CHAP, VIII.] 
GALLANTRY OF KATCHIBA. 
331 
Alas !—for destiny—my arrival cut short the existence 
of one being; what was joy to some was death to a 
sheep, and in a few moments the fattest was slain in 
honour of masters return, and my men were busily 
employed in preparing it for a general feast. 
Numbers of people gathered round me; foremost 
among them was the old chief Katchiba, whose self- 
satisfied countenance exhibited an extreme purity of 
conscience in having adhered to his promise to act as 
guardian during my absence. Mrs. Baker gave him 
an excellent character; he had taken the greatest care 
of her, and had supplied all the luxuries that had so 
much excited my appetite on the first coup cTceil of my 
home. He had been so mindful of his responsibility, 
that he had placed some of his own sons as sentries 
over the hut both by day and night. 
I accordingly made him a present of many beads 
and bracelets, and a few odds and ends, that threw him 
into ecstacies : he had weak eyes, and the most valued 
present was a pair of sun-goggles, which I fitted on his 
head, to his intense delight, and exhibited in a looking- 
glass—this being likewise added to his gifts. I noticed 
that he was very stiff in the back, and he told me that 
he had had a bad fall during my absence. My wife 
explained the affair. He had come to her to declare 
his''intention of procuring fowls for her from some 
