322 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



of gold and silver coin had been brought up by an 

 officer of the Bechuanaland Border Police Irom 

 Mafeking, and was by him distributed to this 

 immense crowd with the utmost order, accuracy, 

 and (general content. Some of the sub-chiefs 

 receiyed yery considerable sums of money irom 

 their jDcople, ranging as high as 150/. The store did 

 a roaring trade, and till eyening the natives kept 

 passing our encampment on their way home, laden 

 with blankets and beadh, and very many I noticed 

 carrying brand-new Martini-Henry I'ifles. Palapye 

 is a great emporium for horns, skins, karrosses, and 

 native curios, and I added some fine specimens of 

 these former articles to the collection I had already 

 formed in Mashonaland. In the evening of the 

 14th November, aljout liall' an hour prior to our 

 departure, my servant came to inform me that the 

 chief Khama had come to visit our encampment. 

 I hurried to welcome him, and found myself in the 

 presence of a tall, slight man of apjDarently about 

 forty years of age. Khama is, I believe, a good deal 

 older. He was dressed in a suit of woollen stuff of 

 English make, and looked like a coloured manager 

 of a factory in India, or of a cotton i:>lantation. A 

 very intellio-ent countenance, an a"'reeable and 

 kind expression, an erect attitude and dignified 

 manners mark the monarch, the minister and the 

 father of the people. Oiu' conversation on com- 

 monplace topics, lasting about a quarter of an hour, 

 was carried on by the interpretation of Mr. Seeker, 

 agent of the Bechuanaland Exploration Com- 

 pany. At the close Khama o-raciously intimated 



1 



