TRIALS AND ENCOURAGEMENT. 



271 



fests unqualified fear in his presence. Sometimes two or more 

 of these terrible creatures are known to engage in awful combats 

 with each other; it is then a scene indeed for the gladiatorial 

 ring ; the earth trembles under their tramp, and the horrible 

 snorting and puffing sends a thrill of terror through all the 

 beasts of the forest. The white species was quite extinct along 

 the eastern division of the Zambesi. It falls an easier victim 

 of the hunter, and the native arrows and strategy together would 

 be a serious hindrance to its increase, but since these have been 

 supplemented by the powder and ball of civilized warfare they 

 are fast disappearing, even in the more southern country where 

 they have been most numerous. 



After leaving Monina it was important for the travellers to 

 avoid the villages, as the people nearer the Portuguese settle- 

 ment exhibited the, natural enough, disposition to tax them, 

 while in fact they were poorly able to pay anything. Living- 

 stone's heart was bounding with eager anticipation of a welcome 

 at Tete, which was only a few days' travel in advance of him. 

 He had not suffered so seriously as on the journey to Loanda, 

 but he had endured many hardships. Much of the distance 

 from the falls had been performed on foot ; for many days he 

 had walked altogether ; he had become so thin that his men 

 could any of them pick him up like a child and carry him 

 across the streams ; still he had not lost his spirit, nor had his 

 interest in the well-being of his followers and the condition of 

 the tribes along his route failed in the least. He lay down on 

 the evening of the 2d of March eight miles from Tete, and sent 

 forward the letters of introduction which had been given him 

 by the Portuguese authorities at Loanda to the commandant. 

 It was nearly two years since he parted with the generous 

 Englishman who alone supports the dignity of the name in the 

 western colony. During those two years he had traversed all 

 the intervening wilderness, with only the companionship of the 

 ignorant and superstitious and depraved savages, and he was 

 now dragging the line of his explorations to the eastern coast. 

 And though the town of Tete was several hundred miles from 

 the sea, he felt that his success would be complete when he 

 arrived there, because it was the border town of the Portuguese, 

 and he would from thence be in the care of white men and 



