There are five principal ways of fishing. The first method consists in net-fishing, and may be estimated as the most remunerative. The nets used by the Marutse are of excellent quality; they are made with meshes of different sizes from bast twisted into cords about as thick as a man’s finger; they vary from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, and are provided with proper weights; they are carefully cleaned and dried whenever they have been used, and this contributes very much to their durability. It is in the larger lagoons that they are generally supplied, especially in those of which the confines are not marshy. The Marutse, Manubas, and Masupias have the highest reputation for skilfulness, and have established fishing-stations, some permanent, others only for a season, all along the river.
A second way of catching fish adopted by the Marutse people is by weels, which are used either when the river is very low or very high, in which latter case they are placed against the dams; but at seasons when the water is low and parted into several streams at the rapids, they are fixed right in the current between two blocks of rock; in construction they are obliged to be narrow, seldom more than a foot in diameter, and they are mostly about a yard and a half long; in shape they are much like those used in Europe; they are made of strong reeds, and are fixed with their mouths facing the stream.
Another method consists in enclosing certain portions of the inundated plains, just at the time of the first abatement of the waters, with circular dams or embankments of earth. The flood subsides rapidly, and the fish are easily secured, the muddiness of the water facilitating their capture. In level places, especially near towns or villages, I noticed the remains of a good many of these dams, and I was told that the inquisi is very often caught in this way.
A fourth plan practised in the country is the simple device of blocking up the mouths of the small lagoons, where sedge is either wanting altogether or very scanty, with coarse mats made of strong rushes. This mode of fishing, which is carried on from May to August, while the floods are going down, is said to be very successful. The rain-channels that make their way to the river are not unfrequently stopped up in the same fashion.
SPEARING FISH.
But next to net-fishing there is no kind of fishing that can compare either in attractiveness or in efficiency with the last of the five methods to which I refer. The Zambesi people are all remarkably dexterous in fishing with the spear, and sometimes can secure water-lizards as well as fish by this means. Otters are likewise captured in this way, the assegais employed being proportioned in size to the purpose for which they are used; generally the point is not above four inches long, attached to a quadrilateral shaft, one barb being affixed to each side.
Sepopo’s annoyance at his illness daily increased; he considered that it was brought about by sorcery on the part of some of his subjects, and with a view of liberating himself from the spell under which he imagined he was lying, he gave orders for a large number of executions, a proceeding that opened the way for any one to get rid of an enemy or rival, as he had only to accuse him of high treason, and sentence of death was pretty sure to be passed forthwith. Still finding that he did not recover his health, the king sent for Sykendu, and told him that he would have him executed too, if his disorder did not quickly take a turn for the better. The Mambari promised to effect a speedy cure, but stipulated that it must be on condition that Sepopo gave him a handsome Makololo or Masupia woman for a wife; he had frequently made the same request before without effect, but succeeded now in extracting the promise from the anxious king.
I held out as long as I could, but yielding at length to the general advice, I consented to leave Sesheke, and to return to Panda ma Tenka.
There had been many days on which I had been unable to leave my bed or my hut, but during these I received a number of visits from the chieftains, and learnt many particulars about the social life of the Marutse people. It appears to me a convenient place here to insert some of the facts that I elicited.