“Hunt ostriches!” I exclaimed; “how can such a bad shot as you hunt ostriches?”
“Ah, sir,” he answered, “I manage to get at them well enough.”
“How so?” I inquired.
“Well, I always take a man with me, and we look about till we discover a nest, and then we dig a hole pretty close to it in which I hide myself. The birds come to sit, and it doesn’t want a very good shot to knock over an ostrich when it is just at hand. Well, having made sure of one bird, we stick up its skin on a pole near the nest, and except we are seen, and so scare the birds away, a second ostrich is soon decoyed, and I get another chance. In this way I succeed very well; besides, I get lots of eggs.”
Whilst at the springs I learnt the meaning of some of the Masarwa and Bamangwato appellations. I might give numerous examples, but one or two will suffice. I found, for instance, that Khori, the district on the side arm of the Shaneng, means “a bustard,” and that Mokhotsi means “a strong current.”
On leaving our encampment on the 10th we had to travel for two hours through the sandy underwood to the next of the Klamaklenyana springs. Here I met an elephant-hunter named Mayer and a Dutchman, Mynheer Herbst, and only a little further on at another watering-place I fell in with a second Dutchman called Jakobs, and Mr. Kurtin, an ivory-trader. Mr. Kurtin told me that on previous expeditions into this neighbourhood he had lost no fewer than sixty-six oxen through the poisonous plant that I have mentioned. Jakobs entertained us with the accounts of his hunting-expeditions, and particularly with some adventures of the famous Pit Jacobs. Mayer and Herbst were in partnership, and had recently had the satisfaction of shooting a fine female elephant; they had just engaged the services of some Makalakas, who a few days previously had offered themselves to me, but so bad was my opinion of all that branch of the Bantus, and so evil was the appearance of the men themselves, that not only would I have nothing to do with them, but recommended their new employers to get rid of them at once. To their cost, however, they acted without regard to my advice. When I met Mayer some seven months later, he told me that they had robbed him freely and had then run away.
It was about this time that I made my first acquaintance with the Madenassanas, the serfs of the Bamangwatos. They are a fine race, tall and strongly built, especially the men, but with a repulsive cast of countenance, so that it was somewhat surprising to find from time to time some nice-looking faces among the women. Their skin is almost black, and they have stiff woolly hair which hangs down for more than an inch over their forehead and temples, whilst it is quite short all over the skull.
Whenever a Bamangwato makes his expedition to the pool plateau, his first proceeding is to look up some Madenassanas whom he may compel to go hunting with him and assist him in procuring ivory, whether for himself or for the king; but their residences are generally in such secluded and remote places, that it is often very difficult to find them, unless conducted by some of the Madenassanas themselves. The eldest inhabitant in each little settlement is regarded as a sort of inferior chief, so that it is best for any white man, in want of Madenassana help, to make direct application to him. If hired only for a short period, they are sufficiently paid by three or four pounds of beads, or by a few articles of woollen clothing; but if the engagement should extend to anything like six months the remuneration generally expected would be a musket.
Unlike many of the Bantu races, the Madenassanas respect the law of marriage, which is performed with very simple rites; conjugal fidelity is held in the highest esteem, but jealousy, I was told, which rarely shows itself very prominently amongst other tribes, often impels them to serious crimes. They were uniformly spoken of as a very contented people, and certainly they make far better servants than either the Masarwas or Makalaharis. Dwelling as they do, in the north-west corner of the kingdom, far away from Shoshong, their relations with the Bamangwatos are much less servile than those of the Masarwas, who are found all over the country. They have guns of their own, and are visited only once a year by officials sent by the king to collect their tribute, and to appoint them their share of hunting-work.
The Makalakas (of whom I had so low an opinion) were moving about in large numbers between the Nata and Zambesi in 1875 and 1876; they were chiefly fugitives from Shoshong, having been expelled thence by the inhabitants, who were infuriated by their treachery.