A Number Of The Inhabitants Stood Armed
All The Time We Were Embarking.
I showed them my watch, lens,
and other things to keep them amused, until there only remained those
who were to enter the canoe with me.
I thanked them for their kindness,
and wished them peace. After all, they may have been influenced
only by the intention to be ready in case I should play them some false trick,
for they have reason to be distrustful of the whites. The guides came over
to bid us adieu, and we sat under a mango-tree fifteen feet in circumference.
We found them more communicative now. They said that the land
on both sides belonged to the Bazunga, and that they had left of old,
on the approach of Changamera, Ngaba, and Mpakane. Sekwebu was with
the last named, but he maintained that they never came to the confluence,
though they carried off all the cattle of Mburuma. The guides confirmed this
by saying that the Bazunga were not attacked, but fled in alarm
on the approach of the enemy. This mango-tree he knew by its proper name,
and we found seven others and several tamarinds, and were informed
that the chief Mburuma sends men annually to gather the fruit,
but, like many Africans whom I have known, has not had patience
to propagate more trees. I gave them some little presents for themselves,
a handkerchief and a few beads, and they were highly pleased
with a cloth of red baize for Mburuma, which Sekeletu had given me
to purchase a canoe. We were thankful to part good friends.
Next morning we passed along the bottom of the range, called Mazanzwe,
and found the ruins of eight or ten stone houses. They all faced the river,
and were high enough up the flanks of the hill Mazanzwe to command
a pleasant view of the broad Zambesi. These establishments had all been built
on one plan - a house on one side of a large court, surrounded by a wall;
both houses and walls had been built of soft gray sandstone cemented together
with mud. The work had been performed by slaves ignorant of building,
for the stones were not often placed so as to cover the seams below.
Hence you frequently find the joinings forming one seam from the top
to the bottom. Much mortar or clay had been used to cover defects,
and now trees of the fig family grow upon the walls, and clasp them
with their roots. When the clay is moistened, masses of the walls
come down by wholesale. Some of the rafters and beams had fallen in,
but were entire, and there were some trees in the middle of the houses
as large as a man's body. On the opposite or south bank of the Zambesi
we saw the remains of a wall on a height which was probably a fort,
and the church stood at a central point, formed by the right bank
of the Loangwa and the left of the Zambesi.
The situation of Zumbo was admirably well chosen as a site for commerce.
Looking backward we see a mass of high, dark mountains, covered with trees;
behind us rises the fine high hill Mazanzwe, which stretches away northward
along the left bank of the Loangwa; to the S.E. lies an open country,
with a small round hill in the distance called Tofulo. The merchants,
as they sat beneath the verandahs in front of their houses,
had a magnificent view of the two rivers at their confluence;
of their church at the angle; and of all the gardens which they had
on both sides of the rivers. In these they cultivated wheat
without irrigation, and, as the Portuguese assert, of a grain
twice the size of that at Tete. From the guides we learned
that the inhabitants had not imbibed much idea of Christianity,
for they used the same term for the church bell which they did
for a diviner's drum. From this point the merchants had water communication
in three directions beyond, namely, from the Loangwa to the N.N.W.,
by the Kafue to the W., and by the Zambesi to the S.W.
Their attention, however, was chiefly attracted to the N. or Londa;
and the principal articles of trade were ivory and slaves.
Private enterprise was always restrained, for the colonies of the Portuguese
being strictly military, and the pay of the commandants being very small,
the officers have always been obliged to engage in trade;
and had they not employed their power to draw the trade to themselves
by preventing private traders from making bargains beyond the villages,
and only at regulated prices, they would have had no trade, as they themselves
were obliged to remain always at their posts.
Several expeditions went to the north as far as to Cazembe,
and Dr. Lacerda, himself commandant of Tete, went to that chief's residence.
Unfortunately, he was cut off while there, and his papers,
taken possession of by a Jesuit who accompanied him, were lost to the world.
This Jesuit probably intended to act fairly and have them published;
but soon after his return he was called away by death himself,
and the papers were lost sight of. Dr. Lacerda had a strong desire to open up
communication with Angola, which would have been of importance then,
as affording a speedier mode of communication with Portugal
than by the way of the Cape; but since the opening of the overland passage
to India, a quicker transit is effected from Eastern Africa to Lisbon
by way of the Red Sea. Besides Lacerda, Cazembe was visited by Pereira,
who gave a glowing account of that chief's power, which none of my inquiries
have confirmed. The people of Matiamvo stated to me that Cazembe
was a vassal of their chief: and, from all the native visitors
whom I have seen, he appears to be exactly like Shinte and Katema,
only a little more powerful.
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