Shortly after his return, and pending the final arrangements for the
removal of the missionary station, it was considered advisable that
Robert Moffat should pay his long promised visit to Makaba, the chief of
the Bangwaketsi. He left on the 1st of July, 1824, and was accompanied
by a large party of Griquas, who were going into that region to hunt
elephants.

Skirting the edge of the Kalahari desert for some time they afterwards
deviated from their course through want of water, and visited Pitsana,
where a great concourse of natives had gathered, consisting of the
different sections of the Barolong tribe, who had been driven from their
country the previous year during the invasion of the Mantatees. Thence
they proceeded onward till they reached Kwakwe, the residence of Makaba
and his people, and the metropolis of the Bangwaketsi. Here the
missionary was most favourably received by the king, who remarked, with
a laugh, "That he wondered they should trust themselves, unarmed, in the
town of such a _villain_ as he was reported to be."

He entertained Moffat and his party royally, declaring, "My friends, I
am perfectly happy; my heart is whiter than milk, because you have
visited me. To-day I am a great man. You are wise and bold to come and
see with your own eyes, and laugh at the testimony of my enemies."

Moffat tried on several occasions to converse with the chief and his
people on Divine things, but apparently with little success. At length
on the Sabbath he resolved to pay Makaba a formal visit, so as to obtain
a hearing for the subject. He found the monarch seated among a large
number of his principal men, all engaged either preparing skins, cutting