534 FREEDOM OF SPEECH. 



brother Limboa came, captured his women as they went to their 

 gardens, and then appeared before his stockade. Masiko offered 

 to lead his men out ; but they objected, saying, " Let us servants 

 be killed, you must not be slain." Those who said this were young 

 Barotse who had been drilled to fighting by Sebituane, and used 

 shields of ox-hide. They beat off the party of Limboa, ten being- 

 wounded, and ten slain in the engagement. Limboa subsequently 

 sent three slaves as a self-imposed fine to Masiko for attacking 

 him. I succeeded in getting the Makololo to treat the messengers 

 of Masiko well, though, as they regarded them as rebels, it was 

 somewhat against the grain at first to speak civilly to them. 



Mpololo, attempting to justify an opposite line of conduct, told 

 me how they had fled from Sebituane, even though he had given 

 them numbers of cattle after their subjection by his arms, and was 

 rather surprised to find that I was disposed to think more highly 

 of them for having asserted their independence, even at the loss 

 of milk. For this food, all who have been accustomed to it from 

 infancy in Africa have an excessive longing. I pointed out how 

 they might be mutually beneficial to each other by the exchange 

 of canoes and cattle. 



There are some very old Barotse living here who were the com- 

 panions of the old chief Santuru. These men, protected by their 

 age, were very free in their comments on the " upstart" Makololo. 

 One of them, for instance, interrupted my conversation one day 

 with some Makololo gentlemen with the advice " not to believe 

 them, for they were only a set of thieves ;" and it was taken in 

 quite a good-natured way. It is remarkable that none of the an- 

 cients here had any tradition of an earthquake having occurred in 

 this region. Their quick perception of events recognizable by the 

 senses, and retentiveness of memory, render it probable that no 

 perceptible movement of the earth has taken place between 7° and 

 27° S. in the centre of the continent during the last two centuries 

 at least. There is no appearance of recent fracture or disturbance 

 of rocks to be seen in the central country, except the falls of 

 Gonye ; nor is there any evidence or tradition of hurricanes. 



I left Naliele on the 13th of August, and, when proceeding 

 along the shore at midday, a hippopotamus struck the canoe with 

 her forehead, lifting one half of it quite out of the water, so as 

 nearly to overturn it. The force of the butt she gave tilted 



