near Loanda. This was the logical deduction; but, as is the case
with many a plausible theory, one of the premises was decidedly defective.
The Coanza, as we afterward found, does not come from any where near
the centre of the country.
The numbers of large game above Libonta are prodigious, and they proved
remarkably tame. Eighty-one buffaloes defiled in slow procession
before our fire one evening, within gunshot; and herds of splendid elands
stood by day, without fear, at two hundred yards distance.
They were all of the striped variety, and with their forearm markings,
large dewlaps, and sleek skins, were a beautiful sight to see. The lions here
roar much more than in the country near the lake, Zouga, and Chobe.
One evening we had a good opportunity of hearing the utmost exertions
the animal can make in that line. We had made our beds on a large sand-bank,
and could be easily seen from all sides. A lion on the opposite shore
amused himself for hours by roaring as loudly as he could,
putting, as is usual in such cases, his mouth near the ground,
to make the sound reverberate. The river was too broad
for a ball to reach him, so we let him enjoy himself,
certain that he durst not have been guilty of the impertinence
in the Bushman country. Wherever the game abounds, these animals exist
in proportionate numbers.
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