, "I only LIFTED them." The
word "gapa" is identical with the Highland term for the same deed.
Another point came to our notice here. Some Mambari had come down thus
far, and induced the Batoka to sell a very large tusk which belonged
to Sekeletu for a few bits of cloth. They had gone among the Batoka
who need hoes, and, having purchased some of these from the people near
Sesheke, induced the others living farther east to sell both ivory and
children. They would not part with children for clothing or beads, but
agriculture with wooden hoes is so laborious, that the sight of the hoes
prevailed. The Makololo proposed to knock the Mambari on the head as
the remedy the next time they came; but on my proposing that they should
send hoes themselves, and thereby secure the ivory in a quiet way, all
approved highly of the idea, and Pitsane and Mohorisi expatiated on the
value of the ivory, their own willingness to go and sell it at Loanda,
and the disgust with which the Mambari whom we met in Angola had looked
upon their attempt to reach the proper market. If nothing untoward
happens, I think there is a fair prospect of the trade in slaves being
abolished in a natural way in this quarter, Pitsane and Mohorisi having
again expressed their willingness to go away back to Loanda if Sekeletu
would give them orders. This was the more remarkable, as both have
plenty of food and leisure at home.
20TH NOVEMBER. Sekeletu and his large party having conveyed me thus far,
and furnished me with a company of 114 men to carry the tusks to the
coast, we bade adieu to the Makololo, and proceeded northward to the
Lekone. The country around is very beautiful, and was once well peopled
with Batoka, who possessed enormous herds of cattle. When Sebituane came
in former times, with his small but warlike party of Makololo, to
this spot, a general rising took place of the Batoka through the whole
country, in order to "eat him up"; but his usual success followed him,
and, dispersing them, the Makololo obtained so many cattle that they
could not take any note of the herds of sheep and goats. The tsetse
has been brought by buffaloes into some districts where formerly cattle
abounded. This obliged us to travel the first few stages by night. We
could not well detect the nature of the country in the dim moonlight;
the path, however, seemed to lead along the high bank of what may have
been the ancient bed of the Zambesi before the fissure was made. The
Leko
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