58 MEETING WITH SEBITUANE. Chap. IV. 



the fly. There is not so much difference in the natures of 

 the horse and zebra, the buffalo and ox, the sheep and 

 antelope, as to afford any satisfactory explanation of the 

 phenomenon. Is not man as much a domestic animal as a 

 dog? The disgust which the tsetse shows to animal excreta 

 is turned to account by some of the doctors. They mix 

 droppings of animals, human milk, and some medicines 

 together, and smear the animals that are about to pass through 

 an infested district. This, though a preventive at the time, 

 is not a permanent protection. Inoculation does not insure 

 immunity, as animals which have been slightly bitten in one 

 year may perish by a greater number of bites in the next. It 

 is probable that with the increase of guns the game will 

 perish, as has happened in the south, and the tsetse, deprived 

 of food, may become extinct simultaneously with the larger 

 (9) animals. The ravages it commits are sometimes enormous. 

 Sebituane once lost nearly the entire cattle of his tribe, 

 amounting to many thousands, by unwittingly intruding upon 

 the haunts of this murderous insect. 



The Makololo whom we met on the Chobe were delighted 

 to see us. As their chief Sebituane was about twenty miles 

 down the river, Mr. Oswell and I proceeded in canoes to his 

 temporary residence. He had started from the Barotse town 

 of Kaliele down to Sesheke as soon as he heard of white 

 men being in search of him, and now came one hundred 

 miles more to bid us welcome into his country. He was upon 

 an island with all his principal men around him, engaged in 

 singing, when we arrived. It was more like church music 

 than the singsong e e e, se se a?, of the Bechuanas in the 

 south. They continued the tune for some seconds after we 

 approached. He signified his joy, and added, "Your cattle 

 are all bitten by the tsetse and will certainly die ; but never 

 mind : I have oxen, and will give you as many as you need." 

 He presented us with an ox and a jar of honey as food, and 

 (10) handed us over to the care of Mahale, who had headed the 

 messengers sent to Kolobeng. and would now fain appropriate 

 to himself the whole credit of our visit. Prepared skins of 

 oxen as soft as cloth were provided as a covering through the 

 night ; and since nothing could be returned to the chief, 

 Mahal e became the owner of them. Long before it was day 



