The Three Men Whom I Had Brought From Kuruman Had Frequent Relapses
Of The Fever; So, Finding That Instead Of Serving Me I Had To Wait On Them,
I Decided That They Should Return To The South With Fleming
As Soon As He Had Finished His Trading.
I was then entirely dependent
on my twenty-seven men, whom I might name Zambesians, for there were
two Makololo only, while the rest consisted of Barotse, Batoka, Bashubia,
and two of the Ambonda.
The fever had caused considerable weakness in my own frame,
and a strange giddiness when I looked up suddenly to any celestial object,
for every thing seemed to rush to the left, and if I did not catch hold
of some object, I fell heavily on the ground: something resembling
a gush of bile along the duct from the liver caused the same fit to occur
at night, whenever I turned suddenly round.
The Makololo now put the question, "In the event of your death,
will not the white people blame us for having allowed you to go away
into an unhealthy, unknown country of enemies?" I replied that
none of my friends would blame them, because I would leave a book
with Sekeletu, to be sent to Mr. Moffat in case I did not return, which would
explain to him all that had happened until the time of my departure.
The book was a volume of my Journal; and, as I was detained longer
than I expected at Loanda, this book, with a letter, was delivered by Sekeletu
to a trader, and I have been unable to trace it. I regret this now,
as it contained valuable notes on the habits of wild animals,
and the request was made in the letter to convey the volume to my family.
The prospect of passing away from this fair and beautiful world
thus came before me in a pretty plain, matter-of-fact form,
and it did seem a serious thing to leave wife and children - to break up
all connection with earth, and enter on an untried state of existence;
and I find myself in my journal pondering over that fearful migration
which lands us in eternity, wondering whether an angel will soothe
the fluttering soul, sadly flurried as it must be on entering
the spirit world, and hoping that Jesus might speak but one word of peace,
for that would establish in the bosom an everlasting calm.
But as I had always believed that, if we serve God at all, it ought to be done
in a manly way, I wrote to my brother, commending our little girl to his care,
as I was determined to "succeed or perish" in the attempt to open up
this part of Africa. The Boers, by taking possession of all my goods,
had saved me the trouble of making a will; and, considering the light heart
now left in my bosom, and some faint efforts to perform
the duty of Christian forgiveness, I felt that it was better to be
the plundered party than one of the plunderers.
When I committed the wagon and remaining goods to the care of the Makololo,
they took all the articles except one box into their huts;
and two warriors, Ponuane and Mahale, brought forward each a fine heifer calf.
After performing a number of warlike evolutions, they asked the chief
to witness the agreement made between them, that whoever of the two
should kill a Matebele warrior first, in defense of the wagon,
should possess both the calves.
I had three muskets for my people, a rifle and double-barreled smooth-bore
for myself; and, having seen such great abundance of game
in my visit to the Leeba, I imagined that I could easily supply
the wants of my party. Wishing also to avoid the discouragement
which would naturally be felt on meeting any obstacles if my companions
were obliged to carry heavy loads, I took only a few biscuits,
a few pounds of tea and sugar, and about twenty of coffee,
which, as the Arabs find, though used without either milk or sugar,
is a most refreshing beverage after fatigue or exposure to the sun.
We carried one small tin canister, about fifteen inches square,
filled with spare shirting, trowsers, and shoes, to be used when we reached
civilized life, and others in a bag, which were expected to wear out
on the way; another of the same size for medicines; and a third for books,
my stock being a Nautical Almanac, Thomson's Logarithm Tables, and a Bible;
a fourth box contained a magic lantern, which we found of much use.
The sextant and artificial horizon, thermometer, and compasses
were carried apart. My ammunition was distributed in portions
through the whole luggage, so that, if an accident should befall one part,
we could still have others to fall back upon. Our chief hopes for food
were upon that; but in case of failure, I took about 20 lbs. of beads,
worth 40s., which still remained of the stock I brought from Cape Town,
a small gipsy tent, just sufficient to sleep in, a sheep-skin mantle
as a blanket, and a horse-rug as a bed. As I had always found
that the art of successful travel consisted in taking as few "impedimenta"
as possible, and not forgetting to carry my wits about me,
the outfit was rather spare, and intended to be still more so
when we should come to leave the canoes. Some would consider it injudicious
to adopt this plan, but I had a secret conviction that if I did not succeed,
it would not be for want of the "knick-knacks" advertised as indispensable
for travelers, but from want of "pluck", or because a large array of baggage
excited the cupidity of the tribes through whose country we wished to pass.
The instruments I carried, though few, were the best of their kind.
A sextant, by the famed makers Troughton and Sims, of Fleet Street;
a chronometer watch, with a stop to the seconds hand -
an admirable contrivance for enabling a person to take
the exact time of observations:
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