222 MATABELE LAND. 



scantily-dressed gentlemen is something not to be 

 forgotten. I don't know whether their condescen- 

 sions or aggressions are the more difficult to bear 

 with patience. Without patience it is hopeless to 

 think ol getting on at all. A long string of them 

 filed past my abode lately, and making for Brown's 

 store requested to be fed. This of course Brown 

 complied with, as the land here is only held on 

 sufferance, and these Matabele were supposed to 

 be out on particular business — to murder a lot 

 ol poor Bushmen, as we were told afterwards. 

 The latter are constantly being killed, and their 

 life is one long struggle for existence. A gun is 

 almost useless to them, as the brutal conquerors 

 of the country are pretty sure to bag it, and ten 

 to one knock the owner of it on the head into the 

 bargain. 



" The Bushmen are the real wild men of the 

 country, living in temporary huts, and subsisting 

 entirely on what the veldt produces. They are 

 wonderful runners, and possess certain mysterious 

 instincts, raising them in that respect nearly to the 

 level of some of the noblest animals. The Matabele, 

 on the other hand, think themselves the lords of 

 creation, and speak of the slaves (Makalakas) as 

 ' dogs ; ' and the Bushmen are only looked upon as 

 game. I have one remarkably small creature of the 

 Bushman race with me, who is working for a gun. 

 He always takes to his heels and hides when he sees 

 any Matabele, unless he is with his master and at 

 the waggon. A kraal of these people was lately 



