"he is a merman." 139 



mined to press on without having seen this lady. The rains 

 and almost continuous fevers were wearing sadly on the natur- 

 ally vigorous man, and he felt deeply anxious to advance as 

 expeditiously as possible. 



At the confluence of the Leeba and the Makondo they found 

 traces of the Mambari merchants. These enterprising men are 

 satisfied to hold their valuable trade with the interior wilds, 

 and feel under no obligation to enlighten their customers con- 

 cerning the world beyond the rivers which bound their domin- 

 ions. They represent the white men as dwelling in the sea. 

 These representations of the Mambari explain the almost reso- 

 lute confidence of the Balonda in the belief that Livingstone 

 was none other than a merman. Indeed, the hair of Living- 

 stone was the greatest curiosity. They could account for the 

 deeper shades of their complexion, because he showed them the 

 effect of the sun and weather in bronzing his own hands and 

 face, while the skin of his breast, unexposed, remained perfectly 

 white. But the hair — they had never seen straight hair. It 

 must be, they reasoned ; " he comes out of the sea. The waves 

 have washed his hair straight. He is a, merman." 



These people are sadly superstitious; in this they are unlike 

 the more southern tribes, who, it will be remembered, mani- 

 fested hardly anything of the sort. They employ every variety 

 of charms, and everywhere there are evidences of their idol 

 worship. 



After the failure to accomplish an interview with Manenko, 

 the party advanced as far as a village over which an aunt of 

 that lady, named Nyamoana, wielded the sceptre. It was rather 

 a new thing under the African sun to be in the power of the 

 women ; but Dr. Livingstone deported himself as graciously as 

 though he had been an experienced attendant of the sex. The 

 good lady who did him the honors now was bent on having him 

 turn aside from the Leeba and allow her people to conduct him 

 to her brother, who was the greatest chief in all that part of 

 Balonda. It was no use to urge the desirableness of river 

 transportation. Her head was set, and just in the midst of the 

 controversy she was reinforced by the unexpected arrival of 

 Manenko. The odds were against him, and the great explorer, 

 who had cut his w r ay through forests and carried his point 



