218 DRUNKEN FERRYMEN. СНАР. ІХ. fore meeting us, he left the path and drew up his "following" under a tree, expecting us to halt, and give him a chance of bothering us again; but, having already had enough of that, we held right on: he seemed dumbfoundered, and could hardly believe his own eyes. For a few seconds he was speechless, but at last recovered so far as to be able to say, "You are passing Pangola. Do not you see Pangola ?" Mbia was just going by at the time with the donkey, and, proud of every opportunity of airing his small stock of English, shouted in reply, "All right! then get on." Click, click, click." This fellow, Pangola, would have annoyed and harassed a trader until his unreasonable demands were complied with. On the 26th of June we breakfasted at Zumbo, on the left bank of the Loangwa, near the ruins of some ancient Portuguese houses. The Loangwa was too deep to be forded, and there were no canoes on our side. Seeing two small ones on the opposite shore, near a few recently-erected huts of two half-castes from Tette, we halted for the ferrymen to come over. From their movements, it was evident that they were in a state of rollicking drunkenness. Having a water-proof cloak, which could be inflated into a tiny boat, we sent Mantlanyane across in it. Three half intoxicated slaves then brought us the shaky canoes, which we lashed together and manned with our own canoe-men. Five men were all that we could carry over at a time; and, after four trips had been made, the slaves began to clamor for drink. Not receiving any, as we had none to give, they grew more insolent, and declared that not another man should cross that day. Sininyane was remonstrating with them, when a loaded musket was presented at him by one of the trio. In an instant the gun was out of the rascal's hands, a rattling shower of blows СНАР. ІХ. RESULTS OF NO GOVERNMENT. 219 fell on his back, and he took an involuntary header into the river. He crawled up the bank a sad and sober man, and all three at once tumbled from the height of saucy swagger to a low depth of slavish abjectness. The musket was found to have an enormous charge, and might have blown our man to pieces but for the promptitude with which his companions administered justice in a lawless land. We were all ferried safely across by 8 o'clock in the evening. In illustration of what takes place where no government or law exists, the two half-castes, to whom these men belonged, left Tette, with four hundred slaves, armed with the old Sepoy Brown Bess, to hunt elephants and trade in ivory. On our way up, we heard from natives of their lawless deeds, and again, on our way down, from several, who had been eyewitnesses of the principal crime, and all reports substantially agreed. The story is a sad one. After the traders reached Zumbo, one of them, called by the natives Sequasha, entered into a plot with the disaffected head man, Namakusuru, to kill his chief, Mpangwe, in order that Namakusuru might seize upon the chieftainship; and for the murder of Mpangwe, the trader agreed to receive ten large tusks of ivory. Sequasha, with a picked party of armed slaves, went to visit Mpangwe, who received him kindly, and treated him with all the honor and hospitality usually shown to distinguished strangers, and the women busied themselves in cooking the best of their provisions for the repast to be set before him. Of this, and also of the beer, the half-caste partook heartily. Mpangwe was then asked by Sequasha to allow his men to fire their guns in amusement. Innocent of any suspicion of treachery, and anxious to hear the report of fire-arms, Mpangwe at once gave his consent; and the slaves rose and poured a murderous volley into the merry 220 SEQUASHA. CHAP. IX. group of unsuspecting spectators, instantly killing the chief and twenty of his people. The survivors fled in horror. The children and young women were seized as slaves, and the village sacked. Sequasha sent the message to Namakusuru: "I have killed the lion that troubled you: come and let us talk over the matter." He came, and brought the ivory. "No," said the half-caste, "let us divide the land;" and he took the larger share for himself, and compelled the would-be usurper to deliver up his bracelets in token of subjection on becoming the child or vassal of Sequasha. These were sent in triumph to the authorities at Tette. The Governor of Quillimane had told us that he had received orders from Lisbon to take advantage of our passing to re-establish Zumbo; and, accordingly, these traders had built a small stockade on the rich plain of the right bank of Loangwa, a mile above the site of the ancient mission church of Zumbo, as part of the royal policy. The bloodshed was quite unnecessary, because, the land at Zumbo having of old been purchased, the natives would always, of their own accord, have acknowledged the right thus acquired; they pointed out to Dr. Livingstone in 1856 that, though they were culti vating it, it was not theirs, but white man's land. Sequasha and his mate had left their ivory in charge of some of their slaves, who, in the absence of their masters, were now having a gay time of it, and getting drunk every day with the prod uce of the sacked villages. The head slave came and begged for the musket of the delinquent ferryman, which was returned. He thought his master did perfectly right to kill Mpangwe, when asked to do it for the fee of ten tusks, and he even justified it thus: "If a man invites you to eat, will you not partake?" СНАР. Х. CHURCH IN RUINS. 221 CHAPTER X. Beautiful Situation of Zumbo.-Church in Ruins.-Why have the Catholic Missions failed to perpetuate the Faith?-Ma-mburuma. —Anti-slavery Principles a Recommendation.-Jujubes.-Tsetse.-Dr. Kirk dangerously ill in the Mountain Forest.-Our Men's feats of Hunting.-Hyenas.-Honey-guides. Instinct of, how to be accounted for, Self-interest or Friendship? -A Serpent.-Mpangwe's Village deserted.-Large Game abundant.-Difference of Flavor in.-Sights seen in Marching.-"Smokes" from Grassburnings.-River Chongwe.-Bazizulu and their superior Cotton.-Escape from Rhinoceros.-The Wild Dog.-Families Flitting. -Tombanyama.— Confluence of the Kafue. WE remained a day by the ruins of Zumbo. The early traders, guided probably by Jesuit missionaries, must have been men of taste and sagacity. They selected for their vil lage the most charmingly picturesque site in the country, and had reason to hope that it would soon be enriched by the lucrative trade of the rivers Zambesi and Loangwa pouring into it from north and west, and by the gold and ivory of the Manica country on the south. The Portuguese of the present day have certainly reason to be proud of the enterprise of their ancestors. If ever in the Elysian fields the conversation of these ancient and honorable men, who dared so much for Christianity, turns on their African descendants, it will be difficult for them to reciprocate the feeling. The chapel, near which lies a broken church bell, commands a glorious view of the two noble rivers-the green fields-the undulating forest-the pleasant hills, and the magnificent mountains in the distance. It is an utter ruin now, and desolation broods around. The wild bird, disturbed by the unwonted sound of approaching footsteps, rises with a harsh scream. 222 MISSIONARY FAILURE. СНАР. Х. Thorn-bushes, marked with the ravages of white, ants, rank grass with prickly barbed seeds, and noxious weeds, overrun the whole place. The foul hyena has defiled the sanctuary, and the midnight owl has perched on its crumbling walls, to disgorge the undigested remnant of its prey. One can scarcely look without feelings of sadness on the utter desolation of a place where men have met to worship the Supreme Being, or have united in uttering the magnificent words, "Thou art the King of glory, O Christ!" and remember that the natives of this part know nothing of His relig ion, not even His name. A strange superstition makes them shun this sacred place, as men do the pestilence, and they never come near it. Apart from the ruins, there is nothing to remind one that a Christian power ever had traders here, for the natives of to-day are precisely what their fathers were when the Portuguese first rounded the Cape. Their language, unless buried in the Vatican, is still unwritten. Not a single art, save that of distilling spirits by means of a gunbarrel, has ever been learned from the strangers; and, if all the progeny of the whites were at once to leave the country, their only memorial would be the ruins of a few stone and mud-built walls, and that blighting relic of the slave-trade, the belief that man may sell his brother man; a belief which is not of native origin, for it is not found except in the track of the Portuguese. Since the early missionaries were not wanting in either wisdom or enterprise, it would be intensely interesting to know the exact cause of their failing to perpetuate their faith. Our observation of the operations of the systems, whether of native or of European origin, which sanction slavery, tends to prove that they only perpetuate barbarism. Raids like that of Sequasha-also of Simoens, who carried |