Of Ivory, Which Sells At The Cape
For 5s. Per Pound, For A Second-Hand Musket Worth 10s.
I, Being
Sixty miles distant, did not witness this attempt at barter,
but, anxious to enable my countrymen to drive a brisk
Trade,
told the Makololo to sell my ten tusks on their own account
for whatever they would bring. Seventy tusks were for sale,
but, the parties not understanding each other's talk,
no trade was established; and when I passed the spot some time afterward,
I found that the whole of that ivory had been destroyed by an accidental fire,
which broke out in the village when all the people were absent.
Success in trade is as much dependent on knowledge of the language
as success in traveling.
I had brought with me as presents an improved breed of goats,
fowls, and a pair of cats. A superior bull was bought, also as a gift
to Sekeletu, but I was compelled to leave it on account of its
having become foot-sore. As the Makololo are very fond of improving
the breed of their domestic animals, they were much pleased with my selection.
I endeavored to bring the bull, in performance of a promise made to Sebituane
before he died. Admiring a calf which we had with us, he proposed
to give me a cow for it, which in the native estimation was offering
three times its value. I presented it to him at once, and promised
to bring him another and a better one.
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