Some Of Her Majesty's Cruisers Soon Came Into The Port, And,
Seeing The Emaciated Condition To Which I Was Reduced,
Offered to convey me
to St. Helena or homeward; but, though I had reached the coast,
I had found that,
In consequence of the great amount of forest,
rivers, and marsh, there was no possibility of a highway for wagons,
and I had brought a party of Sekeletu's people with me,
and found the tribes near the Portuguese settlement so very unfriendly,
that it would be altogether impossible for my men to return alone.
I therefore resolved to decline the tempting offers of my naval friends,
and take back my Makololo companions to their chief,
with a view of trying to make a path from his country to the east coast
by means of the great river Zambesi or Leeambye.
I, however, gladly availed myself of the medical assistance of Mr. Cockin,
the surgeon of the "Polyphemus", at the suggestion of his commander,
Captain Phillips. Mr. Cockin's treatment, aided by the exhilarating presence
of the warm-hearted naval officers, and Mr. Gabriel's unwearied
hospitality and care, soon brought me round again. On the 14th
I was so far well as to call on the bishop, in company with my party,
who were arrayed in new robes of striped cotton cloth and red caps,
all presented to them by Mr. Gabriel. He received us,
as head of the provisional government, in the grand hall of the palace.
He put many intelligent questions respecting the Makololo,
and then gave them free permission to come to Loanda as often as they pleased.
This interview pleased the Makololo extremely.
Every one remarked the serious deportment of the Makololo. They viewed the
large stone houses and churches in the vicinity of the great ocean with awe.
A house with two stories was, until now, beyond their comprehension.
In explanation of this strange thing, I had always been obliged
to use the word for hut; and as huts are constructed by the poles being let
into the earth, they never could comprehend how the poles of one hut
could be founded upon the roof of another, or how men could live
in the upper story, with the conical roof of the lower one in the middle.
Some Makololo, who had visited my little house at Kolobeng,
in trying to describe it to their countrymen at Linyanti, said,
"It is not a hut; it is a mountain with several caves in it."
Commander Bedingfeld and Captain Skene invited them to visit their vessels,
the "Pluto" and "Philomel". Knowing their fears, I told them
that no one need go if he entertained the least suspicion of foul play.
Nearly the whole party went; and when on deck, I pointed to the sailors,
and said, "Now these are all my countrymen, sent by our queen for the purpose
of putting down the trade of those that buy and sell black men."
They replied, "Truly! they are just like you!" and all their fears
seemed to vanish at once, for they went forward among the men,
and the jolly tars, acting much as the Makololo would have done
in similar circumstances, handed them a share of the bread and beef
which they had for dinner.
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