170 SEKOBINYANE'S MISGOVERNMENT. Chap. XIV. 



my fevers, I shall henceforth say little about them. We here 

 sent back the canoes of Sekeletu, and borrowed others from 

 Mpololo. Eight riding oxen, and seven for slaughter, were 

 also furnished, some intended for our own use, and others as 

 presents to the chiefs of the Balonda. Mpololo was particu- 

 larly liberal in giving all that Sekeletu ordered, though, as he 

 subsisted on the cattle he had in charge, he might have felt it 

 so much abstracted from his own perquisites. 



In coming up the river to Naliele we met a party of fugitive 

 Barotse returning to their homes, and, as the circumstance 

 illustrates the social status of these subjects of the Makololo, 

 I introduce it here. They were the serfs, if we may use the 

 term, of a young man of an irritable temper, named Sekobin- 

 yane, whose treatment of his servants was so bad that most of 

 them had fled; he had even sold one or two of the Barotse 

 children of his village, upon which the rest immediately fled 

 to Masiko, and were gladly received by him as his subjects. 

 Sekobinyane, dreading the vengeance of Sekeletu, made his 

 escape to lake Ngami. He was sent for, however, and the 

 chief at the lake delivered him up, on Sekeletu's assurance 

 that he intended only to punish him by a scolding. He did 

 not even do that, as Sekobinyane was evidently terrified, and 

 became even ill through fear. The fugitive villagers remained 

 only a few weeks with Masiko, and then fled back again, and 

 were received as if they had done nothing wrong. All united 

 in abusing the conduct of Sekobinyane, and in excusing the 

 fugitives ; and as their cattle had never been removed from 

 the village, they re-established themselves with apparent 

 satisfaction. 



Leaving Kaliele amidst abundance of good wishes for the 

 success of our expedition, we recommenced the ascent of the 

 river. It was now beginning to rise, though the rains had 

 but just commenced in the valley. The banks are low, steep, 

 and regular, and at low water the river assumes very much 

 the aspect of a canal. In flood-time it is always wearing 

 away one side or the other, and occasionally forms new 

 channels by cutting across from one bend to another. As we 

 kept close under the bank, overhanging pieces often fell in 

 with a splash like that caused by the plunge of an alligator, 

 and endangered the canoe. 



