MAKOI,OI,0 AT tOANDA. 365 



offered to convey me to St. Helena or homewards ; but 

 though I had reached the coast, I had found that, in conse- 

 quence of the great amount of forest, rivers, and marsh, 

 mere was no possibility of a highway for waggons ; and I 

 had brought a party of Sekeletu's people with me, and 

 found the tribes near the Portuguese settlement so very 

 unfriendly, that it would be altogether impossible for my 

 men to return alone. I therefore resolved to decline the 

 tempting offers of my naval friends, and take back my 

 Makololo companions to their chief, with a view of trying 

 to make a path from his country to the east coast by means 

 of the great river Zambesi or Leeambye. 



I however gladly availed myself of the medical assistance 

 of Mr. Cockin, the surgeon of the " Polyphemus," at the 

 suggestion of his commander, Captain Phillips. Mr. 

 Cockin's treatment, aided by the exhilarating presence of 

 the warm-hearted naval officers, and Mr. Gabriel's un- 

 wearied hospitality and care, soon brought me round 

 again. On the 14th I was so far well as to call on the 

 bishop, in company with my party, who were arrayed in 

 new robes of striped cotton cloth and red caps, all pre- 

 sented to them by Mr. Gabriel. He received us, as head of 

 the provisional government, in the grand hall of the 

 palace. He put many intelligent questions respecting the 

 Makololo ; and then gave them free permission to come 

 to Ivoanda as often as they pleased. This interview pleased 

 the Makololo extremely. 



Kvery one remarked the serious deportment of the 

 Makololo. They viewed the large stone houses and 

 churches in the vicinity of the great ocean with awe. A 

 house with two stories was, until now, beyond their com- 

 prehension. In explanation of this strange thing, I had 

 always been obliged to use the word for hut ; and as huts 

 are constructed by the poles being let into the earth, 

 they never could comprehend how the poles of one hut 

 could be founded upon the roof of another, or how men 

 could live in the upper story, with the conical roof of the 

 lower one in the middle. Some Makololo, who had visited 

 my little house at Kolobeng, in trying to describe it to 

 their countrymen at Linyanti; said, " It is not a hut ; it 

 is a mountain with several caves in it." 



Commander Bedingfeld and Captain Skene invited 

 them to visit their vessels, the " Pluto " and " Philomel." 

 Knowing their fears, I told them that no one need go if 



