In order to watch the nocturnal movements of the animals I spent the whole of the next night by the river. I chose a sandy spot, shut off on the side towards the water by a thicket of reeds, and waited for the moonlight to enable me to see all that went on in the lagoon. About eleven o’clock a herd of pallahs made their appearance, the leader growling with a low note by way of assuring the rest that all was safe. But nothing interested me so much as the manœuvres of a pair of large otters that emerged from the reeds opposite, and began hunting all round the margin of the creek, their success in catching their prey being far greater than that of the crocodiles. They stood for a few seconds about two feet from the edge of the water, then darted into the nearest clump of reeds, where they foraged with their snouts, and kept returning to devour their prey, which, as far as I could see, consisted entirely of small fish.
Having time on my hands, I next made a longer excursion; but though I much enjoyed my ramble, I was disappointed in not being able to secure either a pallah or a baboon. However I saw some very fine kingfishers (Ceryle maxima), as well as bee-catchers and cuckoos.
In due time the “rumela,” or salute, was fired from the opposite shore by Makumba, as a signal that the messengers had arrived from Sesheke, bringing a favourable answer from the king. It was my duty to acknowledge the salute by returning it, and I took the opportunity of having a few shots at the fruit of the moshungulu-tree; and by knocking down some, and splitting others, I received great applause from the Masupias who were present. A short time afterwards two little canoes were sent over to carry me across.
I estimated both the lower Chobe and the Zambesi as having a depth of between thirty and forty feet, and consequently being quite large enough for ships of considerable burden, but the different reaches are separated so frequently by ridges of rock, that the rapids make all navigation impracticable.
REMOVAL TO NEW SESHEKE.
On landing I was again greeted by Makumba with a salute, which I had again to return in due form. I was much struck as I entered the village by the construction of the huts and their enclosures. They were made of reeds, and built in the double style that I had noticed in the ruins of Mosilili’s town. Their diameter was about nine feet, that of the enclosure in which they stood being twenty-five. The ordinary height of every fence was nearly twelve feet. Never elsewhere had I seen any so tall. The entire length of the reeds was used partly as a protection from the floods of the summer months, but principally as a shelter from the wind. Some of the huts were made of grass as well as reeds. They were shaped like an oven, and consisted of two rooms and a verandah.
On a grass-plot near the middle of the settlement stood the council-hut, a conical roof of straw supported on a few not very substantial piles. Under it I noticed one of the morupas, or drums, that, as I afterwards learnt, are to be found in most Marutse and Masupia villages. The skin of the drum is pierced, and a short stick inserted into the opening, with another stick fixed transversely at its end, the whole instrument being a cylinder of about a foot to a foot and a half long. Their sound, which cannot be compared to anything much better than the creaking of new boots, is made by rubbing the stick with a piece of wet baobab-bast twisted round the hand of the performer. They are rarely brought into use except on occasions when the inhabitants are celebrating the return from a successful lion or leopard hunt with music and dancing.
Makumba himself, a dark skinned Masupia about forty years of age, received me very kindly. He was entertaining three other visitors, two English officers, Captain McLeod and Captain Fairly, and a Mr. Cowley, who had all come from Natal for the sake of some hunting. They had already obtained permission from Sepopo to enter his territory. They had sent him their presents, and were now on the point of returning to their waggon at Panda ma Tenka to complete all their preparations for their expedition. It subsequently transpired that they were greatly disappointed, and received anything but honourable treatment at the hands of the Marutse king. Captain McLeod informed me that he had killed an elephant with tusks weighing 100 lbs., and that Sepopo had taken them, under a promise to give him two others instead on his return to Sesheke.
We were entertained at one of Makumba’s residences with butshuala (kaffir-corn beer), which was brought in wooden bowls, and served out in gourd-shell cups. He was a staunch supporter of the king, and ultimately lost his life in his service. While I was with him, he took the opportunity of enlightening me as to some of Sepopo’s peculiarities, that I might regulate my proceedings accordingly.