"This Is A Time Of Hunger," He Said, "And We Have No
Meat, But We Expect Some Soon From The Barotse Valley." We Were
Entirely Out Of Food When We Reached Sesheke.
Never was better meat
than that of the ox Sekeletu sent, and infinitely above the flesh of
all kinds of game is beef!
A constant stream of visitors rolled in on us the day after our
arrival. Several of them, who had suffered affliction during the
Doctor's absence, seemed to be much affected on seeing him again.
All were in low spirits. A severe drought had cut off the crops, and
destroyed the pasture of Linyanti, and the people were scattered over
the country in search of wild fruits, and the hospitality of those
whose ground-nuts (Arachis hypogoea) had not failed. Sekeletu's
leprosy brought troops of evils in its train. Believing himself
bewitched, he had suspected a number of his chief men, and had put
some, with their families, to death; others had fled to distant
tribes, and were living in exile. The chief had shut himself up, and
allowed no one to come into his presence but his uncle Mamire.
Ponwane, who had been as "head and eyes" to him, had just died;
evidence, he thought, of the potent spells of those who hated all who
loved the chief. The country was suffering grievously, and
Sebituane's grand empire was crumbling to pieces. A large body of
young Barotse had revolted and fled to the north; killing a man by
the way, in order to put a blood-feud between Masiko, the chief to
whom they were going, and Sekeletu. The Batoka under Sinamane, and
Muemba, were independent, and Mashotlane at the Falls was setting
Sekeletu's authority virtually at defiance. Sebituane's wise policy
in treating the conquered tribes on equal terms with his own
Makololo, as all children of the chief, and equally eligible to the
highest honours, had been abandoned by his son, who married none but
Makololo women, and appointed to office none but Makololo men. He
had become unpopular among the black tribes, conquered by the spear
but more effectually won by the subsequent wise and just government
of his father.
Strange rumours were afloat respecting the unseen Sekeletu; his
fingers were said to have grown like eagle's claws, and his face so
frightfully distorted that no one could recognize him. Some had
begun to hint that he might not really be the son of the great
Sebituane, the founder of the nation, strong in battle, and wise in
the affairs of state. "In the days of the Great Lion" (Sebituane),
said his only sister, Moriantsiane's widow, whose husband Sekeletu
had killed, "we had chiefs and little chiefs and elders to carry on
the government, and the great chief, Sebituane, knew them all, and
everything they did, and the whole country was wisely ruled; but now
Sekeletu knows nothing of what his underlings do, and they care not
for him, and the Makololo power is fast passing away." {3}
The native doctors had given the case of Sekeletu up. They could not
cure him, and pronounced the disease incurable. An old doctress from
the Manyeti tribe had come to see what she could do for him, and on
her skill he now hung his last hopes. She allowed no one to see him,
except his mother and uncle, making entire seclusion from society an
essential condition of the much longed-for cure. He sent,
notwithstanding, for the Doctor; and on the following day we all
three were permitted to see him. He was sitting in a covered wagon,
which was enclosed by a high wall of close-set reeds; his face was
only slightly disfigured by the thickening of the skin in parts,
where the leprosy had passed over it; and the only peculiarity about
his hands was the extreme length of his finger-nails, which, however,
was nothing very much out of the way, as all the Makololo gentlemen
wear them uncommonly long. He has the quiet, unassuming manners of
his father, Sebituane, speaks distinctly, in a low pleasant voice,
and appears to be a sensible man, except perhaps on the subject of
his having been bewitched; and in this, when alluded to, he exhibits
as firm a belief as if it were his monomania. "Moriantsiane, my
aunt's husband, tried the bewitching medicine first on his wife, and
she is leprous, and so is her head-servant; then, seeing that it
succeeded, he gave me a stronger dose in the cooked flesh of a goat,
and I have had the disease ever since. They have lately killed
Ponwane, and, as you see, are now killing me." Ponwane had died of
fever a short time previously. Sekeletu asked us for medicine and
medical attendance, but we did not like to take the case out of the
hands of the female physician already employed, it being bad policy
to appear to undervalue any of the profession; and she, being anxious
to go on with her remedies, said "she had not given him up yet, but
would try for another month; if he was not cured by that time, then
she would hand him over to the white doctors." But we intended to
leave the country before a month was up; so Mamire, with others,
induced the old lady to suspend her treatment for a little. She
remained, as the doctors stipulated, in the chief's establishment,
and on full pay.
Sekeletu was told plainly that the disease was unknown in our
country, and was thought exceedingly obstinate of cure; that we did
not believe in his being bewitched, and we were willing to do all we
could to help him. This was a case for disinterested benevolence; no
pay was expected, but considerable risk incurred; yet we could not
decline it, as we had the trading in horses. Having, however, none
of the medicines usually employed in skin diseases with us, we tried
the local application of lunar caustic, and hydriodate of potash
internally; and with such gratifying results, that Mamire wished the
patient to be smeared all over with a solution of lunar caustic,
which he believed to be of the same nature as the blistering fluid
formerly applied to his own knee by Mr. Oswell.
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