On The Northern Side
I Found The Kotla Of The Elder Sekote, Garnished With Numbers Of Human Skulls
Mounted On Poles:
A large heap of the crania of hippopotami,
the tusks untouched except by time, stood on one side.
At a short distance,
under some trees, we saw the grave of Sekote, ornamented with
seventy large elephants' tusks planted round it with the points turned inward,
and there were thirty more placed over the resting-places of his relatives.
These were all decaying from the effects of the sun and weather;
but a few, which had enjoyed the shade, were in a pretty good condition.
I felt inclined to take a specimen of the tusks of the hippopotami,
as they were the largest I had ever seen, but feared that the people
would look upon me as a "resurrectionist" if I did, and regard
any unfavorable event which might afterward occur as a punishment
for the sacrilege. The Batoka believe that Sekote had a pot of medicine
buried here, which, when opened, would cause an epidemic in the country.
These tyrants acted much on the fears of their people.
As this was the point from which we intended to strike off to the northeast,
I resolved on the following day to visit the falls of Victoria,
called by the natives Mosioatunya, or more anciently Shongwe.
Of these we had often heard since we came into the country; indeed,
one of the questions asked by Sebituane was, "Have you smoke that sounds
in your country?" They did not go near enough to examine them,
but, viewing them with awe at a distance, said, in reference to
the vapor and noise, "Mosi oa tunya" (smoke does sound there).
It was previously called Shongwe, the meaning of which I could not ascertain.
The word for a "pot" resembles this, and it may mean a seething caldron,
but I am not certain of it.
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