We Were All Fed At His Expense,
And He Took Cattle For This Purpose From Every Station We Came To.
The Principal Men Of The Makololo, Lebeole, Ntlarie, Nkwatlele, Etc.,
Were Also Of The Party.
We passed through the patch of the tsetse,
which exists between Linyanti and Sesheke, by night.
The majority of the company went on by daylight, in order to prepare our beds.
Sekeletu and I, with about forty young men, waited outside the tsetse
till dark.
We then went forward, and about ten o'clock it became
so pitchy dark that both horses and men were completely blinded.
The lightning spread over the sky, forming eight or ten branches at a time,
in shape exactly like those of a tree. This, with great volumes
of sheet-lightning, enabled us at times to see the whole country.
The intervals between the flashes were so densely dark as to convey
the idea of stone-blindness. The horses trembled, cried out,
and turned round, as if searching for each other, and every new flash
revealed the men taking different directions, laughing, and stumbling
against each other. The thunder was of that tremendously loud kind
only to be heard in tropical countries, and which friends from India
have assured me is louder in Africa than any they have ever heard elsewhere.
Then came a pelting rain, which completed our confusion.
After the intense heat of the day, we soon felt miserably cold,
and turned aside to a fire we saw in the distance. This had been made
by some people on their march; for this path is seldom without
numbers of strangers passing to and from the capital.
My clothing having gone on, I lay down on the cold ground,
expecting to spend a miserable night; but Sekeletu kindly covered me
with his own blanket, and lay uncovered himself. I was much affected
by this act of genuine kindness. If such men must perish
by the advance of civilization, as certain races of animals do before others,
it is a pity. God grant that ere this time comes they may receive that Gospel
which is a solace for the soul in death!
While at Sesheke, Sekeletu supplied me with twelve oxen - three of which
were accustomed to being ridden upon - hoes, and beads to purchase a canoe
when we should strike the Leeambye beyond the falls. He likewise presented
abundance of good fresh butter and honey, and did every thing in his power
to make me comfortable for the journey. I was entirely dependent
on his generosity, for the goods I originally brought from the Cape
were all expended by the time I set off from Linyanti to the west coast.
I there drew 70 Pounds of my salary, paid my men with it, and purchased goods
for the return journey to Linyanti. These being now all expended,
the Makololo again fitted me out, and sent me on to the east coast.
I was thus dependent on their bounty, and that of other Africans,
for the means of going from Linyanti to Loanda, and again from Linyanti
to the east coast, and I feel deeply grateful to them.
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