582 DISAPPOINTED AT TJJTJI. 



seen him battling with the embarrassments of the Portuguese 

 communities along the Zambesi and the Shire. But even his 

 life, so full of trial and suffering, had received a deeper shade 

 during these years. And Ujiji had not half the consolations to 

 offer him that he had dreamed of. It disappointed him ; it had 

 neither letters nor medicine for him. The unfaithful agents to 

 whose care his goods had been committed had performed his 

 service with the true spirit of his class, had plundered the 

 packages and left a remnant to their owner. The medicines, 

 wine and cheese had been left at Unyanyembe, thirteen days 

 travel east of Ujiji, and the way blocked up by a Mazitu war. 

 A few articles, however — coffee, tea, a little sugar, and some good 

 flannel underclothing — contributed very much to his comfort. 

 Of eighty pieces of cloth, sixty-two pieces had been stolen, each 

 measuring twenty-four yards, and similar freedom with his 

 beads had been indulged in. 



The prominence which Ujiji has assumed in connection with 

 Dr. Livingstone's later years will justify us in more extensive 

 inquiries about it than the hero whose presence there excites 

 our interest seems to have counted on. 



The name Ujiji, like many of the names which we are in 

 danger of limiting improperly to a single village, when reading 

 books of African travel, distinguishes a district bordering on 

 the great Lake Tanganyika. A " district of surpassing beauty 

 and fertility," according to Stanley. " The most productive 

 province in this section of the country," according to Burton ; 

 where vegetables which must be cultivated elsewhere seemed to 

 flourish spontaneously. The earlier Arab settlers planted rice 

 along the shores of the lake and had abundant harvests. Sorg- 

 hum, manioc, ground-nuts, beans, egg-plant, sweet potatoes, 

 yams, cucumbers, and artichokes, are all in the list of creature 

 comforts which are to be found in Ujiji. Sugar canes, tobacco 

 and cotton are conspicuous articles of merchandise. The plan- 

 tain and Guinea palm flourish like aborigines in the fertile soil 

 and the humid atmosphere of the district; and all the trees and 

 vines of the forests exhibit wonderful luxuriance. The forests 

 are thronging with wild beasts ; and the villanous monkeys find 

 special delight in most informal raids on the gardens of their 

 more serious neighbors. 



