Chap. XIV. 
ALLIGATORS-SUPEESTITIOX. 
255 
presence of mind, and, having a small, square, ragged-edged 
javelin with him, when dragged to the bottom gave the alligator 
a stab beliind the shoulder. The alligator, withing in pain, left 
Ihm, and he came out with the deep marks of the reptile’s teeth 
on his tliigh. Here the people have no antipathy to persons who 
have met with such an adventure, but, in the Bamangwato and 
Bakwain tribes, if a man is either bitten or even has had water 
splashed over him by the reptile’s tail, he is expelled liis tribe. 
Wlien on the Zouga we saw one of the Bamangwato living among 
the Bayeiye, who had the misfortune to have been bitten and 
driven out of Ihs tribe in consequence. Fearing that I would 
regard liim with the same disgust which his countrymen profess 
to feel, he would not tell me the cause of his exile, but the 
Bayeiye informed me of it, and the scars of the teeth were visible 
on his tliigh. If the Bakwains happened to go near an alligator 
they would spit on the ground, and indicate its presence by 
saying, Boleo Id bo ”—“ There is sin.” They imagine the mere 
sight of it would give mflammation of the eyes; and, though they 
eat the zebra without hesitation, yet if one bites a man he is ex¬ 
pelled the tribe, and obliged to take his wife and family away to the 
Kalahari. These curious relics of the animal-worship of former 
times scarcely exist among the Makololo. Sebituane acted on 
the principle, “ Whatever is food for men is food for me so no 
man is here considered unclean. The Barotse appear inclined 
to pray to alligators and eat them too, for when I wounded a 
water-antelope, called mochose, it took to the water ; when near 
the other side of the river an alligator appeared at its tail, and 
then both sank together. Mashauana, who was nearer to it than 
I, told me that, “ though he had called to it to let liis meat 
alone, it refused to listen.” One day we passed some Barotse 
lads who had speared an alligator, and were waiting in expecta¬ 
tion of its floating soon after. The meat has a strong musky 
odour, not at all inviting for any one except the very hungry. 
Wlien we had gone thirty or forty miles above Libonta we 
sent eleven of our captives to the west to the chief called 
Makoma with an explanatory message. This caused some delay ; 
but as we were loaded with presents of food from the Makololo, 
and the wild animals were in enormous herds, we fared sumptu¬ 
ously. It was grievous, however, to shoot the lovely creatures. 
