MOREMI 
301 
He appreciated our cooking highly, and was delighted to stay to 
meals, when, as soon as the dish of meat, fried as only hunters 
can fry, came on the board, he thought it kingly etiquette to 
immediately dig the fork we supplied him with into the choicest 
piece; and as it is a bad compliment to the host, according to 
native custom, not to clean the platter outright, he often had a 
manful struggle to justify his title to the distinction of first 
gentleman in the land. He conversed freely on all topics con¬ 
cerning African affairs, and, spite of his youth, displayed a 
shrewdness that showed he had lost no opportunity of obtain¬ 
ing the best information. Kimberley had great attractions for 
him, and he told us that it was from Kimberley that he had ob¬ 
tained all his No. 2 breechloading muskets, over two thousand in 
number. He had sent through the intervening hundreds of 
miles repeatedly, engaging the best traders he could get to pur¬ 
chase these guns for him. Armed as he now was, and possessing 
plenty of ammunition, he looked forward with perfect calmness, 
even eagerness, to the next Matabele invasion ; when properly 
warned beforehand, his tribe would make things lively for the 
Matabele when they arrived. They had received timely notice 
of the previous invasion, but could not credit the idea that the 
Matabele would really proceed so far from their own country on 
a marauding expedition in search of cattle, and while dallying 
with the news the Matabele came upon them in great numbers, 
and he and his men fought at the lake to keep them back, 
while the women, children and cattle were being taken to a 
places of safety. But the Matabele were so numerous, that while 
they were fighting with them in one place, man} 7 others slipped 
past by another route, and overtook the fugitives till met by the 
valiant Da Tapo, with the result the reader already knows. 
Moremi was anxious to know about cattle diseases, and how 
far they were contagious. The lung sickness he had heard so 
much about had not yet visited the enormous herds of cattle at 
the lake, and he was anxious to know how to keep it out. 
Hunting was his great relaxation, and he possessed an 
express rifle amongst his many weapons that did marvellous 
