Chap. IX. 
SEKELETU OBTAINS CHIEFTAINSHIP. 
179 
that dark-yellow or coffee-and-milk colour, of wliicli the Makololo 
are so proud, because it distinguishes them considerably from the 
black tribes on the rivers. He is about five feet seven in height, 
and neither so goodlooking, nor of so much ability, as his father 
was, but is equally friendly to the English. Sebituane installed 
his daughter Mamocliisaiie into the chieftainship long before his 
death, but, with all Ms acuteness, the idea of her having a husband 
who should not be her lord did not seem to enter Ms mind. 
He wished to make her Ms successor, probably in imitation of 
some of the negro tribes with whom he had come into contact; 
but, being of the Bechuana race, he could not look upon the hus¬ 
band except as the woman’s lord, so he told her aU the men were 
hers, she might take any one, but ought to keep none. In fact, 
he thought she might do with the men what he could do vdth the 
women; but these men had other vdves; and according to a saying 
in the country, “ the tongues of women cannot be governed,” 
they made her miserable by their remarks. One man whom 
she chose was even called her wife, and her son the child of 
Mamochisane’s wife; but the arrangement was so distasteful 
to MamocMsane herself, that, as soon as Sebituane died, she said 
she never would consent to govern the Makololo so long as she 
had a brother hving. Sekeletu, being afraid of another mem¬ 
ber of the family, ^Mpepe, who had pretensions to the cMef- 
tainsMp, urged his sister strongly to remain as she had always 
been, and allow Mm to support her authority by leading the 
Makololo when they went forth to war. Three days were spent 
in pubhc discussion on the point. Mpepe insinuated that Seke¬ 
letu was not the lawful son of Sebituane, on account of his mother 
having been the wife of another cMef before her marriage with 
Sebituane; MamocMsane, however, upheld Sekeletu’s claims, and 
at last stood up in the assembly and addressed Mm until a womanly 
gush of tears: “ I have been a cliief only because my father 
wished it. I always would have preferred to be married and have 
a family hke other women. You, Sekeletu, must be cMef and 
budd up your father’s house.” TMs was a death-bloiv to tlie 
hopes of Mpepe. 
As it will enable the reader to understand the social and poli¬ 
tical relations of these people, I will add a few more particulai’s 
respecting Mpepe. Sebituane, having no son to take the leader- 
N 2 
