TYPES OF MARUTSE.
Towards evening we arrived at a place which required very careful navigation; some trunks of trees that had been washed down by the stream had become imbedded in the ground, and formed dangerous impediments in the line of traffic; we succeeded, however, in passing them with safety, and just about sunset reached the spot where the royal ladies had landed. It was a bare sandy place on the bank, enclosed on two sides by sedge, and sheltered from the wind by tall bushes. The serving-maids had already lighted several fires, and had commenced their cooking, and a number of boats had been despatched to fetch reeds to build the huts for the night’s accommodation.
In the course of the day’s progress I had noticed a great many water-birds and swamp-birds, as well as starlings, finches, and kingfishers, all along the river.
Had I followed my own inclinations I should have stayed close to the spot where the queens had landed; but my boatmen recommended a place a few miles further on. Not suspecting any artifice on their part, I acceded to the proposal, though it turned out that their only motive was to separate me from the royal flotilla, that I might not have the protection of the queens if they should be inclined to be insolent or misconduct themselves in any way. It was quite late before we reached the landing-place to which they carried me, and which was a Mamboë settlement, containing a few huts occupied by fishermen and hippopotamus-hunters; their character being sufficiently indicated by the nets hung out on poles ornamented by crocodiles’ heads, and by the quantities of fish that were lying about. We found our quarters for the night in a grass-hut thirty yards long, but not more than ten feet wide and about ten feet high.
While we were reloading our boats in the morning the royal squadron came in sight, and we awaited its arrival. The Mamboë in the place sent the queens a bullock which had been slaughtered the evening previously, and Mokena, “the mother of the country,” was courteous enough to send me one of the hind-quarters. I made my own boatmen keep up with the others all the morning, and we made our way along with good speed. The boats were all well manned; and as they darted about, sometimes in the rear and sometimes well to the front, threading their way between the islands on the dark blue water, and past the luxuriant mimosas on the banks, they formed a picture that I should willingly have done my best to transfer to paper if I had not felt that every available moment ought to be employed in making the best survey I could of the cartographical features of the stream.
When it was necessary to give the energetic boatmen a rest we lay to for something under an hour against a sandbank opposite a Marutse settlement on the right-hand shore. They all enjoyed their dacha-pipes, while the queens partook of some light refreshment; one of them, Mamangala, thoughtfully sending me some broiled fish for my luncheon. The river-scenery, and the examples of animal life, corresponded very much with what I had noticed the day before.
Towards evening we arrived at a place where some recent travellers had left about twenty huts. Here we resolved to land; and, indeed, it was high time that we did so, as a storm was gathering, and it began to rain before I could get my baggage on shore. The fourth boat for which I had asked was here awaiting me. The storm continued till near midnight; and as the huts were not waterproof I was induced to use my wraps to protect my packages. While sitting dozing upon one of my boxes I slipped off, and woke to find myself lying in a great pool of water that had dripped through the thatch. Of such a night’s rest it was hardly to be expected that I should escape the consequences.
I yielded next morning to the solicitations of the boatmen, and started, much against my inclination, on a hunting-excursion across the plain stretching far away from the Sesheke woods towards the west. Overgrown with grass four or five feet high, the plain was full of swamps, and was subject to floods that left nothing unsubmerged except the few hillocks on which the Marutse had erected some straggling villages, the largest of which is called Matonga. The whole expedition was damp and dreary, and as far as sport was concerned absolutely fruitless. Before I reached our encampment, when we had only about another mile to go, I was seized with a sudden weariness, which increased so rapidly that I was unable to move a step, and my servants had to carry me the rest of the way back. I understood the symptoms only too well, and could come to no other conclusion than that I was in the preliminary stage of fever.
The boatmen were inclined to be very angry because we had come back without bringing a supply of game, and were also ready to make a disturbance with the villagers in Matonga for not procuring them enough corn and beer. I began to fear that I should have a difficulty with them; but happily Sekele, the sub-chieftain who had the oversight of things, took my part and brought them to reason.
During the night one of Moquai’s waiting-women was reported to be missing, and it was soon found that she had taken her way back towards Sesheke. Some messengers were sent, who quickly overtook her; she proved to be the bride who had been forced into marriage against her wishes.