ITS Power He
Considered Irresistible, And He Would Fain Have Had Anything Like It
Tried On Sekeletu.
It was a time of great scarcity and hunger, but Sekeletu treated us
hospitably, preparing tea for us at every visit we paid him.
With
the tea we had excellent American biscuit and preserved fruits, which
had been brought to him all the way from Benguela. The fruits he
most relished were those preserved in their own juices; plums,
apples, pears, strawberries, and peaches, which we have seen only
among Portuguese and Spaniards. It made us anxious to plant the
fruit-tree seeds we had brought, and all were pleased with the idea
of having these same fruits in their own country.
Mokele, the headman of Sesheke, and Sebituane's sister, Manchunyane,
were ordered to provide us with food, as Sekeletu's wives, to whom
this duty properly belonged, were at Linyanti. We found a black
trader from the West Coast, and some Griqua traders from the South,
both in search of ivory. Ivory is dear at Sesheke; but cheaper in
the Batoka country, from Sinamane's to the Kafue, than anywhere else.
The trader from Benguela took orders for goods for his next year's
trip, and offered to bring tea, coffee, and sugar at cent. per cent.
prices. As, in consequence of a hint formerly given, the Makololo
had secured all the ivory in the Batoga country to the east, by
purchasing it with hoes, the Benguela traders found it unprofitable
to go thither for slaves. They assured us that without ivory the
trade in slaves did not pay. In this way, and by the orders of
Sekeletu, an extensive slave-mart was closed. These orders were
never infringed except secretly. We discovered only two or three
cases of their infraction.
Sekeletu was well pleased with the various articles we brought for
him, and inquired if a ship could not bring his sugar-mill and the
other goods we had been obliged to leave behind at Tette. On hearing
that there was a possibility of a powerful steamer ascending as far
as Sinamane's, but never above the Grand Victoria Falls, he asked,
with charming simplicity, if a cannon could not blow away the Falls,
so as to allow the vessel to come up to Sesheke.
To save the tribe from breaking up, by the continual loss of real
Makololo, it ought at once to remove to the healthy Batoka highlands,
near the Kafue. Fully aware of this, Sekeletu remarked that all his
people, save two, were convinced that, if they remained in the
lowlands, a few years would suffice to cut off all the real Makololo;
they came originally from the healthy South, near the confluence of
the Likwa and Namagari, where fever is almost unknown, and its
ravages had been as frightful among them here, as amongst Europeans
on the Coast. Sebituane's sister described its first appearance
among the tribe, after their settling in the Barotse Valley on the
Zambesi. Many of them were seized with a shivering sickness, as if
from excessive cold; they had never seen the like before. They made
great fires, and laid the shivering wretches down before them; but,
pile on wood as they might, they could not raise heat enough to drive
the cold out of the bodies of the sufferers, and they shivered on
till they died. But, though all preferred the highlands, they were
afraid to go there, lest the Matebele should come and rob them of
their much-loved cattle. Sebituane, with all his veterans, could not
withstand that enemy; and how could they be resisted, now that most
of the brave warriors were dead? The young men would break, and run
away the moment they saw the terrible Matebele, being as much afraid
of them as the black conquered tribes are of the Makololo. "But if
the Doctor and his wife," said the chiefs and counsellors, "would
come and live with us, we would remove to the highlands at once, as
Moselekatse would not attack a place where the daughter of his
friend, Moffat, was living."
The Makololo are by far the most intelligent and enterprising of the
tribes we have met. None but brave and daring men remained long with
Sebituane, his stern discipline soon eradicated cowardice from his
army. Death was the inevitable doom of the coward. If the chief saw
a man running away from the fight, he rushed after him with amazing
speed, and cut him down; or waited till he returned to the town, and
then summoned the deserter into his presence. "You did not wish to
die on the field, you wished to die at home, did you? you shall have
your wish!" and he was instantly led off and executed. The present
race of young men are inferior in most respects to their fathers.
The old Makololo had many manly virtues; they were truthful, and
never stole, excepting in what they considered the honourable way of
lifting cattle in fair fight. But this can hardly be said of their
sons; who, having been brought up among the subjected tribes, have
acquired some of the vices peculiar to a menial and degraded race. A
few of the old Makololo cautioned us not to leave any of our property
exposed, as the blacks were great thieves; and some of our own men
advised us to be on our guard, as the Makololo also would steal. A
very few trifling articles were stolen by a young Makololo; and he,
on being spoken to on the subject, showed great ingenuity in excusing
himself, by a plausible and untruthful story. The Makololo of old
were hard workers, and did not consider labour as beneath them; but
their sons never work, regarding it as fit only for the Mashona and
Makalaka servants. Sebituane, seeing that the rival tribes had the
advantage over his, in knowing how to manage canoes, had his warriors
taught to navigate; and his own son, with his companions, paddled the
chief's canoe.
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