KIDNAPPING. 277 



to the chief. This was considered an offence sufficient 

 to warrant his being seized and offered for sale while we 

 were there. He had not reported himself, so they did 

 not know the reason of his running away from his own 

 chief, and that chief might accuse them of receiving a 

 criminal. It was curious to notice the effect of the slave- 

 trade in blunting the moral susceptibility : no chief in 

 the south would treat a fugitive in this way. My men 

 were horrified at the act, even though old Shinte and 

 his council had some show of reason on their side ; and 

 both the Barotse and the Makololo declared that, if 

 the Balonda only knew of the policy pursued by them to 

 fugitives, but few of the discontented would remain long 

 with Shinte. My men excited the wonder of his people, 

 by stating that every one of them had one cow at least 

 in his possession. 



Another incident, which occurred while we were here, 

 may be mentioned, as of a character totally unknown 

 in the south. Two children, of seven and eight years 

 old, went out to collect firewood a short distance from 

 their parents' home, which was a quarter of a mile from 

 the village, and were kidnapped ; the distracted parents 

 could not find a trace of them. This happened so close 

 to the town, where there are no beasts of prey, that we 

 suspect some of the high men of Shinte 's court were the 

 guilty parties ; they can sell them by night. The Mam- 

 bari erect large huts of a square shape to stow these stolen 

 ones in ; they are well fed, but aired by night only. The 

 frequent kidnapping from outlying hamlets explains 

 the stockades we saw around them ; the parents have 

 no redress, for even Shinte himself seems fond of working 

 in the dark. One night he sent for me, though I always 

 stated I liked all my dealings to be aboveboard. When 

 I came he presented me with a slave-girl of about ten 

 years old ; he said he had always been in the habit of 

 presenting his visitors with a child. On my thanking 

 him, and saying that I thought it wrong to take away 

 children from their parents, that I wished him to give 

 up this system altogether, and trade in cattle, ivory, 

 and bees' -wax, he urged that she was "to be a child " 

 to bring me water, and that a great man ought to have 

 a child for the purpose, yet I had none. As I replied 

 that I had four children, and should be very sorry if 

 my chief were to take my little girl and give her away, 



