122 A SWIM IN THE LAKE. 



rise, their orders being to get the despatches and 

 any information they could, and rejoin us at Pamqua- 

 la in ten days. After breakfast Mr. Young informed 

 me that he had changed his mind with regard to 

 crossing the lake, and would instead go back to 

 PamquaM, and there await the return of the 

 party. 



About eleven o'clock Karongo came down to the 

 boat, bringing a fine tusk for sale. He was not satis- 

 fied till he had seen everything belonging to us. In 

 the evening Reid, Stacy, and myself took a swim in 

 the lake, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It is a great 

 blessing to be able to get a swim up here. I shall 

 never forget how dreadfully tantalising it was on the 

 Zambesi and Shire rivers, when I would have given 

 anything for a plunge into their waters, as day by day 

 they flowed past, to be deterred from doing so by the 

 unpleasant knowledge that, once in, the alligators 

 would immediately appropriate my body to their own 

 use. 



It blew hard all the afternoon from the south-west, 

 and we congratulated ourselves that we were in a 

 snug harbour. During our stay here a man who had 

 heard of the inquiries we were making came from 

 an adjacent village, bringing with him a looking- 

 glass, which he stated had been given him by a white 

 man about a year since. He underwent a long ex- 

 amination, and told the same story as the rest, almost 

 word for word, giving an exact description of Living- 

 stone's dress, &c. I asked him, if he saw the man 

 again, whether he would know him or not. He re- 

 plied, '' Oh, yes." I then handed him my book, 



