II LEAVE BAMANGWATO 17 



up from boyhood under the guidance of the two able 

 missionaries above mentioned. 



As all my horses were " unsalted " (i.e. had not 

 had the distemper), and were therefore liable to die 

 at any moment, Mandy advised me to try and obtain 

 a "salted" animal. This I managed by exchanging 

 my fine new waggon for a smaller second-hand one, 

 a common trade rifle, and a salted horse, valued at 

 ^75. This "swop" I made with Peter Skinner, a 

 shrewd but uneducated Scotchman, who had made 

 a considerable sum of money in the interior, but 

 whose bones, poor fellow, now lie beneath the sod 

 on the distant shores of Lake Ngami. 



At length, about the middle of August, we left 

 Bamangwato. We followed the well-defined waggon 

 track leading to the Matabele country, and travelling 

 through a thickly-wooded district, and crossing three 

 small rivers, the Mahalapsi, Metle, and Tauwani, 

 arrived on the third day at two pretty vleys, called 

 Shakani. At the last river, Tauwani, we found a 

 few families of Bushmen herding a flock of goats 

 belonging to Matchin, whose slaves they themselves 

 were. From Shakani my salted horse ran back to 

 Bamangwato, and we were delayed a week waiting 

 for the Kafirs I sent to bring him up. During this 

 time I rode out daily with one or other of my 

 companions in search of game, and we always guided 

 ourselves back by a low range of hills that ran parallel 

 with the road, behind the vleys, and particularly by 

 one single hill that stood by itself This I mention, 

 because, as will be seen later on, it is to the fact of 

 having had the position of these hills well impressed 

 upon my mind that I probably owe my life. 



At last one evening we again made a start north- 

 wards, and after a four hours' trek reached Lemouni 



c 



