378 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 



of the great work which this country had undertaken, to free the 

 African races, and to abolish, in the first place, the slave-trade by 

 sea, and then, as we hope, the slaving by land." 



In September an Arab slaver was met at Marenga's, 

 who told Musa, one of the Johanna men, that all 

 the country in front was full of Mazitu, a warlike 

 tribe ; that forty-four Arabs and their followers had 

 been killed by them at Kasunga, and that he only 

 had escaped. Musa's heart was filled with consternation. 

 It was in vain that Marenga assured him that there were 

 no Mazitu in the direction in which he was going, and 

 that Livingstone protested to him that he would give 

 them a wide berth. The Johanna men wanted an excuse 

 for going back, but in such a way that, when they reached 

 Zanzibar, they should get their pay. They left him in a 

 body, and when they got to Zanzibar, circulated a circum- 

 stantial report that he had been murdered. In December 

 1866, Musa appeared at Zanzibar, and told how Living- 

 stone had crossed Lake Nyassa to its western or north- 

 western shore, and was pushing on west or north-west, 

 when, between Marenga and Maklisoora, a band of savages 

 stopped the way, and rushed on him and his small band 

 of followers, now reduced to twenty. Livingstone fired 

 twice, and killed two ; but, in the act of reloading, three 

 Mafite leapt upon him through the smoke, one of them 

 felled him with an axe-cut from behind, and the blow 

 nearly severed his head from his body. The Johanna 

 men fled into the thick jungle, and miraculously escaped. 

 Returning to the scene of the tragedy, they found the 

 body of their master, and in a shallow grave dug with 

 some stakes, they committed his remains to the ground. 

 Many details were given regarding the Sepoys, and 

 regarding the after fortunes of Musa and his companions. 

 Under cross-examination Musa stood firmly to his story, 

 which was believed both by Dr. Seward and Dr. Kirk of 

 Zanzibar. But when the tidings reached England, doubt 



