426 MOHAMMEDAN INFLUENCE. 



On the 14th of April Livingstone led his party down to the 

 banks of the Rovurna, opposite some red cliffs and near where 

 the "Pioneer" had turned back in 1861. The next day was 

 Sunday, and its rest was very sweet indeed, though the traveller 

 was so far away from the cherished communion of those who 

 with him might rejoice in the worship of the great God and 

 sweet experiences of Jesus' love. Most of his attendants were 

 Mohammedans in name ; and while their faith served a poor pur- 

 pose, so far as their honesty and truthfulness was concerned, it 

 was decided enough to dispute about. It is sometimes the case 

 in other places that the religion which people profess does not 

 amount to anything more than a fighting matter. How Mo- 

 hammedan zeal may kindle and glow was seen when an old Mon- 

 yinko head man presented the party with a goat. The animal 

 having been received, its execution was in order. This service 

 was offered by the Sepoys, who were proceeding to cut its throat 

 after the fashion in their country, but the Johannes were of a 

 different sect and their creed called for the cutting of a goat's 

 throat by another pattern than that in use by their co-religionists 

 of India. The opportunity was too good to be lost, and a fierce 

 dispute ensued between these sects as to which was the right sort 

 of Moslem. 



Livingstone was now in the line of the route he had projected 

 years before, and free to resume the undertaking which had 

 baffled him then without discouraging him. He was freer than 

 he was then, and untrammelled by counsellors or ships. He might 

 be called on to endure hardships, but he could not be commanded 

 to return. He had not the youth and vigor though which had 

 made his earlier toils lighter than they really were, though they 

 seemed hard enough. 



From the point where he reached the Rovuma he led his party 

 westward, along the sides of that ragged table-land which he had 

 formerly seen from the river as flanking both sides. There it 

 appeared a range of hills, shutting in the Rovuma, here only 

 spurs were seen jutting out toward the river, and valleys retiring 

 several miles inland. Sometimes wending their way around 

 these spurs and sometimes toiling over them, axe in hand, the 

 party advanced like men whose minds were made up ; there was 

 only one mind to the party : that mind was made up. It was a 



