To Such Lengths
Did The Bangala, A Tribe Near To Which We Had Now Approached,
Proceed A Few Years Ago,
That they compelled the Portuguese traders
to pay for water, wood, and even grass, and every possible pretext
was invented
For levying fines; and these were patiently submitted to
so long as the slave-trade continued to flourish. We had unconsciously
come in contact with a system which was quite unknown in the country
from which my men had set out. An English trader may there hear a demand
for payment of guides, but never, so far as I am aware, is he asked to pay
for leave to traverse a country. The idea does not seem to have entered
the native mind, except through slave-traders, for the aborigines
all acknowledge that the untilled land, not needed for pasturage,
belongs to God alone, and that no harm is done by people passing through it.
I rather believe that, wherever the slave-trade has not penetrated,
the visits of strangers are esteemed a real privilege.
The village of old Ionga Panza (lat. 10d 25' S., long. 20d 15' E.) is small,
and embowered in lofty evergreen trees, which were hung around
with fine festoons of creepers. He sent us food immediately,
and soon afterward a goat, which was considered a handsome gift, there being
but few domestic animals, though the country is well adapted for them.
I suspect this, like the country of Shinte and Katema, must have been
a tsetse district, and only recently rendered capable of supporting
other domestic animals besides the goat, by the destruction of the game
through the extensive introduction of fire-arms.
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