Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/176

 sent of some ammunition and two woollen shirts apiece.

We paused on our way to refresh ourselves with a bath in a shallow place which we ascertained was safe, and then hurried on with all speed, that we might reach the royal quarters before evening. Some small herds of cattle grazing along the riverside, under the close surveillance of their keepers, apprised us of our approach to the new settlement, which enjoys the advantage of being free from the tsetse fly.

Old Sesheke lay on a lagoon about a mile and a half west of the place where the river makes a sudden bend to the east, and the original Marutse royal residence was in the fertile mother-country of the Barotse, which was eminently fitted for cattle-breeding. Sepopo, however, the present king, had made himself unpopular amongst the Barotse, and had moved away into the Masupia country, although it was a district which, except in a few detached places, was much infested with the tsetse. He had, however, another reason for the change he made; he was dissatisfied with the dealings of the Portuguese traders, whose goods he found to be of very inferior quality as compared with those brought by Westbeech, and accordingly he was anxious to make a move that would bring him into nearer connexion with the traders from the south.

As we approached the royal residence, Blockley proposed that we should announce our arrival by a rumela. The echoes of our shots had hardly died away before some groups of men gathered under the trees, and our salute was answered by another; manifestly the king was amongst the people, super-