LIBONTA. 143 



face of the sand-bank is perforated with hundreds of holes 

 leading to their nests, each of which is about a foot apart 

 from the other; and as we pass they pour out oi their 

 hiding-places and float overhead. 



17th December. — At Libonta. We were detained for days 

 together collecting contributions of fat and butter, accord- 

 ing to the orders of Sekeletu, as presents to the Balonda 

 chiefs. Much fever prevailed, and ophthalmia was rife, as 

 is generally the case before the rains begin. Some of my 

 own men required my assistance, as well as the people of 

 Libonta. A lion had done a good deal of mischief here, 

 and when the people went to attack it two men were badly 

 wounded; one of them had his thigh-bone quite broken, 

 showing the prodigious power of this animal's jaws. The 

 inflammation produced by the teeth-wounds proved fatal to 

 one of them. 



Here we demanded the remainder of the captives, and 

 got our number increased to nineteen. They consisted of 

 women and children, and one young man of twenty. One 

 of the boys was smuggled away in the crowd as we em- 

 barked. The Makololo under-chiefs often act in direct 

 opposition to the will of the head-chief, trusting to cir- 

 cumstances and brazen-facedness to screen themselves from 

 his open displeasure; and, as he does not always find it 

 convenient to notice faults, they often go to considerable 

 lengths in wrong-doing. 



Libonta is the last town of the Makololo ; so, when we 

 parted from it, we had only a few cattle-stations and out- 

 lying hamlets in front, and then an uninhabited bordei- 

 country till we came to Londa or Lunda. Libonta is situ- 

 ated on a mound, like the rest of the villages in the Barotse 

 valley, but here the tree-covered sides of the valley begin 

 to approach nearer the river. The village itself belongs to 

 two of the chief wives of Sebituane, who furnished us with 

 un ox and abundance of other food. The same kindness 

 was manifested by all who could afford to give any thing ; 

 and, as I glance over their deeds of generosity recorded in 



