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
_16th January, 1868._--After sleeping near the Luao we went on towards
the village, in which Mohamad's son lives. It is on the Kakoma Eiver,
and is called Kabwabwata, the village of Mubao. In many of the
villages the people shut their stockades as soon as we appear, and
stand bows and arrows in hand till we have passed: the reason seems to
be that the slaves when out of sight of their masters carry things
with a high hand, demanding food and other things as if they had power
and authority. One slave stole two tobacco pipes yesterday in passing
through a village; the villagers complained to me when I came up, and
I waited till Mohamad came and told him; we then went forward, the men
keeping close to me till we got the slave and the pipes. They stole
cassava as we went along, but this could scarcely be prevented. They
laid hold of a plant an inch-and-a-half thick, and tore it out of the
soft soil with its five or six roots as large as our largest carrots,
stowed the roots away in their loads, and went on eating them; but the
stalk thrown among those still growing shows the theft. The raw roots
are agreeable and nutritious. No great harm is done by this, for the
gardens are so large, but it inspires distrust in the inhabitants, and
makes it dangerous for Arabs to travel not fully manned and armed.
On reaching the village Kabwabwata a great demonstration was made by
Mohamad's Arab dependants and Wanyamwesi: the women had their faces
all smeared with pipeclay, and lullilooed with all their might. When
we came among the huts, they cast handfuls of soil on their heads,
while the men fired off their guns as fast as they could load them.
Those connected with Mohamad ran and kissed his hands, and fired, till
the sound of shouting, lullilooing, clapping of hands, and shooting
was deafening: Mohamad was quite overcome by this demonstration, and
it was long before he could still them.
On the way to this village from the south we observed an extensive
breadth of land, under ground-nuts which are made into oil: a large
jar of this is sold for a hoe. The ground-nuts were now in flower, and
green maize ready to be eaten. People all busy planting,
transplanting, or weeding; they plant cassava on mounds prepared for
it, on which they have sown beans, sorghum, maize, pumpkins: these
ripen, and leave the cassava a free soil. The sorghum or dura is sown
thickly, and when about a foot high--if the owner has been able to
prepare the soil elsewhere--it is transplanted, a portion of the
leaves being cut off to prevent too great evaporation and the death of
the plant.
_17th January, 1868._--The Wanyamwesi and people of Garaganza say that
we have thirteen days' march from this to the Tanganyika Lake. It is
often muddy, and many rivulets are to be crossed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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