in every way, and having twice come from Panda ma Tenka on purpose, and, moreover, having submitted to be fleeced by him till they had little more than the clothes on their backs, they now found that he was about to start without them. This could not be. No doubt Sepopo had his own motives for his conduct; he was accustomed to consider all elephants as his own property, whether shot by himself or not, and probably he was anxious to conceal what numbers of elephants there were in the country, lest the visits of white men should become too frequent; but he was bound to keep his word, and at length, in deference to the representations of some of the chiefs who were in attendance, he consented that the three sportsmen, as well as a trader named Dorehill, who had paid him a visit the year before, should have a canoe placed at their disposal.
It was about noon when the king and his flotilla started off. He was accompanied by his band, and at least two hundred canoes set out from Sesheke alone, apart from those that joined at other parts of the river. It was with no little reluctance that I refrained from going, but I considered it prudent to do nothing to arouse Sepopo’s suspicions, and feared that by taking part in the hunt I might lead him to suppose that my proposed expedition in his country had some design of interfering with the elephants.
My general rule at this time was to spend my evenings with Westbeech, where with his assistance I tried to converse with the natives, and gathered many particulars about their manners and customs. In his hut I met a Marutse named Uana ea Nyambe, i.e. the child of God, who prided himself very
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