Matadi

“ From Matadi a railway, completed in 1898 at a cost of £2,720,000, and 260 m. long, goes past the cataract region and ends at Stanley Pool, whence the Congo is navigable to Stanley Falls, a distance of 980 m. From Stanley Falls a railway runs towards the Nile. An agreement with Great Britain, concluded in May 1906, provided for the continuation of this line from the Congo State frontier through the Lado Enclave to the navigable channel of the Nile near the station of Lado, a steamboat and railway service across Africa from the Congo mouth to the Red Sea being thus arranged. ”

“ I'm sorry to see you come down to this, Captain."
"Captain Kettle," said the sulky Mate, "that was in the Congo Pilot Service?"
"Yes," said Kettle.
"Then, Captain," said the Mate, "I take back what I said about you being Robinson Crusoe. You may have met with misfortune, but, by the Lord, you're a man all the way through. You've made the ports down there on the Congo just ring with the way you kept your end up with those beastly Belgians. And now when any Englishman goes ashore at Boma or Matadi or any place on the river, they're fit to eat him." ”

“ They would have proved still more satisfactory had the Portuguese thought it worth while to produce a trustworthy map of a colony of which they had claimed possession during four centuries. It seems almost incredible that even now many of the routes followed by the Conquistadores and missionaries of old cannot be laid down upon a modern map for lack of information. Sonyo, for instance, through which led the high road followed by soldiers, traders, and missionaries going up to San Salvador (the present route leaves the Kongo River at Matadi) , is almost a terra incognita. ”

“ The relations between the Mādigas and Kōmatis are dealt with in the note on the latter caste. There is a legend to the effect that Mātangi was defeated by Parasu Rāma, and concealed herself from him under the tanning-pot in a Mādiga's house. At the feast of Pongal, the Mādigas worship their tanning pots, as representing the goddess, with offerings of fowls and liquor. In addition to Mātangi, the Mādigas worship Kattamma, Kattappa, Dandumāri, Munēswara, and other deities. ”

“ Oh! say but once again and to-night I shall meet death with happiness."
"Listen to me, Matangini," replied Madhav, scarcely cool himself, "listen and spare both of us this sore affliction. At your father's house the flame was kindled which seems fated to consume us both and which then we were too young to quench by desperate efforts, but if even then we never flinched from the path of duty, shall we not, now that years of affliction have schooled our hearts, eradicate from them the evil which corrodes and blisters them? Oh! Matangini, let us forget each other. Let us separate." ”

“ This mode of vicariously atoning for deliberate sin has passed into a facetious proverb, 'So and so has killed the cow in order to make shoes from the skin,' indicating the utter worthlessness and insufficiency of the reparation.
The Mādigas claim to be the children of Mātangi. "There was," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, * [12] "formerly a Mātanga dynasty in the Canarese country, and the Mādigas are believed by some to be descendants of people who were once a ruling race. ”

“ Squirming like snakes through the long grass and bush, the Matabele advance, stopping every now and again to reconnoitre. They can hear the subdued hum of voices in the sorry camp of the whites—and on each face raised to peer forward, there is a ferocious grin of anticipation. In obedience to the signalled orders of their leaders they spread their ranks, so as to be in a position to surround that sorry command with the first order issued. ”

“ First of all, the Matabele have never been more than half conquered, and having given them peace—on not such easy terms, mind—the first thing we do is to pick out a number of them, arm them, and teach them to shoot. ”

“ Presently the watchers heard Te Karearea's voice raised in a shout of savage triumph. 'Mataika! Mataika!' he yelled, and, grasping a young Arawa chief by the hair with his left hand, dashed out the man's brains with a single blow of the heavy club in his right. 'Mataika!' he yelled again. 'Ki au te Mataika!' and, brandishing the blood-stained mere, dashed into the midst of the foe.
'Is that his battle-cry?' called Terence from behind his tree.
'No. The first to be killed in a fight is called the Mataika,' explained George. ”

“ We left this place on the 8th of January, and on the afternoon of the 9th, arrived at Matarí, a miserable little settlement of Múra Indians. Here we again anchored and went ashore. The place consisted of about twenty slightly-built mud-hovels, and had a most forlorn appearance, notwithstanding the luxuriant forest in its rear. A horde of these Indians settled here many years ago, on the site of an abandoned missionary station, and the government had lately placed a resident director over them, with the intention of bringing the hitherto intractable savages under authority. ”

“ Matali. There is a host of demons who call themselves Invincible—the brood of Kalanemi.
King. So Narada has told me.
Matali.
Heaven's king is powerless; you shall smite
His foes in battle soon;
Darkness that overcomes the day,
Is scattered by the moon.
Take your bow at once, enter my heavenly chariot, and set forth for victory.
King. I am grateful for the honour which Indra shows me. But why did you act thus toward Madhavya?
Matali. I will tell you. I saw that you were overpowered by some inner sorrow, and acted thus to rouse you. For
The spurnèd snake will swell his hood ”

“ MATABELE (“vanishing” or “hidden” people, so called from their appearance in battle, hidden behind enormous oxhide shields) , a people of Zulu origin who began national life under the chief Mosilikatze. Driven out of the Transvaal by the Boers in 1837, Mosilikatze crossed the Limpopo with a military host which had been recruited from every tribe conquered by him during his ten years’ predominance in the Transvaal. In their new territories the Matabele absorbed into their ranks many members of the conquered Mashona tribes and established a military despotism. ”

“ The moon had already set and Madhav began half to doubt the truth of Matangini's suspicions. Just as his thoughts were taking that direction a darwan came up to him and informed him in Hindi that one of the men appointed to keep a look out, had seen a light in the direction of the "old garden" (as the mango-grove where Matangini had nearly encountered the robbers was called) and that venturing in that direction very close to the grove he had observed [several] armed men assembled in that place. "What is [your command,] " asked the man, "shall we go and attack [them] ?" ”

“ Matangini was perplexed, she saw that her sister was lost in fear and time could not be spared. The loquacious zeal of Karuna, who could not for the world forego this opportunity of being the first to carry such dreadful tidings, as well as the salutary effect that had been produced upon her fears by the unexpected intelligence, relieved Matangini of her anxiety, and the mortal enemy of the finny tribe, big with the importance of being the messenger of evil, flew to Madhav's chamber to discharge the mission which legitimately belonged to Hemangini. ”

“ The leading spirit of the Matabele was Mlimo, a brave and patriotic priest, who bated the whites who had invaded his country. So magnetic a personality had he that he was regarded by the natives as a god. And, like most men who are given credit for supernatural powers, he pretended to live up to them. ”

“ Himself, meanwhile, paced in front, bareheaded and barefoot, a staff in his hand, in the customary chief’s dress of white kilt, shirt, and jacket, and with a conspicuous rosary about his neck. Tall but not heavy, with eager eyes and a marked appearance of courage and capacity, Mataafa makes an admirable figure in the eyes of Europeans; to those of his countrymen, he may seem not always to preserve that quiescence of manner which is thought becoming in the great. ”

“ She soon returned and informed Matangini that Madhav did not feel disposed to give weight to her (Karuna's) words and seemed particularly incredulous when she said that Matangini was in the house and that it was she who had brought the intelligence. "If she is here," Madhav had said, "I can hear the news from herself; bring her to me that I may learn from my sister-in-law how much there is to fear. Ask her to come hither."
"Go Hem," said Matangini to her sister, "You go—tell your husband that I am here and that what I say is true. He will believe you." ”

“ Matangini paused and tried to see through the chink, but could observe nothing beyond a cluster of trees and the far-off tops of others waving against the moonlit sky.
As no foot-path lay close to the place whence the sounds of footsteps proceeded, Matangini's apprehensions were excited; she stood motionless, and listened with intense attention. The footsteps approached very close to her and at length ceased; and she could hear whispering voices. ”

“ Look where they would, in every direction, this white woman and the two men were completely surrounded by an unbroken mass of wild and armed savages, who stood gazing upon the strange apparitions in their midst.
Tamate, without a pause, perfectly calm, and showing no signs of fear, spoke to Pouta and his men through old Vaaburi and Iko.
"We have come," he said, "so that we may be friends. We have come without weapons. We have brought with us a woman of our tribe, for we come in peace. We are strangers. But we come with great things to tell. ”

“ In the early part of the century Umselikatzi, the late chief of the Matabeli—himself a Zulu, in fact a cousin of Chaka—was sent out of Zululand by Chaka, Cetywayo’s uncle, when he swept through Swaziland, and depopulated this valley, and, as one writer says, “they slew and slew until their arms were tired of killing,” then establishing himself in Matabele Land, beyond the Limpopo, set himself up as an independent monarch. ”

“ From the Zambesi, trade might be carried on, but the Matabele are spreading in this direction, and would not allow white men to go into the country. The safest way is to go in from the south-east, to cultivate these lands for eight months, and during the fever season return into the Matabele country. The King of the Matabele, however, said that no white man should come in and settle down. He was afraid that the white men would help the Mashonas when they saw the cruelties practised upon them. ”

“ By the Marutse and Mashonas the Matabele are held in just as much detestation as are the Mohammedan slave-dealers from the east coast by the natives of Central Africa. Although it is quite possible that with a party of Matabele servants I might have traversed the whole continent from south to north, any white man coming after me would have had to suffer for my exploit. Twice during the reign of Sekeletu on the central Zambesi the Matabele attempted to carry their incursions north of the river, but each time they failed. ”

“ I know thee, and I know thy name, and I know the names of the two and forty gods who live with thee in this Hall of Maāti, who live as watchers of sinners and who feed upon their blood on that day when the characters (or lives) of men are reckoned up (or taken into account) in the presence of the god Un-nefer. Verily, God of the Rekhti-Merti (i.e., the twin sisters of the two eyes) , the Lord of the city of Maāti is thy name. Verily I have come to thee, and I have brought Maāt unto thee, and I have destroyed wickedness. ”

“ He it was who had confronted the hostile Matabili chief and his six hundred men, when that truculent potentate had demanded the person of one of his followers in satisfaction for some trifling larceny committed by the hapless lad upon their mealie gardens, and dared the barbarian and his armed warriors so much as to lay a finger upon him or his; and the fierce savage, in admiring awe of his sublime indifference to death or danger, had suddenly become his fast friend, though a moment before, the chances were a hundred to one against his leaving the spot alive. ”

“ A dream so like reality made a strong impression upon Matilda's soul.
The ferocious passions, which so lately had battled fiercely in her bosom, were calmed: she lifted her eyes to heaven: they beamed with an expression of sincerest penitence; for sincerest penitence, at this moment, agonised whilst it calmed Matilda's soul.
"God of mercy! God of heaven!" exclaimed Matilda; "my sins are many and horrible, but I repent." ”

“ The M’limo is an invisible god, who has three priests about the country, one in the north–east beyond Inyati, one in the south in the Matopo hills, and one south–west near Mangwe. The pure–bred Matabele, as well as the aboriginal natives, the Makalakas and the Maholis, all go to consult these priests of the M’limo as oracles, and place a blind belief in all they say. In addition [32] to the three high priests, there are four warrior–chiefs of the M’limo. These men working in with the priests brought about the outbreak of rebellion. ”

“ The Matabele warriors live in barracks, and domestic life is quite unknown; only in very exceptional cases is it allowable for any one but a chief to treat his wife otherwise than as a slave, though it must be allowed that there is hardly any appreciable difference between the two conditions. The king does not prevent people of other tribes from practising their own religious and superstitious ceremonies, subject to the general prohibition that no subject of his may be a Christian. The ivory-traders followed the missionaries into the country ”