INTERVIEW WITH KATEMA. 
193 
a I am tho great Moeno (lord) Katema, tbo fellow of Ma- 
tiamvo. Thoro is no one in tbo country equal to Matiamvc 
and mo I have always lived hero, and my forcfatbors too. 
There is tho house in which my father lived. You found 
no human skulls near tho place whero you are encamped 
I novor killed any of the traders : they all como to mo. I 
am tho great Moeno Katema, of whom you havo heard ” 
Ho looked as if ho had fallen asleep tipsy and dreamed 
of his greatness. On explaining my objects to him, ho 
promptly pointed out three men who would bo our guides, 
and explained that tho northwest path was the most 
direct, and that by which all traders came, but that the 
water at present standing on the plains would roach up to 
tho loins: ho would therefore 6ond us by a moro northerly 
route, which no trader had yot traversed. This was more 
suited to our wishes, for wo novor found a path safo that 
had been trodden by slave-traders. 
Wo presented a few articles which ploasod him highly, — 
a small shawl, a razor, threo bunches of beads, somo but- 
tons, and a powder-horn. Apologizing for tho insignifi- 
cance of tho gift, 1 wished to know what 1 could bring 
him from Loanda, saying, not a largo thing, but something 
small. He laughed heartily at tho limitation, and replied, 
“Everything of tho whito pcoplo would bo acceptable, and 
bo would rcccivo any thing thankfully; but tho coat he 
then had on was old, and he would like another.” I intro- 
duced tho subject of tho Biblo; but ono of tho old coun- 
cillors broko in, told all ho had picked up from tho Mam- 
bari, and glided off into several other subjects. It is t 
misory to speak through an interpreter, as I was now 
forced to do. With a body of men liko mine, composod as 
they woro of six different tribes, and all speaking tho lan- 
»piago of tho Bechuanas, thcro was no difficulty in comma 
eating on common subjects with any tribe wo camo to; but 
doling out a story in which they folt no interest, and 
■which I understood only sufficiently well to perceive that 
a mero abridgment was given, was uncommonly slow 
17 
