Sandia's Wife Was Duly Informed Of Their Success, As Here A Law
Decrees That Half The Elephant Belongs To The Chief On Whose Ground
It Has Been Killed.
The Portuguese traders always submit to this
tax, and, were it of native origin, it could hardly be considered
unjust.
A chief must have some source of revenue; and, as many
chiefs can raise none except from ivory or slaves, this tax is more
free from objections than any other that a black Chancellor of the
Exchequer could devise. It seems, however, to have originated with
the Portuguese themselves, and then to have spread among the adjacent
tribes. The Governors look sharply after any elephant that may be
slain on the Crown lands, and demand one of the tusks from their
vassals. We did not find the law in operation in any tribe beyond
the range of Portuguese traders, or further than the sphere of travel
of those Arabs who imitated Portuguese customs in trade. At the
Kafue in 1855 the chiefs bought the meat we killed, and demanded
nothing as their due; and so it was up the Shire during our visits.
The slaves of the Portuguese, who are sent by their masters to shoot
elephants, probably connive at the extension of this law, for they
strive to get the good will of the chiefs to whose country they come,
by advising them to make a demand of half of each elephant killed,
and for this advice they are well paid in beer. When we found that
the Portuguese argued in favour of this law, we told the natives that
they might exact tusks from THEM, but that the English, being
different, preferred the pure native custom. It was this which made
Sandia, as afterwards mentioned, hesitate; but we did not care to
insist on exemption in our favour, where the prevalence of the custom
might have been held to justify the exaction.
The cutting up of an elephant is quite a unique spectacle. The men
stand remind the animal in dead silence, while the chief of the
travelling party declares that, according to ancient law, the head
and right hind-leg belong to him who killed the beast, that is, to
him who inflicted the first wound; the left leg to bins who delivered
the second, or first touched the animal after it fell. The meat
around the eye to the English, or chief of the travellers, and
different parts to the headmen of the different fires, or groups, of
which the camp is composed; not forgetting to enjoin the preservation
of the fat and bowels for a second distribution. This oration
finished, the natives soon become excited, and scream wildly as they
cut away at the carcass with a score of spears, whose long handles
quiver in the air above their heads. Their excitement becomes
momentarily more and more intense, and reaches the culminating point
when, as denoted by a roar of gas, the huge mass is laid fairly open.
Some jump inside, and roll about there in their eagerness to seize
the precious fat, while others run off, screaming, with pieces of the
bloody meat, throw it on the grass, and run back for more: all keep
talking and shouting at the utmost pitch of their voices. Sometimes
two or three, regardless of all laws, seize the same piece of meat,
and have a brief fight of words over it. Occasionally an agonized
yell bursts forth, and a native emerges out of the moving mass of
dead elephant and wriggling humanity, with his hand badly cut by the
spear of his excited friend and neighbour: this requires a rag and
some soothing words to prevent bad blood. In an incredibly short
time tons of meat are cut up, and placed in separate heaps around.
Sandia arrived soon after the beast was divided: he is an elderly
man, and wears a wig made of "ife" fibre (sanseviera) dyed black, and
of a fine glossy appearance. This plant is allied to the aloes, and
its thick fleshy leaves, in shape somewhat like our sedges, when
bruised yield much fine strong fibre, which is made into ropes, nets,
and wigs. It takes dyes readily, and the fibre might form a good
article of commerce. "Ife" wigs, as we afterwards saw, are not
uncommon in this country, though perhaps not so common as hair wigs
at home. Sandia's mosamela, or small carved wooden pillow, exactly
resembling the ancient Egyptian one, was hung from the back of his
neck; this pillow and a sleeping mat are usually carried by natives
when on hunting excursions.
We had the elephant's fore-foot cooked for ourselves, in native
fashion. A large hole was dug in the ground, in which a fire was
made; and, when the inside was thoroughly heated, the entire foot was
placed in it, and covered over with the hot ashes and soil; another
fire was made above the whole, and kept burning all night. We had
the foot thus cooked for breakfast next morning, and found it
delicious. It is a whitish mass, slightly gelatinous, and sweet,
like marrow. A long march, to prevent biliousness, is a wise
precaution after a meal of elephant's foot. Elephant's trunk and
tongue are also good, and, after long simmering, much resemble the
hump of a buffalo and the tongue of an ox; but all the other meat is
tough, and, from its peculiar flavour, only to be eaten by a hungry
man. The quantities of meat our men devour is quite astounding.
They boil as much as their pots will hold, and eat till it becomes
physically impossible for them to stow away any more. An uproarious
dance follows, accompanied with stentorian song; and as soon as they
have shaken their first course down, and washed off the sweat and
dust of the after performance, they go to work to roast more: a
short snatch of sleep succeeds, and they are up and at it again; all
night long it is boil and eat, roast and devour, with a few brief
interludes of sleep.
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