Yet, notwithstanding this extreme dryness of the
atmosphere, without a drop of rain having fallen for months, and
scarcely any dew, many of the shrubs and trees were putting forth
fresh leaves of various hues, while others made a profuse display of
lovely blossoms.
Two old and very savage buffaloes were shot for our companions on the
3rd October. Our Volunteers may feel an interest in knowing that
balls sometimes have but little effect: one buffalo fell, on
receiving a Jacob's shell; it was hit again twice, and lost a large
amount of blood; and yet it sprang up, and charged a native, who, by
great agility, had just time to climb a tree, before the maddened
beast struck it, battering-ram fashion, hard enough almost to have
split both head and tree. It paused a few seconds - drew back several
paces - glared up at the man - and then dashed at the tree again and
again, as if determined to shake him out of it. It took two more
Jacob's shells, and five other large solid rifle-balls to finish the
beast at last. These old surly buffaloes had been wandering about in
a sort of miserable fellowship; their skins were diseased and scabby,
as if leprous, and their horns atrophied or worn down to stumps - the
first was killed outright, by one Jacob's shell, the second died
hard. There is so much difference in the tenacity of life in wounded
animals of the same species, that the inquiry is suggested where the
seat of life can be? - We have seen a buffalo live long enough, after
a large bullet had passed right through the heart, to allow firm
adherent clots to be formed in the two holes.
One day's journey above Sinamane's, a mass of mountain called
Gorongue, or Golongwe, is said to cross the river, and the rent
through which the river passes is, by native report, quite fearful to
behold. The country round it is so rocky, that our companions
dreaded the fatigue, and were not much to blame, if, as is probably
the case, the way be worse than that over which we travelled. As we
trudged along over the black slag-like rocks, the almost leafless
trees affording no shade, the heat was quite as great as Europeans
could bear. It was 102 degrees in the shade, and a thermometer
placed under the tongue or armpit showed that our blood was 99.5
degrees, or 1.5 degrees hotter than that of the natives, which stood
at 98 degrees. Our shoes, however, enable us to pass over the hot
burning soil better than they can. Many of those who wear sandals
have corns on the sides of the feet, and on the heels, where the
straps pass. We have seen instances, too, where neither sandals nor
shoes were worn, of corns on the soles of the feet. It is, moreover,
not at all uncommon to see toes cocked up, as if pressed out of their
proper places; at home, we should have unhesitatingly ascribed this
to the vicious fashions perversely followed by our shoemakers.
On the 5th, after crossing some hills, we rested at the village of
Simariango. The bellows of the blacksmith here were somewhat
different from the common goatskin bags, and more like those seen in
Madagascar. They consisted of two wooden vessels, like a lady's
bandbox of small dimensions, the upper ends of which were covered
with leather, and looked something like the heads of drums, except
that the leather bagged in the centre. They were fitted with long
nozzles, through which the air was driven by working the loose
covering of the tops up and down by means of a small piece of wood
attached to their centres. The blacksmith said that tin was obtained
from a people in the north, called Marendi, and that he had made it
into bracelets; we had never heard before of tin being found in the
country.
Our course then lay down the bed of a rivulet, called Mapatizia, in
which there was much calc spar, with calcareous schist, and then the
Tette grey sandstone, which usually overlies coal. On the 6th we
arrived at the islet Chilombe, belonging to Sinamane, where the
Zambesi runs broad and smooth again, and were well received by
Sinamane himself. Never was Sunday more welcome to the weary than
this, the last we were to spend with our convoy.
We now saw many good-looking young men and women. The dresses of the
ladies are identical with those of Nubian women in Upper Egypt. To a
belt on the waist a great number of strings are attached to hang all
round the person. These fringes are about six or eight inches long.
The matrons wear in addition a skin cut like the tails of the coatee
formerly worn by our dragoons. The younger girls wear the waist-belt
exhibited in the woodcut, ornamented with shells, and have the
fringes only in front. Marauding parties of Batoka, calling
themselves Makololo, have for some time had a wholesome dread of
Sinamane's "long spears." Before going to Tette our Batoka friend,
Masakasa, was one of a party that came to steal some of the young
women; but Sinamane, to their utter astonishment, attacked them so
furiously that the survivors barely escaped with their lives.
Masakasa had to flee so fast that he threw away his shield, his
spear, and his clothes, and returned home a wiser and a sadder man.
Sinamane's people cultivate large quantities of tobacco, which they
manufacture into balls for the Makololo market. Twenty balls,
weighing about three-quarters of a pound each, are sold for a hoe.
The tobacco is planted on low moist spots on the banks of the
Zambesi; and was in flower at the time we were there, in October.
Sinamane's people appear to have abundance of food, and are all in
good condition. He could sell us only two of his canoes; but lent us
three more to carry us as far as Moemba's, where he thought others
might be purchased.
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