The object proposed to the Makololo
seemed so desirable that it was resolved to proceed with it
as soon as the cooling influence of the rains should be felt in November.
The longitude and latitude of Linyanti (lat.
18d 17' 20" S.,
long. 23d 50' 9" E.) showed that St. Philip de Benguela was much nearer to us
than Loanda; and I might have easily made arrangements with the Mambari
to allow me to accompany them as far as Bihe, which is on the road
to that port; but it is so undesirable to travel in a path
once trodden by slave-traders that I preferred to find out
another line of march.
Accordingly, men were sent at my suggestion to examine all the country
to the west, to see if any belt of country free from tsetse
could be found to afford us an outlet. The search was fruitless.
The town and district of Linyanti are surrounded by forests
infested by this poisonous insect, except at a few points,
as that by which we entered at Sanshureh and another at Sesheke.
But the lands both east and west of the Barotse valley are free from
this insect plague. There, however, the slave-trade had defiled the path,
and no one ought to follow in its wake unless well armed.
The Mambari had informed me that many English lived at Loanda,
so I prepared to go thither. The prospect of meeting with countrymen
seemed to overbalance the toils of the longer march.
A "picho" was called to deliberate on the steps proposed.
In these assemblies great freedom of speech is allowed; and on this occasion
one of the old diviners said, "Where is he taking you to?
This white man is throwing you away. Your garments already smell of blood."
It is curious to observe how much identity of character appears
all over the world. This man was a noted croaker. He always dreamed
something dreadful in every expedition, and was certain
that an eclipse or comet betokened the propriety of flight.
But Sebituane formerly set his visions down to cowardice,
and Sekeletu only laughed at him now. The general voice was in my favor;
so a band of twenty-seven were appointed to accompany me to the west.
These men were not hired, but sent to enable me to accomplish an object
as much desired by the chief and most of his people as by me.
They were eager to obtain free and profitable trade with white men.
The prices which the Cape merchants could give, after defraying
the great expenses of a long journey hither, being very small,
made it scarce worth while for the natives to collect produce for that market;
and the Mambari, giving only a few bits of print and baize
for elephants' tusks worth more pounds than they gave yards of cloth,
had produced the belief that trade with them was throwing ivory away.
The desire of the Makololo for direct trade with the sea-coast
coincided exactly with my own conviction that no permanent
elevation of a people can be effected without commerce.
Neither could there be a permanent mission here, unless the missionaries
should descend to the level of the Makololo, for even at Kolobeng
we found that traders demanded three or four times the price of the articles
we needed, and expected us to be grateful to them besides
for letting us have them at all.
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