t66 MATABELE land. 
great deal of bother off my hands, and may save me 
no end of trouble and delay. My grand mistake 
was not taking a good man with me from Natal in 
the first instance at £Z or £\o 2. month. 
" I have had a row with some rascally Kafirs 
here in this wise. Last year a party of unfortunate 
Bushmen — men, women, and children — were killed 
by a party of Matabele. The Bushmen were sup- 
posed to have been hunting where they had no right, 
or committing some other offence — probably an 
imaginary one. Hearing of this, I thought if I could 
find the place I could take a sack and fill it with 
bones, and I instituted inquiries accordingly as to 
the locality, offering a blanket to any Kafir who 
would take me to the spot. A Dutchman, who 
lives here, when he is not away with his wife and 
daughters in his waggon on a hunting expedition, 
offered to act as my guide, and it was settled that I 
should give him ^^5 for doing so. He, however, 
changed his mind about going, but told me he had 
pfot one of the Matabele who killed the Bushmen to 
go with me in his stead. This fellow was working 
here at the mine, but when he was brought to me 
he also refused to go, evidently thinking I had some 
ulterior object in wanting to go to the place — perhaps 
to get him punished. These people, too, are very 
superstitious about going to places where others have 
been killed. 
" This occurred when I was last here, but on my 
return I was waited on by another coloured gentle- 
man, who said he too had helped to kill the Bushmen 
