284 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



wishes on the subject, and partly owing to the threat- 

 ened attack from the Matabili, I resolved for the pres- 

 ent not to extend my peregrinations beyond Ba'man- 

 gwato, but to occupy my time for the remainder of that 

 season in hunting throughout the fine country between 

 Bamangwato and Sichely's mountains. As Isaac's 

 character, however, gradually unfolded itself to me, 

 and as I became more intimate and conversant with 

 the natives, I discovered that he had interpreted Si- 

 comy's wishes to me in utterly false colors ; and I aft- 

 erward ascertained from the natives, whose language 

 I very soon began to understand, that Sicomy and his 

 people were not only willing, but anxious that I should 

 remain and hunt elephants in their territory. In con- 

 sequence of this, as the reader will shortly learn, being 

 informed by Sicomy's men that the invasion by the 

 Matabili was no longer apprehended, I returned to Ba- 

 mangwato, and penetrated into the extensive forest to 

 *the northward and eastward of that mountain range 

 where for several months I continued hunting ele 

 phants, accompanied by large parties of Sicomy's mer 



