3 6 MATABELE LAND. 



sent me a small bottle of beer, worth about five 

 shillings here. Nelsson is getting the king, Loben- 

 gula, some furniture from England, as he told the 

 latter that a king ought not to sit on the ground. 

 Lobengula's country extends from here to the Zam- 

 besi, and he is an absolute despot, having the lives 

 of all his people in his own hands. They say if one 

 of the Matabele is found stealing from a white man 

 he has him executed." 



Soon after writing the above, W. E. Oates left 

 Tati in company with Messrs. Gilchrist and Buckley, 

 to hunt on the Semokwe River, where they had very 

 good sport. Returning thence in due time to the 

 coast, they took the same route as that by which 

 they had travelled north, the change of season, how- 

 ever, from winter to summer producing, as they 

 returned, a remarkable change in the entire aspect 

 of the country. By the end of October they were 

 back at Bamangwato, and reached Pietermaritzburg 

 on the 2d of January. A few extracts from W. E. 

 Oates's letters, written as they proceeded, may here 

 be read with interest. He writes first from Bamang- 

 wato on November 3d as follows : — 



" I arrived herewith Buckley and Gilchrist about 

 a week since, and shall probably make a start for 

 Pretoria to-night. The spring has now commenced, 

 and the grass is beginning to grow. There have 

 been heavy thunderstorms, and the lightning is 

 wonderful, never ceasing for a moment during the 

 storms. The heat also is very great. . . . There 

 has just been a row here. The old chief's eldest 



