It Flows Through A Fertile Country,
Well Peopled With Bamasasa, Who Cultivate The Native Produce Largely.
As this was the middle of winter, it may be mentioned
that the temperature of the water in the morning was 47 Deg.,
and that of the air 50 Deg., which, being loaded with moisture,
was very cold to the feelings.
Yet the sun was very hot by day,
and the temperature in the coolest shade from 88 Deg. to 90 Deg.;
in the evenings from 76 Deg. to 78 Deg.
Before reaching the town of Shinte we passed through many large villages
of the Balobale, who have fled from the chief Kangenke. The Mambari from Bihe
come constantly to him for trade; and, as he sells his people,
great numbers of them escape to Shinte and Katema, who refuse to give them up.
We reached our friend Shinte, and received a hearty welcome
from this friendly old man, and abundant provisions of the best he had.
On hearing the report of the journey given by my companions,
and receiving a piece of cotton cloth about two yards square,
he said, "These Mambari cheat us by bringing little pieces only;
but the next time you pass I shall send men with you to trade for me
in Loanda." When I explained the use made of the slaves he sold,
and that he was just destroying his own tribe by selling his people,
and enlarging that of the Mambari for the sake of these small pieces of cloth,
it seemed to him quite a new idea. He entered into a long detail
of his troubles with Masiko, who had prevented him from cultivating
that friendship with the Makololo which I had inculcated,
and had even plundered the messengers he had sent with Kolimbota
to the Barotse valley. Shinte was particularly anxious to explain
that Kolimbota had remained after my departure of his own accord,
and that he had engaged in the quarrels of the country without being invited;
that, in attempting to capture one of the children of a Balobale man,
who had offended the Balonda by taking honey from a hive
which did not belong to him, Kolimbota had got wounded by a shot in the thigh,
but that he had cured the wound, given him a wife, and sent
a present of cloth to Sekeletu, with a full account of the whole affair.
From the statement of Shinte we found that Kolimbota had learned,
before we left his town, that the way we intended to take was so dangerous
that it would be better for him to leave us to our fate;
and, as he had taken one of our canoes with him, it seemed evident
that he did not expect us to return. Shinte, however, sent a recommendation
to his sister Nyamoana to furnish as many canoes as we should need
for our descent of the Leeba and Leeambye.
As I had been desirous of introducing some of the fruit-trees of Angola,
both for my own sake and that of the inhabitants, we had carried
a pot containing a little plantation of orange, cashew-trees,
custard-apple-trees (`anona'), and a fig-tree, with coffee,
aracas (`Araca pomifera'), and papaws (`Carica papaya'). Fearing that,
if we took them farther south at present, they might be killed by the cold,
we planted them out in an inclosure of one of Shinte's principal men,
and, at his request, promised to give Shinte a share when grown.
They know the value of fruits, but at present have none except wild ones.
A wild fruit we frequently met with in Londa is eatable,
and, when boiled, yields a large quantity of oil, which is much used
in anointing both head and body. He eagerly accepted
some of the seeds of the palm-oil-tree (`Elaeis Guineensis'),
when told that this would produce oil in much greater quantity
than their native tree, which is not a palm. There are very few palm-trees
in this country, but near Bango we saw a few of a peculiar palm,
the ends of the leaf-stalks of which remain attached to the trunk,
giving it a triangular shape.
It is pleasant to observe that all the tribes in Central Africa
are fond of agriculture. My men had collected quantities of seeds in Angola,
and now distributed them among their friends. Some even carried onions,
garlic, and bird's-eye pepper, growing in pannikins. The courts
of the Balonda, planted with tobacco, sugar-cane, and plants used as relishes,
led me to the belief that care would be taken of my little nursery.
The thermometer early in the mornings ranged from 42 Deg. to 52 Deg.,
at noon 94 Deg. to 96 Deg., and in the evening about 70 Deg. It was placed
in the shade of my tent, which was pitched under the thickest tree
we could find. The sensation of cold, after the heat of the day,
was very keen. The Balonda at this season never leave their fires
till nine or ten in the morning. As the cold was so great here,
it was probably frosty at Linyanti; I therefore feared
to expose my young trees there. The latitude of Shinte's town
is 12d 37' 35" S., longitude 22d 47' E.
We remained with Shinte till the 6th of July, he being unwilling
to allow us to depart before hearing in a formal manner,
in the presence of his greatest councilor Chebende, a message from Limboa,
the brother of Masiko. When Masiko fled from the Makololo country
in consequence of a dislike of being in a state of subjection to Sebituane,
he came into the territory of Shinte, who received him kindly,
and sent orders to all the villages in his vicinity to supply him with food.
Limboa fled in a westerly direction with a number of people,
and also became a chief. His country was sometimes called Nyenko,
but by the Mambari and native Portuguese traders "Mboela" - the place
where they "turned again", or back.
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