194 



SEKELETUS LEPROSY. 



Chap. VII. 



way, in order to put a blood-feud between Masiko, the 

 chief to whom they were going, and Sekeletu. The 

 Batoka under Sinamane, and Muemba, were independent, 

 and Mashotlane at the Falls was setting Sekeletu's 

 authority virtually at defiance. Sebituane's wise policy 

 in treating the conquered tribes on equal terms with his 

 own Makololo, as all children of the chief, and equally 

 eligible to the highest honours, had been abandoned by 

 his son, who married none but Makololo women, and 

 appointed to office none but Makololo men. He had be- 

 come unpopular among the black tribes, conquered by the 

 spear but more effectually won by the subsequent wise 

 and just government of his father. 



Strange rumours were afloat respecting the unseen 

 Sekeletu ; his fingers were said to have grown like eagle's 

 claws, and his face so frightfully distorted that no one 

 could recognize him. Some had begun to hint that he 

 might not really be the son of the great Sebituane, the 

 founder of the nation, strong in battle, and wise in the 

 affairs of state. " In the days of the Great Lion " (Sebi- 

 tuane), said his only sister, Moriantsiane's widow, whose 

 husband Sekeletu had killed, " we had chiefs and little 

 chiefs and elders to carry on the government, and the 

 great chief, Sebituane, knew them all, and everything 

 they did, and the whole country was wisely ruled; but 

 now Sekeletu knows nothing of what his underlings do, 

 and they care not for him, and the Makololo power is fast 

 passing away." * 



* In 1865, four years after 

 these forebodings were penned, 

 we received intelligence that 

 they had all come to pass. Se- 

 keletu died in the beginning of 

 1864 — a civil war broke out 

 about the succession to the chief- 



tainship; a large body of those 

 opposed to the late chief's uncle, 

 Impololo, being regent, departed 

 with their cattle to Lake Ngami ; 

 an insurrection by the black 

 tribes followed; Impololo was 

 slain, and the kingdom, of which, 



