Beyond The Marsh The Country Is Higher, And Has A Much Larger
Population.
We passed a long line of temporary huts, on a plain on
the right bank, with crowds of men and women hard at work making
salt.
They obtain it by mixing the earth, which is here highly
saline, with water, in a pot with a small hole in it, and then
evaporating the liquid, which runs through, in the sun. From the
number of women we saw carrying it off in bags, we concluded that
vast quantities must be made at these works. It is worth observing
that on soils like this, containing salt, the cotton is of larger and
finer staple than elsewhere. We saw large tracts of this rich
brackish soil both in the Shire and Zambesi valleys, and hence,
probably, sea-island cotton would do well; a single plant of it,
reared by Major Sicard, flourished and produced the long staple and
peculiar tinge of this celebrated variety, though planted only in the
street at Tette; and there also a salt efflorescence appears,
probably from decomposition of the rock, off which the people scrape
it for use.
The large village of the chief, Mankokwe, occupies a site on the
right bank; he owns a number of fertile islands, and is said to be
the Rundo, or paramount chief, of a large district. Being of an
unhappy suspicious disposition, he would not see us; so we thought it
best to move on, rather than spend time in seeking his favour.
On the 25th August we reached Dakanamoio island, opposite the
perpendicular bluff on which Chibisa's village stands; he had gone,
with most of his people, to live near the Zambesi, but his headman
was civil, and promised us guides and whatever else we needed. A few
of the men were busy cleaning, sorting, spinning, and weaving cotton.
This is a common sight in nearly every village, and each family
appears to have its patch of cotton, as our own ancestors in Scotland
had each his patch of flax. Near sunset an immense flock of the
large species of horn-bill (Buceros cristatus) came here to roost on
the great trees which skirt the edge of the cliff. They leave early
in the morning, often before sunrise, for their feeding-places,
coming and going in pairs. They are evidently of a loving
disposition, and strongly attached to each other, the male always
nestling close beside his mate. A fine male fell to the ground, from
fear, at the report of Dr. Kirk's gun; it was caught and kept on
board; the female did not go off in the mornings to feed with the
others, but flew round the ship, anxiously trying, by her plaintive
calls, to induce her beloved one to follow her: she came again in
the evenings to repeat the invitations. The poor disconsolate
captive soon refused to eat, and in five days died of grief, because
he could not have her company. No internal injury could be detected
after death.
Chibisa and his wife, with a natural show of parental feeling, had
told the Doctor, on his previous visit, that a few years before some
of Chisaka's men had kidnapped and sold their little daughter, and
that she was now a slave to the padre at Tette. On his return to
Tette, the Doctor tried hard to ransom and restore the girl to her
parents, and offered twice the value of a slave; the padre seemed
willing, but she could not be found. This padre was better than the
average men of the country; and, being always civil and obliging,
would probably have restored her gratuitously, but she had been sold,
it might be to the distant tribe Bazizulu, or he could not tell
where. Custom had rendered his feelings callous, and Chibisa had to
be told that his child would never return. It is this callous state
of mind which leads some of our own blood to quote Scripture in
support of slavery. If we could afford to take a backward step in
civilization, we might find men among ourselves who would in like
manner prove Mormonism or any other enormity to be divine.
We left the ship on the 28th of August, 1859, for the discovery of
Lake Nyassa. Our party numbered forty-two in all - four whites,
thirty-six Makololo, and two guides. We did not actually need so
many, either for carriage or defence; but took them because we
believed that, human nature being everywhere the same, blacks are as
ready as whites to take advantage of the weak, and are as civil and
respectful to the powerful. We armed our men with muskets, which
gave us influence, although it did not add much to our strength, as
most of the men had never drawn a trigger, and in any conflict would
in all probability have been more dangerous to us than the enemy.
Our path crossed the valley, in a north-easterly direction, up the
course of a beautiful flowing stream. Many of the gardens had
excellent cotton growing in them. An hour's march brought us to the
foot of the Manganja hills, up which lay the toilsome road. The
vegetation soon changed; as we rose bamboos appeared, and new trees
and plants were met with, which gave such incessant employment to Dr.
Kirk, that he travelled the distance three times over. Remarkably
fine trees, one of which has oil-yielding seeds, and belongs to the
mahogany family, grow well in the hollows along the rivulet courses.
The ascent became very fatiguing, and we were glad of a rest.
Looking back from an elevation of a thousand feet, we beheld a lovely
prospect. The eye takes in at a glance the valley beneath, and the
many windings of its silver stream Makubula, or Kubvula, from the
shady hill-side, where it emerges in foaming haste, to where it
slowly glides into the tranquil Shire; then the Shire itself is seen
for many a mile above and below Chibisa's, and the great level
country beyond, with its numerous green woods; until the prospect,
west and north-west, is bounded far away by masses of peaked and
dome-shaped blue mountains, that fringe the highlands of the Maravi
country.
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