Sekeletu, Now In Power,
Received Us In What Is Considered Royal Style, Setting Before Us
A Great Number Of Pots
Of boyaloa, the beer of the country.
These were brought by women, and each bearer takes a good draught of
The beer
when she sets it down, by way of "tasting", to show that there is no poison.
The court herald, an old man who occupied the post also in Sebituane's time,
stood up, and after some antics, such as leaping, and shouting
at the top of his voice, roared out some adulatory sentences,
as, "Don't I see the white man? Don't I see the comrade of Sebituane?
Don't I see the father of Sekeletu?" - "We want sleep." -
"Give your son sleep, my lord," etc., etc. The perquisites of this man
are the heads of all the cattle slaughtered by the chief, and he even takes
a share of the tribute before it is distributed and taken out of the kotla.
He is expected to utter all the proclamations, call assemblies,
keep the kotla clean, and the fire burning every evening,
and when a person is executed in public he drags away the body.
I found Sekeletu a young man of eighteen years of age, of that
dark yellow or coffee-and-milk color, of which the Makololo are so proud,
because it distinguishes them considerably from the black tribes
on the rivers. He is about five feet seven in height,
and neither so good looking nor of so much ability as his father was,
but is equally friendly to the English. Sebituane installed
his daughter Mamochisane into the chieftainship long before his death,
but, with all his acuteness, the idea of her having a husband
who should not be her lord did not seem to enter his mind. He wished
to make her his successor, probably in imitation of some of the negro tribes
with whom he had come into contact; but, being of the Bechuana race,
he could not look upon the husband except as the woman's lord;
so he told her all the men were hers - she might take any one,
but ought to keep none. In fact, he thought she might do with the men
what he could do with the women; but these men had other wives;
and, according to a saying in the country, "the tongues of women
can not be governed," they made her miserable by their remarks.
One man whom she chose was even called her wife, and her son
the child of Mamochisane's wife; but the arrangement was so distasteful
to Mamochisane herself that, as soon as Sebituane died, she said
she never would consent to govern the Makololo so long as she had
a brother living. Sekeletu, being afraid of another member of the family,
Mpepe, who had pretensions to the chieftainship, urged his sister strongly
to remain as she had always been, and allow him to support her authority
by leading the Makololo when they went forth to war. Three days were spent
in public discussion on the point. Mpepe insinuated that Sekeletu
was not the lawful son of Sebituane, on account of his mother
having been the wife of another chief before her marriage with Sebituane;
Mamochisane, however, upheld Sekeletu's claims, and at last
stood up in the assembly and addressed him with a womanly gush of tears:
"I have been a chief only because my father wished it. I always
would have preferred to be married and have a family like other women.
You, Sekeletu, must be chief, and build up your father's house."
This was a death-blow to the hopes of Mpepe.
As it will enable the reader to understand the social and political relations
of these people, I will add a few more particulars respecting Mpepe.
Sebituane, having no son to take the leadership of the "Mopato"
of the age of his daughter, chose him, as the nearest male relative,
to occupy that post; and presuming from Mpepe's connection with his family
that he would attend to his interests and relieve him from care,
he handed his cattle over to his custody. Mpepe removed to the chief town,
"Naliele", and took such effectual charge of all the cattle
that Sebituane saw he could only set matters on their former footing
by the severe measure of Mpepe's execution. Being unwilling to do this,
and fearing the enchantments which, by means of a number of Barotse doctors,
Mpepe now used in a hut built for the purpose, and longing
for peaceful retirement after thirty years' fighting, he heard with pleasure
of our arrival at the lake, and came down as far as Sesheke to meet us.
He had an idea, picked up from some of the numerous strangers who visited him,
that white men had a "pot (a cannon) in their towns which would burn up
any attacking party;" and he thought if he could only get this
he would be able to "sleep" the remainder of his days in peace.
This he hoped to obtain from the white men. Hence the cry of the herald,
"Give us sleep." It is remarkable how anxious for peace
those who have been fighting all their lives appear to be.
When Sekeletu was installed in the chieftainship, he felt his position
rather insecure, for it was believed that the incantations of Mpepe
had an intimate connection with Sebituane's death. Indeed, the latter
had said to his son, "That hut of incantation will prove fatal
to either you or me."
When the Mambari, in 1850, took home a favorable report of this new market
to the west, a number of half-caste Portuguese slave-traders were induced
to come in 1853; and one, who resembled closely a real Portuguese,
came to Linyanti while I was there. This man had no merchandise,
and pretended to have come in order to inquire "what sort of goods
were necessary for the market." He seemed much disconcerted by
my presence there. Sekeletu presented him with an elephant's tusk and an ox;
and when he had departed about fifty miles to the westward,
he carried off an entire village of the Bakalahari belonging to the Makololo.
He had a number of armed slaves with him; and as all the villagers
- men, women, and children - were removed, and the fact was unknown
until a considerable time afterward, it is not certain whether his object
was obtained by violence or by fair promises.
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