consist chiefly of cereals, either wheat, kaffir-corn, and maize, or of consignments of dried fruits, gourds, india-rubber, mats, canoes, weapons of any kind, wooden utensils, and musical instruments. Ivory, honey, and manza are crown-property, and it is a capital offence for any one to carry on any transactions with regard to them on his own account. Without exception, all the tribes are bound to supply the Marutse sovereign with a stated number of tusks, both of male and female elephants, and with a stipulated quantity of the skins of a large dark brown species of lemur.
The prevailing language of the kingdom, and the principal medium of correspondence between the different tribes, is that of the extirpated Makololos. Overtaken as they have been by the arm of fate, and swept away from existence as a recognized community, they have yet bequeathed to their conquerors the heritage of their dialect. The enlargement of the kingdom by the annexation of the Mabunda territory, and the ever-increasing traffic with the population south of the Zambesi, have resulted in the Sesuto of the Makololos being adopted as the common tongue. It is of immense advantage to an explorer to be familiar with it, as although it may not be found in its purity, having been corrupted more or less by the admixture of the Serotse, it will rarely fail to enable him to make himself understood in any quarter of the kingdom.
When I asked the king the extent of his dominions, he told me that it took his people fifteen or twenty days to reach the northern frontier; and after making strict inquiries, first of the native chiefs, then of the envoys from the Mashukulumbe,
L 2
