*256 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOUENALS. [Chap. X. 



slopes ; and hippopotami, crocodiles, and fish swarm in the 

 water. Gnus are here unknown, and these animals may 

 live to old age if not beguiled into pitfalls. The elephants 

 sometimes eat the crops of the natives, and flap their big- 

 ears just outside the village stockades. One got out of our 

 way on to a comparatively level spot, and then stood and 

 roared at us. Elsewhere they make clear off at sight of 

 man. 



The first village we came to on the banks of the Lake had 

 a grove of palm-oil and other trees around it. This palm- 

 tree was not the dwarf species seen on Lake Nyassa. A 

 cluster of the fruit passed the door of my hut which required 

 two men to carry it. The fruit seemed quite as large as 

 those on the West Coast. Most of the natives live on two 

 islands, where they cultivate the soil, rear goats, and catch 

 fish. The Lake is not large, from 15 to 20 miles broad, 

 and from 30 to 40 long. It is the receptacle of four con- 

 siderable streams, and sends out an arm two miles broad to 

 the N.N.W., it is said to Tanganyika, and it may be 

 a branch of that Lake. One of the streams, the Lonzua, 

 drives a smooth body of water into the Lake fifty yards broad 

 and ten fathoms deep, bearing on its surface duck-weed and 

 grassy islands. I could see the mouths of other streams, 

 but got near enough to measure the Lo'fu only ; and at a 

 ford fifty miles from the confluence it was 100 yards wide 

 and waist deep in the dry season. 



We remained six weeks on the shores of the Lake, trying 

 to pick up some flesh and strength. A party of Arabs came 

 into Ulungu after us in search of ivory, and hearing that 

 an Englishman had preceded them, naturally inquired 

 where I was. But our friends, the Biiulungu, suspecting 

 that mischief was meant, stoutly denied that they had ever 

 seen anything of the sort; and then became very urgent 

 that I should go on to one of the inhabited islands for 

 safety. I regret that I suspected them of intending to 



