bride-elect proceeds to the kraal of tbe bridegroom, tbe
company carrying various articles of food, such, as a plucked
hen, and an egg resting on a plate piled with meal, the
latter being considered symbolical of the innocence of the
bride. Musical instruments are played in the procession,
and the people shout and dance in testimony of their
j°y-D
uring all this ceremony, the bridegroom is not permitted
to appear outside of his hut. He is dressed in his best,
decorated with beads, and anointed with the oil of almonds.
No sooner is the first part of the ceremony over than he
comes to the threshold of the hut and shows himself to the
assemblage, the chief of the bride’s family receiving presents
from them. After this he is taken back to his hut. The
ceremony of giving away the bride follows, and then she is
introduced to the hut of the bridegroom.
When kings desire to marry, they merely issue an order
to the father to present his daughter, and the request is
immediately complied with. The king looks upon his subjects
as being slaves. He may have as many as fifty, or
even a hundred wives. Should it suit his humour to put
any of them to death, he does so without further ado.
Executions are carried out sometimes in the presence of the
woman’s father, who, through fear of giving offence to the
king, will exhibit satisfaction rather than sorrow. Any
appearance of - grief would be fatal to him. Occasionally
the king may order the father to be the executioner, and
even then the horribly unnatural command is obeyed with
apparent satisfaction.
When deaths occur they have to be reported to the king,
the bereaved ones beseeching his majesty that they may be
allowed to mourn for the departed. On the request being
granted, lamentations and waitings are lustily uttered by
a crowd of relatives and friends assembled in front of the
deceased’s hut. The burial rites being concluded, a number of
slaves are left to watch the grave, day and night, guarding
it from the ravages of wild beasts and the baneful incantations
of sorcerers. Peace-offerings of food are given to
appease the wrath of spirits, while words of exorcism are
muttered, the talkers striking their breast as they address
themselves to the unknown. Funeral obsequies are terminated
some time afterwards by a feast.
But burial ceremonies differ among the various tribes.
Of the Muzimba people, and the Makanga, it is asserted
that it is customary for them, among other barbarities,
generally to bury, along with a defunct monarch, two or
four male slaves and two female slaves, who have previously
been suffocated. The bodies are placed in the same tomb
with the king, and a short distance off another slave is
strangled and his body fastened to a tree, in a sitting
posture. This is a custom very similar to that described
by Mr. O’Neil as being practised by the Makua people a t
Mozambique.
At Tette, white ants are troublesome beyond description
to the householder. They get into the roof and quickly
destroy the rafters; they are equally destructive on clothes,
furniture, and household goods.
From what I have seen of the Portuguese, they are good
masters, and possessed of great patience.
How often must we think of the strange vicissitudes of
nations; of their changes from puissance to impotence,
from enterprise to indolence, from opulence to poverty,
from courage to timidity, from conquest to subjection! Is
it possible to think, without pity, of the decadence of the
Portuguese, the great explorers and colonisers of so many
vast regions of the world ? Their tide of progress and