KIDNAPPING. 321 



considered an offense sufficient to warrant his being seized and of- 

 fered for sale while we were there. He had not reported himself, 

 so they did not know the reason of his running away from his 

 own chief, and that chief might accuse them of receiving a crimi- 

 nal. It was curious to notice the effect of the slave-trade in 

 blunting the moral susceptibility : no chief in the south would 

 treat a fugitive in this way. My men were horrified at the act, 

 even though, old Shinte and his council had some show of reason 

 on their side ; and both the Barotse and the Makololo declared 

 that, if the Balonda only knew of the policy pursued by them to 

 fugitives, but few of the discontented would remain long with 

 Shinte. My men excited the wonder of his people by stating 

 that every one of them had one cow at least in his possession. 



Another incident, which occurred while we were here, may be 

 mentioned, as of a character totally unknown in the south. Two 

 children, of seven and eight years old, went out to collect fire- 

 wood a short distance from their parents' home, which was a quar- 

 ter of a mile from the village, and were kidnapped ; the distracted 

 parents could not find a trace of them. This happened so close 

 to the town, where there are no beasts of prey, that we suspect 

 some of the high men of Shinte's court were the guilty parties : 

 they can sell them by night. The Mambari erect large huts of 

 a square shape to stow, these stolen ones in ; they are well fed, 

 but aired by night only. The frequent kidnapping from out- 

 lying hamlets explains the stockades we saw around them ; 

 the parents have no redress, for even Shinte himself seems fond 

 of working in the dark. One night he sent for me, though I 

 always stated I liked all my dealings to be aboveboard. When 

 I came he presented me with a slave girl about ten years old ; 

 he said he had always been in the habit of presenting his visit- 

 ors with a child. On my thanking him, and saying that I 

 thought it wrong to take away children from their parents, that 

 I wished him to give up this system altogether, and trade in 

 cattle, ivory, and bees'- wax, he urged that she was "to be a 

 child" to bring me water, and that a great man ought to have 

 a child for the purpose, yet I had none. As I replied that I had 

 four children, and should be very sorry if my chief were to take 

 my little girl and give her away, and that I would prefer this 

 child to remain and carry water for her own mother, he thought 



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