It was on one of these islands that Mr. Belville, as already mentioned, spent ten dinnerless days. Often an island will sail away down without touching anything until it reaches the sea, and there it lasts floating hither and thither until a breeze springing up sends the salt waves splashing over its fragile banks and by degrees it is broken up, the heavier parts sinking, as the shrubs and floating water-lilies going on in their wanderings until they are washed ashore again, or dissolve to nothing between the warm rays of the sun and the salt-spray of the Mozambique Channel or the Indian Ocean.
Immense numbers of water-lilies, which grow in millions on the banks of the Zambesi and Shire go floating out to sea and what with the islands, the trees, and vegetation and sand swept down to the entrance, the mouths of the Zambesi are as numerous and intricate as can well be conceived. While we were looking at the scene the sun had got up and the chill white cachimba rising warned us to return to the house where an early breakfast was welcome. All the vegetables placed on Senor Assevedo’s table had a peculiar and pleasing flavor because of its novelty which was caused by the addition of cummin seed to everything, and some curious cakes were provided at every meal made of sugar and sem-sem seed, which were by no means distasteful. About breakfast time a very noted character hearing of strangers paid us a visit in the person of Senor Ramao. This person is a Portuguese of some importance and is as black as any of the negroes who carried him in his machilla. He is the owner of a vast number of slaves and peculiar stories are related of him. We were told that he was immensely “respected” by the natives which seemed very probable for nearly all the negroes of this district that happened to be near when he arrived, threw themselves on the ground and rolled over and over in the dust, after which they rose and bending low made the usual salutation by clapping their hands. The action of these negroes reminded one forcibly of the “respect” a small dog shows a very big one from which it cannot very well escape. The small dog throws itself on the ground and humbly permits the large one to pass or stop as the latter feels inclined. Ramao, however, has always been most obliging to English explorers and missionaries and often has been the means of helping them out of difficulties as we found ourselves. Dr. Laws came back from Marrendenny with everything but the large millstone and our boat. The Bella was not a very small boat and the millstone was no light weight and not only did the native carriers object to the job of carrying either across to Mazaro, but they refused to entertain the idea with a view no doubt of getting excessive wages. The usual rate paid by a white for the carriage for anything from Marrendenny to Mazaro was a yard of calico, the Portuguese when they do pay anything, pay much less, but the Englishmen are regarded by the natives as possessors of unlimited supplies of calico, just as in Switzerland the hotels charge exactly double in the bills they hand Britishers and Americans. When Senor Ramao learnt our difficulty he merely gave an order to one of his men and in the course of the afternoon the millstone and the boat came over, twenty-five men carrying the latter on their shoulders bottom up. Senor Ramao would not hear of any payment but expressed a desire to see our guns as he had heard we were elephant hunting. The double barrelled express elephant rifles interested him greatly and he was quite enthusiastic when C. put a 2 oz. ball through a board about 2 feet square at a distance of 150 yards; the Martini-Henry rifle with its peculiar method of loading, was also of interest to him and he expressed a hope that on our return we should sell him one or two of the guns. Ramao can not speak English but is not only a good French linguist but a great reader of French literature. From Dr. Livingstone Senor Ramao received many tokens of kindness, and among other things at Ramao’s house – which was subsequently visited, the place being some eight miles off – we saw some prescriptions in Livingstone’s handwriting, one of which (for the cure of fever) we copied, and a bottle of it made up by Livingstone’s own hand, which Ramao gave us on our return some months after, undoubtedly helped to save the life of one of us.
Ramao was with us until evening and although it rained all afternoon we had plenty to occupy us. Nearly all our biscuit on inspection turned out to be mildewed and we spread it out the following day on a sail in the sun after picking out the worst of it which the negroes greedily ate. Our guns all required some oiling and we took the opportunity of a mail going down the Quakwa to write a few letters home. Mr., Moir was much better today and was able to sit up part of the afternoon. Senor Assevedo’s house had a large yard in the rear with a stout fence ten feet high all around it, and into this yard every night some half dozen head of cattle and a small herd of goats and sheep were driven. In the course of conversation Senor Assevedo remarked that last week a leopard paid a visit every night to his yard and had killed either a goat or a sheep. It jumped up over the fence and clambered over about midnight, and having selected its victim devoured it there and then, but it never quite finished. It appeared unable to get back over the fence with a goat or sheep and our astonishment was great when Senor Assevedo it appeared was so apathetic that he had not even ordered a negro to sit up with a gun to frighten the leopard.
There was a visit only last night and a goat was killed, and as the coming night was evidently going top be very dark, it was probable, said the Senor that the midnight visitor would come again. Accordingly we declared our intention of sitting up for one night to spoil the leopard’s game for once, and about eight o’clock we were sitting inside the inner fence, the yard being divided across the middle by a low fence, waiting patiently. It was too dark to see the muzzles of our guns and we tried various devices such as white paper on the sights and a handkerchief on the muzzle but they were abortive as far as enabling us to take any aim. We had carefully got the bearings of the corner over which the leopard came and Senor Assevedo telling us that we should know by the uneasiness of the livestock when the brute was outside the fence wished us goodnight and went to his bed. Behind us was a pile of dry grass, and under the back verandah a half-slumbering negro kept a small wood fire just smouldering so as to light up the grass when we told him. We waited patiently for a long time; in the centre of the yard the cattle reclined and close by them the sheep and goats, a few of which were lying down, stood huddled together. Every time a beast moved we strained our eyes in the direction of the far corner, but the time moved on and we got very weary of watching and began to conclude that the leopard was aware of our presence. Close upon midnight nearly tired out we found that all the stock had moved towards us, and no animal was lying down. Soon we were listening for the slighest sound for the cattle were certainly moving and the goats and sheep were pressing close up to us on the other side of the fence, feeling instinctively that we afforded some protection. Suddenly a rush was made across the yard, the bull bellowing with fright and on the mere chance of hitting something C. fired in the direction of the corner. A sharp squeal followed and with quantities of burning grass in our hands we went to the spot only find it vacant but the blood on the fence showed the brute had been wounded. It was too dark to see outside and of course it would have been folly to have gone over the fence to search for possibly and enraged wounded leopard, so we had nothing left but to go to bed and wait for the morning, but an inspection in daylight showed that the wound must have been slight, though it doubtless gave the leopard a terrible fright for climbing back over the top of the fence, it had left a quantity of hair on the edge of the top rail which it had not done before. The prints of its feet as it jumped down and quickly turned to spring back were plainly to be seen in the soft mud of the yard. It was no good being disappointed for if the shot had taken a fatal effect it would have only been by accident, it was quite too dark to get the slightest glimpse of anything and impossible along the barrels of our guns.
Afterwards we found it better, when it was very dark, to wait until the emerald gleam of a leopard’s eyes looking at us in the blackness of the night gave something to aim at. But at any rate Senor Assevedo lost no more sheep and goats for his four-footed robber never came over the fence again and the cattle, sheep and goats passed their nights in peace and quietness.
Outside the house after dark it was unsafe to venture, the jungle was not a quarter of a mile off and in search of their food wild beasts came very close up to the house during the night. There are an immense number of lions around here and it is not very easy to shoot them, they are in this jungle and except on foot there is no way of going after them into it. There are no horses within many a long day’s journey of the Zambesi about here, as they would not live and the best place for sport is away on the lakes and Upper Shire River whither we were bound.
Just before we started from Mazaro, Ramoa sent our party a present of some bread made with pombë the native beer, and a sheep. The latter was one of the fat-tailed breed – the only kind seen about here. They are very coarse, far more so than the fat-tailed sheep found in the more southern parts of Africa. Coming as we had from the land of merinos and long-wools, the specimen before us looked a great curiosity. On examination its “wool”, of dingy brown color, was found to be nearly as much hair as wool, or rather the hair predominated so much that it was far more hairy than woolly. It was very lean and its tail, trailing on the ground, carried all the adipose deposit which should have been distributed over its carcass. But it was very acceptable and was a change from fowls.
The dull sense of humanity possessed by the natives here and elsewhere is shown by the manner in which they invariably drag an unfortunate goat or sheep about by a string tied around the foot. By pulling the animal after him the negro nearly puts its shoulder blade out and bleating with pain the poor thing goes after its conductor on three legs. This sheep that Ramao sent us had had its near foreleg dislocated at the shoulder by the man who had brought it, having lugged it along in the manner described and everywhere we found this cruel manner of leading sheep and goats nearly as brutal as the English custom at Smithfield of twisting the tail of a beast to make it move from one pen to another. In a country where fat is so much required for the purpose of cooking the tail of one of these sheep is very valuable. We frequently found even good large “bucks” had hardly any fat on them and to fry meat or to make cakes with our flour we used to hoard up all the fat we got by melting it and putting it in bottles.
There was a great deal of delay before we made a start in the Lady Nyassa, and a more extraordinary steam machine never floated. In the reports that people read at home and the wonderful labors of the missionaries, and the great good done by the Livingstonia Trading Company everything is careful painted “couleur de rose” but we found the whole thing a lie from beginning to end. Mr. James Stevenson, a well-known pillar of the Scotch Church, was one of those who promoted the mission at Livingstonia and he was also the Chairman of the Trading Company which makes a profit out of the two missions, Blantyre And Livingstonia, the former belonging to the Established Church of Scotland and the latter a Presbyterian organization. The Lady Nyassa is, or was, as by this time she has probably fallen to pieces, built of iron with paddle-wheel engines of 16 horse power, at a cost of £1100; sixty feet in length and drawing very little water, and when we went on board her was remarkably dirty and the general carelessness of those in charge of her, combined with the total absence of any outlay to keep her in repair, had depreciated her very considerably. She was guiltless of paint anywhere; holes worn in the paddle boxes made it unpleasant to pass them when going ahead and the cabin aft had been allowed to go to “wrack and ruin”. In addition she leaked like a sieve and was popularly supposed by those who travelled in her to have a bottom composed of red lead with a few remaining sheets of iron hanging together. This boat did not constitute the whole of the squadron under the command of the Bros. Moir. The Blantyre Mission Station owned a large steel built pinnace, which in spite of ill-treatment was very staunch and capable of carrying a quantity of cargo. For some reason they allowed the trading company to charter her for a term for a nominal sum, and then without any complaint, permitted themselves to be charged roundly for the carriage of all goods when they had previously, before the trading company commenced operations, carried the mission requirements up in their boat at about a tenth of the cost. No wonder the Company carried the missionaries themselves up for merely nominal sums, when such a pleasant arrangement existed.
For a few days journey in the Lady Nyassa we were to pay about as much as would carry us from England to Adelaide in a first-class ocean steamer while in this case we were not only deceived as to the accommodation we could have but we were actually eating our own provisions. The steel boat started just before us, and glancing into her we noticed that half her thwarts had disappeared, probably used for firewood, and the flooring also. There was another boat available for the company, which, pulled up on the shore at Katunga’s village, just below the cataract without any covering was rotting to pieces in the sun.
In the afternoon we at last started, the 8th August being the date we left Mazaro, and with the Bella in tow went slowly along just creeping up against the current until we got over to the other shore by Shaupanga and when a little way past it we stopped and made fast alongside the river bank. This stoppage was made to cut some wood, the idea of having any ready not suggesting itself apparently. All the remainder of the day the natives, six in number, belonging to the Lady Nyassa were cutting wood with Dent and Henderson and the work was very hard on the two whites. Having to do it every night after a long day’s journey it can be understood that they had not much leisure time on their hands.
Shaupanga was rented by Senor Ramao from its owner but a tribe known as Landheen Zulus only permit the Portuguese on this side of the river by paying tribute in the form of powder, calico, etc. This tribe is large and warlike and had recently had a severe fight with the Portuguese in the vicinity of Inhambane, in which the latter were defeated. When we were at Mazaro it was understood that numbers of Cetewayo people were coming north to escape the war with the English, and at Mazaro considerable uneasiness was felt in case the Landheen Zulus should take it into their heads to cross the river and plunder the district. Senor Assevedo was in the habit of sending parties of hunters across to hunt around Shaupanga for elephants and if an elephant was killed by any of his hunters the tusk that was nearest the ground was the property of the chief of the Zulus, and the other one became the property of Senor Assevedo on payment of a stipulated quantity of calico for it.
On the maps all this country is claimed by Portugal but the hold on it is very slight when her subjects have to pay such heavy blackmail for the privilege of killing elephants on what is nominally their own ground. At Shaupanga is a very large and ancient house built many years ago and in it many of the explorers of the past time have camped for the night. It is unoccupied usually but having been built so substantially it is in good repair yet. Close to it is an in immense boabab tree which measures seventy-five feet in circumference and by it are the graves Mrs. Livingstone and also one or two naval officers. The wife of Dr. Livingstone died very shortly after she entered the country from her first attack of fever and Dr. Livingstone buried her here, building up her grave with his own hands. It would long ago perhaps have been difficult to find were it not for Senor Nunez who sends up annually to have the stones whitewashed and the space cleared. Her husband lies among the illustrious dead in Westminster Abbey and the fond and faithful wife lies in a neglected grave on the shores of the Zambesi. A memorial stone of some kind might surely be sent out and erected at the cost of those good people who are so interested in mission work. The naval officers buried here came up the river exploring in 1821 with Captain Owen R.N. and died of the fever in this house. The last thing in connection with Shaupanga was the compliment paid to English character made to Mr. Herbert Rhodes that he should take Shaupanga and hold it against the Landheen Zulus, that he should hunt elephant and refuse tribute, so as to show the Zulus that the country was not theirs and Mr. Rhodes agreed so to do. Rhodes has joined the great majority having died on his way to join us a few months later on, and although he had every intention of taking Shaupanga and making it his headquarters for hunting elephants he was prevented from carrying out his purpose.
CHAPTER 8
It was 11 o’clock on the following morning 9th August before we started again and Dr. Laws told us he only intended to go as far as Shumaro, so that everything might be cleaned up and a rest assured on the next day, which was Sunday. Short as our time had been on board the Lady Nyassa we were anxious to be out of her and although much disappointed at the provoking delay, we had to put up with our bad luck. This, however, was not the worst of it, for when we did reach Sumaro, Dent, whose duty it was to attend to the navigation ran the Lady Nyassa onto some sunken rocks which caused one of the plates in the fore compartment to start, and another one to crack right aft. The result of this accident was such a sudden rush of water that it became necessary to beach the steamer at once, which was done but in a most awkward place there being sixteen feet of water under the stern when the bow was resting on the shore. It was a matter of urgency to get the cargo out of the forehold both to save the perishable articles and to get at the leak, and the vigor with which Dr. Laws, C. and Henderson tossed things on deck for the willing blacks to carry on shore was sufficient to make them pretty well exhausted by the time they had finished. By working all though the night Henderson patched up the damage but a new cause of delay now set in. When the Lady Nyassa was beached Mr. Moir was carried on shore to the house on the hill above us, which was in the occupation of a wealthy black lady, the Senora Marima, widow of a slaver, and during the night his fever increased so much that Dr. Laws had to sit up the whole time by his side. During the Sunday he grew worse and nearly all day was either delirious or in a state of coma. In our private opinion it would have been better to have stayed on board the steamer and trust to the changing of the air travelling on for recovery, more especially as Dr. Laws himself nearly died of the fever at the same spot last year; but Mr. Moir was now too ill to be moved and we hourly expected his death. As for ourselves, it was here that we first took in the poison, which was followed a few days later by our first attack of this dreaded illness. The little bay where the steamer lay was full of floating rubbish, stinking vegetation and a regular scum, all boiling in the hot sun, and no current coming in to clear it out. There were number of green snakes swimming about, and a larger one of nearly five feet in length attracted our notice as it came close under the stern with its head out of the water, C. striking at it with a boat hoot which had the effect of making it mysteriously disappear under the bottom with a broken back. These snakes often climb on board but are considered harmless enough.
On the Monday a big chief, King Matakenya, came to visit our party. This ebony potentate is son-in-law of Senora Marima and at the time of our being at Shumaro was at war with Chipitula, the great Makalolo chief further up the river. At first sight we mistook the ally of the King of Portugal for a black missionary. He had on a chimney-pot hat, which on close inspection proved to be by no means new and by its religious build must have surely been worn by some clergyman in its earlier days; his coat, a very long surtout was buttoned close up to his throat; but did not conceal the fact that he wore a white shirt, which although not right up in the style of the fair laundresses of Abbotsford at Melbourne was still surprisingly clean; white duck trousers and boots of a heavy shape guiltless of blacking, completed his “tout ensemble”, and under his left arm he carried a ponderous volume which we afterwards discovered to be, if we rightly remember, “The Lives of the Early Flemish Painters”. The conclusion that the king was an admirer of the Dutch artists was, although natural, quite erroneous, for it turned out that he spoke no language besides his own and Portuguese, and did not know how to read or write. Wishing to appear equal in all respects to his white friends, the missionaries, he dressed in garments similar to theirs and in place of a Bible carried the arm-aching volume mentioned. Matakenya owns all the territory round here, or imagines he does, for being an ally of the Portuguese against the Makalolo nation it suits his wily friends to let him think himself as great a person as the ruffian who bore the name before him. The first Matakenya was a half-caste Portuguese who was also called Mariano, one of the most inhuman and frightful monsters that were ever here and there have been many. This name in the native language means “trembling” and the stories we often heard from the natives were tales of a blood-curdling nature. His wealth was derived from slaving and thousands of blacks are now serving in the French island of Bourbon and other places, the victims of Mariano.
Dr. Livingstone knew a good deal of this rascal, and often mentions him, always with horror, but although the Portuguese were frequently fighting with him for robbing them of their slaves and interfering with their own slave trading he always appeared to have influence enough to square things with the higher authorities, and once, after being captured and tried for his life at Mozambique for the most horrible murders committed by his own hand and bayonet, not only came off with flying colors but actually dined with the Governor of Mozambique and returned to his district to pursue his most lucrative trade. It was a common thing for him to place a dozen captives in a row, and stab them one by one with his own hand, and this was done to inspire terror. Most of Matakenya’s slaves were branded with his brand just as sheep are branded in Australia.
Chipitula, the great Makalolo chief already referred to, sets his face against slavery and having thus interfered with the present Matakenya and the Portuguese they are incessantly waging war with him. It is a most interesting matter, which should surely enlist the sympathy of Englishmen who would do far more good by assisting Chipitula to become even more powerful than spending money in the purchase of books, clothing, etc, for natives who are converted in the interior. The question is one of magnitude but to see a follower of Dr. Livingstone – for Chipitula was once merely one of Dr. Livingstone’s boys – gallantly maintaining a never-ceasing war with Matakenya and the Portuguese to resist their attempts to enslave his people, the fight often being accomplished with some slaughter, and always with great cruelty on both sides, deserves a little more than bare sympathy. Defending the principal of no slaving is Chipitula’s strength for run-aways fly to Chipitula for refuge and to escape from the Arabs and Portuguese whole families from far distance travel to the Makalolo chief's territory to become his subjects. The result is that the number of people over whom Chipitula now rules is variously estimated at some twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand, and it is yearly increasing by thousands. Can anything be more outspoken than this testimony to the fact that slaving in all kinds forms is actively going on to this day in territory that the Portuguese – a European nation – claim as their own
Chipitula is a man who, naturally cruel by nature, has been softened by coming in contact with Englishmen, and if he were countenanced by the British Government a heavy blow would be struck at the slave trade and the natural wealth of the country would be brought to light. The manner in which England attempts to stop the slave trade reminds one of an old woman diligently searching morning after morning for cockroaches in her kitchen and killing them, instead of pouring hot water down the hole by the hearth from whence they come, or even pulling the hearth up to one and for all put an end to the nuisance. Capturing occasional slave dhows does not prevent the trade going on just as merrily as ever, and when we were in the regions watered by the Zambesi and Shire Rivers in 1880 the business was declared to be far more active than it had been for many years.
After paying us a visit of some duration and having some tea in the steamer’s cabin, Matakenya who is about twenty-two years of age, slightly built and of a lively nature accompanied by one of us went up to the house to see Dr. Laws and Senora Marima before going away again. From this house there is a grand view of the country round, and the elder Matakenya showed some strategy in selecting a position which could be easily defended and could hardly be surprised. In the distance the rising ground near Senna can be seen plainly, Senna, the wretched Portuguese town so often visited and so often described by Livingstone, and which is still annually visited by the Landheen Zulus for tribute, the Portuguese having been “settled” here since the year 1569. What a comment upon the nation! As far as the eye can reach the Zambesi stretches away to the left and up on the extreme right are the waters of the Lower Shire River, which joins the Zambesi close by here. Rich plains extend all around and only await the day when slavery is unprofitable and the Portuguese banished from the country they have no more right to claim as their own than the mountains of the moon, to yield forth vast wealth. If an English Company were formed on the lines of the Borneo company recently inaugurated, the treasures of gold, ivory, cotton and india-rubber, and the hundred and one things only waiting proper development in this slave-cursed land would have some chance of adding to the industries and happiness of humanity.
Dr. Laws gave Matakenya a cordial greeting and sitting down, carefully placing his valued book “Lives of the Early Flemish Painters” upon his knees the negro king watched the missionary treating the sick people who were coming in from all quarters for medical assistance. Scrofulous diseases seemed the most prevalent. One individual we mistook for a woman. From some cause his breasts were as full, round and hard as those of a girl about twenty, the nipples standing out firmly and Dr. Laws did not at first believe his patient was a man. He was suffering from diseased bones and was an incurable case.
After dining that evening Senora Marima with her daughter, a half-caste with long hair, and one of her grandchildren whose father was away with Herbert Rhodes went down to the steamer and did us the honor of having tea and some scones that Henderson had just made. It was an immense relief when Mr. Moir was bundled on board the following afternoon and we left the place, the steamer leaking like a sieve. Shortly after we passed large settlement of slaves belonging to the late Senor Ferrao now owned by the two sons. The late Senor was perhaps the exception to the general run of Portuguese and was greatly loved by his people. We were told that some Portuguese who did not like Senor Ferrao had not long since paid a visit to his grave and most indecently defiled it. But the younger Ferrao and his brother assembling some of his men went and murdered every one of those who had assisted at the insult to his father’s memory.
This place is just at the entrance to the Lower Shire River in which we were now ploughing our way, the Zambesi going on our left. The weather was very sultry and both of us were not at all well. We were sickening for the fever although not aware of the fact. Mr. Moir, when we anchored for the night alongside the bank was slightly better but still in very great danger. We should not omit to mention the extraordinary swarms of white-winged ants which appeared as we went on deck after our evening meal, and on Henderson, for our amusement, placing a lantern on the deck they poured like rain on it until the thousands that were heaped on it nearly covered the top; the sound of their rustling wings was similar to the sound of rain in the distance. Just about here three years previously the Zulus came from a way beyond Senna and killed all the inhabitants at one of the settlements, the ruined huts alone standing in the desolated gardens to remind the passer-by that the bleaching skeletons on the ground – a common sight in this part of Africa – is all that is left of a happy community, surprised by daylight and massacred to the youngest child.
The 14th and 15th August were passed in continuous steaming, the pressure being only sufficient at times to enable us to creep up slowly against the current close in by the shore. On the Thursday we came to the hot springs at the north end of Mt. Morumbala. They are very strongly impregnated with sulphur and if the natives only knew how to turn it to account they might manufacture their own gunpowder and be independent of intermittent supplies from traders. Morumbala is about four thousand feet high and is computed to be seven miles in length. It has a great deal of timber on it and affords cover at its base for many varieties of game including the rhinoceros, but we had no opportunity of hunting about here. Away beyond the mountain the river winds in the most erratic manner through a very extensive marsh, which takes, boats and canoes days to get through. As far as the eye can see there is a broad vividly green plain, in the far distance the high ground over by Senna purpling in the distance while nearer, the mount called Pinda is seen with its peculiarly pointed summit. It is next to impossible to land anywhere on the shore and the millions of mosquitoes and close confinement day and night to a boat makes it very uncomfortable travelling through the Morumbala marsh. At times the water is much lower and within the last few years one or two magnificent sheets of water cover what was dry land in Dr. Livingstone’s day although they were lake-beds in his time and were called lakes by the natives which the Doctor did not at first comprehend.
On getting out of the marsh district the scenery became very picturesque and the river began to flow through banks of some height. We loaded up with wood on the 15th at a village of Matakenya’s, one of the last belonging to that individual, before coming to the territory of his rival Chipitula. During the forenoon of the 16th we came to the spot where a small river called the Ruo runs into the Shire, and close by here is where Bishop MacKenzie is buried. The Shire River has many white men’s graves formed on its banks since the first journey up it by Livingstone and his party, and none of the poor fellows died a greater loss to the natives than Bishop MacKenzie. This gentleman came out as the head of the Universities’ Commission and after working very hard among his benighted friends died from the fever brought on by exposure which was a sad affair followed shortly after by deaths of several members of the mission, all from the same cause, and after a short duration the mission was abandoned. They worked gallantly and left a good name which is more than some other missionaries have done since, and Bishop MacKenzie and his party rescued on different occasions slaves from gangs on their way to the coast, amongst them a lad who was afterwards in our service, and who used to tell us many tales of the ill-fated universities' Mission.
Just where the Ruo runs into the Shire we came to Chipulo, the first of Chipitula’s villages. It is built on a spit of land, nearly a triangle, and has the rivers on two sides to protect it and a very strongly built stockade on the land side. Chipitula will not allow the Portuguese to ascend the river beyond this point and holds his own capitally against them. The banks are rather high and steep so that landing from canoes or boats with a hostile object would be hazardous work. The chief himself was not here when we called, but at a village higher up. In this village we saw the enormous jawbones of some elephants and learnt that some of his people had just returned from an elephant hunting expedition and they had been very successful. The chief had numerous parties out during the dry season and also claims one tusk from every elephant killed, unless by Englishmen, so that Chipitula has considerable quantities of ivory in his possession. He finds great difficulty on account of his dispute with the Portuguese in getting it to the coast, and on one occasion offered one tusk in every ten to Rhodes if the latter would undertake to deliver ivory for him on the coast whenever required.
The banks of the river from this place are studded with numerous villages, all belonging to Chipitula, and the cultivation of cotton and cereal is largely entered into. In cotton alone there is a fortune to be made in this district where it also grows wild to perfection. On 17th August which was a Sunday Dr. Laws made no objection to travelling chiefly because of Mr. Moir’s serious condition and we pushed along until a late hour when we anchored in mid-stream. Just before we stopped a large hippopotamus suddenly rushed across the stream from the right, coming full at the steamer with the intention of ramming her. Dr. Laws and C. hurriedly got hold of their guns but the noise of the paddles alarmed him and he as suddenly disappeared just as C. was about to fire at him thereby relieving our minds. One of them rammed the steel boat not long since and if she had not been close in to the shore she would have been lost in the river. Early in the forenoon of Monday we arrived at one of Chipitula’s principal villages named Mbewe, where the great man himself was staying. While loading up with wood he came down to look at it and knowing there were strange visitors did the heavy dignity business to a great degree. Afterwards we were great friends with Chipitula, but we were both ill on this day and inclined to view everything with indifference. Dressed in white trousers and waistcoat with a very long cavalry cloak on, he watched us all with a grave face surrounded by his retinue. Among his dusky suite was his pipe-bearer, who had the honor of carrying a gaudy gilded red clay, and when his services were called for he filled it from a handsome pouch worked with gold thread, lighted it, drew a few puffs and then handed it to his master. Another individual was a sort of principal adviser and carried a heavy club as his wand of office and an executioner-in-chief was also in attendance. Chipitula finds it necessary to execute some of his subjects pretty often and there may be some excuse for him in his own remark that he is compelled to punish offences severely to keep his supremacy up.
But leaving Chipitula for the present, as we shall hear a good deal of him bye and bye, we suddenly made an unpleasant discovery. About ten o’clock C. was knocked clear over with the fever, and very ill, went at once to his bed, vomiting badly. It seized K. -H. at the same time but imagining that the sun would drive it out of him by enforced perspiration he remained on deck feeling very bad, and by the time we reached a village belonging to a small Matalolo chief called Katunga, our destination, we both thought we were in a bad state. Katunga himself, a big, coarse, and cruel looking man, came on board and had dinner with us in the evening, but both of us were so wretched than do more than swallow a little soup. We turned in very early, having taken heavy doses of quinine, and trusted from Dr. Laws’ cheery words that we should be all right again the following morning. The Dr. had told us we had fever on us long before we felt in any way ill and he told us the most sure sign was the peculiar glassy appearance of a person’s eyes, when about to go through an attack. Different persons have various experiences of this fever; some feel very cross and irritable as it is coming on, others it seizes in a moment and convulsive shivering fits lasting for perhaps and hour come in, followed by the burning stage, and as soon as this last part is over the sufferer rises with his garments drenched with perspiration, feeling very weak and slightly light-headed, but otherwise all right again. In others a feeling of intense misery lasts for a long time, and the heavy doses of quinine seem only to increase the feeling until it gradually wears off. Attacks become so constant after living for a time in the country, that unless it is severe, no one tales any particular notice of another man down with the fever, but each attack makes the constitution much weaker.
On the 19th we were both still very ill, and Dr. Laws started for Blantyre, away on the hills some thirty miles off with Mr. Moir in a machilla. The day being very hot C. tossed about suffering badly all day, but K. -H. feeling slightly better got up and walked about in the sun and was at last knocked down again worse than ever. The doses of quinine made him stone deaf and it was with difficulty he was able to keep the medicine down. The non-retention of anything in the stomach is a serious thing and it was owing to this that Mrs Livingstone died when attacked at Shupanga. At every meal Katunga came and sat down on a box staring at the new white men and late in the evening Herbert Rhodes arrived from the lake on his way to the coast with a good load of ivory, nearly the whole of it his own shooting, he was ready to join us in our journey from the north end of Lake Nyassa to the south end of Lake Tanganyika, which was then an untraversed tract of country, and of course enquired how much calico we had. When we told him we did not bring much from Quilimane because the missionaries had advised us not to go to the expense of carrying it up the river, when we could get any quantity at Blantyre we found we had been entrapped. From Rhodes’ statement there was not five hundred yards of calico at Blantyre as he himself a day or two before had tried to obtain some; and we also learnt that the missionaries themselves had entertained the idea of travelling over the ground we proposed to explore and had no intention of allowing us to be the first. This dirty trick of course cut us out as they hurried on their preparations and started long before we were able to get our requirements from the coast.
Rhodes left on the evening of the 21st for Quilimane, promising to return to Pimbi, a stockaded village belonging to himself on the Upper Shire, and where he advised us to wait for him. At the same time he sent word to his villages that we were his brothers and were to be treated the same as he himself, and with a long list of little extra things we wanted he left us with his cheery voice singing out his last adieux as his canoe went round the nearest point in the river. We never saw him again, poor fellow, but a more true, manly and splendid specimen of a brave Englishman never breathed than Rhodes. He was at one time on the diamond field of the Transvaal where he was well-known, being one of the earliest of the diggers; he had been at Oxford and was in general one of those light-hearted fellows who knock about the world always able to take care of themselves, never making any enemies, and alas, rarely getting rich as they deserve. In the Transvaal, Rhodes was well known as a splendid hunter and when Captain J. Elton started on his travels from Quilimane to Lake Nyassa and from the lake to the coast again through unexplored country Rhodes was invited to accompany him. Elton died, and the remainder of the plucky little band starved and fought their way down to the coast again with the determination characteristic of Englishmen. One of them nearly died from the fever which had just put an end to their leader’s career and when no natives amongst the blood-thirsty Wasanga would condescend to carry a white man Rhodes, emaciated and gaunt with fever and starvation, carried one end of a machilla pole, which galled him so cruelly that he bore the scar to his dying day. Afterward he came back to the Upper Shire and Lake Nyassa to hunt and trade for ivory, and at Pimbi collected a number of natives who looked up to him, stockaded the place, and about the time of his death was forming another village at the north end of the lake for the purpose of trading into the interior.
If he had lived it is impossible to say what the result might have been, for a few successful commercial adventures would have enabled him to enlarge his operations very greatly. It might have affected the welfare of Central Africa considerably, for within twelve months Rhodes would have had an immense following of natives and been in fact the king of a large district. He had very little sympathy with the present system of mission labor and a thorough contempt for the ridiculous adventure known as the Livingstonia Trading Company, which is at once the laughing-stock and annoyance of the natives. But all the plans were arrested by a sad fatality. In accordance with his promise to us he obtained a large number of things in Quilimane and started back after various delays to rejoin us. He got safely as far as Katunga’s place with his cargo and then instead of going round by Blantyre to reach the Upper Shire, he went by the Murchison Cataracts, and stayed for the night at Ramakukan’s place, this individual being the greatest Makalolo chief next to Chipitula. During the evening Rhodes made a present of some rum to Ramakukan and according to the story of the latter while reaching over the rum to get a live coal from the fire to light his pipe Rhodes accidentally knocked it over. An explosion followed and Rhodes’ flannel shirt, beard and hair caught fire and he was so severely burnt that he expired within an hour. One of his boys was also injured in trying to extinguish the flames and a curious circumstance was that Rhodes’ coat containing his gold watch and certain important documents and his diaries were never found. Ramakukan and the natives declared that Rhodes staggered to the riverbank and with a dying effort flung them himself into the water. One of his most faithful lads, it is believed, had instructions from him what to destroy in case of an accident causing him to lose his life. At any rate none of these things were heard of again, their disappearance is a mystery. It would hardly be fair to say why these documents were important but scandalous statements had been made by some persons about Rhodes which they would never have dared to breathe while he lived.
It must have been a sad day for the Rector of Farnham in the country home in England when a brief letter informed him that he had lost his son Herbert, but it may have been a consolation for him to know that Rhodes died loved and mourned by the black tribes with whom he came in contact and, with the exception of a few individuals jealous of his reputation, not a man of all the whites in the country but would have done anything to serve one always ready to act as a brother to each and all of them. Poor Rhodes! Within sound of the never-ceasing roar of the waters at the Murchison Cataract may you rest in peace in your distant grave.
CHAPTER 9
On 21st August in the afternoon we started for Blantyre in machillas both being unable to walk and although the jolting travelling made us very weak it was very gratifying getting away to the hills. The bearers carried us along the narrow native footpaths, with tall grass on both sides passing here and there a boabab tree, or an acacia, while at the small village belonging to Katunga we saw several natives engaged weaving their cotton or spinning and cleaning it. In every African village about here one always finds some of the men busily engaged in this work. On other occasions we often watched the process from the first operation, when the native picks the seed from the cotton, smooths it out into ropes without giving it any turns and then by twisting it on the spindle makes a thick, soft thread which is then wound into a ball. After these operations which take a longtime, from the frequent “spells” the native gives himself, the thread is spun into a finer and harder thread and then a web is made of small sticks a few inches in length stuck in the ground and squatting over his work the weaver by slow degrees gets his cloth made.
About five o’clock we reached a spot where a man named Pattison belonging to the Livingstonia Trading Company, his position being that of second Engineer of the Lady Nyassa, was encamped with a large number of natives, men women and children road-making. We had passed on the way part of a boiler intended for the Bala the small steamer on Lake Nyassa, the property of the Free Church mission, and it was intended to drag this boiler by manual labor to Blantyre and from Blantyre to Matopi on the Upper Shire. It was necessary to make a road for the truck on which the boiler was mounted, and the road would also be required for future prospects, so that the work Pattison and his dusky assistants were engaged in was a necessary one. Unfortunately the road was not permanent enough to last and the first few heavy rains damaged it so much that on our return some time after we could hardly recognize some parts of it. The boiler up to the time we left never got further than halfway up the side of the first hill. The natives would not work for the missionaries and doubtless that boiler remains at this moment a monument to the changed feelings of the natives towards missionaries.
We decided to remain at Pattison’s encampment for the night K. -H. being so ill and in great pain; all the night through he suffered considerably in spite of the care and attention of his companion who had got over the first attack of fever with more rapidity although it had weakened him very much. Kwa-wa proved himself a kind-hearted old fellow on this occasion and was assiduous in his services. About six the next morning after having a pannikin of tea and some biscuit we started once more for our destination. When we were right up on the hills the scenery was so beautiful that few places could surpass it. At one point we had halted on the upper side of a steep hill and above us the summit was hidden by tall trees of every variety of size and foliage, while below us the valley showing here and there a gassy sward through the heavy timber, wandered about between the ranges until it ended round the base of a distant blue hill. Now and then we could see the Lower Shire stretching for miles and miles looking just like a silver thread twisting this way and that way on the flat country we had left, and were now looking down on. The traveller comes frequently to beautiful streams of clear cool-looking water with little pools here and there. It was very refreshing after the oven-like heat of the low-lying country, and the fresher atmosphere already made us feel well again.
On reaching Blantyre however the doctor, a Mr. Macklin, who was in charge ordered K-H hot baths and we both had dinner at the house of Milne, the blacksmith, whose wife had come out to the mission with him a few months previously. Besides ourselves, Dr. Laws, Mr. Stewart, a brother of the well-known Dr. James Stewart, and Mr. Moir, the latter very much better, were present. Dr Laws and Mr. Stewart, like ourselves, were on the footing of visitors, the latter gentleman being on leave from the Indian Civil Service at the time but he has since left it and entered the service of the Free Church Mission. We asked if there was any accommodation and were told that we might have the hut in the corner of the right hand side into which we accordingly went with our belongings. We laid our blankets on the floor and made ourselves us as comfortable as the rats would permit us each night of our stay. The head of the Mission Rev. Mr. MacDonald was away at Mount Zombo, further north, where he was thinking of establishing a new mission station, and he did not return for some days. We were four days at the station before we were introduced to any of the ladies belonging to the mission, although the whole number of white people in the place was only ten. It is not our intention to enter into particulars at present of the scenes enacted at this Church of Scotland Mission Station, which we, in spite of the charges of exaggeration and falsehood, proved to have occurred, just as described in the pamphlet published in London on our return to England. Later on the matter will come before the reader and our share in the exposure fully explained.
Behind the houses on one side of the square are gardens planned by Mr. Stewart of the Livingstonia Mission, who was here for a short time in charge before Mr. MacDonald came out. The gardens are in terraces for the purpose of irrigating them, a steady flow of water being always at hand. The water is brought to the station by a rough but well-arranged leat, also planned by Mr. Stewart, who showed considerable ingenuity in overcoming some of the difficulties. In one place the water is carried right across the gully, the aqueduct formed of the bark of trees neatly fitted together and supported by long poles. The total length of the leat is over a mile, the water coming from a mountain brook, which never seems to fail. This water however is not used for drinking purposes as a clearer and much better water is obtained from a stream running a few hundred yards to the north of the square, which in the rainy season becomes a torrent in size.
In the gardens we saw both sweet potatoes and the more ordinary ones, carrots, beans broad and French, cauliflower rhubarb, vines, etc. in fact everything that is usually found in a well-appointed kitchen garden, in addition to which the fruit commonly known as the Indian gooseberry was also extensively cultivated. As an experiment they had been growing wheat in the garden and had met with such success that it was intended to sow regular crops. Stacks of oat hay attracted our attention and we were informed that it was hoped before long to get some horses up to the place from Natal, an expectation we fear will never be realized. There was a “horse fund” and Dr. Macklin who had charge of it, thought that horse flesh would be very cheap as soon as the Zulu War came to an end, and that a number of horses might then be bought, sent to Quilimane in a ship and brought up by land to Blantyre. The great difficulties to be overcome render it doubtful if horses will ever reach Blantyre, and if they did they would probably die soon after. Mr. John Moir, the elder of the two brothers managing the Livingstonia Trading Co. attempted to bring an unfortunate jackass to Blantyre. The donkey reached Quilimane in safety and travelled in a boat as far as Marrendenny, and crossing over to Mazaro, was placed by Mr. Moir on board the Lady Nyassa with its hoofs tied together as if it were a sheep. Never having a chance to move, the donkey objected to this treatment and its ribs began to protrude and its hoof rotted off. The stings of insects and the annoyance it suffered from Mr. Moir’s presence so affected this animal, the first four-legged ass that had ever ascended the Shire, that it incontinently died, and furnished the crocodiles with a new and novel, to them, kind of meat
At the other end of the square when we were there, Mr. MacDonald was having a “mansion” built for himself to reside in. It was of considerable dimensions in comparison to the others and would be the only stone building in the place. We always thought in our own minds that a kind of fort was uppermost in the Rev. gentleman’s head. Its walls built of good-sized blocks enclosed 100 feet by 80, and all the divisions inside were also formed of stone. There was an immense anthill which had to be removed when the house was planned and they had just finished the work when we were there. This hillock gave a good idea of what ants are capable of for it measured 6o feet in diameter and was 30 feet high, a piece of workmanship which, taking everything into proportion, caused reflection. The wonderful instinct that ants possess we had ample proof of, whether we broke into one of these enormous mounds or observed them on the line of march as we frequently did. An attempt was made to manufacture bricks from some fine clay close at hand but when they built a kiln they managed in some manner to bake the whole into one large brick which was at once a thing of curiosity and awe to the natives, while the solid and immovable mass is derisively termed “the fort” by the white residents. Brickmaking was now however more of a success and the native workmen were turning out some two thousand a day.
Away from the place there are some large plantations in which 150 acres alone are planted with blue, red and white gums. In the plantations cherry trees, apricot, plum, orange, apple, pear, fig and fir trees were also growing rapidly and the rich nature of the soil gave promise of great success in everything attempted in this line. The mission station also possessed a flock of one hundred goats and sheep which were rapidly increasing, a few pigs, and forty head of cattle. The latter did not seem to thrive for the largest yield of milk was only four quarts from the herd.
Morning and evening services are held at which all the natives are compelled to attend unless permitted to be absent, an infringement of the rules entailing punishment and the “rules for visitors” to which we have already alluded, announced that we “must attend all services whether native or European”, an order we ignored when it suited us. There are other charms in this world besides listening to a number of negroes bawling out a lot of what appeared to be gibberish, to some dear old familiar tune, although truth compels us to state that at Blantyre the airs appertaining to the ditties of Messrs. Moody and Sankey were the chief favorites. Some of the hymns seemed to be difficult to translate into the Manganja language; for instance in the beautiful hymn “Just as I am” the refrain “Lamb of God’ is translated into “Child of a sheep of God” which sounds perhaps odd at first to the native mind, but he soon learns that the white man’s ways are not his ways, neither are his thoughts the same as a white man’s thoughts. Out of politeness we often attended the native services and after listening to a discourse which, being in an unknown tongue, sounded remarkably like Irish to us, we had to listen to the most extraordinary vocal music. Only some dozen hymns having been translated they were pretty well learnt off by heart, but each native always had his own hymn book, a few sheets sewn into book form, and printed in the Manganja language, the words being spelt phonetically in English letters. The printing, by the way, was done at that admirably conducted school in the South African colony for natives over which the much-respected Dr. James Stewart presides. When a native is singing a hymn, say to the tune “When Mothers of Salem”, a very popular one, they shout it out getting faster every line, and with their starting eyes bursting out of the sockets as the pace increases, glued to the book, except when an occasional glance is taken at the visitor to see if he is transfigured with admiration, the lines culminate in a yell altogether, which is simply hideous. Then, taking a long breath and a general survey of each other they follow the white man’s lead as the latter again starts them, and the next verse also echoes around the square as it finishes, scaring the birds from the trees and causing the sick “visitor” to grind his teeth as he lay on his feverish couch. This may sound an exaggeration but the misery of listening to a large number of negroes making a noise, which is termed singing English hymns, is extremely painful to anyone possessing the slightest ear for music, and is calculated to nearly stun any ordinary person shut up in the room with them. As for ourselves we always emerged with a dazed kind of feeling as if we had been inside a large boiler having the rivets put in.
During our stay at Blantyre we were placed in a very awkward position by Mr. Moir, who had engaged to forward us to Livingstonia, but it appeared that we were to look out for ourselves forthwith, which of course we were well able to do, but it was rather disagreeable on going to the house of Mr. Milne to find we were not expected any more, we thinking that Mr. Moir had made arrangements for us to board there during our short stay. We broke off with him, and intimated in pretty strong terms that we were disgusted with him, but he was astonished, or pretended to be so, at our objecting to our treatment. The end of it was that he promised to reduce his charges, estimate the distance travelled at two-thirds of the journey to Livingstonia and deliver his account at once. The latter turned out to be very heavy, £41 being charged for our luggage, one of the items charged being for the carriage of a small box of sugar, six inches deep and eighteen inches in length, which was only half-full of sugar. And Mr. Moir consumed his share of the sugar out of the box, for we nearly fed ourselves the whole time, and as the trading company had no sugar, it seemed very mean. We bought some six hundred yards of calico, all that was to be had, at 4¾d., and then our dealings with the Messrs. Moir ceased for some time. If we had not been very much misinformed at Quilimane we should have managed better without the assistance of the Company.
On 28th August the place was en fete to celebrate the marriage of Dr. Laws and Miss Gray, a young lady who had come out from Scotland to be married to the Doctor. The few flags possessed by the mission were hoisted on the flagstaff which stands in the centre of the square, and the schoolroom was decorated with scarlet flowers and various leaves. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Mr. MacDonald and after a wedding breakfast had been attended we separated until the evening when the whole of the whites dined together. Songs were sung and speeches made, while the blacks belonging to the mission were not forgotten but also had plenty to eat and drink in honor of the occasion. It was late when the party broke up but we had left some time previously as it was our intention to start the following day for Pimbi.
With Mr. MacDonald’s permission Fenwick, the carpenter, was to accompany us for a few days shooting and accordingly on the 29th we set out from Blantyre along the path leading to Matopi at an early hour. We had no less than forty-one carriers with us who were engaged to carry the various things belonging to us to Pimbi for two fathoms of calico each, and walking along in Indian file, we seemed to have a small army of blacks with us. Some of them were women, and they marched along with their load on the head while a few also carried a baby on the back, kept in its place by the folds of calico wrapped around the mother’s waist. These natives belonged either to Ramakukan or one of the other Matalolo chiefs living close to Blantyre, and directly carriers are wanted word is sent to the nearest village and volunteers put in an appearance. If there are not enough it is sometimes necessary to send the chief, who “order” a certain number to perform the work. Out of the amount of calico received by each carrier a proportion of it belongs to the chief so that the latter is generally willing enough to supply carriers.
The road from Blantyre to Pimbi is not nearly so well made as the one from Katunga’s to the station and in some places it was not made at all although a large number of natives had been engaged at the work under the supervision of a white man. These road-makers are paid in calico by the mission, and the latter, of course, gets its calico through the subscriptions at home in aid of the poor heathen. We travelled for twelve miles before a halt was made, and nearly all the way down the sides of hills, round their bases, and then up on higher ground again, so that the rest was welcomed. The water at this spot which was the first water on the road was not very good, and gave the tea we made an unpleasant flavor, but the two hour’s spell refreshed us. C. was unfortunate enough to find his feet blistering, but as soon as the time we had given ourselves had expired we pushed on again although it was very hot and rough ground.
The next water we came to was some twenty-two miles from Blantyre and here we were precious glad to camp, Fenwick however being as fresh as a daisy. Twenty miles in Central Africa is slightly different to twenty miles elsewhere, and besides we were both very weak from the fever so that we were perfectly satisfied with our performance. We had pitched our tent on a small hillock by the side of the road, and the long dry grass which the natives gathered for us made our beds soft and inviting to our tired frames.
We saw no game on the road but any amount of lion and buffalo “spoor” and occasionally came across the traces of bucks. The trees all along these ranges are very small, growing densely together, the undergrowth being thick. At this time everything was parched and dry, and the foliage scanty. Going below one very high hill, we saw a village perched halfway up it, and we were informed that there had been some fights between the mission station and the village in question, and that the disputes were a long way being settled.
Soon after daybreak we struck our tent, boiled a billy of tea, and after a biscuit each washed down with a pannikin of the tea we tramped off, feeling stiff and sore, until 8 o’clock, when we caught up to Fenwick who was leading the van, and camped under a baobab tree. The water hole was dried up here and we ate a few of the small seeds inside the nuts of the baobab tree to refresh ourselves with, the seeds having a rather acidulated taste which is grateful to a thirsty man. A few miles further on we found another waterhole but the tea was nearly undrinkable the stagnant waterhole being very small and defiled by wild animals. At half past ten we reached Matopi having travelled the eighteen miles in good style, considering how sore and crippled we both felt. We found the Hala lying here very smart and trim. Matopi is merely the name of the landing place here, and we saw the Upper Shire River at last. In charge of the Hala was a sailor named Reid who, as an old man-of-wars-man had served with the present Admiral Vansittart in the Ariadne. Reid had the little steamer under his charge in such smart trim that we could not refrain from complimenting him. She is built of steel and has a screw propeller instead of paddle wheels, and from what we heard was able to do a good day’s run. With Fenwick, we greatly enjoyed the breakfast Reid gave us, and a good bathe in the river. C. sat smoking a pipe with his feet in the water for nearly an hour while his companion sat on the bank in the costume of our progenitors while Kwa-wa poured buckets of water over him and shampooed him.
Fenwick had left at half past twelve for Pimbi by himself, and half an hour after we started the carriers in spite of their grumbling at having to go any further that day. Kwa-wa we kept to accompany us, the distance according to Fenwick being about five miles, and at half past two o’clock we started ourselves for Pimbi along the usual native path with the long grass on both sides. Buck were swarming around us, but not having a gun with us we did not get a shot. Very foolishly we had sent all the guns on by the carriers to save ourselves the trouble of carrying them, and when we came across fresh lion “spoor” and saw where buffalo had a few hours previously been lying down, we began to think ourselves perfect idiots to go wandering about unarmed.
We walked on and on wondering when we should come to Pimbi, Kwa-wa did not know, he had not been about here before – and the five miles seemed to be the longest five miles we had ever trod. We got very tired as the sun went down, but we were not too tired to notice in the clumps of the trees through which we wended our way, specimens of an elephants strength in the form of boughs of some size torn down and even trees themselves uprooted. Once or twice we came to the crushed bones of a buck which had furnished a lion or leopard with a meal, and seeing these outward and visible signs of wild beasts we were not sorry to suddenly come upon Fenwick, who had pitched his tent about ten miles from Matopi as much surprised as we were at finding Pimbi a good deal further than five miles off. He had shot three bucks and all hands in camp had plenty of meat. Only those who have travelled in Africa know what heavenly joy “plenty of meat” conveys to the native mind. As for ourselves we had a glorious meal of steaks cooked over the fire stuck on sticks and we had liver as a second course with biscuit and pannikins of tea, which owing to the badness of the water, was none the worse for being well-laced with whisky. We slept like tops in spite of a few stray mosquitoes and the next morning woke as fresh as possible. We had intended to rest all day as some of the natives were getting knocked up, but the water was so bad that we decided to go on to Pimbi, and about half past nine reached the village or collection of villages which goes by that name, and another half hour brought us to Rhodes’ place which we were exceedingly glad to reach. Just before reaching it we came across three or four water bucks but were not able to shoot any.
Part IV continues at PAGE6944