HISTORY OF BATOWAANA 
307 
ment at the Queebe, a hill situated at the north-east end of 
the range of hills lying about fifteen miles south-east of Lake 
Nghape (Ngaini). Having built a stockaded fortress at Queebe 
for the protection of his cattle, women, and children, Matibe ad¬ 
vanced on the lake, where lived a tribe of watermen called the 
Makubas, whom he subjugated with little trouble, as they were 
but poor fighting men. 
Matibe had left instructions that in case of necessity a signal 
fire set alight at Queebe should warn him of danger to those he 
left behind. He had been away only two days when this signal 
recalled him, and he hurried back, only just in time to repel 
the attack of a Mongwato regiment that Khama i. had sent in 
his wake to recapture the women, cattle, and children that ac¬ 
companied him. He succeeded in driving the enemy clean out 
of the country. The result of his success brought several other 
families of the Mongwato to his standard, amongst others, some 
of the Bakwenas and Bakubeng. They then held the country 
under the collective title of Batowaana or Baros, with the right 
of kingly descent vested in the successors of Matibe, who was 
head of the Baputi family. 
Moremi i. took the reins of government at his father 
Matibe’s death, and was ruler of the country at the time 
Sibotwana’s invasion from Basutoland took place (see Ap¬ 
pendix). Shortly after the Basutos passed, Moremi i. died, 
and his son, Letchulatebe, then a minor, who escaped from 
captivity, was placed in the hands of a regent, called Macha- 
lakwa, a younger son of Matibe’s, who collected the scattered 
tribes, and ruled the country till Letchulatebe, becoming of 
age at about seventeen years, assumed the throne, with his 
majority. 
Machalakwa was a man of fine instincts, who discharged his 
trust with the greatest care. He promoted Christianity amongst 
the people, and by a strict rule, animated by much charity and 
kindness, inclined the feelings of the nation towards a strong 
sense of the just and noble in the nature of mankind, while still 
a determined warrior. 
