Chap. III. 
MESSAGE FROM SEKOMI. 
57 
closely that of a turkey-cock. He will bite, if an animal is 
running away; but if the animal stand still, so does he. Seven¬ 
teen of our draught oxen 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 see. Cattle-stealing, 
such as in the circumstances might have occurred in Caffraria, is 
here unknown; so Sekomi sent back our oxen, and a message 
strongly dissuading us against attempting the Desert. ‘‘ Where 
are you going ? You wiU be killed by the sun and tliirst, 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 pass me ? I always made the people collect to hear the word 
that you have got. What guilt have I, that you pass without 
looking at me ? ” We replied by assuring the messengers that 
the white men would attribute our deaths to our own stupidity 
and hard-headedness ” (tlogo, 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 the 
wells open for us, we would repeat the gift on our return. 
After exhausting all his eloquence in fruitless attempts to per¬ 
suade us to return, the under-chief, who headed the party of 
Sekomi’s messengers, inquired “ Who is taking them ? ” Looking 
round, he exclaimed, with a /ace expressive of the most un¬ 
feigned disgust, It is Kamotobi! ” Our guide belonged to 
Sekomi’s tribe, but had fled to Sechele; as fugitives in this 
country are always well received, and may even afterwards visit 
the tribe from wliich they have escaped, Kamotobi was in no 
danger, though doing that which he knew to be directly opposed 
to the interests of his own chief and tribe. 
All around Serotli the country is perfectly flat, and composed 
of soft white sand. There is a peculiar glare of bright sunlight 
from a cloudless sky over the whole scene; and one clump of 
trees and bushes, with open spaces between, looks so exactly like 
another, that if you leave the wells, and walk a quarter of a mile 
in any direction, it is difficult to return. Oswell and Murray 
went out on one occasion to get an eland, and were accompanied 
by one of the Bakalahari. The perfect sameness of the country 
caused even this son of the Desert to lose his way; a most 
