r way through Bechuanaland and the Kalahari to the land of the Barotse,
whom they ultimately subdued. Their chief, Sebituane, who as an
administrator and general was far in advance of his compeers, established
the rule of his house for some forty years, until about 1865 an organized
rebellion of the Barotse led to the almost complete extinction of this
Makololo oligarchy and the reinstatement of the original dynasty. It was
the Makololo who gave the Barotse their present name (Rotse,
plain--_Bu_rotse, _country_ of the plain--_Mu_rotse, _man_ of the
plain--_Ma_rotse, _people_ of the plain, the latter being inaccurately
rendered _Ba_rotse, _Ba_ being the equivalent of _Ma_ in certain other
languages).

The Barotse proper are comparatively few in number, but as is inferred from
the fact that for many generations they have held in sway a country two and
a half times the size of Great Britain, they are the intellectual and
physical superiors of the vast majority of the negro races of Africa. Very
black, tall in stature, deep in chest and comparatively speaking refined in
feature, a Barotse is readily distinguishable amidst a mixed group of
natives. Being numerically small they form an oligarchy in which, with few
exceptions, each man holds rank in a chieftainship of which there are three
grades. Next to the chiefs rank their descendants who have not themselves
acquired chief's rank and hold an intermediate position as freeborn; all
others, whether members of the subject-tribes or prisoners of war, being,
up to 1906, mere slaves. This class was also graded. Slaves might own
slaves who in their turn might own slaves, the highest grade always being
directly responsible to some Barotse chief. As a reward of gallantry or
ability the paramount chief occasionally conferred chief's rank on
individuals not of Barotse birth, and these _ipso facto_ assumed the name
and privileges of the Barotse. It was a counterpart of the feudal system of
Europe in which every grade from king to serf found a place. In 1906 the
paramount chief, by proclamation, abolished the state of slavery, an act
which, however, left untouched the predominant position of the Barotse and
their rights to chieftainship. The paramount chief shares with a queen
(_Mokwai_) his authority and prerogatives. The Mokwai is not the wife but
the eldest sister of the ruling chief. With his death her privileges lapse.
Theoretically, these co-rulers are equal, neither may promulgate