e, but none to the man
himself.
While still at Naliele, a party which had been sent after me by Masiko
arrived. He was much disappointed because I had not visited him. They
brought an elephant's tusk, two calabashes of honey, two baskets of
maize, and one of ground-nuts, as a present. Masiko wished to say that
he had followed the injunction which I had given as the will of God, and
lived in peace until his brother Limboa came, captured his women as they
went to their gardens, and then appeared before his stockade. Masiko
offered to lead his men out; but they objected, saying, "Let us servants
be killed, you must not be slain." Those who said this were young
Barotse who had been drilled to fighting by Sebituane, and used shields
of ox-hide. They beat off the party of Limboa, ten being wounded, and
ten slain in the engagement. Limboa subsequently sent three slaves as
a self-imposed fine to Masiko for attacking him. I succeeded in getting
the Makololo to treat the messengers of Masiko well, though, as they
regarded them as rebels, it was somewhat against the grain at first to
speak civilly to them.
Mpololo, attempting to justify an opposite line of conduct, told me how
they had fled from Sebituane, even though he had given them numbers of
cattle after their subjection by his arms, and was rather surprised
to find that I was disposed to think more highly of them for having
asserted their independence, even at the loss of milk. For this food,
all who have been accustomed to it from infancy in Africa have an
excessive longing. I pointed out how they might be mutually beneficial
to each other by the exchange of canoes and cattle.
There are some very old Barotse living here who were the companions of
the old chief Santuru. These men, protected by their age, were very free
in their comments on the "upstart" Makololo. One of them, for instance,
interrupted my conversation one day with some Makololo gentlemen with
the advice "not to believe them, for they were only a set of thieves;"
and it was taken in quite a good-natured way. It is remarkable that none
of the ancients here had any tradition of an earthquake having occurred
in this region. Their quick perception of events recognizable by
the senses, and retentiveness of memory, render it probable that no
perceptible movement of the earth has taken place between 7 Deg. and 27
Deg. S. in the centre of the continent during the last two centuries at
least. There is no appearan
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