There is much that is different in this country [[318]]from what we had seen elsewhere in Mashonaland, enough almost to point to a difference of race; the language, too, we found so different that we could understand but little of it ourselves, though the ordinary Makalanga terms for commodities such as mazai for eggs, makaka for milk, &c., were still in vogue. Probably the different circumstances of life will account for the difference in character. The people do not live in kraals huddled together on the top of rocks, but in small scattered kraals of from six to twenty huts dotted all over the country, where agriculture may take them, arguing a degree of prosperity and security to property which we had not seen elsewhere in Mashonaland. In these little kraals there is generally a hut raised on poles in the midst, which acts as a kind of watch-tower. They told us that the Matabele never penetrate as far as this, and that the only enemy they fear is the Portuguese half-caste Gouveia, whose territory lies over the mountains to the east; but his attacks were successfully repulsed by the old ’Mtoko, who had thereby established such a reputation for valour that none of his neighbours durst interfere with him.
The result of this condition of affairs was that in ’Mtoko’s country we saw more cattle than we had seen elsewhere, but all of the same calibre. The characteristic of all domestic animals in Mashonaland is their small size. The cows are less than our Guernsey breed, and give very little milk; the sheep and goats are diminutive and unhealthy looking; the [[319]]hens are ridiculous little things, and their eggs not much bigger than pigeons’ eggs at home. As for the dogs, they are the most contemptible specimens of the canine race I have ever seen in any of my wanderings. This does not look well for the prospects of the agriculturists, but probably the diminution in physique amongst the Mashonaland cattle is rather due to the coarse grass and swampy land and the want of proper care than to any other cause.
| EARRING | STUD FOR THE LIP |
Up a narrowing valley, with a gorge or kloof at the end of it, under the shadow of a rocky mountain, and almost hidden by a dense mass of timber, lies ’Mtoko’s kraal, also, after the fashion of the country, a small one. In our innocence we advanced right up to the kraal; and despite the expostulation of an angry crowd of natives, who screamed and yelled at us, we commenced to pitch our tents close by the shady trees in a spot which looked very inviting for a few days’ rest. Suddenly it dawned upon us that we had been guilty of some breach of savage etiquette, so I immediately despatched our interpreter to see the chief, with a portion of the present as a foretaste of better things to come. We seated ourselves rather disconsolately beneath the trees awaiting his return, watching the inhabitants, who swarmed around us.
BATTLE-AXE
The women of ’Mtoko’s country are quite the most decent of their sex that we had seen since entering Mashonaland. Out of bark fibre they weave for themselves quite massive dresses, two yards long [[320]]and one yard wide, which they decorate with pretty raised geometric patterns like one sees on old-fashioned ‘Marsella’ quilts at home; these they gird round their loins and fasten on with a girdle of bark netting, and consequently they present an air of decency to which their sisters in other parts of this country are strangers, with their tiny leather aprons scarce worthy of the name of clothing. Nevertheless, when in their huts the women of this country take off this heavy and somewhat awkward garment, and one day, having crawled into a hut, I was somewhat startled to find myself in the presence of two dusky ladies dressed like Eve in the Garden of Eden. Most of the people about here have their upper and lower lips bored, and insert in them either a nail-like object, somewhat after the fashion of the Nubians, or a bead or ring, or a plain bit of stick. Their front teeth of both upper and lower jaws are filed, an ancient [[321]]custom to which both Dos Santos and El Masoudi, the Arabian historian, allude. There is evidently a strong Zambesi influence in ’Mtoko’s country; their battle-axes, their assegais, and their powder-horns are far more elaborately carved and decorated with brass wire than those we had seen farther south, and bear a close resemblance to those which the tribes on the Zambesi produce. In their hair they wear combs inlaid with different-coloured straws, and their bracelets also are very elaborate.
POWDER-HORN
Our emissary came back with a long face. The ’Mtoko, despite the offering we had sent him, was indignant at our invasion of his privacy; in fact, to avoid seeing a white induna without taking counsel with his head men, he had been obliged to take refuge in a cave. His father, he said, would not allow a white man to encamp within eight miles of his kraal. This happened to Mr. Selous, the only white man who [[322]]had as yet visited the country in an official capacity, when he came to get the old ’Mtoko to sign the treaty a few months before. However, he said he would consent to our pitching our tents at a spot indicated about a mile away, and would come and visit us and receive the rest of his gifts on the morrow.