On the last occasion of our holding Divine service at Sesheke, the men were invited to converse on the subject on which they had been addressed.So many of them had died since we were here before, that not much probability existed of our all meeting again, and this had naturally led to the subject of a future state.They replied that they did not wish to offend the speaker, but they could not believe that all the dead would rise again:"Can those who have been killed in the field and devoured by the vultures; or those who have been eaten by the hyenas or lions; or those who have been tossed into the river, and eaten by more than one crocodile,--can they all be raised again to life?"They were told that men could take a leaden bullet, change it into a salt (acetate of lead), which could be dissolved as completely in water as our bodies in the stomachs of animals, and then reconvert it into lead; or that the bullet could be transformed into the red and white paint of our wagons, and again be reconverted into the original lead; and that if men exactly like themselves could do so much, how much more could He do who has made the eye to see, and the ear to hear!We added, however, that we believed in a resurrection, not because we understood how it would be brought about, but because our Heavenly Father assured us of it in His Book.
The reference to the truth of the Book and its Author seems always to have more influence on the native mind than the cleverness of the illustration.The knowledge of the people is scanty, but their reasoning is generally clear as far as their information goes.
We left Sesheke on the 17th September, 1860, convoyed by Pitsane and Leshore with their men.Pitsane was ordered by Sekeletu to make a hedge round the garden at the Falls, to protect the seeds we had brought; and also to collect some of the tobacco tribute below the Falls.Leshore, besides acting as a sort of guard of honour to us, was sent on a diplomatic mission to Sinamane.No tribute was exacted by Sekeletu from Sinamane; but, as he had sent in his adhesion, he was expected to act as a guard in case of the Matebele wishing to cross and attack the Makololo.As we intended to purchase canoes of Sinamane in which to descend the river, Leshore was to commend us to whatever help this Batoka chief could render.It must be confessed that Leshore's men, who were all of the black subject tribes, really needed to be viewed by us in the most charitable light; for Leshore, on entering any village, called out to the inhabitants, "Look out for your property, and see that my thieves don't steal it."
Two young Makololo with their Batoka servants accompanied us to see if Kebrabasa could be surmounted, and to bring a supply of medicine for Sekeletu's leprosy; and half a dozen able canoe-men, under Mobito, who had previously gone with Dr. Livingstone to Loanda, were sent to help us in our river navigation.Some men on foot drove six oxen which Sekeletu had given us as provisions for the journey.It was, as before remarked, a time of scarcity; and, considering the dearth of food, our treatment had been liberal.
By day the canoe-men are accustomed to keep close under the river's bank from fear of the hippopotami; by night, however, they keep in the middle of the stream, as then those animals are usually close to the bank on their way to their grazing grounds.Our progress was considerably impeded by the high winds, which at this season of the year begin about eight in the morning, and blow strongly up the river all day.The canoes were poor leaky affairs, and so low in parts of the gunwale, that the paddlers were afraid to follow the channel when it crossed the river, lest the waves might swamp us.A rough sea is dreaded by all these inland canoe-men; but though timid, they are by no means unskilful at their work.The ocean rather astonished them afterwards; and also the admirable way that the Nyassa men managed their canoes on a rough lake, and even amongst the breakers, where no small boat could possibly live.
On the night of the 17th we slept on the left bank of the Majeele, after having had all the men ferried across.An ox was slaughtered, and not an ounce of it was left next morning.Our two young Makololo companions, Maloka and Ramakukane, having never travelled before, naturally clung to some of the luxuries they had been accustomed to at home.When they lay down to sleep, their servants were called to spread their blankets over their august persons, not forgetting their feet.This seems to be the duty of the Makololo wife to her husband, and strangers sometimes receive the honour.One of our party, having wandered, slept at the village of Nambowe.When he laid down, to his surprise two of Nambowe's wives came at once, and carefully and kindly spread his kaross over him.
A beautiful silvery fish with reddish fins, called Ngwesi, is very abundant in the river; large ones weigh fifteen or twenty pounds each.Its teeth are exposed, and so arranged that, when they meet, the edges cut a hook like nippers.The Ngwesi seems to be a very ravenous fish.It often gulps down the Konokono, a fish armed with serrated bones more than an inch in length in the pectoral and dorsal fins, which, fitting into a notch at the roots, can be put by the fish on full cock or straight out,--they cannot be folded down, without its will, and even break in resisting.The name "Konokono,"
