264 THROUGH GASA LAND. 



receive this, bear about thirty degrees more to the 

 westward than the guides would direct you, and we 

 are bound to meet. Hurry up like good fellows, 

 for I am most anxious to see you." 



A consultation with the Matabele chieftain re- 

 sulted in my learning that Manica was only three 

 or four days' journey off, say, one hundred and twenty 

 miles, that a near relative of his was Induna there, that 

 this province was part of Mashoona Land, and that 

 it annually paid a tribute to the Matabele King. 

 What was more satisfactory still, the old gentleman 

 proposed going with us, provided we did not travel 

 too rapidly for his aged limbs. 



The morning that we started was a most glorious 

 one ; all were in light marching order, for our ivory- 

 had been entrusted to the care of the head of a 

 kraal, there to be detained, till further instructions 

 in reference to its future destination were received. 

 Still a shadow clouded my apparent prosperity. It 

 was no less a cause than parting with the Mantatees. 

 I scrupulously paid each his promised remuneration, 

 and then gave all a present, after which off they 

 went " happy as birds." These people belong to the 

 great Bechuana race, I now believe, whose home is 

 beyond the upper waters of the Limpopo and verging 

 closely upon the great Kalihari desert. A more 

 unattractive people than they appeared when first 

 I met them I do not think I ever saw, but discipline 

 and enforced cleanliness had worked a wonderful 



