464 SMALL-POX SEEN. 



nature, is in masses two or three feet, rests on a bed of pure 

 river sand. In the dry season this loam is cracked, and fre- 

 quently in as much as three inches in width and very deep. 

 The whole surface is now fallen down and rests on the sand, 

 hut when the rain comes the first supply is nearly all absorbed 

 in the sand. The black loam forms soft slush and floats on the 

 sand. The narrow opening prevents it from moving off in a 

 land-slip, but an oozing spring rises at that spot. All the pools 

 in the lower portion of this spring-course are filled by the first 

 rains ; which happen south of the equator when the sun goes 

 vertically over any spot. The second or greater rains happen 

 in his course north again, when all the bogs or river-courses 

 being wet, the supply runs off and forms the inundation ; this 

 was certainly the case as observed on the Zambesi and Shire, 

 and taking the different times for the sun's passage north of the 

 equator it explains the inundation of the Nile." 



The people at the town of Marenga, on Lake Nyassa, gathered 

 around Livingstone in great numbers to gaze at him. He took 

 the opportunity to point them to the Lamb of God and speak 

 of their souls, to which they replied, " Our fathers have never 

 told us aught about the soul ; we thought the whole man rotted 

 and came to nothing ; " but they listened quite attentively, 

 especially when he told them that our Father loved them and 

 heard their prayers. He found this village afflicted with small- 

 pox, a disease which was quite extraordinary in Africa, and his 

 skill was greatly sought by the sufferers. 



On the 26th of September Livingstone was met by an Arab 

 who told Musa that the whole country was filled with Mazitu ; 

 that forty Arabs and their followers had been killed by them 

 at Kasungu and he alone escaped. Musa and all the Johanna 

 men now declared they would go no farther. Livingstone 

 carried him to Marenga and asked him about the Mazitu. He 

 explained by saying the "Arabs and ammunition were brought 

 into the country annually, and the Manganja resisted Jumbe and 

 would allow no more to come — because they were the sufferers." 



When Livingstone started on his journey the Johanna men 

 walked off, leaving the goods on the ground ; he was not 

 sorry, however, as they were such inveterate thieves, they 

 could not be trusted. The stealing too was not from effect 



