1 76 KIDNAPPING 



remedy pretty well, even though he had no fever. He had 

 always been a friend to Sebituane; and, now that his son 

 Sekeletu was in his place, Shinte was not merely a friend, 

 but a father to him; and if a son asks a favor the father 

 must give it. He was highly pleased with the large cala- 

 bashes of clarified butter and fat which Sekeletu had sent 

 him, and wished to detain Kolimbota, that he might send 

 a present back to Sekeletu by his hands. This proposition 

 we afterward discovered was Kolimbota's own, as he had 

 heard sc much about the ferocity of the tribes through 

 which we were to pass that he wished to save his skin. 

 It will be seen farther on that he was the only one of our 

 party who returned with a wound. 



An incident which occurred while we were here may be 

 mentioned, as of a character totally unknown in the south. 

 Two children, of seven and eight years old, went out to 

 collect firewood a short distance from their parents' home, 

 which was a quarter of a mile from the village, and were 

 kidnapped; the distracted parents could not find a trace of 

 them. This happened so close to the town, where there 

 are no beasts of prey, that we suspect some of the high 

 men of Shinte's court were the guilty parties : they can 

 sell them by night. The Mambari erect large huts of a 

 square shape to stow these stolen ones in ; they are well fed, 

 but aired by night only. The frequent kidnapping from 

 outlying hamlets explains the stockades we saw around 

 them : the parents have no redress, for even Shinte himself 

 seems fond of working in the dark. One night he sent for 

 me, though I always stated I liked all my dealings to be 

 aboveboard. When I came, he presented me with a slave- 

 girl about ten years old : he said he had always been in the 

 habit of presenting his visitors with a child. On my 

 thanking him, and saying that I thought it wrong to take 

 away children from their parents, that I wished him to 

 give up this system altogether and trade in cattle, ivory, 

 and bees' -wax, he urged that she was "to be a child" to 

 bring me water, and that a great man ought to have a 



