1812. 
HIS BROTHERS. - THE INTERPRETER. 
363 
mentioned, was a tall thin man, of a countenance most remarkable 
for its long and disproportioned features. The mother of him and 
of his elder brother Mattivi, was a Kora ; but the others were the 
sons of a Bichuana woman. Moldli (or Molaala) was a fine well- 
proportioned young man of a genuine Bichuana countenance and 
complexion, approaching somewhat to the negro. The younger 
brother, Mahura^ was remarkably handsome as a black, and seemed 
to be about twenty years of age. He was of fine proportions, and 
in limbs and figure, not unlike the well known statue of Antinolis, 
though somewhat fatter. On his feet he wore sandals *, and his head 
was bound round, not inelegantly, with a leathern handkerchief, 
nearly in the manner which has been shown in a former plate, f 
The conversation which took place between us, amounted to but 
little ; being much interrupted by passing through the mouth of an 
interpreter. This man seemed quite at home among these people ; 
and, being personally known to most of them, who called him 
familiarly by his name, he often continued the conversation for his 
own pleasure, quite forgetting his official duties, and leaving me to 
guess, by their looks and gestures, or by a single word which now 
and then, though rarely, caught my ear, the purport of what was 
said between them. 
It must not be supposed, because I have called him my inier- 
preter, that he performed his duty with much regularity ; or that he 
had any very strict notions of the nature of his situation. His ideas 
on this subject were the most vague ; and he seemed to think, that 
by giving me occasionally a little of the information, he acquitted 
himself of his obligation. Neither must it be imagined, that at this 
introductory meeting either the Chief or myself, made many com- 
plimentary speeches to each other, or conducted ourselves with much 
courtly formality : to relate such incidents in this manner, might 
perhaps, set off a traveller's story to much advantage, and excite a 
pleasing wonderment in his readers ; but the inflexible rule of truth 
* Figures of the Bachapin sandal are given at the end of this chapter, 
f That of the ' portrait of a Kora.' Plate 10. of the first volume. 
3 A 2 
