noon
Lomalindela , it seemed , had received my envoy with a very considerable display of austerity , and had submitted him to a most rigorous cross-questioning ; but , luckily , the Tottie had nothing to conceal , and was therefore able to tell a perfectly straightforward story , which , as Piet believed , had not only allayed the monarch 's suspicions , but had also aroused in him a very lively curiosity to see the white man and his wonderful fire tubes which slew from afar . The result of the mission was therefore , on the whole , quite satisfactory , the king having not only accorded me permission to enter his country and kill game in it , but also entrusted my messenger with an invitation to me to visit him at Gwanda , and remain there as long as I pleased . This being the case , and the river having fallen nearly a foot since Piet and I had first arrived at the ford , I seized the favourable opportunity , and safely transferred the wagon and all my other belongings to the Mashona side of the river upon the afternoon of the day of Piet 's return ; and , following the course of the stream to which I attributed the formation of the ford -- and which , Piet informed me , led direct to Gwanda -- outspanned for the night some six miles to the northward of the Limpopo . The next day we continued our trek , and shortly before noon arrived at the first Mashona village on the route . It was a place of some importance , containing about a thousand huts of the usual beehive shape , but somewhat larger than those usually built by the Zulus , and with entrances large enough to enable a man to pass through by merely bending his body instead of having to go down upon his knees . The village was circular in plan , and was protected by a solidly constructed stockade , built of stout tree trunks driven deeply into the ground , with a slight outward slope ; the stockade being about sixteen feet high on the outside , with the tops of the piles sharpened to render it unclimbable . There were four gateways in the stockade , giving access to the two principal streets , which crossed each other at right angles , intersecting in the centre of the village , at which point there was a spacious open square , where the public business of the village was transacted and where the village sports were held .