In The Work Of Commodore Owen It Is Stated That
Cockroaches, Pounded Into A Paste, Form A Powerful Carminative; This
Has Not Been Confirmed, But When Monkeys Are Fed On Them They Are
Sure To Become Lean.
On coming to Senna, we found that the Zulus had arrived in force for
their annual tribute.
These men are under good discipline, and never
steal from the people. The tax is claimed on the ground of conquest,
the Zulus having formerly completely overcome the Senna people, and
chased them on to the islands in the Zambesi. Fifty-four of the
Portuguese were slain on the occasion, and, notwithstanding the mud
fort, the village has never recovered its former power. Fever was
now very prevalent, and most of the Portuguese were down with it.
For a good view of the adjacent scenery, the hill, Baramuana, behind
the village, was ascended. A caution was given about the probability
of an attack of fever from a plant that grows near the summit. Dr.
Kirk discovered it to be the Paedevia foetida, which, when smelt,
actually does give headache and fever. It has a nasty fetor, as its
name indicates. This is one instance in which fever and a foul smell
coincide. In a number of instances offensive effluvia and fever
seems to have no connection. Owing to the abundant rains, the crops
in the Senna district were plentiful; this was fortunate, after the
partial failure of the past two years. It was the 25th of April,
1860, before we reached Tette; here also the crops were luxuriant,
and the people said that they had not had such abundance since 1856,
the year when Dr. Livingstone came down the river. It is astonishing
to any one who has seen the works for irrigation in other countries,
as at the Cape and in Egypt, that no attempt has ever been made to
lead out the water either of the Zambesi or any of its tributaries;
no machinery has ever been used to raise it even from the stream, but
droughts and starvations are endured, as if they were inevitable
dispensations of Providence, incapable of being mitigated.
Feeling in honour bound to return with those who had been the
faithful companions of Dr. Livingstone, in 1856, and to whose
guardianship and services was due the accomplishment of a journey
which all the Portuguese at Tette had previously pronounced
impossible, the requisite steps were taken to convey them to their
homes.
We laid the ship alongside of the island Kanyimbe, opposite Tette;
and, before starting for the country of the Makololo, obtained a
small plot of land, to form a garden for the two English sailors who
were to remain in charge during our absence. We furnished them with
a supply of seeds, and they set to work with such zeal, that they
certainly merited success. Their first attempt at African
horticulture met with failure from a most unexpected source; every
seed was dug up and the inside of it eaten by mice.
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