The Shirè Highlands, East Central Africa, as Colony and Mission

Preface

. The MS. of the following work was given to me by the author for publication, when he left here at the end of June last to return to Blantyre. Part was written on board ship, and forwarded from Cape Town and Natal two months later. My work as editor has been confined to settling the order of the chapters, providing index of con tents to each, making a few verbal alterations, contributing Appendix A. to Chapter iii., the closing details to Chapters vii. and viii., the whole of Chapter ix., and correcting the proofs. In no case have I interfered with the views expressed. I may add that the author is a native of this parish, that I have known him since his school days, was his adviser in going to Africa at first, VI

PREFACE.

. have followed his career since with the deepest interest, and urged him during his four months' visit home to write this account of his work, which I undertook to see printed. JAMES RASKIN. Manse of Muthill, Perthshire, September 10, 1885. CONTENTS, CHAP. PAGE I. FEOM QUILIMANE TO BLANTYEE, . . 1 II. THE SHIRE HIGHLANDS, . . .39 III. GARDENING AND AGRICULTURAL WORK AT BLANTTRE AND ZOMBA, . . .60 IV. CHIEFS AND TRIBES OF THE DISTRICT AND THEIR WORKING POWERS, . . 93 V. NATIVE AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRIES, CUSTOMS, AND BELIEFS, . . . .116 VI. FROM BLANTTRE TO MOPEA (mAZARo) BY LAND MAY 1884, . . . 147 VII. CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSION AT BLANTYRE, 200 VIII. FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSION AT LAKE NYASSA, .... 222 IX. ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES' MISSION AT ZANZIBAR AND LAKE NYASSA, . . . THE SHIRE HIGHLANDS.

CHAPTEE I. FROM QUILIMANE TO BLANTYRE. Town of Quilimane — Architecture — Population — Banian traders — No hotels — Cocoa, palms, and oranges — Boats — By the Kwakwa to Marendene — Tides — Food — Boat-hire and wages — Time — Halt at Inyando — Mosquitoes — Night-journeying— Scenery improves — Water-plants — Fruit-trees — Crops — Oil-seeds — The Zambesi at Mazaro — Fresh canoes and men — Shupanga forest — Lack of fruit-trees — Fourteen days' riverjourneying to Katunga's — Arrangements for night — Precautions for health — Morumbala Marsh — Native critics — Bargaining for food — Fowls lower, river higher — Nsima of native flour — Custom-house at Shimwara — Prazos and taxes — Morumbala marsh — Trees again — Mong'we range — Ruo and Portuguese boundary — Elephant Marsh — Large game — Mbewe village (Chipitula's) — Maseo's — Katunga's — Loads overland to Blantyre — Charms of the road — Makoko — Chipindu— Madziabango— Mbame— Blantyre.

Without attempting to write a "book" on East Africa, I have, at the suggestion of a friend, tried A to bring before the minds of people in Scotland who are interested in that part of the dark conti nent, certain facts and information in a cheap and handy form which may enable them to take a still greater interest in what is undoubtedly an excellent country with a bright future before it. If I succeed in deepening the interest taken in the country itself, and in the missions which are endeavouring to Christianise it, I shall consider myself duly rewarded. I write from nine years' experience in Africa — five as gardener and agriculturist in connection with the Blantyre Mission, and four as a planter of coffee and sugar on my own account. Quilimane being the port of debarkation, I shall begin there and follow the river-journey to Blantyre.

A few words regarding Quilimane itself may be of interest. The town stands on the left bank of the river twelve miles from the sea. It is only a few feet higher than the level of the river when the tide is full. In the wet season it is literally surrounded by marsh, which seldom dries completely even in the dry season. During the wet months you cannot walk many hundred yards outside the town without coming in contact with water. The whole place TOWN OF QUILIMANE. seethes with malaria, and is unhealthy in the extreme in the rainy season. The houses are built, many of them, with brickbats and mud. There are com paratively few whole bricks in any of the old buildings. There is first a framework put up of wooden posts, and diagonalled with battens, which keep the frame firm ; the spaces between are filled in with broken bricks, stones, and mud, the whole plastered over with mud and whitewashed — some times a thin coating of cement is given.

The corners are square and sharp as a rule, and the workmanship of houses built recently is very cred itable. All the houses are built with a partition wall running up the centre, and on this wall are fixed several king-posts, which support a ridge-pole, on which the rafters forming one side of the roof are rested and fastened. The great difficulty in housebuilding in East Africa is that of roofing. Sawn timber for couples is simply out of the question at present ; and then round trees, apart from the difficulty of getting them the proper length, are cumbersome and heavy, and do not stand weight well. But by using this middle partition, on which you rest a set of king-posts and struts to support the roof, you can have your rooms a third wider without increasing the thickness of the walls. Some of the floors are tiled, others are laid with cement, and the houses, as a whole, are cool and comfortable.

The roof con sists in most cases of native-made tiles, but now French tiles are being largely used for the new houses. These French tiles look well, but are expensive, costing about £10 per 1000. There is a new Eoman Catholic chapel replacing an old building of above two centuries ago, that had become dangerous by cracks in the wall — the ancient tombs with Latin inscriptions of early Portuguese settlers remaining unchanged in the floor here and there. This church, roofed with new tiles from Marseilles, and whitewashed with lime, is one of the most prominent features of Quilimane, as seen from the estuary after crossing the bar. What the population of Quilimane is, I cannot say. The white population is very small. I should say there are not over one hundred Europeans in the place, composed of Portuguese, French, Ger mans, Dutch, and English.

Each of the above nationalities has a large trading-house, with smaller stations in the interior. Of natives there is a vast population ; but without having the Government census in hand, it is impossible to form a correct POPULATION AND TRADE. estimate of numbers — and even then not easy or reliable. Besides Europeans and natives, there is a large number of Banians from India. These represent a variety of castes and creeds, especially from Bombay. They are born merchants, and do nearly all the trading in Quilimane. You go into a shop, and the chances are you get almost any thing you ask for. Of course you do not get the first quality, nor do you get it cheap if you pay their price ; but by offering them about one-half of what they ask, you may generally count on getting the article you desire at a reasonable rate.

So keen traders are they, it has been said they will drive a bargain for the mere sake of turning over the money. They live chiefly on rice and tea, and are at no expense otherwise, so that they can get on with very small profits ; and it is almost im possible for a European to trade against them on anything like equal terms. For a European landing in Quilimane as a stranger, it is most difficult to get accommodation. There is no hotel or board ing-house in the town ; and unless one gets into a private house, he may be put about considerably for want of a house to sleep in. There is a club now, and I believe, for ten shillings a-day, you get board and bedding ; but every one is not prepared to pay this amount for what is not equal to a secoad-class hotel. I have always found, however, that the Portuguese individually are kind and hos pitable, and Senhor Nunez's house has long been famed as the resort of Englishmen.

To him, more than any other in the town, the English owe a tribute of thanks for hospitality and kindness shown to their countrymen — commencing with Livingstone himself. A very prominent feature connected with Quili mane is the great extent and luxuriance of the cocoa-nut palms. The cocoa-nut grows magnifi cently ; and in the afternoon, when the breeze comes from the sea, it is most enjoyable to see the long feathery leaves waving far above you, and to contemplate the soughing of the wind as it sighs through the trees, laden less or more all the year round with fruit. Oranges and other species of citrons grow well. The soil is loose and sandy, and is always less or more moist when you go below the surface. On a damp evening, some times the atmosphere is charged with a delicious odour from the flowers of the orange-tree — too heavy and depressing, however, for most new comers unaccustomed to a tropical atmosphere.

Oranges you can purchase from the natives at START ON THE RIVER. one shilling per hundred. During the wet season you cannot get them, but then you have pine apples and other fruit instead ; and cocoa-nut milk you can nearly always have by buying green cocoa-nuts at a penny each, or perhaps three for twopence. Few travellers on their way to Blantyre or Nyasa care to delay long in Quilimane. However, one is compelled to stay a day or two always ; for unless some one has previously arranged boat or canoes beforehand, a certain amount of time is invariably spent in getting these means of conveyance hired. Then you must wait the turn of the tide in Quili mane whether you will or not, for it is next to im possible to go up against the tide with a heavy laden boat of any size. There are various methods of ascending the Kwakwa, and thence to Blantyre by Zambesi and Shire.

You may give yourself and baggage into the hands of the African Lakes Com pany in Quilimane, in which case they provide you with boat, food, and men ; or you may hire a boat from a merchant at so much a-day or for the entire journey ; a third way is to hire a canoe, or canoes if you need them. This is the least comfortable method of voyaging, but with this advantage, that it is the cheapest. As a rule, canoes are to be had on moderate terms. Boats are generally dear, but then you take a large quantity of luggage in the boat with you, and are always tolerably comfortable yourself. The first river-journey en route to Blantyre con sists of 80 miles of river to Marendene or Mopea. The latter place is six miles above Marendene, and is used by nearly all traders for Senna and Tete. Marendene is more suitable for the African Lakes Company, as they have a sub-station at Maruru on the Zambesi.

At either place, all your goods are to unship and carry over to the Zambesi, and for each load you have to pay li yard at Marendene and 1 yard at Mopea. Your canoes or boats hired at Quilimane turn back here, and you must engage a fresh lot on the Zambesi. It is less difficult to get canoes on the Zambesi, but more difficult to get boats than at Quilimane. Iu fact, no boats are to be had ; and unless you have taken a passage by the African Lakes Company, you have no alternative but to proceed by canoe. The first 40 or 50 miles of the Kwakwa is the most miserable and monotonous part of the journey. Supposing you leave Quilimane with the afternoon tide, you only get a short distance before the tide begins to turn, in which case you must pull up at the bank and wait patiently till the tide flows out STATIONS AND LANDING ON RIVER. 9 and begins to flow in again.

With an experienced crew, or even good captain, you will have pulled up at one of the regular stations, where it is possible to cook ; for let it be remembered, it is not possible to pull up just anywhere and walk ashore. When the tide is full, you are on a level with the branches of the trees on the banks ; but when the tide is out, you have a bank of 8 or 10 feet above you, and this covered with two feet or more of slimy mud, into which no white man is safe to enter. Even at the regular halting-places you have to get carried ashore just on account of this horrid mud. Whilst journeying on the river one's food consists largely of rice, and it is unquestionably the best and most suitable food one can use. It has the advantage of being soon made ready, easily cooked, and can be carried cold and eaten at any time.

Besides, it is light and easily digested, and these are valuable qualities in a food the digestion of which one can help but little sitting in a boat day after day. Fowls one has to buy before leaving Quilimane, and for these he must pay about 6d. each, and then only get mere skeletons of half-grown chickens. Tinned meats must always form a part of the supply, but they are not to be used oftener than one can help. A supply of food sufficient to take the crew up the Kwakwa must be bought in Quilimane. Eice, beans, and peas form the chief elements. Eice suitable for the crew costs about 2| rupees per panja (33 lb.) ; beans are cheaper. It is almost useless stating the prices paid for paddlers, as they are liable to change, and one may have to give more than the usual price if boats and canoes are scarce.

On one occasion I hired a boat for £2 for the whole journey, exclusive of the pay of the crew. Next year the owner asked 75 rupees for the same boat on the same run, which, of course, I never thought of for a moment. One may get a small boat sufficient to take his personal baggage, crew and all other expenses paid, at from £6 to £8 for the journey ; or you may hire at so many rupees per day, and pay the crew yourself, the captain and steersman getting 4 rupees, and each of the paddlers or marinyero 3 rupees, half of which has invariably to be paid in advance. Canoes are hired according to size. For a canoe capable of carry ing 5000 yards of calico you will have to pay about 80 yards of calico, or an equivalent in money. The journey from Quilimane to Marendene or Mopea usually takes five days.

In the wet season, with a heavy current against you, it may take seven days. And even in the dry season, if heavily MERITS OF CANOE AND BOAT. loaded, you may lose a considerable amount of time by getting on sand-banks, and thus increase the usual length of the journey. I have gone up and down the Kwakwa both in boat and canoes, and I am able to say that, considering the circumstances, there is nothing unbearable in either ; but a canoe is a little dangerous, especially near to Quilimane, when you come in contact with broken water. One has to sit in a cramped position, and to be careful in keeping his balance. I prefer a boat, even though it be more expensive. To a melancholy person, or one of choleric temperament, there is nothing more annoying than this part of the journey, for it is uncomfortable not to be able to land when you please — and even when you do land, to go to the ankle in mud, and come back into the boat making a mess of everything with dirty boots, or perhaps leaving a shoe ashore.

One throws himself down out of peace with all the world, and makes a mental vow that this is his last trip on this part of the river. In such a case, if the fever has not already shown signs, the best thing one can do, unless dur ing the heat of the sun, is to take hold of a paddle and work vigorously till the sweat pours out of him, by which time he will take a better view of life, and look upon the petty annoyances that make his life miserable if brooded over, as a regular part of the programme that must be gone through. The proper way is to get into your boat or canoe with a good supply of readable books, make your self comfortable as far as you can, and bear the inevitable. The second night after leaving Quihmane, with a good crew working well, one can generally reach Inyando, which is pretty near the upper reach of the tide.

This is a general halting-place for canoes and boats going up and down. There are several houses owned by a coloured gentleman called Eamao, who rents the prazo or district, and col lects the taxes.1 For mosquitoes, both in point of size and number, I should back Inyando against 1 In 1880 Senhor Nunez gave the following names and bound aries of prazos to the editor of this volume when descending the Shire and Zambesi in company — prazo — roup, being the yearly rent fixed at public auction : — Shupanga, from the mouth of the Shir& down to the sea on the south bank of the Zambesi. Luaho, along both sides of a branch of the Zambesi, with two islands opposite Maruru. Ma'indo begins at Mazaro, and extends to the coast by the mouth of the Quilimane river. Marral, on both sides of the Kwakwa up to a place called Enhasuj^.

Burora, from Enhasujfe to the interior. Karungo, in front of Quilimane. Pipin, below Karungo. MOSQUITOES OF INYANDO. any part of America or Asia. Woe betide the un happy man who comes here unarmed with a good mosquito-curtain ! Not only is sleep impossible, but acute misery is certain. He may be dressed in good strong tweed, but a tweed suit is no sure protection against them at this place. The only plan is to have one's mosquito-curtain effectually rigged up before dark, have no light in the boat, and remain there no longer than is necessary. Mosquitoes, be it observed, are plentiful all the way, but Inyando is the mosquito metropolis. For my own part, I prefer journeying by night, especially in moonlight, to going during the day. By so doing, you escape the great heat of the sun during the warmest part of the day, and you are less troubled by mosquitoes when in motion.

I think the time hangs less heavy on your hand, too ; for it is during the night when you are alone on the river -bank, a few natives in sleeping - mats beside you, but no one to converse with, — the Southern Cross looking down upon you, the whole firmament lighted up with countless stars, and a full moon shadowing the trees and banks in the Quilimane-sal (of the salt), below Pipin. MadaLle, on the Quilimane side of the river. Ringone, a small prazo below Madale. Tangalane, a small prazo below Ringone on the coast. river running quietly by — not a motion, save, it may be, the ripple of the water or a breath of wind rustling the dry leaves of some palm-tree, — that one passes from pleasedness to awe and eeriness. The whole scene is so inexpressibly solemn, one's heart begins to fail in the contemplation of it — a feeling of loneliness creeps over one as if he were alone in this great universe — and the only relief is got by remembering that the Creator and Preserver of all is as near to the lonely traveller on the bank of the muddy Kwakwa, Zambesi, or Shire, as in the heart of Edinburgh or Aberdeen.

For the last two days on the Kwakwa the scenery changes, and the journey is much more lightsome. Beyond the reach of the tide the banks of the river are sandy and grassy. Here and there a few large trees overshadow the river in some cases, and as you get near the top you pass through several small lakes of the most lovely character. Their banks are fringed with dense bushes. Con volvuli of varied colours spread their long vines to the very top, and hang in graceful festoons, and open their tempting flowers to the sun's rays. Monkeys sport to and fro among the branches, and kingfishers and other aquatic birds wait ready to WATER-LILIES AND WATER-CABBAGES. pounce on unfortunate fishes that come near the surface. In connection with these lakes, the great pity is so few see them. No one thinks of taking a journey to East Africa to see a Windermere or Killar ney.

In going up the river you meet witli great patches of water-lilies, whose cup-shaped flowers float upon the surface. The leaves, supported on petioles often several yards in length, lie flat on the water or sway with the ripple. Most common of all water-plants is the water-cabbage, Pistia stra tiotes — Pirulo Alfasinha of the Portuguese. It is even to be seen both on Kwakwa and Shire ; and so plentiful is it on the Shire, that I have known the river to be blocked by it for two months at a time. Cocoa-nuts are confined entirely to the sea-coast, but Borassus or Palmyra palms are plentiful when you get within twenty miles of Marendene. They form a veritable forest at Mopea, and are most invaluable as timber, for when cut down and dried and split, they form rafters for houses, and are, in fact, used for posts and framework.

There is a marked absence of timber at Quilimane, and for many miles up the Kwakwa. Occasionally you see a Stercutia, or wool-tree, now and then an acacia. There is a comparative abundance of fig-trees, which answer well to the sycamore of the New Testament. The fruit sometimes hangs in immense clusters on the stem and bare branches. It is edible, but too often destroyed by ants and worms. There is a small orange grown at Ntena, and also a number of mango - trees. An attempt has been made to raise cocoa-nut here, and there are a few trees bearing; but there is little chance of cocoa nuts doing so far from the coast, unless it might be where there was abundance of saline matter in the soil, and where the salt breeze comes direct from the sea. Along the river-banks the natives grow considerable quantities of rice, millet, sorghum, roggy ( = rye), beans and peas, ground-nuts, and semsem.

In every village almost there is a Banian trader, who has the crop, in many cases, bought before it is ripe. They give good prices, and send the grain on to Quilimane to be retailed there. The ground nuts and semsem are disposed of to the European houses, and sent direct to London or Marseilles. There is a large business done in oil-seeds at Quili mane. From the Zambesi, too, come large quantities of oil-seeds, that either find their way to the Kongdne mouth of the great river or to Quilimane. In the trading of oil-seed there is a vast deal to be NATIVE CROPS. 17 done. Semsem grows freely, and the cultivation of it has only to be encouraged. Oil-seeds, such as semsem and ground-nuts, do not sell at a price sufficiently high to stand a heavy freight ; and on this account it is only on the lower river, where the expense of transit is comparatively small, that a paying profit can be realised.

Little if anything has been done by Europeans in the cultivation of oil-seeds themselves. It has been found cheaper to buy them from the natives ; but there is no reason whatever why, by using cattle and plough ing and working the land thoroughly and well, the cultivation of this crop should not pay. A farm of say a hundred acres of Zambesi land under semsem, ploughed by oxen, harrowed, drilled, and kept clear of weeds as much as possible by machine rather than hand labour, should bring in a very handsome profit to the farmer, be he European or otherwise. Now that slavery is illegal, even in Portuguese territory, labour is sometimes scarce ; but by using ploughs worked by oxen instead of hoes in the hands of the natives, this defect could easily be remedied. To employ thirty natives to turn over with hoes what one man (a native) with a plough and four oxen could do, is a waste of labour, and more expensive in the end.

E THE ZAMBESI. Having left the Kwakwa, and got all one's baggage and goods across to the banks of the Zambesi, the first thing to do is to arrange about canoes for the rivers Zambesi and Shire. A good deal of irri tation and annoyance has to be undergone before everything is ready for the journey onwards. There may be difficulty in getting canoes, or the canoes may be there but no men to paddle them. Men have to be paid forehanded, and in addition they must have calico given them to buy food. Paying beforehand is a bad system, but the Portuguese are responsible for it, and all Europeans have to suffer. Were the natives to accept half-payment even, one would not have so much objection ; but this they will not do, so a traveller is entirely at their mercy. However, it seldom happens that they desert their canoes, and are thus to a good extent honourable.

The price for a three-bank canoe — that is, one with eight men — costs 32 yards for the canoe alone, 16 yards for each man, and a fathom each for food. In addition, the captain and steersman get a fathom extra ; and it is always a good plan to see that your crew have plenty of food, even though you should have to give them a little extra calico for this pur- ON THE ZAMBESI. 19 pose. You may save a day on the river by judicious kindness, which pays itself twice over. At Mazaro the Zambesi is about 1000 yards wide. A beautiful river it is, looking from the Mazaro banks. It is studded with islands of various sizes, the sides of which, clothed with coarse grass and shrub, are enlivened by many a creeper and convolvulus. On the opposite bank is the Shupanga country, well wooded, and the home of monster baobabs.

Many of these are of enormous thick ness. The baobab under which rests the dust of Mrs Livingstone (27th April 1862), measures 66 feet in circumference 4 feet from the base. Its limbs are huge trees in themselves. Out of Shu panga forest come most of the canoes used on the lower reaches of the Zambesi and the Kwakwa. There are many kinds of hard wood to be found in the forest at Shupanga ; and were they more accessible from the coast, they might be turned to good account. Eosewood is reputed as being in abun dance, and Lignum vitœ is not uncommon. The latter commodity is exported from the African coast at Zanzibar, and commands a high price in the English market. At Mazaro, on the left bank, there are a number of mango-trees, said to have been planted by Jesuit missionaries centuries ago. This may very well be true, and a good work they did when they did so.

These trees are of great value, for they bear splendidly, and have a magnificent effect on the landscape. It is a sad pity that so little has been done by the Portuguese to encourage the spread of fruit trees, such as the orange and lemon and fig. There is no reason why the banks of the Kwakwa should not have been almost Hned with orange and lemon trees. Such a work deserves high reward; and what higher reward can one have than the assurance in his own conscience of having conferred on pos terity an endowment of fruit-bearing and long lived trees ? The bane of Portuguese rule is want of public spirit ; and it is not difficult to account for it — for how few Europeans come to Africa to stay permanently ! And how can a man be expected to take a very lively interest in a place where he is merely a Government official for a few years — in a sendee which is often more exile than pleasure, — an unhealthy climate to contend with, and other depressing influences around him ?

Ascending the Zambesi and Shire in canoe or boat is a slow process. One need never count on reaching Katunga's in less than twelve days from Mazaro, aud fourteen days is the more likely time. HARD PADDLING AND POLING. 21 On one occasion I was three weeks. The current on the Zambesi is excessively strong. By far the most profitable way, both in point of time and labour, is for the crew to get on to the bank and pull the canoe with a rope made of palm-leaves. The captain and steersman remain at their post, and guide the craft round the corners, of which there are many, owing to the action of the water wearing away the bank. By failing to stem prop erly a strong current at many a point, you may be carried down half a mile before being able to get your craft's head on to the stream. I remember well losing the bulk of a forenoon in this way.