When waiting,
on one occasion, for the other canoes to come up, I felt no inclination
to leave the one I was in; but my head boatman, Mashauana,
told me never to remain on board while so much vegetable matter
was floating down the stream.
17TH DECEMBER. At Libonta. We were detained for days together collecting
contributions of fat and butter, according to the orders of Sekeletu,
as presents to the Balonda chiefs. Much fever prevailed,
and ophthalmia was rife, as is generally the case before the rains begin.
Some of my own men required my assistance, as well as the people of Libonta.
A lion had done a good deal of mischief here, and when the people
went to attack it two men were badly wounded; one of them had his thigh-bone
quite broken, showing the prodigious power of this animal's jaws.
The inflammation produced by the teeth-wounds proved fatal to one of them.
Here we demanded the remainder of the captives, and got our number
increased to nineteen. They consisted of women and children,
and one young man of twenty. One of the boys was smuggled away in the crowd
as we embarked. The Makololo under-chiefs often act in direct opposition
to the will of the head chief, trusting to circumstances and brazenfacedness
to screen themselves from his open displeasure; and as he does not always
find it convenient to notice faults, they often go to considerable lengths
in wrong-doing.
Libonta is the last town of the Makololo; so, when we parted from it,
we had only a few cattle-stations and outlying hamlets in front,
and then an uninhabited border country till we came to Londa or Lunda.
Libonta is situated on a mound like the rest of the villages
in the Barotse valley, but here the tree-covered sides of the valley
begin to approach nearer the river. The village itself
belongs to two of the chief wives of Sebituane, who furnished us
with an ox and abundance of other food. The same kindness was manifested
by all who could afford to give any thing; and as I glance over
their deeds of generosity recorded in my journal, my heart glows
with gratitude to them, and I hope and pray that God may spare me
to make them some return.
Before leaving the villages entirely, we may glance at our way of spending
the nights. As soon as we land, some of the men cut a little grass
for my bed, while Mashauana plants the poles of the little tent.
These are used by day for carrying burdens, for the Barotse fashion
is exactly like that of the natives of India, only the burden is fastened
near the ends of the pole, and not suspended by long cords. The bed is made,
and boxes ranged on each side of it, and then the tent pitched over all.
Four or five feet in front of my tent is placed the principal or kotla fire,
the wood for which must be collected by the man who occupies
the post of herald, and takes as his perquisite the heads
of all the oxen slaughtered, and of all the game too.
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