200 MEANING OF THE TERM " BECHUANAS." Chap. X. 



ability to cope with a numerous and warlike race. Such cases 

 are the only ones in which the possession of fire-arms does evil. 

 The universal effect of the diffusion of the more potent instru- 

 ments of warfare in Africa is the same as among ourselves. 

 Fire-arms render wars less frequent and less bloody. It is 

 indeed exceedingly rare to hear of two tribes having guns, going 

 to war with each other ; and, as nearly all the feuds, in the south 

 at least, have been about cattle, the risk which must be incurred 

 from long shots, generally proves a preventive to the foray. 



The Makololo were prevailed upon to keep the peace during 

 my residence with them, but it was easy to perceive that public 

 opinion was against sparing a tribe of Bechuanas for whom the 

 Makololo entertained the most sovereign contempt. The young 

 men would remark, " Lechulatebe is herding our cows for us ; 

 let us only go, we shall ' lift ' the price of them in sheep," &c. 



As the Makololo are the most northerly of the Bechuanas, we 

 may glance back at this family of Africans before entering on 

 the branch of the negro family which the Makololo distinguish 

 by the term Makalaka. The name Bechuana seems derived 

 from the word Chuana — alike, or equal — with the personal pro- 

 noun Ba (they) prefixed ; and therefore means fellows or equals. 

 Some have supposed the name to have arisen from a mistake of 

 some traveller, who, on asking individuals of this nation concern- 

 ing the tribes living beyond them, received the answer, Ba- 

 chuana, "they (are) alike ;" meaning, " They are the same as we 

 are ;" and that this nameless traveller, who never "wrote a word 

 about them, managed to engraft his mistake as a generic term on 

 a nation extending from the Orange river to 18° south latitude.* 



As the name was found in use among those who had no inter- 

 course with Europeans, before we can receive the above expla- 

 nation we must believe that the unknown traveller knew the 

 language sufficiently well to ask a question, but not to under- 

 stand the answer. We may acid, that the way in which they still 

 continue to use the word, seems to require no fanciful interpreta- 

 tion. When addressed with any degree of scorn, they reply, 

 " We are Bachuana, or equals — we are not inferior to any of our 

 nation," in exactly the same sense as Irishmen or Scotchmen, 

 in the same circumstances, would reply, " We are Britons," or 



* The Makololo have conquered the country as far as 14° south, but it is 

 still peopled chiefly by the black tribes named Makalaka. 



