310 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



son Isaac ; it was shown as large as life, and the uplifted knife 

 was in the act of striking the lad ; the Balonda men remarked 

 that the picture was much more like a god than the things of 

 wood or clay they worshiped. Livingstone explained that this 

 man was the first of a race to whom God had given the Bible, 

 now held, and that among his children our Savior appeared. 

 The ladies listened with silent awe ; but when he moved the 

 slide, the uplifted dagger moving toward them, they thought it 

 was to be sheathed in their bodies instead of Isaac's. "Mother ! 

 mother !" all shouted at once, and off they rushed helter-skelter, 

 tumbling pell-mell over each other, and over the little idol-huts 

 and tobacco-bushes : nor could they be induced to come back 

 a^ain. Shinte, however, sat bravely through the whole perform- 

 ance and afterward examined the instrument with interest. An 

 explanation was always added after each time of showing its 

 powers, so that no one should imagine there was aught super- 

 natural in it. 



HOW SHINTE PROVED HIS LOVE. 



IT being now in the rainy season, everything was so wet that 

 it was almost impossible to procure guides, and more especially 

 since Shinte had contracted such a great liking for Livingstone 

 that he was anxious to detain him, believing that so long as the 

 white man remained in the village there would befall himself and 

 people nothing but good luck and pleasure. 



One miserably rainy day, while Livingstone was alone in his 

 tent, Shinte stepped in as though anxious no one should observe 

 him ; after examining such curiosities as a looking-glass, books, 

 hair-brushes, comb, watch, etc., he closed the tent opening that 

 no one might witness the extravagance of which he was about to 

 be guilty. He then drew out from his limited clothing a string 

 of beads and the end of a conical shell, which he hung about 

 Livingstone's neck with the remark, "There, now, you have a 

 proof of my friendship." The value of this present in the esti- 

 mation of Shinte was very great, for such a shell is considered in 

 that region of as much value as the Lord Mayor's badge in Eng- 

 land. For two of them a slave might be bought, and five would be 



