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 communicating on common subjects with any tribe we came to;
but doling out a story in which they felt no interest, and which I understood
only sufficiently well to perceive that a mere abridgment was given,
was uncommonly slow work. Neither could Katema's attention be arrested,
except by compliments, of which they have always plenty to bestow
as well as receive. We were strangers, and knew that, as Makololo,
we had not the best of characters, yet his treatment of us
was wonderfully good and liberal.
I complimented him on the possession of cattle, and pleased him by telling him
how he might milk the cows. He has a herd of about thirty,
really splendid animals, all reared from two which he bought from the Balobale
when he was young. They are generally of a white color, and are quite wild,
running off with graceful ease like a herd of elands on the approach
of a stranger.
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