Matababeleland and how we got it. With notes on the occupation of Mashunaland and an account of the 1893 campaign by the British South Africa Company, etc

Front matter

MATABELELAND MATABELELAND AND HOW WE GOT IT WITH NOTES ON THE OCCUPATION OF MASHUNALAND, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE 1893 CAMPAIGN BY THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY, THE AD JOINING BRITISH TERRITORIES AND PROTECTORATES BY Captain CHAS. L. NORRIS NEWMAN *£ Reuter' 's " Special Commissioner AUTHOR OF "IN ZULULAND WITH THE BRITISH," " WITH THE BOERS IN l880-8l," "THE BASUTOS AND THEIR COUNTRY," "SOUTH AFRICAN TALES," ETC. WITH SKETCH MAP, AND PLANS OF THE FIGHTS LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE. All rights reserved. "DEDICATION. TO MY WIFE, — THE LOVING COMPANION DURING MANY YEARS' TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE IN AFRICA,— I DEDICATE THESE NOTES ON THE LATEST EXTENSION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, IN GRATITUDE FOR HER UNFAILING SYMPATHY AND RESOURCEFUL HELP IN ALL MY VARIED WORK OF THE PAST TWO DECADES.

Introduction

. No excuse should be needed for the putting together and publication of the facts and events as they occurred during the addition of Mashunaland and Matabeleland to our already extensive possessions in South Africa, as the Dark Continent has always had a considerable amount of interest, religious, commercial, and general, for all of our own nationality ; and, although many may — nay, perhaps still do — cavil at some of the means taken towards the end, yet I venture to think that while, on the one hand, we cannot exactly be proud of every detail in the course of our dealings with the native races — here or elsewhere — yet, on the other, even the most Socialistic Radical must rejoice when he sees that through the farsightedness and promptness of one man —

INTRODUCTION.

. exercised of course with more than purely philanthropic aims — a route has been kept open to the interior for " the Flag " and the trade which naturally follows in its rear ; and that the harmful grasp of Portugal on the one side and Germany on the other has not been allowed to shut us out from communication with the centre and north of this great and important portion of the Eastern Hemisphere. Doubtless the tale might have been told in a more able manner and poetic vein ; but, if a residence in all parts of South Africa of nearly twenty years' journalistic wanderings — the en joyment of many opportunities open to few — and a thorough acquaintance with all the oc currences during that time does not qualify me for the task, at any rate I may claim that it enables me at least to guarantee that my book contains "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth " ; and I may therefore hope that it will prove useful, if only as a reference, to those — and they are to be numbered by the hundred thousand — whose interests, material and otherwise, are bound up with the present

INTRODUCTION.

. IX progress and also the grand future which even the most pessimistic must, I think, acknowledge is before the land of my adoption : " Afric's sunny strand." CHAS. L. NORRIS NEWMAN. BULAWAYO, MATABELELAND, 1 894. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. THE RUSH FOR AFRICA .... I II. THE RISE OF THE MATABELE NATION . 10 III. THE RISE OF THE MATABELE NATION {continued) . 1 7 iv. the tati settlement, gazaland, and barotse concessions .... 26 v. british bechuanaland and kgama's northern protectorate . . -39 vi. advance of pioneer column and occupation of mashunaland • • • 55 vii. events (1890-3) leading up to the entry into matabeleland. . . -77 viii. constitution and advance of the fort salisbury and fort victoria columns . 86 ix. raaff's column, the imperial forces, and kgama's contingent . . . 101 x. pursuit of the king disaster to major Wilson's party . . . .114 CONTENTS.

XII CHAP. PAGE XI. ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT — DIS- BANDMENT OF FORCES, AND OCCUPATION OF COUNTRY . . . .140 XII. NOTES ON KING LO BENGULA, HIS ARMY, CHIEFS, AND PEOPLE. . . . 153 XIII. MY OWN TRIP — INTERVIEWS AND COMMENTS ON THE CAMPAIGN — OFFICERS — ACTION OF HOME GOVERNMENT — THE HIGH COMMIS- SIONER — ATTITUDE OF MISSOINARIES AND TRADERS . . . . -171 XIV. "L'ENVOI" ..... 204 APPENDICES . . . . .219 A. & B. Capt. Sir John Willoughby's Official Reports of the Two Fights. C. & D. The Agreement and Concession. E. Returns of Horses and Ammunition used • and killed and wounded in Campaign. F. Distances of ' Place to Place. LIST OF MAPS. PAGE matabili war area . . .

Facing page i ROUTES OF THE COLUMNS FROM FORTS CHARTER AND VICTORIA TO BULAWAYO . , -87 BATTLE OF CHANGANI . . . . .92 BATTLE OF IMBEMBESE . . . .96 FIGHT ON RIVER SANGESI . . . . 109 ROUTE-PLAN OF THE TWO PURSUIT PATROLS AFTER THE KING . . . . .114 It will be generally admitted that the travels and discoveries of Baker, Speke, Grant, Livingstone, Stanley, and Cameron, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the causes which led to the Brussels Conference of 1876, were all factors in the rush for Africa, and its partition among the European Powers ; added to which it must not be forgotten that, after the big wars in Europe in 1870-6, the various nations concerned, either directly or indirectly, took a considerable time to get back to their status quo ante, and then quickly found out that, with the possibility of such slight events letting loose the " dogs of war " over their 2 X MA TA BE LE LA ND. 2 heads, the only method of ensuring peace was to prepare for a reverse, and this was done with a vengeance ; so much so that the burden put upon those peoples, where conscription was the rule, became almost too heavy to be borne, crippling the resources of the nation, and causing quite a social ferment among the lower classes, who, of course, felt the hardships the most, and thus producing an increased growth of Nihilism, Anarchist and Socialist et hoc genus omne.

The attention of those among the ruling powers whose prescience was equal to the occasion, was therefore turned to some other outlet for public interest ; and colonisation schemes and the extension, or in some cases the creation, of a colonial empire was hit upon as giving a happy solution to many difficult problems. Navies were enlarged, and so work must be found for men and ships ; military training was compulsory, so attractive service must be pro vided ; and it seems to have occurred to several nations, besides our own, that in no part of the world was there so much scope for action as in the adjoining continent of Africa, where, for years past, only Portugal, Great Britain, and Belgium had any large interests. It is true that France, Germany, Spain, and Italy had all, from time to time, acquired small footholds around the coast ; but the reason for the existence of these tiny, scattered stations was not very apparent ; and the benefit derived from them about on a par therewith.

Then, again, the rapid extension of trade and increase in manufactures in Europe, and the gradual closing of the American markets, demanded fresh outlets for commerce ; and, combined with the schemes of philanthropists, who were anxious to deal a deathblow at the enormous and cruel slave system, which the tales brought home by explorers, travellers, missionaries, and others proved only too truly to exist in Central Africa, all added to and strengthened the reasons for the headlong rush to Africa which started with the foundation of the Congo Free State and is not yet finished. Any one looking at the map of Africa in 1879, when only the coast-line was dotted over with a few European settlements, and at the same continent as parcelled out among various European nations between that date and the year of grace 1893, will be astonished at the enormous activity shown by Great Britain, Germany, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and even Egypt alike, until now, with the exception of the Sahara, there is nothing more left of Africa to annex or protect, the whole of it being divided into "spheres of action" under different European Protectorates ; and, as a matter of fact, it was only after other nations were turning their colonisation attempts to Africa that Great Britain woke up to the fact of its prior claim to such an important continent.

With those portions on, or to the north of, the Equator, this book has little or nothing to do ; but in order to understand the progress of events and the importance of and manner of obtaining the recently acquired territories of Bechuanaland, the Protectorate, Gazaland, Mashunaland, and Matabeleland, it will be necessary to give a brief notice of the occur rences of the past ten years in South Africa from the time of the handing back of the Transvaal to the Dutch Boer inhabitants, when the interior was little valued, the importance of the West Coast unrecognised, and the Imperial authorities — backed up by public opinion in Great Britain — were inclined to give up any actual part in the government of South Africa, and leave the various competing interests to fight it out among themselves.

The British public were thoroughly sick of our little native wars, in which valuable lives and money were wasted and spent without stint, only, it was said, for the benefit of the colonist ; and after the Transkeian, Zulu, Sekukuni, Morosi, and Basuto campaigns had been finished, with little glory, and still less direct return to John Bull, the policy of the Home Government was decidedly altered to one of letting things slide as much as possible, and matters were there after allowed, for a short time, to take their own natural course in South Africa. The awakening came, however, in a ruder manner and quicker time than was expected. The intrigues of Portugal to get the Delagoa Bay Railway into its own hands, combined with the overtures of the Transvaal to the German Government for its active co-operation — politically and commercially — so as to counter balance Great Britain's influence, and keep our nation out of the interior, and the endeavours of the same Government to get connected with an independent port either on the East or West Coast, were straws quickly showing which way the wind was blowing ; and it is much to the credit of the Cape Colony that some of her statesmen were sagacious enough to see what was being aimed at, and ready enough to recognise in what manner these little schemes were to be prevented from being realised ; and after explanation and some delay the aid, both moral and physical, of the Imperial Government was asked for and obtained to assist in checking these antagonistic movements.

The settlement of the Bechuana land questions, arising through the establish ment of two small Boer filibustering Republics in the midst of native territory — where a " Kilkenny cat " policy had been encouraged among the various small tribes inhabiting the country — was the first step in the right direc tion ; and the Imperial expedition under General Sir Charles Warren soon put matters straight, and showed both the Transvaal Government and other nations that England, though slow to act, was always to be depended upon (to combine business with philanthropy), and protect the natives against the results of their own ignorant acts, as well as against the intrusion of outside land and cattle grabbers. The establishment of a British Protectorate over the adjoining native territory to the north, up to the Zambezi, under the rule of Kgama, chief of the Bamangwato, followed naturally, and thus secured to the Cape Colony a frontier outlet for its enterprising sons, as well as a route to the interior for trade and other kindred purposes, notwithstanding the unfortunate fact that, through selfish division of opinions among themselves — brought about mainly by party politics — the Cape Government, sad to admit, with the approbation of the Imperial authorities, had given Damaraland and the West Coast up to 1 70 south latitude and to 200 east longitude to the Germans, whose inadapt ability for colonisation is unfortunate for them selves, and whose chances for future improve ment are not strengthened by the military* autocratic system of occupation now being carried out both in the East and West Coast territories.

Again, beyond this, British missionary, ex ploring, and hunting enterprises having already made acquaintance with the country to the North- East, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers, it was easily seen how valuable such an increase to our sphere of action would be, both commercially and politically ; and, with the discovery of the vast fields of gold in various parts of the Transvaal, and the knowledge that, higher up, there were also unlimited possi bilities in opening up the rich mineral resources, which it was known existed there, a treaty of friendship was made by the British Govern ment with Lo Bengula, the King of the Matabeles and ruler of the adjoining subju gated tribes of Mashunas and Makalakas, and shortly afterwards a concession was obtained from that chief for the exploitation of Mashuna land.

Had this treaty of friendship with the British Government, through the Rev. Mr. Moffat, not been executed at that time, it would have been too late, as envoys were then on the road from the Transvaal Government with a similar purpose, antagonistic to the interests of British rule. ( Vide Appendix A.) Other concessions had already been granted by Lo Bengula to the Tati Gold Mining Com pany and the Baines Fairbairn Grant ; but the new Chartered Company, with a powerful directorate and large capital, soon arranged with all others, and a pioneer force of 600 men and guns was raised, equipped, and sent up from Bechuanaland in 1890 by the British South Africa Chartered Company, under Colonel Pennefather, and led by Mr. F. C. Selous, the great hunter, than whom no living man, either native or European, knew more of the country between the two rivers — Limpopo and Zambezi.

The making of this splendid march and subsequent occupation of the country is given in another chapter ; but whatever may be the final result, it brought about a collision first with the Portuguese, which was soon settled ; and, later on, with the Matabele, which is also finished. I have given, so far, a sketch of the general leading events which happened from 1882 to 1893 m South Africa. The following chapters will, I trust, place my readers in full possession of the various details attending them, and, as Matabeleland holds the place of honour, my next chapter will be devoted to the history of that late powerful tribe. RISE OF THE MATABELE NATION. Somewhere about the beginning of the nine teenth century, shortly after the establishment, by Tshaka, of the great Zulu nation, a small semi-independent chief named Matshobane dwelt with his people, in the eastern portion of what is now the South African Republic.

This chief, however, recognising the futility of resistance to the bloodthirsty Zulu tyrant, voluntarily put himself under Tshaka's pro tection, and thus saved his people from the devastation in which other adjoining tribes were swept away. To this man a son had been born, who, from various causes, soon became a great pet of the Zulu King's, and after manhood he was promoted to the high post of commander of an important Zulu regiment. This was Umsilikazi, or Mosele- RISE OF THE MATABELE NATION. 11 katse, as he was termed by the Bechuana races. Tall, handsome, and brave, he distinguished himself greatly in bringing the Zulu army up to its high state of efficiency, rapidly acquired great ascendancy over the native warriors, and became rich and powerful. His position, how ever, soon caused jealousy to enter into his master's brain; and after an expedition, successfully conducted against a distant tribe in Gaza land, he was accused of not sending all the spoils back to Tshaka, who made this so-called act of rebellion an excuse for sending a large impi against them, with orders to kill Mosele katse and all his people.

Owing to secret advices from Zululand, the impi received suffi cient warning, and the threatened chief retreated with his men and a few women and cattle to the westward, falling ruthlessly upon the weak and comparatively unarmed Bechuana tribe en route, sparing none, except girls and a few young men to carry their necessaries, until they reached the western portion of what is now the Transvaal, near the Molapo river, when, as he considered himself far enough off not to have cause to dread MA TABELELAND. 12 Tshaka's vengeance, Moselekatse chose a suitable place, built military kraals, after the fashion of the Zulu King, and, with his 6,000 men, commenced sending out impis far and near to exterminate the surrounding tribes, and bringing back wives, cattle, and other plunder. These expeditions reached as far south as the Vaal river and Basutoland, where Moshesh was besieged, in 1831, on Thaba Bosigo ; but the Matabele had to retire without having effected their purpose, being reduced to great straits through want of provisions.

Moshesh, the Basuto chief, hearing of this, sent them plenty of supplies, with messages to their chief that he desired to make a friendly alliance with Mosele katse. The reports brought back by the de feated army, though not altogether pleasing, produced so great an effect on Moselekatse that he sent back his thanks to Moshesh, and never attacked him again. Having completely devastated the country around him for hundreds of miles, having also had several successful contests with the ma rauding bands of native hunters, Griquas and Korannas, Moselekatse was visited in 1830 by the Rev. Mr. Moffat, the first established RISE OF THE MATABELE NATION. 13 missionary at Kuruman among the Batlapins ; and the reverend gentleman acquired such an amount of influence over the Matabele chief tain, that although the whole of Bechuanaland, and its tribes of Barolong, Bakwena, Baharutsi, and Bangwaketsi were nearly exterminated, Mr. Moffat's Batlapins were left alone.

Two other missionaries of the French Protestant Mission had previously established themselves near Mosega, in 1829, among the Baharutsi tribe, whose chief was Mokatla ; but owing to Moselekatse's destruction of the Bechuanas, they had to relinquish their mission and retire to Motito, near Kuruman, where they rapidly gathered round them the flying remnants of the above unfortunate Bechuana tribes. Part of one Barolong tribe, however, under its young chief, Matlabe, joined Moselekatse, but remained only a short time under his severe discipline. Many English missionaries and travellers went over this country north of the Vaal about this period, including the Rev. J. Campbell, Dr. Philip, Dr. A. Smith, Capt. W. C Harris, Mr. H. M. Methuen, Rev. J. J. Freeman, Mr. R. Gordon-Cuming, Gen. Thompson, and Mr. James Chapman, who pub- MATABELELAND. 14 lished works of their travels, and who all unite in describing the utter desolation of the territory between the Vaal river and Mosele katse's country, which, to use the expressive words of one of the unfortunate deposed chief tains, "contained no master other than Mosele katse and the lions."

This state of perfect security and savage superiority in which Moselekatse lived, was, however, not to last long, as about 1836, parties of emigrant Boers left the Cape Colony and wended their way northwards, in order to free themselves from the detested yoke of the English Government ; and arriving at the Vet river — now Orange Free State — they found a small portion of the Batating tribe living there under Makwena, who was only too glad to gain such powerful allies, and willingly granted the country between the Vet and Vaal rivers to Commandant Potgieter, upon condition that his tribe were to receive a herd of cattle and be protected from the Matabele. Shortly after wards, in May, a Boer hunting party was returning from the interior (where they had been successfully chasing the elephant) and was surrounded by several hundred Matabele RISE OF THE MATABELE NATION. 15 warriors and nearly all murdered.

Another party, some distance away, had also fallen in with other Matabele warriors, and lost several lives. The survivors of the two parties joined, and beingattacked in their laager — or hollow square built of waggons — by the Matabele, beat them back, slaying hundreds. The two broken impis then united and retreated to their chief's kraal for reinforcements with the news of the Boer invasion. During the following months every precaution was taken by the Boers to strengthen their posi tion and be ready to receive the returning Matabele impis ; and in October they were attacked by 5,000 Matabele warriors, under Kalipi, Moselekatse's favourite general, and again beat them off, after prolonged fighting, although they lost nearly all their cattle and horses, sheep and goats. Another large party of emigrant Boers, under Commandant Maritz, now arrived on the scene, and made up a force of nearly 200 men, assisted by a Griqua captain, Pieter Davids, who had lost a daughter and nephew, captured alive by the Matabele, and Matlabe, the Barolong chief — who had lived with Moselekatse some time — and volunteered to act as guide.

So secretly had the puni tive expedition collected, and so ably was it guided, that on the 17th of January, 1837, they reached Moselekatse's military kraal at Mosega, and surprised the camp — but not the King. At this place, a few months earlier, three American missionaries, Messrs. Lindley, Venable, and Dr. Wilson, had taken up their abode with the chief's permission ; but later on Mosele katse revoked this leave, and forbade his people to listen to them, leaving his kraal and establishing himself at Kapayin, 50 miles further northwards, where his principal forces were under Kalipi, when the Boers attacked Mosega. After a short fight, during which the attacking party did not lose a man, nearly 500 Matabele were killed, all the kraals burnt, and the waggons, cattle, &c, retaken. So the Boers returned victoriously to the south of the Vaal, and with them went the American missionaries.

THE RISE OF THE MATABELE {continued) — DIFFI- CULTIES WITH THE BOERS. Other parties of Boers joining the advance trek, there were about 1,000 waggons between the Orange and Vaal rivers in May, 1837, so the Commandant-General, P. Retief, resolved to send another expedition against the Matabele, having previously sent messages to Moselekatse to ask that he should agree to peace, provided all prisoners were released and property restored ; no answer to which was received. About this time, Dingaan, who had succeeded Tshaka, his brother — whom he had murdered — as King of the Zulus, sent a large impi against Moselekatse, and defeated the Matabele most decisively, killing one regiment almost entirely. These Zulus then returned to Zululand with a lot of cattle, among which were many belonging »7 to the Trek Boers; and this led to further complications between the Zulus and the emi grants, with which, however, we have nothing further to do.

Splits in the emigrant Boer camp occurring, Retief went off with one party to Natal ; and Commandants H. Potgieter and P. Uys got together a commando of 350 farmers, in two divisions, for another expedition against the Matabele, which journeyed north, and, in November, 1837, found Mondekula on the Marikiva at his military kraal of Kapayin, when they attacked him ; and in a series of fights, lasting over a week, they inflicted such heavy losses that that chief and his remaining warriors fled northwards beyond the Limpopo, and have never come south of this since then. Notwithstanding his heavy loss in men and cattle, Moselekatse soon established himself in the vicinity of Shiloh in a well-watered and wooded district full of game, and began the same policy of devastation and destruction on the surrounding peaceful tribes of Mashunas, Makalakas, and Maarwas as had distinguished his previous career, meeting the only check on his ambition from Kgama's father, Sekomi, on the south-south-west, and from the Barutsi on the north.

On one occasion, when both Kgama and Lo Bengula were young men, a fight occurred about cattle raiding between the Matabeles and the Bamangwato near Ma cloutsi, where Lo Bengula was slightly wounded in the neck with a bullet from Kgama's gun, the mark of which he bore until his death. After this time, however, Moselekatse always showed a desire to treat Englishmen well, and on one occasion thus addressed his subjects concerning the English : — " These are the masters of the world. Don't you take notice how they sleep in the open country alone and unprotected, and are not afraid ? They are in my country one day ; they pass on to the towns of other chiefs ; they go fearlessly, for they bear no malice, and are the friends of all. And when the great men in the white man's country send traders for my ivory, do you think they give me beautiful things in exchange because they could not take the ivory by force ?

They could come and take it by force, and all my cattle also. And yet look at them ! They are humble and quiet and easily pleased. The English are the friends of Moselekatse, and they are the masters of the world." (" North of the Orange River," p. 312, Rev. J. Mackenzie.) The numerous visitors to his kraals and territory all speak in high terms of his friendship ; especially was this so of Dr. Livingstone, Thomas Baines, and Mr. Mackenzie. The old chief died in 1870, after severe fighting, in which the old Royal Regiment, the Zweng Mdaba, who sided with the eldest son, was entirely exterminated by the younger regiments ; and the eldest one, Kuriman, having disappeared, he was succeeded by his second son, Lo Ben gula, who, while fearing the white man, became more bloodthirsty and autocratic than his sire had ever been — at any rate during the later years of his life ; and from time to time he has killed off all his relatives, including uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, and cousins innumerable ; each year also sending out powerful impis to raid upon the surrounding tribes, killing off the men, women, and children, sparing only the boys for incor poration with his regiments as warriors, and the best-looking girls as favourites for himself or wives for his subjects.

In this way, although his people must number about 300,000 souls, and his army consists of from 12,000 to 16,000 warriors, yet, as a nation, I think it is granted that the Matabeles have deteriorated and are of anything but pure blood, though the Rev. Mr. Helm denies this inter mixture through marriage — at any rate among the Indunas and elder men ; while with all their apparent bravery and success against ad joining tribes, they have proved themselves to be but unworthy successors of their brave fore fathers, and have never been pitted against warriors of equal training or strength. Whether Lo Bengula did not want, or could not see his way clear, to take the advice of the many good men who visited his country from time to time will now never be known ; but, with all his faults, he has always shown a desire to follow in his father's footsteps with regard to his treatment of Englishmen.

It is said he was grieved at our reverses in the Transvaal, knowing the Dutch Boer and hating him ; while the successive inroads on his territory by Portuguese and Germans were also matters for alarm, although he feared neither nation. He must, however, have foreseen what was coming when, after the advent of the Warren expedition, the British Protec torate was extended up to the northern boun dary of Kgama's territory and the Shashi river, and Kgama, his old enemy — in fact, the only one who ever held his own against him — was taken under the Imperial protection. No sooner was this done than the King began to be bothered by concession-hunters, from the Cape, Transvaal, and England, as well as threatened by inroads from the south and east by Boers and Portuguese ; so he decided to send a mission home to England to see the great White Queen, and consulted his advisers.

Mr. Maund, himself then after a concession — a persona grata with the King — was authorised to take a letter and the two Indunas home, and did so very creditably, Mr. Johann Colen brander, an other well-known Natal trader-hunter, accompanying them as interpreter.1 The history 1 The following is the text of Lo Bengula's letter to Her Majesty : — " Lo Bengula desires to know that there is a Queen. Some of the people who come into this land tell him there is a Queen, some of them tell him there is not. " Lo Bengula can only find out the truth by sending eyes to see whether there is a Queen. of the visit to England of the Indunas, Um sheti and Babjaan, is too well known to be repeated here. The result of the mission, however, has not proved so satisfactory as was anticipated, as through the advice, presumably given by the A.P.S. and Lord Knutsford, the King refused at first to believe that the conces sion to the Chartered Company was approved of, and therefore killed his chief adviser, Lofcha, and 70 of his adherents, who had all been in favour of granting the application.

To counteract this feeling, those at home in terested in the concession had influence enough to obtain the despatch in 1890 of Capt. Fer guson, Sergeant-Major Melladew, Corporal- Major White, and Trooper Ross, of the Life Guards, who all appeared before the King in full uniform, with presents, and shortly after wards Lo Bengula agreed to sign the con cession to Messrs. Rudd, Maguire, and " The Indunas are his eyes. " Lo Bengula desires, if there is a Queen, to ask her to advise and help him, as he is much troubled by white men who come into his country and ask to dig gold. " There is no one with him upon whom he can trust, and he asks that the Queen will send some one from her self." Thompson, which was done on October 30, 1888, the document being translated by the Rev. C. D. Helm, who had long been a missionary at Hopefontein, and Mr. J. F. Dreyes.* Previously to this, however, Lo Bengula had also made an agreement of alliance and friendship with the British Government.