348 A DIGNIFIED ANCIENT. 



ment. Intemese replied it was their custom, and they meant 

 no harm. The companion of the ox we slaughtered refused 

 food for two days, and went lowing about for him continually. 

 He seemed inconsolable for his loss, and tried again and again 

 to escape back to the Makololo country. My men remarked, 

 "He thinks they will kill me as well as my friend." Katema 

 thought it the result of art, and had fears of my skill in medi- 

 cine, and of course witchcraft. He refused to see the magic 

 lantern. 



One of the affairs which had been intrusted by Shinte to 

 Intemese was the rescue of a wife who had eloped with a young 

 man belonging to Katema. As this was the only case I have 

 met with in the interior in which a fugitive was sent back to a 

 chief against his own will, I am anxious to mention it. On 

 Intemese claiming her as his master's wife, she protested loudly 

 against it, saying " she knew she was not going back to be a 

 wife again ; she was going back to be sold to the Mambari." 

 My men formed many friendships with the people of Katema, 

 and some of the poorer classes said in confidence, "We wish our 

 children could go back with you to the Makololo country ; here 

 we are all in danger of being sold." My men were of opinion 

 that it was only the want of knowledge of the southern country 

 which prevented an exodus of all the lower portions of Londa 

 population thither. 



It is remarkable how little people living in a flat forest 

 country like this know of distant tribes. An old man, who said 

 he had been born about the same time as the late Matiamvo, 

 and had been his constant companion through life, visited us ; 

 and as I was sitting on some grass in front of the little gipsy 

 tent mending my camp stool, I invited him to take a seat on 

 the grass beside me. This was peremptorily refused: "he had 

 never sat on the ground during the late chief's reign, and he 

 was not going to degrade himself now." One of my men handed 

 him a log of wood taken from the fire, and helped him out of 

 the difficulty. When I offered him some cooked meat on a 

 plate, he would not touch that either, but would take it home. 

 So I humored him by sending a servant to bear a few ounces 

 of meat to the town behind him. He mentioned the Lolo 

 (Lulua) as the branch of the Leeambye which flows southward 



