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
History
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
A day's march beyond Molamba brought us to the lakelet Chia, which lies
parallel with the Lake. It is three or four miles long, by from one to
one and a half broad, and communicates with the Lake by an arm of good
depth, but with some rocks in it. As we passed up between the Lake and
the eastern shore of this lakelet, we did not see any streams flowing
into it. It is quite remarkable for the abundance of fish; and we saw
upwards of fifty large canoes engaged in the fishery, which is carried on
by means of hand-nets with side-frame poles about seven feet long. These
nets are nearly identical with those now in use in Normandy--the
difference being that the African net has a piece of stick lashed across
the handle-ends of the side poles to keep them steady, which is a great
improvement. The fish must be very abundant to be scooped out of the
water in such quantities as we saw, and by so many canoes. There is
quite a trade here in dried fish.
The country around is elevated, undulating, and very extensively planted
with cassava. The hoe in use has a handle of four feet in length, and
the iron part is exactly of the same form as that in the country of the
Bechuanas. The baskets here, which are so closely woven together as to
hold beer, are the same with those employed to hold milk in Kaffirland--a
thousand miles distant.
Marching on foot is peculiarly conducive to meditation--one is glad of
any subject to occupy the mind, and relieve the monotony of the weary
treadmill-like trudge-trudging. This Chia net brought to our mind that
the smith's bellows made here of a goatskin bag, with sticks along the
open ends, are the same as those in use in the Bechuana country far to
the south-west. These, with the long-handled hoe, may only show that
each successive horde from north to south took inventions with it from
the same original source. Where that source may have been is probably
indicated by another pair of bellows, which we observed below the
Victoria Falls, being found in Central India and among the Gipsies of
Europe.
Men in remote times may have had more highly-developed instincts, which
enabled them to avoid or use poisons; but the late Archbishop Whately has
proved, that wholly untaught savages never could invent anything, or even
subsist at all. Abundant corroboration of his arguments is met with in
this country, where the natives require but little in the way of
clothing, and have remarkably hardy stomachs. Although possessing a
knowledge of all the edible roots and fruits in the country, having hoes
to dig with, and spears, bows, and arrows to kill the game,--we have seen
that, notwithstanding all these appliances and means to boot, they have
perished of absolute starvation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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