On the 9th of July we tried to send Semalembue a present, but the people here refused to incur the responsibility of carrying it.We, who have the art of writing, cannot realize the danger one incurs of being accused of purloining a portion of goods sent from one person to another, when the carrier cannot prove that he delivered all committed to his charge.Rumours of a foray having been made, either by Makololo or Batoka, as far as the fork of the Kafue, were received here by our men with great indignation, as it looked as if the marauders were shutting up the country, which they had been trying so much to open.Below the junction of the rivers, on a shallow sandbank, lay a large herd of hippopotami, their bodies out of the water, like masses of black rock.Kambadzo's island, called Nyangalule, a name which occurs again at the mouth of the Zambesi, has many choice Motsikiri (Trachelia) trees on it; and four very conspicuous stately palms growing out of a single stem.The Kafue reminds us a little of the Shire, flowing between steep banks, with fertile land on both sides.It is a smaller river, and has less current.Here it seems to come from the west.The headman of the village, near which we encamped, brought a present of meal, fowls, and sweet potatoes.They have both the red and white varieties of this potato.We have, on several occasions during this journey, felt the want of vegetables, in a disagreeable craving which our diet of meat and native meal could not satisfy.It became worse and worse till we got a meal of potatoes, which allayed it at once.A great scarcity of vegetables prevails in these parts of Africa.The natives collect several kinds of wild plants in the woods, which they use no doubt for the purpose of driving off cravings similar to those we experienced.
Owing to the strength of the wind, and the cranky state of the canoes, it was late in the afternoon of the 11th before our party was ferried over the Kafue.After crossing, we were in the Bawe country.
Fishhooks here, of native workmanship, were observed to have barbs like the European hooks:elsewhere the point of the hook is merely bent in towards the shank, to have the same effect in keeping on the fish as the barb.We slept near a village a short distance above the ford.The people here are of Batoka origin, the same as many of our men, and call themselves Batonga (independents), or Balengi, and their language only differs slightly from that of the Bakoa, who live between the two rivers Kafue and Loangwa.The paramount chief of the district lives to the west of this place, and is called Nchomokela--an hereditary title:the family burying-place is on a small hill near this village.The women salute us by clapping their hands and lullilooing as we enter and leave a village, and the men, as they think, respectfully clap their hands on their hips.Immense crops of mapira (holcus sorghum) are raised; one species of it forms a natural bend on the seed-stalk, so that the massive ear hangs down.The grain was heaped up on wooden stages, and so was a variety of other products.The men are skilful hunters, and kill elephants and buffaloes with long heavy spears.We halted a few minutes on the morning of the 12th July, opposite the narrow island of Sikakoa, which has a village on its lower end.We were here told that Moselekatse's chief town is a month's distance from this place.They had heard, moreover, that the English had come to Moselekatse, and told him it was wrong to kill men; and he had replied that he was born to kill people, but would drop the habit; and, since the English came, he had sent out his men, not to kill as of yore, but to collect tribute of cloth and ivory.This report referred to the arrival of the Rev. R. Moffat, of Kuruman, who, we afterwards found, had established a mission.The statement is interesting as showing that, though imperfectly expressed, the purport of the missionaries'
teaching had travelled, in a short time, over 300 miles, and we know not how far the knowledge of the English operations on the coast spread inland.
When abreast of the high wooded island Kalabi we came in contact with one of the game-laws of the country, which has come down from the most ancient times.An old buffalo crossed the path a few yards in front of us; our guide threw his small spear at its hip, and it was going off scarcely hurt, when three rifle balls knocked it over."It is mine," said the guide.He had wounded it first, and the established native game-law is that the animal belongs to the man who first draws blood; the two legs on one side, by the same law, belonged to us for killing it.This beast was very old, blind of one eye, and scabby; the horns, mere stumps, not a foot long, must have atrophied, when by age he lost the strength distinctive of his sex;
Some eighteen or twenty inches of horn could not well be worn down by mere rubbing against the trees.We saw many buffaloes next day, standing quietly amidst a thick thorn-jungle, through which we were passing.They often stood until we were within fifty or a hundred yards of them.
