The Women Stand By, Clapping Their Hands, And Occasionally One Advances
Into The Circle, Composed Of A Hundred Men, Makes A Few Movements,
And Then Retires.
As I never tried it, and am unable to enter into
the spirit of the thing, I can not
Recommend the Makololo polka
to the dancing world, but I have the authority of no less a person
than Motibe, Sekeletu's father-in-law, for saying "it is very nice."
They often asked if white people ever danced. I thought of the disease
called St. Vitus's dance, but could not say that all our dancers
were affected by it, and gave an answer which, I ought to be ashamed to own,
did not raise some of our young countrywomen in the estimation
of the Makololo.
As Sekeletu had been waiting for me at his mother's, we left the town
as soon as I arrived, and proceeded down the river. Our speed with the stream
was very great, for in one day we went from Litofe to Gonye,
a distance of forty-four miles of latitude; and if we add to this
the windings of the river, in longitude the distance will not be much less
than sixty geographical miles. At this rate we soon reached Sesheke,
and then the town of Linyanti.
I had been, during a nine weeks' tour, in closer contact with heathenism
than I had ever been before; and though all, including the chief,
were as kind and attentive to me as possible, and there was no want of food
(oxen being slaughtered daily, sometimes ten at a time, more than sufficient
for the wants of all), yet to endure the dancing, roaring, and singing,
the jesting, anecdotes, grumbling, quarreling, and murdering
of these children of nature, seemed more like a severe penance
than any thing I had before met with in the course of my missionary duties.
I took thence a more intense disgust at heathenism than I had before,
and formed a greatly elevated opinion of the latent effects of missions
in the south, among tribes which are reported to have been
as savage as the Makololo. The indirect benefits which, to a casual observer,
lie beneath the surface and are inappreciable, in reference to
the probable wide diffusion of Christianity at some future time,
are worth all the money and labor that have been expended to produce them.
Chapter 13.
Preliminary Arrangements for the Journey - A Picho - Twenty-seven Men
appointed to accompany me to the West - Eagerness of the Makololo
for direct Trade with the Coast - Effects of Fever - A Makololo Question
- The lost Journal - Reflections - The Outfit for the Journey -
11th November, 1853, leave Linyanti, and embark on the Chobe -
Dangerous Hippopotami - Banks of Chobe - Trees - The Course of the River
- The Island Mparia at the Confluence of the Chobe and the Leeambye -
Anecdote - Ascend the Leeambye - A Makalaka Mother defies the Authority
of the Makololo Head Man at Sesheke - Punishment of Thieves -
Observance of the new Moon - Public Addresses at Sesheke -
Attention of the People - Results - Proceed up the River -
The Fruit which yields `Nux vomica' - Other Fruits - The Rapids -
Birds - Fish - Hippopotami and their Young.
Linyanti, SEPTEMBER, 1853. The object proposed to the Makololo
seemed so desirable that it was resolved to proceed with it
as soon as the cooling influence of the rains should be felt in November.
The longitude and latitude of Linyanti (lat. 18d 17' 20" S.,
long. 23d 50' 9" E.) showed that St. Philip de Benguela was much nearer to us
than Loanda; and I might have easily made arrangements with the Mambari
to allow me to accompany them as far as Bihe, which is on the road
to that port; but it is so undesirable to travel in a path
once trodden by slave-traders that I preferred to find out
another line of march.
Accordingly, men were sent at my suggestion to examine all the country
to the west, to see if any belt of country free from tsetse
could be found to afford us an outlet. The search was fruitless.
The town and district of Linyanti are surrounded by forests
infested by this poisonous insect, except at a few points,
as that by which we entered at Sanshureh and another at Sesheke.
But the lands both east and west of the Barotse valley are free from
this insect plague. There, however, the slave-trade had defiled the path,
and no one ought to follow in its wake unless well armed.
The Mambari had informed me that many English lived at Loanda,
so I prepared to go thither. The prospect of meeting with countrymen
seemed to overbalance the toils of the longer march.
A "picho" was called to deliberate on the steps proposed.
In these assemblies great freedom of speech is allowed; and on this occasion
one of the old diviners said, "Where is he taking you to?
This white man is throwing you away. Your garments already smell of blood."
It is curious to observe how much identity of character appears
all over the world. This man was a noted croaker. He always dreamed
something dreadful in every expedition, and was certain
that an eclipse or comet betokened the propriety of flight.
But Sebituane formerly set his visions down to cowardice,
and Sekeletu only laughed at him now. The general voice was in my favor;
so a band of twenty-seven were appointed to accompany me to the west.
These men were not hired, but sent to enable me to accomplish an object
as much desired by the chief and most of his people as by me.
They were eager to obtain free and profitable trade with white men.
The prices which the Cape merchants could give, after defraying
the great expenses of a long journey hither, being very small,
made it scarce worth while for the natives to collect produce for that market;
and the Mambari, giving only a few bits of print and baize
for elephants' tusks worth more pounds than they gave yards of cloth,
had produced the belief that trade with them was throwing ivory away.
The desire of the Makololo for direct trade with the sea-coast
coincided exactly with my own conviction that no permanent
elevation of a people can be effected without commerce.
Neither could there be a permanent mission here, unless the missionaries
should descend to the level of the Makololo, for even at Kolobeng
we found that traders demanded three or four times the price of the articles
we needed, and expected us to be grateful to them besides
for letting us have them at all.
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