PIET GROBELAR AND KHAMA 
389 
‘ Oil, we don’t count him; we want you to stay with us for 
a bit.’ We paid off the good Paul with many extra presents, 
and gave him messages to our Swangie boys, when he should 
meet them again; for he, after all, decided to return to their 
country, the ties of matrimony and paternity proving stronger 
than his desire to visit Natal. I also gave Franz a rifle as a 
souvenir of the trip, and before we had time to catch breath we 
were comfortably seated on the box of a splendid wagon with 
a fine span of oxen trotting before us in great haste to catch 
up to the other wagons belonging to our host that had gone 
ahead. The Boer who had so opportunely undertaken to convey 
us from Mongwato was the well-known Piet Grobelar, a man 
who conducted a large trade of horses and other wares in 
exchange for cattle in the interior. It appears from what he 
told us that he had brought in an extra large troop of five 
hundred horses the year previous to Khama at Shoshong in 
exchange for cattle, and that most of the horses had died from 
horse-sickness. There was a misunderstanding between himself 
and Khama about this matter, because Khama asserted that 
the horses were supposed to be guaranteed salted, while Grobelar 
reasonably disclaimed any responsibility for so large a troop on 
such a precarious question. Of course Grobelar was much dis¬ 
satisfied, and, to the great annoyance of Khama, he had this 
year betaken himself into Lobengula’s country with his wares 
instead of bringing them to Shoshong. His visit now was made 
with the intention of trying to obtain a settlement for the dis¬ 
puted question of last year’s horses, which Khama had refused. 
It was a severe blow to Grobelar, who had strained his resources 
and credit to the utmost to raise so large a troop of horses 
for Khama; and he was now returning without payment for 
the horses that had died, much put out how to face his creditors 
in the Transvaal. 
Whatever private understanding there was between Khama 
and Grobelar, I feel constrained to believe that Khama imagined 
at least that he was acting rightly; for a more just native I 
never met, although no white man in possession of his full 
