CHAP. VI. NATIVE GAME-LAW. 159 



came in contact with one of the game-laws of the country, 

 which has come down from the most ancient times. An 

 old buffalo crossed the path a few yards in front of us ; our 

 guide threw his small spear at its hip, and it was going 

 off scarcely hurt, when three rifle balls knocked it over. 

 " It is mine," said the guide. He had wounded it first, 

 and the established native game-law is that the animal 

 belongs to the man who first draws blood ; the two legs 

 on one side, by the same law, belonged to us for killing it. 

 This beast was very old, blind of one eye, and scabby ; the 

 horns, mere stumps, not a foot long, must have atrophied, 

 when by age he lost the strength distinctive of his sex ; 

 some eighteen or twenty inches of horn could not well be 

 worn down by mere rubbing against the trees. We saw 

 many buffaloes next day, standing quietly amidst a thick 

 thorn-jungle, through which we were passing. They 

 often stood until we were within fifty or a hundred yards 

 of them. 



On the 14th July we left the river at the mountain- 

 range, which, lying north-east and south-west across the 

 river, forms the Kariba gorge. Near the upper end of the 

 Kariba rapids, the stream Sanyati enters from the south, 

 and is reported to have Moselekatse's principal cattle-posts 

 at its sources; our route went round the end of the 

 mountains, and we encamped beside the village of the 

 generous chief, Moloi, who brought us three immense 

 baskets of fine mapira meal, ten fowls, and two pots of 

 beer. On receiving a present in return, he rose, and, with 

 a few dancing gestures, said or sang, " Motota, Motota, 

 Motota," which our men translated into "thanks." He 

 had visited Moselekatse a few months before our arrival, 

 and saw the English missionaries, living in their wagons. 

 " They told Moselekatse," said he, " they were of his 

 family, or friends, and would plough the land and live at 

 their own expense ; " and he had replied, " The land is 



