88 START FOR THE COUNTRY OF SEBITUANE. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Leave Kolobeng again for the Country of Sebituane. — Reach the Zouga. — The 

 Tsetse. — A Party of Englishmen.— Death of Mr. Rider. — Obtain Guides. — Chil- 

 dren fall sick with Fever. — Relinquish the Attempt to reach Sebituane. — Mr. 

 Oswell's Elephant-hunting. — Return to Kolobeng. — Make a third Start thence. 

 — Reach Nchokotsa. — Salt-pans. — "Links," or Springs. — Bushmen. — Our Guide 

 Shobo. — The Banajoa. — An ugly Chief. — The Tsetse. — Bite fatal to domestic 

 Animals, but harmless to wild Animals and Man. — Operation of the Poison. — 

 Losses caused by it. — The Makololo. — Our Meeting with Sebituane. — Sketch of 

 his Career. — His Courage and Conquests. — Manoeuvres of the Batoka. — He out- 

 wits them. — His Wars with the Matebele. — Predictions of a native Prophet. — 

 Successes of the Makololo. — Renewed Attacks of the Matebele. — The Island of 

 Loyelo. — Defeat of the Matebele. — Sebituane's Policy. — His Kindness to Stran- 

 gers and to the Poor. — His sudden Illness and Death. — Succeeded by his Daugh- 

 ter. — Her Friendliness to us. — Discovery, in June, 1851, of the Zambesi flowing 

 in the Centre of the Continent. — Its Size. — The Mambari. — The Slave-trade. — 

 Determine to send Family to England. — Return to the Cape in April, 1852. — 

 Safe Transit through the Caffre Country during Hostilities. — Need of a " Spe- 

 cial Correspondent." — Kindness of the London Missionary Society. — Assistance 

 afforded by the Astronomer Royal at the Cape. 



Having returned to Kolobeng, I remained there till April, 

 1850, and then left in company with Mrs. Livingstone, our three 

 children, and the chief Sechele — who had now bought a wagon 

 of his own — in order to go across the Zouga at its lower end, 

 with the intention of proceeding up the northern bank till we 

 gained the Tamunak'le, and of then ascending that river to visit 

 Sebituane in the north. Sekomi had given orders to fill up the 

 wells which we had dug with so much labor at Serotli, so we 

 took the more eastern route through the Bamangwato town and 

 by Letloche. That chief asked why I had avoided him in our 

 former journeys. I replied that my reason was that I knew he 

 did not wish me to go to the lake, and I did not want to quarrel 

 with him. "Well," he said, "you beat me then, and I am 

 content." 



Parting with Sechele at the ford, as he was eager to visit 

 Lechulatebe, we went along the northern woody bank of the 



