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102 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
that same morning very early Makawso had got up and gone outside his shimbec in one
direction, while his wife went into the grass in the other direction. Makawso was then,
he said, suddenly attracted by the terrible cries of his wife. He rushed -to her assistance,
and the leopard that had already seized her by the throat ran away. The poor woman
was in a fearful state, but they hoped to save her life. Mambuku, as the father of his
people, had gone to consult the great priest NGANGA NVUMBA, or Maluango.
After breakfast, I said I would start to find the Nkasatree which a small boy said he
thought he knew of As we passed through another town the boy said we had better ask
the women to guide us, for they generally knew where these trees were owing to the
clearings made for them by their husbands for their plantations. So I asked them, and
they laughed and giggled, the silly things, and said they would follow us, as they were
going into the woods to gather the leaves of the fubu, it being nearly the time for matmaking.
Down we dived into a wooded valley, and when we had reached the bottom we
stopped to talk to some natives who were busy collecting palm-wine. Did they know of
the whereabouts of an Nkasa-tree?
"Yes."
"Would the spokesman guide us to it?
He was busy, but the direction in which we were going would not take us to one. I called
upon the small boy for an explanation. The boy and the native discussed the question,
and the men and the women laughed. The women then went on their way jabbering.
The tree the boy wished to show me was not an Nkasa-tree. I then asked the speaker to
neglect his business for a consideration, and lead us to the tree he knew of. He growled,
but at last was persuaded to accompany us, and we went back by the road we had come.
Our guide was in a hurry and ran; we ran after him. Then he dived into the wood and we
followed him. Then he said he would have to find the tree, and he left us, and, alas! we
saw him no more.
Then we followed a path which led us out of that wood, and when we once more got
into the open we saw one of our party (who they said was a fool) reclining upon the
grass resting. He said he knew where an Nkasa-tree existed. "Why, then, had he not
taken us to it straightaway? Was it far?"
"No."
"Then let us be off."
Finally, about an hour's walk brought us to a clearing in the wood, where women were
about to plant Indian corn and mandioca. By straining our necks and standing on the
half-dried trunk of one of the felled trees which lay around us we caught sight of a few
of the top branches of the Nkasa-tree, which we photographed. Then entering the dark
wood we examined the trunk. The tree measured some twelve feet in circumference,
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