The Waiyau, as a tribe, have a great deal of curiosity, staring at strangers, and sometimes showing great rudeness. Large crowds of people came to gaze upon Livingstone and his party, bursting into laughter at the remarks which were made in regard to the appearance and conduct of their visitors. They would gather round his tent to peer into it. This rude curiosity was very annoying and could be abated by only one method: sudden rising to the feet would produce a stampede of the women and children.
In person, the women are strong and well-built, having large limbs. The fashion in ornament is blue and black beads, with arm-coils of brass wire. These people strive to copy the Arabs as nearly as possible in dress and chewing tobacco with “nora” lime instead of betel-nuts. The gaudy prints were, however, sought by some, though the tribes in the interior are desirous of strength rather than show in the fabrics they buy.
The town of Mataka, one of the petty Waiyau chiefs, is situated in an elevated valley about twenty-seven hundred feet above the sea, and is surrounded with mountains. It consisted of about a thousand houses when Livingstone was there. There were many other villages near.
Mataka kept Livingstone waiting in the veranda of his house, and at length made his appearance, smiling good-naturedly. About sixty years of age, he was dressed as an Arab. He seemed to possess considerable humor, for his people would often greet his remarks with laughter. His courtesy was shown by giving Livingstone a large square house to live in and sending him generous donations of food, as porridge, meat, and milk.
A number of his men had gone without his knowledge to Nyassa, and in a foray stolen both cattle and people; but when they returned with their spoil, Mataka peremptorily ordered all to be sent back. When he went up to see Livingstone soon after, he told of what he had done. Livingstone replied that it was “the best piece of news he had heard in the country.” Delighted with this testimony, he turned to his people, and asked if they heard what was said by the white stranger among them. He then repeated Livingstone’s remark, and added, “You silly fellows think me wrong to restore the captives, but all wise men approve of it.” He then reproached them most severely for their disgraceful conduct. Livingstone gave Mataka a trinket as a remembrancer of his honorable conduct toward the Nyassa. He replied that he would always act in a similar manner. His conduct is surely deserving the highest commendation because it was spontaneous and contrary to the custom of other chiefs and the prevailing spirit of the people. One day he asked Livingstone what he ought to take to secure some gold if he should go to Bombay. The reply was, “Ivory.” He rejoined, “Would not slaves be a good speculation?” The answer was, “If you take slaves there for sale, they will put you in prison.” The idea of his being “in durance vile” was not quite compatible with his consciousness of personal dignity and superiority; and as his countenance fell, the laugh of his people, who heard what was said, was turned against him. It was a new thing for these almost defenceless people, familiar, as they were, with the scenes of pillage and barbarity, to hear these protests against stealing and selling others into slavery. Ready as they were to regard Mataka’s sayings as witty and to reward them with their approval, it was no small satisfaction to them to have him impaled on Livingstone’s sharp rejoinder. They probably had but a vague idea of the guilt of the traffic, but the suffering and loss of life they had witnessed, and all of which might perhaps become their own bitter experience any day, made the matter one of personal safety, and this was an idea they could fully comprehend.
Mataka, though now in his later years desiring quiet, had been actively engaged in slave wars. The Waiyau generally are the most ready coadjutors of the slave traders in their nefarious business. The Arab merchants arriving at a Waiyau village show the goods they have brought to the elders, who tell them to tarry there and enjoy themselves.
This means that slaves enough will soon be procured to pay for the merchandise. A raid against the Manganja, a peaceable, unwarlike tribe, who have few guns, is undertaken. The Waiyau, being provided with guns by the Arabs, easily accomplish their purpose, and the caravan is re-enforced with captive men and women for the slave market.
Nor are Mataka’s people always the assailants. Makanjela, another Waiyau chief, about a third of the way from Mtendé’s to Mataka, unable to reach the Manganja, will kidnap from Mataka if any of his tribe are found outside of their own district. He has forfeited the friendship of all his neighbors by his plundering from them and selling their people. All who for any reason cross their borders are seized and sold, and so bitter feuds are engendered and perpetuated by frequent forays.
The following incident gives a glimpse of the wide-spread and dreadful curse of the African tribes, viz., the slave trade; it also illustrates the conduct of Livingstone and his uniform protest against the traffic wherever he went. Though we shall treat this subject more fully in another chapter, yet the circumstance referred to may properly find a place here.
One morning, as Livingstone relates the story, when he and his party were proceeding on their way, they were loudly accosted by a well-dressed woman, upon whose neck a heavy, slave-taming stick had just been fastened. Her manner was so dignified and earnest in telling of the cruel wrong inflicted upon her that all stopped to listen to her case. She was a near relative of Chirikaloma, and was on her way up the river to meet her husband, when the old man, in whose house she was a prisoner, had seized her, taken her servant away, and reduced her to the helpless and degraded condition in which she was first seen by Livingstone. Her captor said in defence of his conduct that she was running away from Chirikaloma, and he would be displeased if she was not secured for him.