ESPIONAGE. 27 



Sechele is a coward ; let him come and fight if he dare." 

 The next time the offence was repeated, Sechele told me 

 he was going to mint elephants ; and as I knew the system 

 of espionage which prevails among all the tribes, I never 

 made any inquiries that would convey the opinion that I 

 distrusted them. I gave credit to his statement. He 

 asked the loan of a black-metal pot to cook with, as theirs 

 of pottery are brittle. I gave it and a handful of salt, 

 and desired him to send back two tit-bits, the proboscis 

 and fore-foot of the elephant. He set off, and I heard 

 nothing more until we saw the Bakwains carrying home 

 their wounded, and heard some of the women uttering the 

 loud wail of sorrow for the dead, and others pealing forth. 

 the clear scream of victory. It was then clear that Sechele 

 had attacked and driven away the rebel. 



Mentioning this to the commandant in proof of the 

 impossibility of granting his request, I had soon an 

 example how quickly a story can grow among idle people. 

 The five guns were, within one month, multiplied into a 

 tale of five hundred, and the cooking-pot, now in a museum 

 at Cape Town, was magnified into a cannon ; "I had 

 myself confessed to the loan." Where the five hundred 

 guns came from, it was easy to divine ; for, knowing that 

 I used a sextant, my connection with Government was a 

 thing of course ; and, as I must know all Her Majesty's 

 counsels, I was questioned on the subject of the indistinct 

 rumours which had reached them of L,ord Rosse's telescope. 

 " What right has your government to set up that large 

 glass at the Cape to look after us behind the Cashan 

 Mountains ? " 



Many of the Boers visited us afterwards at Kolobeng, 

 some for medical advice, and others to trade in those very 

 articles which their own laws and policy forbid. When I 

 happened to stumble upon any of them in the town, with 

 his muskets and powder displayed, he would begin an 

 apology, on the ground that he was a poor man, &c, which 

 I always cut short by frankly saying that I had nothing 

 to do with either the Boers or their laws. Many attempts 

 were made during these visits to elicit the truth about 

 the guns and cannon ; and, ignorant of the system of 

 espionage which prevails, eager inquiries were made by 

 them among those who could jabber a little Dutch. It is 

 noticeable that the system of espionage is as well developed 

 among the savage tribes as in Austria or Russia. It is a 



