Passing the rivulet Losito, and through the ranges of hills, we reached the residence of Semalembue on the 18th. His village is situated at the bottom of ranges through which the Kafue finds a passage, and close to the bank of that river. The Kafue, sometimes called Kahowhe or Bashukulompo River, is upward of two hundred yards wide here, and full of hippopotami, the young of which may be seen perched on the necks of their dams. At this point we had reached about the same level as Linyanti.
Semalembue paid us a visit soon after our arrival, and said that he had often heard of me, and now that he had the pleasure of seeing me, he feared that I should sleep the first night at his village hungry. This was considered the handsome way of introducing a present, for he then handed five or six baskets of meal and maize, and an enormous one of ground-nuts. Next morning he gave me about twenty baskets more of meal. I could make but a poor return for his kindness, but he accepted my apologies politely, saying that he knew there were no goods in the country from which I had come, and, in professing great joy at the words of peace I spoke, he said, "Now I shall cultivate largely, in the hope of eating and sleeping in peace." It is noticeable that all whom we have yet met eagerly caught up the idea of living in peace as the probable effect of the Gospel. They require no explanation of the existence of the Deity. Sekwebu makes use of the term "Reza", and they appear to understand at once. Like negroes in general, they have a strong tendency to worship, and I heard that Semalembue gets a good deal of ivory from the surrounding tribes on pretense of having some supernatural power. He transmits this to some other chiefs on the Zambesi, and receives in return English cotton goods which come from Mozambique by Babisa traders. My men here began to sell their beads and other ornaments for cotton cloth. Semalembue was accompanied by about forty people, all large men. They have much wool on their heads, which is sometimes drawn all together up to the crown, and tied there in a large tapering bunch. The forehead and round by the ears is shaven close to the base of this tuft. Others draw out the hair on one side, and twist it into little strings. The rest is taken over, and hangs above the ear, which gives the appearance of having a cap cocked jauntily on the side of the head.
The mode of salutation is by clapping the hands. Various parties of women came from the surrounding villages to see the white man, but all seemed very much afraid. Their fear, which I seldom could allay, made them, when addressed, clap their hands with increasing vigor. Sekwebu was the only one of the Makololo who knew this part of the country; and this was the region which to his mind was best adapted for the residence of a tribe. The natives generally have a good idea of the nature of the soil and pasturage, and Sekwebu expatiated with great eloquence on the capabilities of this part for supplying the wants of the Makololo. There is certainly abundance of room at present in the country for thousands and thousands more of population.
We passed near the Losito, a former encampment of the Matebele, with whom Sekwebu had lived. At the sight of the bones of the oxen they had devoured, and the spot where savage dances had taken place, though all deserted now, the poor fellow burst out into a wild Matebele song. He pointed out also a district, about two days and a half west of Semalembue, where Sebituane had formerly dwelt. There is a hot fountain on the hills there named "Nakalombo", which may be seen at a distance emitting steam. "There," said Sekwebu, "had your Molekane (Sebituane) been alive, he would have brought you to live with him. You would be on the bank of the river, and, by taking canoes, you would at once sail down to the Zambesi, and visit the white people at the sea."
This part is a favorite one with the Makololo, and probably it would be a good one in which to form a centre of civilization. There is a large, flat district of country to the north, said to be peopled by the Bashukulompo and other tribes, who cultivate the ground to a great extent, and raise vast quantities of grain, ground-nuts, sweet potatoes, etc. They also grow sugar-cane. If they were certain of a market, I believe they would not be unwilling to cultivate cotton too, but they have not been accustomed to the peaceful pursuits of commerce. All are fond of trade, but they have been taught none save that in ivory and slaves.
The Kafue enters a narrow gorge close by the village of Semalembue; as the hill on the north is called Bolengwe, I apply that name to the gorge (lat. 15d 48' 19" S., long. 28d 22' E.). Semalembue said that he ought to see us over the river, so he accompanied us to a pass about a mile south of his village, and when we entered among the hills we found the ford of the Kafue. On parting with Semalembue I put on him a shirt, and he went away with it apparently much delighted.
The ford was at least 250 yards broad, but rocky and shallow. After crossing it in a canoe, we went along the left bank, and were completely shut in by high hills. Every available spot between the river and the hills is under cultivation; and the residence of the people here is intended to secure safety for themselves and their gardens from their enemies; there is plenty of garden-ground outside the hills; here they are obliged to make pitfalls to protect the grain against the hippopotami. As these animals had not been disturbed by guns, they were remarkably tame, and took no notice of our passing. We again saw numbers of young ones, not much larger than terrier dogs, sitting on the necks of their dams, the little saucy-looking heads cocking up between the old one's ears; as they become a little older they sit on the withers. Needing meat, we shot a full-grown cow, and found, as we had often done before, the flesh to be very much like pork. The height of this animal was 4 feet 10 inches, and from the point of the nose to the root of the tail 10 feet 6. They seem quarrelsome, for both males and females are found covered with scars, and young males are often killed by the elder ones: we met an instance of this near the falls.
We came to a great many little villages among the hills, as if the inhabitants had reason to hide themselves from the observation of their enemies. While detained cutting up the hippopotamus, I ascended a hill called Mabue asula (stones smell badly), and, though not the highest in sight, it was certainly not 100 feet lower than the most elevated. The boiling-point of water showed it to be about 900 feet above the river, which was of the level of Linyanti. These hills seemed to my men of prodigious altitude, for they had been accustomed to ant-hills only. The mention of mountains that pierced the clouds made them draw in their breath and hold their hands to their mouths. And when I told them that their previous description of Taba cheu had led me to expect something of the sort, I found that the idea of a cloud-capped mountain had never entered into their heads. The mountains certainly look high, from having abrupt sides; but I had recognized the fact by the point of ebullition of water, that they are of a considerably lower altitude than the top of the ridge we had left. They constitute, in fact, a sort of low fringe on the outside of the eastern ridge, exactly as the (apparently) high mountains of Angola (Golungo Alto) form an outer low fringe to the western ridge. I was much struck by the similarity of conformation and nature of the rocks on both sides of the continent; but there is a difference in the structure of the subtending ridges, as may be understood by the annexed ideal geological section.
*[The ASCII edition cannot include the drawing of the cross-section, but the comments are included in full.—A. L., 1997.]
IDEAL SECTION ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL AFRICA,
INTENDED TO SHOW THE ELEVATED VALLEY FORM OF THAT PORTION OF THE CONTINENT.
———————————————————
WEST.
[Terrain] [Remarks]
Sea. CALCAREOUS TUFA.
TRAP. With modern shells, and similar to those now found
in the sea adjacent, with strongly magnetic iron ore.
MICA SCHIST. Dipping East.
SANDSTONE (like that of East Africa). The rocks
Pungo Andongo. of Pungo Andongo are a conglomerate of rounded shingle in
Rocks 4000 feet. a matrix of sandstone, and stand on horizontal sandstone,
on which fossil palms appear.
Fault.
RED SHALES CAPPED BY FERRUGINOUS CONGLOMERATE.
Soft red shale or "keele".
G| 5000 feet.
R| Water boils
E| at 202 Deg.
A| On top, ferruginous conglomerate; below that, red shale,
T| 4500 feet. with banks of gravel.
| Lake Dilolo.
C| TUFA AND TRAP. In Londa, the bottom of the valley
E| 2500 feet. is formed of ferruginous conglomerate on the surface;
N| Lake Ngami. hardened sandstone, with madrepore holes,
T| banks of gravel, and occasionally trap;
R| south of 12 Degrees, large patches of soft
A| TUFA. calcareous tufa, with pebbles of jasper,
L| agates, &c., lie on various horizontal traps,
| amygdaloids with analami and mesotype, which is
P| burst through by basaltic rocks forming hills,
L| and showing that the bottom of the valley
A| RADIATED ZEOLITE. consists of old silurian schists;
T| there are also various granitic rocks
E| cropping through the trap.
A|
U| BASALTIC ROCKS. Augitic porphyry and basalt,
.| with tufa over it.
Place of Great Cataract.
MICA SCHIST. White mica schist dipping west, and gneiss.
5000 feet. Kalomo.
Water boils GRANITE. With black mica.
at 202 Deg.
MICA SCHIST. White mica schist and white marble.
Hill tops TRAP. Hot fountain; conical hills of igneous rocks,
4000 feet. containing much mica.
Bottoms 3500 feet.
MICA SCHIST. Pink marble dolomite,
on hills of mica schist, of various colours, with trap,
schorl in gneiss, kyanite or disthene gneissose mica
in the schist.
1500 ft. COAL IN SANDSTONE. Specular and magnetic iron
on various igneous rocks; finely laminated porphyry;
granite; hot fountain.
Sandstone overlying coal; trap dykes;
syenitic porphyry dykes; black vesicular trap,
penetrating in thin veins the clay shale of the country,
converting it into porcellanite, and partially
crystallizing the coal. On this sandstone
lie fossil palms, and coniferous trees
converted into silica, as on a similar rock in Angola.
COMPACT SILICEOUS SCHIST.
IGNEOUS ROCKS. Trappean rocks, with hot fountain.
CALCAREOUS TUFA. Arkose, or granitic grit,
with modern shells covered by calcareous tufa.
Sea.
EAST.