Chap. XVII. 
MATIAMVO’S CONDUCT. 
817 
in every village, and we often hear it going from sunset to sun¬ 
rise. They seem to look upon the departed as vindictive beings, 
and I suspect are more influenced by fear than by love. In be¬ 
ginning to speak on religious subjects with those who have never 
heard of Christianity, the great fact of the Son of God having 
come down from heaven to die for us, is the prominent -theme. 
No fact more striking can be mentioned. He actually came 
to men. He himself told us about his Father, and the dwelling- 
place whither he has gone. We have his words in this book, 
and he really endured punishment in our stead from pure love,” 
&c. If this fails to interest them, nothing else will succeed. 
We here met with some people just arrived from the town of 
Matiamvo (Muata yanvo), who had been sent to announce the 
death of the late chieftain of that name. Matiamvo is the here¬ 
ditary title—^muata meaning lord, or chief. The late Matiamvo 
seems, from the report of these men, to have been insane, for he 
is said to have sometimes indulged the whim of running a muck 
in the town and beheading whomsoever he met, until he had 
quite a heap of human heads. Matiamvo explained this conduct 
by saying that his people were too many, and he wanted to dimi¬ 
nish them. He had absolute power of life and death. On in¬ 
quiring whether human sacrifices were still made, as in the time 
of Pereira, at Cazembe’s, we were informed that these had never 
been so common as was represented to Pereira, but that it occa¬ 
sionally happened, when certain charms were needed by the chief, 
that a man was slaughtered for the sake of some part of his 
body. He added that he hoped the present chief would not act 
like his (mad) predecessor, but kill only those who were guilty 
of witchcraft or theft. These men were very much astonished 
at the liberty enjoyed by the Makololo; and when they found 
that all my people held cattle, we were told that Matiamvo alone 
had a herd. One very intelligent man among them asked, “ If 
he should make a canoe and take it down the river to the Mako¬ 
lolo, would he get a cow for it ? ” This question, which my men 
answered in the affirmative, was important, as showing the know¬ 
ledge of a water communication from the country of Matiamvo 
to the Makololo; and the river runs through a fertile country 
abounding in large timber. If the tribes have intercourse with 
each other, it exerts a good influence on their chiefs to hear what 
