Seven Years in South Africa/Volume 2/Chapter 13
CHAPTER XIII.
IN THE LESHUMO VALLEY.
CAMP IN THE LESHUMO VALLEY.
Convinced that to remain any longer in Sesheke would be to endanger my life, I had consented, but with extreme reluctance, to take my departure. The boatmen who were conveying me knew perfectly well that I was going away from Sepopo for good, and did not allow many hours to pass before they began to show that they did not care what became of me, and insisted on drawing up at a place where there was no better accommodation than a couple of miserable huts, that had been put up for the use of the fishermen who periodically visited the lagoons. I made my servants carry me on shore, and sent them out to get some fish. They only procured five, of which I gave them four, and had the other broiled for myself.
After dinner I discovered that the boatmen had made up their minds to go no farther that day, although nothing could be more unhealthy or less suitable for a night encampment than the spot where they had pulled up. The two huts were on a reedy island just opposite a swamp; and, to make matters worse, I found that as my boat had been the last to arrive, they had both been appropriated by the crews that had landed before me, so that I was obliged to wait while my servants erected me another. This took them about two hours and a half; and when with the help of the boatmen they had put my baggage inside, they found that they had made it so small that it was with the utmost difficulty that they squeezed me in afterwards and laid me upon my boxes. It was so low that my face actually touched the roof, which was made of the grass that had been washed ashore by the last year’s floods, and, being still damp, emitted a most unpleasant smell, which, combined with the exhalations from the swamp, made the atmosphere intolerably oppressive. Sleep under the circumstances was quite impossible, and I lay brooding sadly over my frustrated plans and my final disappointment. The snorting of the hippopotamuses in the water, and the cry of the herons, were the only sounds that broke the stillness.
Before midnight some small dark clouds arose, and gradually overspread the heavens, till not a star was to be seen. To my exhausted system the sultriness became more than ever trying, and the hours wore away without affording me the least refreshment.
Soon after sunrise we resumed our journey down the stream, but the slovenly and care-for-naught way in which the boatmen handled the baggage, and the general tone of their behaviour, warned me what I had to expect. The more I hurried them, the slower they went, and after a while, finding that a slight breeze was getting up, they pulled up all of a sudden at a sandbank, and declared that they would not proceed another inch.
I promised them beads, I threatened them with punishment from Sepopo, my servants blustered and stormed; but it was all to no purpose, the men only laughed; some of them went away and laid themselves down to sleep on the sand; others remained where they were, and appeared to chuckle over my weakness, enjoying the helplessness of my condition. This was a state of things that I was not disposed to allow. The remedy was not far to find. I was quite aware that the Marutse people were acquainted with very few guns better than the old musket. Taking my seat at the bow of my boat, I began handling my breechloader. After letting it flash for a few minutes in the sun, I took aim at a reedstalk standing just between two groups of the refractory boatmen, who, whether they were really asleep or not, in a moment started to their feet. Not many minutes afterwards I fired again, hitting the mark I had selected with due precision. My third shot grazed the stump of the reed I had already broken. The little expedient I had adopted answered admirably, every one of the fellows seemed instantaneously to return to his senses; the boats began to glide off into the water as it were by some secret magic, and we were very soon on our way again. The boatmen begged me not to fire any more; they did not like the noise; they would pull hard, and would bring me very quickly where I could shoot plenty of “polocholo” (game). Within three hours I landed at Makumba’s baobab.
WANA WENA, THE NEW KING OF THE MARUTSE.
The sky was now quite clear, and the refreshing breeze that blew down from the hills over the Impalera Island acted on me like a stimulant. I took my gun and brought down some of the baobab fruit that was hanging over me, and whilst the crews were unloading the boats, my own people made their way to the woods to get more fruit.
For crossing the Chobe on the 15th I was obliged to pay three times the ordinary amount of passage money. This extortion was practised on me simply because it was known that I was leaving the kingdom.
Having a great dread of passing the night in the marshy Chobe district, I sent my servants forward at once with a portion of my baggage to the Leshumo valley, where Blockley had placed two waggons at my disposal until Westbeech should arrive. For myself I required a little rest, but quite intended to follow them before the evening. I engaged a number of Masupias to conduct me and carry on the rest of the luggage to the place of rendezvous, but just as we were on the point of starting a violent storm came on, and compelled me after all to remain where I was; I was consequently obliged to spend the night in the miserable hut where Bauren, who had died at Panda ma Tenka a few days since, had first been taken ill. In the morning I began my slow and painful march, and found myself necessitated to take a whole day in accomplishing a distance which is ordinarily traversed in a few hours. Almost every hundred yards I was obliged to stop and rest, while the perspiration poured from my body, and as a consequence of my exertions I had to lie by completely all the next day.
As I felt myself tolerably well recruited on the 17th, I was very anxious to go out and do a little botanizing in the immediate neighbourhood of our waggons; the rain, however, came down so continuously, that I had no chance of indulging my wishes. For the last few days I had been expecting Westbeech, and his non-arrival was giving me some uneasiness, as my small stock of tea, sugar, and salt had come to an end; accordingly it was a pleasant surprise to me when my servants returned from one of their rambles and brought a good supply of honey.
During the night which I had been forced to spend on the bank of the Chobe, my forehead and my hands had been stung all over by some very venomous mosquitoes, and the places now came into pustules, of which I carried the scars for months. I had much to harass me and to contribute to my discomfort, but amidst all my grievances I had the satisfaction of being attended by trustworthy and industrious servants; I could only regret that they were not to be induced to take my breechloader and procure some game from the woods; their assegais were quite unfit for the purpose of killing gazelles, elephants, or buffaloes, which were the animals that chiefly haunted the locality. Only two nights before our arrival a large herd of elephants had passed quite close to the spot where the waggons were stationed.
With the assistance of my people, I took a litle walk on the 19th, and collected some plants and insects. For pressing my botanical specimens I used the only two books that I had saved, and as these were octavo volumes instead of quarto, many of the plants had to be divided under the prospect of being joined together again at some future time; I was careful to keep a special note-book, in which, besides other particulars, I recorded the different names by which the plants were called by the Masupias, the Manansas, and the Matongas respectively. Of such funguses as I could neither press nor dry I took sketches, an employment that gave me occupation on a number of sleepless nights. My entomological curiosities had to be stored away in a wide-mouthed pickle-jar that Westbeech had given me, having thoughtfully filled it with slips of writing-paper, which he knew would be useful; the insects were killed by plunging the jar several times into boiling water in my coffee-pot.
The beetles that seemed to me to be most abundant were the ground-beetles (Cicindela, Mantichora granulata, Carabidæ), scarabæidæ, leaf-beetles, weevils, and sand-beetles (Psammodes). Of this last genus there are such countless varieties that they excite the astonishment of even the phlegmatic Dutch farmers; they have thick hard tails, which they raise every few seconds, and give a tap to the ground or floor on which they are crawling; this habit has made the Dutchmen say that they are knocking, or calling for one another. I was glad to find the Mantichora and the Anthia thoracica, which are very interesting; they live in holes already made in the ground, or in cavities scraped out by themselves, often so deep that it was quite a wonder how they could be pierced in the loose sand; their industry seemed to keep them at work all day long, and they had a habit of rearing themselves up on their long legs, as though they were making a survey of what was going on all round. Another habit they have—well known to the Dutch, but of which I, as a novice, had an experience far from pleasant some years previously—whenever they are captured they discharge a very offensive fluid from their body; and I can testify that it is ill-luck for the entomologist if this flies into his face and eyes.
On the next day Westbeech’s servant Diamond, accompanied by some Manansas, arrived at the waggons. They had all been out on a hunting-excursion.
I felt myself again a little better, and would not lose the opportunity of going out for a few miles. I was particularly anxious to obtain some birds’ skins; but although I had the best assistance of my people, I was quite unequal to follow a bird to any distance, so that I only succeeded in bagging a black swallow-tailed shrike. My exertions, however, were rewarded in another way, as I made a good collection both of plants and insects. During my stay in the Leshumo Valley I added nearly 3000 botanical and about 500 entomological specimens to my collection. During my walk I came upon several smelting-furnaces, made of the smallest of bricks; they were about six feet long and three feet wide, and had, I conjectured, been put up fifty or sixty years before by the Marutse vassals, who had resided on this side of the Zambesi before the settlement of the free-booting kingdom of the Matabele Zulus.
A day or two afterwards some Masupias came from Impalera bringing corn for sale, and Diamond, as a contribution from his hunting-expedition, brought me some buffalo-beef; he seemed inclined to grumble at the alacrity the buffalo-bulls displayed in getting out of his way, and said that the density of the summer foliage made it very hard to get at them. We were thus well supplied for the time, but I had been so long debarred from taking animal food, that the buffalo-meat did not at all agree with my digestion. My servants, however, were all delighted at the change in their accustomed bill of fare.
I had indulged the hope that I should find the higher ground adjacent to the little Leshumo river much more healthy than the mouth of the Chobe. My disappointment was consequently great to find, that morning after morning the whole valley was full of fog, which after rain was always especially dense. The result was that I felt deplorably ill all the early part of every day; and although I revived somewhat later on as the fog lifted a little, I remained so extremely sensitive to the least breath of wind, that even in these hottest months of January and February, I always had to wear two coats whilst I was engaged in writing or botanizing.
On the 23rd I received a visit from a company of Marutse men, who rather surprised me by saying that they had come from the south. The party consisted of a chieftain named Moia and several adherents. Moia was the brother of Kapella, Sepopo’s commander-in-chief, and had been condemned to death by Sepopo about a year before. Some liquid had been poured in front of the king’s residence, and as the king was feeling more than usually unwell, he came at once to the conclusion that he had been bewitched, and Moia’s enemies had taken advantage of the circumstance to charge him with the deed, the consequence being that in order to escape being sentenced to be burnt or poisoned he had to fly the country. He had betaken himself to Shoshong, where Khame had received him most kindly and allowed him to remain; but discovering after a while that the fugitive was being consumed with the desire to get back to his home, the king resolved to send him to Sepopo, with an autograph letter demonstrating Moia’s entire innocence of the crime that had been laid to his charge. For my own part I was convinced that Sepopo would never be persuaded, and I advised the chief to beware how he placed himself within the tyrant’s reach; but the longing to return to his wife and children was too intense to allow him to listen to any voice of caution, and he continued his homeward way.
By this time I was so destitute of provisions that I was obliged to send two of my servants to the Zambesi, and get them to bring me some of the Masupia people from whom I might purchase a supply of kaffir-corn and maize, and I requested them if possible to buy me a goat. Unfortunately the servants missed their way, and I had to send two others instead of them, so that there was a delay of four-and-twenty hours before the Masupia dealers arrived. When they came, they brought besides the corn a number of interesting curiosities, amongst which wasthe horn of an enormous rhinoceros.
A celestial phenomenon occurred on the following evening, so remarkable that I think it ought to be recorded. It was almost sunset; in the west and south there was a narrow strip of blue sky, whilst in the east, where a storm was rising, there were repeated flashes of lightning. When only a small section of the sun’s disk was visible, a strange fiery glow arose about 45° above the eastern horizon, and seemed entirely to overpower the central portion of the arch of a rainbow opposite, leaving only the extremities to be seen down in the east-north-east and south-east; as the sun disappeared, the glow faded gradually away, but so remarkably that every tint in the rainbow seemed to be absorbed in the prevailing colour, and the entire arch was a gorgeous red. In the course of the next few minutes the glow reappeared, but this time only to rise about 10° above the horizon. The entire spectacle was not of long duration; the brilliancy became gradually dim, and in the course of about a quarter of an hour, the valley was shrouded in the obscurity of night.
Two of my own servants and some of Diamond’s party were here attacked by influenza, but the complaint was soon relieved by the administration of emetics. The weather was unfavourable, and brought on several relapses of my own fever, which, although I managed in various ways to alleviate them, invariably left me extremely weak and incapable of any exertion. A short time afterwards several of Diamond’s people began to sicken with typhus.
All through this dreary time, the occasional hunting-excursions were all we had to look to in the way of excitement. April, the Basuto, had the good-luck to kill a buffalo-bull, and when the flesh was brought to the camp there was a regular banquet in the evening, accompanied by singing and dancing; even the invalid negroes sucked some fragments of the half-cooked meat which they were quite unable to swallow. Diamond likewise went out, but returned on the 2nd of February without bringing any material contribution to our stores; he had come upon a herd of elephants, but they had startled him so completely by their rush, that he did not recover himself in time to get a shot at them. When it was announced to me that part of Westbeech’s ivory had arrived at Impalera, I was much cheered by the expectation that Westbeech himself would immediately follow. My means of purchasing corn were now so nearly exhausted that I could not help growing more and more anxious.
On the 7th I was equally surprised and distressed by the arrival of a party of about thirty Masupias, who proved to be bailiffs on the hunt for Moia and Kapella. Moia had carried Khame’s letter to Sesheke, where his appearance caused a great sensation, as the return of a condemned fugitive was a thing quite unprecedented. The particulars of what ensued I afterwards learnt from Westbeech, who told me that he had been summoned to the royal enclosure, which he found in great commotion. The king had just received Khame’s letter written in Sechuana, professed himself to be highly gratified by the contents, and had sent for Westbeech to write a reply, in which he gave his assurance that Moia should have a free pardon. But that very night he sent Mashoku a list of twelve names of chiefs who were to be executed forthwith, amongst them Inkambella, Maranzian, Kapella, and Moia.
This was too much even for Mashoku. Alarmed at the prospect of such wholesale slaughter, the executioner immediately let Kapella know what was in store for him, and without the loss of a moment the commander-in-chief aroused his two wives, his brother, who was sleeping in an adjoining hut, his young son, and three of his most trust-worthy servants, and took to flight. On the way to the river-bank Kapella had called upon Westbeech, and informed him of the desperate step he was driven to take; and he, ever a friend in need, had supplied him with ammunition and a number of necessaries for the journey.
Taking possession of the first two canoes they could find, the fugitives hurried down the stream, and while it was still dark found themselves twenty miles away from Sesheke; here they landed, sent their boats adrift, and proceeded on foot towards the Masupia settlement above Impalera. This was under the jurisdiction of a brother of Makumba’s, a staunch ally of Sepopo’s; but Kapella hoped to reach the place while the natives were still in bed, and to make use of their boats to cross the Chobe. It was a most difficult journey; the passage through the reeds was in some places dangerous in the extreme, and Kapella would never have risked it but in the greatest emergency. However, nothing went amiss, and the party all arrived safely before dawn; but early as it was, some of the Masupia fishermen were already on the move. Terrified at the sight of two armed chiefs, and probably recognizing who they were, they water-logged their canoes, and ran off to raise an alarm in the town. This was Kapella’s opportunity; quick as thought he had the canoes dragged to land, emptied them of the water, and made use of them to ferry his party to the opposite shore.
The chieftain, on hearing what had occurred, took no immediate action. He was aware that Kapella was a wonderful shot, and this rather indisposed him to take any precipitate measures to arrest him. He came to the decision that a council of the village should be called, and during the hours of deliberation the fugitives were getting safely far away, so that when the bailiffs arrived at our quarters they had no chance of overtaking them, and after ransacking the woods for a short time they gave up the pursuit and took themselves off.
Diamond’s next hunting-expedition proved a great success; and he shot a fine buffalo. He made his servants put him up a grass hut close to the place where the carcase was lying, that it might be guarded from the attacks of any beasts of prey; but not only had the old sportsman now lost much of his former zest, but he had contracted rather too great a love for brandy, so that although he distinctly heard the beasts gnawing at the prey, he did not rouse himself to go to the rescue. The consequence was that in the morning it was found that the carcase had been considerably mangled by lions, the entrails especially having furnished the materials for their feast. We were, however, all glad to see the hind-quarters, quite free from mutilation, conveyed safely to our camp.
A few evenings afterwards Diamond came to me in great haste, and told me that two Marutse men had just come in search of Kapella and Moia, with strict orders from Sepopo to kill them at once if they could find them. I did not wait to see the men, but sent out peremptory instructions that they were to be off about their business, or they would have to rue their delay. My vexation was very great when I afterwards ascertained that Diamond, through his ignorance of the Serotse dialect, had quite misunderstood their errand. It turned out that instead of being bailiffs acting on behalf of Sepopo, they were two of Kapella’s own servants, whom their master had sent to beg for some food.
The 12th was quite a day of bustle; both in the morning and in the afternoon several troops of Masupias arrived from Impalera with ivory, and one of Westbeech’s servants passed through on his way to Panda ma Tenka to fetch bullocks for the waggons. That night I slept better than usual; the feeling that Westbeech was really on his way towards me revived my drooping spirits, and I was inclined next morning to rise at an early hour, and as soon as Narri had dressed me, I took my seat upon the box of the waggon, enjoying the morning air, which although probably by no means healthy, certainly seemed very refreshing. As Narri was preparing the kaffir-corn coffee, he drew my attention to the sound of voices a long way down the valley. I inquired of the other servants what it meant, and after listening for a few seconds they unanimously affirmed that it was Westbeech’s cavalcade, carrying their burdens of ivory and singing as they marched.
As I sat pondering, only occasionally saying a word to Narri, my attention was suddenly arrested by the dusky form of a man advancing towards the camp, and within fifty yards of us. He was quite unarmed. I hardly believed my eyes, and yet I felt that I could not be mistaken. The man undoubtedly was Kapella, no longer the powerful commander, but a sad and dejected fugitive. I was too weak to alight from the waggon and go to meet him, but he was immediately at my side. “Help me, help me, intate (friend),” he cried; “I am hungry; my wife, my child, my brother are starving in the woods!” Probably he would have said more, but his keen ear caught the sound of the Masupias singing almost close at hand, and he paused; his face, ordinarily beaming with good nature, became distorted with terror. The excitement of the moment seemed to give me renewed strength. I can hardly tell how I did it, but I leaned back, and catching hold of a sack containing about a bushel of corn that was lying in the waggon, I lifted it into Kapella’s arms. He smiled, and made a hasty gesture of thanks; and before the Masupias had come in sight he had made his way into the long grass towards his retreat.
One of the heaviest storms that I ever remember in South Africa occurred a few days afterwards. It came on suddenly, and so violently that my servants were obliged to throw sand and earth upon the fires, that the wind should not carry the flames into the dry grass; and the downpour of rain was so great, that I had to use all my wraps and extra clothing to protect my collections. The top of the waggon swayed to and fro in the gale; and cumbrous as the vehicle was, it rattled and shook as if it were the plaything of the hurricane. One of the grass-huts was completely overturned, and several others in which my people had sought shelter had their sides blown in, and it was only owing to the lightness of the material of which they were constructed, that no injury was done to life or limb. When the storm had subsided in the evening, they found that it was necessary to build two entirely new huts, one for themselves and one for my baggage, so that the waggons which we had been occupying should be left free for Westbeech’s ivory.
Westbeech’s long-anticipated arrival took place on the 16th. He complained very much of Sepopo’s behaviour to him after my departure, and avowed his intention of never going so far as Sesheke again, but of disposing of his goods in the valley of the Chobe. He gave me all the latest news, and said that the disposition to revolt, and the determination to dethrone the king, were fast gaining ground among the chiefs. A recent proceeding on Sepopo’s part had done much to accelerate the growth of the general disaffection. In his rage at Kapella’s flight, he had not only, as usual, vented his temper on his attendants by laying about him with his kiri, but he had openly declared his intention of preparing a charm which should have such an effect upon the senses of the fugitives that they would be sure to make their way back to Sesheke; once there, they should be handed over to Mashoku. Accordingly he gave orders that an ox should be slaughtered, that the fat from the region of the heart should be affixed to the end of some cleft-sticks, and that the sticks should be planted in front of the doors of the huts of the runaways. It was the first time that Sepopo had ever prepared any incantations, or even mentioned his system of charms in public, and the eyes of his people were only now opened to the detestable humbug which was the chief feature of his character.
Nor was it only his own subjects that had become thoroughly dissatisfied with his proceedings. The Portuguese traders had failed to get payment for the goods they had supplied, and had been put off time after time with equivocal excuses.
It was further reported, that most likely Jan Mahura, with his brother, would find his way next day to the Leshumo valley. He had just received a payment, after five years, for his services as interpreter, and felt only too certain that his life was now quite insecure beyond the Zambesi.
Westbeech had still left a small portion of his property in Sesheke, under the charge of Fabi, his half-caste cook, who could not accompany him, because Asserat, the wife Sepopo had given him, refused to go to the south. But the bulk of Westbeech’s ivory, weighing altogether 11,080 lbs., had now arrived at the Leshumo valley.
On the 17th my servant Elephant was taken ill with inflammation under the knee, a disorder that is very common among the Masupias and Matongas. It is called “tshi kana mirumbe,” and may generally be cured by the application of bean-flour poultices.
Two days later the waggons were packed. The bullocks arrived at midnight, and we started without delay for Panda ma Tenka.