This Trade Causes Bloodshed;
For When A Poor Family Is Selected As The Victims, It Is Necessary
To Get Rid
Of the older members of it, because they are supposed
to be able to give annoyance to the chief afterward
By means of enchantments.
The belief in the power of charms for good or evil produces not only honesty,
but a great amount of gentle dealing. The powerful are often
restrained in their despotism from a fear that the weak and helpless
may injure them by their medical knowledge. They have many fears.
A man at one of the villages we came to showed us the grave of his child,
and, with much apparent feeling, told us she had been burned to death
in her hut. He had come with all his family, and built huts around it
in order to weep for her. He thought, if the grave were left unwatched,
the witches would come and bewitch them by putting medicines on the body.
They have a more decided belief in the continued existence of departed spirits
than any of the more southerly tribes. Even the Barotse possess it
in a strong degree, for one of my men of that tribe, on experiencing headache,
said, with a sad and thoughtful countenance, "My father is scolding me because
I do not give him any of the food I eat." I asked where his father was.
"Among the Barimo," was the reply.
When we wished to move on, Kabinje refused a guide to the next village
because he was at war with it; but, after much persuasion, he consented,
provided that the guide should be allowed to return as soon as he came
in sight of the enemy's village. This we felt to be a misfortune,
as the people all suspect a man who comes telling his own tale;
but there being no help for it, we went on, and found the head man
of a village on the rivulet Kalomba, called Kangenke,
a very different man from what his enemy represented. We found, too,
that the idea of buying and selling took the place of giving for friendship.
As I had nothing with which to purchase food except a parcel of beads
which were preserved for worse times, I began to fear that we should soon
be compelled to suffer more from hunger than we had done.
The people demanded gunpowder for every thing. If we had possessed
any quantity of that article, we should have got on well,
for here it is of great value. On our return, near this spot
we found a good-sized fowl was sold for a single charge of gunpowder.
Next to that, English calico was in great demand, and so were beads;
but money was of no value whatever. Gold is quite unknown;
it is thought to be brass; trade is carried on by barter alone.
The people know nothing of money. A purse-proud person would here feel
the ground move from beneath his feet.
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