MESSAGE FROM SEKOMI 
33 
•f the desiccation of the country. The first time I passed 
it, Lopcpe was a largo pool with a stream flowing out of it 
tc the south ; now it was with difficulty we could get our 
cattle watered by digging down in the bottom of a well. 
At Mashiie — where we found a never-failing supply of 
pure water in a sandstone rocky hollow — we left the road 
to the Bamangwato Hilis, and struck away to the north 
into the Desert. Having watered the cattle at a well called 
Cobotani, about K . YV. of Bamangwato, we next proceeded 
to a real Kalahari fountain, called Serotli. 
In the evening of our second day at Serotli, a hyena 
appearing suddenly among the grass, succeeded in raising 
a panic among our cattle. This false mode of attack is 
. the plan which this cowardly animal always adopts. His 
courage resembles closely that of a turkey-cock. He will 
bite if an animal is running away ; but if the animal stand 
still, so does he. Seventeen of our draught-oxon ran away, 
and in their flight went right into the hands of Sekomi, 
whom, from his being unfriendly to our success, we had no 
particular wish to soo. Cattle-stealing, such as in the cir- 
cumstances might have occurred in Caffraria, is here un- 
known , so Sekomi sent back our oxen, and a message 
strongly dissuading us against attempting the Desert 
“Where are you going? You will be killed by the eun 
and thirst, and then all the white men will blame me for 
not saving you.” This was backed by a private message 
from his mother. “Why do you pasB me? 1 always made 
tho people collect to hear the word that you have got 
What guilt have I, that yon pass without looking at me?” 
We replied by assuring the messengors that the white men 
would attribute our deaths to our own stupidity and “hard- 
headedness,” ftlogo, e thata,) “as we did not intend to 
allow our companions and guides to return till they had 
put us into our graves.” We sent a handsome present to 
Sekomi, and a promise that, if he allowed the Bakalahari 
to keep tho wells open for us, we would repeat the gift or 
our return. 
