In The Open Parts
They Are Studded Over The Surface Exactly As Haycocks Are In Harvest,
Or Heaps Of Manure In Spring, Rather Disfiguring The Landscape.
In The Woods They Are As Large As Round Haystacks, 40 Or 50 Feet In Diameter
At The Base, And At Least 20 Feet High.
These are more fertile
than the rest of the land, and here they are the chief garden-ground
for maize, pumpkins, and tobacco.
When we had passed the outskirting villages, which alone consider themselves
in a state of war with the Makololo, we found the Batoka, or Batonga,
as they here call themselves, quite friendly. Great numbers of them came
from all the surrounding villages with presents of maize and masuka,
and expressed great joy at the first appearance of a white man,
and harbinger of peace. The women clothe themselves better than the Balonda,
but the men go `in puris naturalibus'. They walk about without the smallest
sense of shame. They have even lost the tradition of the "fig-leaf".
I asked a fine, large-bodied old man if he did not think it would be better
to adopt a little covering. He looked with a pitying leer,
and laughed with surprise at my thinking him at all indecent;
he evidently considered himself above such weak superstition.
I told them that, on my return, I should have my family with me,
and no one must come near us in that state. "What shall we put on?
we have no clothing." It was considered a good joke when I told them that,
if they had nothing else, they must put on a bunch of grass.
The farther we advanced, the more we found the country swarming
with inhabitants. Great numbers came to see the white man, a sight they had
never beheld before. They always brought presents of maize and masuka.
Their mode of salutation is quite singular. They throw themselves
on their backs on the ground, and, rolling from side to side,
slap the outside of their thighs as expressions of thankfulness and welcome,
uttering the words "Kina bomba." This method of salutation was to me
very disagreeable, and I never could get reconciled to it. I called out,
"Stop, stop; I don't want that;" but they, imagining I was dissatisfied,
only tumbled about more furiously, and slapped their thighs
with greater vigor. The men being totally unclothed, this performance
imparted to my mind a painful sense of their extreme degradation.
My own Batoka were much more degraded than the Barotse, and more reckless.
We had to keep a strict watch, so as not to be involved
by their thieving from the inhabitants, in whose country and power we were.
We had also to watch the use they made of their tongues,
for some within hearing of the villagers would say, "I broke all the pots
of that village," or, "I killed a man there." They were eager to recount
their soldier deeds, when they were in company with the Makololo
in former times as a conquering army.
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