Haunted With A Longing For Intercourse
With The Whites, He Proposed To Descend The River To The Eastern Coast.
He
Was dissuaded from this purpose by the warnings of a native prophet.
"The gods say, Go not thither!" he cried;
Then turning to the west,
"I see a city and a nation of black men - men of the water;
their cattle are red; thine own tribe are perishing, and will all be consumed;
thou wilt govern black men, and when thy warriors have captured
the red cattle, let not their owners be killed; they are thy future tribe;
let them be spared to cause thee to build." So Sebituane went westward,
conquered the blacks of an immense region, spared the lives of the men,
and made them his subjects, ruling them gently. His original people
are called the Makololo; the subject tribes are styled Makalaka.
Sebituane, though the greatest warrior in the south, always leading his men
to battle in person, was still anxious for peace. He had heard of cannon,
and had somehow acquired the idea that if he could only procure one
he might live in quiet. He received his visitors with much favor.
"Your cattle have all been bitten by the tsetse," he said,
"and will die; but never mind, I will give you as many as you want."
He offered to conduct them through his country that they might choose
a site for a missionary station. But at this moment he fell ill
of an inflammation of the lungs, from which he soon died.
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