The Inner Surface Of The Cavity
Was Black, As If Charred, And So Was Likewise The Adjoining Wood
For Half An Inch From The Cavity.
The tree, at the part where
the latter existed, was 19 inches in diameter; the length of the trunk
was 18 feet.
When the Batrachia above mentioned were discovered,
they appeared inanimate, but the influence of a warm sun to which
they were subjected soon imparted to them a moderate degree of vigor.
In a few hours from the time they were liberated they were tolerably active,
and able to move from place to place apparently with great ease."
-
Before reaching the Makondo rivulet, latitude 13d 23' 12" S.,
we came upon the tsetse in such numbers that many bites were inflicted
on my poor ox, in spite of a man with a branch warding them off.
The bite of this insect does not affect the donkey as it does cattle.
The next morning, the spots on which my ox had been bitten were marked
by patches of hair about half an inch broad being wetted by exudation.
Poor Sinbad had carried me all the way from the Leeba to Golungo Alto,
and all the way back again, without losing any of his peculiarities,
or ever becoming reconciled to our perversity in forcing him away each morning
from the pleasant pasturage on which he had fed. I wished to give
the climax to his usefulness, and allay our craving for animal food
at the same time; but my men having some compunction, we carried him
to end his days in peace at Naliele.
Having dispatched a message to our old friend Manenko, we waited a day
opposite her village, which was about fifteen miles from the river.
Her husband was instantly dispatched to meet us with liberal presents of food,
she being unable to travel in consequence of a burn on the foot.
Sambanza gave us a detailed account of the political affairs of the country,
and of Kolimbota's evil doings, and next morning performed the ceremony
called "Kasendi", for cementing our friendship. It is accomplished thus:
The hands of the parties are joined (in this case Pitsane and Sambanza
were the parties engaged); small incisions are made on the clasped hands,
on the pits of the stomach of each, and on the right cheeks and foreheads.
A small quantity of blood is taken off from these points in both parties
by means of a stalk of grass. The blood from one person
is put into a pot of beer, and that of the second into another;
each then drinks the other's blood, and they are supposed to become
perpetual friends or relations. During the drinking of the beer,
some of the party continue beating the ground with short clubs,
and utter sentences by way of ratifying the treaty. The men belonging to each
then finish the beer. The principals in the performance of "Kasendi" are
henceforth considered blood-relations, and are bound to disclose to each other
any impending evil.
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