254 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. X. 



25th Decemler. — Drizzly showers every now and then; 

 soil, black mud. 



About ten men came as guides and as a convoy of honour 

 to Mohamad. 



27th December. — In two hours we crossed Mandapala, now 

 waist deep. This part was well stocked with people five 

 years ago, but Casembe's severity in cropping ears and 

 other mutilations, selling the children for slight offences, 

 &c, made them all flee to neighbouring tribes ; and now, if 

 he sent all over the country, he could not collect a thousand 

 men. 



[Livingstone refers (on the 15th Dec.) to some writings 

 he was engaged upon, and we find one of them here in 

 his journal which takes the form of a despatch to Lord 

 Clarendon, with a note attached to the effect that it was 

 not copied or sent, as he had no paper for the purpose. It 

 affords an epitomised description of his late travels, and the 

 stay at Casembe, and is inserted here in the place of many 

 notes written daily, but which only repeat the same events 

 and observations in a less readable form. It is especially 

 valuable at this stage of his journal, because it treats on the 

 whole geography of the district between Lakes Nyassa and 

 Moero, with a broad handling which is impossible in the 

 mere jottings of a diary.] 



Town of Casembe, 10th Decemler, 1867. 



Lat. 9° 37' 13" South ; long. 28° East. 



The Eight Honourable The Eakl of Clarendon. 



My Lord, — The first opportunity I had of sending a letter 

 to the coast occurred in February last, when I was at a 

 village called Molemba (lat. 10° 14' S.; long. 31° 46 r E.), 

 in the country named Lobemba. Lobisa, Lobemba, Ulungu 



