lantern that Blockley had refused to give him during the day. It was a transaction that opened my eyes to the way which the Marutse king had of getting possession of any articles that might take his fancy.
Before concluding my account of my first day at Sesheke, I may mention a little incident that occurred while we were sitting drinking the impote. Four men arrived laden with ivory, and after depositing the load of tusks in the middle of the enclosure, they clapped their hands and prostrated themselves five times with their foreheads to the ground, crying out, “Shangwe! Shangwe!” They then retired quite into the rear of all the rest, to remain till the meal was over. When the king summoned them, they crept forward, and kept clapping their hands very gently all the time the king was speaking to them, and when he ceased they proceeded with great volubility to recount all the particulars of the hunting-excursion from which they had returned. They were much commended, and told to come in the morning to receive some ammunition and their proper reward. The ivory was crown property, and the guns used by the hunters were only lent to them, and were liable to be recalled at any moment at the royal pleasure.
It was quite customary for all white men, before entering Impalera, to send the king a present by way of securing a pass from the banks of the Chobe to his territory. No such impost, however, was demanded from me. It was entirely a voluntary act on my part, that I made an offering of a Snider breech-loader and 200 cartridges.
Unlike supper, breakfast was not served in the open air, but inside the house. The long grass-hut,
