200 SISTER OF MATTAMOO. 



Barotse valley, but beyond the Orange river we never have 

 cold and damp combined. Indeed, a shower of rain seldom or 

 never falls during winter, and hence the^ healthiness of the Bech- 

 uana climate. From the Barotse valley northward it is ques- 

 tionable if it ever freezes ; but, during the prevalence of the 

 south wind, the thermometer sinks as low as 42°, and conveys 

 the impression of bitter cold." " But," says he, " nothing can 

 exceed the beauty of the change from the wintry appearance to 

 that of spring at Kolobeng. Previous to the commencement 

 of the rains, an easterly wind blows strongly by day but dies away 

 at night. The clouds collect in increasing masses, and relieve 

 in some measure the bright glare of the southern sun. The 

 wind dries up everything, and when at its greatest .strength is 

 hot and raises clouds of dust. The general temperature during 

 the day rises above 96° : then showers begin to fall ; and if the 

 ground is but once well soaked with a good day's rain, the change 

 produced is marvellous. In a day or two a tinge of green is ap- 

 parent all over the landscape, and in five or six days the fresh 

 leaves sprouting forth and the young grass shooting up give>an 

 appearance of spring which it requires weeks of a colder cli- 

 mate to produce." 



One of the pleasantest episodes of this journey, so full of 

 vexatious impositions and shrewd attentions, was the real kind- 

 ness of a female chief, sister of the late Matiamoo, whose village 

 was next en route from the one in which Dr. Livingstone's 

 truly Scottish effort at independence was so flat a failure. She 

 was so ladylike and graceful in her attentions and so liberal, 

 that Livingstone felt the acquaintance almost a compensation 

 for the former incivilities. Real courtesy is not confined to 

 courts and city mansions, nor the peculiar charm of civilization. 

 There is a civility of the soul which is more delicate and helpful 

 than the formalities of most elaborate attentions, and it is a 

 beauty of God's creation that this sweet blossom of his Spirit 

 begems the gloomiest as the brightest places. 



But w r hile the honest courtesies of Nya-ka-longa were sugges- 

 tive of the greater comfort and easier progress which awaited 

 them in the country of old friends, to which they were drawing 

 near, they were destined to meet at least one other serious pro- 

 vocation. At the town of a chief named Kawawa they were 



