When Distance From
Home Compelled His Return He Expressed His Regret At Leaving Us, And
Was, Of Course, Paid For His Useful And Pleasant Flatteries.
Another, Though A Less Gifted Son Of Song, Belonged To The Batoka Of
Our Own Party.
Every evening, while the others were cooking,
talking, or sleeping, he rehearsed his songs, containing a history of
everything he had seen in the land of the white men, and on the way
back.
In composing, extempore, any new piece, he was never at a
loss; for if the right word did not come he halted not, but eked out
the measure with a peculiar musical sound meaning nothing at all. He
accompanied his recitations on the sansa, an instrument figured in
the woodcut, the nine iron keys of which are played with the thumbs,
while the fingers pass behind to hold it. The hollow end and
ornaments face the breast of the player. Persons of a musical turn,
if too poor to buy a sansa, may be seen playing vigorously on an
instrument made with a number of thick corn-stalks sewn together, as
a sansa frame, and keys of split bamboo, which, though making but
little sound, seems to soothe the player himself. When the
instrument is played with a calabash as a sounding board, it emits a
greater volume of sound. Pieces of shells and tin are added to make
a jingling accompaniment, and the calabash is also ornamented.
After we had passed up, a party of slaves, belonging to the two
native Portuguese who assassinated the chief, Mpangwe, and took
possession of his lands at Zumbo, followed on our footsteps, and
representing themselves to be our "children," bought great quantities
of ivory from the Bawe, for a few coarse beads a tusk.
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