a hunting trip towards the Mababe and the Chohe rivers,
which lay about two months’ travel to the far west. I was
very sorry to say “ good-bye,” for we had “ hit it off” together
most pleasantly. We had many exciting hunts, and
those weeks I spent in his waggon I shall never forget.
Neither shall I forget the help he afforded me in overcoming
many vicissitudes which necessarily confront one
who begins a journey of this description. “ Your principal
difficulty,” he said at parting, “ will be in getting carriers.
Remember you don’t take any Matabeli men, as in that
case you will be sure to have trouble with the Mashona
tribes.”
Next day, in company with Fairbairn, I rode over to
Umganen, whence the king had gone to recover from his
fit of gout. A trader whom we met there, Stewart by name,
was thoroughly versed in the Matabeli tongue, so I seized
the opportunity of getting him to interpret a few questions
which I wished to ask the king, seeing that I had already
imposed on Mr. Fairbairn’s good-nature to a very great
extent in interpreting for me at all my previous interviews.
This seems to be a fitting place to say something of
Lo-bengula. He is the son and successor of the great'
and warlike Umzilagazi, the redoubtable conqueror of the
country, and the founder of this nation. His wife—1
Lo-ben’s mother—was a Swazi-Zulu.
Lo-ben is about eight-and-forty years of age. When a boy
he herded bucks in the Transvaal, at the time his father was
achieving conquests in the north. Kuruman, another son,
and the rightful heir, when quite young had been secreted
in some spot far from the country, a common custom with
savage heirs-apparent, to avoid the probability of their
being assassinated, or some other evil befalling them.
When Umzilagazi died, Kuruman could not be found, and
it was supposed by many that he was dead. Lo-hengula,
as the second son, was then made king, the report going
forth that Kuruman had died in the Transvaal during the
previous year. But on more than one occasion I have
heard that there are still those who cling to the idea that
Kuruman yet lives, although he has never dared to come
forward to claim his rights as king.
If he still lives, his caution or cowardice may be due to a
vow which was made by all the natives at the coronation
of Lo-ben—a vow which announced that the name of
Kuruman should die, that all who spoke of him should
also perish, for now Lo-bengula was king of the Matabeli
for ever.
I met a man who had been sent to fetch from the east
coast the salt water used as an ingredient in majesty-
making medicine. I tried to get some information out of
him regarding the east coast lands, but although he was of
a very communicative disposition, he evidently thought my
questions irrelevant; so he amused us by relating tales of
hunting the lion and other beasts, in which pursuits he had
evidently distinguished himself with the assegai. I t is a
favourite sport with these people to attack the lion with
spears. All over his body this man was a mass of scars, but
they had not injured him much. According to my custom,
I strung him up on the ivory scales, and found that he
turned 200 lhs. He had not, I should say, an ounce of
superfluous flesh.
In conversation with the king, through Mr. Stewart, I
asked him:
“ What is the law of Hlonipa ? ”
“ My mothers-in-law,” responded the king, “ cannot look
upon my face; they must cover their faces when they pass
m e ; they cannot use any word resembling my father
VOL. i. f