Chap. XVII.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 137 



CHAPTER XVII. 



RESIDENCE AT KAPAIN, CONTINUED. 



A DESIRE to see something of the king's domestic 

 economy induced us repeatedly to ask permission to 

 visit him, but he invariably replied that he had no 

 place in which to receive us, and indeed he passed 

 the greater part of his time in lounging on our beds 

 or in the tent. To-day, 25th October, he was in 

 unusual spirits, in consequence of the success of his 

 arms against « the emigrants. We affected to be 

 alarmed at the possibdity of an attack from Din- 

 gaan whilst hunting elephants to the eastward, but 

 he ridiculed the idea, adding bitterly, that Dingaan 

 was a cowardly rascal and not fit to live. We had 

 observed him for some minutes plucking blades of 

 grass frombelow his chair, apparently lost in thought, 

 and at times scanning our countenances with great 

 intenseness, when all of a sudden he exclaimed that 

 he wanted our tent. This was the very opportunity 

 we had been looking for ; we had foreseen that he 

 would become enamoured of it, and had determined 

 to make it the stepping-stone to the attainment of 

 our wishes. With affected indifference we accord- 

 ingly replied, that if he had determined that we 

 should return by the circuitous route of Kuruman, 

 we could not dispense with the accommodation the 



