190 EXPEDITION INTO 



the g-uides howled forth his praises^ g-lutted themselves, and 

 took snufF by turns. The wild wood rang- with their shrill 

 herdsman's whistle, and reiterated chorus of " Hi-ho-ho ;" 

 and when the nig*ht was far spent, they leisurely fetched a 

 larg-e stone, upon which downy pillow having- first refreshed 

 the edg-es of their weapons, they placed their woolly heads 

 by the fire-side. 



In these regions, where the heavenly bodies are seen 

 throug-h the clearest of mediums, a star-lit firmament is 

 remarkably brilliant and beautiful. We frequently sate for 

 some hours, over unadulterated " tea water," witnessing- Mo- 

 hanycom's ludicrous imitations of the dancing- of our coun- 

 try-women at the Cape, or listening- to tales of the success 

 of the king-'s arms. One favourite theme was the defeat 

 of Sobiqua, king- of the Wang-kets, in accomplishing- whose 

 downfall 'Ling-ap had aided and abetted. Like many other 

 African potentates, he had been found g'uilty of possessing- 

 too many cattle, and was presently compelled to fly to the 

 Kalahari desert, with the wreck of his tribe. Conjecture, 

 too, was alive, as to the fate of a commando that had four 

 years before been despatched for the subjug-ation of the 

 DamaraSy but of whom no tiding-s had ever been received ; 

 and the proceeding's of a Dutch trader were not unfrequent- 

 ly broug-ht on the tapis. It appeared that this wretch had 

 undertaken, in return for a quantity of ivory, to add a 

 white female to the beauties of the king-'s serag'lio j and had 

 actually succeeded in enticing- a farmer, with his fair vrotiw, 

 to the very borders of the country, within which a com- 

 mando was in readiness to seize the lady. The diabolical 

 scheme being- suspected, however, his desig-ns were frus- 

 trated ', and a fear of Moselekatse's implacable reveng-e has 

 obliged him to relinquish all trade with the savages, Avhilst 

 the colonists, on the other hand, have placed the delinquent 

 beyond the pale of society. 



