814 FREEDOM OF SPEECH. 



lead his men out; but they objected, saying, "Let us 

 servants be killed: you must not be slain." Those who 

 said this were young Barotse who had been drilled to 

 fighting by Sebituane, and used shields of ox-hide. They 

 beat off the party of Limboa, ten being wounded and ten 

 slain in the engagement. Limboa subsequently sent three 

 slaves as a self-imposed fine to Masiko for attacking him. 

 I succeeded in getting the Makololo to treat the messengers 

 of Masiko well, though, as they regarded them as rebels, 

 it was somewhat against the grain at first to speak civilly 

 to them. 



Mpololo, attempting to justify an opposite line of con- 

 duct, told me how they had fled from Sebituane, even 

 though he had given them numbers of cattle after their 

 subjection by his arms, and was rather surprised to find that 

 I was disposed to think more highly of them for having 

 asserted their independence, even at the' loss of milk. For 

 this food all who have been accustomed to it from infancy 

 in Africa have an excessive longing. I pointed out how 

 they might be mutually beneficial to each other by the 

 exchange of canoes and cattle. 



There are some very old Barotse living here, who were 

 the companions of the old chief San'turu. These men, 

 protected by their age, were very free in their comments 

 on the " upstart" Makololo. One of them, for instance, 

 interrupted my conversation one day with some Makololo 

 gentlemen with the advice "not to believe them, for they 

 were only a set of thieves;" and it was taken in quite a 

 good-natured way. It is remarkable that none of the 

 ancients here had any tradition of an earthquake having 

 occurred in this region. Their quick perception of events 

 recognizable by the senses, and retentiveness of memory, 

 render it probable that no perceptible movement of the 

 earth has taken place between 7° and 27° S. in the centre 

 of the continent during the last two centuries at least- 

 There is no appearance of recent fracture or disturbance 

 of rocks to be seen in the central country, except the fall? 



