They Present A Much More Ferocious Aspect Than The
Lion Himself, But Are Quite Timid.
We never could, by waving a red
handkerchief, according to the prescription, induce them to venture
near to us.
It may therefore be that the red colour excites their
fury only when wounded or hotly pursued. Herds of lechee or lechwe
now enliven the meadows; and they and their younger brother, the
graceful poku, smaller, and of a rounder contour, race together
towards the grassy fens. We venture to call the poku after the late
Major Vardon, a noble-hearted African traveller; but fully anticipate
that some aspiring Nimrod will prefer that his own name should go
down to posterity on the back of this buck.
Midway between Tabacheu and the Great Falls the streams begin to flow
westward. On the other side they begin to flow east. Large round
masses of granite, somewhat like old castles, tower aloft about the
Kalomo. The country is an elevated plateau, and our men knew and
named the different plains as we passed them by.
On the 13th we met a party from Sekeletu, who was now at Sesheke.
Our approach had been reported, and they had been sent to ask the
Doctor what the price of a horse ought to be; and what he said, that
they were to give and no more. In reply they were told that by their
having given nine large tusks for one horse before the Doctor came,
the Griquas would naturally imagine that the price was already
settled. It was exceedingly amusing to witness the exact imitation
they gave of the swagger of a certain white with whom they had been
dealing, and who had, as they had perceived, evidently wished to
assume an air of indifference. Holding up the head and scratching
the beard it was hinted might indicate not indifference, but vermin.
It is well that we do not always know what they say about us. The
remarks are often not quite complimentary, and resemble closely what
certain white travellers say about the blacks.
We made our camp in the afternoon abreast of the large island called
Mparira, opposite the mouth of the Chobe. Francolins, quails, and
guinea-fowls, as well as larger game, were abundant. The Makololo
headman, Mokompa, brought us a liberal present; and in the usual way,
which is considered politeness, regretted he had no milk, as his cows
were all dry. We got some honey here from the very small stingless
bee, called, by the Batoka, moandi, and by others, the kokomatsane.
This honey is slightly acid, and has an aromatic flavour. The bees
are easily known from their habit of buzzing about the eyes, and
tickling the skin by sucking it as common flies do. The hive has a
tube of wax like a quill, for its entrance, and is usually in the
hollows of trees.
Mokompa feared that the tribe was breaking up, and lamented the
condition into which they had fallen in consequence of Sekeletu's
leprosy; he did not know what was to become of them. He sent two
canoes to take us up to Sesheke; his best canoe had taken ivory up to
the chief, to purchase goods of some native traders from Benguela.
Above the Falls the paddlers always stand in the canoes, using long
paddles, ten feet in length, and changing from side to side without
losing the stroke.
Mochokotsa, a messenger from Sekeletu, met us on the 17th, with
another request for the Doctor to take ivory and purchase a horse.
He again declined to interfere. None were to come up to Sekeletu but
the Doctor; and all the men who had had smallpox at Tette, three
years ago, were to go back to Moshobotwane, and he would sprinkle
medicine over them, to drive away the infection, and prevent it
spreading in the tribe. Mochokotsa was told to say to Sekeletu that
the disease was known of old to white men, and we even knew the
medicine to prevent it; and, were there any danger now, we should be
the first to warn him of it. Why did not he go himself to have
Moshobotwane sprinkle medicine to drive away his leprosy. We were
not afraid of his disease, nor of the fever that had killed the
teachers and many Makololo at Linyanti. As this attempt at
quarantine was evidently the suggestion of native doctors to increase
their own importance, we added that we had no food, and would hunt
next day for game, and the day after; and, should we be still ordered
purification by their medicine, we should then return to our own
country.
The message was not all of our dictation, our companions interlarded
it with their own indignant protests, and said some strong things in
the Tette dialect about these "doctor things" keeping them back from
seeing their father; when to their surprise Mochokotsa told them he
knew every word they were saying, as he was of the tribe Bazizulu,
and defied them to deceive him by any dialect, either of the Mashona
on the east, or of the Mambari on the west. Mochokotsa then repeated
our message twice, to be sure that he had it every word, and went
back again. These chiefs' messengers have most retentive memories;
they carry messages of considerable length great distances, and
deliver them almost word for word. Two or three usually go together,
and when on the way the message is rehearsed every night, in order
that the exact words may be kept to. One of the native objections to
learning to write is, that these men answer the purpose of
transmitting intelligence to a distance as well as a letter would;
and, if a person wishes to communicate with any one in the town, the
best way to do so is either to go to or send for him. And as for
corresponding with friends very far off, that is all very well for
white people, but the blacks have no friends to whom to write.
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