"Yes," Said An
Old Native, Next Morning, On Seeing The Husks, "That Is What Happens
This Month; For It Is
The mouse month, and the seed should have been
sown last mouth, when I sowed mine." The sailors, however, sowed
More next day; and, being determined to outwit the mice, they this
time covered the beds over with grass. The onions, with other seeds
of plants cultivated by the Portuguese, are usually planted in the
beginning of April, in order to have the advantage of the cold
season; the wheat a little later, for the same reason. If sown at
the beginning of the rainy season in November, it runs, as before
remarked, entirely to straw; but as the rains are nearly over in May,
advantage is taken of low-lying patches, which have been flooded by
the river. A hole is made in the mud with a hoe, a few seeds dropped
in, and the earth shoved back with the foot. If not favoured with
certain misty showers, which, lower down the river, are simply fogs,
water is borne from the river to the roots of the wheat in earthern
pots; and in about four months the crop is ready for the sickle. The
wheat of Tette is exported, as the best grown in the country; but a
hollow spot at Maruru, close by Mazaro, yielded very good crops,
though just at the level of the sea, as a few inches rise of tide
shows.
A number of days were spent in busy preparation for our journey; the
cloth, beads, and brass wire, for the trip were sewn up in old
canvas, and each package had the bearer's name printed on it. The
Makololo, who had worked for the Expedition, were paid for their
services, and every one who had come down with the Doctor from the
interior received a present of cloth and ornaments, in order to
protect them from the greater cold of their own country, and to show
that they had not come in vain. Though called Makololo by courtesy,
as they were proud of the name, Kanyata, the principal headman, was
the only real Makololo of the party; and he, in virtue of his birth,
had succeeded to the chief place on the death of Sekwebu. The others
belonged to the conquered tribes of the Batoka, Bashubia, Ba-Selea,
and Barotse. Some of these men had only added to their own vices
those of the Tette slaves; others, by toiling during the first two
years in navigating canoes, and hunting elephants, had often managed
to save a little, to take back to their own country, but had to part
with it all for food to support the rest in times of hunger, and,
latterly, had fallen into the improvident habits of slaves, and spent
their surplus earnings in beer and agua ardiente.
Everything being ready on the 15th of May, we started at 2 p.m. from
the village where the Makololo had dwelt. A number of the men did
not leave with the goodwill which their talk for months before had
led us to anticipate; but some proceeded upon being told that they
were not compelled to go unless they liked, though others altogether
declined moving.
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