462 MESSAGE FROM MASIKO. 



after me by Masiko arrived. He was much disappointed, 

 because I had not visited him. They brought an elephant's 

 tusk, two calabashes of honey, two baskets of maize, 

 and one of ground-nuts, as a present. Masiko wished 

 to say that he had followed the injunction which I had 

 given, as the will of God, and lived in peace until his 

 brother Limboa came, captured his women as they went 

 to their gardens, and then appeared before his stockade. 

 Masiko offered to lead his men out ; but they objected, 

 saying, " I,et us servants be killed ; you must not be 

 slain." Those who said this were young Barotse, who 

 had been drilled to fighting by Sebituane, and used shields 

 of ox-hide. They beat off the party of Iyimboa, ten being 

 wounded, and ten slain in the engagement. Iyimboa 

 subsequently sent three slaves, as a self-imposed fine 

 to Masiko for attacking him. I succeeded in getting the 

 Makololo to treat the messengers of Masiko well, though, 

 as they regarded them as rebels, it was somewhat against 

 the grain at first to speak civilly to them. 



Mpololo, attempting to justify an opposite line of 

 conduct, told me how they had fled from Sebituane, even 

 though he had given them numbers of cattle after their 

 subjection by his arms, and was rather surprised to find 

 that I was disposed to think more highly of them for 

 having asserted their independence, even at the loss of milk. 

 For this food, all who have been accustomed to it from 

 infancy in Africa, have an excessive longing. I pointed 

 out how they might be mutually beneficial to each other 

 by the exchange of canoes and cattle. 



There are some very old Barotse living here, who were 

 the companions of the old chief Santuru. These men, 

 protected by their age, were very free in their comments 

 on the " upstart " Makololo. One of them, for instance, 

 interrupted my conversation one day with some Makololo 

 gentlemen, with the advice ' ' not to believe them, for they 

 were only a set of thieves ; " and it was taken in quite 

 a good-natured way. It is remarkable that none of the 

 ancients here had any tradition of an earthquake having 

 occurred in this region. Their quick perception of 

 events recognisable by the senses, and retentiveness of 

 memory, render it probable, that no perceptible movement 

 of the earth has taken place between y° and 27 ° S. in the 

 centre of the continent, during the last two centuries 

 at least. There is no appearance of recent fracture or 



