NCHOKOTSA. 47 



children, which cost about £200, and presented it to us, 

 saying he thought Mrs. Livingstone had a right to tho 

 game of her own preserves. 



Foiled in this second attempt to reach Sebituane, we 

 returned again to Kolobeng, whither we were soon followed 

 by a number of messengers from that chief himself. When 

 he heard of our attempts to visit him, he despatched three 

 detachments of his men with thirteen brown cows to 

 Lechulatebe, thirteen white cows to Sekomi, and thirteen 

 black cows to Sechele, with a request to each to assist the 

 white men to reach him. Their policy, however, was to 

 keep him out of view, and act as his agents in purchasing 

 with his ivory the goods he wanted. This is thoroughly 

 African ; and that continent being without friths and arms 

 of the sea, the tribes in the centre have always been de- 

 barred from European intercourse by its universal preva- 

 lence among all the people around the coasts. 



Before setting out on our third journey to Sebituane, it 

 was necessary to visit Kuruman; and Sechele, eager, for 

 the sake of the commission thereon, to get the ivory of 

 that chief into his own hands, allowed all the messengers 

 to leave before our return. Sekomi, however, was more 

 than usually gracious, and even furnished us with a guide, 

 but no one knew the path beyond Nchokotsa which we 

 intended to follow. When we reached that point, we found 

 that the mainspring of the gun of another of his men, 

 who was well acquainted with the Bushmen, through whose 

 country we should pass, had opportunely broken. I never 

 undertook to mend a gun with greater zest than this ; for, 

 under promise of his guidance, we went to the north in- 

 stead of westward. All the other guides were most libe- 

 rally rewarded by Mr. Oswell. 



We passed quickly over a hard country, which is perfectly 

 flat. A little soil lying on calcareous tufa, over a tract of 

 several hundreds of miles, supports a vegetation of fine, 

 Bweet short grass, and mopane and baobab trees. 



We found a great number of wells in this tufa. A pla^o 



