My list of the Marutse handicraft would hardly be complete if I omitted to mention the fly-flappers. These are made in two parts, the handle and the whisk; the handles are either wood, reed, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, or buffalo hide; or occasionally they are formed of the horns of a gazelle or a rhinoceros; the whisks are composed of the long hair of the withers or tails of animals, of manes or feathers, no material being more common than the tails of bullocks, gnus, and jackals. The brush is fastened either inside or outside the handle, with bast, grass, horsehair, or sinew; and in most cases the handle is carved, though sometimes it is decorated instead with rings of horsehair or bands of snake-skin.
CHAPTER XIII.
IN THE LESHUMO VALLEY.
Departure from Sesheke—Refractory boatmen—An effectual remedy—Beetles in the Leshumo Valley—The chief Moia—A phenomenon—A party of invalids—Sepopo’s bailiffs—Kapella’s flight—A heavy storm—Discontent in the Marutse kingdom—Departure for Panda ma Tenka.
CAMP IN THE LESHUMO VALLEY.
Convinced that to remain any longer in Sesheke would be to endanger my life, I had consented, but with extreme reluctance, to take my departure. The boatmen who were conveying me knew perfectly well that I was going away from Sepopo for good, and did not allow many hours to pass before they began to show that they did not care what became of me, and insisted on drawing up at a place where there was no better accommodation than a couple of miserable huts, that had been put up for the use of the fishermen who periodically visited the lagoons. I made my servants carry me on shore, and sent them out to get some fish. They only procured five, of which I gave them four, and had the other broiled for myself.
After dinner I discovered that the boatmen had made up their minds to go no farther that day, although nothing could be more unhealthy or less suitable for a night encampment than the spot where they had pulled up. The two huts were on a reedy island just opposite a swamp; and, to make matters worse, I found that as my boat had been the last to arrive, they had both been appropriated by the crews that had landed before me, so that I was obliged to wait while my servants erected me another. This took them about two hours and a half; and when with the help of the boatmen they had put my baggage inside, they found that they had made it so small that it was with the utmost difficulty that they squeezed me in afterwards and laid me upon my boxes. It was so low that my face actually touched the roof, which was made of the grass that had been washed ashore by the last year’s floods, and, being still damp, emitted a most unpleasant smell, which, combined with the exhalations from the swamp, made the atmosphere intolerably oppressive. Sleep under the circumstances was quite impossible, and I lay brooding sadly over my frustrated plans and my final disappointment. The snorting of the hippopotamuses in the water, and the cry of the herons, were the only sounds that broke the stillness.
Before midnight some small dark clouds arose, and gradually overspread the heavens, till not a star was to be seen. To my exhausted system the sultriness became more than ever trying, and the hours wore away without affording me the least refreshment.
Soon after sunrise we resumed our journey down the stream, but the slovenly and care-for-naught way in which the boatmen handled the baggage, and the general tone of their behaviour, warned me what I had to expect. The more I hurried them, the slower they went, and after a while, finding that a slight breeze was getting up, they pulled up all of a sudden at a sandbank, and declared that they would not proceed another inch.
I promised them beads, I threatened them with punishment from Sepopo, my servants blustered and stormed; but it was all to no purpose, the men only laughed; some of them went away and laid themselves down to sleep on the sand; others remained where they were, and appeared to chuckle over my weakness, enjoying the helplessness of my condition. This was a state of things that I was not disposed to allow. The remedy was not far to find. I was quite aware that the Marutse people were acquainted with very few guns better than the old musket. Taking my seat at the bow of my boat, I began handling my breech-loader. After letting it flash for a few minutes in the sun, I took aim at a reedstalk standing just between two groups of the refractory boatmen, who, whether they were really asleep or not, in a moment started to their feet. Not many minutes afterwards I fired again, hitting the mark I had selected with due precision. My third shot grazed the stump of the reed I had already broken. The little expedient I had adopted answered admirably, every one of the fellows seemed instantaneously to return to his senses; the boats began to glide off into the water as it were by some secret magic, and we were very soon on our way again. The boatmen begged me not to fire any more; they did not like the noise; they would pull hard, and would bring me very quickly where I could shoot plenty of “polocholo” (game). Within three hours I landed at Makumba’s baobab.