Chap. XVI. KIDNAPPING. 297 



considered an offence sufficient to warrant his being seized and 

 offered for sale while we were there. He had not reported him- 

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

 his own chief, and that chief might accuse them of receiving a 

 criminal. 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 

 firewood a short distance from their parents' home, which was a 

 quarter of a mile from the village, and were kidnapped ; the 

 distracted parents could not find a trace of them. This hap- 

 pened 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 kid- 

 napping from outlying 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 

 of about ten years old ; he said he had always been in the habit 

 of presenting his visitors with a child. On my thanking Mm, 

 and saying that I thought it wrong to take away children from 

 their parents, that I wished him to give up this system alto- 

 gether, 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 

 J would prefer this child to remain and carry water for her own 



