240 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOUENALS. [Chap. IX, 



bia, which we smashed at every step. Crossed a small but 

 strong rivulet, the Lipande', going south-west to Moero, 

 then, an hour afterwards, crossed it again, now twenty yards 

 wide and knee deep. After descending from the tree- 

 covered hill which divides Lipande from Luao, we crossed 

 the latter to sleep on its western bank. The hills are 

 granite now, and a range on our left, from 700 to 1500 feet 

 high, goes on all the way to Moero. 



These valleys along which we travel are beautiful. Green 

 is the prevailing colour ; but the clumps of trees assume a 

 great variety of forms, and often remind one of English park 

 scenery. The long line of slaves and carriers, brought up 

 by their Arab employers, adds life to the scene, they are 

 in three bodies, and number 450 in all. Each party has a 

 guide with a flag, and when that is planted all that com- 

 pany stops till it is lifted, and a drum is beaten, and a 

 kudu's horn sounded. One party is headed by about a 

 dozen leaders, dressed with fantastic head-gear of feathers 

 and beads, red cloth on the bodies, and skins cut into 

 strips and twisted : they take their places in line, the drum 

 beats, the horn sounds harshly, and all fall in. These 

 sounds seem to awaken a sort of esprit de corps in those who 

 have once been slaves. My attendants now jumped up, and 

 Avould scarcely allow me time to dress when they heard the 

 sounds of their childhood, and all day they were among the 

 foremost. One said to me " that his feet were rotten with 

 marching," and this though told that they were not called 

 on to race along like slaves. 



The Africans cannot stand sneers. When any mishap 

 occurs in the march (as Avhen a branch tilts a load off a 

 man's shoulder) all who see it set up a yell of derision ; 

 if anything is accidentally spilled, or if one is tired and 

 sits down, the same yell greets him, and all are excited 

 thereby to exert themselves. They hasten on with their 

 loads, and hurry with the sheds they build, the masters 



