198 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. VIII. 



the rain threatened to be heavy. A case was in process 

 of hearing, and one old man spoke an hour on end, the 

 chief listening all the while with the gravity of a judge. 

 He then delivered his decision in about five minutes, the 

 successful litigant going off lullilooing. Each person, before 

 addressing him, turns his back to him and lies down on the 

 ground, clapping the hands : this is the common mode of 

 salutation. Another form here in Lobemba is to rattle the 

 arrows or an arrow on the bow, which all carry. We had 

 a little talk with the chief; but it was late before the 

 cause was heard through. He asked us to come and spend 

 one night near him on the Merenge, and then go on, so we 

 came over in the morning to the vicinity of his village. A 

 great deal of copper-wire is here made, the wire-drawers 

 using for one part of the process a seven-inch cable. They 

 make very fine wire, and it is used chiefly as leglets and 

 anklets; the chief's wives being laden with them, and 

 obliged to walk in a stately style from the weight : the 

 copper comes from Katanga. 



26th February. — The chief wishes to buy a cloth with two 

 goats, but his men do not bring them up quickly. Simon, 

 one of the boys, is ill of fever, and this induces me to re- 

 main, though moving from one place to another is the only 

 remedy we have in our power. 



With the chief's men we did not get on well, but with 

 himself all was easy. His men demanded prepayment for 

 canoes to cross the river Loombe ; but in the way that he 

 put it, the request was not unreasonable, as he gave a man 

 to smooth our way, and get canoes, or whatever else was 

 needed, all the way to Chibue's. I gave a cloth when he 

 put it thus, and he presented a goat, a spear ornamented 

 with copper-wire, abundance of meal, and beer, and numbo ; 

 so we parted good friends, as his presents were worth the 

 cloth. 



Holding a north-westerly course we met with the Chikosho 



