café or the club « there were pigeon-cotes on pile's in
all directions, and at every turn we found ourselves-
blocked by palisades, which caused us to retrace our
steps ; so, as we intended to stay another day here, We
contented ourselves with gazing at the magnificent
view, the peaked heights of the Yenya
range, the deep wooded valley below with
its dashing stream, and far away in the
horizon the distant blue Manica mountains.
Certainly no kraal we had as yet visited,
enjoys such excellent views as ’Mtasa’s.
The huts here are large and roomy, at
the side they have two tall decorated
posts to support shelves for their domestic
produce; most of them have two doors,,
and with the dense shade of many trees-
above them they are exceedingly picturesque.
On our second visit to the kraals we
met ’Mtasa’s son, who regretted that his-
aged father was ill just then, and had
gone away for change of air. We took
leave of him, and climbed up through
rocks and through palisade after palisade,
shutting off the various kraals from
one another; one of these we entered by
a curious gateway made by swinging beams, and
penetrated into the headquarters of the old chief.
By this time we noticed that the people began to*
glare at us unpleasantly and audibly to grumble.
Seated in rows on the rocks, they chattered to
us like angry monkeys, but we went on without
heeding them. One man, with a bayonet fixed on to
his rifle, followed unpleasantly close behind u s ; and
then, as we were about to penetrate into what I
suppose formed their innermost recesses, ’Mtasa’s son,
who,' by the way, had had more beer than was good
for him, came up to us in hot haste, and peremptorily
commanded us to. depart. Again he reiterated the
statement that his father was away, and during his
absence none could see the royal kraa l; so, somewhat
crestfallen, we turned back again and saw no. more.
A-fterwards we were informed that the old Mtasa
was there all the time, but, as he had suffered so
much lately from the conflicting interests of England
and Portugal, he thought it best not to see us, for fear
we might make him sign some new treaty against his
will.
Of all the natives we had met during our wanderings,
those of ’Mtasa’s pleased us least; they appeared
to us to be completely wanting in all delicacy of
feeling, and had to be driven by force from our tents.
They seemed to us to be an ill-bred, impudent race,
and though their home was so lovely we left it without
regret. Somehow, too, our visit to ’Mtasa’s kraal
was altogether unsatisfactory; we left it with the
consciousness that there were mysteries in it which
we had not yet explored. At the very last moment,
just as we were packing up our things, I chanced to
see on a rock close by our camp some more of the
Bushman drawings, grotesque figures of men with
bows and arrows and deer grazing, in the usual