It Is The Sight Of Shields, Or Guns That Inspires
Terror.
The bowmen feel perfectly helpless when the enemy comes with
even the small protection the skin shield affords, or attacks them in
the open field with guns.
They may shoot a few arrows, but they are
such poor shots that ten to one if they hit. The only thing that
makes the arrow formidable is the poison; for if the poisoned barb
goes in nothing can save the wounded. A bow is in use in the lower
end of Lake Nyassa, but is more common in the Maravi country, from
six to eight inches broad, which is intended to be used as a shield
as well as a bow; but we never saw one with the mark on it of an
enemy's arrow. It certainly is no match for the Zulu shield, which
is between four and five feet long, of an oval shape, and about two
feet broad. So great is the terror this shield inspires that we
sometimes doubted whether the Mazitu here were Zulus at all, and
suspected that the people of the country took advantage of that fear,
and, assuming shields, pretended to belong to that nation.
On the 11th October we arrived at the stockade of Chinsamba in
Mosapo, and had reason to be very well satisfied with his kindness.
A paraffin candle was in his eyes the height of luxury, and the
ability to make a light instantaneously by a lucifer match, a marvel
that struck him with wonder. He brought all his relatives in
different groups to see the strange sights, - instantaneous fire-
making, and a light, without the annoyance of having fire and smoke
in the middle of the floor. When they wish to look for anything in
the dark, a wisp of dried grass is lighted.
Chinsamba gave us a great deal of his company during our visits. As
we have often remarked in other cases, a chief has a great deal to
attend to in guiding the affairs of his people. He is consulted on
all occasions, and gives his advice in a stream of words, which show
a very intimate acquaintance with the topography of his district; he
knows every rood cultivated, every weir put in the river, every
hunting-net, loom, gorge, and every child of his tribe. Any addition
made to the number of these latter is notified to him; and he sends
thanks and compliments to the parents.
The presents which, following the custom of the country, we gave to
every headman, where we either spent a night or a longer period,
varied from four to eight yards of calico. We had some Manchester
cloths made in imitation of the native manufactured robes of the West
Coast, each worth five or six shillings. To the more important of
the chiefs, for calico we substituted one of these strong gaudy
dresses, iron spoons, a knife, needles, a tin dish, or pannikin, and
found these presents to be valued more than three times their value
in cloth would have been. Eight or ten shillings' worth gave
abundant satisfaction to the greediest; but this is to be understood
as the prime cost of the articles, and a trader would sometimes have
estimated similar generosity as equal to from 30 to 50 pounds. In
some cases the presents we gave exceeded the value of what was
received in return; in others the excess of generosity was on the
native side.
We never asked for leave to pass through the country; we simply told
where we were going, and asked for guides; if they were refused, or
if they demanded payment beforehand, we requested to be put into the
beginning of the path, and said that we were sorry we could not agree
about the guides, and usually they and we started together. Greater
care would be required on entering the Mazitu or Zulu country, for
there the Government extends over very large districts, while among
the Manganja each little district is independent of every other. The
people here have not adopted the exacting system of the Banyai, or of
the people whose country was traversed by Speke and Grant.
In our way back from Chinsamba's to Chembi's and from his village to
Nkwinda's, and thence to Katosa's, we only saw the people working in
their gardens, near to the stockades. These strongholds were
strengthened with branches of acacias, covered with strong hooked
thorns; and were all crowded with people. The air was now clearer
than when we went north, and we could see the hills of Kirk's Range
five or six miles to the west of our path. The sun struck very hot,
and the men felt it most in their feet. Every one who could get a
bit of goatskin made it into a pair of sandals.
While sitting at Nkwinda's, a man behind the court hedge-wall said,
with great apparent glee, that an Arab slaving party on the other
side of the confluence of the Shire and Lake were "giving readily two
fathoms of calico for a boy, and two and a half for a girl; never saw
trade so brisk, no haggling at all." This party was purchasing for
the supply of the ocean slave-trade. One of the evils of this
traffic is that it profits by every calamity that happens in a
country. The slave-trader naturally reaps advantage from every
disorder, and though in the present case some lives may have been
saved that otherwise would have perished, as a rule he intensifies
hatreds, and aggravates wars between the tribes, because the more
they fight and vanquish each other the richer his harvest becomes.
Where slaving and cattle are unknown the people live in peace. As we
sat leaning against that hedge, and listened to the harangue of the
slave-trader's agent, it glanced across our mind that this was a
terrible world; the best in it unable, from conscious imperfections,
to say to the worst "Stand by!
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