Chap. XVII. CATTLE— A FEAST. 321 



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 bought from the Balobale when he was young. 

 They are generally of a white colour 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 

 containing 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 strange sight to the Balonda, who were looking on, 

 wondering. 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 Mahometans, and the more espe- 

 cially as an exclamation of surprise, " Allah," sounds like the 

 Illah of the Arabs ; but we found, a little farther on, another 

 form of salutation, of Christian (?) origin, " Ave-rie " (Ave 

 Marie). The salutations probably travel farther than the faith. 

 My people, when satisfied with a meal like that which they enjoy 

 so often at home, amused themselves by an uproarious dance. 

 Katema sent to ask what I had given them to produce so much 



Y 



