They mention ten kinds of fish in their river; and, in their songs of praise to the Zouga, say, “The messenger sent in haste is always forced to spend the night on the way by the abundance of food you place before him.”  The Bayeiye live much on fish, which is quite an abomination to the Bechuanas of the south; and they catch them in large numbers by means of nets made of the fine, strong fibres of the hibiscus, which grows abundantly in all moist places.  Their float-ropes are made of the ife, or, as it is now called, the ‘Sanseviere Angolensis’, a flag-looking plant, having a very strong fibre, that abounds from Kolobeng to Angola; and the floats themselves are pieces of a water-plant containing valves at each joint, which retain the air in cells about an inch long.  The mode of knotting the nets is identical with our own.

They also spear the fish with javelins having a light handle, which readily floats on the surface.  They show great dexterity in harpooning the hippopotamus; and, the barbed blade of the spear being attached to a rope made of the young leaves of the palmyra, the animal can not rid himself of the canoe, attached to him in whale fashion, except by smashing it, which he not unfrequently does by his teeth or by a stroke of his hind foot.

On returning to the Bakurutse, we found that their canoes for fishing were simply large bundles of reeds tied together.  Such a canoe would be a ready extemporaneous pontoon for crossing any river that had reedy banks.

Chapter 4.

Leave Kolobeng again for the Country of Sebituane—­Reach the Zouga—­ The Tsetse—­A Party of Englishmen—­Death of Mr. Rider—­Obtain Guides—­Children fall sick with Fever—­Relinquish the Attempt to reach Sebituane—­Mr. Oswell’s Elephant-hunting—­Return to Kolobeng—­Make a third Start thence—­Reach Nchokotsa—­Salt-pans—­“Links”, or Springs—­Bushmen—­Our Guide Shobo—­The Banajoa—­An ugly Chief—­The Tsetse—­Bite fatal to domestic Animals, but harmless to wild Animals and Man—­Operation of the Poison—­Losses caused by it—­The Makololo—­ Our Meeting with Sebituane—­Sketch of his Career—­His Courage and Conquests—­Manoeuvres of the Batoka—­He outwits them—­His Wars with the Matebele—­Predictions of a native Prophet—­Successes of the Makololo—­Renewed Attacks of the Matebele—­The Island of Loyelo—­Defeat of the Matebele—­Sebituane’s Policy—­His Kindness to Strangers and to the Poor—­His sudden Illness and Death—­Succeeded by his Daughter—­Her Friendliness to us—­Discovery, in June, 1851, of the Zambesi flowing in the Centre of the Continent—­Its Size—­The Mambari—­The Slave-trade—­Determine to send Family to England—­Return to the Cape in April, 1852—­Safe Transit through the Caffre Country during Hostilities—­Need of a “Special Correspondent”—­Kindness of the London Missionary Society—­Assistance afforded by the Astronomer Royal at the Cape.