The Inner Surface Of The Cavity
Was Black, As If Charred, And So Was Likewise The Adjoining Wood
For Half An Inch From The Cavity.
The tree, at the part where
the latter existed, was 19 inches in diameter; the length of the trunk
was 18 feet.
When the Batrachia above mentioned were discovered,
they appeared inanimate, but the influence of a warm sun to which
they were subjected soon imparted to them a moderate degree of vigor.
In a few hours from the time they were liberated they were tolerably active,
and able to move from place to place apparently with great ease."
-
Before reaching the Makondo rivulet, latitude 13d 23' 12" S.,
we came upon the tsetse in such numbers that many bites were inflicted
on my poor ox, in spite of a man with a branch warding them off.
The bite of this insect does not affect the donkey as it does cattle.
The next morning, the spots on which my ox had been bitten were marked
by patches of hair about half an inch broad being wetted by exudation.
Poor Sinbad had carried me all the way from the Leeba to Golungo Alto,
and all the way back again, without losing any of his peculiarities,
or ever becoming reconciled to our perversity in forcing him away each morning
from the pleasant pasturage on which he had fed. I wished to give
the climax to his usefulness, and allay our craving for animal food
at the same time; but my men having some compunction, we carried him
to end his days in peace at Naliele.
Having dispatched a message to our old friend Manenko, we waited a day
opposite her village, which was about fifteen miles from the river.
Her husband was instantly dispatched to meet us with liberal presents of food,
she being unable to travel in consequence of a burn on the foot.
Sambanza gave us a detailed account of the political affairs of the country,
and of Kolimbota's evil doings, and next morning performed the ceremony
called "Kasendi", for cementing our friendship. It is accomplished thus:
The hands of the parties are joined (in this case Pitsane and Sambanza
were the parties engaged); small incisions are made on the clasped hands,
on the pits of the stomach of each, and on the right cheeks and foreheads.
A small quantity of blood is taken off from these points in both parties
by means of a stalk of grass. The blood from one person
is put into a pot of beer, and that of the second into another;
each then drinks the other's blood, and they are supposed to become
perpetual friends or relations. During the drinking of the beer,
some of the party continue beating the ground with short clubs,
and utter sentences by way of ratifying the treaty. The men belonging to each
then finish the beer. The principals in the performance of "Kasendi" are
henceforth considered blood-relations, and are bound to disclose to each other
any impending evil. If Sekeletu should resolve to attack the Balonda,
Pitsane would be under obligation to give Sambanza warning to escape,
and so on the other side. They now presented each other with
the most valuable presents they had to bestow. Sambanza walked off with
Pitsane's suit of green baize faced with red, which had been made in Loanda,
and Pitsane, besides abundant supplies of food, obtained two shells
similar to that I had received from Shinte.
On one occasion I became blood-relation to a young woman by accident.
She had a large cartilaginous tumor between the bones of the fore-arm,
which, as it gradually enlarged, so distended the muscles
as to render her unable to work. She applied to me to excise it.
I requested her to bring her husband, if he were willing
to have the operation performed, and, while removing the tumor,
one of the small arteries squirted some blood into my eye. She remarked,
when I was wiping the blood out of it, "You were a friend before,
now you are a blood-relation; and when you pass this way, always send me word,
that I may cook food for you." In creating these friendships, my men had
the full intention of returning; each one had his `Molekane' (friend)
in every village of the friendly Balonda. Mohorisi even married a wife
in the town of Katema, and Pitsane took another in the town of Shinte.
These alliances were looked upon with great favor by the Balonda chiefs,
as securing the good-will of the Makololo.
In order that the social condition of the tribes may be understood
by the reader, I shall mention that, while waiting for Sambanza,
a party of Barotse came from Nyenko, the former residence of Limboa,
who had lately crossed the Leeba on his way toward Masiko.
The head man of this party had brought Limboa's son to his father,
because the Barotse at Nyenko had, since the departure of Limboa,
elected Nananko, another son of Santuru, in his stead;
and our visitor, to whom the boy had been intrusted as a guardian,
thinking him to be in danger, fled with him to his father. The Barotse,
whom Limboa had left behind at Nyenko, on proceeding to elect Nananko,
said, "No, it is quite too much for Limboa to rule over two places."
I would have gone to visit Limboa and Masiko too, in order to
prevent hostilities, but the state of my ox would not allow it.
I therefore sent a message to Limboa by some of his men,
protesting against war with his brother, and giving him formal notice
that the path up the Leeba had been given to us by the Balonda,
the owners of the country, and that no attempt must ever be made
to obstruct free intercourse.
On leaving this place we were deserted by one of our party, Mboenga,
an Ambonda man, who had accompanied us all the way to Loanda and back.
His father was living with Masiko, and it was natural for him
to wish to join his own family again.
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