He Had Called On Mashotlane To Ferry Him
Over To The North Side Of The River, And, When Nearly Over, He Took A
Bath, By Jumping In And Swimming Ashore.
"If," said Mashotlane, "he
had been devoured by one of the crocodiles which abound there, the
English would have blamed us for his death.
He nearly inflicted a
great injury upon us, therefore, we said, he must pay a fine." As
Mr. Baldwin had nothing with him wherewith to pay, they were taking
care of him till he should receive beads from his wagon, two days
distant.
Mashotlane's education had been received in the camp of Sebituane,
where but little regard was paid to human life. He was not yet in
his prime, and his fine open countenance presented to us no
indication of the evil influences which unhappily, from infancy, had
been at work on his mind. The native eye was more penetrating than
ours; for the expression of our men was, "He has drunk the blood of
men - you may see it in his eyes." He made no further difficulty
about Mr. Baldwin; but the week after we left he inflicted a severe
wound on the head of one of his wives with his rhinoceros-horn club.
She, being of a good family, left him, and we subsequently met her
and another of his wives proceeding up the country.
The ground is strewn with agates for a number of miles above the
Falls; but the fires, which burn off the grass yearly, have injured
most of those on the surface.
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