generally have heard his praises sounded by a
man who rises at break of day, and utters at the top of his voice the
oration which that ruler is said to have composed at his boguera. This
repetition of his "leina", or oration, is so pleasing to a chief, that
he generally sends a handsome present to the man who does it.

JANUARY 28TH. Passing on to Letloche, about twenty miles beyond the
Bamangwato, we found a fine supply of water. This is a point of so much
interest in that country that the first question we ask of passers
by is, "Have you had water?" the first inquiry a native puts to a
fellow-countryman is, "Where is the rain?" and, though they are by
no means an untruthful nation, the answer generally is, "I don't
know--there is none--we are killed with hunger and by the sun." If news
is asked for, they commence with, "There is no news: I heard some lies
only," and then tell all they know.

This spot was Mr. Gordon Cumming's furthest station north. Our house
at Kolobeng having been quite in the hunting-country, rhinoceros and
buffaloes several times rushed past, and I was able to shoot the latter
twice from our own door. We were favored by visits from this famous
hunter during each of the five years of his warfare with wild animals.
Many English gentlemen following the same pursuits paid their guides and
assistants so punctually that in making arrangements for them we had to
be careful that four did not go where two only were wanted: they knew so
well that an Englishman would pay that they depended implicitly on
his word of honor, and not only would they go and hunt for five or six
months in the north, enduring all the hardships of that trying mode
of life, with little else but meat of game to subsist on, but they
willingly went seven hundred or eight hundred miles to Graham's Town,
receiving for wages only a musket worth fifteen shillings.

No one ever deceived them except one man; and as I believed that he was
afflicted with a slight degree of the insanity of greediness, I upheld
the honor of the English name by paying his debts. As the guides of Mr.
Cumming were furnished through my influence, and usually got some strict
charges as to their behavior before parting, looking upon me in the
light of a father, they always came to give me an account of their
service, and told most of those hunting adventures which have since been
given to the world, before we had the pleasure of hearing our friend
relate them himself