224 TOWN OF MA-SEKELETU. Chap. XII. 



tion of the Portuguese, " because tliey eat pigs ;" and disliked the 

 English, " because they thrash them for selling slaves." I was 

 silent about pork ; though, had they seen me at a hippopotamus 

 two days afterwards, they would have set me down as being as 

 much a heretic as any of that nation ; but I ventured to tell them 

 that I agreed with the English, that it was better to let the 

 children grow up and comfort their mothers when they became 

 old, than to carry them away and sell them across the sea. This 

 they never attempt to justify ; " they want them only to cultivate 

 the land, and take care of them as their children." It is the same 

 old story, justifying a monstrous wrong on pretence of taking 

 care of those degraded portions of humanity winch cannot take 

 care of themselves — doing evil that good may come. 



These Arabs, or Moors, could read and write their own lan- 

 guage readily ; and, when speaking about our Saviour, I admired 

 the boldness with which they informed me "that Christ was a 

 very good prophet, but Mahomet was far greater." And with 

 respect to their loathing of pork, it may have some foundation 

 in their nature ; for I have known Bechuanas, who had no pre- 

 judice against the wild animal, and ate the tame without scruple, 

 yet, unconscious of any cause of disgust, vomit it again. The 

 Bechuanas south of the lake have a prejudice against eating 

 fish, and allege a disgust to eating anything like a serpent. 

 Tins may arise from the remnants of serpent-worship floating 

 in their minds, as, in addition to this horror of eating such 

 animals, they sometimes render a sort of obeisance to living 

 serpents by clapping their hands to them, and refusing to 

 destroy the reptiles ; but in the case of the hog they are 

 conscious of no superstitious feeling. 



Having parted with our Arab friends, we proceeded down the 

 Marile till we re-entered the Leeambye, and went to the town 

 of Ma-Sekeletu (mother of Sekeletu), opposite the island of 

 Loyela. Sekeletu had always supplied me most liberally with 

 food, and, as soon as I arrived, presented me with a pot of boiled 

 meat, while his mother handed me a large jar of butter, of which 

 they make great quantities for the purpose of anointing their 

 bodies. He had himself sometimes felt the benefit of my way 

 of putting aside a quantity of the meat after a meal, and had 



