Sebituane Acted On The Principle,
"Whatever Is Food For Men Is Food For Me;" So No Man Is Here
Considered Unclean.
The Barotse appear inclined to pray to alligators
and eat them too, for when I wounded a water-antelope,
Called mochose,
it took to the water; when near the other side of the river
an alligator appeared at its tail, and then both sank together.
Mashauana, who was nearer to it than I, told me that,
"though he had called to it to let his meat alone, it refused to listen."
One day we passed some Barotse lads who had speared an alligator,
and were waiting in expectation of its floating soon after.
The meat has a strong musky odor, not at all inviting for any one
except the very hungry.
When we had gone thirty or forty miles above Libonta we sent
eleven of our captives to the west, to the chief called Makoma,
with an explanatory message. This caused some delay; but as we were loaded
with presents of food from the Makololo, and the wild animals
were in enormous herds, we fared sumptuously. It was grievous, however,
to shoot the lovely creatures, they were so tame. With but little skill
in stalking, one could easily get within fifty or sixty yards of them.
There I lay, looking at the graceful forms and motions of beautiful pokus,*
leches, and other antelopes, often till my men, wondering what was the matter,
came up to see, and frightened them away.
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