t may be said that its agricultural and pastoral riches
are lying waste. Both the Portuguese and their descendants turn their
attention almost exclusively to trade in wax and ivory, and though the
country would yield any amount of corn and dairy produce, the native
Portuguese live chiefly on manioc, and the Europeans purchase their
flour, bread, butter, and cheese from the Americans.

As the traders of Cassange were the first white men we had come to, we
sold the tusks belonging to Sekeletu, which had been brought to test the
difference of prices in the Makololo and white men's country. The result
was highly satisfactory to my companions, as the Portuguese give much
larger prices for ivory than traders from the Cape can possibly give,
who labor under the disadvantage of considerable overland expenses and
ruinous restrictions. Two muskets, three small barrels of gunpowder, and
English calico and baize sufficient to clothe my whole party, with large
bunches of beads, all for one tusk, were quite delightful for those who
had been accustomed to give two tusks for one gun. With another tusk we
procured calico, which here is the chief currency, to pay our way down
to the coast. The remaining two were sold for money to purchase a horse
for Sekeletu at Loanda.

The superiority of this new market was quite astounding to the Makololo,
and they began to abuse the traders by whom they had, while in their own
country, been visited, and, as they now declared, "cheated". They had
no idea of the value of time and carriage, and it was somewhat difficult
for me to convince them that the reason of the difference of prices lay
entirely in what they themselves had done in coming here, and that, if
the Portuguese should carry goods to their country, they would by no
means be so liberal in their prices. They imagined that, if the Cassange
traders came to Linyanti, they would continue to vend their goods at
Cassange prices. I believe I gave them at last a clear idea of the
manner in which prices were regulated by the expenses incurred; and when
we went to Loanda, and saw goods delivered at a still cheaper rate, they
concluded that it would be better for them to come to that city, than to
turn homeward at Cassange.

It was interesting for me to observe the effects of the restrictive
policy pursued by the Cape government toward the Bechuanas. Like all
other restrictions on trade, the law of preventing friendly tribes from
purchasing arms and a