The Musket Was Found
To Have An Enormous Charge, And Might Have Blown Our Man To Pieces,
But For The Promptitude With Which His Companions Administered
Justice In A Lawless Land.
We were all ferried safely across by 8
o'clock in the evening.
In illustration of what takes place where no government, or law
exists, the two half-castes, to whom these men belonged, left Tette,
with four hundred slaves, armed with the old Sepoy Brown Bess, to
hunt elephants and trade in ivory. On our way up, we heard from
natives of their lawless deeds, and again, on our way down, from
several, who had been eyewitnesses of the principal crime, and all
reports substantially agreed. The story is a sad one. After the
traders reached Zumbo, one of them, called by the natives Sequasha,
entered into a plot with the disaffected headman, Namakusuru, to kill
his chief, Mpangwe, in order that Namakusuru might seize upon the
chieftainship; and for the murder of Mpangwe the trader agreed to
receive ten large tusks of ivory. Sequasha, with a picked party of
armed slaves, went to visit Mpangwe who received him kindly, and
treated him with all the honour and hospitality usually shown to
distinguished strangers, and the women busied themselves in cooking
the best of their provisions for the repast to be set before him. Of
this, and also of the beer, the half-caste partook heartily. Mpangwe
was then asked by Sequasha to allow his men to fire their guns in
amusement. Innocent of any suspicion of treachery, and anxious to
hear the report of firearms, Mpangwe at once gave his consent; and
the slaves rose and poured a murderous volley into the merry group of
unsuspecting spectators, instantly killing the chief and twenty of
his people. The survivors fled in horror. The children and young
women were seized as slaves, and the village sacked. Sequasha sent
the message to Namakusuru: "I have killed the lion that troubled
you; come and let us talk over the matter." He came and brought the
ivory. "No," said the half-caste, "let us divide the land:" and he
took the larger share for himself, and compelled the would-be usurper
to deliver up his bracelets, in token of subjection on becoming the
child or vassal of Sequasha. These were sent in triumph to the
authorities at Tette. The governor of Quillimane had told us that he
had received orders from Lisbon to take advantage of our passing to
re-establish Zumbo; and accordingly these traders had built a small
stockade on the rich plain of the right bank of Loangwa, a mile above
the site of the ancient mission church of Zumbo, as part of the royal
policy. The bloodshed was quite unnecessary, because, the land at
Zumbo having of old been purchased, the natives would have always of
their own accord acknowledged the right thus acquired; they pointed
it out to Dr. Livingstone in 1856 that, though they were cultivating
it, is was not theirs, but white man's land.
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