Chapter Twenty Four.
The physical geographical features of that region, lying between the Matabele and Mashona country, and the Indian Ocean, now under the rule of the chief Umzela and other chiefs.
This extensive portion of South Central Africa abuts on the north-east boundary of the Transvaal, the eastern boundary of the Mashona and Matabeleland, and the Zambese in the north, up to 29 degrees 50 minutes East longitude. On the east by the Indian Ocean, and on the south by the Portuguese possessions at Delagoa Bay. The main watershed passing through the Mashona country, which divides the Limpopo from the Zambese river, in 18 degrees 10 minutes South latitude, turns east and separates the waters flowing into the Zambese, through the Mazoe river, from that which flows into the Sabia, runs south down to 21 degrees 10 minutes South latitude, 32 degrees 5 minutes East longitude, when it turns easterly and north-east, and enters the south side of Sofala Bay. This river has many tributaries on the west, draining a portion of the Mashona country, but on the eastern bank there are few, and those but small. The most important river is the Buzi, taking its rise from many small tributaries in a hilly district, to the east of the Sabia in 20 degrees 30 minutes South latitude, 32 degrees 30 minutes East longitude, on a tributary of which the Umsweleze, the chief Umzela’s kraal, is situated; the Buzi from this point takes a sweep round in a north-east direction, and enters the Indian Ocean in 19 degrees 50 minutes South latitude, passing through the Sofala region, between this latter river and the Sabia. The Garogesi river enters Sofala Bay.
There are several small rivers north of the Buzi to the mouth of the Zambese, that drain the coast-line, which is very flat and marshy. The tributaries of the Zambese are the Zangwe, Sankatsi, Mowila—the main branch of the Mazoe enters the river below Tette—Nake, Zingesi, and Panyame. In the northern portion, between the Mashona and Zambese, are many isolated and extensive hills,—Vimga, Nadsu, and Vimiga, drained by the Nake and Zingesi. To the east of these hills is the Lobolo mountain, with its many spurs, and more to the east the Moltkeberg, drained by the Mazoe and its tributaries, Gaverese, Upa, Janhambe, Jankatse, and others of smaller note, all which are in the Zambese basin, which includes also—lower down that river—the Mowila, Sankatsi, and Zangwe.
The country towards the sea is flat and most uninteresting. There are several low ranges of hills in outlying districts. The country generally is dense bush, and full of game. The Portuguese possessions do not extend many miles beyond the south bank of the Zambese river. The chiefs in those districts claim up to that line.
The altitude of the Lombolo mountain is 4200 feet, and the Moltkeberg 3700 feet above sea-level. The general rise of the country is 1700 feet, gradually sloping towards the Zambese and coast. The northern division is divided into different tribes under their respective chiefs. The Banyai country is between the Mashona and Zambese, in which is situated the Portuguese town of Tette, on the banks of the Zambese. Pretty and picturesque country around, with fruit of every kind, melons, oranges, lemons, sweet potatoes, pines, and every kind of vegetable; but the Portuguese are so lazy that everything is left almost to nature. The river is navigable for small steamers for seventy miles above Tette, which is situated 260 miles from its mouth. Magnificent timber trees grow in the valleys, and on the slopes of the hills ivory palm, Mali palm, the palm that grows to the height of eighty feet; the seed of the fruit is eaten by the natives; it grows in the uplands, and down on the low-lying swampy country. Mashola, a tree that bears a round fruit similar to the Kaffir orange. The india-rubber tree is very common; the fruit can be eaten. The Umtonto tree is used for making baskets and other things. Large tracts of country are covered with the Mowasha bush, mahogany, and ebony up in the hill districts, and all similar trees found growing in the Mashona country are found there.
There are many native villages along the banks of the several streams, the country being very thickly populated, particularly in the hill districts, and the people are industrious and skilful workmen in all branches of trade, and they make their own blankets from the wild cotton and baobab tree, which they work by hand, the former by having the yarn spun by hand with a small stick, weighted at the end; four sticks are stuck in the ground to form a kind of loom, the yarn stretched tight, and being wound on a piece of wood, is passed backwards and forwards, the strands being threaded, to allow the woof to pass through and through by a backward movement of the hand. They can make blankets the usual size, and very white and strong. They also manufacture bands of various sizes for native uses. The blankets made from the bark of the tree, and bags to hold milk, are very strong and beautifully made. The females are fond of ornamenting their persons, wearing copper and brass rings round their necks, on their legs and arms, and some have silver, which I was told is got out of the mountains. Gold is found in all the mines in the Banyai country; the natives sell it to the Portuguese at Tette, and quartz reefs cross the country in many districts; several portions have not yet been visited, consequently the richness of this region is not known.
On the mountains and high lands the country is healthy, but the low-lying ground in the rainy season is very unhealthy. Portuguese native traders are the only ones that go into those extensive regions, and supply the population with beads, brass wire, and other things in exchange for the gold-dust they procure from the rivers. There is an old fort on the Mazoe river, under the Lobolo mountains, and several others higher up that have been partly destroyed by the natives for walls for their gardens, where they plant small fields of cotton to make their blankets; a little piece is so occupied adjoining their huts, and it is found to grow very well in elevated positions. I have found it wild as high as 4300 feet above the sea-level, in a light soil, where water is not found near, but in the low lands it is very plentiful.
South of the Banyai country is the Batoka, in which is the Moltkaberg, watered by the Upa river, a tributary of the Luenya. The source of the Mazoe rises on the watershed in this region, at the Sakaloko kraal, in 18 degrees 0 minutes South latitude. Another spring issues close to Mebka kraal, and at Gangwesi kraal, at an elevation of 4210 feet above the sea, and flows north, on which there are many villages, close to several large vleis, and towards the east is the large kraal of the chief Makombes on the Mewila river. There are also many other native kraals situated on all the branches of this river down to the Zambese, and along its banks, Senna being the most important, where there are several hills that skirt it. The Batoka tribe is numerous—a fine, powerful race. The country is full of bush and fine timber, the same which grows in the Banyai district.
On the east of Batoka is the Senna region, which reaches to the Zambese and to its mouth, and along the eastern coast, down to where the Sofala joins it. All that is known of this country is that it is very flat and low; and within its boundary, on the banks of the Zambese, Dr Livingstone’s wife was taken ill and died, and was buried on its banks under a baobab tree, a little below the town of Shupanga, and opposite to the town of Mulu. Forty miles above the great river Shire branches off, which flows from Lake Shirwa, in 15 degrees 0 minutes South latitude, 35 degrees 50 minutes East longitude. There are few hills in this part of the country of any note. Cotton grows abundantly, and vegetation is coarse and rank in the swamps.
On the south of Batoka is Birue. This region joins up to the Mashona country, the Sabia being the boundary, Senna on the east, and Sofala on the south. The Sabia river rises in 18 degrees 10 minutes South latitude, near the village of Sakalato, and flows south as before stated. Upon the banks are Kambesa, Gansuma, Umsosa, Kambiss, and others. The country is high, with hills of no great extent, thickly wooded, with abundance of large game of every kind; palms, baobab, mahogany, ebony, mapari, india-rubber, and a variety of other trees. The valley along the river is very pretty and picturesque, well cultivated by the natives, and produces every kind of vegetable. The people are civil, but very inquisitive, and great beggars. White cotton seems to be much in demand. The land gradually descends towards the ocean, until the flat and swampy country is reached.
To the south of Birue is the district of Quitive, a portion of Sofala that joins up to the Sabia, on the south by Umselayon region. This district is supposed to be the kingdom of the Queen of Sheba. Manica is the principal kraal, near which are several ancient ruins, and the remains of a tower a few miles to the north-west of Manica. It stands on high ground, 4100 feet above sea-level, which descends to the east, and not far from the ruins is a large sheet of water, also several plains on the south of Manica. The population is a mixed race, composed of Umgovis, who are part Zulus, Mandowas, Basigas, Batagas, Mashonas, and others, who are under the chief Umzela. There are extensive open grass-lands, and the low-lying country is healthy during five months of the winter, when there is no fear of taking the fever. Thirty miles south of Manica the land rises to 4458 feet.
To the east of this district is the Sofala region, in which the Portuguese town and port of Sofala are situated. The town is but a poor place, as all the Portuguese towns are on this coast; but they command all the trade of the up districts, which is considerable in ivory, skins, a few ostrich feathers, and other products of the country. It is situated in 20 degrees 10 minutes South latitude, 34 degrees 30 minutes East longitude. The country at the back of the town is hilly, occupied by the Mandowa tribe, and is more healthy. The river Bozi flows through it to the sea, well-wooded with fine timber and bush. Elephants, rhinoceros, and large game abound. Rice, cotton, spices of all kinds, oranges, lemons, citrons, bananas, figs, and wild fruit. I was told that Umzela, the chief who occupies the country south, claims as paramount chief all those districts in the north, down to the Mandanda region; but his claim is something similar to that of the Portuguese, who lay claim to all South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean, from Sofala. He must be content to put up with such regions as he now has power to govern; and those countries north of Birue are independent, except such portions along the coast and up the Zambese as the Portuguese have the power to rule, which is not much beyond the guns at their so-called forts. With respect to any extensive or strong stone remains of ancient cities, supposed to have belonged to the love-sick Queen, there are none, beyond those that have been erected without mortar. If this district formed part of her kingdom where she resided, her palace must have been small, and of no account. If substantial buildings had been erected, they would surely be there now, as the natives with the means at their disposal could not have destroyed them; but what is so remarkable is that no relics have been found of any kind, no rubbish left where they may have stood. The only one I discovered was in a stream of the Sabia, where the copper beads were found. It was an oval piece of copper, the size of a sixpence, and as thick, with much defaced marks on both sides that cannot be made out, being so much worn. To pronounce it a coin would be premature. When the country is properly prospected, there may be found sufficient evidence to settle this long-disputed question; but if extensive ruins existed, the natives would know, and it would soon have reached the ears of travellers that have passed through that country. There must be some foundation for these ancient traditional reports. The country shows that in remote times gold in large quantities has been extracted from the earth, and if it is so easily found in the rivers, why should not nuggets have been found lying on the surface, which first drew the attention of the ancients to look for it. The name of the river flowing through this region, the “Sabia,” may have been changed by time from “Sheba,” the same as “Sofala” for “S’Ophir.” There is also a ruin called Piza, and another Manica, two names foreign to the other names of the country; and the region of Monomotapa may have received its name from some early inhabitants, descendants of the people under this renowned queen. At present nothing is definite on this point, and the magnificence of her palaces have been, much overrated in ancient history. If this was the real Ophir of Solomon, the Arabs along the coast and at Sofala believe this to be the true Ophir, Umzela was the great chief of all that part of the country known as the Birue, Quitive, Sofala, and Mandanda regions. His chief kraal, Utshani, is situated in 20 degrees 27 minutes South latitude, 32 degrees 28 minutes East longitude, between lofty hills, the altitude being 3180 feet by aneroid barometer, and it is situated on the upper source of the Buzi river, which flows in a north-east direction and enters the Indian Ocean on the north of the town and port of Sofala. The country is very fertile, and the banks of the Sabia on the west of the town, through which that river meanders in a south direction, is flanked by high and picturesque hills, and clothed in all the beauty of tropical vegetation. Mahogany, ebony, untanto, palm, umchani, maparri, umsimbili, bananas, assagaai or lance wood, barrie, boschlemon, wild almond, kajaten (a fine black wood), knopjes doorn, wild olive, saffraan, fig, cabbage tree, makwakwe (the strychnine of the country), vitboom (quinine), india-rubber, and a host of other sorts that would fill a page if named, all most valuable for various purposes. Large flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle are reared. There is also the large game, such as elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, buffaloes, koodoos, and other large antelopes, lions, tigers, wolves, jackals, tiger-cats in plenty, beside the various earth-animals, ant-bears, porcupines, armadillos, and many others. Umzela’s territory is called Umselayon, which embraces all those districts above described. The mountains which completely encircle the chief’s kraal are very picturesque and peculiar in their form, making the Sinika river a tributary of the Buzi; which forms in its course almost a circle, thickly studded with fine timber and bush, and they do not extend much beyond the river towards the east, which is a low, flat country to the sea. The Portuguese have no control over any part of Umzela’s territory; they only hold possession of narrow slips of land along parts of the coast. The natives offered no opposition to my visits, and were willing to barter food for articles of clothing, principally linen cloth; but in many other portions of the country I had to use great caution to prevent suspicion as to the object of my visits. In many cases I have passed through tribes who would have been troublesome, but as I took goods to barter I was considered a trader, and as such one can journey almost anywhere. Some considered also I was a doctor or medicine-man, because I caught and preserved insects, snakes, and other small reptiles, besides plants. When this idea takes possession of some of the African races, they leave you unmolested; any injury they might inflict would be considered unlucky to themselves. I used to carry representations of snakes of wood, that are sold in England, and masks with extensive noses, so that when the natives came round my waggon begging, as they frequently did, from two to three hundred at a time, I would draw down the front sail of the waggon, slip inside, put on one of these masks, and with the snake curling about in my hand jump out in their midst, when the women and children would rush away howling, the men after them, to their kraals, and I would be left free from annoyance. During my stay at their station, before I could obtain these things, I used a large burning-glass, and when any one troubled me, would burn their hand until it began to pain. Then I would run after others, which soon cleared them off. Travelling past their kraals so frequently they knew my waggon, and if they pestered me for presents I had only to get out my sun-glass, and they were away in no time.
The only rivers of consequence beside the Sabia and the Buzi in this portion of Umzela’s country are the Umkoni, Umswelise, Umtschomie, Gerongosi, the source of which rises not far from the Buzi, runs east, and enters the Indian Ocean, about twenty miles south of Sofala. The Lusuti rises with several branches about thirty miles to the north of Umzela’s kraal, and joins the Buzi sixty miles from its mouth. There is also the Haroni and its tributary the Lusiti, and the small river Donde that flows into the Sofala harbour. South of the Mandanda region are the districts of Sheshonga, Indobolini, Mashelbe, and Makalingi. To the east is the Manklin district, that takes the coast-line from Maramone Bay, down south to Cape Lady Grey, off which are the islands of Bazaruta, Benguela, Sigin, and a small group at Cape St. Sebastian. To the north of Maramone Bay, some thirty miles, are the two great islands of Chuluwan. All the coast-line is flat, infested with the tsetse-fly, and most unhealthy. The Mandowa tribe occupy the hill district and country inland from Sofala, and it is under the rule of Umzela, and is in charge of Imbasugwar, one of his chief men.
Manukuza, father of Umzela, is a Zulu from Zululand, who fled from Chaka, the great Zulu king. His followers are called Mongonis, and all the tribes under him, viz. Basigo, Kulu, Mandanda, Cholee, and Mandower, are called Tonges. Deloms, a chief of Umzela, is over the district of Mazibbe, and Sondaba, an Indian, over Sheshongi, which is on the south side of the Sabia. The country is flat and marshy, and full of game. Rhinoceros, elephants, koodoos, giraffes, wildebeest, wild hogs, and nearly all the antelope tribe, and zebras. Date and other palms, bananas, jute, and wild cotton, beside many native fruits abound.
A very poisonous plant grows on the flats, from which the natives extract, from the seed, poison to put on their assagais and arrows.
(This poison is the strongest known. An eminent toxicologist, who in distilling became inoculated with it through a slight scratch. He was nearly dying for six weeks, and said he had no idea that any poison could be so strong; it would kill a man in three minutes, and an elephant in one hour and a half. The flesh of animals killed by it is not poisonous. It loses its strength by evaporation in about a year.)
The country in places is noted for its immense ant-hills, almost as large as those I have described in another part of this work. The southern boundary of Umzela’s territory is not at present ascertained; the country south of that already described is known under the name of Umhlenga, where the Queen Mafussi, of Inhoxe, rules a portion, which is a vast, open, undulating country, through which the Limpopo flows for over 200 miles to the sea, at Port Alice. The Lundi river, a tributary of the Sabia, joins it in Umzela’s country. It is the continuation of the Ingwesi, mentioned in the Mashona description. To the south of this region, and inland from the town and port of Inhambane, is the region called Makwakwa or Marangwe—a strong, powerful race of the same tribe as the Chobis, Bala Kulu, Basiga, Mashongonini, and Mandandas. Inhambane is situated on the sea-coast. The territory is very narrow, not exceeding twenty miles inland, and eighty miles along the coast.
A small river, the Inyanombi, falls into the bay, and the river Zavara drains the country of the Makwakwa’s tribe—a low, flat region. There is still a tribe occupying a part of Umzela’s territory that call themselves the powerful Makololo race, of the same family that ruled an extensive region on the Zambese river above the Victoria Falls, and became a terror to the neighbouring tribes. The Barutse people fought and nearly exterminated them, scattering those left far and wide amongst other tribes, and broke up the race entirely. This Makololo nation on the Zambese extended as far as that white tribe mentioned, living on the Quito and upper portion of the Cubango—now become mixed with the black races, and from reports, a wild and savage race, eating human flesh. May not these two tribes have travelled up the Zambese together at some remote time? It seems singular that the Makololos in Umzela’s country should call themselves the once-powerful Makololo tribe; and we find them on the Upper Zambese, the most powerful tribe in all that central part of Africa, 400 miles away from those in Umzela’s land. It is an interesting study to trace the various periods, as they advanced south from Egypt, and to find at the present time many Arabian and Jewish customs amongst them; and another interesting feature of those races is that many names of places in Central Africa are precisely similar to many names in the islands of the South Pacific Ocean. So far as is known of this country, we come across limestone, slate shale, red sandstone, green stone, quartz, porphyritic rocks, gravel, and on the western slope of the highlands, granites.
Referring again to the land of Ophir, there are no black races in any other part of Africa that allow a woman to rule over them; but in the immediate neighbourhood of Sofala there are three queens, viz. Queen Mafussi over Inhoaxe, adjoining Umzela’s territory, and immediately on the south of her are the two Queens Majaji and Mescharoon. May not this be one identification, that it was right that woman should be a ruler as well as man, handed down from the Queen of Sheba’s time? Also a large portion of Madagascar is ruled over by an Arab race that must have settled there a very long time ago. Their language is Arabic, and queens of that island have and do now rule the greater portion of it.