Mochokotsa Was Told To Say To Sekeletu That
The Disease Was Known Of Old To White Men, And We Even Knew The
Medicine To Prevent It; And, Were There Any Danger Now, We Should Be
The First To Warn Him Of It.
Why did not he go himself to have
Moshobotwane sprinkle medicine to drive away his leprosy.
We were
not afraid of his disease, nor of the fever that had killed the
teachers and many Makololo at Linyanti. As this attempt at
quarantine was evidently the suggestion of native doctors to increase
their own importance, we added that we had no food, and would hunt
next day for game, and the day after; and, should we be still ordered
purification by their medicine, we should then return to our own
country.
The message was not all of our dictation, our companions interlarded
it with their own indignant protests, and said some strong things in
the Tette dialect about these "doctor things" keeping them back from
seeing their father; when to their surprise Mochokotsa told them he
knew every word they were saying, as he was of the tribe Bazizulu,
and defied them to deceive him by any dialect, either of the Mashona
on the east, or of the Mambari on the west. Mochokotsa then repeated
our message twice, to be sure that he had it every word, and went
back again. These chiefs' messengers have most retentive memories;
they carry messages of considerable length great distances, and
deliver them almost word for word. Two or three usually go together,
and when on the way the message is rehearsed every night, in order
that the exact words may be kept to. One of the native objections to
learning to write is, that these men answer the purpose of
transmitting intelligence to a distance as well as a letter would;
and, if a person wishes to communicate with any one in the town, the
best way to do so is either to go to or send for him. And as for
corresponding with friends very far off, that is all very well for
white people, but the blacks have no friends to whom to write. The
only effective argument for the learning to read is, that it is their
duty to know the revelation from their Father in Heaven, as it stands
in the Book.
Our messenger returned on the evening of the following day with "You
speak truly," says Sekeletu, "the disease is old, come on at once, do
not sleep in the path; for I am greatly desirous (tlologelecoe) to
see the Doctor."
After Mochokotsa left us, we met some of Mokompa's men bringing back
the ivory, as horses were preferred to the West-Coast goods. They
were the bearers of instructions to Mokompa, and as these
instructions illustrate the government of people who have learned
scarcely anything from Europeans, they are inserted, though otherwise
of no importance. Mashotlane had not behaved so civilly to Mr.
Baldwin as Sekeletu had ordered him to do to all Englishmen.
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