CHAPTER CLXII.
AFRICA—Continued.
THE BABISA AND BABEMBA.
APPEARANCE OF THE BABISA — MODE OF SALUTATION — COWARDICE AND FALSEHOOD — THE RAIN DANCE — THEIR IMPLEMENTS — THEIR FOOD — THEIR SUSPICION — SLAVE TRADE — DEGRADED CONDITION — LOCALITY OF THE BABEMBA — ROMANTIC SCENERY — LAWSUIT BEFORE THE CHIEF — NSAMA’S TERRITORY — A BRAVE AND SUCCESSFUL WARRIOR — HIS BREACH OF PUBLIC LAW — HIS PUNISHMENT BY THE ARABS — PEACE-MAKING — MARRIAGE OF HIS DAUGHTER — BRIEF HONEYMOON — CASEMBÉ’S TOWN — LIVINGSTONE’S RECEPTION — APPEARANCE OF CASEMBÉ — HIS BARBAROUS PUNISHMENTS — UNDERGROUND HOUSES IN RUA — SINGULAR SUPERSTITIONS — CASEMBÉ’S JUST DECISION — THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE SOLD AS A SLAVE — HATRED OF THE SLAVE TRADER — BELIEF IN A LIFE AFTER DEATH — APPEARANCE OF THE BABEMBA — THE TYPICAL NEGRO.
The territory occupied by The Babisa is the district northwest of Lake Nyassa, lying between the parallels 10° and 12° south latitude.
Moanzabamba was the founder of this tribe. The singular plaits of hair which are worn as a head-dress, and look like large ears, was the curious style originating with this chief.
This tribe resembles in many respects the Bushmen or Hottentots. Their roving habits indicate Bushman blood. They have round, bullet-shaped heads, short, pug noses, and an upward slant of the eyes. The mode of salutation among the men is to lie down upon the back, and while clapping the hands make a disagreeable, half-kissing sound with the lips.
They are destitute of courage, yet possess considerable craft and prefer to tell falsehoods rather than the truth. They seem to be more inclined to answer questions by misstatements than to give correct replies.
Their want of valor subjects them to frequent invasions of the Mazitu. In order to escape starvation in consequence of the plundering raids of their enemies, they cultivate small patches, some ten yards in diameter, at wide intervals in the forest. They plant millet and pumpkins, as it is difficult for the Mazitu to carry off these. The Babisa dismantle their huts and take the thatch to their gardens, where they live till the harvest is over. This exposure of the framework to the rains and sun helps to destroy the vermin that may always be found in the dwellings of this tribe. When the party is a strong one they build their sheds so as to form a circle and have but one opening. The ridgepole, or rather a series of ridgepoles, constitutes one long shed with no partitions in the roof-shaped hut. The women have a dance called the rain-dance in which their faces are smeared with meal, and they carry axes and endeavor to imitate the male voice in their singing.
Their implements of husbandry are exceedingly rude. The hoe they use is made of wood in a kind of V shape, or it is a branch with another springing out of it, about an inch in diameter at the sharp point. With this they claw the soil after the seed has been scattered. Their food consists principally of wild fruits, leaves, roots, and mushrooms. Of the latter they choose some five or six kinds and reject the others. One species grows to some six inches in diameter, is pure white with a blush of brown in the centre, and is very palatable when roasted. The natives readily distinguish the good from the poisonous. One trait very prominent in the character of the Babisa is their distrust. Full of suspicion they demand payment in advance for what they sell. Their distrust of all others develops into dishonesty in themselves; to use Livingstone’s words, “They give nothing to each other for nothing.” If this enlargement of mind be produced by commerce, commend me to the untrading African. Like the Makoa, this tribe possess a very dull sense of delicacy and politeness. Some tribes, like the Babemba, will retire when food is presented to any one.
They are engaged in the slave trade, and its effects are seen in the depopulation of their country, their neglect of husbandry, on account of the raids they fear, and their consequent poverty and almost starvation. Famine and famine prices everywhere obtain, and the people do not see that their own roving and slaving habits are the cause of their being so degraded and reduced to the condition of dependents of the Babemba. They are, as Livingstone briefly says, “a miserable, lying lot of serfs.”
THE BABEMBA TRIBE.
Lobisa, Lobemba, Ulungu, and Itawa-Lunda are the names by which the portions of an elevated region between the parallels 11° and 8° S. and meridian 28° 53° Lon. E. are known. The altitude of this section of country is from four thousand to six thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is the water-shed between the Loangwa, a tributary of the river Zambesi, and several rivers which flow toward the north. It abounds in forest lands and is watered by numerous rivulets. The soil is remarkably fertile, yielding abundantly wherever cultivated. Lake Liemba, which lies in this basin, is, however, twenty-five hundred feet above the level of the sea. The land around this lake is very steep, the rocks in many instances running from a height of two thousand feet down to the surface of the lake. The tops, sides, and bottom of these cliffs are covered with wood and grass.
The scenery of this region is romantic and very beautiful. The Acasy, a stream about fifty feet wide, comes down the cliffs, forming cascades by leaping three hundred feet at a time, exciting the admiration and wonder of the traveller. Buffalos, elephants, and antelopes are found in great abundance on these slopes, and in the waters of the lake crocodiles, hippopotami, and fish of various kinds.
The lake is from fifteen to twenty miles broad and from forty to fifty long, sending out an arm some two miles wide toward Tanganyika, of which it may be only a branch. Groves of palm-oil and other trees may be found on the banks of the lake. These palm-trees are large and fruitful. Livingstone saw a cluster from one carried past the door of his hut that required two men to bear it. Though there are villages around this lake yet most of the natives live on two islands, where they raise goats, cultivate the soil, and catch fish.
Livingstone had an opportunity to hear a case tried in Lobemba, before the chief. An old man talked an hour, the chief all the while listening and maintaining a grave and dignified deportment. When the trial was finished he gave his decision in about five minutes. Thereupon the successful party went away lullilooing. The custom with the attorneys in such cases is to turn the back upon the chief or judge, then lie down upon the ground, clapping the hands. Saluting him in this way they then are prepared to make their appeal or argument.
The chief Nsama, a very old man when Livingstone saw him, had a good head and face and an enormous abdomen. He was so large and helpless his people had to carry him. Women were constantly in attendance pouring pombé into him.
This tribe is very much more warlike than any of those south of them. They dig deep ditches around their villages and stockade them also. Their politeness is manifested in their retiring when food is presented to any one.
Nsama’s territory is called Itawa, and is generally cleared of trees for cultivation, lying about three thousand feet above the sea. The river Chiséra, a mile and a half broad, gives off its water to the Kalongosi, a feeder of Lake Moero. This is about twelve miles broad, having on the east and west sides lofty, tree-covered mountains. The western range is part of the country Rua Moero. What is of most interest about this lake is that it forms one of a chain of lakes linked by a river some five hundred miles in length. First, the Chambeze rises in the country of Mambwé, northeast of Molembé. Flowing southwest and west, till it reaches latitude 11° S. and longitude 29° E., it forms Lake Bemba or Bangueolo; emerging thence it takes the name Luapala and flows down to fall into Moero. Going out of this lake, it is known by the name of Lualaba, as it flows northwest to form another lake named Urengué or Ulengé. No positive information could be ascertained as to whether it enters Tanganyika or a lake beyond that.
Nsama had been a brave and successful warrior, and was regarded as invincible, but his power had waned and he was defeated by a party of twenty Arabs with guns. Some of them got within the stockade, and though Nsama’s men were very numerous they were overcome and soon fled carrying the bloated carcass of their chief.
The defeat of Nsama caused a great panic among the various tribes of the region. He had been the ablest and most successful warrior at the head of a brave and warlike people. That this “Napoleon,” before whom none could stand, should be conquered, created a surprise and a revolution in the minds of the people, and the superiority of guns over bows and arrows had to be acknowledged by those little inclined to admit the fact. But as the people have considerable intelligence they cannot resist the logic of events. It seems that Nsama had given great offence by some outrage upon the Arab traders, and was charged with “having broken public law by attacking people who brought merchandise into the country.” But though it was difficult to ascertain whether the Arabs were the aggressors or Nsama, the feud raged till the former had punished him by an ignominious defeat, routing a large number, besides killing some fifty, with the loss of about the same number by the Arab assailants. The consequences of the quarrel were most disastrous. His son was captured, and his country, which was but lately so densely peopled, seemed as if deserted, the inhabitants having scattered in various directions to escape the plunder of their goods and the stealing of their wives and children for the slave-market.
The peacemaking between these hostile parties absorbed three and a half months, thus delaying Livingstone, as it was not thought safe for him to enter Nsama’s territory till a reconciliation was effected. A custom of drinking each other’s blood is one of the formalities of making peace. But this did not altogether avail.
At length, as a final method of settling the difficulty, Nsama promised his daughter as wife to Hamees. So one afternoon, she who was to be a reconciler of the hostile parties came riding pick-a-back on a man’s shoulders. Livingstone describes her as “a nice, modest, good-looking young woman, her hair rubbed all over with nkola, a red pigment made from the cam-wood and much used as an ornament. She was accompanied by about a dozen young and old female attendants, each carrying a small basket with some provisions, as cassava, ground-nuts, etc. The Arabs were all dressed in their finery, and the slaves, in fantastic dresses, flourished swords, fired guns, and yelled. When she was brought to Hamees’ hut she descended and with her maids went into the hut. She and her attendants had all small, neat features. I had been sitting with Hamees, and now rose up and went away. As I passed him he spoke thus to himself, ‘Hamees Wadim Tagh! see to what you have brought yourself.’” But the condition he so much deprecated was not of long duration. The next day he set off with his new wife to make a visit upon his father-in-law, and was soon met by two messengers informing him that he must delay his visit. Yet when he went, Nsama would not admit him into the stockade unless he would lay aside gun and sword. But these conditions Hamees would not submit to. Soliciting guides from Nsama, yet he was annoyed by the chief’s delay and vacillation, although he had promised them. At length having secured them and making preparations for their journey, Hamees’ wife, supposing an attack upon her father was contemplated, decamped with the guides by night, forsaking her new Arab husband after a honeymoon of only a week, and without ceremony, relieving him of the humiliating attitude of marrying a negro wife for the sake of peace.
Not far from the lower part of Moero, and near the north end of the lakelet Mofwé is Casembé’s town. This covers about a mile square of cassava plantations. Some of the huts have square enclosures of reeds, but the whole resembles a rural village more than a town. The population, judged from the huts scattered irregularly over the space, was about a thousand. The court or palace of Casembé was an enclosure about two hundred yards by three hundred long; within this hedge of high reeds was the large hut of the chief and smaller huts for his domestics. The queen’s hut, with other small huts, was behind that of Casembé. In the reception that he gave Livingstone he sat before his hut on a square seat placed on lion and leopard skins. “He was dressed in a coarse blue and white Manchester print edged with red baize, and arranged in large folds so as to look like crinoline put on wrong side foremost. His arms, legs, and head were covered with sleeves, leggings, and cap made of various colored beads in neat patterns; a crown of yellow feathers surmounted his cap. Each of his head men came forward shaded by a huge, ill-made umbrella and followed by his dependents, made obeisance to Casembé and sat down on his right and left. Various bands of musicians did the same. When called upon, I rose and bowed, and an old councillor with his ears cropped, gave the chief as full an account as he had been able to gather of the English in general and my antecedents in particular. My having passed through Lunda and visited chiefs of whom he scarcely knew anything excited most attention. He assured me I was welcome to his country to go where I liked and do what I chose. We then went (two boys carrying his train behind him) to an inner apartment, where the articles of my present were exhibited in detail. They consisted of eight yards of orange-colored serge, a large striped table-cloth, another large cloth made at Manchester in imitation of west-coast manufacture, which never fails to excite the admiration of Arabs and natives, and a large, richly gilded comb for the back hair, such as ladies wore fifty years ago. As Casembé’s and Nsama’s people cultivate the hair into large knots behind, I was sure that this article would tickle the fancy. Casembé expressed himself pleased and again bade me welcome. Casembé has an ungainly look and an outward squint in each eye. A number of human skulls adorned the entrance to his court-yard, and great numbers of his principal men having their ears cropped and some with their hands lopped off showed his barbarous way of making his ministers attentive and honest.”
The Portuguese visited Casembé many years before Livingstone’s visit. Each Casembé builds a new town. The last seven Casembés had their towns within seven miles of the present. These Casembés have differed very widely in character. Pereira, an early traveller, states that the Casembé of his time had twenty thousand trained soldiers, watered his streets daily, and sacrificed twenty human victims every day. Livingstone, however, saw no evidence of human sacrifices. The present Casembé had but a small following, and was very poor. When he usurped power some five years before, the region was thickly populated. But his barbarity in punishment of offences—cropping the ears, cutting off the hands, and other mutilations, selling children for small misdemeanors—gradually drove many of his people into neighboring countries to escape his brutal tyranny. As there is no rendition of fugitives, this is the method of the oppressed who can no longer endure the tyrant. Casembé is so selfish that he has reduced himself to poverty. If any of his people killed elephants he would not share with them the profits from the sale of the ivory. Accordingly the successful hunters, aggrieved by this selfish robbery, have gone elsewhere or abandoned the chase, and the chief now has no tusks to sell to the Arab traders from Tanganyika. The predecessor of the present Casembé treated Major Monteiro, the traveller, so badly that the Portuguese have not ventured so far into Central Africa since.
West of Casembé’s country is Katanga. The people smelt copper ore into large bars, shaped like the letter I. These bars are found in great abundance, weighing from fifty to a hundred pounds. The natives draw the copper into wire for armlets and leglets. There are also traces of gold in this region.
One of the most remarkable of the vegetable products of this region is a potato that belongs to the pea family. Its flowers emit a very grateful fragrance. The tuber is oblong, like our common potato, and it is easily propagated from cuttings of the root or stalk. It tastes, when cooked, like our potato, but has some bitterness when unripe. It is a good remedy for nausea when raw. It is found only on the uplands and cannot endure a hot climate.
A very remarkable feature of the country is the stone under-ground houses in Rua. They are very extensive, running along mountain-sides for twenty miles. The door-ways, in some cases, are level with the ground, in others, a ladder is needed to climb up to them. Inside, these houses are very large, and in one part a rivulet flows. They are probably natural formations, though there are many indications of their being artificial.
It is a widely-spread superstition that if a child cuts its upper front teeth before the lower it is unlucky, and it is therefore killed. If a child be seen to turn from one side to the other in sleep, it is killed. A child having any of these defects is called an Arab’s child, because the Arabs have none of these superstitions. Such children are readily given to the Arabs, fearing ill-luck, “milando” or guilt to the family if they be kept. They never sell their children to slavers, but part with them to avoid the misfortunes they apprehend, their fears being caused by these superstitious notions.
If Casembé dream of any man twice or three times the man is supposed to be practising secret arts against his chief, and is accordingly put to death. If one be pounding or cooking food for him, silence must be invariably preserved. At Katanga the people are afraid to dig for gold, because, as they believe, it was hidden there in the earth by “Ngolu,” which means, as the Arabs say, Satan, and also departed spirits.
The fear of death among this people is universal and very strong. They never molest the wagtails, believing, if one be killed, death would visit and destroy them. The whydah birds are protected by this same superstitious notion that death would ensue if they be harmed. The people are everywhere degraded and oppressed by these and similar notions, which seem very absurd to us, and yet, after all, are not much more unreasonable and silly than some of the superstitions that are cherished by people in civilized countries. Are there not many believers still in the efficacy of the horse-shoe over the door? Who would not rather see the new moon over his right shoulder, as the token of better luck than if seen over the left? Do not multitudes forbear to undertake a journey or any new enterprise on Friday, because they regard it an unlucky day?
Unless he has swilled beer or pombé to excess, Casembé is a chief of very considerable good sense. His decisions often evince an independence and wisdom that show him to be worthy of his place at the head of the people. The Arabs are enthusiastic in his praise. A case of crim. con. was brought before him involving an Arab’s slave. An effort was made to arrange the matter privately by offering cloths, beads, and another slave. The complainant declined every proposition; but Casembé dismissed the case by saying to the complainant, “You send your women to entrap the strangers in order to get a fine, but you will get nothing.” This verdict was exceedingly gratifying to the Arabs, and the owner of the slave especially.
Kapika, an old chief, had charged his young and handsome wife with infidelity, and in punishment thereof had sold her as a slave. But the spectacle of a woman of high rank in the slave-gang greatly excited the ladies of Lunda, and learning from her that she was really a slave, they clapped their hands on their mouths, in a way peculiar to them and expressive of horror and indignation. The hard fate of the young chieftainess evoked the sympathy of all the people. Kapika’s daughters brought her refreshments, offers were made by one and another to redeem her with two and even three slaves; but Casembé, who is very rigorous in his treatment of all violations of chastity, said, “No; though ten slaves be offered, she must go.” Possibly a fear that he might lose his own queen, if such infidelities were not severely punished, may have led him to his stern and inexorable decision. Pérembé, the oldest man in Lunda, had a young wife who was sold as a punishment; but she was redeemed. The slave-trader is undoubtedly a means of making the young wives of some of these old men faithful to their marriage.
The people, however, are not kindly disposed toward the slave dealer, who is used as a means of punishing those who have family feuds,—as a wife with her husband, or a servant with his master. In cases of jealousy, revenge, or real criminality, they are the ready instrumentalities for effecting the just or the unjust punishment. The slaves are said to be generally criminals, and are sold in revenge or as a punishment.
The incident narrated below indicates the belief of the Africans in a future state,—a belief, however, around which cluster the darkest and saddest superstitions. The reader will see how the miseries and wrongs of their life shaped and colored their anticipations of the life to come. The hope of avenging the barbarities they endured inspired them with a sort of ghastly satisfaction, so that they blended songs with their sufferings.
“Six men slaves,” as Livingstone relates the incident, “were singing as if they did not feel the weight and degradation of the slave-sticks. I asked the cause of their mirth, and was told that they rejoiced at the idea of coming back after death, and haunting and killing those who had sold them. Some of the words I had to inquire about; for instance, the meaning of the words, ‘To haunt and kill by spirit power’; then it was, ‘Oh! you sent me off to manga (sea-coast), but the yoke is off when I die, and back I shall come to haunt and to kill you.’ Then all joined in the chorus, which was the name of each vender. It told not of fun, but of the bitterness and tears of such as were oppressed, and on the side of the oppressors there was a power.—There be higher than they!
“The slave owner asked Kapika’s wife if she would return to kill Kapika. The others answered to the names of the different men with laughter. Her heart was evidently sore: for a lady to come so low down is to her grievous. She has lost her jaunty air, and is, with her head shaved, ugly; but she never forgets to address her captors with dignity, and they seem to fear her.”
In personal appearance the Babemba are very handsome, many of them having heads as finely formed as the majority of Europeans. They are distinguished by small hands and feet, and have none of the gross ugliness of the Congo tribes of West Africa, who are with most persons the typical negroes.
Dr. Livingstone’s observations led him to adopt the opinion which Winwood Reade formed,—that the ancient Egyptian is the type of the negro race, and not the awkward forms and hideous features of the West Coast tribes. It is probable that this beautiful and romantic region was the real home of the negro. The women excited the admiration of the Arabs by the charms of their full forms and delicate features. The only drawback was the result of a fashion among them, as is often the case among their civilized sisters: they file their teeth to points, and this “makes their smile like that of a crocodile.”