508 ATTEMPT AT BARTER. — THE MOOTSI CROWDED. 3 Aug. 
as much as the price at which the Hottentot elephant-hunters had, 
only a week before, bought a number of oxen. The man, however, 
exemplified, very forcibly, the difficulty of satisfying a covetous dis- 
position : he immediately answered, Oketsa (Add more). Mattivi 
was standing by, and urging him to increase his demands ; but I 
positively declared that nothing more would be given than the 
quantity which was then produced before him, as I knew by ex- 
perience that, had I assented to the price he asked, and concluded 
the purchase of the ox, he would shortly afterwards have found some 
trifling excuse for complaining that I had not paid so much as it was 
worth ; and I should thus have been compelled, in order to avoid 
contention and serious misunderstanding, to give a price so exorbi- 
tant, that it would have been to me little less in effect than actual 
plunder. The necessities of the long journey before me, rendered it 
highly imprudent to waste my beads, which, as already mentioned, 
are the only money of the regions in the Interior ; at least, as far as 
report had given me to understand. I was therefore not sorry to see 
the man drive his ox home again. 
As the taking of a single sheep along with us on this excursion, 
would have been attended with great trouble and inconvenience, I 
left the only one we had remaining, to run with Mattivi's flock till 
my return ; and requested him to receive among his herd an ox 
which was due to me from a man named Klowdm, whom I had 
already paid for it, but which, on account of the distance of his 
cattle-station, had not yet arrived in town. The Chief again urged 
a request for more ammunition, but in our present want of provi- 
sions, which we had no means of remedying but by powder and ball, 
I found an admissible excuse for refusing it. 
As soon as my teams were brought into the mootsi, I ordered 
my Hottentots to yoke them to the waggons. These preparations 
for immediate departure attracted a great concourse of the inhabit- 
ants around us, and the enclosure was soon completely filled with 
men, women, and children. 
It was not till within an hour of sunset, that all was ready for 
travelling; when we drove out of the town, attended by Mattivi 
