WHICH IS MOKE INSPIRING? 453 



of nobler manhood he had sought to impress on them. Over 

 all the district one particular curse had settled and was resting 

 with most blighting influence. The people were rude barbarians, 

 of course, but were teachable and kind. But no established 

 creed or dominant superstition occupied the ground to withstand 

 the ingress of Christianity; no popular prejudices stood armed 

 guarding the coast against the purer customs of civilization. 

 Only the slave-trade, encouraged by foreigners, watched with 

 jealous eye every approach of the purer light and ennobling in- 

 fluences of a Christian civilization to the villages and homes of 

 the unfortunate people on whose ignorance it paid them to 

 impose, and whose deepest degradation was the surest source of 

 their unholy gains. Relieved of this one evil and the whole 

 region over which he had passed might be esteemed as a goodly 

 land, where Christian laborers might live peacefully and health- 

 fully. And as for the difficulty of access and the transportation 

 of supplies — Arabs are not discouraged by these difficulties from 

 pressing their trade, which is only for gain, and surely it is 

 worth as much to the Christian world to accomplish the re- 

 demption of these poor people. The journey to the lake had 

 been enlivened by very little of incident. Very few animals 

 had been seen, except such harmless ones as excited not even 

 a passing notice. But the feat was performed : the old purpose 

 of Livingstone to settle the question about the country between 

 the mouth of the Rovuma and the Lake Nyassa ; and he was 

 once more enjoying the roar of its waves and luxurious baths 

 in its delightful waters, and rejoicing in its exhilarating atmos- 

 phere. The head man of the village, Mokalaose, was a real 

 Manganja, and he and all his people exhibited greater darkness 

 of color consequent on being in a warmer, moist climate. He 

 was very friendly and presented millet porridge, cassava and 

 hippopotamus meat, and asked if Livingstone liked milk, as he 

 had some of Mataka's cattle. His people brought a lake fish, 

 called sanjika, the best that is caught, for sale. Livingstone 

 purchased fifty of these for a fathom of calico, and thought that 

 they had very much the taste of herrings. 



The reader may remember that in his Zambesi expedition 

 when ascending this lake Livingstone obtained knowledge of an 

 Arab settlement on the western shore of the lake, the chief man 



