514 on god's geound. 



lage of Chiwe, among the Balungu. Speaking of his condition, 

 he says : " I have been ill of fever ever since we left Moamba's ; 

 every step I take jars in the chest, and I am very weak ; I can 

 scarcely keep up the march, though formerly I was always first, 

 and had to hold in my pace not to leave the people altogether. 

 I have a constant singing in the ears, and can scarcely hear the 

 loud tick of the chronometers. The appetite is good, but we 

 have no proper food, chiefly maere meal or beans, or mapemba 

 or ground-nuts, rarely a fowl." 



This village, like them all, was surrounded by a strong 

 stockade, and on the banks of a stream. The chiefs were 

 generally anxious that he should come into their villages and 

 occupy a hat; but this was found exceedingly unpleasant; 

 within the stockade the people seemed to think the stranger on 

 their ground, and considered themselves at liberty to be rather 

 over-familiar; they would crowd about the door of his hut and 

 it was absolutely impossible to have a moment of quiet or privacy. 

 Besides this impudence, these huts were frequently the abode of 

 certain detestable creatures who never vacate for a visitor, but 

 seize the occasion of his presence for a regular carnival. Living- 

 stone had a natural weakness against being eaten by bugs, and 

 generally insisted on erecting his own hut or pitching his tent 

 on " God's ground " outside. There he was considered as en- 

 tirely independent, and escaped the prying eyes of the people 

 and the midnight depredations of the bugs. 



Among the prominent peculiarities by which the Balungu are 

 distinguished were three or four little knobs on the temples, with 

 which they sought to improve on nature, while the lobes of 

 their ears are distended by a piece of wood ornamented with 

 beads, and bands of beads were stretched across the forehead 

 and hold up the hair. Livingstone did not pause long to enjoy 

 the hospitality or study the distinctions of these tribes ; he was 

 sick, and pressed on for the village of Kasonso and the Lake 

 Liemba. It was evident that he was on the watershed, but the 

 streams seemed to be running every way, and the natives were 

 utterly ignorant of the geography of the country. In other 

 times, when the blood was bounding freely through his veins, 

 he would have been charmed by the beauty of the numerous 

 valleys which he crossed in rapid succession, with their innumer- 



