HER MAJESTY'S MISSION TO MATEBELELAND 143 



measure now, of course, no longer necessary. Churches have 

 been built, mainly with money subscribed by the chiefs; they 

 are regularly attended by them and by more of their subjects 

 than they are able to accommodate. Batween even, in his 

 religious zeal, allows no Sunday travelling, the forfeit of part 

 of the ox team being the penalty for disobeying this law. 

 Trade is very limited, chiefly in hides exchanged for cloth, 

 knives, and other articles of clothing and of food. Poor Sechele, 

 now over sixty years of age, is suffering from dropsy of long 

 standing. We found him lying in the verandah of his house 

 bemoaning his helpless state. Linchwe was ploughing among 

 his people in the mealie fields. Kain was very much wanted 

 in this part of the country, and, this being the season, was 

 anxiously looked for. In some districts no grain could be 

 sown in the parched and baked soil, a most serious matter, 

 for the country had suffered most severely from drought only 

 the year before, when almost the entire crops had failed. 

 What would not dams and wells with a little extra energy do 

 here ! The few windmills and ploughs are all American, as 

 also the hoes and spades; they are cheaper, I suppose, than 

 English ones, but what a pity that British articles should be 

 driven from the markets of our own colonies. Although gold 

 is supposed to exist in various parts of British Bechuanaland, 

 and although concessions have been granted and companies 

 floated, we were informed that but little had up to the present 

 been found. It is probably not a rich country, except perhaps 

 for farming and cattle under different circumstances. 



At last, on January 6th, we reached Palapye, the Mangwato 

 capital, the headquarters of the Bechuanaland Exploration 

 Company. This body holds a concession for trading and the 

 working of any gold its agents may find in the territories ruled 

 over by the chief Khama. About eight months ago the capital 

 was at Shoshong, thirty miles away. There the people were 

 crowded together, but, in an almost impregnable position, were 

 safe from the attacks of the dreaded Matabele. Since the 

 extension of the protectorate over Khama's country, and the 

 formation of a police camp near at hand at Elebe, sixty miles 

 distant the people have begun to feel more safe, so a general 

 move was ordered to their present most carefully chosen 

 quarters. While water was very scarce at Shoshong, it is in 



