386 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 



I had to inquire about ; for instance, the meaning of the 

 words, ' to haunt and kill by spirit power ; ' then it was, 

 ' Oh, you sent me off to Manga (sea-coast), but the yoke 

 is off when I die, and back I shall come to haunt and to 

 kill you/ Then all joined in the chorus, which was the 

 name of each vendor. It told not of fun, but of the 

 bitterness and tears of such as were oppressed ; and on 

 the side of the oppressors there was power. There be 

 higher than they !" 



His discovery of Lake Bangweolo is recorded as quietly 

 as if it had been a mill-pond: "On the 18th July, I 

 walked a little way out, and saw the shores of the lake 

 for the first time, thankful that I had come safely hither." 

 The lake had several inhabited islands, which Dr. Living- 

 stone visited, to the great wonder of the natives, who 

 crowded around him in multitudes, never having seen 

 such a curiosity as a white man before. In the middle 

 of the lake the canoe-men whom he had hired to carry 

 him across refused to proceed further, under the influence 

 of some fear, real or pretended, and he was obliged to 

 submit. But the most interesting, though not the most 

 pleasant, thing about the lake, was the ooze or sponge 

 which occurred frequently on its banks. The spongy 

 places were slightly depressed valleys, without trees or 

 bushes, with grass a foot or fifteen inches high ; they 

 were usually from two to ten miles long, and from a 

 quarter of a mile to a mile broad. In the course of thirty 

 geographical miles, he crossed twenty-nine, and that too, 

 at the end of the fourth month of the dry season. It was 

 necessary for him to strip the lower part of his person 

 before fording them, and then the leeches pounced on him, 

 and in a moment had secured such a grip, that even 

 twisting them round the fingers failed to tear them off. 



It was Dr. Livingstone's impression at this time that 

 in discovering Lake Bangweolo, with the sponges that fed 

 it, he had made another discovery — that these marshy 



