They Had Thus Been Thirty-Six Hours At It,
And Seemed As Fresh As Ever.
In some situations, if we remained a day,
they devoured the grass beneath my mat, and would have eaten that too
had we not laid down more grass.
At some of their operations
they beat time in a curious manner. Hundreds of them are engaged
in building a large tube, and they wish to beat it smooth. At a signal,
they all give three or four energetic beats on the plaster in unison.
It produces a sound like the dropping of rain off a bush when touched.
These insects are the chief agents employed in forming a fertile soil.
But for their labors, the tropical forests, bad as they are now
with fallen trees, would be a thousand times worse. They would be impassable
on account of the heaps of dead vegetation lying on the surface, and emitting
worse effluvia than the comparatively small unburied collections do now.
When one looks at the wonderful adaptations throughout creation,
and the varied operations carried on with such wisdom and skill,
the idea of second causes looks clumsy. We are viewing
the direct handiwork of Him who is the one and only Power in the universe;
wonderful in counsel; in whom we all live, and move, and have our being.
The Batoka of these parts are very degraded in their appearance,
and are not likely to improve, either physically or mentally,
while so much addicted to smoking the mutokwane (`Cannabis sativa').
They like its narcotic effects, though the violent fit of coughing
which follows a couple of puffs of smoke appears distressing, and causes
a feeling of disgust in the spectator. This is not diminished on seeing
the usual practice of taking a mouthful of water, and squirting it out
together with the smoke, then uttering a string of half-incoherent sentences,
usually in self-praise. This pernicious weed is extensively used
in all the tribes of the interior. It causes a species of phrensy,
and Sebituane's soldiers, on coming in sight of their enemies,
sat down and smoked it, in order that they might make an effective onslaught.
I was unable to prevail on Sekeletu and the young Makololo
to forego its use, although they can not point to an old man in the tribe
who has been addicted to this indulgence. I believe it was
the proximate cause of Sebituane's last illness, for it sometimes
occasions pneumonia. Never having tried it, I can not describe
the pleasurable effects it is said to produce, but the hashish
in use among the Turks is simply an extract of the same plant,
and that, like opium, produces different effects on different individuals.
Some view every thing as if looking in through the wide end of a telescope,
and others, in passing over a straw, lift up their feet as if about to cross
the trunk of a tree. The Portuguese in Angola have such a belief
in its deleterious effects that the use of it by a slave
is considered a crime.
NOVEMBER 28TH. The inhabitants of the last of Kaonka's villages
complained of being plundered by the independent Batoka.
The tribes in front of this are regarded by the Makololo
as in a state of rebellion. I promised to speak to the rebels on the subject,
and enjoined on Kaonka the duty of giving them no offense. According to
Sekeletu's order, Kaonka gave us the tribute of maize-corn and ground-nuts,
which would otherwise have gone to Linyanti. This had been done
at every village, and we thereby saved the people the trouble of a journey
to the capital. My own Batoka had brought away such loads of provisions
from their homes that we were in no want of food.
After leaving Kaonka we traveled over an uninhabited, gently undulating,
and most beautiful district, the border territory between
those who accept and those who reject the sway of the Makololo.
The face of the country appears as if in long waves, running north and south.
There are no rivers, though water stands in pools in the hollows.
We were now come into the country which my people all magnify
as a perfect paradise. Sebituane was driven from it by the Matebele.
It suited him exactly for cattle, corn, and health. The soil is dry,
and often a reddish sand; there are few trees, but fine large shady ones
stand dotted here and there over the country where towns formerly stood.
One of the fig family I measured, and found to be forty feet in circumference;
the heart had been burned out, and some one had made a lodging in it,
for we saw the remains of a bed and a fire. The sight of the open country,
with the increased altitude we were attaining, was most refreshing
to the spirits. Large game abound. We see in the distance buffaloes, elands,
hartebeest, gnus, and elephants, all very tame, as no one disturbs them.
Lions, which always accompany other large animals, roared about us,
but, as it was moonlight, there was no danger. In the evening,
while standing on a mass of granite, one began to roar at me,
though it was still light. The temperature was pleasant, as the rains,
though not universal, had fallen in many places. It was very cloudy,
preventing observations. The temperature at 6 A.M. was 70 Deg.,
at midday 90 Deg., in the evening 84 Deg. This is very pleasant
on the high lands, with but little moisture in the air.
The different rocks to the westward of Kaonka's, talcose gneiss
and white mica schist, generally dip toward the west, but at Kaonka's,
large rounded masses of granite, containing black mica, began to appear.
The outer rind of it inclines to peel off, and large crystals project
on the exposed surface.
In passing through some parts where a good shower of rain has fallen,
the stridulous piercing notes of the cicadae are perfectly deafening;
a drab-colored cricket joins the chorus with a sharp sound,
which has as little modulation as the drone of a Scottish bagpipe.
I could not conceive how so small a thing could raise such a sound; it seemed
to make the ground over it thrill.
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