180 MANIOC-GARDENS. 



that we had been driven away from, the town, since we had 

 been several days with him, he gave a most hearty saluta- 

 tion, and we parted with the wish that God might bless 

 him- 



CHAPTER XVII. 



DR. LIVINGSTONE PASSES THROUGH LONDA AND VISITS 

 KATE MA. 



26th. — Leaving Shinte, with eight of his men to aid in 

 carrying our luggage, we passed, in a northerly direction, 

 down the lovely valley on which the town stands, then 

 went a little to the west through pretty open forest, and 

 slept at a village of Balonda. In the morning we had a 

 Sne range of green hills, called Saloisho, on our right, and 

 were informed that they were rather thickly inhabited 

 1>y the people of Shinte, who worked in iron, the ore of 

 jdiieh abounds in these hills. 



The country through which we passed possessed the same 

 general character of flatness and forest that we noticed 

 before The soil is dark with a tinge of red — in some 

 places it might be called red — and appeared very fertile. 

 Every valley contained villages of twenty or thirty huts, 

 with gardens of manioc, which here is looked upon as the 

 etafl 7 of life. Yery little labor is required for its cultiva- 

 tion. The earth is drawn up into oblong beds, about three 

 feet broad and one in height, and in these are planted 

 pieces of the manioc-stalk, at four feet apart A crop of 

 beans or groundnuts is sown between them, and when 

 these are reaped the land around the manioc is cleared of 

 weeds. In from ten to eighteen months after planting, ac- 

 cording to the quality of the soil, the roots are fit for food. 

 There is no necessity for reaping soon, as the roots do not 

 become bitter and dry until after three years. When a 



