The natives, amongst whom we have sojourned during the past few months, have never been able to make up their minds to cultivate the ground, although the soil requires so little labour, and repays the slightest attention. They reap the harvest before it is ripe, gather the fruit whilst it is still green, and in every conceivable way display their ingratitude towards the paradise where accident has made them see the light. If they become tired of the vegetables and fruit which Nature places ready to their hands, if the manna which falls from heaven does not suffice them, and if they hanker after more substantial food, they betake themselves to plundering their neighbours, "lifting" their cattle, and growing fat at their expense.
For the last few days, on the other hand, we have been passing through a vast territory in a state of perfect cultivation, whose inhabitants are self-dependent. Oxen form the wealth of the country, and every hamlet possesses a large quantity of them. They roam at will through the extensive pasture-grounds watered by numerous streams converging towards the Keebally. This constant supply of water renders the plains as green, even in summer, as they are in the height of the rainy season. Vast forests encircle them and shelter them from the sun's rays, and where the plain is of too great an extent to be effectually shaded by the surrounding woods, trees scattered here and there prevent all possibility of its being parched and dried up. Here one sees a tamarind tree, eighty feet in diameter, and forming a perfect bower; there a baobab, with a circumference of twenty yards.
Such of the cattle as are not allowed to roam about, are herded in large kraals surrounded by palisades and guarded by herdsmen, who keep large fires burning to protect them from the flies and mosquitoes. We are in the midst of a mild-mannered race of shepherds, who fight in self-defence alone, when their wealth provokes the cupidity of their neighbours. As a measure of precaution, sentries continually patrol round the kraals and villages, and the war-drum is ever in readiness to summon the tribe to arms. As if to assert that they are neither invaders nor oppressors, but confine themselves to protecting their native land, their dwellings and their families, the Maleggas do not possess any weapon of attack. They replace the bow and arrow by a long-bladed knife, and a formidable iron-headed club.
These people defend themselves valiantly, and their neighbours are so well aware of it that they hesitate to attack them. In other respects the Maleggas show themselves friendly-disposed towards the bordering tribes, and, in order to enjoy the blessings of peace, and herd their cattle in ease and tranquillity, they pay tribute to those whose strength they fear. They never trouble their heads about the Domondoos, their northern neighbours, because the Monbuttoos, as we have already seen, make it their business to bring that nation to reason once a year, and carry all its able-bodied men into slavery.
Amongst this tribe, out of place in the heart of Africa, planted, apparently, by God, to be an example to their neighbours—an example, by-the-way, by which those neighbours do not profit the least—we ought very easily to obtain the information we seek.
If accident had not placed in our hands the notes written by M. de Guéran, we should not have learnt a single thing from the Domondoos, who were incapable even of understanding our interpreters and replying to them. But here, with the knowledge we have already gained of the negro dialects, which are very various, but always, to a certain extent, analogous, we can often manage to convey our own meaning, and grasp the sense, at all events, of what is said to us. The vocabularies of these tribes are not so voluminous as our own; a few simple words and certain expressions, adopted into common usage, form the foundation of the language. By degrees, one gets to understand these, and any verbal deficiencies are made up advantageously by a look or a gesture.
These interviews were not always easily arranged, because in the first districts we passed through, our arrival produced great consternation. King Kadjoro, however, lost no time in assuring his subjects that they had nothing to fear from the Monbuttoos, and Munza, at the same time, maintained strict discipline in his army, having secured that desirable end by the summary execution of a few thieves and marauders.
In spite of these delicate attentions on the part of Munza, and the remonstrances of their own King, the peaceable Maleggas in the first instance took to flight at the very approach of our noisy and always unruly army. But by degrees, when the soldiers had constructed their camp, and it was seen that they laid aside their arms and lolled about quietly in the shade, the natives returned to their homes, and frequently came to our side of the encampment.
Without being almost entirely clothed, as the Monbuttoos are, the Maleggas wear a species of drawers made out of cow-hide, which renders them presentable. This is supplemented by tattooing, in their case very complicated, composed of curved and straight lines crossing each other, with zigzags and circles intermixed. The women, following the example of their sisters in other tribes, wear a costume of leaves, and are not sparing of the material, which is always of considerable dimensions. Near the equator, Nature is liberal with her foliage, and the Malegga ladies take advantage of her generosity to give amplitude to their garments.
It was not long before we were surrounded by curious, but not offensively inquisitive groups. We, on our side, scanned the crowd attentively, so as to single out the man or woman whose appearance held out the greatest promise of intelligence. When we hit upon a likely subject, we called him or her, as the case might be, to come to us. The individual thus distinguished would hesitate at first, and show signs of retreating, but urged on by his comrades he would end by waddling awkwardly towards us.