Chap. IX. 
SLAVE=-TEADEKS. 
181 
afterwards^ it is not certain whether Ms object was obtained by 
violence or by fair promises. In either case, slavery must have 
been the portion of these poor people. He was carried in a 
hammock, slung between two poles, which appearing to be a bag, 
the Makololo named him “ Father of the Bag.” 
Mpepe favoured these slave-traders, and they, as is usual with 
them, founded all their hopes of influence on his successful re¬ 
bellion. My arrival on the scene was felt to be so much weight 
in the scale against their interests. A large party of Mambari 
had come to Linyanti when I was floundering on the prairies 
south of the Cliobe. As the news of my being in the neighbour¬ 
hood reached them their countenances fell; and when some 
Makololo, who had assisted us to cross the river, retmmed with 
hats which I had given them, the Mambari betook themselves to 
precipitate flight. It is usual for visitors to ask formal permis¬ 
sion before attempting to leave a chief, but the sight of the hats 
made the Mambari pack up at once. The Makololo inquired the 
cause of the hurry, and were told that, if I found them there, I 
should take all their slaves and goods from them; and though 
assured by Sekeletu that I was not a robber, but a man of peace, 
they fled by night, while I was stiU sixty miles off. They went 
to the north, where, under the protection of Mpepe, they had 
erected a stockade of considerable size; there several half-caste 
slave-traders, under the leadership of a native Portuguese, carried 
on their traffic, without reference to the cliief into whose country 
they had unceremoniously introduced themselves ; while Mpepe, 
feeding them with the cattle of Sekeletu, formed a plan of raising 
himself, by means of their fire-arms, to be the head of the Mako¬ 
lolo. The usual course which the slave-traders adopt is to take 
a part in the political aflairs of each tribe, and, siding with the 
strongest, get well paid by captoes made from the weaker party. 
Long secret conferences were held by the slave-traders and 
Mpepe, and it was deemed advisable for him to strike the first 
blow; so he provided himself with a small battle-axe, with the 
intention of cutting Sekeletu dovm the first time they met. 
My object being fii^st of all to examine the country for a 
healthy locality, before attempting to make a path to either the 
east or west coast, I proposed to Sekeletu the plan of ascending 
the great river which we had discovered in 1851. He volun- 
