LIVINGSTONE AND THE ARABS. 447 



such other appliances of war as may make them useful allies of 

 the Arab traders. The plan pursued by these traders, with 

 considerable success, is to come into a Waiyau village, show the 

 goods they have brought, are treated liberally by the elders, and 

 told to\wait and enjoy themselves, slaves enough to purchase all 

 will be procured : then a foray is made against the Manganja, 

 who have few or no guns. The Waiyau who come against 

 them are abundantly supplied with both by their coast guests. 

 Several of the low-coast Arabs, who differ in nothing from the 

 "Waiyau, usually accompany the foray, and do business on their 

 own account : Mataka himself said that he was growing 

 tired of it and desired to settle down in quiet. It was not 

 the policy of Livingstone, as some have supposed, to put him- 

 self in antagonism with the traders who were traversing the 

 country ; he was only an individual, and bent immediately on 

 the solution of problems connected with the great water-courses 

 of the country, a work bearing, indeed, directly, but only re- 

 motely, on the condition of the people of the continent. He was, 

 however, a Christian man, a philanthropist, a missionary at 

 heart, and as far as lay in his power sought to break the power 

 of the evil which he saw extending its mighty coils all over the 

 land. The Arabs always sought to avoid him, apprehending 

 that his mission was to break up their trade. He had no 

 thought of doing that, except so far as it might be diminished 

 by the moral influence he should be able to exert. And on this 

 journey, as on those through the more southern country, the 

 personal power of the man was shown, as much as in anything 

 else, by the readiness with which he impressed his ideas of right 

 on the minds of the people among whom he appeared as an 

 entire stranger. 



Livingstone was particularly favorably impressed with the 

 country surrounding Moembe, as Mataka's town was called. 

 Immense tracts of this country lie uninhabited, the scene only 

 of the undisturbed revelry of wild beasts. To the northeast of 

 the town at least fifty miles of splendid land lies neglected — an 

 unanswerable protest against the trade which has carried away 

 its once thrifty population into bondage. This vast tract pre- 

 sents, as Livingstone assures us, unmistakable evidences of 

 having supported in other times a prodigious iron-smelting and 



