Though hungry,
we could just manage to swallow it with the aid of a little honey,
which I shared with my men as long as it lasted.
It is very unsavory
(Scottice: wersh); and no matter how much one may eat, two hours afterward
he is as hungry as ever. When less meal is employed, the mess is exactly like
a basin of starch in the hands of a laundress; and if the starch were made
from diseased potatoes, some idea might be formed of the Balonda porridge,
which hunger alone forced us to eat. Santuru forbade his nobles to eat it,
as it caused coughing and expectoration.
Our chief guide, Intemese, sent orders to all the villages around our route
that Shinte's friends must have abundance of provisions. Our progress
was impeded by the time requisite for communicating the chief's desire
and consequent preparation of meal. We received far more food
from Shinte's people than from himself. Kapende, for instance,
presented two large baskets of meal, three of manioc roots
steeped and dried in the sun and ready to be converted into flour,
three fowls, and seven eggs, with three smoke-dried fishes;
and others gave with similar liberality. I gave to the head men
small bunches of my stock of beads, with an apology that we were now
on our way to the market for these goods. The present was always
politely received.
We had an opportunity of observing that our guides had much more etiquette
than any of the tribes farther south. They gave us food, but would not
partake of it when we had cooked it, nor would they eat their own food
in our presence. When it was cooked they retired into a thicket
and ate their porridge; then all stood up, and clapped their hands,
and praised Intemese for it. The Makololo, who are accustomed
to the most free and easy manners, held out handfuls of what they had cooked
to any of the Balonda near, but they refused to taste. They are
very punctilious in their manners to each other. Each hut has its own fire,
and when it goes out they make it afresh for themselves rather than take it
from a neighbor. I believe much of this arises from superstitious fears.
In the deep, dark forests near each village, as already mentioned,
you see idols intended to represent the human head or a lion,
or a crooked stick smeared with medicine, or simply a small pot of medicine
in a little shed, or miniature huts with little mounds of earth in them.
But in the darker recesses we meet with human faces cut in the bark of trees,
the outlines of which, with the beards, closely resemble those seen
on Egyptian monuments. Frequent cuts are made on the trees along
all the paths, and offerings of small pieces of manioc roots or ears of maize
are placed on branches. There are also to be seen every few miles
heaps of sticks, which are treated in cairn fashion, by every one throwing
a small branch to the heap in passing; or a few sticks are placed on the path,
and each passer-by turns from his course, and forms a sudden bend in the road
to one side.
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