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Sambanza walked off with Pitsane's suit of green baize faced with red, which had been made in Loanda, and Pitsane, besides abundant supplies of food, obtained two shells similar to that I had received from Shinte. On one occasion I became blood-relation to a young woman by accident.
Some chiefs have really so many as to be forced, by the weight and size, to keep one foot apart from the other, the weight being a serious inconvenience in walking. The gentlemen like Sambanza, who wish to imitate their betters, do so in their walk; so you see men, with only a few ounces of ornament on their legs, strutting along as if they had double the number of pounds.
The chiefs go through the manoeuvre of rubbing the sand on the arms, but only make a feint at picking up some. When Sambanza had finished his oration, he rose up, and showed his ankles ornamented with a bundle of copper rings; had they been very heavy, they would have made him adopt a straggling walk.
Sambanza staggered to Manenko's hut; she, however, who had never promised "to love, honor, and obey him," had not been "nursing her wrath to keep it warm," so she coolly bundled him into the hut, and put him to bed.
Sambanza was gayly attired, and, besides a profusion of beads, had a cloth so long that a boy carried it after him as a train. Behind Shinte sat about a hundred women, clothed in their best, which happened to be a profusion of red baize. The chief wife of Shinte, one of the Matebele or Zulus, sat in front with a curious red cap on her head.
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.
Her husband was instantly dispatched to meet us with liberal presents of food, she being unable to travel in consequence of a burn on the foot. Sambanza gave us a detailed account of the political affairs of the country, and of Kolimbota's evil doings, and next morning performed the ceremony called "Kasendi", for cementing our friendship.
This over, Sambanza and the spokesman of Nyamoana stalked backward and forward in front of Shinte, and gave forth, in a loud voice, all they had been able to learn, either from myself or people, of my past history and connection with the Makololo; the return of the captives; the wish to open the country to trade; the Bible as a word from heaven; the white man's desire for the tribes to live in peace: he ought to have taught the Makololo that first, for the Balonda never attacked them, yet they had assailed the Balonda: perhaps he is fibbing, perhaps not; they rather thought he was; but as the Balonda had good hearts, and Shinte had never done harm to any one, he had better receive the white man well, and send him on his way.
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.
This peculiarity of posture was ascribed, by no less an authority than Aristotle, to wine, while those who were sent asleep by beer were believed "to lie upon their backs." Sambanza had got into a state of inebriation from indulging in mead, similar to that which Shinte presented to us, which is much more powerful than boyaloa.
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