The presence of several slave-traders near by led Livingstone to the conviction that she was seized that she might be sold to them. He accordingly gave the old man a piece of cloth, to propitiate Chirikaloma if he should be offended, and told him to say that Livingstone was ashamed to see one of his relatives in a slave-stick, and would take her to her husband. He also explained to the head men in the village what he had done and sent messengers to Chirikaloma so that he might not misunderstand the proceeding.
The appearance of the woman and her numerous beads gave evidence of her being a lady among her tribe. Her high spirit was also seen when, after she was liberated, she went into the house of her captor to get her basket and calabash, in spite of the resistance of the virago wife of the old man. But the sympathy of all was with her, and she came off victorious. During the whole journey Akosakoné (this was her name) acted like a lady, being modest in all her conduct, and sleeping at a fire apart from the men. In every village she enlisted the sympathy of the people by relating the gross insult that had been put upon her. She was also of great service to Livingstone, and abundantly repaid him for the interposition in her behalf. Being of fine address, she could buy twice as much food as any of the men with the same quantity of cloth. If any injustice was attempted against Livingstone or his men, she would plead in their behalf, and when carriers were needed she volunteered to carry a bag of beads on her head. Her husband was brother of Chimseia, a chief to whom she introduced Livingstone, and induced him to be generous toward the travellers on account of the great service rendered to her. When she and Livingstone parted, her expressions of gratitude were profuse, and it was evident that the kindness done in rescuing her from the doom of slavery was neither undervalued nor undeserved.
To the northeast of Moembe, Livingstone found an extensive tract of valuable land, which retained numerous evidences of having once supported a very large iron-smelting and agricultural population. The clay pipes that are put in the nozzles of their bellows are found everywhere. So, too, the ridges on which were planted beans, cassava, maize, and sorghum are visible still, and evince the industrious habits of the people. Pieces of broken pottery, with their rims embellished by rude designs in imitation of basket-work, show the handiwork of the women.
The cattle of this region are a small breed, with various colors, and their milk is greatly valued by the Waiyau. The sheep are generally black in color but large in size. This tribe have no other useful domestic animals, except fowls and pigeons, unless the miserable village curs to be found everywhere be included in this category. The fertility of the soil is manifested by the great size of its products. The sweet potatoes become very large, and so abundant were they that Livingstone bought two loads of them for three cubits and two needles. The maize grows to a remarkable size, one cob bearing sixteen hundred seeds. The character of the soil, the coolness of the climate, the abundance of water, and the means of building square houses, combine to render this region one of the most delightful for residence. It is an elevated and attractive country, about thirty-four hundred feet above the level of the sea.
South of Lake Nyassa Livingstone visited another chief, Mukaté. He and Mponda and Kabinga were the only chiefs of the Waiyau then engaged in the slave trade, making periodical raids upon the Manganja and the Maravi. Mukaté’s village is about eight hundred feet above the lake. The heights, so far as the eye could see, were covered with villages, and the population, though very large, seemed to revel in plenty. Mukaté’s house and those of the other Waiyau chiefs were square buildings, both substantial and convenient. He and all his people wear the beard trained upon the chin, after the Arab style.
Livingstone had long discussions with this chief about the slave trade. The barbarities and horrors of the business, so visible to all in the skulls scattered along the way, the desolate villages, the sufferings of those who perish in the journey to the coast, the murders committed,—all these frightful evils Mukaté tried to dismiss with a laugh, as if they were of little consequence; but his conscience was not altogether dead, and his people, many of them, were anxious that he should abandon his raids in the interest of the Kilwa slave dealers.
The religious notions of this people are very crude. The traditions they have are that they came from the west originally, and that their forefathers taught them to make nets and kill fish. No moral instruction seems to have been transmitted, and they have no idea of a teacher above them. With no book, and never having heard of such a thing till Livingstone’s visit, with no carvings or writing on the rocks, they are sunk in mental darkness, though surrounded by such abundance of the earth’s riches. Their ancestors had never taught them anything of their condition after death, though they had heard it said of those who died that “God took them.”
The differences between the Waiyau and the Manganja, of whom there is an account in a preceding part of this work, are very marked. The exactions and superciliousness of the Waiyau indicate that they regard themselves the dominant race. Though they are continually making raids upon their neighbors, for the sake of the slave trade, yet they are inferior to them in many respects.
The Waiyau have round, apple-shaped heads, understand the use of fire-arms, and with dash and courage easily overpower the Manganja, who use only bows and arrows, and are a more peaceable, as they are a more intelligent and ingenious race. Fond of roving, scattered and broken by their slave wars and internal feuds, they make little if any progress in the matters of husbandry, but by their greater bravery and restless spirit, they are successful in their plundering forays among their neighbors, who are made tributary to their selfish schemes in stocking the slave markets on the coast.
Among the tribes of the Waiyau, especially Mpondas and Kabingas, agricultural labor is esteemed; all cultivate the ground, from the chief down. Mponda was in his garden at work when Livingstone reached his village. With this example before the people there is no disgrace attached to such work. Vast stores of grain are raised by these tribes, though they are given to roving and marauding. Notwithstanding they plundered the Manganja of their large breed of humped cattle, yet they do not milk them, and accordingly the number dwindled from the thousands of former times to a few hundreds. The idea of drinking milk, with these tribes, is one to excite disgust. A boy will undergo chastisement rather than milk a goat.