PUBLIC ADDRESSES. 255 



Makololo were much enraged at the idea of their good name 

 being compromised by this treatment of a stranger. Their cus- 

 tomary mode of punishing a crime which causes much indigna- 

 tion is to throw the criminal into the river; but, as this would not 

 restore the lost property, they were sorely puzzled how to act. 

 The case was referred to me, and I solved the difficulty by pay- 

 ing for the loss myself, and sentencing the thief to work out an 

 equivalent with his hoe in a garden. This system was immedi- 

 ately introduced, and thieves are now sentenced to raise an amount 

 of corn proportioned to their offenses. Among the Bakwains, a 

 woman who had stolen from the garden of another was obliged 

 to part with her own entirely: it became the property of her 

 whose field was injured by the crime. 



There is no stated day of rest in any part of this country, 

 except the day after the appearance of the new moon, and the 

 people then refrain only from going to their gardens. A curious 

 custom, not to be found among the Bechuanas, prevails among 

 the black tribes beyond them. They watch most eagerly for the 

 first glimpse of the new moon, and, when they perceive the faint 

 outline after the sun has set deep in the west, they utter a loud 

 shout of "Kua!" and vociferate prayers to it. My men, for 

 instance, called out, "Let our journey with the white man be 

 prosperous ! Let our enemies perish, and the children of Nake 

 become rich! May he have plenty of meat on this journey!" 

 etc., etc. 



I gave many public addresses to the people of Sesheke under 

 the outspreading camel-thorn-tree, which serves as a shade to 

 the kotla on the high bank of the river. It was pleasant to 

 see the long lines of men, women, and children winding along 

 from different quarters of the town, each party following behind 

 their respective head men. They often amounted to between 

 five and_ six hundred souls, and required an exertion of voice 

 which brought back the complaint for which I had got the uvula 

 excised at the Cape. They were always very attentive ; and 

 Moriantsane, in order, as he thought, to please me, on one occa- 

 sion rose up in the middle of the discourse, and hurled his staff 

 at the heads of some young fellows whom he saw working with 

 a skin instead of listening. My hearers sometimes put very 

 sensible questions on the subjects brought before them ; at other 



