•262 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. X. 



swelled thyroid gland or Derbyshire neck and elephantiasis, 

 and this is the rainy season and very unsafe for me. 



When at the lower end of Moero we were so near Ca- 

 sembe that it was thought well to ascertain the length of 

 the Lake, and see Casembe too. We came up between the 

 double range that flanks the east of the Lake ; but moun- 

 tains and plains are so covered with well-grown forest that 

 we could seldom see it. We reached Casembe's town on the 

 28th November. It stands near the north end of the 

 Lakelet Mofwe ; this is from one to three miles broad, and 

 some six or seven long: it is full of sedgy islands, and 

 abounds in fish. The country is quite level, but fifteen or 

 twenty miles west of Mofwe we see a long range of the 

 mountains of Eua. Between this range and Mofwe the 

 Luapula flows past into Moero, the Lake called Moero okata 

 — the great Moero, being about fifty miles long. The town 

 of Casembe covers a mile square of cassava plantations, the 

 huts being dotted over that space. Some have square 

 enclosures of reeds, but no attempt has been made at 

 arrangement : it might be called a rural village rather 

 than a town. No estimate could be formed by counting 

 the huts, they were so irregularly planted, and hidden by 

 cassava; but my impression from other collections of huts 

 was that the population was under a thousand souls. The 

 court or compound of Casembe — some would call it a 

 palace — is a square enclosure of 300 yards by 200 yards. 

 It is surrounded by a hedge of high reeds. Inside, where 

 Casembe honoured me with a grand reception, stands a 

 gigantic hut for Casembe, and a score of small huts for 

 domestics. The Queen's hut stands behind that of the 

 chief, with a number of small huts also. Most of the en- 

 closed space is covered with a plantation of cassava, Cureus 

 jmrgaris, and cotton. Casembe sat before his hut on a 

 square seat placed on lion and leopard skins. He was 

 clothed in a coarse blue and white Manchester print edged 



