SUBSIDIES TO THE MATABELE KING. 22 1 



they afford, is acknowledged by every trader and 

 hunter that has travelled north of the Limpopo. A 

 peculiar characteristic of these dwarf animals — which 

 are nearly always black — is their playfulness of dis- 

 position, the children of the kraals where they are 

 kept, regarding them more as companions than any- 

 thing else. 



Contrary to expectation, I find that the Portu- 

 guese are totally unknown in this country, except at 

 one or two places on the sea-board ; they also have 

 two or three stations on the Zambesi, where half a 

 dozen traders of that nationality assemble at stated 

 periods of the year for the purpose of obtaining 

 slaves, ivory, and gold dust, for which privilege they 

 pay large subsidies to the adjacent chiefs. Yearly 

 the Matabele King despatches a formidable force to 

 collect his rents, frightening the poor, decrepit, 

 pusillanimous Portuguese, out of their lives, and 

 making them scarcely dare to breathe freely, till the 

 rearguard of the brave yet oppressive seceders from 

 Zululand, are well out of sight in the forest, on their 

 return journey. 



Having alluded in a previous paragraph to the 

 tetze fly, before leaving so important a subject let 

 me make some further remarks upon this insect. 

 The Portuguese designate it the elephant fly; this is 

 a misnomer and likely to mislead, for, correctly speak- 

 ing, it should be called the buffalo fly, for it breeds 

 alone in the droppings of the last mentioned animal. 



