"Suppose We Went North," I Said, "Would You Come?"
He Then Told Me The Story Of Sebituane Having Saved His Life,
And Expatiated On The Far-Famed Generosity Of That Really Great Man.
This Was The First Time I Had Thought Of Crossing The Desert To Lake Ngami.
The conduct of the Boers, who, as will be remembered,
had sent a letter designed to procure my removal
Out of the country,
and their well-known settled policy which I have already described,
became more fully developed on this than on any former occasion.
When I spoke to Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter of the danger of hindering
the Gospel of Christ among these poor savages, he became greatly excited,
and called one of his followers to answer me. He threatened to attack
any tribe that might receive a native teacher, yet he promised
to use his influence to prevent those under him from throwing obstacles
in our way. I could perceive plainly that nothing more could be done
in that direction, so I commenced collecting all the information I could
about the desert, with the intention of crossing it, if possible.
Sekomi, the chief of the Bamangwato, was acquainted with a route
which he kept carefully to himself, because the Lake country
abounded in ivory, and he drew large quantities thence periodically
at but small cost to himself.
Sechele, who valued highly every thing European, and was always
fully alive to his own interest, was naturally anxious to get
a share of that inviting field. He was most anxious to visit Sebituane too,
partly, perhaps, from a wish to show off his new acquirements,
but chiefly, I believe, from having very exalted ideas of the benefits
he would derive from the liberality of that renowned chieftain.
In age and family Sechele is the elder and superior of Sekomi;
for when the original tribe broke up into Bamangwato, Bangwaketse,
and Bakwains, the Bakwains retained the hereditary chieftainship;
so their chief, Sechele, possesses certain advantages over Sekomi,
the chief of the Bamangwato. If the two were traveling or hunting together,
Sechele would take, by right, the heads of the game shot by Sekomi.
There are several vestiges, besides, of very ancient partitions
and lordships of tribes. The elder brother of Sechele's father,
becoming blind, gave over the chieftainship to Sechele's father.
The descendants of this man pay no tribute to Sechele,
though he is the actual ruler, and superior to the head of that family;
and Sechele, while in every other respect supreme, calls him Kosi, or Chief.
The other tribes will not begin to eat the early pumpkins of a new crop
until they hear that the Bahurutse have "bitten it", and there is
a public ceremony on the occasion - the son of the chief being the first
to taste of the new harvest.
Sechele, by my advice, sent men to Sekomi, asking leave for me to pass
along his path, accompanying the request with the present of an ox.
Sekomi's mother, who possesses great influence over him, refused permission,
because she had not been propitiated. This produced a fresh message;
and the most honorable man in the Bakwain tribe, next to Sechele, was sent
with an ox for both Sekomi and his mother. This, too, was met by refusal.
It was said, "The Matebele, the mortal enemies of the Bechuanas,
are in the direction of the lake, and, should they kill the white man,
we shall incur great blame from all his nation."
The exact position of the Lake Ngami had, for half a century at least,
been correctly pointed out by the natives, who had visited it
when rains were more copious in the Desert than in more recent times,
and many attempts had been made to reach it by passing through the Desert
in the direction indicated; but it was found impossible,
even for Griquas, who, having some Bushman blood in them,
may be supposed more capable of enduring thirst than Europeans.
It was clear, then, that our only chance of success was by going round,
instead of through, the Desert. The best time for the attempt
would have been about the end of the rainy season, in March or April,
for then we should have been likely to meet with pools of rain-water,
which always dry up during the rainless winter. I communicated my intention
to an African traveler, Colonel Steele, then aid-de-camp
to the Marquis of Tweedale at Madras, and he made it known to two
other gentlemen, whose friendship we had gained during their African travel,
namely, Major Vardon and Mr. Oswell. All of these gentlemen
were so enamored with African hunting and African discovery
that the two former must have envied the latter his good fortune in being able
to leave India to undertake afresh the pleasures and pains of desert life.
I believe Mr. Oswell came from his high position at a very considerable
pecuniary sacrifice, and with no other end in view but to extend
the boundaries of geographical knowledge. Before I knew of his coming,
I had arranged that the payment for the guides furnished by Sechele
should be the loan of my wagon, to bring back whatever ivory he might obtain
from the chief at the lake. When, at last, Mr. Oswell came,
bringing Mr. Murray with him, he undertook to defray
the entire expenses of the guides, and fully executed his generous intention.
Sechele himself would have come with us, but, fearing that
the much-talked-of assault of the Boers might take place during our absence,
and blame be attached to me for taking him away, I dissuaded him against it
by saying that he knew Mr. Oswell "would be as determined as himself
to get through the Desert."
Before narrating the incidents of this journey, I may give some account
of the great Kalahari Desert, in order that the reader may understand
in some degree the nature of the difficulties we had to encounter.
The space from the Orange River in the south, lat.
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