Having Parted With Our Arab Friends, We Proceeded Down The Marile
Till We Re-Entered The Leeambye, And Went To The Town Of Ma-Sekeletu
(Mother Of Sekeletu), Opposite The Island Of Loyela.
Sekeletu had always
supplied me most liberally with food, and, as soon as I arrived,
presented me with a pot of boiled meat, while his mother handed me
a large jar of butter, of which they make great quantities
for the purpose of anointing their bodies.
He had himself sometimes felt
the benefit of my way of putting aside a quantity of the meat after a meal,
and had now followed my example by ordering some to be kept for me.
According to their habits, every particle of an ox is devoured at one meal;
and as the chief can not, without a deviation from their customs, eat alone,
he is often compelled to suffer severely from hunger before another meal
is ready. We henceforth always worked into each other's hands
by saving a little for each other; and when some of the sticklers
for use and custom grumbled, I advised them to eat like men,
and not like vultures.
As this was the first visit which Sekeletu had paid to this part
of his dominions, it was to many a season of great joy.
The head men of each village presented oxen, milk, and beer,
more than the horde which accompanied him could devour,
though their abilities in that line are something wonderful.
The people usually show their joy and work off their excitement
in dances and songs. The dance consists of the men standing nearly naked
in a circle, with clubs or small battle-axes in their hands,
and each roaring at the loudest pitch of his voice, while they simultaneously
lift one leg, stamp heavily twice with it, then lift the other
and give one stamp with that; this is the only movement in common.
The arms and head are often thrown about also in every direction;
and all this time the roaring is kept up with the utmost possible vigor;
the continued stamping makes a cloud of dust ascend, and they leave
a deep ring in the ground where they stood. If the scene
were witnessed in a lunatic asylum it would be nothing out of the way,
and quite appropriate even, as a means of letting off
the excessive excitement of the brain; but here gray-headed men
joined in the performance with as much zest as others whose youth
might be an excuse for making the perspiration stream off their bodies
with the exertion. Motibe asked what I thought of the Makololo dance.
I replied, "It is very hard work, and brings but small profit."
"It is," replied he, "but it is very nice, and Sekeletu will give us an ox
for dancing for him." He usually does slaughter an ox for the dancers
when the work is over.
The women stand by, clapping their hands, and occasionally one advances
into the circle, composed of a hundred men, makes a few movements,
and then retires.
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