8o MATABELE LAND. 



asked to be paid, and was quite satisfied with a few 

 coils of brass-wire. Once, when Nelson killed a 

 rhinoceros, a number of Mashona came for the 

 meat and began fighting. They would cry, ■ This 

 is mine,' ' This is mine,' and two were killed. Nel- 

 son went away, feeling, he says, quite frightened at 

 the scene. An assegai was thrust into one man's 

 heart by another who was quarrelling with him 

 before Nelson's eyes. 



"In Damaraland, he says, the Bushmen are 

 much better to get on with than the Matabele are 

 here. They work for you like slaves for a little 

 meat. They are under independent petty chiefs, 

 and bring magnificent ostrich -feathers for a small 

 strip of lembo or other very trifling payment. From 

 what Nelson says, it must be a capital place for the 

 hunter, ivory being large, white, and plentiful, and 

 easily got, and the natives most willing to assist. 



"October ijt/i. — Sleepless night; dogs barking 

 at hysenas. I was kept to the waggon yesterday 

 with a sore heel, and to-day did not go far. Nelson 

 came to the waggon in the afternoon. He tells me 

 that on the opposite side of the road, about ten 

 miles away, is a 'fountain,' 1 with one or two waters 

 intervening, and plenty of game. He does not 

 know whether the king allows any one to go into 

 this veldt ; but it is a good country for a waggon to 

 travel in. ... I went out with him a little in the 

 evening. He says he has seen two elephants' tusks 

 from near the Zambesi of 70 lbs. each — the largest 



1 Large spring. 



