nd if he carries you safely, and brings you
and Ma Robert back again, I shall say he has bestowed a great favor upon
me. May we obtain a path whereby we may visit and be visited by other
tribes, and by white men!" On telling him my fears that he was
still inclined to follow the old marauding system, which prevented
intercourse, and that he, from his influential position, was especially
guilty in the late forays, he acknowledged all rather too freely for my
taste, but seemed quite aware that the old system was far from right.
Mentioning my inability to pay the men who were to accompany me, he
replied, "A man wishes, of course, to appear among his friends, after a
long absence, with something of his own to show; the whole of the
ivory in the country is yours, so you must take as much as you can,
and Sekeletu will furnish men to carry it." These remarks of Mamire
are quoted literally, in order to show the state of mind of the most
influential in the tribe. And as I wish to give the reader a fair idea
of the other side of the question as well, it may be mentioned that
Motibe parried the imputation of the guilt of marauding by every
possible subterfuge. He would not admit that they had done wrong, and
laid the guilt of the wars in which the Makololo had engaged on the
Boers, the Matebele, and every other tribe except his own. When quite
a youth, Motibe's family had been attacked by a party of Boers; he hid
himself in an ant-eater's hole, but was drawn out and thrashed with
a whip of hippopotamus hide. When enjoined to live in peace, he would
reply, "Teach the Boers to lay down their arms first." Yet Motibe, on
other occasions, seemed to feel the difference between those who
are Christians indeed and those who are so only in name. In all our
discussions we parted good friends.

Chapter 26.

Departure from Linyanti--A Thunder-storm--An Act of genuine Kindness--
Fitted out a second time by the Makololo--Sail down the Leeambye--
Sekote's Kotla and human Skulls; his Grave adorned with Elephants'
Tusks--Victoria Falls--Native Names--Columns of Vapor--Gigantic Crack--
Wear of the Rocks--Shrines of the Barimo--"The Pestle of the Gods"--
Second Visit to the Falls--Island Garden--Store-house Island--
Native Diviners--A European Diviner--Makololo Foray--Marauder to be
fined--Mambari--Makololo wish to stop Mambari Slave-trading--Part
with Sekeletu--Night Traveling--River Lekone--Ancient fresh-water
Lakes--Formation of Lake Ngami