The Head Man Came And Spoke Civilly,
But, When Nearly Dark, The People Of Another Village Arrived
And Behaved Very Differently.
They began by trying to spear a young man
who had gone for water.
Then they approached us, and one came forward
howling at the top of his voice in the most hideous manner; his eyes were
shot out, his lips covered with foam, and every muscle of his frame quivered.
He came near to me, and, having a small battle-axe in his hand,
alarmed my men lest he might do violence; but they were afraid
to disobey my previous orders, and to follow their own inclination
by knocking him on the head. I felt a little alarmed too,
but would not show fear before my own people or strangers,
and kept a sharp look-out on the little battle-axe. It seemed to me
a case of ecstasy or prophetic phrensy, voluntarily produced.
I felt it would be a sorry way to leave the world, to get my head chopped
by a mad savage, though that, perhaps, would be preferable to
hydrophobia or delirium tremens. Sekwebu took a spear in his hand,
as if to pierce a bit of leather, but in reality to plunge it into the man
if he offered violence to me. After my courage had been sufficiently tested,
I beckoned with the head to the civil head man to remove him,
and he did so by drawing him aside. This man pretended not to know
what he was doing. I would fain have felt his pulse, to ascertain
whether the violent trembling were not feigned, but had not much inclination
to go near the battle-axe again. There was, however, a flow of perspiration,
and the excitement continued fully half an hour, then gradually ceased.
This paroxysm is the direct opposite of hypnotism, and it is singular
that it has not been tried in Europe as well as clairvoyance.
This second batch of visitors took no pains to conceal their contempt
for our small party, saying to each other, in a tone of triumph, "They are
quite a Godsend!" literally, "God has apportioned them to us." "They are lost
among the tribes!" "They have wandered in order to be destroyed,
and what can they do without shields among so many?" Some of them asked
if there were no other parties. Sekeletu had ordered my men
not to take their shields, as in the case of my first company.
We were looked upon as unarmed, and an easy prey. We prepared
against a night attack by discharging and reloading our guns,
which were exactly the same in number (five) as on the former occasion,
as I allowed my late companions to retain those which I purchased at Loanda.
We were not molested, but some of the enemy tried to lead us toward
the Bashukulompo, who are considered to be the fiercest race in this quarter.
As we knew our direction to the confluence of the Kafue and Zambesi,
we declined their guidance, and the civil head man of the evening before
then came along with us. Crowds of natives hovered round us in the forest;
but he ran forward and explained, and we were not molested.
That night we slept by a little village under a low range of hills,
which are called Chizamena. The country here is more woody
than on the high lands we had left, but the trees are not in general large.
Great numbers of them have been broken off by elephants a foot or two
from the ground: they thus seem pollarded from that point.
This animal never seriously lessens the number of trees; indeed,
I have often been struck by the very little damage he does in a forest.
His food consists more of bulbs, tubers, roots, and branches,
than any thing else. Where they have been feeding, great numbers of trees,
as thick as a man's body, are seen twisted down or broken off,
in order that they may feed on the tender shoots at the tops.
They are said sometimes to unite in wrenching down large trees.
The natives in the interior believe that the elephant never touches grass,
and I never saw evidence of his having grazed until we came near to Tete,
and then he had fed on grass in seed only; this seed contains
so much farinaceous matter that the natives collect it for their own food.
This part of the country abounds in ant-hills. In the open parts
they are studded over the surface exactly as haycocks are in harvest,
or heaps of manure in spring, rather disfiguring the landscape.
In the woods they are as large as round haystacks, 40 or 50 feet in diameter
at the base, and at least 20 feet high. These are more fertile
than the rest of the land, and here they are the chief garden-ground
for maize, pumpkins, and tobacco.
When we had passed the outskirting villages, which alone consider themselves
in a state of war with the Makololo, we found the Batoka, or Batonga,
as they here call themselves, quite friendly. Great numbers of them came
from all the surrounding villages with presents of maize and masuka,
and expressed great joy at the first appearance of a white man,
and harbinger of peace. The women clothe themselves better than the Balonda,
but the men go `in puris naturalibus'. They walk about without the smallest
sense of shame. They have even lost the tradition of the "fig-leaf".
I asked a fine, large-bodied old man if he did not think it would be better
to adopt a little covering. He looked with a pitying leer,
and laughed with surprise at my thinking him at all indecent;
he evidently considered himself above such weak superstition.
I told them that, on my return, I should have my family with me,
and no one must come near us in that state. "What shall we put on?
we have no clothing." It was considered a good joke when I told them that,
if they had nothing else, they must put on a bunch of grass.
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