THE BAMANDWATO AND THEIK CHIEF. 41 
this shabby present was an insult to us. We wished to 
purchase some goats or oxen ; Lechulatebe ottered us ele- 
phants’ tusks. “.No, we cannot eat these; we want some- 
thing to till our stomachs.’’ “Neither can I; but I hear 
F°u white men aro all very fond of these bones; so I offer 
them: 1 want to put the goats into my own stomach.” .A 
trader, who accompanied us, was then purchasing ivory 
at ttie rate of ten good large tusks for a musket worth 
thirteen shillings. They were called “ bones and 1 
m yself saw eight instances in which the tusks had been 
left to rot with the other bones where the elephant fell. The 
Batauana never had a chance of a market before; bnt, in 
less than two years after our discovery, not a man of them 
could be found who was not keenly alive to the great value 
of the article. 
On the day after our arrival at the lake, I applied to 
Lechulatebe for guides to Sebituane. As he was much 
afraid of that chief, he objected, fearing lost othor white 
mon should go thither also, and give Sebituane guns; 
whereas, if the traders came to him alone, the possession 
of fire-arms would give him such a superiority that Sebi- 
tuane would bo afraid of him. It was in vain to explain 
that I would inculcate peace between them, — that Sebi- 
tuane had been a father to him and Scchele, and was as 
unxious to see me as he, Lechulatebe, had been. He 
offered to give me as much ivory as I needed without 
going to that chief; but, when I refused to take any, he 
°n willingly consented to give me guideB. Next day, how- 
ever, when Oswell and I were prepared to start, with the 
horses only, we received a senseless refusal; and like Se- 
*omi, who had thrown obstacles in our way, he sent men 
the Bayeiyo with orders to refuse us a passage across 
the river. Trying hard to form a raft at a narrow part, J 
forked many hours in the water; but the dry wood wa» 
*° worm-eaten it would not bear the weight of a single 
son I was not then aware of the number of alligator* 
Whiisp MJ(1 ((t jjj the Zouga, and never think of my labor in 
