102 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. VII, 



of a few huts. The people here are very suspicious, and will 

 do nothing but Avith a haggle for prepayment ; we could get 

 no grain, nor even native herbs, though we rested a day 

 to try. 



After a short march we came to the Nyamazi, another 

 considerable 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 came to some low hills, of coarse 

 sandstone, and on crossing these we could see, by looking 

 back, that for many days we had been travelling over a 

 perfectly level vsilley, clothed with a mantle of forest. The 

 barometers had shown no difference of level from about 

 1800 feet above the sea. We began our descent into this- 

 great valley when we left the source of the Bua ; and now 

 these low hills, called Ngale or Ngaloa, though only 100 feet 

 or so above the level we had left, showed that we had come 

 to the shore of an ancient lake, which probably was let off 

 when the rent of Kebra-basa on the Zambesi was made, for 

 we found immense banks of well-rounded shinsrle above — 

 or, rather, they may be called mounds of shingle — all of 

 hard silicious schist with a few pieces of fossil-wood among 

 them. The gullies reveal a stratum of this well-rounded 

 shingle, lying on a soft greenish sandstone, which again lies- 

 on the coarse sandstone first observed. This formation is 

 identical with that observed formerly below the Victoria 

 Falls. We have the mountains still on our north and north- 

 west (the so-called mountains of Bisa, or Babisa), and from 

 them the Nyamazi flows, Avhile Pamazi comes round the end, 

 or what appears to be the end, of the higher portion. (22nd 

 December.) Shot a bush-buck ; and slept on the left bank 

 of Nyamazi. 



23rd December. — Hunger sent us on ; for a meat diet is 

 far from satisfying : we all felt very weak on it, and soon 



