, except by
smashing it, which he not unfrequently does by his teeth or by a stroke
of his hind foot.

On returning to the Bakurutse, we found that their canoes for fishing
were simply large bundles of reeds tied together. Such a canoe would
be a ready extemporaneous pontoon for crossing any river that had reedy
banks.

Chapter 4.

Leave Kolobeng again for the Country of Sebituane--Reach the Zouga--
The Tsetse--A Party of Englishmen--Death of Mr. Rider--Obtain
Guides--Children fall sick with Fever--Relinquish the Attempt to reach
Sebituane--Mr. Oswell's Elephant-hunting--Return to Kolobeng--Make
a third Start thence--Reach Nchokotsa--Salt-pans--"Links", or
Springs--Bushmen--Our Guide Shobo--The Banajoa--An ugly Chief--The
Tsetse--Bite fatal to domestic Animals, but harmless to wild Animals
and Man--Operation of the Poison--Losses caused by it--The Makololo--
Our Meeting with Sebituane--Sketch of his Career--His Courage and
Conquests--Manoeuvres of the Batoka--He outwits them--His Wars with
the Matebele--Predictions of a native Prophet--Successes of the
Makololo--Renewed Attacks of the Matebele--The Island of Loyelo--Defeat
of the Matebele--Sebituane's Policy--His Kindness to Strangers and to
the Poor--His sudden Illness and Death--Succeeded by his Daughter--Her
Friendliness to us--Discovery, in June, 1851, of the Zambesi flowing
in the Centre of the Continent--Its Size--The Mambari--The
Slave-trade--Determine to send Family to England--Return to the Cape
in April, 1852--Safe Transit through the Caffre Country during
Hostilities--Need of a "Special Correspondent"--Kindness of the London
Missionary Society--Assistance afforded by the Astronomer Royal at the
Cape.

Having returned to Kolobeng, I remained there till April, 1850, and then
left in company with Mrs. Livingstone, our three children, and the chief
Sechele--who had now bought a wagon of his own--in order to go across
the Zouga at its lower end, with the intention of proceeding up the
northern bank till we gained the Tamunak'le, and of then ascending that
river to visit Sebituane in the north. Sekomi had given orders to fill
up the wells which we had dug with so much labor at Serotli, so we took
the more eastern route through the Bamangwato town and by Letloche. That
chief asked why I had avoided him in our former journeys. I replied that
my reason was that I knew he did not wish me to go to the lake, and I
did not want to quarrel with him. "Well,"