ENCAMP NEAR SICOMy's KRAAI.. 37 



befallen me, my king, he said, would be certain to seek 

 restitution at his hands. His majesty was pleased to 

 compliment me on my extraordinary success and skill 

 in hunting, and observed that the medicine of the white 

 man must indeed be strong. 



In the course of the evening he amused me with the 

 quaintness of his questions, asking me if ray father and 

 mother were alive, how many brothers and sisters I had, 

 if the flocks and herds of my king were extremely abund- 

 ant, and if his subjects were more numerous than his 

 own. On informing him that our chief was a woman, 

 he seemed much tickled by the disclosure ; and when 

 T said that her subjects were as numerous as the lo- 

 custs, he looked round on his warriors with an evident 

 grin of disbelief, and then inquired of me if all my coun- 

 trymen could vanquish the elephants as easily as I did. 

 This M'as a puzzler : so I replied that I could not say ; 

 but I knew that the hearts of all my nation were very 

 strong, like the heart of the lion when his cubs are 

 small. The whole assembly was greatly moved by this 

 bright remark, and a general murmur of surprise and 

 admiration extended through the dusky ranks as each 

 man repeated to his neighbor the surpassing courage of 

 my lion-hearted countrymen. Old Mutchuisho under- 

 stood my gibberish better than any of the rest, and act- 

 ed in the capacity of interpreter between me and tho 

 king. Our conversation was maintained partly by 

 means of signs, my attainments in the Sichuana lan- 

 guage being as yet but limited. Mutchuisho now in- 

 timated to me that two friends of Sicomy's, with their 

 two attendants, wished to accompany mc to the colony 

 in the capacity of cattle-herds, who promised at the 

 same time to make themselves generally useful in the 

 way of collecting fire-wood and carrying venison home 



