We Had To Cross, In A Canoe, A Stream Which Flows
Past The Village Of Nyamoana.
Manenko's doctor waved some charms over her,
and she took some in her hand and on her body before she ventured
upon the water.
One of my men spoke rather loudly when near
the doctor's basket of medicines. The doctor reproved him,
and always spoke in a whisper himself, glancing back to the basket
as if afraid of being heard by something therein. So much superstition
is quite unknown in the south, and is mentioned here to show the difference
in the feelings of this new people, and the comparative want of reverence
on these points among Caffres and Bechuanas.
Manenko was accompanied by her husband and her drummer;
the latter continued to thump most vigorously until a heavy, drizzling mist
set in and compelled him to desist. Her husband used
various incantations and vociferations to drive away the rain,
but down it poured incessantly, and on our Amazon went,
in the very lightest marching order, and at a pace that few of the men
could keep up with. Being on ox-back, I kept pretty close to our leader,
and asked her why she did not clothe herself during the rain,
and learned that it is not considered proper for a chief to appear effeminate.
He or she must always wear the appearance of robust youth,
and bear vicissitudes without wincing. My men, in admiration of
her pedestrian powers, every now and then remarked, "Manenko is a soldier;"
and thoroughly wet and cold, we were all glad when she proposed a halt
to prepare our night's lodging on the banks of a stream.
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