The Makololo chiefs approach more nearly the idea of an irresponsible despot than any others in this part of Africa; but this is owing to a special set of circumstances, and they cannot be taken as typical. It is the more necessary to bear this in mind, because the chapter of horrors which Mr. Macdonald gives under the heading, ‘A Slave Government,’ may seem to contradict some of the statements we have made. These chiefs, then, were placed in a very exceptional position. They were a small minority of warriors in the midst of an unwarlike population whom they regarded with contempt, but who were strong enough to make them think they must secure their position by ruthless severity. Some of them had actually been slaves themselves, though the only Makololo among them, Ramakukane, was of good family. Cruelty is not a Makololo trait, though Sebituane and Sekeletu could act with firmness and even harshness when the occasion seemed to demand it. But some unusually barbarous punishments seem to have been used in the Barotse valley where the Makololo had settled, and to which some of these chiefs belonged by birth. They may have brought some of these customs with them; and their becoming possessed of virtually unlimited power, while at the same time their footing was but a precarious one, did the rest. None of them was subject to the others; they were far enough apart to be quite independent; but they acted together in face of a common enemy. It is a pleasing fiction that their despotism was on the whole of a benevolent character, and voluntarily submitted to by the Mang’anja, who welcomed them as protectors against the Yaos; but this illusion is dispelled by a closer acquaintance with the facts. Even before the departure of the Livingstone expedition, they had begun to tyrannise over the Shiré population; but it was only after that event that their power became fully established. Several of them were undoubtedly men of fine qualities; but a careful examination of their careers before and after (roughly speaking) 1861, leads to the conclusion that some at least must have degenerated sadly. They took advantage of the famine of 1862-3 to enslave the Mang’anja, and ‘their power increased every day till they could claim all on the Lower Shiré for their subjects.’ They had no council of head-men, and though each village had a head-man, he was not a responsible local ruler, but a mere taskmaster appointed by the chief. Forced labour and oppressive tribute were exacted. No woman had a ‘surety,’ as with the Yaos, but the chief disposed at will of his subjects’ daughters—assigned them to husbands of his own choosing, or took them into his harem, as he felt disposed. Wholesale _mwavi_-drinkings took place, at which no one was allowed to refuse the cup; and judicial torture was frequent.