90 
DEATH OF SEBITUANE. 
Chap. IV. 
one of a relay of fresh doctors; Sehitnane will never die.” If I 
had persisted, the impression wonld have been produced that by 
speaking about it I wished him to die. After sitting with him 
some time, and commending liim to the mercy of God, I rose to 
depart, when the dying clheftain, raising liimself up a httle from 
liis prone position, called a servant, and said, “ Take Eobert to 
Maunku (one of his wives), and teU her to give liim some milk.” 
These were the last words of Bebituane. 
We were not informed of liis death until the next day. The 
burial of a Bechuana chief takes place in liis cattle-pen, and aU 
the cattle are driven for an hour or tivo around and over the grave, 
so that it may be quite obliterated. We went and spoke to the 
people, advising them to keep together and support the ]ieu\ 
They took this kindly; and in turn told us not to be alarmed, for 
they would not tliink of ascribing the death of their cliief to us; 
that Bebituane had just gone the way of his fathers; and though 
the father had gone, he had left cliildren, and they hoped that we 
ivould be as friendly to liis cliildren as we intended to have been 
to Inmself. 
He was decidedly the best specimen of a native cliief I ever met. 
I never felt so much grieved by the loss of a black man before; and 
it was impossible not to follow him in thought uito the world of 
wliich he had just heard before he was called away, and to realise 
somewhat of the feelings of those who pray for the dead. The 
deep dark question of what is to become of such as he, must, how¬ 
ever, be left where we find it, beheGiig that, assuredly, the “ Judge 
of all the earth will do right.” 
At Bebituane’s death the clueftainsliip devolved, as her father 
intended, on a daughter named Ma-mocliisane. He had promised 
to show us liis country and to select a suitable locahty for our 
residence. We had now to look to the daughter, who was living 
twelve days to the north, at Naliele. Vv^e were obliged, therefore, 
to remain until a message came from her; and when it did she 
gave us perfect liberty to Hsit any part of the country we chose. 
Mr. OsweU and I then proceeded one hundred and thh-ty miles to 
the north-east, to Sesheke; and in the end of June, 1851, we were 
rewarded by the discovery of the Zambesi, in the centre of the 
continent. This was a most important point, for that river was 
not previously known to exist there at all. The Portuguese maps 
