The Level Plateaus Between The Rivers,
Both East And West Of The Moamba, Across Which We Traveled,
Were Less Woody Than The River Glens.
The trees on them
are scraggy and wide apart.
There are also large open grass-covered spaces,
with scarcely even a bush. On these rather dreary intervals
between the rivers it was impossible not to be painfully struck
with the absence of all animal life. Not a bird was to be seen,
except occasionally a tomtit, some of the `Sylviadae' and `Drymoica',
also a black bird (`Dicrurus Ludwigii', Smith) common throughout the country.
We were gladdened by the voice of birds only near the rivers,
and there they are neither numerous nor varied. The Senegal longclaw,
however, maintains its place, and is the largest bird seen.
We saw a butcher-bird in a trap as we passed. There are remarkably few
small animals, they having been hunted almost to extermination,
and few insects except ants, which abound in considerable number and variety.
There are scarcely any common flies to be seen, nor are we ever troubled
by mosquitoes.
The air is still, hot, and oppressive; the intensely bright sunlight
glances peacefully on the evergreen forest leaves, and all feel glad
when the path comes into the shade. The want of life in the scenery
made me long to tread again the banks of the Zambesi, and see
the graceful antelopes feeding beside the dark buffaloes and sleek elands.
Here hippopotami are known to exist only by their footprints on the banks.
Not one is ever seen to blow or put his head up at all;
they have learned to breathe in silence and keep out of sight.
We never heard one uttering the snorting sound so common on the Zambesi.
We crossed two small streams, the Kanesi and Fombeji, before reaching Cabango,
a village situated on the banks of the Chihombo. The country was becoming
more densely peopled as we proceeded, but it bears no population
compared to what it might easily sustain. Provisions were to be had
in great abundance; a fowl and basket of meal weighing 20 lbs.
were sold for a yard and a half of very inferior cotton cloth,
worth not more than threepence. An idea of the cheapness of food
may be formed from the fact that Captain Neves purchased 380 lbs. of tobacco
from the Bangalas for about two pounds sterling. This, when carried
into central Londa, might purchase seven thousand five hundred fowls,
or feed with meal and fowls seven thousand persons for one day,
giving each a fowl and 5 lbs. of meal. When food is purchased here
with either salt or coarse calico, four persons can be well fed
with animal and vegetable food at the rate of one penny a day.
The chief vegetable food is the manioc and lotsa meal.
These contain a very large proportion of starch, and, when eaten alone
for any length of time produce most distressing heartburn.
As we ourselves experienced in coming north, they also cause
a weakness of vision, which occurs in the case of animals fed
on pure gluten or amylaceous matter only. I now discovered that when
these starchy substances are eaten along with a proportion of ground-nuts,
which contain a considerable quantity of oil, no injurious effects follow.
While on the way to Cabango we saw fresh tracks of elands,
the first we had observed in this country. A poor little slave girl,
being ill, turned aside in the path, and, though we waited all the next day
making search for her, she was lost. She was tall and slender for her age,
as if of too quick growth, and probably, unable to bear the fatigue
of the march, lay down and slept in the forest, then, waking in the dark,
went farther and farther astray. The treatment of the slaves
witnessed by my men certainly did not raise slaveholders in their estimation.
Their usual exclamation was "Ga ba na pelu" (They have no heart);
and they added, with reference to the slaves, "Why do they let them?"
as if they thought that the slaves had the natural right
to rid the world of such heartless creatures, and ought to do it.
The uneasiness of the trader was continually showing itself,
and, upon the whole, he had reason to be on the alert both day and night.
The carriers perpetually stole the goods intrusted to their care,
and he could not openly accuse them, lest they should plunder him of all,
and leave him quite in the lurch. He could only hope to manage them
after getting all the remaining goods safely into a house in Cabango;
he might then deduct something from their pay for what they had purloined
on the way.
Cabango (lat. 9d 31' S., long. 20d 31' or 32' E.) is the dwelling-place
of Muanzanza, one of Matiamvo's subordinate chiefs. His village
consists of about two hundred huts and ten or twelve square houses,
constructed of poles with grass interwoven. The latter are occupied
by half-caste Portuguese from Ambaca, agents for the Cassange traders.
The cold in the mornings was now severe to the feelings,
the thermometer ranging from 58 Deg. to 60 Deg., though, when protected,
sometimes standing as high as 64 Deg. at six A.M. When the sun is well up,
the thermometer in the shade rises to 80 Deg., and in the evenings
it is about 78 Deg.
A person having died in this village, we could transact no business
with the chief until the funeral obsequies were finished. These occupy
about four days, during which there is a constant succession of dancing,
wailing, and feasting. Guns are fired by day, and drums beaten by night,
and all the relatives, dressed in fantastic caps, keep up the ceremonies
with spirit proportionate to the amount of beer and beef expended.
When there is a large expenditure, the remark is often made afterward,
"What a fine funeral that was!" A figure, consisting chiefly
of feathers and beads, is paraded on these occasions,
and seems to be regarded as an idol.
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