CHAPTER TEN.
DESCRIBES AFRICAN DOMESTICITY, AND MANY OTHER THINGS RELATIVE THERETO,BESIDES SHOWING THAT ALARMS AND FLIGHTS, SURPRISES AND FEASTS, ARE NOTCONFINED TO PARTICULAR PLACES.
When our negro chief--whose name, by the way, was Kambira--left thebanks of the river, followed by his men bearing the hippopotamus-flesh,he set off at a swinging pace, like to a man who has a considerable walkbefore him.
The country through which they passed was not only well wooded, but wellwatered by numerous rivulets. Their path for some distance tendedupwards towards the hills, now crossing over mounds, anon skirting thebase of precipitous rocks, and elsewhere dipping down into hollows; butalthough thus serpentine in its course, its upward tendency never varieduntil it led them to the highest parts of a ridge from which amagnificent prospect was had of hill and dale, lake, rivulet and river,extending so far that the distant scenery at the horizon appeared of athin pearly-grey colour, and of the same consistency as the clouds withwhich it mingled.
Passing over this ridge, and descending into a wide valley which wasfertilised and beautified by a moderately-sized rivulet, Kambira led hisfollowers towards a hamlet which lay close to the stream, nestled in awoody hollow, and, like all other Manganja villages, was surrounded byan impenetrable hedge of poisonous euphorbia--a tree which casts a deepshade, and renders it difficult for bowmen to aim at the people inside.
In the immediate vicinity of the village the land was laid out in littlegardens and fields, and in these the people--men, women, and children,--were busily engaged in hoeing the ground, weeding, planting, orgathering the fruits of their labour.
These same fruits were plentiful, and the people sang with joy as theyworked. There were large crops of maize, millet beans, and ground-nuts;also patches of yams, rice, pumpkins, cucumbers, cassava, sweetpotatoes, tobacco, cotton, and hemp, which last is also called "bang,"and is smoked by the natives as a species of tobacco.
It was a pleasant sight for Kambira and his men to look upon, as theyrested for a few minutes on the brow of a knoll near a thicket ofbramble bushes, and gazed down upon their home. Doubtless they thoughtso, for their eyes glistened, so also did their teeth when theysmilingly commented on the scene before them. They did not, indeed,become enthusiastic about scenery, nor did they refer to the picturesquegrouping of huts and trees, or make any allusion whatever to light andshade; no, their thoughts were centred on far higher objects than these.They talked of wives and children, and hippopotamus-flesh; and theircountenances glowed--although they were not white--and their stronghearts beat hard against their ribs--although they were not clothed, andtheir souls (for we repudiate Yoosoof's opinion that they had none),their souls appeared to take quiet but powerful interest in theirbelongings.
It was pleasant also, for Kambira and his men to listen to the soundsthat floated up from the valley,--sweeter far than the sweetest strainsof Mozart or Mendelssohn,--the singing of the workers in the fields andgardens, mellowed by distance into a soft humming tone; and the heartylaughter that burst occasionally from men seated at work on bows,arrows, fishing-nets, and such-like gear, on a flat green spot under theshade of a huge banyan-tree, which, besides being the village workshop,was the village reception-hall, where strangers were entertained onarriving,--also the village green, where the people assembled to dance,and sing, and smoke "bang," to which last they were much addicted, andto drink beer made by themselves, of which they were remarkably fond,and by means of which they sometimes got drunk;--in all which mattersthe intelligent reader will not fail to observe that they bore a markedresemblance to many of the civilised European nations, except, perhaps,in their greater freedom of action, lightness of costume, and colour ofskin.
The merry voices of children, too, were heard, and their active littleblack bodies were seen, while they engaged in the play of savages--though not necessarily in savage play. Some romped, ran after eachother, caught each other, tickled each other, occasionally whacked eachother--just as our own little ones do. Others played at games, of whichthe skipping-rope was a decided favourite among the girls, but the playof most of the older children consisted in imitating the serious work oftheir parents. The girls built little huts, hoed little gardens, madesmall pots of clay, pounded imaginary corn in miniature mortars, cookedit over ideal fires, and crammed it down the throats of imitationbabies; while the boys performed deeds of chivalric daring with reedspears, small shields, and tiny bows and arrows, or amused themselves inmaking cattle-pens, and in sculpturing cows and crocodiles. Humannature, in short, was powerfully developed, without anything particularto suggest the idea of "savage" life, or to justify the opinion of Arabsand half-caste Portuguese that black men are all "cattle."
The scene wanted only the spire of a village church and the tinkle of aSabbath bell to make it perfect.
But there _was_ a tinkle among the other sounds, not unlike a bell whichwould have sounded marvellously familiar to English ears had they beenlistening. This was the ringing of the anvil of the village blacksmith.Yes, savage though they were, these natives had a blacksmith whowrought in iron, almost as deftly, and to the full as vigorously, as anyBritish son of Vulcan. The Manganja people are an industrious race.Besides cultivating the soil extensively, they dig iron-ore out of thehills, and each village has its smelting-house, its charcoal-burners,its forge with a pair of goatskin bellows, and its blacksmith--we mightappropriately say, its _very_ blacksmith! Whether the latter would ofnecessity, and as a matter of course, sing bass in church if the landwere civilised enough to possess a church, remains to be seen! At thetime we write of he merely hummed to the sound of the hammer, and forgedhoes, axes, spears, needles, arrow-heads, bracelets, armlets, necklets,and anklets, with surprising dexterity.
Pity that he could not forge a chain which would for ever restrain themurderous hands of the Arabs and half-caste Portuguese, who, for ages,have blighted his land with their pestilential presence!
After contemplating the picture for a time, Kambira descended thewinding path that led to the village. He had not proceeded far when oneof the smallest of the children--a creature so rotund that his body andlimbs were a series of circles and ovals, and so black that it seemed anabsurdity even to think of casting a shadow on him--espied the advancingparty, uttered a shrill cry of delight, and ran towards them.
His example was followed by a dozen others, who, being larger, outranhim, and, performing a war-dance round the men, possessed themselves, byamicable theft, of pieces of raw meat with which they hastened back tothe village. The original discoverer of the party, however, had otherends in view. He toddled straight up to Kambira with the outstretchedarms of a child who knows he will be welcomed.
Kambira was not demonstrative, but he was hearty. Taking the littleball of black butter by the arms, he whirled him over his head, andplaced him on his broad shoulders, with a fat leg on each side of hisneck, and left him there to look after himself. This the youngster didby locking his feet together under the man's chin, and fastening his fatfingers in his woolly hair, in which position he bore some resemblanceto an enormous chignon.
Thus was he borne crowing to the chief's hut, from the door of which avery stout elderly woman came out to receive them.
There was no one else in the hut to welcome them, but Yohama, as thechief styled her, was sufficient; she was what some people call "goodcompany." She bustled about making preparations for a feast, with adegree of activity that was quite surprising in one so fat--so veryfat--asking questions the while with much volubility, making remarks tothe child, criticising the hippopotamus-meat, or commenting on things ingeneral.
Meanwhile Kambira seated himself in a corner and prepared to refreshhimself with a pipe of bang in the most natural and civilised fashionimaginable; and young Obo--for so Yohama called him--entered upon aseries of gymnastic exercises with his father--for such Kambira was--which partook of the playfulness of the kitten, mingled with theeccentricity and mischief of the monkey.
It would have do
ne you good, reader, if you possess a spark of sympathy,to have watched these two as they played together. The way in which Oboassaulted his father, on whose visage mild benignity was enthroned,would have surprised you. Kambira was a remarkably grave, quiet andreserved man, but that was a matter of no moment to Obo, who threatenedhim in front, skirmished in his rear, charged him on the right flankwith a reed spear, shelled him on the left with sweet potatoes, andotherwise harassed him with amazing perseverance and ingenuity.
To this the enemy paid no further attention than lay in thrusting out anelbow and raising a knee, to check an unusually fierce attack, or ingiving Obo a pat on the back when he came within reach, or sending apuff of smoke in his face, as if to taunt and encourage him to attemptfurther deeds of daring.
While this was going on in the chief's hut, active culinary preparationswere progressing all over the village--the women forsook their hoes andgrinding-mortars, and the looms on which they had been weaving cottoncloth, the men laid down various implements of industry, and, long erethe sun began to descend in the west, the entire tribe was feasting withall the gusto, and twenty times the appetite, of aldermen.
During the progress of the feast a remarkably small, wiry old negro,entertained the chief and his party with a song, accompanying himselfthe while on a violin--not a European fiddle, by any means, but a nativeproduction--with something like a small keg, covered with goatskin, fora body, a longish handle, and one string which was played with a bow bythe "Spider." Never having heard his name, we give him one inaccordance with his aspect.
Talk of European fiddlers! No Paganini, or any other _nini_ that everastonished the Goths and Vandals of the north, could hold a candle--wehad almost said a fiddle--to this sable descendant of Ham, who, squattedon his hams in the midst of an admiring circle, drew forth sounds fromhis solitary string that were more than exquisite,--they wereexcruciating.
The song appeared to be improvised, for it referred to objects around,as well as to things past, present, and to come; among others, to thefact that slave parties attacked villages and carried off theinhabitants.
At such points the minstrel's voice became low and thrilling, while hisaudience grew suddenly earnest, opened their eyes, frowned, and showedtheir teeth; but as soon as the subject was changed the feeling seemedto die away. It was only old memories that had been awakened, for noslavers had passed through their country for some time past, thoughrumours of an attack on a not very distant tribe had recently reachedand greatly alarmed them.
Thus they passed the afternoon, and when the cool of the evening drew ona dance was proposed, seconded, and carried unanimously.
They were about to begin when a man was seen running down the pathleading to the village at a speed which proved him to be the bearer oftidings. In a few minutes he burst into the midst of them with glaringeyeballs and labouring chest--for he had run fast, though not far, andtold his news in rapid short sentences--to the effect that a band ofslavers, led by Portuguese, were on their way to the valley, within amile or so of it, even while he spoke; that he thought the leader wasMarizano; and that they were _armed with the loud-sounding guns_!
The consternation consequent on this news was universal, and there wasgood ground for it, because Marizano was a well-known monster ofcruelty, and his guns had rendered him invincible hitherto, wherever hewent, the native spear and bow being utterly useless in the hands of menwho, however courageous, were shot down before they could come withinarrow-range of their enemies.
It is the custom of the slave-dealers, on going into the interior forthe purpose of procuring slaves, to offer to buy them from such tribesas are disposed to sell. This most of the tribes are willing to do.Fathers do not indeed, sell their own children, or husbands their wives,from preference, but chiefs and head-men are by no means loath to getrid of their criminals in this way--their bad stock, as it were, ofblack ivory. They also sell orphans and other defenceless ones of theirtribes, the usual rate of charge being about two or three yards ofcalico for a man, woman, or child.
But the Arab slave-dealer sometimes finds it difficult to procure enoughof "cattle" in this way to make up a band sufficiently large to startwith for the coast because he is certain to lose four out of every five,at the _lowest estimate_, on his journey down. The drove, therefore,must be large. In order to provide it he sends out parties to buy wherethey can, and to steal when they have the chance. Meanwhile he takes uphis quarters near some tribe, and sets about deliberately to producewar. He rubs up old sores, foments existing quarrels, lends guns andammunition, suggests causes of dispute, and finally gets two tribes tofight. Of course many are slaughtered, fearful barbarities and excessesare committed, fields are laid waste and villages are burnt, but this isa matter of no consequence to our Arab. Prisoners are sure to be taken,and he buys the prisoners; for the rest,--there are plenty of natives inAfrica!
When all else fails, not being very particular, he sends off a partyunder some thorough-going scoundrel, well-armed, and with instructionsto attack and capture wherever they go.
No wonder, then, that the rumoured approach of Marizano and his mencaused the utmost alarm in Kambira's village, and that the women andchildren were ordered to fly to the bush without delay. This theyrequired no second bidding to do, but, oh! it was a sad sight to seethem do it. The younger women ran actively, carrying the infants andleading the smaller children by the hands, and soon disappeared; but itwas otherwise with the old people. These, men and women, bowed withage, and tottering as much from terror as decrepitude, hobbled along,panting as they went, and stumbling over every trifling obstruction intheir path, being sometimes obliged to stop and rest, though death mightbe the consequence; and among these there were a few stray littlecreatures barely able to toddle, who had probably been forgotten orforsaken by their mothers in the panic, yet were of sufficient age to beaware, in their own feeble way, that danger of some sort was behindthem, and that safety lay before. By degrees all--young and old, strongand feeble--gained the shelter of the bush, and Kambira was left with ahandful of resolute warriors to check the invaders and defend his home.
Well was it at that time for Kambira and his men that the approachingband was _not_ Marizano and his robbers.
When the head of the supposed enemy's column appeared on the brow of theadjacent hill, the Manganja chief fitted an arrow to his bow, and,retiring behind a hut, as also did his followers, resolved that Marizanoshould forfeit his life even though his own should be the penalty. Verybitter were his thoughts, for his tribe had suffered from that villainat a former period, and he longed to rid the land of him.
As he thought thus he looked at his followers with an expression ofdoubt for he knew too well that the Manganja were not a warlike tribe,and feared that the few who remained with him might forsake him in thehour of need. Indeed, much of his own well-known courage was to beattributed to the fact, that his mother had belonged to a family more orless nearly connected with the Ajawa, who are very warlike--too much so,in truth, for it is they who, to a large extent are made use of by theslave-dealers to carry on war with the neighbouring tribes. Kambira'smen, however, looked resolute, though very grave.
While he was thus meditating vengeance, he observed that one of theapproaching band advanced alone without arms, and making signs of peace.This surprised him a little, but dreading treachery, he kept under theshelter of a hut until the stranger was close to the village; then,observing that the party on the hill had laid down their arms and seatedthemselves on the grass, he advanced, still, however, retaining hisweapons.
The stranger was a little man, and appeared timid, but seeing that thechief evidently meant no mischief, and knowing that the guns of hisfriends had him within range, he drew near.
"Where come you from?" demanded Kambira.
To this Antonio--for it was he--replied that his party came from thecoast; that they wanted to pass through the land to see it, and to findout what it produced and what its people had to sell; that it was led bytwo Englis
hmen, who belonged to a nation that detested slavery--the samenation that sent out Dr Livingstone, who, as everybody knew, had passedthrough that land some years before. They were also, he said,countrymen of the men of God who had come out to teach the Manganja theTruth, who had helped them in their troubles, delivered them from theslave-traders, and some of whom had died in their land. He added thatthere were Manganja men and women in their company.
The "men of God" to whom Antonio referred, and to whom he had beenexpressly told by Harold Seadrift to refer, were those devotedmissionaries mentioned in a previous chapter, who, under the leadershipof the amiable and true-hearted Bishop Mackenzie, established a missionamong these very Manganja hills in the year 1861. By a rare combinationof Christian love and manly courage under very peculiar circumstances,they acquired extraordinary power and influence over the natives in thespace of a few months, and laid the foundation of what might have been--perhaps may yet be--true Christianity in Central Africa. But thecountry was unhappily involved at the time in one of the wars created bythe Portuguese and Arab slave-traders. The region was almostdepopulated by man-stealers, and by the famine that resulted from theculture of the land having been neglected during the panic. The goodbishop and several of his devoted band sank under the combined effectsof climate and anxiety, and died there, while the enfeebled remnant werecompelled, sorrowfully, to quit the field, to the deep regret of thesurviving Manganja. [_The Story of the Universities' Mission to CentralAfrica_, by the Reverend Henry Rowley.--We can heartily recommend thisto the young--ay, and to the old--as being, next to the Adventures ofWilliams in the South Seas, one of the most interesting records ofmissionary enterprise that we ever read.]
When, therefore, Antonio mentioned Bishop Mackenzie and Dr Livingstone,a gleam of intelligent interest lit up Kambira's swarthy countenance,and he was about to speak, but suddenly checked himself, and a sternfrown chased the gleam away.
"The Manganja," he said, after a few moments' silence, during which poorAntonio eyed him with some distrust, "know well that these men of Godwere not of the same country as the Arab and the Portuguese; that theyhated slavery and loved the Manganja, and that the graves of some ofthem are with us now; but we know also that some white men are greatliars. How am I to make sure that your leaders are English? Why didyou not bring down the Manganja men and women you say are with you?"
"The women were footsore, and fell behind with their men," answeredAntonio, "and we thought it best not to wait for them."
"Go," rejoined Kambira, waving his hand; "if you be true men let theEnglishmen come to me, and also the Manganja, _without guns_, then Iwill believe you.--Go."
The peremptory manner in which this was said left no room for reply.Antonio therefore returned to his friends, and the chief to his cover.
On consultation and consideration it was agreed that Kambira's adviceshould be acted on, "For," said Disco, removing the pipe with which hehad been solacing himself during Antonio's absence, "we can plant ourfellers on the knoll here with a blunderbuss each, and arrange a signalso that, if there should be anything like foul play, we'd have nothin'to do but hold aloft a kercher or suthin o' that sort, an' they'd pour abroadside into 'em afore they could wink--d'ee see?"
"Not quite clearly," replied Harold, smiling, "because some of ourfellows can't take an aim at all, much less a good one, so they'd be aslikely to shoot us as them."
Disco pondered this a little, and shook his head, then shook the ashesout of his pipe, and said that on the whole he was willing to risk it--that they "could not expect to travel through Afriky without riskingsummat."
As Chimbolo with his wife and the rest of the party came up at thatmoment the case was put before him. He at once advised compliance withKambira's request saying that the presence of himself and his friendswould be quite sufficient to put the chief's mind at rest.
In a few minutes the plan was carried out and Kambira satisfied of thegood faith of his visitors. Nevertheless he did not at once throw openhis arms to them. He stood upon his dignity; asked them a good manyquestions, and answered a good many more, addressing himself always toAntonio as the spokesman, it being a point of etiquette not to addressthe principal of the party. Then, presents were exchanged, in themanagement of which a considerable time was spent. One of the warriorshaving in the meantime been despatched to recall the fugitives, thesebegan to pour out of the woods, the frail old people and forsakentoddlers being the last to return, as they had been the last to fly.
After this, fires were kindled, fowls were chased, caught, slain,plucked, roasted, and boiled; hippopotamus-flesh was produced, thestrangers were invited to make themselves at home, which they very soondid. Beer and bang were introduced; the celebrated fiddler wasreinstated, the dance, which had been so long delayed, was at lastfairly begun, and, as if to make the picture perfect and felicitycomplete, the moon came out from behind a thick cloud, and clothed thevalley with a flood of silver light.