They Excited The Unbounded Admiration Of The Makololo,
And Clearly Proved That The Country Was Well Adapted For Them.
When Katema Wishes To Slaughter One, He Is Obliged To Shoot It
As If It Were A Buffalo.
Matiamvo is said to possess a herd of cattle
in a similar state.
I never could feel certain as to the reason
why they do not all possess cattle in a country containing
such splendid pasturage.
As Katema did not offer an ox, as would have been done
by a Makololo or Caffre chief, we slaughtered one of our own,
and all of us were delighted to get a meal of meat, after subsisting so long
on the light porridge and green maize of Londa. On occasions
of slaughtering an animal, some pieces of it are in the fire before the skin
is all removed from the body. A frying-pan full of these pieces
having been got quickly ready, my men crowded about their father,
and I handed some all round. It was a strange sight to the Balonda,
who were looking on, wondering. I offered portions to them too, but these
were declined, though they are excessively fond of a little animal food
to eat with their vegetable diet. They would not eat with us,
but they would take the meat and cook it in their own way, and then use it.
I thought at one time that they had imported something from the Mohammedans,
and the more especially as an exclamation of surprise, "Allah",
sounds like the Illah of the Arabs; but we found, a little farther on,
another form of salutation, of Christian (?) origin, "Ave-rie" (Ave Marie).
The salutations probably travel farther than the faith.
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