disgusting rites of boyali were doomed to sterility. So every one said; but Khama and Khamani smiled grimly when, nine months later, the newly married bride presented her husband with a fine boy. Things seemed to be going wrong in Shoshong, nor could the oldest inhabitants explain how it was that the offended deities or the omnipotent wizards could permit such conduct to go unpunished. It was therefore necessary to lend the invisible powers a hand, and Sekhome hired some Matabele warriors to assassinate his sons' father-in-law. That irrepressible individual, however, was one of the best shots in the country, and the Matabele assassins shirked their task.

AN ABORTIVE COUP D'ÉTAT.

Sekhome, however, was unwilling to allow the matter to rest. It is not difficult to appreciate the alarm with which Sekhome must have viewed the situation. In 1886 he came to the conclusion that he could stand it no longer, and that the Christian princes must be crushed if necessary in blood. Therefore, Sekhome arranged for a coup d'état which would free Bechuanaland from the Christian leaven which he feared might leaven the whole lump. In some things savagery is superior to civilisation. When Napoleon III. planned a coup d'état he simply had to press a button and a great military machine operated automatically, even against the will of its component parts, to carry out the appointed plan. In Bechuanaland a coup d'état can only be carried out by the free will of the tribe itself. Hence when Sekhome endeavoured to rally the Bamangwato against Khama he found himself deserted. Neither the headmen nor their followers would fire a shot against the heir apparent, who, notwithstanding his austerity, was very popular in the tribe. When a coup d'état does not come off as arranged, it is extremely apt to burst at the other end; and no sooner did Sekhome see that his plans had miscarried, owing to the refusal of his subjects to attack his son, than he was seized with a panic-terror and fled to a place of retreat. There he remained awaiting death at the hands of the victorious son. But as Sekhome had suffered from the Christian innovations, he was now to benefit by the new ideas. Khama, instead of cutting his father's throat, as he was entitled to do by the law and custom of the Bamangwato, forgave him and allowed him to come back to his throne on condition that he no longer endeavoured to enforce bigamy upon his offspring.

THE SPELLS OF THE WIZARDS.

No sooner was Sekhome back again in his place of power than he began intriguing against his popular sons. Finding that he could make no headway among his own subjects, he suddenly conceived the idea of inviting his brother, Masheng, back to Shoshong, in order to deprive Khama of the right of succession. By way of opening the campaign Sekhome mustered all the wizards in order to curse his sons according to the most elaborate formulæ of magical incantation. A great fire was lighted opposite Khama's house, while a foul crew of wizards flung plant after plant, charm after charm, into the fire, muttering their curses upon Khama as they did so. The people shuddered, fearing that no power could save their young chief from a terrible doom. Khama alone was calm and unconcerned. Suddenly issuing from his house, he put the wizards to flight, extinguished the fire, and then went to bed. As he did not seem a penny the worse for all the terrible curses, his followers began to take heart, but they lamented much that he doggedly refused to employ similar incantations against his father. It was all very well for Khama, they murmured: he was

protected against the spells of the wizards by his Christianity; but what was to become of his heathen followers who had no Word of God to shield them, and whose only method of defence was by employing wizards of their own to make a counter attack upon the sorcerers of Sekhome? Khama, who seems to have rid his mind of all the superstition of his heathen ancestors, scornfully refused to have anything to do with wizards and witchcraft. Spells and incantations, he declared, were all nonsense, and he would have nothing to do with them.

THE FATHER LEVIES WAR ON HIS SONS.

The incantations of the wizards having failed as utterly as the assegais of the Matabele assassins, Sekhome determined in March, 1886, to see what out-and-out fighting would do. This time he was no longer unable to put a force in the field against his sons. The Bechuanas, even those who on the previous occasion had supported Khama, were discontented. It is easy to understand their difficulty; they did not exactly know where they were. According to invariable precedent, Khama ought to have utilised the opportunity which they had given him to have made short work of his father. He had not done so, and his followers felt as much at a loss to understand how things stood, as Unionist electors would have been if Lord Salisbury having received a majority in the country had not proceeded forthwith to turn out the Liberal Administration. Clearly nothing could be done with such an unpractical person as Khama. He would neither obey his father nor cut his throat, and therefore, when Sekhome appealed to them to support him in clearing out his sons, they no longer refused to help him.

A DRAWN BATTLE.

An attack in force was made upon Khama and his brother. They had been warned, and fled to the mountains, where they kept up a stubborn resistance for several days. Khama refused to make any offensive movement against his father, so he remained in the mountain while his father held possession of the town. The blockade lasted for six weeks; Mr. Mackenzie, the missionary, being allowed by Sekhome to go and preach to the rebels in the mountain every Sunday. Failing to subdue Khama by fair means, his father had recourse to the time-honoured but detestable expedient of poisoning the wells. Two sorcerers, provided with charms and spells with which to poison the fountain from which Khama drank, were dispatched at night up the mountain side, having been previously secured by the most potent magic against danger. Unfortunately for them, Khama's sentry, hearing footfalls in the dark, fired in that direction and shot one of the wizards dead, while the other decamped, carrying to Shoshong the terrible news that the spells of the sorcerer had lost their power. Getting desperate, Sekhome called out all his tribe, and subjected his sons to a blockade in the hills, which deprived them of water for eight days. The bleating and moaning of the cattle after they had been seven days without water were piteous to hear. Nevertheless Khama refused to give in, and ultimately peace was arranged between him and his father. The objectionable father-in-law, however, was speared in the bush and left to be eaten by the wolves.

KHAMA'S PLAIN SPEECH.

Masheng, Sekhome's brother, soon put in his appearance, and was established in the chieftainship by Sekhome himself. At the council when this was done Khama distinguished himself by the frankness with which he opposed the restoration of his uncle. His speech was

characteristic of the man. He said to Masheng: "It would appear that I alone of all the Bamangwato am to speak unpleasant words to you to-day. The Bamang wato say they are glad to see you here. I say I am not glad to see you. If I thought there would be peace in the town I would say I was glad to see you. I say I am sorry you have come, because I know only disorder and death can take place when two chiefs sit in one khotla. I wish all the Bamangwato to know that I renounce all pretences to the chieftainship. My kingdom consists in my gun, my horse and my wife. I renounce

all concern in the politics of the town. I am sorry, Masheng, I cannot give you a better welcome to the Bamangwato."

It was a plucky speech, and strange to say it was not resented by Masheng. At the close of the assembly the restored chief said:-"Many speeches have been made to-day. Many words of welcome have been addressed to me. All of these I have heard with the car. One speech --and one ouly-has reached my heart, and that is the speech of Khama. I thank Khama for his speech." The impression which his straightforward utterance had made was deepened on further acquaintance. "Since I arrived at Shoshong," he said to Khama, "I have seen and heard for myself that the people of the Word of God a'one speak the truth. By all the rest I was met with fair speeches and deceit. Henceforth you may trust in me as I shall rely on you." He then publicly told Sekhome in the courtyard," You have called ine in to kill your rebellious sons: I refuse to do this. They are your sons, not mine. If you wish them to be killed, kill them yourself."

THE EXILE OF SEKHOME.

All Sekhome's intrigues had, therefore, failed. But with a.determination which one cannot but admire, he began weaving new conspiracies against his brother and his sons. He hatched a secret plot by which a sudden attack was to be made upon the headmen of his brother when he gave the signal by felting one of Masheng's followers. He did his part and felled his man, but his followers, instead of attacking his brother's people, surrounded him and expelled him from the town. He sought refuge and comfort with the very missionary whom he had endeavoured to destroy. When the sun set he fled from the country and remained in exile for many years.

It is a squalid enough story, this tale of petty wars between father and son. Although it is on a very small scale, we can see in it the same general features which have been frequently displayed on a much larger scale. The new light which has come into the world has lighted a few, who thereupon are attacked by those of their own household, as the enemies of the State who are bringing a curse upon the people. Khama and his brother saw the new light. Sekhome and his sorcerers were but too true to the universal

actors on both sides to the savage ferocity which has often characterised the religious wars of more civilised nations. Khama's conduct throughout was dignified in the extreme. If he erred at all, it was entirely from over-generosity and reluctance to follow up his advantage as he was entitled to have done under the established usage of his tribe. On the other hand, Sekhome displayed a persistent resolution and a dogged determination to maintain the established order which was well worthy of a better cause. There was something profoundly pathetic in the figure of the old heathen chief exerting all his resources in an unavailing effort to stifle the new heresy which had invaded his own household, until at last he had to abandon his chieftainship and live in exile rather than acquiesce in innovations imported by the people of the Word of God.

WAR WITH THE MATABELE.

If the record of the internecine feud between Sekhome the Heathen and Khama the Christian is somewhat squalid, that cannot be alleged concerning the successful efforts made by Khama to defend his country against the attacks of the Matabele. It would do the Daily Chronicle, Mr. Labouchere, and a few other Englishmen, good to spend an afternoon in reading the story of those Matabele wars. Even Mr. Labouchere, if it had been his lot to live at Shoshong or to pasture his flocks on the Maclootsi river, would very soon have rid his mind of the delusions which enable many good people to transfigure Lobengula and his savage warriors into patriots struggling, and rightly struggling, to be free. The missionaries who lived among them had long ago ample opportunity of freeing their minds from all that cant. Lobengula was a Scourge, and the Matabele fighting forces which he organised were as unworthy of sympathy as any band of

brigands against whom society has rightly declared war. For years Khama and his fighting men had to keep watch and ward against the threatened raids of the Matabele. Occasionally they came into collision with Lobengula's men, and on one occasion Khama wounded Lobengula with a bullet from his own rifle. Certainly no one can read the story of these border wars between the Matabele and the Bamangwato without feeling profoundly grateful that Mr. Rhodes and Dr. Jamieson succeeded in wiping the Matabele fighting forces off from the face of the earth. If there was ever a piece of Imperial police work well done by local forces, 'twas that work.

OF THE CHURCH MILITANT.

During the attacks made by the Matabele upon the Bamangwato, the missionaries found Khama a tower of strength. He was full of kindness, confidence, and readiness to defend them at any cost. On one occasion Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie and all their family had to take refuge on the summit of the mountains while Khama kept watch below. "Go on the mountain beside my mother," said Khama. "The Matabele will then not reach her until we are all dead." Khama's conduct on that occasion, and the gallantry with which

law by which the established custom feels itself compelled to stifle in blood the heresy which it hates d dreads. If the story has any new features in analand, it is rather in the superiority of the

he stemmed the tide of Matabele invasion, did much to reconcile the Bamangwato to the Christian religion. "We were afraid," said the headmen, "that when a man became a Christian he was bound not to fight in any cause, and that his relatives would have to defend the believer as well as his wife and family. We therefore expected that all the men of the Word of God, with the women and children, would go to the mountains, but to-day those who pray to God are our leaders." At the same time that Khama was willing to defend his fatherland against the invasion of the Matabele, he set his face against any attempt to carry the war into the enemy's country, and when his father raided some Matabele villages he flatly refused to take any share of the booty offered to him.

After Sekhome had fled, and Masheng was alone on the throne, a feud broke out between the old chief and his

by instinct. His chief ambition was to eat and to sleep to sleep and to eat. He was King Log, snoring when he should have been judging, and gormandising when his tribe waited for his commands. Under such a chief the power of the Christians and their young chiefs naturally increased, until even Masheng took alarm. "There is now another chief in the town," he cried aloud in one of his rare sober fits, when he sat in the judgment seat"there is another chief, the Word of God. Masheng is not first, but second."

It was a true saying, and the new chief had come to stay. Masheng, too lazy to act with energy, showed his displeasure with Khama by superseding him by an inferior officer when he dispatched an expedition. But the tribesmen ignored Khama's supersession, and refused to march except under his cominand. This state of ill-concealed rivalry continued for a year or two. At

refusal to kill his father Sekhome when that chief had failed in his attempt to kill his son. It sounds ugly to recommend parricide. But communities have rights as well as individuals; and when Sekhome tried to kill Khama, Khama was justified in punishing the would-be murderer with death. Instead of doing so, he benevolently forgave him, with disastrous results.

TOO FILIAL FOR A Ruler.

Too great generosity to miscreants is indistinguishable from cruel injustice to the community. As if the long and squalid misery of six years had not been enough to convince Khama that his father was impossible, he actually brought him back to Shoshong within a few months of his accession to supreme power. Sekhome at once resumed his old tricks. He encouraged heathen practices, he sowed dissensions between Khama and his younger brother, and, in short, he made so much mischief, that Khama, anxious to avoid the scandal of open war with his father, departed from Shoshong. But no sooner had he left the capital than all the fighting men and leading men of the tribe followed him. Shoshong was deserted. But Sekhome, aided by Khamani, decided to hold the capital with such forces as they could muster. For a time Khama hesitated. He did not want to fight. But the tribe was being torn in two. The duty of re-establishing his authority was imperative. Still he hesitated. A man less reluctant to shed blood, less scrupulous about obeying the letter of the Word of God, would have escaped all this trouble by executing his father after the abortive coup d'état. But Khama-even Khama-was at last forced to appeal to arms. Putting his forces in array against his father, he captured Shoshong, shattered the heathen ranks, and drove both father and brother into exile. Then, in February, 1875, and not till then, Khama became, de facto and de jure, sovereign of the Bamangwato.

HIS TOLERANCE.

There is no need here to tell the story of the twenty years which followed of patient, wise, tolerant and civilising rule. Khama, although a Christian, who had risked life and chiefship for his faith, adopted no intolerant policy when he attained supreme power. At the beginning of his reign Khama assembled his people in his khotla and emphatically announced his own adherence to the Word of God. "He would not prohibit heathen ceremonies, but they must not be performed in his khotla, and as their chief he would contribute nothing towards them. He was about, by public prayer to Almighty God, to ask a blessing upon their seedsowing, and afterwards would set to work. Whoever wished to have his seed charmed could do so at his own expense, but he himself had no such custom now, any more than in former years."

HIS WAR ON BRANDY.

Only in one respect was he merciless. When quite a boy, he had been saddened by the ravages which strong drink made among his countrymen. When he came to the chieftainship, he used to say as a boy, he wished to rule over a nice town, and there could be no nice town where there was drunkenness. When he at last was established as supreme in Shoshong, he determined to make short work with the drink traffic. Up to that time the white men in Shoshong seem to have been allowed the utmost license. They imported what brandy they pleased, and they sold it or drank it without let or hindrance. The results in delirium tremens, debauchery, and violent deaths were obvious enough. The black man followed the white man's example to the best of his

ability, according to the capacity of his purse. Khama decided that it was time to alter all this, and after due deliberation and many unavailing representations he put his foot down with an emphasis which taught both black and white that there was at least at Shoshong a man who meant to be obeyed.

HOW HE BEGAN HIS CAMPAIGN.

He first of all summoned the white men together and told them that they must sell no more drink. They pleaded for the continued importation of brandy in cases for their own consumption. If that were allowed they would not try to bring in barrels. "Very well," said Khama. "Only, if you are allowed to import the cases, there must be no drunkenness." At the week end several of the whites got roaring drunk. Khama went down to the scene of their orgie and noted with high disdain the names of the besotted traders. His resolution was taken. At any cost, without even counting of cost, this pestilence must be stamped out. The presence of white traders in Shoshong meant almost everything to the natives. They were the purveyors of all the goods which were indispensable for progress towards civilisation. They supplied the civilised nucleus in the midst of a great expanse of barbarism. But, notwithstanding that, Khama made up his mind that as the Jews were expelled from England and the Moors from Spain, so must the white traders be banished from Shoshong if they refused to give up the drink. It was a great scene which Mr. Hepburn describes. that took place at Khama's Court on the Monday morning after the orgie.

THE DECREE OF EXPULSION.

66

Mr. Hepburn, in describing what took place, wrote:— Khama did not ask any questions, but simply stated what he had seen; how he had taken the trouble to warn them, and they had despised his laws "because he was a black man, and for nothing else." Well, I am black, but if I am black I am chief of my own country at present." He went on: When you white men rule in the country, then you will do as you like. At present I rule, and I shall maintain my laws. which you insult and despise. You have insulted and despised me in my town because I am a black man. You do so becauseyou despise black men in your hearts. If you despise us, what do you want here in the country that God has given to us? Go back to your own country." Khama went on, addressing the white men, and mentioning them one by one by name: Take everything you have; strip the iron roofs off the houses; the wood of the country and the clay of which you made the bricks you can leave to be thrown down. Take all that is yours and go. More than that-if there is any other white man here who does not like my laws, let him go too! I want no one but friends in my If you are not my friends, go back to your own friends, and leave me and my people to ourselves. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. I am trying to lead my people to act according to that Word of God which we have received from you white people, and you show them an example of wickedness such as we never knew. You, the people of the Word of God! You know that some of my own brothers have learned to like the drink, and you know that I do not want them to see it even, that they may forget the habit; and yet you not only bring it in and offer it to them, but you try to tempt me with it. I make an end of it to-day. Go! Take your cattle and leave my town, and never come back again!" "The utmost silence followed Khama's words," and shame and utter bewilderment" fell upon most of those he had been addressing.

town.

As this decree meant blank ruin to the expelled traders, some of them followed Khaina into his house and begged him to have pity on them. "Pity," said he, with scorn-" pity on you! I have no pity. When i