2IO THE MAKOI/^O DANCE. 



roaring at the loudest pitch of his voice, while they 

 simultaneously lift one leg, stamp heavily twice with it, 

 then lift the other and give one stamp with that ; this 

 is the only movement in common. The arms and head 

 are thrown about also in every direction ; and all this 

 time the roaring is kept up with the utmost possible vigour ; 

 the continued stamping makes a cloud of dust ascend, and 

 they leave a deep ring in the ground where they have 

 stood. If the scene were witnessed in a lunatic asylum 

 it would be nothing out of the way, and quite appropriate 

 even, as a means of letting off the excessive excitement 

 of the brain ; but here grey-headed men joined in the 

 performance with as much zest as others whose youth 

 might be an excuse for making the perspiration stream 

 off their bodies with the exertion. Motibe asked what 

 I thought of the Makololo dance. I replied, " It is very 

 hard work, and brings but small profit." "It is/' replied 

 he, " but it is very nice, and Sekeletu will give us an ox 

 for dancing for him." He usually does slaughter an ox 

 for the dancers when the work is over. 



The women stand by, clapping their hands, and occa- 

 sionally one advances into the circle, composed of a 

 hundred men, makes a few movements, and then retires. 

 As I never tried it, and am unable to enter into the spirit 

 of the thing, I cannot recommend the Makololo polka 

 to the dancing world, but I have the authority of no less 

 a person than Motibe, Sekeletu' s father-in-law, for saying 

 "it is very nice." They often asked if white people 

 ever danced. I thought of the disease called St. Vitus's 

 dance, but could not say that all our dancers were affected 

 by it, and gave an answer which, I ought to be ashamed 

 to own, did not raise some of our young countrywomen 

 in the estimation of the Makololo. 



As Sekeletu had been waiting for me at his mother's, 

 we left the town as soon as I arrived, and proceeded down 

 the river. Our speed with the stream was very great, 

 for in one day we went from L,itofe to Gonye, a distance of 

 forty-four miles of latitude ; and if we add to this the 

 windings of the river, in longitude the distance will not 

 be much less than sixty geographical miles. At this 

 rate we soon reached Sesheke, and then the town of I4n- 

 yanti. 



I had been, during a nine weeks' tour, in closer contact 

 with heathenism than I had ever been before ; and though 



