200 EXECUTION OF MPEPE. 



unteered to accompany me, and, when we got about sixty miles 

 away, on the road to Sesheke, we encountered Mpepe. The 

 Makololo, though possessing abundance of cattle, had never at- 

 tempted to ride oxen until I advised it in 1851. The Bechu- 

 anas generally were in the same condition, until Europeans came 

 among them and imparted the idea of riding. All their journeys 

 previously were performed on foot. Sekeletu and his companions 

 were mounted on oxen, though, having neither saddle nor bridle, 

 they were perpetually falling off. Mpepe, armed with his little 

 axe, came along a path parallel to, but a quarter of a mile distant 

 from, that of our party, and, when he saw Sekeletu, he ran with 

 all his might toward us ; but Sekeletu, being on his guard, gal- 

 loped off to an adjacent village. He then withdrew somewhere 

 till all our party came up. Mpepe had given his own party to 

 understand that he would cut down Sekeletu, either on their first 

 meeting, or at the breaking up of their first conference. The 

 former intention having been thus frustrated, he then determined 

 to effect his purpose after their first interview. I happened to sit 

 down between the two in the hut where they met. Being tired 

 with riding all day in the sun, I soon asked Sekeletu where I 

 should sleep, and he replied, " Come, I will show you." As we 

 rose together, I unconsciously covered Sekeletu's body with mine, 

 and saved him from the blow of the assassin. I knew noth- 

 ing of the plot, but remarked that all Mpepe's men kept hold 

 of their arms, even after we had sat down — a thing quite unusu- 

 al in the presence of a chief; and when Sekeletu showed me the 

 hut in which I was to spend the night, he said to me, " That 

 man wishes to kill me." I afterward learned that some of Mpe- 

 pe's attendants had divulged the secret ; and, bearing in mind 

 his father's instructions, Sekeletu put Mpepe to death that night. 

 It was managed so quietly, that, although I was sleeping within 

 a few yards of the scene, I knew nothing of it till the next day. 

 Nokuane went to the fire, at which Mpepe sat, with a handful 

 of snuff, as if he were about to sit down and regale himself 

 therewith. Mpepe said to him, " Nsepisa" (cause me to take 

 a pinch) ; and, as he held out his hand, Nokuane caught hold of 

 it, while another man seized the other hand, and, leading him out 

 a mile, speared him. This is the common mode of executing 

 criminals. They are not allowed to speak ; though on one occa- 



