wild flowers and lierbs rolled into balls about tbe size of
small apples.
Tbe picturesqueness of tbe figure-grouping, however, was
somewhat marred by the occupation of some of the royal
ladies, who were imbibing copious quantities of béer, and
eating largely of meat. Yet they were a happy-looking company,
beaming with good-nature, and all running to portliness,
which evidently increased with years. We sat down
and drank beer with some of them. They asked Fair-
bairn numerous questions about me, and with feminine
curiosity seemed particularly anxious to know where my
wives were, if I had any, and if so how many ? One in a
jesting humour called to some slave girls who passed, and
turning to me said :
“ Now choose a wife from among these ; which shall it
b e ? ”
Fairbairn was well acquainted with all the queens. He
seemed to have entrée into every part of the kraal. It is a
very unusual privilege to be allowed to walk through the
harem. Slaves of both sexes and of all ages and sizes were
moving to and fro among the huts.
A new house was being erected for His Majesty, the
material being bricks, and the builder an old British tar,
a Yorkshireman named Johnny, who years before, while
cruising on the east coast, had suddenly left his ship of his
own accord, and found his way to the happier and freer
atmosphere of the far interior. Johnny was a genial soul,
and a very funny old boy. There he stood slinging mud
like a Thames dredger, and yet in feeling as free and independent
as an American senator. He has built the only
houses that are worthy the name in Matabeli-land.
Many of the Matabeli queens were peeping in at the
windows of the partially-finished house, and evidently made
a good deal of fun of Johnny, who would turn round every
now and then and give them the contents of his trowel.
I was astonished to see the interior of a queen s hut, which
had a cleanly black polished floor, and everything arranged
in the tidiest manner. Floors are composed of ant-heap,
ox-blood, and cow-dung, which when set becomes very hard.
The occupant of this hut showed me how the floor was
polished, by means of a fine smooth, round pebble, which,
hejd in both hands, was rubbed along the surface, the
operator spitting every now and then to supply the necessary
moisture. There was a rack on one side of the hut on
which were placed numerous baskets and all sorts of little
tricks, while against the walls, neatly folded up, were the
cane mats on which the dwellers slept.
A queen’s mark of distinction is unique. All of them
shave their heads and wear at the top, and well at the
back, a small inverted cup of about one and a-half inches in
diameter made of red beads. Eound their waists they wear
kilts of black ox-hide, falling to the knees.
The kraal was full of slaves who had been caught during
war, and brought to the king by his fighting men.
Some days elapsed before we again visited Lo-ben, so
that we had ample time to think over the plans which
might be successfully adopted in approaching him with my
request. The most feasible seemed to be to present him
with a very elaborate silver-mounted sword-knife, and a fine
bull.
The day arrived when we should visit the king. We had
heard that he was suffering from gout, doubtless through
over-indulgence in native beer. He would soon leave for
one of his other towns, so Fairbairn and myself again
approached, and found him encircled by a multitude of
endunas. Preferring to await a favourable opportunity for