CHAPTER XI.

START FOR LINYANTI.

CUTTING UP AN ELEPHANT.

"GO-NAKED TRIBE. THE VICTORIA

SEKELETU ILL.

THR

FALLS.

FIND

As Livingstone felt bound in honor to revisit Sekeletu, and take back the men who had accompanied him from that chief in his wanderings, together with the merchandise he had purchased for his use with the tusks intrusted to him, the party started from Tete for Linyanti, on the 15th of May; leaving ten English sailors in charge of the ship until their return. As many of the men had taken up with slave-women, they did not leave with much good will; and, before the party had reached Kebrabasa Cataracts, thirty of them had deserted. Before starting, Livingstone had paid them in cloth, &c., for their services in the expedition, being anxious that they should make as good an appearance as possible when they reached Linyanti. Many of them had earned a good deal during their stay at Tete, while Dr. Livingstone was absent in England; but, as they unfortunately picked up a good many of the evil habits of the natives round Tete, they had squandered all they possessed. It is disgraceful to think that these unsophisticated sons of nature should have come so far to see and meet civilized people with such results. Not only were the slave and half-caste population drunken and immoral, but the Portuguese merchants, with few exceptions, were no better.

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A merchant at Tete sent three of his men with the party to convey a present for Sekeletu; two other merchants gave the loan of a couple of donkeys; and Major Sicard sent them men to assist them on their return, when, of course, their attendants would be reduced, should the Makololo men elect to remain, and no one volunteer to accompany them on their return down the river. In order to escape the exactions of the Banyai tribes, the party proceeded up the left bank of the river. At several of the villages, on their way up the Zambesi valley, they saw and conversed with pondoros, as men are called who pretend to be able to change themselves into a lion, or other animal. Strangely enough, this power appeared to be believed in by the people; even the wife of the pondoro, during the period when he retired into the forests to change his shape, leaving food for him in a hut in the forest prepared for him; the change to the brute form apparently not destroying or altering the human appetite. These excursions usually last until the pondoro has discovered some animal just slain by a lion, when he returns to his village, and leads them to the carcass; taking credit to himself, of course, for having killed it during his transformation.

Near the village of a chief called Sandia, six of the Makololo shot a cow-elephant. In this district, the chief claims one-half of any game killed on his ground. This right was, to some extent, waived: the head man of the hunting-party superintended the cutting-up of the brute, and apportioned the pieces. "The head and right hindleg belong to him who killed the beast, that is, to him who inflicted the first wound; the left leg to him who delivered the second, or first touched the animal after it fell; the meat around the eye to the English, or chief of the

CUTTING UP AN ELEPHANT.

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travellers; and different parts to the head men of the different fires, or groups, of which the camp is composed ; not forgetting to enjoin the preservation of the fat and bowels for a second distribution." The cutting-up of the carcass is a scene of wild excitement. "Some jump inside, and roll about there in their eagerness to seize the precious fat; while others run off screaming, with pieces of the bloody meat, throw it on the grass, and run back for more: all keep talking and shouting at the utmost pitch of their voices. Sometimes two or three, regardless of all law, seize the same piece of meat, and have a brief fight of words over it. . . . In an incredibly short time, tons of meat are cut up, and placed in separate heaps around." The following is the method of cooking the elephant's forefoot, which the white members of the party had for breakfast on the following morning : "A large hole was dug in the ground, in which a fire was made; and, when the inside was thoroughly heated, the entire foot was placed in it, and covered over with the hot ashes and soil. Another fire was made above the whole, and kept burning all night. . . . It is a whitish mass, slightly gelatinous, and sweet, like marrow. . . . Elephants' trunks and tongues are also good, and, after long simmering, much resemble the hump of a buffalo, and the tongue of an ox; but all the other meat is tough, and, from its peculiar flavor, only to be eaten by a hungry man." The natives eat enormous quantities of meat when they have the opportunity.

"They boil as much as their pots will hold, and eat until it becomes physically impossible for them to stow away any more. An uproarious dance follows, accompanied with stentorian song; and as soon as they have shaken their first course down, and washed off the sweat

and dust of the after-performance, they go to work to Foast more. A short snatch of sleep succeeds, and they are up and at it again: all night long it is boil and eat, roast and devour, with a few brief interludes of sleep. Like other carnivora, these men can endure hunger for a much longer period than the mere porridge-eating tribes." As game was abundant, the weather excellent for camping, and the route known, travelling was not an unpleasant task. Flocks of guinea-fowls and other birds were met with daily; and as they were in good condition, and their flesh excellent, the party enjoyed a variety of flesh

meat.

In camping, the men took it by turns to cut grass for the beds of the three Englishmen, — Dr. Livingstone being placed in the middle, Dr. Kirk on the right, and Charles Livingstone on the left. Their bags, rifles, and revolvers were placed near their beds; and a fire was kindled near their feet. A dozen fires were kindled in the camp nightly, and replenished, from time to time, by men who were awakened by the cold. On these grass-beds, with their rugs drawn over them, the three Englishmen slept soundly under some giant tree, through whose branches they could look up to the clear, star-spangled, moonlit sky. Their attendants slept between mats of palm-leaves, which were sewn together round three sides of the square, one being left open to enable the man to crawl in between the two. These sleeping-bags are called fumbas; and, when they were all at rest within the encampment, they had the appearance of sacks strewn round about the camp-fires.

Before going to sleep, the natives amused themselves with songs and political discussions, carried on with a warmth and eloquence worthy of an English debating

club.

About five o'clock in the morning, the camp was astir; the blankets were folded, and stowed away in bags; the fumbas and cooking-pots were fixed on the end of the carrying-sticks, which were borne on the shoulders. The cook received the cooking-utensils used for the Englishmen. After a cup of tea or coffee, the whole party were on the march before sunrise. At nine breakfast was prepared at a convenient spot. In the middle of the day there was a short rest; and early in the afternoon they pitched their camp, the white men going hunting, if food was required, and examining the neighborhood. Their rate of progress was about two and a half miles an hour as the crow flies; and their daily march lasted about six hours. After several days of this, the natives complained of being fatigued, even when well fed with fresh meat. They lacked the stamina and endurance of the Europeans.

In the Chicova plains, a chief named Chitora brought the party a present of food and drink, because, he said, "He did not wish us to sleep hungry. He had heard of the doctor when he passed down, and had a great desire to see and converse with him; but he was a child then, and could not speak in the presence of great men. He was glad that he had seen the English now, and was sorry that his people were away, or he should have made them cook for us." Here, and at other places, they noticed that the natives filtered their water through sand, even although at the time the water of the river was clear and limpid. During the flood, as the water is polluted with all sorts of filth collected near the native villages, the filtering process is very necessary.

The white men were objects of curiosity, and at first of terror, in every village they entered; but the two don