Chap. IV. THE BANAJOA. 55 



about eleven o'clock we observed some birds, and next the 

 trail of a rhinocei:os. At this we unyoked the oxen, which 

 rushed along towards the river Mababe, which comes from the 

 Tamunak'le, and lay to the west of us. The supply of water 

 in the waggons had been wasted by one of our servants, and 

 by the afternoon only a small portion remained for the children. 

 The next morning there was still less of water, and the little 

 rogues became thirstier than ever. The idea of their perishing 

 before our eyes was terrible. Not one syllable of upbraiding 

 was uttered by their mother, though the tearful eye told the 

 agony within. In the afternoon of the fifth day, to our inex- 

 pressible relief, some of the men returned with a supply of 

 that fluid of which we had never before felt the true value. 



The cattle in rushing along to the Mababe probably crossed 

 a small patch of trees containing tsetse, an insect which was 

 shortly to become a perfect pest to us. Shobo had found his 

 way to the Bayeiye, and appeared, when we came up to the 

 river, at the head of a party. As he wished to show his 

 importance before his friends, he walked up boldly and com- 

 manded our whole cavalcade to halt, and to bring forth fire 

 and tobacco. YVe stopped to admire the acting, and, though 

 he had left us in the lurch, we all liked this fine specimen of 

 that wonderful people the Bushmen. 



Next day we came to a village of Banajoa, a tribe which 

 extends far to the eastward. They were living on the borders 

 of a marsh in which the Mababe terminates. They had lost 

 their crop of corn (Holcus sorghum), and now subsisted almost 

 entirely on the root called " tsitla," a kind of aroidoea, which 

 contains a large quantity of sweet-tasted starch. When dried, 

 pounded into meal, and allowed to ferment, it forms a not 

 unpleasant article of food. The women shave all the hair off 

 their heads, and seem darker than the Bechuanas. Their huts 

 were built on poles, and they make a fire in them at night, 

 that the smoke may drive away the mosquitoes, which abound 

 on the Mababe and Tamunak'le more than in any other parr 

 of the country. The head-man of this village, Majane, seemed 

 a little wanting in ability ; but had had wit enough to promote 

 a younger member of the family to the office, who proved an 

 active guide to us across the river Sonta, and to the banks of 

 the Chobe, in the country of Sebituane. 



