228 
A “ PICHO”—ITS EESULTS. 
Chap. XIII. 
A “piclio” was called to deliberate on tlie steps proposed. 
In these assemblies great freedom of speech is allowed ; and on 
this occasion one of the old diviners said, Where is he taking 
yon to ? This white man is throwing you away. Your gar¬ 
ments already smell of blood.” It is curious to observe how 
much identity of character appears all over the world. This 
man was a noted croaker. He always dreamed something 
dreadful in every expedition, and was certain that an eclipse 
or comet betokened the propriety of flight. But Sebituane 
formerly set his visions down to cowardice, and Sekeletu only 
laughed at him now. The general voice was in my favour ; so 
a band of twenty-seven were appointed to accompany me to the 
west. These men were not hired, but sent to enable me to 
accomj)lish an object as much desired by the chief and most of 
his people as by me. They were eager to obtain free and 
profitable trade with white men. The prices which the Cape 
merchants could give, after defraying the great expenses of a 
long journey hither, being very small, made it scarce worth while 
for the natives to collect produce for that market; and the 
Mambari, giving only a few bits of print and baize for elephants’ 
tusks worth more pounds than they gave yards of cloth, had 
produced the belief that trade with them was throwing ivory 
away. The desire of the Makololo for direct trade with the sea- 
coast coincided exactly Avith my own conviction, that no per¬ 
manent elevation of a people can be effected without commerce. 
Neither could there be a permanent mission here, unless the 
missionaries should descend to the level of the Makololo, for, 
even at Kolobeng, we found that traders demanded three or four 
times the price of the articles Ave needed, and expected us to be 
grateful to them besides, for letting us have them at all. 
The three men whom I had brought from Kuruman had 
frequent relapses of the fever; so, finding that instead of serving 
me I had to AA^ait on them, I decided that they should return to 
the south with Fleming as soon as he had finished his trading. 
I was then entirely dependent on my twenty-seven men, whom I 
might name Zambesians, for there Avere two Makololo only, while 
the rest consisted of Barotse, Batoka, Bashubia, and two of the 
Ambonda. 
The fever had caused considerable Aveakness in my OAvn frame, 
