8 EXTRACTS FROM DR. KIRK's LETTERS. 



Johanna only, which necessitates the use of unskilled 

 interpreters. 



"2. On the seventh day they were at Makarika, 

 where they rested two days, and after eleven marches 

 came to Mataka, a town of considerable size, the resi- 

 dence of a chief who has power over a large district and 

 many people. These are of the Waiao tribe, the same 

 whom we call Ajawah on the Zambesi. 



" 3. Here (Mataka) Dr. Livingstone discarded all 

 except the Havildar, who stuck to him bravely, and 

 advanced, while his men (the Sepoys) returned to the 

 coast in company with a slave caravan which passed 

 that way, soon after Dr. Livingstone had left Mataka. 

 An estimate of Dr. Livingstone's confidence in these 

 men may be formed from the fact that his letters and 

 dispatches were entrusted to the chief Mataka to be 

 given to the first caravan. These important docu- 

 ments have not yet been received, although six of the 

 Sepoys have come in, and caravans arrived at Quioloa. 



" 4. Having been fifteen days at Mataka, he ad- 

 vanced still in a westerly course." (By Moosa's compass, 

 I suppose.) 



"5. Eight days' march over a hilly country brought 

 them to Mataka, one day distant from the border of 

 a lake. The day following their arrival at the lake, 

 they obtained four canoes, and embarking in the 

 morning, were all landed on the opposite shore by 

 noon. Water extended to the north as far as they 

 could see, and they heard of no end in that direction. 

 To the south it seemed still wider. They also stated 

 that the canoes were propelled by means of poles, 

 and paddles were seldom used. The lake at this 



