Towards Evening, After The Day's
Labour In Wood-Cutting Was Over, Some Of The Men Went Fishing.
They
followed the common African custom of agitating the water, by giving
it a few sharp strokes with the top of the fishing-rod, immediately
after throwing in the line, to attract the attention of the fish to
the bait.
Having caught nothing, the reason assigned was the same as
would have been given in England under like circumstances, namely,
that "the wind made the fish cold, and they would not bite." Many
gardens of maize, pumpkins, and tobacco, fringed the marshy banks as
we went on. They belong to natives of the hills, who come down in
the dry season, and raise a crop on parts at other times flooded.
While the crops are growing, large quantities of fish are caught,
chiefly Clarias capensis, and Mugil Africanus; they are dried for
sale or future consumption.
As we ascended, we passed a deep stream about thirty yards wide,
flowing in from a body of open water several miles broad. Numbers of
men were busy at different parts of it, filling their canoes with the
lotus root, called Nyika, which, when boiled or roasted, resembles
our chestnuts, and is extensively used in Africa as food. Out of
this lagoon, and by this stream, the chief part of the duckweed of
the Shire flows. The lagoon itself is called Nyanja ea Motope (Lake
of Mud). It is also named Nyanja Pangono (Little Lake), while the
elephant marsh goes by the name of Nyanja Mukulu (Great Lake). It is
evident from the shore line still to be observed on the adjacent
hills, that in ancient times these were really lakes, and the
traditional names thus preserved are only another evidence of the
general desiccation which Africa has undergone.
CHAPTER III.
The Steamer in difficulties - Elephant hunting - Arrival at Chibisa's -
Search for Lake Nyassa - The Manganja country - Weavers and smelters -
Lake Pamalombe.
Late in the afternoon of the first day's steaming, after we left the
wooding-place, we called at the village of Chikanda-Kadze, a female
chief, to purchase rice for our men; but we were now in the blissful
region where time is absolutely of no account, and where men may sit
down and rest themselves when tired; so they requested us to wait
till next day, and they would then sell us some food. As our forty
black men, however, had nothing to cook for supper, we were obliged
to steam on to reach a village a few miles above. When we meet those
who care not whether we purchase or let it alone, or who think men
ought only to be in a hurry when fleeing from an enemy, our ideas
about time being money, and the power of the purse, receives a shock.
The state of eager competition, which in England wears out both mind
and body, and makes life bitter, is here happily unknown. The
cultivated spots are mere dots compared to the broad fields of rich
soil which is never either grazed or tilled. Pity that the plenty in
store for all, from our Father's bountiful hands, is not enjoyed by
more.
The wretched little steamer could not carry all the hands we needed;
so, to lighten her, we put some into the boats and towed them astern.
In the dark, one of the boats was capsized; but all in it, except one
poor fellow who could not swim, were picked up. His loss threw a
gloom over us all, and added to the chagrin we often felt at having
been so ill-served in our sorry craft.
Next day we arrived at the village of Mboma (16 degrees 56 minutes 30
seconds S.), where the people raised large quantities of rice, and
were eager traders; the rice was sold at wonderfully low rates, and
we could not purchase a tithe of the food brought for sale.
A native minstrel serenaded us in the evening, playing several quaint
tunes on a species of one stringed fiddle, accompanied by wild, but
not unmusical songs. He told the Makololo that he intended to play
all night to induce us to give him a present. The nights being cold,
the thermometer falling to 47 degrees, with occasional fogs, he was
asked if he was not afraid of perishing from cold; but, with the
genuine spirit of an Italian organ-grinder, he replied, "Oh, no; I
shall spend the night with my white comrades in the big canoe; I have
often heard of the white men, but have never seen them till now, and
I must sing and play well to them." A small piece of cloth, however,
bought him off, and he moved away in good humour. The water of the
river was 70 degrees at sunrise, which was 23 degrees warmer than the
air at the same time, and this caused fogs, which rose like steam off
the river. When this is the case cold bathing in the mornings at
this time of the year is improper, for, instead of a glow on coming
out, one is apt to get a chill; the air being so much colder than the
water.
A range of hills, commencing opposite Senna, comes to within two or
three miles of Mboma village, and then runs in a north-westerly
direction; the principal hill is named Malawe; a number of villages
stand on its tree-covered sides, and coal is found cropping out in
the rocks. The country improves as we ascend, the rich valley
becoming less swampy, and adorned with a number of trees.
Both banks are dotted with hippopotamus traps, over every track which
these animals have made in going up out of the water to graze. The
hippopotamus feeds on grass alone, and, where there is any danger,
only at night. Its enormous lips act like a mowing-machine, and form
a path of short-cropped grass as it feeds. We never saw it eat
aquatic plants or reeds.
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