264 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
everything they could : there was no king, and saying 
that we have said all. 
When angry or excited, the Kaffirs, whether Zulus 
or Matabeles, can be regular wild beasts; but those 
who know how to manage them can get on with them 
very well, and I have often found them as obedient and 
docile as children. 
When travelling in these countries it is customary 
to make a present to the chief of the district about to 
be traversed, and to send messages to announce one’s 
arrival. The value of the gift determines the rank of 
the stranger or the nature of his business. 
It seems to me that the chief does not care so much 
for the actual present, as for the honour of receiving it 
from a white man. His subjects talk about it. and it 
gives them a more exalted notion of the rank of their 
ruler and the estimation in which he is held by 
foreigners. The chief always sends a present in 
exchange, and daily gifts of meat, Kaffir beer or anasi, 
&c., arrive at the camp. 
A traveller anxious to shoot elephants must pay a 
tribute of weapons, arms, &c., for which he will receive 
permission to hunt for one season, from May to 
October, for instance. The king assigns him a district, 
in which no one is allowed to compete with him. 
“ The elephants await thee ! ” is the formula by which 
permission to hunt is announced. The necessary con¬ 
tingent of men for arranging the encampment, tracking 
and carrying the game, &c., are also supplied by the 
king, the European paying for their services in woollen 
wrappers and glass beads. The rewards agreed upon 
are deposited with the king, and not given away until 
the contract is fulfilled. 
When I made the tedious Guay march with Htibner 
in the beginning of the rainy season, I showed each of 
the natives their rewards in beads and calico in the 
presence of their chief, N’Umkaniula, and in token of 
their complete satisfaction and readiness to go with me, 
they laid tlieir shields and spears down beside them. 
The contract was.thus formally ratified, and come what 
