Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/191

 thus it happened that now I found a conjoint Marutse-Mabunda rule, under the sovereignty of Sepopo, a direct descendant of the original royal family of the Marutse.

During breakfast Sepopo sent for the chief representatives of eighteen of the larger tribes and introduced them to me. These tribes are subdivided into eighty-three smaller ones, and their chiefs are all more or less in communication with Sesheke. In addition to those that have been settled for some time within the kingdom, there are the Matabele, Menon’s Malalakas, and the Masarwas scattered in various districts; of these the two latter are fugitive tribes from the south, the Matabele having been tributary to the Bamangwatos, and Menon’s Malalakas to the Matabele.

The Marutse occupy the fertile valleys of the Barotse country on both sides the Zambesi, from Sekhose to about 150 miles south of the confluence of the Kabompo and the Liba. I believe the Barotse valley to be the most productive portion of the kingdom, and as well adapted for agriculture as for cattle-breeding; it abounds in game, but is likewise prolific in wild vegetable products, of which india-rubber is not the least important. The country, formerly the residence of various members of the royal family, contains several towns; the districts east and north-east of it are occupied by the Mabundas, so that it follows that the bulk of the population that lies outside the Barotse is, for the most part, to be found near the rivers Nyoko, Lombe, and Loi.

The district joming the Mabundas on the north is in the occupation of the Mankoë, but it does not Rh