CUTTING VALIANTLY. 425 



work. They whittled away right manfully, taking an axe 

 when any trees had to be cut. Their pay, arranged beforehand, 

 was to be one yard of calico per day : this was not much, seeing 

 they were still so near the sea-coast. Climbers and young 

 trees melted before them like a cloud before the sun ! 



They now began to descend the northern slope down to the 

 Rovuma, and a glimpse could occasionally be had of the coun- 

 try ; it seemed covered with great masses of dark green forest, 

 but the undulations occasionally looked like hills, and here and 

 there a sterculia had put on yellow foliage in anticipation of the 

 coming winter. More frequently the vision was circumscribed 

 to a few yards till the merry woodcutters made the pleasant' 

 scene of a long vista fit for camels to pass : as a whole, the 

 jungle would have made the authors of the natty little hints to 

 travellers smile at their own productions, good enough, perhaps, 

 where one has an open country with trees and hills, by which 

 to take bearings, estimate distances, see that one point is on the 

 same latitude, another on the same longitude with such another, 

 and all to be laid down fair and square with protractor and 

 compass ; but popular hints hardly hold good while a man is 

 struggling for existence in the tangled masses of rank vegetation, 

 which, feeding on the steamy, smothering moisture from the 

 Indian ocean, springs into marvellous luxuriance. With such 

 a chance, Livingstone assures us one might as well talk of 

 taking bearings while encased in a hogshead with no window 

 but the bung-hole ! 



It was easier to find out the people and to record such mat- 

 ters as were nearest him. Very few traces of coal were seen, 

 but the doctor mentions having seen gray sandstone like that 

 which is often found underlying that important article. The 

 villagers generally received him with the usual hospitality, ex- 

 changing gifts and kind offices. The head men of these villages 

 needed, of course, to associate some special power with them- 

 selves, and, as is commonly the case, assumed the distinction of 

 doctors. They were not so confident, however, in their science, 

 or so wedded to their particular school, as their brethren in near 

 climes, as was evinced by the readiness with which they dis- 

 carded any possible simples when they had the opportunity of 

 benefiting by the treatment of the white man. 



