CHAPTER IX.
SECOND VISIT TO THE MARUTSE KINGDOM.
Departure for Impalera—A Masupia funeral—Sepopo’s wives—Travelling plans—Flora and fauna of the Sesheke woods—Arrival of a caravan—A fishing-excursion—Mashoku, the king’s executioner—Masangu—The prophetic dance—Visit from the queens—Blacksmith’s bellows—Crocodiles and crocodile-tackle—The Mankoë—Constitution and officials of the Marutse kingdom—A royal elephant-hunt—Excursion to the woods—A buffalo-hunt—Chasing a lioness—The lion dance—Mashukulumbe at Sepopo’s court—Moquai, the king’s daughter—Marriage festivities.
HUNTING THE SPUR-WINGED GOOSE.
When I found myself once again sitting in my waggon at Panda ma Tenka, I occupied myself in writing my journal, but I was altogether much dispirited and out of sorts, the continued pain in my feet tending in no slight degree to aggravate my sense of depression. I was temporarily cheered by the companionship of my good dog Niger, who returned to me after having been left behind at the falls; but I felt very keenly the prospect of soon losing him altogether for a time; I was unwilling to expose him to the attacks of the tsetse-fly, and accordingly had arranged for my Bamangwato servant, Meriko, to take him back with him to Shoshong and confide him to the care of Mr. Mackenzie. Could I have foreseen that I was parting with the creature finally, I would not have suffered him to leave my side; I paid Meriko well to attend to him, and took care that he had a proper supply of provisions, but unfortunately it turned out that Mr. Mackenzie was away from home; poor Niger was entrusted to a waggon-driver in the employ of Messrs. Francis and Clark, who just then was starting for Grahamstown, and from that time forward, notwithstanding all my inquiries, I never could ascertain what became of him.
By this time I had come almost to the end of the stock of goods that I had procured for bartering; it was absolutely necessary that the supply should be replenished, and in spite of the exorbitant prices that were asked I had no alternative but to buy what calico, cloth, and beads I could.
On the 27th I had an attack of dysentery, which happily did not prove very serious.
During my stay I made the acquaintance of a man named Henry W., who came from the neighbourhood of Grahamstown; he was an experienced hunter, but somehow or other I could not take to him; I could not get over the barbarities which he permitted during his excursions. On one occasion, after wounding a female elephant that had been pursuing him, he allowed his servants to torture it for a couple of hours with their assegais before he put the poor brute out of its miseries by shooting it dead.
Although there had been no rain in the district for several months, the two days before we left Panda ma Tenka were wet and stormy. When we started we made but a very short progress on the first day, as my baggage proved too heavy for the cart, and I was obliged to halt and send back for a waggon; this did not arrive until the afternoon of the following day, but we lost no time in moving forwards again, and spent the night on the Gashuma Flat. Our encampment was an attraction to several lions that prowled around, ready to pounce upon any animal that might be scared from the enclosure.
Three out of my four servants spoke as many different dialects, Sesupia, Setonga, and Senansa, but they all understood the Sesuto-Serotse, so that from the chatter which they kept up I was able to pick up a number of colloquial expressions.