This Dream Depressed The Spirits
Of The Whole Party, And When I Came Out Of My Little Tent In The Morning,
They Were Sitting The Pictures Of Abject Sorrow.
I asked if we were
to be guided by dreams, or by the authority I derived from Sekeletu,
and
Ordered them to load the boats at once; they seemed ashamed to confess
their fears; the Makololo picked up courage and upbraided the others
for having such superstitious views, and said this was always their way;
if even a certain bird called to them, they would turn back
from an enterprise, saying it was unlucky. They entered the canoes at last,
and were the better of a little scolding for being inclined
to put dreams before authority. It rained all the morning, but about eleven
we reached the village of Sheakondo, on a small stream named Lonkonye.
We sent a message to the head man, who soon appeared with two wives,
bearing handsome presents of manioc: Sheakondo could speak
the language of the Barotse well, and seemed awestruck when told
some of the "words of God". He manifested no fear, always spoke frankly,
and when he made an asseveration, did so by simply pointing up to the sky
above him. The Balonda cultivate the manioc or cassava extensively;
also dura, ground-nuts, beans, maize, sweet potatoes, and yams,
here called "lekoto", but as yet we see only the outlying villages.
The people who came with Sheakondo to our bivouac had their teeth filed
to a point by way of beautifying them, though those which were left untouched
were always the whitest; they are generally tattooed in various parts,
but chiefly on the abdomen: the skin is raised in small elevated cicatrices,
each nearly half an inch long and a quarter of an inch in diameter,
so that a number of them may constitute a star, or other device.
The dark color of the skin prevents any coloring matter being deposited
in these figures, but they love much to have the whole surface of their bodies
anointed with a comfortable varnish of oil. In their unassisted state
they depend on supplies of oil from the Palma Christi, or castor-oil plant,
or from various other oliferous seeds, but they are all
excessively fond of clarified butter or ox fat. Sheakondo's old wife
presented some manioc roots, and then politely requested
to be anointed with butter: as I had been bountifully supplied
by the Makololo, I gave her as much as would suffice, and as they have
little clothing, I can readily believe that she felt her comfort
greatly enhanced thereby.
The favorite wife, who was also present, was equally anxious for butter.
She had a profusion of iron rings on her ankles, to which were attached
little pieces of sheet iron, to enable her to make a tinkling as she walked
in her mincing African style; the same thing is thought pretty
by our own dragoons in walking jauntingly.
We had so much rain and cloud that I could not get a single observation
for either longitude or latitude for a fortnight.
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