The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume I (of 2), 1866-1868Livingstone, David
History
The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume I (of 2), 1866-1868
Livingstone, David
Africa, Central -- Description and travel
_28th December, 1866._--Three men, going to hunt bees, came to us as
we were starting and assured us that Moerwa's was near. The first
party had told us the same thing, and so often have we gone long
distances as "_pafupi_" (near), when in reality they were "_patari_"
(far), that we begin to think _pafupi_ means "I wish you to go there,"
and _patari_ the reverse. In this case _near_ meant an hour and
three-quarters from our sleeping-place to Moerwa's!
When we look back from the height to which we have ascended we see a
great plain clothed with dark green forest except at the line of
yellowish grass, where probably the Loangwa flows. On the east and
south-east this plain is bounded at the extreme range of our vision by
a wall of dim blue mountains forty or fifty miles off. The Loangwa is
said to rise in the Chibale country due north of this Malambwe (in
which district Moerwa's village is situated), and to flow S.E., then
round to where we found it.
Moerwa came to visit me in my hut, a rather stupid man, though he has
a well-shaped and well-developed forehead, and tried the usual little
arts of getting us to buy all we need here though the prices are
exorbitant. "No people in front, great hunger there." "We must buy
food here and carry it to support us." On asking the names of the next
headman he would not inform me, till I told him to try and speak like
a man; he then told us that the first Lobemba chief was Motuna, and
the next Chafunga. We have nothing, as we saw no animals in our way
hither, and hunger is ill to bear. By giving Moerwa a good large cloth
he was induced to cook a mess of maere or millet and elephant's
stomach; it was so good to get a full meal that I could have given
him another cloth, and the more so as it was accompanied by a message
that he would cook more next day and in larger quantity. On inquiring
next evening he said "the man had told lies," he had cooked nothing
more: he was prone to lie himself, and was a rather bad specimen of a
chief.
The Babisa have round bullet heads, snub noses, often high
cheek-bones, an upward slant of the eyes, and look as if they had a
lot of Bushman blood in them, and a good many would pass for Bushmen
or Hottentots. Both Babisa and Waiyau may have a mixture of the race,
which would account for their roving habits. The women have the
fashion of exposing the upper part of the buttocks by letting a very
stiff cloth fall down behind. Their teeth are filed to points, they
wear no lip-ring, and the hair is parted so as to lie in a net at the
back part of the head. The mode of salutation among the men is to lie
down nearly on the back, clapping the hands, and making a rather
inelegant half-kissing sound with the lips.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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