Getting under weigh, and crossing the long valley, we
soon ascended the southern slopes of the great granite
mountains which form the division between the waters flowing
to the Limpopo and Sabia rivers, and to the Zambesi.
We came to a large kraal situated in the open, and
having a background of jagged rocks. The place is called
Magu-buduani. Here we stopped, and were soon surrounded
by swarms of men, women and children, to whom
our arrival was a cause of much curiosity.
Then began a bustling, chattering tumult. The flurried
throng of men, women and children, forming an excited
circle of naked humanity, pressed closely around us with
their marketable produce, including Kaffir corn and meal,
hemp, pumpkins, sweet reed, and so forth. For some small
strips of cotton cloth—limbo it is called by the traders
we bought some potatoes and other articles. One cotton
blanket was given for a goat, a transaction which occasioned
a good deal of bargaining. The noise was tremendous
; what with husbands and wives quarrelling about the
amount of cloth they were to receive, girls chattering and
holding out their hands for beads, and other uproar, it
was impossible for any one to hear himself speak.
The whole scene was highly amusing. The fun of the
fair was noisy, but nearly all the people seemed to be
beaming with good-humour. All were well fed and happy.
One woman was really pretty, with teeth as white as the
proverbial pearl. She was full of sprightliness, and begged
most persistently for white calico (“ ilimbo elimhlopi )
and beads. A small piece of white calico gave her lively
satisfaction.
“ I praise you ” (Ngi ya bonga), she shouted, as she went
on her way rejoicing:
Soon we left this lively fair. I t was nearly dark, and
THE “ N EW V A LH A L LA .” 51
we camped in the forest beyond. We were now upon the
great plalteau of Matabeli-land.
During the next two days’ journey we passed the villages
of Inthlathlangela and Umganen—the latter a favourite
village of the king—between which were interspersed
rich fields of waving maize. This was a thickly-inhabited
district, for we were now approaching Buluwayo, the town
of the great black king, Lo-bengula, the most powerful
monarch in South Africa.*
My curiosity was greatly excited as we neared the domicile
of Lo-ben, who had so much power either to aid or
thwart my effort. His subjects, masculine and feminine, of
all ages and conditions, flocked around the waggon in
scores, bringing tobacco and many other commodities,
likely to be wanted in exchange for the coveted cloth and
beads.
They escorted us until we reached the “ New Valhalla,”
the name humorously given to the house of Mr. George
Fairbairn, a Scottish gentleman who trades in ivory, close
to the king’s kraal, on the southern banks of the Umkhosi
river. A hearty welcome was given me here.
The country at the time was full of fever, and Fairbaim’s
house was temporarily an hospital. Several deaths had
occurred in the immediate neighbourhood on the mission
station, one who succumbed being Mr. Thomas, who was
among the first of the white men who came to this country,
and who had established a small mission station of his own,
named Shiloh.
On my arrival I made inquiries concerning the progress
of Whitaker, the young and adventurous Canadian, of
* Buluwayo means “ the one that is slain.” Gubuluwayo is sometimes
used, the prefix Gu or Go, signifying at, to, or from. Bengula, the name
of the king, means “ defender,” the prefix Lo signifying the.
E 2