a_. It is an inclosure some three hundred yards
in circumference, surrounded by a stockade ten feet high, made of dry
trunks and boughs of trees stuck in the ground so close together that
one could not even shoot a gun, or hurl an assagai through them. The
stockade might resist the first attack of native enemies if the rest of
the town had been captured, but it would soon yield to fire. In the
middle of it stands the now dry trunk of an old tree, spared when the
other trees were cut down to make the kraal, because it was supposed to
have magical powers, and heal those who touched it. A heap of giraffe
skins lay piled against it, but its healing capacity now finds less
credit, at least among those who wish to stand well with the chief.
Within this inclosure Khama holds his general assemblies when he has
some address to deliver to the people or some ordinance to proclaim. He
administers criminal justice among his subjects, and decides their civil
disputes, usually with the aid of one or two elderly counsellors. He has
tried to improve their agricultural methods, and being fond of horses
has formed a good stud. Unhappily, in 1896, the great murrain descended
upon the Bamangwato, and Khama and his tribe lost nearly all the cattle
(said to have numbered eight hundred thousand) in which their wealth
consisted.

The British magistrate--there are about seventy Europeans living in the
town--described these Bechuanas as a quiet folk, not hard to manage.
They have less force of character and much less taste for fighting than
Zulus or Matabili. The main impression which they leave on a stranger is
that of laziness. Of the many whom we saw hanging about in the sun,
hardly one seemed to be doing any kind of work. Nor do they. They grow a
few mealies (maize), but it is chiefly the women who hoe and plant the
ground. They know how to handle wire and twist it round the handles of
the _sjamboks_ (whips of hippopotamus hide). But having few wants and no
ambition, they have practically no industries, and spend their lives in
sleeping, loafing, and talking. When one watches such a race, it seems
all the more strange that a man of such remarkable force of character as
Khama should suddenly appear among them.[45]

For about sixty miles north-eastward from Palapshwye the country
continues dull, dry, and mostly level. After that rocky hills appear,
and in the beds of the larger streams a little water is seen. At Tati,
ninety miles from Palapsh