Chap. IV. A NATIVE PROPHET. 87 



"senoga" — one who holds intercourse with the gods. He pro- 

 bably had a touch of insanity, for he was in the habit of retiring 

 no one knew whither, but perhaps into some cave, to remain in a 

 hypnotic or mesmeric state until the moon was full. Then, re- 

 turning to the tribe quite emaciated, he excited himself, as others 

 do who pretend to the prophetic afflatus, until he was in a state of 

 ecstacy. These pretended prophets commence then operations by 

 violent action of the voluntary muscles. Stamping, leaping, and 

 shouting in a peculiarly violent manner, or beating the ground 

 with a club, they induce a kind of fit, and while in it pretend that 

 their utterances are unknown to themselves. Tlapane, pointing 

 eastwards, said, " There, Sebituane, I behold a fire : shun it ; it is 

 a fire which may scorch thee. The gods say, go not thither." 

 Then, tm-ning to the west, he. said, "I see a city and a nation of 

 black men — men of the water ; their cattle are red ; thine own 

 tribe, Sebituane, is perisliing, and will be all consumed ; thou wilt 

 govern black men, and, when thy warriors have captured red cattle, 

 let not the owners be killed ; they are thy future tribe — they are 

 thy city ; let them be spared to cause thee to build. And thou, 

 Eamosinii, thy village will perish utterly. If Mokari removes from 

 that village he will perish first, and thou, Eamosinii, wilt be the 

 last to die." Concerning himself he added, " The gods have 

 caused other men to drink water, but to me they have given 

 bitter water of the chukuru (rhinoceros). They call me away 

 myself. I cannot stay much longer." 



This vaticination, which loses much in the translation, I have 

 given rather fully, as it shows an observant mind. The policy re- 

 commended was wise, and the deaths of the " senoga " and of the 

 two men he had named, added to the destruction of then village, 

 having all happened soon after, it is not wonderful that Sebituane 

 followed implicitly the warning voice. The fire pointed to was 

 evidently the Portuguese fire-arms, of which he must have heard. 

 The black men referred to were the Barotse, or, as they term them- 

 selves, Baloiana ; and Sebituane spared their chiefs, even though 

 they attacked him first. He had ascended the Barotse valley, but 

 was pursued by the Matebele, as Mosilikatse never could forgive 

 his former defeats. They came up the river in a veiy large body. 

 Sebituane placed some goats on one of the large islands of the 

 Zambesi, as a bait to the warriors, and some men in canoes to 



