200 
MEANING OF THE TEEM “ BECHUANAS.” 
Chap. X. 
ability to cope with a numerous and warlike race. Such cases 
are the only ones in which the possession of fire-arms does evil. 
The universal elfect of the diffusion of the more potent instru¬ 
ments of warfare in Africa is the same as among ourselves. 
Fire-arms render wars less frequent and less bloody. It is 
indeed exceedingly rare to hear of two tribes having guns, going 
to war with each other; and, as nearly all the feuds, in the south 
at least, have been about cattle, the risk which must be incurred 
from long shots, generally proves a preventive to the foray. 
The Makololo were prevailed upon to keep the peace during 
my residence with them, but it w^as easy to perceive that public 
opinion was against sparing a tribe of Bechuanas for whom the 
Makololo entertained the most sovereign contempt. The young 
men would remark, ‘‘Lechulatebe is herding our cows for us; 
let us only go, we shall ‘ lift ’ the price of them in sheep,” &c. 
As the Makololo are the most northerly of the Bechuanas, we 
.may glance back at this family of Africans before entering on 
the branch of the negTO family which the Makololo distinguish 
by the term Makalaka. The name Bechuana seems derived 
from the word Chuana—alike, or equal—-with the personal pro¬ 
noun Ba (they) prefixed; and therefore means fellows or equals. 
Some have supposed the name to have arisen from a mistake of 
some traveller, who, on asking individuals of this nation concern¬ 
ing the tribes living beyond them, received the answer, Ba- 
chuana, “ they (are) alikemeaning, “ They are the same as we 
areand that this nameless traveller, who never wrote a word 
about them, managed to engraft his mistake as a generic term on 
a nation extending from the Orange river to 18° south latitude.* 
As the name was found in use among those who had no inter¬ 
course with Europeans, before we can receive the above expla¬ 
nation we must believe that the unknown traveller knew the 
language sufficiently well to ask a question, but not to under¬ 
stand the answer. We may add, that the way in which they still 
continue to use the Avord, seems to require no fanciful interpreta¬ 
tion. When addressed with any degree of scorn, they reply, 
‘‘We are Bachuana, or equals—we are not inferior to any of our 
nation,” in exactly the same sense as Irishmen or Scotchmen, 
in the same circumstances, would reply, “We are Britons,” or 
* The Makololo have conquered the country as far as 14° south, but it is 
still peopled chiefly by the black tribes named Makalaka, 
