224 
TOWN OF MA-SEKELETU. 
Chap. XII. 
tionof the Portuguese, “ because they eat pigsand 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 
cliildren 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 cliildren.” It is the same 
old story, justifying a monstrous wrong on pretence of taking 
care of those degraded portions of humanity wliich 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 ivith 
respect to their loathing of pork, it may have some foundation 
in their natoe; 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 anytliing like a serpent. 
This may arise from the remnants of serpent-worsliip fioating 
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 wliich 
they make great quantities for the purpose of anointing their 
bodies. He had liimself sometimes felt the benefit of my way 
of putting aside a quantity of the meat after a meal, and had 
