Reception at Linyanti -- The
court Herald -- Sekeletu obtains the Chieftainship from his Sister --
Mpepe's Plot -- Slave-trading Mambari -- Their sudden Flight -- Sekeletu
narrowly escapes Assassination -- Execution of Mpepe -- The Courts of Law
-- Mode of trying Offenses -- Sekeletu's Reason for not learning to read
the Bible -- The Disposition made of the Wives of a deceased Chief --
Makololo Women -- They work but little -- Employ Serfs -- Their Drink,
Dress, and Ornaments -- Public Religious Services in the Kotla --
Unfavorable Associations of the place -- Native Doctors -- Proposals to
teach the Makololo to read -- Sekeletu's Present -- Reason for accepting
it -- Trading in Ivory -- Accidental Fire -- Presents for Sekeletu -- Two
Breeds of native Cattle -- Ornamenting the Cattle -- The Women and the
Looking-glass -- Mode of preparing the Skins of Oxen for Mantles and for
Shields -- Throwing the Spear.
The whole population of
Linyanti, numbering between six and seven thousand souls, turned out en
masse to see the wagons in motion. They had never witnessed the phenomenon
before, we having on the former occasion departed by night. Sekeletu, now
in power, received us in what is considered royal style, setting before us
a great number of pots of boyaloa, the beer of the country.
These were brought by
women, and each bearer takes a good draught of the beer when she sets it
down, by way of "tasting", to show that there is no poison. The court
herald, an old man who occupied the post also in Sebituane's time, stood
up, and after some antics, such as leaping, and shouting at the top of his
voice, roared out some adulatory sentences, as, "Don't I see the white
man? Don't I see the comrade of Sebituane? Don't I see the father of
Sekeletu?" -- "We want sleep." -- "Give your son sleep, my lord," etc.,
etc. The perquisites of this man are the heads of all the cattle
slaughtered by the chief, and he even takes a share of the tribute before
it is distributed and taken out of the kotla. He is expected to utter all
the proclamations, call assemblies, keep the kotla clean, and the fire
burning every evening, and when a person is executed in public he drags
away the body.
I found Sekeletu a young
man of eighteen years of age, of that dark yellow or coffee-and-milk
color, of which the Makololo are so proud, because it distinguishes them
considerably from the black tribes on the rivers. He is about five
feet seven in height, and neither so good looking nor of so much ability
as his father was, but is equally friendly to the English. Sebituane
installed his daughter Mamochisane into the chieftainship long before his
death, but, with all his acuteness, the idea of her having a husband who
should not be her lord did not seem to enter his mind. He wished to make
her his successor, probably in imitation of some of the negro tribes with
whom he had come into contact; but, being of the Bechuana race, he could
not look upon the husband except as the woman's lord; so he told her all
the men were hers -- she might take any one, but ought to keep none. In
fact, he thought she might do with the men what he could do with the
women; but these men had other wives; and, according to a saying in the
country, "the tongues of women can not be governed," they made her
miserable by their remarks. One man whom she chose was even called her
wife, and her son the child of Mamochisane's wife; but the arrangement was
so distasteful to Mamochisane herself that, as soon as Sebituane died, she
said she never would consent to govern the Makololo so long as she had a
brother living. Sekeletu, being afraid of another member of the family,
Mpepe, who had pretensions to the chieftainship, urged his sister strongly
to remain as she had always been, and allow him to support her authority
by leading the Makololo when they went forth to war.
Three days were spent in
public discussion on the point. Mpepe insinuated that Sekeletu was not the
lawful son of Sebituane, on account of his mother having been the wife of
another chief before her marriage with Sebituane; Mamochisane, however,
upheld Sekeletu's claims, and at last stood up in the assembly and
addressed him with a womanly gush of tears: "I have been a chief only
because my father wished it. I always would have preferred to be married
and have a family like other women. You, Sekeletu, must be chief, and
build up your father's house." This was a death-blow to the hopes of
Mpepe.
As it will enable the
reader to understand the social and political relations of these people, I
will add a few more particulars respecting Mpepe. Sebituane, having no son
to take the leadership of the "Mopato"
of the age of his daughter, chose him, as the nearest male relative, to
occupy that post; and presuming from Mpepe's connection with his family
that he would attend to his interests and relieve him from care, he handed
his cattle over to his custody. Mpepe removed to the chief town,
"Naliele", and took such effectual charge of all the cattle that Sebituane
saw he could only set matters on their former footing by the severe
measure of Mpepe's execution. Being unwilling to do this, and fearing the
enchantments which, by means of a number of Barotse doctors, Mpepe now
used in a hut built for the purpose, and longing for peaceful retirement
after thirty years' fighting, he heard with pleasure of our arrival at the
lake, and came down as far as Sesheke to meet us. He had an idea, picked
up from some of the numerous strangers who visited him, that white men had
a "pot (a cannon) in their towns which would burn up any attacking party;"
and he thought if he could only get this he would be able to "sleep" the
remainder of his days in peace. This he hoped to obtain from the white
men. Hence the cry of the herald, "Give us sleep." It is remarkable how
anxious for peace those who have been fighting all their lives appear to
be.
When Sekeletu was installed
in the chieftainship, he felt his position rather insecure, for it was
believed that the incantations of Mpepe had an intimate connection with
Sebituane's death. Indeed, the latter had said to his son, "That hut of
incantation will prove fatal to either you or me."
When the Mambari, in 1850,
took home a favorable report of this new market to the west, a number of
half-caste Portuguese slave-traders were induced to come in 1853; and one,
who resembled closely a real Portuguese, came to Linyanti while I was
there. This man had no merchandise, and pretended to have come in order to
inquire "what sort of goods were necessary for the market." He seemed much
disconcerted by my presence there. Sekeletu presented him with an
elephant's tusk and an ox; and when he had departed about fifty miles to
the westward, he carried off an entire village of the Bakalahari belonging
to the Makololo. He had a number of armed slaves with him; and as all the
villagers -- men, women, and children -- were removed, and the fact was
unknown until a considerable time afterward, it is not certain whether his
object was obtained by violence or by fair promises. In either case,
slavery must have been the portion of these poor people. He was carried in
a hammock, slung between two poles, which appearing to be a bag, the
Makololo named him "Father of the Bag".
Mpepe favored these
slave-traders, and they, as is usual with them, founded all their hopes of
influence on his successful rebellion. My arrival on the scene was felt to
be so much weight in the scale against their interests. A large party of
Mambari had come to Linyanti when I was floundering on the prairies south
of the Chobe. As the news of my being in the neighborhood reached them
their countenances fell; and when some Makololo, who had assisted us to
cross the river, returned with hats which I had given them, the Mambari
betook themselves to precipitate flight. It is usual for visitors to ask
formal permission before attempting to leave a chief, but the sight of the
hats made the Mambari pack up at once. The Makololo inquired the cause of
the hurry, and were told that, if I found them there, I should take all
their slaves and goods from them; and, though assured by Sekeletu that I
was not a robber, but a man of peace, they fled by night, while I was
still sixty miles off. They went to the north, where, under the protection
of Mpepe, they had erected a stockade of considerable size. There, several
half-caste slave-traders, under the leadership of a native Portuguese,
carried on their traffic, without reference to the chief into whose
country they had unceremoniously introduced themselves; while Mpepe,
feeding them with the cattle of Sekeletu, formed a plan of raising
himself, by means of their fire-arms, to be the head of the Makololo. The
usual course which the slave-traders adopt is to take a part in the
political affairs of each tribe, and, siding with the strongest, get well
paid by captures made from the weaker party. Long secret conferences were
held by the slave-traders and Mpepe, and it was deemed advisable for him
to strike the first blow; so he provided himself with a small battle-axe,
with the intention of cutting Sekeletu down the first time they met.
My object being first of
all to examine the country for a healthy locality, before attempting to
make a path to either the East or West Coast, I proposed to Sekeletu the
plan of ascending the great river which we had discovered in 1851. He
volunteered to accompany me, and, when we got about sixty miles away, on
the road to Sesheke, we encountered Mpepe. The Makololo, though possessing
abundance of cattle, had never attempted to ride oxen until I advised it
in 1851. The Bechuanas generally were in the same condition, until
Europeans came among them and imparted the idea of riding. All their
journeys previously were performed on foot. Sekeletu and his companions
were mounted on oxen, though, having neither saddle nor bridle, they were
perpetually falling off. Mpepe, armed with his little axe, came along a
path parallel to, but a quarter of a mile distant from, that of our party,
and, when he saw Sekeletu, he ran with all his might toward us; but
Sekeletu, being on his guard, galloped off to an adjacent village. He then
withdrew somewhere till all our party came up. Mpepe had given his own
party to understand that he would cut down Sekeletu, either on their first
meeting, or at the breaking up of their first conference.
The former intention having
been thus frustrated, he then determined to effect his purpose after their
first interview. I happened to sit down between the two in the hut where
they met. Being tired with riding all day in the sun, I soon asked
Sekeletu where I should sleep, and he replied, "Come, I will show you." As
we rose together, I unconsciously covered Sekeletu's body with mine, and
saved him from the blow of the assassin. I knew nothing of the plot, but
remarked that all Mpepe's men kept hold of their arms, even after we had
sat down -- a thing quite unusual in the presence of a chief; and when
Sekeletu showed me the hut in which I was to spend the night, he said to
me, "That man wishes to kill me." I afterward learned that some of Mpepe's
attendants had divulged the secret; and, bearing in mind his father's
instructions, Sekeletu put Mpepe to death that night. It was managed so
quietly, that, although I was sleeping within a few yards of the scene, I
knew nothing of it till the next day.
Nokuane went to the fire,
at which Mpepe sat, with a handful of snuff, as if he were about to sit
down and regale himself therewith. Mpepe said to him, "Nsepisa" (cause me
to take a pinch); and, as he held out his hand, Nokuane caught hold of it,
while another man seized the other hand, and, leading him out a mile,
speared him. This is the common mode of executing criminals. They are not
allowed to speak; though on one occasion a man, feeling his wrist held too
tightly, said, "Hold me gently, can't you? you will soon be led out in the
same way yourselves." Mpepe's men fled to the Barotse, and, it being
unadvisable for us to go thither during the commotion which followed on
Mpepe's death, we returned to Linyanti. The foregoing may be considered as
a characteristic specimen of their mode of dealing with grave political
offenses. In common cases there is a greater show of deliberation. The
complainant asks the man against whom he means to lodge his complaint to
come with him to the chief. This is never refused. When both are in the
kotla, the complainant stands up and states the whole case before the
chief and the people usually assembled there. He stands a few seconds
after he has done this, to recollect if he has forgotten any thing. The
witnesses to whom he has referred then rise up and tell all they
themselves have seen or heard, but not any thing that they have heard from
others. The defendant, after allowing some minutes to elapse so that he
may not interrupt any of the opposite party, slowly rises, folds his cloak
around him, and, in the most quiet, deliberate way he can assume --
yawning, blowing his nose, etc. -- begins to explain the affair, denying
the charge, or admitting it, as the case may be.
Sometimes, when galled by
his remarks, the complainant utters a sentence of dissent; the accused
turns quietly to him, and says, "Be silent: I sat still while you were
speaking; can't you do the same? Do you want to have it all to yourself?"
And as the audience acquiesce in this bantering, and enforce silence, he
goes on till he has finished all he wishes to say in his defense. If he
has any witnesses to the truth of the facts of his defense, they give
their evidence. No oath is administered; but occasionally, when a
statement is questioned, a man will say, "By my father," or "By the chief,
it is so." Their truthfulness among each other is quite remarkable; but
their system of government is such that Europeans are not in a position to
realize it readily. A poor man will say, in his defense against a rich
one, "I am astonished to hear a man so great as he make a false
accusation;" as if the offense of falsehood were felt to be one against
the society which the individual referred to had the greatest interest in
upholding.
If the case is one of no
importance, the chief decides it at once; if frivolous, he may give the
complainant a scolding, and put a stop to the case in the middle of the
complaint, or he may allow it to go on without paying any attention to it
whatever. Family quarrels are often treated in this way, and then a man
may be seen stating his case with great fluency, and not a soul listening
to him. But if it is a case between influential men, or brought on by
under-chiefs, then the greatest decorum prevails. If the chief does not
see his way clearly to a decision, he remains silent; the elders then rise
one by one and give their opinions, often in the way of advice rather than
as decisions; and when the chief finds the general sentiment agreeing in
one view, he delivers his judgment accordingly. He alone speaks sitting;
all others stand. No one refuses to acquiesce in the decision of the
chief, as he has the power of life and death in his hands, and can enforce
the law to that extent if he chooses; but grumbling is allowed, and, when
marked favoritism is shown to any relative of the chief, the people
generally are not so astonished at the partiality as we would be in
England.
This system was found as
well developed among the Makololo as among the Bakwains, or even better,
and is no foreign importation. When at Cassange, my men had a slight
quarrel among themselves, and came to me, as to their chief, for judgment.
This had occurred several times before, so without a thought I went out of
the Portuguese merchant's house in which I was a guest, sat down, and
heard the complaint and defense in the usual way. When I had given my
decision in the common admonitory form,
they went off apparently satisfied. Several Portuguese, who had been
viewing the proceedings with great interest, complimented me on the
success of my teaching them how to act in litigation; but I could not take
any credit to myself for the system which I had found ready-made to my
hands.
Soon after our arrival at
Linyanti, Sekeletu took me aside, and pressed me to mention those things I
liked best and hoped to get from him. Any thing, either in or out of his
town, should be freely given if I would only mention it. I explained to
him that my object was to elevate him and his people to be Christians; but
he replied he did not wish to learn to read the Book, for he was afraid
"it might change his heart, and make him content with only one wife, like
Sechele." It was of little use to urge that the change of heart implied a
contentment with one wife equal to his present complacency in polygamy.
Such a preference after the change of mind could not now be understood by
him any more than the real, unmistakable pleasure of religious services
can by those who have not experienced what is known by the term the "new
heart". I assured him that nothing was expected but by his own voluntary
decision. "No, no; he wanted always to have five wives at least." I liked
the frankness of Sekeletu, for nothing is so wearying to the spirit as
talking to those who agree with every thing advanced.
Sekeletu, according to the
system of the Bechuanas, became possessor of his father's wives, and
adopted two of them; the children by these women are, however, in these
cases, termed brothers. When an elder brother dies, the same thing occurs
in respect of his wives; the brother next in age takes them, as among the
Jews, and the children that may be born of those women he calls brothers
also. He thus raises up seed to his departed relative. An uncle of
Sekeletu, being a younger brother of Sebituane, got that chieftain's
head-wife or queen: there is always one who enjoys this title. Her hut is
called the great house, and her children inherit the chieftainship. If she
dies, a new wife is selected for the same position, and enjoys the same
privileges, though she may happen to be a much younger woman than the
rest.
The majority of the wives
of Sebituane were given to influential under-chiefs; and, in reference to
their early casting off the widow's weeds, a song was sung, the tenor of
which was that the men alone felt the loss of their father Sebituane, the
women were so soon supplied with new husbands that their hearts had not
time to become sore with grief. The women complain because the proportions
between the sexes are so changed now that they are not valued as they
deserve. The majority of the real Makololo have been cut off by fever.
Those who remain are a mere fragment of the people who came to the north
with Sebituane. Migrating from a very healthy climate in the south, they
were more subject to the febrile diseases of the valley in which we found
them than the black tribes they conquered.
In comparison with the
Barotse, Batoka, and Banyeti, the Makololo have a sickly hue. They are of
a light brownish-yellow color, while the tribes referred to are very dark,
with a slight tinge of olive. The whole of the colored tribes consider
that beauty and fairness are associated, and women long for children of
light color so much, that they sometimes chew the bark of a certain tree
in hopes of producing that effect. To my eye the dark color is much more
agreeable than the tawny hue of the half-caste, which that of the Makololo
ladies closely resembles. The women generally escaped the fever, but they
are less fruitful than formerly, and, to their complaint of being
undervalued on account of the disproportion of the sexes, they now add
their regrets at the want of children, of whom they are all excessively
fond.
The Makololo women work but
little. Indeed, the families of that nation are spread over the country,
one or two only in each village, as the lords of the land. They all have
lordship over great numbers of subjected tribes, who pass by the general
name Makalaka, and who are forced to render certain services, and to aid
in tilling the soil; but each has his own land under cultivation, and
otherwise lives nearly independent. They are proud to be called Makololo,
but the other term is often used in reproach, as betokening inferiority.
This species of servitude may be termed serfdom, as it has to be rendered
in consequence of subjection by force of arms, but it is necessarily very
mild. It is so easy for any one who is unkindly treated to make his escape
to other tribes, that the Makololo are compelled to treat them, to a great
extent, rather as children than slaves. Some masters, who fail from defect
of temper or disposition to secure the affections of the conquered people,
frequently find themselves left without a single servant, in consequence
of the absence and impossibility of enforcing a fugitive-slave law, and
the readiness with which those who are themselves subjected assist the
fugitives across the rivers in canoes. The Makololo ladies are liberal in
their presents of milk and other food, and seldom require to labor, except
in the way of beautifying their own huts and court-yards. They drink large
quantities of boyaloa or o-alo, the buza of the Arabs, which, being made
of the grain called holcus sorghum or "durasaifi", in a minute state of
subdivision, is very nutritious, and gives that plumpness of form which is
considered beautiful. They dislike being seen at their potations by
persons of the opposite sex. They cut their woolly hair quite short, and
delight in having the whole person shining with butter. Their dress is a
kilt reaching to the knees; its material is ox-hide, made as soft as
cloth. It is not ungraceful. A soft skin mantle is thrown across the
shoulders when the lady is unemployed, but when engaged in any sort of
labor she throws this aside, and works in the kilt alone. The ornaments
most coveted are large brass anklets as thick as the little finger, and
armlets of both brass and ivory, the latter often an inch broad. The rings
are so heavy that the ankles are often blistered by the weight pressing
down; but it is the fashion, and is borne as magnanimously as tight lacing
and tight shoes among ourselves. Strings of beads are hung around the
neck, and the fashionable colors being light green and pink, a trader
could get almost any thing he chose for beads of these colors.
At our public religious
services in the kotla, the Makololo women always behaved with decorum from
the first, except at the conclusion of the prayer. When all knelt down,
many of those who had children, in following the example of the rest, bent
over their little ones; the children, in terror of being crushed to death,
set up a simultaneous yell, which so tickled the whole assembly there was
often a subdued titter, to be turned into a hearty laugh as soon as they
heard Amen. This was not so difficult to overcome in them as similar
peccadilloes were in the case of the women farther south. Long after we
had settled at Mabotsa, when preaching on the most solemn subjects, a
woman might be observed to look round, and, seeing a neighbor seated on
her dress, give her a hunch with the elbow to make her move off; the other
would return it with interest, and perhaps the remark, "Take the nasty
thing away, will you?" Then three or four would begin to hustle the first
offenders, and the men to swear at them all, by way of enforcing silence.
Great numbers of little
trifling things like these occur, and would not be worth the mention but
that one can not form a correct idea of missionary work except by
examination of the minutiae. At the risk of appearing frivolous to some, I
shall continue to descend to mere trifles. The numbers who attended at the
summons of the herald, who acted as beadle, were often from five to seven
hundred. The service consisted of reading a small portion of the Bible and
giving an explanatory address, usually short enough to prevent weariness
or want of attention. So long as we continue to hold services in the
kotla, the associations of the place are unfavorable to solemnity; hence
it is always desirable to have a place of worship as soon as possible; and
it is of importance, too, to treat such place with reverence, as an aid to
secure that serious attention which religious subjects demand. This will
appear more evident when it is recollected that, in the very spot where we
had been engaged in acts of devotion, half an hour after a dance would be
got up; and these habits can not be at first opposed without the
appearance of assuming too much authority over them. It is always unwise
to hurt their feelings of independence. Much greater influence will be
gained by studying how you may induce them to act aright, with the
impression that they are doing it of their own free will. Our services
having necessarily been all in the open air, where it is most difficult to
address large bodies of people, prevented my recovering so entirely from
the effects of clergyman's sore throat as I expected, when my uvula was
excised at the Cape.
To give an idea of the
routine followed for months together, on other days as well as on Sundays,
I may advert to my habit of treating the sick for complaints which seemed
to surmount the skill of their own doctors. I refrained from going to any
one unless his own doctor wished it, or had given up the case. This led to
my having a selection of the severer cases only, and prevented the doctors
being offended at my taking their practice out of their hands. When
attacked by fever myself, and wishing to ascertain what their practices
were, I could safely intrust myself in their hands on account of their
well-known friendly feelings.
The plan of showing
kindness to the natives in their bodily ailments secures their friendship;
this is not the case to the same degree in old missions, where the people
have learned to look upon relief as a right -- a state of things which
sometimes happens among ourselves at home. Medical aid is therefore most
valuable in young missions, though at all stages it is an extremely
valuable adjunct to other operations.
I proposed to teach the
Makololo to read, but, for the reasons mentioned, Sekeletu at first
declined; after some weeks, however, Motibe, his father-in-law, and some
others, determined to brave the mysterious book. To all who have not
acquired it, the knowledge of letters is quite unfathomable; there is
naught like it within the compass of their observation; and we have no
comparison with any thing except pictures, to aid them in comprehending
the idea of signs of words. It seems to them supernatural that we see in a
book things taking place, or having occurred at a distance. No amount of
explanation conveys the idea unless they learn to read. Machinery is
equally inexplicable, and money nearly as much so until they see it in
actual use. They are familiar with barter alone; and in the centre of the
country, where gold is totally unknown, if a button and sovereign were
left to their choice, they would prefer the former on account of its
having an eye.
In beginning to learn,
Motibe seemed to himself in the position of the doctor, who was obliged to
drink his potion before the patient, to show that it contained nothing
detrimental; after he had mastered the alphabet, and reported the thing so
far safe, Sekeletu and his young companions came forward to try for
themselves. He must have resolved to watch the effects of the book against
his views on polygamy, and abstain whenever he perceived any tendency, in
reading it, toward enforcing him to put his wives away. A number of men
learned the alphabet in a short time and were set to teach others, but
before much progress could be made I was on my way to Loanda. As I had
declined to name any thing as a present from Sekeletu, except a canoe to
take me up the river, he brought ten fine elephants' tusks and laid them
down beside my wagon. He would take no denial, though I told him I should
prefer to see him trading with Fleming, a man of color from the West
Indies, who had come for the purpose.
I had, during the eleven
years of my previous course, invariably abstained from taking presents of
ivory, from an idea that a religious instructor degraded himself by
accepting gifts from those whose spiritual welfare he professed to seek.
My precedence of all traders in the line of discovery put me often in the
way of very handsome offers, but I always advised the donors to sell their
ivory to traders, who would be sure to follow, and when at some future
time they had become rich by barter, they might remember me or my
children. When Lake Ngami was discovered I might have refused permission
to a trader who accompanied us; but when he applied for leave to form part
of our company, knowing that Mr. Oswell would no more trade than myself,
and that the people of the lake would be disappointed if they could not
dispose of their ivory, I willingly granted a sanction, without which his
people would not at that time have ventured so far. This was surely
preferring the interest of another to my own. The return I got for this
was a notice in one of the Cape papers that this "man was the true
discoverer of the lake!" The conclusion I had come to was, that it is
quite lawful, though perhaps not expedient, for missionaries to trade; but
barter is the only means by which a missionary in the interior can pay his
way, as money has no value. In all the journeys I had previously
undertaken for wider diffusion of the Gospel, the extra expenses were
defrayed from my salary of 100 Pounds per annum. This sum is sufficient to
enable a missionary to live in the interior of South Africa, supposing he
has a garden capable of yielding corn and vegetables; but should he not,
and still consider that six or eight months can not lawfully be spent
simply in getting goods at a lower price than they can be had from
itinerant traders, the sum mentioned is barely sufficient for the poorest
fare and plainest apparel.
As we never felt ourselves
justified in making journeys to the colony for the sake of securing
bargains, the most frugal living was necessary to enable us to be a little
charitable to others; but when to this were added extra traveling
expenses, the wants of an increasing family, and liberal gifts to chiefs,
it was difficult to make both ends meet. The pleasure of missionary labor
would be enhanced if one could devote his life to the heathen, without
drawing a salary from a society at all. The luxury of doing good from
one's own private resources, without appearing to either natives or
Europeans to be making a gain of it, is far preferable, and an object
worthy the ambition of the rich. But few men of fortune, however, now
devote themselves to Christian missions, as of old. Presents were always
given to the chiefs whom we visited, and nothing accepted in return; but
when Sebituane (in 1851) offered some ivory, I took it, and was able by
its sale to present his son with a number of really useful articles of a
higher value than I had ever been able to give before to any chief.
In doing this, of course, I appeared to trade, but, feeling I had a right
to do so, I felt perfectly easy in my mind; and, as I still held the view
of the inexpediency of combining the two professions, I was glad of the
proposal of one of the most honorable merchants of Cape Town, Mr. H. E.
Rutherford, that he should risk a sum of money in Fleming's hands for the
purpose of attempting to develop a trade with the Makololo. It was to this
man I suggested Sekeletu should sell the tusks which he had presented for
my acceptance, but the chief refused to take them back from me. The goods
which Fleming had brought were ill adapted for the use of the natives, but
he got a pretty good load of ivory in exchange; and though it was his
first attempt at trading, and the distance traveled over made the expenses
enormous, he was not a loser by the trip. Other traders followed, who
demanded 90 lbs. of ivory for a musket. The Makololo, knowing nothing of
steelyards, but supposing that they were meant to cheat them, declined to
trade except by exchanging one bull and one cow elephant's tusk for each
gun. This would average 70 lbs. of ivory, which sells at the Cape for 5s.
per pound, for a second-hand musket worth 10s. I, being sixty miles
distant, did not witness this attempt at barter, but, anxious to enable my
countrymen to drive a brisk trade, told the Makololo to sell my ten tusks
on their own account for whatever they would bring. Seventy tusks were for
sale, but, the parties not understanding each other's talk, no trade was
established; and when I passed the spot some time afterward, I found that
the whole of that ivory had been destroyed by an accidental fire, which
broke out in the village when all the people were absent.
Success in trade is as much
dependent on knowledge of the language as success in traveling. I had
brought with me as presents an improved breed of goats, fowls, and a pair
of cats. A superior bull was bought, also as a gift to Sekeletu, but I was
compelled to leave it on account of its having become foot-sore. As the
Makololo are very fond of improving the breed of their domestic animals,
they were much pleased with my selection. I endeavored to bring the bull,
in performance of a promise made to Sebituane before he died. Admiring a
calf which we had with us, he proposed to give me a cow for it, which in
the native estimation was offering three times its value. I presented it
to him at once, and promised to bring him another and a better one.
Sekeletu was much gratified by my attempt to keep my word given to his
father.
They have two breeds of
cattle among them. One, called the Batoka, because captured from that
tribe, is of diminutive size, but very beautiful, and closely resembles
the short-horns of our own country. The little pair presented by the King
of Portugal to H.R.H. the prince consort, is of this breed. They are very
tame, and remarkably playful; they may be seen lying on their sides by the
fires in the evening; and, when the herd goes out, the herdsman often
precedes them, and has only to commence capering to set them all a
gamboling. The meat is superior to that of the large animal. The other, or
Barotse ox, is much larger, and comes from the fertile Barotse Valley.
They stand high on their legs, often nearly six feet at the withers; and
they have large horns. Those of one of a similar breed that we brought
from the lake measured from tip to tip eight and a half feet. The Makololo
are in the habit of shaving off a little from one side of the horns of
these animals when still growing, in order to make them curve in that
direction and assume fantastic shapes.
The stranger the curvature,
the more handsome the ox is considered to be, and the longer this ornament
of the cattle-pen is spared to beautify the herd. This is a very ancient
custom in Africa, for the tributary tribes of Ethiopia are seen, on some
of the most ancient Egyptian monuments, bringing contorted-horned cattle
into Egypt. All are remarkably fond of their cattle, and spend much time
in ornamenting and adorning them. Some are branded all over with a hot
knife, so as to cause a permanent discoloration of the hair, in lines like
the bands on the hide of a zebra. Pieces of skin two or three inches long
and broad are detached, and allowed to heal in a dependent position around
the head -- a strange style of ornament; indeed, it is difficult to
conceive in what their notion of beauty consists. The women have somewhat
the same ideas with ourselves of what constitutes comeliness. They came
frequently and asked for the looking-glass; and the remarks they made --
while I was engaged in reading, and apparently not attending to them -- on
first seeing themselves therein, were amusingly ridiculous. "Is that me?"
"What a big mouth I have!" "My ears are as big as pumpkin-leaves." "I have
no chin at all." Or, "I would have been pretty, but am spoiled by these
high cheek-bones." "See how my head shoots up in the middle!" laughing
vociferously all the time at their own jokes. They readily perceive any
defect in each other, and give nicknames accordingly. One man came alone
to have a quiet gaze at his own features once, when he thought I was
asleep; after twisting his mouth about in various directions, he remarked
to himself, "People say I am ugly, and how very ugly I am indeed!"
The Makololo use all the
skins of their oxen for making either mantles or shields. For the former,
the hide is stretched out by means of pegs, and dried. Ten or a dozen men
then collect round it with small adzes, which, when sharpened with an iron
bodkin, are capable of shaving off the substance of the skin on the fleshy
side until it is quite thin; when sufficiently thin, a quantity of brain
is smeared over it, and some thick milk. Then an instrument made of a
number of iron spikes tied round a piece of wood, so that the points only
project beyond it, is applied to it in a carding fashion, until the fibres
of the bulk of it are quite loose. Milk or butter is applied to it again,
and it forms a garment nearly as soft as cloth.
The shields are made of
hides partially dried in the sun, and then beaten with hammers until they
are stiff and dry. Two broad belts of a differently-colored skin are sewed
into them longitudinally, and sticks inserted to make them rigid and not
liable to bend easily. The shield is a great protection in their way of
fighting with spears, but they also trust largely to their agility in
springing aside from the coming javelin. The shield assists when so many
spears are thrown that it is impossible not to receive some of them. Their
spears are light javelins; and, judging from what I have seen them do in
elephant-hunting, I believe, when they have room to make a run and
discharge them with the aid of the jerk of stopping, they can throw them
between forty and fifty yards. They give them an upward direction in the
discharge, so that they come down on the object with accelerated force. I
saw a man who in battle had received one in the shin; the excitement of
the moment prevented his feeling any pain; but, when the battle was over,
the blade was found to have split the bone, and become so impacted in the
cleft that no force could extract it. It was necessary to take an axe and
press the split bone asunder before the weapon could be taken out. |