176 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. VII. 



as a relish to others : some experience must have been 

 requisite to enable them to distinguish the good from the 

 noxious, of which they reject ten sorts. 



We get some elephants' meat from the people, but high 

 is no name for its condition. It is very bitter, but we used 

 it as a relish to the maere porridge : none of the animal 

 is wasted ; skin and all is cut up and sold, not one of us 

 would touch it with the hand if we had aught else, for the 

 gravy in which we dip our porridge is like an aqueous 

 solution of aloes, but it prevents the heartburn, which 

 maere causes when taken alone. I take mushrooms boiled 

 instead ; but the meat is never refused when we can purchase 

 it, as it seems to ease the feeling of fatigue which jungle- 

 fruit and fare engenders. The appetite in this country is 

 always very keen, and makes hunger worse to bear : the 

 want of salt, probably, makes the gnawing sensation worse. 



[We now come to a disaster which cannot be exaggerated 

 in importance when we witness its after effects month by 

 month on Dr. Livingstone. There can be little doubt that 

 the severity of his subsequent illnesses mainly turned upon 

 it, and it is hardly too much to believe that his constitution 

 from this time was steadily sapped by the effects of fever- 

 poison which he was powerless to counteract, owing to the 

 want of quinine. In his allusion to Bishop Mackenzie's 

 death, we have only a further confirmation of the one rule 

 in all such cases which must be followed, or the traveller in 

 Africa goes — not with his life in his hand, but in some 

 luckless box, put in the charge of careless servants. Bishop 

 Mackenzie had all his drugs destroyed by the upsetting of a 

 canoe, in which was his case of medicines, and in a moment 

 everything was soaked and spoilt. 



It cannot be too strongly urged on explorers that they 

 should divide their more important medicines in such a way 

 that a total loss shall become well-nigh impossible. Three 



