THE BAMANGWATO AND THEIR CHIEF. 43 



this shabby present was an insult to us. "W% wished to 

 purchase some goats or oxen ; Lechulatebe offered us ele- 

 phants' tusks. "No, we cannot eat these; we want some- 

 thing to fill our stomachs." " Neither can I ; but I hear 

 you white men are all very fond of these bones; so I offer 

 them: I want to put the goats into my own stomach." A 

 trader, who accompanied us, was then purchasing ivory 

 at the rate of ten good large tusks for a musket worth 

 thirteen shillings. They were called "bones;" and I 

 myself saw eight instances in which the tusks had been 

 left to rot with the other bones where the elephant fell. The 

 Batauana never had a chance of a market before ; but, in 

 less than two years after our discovery, not a man of them 

 could be found who was not keenly alive to the great value 

 of the article. 



On the day after our arrival at the lake, I applied to 

 Lechulatebe for guides to Sebituane. As he was much 

 afraid of that chief, he objected, fearing lest other white 

 men should go thither also, and give Sebituane guns ; 

 whereas, if the traders came to him alone, the possession 

 of fire-arms would give him such a superiority that Sebi- 

 tuane would be afraid of him. It was in vain to explain 

 that I would inculcate peace between them, — that Sebi- 

 tuane had been a father to him and Sechele, and was as 

 anxious to see me as he, Lechulatebe, had been. He 

 offered to give me as much ivory as I needed without 

 going to that chief; but, when I refused to take any, he 

 unwillingly consented to give me guides. Next day, how- 

 ever, when Oswell and I were prepared to start, with the 

 horses only, we received a senseless refusal; and like Se- 

 komi, who had thrown obstacles in our way, he sent men 

 to the Bayeiye with orders to refuse us a passage across 

 the river. Trying hard to form a raft at a narrow part, I 

 worked many hours in the water; but the dry wood was 

 so worm-eaten it would not bear the weight of a single 

 person. I was not then aware of the number of alligators 

 which exist in the Zouga, and never think of my labor in 



