It Is Hard Work For The
Hands To Procure Fire By This Process, As The Vigorous Drilling And
Downward Pressure Requisite Soon Blister Soft Palms.
Having now entered a country where lions were numerous, our men began
to pay greater attention to the arrangements
Of the camp at night.
As they are accustomed to do with their chiefs, they place the white
men in the centre; Kanyata, his men, and the two donkeys, camp on our
right; Tuba Mokoro's party of Bashubia are in front; Masakasa, and
Sininyane's body of Batoka, on the left; and in the rear six Tette
men have their fires. In placing their fires they are careful to put
them where the smoke will not blow in our faces. Soon after we halt,
the spot for the English is selected, and all regulate their places
accordingly, and deposit their burdens. The men take it by turns to
cut some of the tall dry grass, and spread it for our beds on a spot,
either naturally level, or smoothed by the hoe; some, appointed to
carry our bedding, then bring our rugs and karosses, and place the
three rugs in a row on the grass; Dr. Livingstone's being in the
middle, Dr. Kirk's on the right, and Charles Livingstone's on the
left. Our bags, rifles, and revolvers are carefully placed at our
heads, and a fire made near our feet. We have no tent nor covering
of any kind except the branches of the tree under which we may happen
to lie; and it is a pretty sight to look up and see every branch,
leaf, and twig of the tree stand out, reflected against the clear
star-spangled and moonlit sky. The stars of the first magnitude have
names which convey the same meaning over very wide tracts of country.
Here when Venus comes out in the evenings, she is called Ntanda, the
eldest or first-born, and Manjika, the first-born of morning, at
other times: she has so much radiance when shining alone, that she
casts a shadow. Sirius is named Kuewa usiko, "drawer of night,"
because supposed to draw the whole night after it. The moon has no
evil influence in this country, so far as we know. We have lain and
looked up at her, till sweet sleep closed our eyes, unharmed. Four
or five of our men were affected with moon-blindness at Tette; though
they had not slept out of doors there, they became so blind that
their comrades had to guide their hands to the general dish of food;
the affection is unknown in their own country. When our posterity
shall have discovered what it is which, distinct from foul smells,
causes fever, and what, apart from the moon, causes men to be moon-
struck, they will pity our dulness of perception.
The men cut a very small quantity of grass for themselves, and sleep
in fumbas or sleeping-bags, which are double mats of palm-leaf, six
feet long by four wide, and sewn together round three parts of the
square, and left open only on one side. They are used as a
protection from the cold, wet, and mosquitoes, and are entered as we
should get into our beds, were the blankets nailed to the top,
bottom, and one side of the bedstead.
A dozen fires are nightly kindled in the camp; and these, being
replenished from time to time by the men who are awakened by the
cold, are kept burning until daylight. Abundance of dry hard wood is
obtained with little trouble; and burns beautifully. After the great
business of cooking and eating is over, all sit round the camp-fires,
and engage in talking or singing. Every evening one of the Batoka
plays his "sansa," and continues at it until far into the night; he
accompanies it with an extempore song, in which he rehearses their
deeds ever since they left their own country. At times animated
political discussions spring up, and the amount of eloquence expended
on these occasions is amazing. The whole camp is aroused, and the
men shout to one another from the different fires; whilst some, whose
tongues are never heard on any other subject, burst forth into
impassioned speech.
As a specimen of our mode of marching, we rise about five, or as soon
as dawn appears, take a cup of tea and a bit of biscuit; the servants
fold up the blankets and stow them away in the bags they carry; the
others tie their fumbas and cooking-pots to each end of their
carrying-sticks, which are borne on the shoulder; the cook secures
the dishes, and all are on the path by sunrise. If a convenient spot
can be found we halt for breakfast about nine a.m. To save time,
this meal is generally cooked the night before, and has only to be
warmed. We continue the march after breakfast, rest a little in the
middle of the day, and break off early in the afternoon. We average
from two to two-and-a-half miles an hour in a straight line, or as
the crow flies, and seldom have more than five or six hours a day of
actual travel. This in a hot climate is as much as a man can
accomplish without being oppressed; and we always tried to make our
progress more a pleasure than a toil. To hurry over the ground,
abuse, and look ferocious at one's native companions, merely for the
foolish vanity of boasting how quickly a distance was accomplished,
is a combination of silliness with absurdity quite odious; while
kindly consideration for the feelings of even blacks, the pleasure of
observing scenery and everything new as one moves on at an ordinary
pace, and the participation in the most delicious rest with our
fellows, render travelling delightful. Though not given to over
haste, we were a little surprised to find that we could tire our men
out; and even the headman, who carried but little more than we did,
and never, as we often had to do, hunted in the afternoon, was no
better than his comrades.
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