If The Hunter Should Begin To Cut Up
Before The Agent Of The Landowner Arrives, He Is Liable To Lose
Both The Tusks And All The Flesh.
The hind leg of a buffalo
must also be given to the man on whose land the animal was grazing,
and a still larger quantity of the eland, which here and every where else
in the country is esteemed right royal food.
In the country above Zumbo
we did not find a vestige of this law; and but for the fact
that it existed in the country of the Bamapela, far to the south of this,
I should have been disposed to regard it in the same light as I do
the payment for leave to pass - an imposition levied on him
who is seen to be weak because in the hands of his slaves. The only game-laws
in the interior are, that the man who first wounds an animal,
though he has inflicted but a mere scratch, is considered the killer of it;
the second is entitled to a hind quarter, and the third to a fore leg.
The chiefs are generally entitled to a share as tribute; in some parts
it is the breast, in others the whole of the ribs and one fore leg.
I generally respected this law, although exceptions are sometimes made
when animals are killed by guns. The knowledge that he who succeeds
in reaching the wounded beast first is entitled to a share
stimulates the whole party to greater exertions in dispatching it.
One of my men, having a knowledge of elephant medicine, was considered
the leader in the hunt; he went before the others, examined the animals,
and on his decision all depended. If he decided to attack a herd,
the rest went boldly on; but if he declined, none of them would engage.
A certain part of the elephant belonged to him by right of the office he held,
and such was the faith in medicine held by the slaves of the Portuguese
whom we met hunting, that they offered to pay this man handsomely
if he would show them the elephant medicine.
When near Mosusa's village we passed a rivulet called Chowe, now running
with rain-water. The inhabitants there extract a little salt from the sand
when it is dry, and all the people of the adjacent country
come to purchase it from them. This was the first salt we had met with
since leaving Angola, for none is to be found in either
the country of the Balonda or Barotse; but we heard of salt-pans
about a fortnight west of Naliele, and I got a small supply from Mpololo
while there. That had long since been finished, and I had again
lived two months without salt, suffering no inconvenience except
an occasional longing for animal food or milk.
In marching along, the rich reddish-brown soil was so clammy
that it was very difficult to walk. It is, however, extremely fertile,
and the people cultivate amazing quantities of corn, maize, millet,
ground-nuts, pumpkins, and cucumbers. We observed that, when plants failed
in one spot, they were in the habit of transplanting them into another,
and they had also grown large numbers of young plants on the islands,
where they are favored by moisture from the river, and were now removing them
to the main land. The fact of their being obliged to do this shows
that there is less rain here than in Londa, for there we observed the grain
in all stages of its growth at the same time.
The people here build their huts in gardens on high stages.
This is necessary on account of danger from the spotted hyaena,
which is said to be very fierce, and also as a protection against
lions and elephants. The hyaena is a very cowardly animal,
but frequently approaches persons lying asleep, and makes an ugly gash
on the face. Mozinkwa had lost his upper lip in this way,
and I have heard of men being killed by them; children, too,
are sometimes carried off; for, though he is so cowardly that the human voice
will make him run away at once, yet, when his teeth are in the flesh,
he holds on, and shows amazing power of jaw. Leg-bones of oxen,
from which the natives have extracted the marrow and every thing eatable,
are by this animal crunched up with the greatest ease,
which he apparently effects by turning them round in his teeth
till they are in a suitable position for being split.
We had now come among people who had plenty, and were really very liberal.
My men never returned from a village without some corn or maize
in their hands. The real politeness with which food is given
by nearly all the interior tribes, who have not had much intercourse
with Europeans, makes it a pleasure to accept. Again and again
I have heard an apology made for the smallness of the present,
or regret expressed that they had not received notice of my approach
in time to grind more, and generally they readily accepted our excuse
at having nothing to give in return by saying that they were quite aware that
there are no white men's goods in the interior. When I had it in my power,
I always gave something really useful. To Katema, Shinte, and others,
I gave presents which cost me about 2 Pounds each, and I could return to them
at any time without having a character for stinginess. How some men
can offer three buttons, or some other equally contemptible gift,
while they have abundance in their possession, is to me unaccountable.
They surely do not know, when they write it in their books,
that they are declaring they have compromised the honor of Englishmen.
The people receive the offering with a degree of shame, and ladies may be seen
to hand it quickly to the attendants, and, when they retire,
laugh until the tears stand in their eyes, saying to those about them,
"Is that a white man?
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