to attack him, he invited the Batoka to
take repossession of their herds, he having so many as to be unable to
guide them in their flight. The country was at that time exceedingly
rich in cattle, and, besides pasturage, it is all well adapted for the
cultivation of native produce. Being on the eastern slope of the ridge,
it receives more rain than any part of the westward. Sekwebu had been
instructed to point out to me the advantages of this position for a
settlement, as that which all the Makololo had never ceased to regret.
It needed no eulogy from Sekwebu; I admired it myself, and the enjoyment
of good health in fine open scenery had an exhilarating effect on my
spirits. The great want was population, the Batoka having all taken
refuge in the hills. We were now in the vicinity of those whom the
Makololo deem rebels, and felt some anxiety as to how we should be
received.

On the 4th we reached their first village. Remaining at a distance of a
quarter of a mile, we sent two men to inform them who we were, and that
our purposes were peaceful. The head man came and spoke civilly, but,
when nearly dark, the people of another village arrived and behaved very
differently. They began by trying to spear a young man who had gone for
water. Then they approached us, and one came forward howling at the top
of his voice in the most hideous manner; his eyes were shot out, his
lips covered with foam, and every muscle of his frame quivered. He came
near to me, and, having a small battle-axe in his hand, alarmed my men
lest he might do violence; but they were afraid to disobey my previous
orders, and to follow their own inclination by knocking him on the
head. I felt a little alarmed too, but would not show fear before my own
people or strangers, and kept a sharp look-out on the little battle-axe.
It seemed to me a case of ecstasy or prophetic phrensy, voluntarily
produced. I felt it would be a sorry way to leave the world, to get my
head chopped by a mad savage, though that, perhaps, would be preferable
to hydrophobia or delirium tremens. Sekwebu took a spear in his hand, as
if to pierce a bit of leather, but in reality to plunge it into the man
if he offered violence to me. After my courage had been sufficiently
tested, I beckoned with the head to the civil head man to remove him,
and he did so by drawing him aside. This man pretended not to know what
he was doing. I would fain have felt his pulse, to ascertain whether the
violent