Occasionally A Large Piece Of Copper,
In The Shape Of A St. Andrew's Cross, Is Offered For Sale.
FEBRUARY 27TH.
Kangenke promptly furnished guides this morning,
so we went briskly on a short distance, and came to a part of the Kasye,
Kasai, or Loke, where he had appointed two canoes to convey us across.
This is a most beautiful river, and very much like the Clyde in Scotland.
The slope of the valley down to the stream is about five hundred yards,
and finely wooded. It is, perhaps, one hundred yards broad,
and was winding slowly from side to side in the beautiful green glen,
in a course to the north and northeast. In both the directions
from which it came and to which it went it seemed to be alternately
embowered in sylvan vegetation, or rich meadows covered with tall grass.
The men pointed out its course, and said, "Though you sail along it
for months, you will turn without seeing the end of it."
While at the ford of the Kasai we were subjected to a trick, of which
we had been forewarned by the people of Shinte. A knife had been dropped
by one of Kangenke's people in order to entrap my men; it was put down
near our encampment, as if lost, the owner in the mean time watching
till one of my men picked it up. Nothing was said until our party
was divided, one half on this, and the other on that bank of the river.
Then the charge was made to me that one of my men had stolen a knife.
Certain of my people's honesty, I desired the man, who was making
a great noise, to search the luggage for it; the unlucky lad
who had taken the bait then came forward and confessed that he had the knife
in a basket, which was already taken over the river. When it was returned,
the owner would not receive it back unless accompanied with a fine.
The lad offered beads, but these were refused with scorn.
A shell hanging round his neck, similar to that which Shinte had given me,
was the object demanded, and the victim of the trick, as we all knew it to be,
was obliged to part with his costly ornament. I could not save him
from the loss, as all had been forewarned; and it is the universal custom
among the Makololo and many other tribes to show whatever they may find
to the chief person of their company, and make a sort of offer of it to him.
This lad ought to have done so to me; the rest of the party
always observed this custom. I felt annoyed at the imposition,
but the order we invariably followed in crossing a river forced me to submit.
The head of the party remained to be ferried over last;
so, if I had not come to terms, I would have been, as I always was in crossing
rivers which we could not swim, completely in the power of the enemy.
It was but rarely we could get a head man so witless as to cross a river
with us, and remain on the opposite bank in a convenient position
to be seized as a hostage in case of my being caught.
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