se parts, and assumed a sovereignty over
all the inhabitants round about But if so, it was strange that none of
them should have heard from the Bechuanas, and especially from Kobo,
anything about such a colony. Well, at all events, a very short stay in
the village would suffice to explain the mystery; probably, indeed, the
first sight of it would be sufficient.

But this did not prove to be the case. The kraal was not very unlike
those of the Bechuanas, and other neighbouring tribes. The houses were
constructed of wicker-work plaited with reed, and had the usual arched
entrance, which served as door, window, and chimney. There were the
baskets and pails, the assegais, and bows and arrows, which usually
stood in front of a Kaffir hut, or were hung against the central pole.
The population, too, which had assembled, one and all, to witness the
entry of the strangers, did not materially differ from the other
inhabitants of the district. The whole kraal, to be sure, had the
appearance of having been constructed in haste, and only partially
finished; but otherwise, our adventurers would hardly have known that
they had entered the country of a new people. As soon as they had
entered the enclosure, Ella called up one of the natives, to whom she
gave some orders in a tone that was not audible, and then, turning to
her companions with a graceful bend of the head, she vanished into one
of the neighbouring houses. The Basuto to whom she had spoken, now
stepped up to the Englishmen and invited them, by a gesture of the hand,
to follow him. They obeyed, and presently found themselves in a room
which showed, for the first time, a real contrast to ordinary savage
life. It was a _room_, not the inside of a hut--a room perhaps fourteen
feet square, hastily constructed of trees squared by the axe, and planks
nailed horizontally to them, but a room, nevertheless, with ceiling,
unglazed windows and doors, and carpeted with Kaffir matting. There
were even some rude chairs and a table in the centre. Their guide
pointed to these first, and then to a door opening into another
apartment of about the same size, where some skins were spread on the
floor. "Eat here," he said; "sleep there."

The first part of his speech was presently made good by the arrival of
two Basutos, carrying some baskets, which contained rice, Indian corn,
and several varieties of fruit. These were placed in the middle of the
table, and a wooden platter was as