A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries: And of the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864Livingstone, David
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A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries: And of the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864
Livingstone, David
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Africa, Central -- Discovery and exploration
Justice appears upon the whole to be pretty fairly administered among the
Makololo. A headman took some beads and a blanket from one of his men
who had been with us; the matter was brought before the chief, and he
immediately ordered the goods to be restored, and decreed, moreover, that
no headman should take the property of the men who had returned. In
theory, all the goods brought back belonged to the chief; the men laid
them at his feet, and made a formal offer of them all; he looked at the
articles, and told the men to keep them. This is almost invariably the
case. Tuba Mokoro, however, fearing lest Sekeletu might take a fancy to
some of his best goods, exhibited only a few of his old and least
valuable acquisitions. Masakasa had little to show; he had committed
some breach of native law in one of the villages on the way, and paid a
heavy fine rather than have the matter brought to the Doctor's ears. Each
carrier is entitled to a portion of the goods in his bundle, though
purchased by the chief's ivory, and they never hesitate to claim their
rights; but no wages can be demanded from the chief, if he fails to
respond to the first application.
Our men, accustomed to our ways, thought that the English system of
paying a man for his labour was the only correct one, and some even said
it would be better to live under a government where life and labour were
more secure and valuable than here. While with us, they always conducted
themselves with propriety during Divine service, and not only maintained
decorum themselves, but insisted on other natives who might be present
doing the same. When Moshobotwane, the Batoka chief, came on one
occasion with a number of his men, they listened in silence to the
reading of the Bible in the Makololo tongue; but, as soon as we all knelt
down to pray, they commenced a vigorous clapping of hands, their mode of
asking a favour. Our indignant Makololo soon silenced their noisy
accompaniment, and looked with great contempt on this display of
ignorance. Nearly all our men had learned to repeat the Lord's Prayer
and the Apostles' Creed in their own language, and felt rather proud of
being able to do so; and when they reached home, they liked to recite
them to groups of admiring friends. Their ideas of right and wrong
differ in no respect from our own, except in their professed inability to
see how it can be improper for a man to have more than one wife. A year
or two ago several of the wives of those who had been absent with us
petitioned the chief for leave to marry again. They thought that it was
of no use waiting any longer, their husbands must be dead; but Sekeletu
refused permission; he himself had bet a number of oxen that the Doctor
would return with their husbands, and he had promised the absent men that
their wives should be kept for them. The impatient spouses had therefore
to wait a little longer. Some of them, however, eloped with other men;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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