At Defwe's Village, Near Where The Ship Lay On Her First
Ascent, We Found Two Mfumos Or Headmen, The Son And Son-In-Law Of The
Former Chief.
A sister's son has much more chance of succeeding to a
chieftainship than the chief's own offspring, it being unquestionable
that the sister's child has the family blood.
The men are all marked
across the nose and up the middle of the forehead with short
horizontal bars or cicatrices; and a single brass earring of two or
three inches diameter, like the ancient Egyptian, is worn by the men.
Some wear the hair long like the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians, and
a few have eyes with the downward and inward slant of the Chinese.
After fording the rapid Luia, we left our former path on the banks of
the Zambesi, and struck off in a N.W. direction behind one of the
hill ranges, the eastern end of which is called Mongwa, the name of
an acacia, having a peculiarly strong fetor, found on it. Our route
wound up a valley along a small mountain-stream which was nearly dry,
and then crossed the rocky spurs of some of the lofty hills. The
country was all very dry at the time, and no water was found except
in an occasional spring and a few wells dug in the beds of
watercourses. The people were poor, and always anxious to convince
travellers of the fact. The men, unlike those on the plains, spend a
good deal of their time in hunting; this may be because they have but
little ground on the hill-sides suitable for gardens, and but little
certainty of reaping what may be sown in the valleys. No women came
forward in the hamlet, east of Chiperiziwa, where we halted for the
night. Two shots had been fired at guinea-fowl a little way off in
the valley; the women fled into the woods, and the men came to know
if war was meant, and a few of the old folks only returned after
hearing that we were for peace. The headman, Kambira, apologized for
not having a present ready, and afterwards brought us some meal, a
roasted coney (Hyrax capensis), and a pot of beer; he wished to be
thought poor. The beer had come to him from a distance; he had none
of his own. Like the Manganja, these people salute by clapping their
hands. When a man comes to a place where others are seated, before
sitting down he claps his hands to each in succession, and they do
the same to him. If he has anything to tell, both speaker and hearer
clap their hands at the close of every paragraph, and then again
vigorously at the end of the speech. The guide, whom the headman
gave us, thus saluted each of his comrades before he started off with
us. There is so little difference in the language, that all the
tribes of this region are virtually of one family.
We proceeded still in the same direction, and passed only two small
hamlets during the day. Except the noise our men made on the march,
everything was still around us: few birds were seen. The appearance
of a whydahbird showed that he had not yet parted with his fine long
plumes. We passed immense quantities of ebony and lignum-vitae, and
the tree from whose smooth and bitter bark granaries are made for
corn. The country generally is clothed with a forest of ordinary-
sized trees. We slept in the little village near Sindabwe, where our
men contrived to purchase plenty of beer, and were uncommonly
boisterous all the evening. We breakfasted next morning under green
wild date-palms, beside the fine flowery stream, which runs through
the charming valley of Zibah. We now had Mount Chiperiziwa between
us, and part of the river near Morumbwa, having in fact come north
about in order to avoid the difficulties of our former path. The
last of the deserters, a reputed thief, took French leave of us here.
He left the bundle of cloth he was carrying in the path a hundred
yards in front of where we halted, but made off with the musket and
most of the brass rings and beads of his comrade Shirimba, who had
unsuspectingly intrusted them to his care.
Proceeding S.W. up this lovely valley, in about an hour's time we
reached Sandia's village. The chief was said to be absent hunting,
and they did not know when he would return. This is such a common
answer to the inquiry after a headman, that one is inclined to think
that it only means that they wish to know the stranger's object
before exposing their superior to danger. As some of our men were
ill, a halt was made here.
As we were unable to march next morning, six of our young men,
anxious to try their muskets, went off to hunt elephants. For
several hours they saw nothing, and some of them, getting tired,
proposed to go to a village and buy food. "No!" said Mantlanyane,
"we came to hunt, so let us go on." In a short time they fell in
with a herd of cow elephants and calves. As soon as the first cow
caught sight of the hunters on the rocks above her, she, with true
motherly instinct, placed her young one between her fore-legs for
protection. The men were for scattering, and firing into the herd
indiscriminately. "That won't do," cried Mantlanyane, "let us all
fire at this one." The poor beast received a volley, and ran down
into the plain, where another shot killed her; the young one escaped
with the herd. The men were wild with excitement, and danced round
the fallen queen of the forest, with loud shouts and exultant songs.
They returned, bearing as trophies the tail and part of the trunk,
and marched into camp as erect as soldiers, and evidently feeling
that their stature had increased considerably since the morning.
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