24 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. L. 



hair. On asking Ali whether any attempts had been made 

 by Arabs to convert those with whom they enter into such 

 intimate relationships, he replied that the Makonde had no 

 idea of a Deity — no one could teach them, though Makonde 

 slaves when taken to the coast and elsewhere were made 

 Mahometans. Since the slave-trade was introduced this 

 tribe has much diminished in numbers, and one village 

 makes war upon another and kidnaps, but no religious teach- 

 ing has been attempted. The Arabs come down to the 

 native ways, and make no efforts to raise the natives to 

 theirs ; it is better that it is so, for the coast Arab's manners 

 and morals would be no improvement on the pagan African ! 



19th April. — We were led up over a hill again, and on 

 to the level of the plateau (where the evaporation is 

 greater than in the valley), and tasted water of an agree- 

 able coldness for the first time this journey. The people, 

 especially the women, are very rude, and the men very 

 eager to be employed as woodcutters. Yery merry they are 

 at it, and every now and then one raises a cheerful shout, 

 in which all join. I suppose they are urged on by a desire 

 to please their wives with a little clothing. The higher 

 up the Rovuma we ascend the people are more and more 

 tattooed on the face, and on all parts of the body. The 

 teeth are filed to points, and huge lip-rings are worn by 

 the women ; some few Mabeha men from the south side of 

 the river have lip-rings too. 



20th April. — A Johanna man allowed the camels to tres- 

 pass and destroy a man's tobacco patch : the owner would 

 not allow us after this to pass through his rice-field, in 

 which the route lay. I examined the damage, and made 

 the Johanna man pay a yard of calico for it, which set 

 matters all right. 



Tsetse are biting the buffaloes again. Elephants, hippo- 

 potami, and pigs are the only game here, but we see none : 



