KAMA'S CATTLE ERAALS. 323 



intention ; but I would listen to no argument or reason 

 to the contrary, and kept at them till all was put 

 right. It is no use locking the stable when the horse 

 is gone ; and, although the driver and guide assured me 

 no lions had been seen there for five years, that was no 

 reason why one might not turn up that very night. 



At Bamanwatto, not over a year or two back, Mr. 

 Hepburn lent Kama's brother a milk cow. It was sent 

 with the other town cattle to pasture round the gardens 

 in the vicinity, a place constantly traversed by persons 

 going to and fro, as well as by women at work, and 

 where no one dreamt a lion would be secreted ; but 

 there the marauder was, and the reverend gentleman 

 lost his cow. Like tigers in India, you never know 

 where they may be, past experience has taught me this, 

 so I trust I shall not be caught napping. 



About noon next day we reached the watering-place ; 

 it was a large pool in the dry bed of a river. Not many 

 years back water also constantly flowed here, but, as at 

 Soshong, it is rapidly disappearing. If this dying away 

 of streams goes on long, what will become of the country 

 ultimately ? 



Here are Kama's chief cattle kraals, and the immense 

 droves of oxen, sheep, and goats give one reason to 

 believe that his Majesty the king is far from a poor 

 man. The shepherds, who appeared to be very 

 numerous, were all young men, and with one or two 

 exceptions, perfectly naked. Their huts were only 

 a thatching of straw, with the sides open. Each was 

 armed with an assegai, which they not only use as a 

 weapon, but apply to all the purposes for which other 

 people would use knives. How they manage to run 

 about through the thorns and briars I cannot under- 



