The village, situated on the side of a wooded ridge, commands an extensive view of a great expanse of meadow and marsh lying along the bank of the river.On these holmes herds of buffaloes and waterbucks daily graze in security, as they have in the reedy marshes a refuge into which they can run on the approach of danger.The pretty little tianyane or ourebi is abundant further on, and herds of blue weldebeests or brindled gnus (Katoblepas Gorgon) amused us by their fantastic capers.They present a much more ferocious aspect than the lion himself, but are quite timid.We never could, by waving a red handkerchief, according to the preion, induce them to venture near to us.It may therefore be that the red colour excites their fury only when wounded or hotly pursued.Herds of lechee or lechwe now enliven the meadows; and they and their younger brother, the graceful poku, smaller, and of a rounder contour, race together towards the grassy fens.We venture to call the poku after the late Major Vardon, a noble-hearted African traveller; but fully anticipate that some aspiring Nimrod will prefer that his own name should go down to posterity on the back of this buck.
Midway between Tabacheu and the Great Falls the streams begin to flow westward.On the other side they begin to flow east.Large round masses of granite, somewhat like old castles, tower aloft about the Kalomo.The country is an elevated plateau, and our men knew and named the different plains as we passed them by.
On the 13th we met a party from Sekeletu, who was now at Sesheke.
Our approach had been reported, and they had been sent to ask the Doctor what the price of a horse ought to be; and what he said, that they were to give and no more.In reply they were told that by their having given nine large tusks for one horse before the Doctor came, the Griquas would naturally imagine that the price was already settled.It was exceedingly amusing to witness the exact imitation they gave of the swagger of a certain white with whom they had been dealing, and who had, as they had perceived, evidently wished to assume an air of indifference.Holding up the head and scratching the beard it was hinted might indicate not indifference, but vermin.
It is well that we do not always know what they say about us.The remarks are often not quite complimentary, and resemble closely what certain white travellers say about the blacks.
We made our camp in the afternoon abreast of the large island called Mparira, opposite the mouth of the Chobe.Francolins, quails, and guinea-fowls, as well as larger game, were abundant.The Makololo headman, Mokompa, brought us a liberal present; and in the usual way, which is considered politeness, regretted he had no milk, as his cows were all dry.We got some honey here from the very small stingless bee, called, by the Batoka, moandi, and by others, the kokomatsane.
This honey is slightly acid, and has an aromatic flavour.The bees are easily known from their habit of buzzing about the eyes, and tickling the skin by sucking it as common flies do.The hive has a tube of wax like a quill, for its entrance, and is usually in the hollows of trees.
Mokompa feared that the tribe was breaking up, and lamented the condition into which they had fallen in consequence of Sekeletu's leprosy; he did not know what was to become of them.He sent two canoes to take us up to Sesheke; his best canoe had taken ivory up to the chief, to purchase goods of some native traders from Benguela.
Above the Falls the paddlers always stand in the canoes, using long paddles, ten feet in length, and changing from side to side without losing the stroke.
Mochokotsa, a messenger from Sekeletu, met us on the 17th, with another request for the Doctor to take ivory and purchase a horse.
He again declined to interfere.None were to come up to Sekeletu but the Doctor; and all the men who had had smallpox at Tette, three years ago, were to go back to Moshobotwane, and he would sprinkle medicine over them, to drive away the infection, and prevent it spreading in the tribe.Mochokotsa was told to say to Sekeletu that the disease was known of old to white men, and we even knew the medicine to prevent it; and, were there any danger now, we should be the first to warn him of it.Why did not he go himself to have Moshobotwane sprinkle medicine to drive away his leprosy.We were not afraid of his disease, nor of the fever that had killed the teachers and many Makololo at Linyanti.As this attempt at quarantine was evidently the suggestion of native doctors to increase their own importance, we added that we had no food, and would hunt next day for game, and the day after; and, should we be still ordered purification by their medicine, we should then return to our own country.
The message was not all of our dictation, our companions interlarded it with their own indignant protests, and said some strong things in the Tette dialect about these "doctor things" keeping them back from seeing their father; when to their surprise Mochokotsa told them he knew every word they were saying, as he was of the tribe Bazizulu, and defied them to deceive him by any dialect, either of the Mashona on the east, or of the Mambari on the west.Mochokotsa then repeated our message twice, to be sure that he had it every word, and went back again.These chiefs' messengers have most retentive memories;
They carry messages of considerable length great distances, and deliver them almost word for word.Two or three usually go together, and when on the way the message is rehearsed every night, in order that the exact words may be kept to.One of the native objections to learning to write is, that these men answer the purpose of transmitting intelligence to a distance as well as a letter would;
