explained, enjoys this prerogative—but he lives sometimes
with one wife and sometimes with another.
Their usual manner of making a fire is with a stick
of hard wood, about four and a half feet long, and
rather thin. With an assegai they make a hole in a
piece of very dry wood; they then take tinder (made of
the dried fibres of the palm), and insert the extremity of
the stick in the hole. One man keeps the stick between
two pieces of wood so that it shall not jump out of
the hole, while another turns the stick; first slowly,
between the palms of the hands, and then quicker,
until at the end of a minute or two smoke begins to -
appear; they drop the smouldering pieces so produced
on to the tinder, which soon catches fire. Then they
place the tinder on the grass and blow. As soon as a
flame springs up, they place on it little twigs of very
dry wood, and as soon as these have caught, sticks a
little bigger, and then pieces of wood are piled over,
until they crown the whole with the largest of all. It
sounds ordinary enough, but the Barotse are astonishingly
deft at it. I have seen an enormous fire obtained thus in
less than five minutes.
The natives about Shesheke are very great hunters;
in fact, hunting is one of the necessities of existence
on the Zambezi. The elephant furnishes ivory, which
is their means of procuring all sorts of merchandise;
other animals supply food and skins, which are the clothes
of the country.
Besides the private hunts every year, there are big
hunts organized, generally under the direction of the
Queen; these take place some time after the cessation
of the rains. At this period the whole of the country
in the neighbourhood of the rivers is transformed into a
vast lake, from the middle of which arise little islands
where the game takes refuge. Then, accompanied by
a numerous body of slaves and chiefs, the Queen goes
to some village on the borders of the river. All the
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inhabitants and their canoes are requisitioned, and a
certain number of the canoes surround one of the
islands. Some of the men land and start the game,
which take to the water, where they meet their death.
Thousands of beasts are thus captured. They are then
cut up, and the natives gorge themselves with meat;
what they do not eat is dried in the sun. Half the
skins go to the King; then the Queen distributes one
or two skins to each chief and to some of the favoured
slaves, and keeps the rest herself.
Fishing is carried on by means of nets or baskets.
They also fish with a special kind of assegai. What
fish they do not eat they „preserve-with salt,' which
is found on the Linyanti, about three hours’ journey from
Kazungula and also to the north of Shesheke.
Agriculture is scarce, and rudimentary; it resolves itself
into the production of millet, maize, and peas. Women
exclusively are occupied with field work. They use but
a single instrument, the spade, and there is no irrigation
of any kind. The results are proportionate to the
methods, though the soil is good, and should be extremely
fertile. ‘ .
One or two further fragments of raw material for
anthropology, I was able to collect among these tribes.
They have no knowledge of writing, though they make
patterns on their utensils and engrave cleverly enough
on: wood and iron. They have no more definite
standard of measurement than most, other savages. To
indicate the height of a person they stretch out the
hand at a certain level; to measure cattle they span
the length between the tips of the horns. Distance is
reckoned by pointing to the sun and mentioning so
many days. They tell the time of day by the sun,
but calculate long periods by moons. The new moon
is the occasion of grand festivities. It is a general
holiday; men of all ranks sing and dance, while the
women assemble apart and give vent to strident howls