Now used in a hut built for the purpose, and longing
for peaceful retirement after thirty years' fighting, he heard with pleasure
of our arrival at the lake, and came down as far as Sesheke to meet us.
He had an idea, picked up from some of the numerous strangers who visited him,
that white men had a "pot (a cannon) in their towns which would burn up
any attacking party;" and he thought if he could only get this
he would be able to "sleep" the remainder of his days in peace.
This he hoped to obtain from the white men. Hence the cry of the herald,
"Give us sleep." It is remarkable how anxious for peace
those who have been fighting all their lives appear to be.
When Sekeletu was installed in the chieftainship, he felt his position
rather insecure, for it was believed that the incantations of Mpepe
had an intimate connection with Sebituane's death. Indeed, the latter
had said to his son, "That hut of incantation will prove fatal
to either you or me."
When the Mambari, in 1850, took home a favorable report of this new market
to the west, a number of half-caste Portuguese slave-traders were induced
to come in 1853; and one, who resembled closely a real Portuguese,
came to Linyanti while I was there.
