They
Had Heard, Moreover, That The English Had Come To Moselekatse, And
Told Him It Was Wrong To Kill Men;
And he had replied that he was
born to kill people, but would drop the habit; and, since the English
Came, he had sent out his men, not to kill as of yore, but to collect
tribute of cloth and ivory. This report referred to the arrival of
the Rev. R. Moffat, of Kuruman, who, we afterwards found, had
established a mission. The statement is interesting as showing that,
though imperfectly expressed, the purport of the missionaries'
teaching had travelled, in a short time, over 300 miles, and we know
not how far the knowledge of the English operations on the coast
spread inland.
When abreast of the high wooded island Kalabi we came in contact with
one of the game-laws of the country, which has come down from the
most ancient times. An old buffalo crossed the path a few yards in
front of us; our guide threw his small spear at its hip, and it was
going off scarcely hurt, when three rifle balls knocked it over. "It
is mine," said the guide. He had wounded it first, and the
established native game-law is that the animal belongs to the man who
first draws blood; the two legs on one side, by the same law,
belonged to us for killing it. This beast was very old, blind of one
eye, and scabby; the horns, mere stumps, not a foot long, must have
atrophied, when by age he lost the strength distinctive of his sex;
some eighteen or twenty inches of horn could not well be worn down by
mere rubbing against the trees. We saw many buffaloes next day,
standing quietly amidst a thick thorn-jungle, through which we were
passing. They often stood until we were within fifty or a hundred
yards of them.
On the 14th July we left the river at the mountain-range, which,
lying north-east and south-west across the river, forms the Kariba
gorge. Near the upper end of the Kariba rapids, the stream Sanyati
enters from the south, and is reported to have Moselekatse's
principal cattle-posts at its sources; our route went round the end
of the mountains, and we encamped beside the village of the generous
chief Moloi, who brought us three immense baskets of fine mapira
meal, ten fowls, and two pots of beer. On receiving a present in
return, he rose, and, with a few dancing gestures, said or sang,
"Motota, Motota, Motota," which our men translated into "thanks." He
had visited Moselekatse a few months before our arrival, and saw the
English missionaries, living in their wagons. "They told
Moselekatse," said he, "they were of his family, or friends, and
would plough the land and live at their own expense;" and he had
replied, "The land is before you, and I shall come and see you
plough." This again was substantially what took place, when Mr.
Moffat introduced the missionaries to his old friend, and shows still
further that the notion of losing their country by admitting
foreigners does not come as the first idea to the native mind.
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