But The Man Had Used Sekeletu's Name As Having
Sent Him, And, The Proof Being Convincing, He Would Undoubtedly Be
Fined.
As that would be the first instance of a fine being levied for marauding,
I looked upon it as
The beginning of a better state of things.
In tribes which have been accustomed to cattle-stealing, the act is not
considered immoral in the way that theft is. Before I knew the language well,
I said to a chief, "You stole the cattle of so and so."
"No, I did not steal them," was the reply, "I only LIFTED them."
The word "gapa" is identical with the Highland term for the same deed.
Another point came to our notice here. Some Mambari had come down thus far,
and induced the Batoka to sell a very large tusk which belonged to Sekeletu
for a few bits of cloth. They had gone among the Batoka who need hoes,
and, having purchased some of these from the people near Sesheke,
induced the others living farther east to sell both ivory and children.
They would not part with children for clothing or beads, but agriculture
with wooden hoes is so laborious, that the sight of the hoes prevailed.
The Makololo proposed to knock the Mambari on the head as the remedy
the next time they came; but on my proposing that they should
send hoes themselves, and thereby secure the ivory in a quiet way,
all approved highly of the idea, and Pitsane and Mohorisi expatiated on
the value of the ivory, their own willingness to go and sell it at Loanda,
and the disgust with which the Mambari whom we met in Angola had looked upon
their attempt to reach the proper market. If nothing untoward happens,
I think there is a fair prospect of the trade in slaves
being abolished in a natural way in this quarter, Pitsane and Mohorisi
having again expressed their willingness to go away back to Loanda
if Sekeletu would give them orders. This was the more remarkable,
as both have plenty of food and leisure at home.
20TH NOVEMBER. Sekeletu and his large party having conveyed me thus far,
and furnished me with a company of 114 men to carry the tusks to the coast,
we bade adieu to the Makololo, and proceeded northward to the Lekone.
The country around is very beautiful, and was once well peopled with Batoka,
who possessed enormous herds of cattle. When Sebituane came in former times,
with his small but warlike party of Makololo, to this spot,
a general rising took place of the Batoka through the whole country,
in order to "eat him up"; but his usual success followed him,
and, dispersing them, the Makololo obtained so many cattle
that they could not take any note of the herds of sheep and goats.
The tsetse has been brought by buffaloes into some districts where formerly
cattle abounded. This obliged us to travel the first few stages by night.
We could not well detect the nature of the country in the dim moonlight;
the path, however, seemed to lead along the high bank of what may have been
the ancient bed of the Zambesi before the fissure was made.
The Lekone now winds in it in an opposite direction to that in which
the ancient river must have flowed.
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