188 EXPEDITION INTO 



have thrice routed in pitched battles with terrible slaug'h- 

 ter. 



To be fat is the gi'eatest of all crimes^ no person being* 

 allowed that privileg-e but his Majesty. Speaking' evil of 

 the king*^ or alluding- to the heir apparent^ are considered 

 equivalent to treason^ or compassing- the death of the Sove- 

 reign in Britain. Neg-lecting- his cattle is reckoned a 

 capital crime^ the execution following- upon the sentence, 

 from which there is no appeal, ^^ quick as the thunderbolt 

 pursues the flash." 



It is not permitted to a subject to allude to the elephant 

 in the presence of the despot ; " the noble elephant" being- 

 one of his titles. When speaking- of hunting- that animal, 

 Moselekatse fi*equently urg*ed us to instruct some of his 

 warriors in our method j but, as his people can neither 

 ride nor be persuaded to fire a g-un, it was impossible to 

 comply with his request. Accustomed from childhood to 

 the use of the assag-ai, or javelin, without which the Mata- 

 bili never quits his home, they are expert in the destruction 

 of the elephant ; hemming- him into a defile, they attack him 

 with g-reat intrepidity, and not unfrequently incur the utmost 

 effects of his rag-e and friry. Occasionally, also, they assail 

 the rhinoceros, but this inert animal is more usually en- 

 snared in the pitfalls already described, which are g*enerally 

 provided with a sharp stake at the bottom, upon which he 

 is impaled. 



The Matabili possess no horses ; all those that have been 

 from time to time taken from the Griquas and other tribes, 

 with whom they have been eng-ag-ed in war, having- been 

 carried off by the distemper, as it is called, a fatal murrain, 

 which sometimes extends itself to the oxen, over every part 

 of Southern Africa during- the early months of the year. 

 The ravag-es of this disease, which is said to be an affection 

 of the lungs, are supposed to be occasioned by the young- 



