5<i DEATH OP SEBITUANE. 



servant, and said, " Take Eobert to Maunku, [one of his 

 wives,] and tell her to give him some milk." These were 

 the last words of Sebituane. 



We were not informed of his death until the next day. 

 The burial of a Bechuana chief takes place in his cattle- 

 pen, and all the cattle are driven for an hour or two around 

 and over the grave, so that it may be quite obliterated. 

 We went and spoke to the people, advising them to keep 

 together and support the heir. They took this kindly; 

 and in turn told us not to be alarmed, for they would not 

 think of ascribing the death of their chief to us ; that 

 Sebituane had just gone the way of his fathers; and, 

 though the father had gone, he had left children, and they 

 hoped that we would be as friendly to his children as we 

 intended to have been to himself. 



He was decidedly the best specimen of a native chief I 

 ever met. I never felt so much grieved by the loss of a 

 black man before ; and it was impossible not to follow him 

 in thought into the world of which he had just heard be- 

 fore he was called away, and to realize somewhat of the 

 feelings of those who pray for the dead. The deep, dark 

 question of what is to become of such as he must, how- 

 ever, be left where we find it, believing that ; assuredly, 

 the "Judge of all the earth will do right." 



At Sebituane's death the chieftainship devolved, as he\ 

 father intended, on a daughter named Ma-mochisane. He 

 had promised to show us his country and to select a suitable 

 locality for our residence. We had now to look to the 

 daughter, who was living twelve days to the north, at 

 .Naliele. We were obliged, therefore, to remain until a 

 message came from her; and, when it did. she gave us 

 perfect liberty to visit any part of the country we chose. 

 Mr. Oswell and I then proceeded one hundred and thirty 

 miles to the northeast, to Sesheke ; and in the end of June, 

 1851, we were rewarded by the discovery of the Zambesi, in 

 the centre of the continent. This was a most important 

 point, for that river was not previously known to exist 



