The Frequent Appearance Of English Goods Showed That They Were Approaching
The Coast, And Not Long Afterward Livingstone Met A Couple Of Native Traders,
From Whom, For Two Small Tusks, He Bought A Quantity Of American Cotton
Marked "Lawrence Mills, Lowell", Which He Distributed Among His Men.
For another month they traveled slowly on through a fertile country,
abounding in animal life, bagging an elephant or a buffalo
when short of meat.
Lions are numerous, but the natives, believing that
the souls of their dead chiefs enter the bodies of these animals, into which
they also have the power, when living, of transforming themselves at will,
never kill them. When they meet a lion they salute him
by clapping their hands - a courtesy which his Highness frequently returns
by making a meal of them.
In this region the women are decidedly in the ascendant.
The bridegroom is obliged to come to the village of the bride to live.
Here he must perform certain services for his mother-in-law,
such as keeping her always supplied with fire-wood. Above all things,
he must always, when in her presence, sit with his legs bent under him,
it being considered a mark of disrespect to present his feet toward her.
If he wishes to leave the village, he must not take his children with him;
they belong to his wife, or, rather, to her family. He can, however,
by the payment of a certain number of cattle, "buy up" his wife and children.
When a man is desired to perform any service he always asks
his wife's consent; if she refuses, no amount of bribery or coaxing
will induce him to disobey her.
On the evening of March 2, Livingstone, tired and hungry,
came within eight miles of the Portuguese settlement of Tete.
He sent forward the letters of recommendation which he had received
from the Portuguese on the other side of the continent.
Before daylight the following morning he was aroused
by two officers and a company of soldiers, who brought the materials
for a civilized breakfast - the first of which he had partaken
since he left Loanda, eighteen months before. "It was," he says,
"the most refreshing breakfast of which I ever partook."
Tete stands on the Zambesi, three hundred miles from its mouth.
The commandant received Livingstone kindly, supplied his men with provisions
for immediate use, gave them land upon which to raise future supplies,
and granted them permission to hunt elephants in the neighborhood
on their own account. Before long they had established
a brisk trade in fire-wood, as their countrymen had done at Loanda.
They certainly manifested none of the laziness which has been said
to be characteristic of the African races. Thirty elephant tusks remained
of those forwarded by Sekeletu. Ten of these were sold for cotton cloth
for the men. The others were deposited with the authorities,
with directions that in case Livingstone should never return
they should be sold, and the proceeds given to the men.
He told them that death alone should prevent him from coming back.
"Nay, father," said the men, "you will not die; you will return,
and take us back to Sekeletu."
He remained at Tete a month, waiting for the close of the sickly season
in the low delta at the mouths of the river, and then descended
to the Portuguese town of Kilimane.
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