Adventures in Mashonaland

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IX A free day--A visit to Chiconga--Climbing a kopje--The kraal--Gungunyama's raids--The council hut--The chieftaincss and her "warriors "--Her answer to the Bishop--We trade--Fashion amongst natives--A blind Lovelace--Instance of ferocity--Kissing--Intelligent children--Absence of religious notions--Differences of language--Ancient gold workings--Worship of Isis--Mosaic Law--Small-pox--Inoculation--Native vanity--Inferior iron-work--Carved snuff-boxes--Firesticks--Principal food--Produce--Curious calabashes --Disgusting reports--Chiconga's return visit--A chiefs assegai--A demand for fire-water--A Woman's Rights argument--The royal baby--An endless visit-- Jonosso to the rescue--The Queen retires. Taking advantage of one of the rare occasions when we had a free day, we paid a visit to Chiconga, M'Tassa's favourite daughter. The chieftainess inhabited a kraal five miles distant from New Umtali. It was said to be a very picturesque spot, and well worth a visit. Accompanied by Mr. Walter Sutton, and attended by two native boys, we therefore set out one morning soon after six o'clock. We were on foot; the boys carrying beads and limbo, as we wished to trade for a cow. Our path led us for some distance along the high road to Fort Salisbury, a picturesque track, winding between thickly-wooded hills. Here and there it struck over the open veldt, skirting the strange granite kopjes, which form an important feature in Mashonaland landscape. These piles of colossal boulders, springing abruptly from a tableland of veldt, look as if they had been built up by giants. Trees clothe the summit of these kopjes, and wild beasts lurk in the caves formed by their overhanging rocks. On the topmost pinnacle of the largest of them, Chiconga and her...