106 THE SLAVE-TRADE. 



quered, and he refused to allow any one to sell a child. They 

 never came lback again till 1850 ; and as they had a number 

 of old Portuguese guns marked " Legitimo de Braga," which 

 Sebituane thought would Tbe excellent in any future invasion of 

 Matebele, he offered to purchase them with cattle or ivory, hut 

 the Mambari refused every thing except "boys about fourteen years 

 of age. The Makololo declare they never heard of people being 

 bought and sold till then, and disliked it, but the desire to possess 

 the guns prevailed, and eight old guns were exchanged for as 

 many boys ; these were not their own children, but captives of the 

 black races they had conquered. I have never known in Africa 

 an instance of a parent selling his own offspring. The Makololo 

 were afterward incited to make a foray against some tribes to the 

 eastward ; the Mambari bargaining to use their guns in the attack 

 for the captives they might take, and the Makololo were to have 

 all the cattle. They went off with at least two hundred slaves 

 that year. During this foray the Makololo met some Arabs from 

 Zanzibar, who presented them with three English muskets, and 

 in return received about thirty of their captives. 



In talking with my companions over these matters, the idea 

 was suggested that, if the slave-market were supplied with arti- 

 cles of European manufacture by legitimate commerce, the trade 

 in slaves would become impossible. It seemed more feasible to 

 give the goods, for which the people now part with their servants, 

 in exchange for ivory and other products of the country, and 

 thus prevent the trade at the beginning, than to try to put a stop 

 to it at any of the subsequent steps. This could only be effected 

 by establishing a highway from the coast into the centre of the 

 country. 



As there was no hope of the Boers allowing the peaceable in- 

 struction of the natives at Kolobeng, I at once resolved to save 

 my family from exposure to this unhealthy region by sending 

 them to England, and to return alone, with a view to exploring 

 the country in search of a healthy district that might prove a 

 centre of civilization, and open up the interior by a path to either 

 the east or west coast. This resolution led me down to the Cape 

 in April, 1852, being the first time during eleven years that I had 

 visited the scenes of civilization. Our route to Cape Town led 

 us to pass through the centre of the colony during the twentieth 



