Having returned to Kolobeng, I remained there till April, 1850, and then left in company with Mrs. Livingstone, our three children, and the chief Sechele—­who had now bought a wagon of his own—­in order to go across the Zouga at its lower end, with the intention of proceeding up the northern bank till we gained the Tamunak’le, and of then ascending that river to visit Sebituane in the north.  Sekomi had given orders to fill up the wells which we had dug with so much labor at Serotli, so we took the more eastern route through the Bamangwato town and by Letloche.  That chief asked why I had avoided him in our former journeys.  I replied that my reason was that I knew he did not wish me to go to the lake, and I did not want to quarrel with him.  “Well,” he said, “you beat me then, and I am content.”

Parting with Sechele at the ford, as he was eager to visit Lechulatebe, we went along the northern woody bank of the Zouga with great labor, having to cut down very many trees to allow the wagons to pass.  Our losses by oxen falling into pitfalls were very heavy.  The Bayeiye kindly opened the pits when they knew of our approach; but when that was not the case, we could blame no one on finding an established custom of the country inimical to our interests.  On approaching the confluence of the Tamunak’le we were informed that the fly called tsetse* abounded on its banks.  This was a barrier we never expected to meet; and, as it might have brought our wagons to a complete stand-still in a wilderness, where no supplies for the children could be obtained, we were reluctantly compelled to recross the Zouga.

   * ‘Glossina morsitans’, the first specimens of which were
   brought to England in 1848 by my friend Major Vardon, from the
   banks of the Limpopo.

From the Bayeiye we learned that a party of Englishmen, who had come to the lake in search of ivory, were all laid low by fever, so we traveled hastily down about sixty miles to render what aid was in our power.  We were grieved to find, as we came near, that Mr. Alfred Rider, an enterprising young artist who had come to make sketches of this country and of the lake immediately after its discovery, had died of fever before our arrival; but by the aid of medicines and such comforts as could be made by the only English lady who ever visited the lake, the others happily recovered.  The unfinished drawing of Lake Ngami was made by Mr. Rider just before his death, and has been kindly lent for this work by his bereaved mother.

Sechele used all his powers of eloquence with Lechulatebe to induce him to furnish guides that I might be able to visit Sebituane on ox-back, while Mrs. Livingstone and the children remained at Lake Ngami.  He yielded at last.  I had a very superior London-made gun, the gift of Lieutenant Arkwright, on which I placed the greatest value, both on account of the donor and the impossibility of my replacing it.  Lechulatebe fell violently in love with it, and offered whatever