146 
GAME. 
and drown him. When lying in tho water watching for 
prey, the body never appears. Many calves are lost also, 
and it is seldom that a number of cows can swim over at 
Seshoko without somo loss. I nover could avoid shudder- 
ing on seeing my men swimming across these branches, 
dftor one of thorn had been caught by tho thigh and taken 
below. Ho, however, retained, as nearly all of thorn in 
tho most trying circumstances do, his full prcsonco of mind, 
and, having a small, square, ragged-edged javelin with 
him, when dragged to tho bottom gave tho alligator a stab 
behind tho shoulder. The alligator, writhing in pain, left, 
him, and ho camo out with tho deep marks of tho reptile’s 
teeth on his thigh. Hero the peoplo have no antipathy to 
persons who have met with such an adventure ; but in tho 
Bamangwato and Bakwain tribes, if a man is cither bitten 
or even has had wator splashed over him by tho roptilo’s 
tail, ho is expelled his tribe. 
When wo had gono thirty or forty miles above Libonta 
wo sent cloven of our captives to the west, to tho chief 
called Makoma, with an explanatory message. This 
caused some delay ; but as wo wore loaded with presents 
of food from the Makololo, and tho wild animals were in 
enormous herds, wo fared sumptuously. It was grievous, 
howovor, to shoot tho lovely creatures, they were so tame. 
With but little skill in stalking, one could easily get within 
fifty or sixty yards of them. Thore I lay, looking at tho 
graceful forms and motions of beautiful polcus, loches, and 
other antelopes, often till my men, wondoring what was 
tho matter, camo up to seo, and frightened them away, 
[f wo had been starving, I could have slaughtered them 
with as little hesitation as I should cut off a patient’s leg; 
but 1 felt a doubt, and tho antelopes got tho benefit of it. 
My mon, having never had fire-arms in their hands bo- 
fore, found it so difficult to hold tho musket Bteady at the 
flash of fire in tho pan, that they naturally expected mo to 
furnish them with “gun-medicine,” without which, it is 
almost universally bolievod, no one car. shoot straight 
