194 CATTLE A FEAST. 



work. Neither could Katema's attention be arrested, 

 except by compliments, of which they have always plenty 

 to bestow as well as receive. We were strangers, and 

 knew that, as Makololo, we had not the best of characters; 

 yet his treatment of us was wonderfully good and liberal. 



I complimented him on the possession of cattle, and 

 pleased him by telling him how he might milk the cows. 

 He has a herd of about thirty, really splendid animals, all 

 reared from two which he brought from the Balobale when 

 he was young. They are generally of a white color, and 

 are quite wild, running off with graceful ease like a herd 

 of elands on the approach of a stranger. They excited the 

 unbounded admiration of the Makololo, and clearly proved 

 that the country was well adapted for them. When Katema 

 wishes to slaughter one, he is obliged to shoot it as if it 

 were a buffalo. Matiamvo is said to possess a herd of cattle 

 in a similar state. I never could feel certain as to the 

 reason why they do not all possess cattle in a country con- 

 tain ; ng such splendid pasturage. 



As Katema did not offer an ox, as would have been done 

 by a Makololo or Caffre chief, we slaughtered one of our 

 own, and all of us were delighted to get a meal of meat, 

 after subsisting so long on the light porridge and green 

 maize of Londa. On occasions of slaughtering an animal, 

 some pieces of it are in the fire before the skin is all 

 removed from the body. A frying-pan full of these pieces 

 having been got quickly ready, my men crowded about 

 their father, and I handed some all round. It was a 

 straDgo sight to the Balonda, who were looking on wonder- 

 ing. I offered portions to them too, but these were declined, 

 though they are excessively fond of a little animal food to 

 eat with their vegetable diet. They would not eat with us, 

 but they would take the meat and cook it in their own 

 way, and then use it. I thought at one time that they had 

 imported something from the Mohammedans, and the more 

 especially as an exclamation of surprise, " Allah I" sounds 

 like the Illah of the Arabs; but we found, a little farthex 



