besi. In this work, however, we are more particularly concerned with South Zambesia. Roughly speaking, South Zambesia would include the greater part of Khama's country, the district known as Bamangwato, the Land of the Thousand Vleis, Matabililand, and Mashonaland. The first point of interest is the kraal

of Chief Khama.

Beyond Mafeking and the Molopo River the trade route points north and north-east to Kolobeng, Shoshong, and the country of Khama, known as 'the wise and good,' by reason of his firm and intelligent rule. A great part of his territory lies within latitude 22° S., but his influence extends as far as the Zambesi Falls, past Bamangwato. Khama is called the chief of the Bamangwato. At Shoshong hunters and traders diverge westwards to Lake Ngami and the Kalahari Desert, and eastwards to Buluwayo and Mashonaland. At Palatswie, Khama has a great kraal, or native town, among whose population he keeps order and discipline, not in the rough barbaric way, but by reasonable firmness and strictness.

(21) The following is a brief description of Khama and his people, by Mr. F. C. Selous, the well-known African hunter and trader: The inhabitants of Khama's country are, first his own people, the Bamangwato, who, together with a large number of Makalakas refugees from the western border of Matabililand, all lived lately at Shoshong, the largest native town in South Africa. They have now removed to the Chapong hills, in the neighbourhood of Palatswie. This district around the Chapong hills is reported to be the best watered and most fertile spot of Khama's dominions. Besides these Bamangwato and Makalaka, there are a good many Makalaka living along the river Botletlie, where they tend large herds of cattle belonging to Khama and his people.

And on the Mababi there are also some settle

ments of the Masubias refugees from the Upper Zambesi during the tyrannical rule of Sipopo. Beyond these few scattered settlements, the whole of the vast expanse which I have marked in my map as Khama's dominion is only inhabited by a few scattered tribes of Bakalahari and Masarwas. Many of the Bakalahari in the north and west of Mangwato have, under the kind and just rule of Khama, attained to a certain degree of civilisation, and now form an interesting illustration of a people in a transition stage, from utter barbarism to a more advanced condition. A generation ago all the Bakalahari lived the life described by Livingstone. They wandered continually under a burning sun, over the heated sands of the Kalahari, without any fixed habitation and ever engaged in a terrible struggle for existence, living on berries and bulbs and roots, on snakes and toads and lizards, with an occasional glorious feast on a fat eland, giraffe, or zebra caught in a pitfall; sucking up water through reeds and spitting it into the ostrich eggshells, and altogether leading a life of bitter grinding hardship from the cradle to the grave. Before dismissing Khama and his country, I should like to add a few words to the very general tribute of praise that has been accorded him. To myself, personally, he has always been most kind and courteous, and I believe him to be a strictly upright and honourable man'."

(22) Matabililand. From Shoshong and Palatswie, the northern route crosses the twenty-second parallel of latitude, and points north-east to the ancient gold-fields of Tati, and to Buluwayo, the kraal of the well-known chief, Lobengula. Gold-mining operations have been carried on at Tati ever since 1868, when the London and Limpopo Mining Company, headed by Sir John Swinburne, com

1 See Address to the South African Philosophical Society, January, 1890.

menced operations. In 1872, between 1,500 and 2,000 ounces of gold were sent home. In this year Sir John Swinburne held a concession from Lobengula, in whose territories the mines are situated. The area covered by

this concession extended from where the Shashi River rises to its junction with the Tati and Ramoqueban River, thence along the Ramoqueban River to where it rises, and thence along the watershed of these rivers1. The following is a description of Matabililand by Mr. Maund: 'Compared with the country south of it, Matabililand is like Canaan after the wilderness. If it be not actually flowing with milk and honey, its numerous rivers are either flowing or have plenty of water in them. Corn and wood are plentiful; cattle abound; and, above all, it is very rich in gold, copper, iron, and other minerals. The principal part of the country occupied by the Matabili comprises the high lands, forming the watershed of numerous rivers, running to the Limpopo on the south and to the Zambesi on the north. The country is from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level, and is an extensive high veldt. The actual country occupied by the Matabili is not more than 180 miles from north to south, by 150 from east to west. Within this area the Matabili kraals are concentrated like a military colony. Their sway extends, however, from Lake Ngami to the Sabi River, and from the Limpopo to the Zambesi. Matabililand presents a field for emigration far superior to anything offered in Bechuanaland. . . . Our influence must extend, as the paramount power in South Africa, as far as the natural frontier line of the Zambesi. Lobengula, as king of the Matabili, is the only chief in South Africa over whom British influence is not brought to bear. He is a chief with a standing army of 15,000 men. The industrious Makalakas and Mashonas, who formerly in

1 'Argus Annual,' 1890, p. 506.

X

habited this country, were exterminated or driven out by Umzilikazi, the father of Lobengula. . . . A considerable trade in gold was formerly done with the Portuguese on the Zambesi. Alluvial gold is found in many of the rivers running down the northern slope of the watershed to the Zambesi. . . . The gold dust is carried down in quills. The natives grow excellent rice, and they trade in beautifully woven bags. The wild cotton, which grows over this part of Africa, they weave into blankets and dye with the indigo weed'.'

(23) The approaches to Matabililand are twofold, one route being from Mafeking through Tati and across the Matoppo range to Buluwayo, the capital; the other being along the southern boundary, keeping along the line of the Limpopo and entering Matabililand by way of Mashonaland. . . . Buluwayo, situated about 120 miles from Tati, may be taken as the specimen of a large kraal. In the centre is the king's waggon, and round it his wives' huts, all circular, built of mud bricks and roofed with reeds. Round the central cluster of huts is an open space 400 yards wide, and round this space are the habitations of the warriors, said to number 4,000, with their families. Beyond these, again, is the stockade, which is several miles in length. If a stranger approaches, he will probably find Lobengula with six of his indunas distributing justice. Cases are brought from all parts of the country, and are formally argued and judicially decided. The indunas act as counsel for the parties, and take technical points with an ingenuity that would do credit to an English Queen's Counsel, and discuss and debate the cases with great eagerness 2.'

Lobengula is a man of about fifty-six years of age, and of a dignified appearance and demeanour. He rules his

1 'Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute,' vol. xvii. p. 38. 2 London Times Correspondent, August 5, 1890.

subjects with a strong hand. The Matabili themselves do no work, nor do they boast of any arts or industries. They do not even carve wood or shape their own assegais, and all the agricultural labour is done by slaves. Their country is fertile and produces abundance of Kaffir corn. The rainy season lasts three months, from November to January, and the storms come down with tropical violence. For some weeks before the rain the heat is intense.

CHAPTER XIV.

Mashonaland.

(1) THE country towards which public attention has been chiefly turned recently in South Africa, is Mashonaland, a tract of land situated mainly along the highlands of South Zambesia, and lying to the east and north-east of Matabililand. It occupies a position between the Limpopo on the south and the Zambesi on the north. It is approached from the south by a long gorge of seven miles, known as the Nagooswie mountain gorge, flanked on either side by rugged cliffs and krantzies rising up hundreds of feet. 'Here upon the elevated plateau, which is known as Mashonaland, stretches the fairest and perhaps the richest territory in all Africa. This plateau is of very great extent, and forms the watershed of the Zambesi, running north and north-east, and the Sabi and Limpopo running south and south-east. Almost the entire extent of the plateau is therefore magnificently