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THE NEW AFRICA 
a boy any more. Stremboom, who is a hot-tempered little man, 
at last angrily pushed the interfering king aside, whereupon he 
retaliated by boxing Str^mboom’s ears, who returned the com¬ 
pliment with such goodwill that the surprised King, finding 
himself getting the worst of it, had to bolt down to the river, 
followed by Stremboom brandishing the barrel of the gun at 
the heels of the king, who only escaped a good drubbing by 
getting into the canoe and putting deep water between himself 
and his cocky little antagonist. Moremi rode home in high 
dudgeon, and, calling his council together, wished to proclaim 
war against Stremboom. The wise old chiefs, however, laughed 
at this incident, which tickled their fancy hugely, till the tears 
ran down their cheeks, and made Moremi send Stremboom, 
whom they all liked exceedingly, some fat oxen as atonement 
for having assaulted him in his own home, giving the king to 
understand that they would not espouse his cause in any foolish 
private quarrels. After Moremi had done justice to his injured 
vanity by sulking for a few days, his better nature asserted 
itself, and he sent over some excellent beer by one of his 
principal wives as a special peace-offering to Stremboom, who, 
meanwhile, had been in some doubt as to the probable upshot 
of his hasty action. In return, Stremboom gave the king his 
double express rifle, a weapon the king had been longing to 
possess ever since he had seen it first, and thus a firmer feeling 
of good fellowship than ever existed before was established 
between them. The king, with great good-humour, related 
the incident himself, adding that he never ran so hard in his 
life as when Stremboom was after him with the gun-barrel, 
and that ‘Jan’ (Stremboom’s Kaffir name) was worse than a 
lion to get away from when he was angry. 
The Batowaana or Baros, as they also are called, are a branch 
tribe of the Mongwato, who, about ninety years ago, seceded 
from the main tribe, under the leadership of Matibe, the 
younger brother of King Khama i. of the Mongwato people, 
both sons of Tauwana—the Little Lion. Matibe led his men 
through the Kalahari desert to the lake, and formed a settle- 
