404 
THE NEW AFRICA 
chief, who refused to pay, under the plea that the Batoka had never 
paid tribute to the Barotzi proper prior to the Basuto occupation, 
and only then to Makololo under the dynasty of Sibotwana, now 
extinct, adding a message that if Sepopo was anxious for Batoka 
tribute he had better come and fetch it. Angered by Sipatwanyana’s 
message, Sepopo collected his men and advanced against the Batoka, 
killing poor Sipatwanyana and thoroughly subjugating the tribe, who 
pay tribute to the Barotzi to this day, 
Returning to Seshek on the Zambesi, Sepopo called some Mashubia 
chiefs, who had supported Sipatwanyana in his arguments, to a great 
council, and had them murdered in cold blood, thus securing a volcanic 
peace, which he enjoyed until 1877, when many of his head men, 
hearing a rumour that Sepopo intended to have another gathering 
or council boding no good to themselves, attacked him at night. 
Quite unprepared, Sepopo fled in the darkness down the Zam¬ 
besi in a canoe, from Gatonga, where the attack took place, but not 
scathless, for one of his faithless bodyguard shot him through the 
right arm and the fleshy part of the chest as he entered the canoe. 
Severely but not mortally wounded, he reached the junction of the 
Chobe and Zambesi rivers in his canoe, and there for better safety 
took to the bush on the right river bank, making his way to the 
Victoria Falls, in hopes to reach Westbeech, his old friend, at Panda 
Matenga. However, the inflammation of his wound, aggravated by 
unwonted exertion, took a bad turn, and he was obliged to rest at 
the Falls, while he sent his faithful page, who accompanied him in the 
flight, to Westbeech at Panda Matenga, for assistance. But when West- 
beech arrived it was too late—mortification had done its work, and he 
expired miserably shortly after, hidden in a cave under a large stone, 
leaving; a record of bloodshed behind him none the less terrible because 
of the circumstances that made this course necessary for his safety. 
Ngwana Weena, Sepopo’s nephew, succeeded to the throne, but 
when it became known that he intended to make a clean sweep of al] 
the chiefs in the country, wishing to institute men of his own age in 
their places, they combined against him, and he was forced to fly. 
Passing Matambanja, who refused him assistance on the Chobe, he fled 
on to the Mujakunda people, to whom he made great promises, hoping for 
their help to reinstate him on the throne. Some Mashubia and Batoka 
also joined him, and then, rallying his forces at Seshek, this energetic 
tyrant marched against Lebossi, or Lewanika, as he is also called, 
who, being also a nephew of Sepopo, in the interim had been pro¬ 
claimed king of the Barotzi by the people in Ngwana Weena’s place. 
Lebossi met him with his troops at the Lumbi River, where a terrible 
battle was fought between these chiefs. Three times Ngwana Weena 
