104 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



But after the death of Sebituane's successor, Livingstone's 

 Sekeletu, the Barotse, taking advantage of their oppressors' 

 dynastic rivalries, suddenly revolted, and after exterminating the 

 Makololos almost to the last man, reconstituted the empire on a 

 stronger footing than ever. It now comprises an area of some 

 250,000 square miles between the Chobe and the Kafukwe 

 affluents, with a population vaguely estimated at over 1,000,000, 

 including the savage Bashukulumbwe tribes of the Kafukwe basin 

 reduced in 1891. 



Yet, short as was the Makololo rule (1835 70), it was long 

 enough to impose their language on the vanquished Barotse. 

 Hence the curious phenomenon now witnessed about the Middle 

 Zambesi, where the Makololo have disappeared, while their Sesuto 

 speech remains the common medium of intercourse throughout the 

 Barotse empire. How often have analogous shiftings and disloca- 

 tions taken place in the course of ages in other parts of the world ! 

 And in the light of such lessons how cautious ethnographists 

 should be in arguing from speech to race, and drawing conclu- 

 sions from these or similar surface relations ! 



Referring to these stirring events, Mr Mackenzie writes : 

 "Thus perished the Makololo from among the number of South 

 African tribes. No one can put his finger on the map of Africa 

 and say, 'Here dwell the Makololo 1 '." This will puzzle many 

 who since the middle of the nineteenth century have repeatedly 

 heard of, and even been in unpleasantly close contact with, 

 Makololo so called, not indeed in Barotseland, but lower down 

 the Zambesi about its Shire affluent. 



The explanation of the seeming contradiction is given by 

 another incident, which is also not without ethnical significance. 

 From Livingstone's Journals we learn that in 1859 he was accom- 

 panied to the east coast by a small party of Makololos and others, 

 sent by his friend Sekeletu in quest of a cure for leprosy, from 

 which the emperor was suffering. These Makololos, hearing of 

 the Barotse revolt, wisely stopped on their return journey at the 

 Shire confluence, and through the prestige of their name have here 

 succeeded in founding several so-called " Makololo States," which 



1 Ten Years North of the Orange River. 



