"If You Doubt My Word," Said He, "Give Me The
Muave To Drink." A Chief At The Foot Of Mount
Zomba successfully
went through the ordeal the day we reached his village; and his
people manifested their joy at his
Deliverance by drinking beer,
dancing, and drumming for two days and nights. It is possible that
the native doctor, who mixes the ingredients of the poisoned bowl,
may be able to save those whom he considers innocent; but it is
difficult to get the natives to speak about the matter, and no one is
willing to tell what the muave poison consists of. We have been
shown trees said to be used, but had always reason to doubt the
accuracy of our informants. We once found a tree in a village, with
many pieces of the bark chipped off, closely allied to the Tangena or
Tanghina, the ordeal poison tree of Madagascar; but we could not
ascertain any particulars about it. Death is inflicted on those
found guilty of witchcraft, by the muave.
The women wail for the dead two days. Seated on the ground they
chant a few plaintive words, and end each verse with the prolonged
sound of a-a, or o-o, or ea-ea-ea - a. Whatever beer is in the house
of the deceased, is poured out on the ground with the meal, and all
cooking and water pots are broken, as being of no further use. Both
men and women wear signs of mourning for their dead relatives. These
consist of narrow strips of the palm-leaf wound round the head, the
arms, legs, neck, and breasts, and worn till they drop off from
decay. They believe in the existence of a supreme being, called
Mpambe, and also Morungo, and in a future state. "We live only a few
days here," said old Chinsunse, "but we live again after death: we
do not know where, or in what condition, or with what companions, for
the dead never return to tell us. Sometimes the dead do come back,
and appear to us in dreams; but they never speak nor tell us where
they have gone, nor how they fare."
CHAPTER IV.
The Upper Shire - Discovery of Lake Nyassa - Distressing exploration -
Return to Zambesi - Unpleasant visitors - Start for Sekeletu's Country
in the interior.
Our path followed the Shire above the cataracts, which is now a broad
deep river, with but little current. It expands in one place into a
lakelet, called Pamalombe, full of fine fish, and ten or twelve miles
long by five or six in breadth. Its banks are low, and a dense wall
of papyrus encircles it. On its western shore rises a range of hills
running north. On reaching the village of the chief Muana-Moesi, and
about a day's march distant from Nyassa, we were told that no lake
had ever been heard of there; that the River Shire stretched on as we
saw it now to a distance of "two months," and then came out from
between perpendicular rocks, which towered almost to the skies.
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