PKESENTS TO SEKELETU. 209 



able to give before to any chief. In doing this, of course, I 

 appeared to trade, but, feeling I had a right to do so, I felt per- 

 fectly easy in my mind ; and, as I still held the view of the inex- 

 pediency of combining the two professions, I was glad of the pro- 

 posal of one of the most honorable merchants of Cape Town, Mr. 

 H. E. Eutherford, that he should risk a sum of money in Flem- 

 ing's hands for the purpose of attempting to develop a trade with 

 the Makololo. It was to this man I suggested Sekeletu should 

 sell the tusks which he had presented for my acceptance, but the 

 chief refused to take them back from me. The goods which 

 Fleming had brought were ill adapted for the use of the natives, 

 but he got a pretty good load of ivory in exchange ; and though 

 it was his first attempt at trading, and the distance traveled over 

 made the expenses enormous, he was not a loser by the trip. 

 Other traders followed, who demanded 90 lbs. of ivory for a mus- 

 ket. The Makololo, knowing nothing of steelyards, but suppos- 

 ing that they were meant to cheat them, declined to trade except 

 by exchanging one bull and one cow elephant's tusk for each gun. 

 This would average 70 lbs. of ivory, which sells at the Cape for 

 5s. per pound, for a second-hand musket worth 10s. I, being 

 sixty miles distant, did not witness this attempt at barter, but, 

 anxious to enable my countrymen to drive a brisk trade, told the 

 Makololo to sell my ten tusks on their own account for whatever 

 they would bring. Seventy tusks were for sale, but, the parties 

 not understanding each other's talk, no trade was established ; 

 and when I passed the spot some time afterward, I found that the 

 whole of that ivory had been destroyed by an accidental fire, 

 which broke out in the village when all the people were absent. 

 Success in trade is as much dependent on knowledge of the lan- 

 guage as success in traveling. 



I had brought with me as presents an improved breed of goats, 

 fowls, and a pair of cats. A superior bull was bought, also as a 

 gift to Sekeletu, but I was compelled to leave it on account of its 

 having become foot-sore. As the Makololo are very fond of im- 

 proving the breed of their domestic animals, they were much 

 pleased with my selection. I endeavored to bring the bull, in per- 

 formance of a promise made to Sebituane before he died. Ad- 

 miring a calf which we had with us, he proposed to give me a cow 

 for it, which in the native estimation was offering three times its 

 value. I presented it to him at once, and promised to bring him 



O 



