532 KOEAN DECIDES ALL. 



the villages, except that the Koran figured in them. They 

 were greatly perplexed by the joy which their fellow-traveller 

 had in the death of Jesus. They knew of Jesus, but said he 

 had foretold Mohammed, that he did not die himself, but another 

 died in his place. It was certainly to be lamented that the 

 name of religion should find its foremost representatives in the 

 heart of Africa in such men. Yet so it was. Livingstone was 

 the first white man who traversed these secluded regions. 



The inevitable Koran finally decided that the party should 

 move on westward. Accordingly they set out along the broken 

 country which divides Itawa from Lopere. On the 28th they 

 crossed the Choma at the village Chifupa, and noticed that it 

 flowed southwest to join the Chisera, and with that into the 

 Kalongosi, one of the tributaries, as will be seen, of Lake 

 Moero. On this march Livingstone noticed two ugly images 

 in huts built for them ; they represented in a poor way the 

 people of the country, and were used in rain-making, and in 

 the ceremonies of curing the sick. This, he remarks, was the 

 nearest approach to idol worship which he had found in the 

 country. It is a matter of interest that idols are so few in 

 eastern Africa. They are worshipped more commonly in the 

 west. But we feel assured that the reader will not feel that too 

 much time is spent by the way if we present him with a few 

 pages just as they come from the hand of the man while in the 

 midst of these far-off scenes : 



" We are still going westward," he writes, " and in an open 

 valley remarkable for the numbers of a small euphorbia, 

 which we smashed at every step. Crossed a small but strong 

 rivulet, the Lipande, going southwest to Moero ; then, an hour 

 afterwards, crossed it again, now twenty yards wide and knee- 

 deep. After descending from the tree-covered hill which divides 

 Lipande from Luao, we crossed the latter to sleep on its western 

 bank. The hills are granite now, and a range on our left, from 

 seven hundred to fifteen hundred feet high, goes on all the way 

 to Moero. 



" These valleys along which we travel are beautiful. Green 

 is the prevailing color ; but the clumps of trees assume a great 

 variety of forms, and often remind one of English park scenery. 

 The long line of slaves and carriers, brought up by their Arab 



