as my guides and interpreters, and would be able to render me invaluable assistance. On further conversation I learnt that the Portuguese traders from Loanda, Mossamedes, and Benguela are thoroughly acquainted with the district between the west coast and Lake Bangweolo, and with all the country eastwards as far as the mouth of the Kafue, the whole of which we are accustomed to consider as “terra incognita;” they not only are acquainted with the rulers of the native states, but are intimate with all the sub-chieftains, knowing their individual peculiarities; they are familiar with the winding of every hill, and the passage of every river; but meanwhile they are most careful, in conjunction with their white colleagues, to keep all their knowledge to themselves, always fearful that the traders of other nations may be attracted to what they are wont to consider their own proper fields for ivory and caoutchouce.
Overhearing that Sepopo was speaking to me about my having the services of two guides, Sykendu came up and put in his word again. He raised his hat, bowed almost to the ground, crossed himself, and swore by the Holy Virgin that he and his brother were two of the best Christians in the interior, and as such would be the most suitable guides I could find. Probably this attestation on his part was made in answer to the suspicious look with which I regarded him and his associate.
Sepopo waited a moment or two to see whether I had more to say, and then remarked that he was satisfied it would be a good thing for me to learn either the Serotse or the Makololo dialect, as it might enable me to avoid what had happened to
