222 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOUENALS. [Chap. VIII. 



Hamees is building a " tenibe," or house, with a flat roof, 

 and walls plastered over with mud, to keep his ivory from 

 fire while he is absent. We expect that Nsama will send 

 for us a few days after the 2nd August, when the new moon 

 appears ; if they do not come soon Hamees will send men to 

 Nsama without waiting for his messengers. 



28th July. — Prayers, with the Litany* Slavery is a great 

 evil wherever I have seen it. A poor old woman and child 

 are among the captives, the boy about three years old seems 

 a mother's pet. His feet are sore from walking in the sun. 

 He was offered for two fathoms, and his mother for one 

 fathom ; he understood it all, and cried bitterly, clinging 

 to his mother. She had, of course, no power to help him ; 

 they were separated at Karungu afterwards. 



[The above is an episode of every-day occurrence in 

 the wake of the slave-dealer. " Two fathoms," mentioned 

 as the price of the boy's life — the more valuable of the two, 

 means four yards of unbleached calico, which is a universal 

 article of barter throughout the greater part of Africa : the 

 mother was bought for two yards. The reader must not 

 think that there are no lower prices ; in the famines which 

 succeed the slave-dealer's raids, boys and girls are at times 

 to be purchased by the dealer for a few handfuls of maize.] 



29th July. — Went 2\ hours west to village of Ponda, 

 where a head Arab, called by the natives Tipo Tipo, lives ; 

 his name is Hamid bin Mahamed bin. Juma Borajib. He 

 presented a goat, a piece of white calico, and four big bunches 

 of beads, also a bag of Holcus sorghum, and apologised 

 because it was so little. He had lost much by Nsama ; and 



* In his Journal the Doctor writes " S," and occasionally " Service," 

 whenever a Sunday entry occurs. We may add that at all times during 

 his travels the Services of the Church of England were resorted to by 

 him. — Ed. 



