"Well," he said, "you beat me then, and I am content."
Parting with Sechele at the ford, as he was eager to visit Lechulatebe,
we went along the northern woody bank of the Zouga with great labor,
having to cut down very many trees to allow the wagons to pass.
Our losses by oxen falling into pitfalls were very heavy.
The Bayeiye kindly opened the pits when they knew of our approach;
but when that was not the case, we could blame no one on finding
an established custom of the country inimical to our interests.
On approaching the confluence of the Tamunak'le we were informed
that the fly called tsetse* abounded on its banks. This was a barrier
we never expected to meet; and, as it might have brought our wagons
to a complete stand-still in a wilderness, where no supplies for the children
could be obtained, we were reluctantly compelled to recross the Zouga.
-
* `Glossina morsitans', the first specimens of which were brought to England
in 1848 by my friend Major Vardon, from the banks of the Limpopo.
-
From the Bayeiye we learned that a party of Englishmen,
who had come to the lake in search of ivory, were all laid low by fever,
so we traveled hastily down about sixty miles to render what aid
was in our power. We were grieved to find, as we came near,
that Mr. Alfred Rider, an enterprising young artist who had come to make
sketches of this country and of the lake immediately after its discovery,
had died of fever before our arrival; but by the aid of medicines
and such comforts as could be made by the only English lady
who ever visited the lake, the others happily recovered.
The unfinished drawing of Lake Ngami was made by Mr. Rider
just before his death, and has been kindly lent for this work
by his bereaved mother.
Sechele used all his powers of eloquence with Lechulatebe to induce him
to furnish guides that I might be able to visit Sebituane on ox-back,
while Mrs. Livingstone and the children remained at Lake Ngami.
He yielded at last. I had a very superior London-made gun,
the gift of Lieutenant Arkwright, on which I placed the greatest value,
both on account of the donor and the impossibility of my replacing it.
Lechulatebe fell violently in love with it, and offered
whatever number of elephants' tusks I might ask for it.
I too was enamored with Sebituane; and as he promised in addition
that he would furnish Mrs. Livingstone with meat all the time of my absence,
his arguments made me part with the gun. Though he had no ivory at the time
to pay me, I felt the piece would be well spent on those terms,
and delivered it to him.
