agged-edged javelin with him, when dragged to
the bottom gave the alligator a stab behind the shoulder. The alligator,
writhing in pain, left him, and he came out with the deep marks of
the reptile's teeth on his thigh. Here the people have no antipathy to
persons who have met with such an adventure, but, in the Bamangwato and
Bakwain tribes, if a man is either bitten or even has had water splashed
over him by the reptile's tail, he is expelled his tribe. When on the
Zouga we saw one of the Bamangwato living among the Bayeiye, who had
the misfortune to have been bitten and driven out of his tribe in
consequence. Fearing that I would regard him with the same disgust which
his countrymen profess to feel, he would not tell me the cause of his
exile, but the Bayeiye informed me of it, and the scars of the teeth
were visible on his thigh. If the Bakwains happened to go near an
alligator they would spit on the ground, and indicate its presence by
saying "Boleo ki bo"--"There is sin". They imagine the mere sight of
it would give inflammation of the eyes; and though they eat the zebra
without hesitation, yet if one bites a man he is expelled the tribe, and
obliged to take his wife and family away to the Kalahari. These curious
relics of the animal-worship of former times scarcely exist among the
Makololo. Sebituane acted on the principle, "Whatever is food for men is
food for me;" so no man is here considered unclean. The Barotse appear
inclined to pray to alligators and eat them too, for when I wounded
a water-antelope, called mochose, it took to the water; when near the
other side of the river an alligator appeared at its tail, and then both
sank together. Mashauana, who was nearer to it than I, told me that,
"though he had called to it to let his meat alone, it refused to
listen." One day we passed some Barotse lads who had speared an
alligator, and were waiting in expectation of its floating soon after.
The meat has a strong musky odor, not at all inviting for any one except
the very hungry.

When we had gone thirty or forty miles above Libonta we sent eleven
of our captives to the west, to the chief called Makoma, with an
explanatory message. This caused some delay; but as we were loaded
with presents of food from the Makololo, and the wild animals were in
enormous herds, we fared sumptuously. It was grievous, however, to
shoot the lovely creatures, they were so tame. With but little skill
in stalking, one could easily get