their native attendants, from Kuruman, had succumbed to
the fever, and the survivors had retired some weeks before
our arrival. We remained ' the whole of the 7th beside the
village of the old Batota chief, Moshobotwane, the stoutest man
we have seen in Africa. The cause of our delay here was a
severe attack of fever in Charles Livingstone. He took a
dose of our fever pills; was better on the 8th, and marched
three hours; then on the 9th marched eight miles to the
Great Falls, and spent the rest of the day in the fatiguing
exercise of sight-seeing. We were in the very same valley
as Linyanti, and this was the same fever which treated, or
rather maltreated, with only a little Dover’s powder, proved
so fatal to poor Helmore; the symptoms, too, were identical
with those afterwards' described by non-medical persons, as
those of poison.
' gave Moshobotwane a present, and a pretty plain
exposition of what we thought of his bloody forays among
his Batoka brethren. A scolding does most good to the
recipient, when put alongside some obliging act. He certainly
did not take it ill, as was evident from what he gave us in
•return; which consisted of a liberal supply of meal, milk,
and an ox. He has a large herd of cattle, and a tract of fine
pasture-land on the beautiful stream Lekone. A home-
feeling comes over one, even in the interior of Africa, at
seemg once more cattle grazing peacefully in the meadows.
The tsetse inhabits the trees which bound the pasture-land
on the west; so, should the herdsman forget his duty,, the
cattle straying might be entirely lost. The women of this
village were more numerous than the men, the result of
the chief’s marauding. The Batoka wife of Sima came up
from the Falls, to welcome her husband back, bringing a
present of the best fruits of the country. Her husband was
the only one of the party who had brought a wife from Tette,
namely, the girl whom he obtained from Chisaka for his
feats of dancing. According to our ideas, his first wife could
hardly have been pleased at seeing the second and younger
one; but she took her away home with her, while the husband
remained with us. In going down to' the Fall village we
met several of the real Makololo. [ They are lighter in colour
than the other tribes, being of a rich warm brown; and they
speak in a slow deliberate manner, distinctly pronouncing
every word. On reaching the village opposite Kalai, we had
an interview with the Makololo headman, Mashotlane: he
came to the shed in which we were seated, a little boy carrying
his low three-legged stool before him: on this he sat
down with becoming dignity, looked round him for a few
seconds, then at us, and, saluting us with “Eumela” (good
morning, or hail), he gave us some boiled hippopotamus
meat, took a piece himself, and then handed the rest to his
attendants, who soon ate it up. He defended his forays on
the ground that, when he went to collect tribute, the Batoka
attacked him, and killed some of his attendants. The excuses
made for their little wars are often the very same as
those made by Caesar in his ‘ Commentaries.’ Few admit,
like old Moshobotwane, that they fought because they had
the power, and a fair prospect of conquering. We found
here Pitsane, who had accompanied the Doctor to St, Paul
de Loanda. He had been sent by Sekeletu to purchase three
horses from a trading party of Griquas from Kuruman, who
charged nine large tusks apiece for very wretched animals.
In the evening, when all was still, one of our men, Takelang,
fired his musket, and cried out, “ I am weeping for my wife:
my court is desolate: I have no home; ” and then uttered a
loud wail of anguish.