Seven Years in South Africa/Volume 2/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI.
BACK AGAIN IN SESHEKE
OTTER-SHOOTING ON THE CHOBE.
For a time I continued to indulge the hope that I should have to remain at Sesheke only for a short period, and that I should soon be convalescent and able to start afresh upon the journey I had been compelled to give up. But I grew worse instead of better, and as the unhealthy season was now coming on, both Westbeech and Sepopo advised me to leave the Marutse district altogether, to return to the south, and not to resume my travels until my health was completely restored. To me, however, this suggestion looked tantamount to a proposal to postpone my project indefinitely, and I was loth to acquiesce.
I received visits, not only from the king, but from a number of the chiefs with whom I had made acquaintance, and while they all expressed their sympathy with me in my illness, they declared they had foreseen it. It was their unanimous opinion that I had stayed too long in Sesheke, the king himself reprimanding me for having taken my trip to the Victoria Falls and losing my chance of starting earlier, although every one knew that the blame rested entirely with himself, and that he had detained me from October to December, and even then had furnished me with boats only at Moquai’s solicitation.
Since my departure the hut that I had occupied had been appropriated to another purpose, but Westbeech kindly found me accommodation at his store. Sepopo’s unpopularity was very much on the increase. Inkambella, the great chief whom I mentioned as passing as I lay at the Nambwe cataract, had been on his way to Sesheke to pay homage to the king, but the reverence and affection with which he was regarded made him an object of aversion to Sepopo, who would willingly have disposed of him. No one, however, could be found to assassinate him, and the only resource was to have him accused of high treason, the other Barotse chiefs being included in the charge; they were, however, all adjudged not guilty. Westbeech and Jan Mahura were present at the trial, and, as an instance of how Sepopo’s authority was on the wane, they told me that Mahura had plainly called him a fool, and denounced him as the greatest traitor in the country.
When Sepopo next visited me he was indulging in the excitement of the mokoro-dance, and was attended by a large court retinue. He was in a patronizing mood, and made a great fuss with me, calling me his mulekow; but when Inkambella arrived shortly afterwards, he moved off at once to Westbeech’s quarters.
On the evening of the following day I was attacked with such violent spasms in the chest that I writhed upon the ground in agony, and it was as much as four men could do to hold me still; it was not until Westbeech had administered a dose of ipecacuanha, which made me sick, that I could draw my breath at all freely. Subsequent attacks of a similar kind recurred at intervals during the sixteen months that my illness lasted, but I always found that the same remedy gave me relief.
For several days I was unable to rise from my bed. As I lay all alone I had only too much time to brood over my disappointment and frustrated scheme. I found, however, that in the way of sickness I was not by any means a solitary sufferer; some people that came from the Chobe brought the intelligence that M‘Leod, Fairly, Dorehill, Cowley, with several of their attendants, and my late servant Pit, were all ill with fever at Panda ma Tenka.
It was not until the 19th that I was able to leave my room at all, but, with the help of my servants, I then made an effort to walk a little way on the grass outside our enclosure. A fresh inconvenience was now beginning to annoy us, for we were perpetually tormented by the mosquitoes, which at certain seasons are quite a plague on the Zambesi; every evening, and especially at night, these bloodthirsty little pests renew their attacks upon man and beast, and even woollen coverings form no protection from their sharp beaks. The only stratagem by which I could escape the irritation they caused was the unsavoury one of allowing my servants to burn a heap or two of cow-dung inside my hut.
In order to get something fresh for our larder, Westbeech and Walsh went out for a morning’s goose-hunting. It was vexatious that my state of health did not permit me to go even a little way with them. At this time of year the geese, and other birds of the duck breed, frequented the open parts of the marshes, and sportsmen, guided by their cackle, had to get at them in boats, pushing their way through the reeds. The best time for hunting them is when there is a moderate wind, as then the rustle of the reeds overpowers the noise made by the boats. When Sepopo heard of the success that had attended the expedition, he bought a lot of Westbeech’s shot, and sent some of his own people on a similar errand, and I should suppose with similar good luck, as when I breakfasted with the king a morning or two afterwards, I noticed several geese upon the table.
From the manner in which they were served, I could perceive that it was a dish to which the Marutse were by no means unaccustomed. The people generally take their meals sitting on straw or rush mats, sometimes inside the huts, and sometimes just in front of the entrance. All solid food is taken up with the fingers, but anything of a semi-fluid character is conveyed to the mouth by means of wooden spoons.
There is little to add to my previous account of the royal meals. The queens and white men invited to breakfast sat facing the east, but at supper, which was nearly always taken in the open air, they had their seats always placed on the king’s left hand. The king sipped the goblet of kaffir-corn beer before passing it first to the favourite wife, and then to the other lady-guests, and if no ladies were present, it was handed on to the court cfficials at once. Besides the kaffir-corn beer, honey-beer was occasionally introduced at supper, and the cup-bearer invariably tasted it before offering it to the king. As the whole of the honey in the country belongs to the crown, the beverage made from it is only consumed at court; and on occasions of festivity it is not passed beyond the circle of the royal family and certain distinguished guests, except to those from whom the king had already asked or was about to ask a favour. The honey is not purified for its preparation, but the beer is made by simply pouring water on to the honey-comb thrown into gourd-shells, and left to stand for about twelve hours in the sun.
After the 24th I was able to take more regular exercise, and went several times into the town with the object of exchanging my travelling-gear, now unfortunately of no service to me, for some local and ethnographical curiosities. Two-thirds of the plants that I collected were new to me, and most of those that were found on the river-bank belonged to the Zambesi highland.
As the mosquitoes prevented us from sleeping, I used to sit up and talk with Westbeech. I obtained from him all the information I could about the western Makalakas who resided on the Maitengwe as subjects of the Matabele. Some of these people I had already seen at Shoshong, and I had heard a good deal about them from Mr. Mackenzie.
About this time, Sepopo, not feeling very well, sent out instructions that no white men were to be admitted to his courtyard until further orders. No doubt Sykendu was at the bottom of this prohibition; he was always on the alert to do anything to revive the failing trade of his fellow-countrymen, and lost no opportunity of damaging the character of the merchants from the south.
Sepopo’s fishermen came to us every day with fish for sale. The Marutse fisher-craft may be divided into the two sections of reptile-hunting and fishing proper. It is only a few tribes that devote themselves systematically to the pursuit of the great reptiles, the crocodile and the water-lizard; but fishing proper is carried on by every one of the Zambesi tribes, from the Kabombo to far beyond the Victoria Falls, their skill in their art being superior to that of the residents on the coast, or even of the natives at Lake N’gami, who are said to be by no means wanting in expertness. Besides its importance as an article of diet, fish constitutes a regular portion of the royal tribute.
There are five principal ways of fishing. The first method consists in net-fishing, and may be estimated as the most remunerative. The nets used by the Marutse are of excellent quality; they are made with meshes of different sizes from bast twisted into cords about as thick as a man’s finger; they vary from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, and are provided with proper weights; they are carefully cleaned and dried whenever they have been used, and this contributes very much to their durability. It is in the larger lagoons that they are generally supplied, especially in those of which the confines are not marshy. The Marutse, Manubas, and Masupias have the highest reputation for skilfulness, and have established fishing-stations, some permanent, others only for a season, all along the river.
A second way of catching fish adopted by the Marutse people is by weels, which are used either when the river is very low or very high, in which latter case they are placed against the dams; but at seasons when the water is low and parted into several streams at the rapids, they are fixed right in the current between two blocks of rock; in construction they are obliged to be narrow, seldom more than a foot in diameter, and they are mostly about a yard and a half long; in shape they are much like those used in Europe; they are made of strong reeds, and are fixed with their mouths facing the stream.
Another method consists in enclosing certain portions of the inundated plains, just at the time of the first abatement of the waters, with circular dams or embankments of earth. The flood subsides rapidly, and the fish are easily secured, the muddiness of the water facilitating their capture. In level places, especially near towns or villages, I noticed the remains of a good many of these dams, and I was told that the inquisi is very often caught in this way.
A fourth plan practised in the country is the simple device of blocking up the mouths of the small lagoons, where sedge is either wanting altogether or very scanty, with coarse mats made of strong rushes.
SPEARING FISH.
This mode of fishing, which is carried on from May to August, while the floods are going down, is said to be very successful. The rain-channels that make their way to the river are not unfrequently stopped up in the same fashion.
But next to net-fishing there is no kind of fishing that can compare either in attractiveness or in efficiency with the last of the five methods to which I refer. The Zambesi people are all remarkably dexterous in fishing with the spear, and sometimes can secure water-lizards as well as fish by this means.
Otters are likewise captured in this way, the assegais employed being proportioned in size to the purpose for which they are used; generally the point is not above four inches long, attached to a quadrilateral shaft, one barb being affixed to each side.
Sepopo’s annoyance at his illness daily increased; he considered that it was brought about by sorcery on the part of some of his subjects, and with a view of liberating himself from the spell under which he imagined he was lying, he gave orders for a large number of executions, a proceeding that opened the way for any one to get rid of an enemy or rival, as he had only to accuse him of high treason, and sentence of death was pretty sure to be passed forthwith. Still finding that he did not recover his health, the king sent for Sykendu, and told him that he would have him executed too, if his disorder did not quickly take a turn for the better. The Mambari promised to effect a speedy cure, but stipulated that it must be on condition that Sepopo gave him a handsome Makololo or Masupia woman for a wife; he had frequently made the same request before without effect, but succeeded now in extracting the promise from the anxious king.
I held out as long as I could, but yielding at length to the general advice, I consented to leave Sesheke, and to return to Panda ma Tenka.
There had been many days on which I had been unable to leave my bed or my hut, but during these I received a number of visits from the chieftains, and learnt many particulars about the social life of the Marutse people. It appears to me a convenient place here to insert some of the facts that I elicited.
WALK THROUGH SESHEKE.
Except they have been declared free by the sovereign, members of all the subject tribes, except the Marutse and Mabundas, are regarded as slaves, but even the Marutse, although exempt from vassal-service, may be condemned to it for any misdemeanour, or by falling into disgrace with the king. The children of any vassal who may have married a Marutse wife are also regarded as vassals, and bound to perform the same service as their father. The price of a slave in Sesheke is a boat, or a cow, or a couple of pieces of calico; in the western part of the kingdom it is much lower, and in the north, in the upper Kashteja, a slave may be purchased for a few strings of beads. There are no public slave-markets, but slaves may be bought in any of the villages. The Mambari, who are the chief buyers and vendors, set the negroes the vilest of examples. With their prayer-books in their hand, they endeavour to represent themselves as Christians to any one who can read or write, but they are utterly unworthy of the name they pretend to bear, and so far from advancing in any way the civilization of the superstitious tribes on the Zambesi, they only minister to their deeper degradation.
Unless a man is an absolute vassal in the strictest sense, he may, with his master’s permission; have several wives, and free women who have not been given away or sold as slaves are allowed to choose what husbands they please. The preference given to female rulers causes the weaker sex to be treated with far more consideration than they receive amongst the Bechuana and Zulu races, where they are reckoned as servants, not to speak of the Masarwas, who treat their women as mere beasts of burden.
On the 10th we received the melancholy news that Bauren, Westbeech’s assistant, had died of fever at Panda ma Tenka.
The next day, Kapella, the commander-in-chief, came to our quarters with a message from the king to say that he was sending six boats to convey Westbeech’s ivory to Impalera. Westbeech sent word back that he required double that number of boats, and moreover that he was not ready to start for a day or two; but I took the opportunity of packing up my own baggage and departing, relying on the promise given me by Westbeech that he would follow me in three days. We did not doubt that the extra boats would be duly sent, and I only carried the provisions that were requisite to supply my wants for the time; I little dreamed that Sepopo would be five weeks before he provided the additional boats, and the consequence was that I was exposed to the severest privation that I had experienced throughout my journey.
I propose devoting the following chapter to a description of the manners and customs of the various tribes in the empire at large, but before bringing my account of Sesheke to a close, I may be allowed to mention some of the chief characteristics of the more important tribes that reside in Marutse-land proper.
For courage and bravery none of the Marutse-Mabunda tribes can compete with the Zulus and Amaswazies of the south; but leaving the Matabele colony in the Barotse out of the reckoning, the Mamboë and Masupias may in this respect be considered to bear the palm. The Masupia elephant-hunters exhibit great fearlessness in all encounters with wild beasts, though even they are surpassed by the Mamboë in their adroitness in killing hippopotamuses and crocodiles. Both Mamboë and Mabundas are well qualified for hard labour and for employment as bearers, the former being probably the finest and most muscular men in the whole empire. The Manansas have the reputation of being somewhat cowardly, but I found them very good and trustworthy servants. With all native races, pride goes very much hand-in-hand with courage, and consequently while it is highly developed amongst the Matabele, it is at a very low ebb amongst the Marutse-Mabundas; and notwithstanding that the Marutse make the other tribes feel that they are a dominant race, they exhibit nothing of the arrogance of conscious power that characterizes the Zulus. Even the Matabele settled in the Barotse have been influenced by their peaceful surroundings, and have exhibited something of the qualities of tamed lions; and altogether the relations between master and servant in the districts about the Zambesi are much more friendly than amongst the tribes to the south.
The Mamboë, and all the more northerly tribes that seldom come to court, are particularly unassuming in their demeanour; and although the natives of the Chobe district, the Batokas and Matongas on the Zambesi, as well as the Marutse, can be very overbearing with white men, the blame is more often than not to be attributed to the white men themselves. But haughtiness of this kind can scarcely be called pride, and I observed that a little firmness and severity rarely failed to bring the offenders to reason, and to check their disposition to be insolent.
The blindness of the obedience which is ordinarily rendered to rulers is exemplified by the fidelity of the people to Sepopo; but I am obliged to record that a corresponding faithfulness does not extend itself to conjugal life. Although I am prepared to allow that marriage in many instances may be the result of mutual affection, I am convinced that marriage-vows are very rarely considered binding, as the mulekow system too plainly testifies. This odious regulation is like a plague-spot amongst the people; it not only destroys anything like conjugal felicity, but has the most demoralizing effect upon the rising generation, as bringing them up with the idea that affection has nothing to do with married life. Though originally confined to the western and south-western tribes, it has now generally spread all over the kingdom.
With regard to affection between parents and children, I have no hesitation in saying that it is displayed chiefly on the side of the parents, who often lavish a care upon their offspring that is very ill-requited when they become old and infirm.
From my own experience I should not advise any traveller in the Marutse-Mabunda kingdom to trust himself unreservedly to servants provided by the king; it is far better to ask a chief or some other person of importance to act as guide, and to chastise with the kiri all unruly boatmen and bearers; but before starting it is necessary that all stipulations with the sovereign should be definitely settled.
It is unadvisable to be over-liberal, and each tribe should be treated as its character demands. From what I have already said it may be inferred that a little kindness prevails much with the Mamboë and Manansas; but more reserve must be used with the Marutse and Mankoë. The Matabele require a serious if not a stern demeanour; and it is necessary to recollect that with the Makalakas everything must be kept under lock and key. Whoever the ruler is, he should be treated with marked civility; and if there should be any difference of opinion with him, it is best to try and conceal it; but should courtesy fail, and he begins to be in any way overreaching in his demands, he should be resisted calmly and firmly, without precipitate recourse to forcible measures. As so few of the tribes are remarkable for bravery, it follows that whenever a traveller finds his progress interrupted, or his designs thwarted, he will best surmount the difficulty, or provide for his safe retreat, by preserving a resolute and fearless bearing.
A MASUPIA.A PANDA.
Their human sacrifices, their manner of slaughtering their domestic animals, and the use of barbed assegais for destroying game, demonstrate that a brutal cruelty is one of the predominant failings of these people; and yet malice and perfidy are extremely rare, the Makalakas alone being guilty of the latter vice. All tribes profess a certain amount of indebtedness to the white men, the measure of gratitude increasing in proportion to the simplicity of their mode of living, or the farther they are removed to the north, north-east, or north-west of the Victoria Falls and the mouth of the Chobe.
Vanity is common, no doubt, to all savage races, but the Marutse-Mabunda tribes indulge in it with greater tact than the people farther south. Their moral standard is very low, but this, as I have before had occasion to remark, is the result of ignorance rather than of corruption; and I believe that instruction and good example, combined with a little gentle pressure put upon the rulers by white men, would in a very few years work a marvellous amendment; but to bring about a reformation, it must be confessed that the kings should be very different men from Sepopo. The first thing that it behoves a stranger to do is to set his face against the mulekow system. It is the proper way in which he should seek to gain respect for himself; and it is of great advantage to let the people know that no such custom is tolerated in any other country.
The system, too, by which the sovereign takes for wives any women he will, must also be broken down before any great moral improvement can be expected. They nearly always have to marry him in defiance of their own wishes, and are only free to refuse under the penalty of death; consequently they are seldom otherwise than unfaithful. Sepopo took care to expose every breach of fidelity that came to his knowledge; but the general example of the queens was so utterly bad, that even women who had been free to marry at their own choice, never held themselves bound to keep the marriage vow inviolate.
As one proof that the few white men who have visited the Zambesi district have exercised some influence on the habits of the population, it may be recorded that the natives have begun to wear a kind of clothing, however primitive, instead of going, like their northern neighbours, the Mashukulumbe, absolutely naked.
SINGULAR ROCK.