“We (Dr. Livingstone and party) were honoured with a grand reception by Shinte about eleven o’clock. The native Portuguese and Mambari went fully armed with guns, in order to give Shinte a salute, their drummer and trumpeter making all the noise their very old instruments would produce. The kotla, or place of audience, was about a hundred yards square, and two graceful specimens of a species of banian stood near the end. Under one of these sat Shinte on a sort of throne covered with a leopard’s skin. He had on a checked jacket and a kilt of scarlet baize edged with green; many strings of large heads hung from his neck, and his limbs were covered with iron and copper armlets and bracelets; on his head he wore a helmet made of beads woven neatly together, and crowned with a great bunch of goose-feathers. Close to him sat three lads with large sheaves of arrows over their shoulders.
“When we entered the kotla, the whole of Manenko’s party saluted Shinte by clapping their hands, and Sambanza did obeisance by rubbing his chest and arms with ashes. One of the trees being unoccupied I retreated to it for the sake of the shade, and my whole party did the same. We were now about forty yards from the chief and could see the whole ceremony. The different sections of the tribe came forward in the same way that we did, the head man of each making obeisance with ashes which he carried with him for the purpose; then came the soldiers, all armed to the teeth, running and shouting towards us, with their swords drawn and their faces screwed up so as to appear as savage as possible for the purpose, I thought, of trying whether they could not make us take to our heels. As we did not, they turned round towards Shinte and saluted him, then retired. When all had come and were seated, then began the curious capering usually seen in pictures. A man starts up, and imitates the most approved attitudes observed in actual fight, as of throwing one javelin, receiving another on the shield, springing on one side to avoid a third, running backwards or forwards, leaping, etc. This over, Sambanza and the spokesman of Nyamoana stalked backwards and forwards in front of Shinte, and gave forth in a loud voice all they had been able to learn either from myself or people of my past history and connection with the Makololo; the return of the captives, the wish to open the country to trade, etc. Perhaps he is fibbing, perhaps not—they rather thought he was; but as the Balonda had good hearts, and Shinte had never done harm to any one, he had better receive the white man well and send him on his way. Sambanza was gaily attired, and, besides a profusion of beads, had a cloth so long that a boy carried it after him as a train.
“Behind Shinte sat about a hundred women clothed in their best, which happened to be a profusion of red baize. The chief wife of Shinte, one of the Matebele or Zulus, sat in front with a curious red cap on her head. During the intervals between the speeches these ladies burst forth into a sort of plaintive ditty; but it was impossible for any of us to catch whether it was in praise of the speaker, of Shinte, or of themselves. This was the first time I had ever seen females present in a public assembly. Generally the women are not permitted to enter the kotla, and even when invited to come to a religious service they would not enter until ordered to do so by the chief; but here they expressed approbation by clapping their hands and laughing to different speakers, and Shinte frequently turned round and spoke to them.
“A party of musicians, consisting of three drummers and four performers on the piano, went round the kotla several times, regaling us with their music. The drums are neatly carved from the trunk of a tree, and have a small hole in the side covered with a bit of spider’s web; the ends are covered with the skin of an antelope pegged on, and when they wish to tighten it they hold it to the fire to make it contract—the instruments are beaten with the hands.
“The piano, named marimba, consists of two bars of wood placed side by side here quite straight, but farther north bent round so as to resemble half the tire of a carriage wheel; across these are placed about fifteen wooden keys, each of which is two or three inches broad, and fifteen or eighteen inches long—their thickness is regulated according to the deepness of the note required; each of the keys has a calabash beneath it from the upper part of each a portion is cut off to enable them to embrace the bars, and form hollow sounding-boards to the keys, which also are of different sizes according to the note required, and little drumsticks elicit the music. Rapidity of execution seems much admired among them, and the music is pleasant to the ear.
“When nine speakers had concluded their orations Shinte stood up, and so did all the people. He had maintained true African dignity of manner all the while; but my people remarked that he scarcely took his eyes off me for a moment. About a thousand people were present according to my calculation, and three hundred soldiers. The sun had now become hot, and the scene ended by the Mambari discharging their guns.
“As the river seemed to come from the direction in which we wished to go, I was desirous of proceeding farther up with the canoes, but Nyamoana interposed numerous objections, and the arrival of Manenko herself settled the point in the negative. She was a tall strapping woman, about twenty years of age, and distinguished by a profusion of ornaments and medicines, which latter are supposed to act as charms. Her body was smeared all over with a mixture of fat and red ochre as a protection against the weather, a necessary precaution, for, like most of the Balonda ladies, she was in a state of frightful nudity, not so much from want of clothing as from her peculiar ideas of elegance in dress. When she arrived with her husband Sambanza, she listened for some time to the statements I was making to the people of Nyamoana, after which her husband commenced an oration, during the delivery of which he picked up a little sand, at intervals of two or three seconds, and rubbed it on the upper part of his arms and chest. This is a common mode of salutation in Londa; and when they wish to be excessively polite they bring a quantity of ashes or pipe-clay in a piece of skin and rub it on the chest and upper front part of each arm; others drum their ribs with their elbows, while others touch the ground with one cheek after the other and clap their hands. When Sambanza had finished his oration he rose up and showed his ankles ornamented with a bundle of copper rings. Had they been very heavy they would have impeded his walk; and some chiefs wore so many as to be forced to keep one foot apart from the other, the weight being a serious inconvenience in walking. Gentlemen like Sambanza who wish to ape their betters adopt their gait, strutting along with only a few ounces of ornament on their legs just as if they had double the number of pounds. When I smiled at Sambanza’s walk the people remarked, ‘That is the way in which they show off high blood in these parts.’
“When erecting our sheds at the village, Manenko, the chieftess, fell upon our friends and gave us a specimen of her powers of scolding. Masiko had once sent to Samoana for a cloth, which is a common way of keeping up intercourse. After receiving it he returned it, because it had the appearance of having had witchcraft medicine on it. This was a grave offence; and Manenko had now a good excuse for retaliation, as Masiko’s ambassadors had slept in one of the huts of her village without asking leave. She set upon them furiously, advancing and receding in true oratorical style, belabouring her own servants for allowing the offence, and raking up the faults and failings of the objects of her ire ever since they were born; in conclusion, expressing her despair of ever seeing them become better until they were all killed by alligators. Masiko’s people received this torrent of abuse in silence, and as neither we nor they had anything to eat, we parted next morning. In reference to the sale of slaves they promised to explain to Masiko the relationship which exists between even the most abject of his people and our common Father, and that no more kidnapping ought to be allowed. We promised to return through his town when we came back from the sea-coast.
“Manenko gave us some manioc roots in the morning, and had determined to carry our baggage to her uncle Shinte. We had heard a sample of what she could do with her tongue, and as neither my men nor myself had much inclination to encounter this black virago we proceeded to make ready the packages; but she said the men whom she had ordered for the service would not arrive until to-morrow. I felt annoyed at this further delay and ordered the packages to be put into the canoes at once: but Manenko was not to be circumvented in this way; she came forward with her people, seized the baggage, and declared that she would carry it in spite of me. My men succumbed and left me powerless. I was moving off in high dudgeon to the canoes when she kindly placed her hand on my shoulder and, with a motherly look, said, “Now, my little man, just do as the rest have done.” My feeling of annoyance of course vanished, and I went out to try for some meat.
Ignorance of court etiquette in savage no less than in civilized countries is a fruitful source of danger, or at least unpleasantness, to the traveller ambitious to move in what the newspapers vaguely describe as “select circles.” Mr. Stern, in his recent travels among the Falashas of Abyssinia, was on one occasion advised of this fact in a rather astonishing manner. Breakfast was served in the royal tent, and it was during the progress of the meal that our traveller nearly lost the esteem and regard he had hitherto enjoyed. “According to the Abyssinian notion every man who claims to be of patrician descent, should emulate the noises made by a certain unclean animal whilst eating his meals. My ignorance of this elegant acquirement (for I had unfortunately not yet attained it) drew upon me the frowns as well as the whispered censures of the guests. Unconscious of the cause of this unexpected notoriety, I asked whether there was anything peculiar in my appearance or deportment that provoked criticism. ‘Certainly,’ was the rejoinder, ‘your conduct is so ungentlemanly that all the guests think you must be a very low fellow and quite unaccustomed to move in genteel society.’ ‘And to what am I indebted for this good opinion?’ returned I. ‘To the mode in which you eat; for if you were a gentleman you would show by the smacking of your lips the exalted station to which you belong; but since you masticate your food in this inaudible manner every one believes that you are a beggar and accustomed to eat in that unostentatious manner which pretended poverty prompts individuals to adopt.’ I assured them that any breach of etiquette must be attributed to the difference of the customs in my own country and not to the low motive they assigned, an apology which amply satisfied the most accomplished courtier in the royal tent.”