54 THE QUAKERS OF AFRICA. 



sent on before us by Sekomi to drive away all the Bush- 

 men and Bakalahari from our path, so that they should 

 not assist or guide us, came and sat down by our fire. 

 We had seen their footsteps fresh in the way, and they 

 had watched our slow movements forward, and wondered 

 to see how we, without any Bushmen, found our way to 

 the waters. This was the first time they had seen Ramo- 

 tobi. " You have reached the river now," said they ; 

 and we, quite disposed to laugh at having won the game, 

 felt no ill-will to any one. They seemed to feel no enmity 

 to us either ; but after an apparently friendly conversa- 

 tion proceeded to fulfil to the last the instructions of their 

 chief. Ascending the Zouga in our front, they circulated 

 the report that our object was to plunder all the tribes 

 living on the river and lake ; but when they had got 

 half way up the river, the principal man sickened of 

 fever, turned back some distance, and died. His death 

 had a good effect, for the villagers connected it with the 

 injury he was attempting to do to us. They all saw 

 through Sekomi's reasons for wishing us to fail in our 

 attempt ; and though they came to us at first armed, kind 

 and fair treatment soon produced perfect confidence. 



When we had gone up the bank of this beautiful river 

 about ninety-six miles from the point where we first struck 

 it, and understood that we were still a considerable dis- 

 tance from the Ngami, we left all the oxen and waggons, 

 except Mr. Oswell's, which was the smallest, and one team, 

 at Ngabisane, in the hope that they would be recruited 

 for the home journey, while we made a push for the lake. 

 The Bechuana chief of the Lake region, who had sent men 

 to Sechele, now sent orders to all the people on the river 

 to assist us, and we were received by the Bakoba, whose 

 language clearly shows that they bear an affinity to the 

 tribes in the north. They call themselves Bayeiye, i.e. 

 men ; but the Bechuanas call them Bakoba, which contains 

 somewhat of the idea of slaves. They have never been 

 known to fight, and, indeed, have a tradition that their 

 forefathers, in their first essays at war, made their bows of 

 the Palma-Christi ; and, when these broke, they gave up 

 fighting altogether. They have invariably submitted to 

 the rule of every horde which has overrun the countries 

 adjacent to the rivers on which they specially love to dwell. 

 They are thus the Quakers of the body politic in Africa. 



A long time after the period of our visit, the chief of the 



