194 
BOOTCHUANA 
give a present to the rain-maker, believing that 
his present will have a double power in pro- 
curing rain. 
The mountain* from whence the Bootchuana 
nations obtain the blue sparkling ore, which they 
pulverise to adorn their heads, is claimed by 
Mateebe and his people as their property, and 
they demand a tax from all strangers who travel 
to it for this commodity. Mateebe only permits 
his own people to visit the place once a year, 
perhaps to prevent its becoming too plentiful, 
and thereby reducing the price paid for it by 
more distant nations. Consequently, when the 
Matchappees pay their annual visit to this mine 
of wealth, they bring away as much of the 
treasure as their cattle can carry. This journey 
is not permitted to be undertaken till the harvest 
is over. 
One of the towns, lower down the Kroomau 
than Lattakoo, separated from Mateebe about 
eight years ago, after the Matchappees had been 
attacked and plundered by a Caffre commando. 
Its inhabitants afterwards went to the mountain 
for this ore without permission from the king, 
who, immediately on receiving information of 
* For a description of this mountain vide my former Journal, 
p. 233. 
