588 PROPHETIC PHRENSY. 



Batoka to take repossession of their herds, he having so many as 

 to "be unable to guide them in their flight. The country was at 

 that time exceedingly rich in cattle, and, besides pasturage, it is 

 all well adapted for the cultivation of native produce. Being on 

 the eastern slope of the ridge, it receives more rain than any part 

 of the westward. Sekwebu had been instructed to point out to 

 me the advantages of this position for a settlement, as that which 

 all the Makololo had never ceased to regret. It needed no eulogy 

 from Sekwebu ; I admired it myself, and the enjoyment of good 

 health in fine open scenery had an exhilarating effect on my 

 spirits. The great want was population, the Batoka having all 

 taken refuge in the hills. We were now in the vicinity of those 

 whom the Makololo deem rebels, and felt some anxiety as to how 

 we should be received. 



On the 4th we reached their first village. Remaining at a 

 distance of a quarter of a mile, we sent two men to inform them 

 who we were, and that our purposes were peaceful. The head man 

 came and spoke civilly, but, when nearly dark, the people of an- 

 other village arrived and behaved very differently. They began 

 by trying to spear a young man who had gone for water. Then 

 they approached us, and one came forward howling at the top of 

 his voice in the most hideous manner ; his eyes were shot out, his 

 lips covered with foam, and every muscle of his frame quivered. 

 He came near to me, and, having a small battle-axe in his hand, 

 alarmed my men lest he might do violence ; but they were afraid 

 to disobey my previous orders, and to follow their own inclination 

 by knocking him on the head. I felt a little alarmed too, but 

 would not show fear before my own people or strangers, and kept 

 a sharp look-out on the little battle-axe. It seemed to me a case 

 of ecstasy or prophetic phrensy, voluntarily produced. I felt it 

 would be a sorry way to leave the world, to get my head chopped 

 by a mad savage, though that, perhaps, would be preferable to 

 hydrophobia or delirium tremens. Sekwebu took a spear in his 

 hand, as if to pierce a bit of leather, but in reality to plunge it into 

 the man if he offered violence to me. After my courage had been 

 sufficiently tested, I beckoned with the head to the civil head man 

 to remove him, and he did so by drawing him aside. This man 

 pretended not to know what he was doing. I would fain have 

 felt his pulse, to ascertain whether the violent trembling were not 



