364 MOUNT MOEAMBALA. 



he carried, nothing should be done which might frustrate his 

 design. The anxious throngs who lined the banks of the river, 

 gazing on the strange " canoe " full of strange people passing by 

 them, were ignorant and degraded according to our standard of 

 intelligence and dignity ; but they were the people whose eleva- 

 tion it was the object of the expedition to promote. 



The valley is walled on either side by beautiful hills, and for 

 twenty miles those on their right hand were quite near. Then 

 they came to Morambala, " the lofty watch-tower " — a detached 

 mountain only five hundred yards from the river — which rises 

 four thousand feet above the sea. The bold, precipitous front, 

 which cast its morning shadows toward the Shire, cherished a 

 charming vegetation, but repelled all thought of ascent by 

 clumsier creatures than the monkeys which played at hide and 

 seek from top to bottom, calling away attention from the singu- 

 lar-looking horn-bill, whose dreaded death is believed to afflict 

 the whole land with cold, the lumbering rhinoceros, and beauti- 

 ful racing antelopes, by their queer capers. Surely if men are 

 sprung from monkeys the most clownish is nearest in the line. 

 Their incessant gambolling and chattering attract the attention 

 even of the natives, who, despite new grudges they nearly 

 always owe them on account of their plundered gardens and 

 fields, cannot resist the fascination of their comical eccentricities. 



The southern end of the mountain, seen from a distance, has 

 a fine gradual slope, and half way up a small village was peep- 

 ing out of the foliage. The atmosphere, as some of the party 

 ascended the mountain, was found becoming delightfully pure 

 and bracing, and the people of the village received them kindly. 

 The summit of the mountain was covered with a growth entirely 

 unlike what they had seen in the valley. There were orange, 

 lemon, and some pineapple trees, though the latter had been 

 planted there. But these happy and friendly residents of the 

 summit, about which friendly clouds rested when all the plain 

 was scorched, cherishing the choicest fruits, before the later visits 

 of Livingstone to their homes, had become the victims of Mari- 

 ano, and had been nearly all carried away from their happy 

 freedom. God knows whether they fell under his cruelties or 

 are dragging out a weary bondage in some far-away land. Yes, 

 God knows, and will not forget their history nor despise their 

 cries. 



