SI,AV3-TRADERS. 1 67 



Sebituane's death. Indeed, the latter had said to his son, 

 " That hut of incantation will prove fatal to either you 

 or me." 



When the Mambari, in 1850, took home a favourable 

 report of this new market to the west, a number of half- 

 caste Portuguese slave-traders were induced to come in 

 1853 ; and one, who resembled closely a real Portuguese, 

 came to L,inyanti while I was there. This man had no 

 merchandise, and pretended to have come in order to 

 inquire " what sort of goods were necessary for the 

 market." He seemed much disconcerted by my presence 

 there. Sekeletu presented him with an elephant's tusk 

 and an ox ; and when he had departed about fifty miles 

 to the westward, he carried off an entire village of the 

 Bakalahari belonging to the Makololo. He had a number 

 of armed slaves with him ; and as all the villagers — men, 

 women, and children — were removed, and the fact was 

 unknown until a considerable time afterwards, it is not 

 certain whether his object was obtained by violence or by 

 fair promises. In either case, slavery must have been the 

 portion of these poor people. He was carried in a ham- 

 mock, slung between two rjoles, which appearing to be a 

 bag, the Makololo named him " Father of the Bag." 



Mpepe favoured these slave-traders, and they, as is 

 usual with them, founded all their hopes of influence on 

 his successful rebellion. My arrival on the scene was felt 

 to be so much weight in the scale against their interests. 

 A large party of Mambari had come to I4nyanti when I 

 was floundering on the prairies south of the Chobe. As 

 the news of my being in the neighbourhood reached them 

 their countenances fell ; and when some Makololo, who 

 had assisted us to cross the river, returned with hats 

 which I had given them, the Mambari betook themselves 

 to precipitate flight. It is usual for visitors to ask formal 

 permission before attempting to leave a chief, but the 

 sight of the hats made the Mambari pack up at once. 

 The Makololo inquired the cause of the hurry, and were 

 told that, if I found them there, I should take all their 

 slaves and goods from them ; and though assured by 

 Sekeletu that I was not a robber, but a man of peace, 

 they fled by night, while I was still sixty miles off. They 

 went to the north, where, under the protection of Mpepe, 

 they had erected a stockade of considerable size ; there 

 several half-caste slave-traders, under the leadership of a 



