498 
TAKING THE LATITUDE OF LITAKUN. 
31 July, 
would not, I could assure him, send out a * commando' unless he were 
fully convinced, by the rriost certain proofs, that the tribe which he 
had named, were the murderers of our unfortunate countrymen ; and 
therefore it was requisite that he should command all his people who 
had in their possession any European goods which were believed to 
have been part of the contents of those waggons, to bring them to 
me, that I might, by examining them, be enabled to report to the 
white-men, that of what I related, I had myself seen indubitable 
proofs. This he promised should be done on the morrow. He gave 
me a complete and circumstantial account of the murder, which he 
said he had received from a man and woman who had been eye- 
witnesses of it, and who were now at Litakun. I desired that these 
two people might be brought to me, that I might ask them some 
questions on the subject. Here the conversation ended, and he took 
his leave. 
As Gert and Muchunka were both present during this com- 
munication, they related all to the rest of my men, who, I found, 
gave full and implicit belief to the whole of Mattlvi's story. Their 
reason for so readily crediting all the tales of this kind, which they 
heard, was, probably, the justification which these seemed to afford 
for the timidity of their own conduct and their reluctance to advance 
farther into the Interior. 
After all the natives had left the mootsi, and my own men had 
retired to sleep, I took, unknown to any one, an observation to 
determine the latitude of this place ; which I computed to be 
27°. 6 . 44 * The motive for keeping secret those operations which 
required the use of instruments, which might appear desirable to the 
natives, has already been stated f ; and the present and every sub- 
sequent occasion, convinced me that it is always practicable ; at least, 
with reference to the ascertaining of the latitude by a star : and I 
believe that in these regions, it was never known to any but my own 
* On the 31st of July 1812. at Litakun, near the Chief's residence, the observed 
meridional altitude of « Pegasi (Markab) was 48°. 42'. 7". 
f In the first volume, at page 577. 
