102 WAR: A SCOUTS' PATROL 



quengo villages, and sell them, when old enough, 

 to traders from the coast for cattle. It is particu- 

 larly hard to get any accurate information, the 

 bushmen being terribly shy and frightened of the 

 Mombakush, and to strike at the root of the evil 

 it is absolutely necessary to talk with the bush 

 people in their own language. A bushman named 

 Kavetto, who was with me on this trip, told me, 

 and I believe he was speaking the truth, that his 

 girl child had been stolen from him three years 

 back, and was now in the hands of old Mokoya, 

 the principal chief on the Luiyanna, and a 

 notorious old ruffian. To test Kavetto, I told 

 him that doubtless he had himself sold the child 

 to Mokoya ; but this he most indignantly and, 

 I am convinced, quite sincerely denied. We 

 assured Kavetto that when the Germans were 

 " finished " we would return that way and then 

 his child should be restored to him. The next 

 morning, however, the little man disappeared ; 

 either he had been frightened in the night by some 

 Mombakush, or was fearful lest he should eventu- 

 ally bring retribution on himself from old Mokoya. 

 It wantsjbut one example to be made to stop this 

 traffic. Let one of the implicated Indunas, 

 Mokoya or Maruta for instance, be seized by police 

 some fine morning and taken off in handcuffs, 

 not to return, the effect would be such that it 

 would be talked about in that country for the 

 next 300 years, and no bush child would in future 

 ever be touched, nor would its parents be murdered 



