Great African Travellers: From Mungo Park to Livingstone and StanleyKingston, William Henry Giles
History
Great African Travellers: From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Africa -- Description and travel; Africa -- Discovery and exploration; Explorers
They elaborately dress their hair in a number of ways. It naturally
hangs down on their shoulders in large masses, which, with their general
features, give them a strong resemblance to the ancient Egyptians. Some
of them twist their hair into a number of small cords, which they
stretch out to a hoop encircling the head, giving it the resemblance of
the glory seen in pictures round the head of the Virgin Mary. Others
adorn their heads with ornaments of woven hair and hide, to which they
occasionally suspend the tails of buffaloes. A third fashion is to
weave the hair on pieces of hide in the form of buffalo horns,
projecting on either side of the head. The young men twine their hair
in the form of a single horn, projecting over their forehead in front.
They frequently tattoo their bodies, producing figures in the form of
stars. Although their heads are thus elaborately adorned, their bodies
are almost destitute of clothing.
Reaching Calongo, Dr Livingstone directed his course towards the
territory of his old friend, Katema.
They were generally well received at the villages.
On the 2nd of June they reached that of Kanawa. This chief, whose
village consisted of forty or fifty huts, at first treated them very
politely, but he took it into his head to demand an ox as tribute. On
their refusing it, Kanawa ordered his people to arm. On this, Dr
Livingstone directed his Makololo to commence the march. Some did so
with alacrity, but one of them refused, and was preparing to fire at
Kanawa, when the doctor, giving him a blow with his pistol, made him go
too. They had already reached the banks of the river when they found
that Kanawa had sent on ahead to carry off all the canoes. The
ferrymen, supposing that the travellers were unable to navigate the
canoes, left them, unprotected, on the bank. As soon as it was dark,
therefore, the Makololo quickly obtained one of them, and the whole
party crossed, greatly to the disgust of Kanawa when he discovered in
the morning what had occurred.
They now took their way across the level plain, which had been flooded
on their former journey. Numberless vultures were flying in the air,
showing the quantity of carrion which had been left by the waters.
They passed Lake Dilolo, a sheet of water six or eight miles long and
two broad.
The sight of the blue waters had a soothing effect on the doctor, who
was suffering from fever, after his journey through the gloomy forest
and across the wide flat.
Pitsane and Mohorisi, Livingstone's chief men, had proposed establishing
a Makololo village on the banks of the Leeba, near its confluence with
the Leeambye, that it might become a market to communicate westward with
Loanda, and eastward with the regions along the banks of the Zambesi.
Old Shinti, whose capital they now reached, received them as before in a
friendly way, and supplied them abundantly with provisions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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