494 A NATURAL ARCADE. 



have been severe which were almost unendurable to the man 

 who had already experienced patiently so much want and ex- 

 posure, and who was braced by higher aspirations and deeper 

 convictions of duty than had ever impelled an explorer before. 

 The great difficulty of procuring guides greatly aggravated the 

 other miseries of the march. It was trying indeed to be com- 

 pelled to strike across the pathless forests, wet and hungry, with 

 almost certainty that the to-morrow would bring nothing better 

 than to-day. It was fortunate — indeed it was more than fortu- 

 nate, it was providential — that this inhospitable land was alive 

 everywhere with splendid game, and from these herds the entire 

 store of food was supplied. Day after day there was the same 

 wearying haggling of the natives al}out every trifling matter and 

 the same agonizing gnawings of hunger. But there were charms 

 in the forest scenery which sometimes cheered the great man's 

 soul as lie passed along with his little band of followers. Some- 

 times the great mopane trees prevailed : their immense size, the 

 regular distances at which they stood, and the absence from their 

 stately trunks of lower branches, while their splendid foliage 

 wove a canopy far above through which the golden sunshine was 

 filtered down on the lovely wild flowers, and the wings of birds 

 and glossy coats of zebras and antelopes, formed a grand arcade 

 for God to smile on. These beauties and the grandeur were 

 not lost on Livingstone. 



Charming as had been the choral melodies which sometimes 

 broke on his ear along the Zambesi, there were many new 

 notes to be distinguished here, and there could be little doubt that 

 the region w r as richer in ornithological life than any he had seen. 



On December the 20th Livingstone reached the village of 

 Casembe, but not the great chief who figures elsewhere in his 

 story. This man was the master of a miserable hamlet consist- 

 ing of only a few huts. The appearance was enough to dash all 

 the hopes which had been cherished of finding food. Nothing 

 could be had ; " no grain, not even herbs." "After a short march 

 from here," says he, " we came to the Nyamazi, a considera- 

 ble rivulet coming from the north to fall into the Loangwa. 

 It has the same character, of steep alluvial banks, as Pamazi, and 

 about the same width, but much shallower; loin deep, though 

 somewhat swollen ; from fifty to sixty yards wide. We saw 



