ELEPHANT-HUNT. 387 



their present position, and, when I asked him wiry he did 

 not possess these useful animals, he said, " Who would give 

 us the medicine to enable us to keep them?" I found out 

 the reason afterward in the prevalence of tsetse ; but of 

 this he was ignorant, having supposed that he could not 

 keep cattle because he had no medicine. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 



DR. LIVINGSTONE REACHES TETE. 



14th. — "We left Nyampungo this morning. The path 

 wound up the Molinge, another sand-river which flows into 

 the Nake. When we got clear of the tangled jungle which 

 covers the banks of these rivulets, we entered the Mopane 

 country, where we could walk with comfort. When we 

 had gone on a few hours, my men espied an elephant, and 

 were soon in full pursuit. They were in want of meat, 

 having tasted nothing but grain for several days. The 

 desire for animal food made them all eager to slay him, 

 and, though an old bull, he was soon killed The people 

 of iSTyampungo had never seen such desperadoes before. 

 One rushed up and hamstrung the beast, while still stand- 

 ing, by a blow with an axe. Some Banyai elephant- 

 hunters happened to be present when my men were fighting 

 with him. One of them took out his snuff-box and poured 

 out all its contents at the root of a tree, as an offering to 

 the Barimo for success. As soon as the animal fell, the 

 whole of my party engaged in a wild, savage dance round 

 the body, which quite frightened the Banyai, and he who 

 made the offering said to me, "I see you are travelling 

 with people who don't know how to pray: I therefore 

 offered the only thing I had in their behalf, and the ele- 

 phant soon fell." One of Nyampungo's men, who remained 

 with me, ran u little forward, when an opening in the trees 



