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
The cutting up of an elephant is quite a unique spectacle. The men stand
remind the animal in dead silence, while the chief of the travelling
party declares that, according to ancient law, the head and right hind-
leg belong to him who killed the beast, that is, to him who inflicted the
first wound; the left leg to bins who delivered the second, or first
touched the animal after it fell. The meat around the eye to the
English, or chief of the travellers, and different parts to the headmen
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. This oration finished, the natives soon become excited,
and scream wildly as they cut away at the carcass with a score of spears,
whose long handles quiver in the air above their heads. Their excitement
becomes momentarily more and more intense, and reaches the culminating
point when, as denoted by a roar of gas, the huge mass is laid fairly
open. 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 laws, seize the same piece of meat, and have
a brief fight of words over it. Occasionally an agonized yell bursts
forth, and a native emerges out of the moving mass of dead elephant and
wriggling humanity, with his hand badly cut by the spear of his excited
friend and neighbour: this requires a rag and some soothing words to
prevent bad blood. In an incredibly short time tons of meat are cut up,
and placed in separate heaps around.
Sandia arrived soon after the beast was divided: he is an elderly man,
and wears a wig made of "ife" fibre (_sanseviera_) dyed black, and of a
fine glossy appearance. This plant is allied to the aloes, and its thick
fleshy leaves, in shape somewhat like our sedges, when bruised yield much
fine strong fibre, which is made into ropes, nets, and wigs. It takes
dyes readily, and the fibre might form a good article of commerce. "Ife"
wigs, as we afterwards saw, are not uncommon in this country, though
perhaps not so common as hair wigs at home. Sandia's mosamela, or small
carved wooden pillow, exactly resembling the ancient Egyptian one, was
hung from the back of his neck; this pillow and a sleeping mat are
usually carried by natives when on hunting excursions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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