On Asking His Brother-In-Law Why He Did
Not Help Him, He Replied, "Well, No One Told Him To Go Into The
Water.
It was his own fault that he was killed." The Makololo on
the other hand rescued a woman at Senna by entering the water, and
taking her out of the crocodile's mouth.
It is not assumed that their religion had much to do in the matter.
Many Mohammedans might contrast favourably with indifferent
Christians; but, so far as our experience in East Africa goes, the
moral tone of the follower of Mahomed is pitched at a lower key than
that of the untutored African. The ancient zeal for propagating the
tenets of the Koran has evaporated, and been replaced by the most
intense selfishness and grossest sensuality. The only known efforts
made by Mohammedans, namely, those in the North-West and North of the
continent, are so linked with the acquisition of power and plunder,
as not to deserve the name of religious propagandism; and the only
religion that now makes proselytes is that of Jesus Christ. To those
who are capable of taking a comprehensive view of this subject,
nothing can be adduced of more telling significance than the well-
attested fact, that while the Mohammedans, Fulahs, and others towards
Central Africa, make a few proselytes by a process which gratifies
their own covetousness, three small sections of the Christian
converts, the Africans in the South, in the West Indies, and on the
West Coast of Africa actually contribute for the support and spread
of their religion upwards of 15,000 pounds annually. {7} That
religion which so far overcomes the selfishness of the human heart
must be Divine.
Leaving Kota-kota Bay, we turned away due West on the great slave
route to Katanga's and Cazembe's country in Londa. Juma lent us his
servant, Selele, to lead us the first day's march. He said that the
traders from Kilwa and Iboe cross the Lake either at this bay, or at
Tsenga, or at the southern end of the Lake; and that wherever they
may cross they all go by this path to the interior. They have slaves
with them to carry their goods, and when they reach a spot where they
can easily buy others, they settle down and begin the traffic, and at
once cultivate grain. So much of the land lies waste, that no
objection is ever made to any one taking possession of as much as he
needs; they can purchase a field of cassava for their present wants
for very little, and they continue trading in the country for two or
three years, and giving what weight their muskets possess to the
chief who is most liberal to them.
The first day's march led us over a rich, well-cultivated plain.
This was succeeded by highlands, undulating, stony, and covered with
scraggy trees. Many banks of well rounded shingle appear. The
disintegration of the rocks, now going on, does not round off the
angles; they are split up by the heat and cold into angular
fragments.
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