They Are Said Not To Dig
Deeper Than Their Chins, Believing That If They Did So The Ground
Would Fall In And Kill Them.
When they find a `piece' or flake of gold,
they bury it again, from the superstitious idea that this
is the seed of the gold, and, though they know the value of it well,
they prefer losing it rather than the whole future crop.
This conduct
seemed to me so very unlikely in men who bring the dust in quills,
and even put in a few seeds of a certain plant as a charm
to prevent their losing any of it on the way, that I doubted
the authority of my informant; but I found the report verified
by all the Portuguese who knew the native language and mode of thinking,
and give the statement for what it is worth. If it is really practiced,
the custom may have been introduced by some knowing one who wished to defraud
the chiefs of their due; for we are informed in Portuguese history
that in former times these pieces or flakes of gold were considered
the perquisites of the chiefs.
Major Sicard, the commandant, whose kindness to me and my people
was unbounded, presented a rosary made of the gold of the country,
the workmanship of a native of Tete, to my little daughter;
also specimens of the gold-dust of three different places,
which, with the coal of Muatize and Morongoze, are deposited in
the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London.
All the cultivation is carried on with hoes in the native manner,
and considerable quantities of `Holcus sorghum', maize,
`Pennisetum typhoideum', or lotsa of the Balonda, millet, rice, and wheat
are raised, as also several kinds of beans - one of which,
called "litloo" by the Bechuanas, yields under ground, as well as
the `Arachis hypogaea', or ground-nut; with cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons.
The wheat is sown in low-lying places which are annually flooded
by the Zambesi. When the waters retire, the women drop a few grains
in a hole made with a hoe, then push back the soil with the foot.
One weeding alone is required before the grain comes to maturity.
This simple process represents all our subsoil plowing, liming,
manuring, and harrowing, for in four months after planting a good crop
is ready for the sickle, and has been known to yield a hundred-fold.
It flourished still more at Zumbo. No irrigation is required,
because here there are gentle rains, almost like mist, in winter,
which go by the name of "wheat-showers", and are unknown
in the interior, where no winter rain ever falls. The rains at Tete
come from the east, though the prevailing winds come from the S.S.E.
The finest portion of the flour does not make bread nearly so white
as the seconds, and here the boyaloa (pombe), or native beer,
is employed to mix with the flour instead of yeast. It makes excellent bread.
At Kilimane, where the cocoanut palm abounds, the toddy from it,
called "sura", is used for the same purpose, and makes the bread
still lighter.
As it was necessary to leave most of my men at this place,
Major Sicard gave them a portion of land on which to cultivate their own food,
generously supplying them with corn in the mean time. He also said
that my young men might go and hunt elephants in company with his servants,
and purchase goods with both the ivory and dried meat, in order that
they might have something to take with them on their return to Sekeletu.
The men were delighted with his liberality, and soon sixty or seventy of them
set off to engage in this enterprise. There was no calico to be had
at this time in Tete, but the commandant handsomely furnished my men
with clothing. I was in a state of want myself, and, though I pressed him
to take payment in ivory for both myself and men, he refused all recompense.
I shall ever remember his kindness with deep gratitude. He has written me,
since my arrival in England, that my men had killed four elephants
in the course of two months after my departure.
On the day of my arrival I was visited by all the gentlemen of the village,
both white and colored, including the padre. Not one of them had any idea
as to where the source of the Zambesi lay. They sent for
the best traveled natives, but none of them knew the river
even as far as Kansala. The father of one of the rebels
who had been fighting against them had been a great traveler to the southwest,
and had even heard of our visit to Lake Ngami; but he was equally ignorant
with all the others that the Zambesi flowed in the centre of the country.
They had, however, more knowledge of the country to the north of Tete
than I had. One man, who had gone to Cazembe with Major Monteiro,
stated that he had seen the Luapura or Loapula flowing past
the town of that chieftain into the Luameji or Leeambye,
but imagined that it found its way, somehow or other, into Angola.
The fact that sometimes rivers were seen to flow like this
toward the centre of the country, led geographers to the supposition
that inner Africa was composed of elevated sandy plains, into which
rivers ran and were lost. One of the gentlemen present, Senhor Candido,
had visited a lake 45 days to the N.N.W. of Tete, which is probably
the Lake Maravi of geographers, as in going thither they pass through
the people of that name. The inhabitants of its southern coast
are named Shiva; those on the north, Mujao; and they call the lake
Nyanja or Nyanje, which simply means a large water, or bed of a large river.
A high mountain stands in the middle of it, called Murombo or Murombola,
which is inhabited by people who have much cattle.
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