28 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



say never a word of our want of veldt craft. At 

 daybreak we found a native cattle post and pro- 

 cured a guide back to camp. 



Gifford was one of the most prominent of the 

 officers who took part in the Matabele War. He 

 received a wound which necessitated amputation 

 of the arm. This took place not far from the scene 

 of the magnificent stand made by Wilson and his 

 gallant band, until they were overwhelmed and, 

 with exception of one man, killed. Gifford was 

 a brother of Lord Gifford, who did some excellent 

 work in the developing of the country. 



Khama, the chief of the Bechuanas, who had his 

 headquarters at Palapsnye, was a great supporter 

 of the British pioneers. The Matabele had made 

 more than one attempt to acquire territory in 

 Bechuanaland gallantly frustrated by this tribe. 

 King Khama showed us a scar, the result of a 

 wound, of which he was very proud : he had re- 

 ceived it in a personal encounter with Lobengula, 

 the Matabele chief. 



Khama paid a visit to England, and was the 

 only man of sufficient intelligence who could 

 assimilate the grandeur and the power of England. 

 Some time after Khama had visited England, Mr 

 Cecil Rhodes sent two of the Chief Indunas of the 

 Matabele to England so that they might realise 

 what a great country it was. On returning to 



