Chap. IV. A NATIVE PPOPHET. (31 



until the moon was full. He returned emaciated to the tribe, 

 and worked himself into a state of ecstacy. These prophets 

 stamp, leap, shout, and beat the ground with a club till they 

 induce a kind of fit. They pretend that the utterances they 

 give forth under its influence are unknown to themselves. 

 Tlapane, pointing eastwards, said, " There, Sebituane, I be- 

 hold a fire ; shun it ; it is a fire which may scorch thee. The 

 gods say, Go not thither." Then, turning 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 perishing, 

 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, J 

 have given rather fully, because it shows an observant mind 

 The policy recommended was wise, and his prophecy was 

 verified by the destruction soon afterwards of the village, and 

 the death of himself and the two men he had named. It is not 

 therefore wonderful that Sebituane should have followed the 

 warning voice. The fire pointed to was evidently the Portu- 

 guese fire-arms, of which he must have heard. The black 

 men were the Barotse, or, as they term themselves, Baloiana ; 

 and Sebituane spared their chiefs, even'though they attacked 

 him first. (uj 



After he had ascended the Barotse valley he was pursued 

 by the Matebele, as Mosilikatse never could forgive his 

 former defeats. 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 co-operate in the manoeuvre. When all 

 the Matebele were ferried over, the canoes were removed, and 

 the enemy found themselves in a trap. They subsisted for 

 some time on the roots of grass after the goats were eaten, but 

 gradually became so emaciated, that, when the Makololo 



