he said, "you beat me then,
and I am content."

Parting with Sechele at the ford, as he was eager to visit Lechulatebe,
we went along the northern woody bank of the Zouga with great labor,
having to cut down very many trees to allow the wagons to pass. Our
losses by oxen falling into pitfalls were very heavy. The Bayeiye kindly
opened the pits when they knew of our approach; but when that was not
the case, we could blame no one on finding an established custom of the
country inimical to our interests. On approaching the confluence of the
Tamunak'le we were informed that the fly called tsetse* abounded on its
banks. This was a barrier we never expected to meet; and, as it might
have brought our wagons to a complete stand-still in a wilderness, where
no supplies for the children could be obtained, we were reluctantly
compelled to recross the Zouga.

* 'Glossina morsitans', the first specimens of which were
brought to England in 1848 by my friend Major Vardon, from the
banks of the Limpopo.

From the Bayeiye we learned that a party of Englishmen, who had come to
the lake in search of ivory, were all laid low by fever, so we traveled
hastily down about sixty miles to render what aid was in our power.
We were grieved to find, as we came near, that Mr. Alfred Rider, an
enterprising young artist who had come to make sketches of this country
and of the lake immediately after its discovery, had died of fever
before our arrival; but by the aid of medicines and such comforts as
could be made by the only English lady who ever visited the lake, the
others happily recovered. The unfinished drawing of Lake Ngami was made
by Mr. Rider just before his death, and has been kindly lent for this
work by his bereaved mother.

Sechele used all his powers of eloquence with Lechulatebe to induce him
to furnish guides that I might be able to visit Sebituane on ox-back,
while Mrs. Livingstone and the children remained at Lake Ngami. He
yielded at last. I had a very superior London-made gun, the gift of
Lieutenant Arkwright, on which I placed the greatest value, both
on account of the donor and the impossibility of my replacing it.
Lechulatebe fell violently in love with it, and offered whatever
number of elephants' tusks I might ask for it. I too was enamored with
Sebituane; and as he promised in addition that he would furnish Mrs.
Livingstone with meat all the time of my absence, his arguments made me
part with the gun. Though he