The Farther We Advanced, The More We Found The Country Swarming
With Inhabitants.
Great numbers came to see the white man, a sight they had
never beheld before.
They always brought presents of maize and masuka.
Their mode of salutation is quite singular. They throw themselves
on their backs on the ground, and, rolling from side to side,
slap the outside of their thighs as expressions of thankfulness and welcome,
uttering the words "Kina bomba." This method of salutation was to me
very disagreeable, and I never could get reconciled to it. I called out,
"Stop, stop; I don't want that;" but they, imagining I was dissatisfied,
only tumbled about more furiously, and slapped their thighs
with greater vigor. The men being totally unclothed, this performance
imparted to my mind a painful sense of their extreme degradation.
My own Batoka were much more degraded than the Barotse, and more reckless.
We had to keep a strict watch, so as not to be involved
by their thieving from the inhabitants, in whose country and power we were.
We had also to watch the use they made of their tongues,
for some within hearing of the villagers would say, "I broke all the pots
of that village," or, "I killed a man there." They were eager to recount
their soldier deeds, when they were in company with the Makololo
in former times as a conquering army. They were thus placing us in danger
by their remarks. I called them together, and spoke to them
about their folly, and gave them a pretty plain intimation
that I meant to insist upon as complete subordination as I had secured
in my former journey, as being necessary for the safety of the party.
Happily, it never was needful to resort to any other measure
for their obedience, as they all believed that I would enforce it.
In connection with the low state of the Batoka, I was led to think
on the people of Kuruman, who were equally degraded and equally depraved.
There a man scorned to shed a tear. It would have been "tlolo",
or transgression. Weeping, such as Dr. Kane describes among the Esquimaux,
is therefore quite unknown in that country. But I have witnessed
instances like this: Baba, a mighty hunter - the interpreter who accompanied
Captain Harris, and who was ultimately killed by a rhinoceros - sat listening
to the Gospel in the church at Kuruman, and the gracious words of Christ,
made to touch his heart, evidently by the Holy Spirit, melted him into tears;
I have seen him and others sink down to the ground weeping.
When Baba was lying mangled by the furious beast which tore him off his horse,
he shed no tear, but quietly prayed as long as he was conscious.
I had no hand in his instruction: if these Batoka ever become like him,
and they may, the influence that effects it must be divine.
A very large portion of this quarter is covered with masuka-trees,
and the ground was so strewed with the pleasant fruit
that my men kept eating it constantly as we marched along.
We saw a smaller kind of the same tree, named Molondo,
the fruit of which is about the size of marbles, having a tender skin,
and slight acidity of taste mingled with its sweetness.
Another tree which is said to yield good fruit is named Sombo,
but it was not ripe at this season.
DECEMBER 6TH. We passed the night near a series of villages.
Before we came to a stand under our tree, a man came running to us
with hands and arms firmly bound with cords behind his back,
entreating me to release him. When I had dismounted,
the head man of the village advanced, and I inquired the prisoner's offense.
He stated that he had come from the Bashukulompo as a fugitive,
and he had given him a wife and garden and a supply of seed;
but, on refusing a demand for more, the prisoner had threatened to kill him,
and had been seen the night before skulking about the village,
apparently with that intention. I declined interceding
unless he would confess to his father-in-law, and promise amendment.
He at first refused to promise to abstain from violence, but afterward agreed.
The father-in-law then said that he would take him to the village
and release him, but the prisoner cried out bitterly, "He will kill me there;
don't leave me, white man." I ordered a knife, and one of the villagers
released him on the spot. His arms were cut by the cords,
and he was quite lame from the blows he had received.
These villagers supplied us abundantly with ground-nuts, maize, and corn.
All expressed great satisfaction on hearing my message,
as I directed their attention to Jesus as their Savior,
whose word is "Peace on earth, and good-will to men." They called out,
"We are tired of flight; give us rest and sleep." They of course
did not understand the full import of the message, but it was no wonder
that they eagerly seized the idea of peace. Their country has been visited
by successive scourges during the last half century, and they are now
"a nation scattered and peeled." When Sebituane came,
the cattle were innumerable, and yet these were the remnants only,
left by a chief called Pingola, who came from the northeast.
He swept across the whole territory inhabited by his cattle-loving countrymen,
devouring oxen, cows, and calves, without retaining a single head. He seems
to have been actuated by a simple love of conquest, and is an instance
of what has occurred two or three times in every century in this country,
from time immemorial. A man or more energy or ambition than his fellows
rises up and conquers a large territory, but as soon as he dies
the power he built up is gone, and his reign, having been one of terror,
is not perpetuated.
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