402 
THE NEW AFRICA 
their king Mosilikatze—Umziligazi—were assisted by the treacherous 
Mashubia chief Litchuani to attack Sibotwana. Litchuani ferried his 
new allies over the Zambesi and guided them to the attack, but the 
wily Sibotwana retired with all his people and food to some large 
islands in the Zambesi. Litchuani, fearing for himself, deserted his 
new allies, leaving them to shift for themselves, and returned to 
his home. The Matabele army suffered great privations from hunger, 
and many were poisoned by eating manioc, a plant they were un¬ 
accustomed to, growing in the deserted gardens, They did not 
know how to prepare in the proper manner by soaking it in water 
and fermenting it for several days to make it fit for food. 
Sibotwana followed the Matabele down the river in boats, inflicting 
great loss on the retreating army, as far as a place called Gatonga, 
thirty miles above Seshek on the Zambesi, where the Matabele made 
a stand. In great straits, the Matabele, who are not a water-loving 
people, nor accustomed to the use of canoes, accepted the offer of some 
Mashubia to ferry them across the Zambesi to the south bank. But 
these, still friends to Sibotwana, brought the Matabele army on to 
a large island in the river which the latter believed to be the mainland, 
and there left them to starve. The Matabele, in great straits, devoured 
their shields and sandals, but, to their honour be it said, did not devour 
one another. A few survivors were rescued at last in a very emaciated 
condition by Sibotwana, and these and their descendants are living to 
this day as slaves in the Makololo country. This must have taken 
place in the early forties of our century. 
Again the enterprising Lfmziligazi sent an army to vanquish 
Sibotwana, whose power he could not brook so near his north-west 
boundary. Although the army was repulsed with heavy loss, Sibot- 
wana’s life was in great danger during one phase of the battle, and 
he was obliged to jump into the Zambesi out of his canoe to save 
himself; and he would have inevitably been drowned had not a 
chivalrous Barotzi native, named Mashoan, plunged in to his rescue 
and helped him to swim to the north bank of the river. 
These two attacks by the Matabele were made shortly after one 
another, and, failing in their object, Umziligazi left Sibotwana in peace. 
Sibotwana now proceeded to settle accounts with the treacherous 
Litchuani, whose village he surrounded with his forces one night, 
assegai-ing the chief and all the males except a few who escaped 
under the favourable cover of darkness. The women and children 
he incorporated into his tribe on his return to the Barotzi Valley, 
where he found all peaceful and quiet. 
Sibotwana died a natural death at Linyanti, the town he loved 
most of all in the conquered territory. 
