United States or Tuvalu ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
A large proportion of the Balonda, indeed, have heads somewhat elongated backward and upward, thick lips, flat noses, elongated 'ossa calces', etc., etc.; but there are also many good-looking, well-shaped heads and persons among them. 17TH, TUESDAY. We were honored with a grand reception by Shinte about eleven o'clock. Sambanza claimed the honor of presenting us, Manenko being slightly indisposed.
The Bushmen and Hottentots are exceptions to these remarks, for both the shape of their heads and growth of wool are peculiar; the latter, for instance, springs from the scalp in tufts with bare spaces between, and when the crop is short, resembles a number of black pepper-corns stuck on the skin, and very unlike the thick frizzly masses which cover the heads of the Balonda and Maravi.
About thirty-four miles east of the Lolua, or a hundred and thirty-two miles E.N.E. of Cabango, stands the town of Matiamvo, the paramount chief of all the Balonda. The town of Mai is pointed out as to the N.N.W. of Cabango, and thirty-two days or two hundred and twenty-four miles distant, or about lat.
Of these they were wonderfully proud, and bore the cock in triumph through the country of the Balonda, as evidence of having been to the sea. But when at the village of Shinte, a hyaena came into our midst when we were all sound asleep, and picked out the giant in his basket from eighty-four others, and he was lost, to the great grief of my men.
Shinte was particularly anxious to explain that Kolimbota had remained after my departure of his own accord, and that he had engaged in the quarrels of the country without being invited; that, in attempting to capture one of the children of a Balobale man, who had offended the Balonda by taking honey from a hive which did not belong to him, Kolimbota had got wounded by a shot in the thigh, but that he had cured the wound, given him a wife, and sent a present of cloth to Sekeletu, with a full account of the whole affair.
By this expedient she hoped to secure his friendship, and also accurate information as to the future intentions of the Makololo. She thought that he would visit the Balonda more frequently afterward, having the good excuse of going to see his wife; and the Makololo would never, of course, kill the villagers among whom so near a relative of one of their own children dwells.
They frequently lamented the want of knowledge in these people, saying, in their own tongue, "Ah! they don't know that we are men as well as they, and that we are only bearing with their insolence with patience because we are men." Then would follow a hearty curse, showing that the patience was nearly expended; but they seldom quarreled in the language of the Balonda.
This Kawawa, however, is not a good specimen of the Balonda chiefs, and is rather notorious in the neighborhood for his folly. We were told that he has good reason to believe that Matiamvo will some day cut off his head for his disregard of the rights of strangers.
Nyamoana's Present Charms Manenko's pedestrian Powers An Idol Balonda Arms Rain Hunger Palisades Dense Forests Artificial Beehives Mushrooms Villagers lend the Roofs of their Houses Divination and Idols Manenko's Whims A night Alarm Shinte's Messengers and Present The proper Way to approach a Village A Merman Enter Shinte's Town: its Appearance Meet two half-caste Slave-traders The Makololo scorn them The Balonda real Negroes Grand Reception from Shinte His Kotla Ceremony of Introduction The Orators Women Musicians and Musical Instruments A disagreeable Request Private Interviews with Shinte Give him an Ox Fertility of Soil Manenko's new Hut Conversation with Shinte Kolimbota's Proposal Balonda's Punctiliousness Selling Children Kidnapping Shinte's Offer of a Slave Magic Lantern Alarm of Women Delay Sambanza returns intoxicated The last and greatest Proof of Shinte's Friendship.
But, though we set out from Loanda with a considerable quantity of goods, hoping both to pay our way through the stingy Chiboque, and to make presents to the kind Balonda and still more generous Makololo, the many delays caused by sickness made us expend all my stock, and all the goods my men procured by their own labor at Loanda, and we returned to the Makololo as poor as when we set out.
Word Of The Day