We Here Slaughtered The Last Of The Cows
Presented To Us By Mr. Schut, Which I Had Kept Milked Until It Gave
Only A Teaspoonful At A Time.
My men enjoyed a hearty laugh
when they found that I had given up all hope of more,
for
They had been talking among themselves about my perseverance.
We offered a leg of the cow to Bango, but he informed us
that neither he nor his people ever partook of beef,
as they looked upon cattle as human, and living at home like men.
None of his people purchased any of the meat, which was always eagerly done
every where else. There are several other tribes who refuse to keep cattle,
though not to eat them when offered by others, because, say they, oxen bring
enemies and war; but this is the first instance I have met with in which
they have been refused as food. The fact of killing the pallahs for food
shows that the objection does not extend to meat in general.
The little streams in this part of the country did not flow in deep dells,
nor were we troubled with the gigantic grasses which annoyed our eyes
on the slopes of the streams before we came to Cabango.
The country was quite flat, and the people cultivated manioc very extensively.
There is no large collection of the inhabitants in any one spot.
The ambition of each seems to be to have his own little village; and we see
many coming from distant parts with the flesh of buffaloes and antelopes
as the tribute claimed by Bango.
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