tall man, about forty years of age,
and his head was ornamented with a helmet of beads and feathers. He had
on a snuff-brown coat, with a broad band of tinsel down the arms, and
carried in his hand a large tail made of the caudal extremities of a
number of gnus. This has charms attached to it, and he continued waving
it in front of himself all the time we were there. He seemed in good
spirits, laughing heartily several times. This is a good sign, for a man
who shakes his sides with mirth is seldom difficult to deal with. When
we rose to take leave, all rose with us, as at Shinte's.

Returning next morning, Katema addressed me thus: "I am the great Moene
(lord) Katema, the fellow of Matiamvo. There is no one in the country
equal to Matiamvo and me. I have always lived here, and my forefathers
too. There is the house in which my father lived. You found no human
skulls near the place where you are encamped. I never killed any of the
traders; they all come to me. I am the great Moene Katema, of whom you
have heard." He looked as if he had fallen asleep tipsy, and dreamed of
his greatness. On explaining my objects to him, he promptly pointed out
three men who would be our guides, and explained that the northwest path
was the most direct, and that by which all traders came, but that the
water at present standing on the plains would reach up to the loins; he
would therefore send us by a more northerly route, which no trader had
yet traversed. This was more suited to our wishes, for we never found a
path safe that had been trodden by slave-traders.

We presented a few articles, which pleased him highly: a small shawl,
a razor, three bunches of beads, some buttons, and a powder-horn.
Apologizing for the insignificance of the gift, I wished to know what
I could bring him from Loanda, saying, not a large thing, but something
small. He laughed heartily at the limitation, and replied, "Every thing
of the white people would be acceptable, and he would receive any thing
thankfully; but the coat he then had on was old, and he would like
another." I introduced the subject of the Bible, but one of the old
councilors broke in, told all he had picked up from the Mambari, and
glided off into several other subjects. It is a misery to speak through
an interpreter, as I was now forced to do. With a body of men like mine,
composed as they were of six different tribes, and all speaking the
language of the Bechuanas, there was no difficulty in c