1S68.] SYDE BIX HABIB'S TRADING VENTURE. 037 



Sth November.— Syde bin Habib is said to have amassed 

 150 frasilahs of ivory = 5250 lbs., and 300 frasilahs of 

 copper = 10,500 lbs. With one hundred carriers he re- 

 quires to make four relays, or otherwise make the journey 

 four times over at every stage. Twenty-one of his slaves 

 ran away in one night, and only four were caught again : 

 they were not all bought, nor Avas the copper and ivory 

 come at by fair means ; the murder of his brother was a 

 good excuse for plunder, murder, and capture. Mpweto is 

 suspected of harbouring them as living on the banks of the 

 Lualaba, for they could not get over without assistance 

 from his canoes and people. Mpweto said, " Remove from 

 me, and we shall see if they come this way." They are not 

 willing to deliver fugitives up. Syde sent for Elmas, the 

 only thing of the Mullam or clerical order here, probably 

 to ask if the Koran authorizes him to attack Mpweto. 

 Mullam will reply, " Yes, certainly. If Mpweto won't 

 restore your slaves, take what you can by force." Syde's 

 bloodshed is now pretty large, and he is becoming afraid 

 for his own life ; if he ceases not, he will himself be caught 

 some day. 



Ill of fever two days. Better and thankful. 



[Whilst waiting to start for Ujiji, Livingstone was intently 

 occupied on the great problem of the Nile and the im- 

 portant part he had taken so recently in solving it : he 

 writes at this date as follows : — ] 



The discovery of the sources of the Nile is somewhat 

 akin in importance to the discovery of the North- West 

 Passage, which called forth, though in a minor degree, the 

 energy, the perseverance, and the pluck of Englishmen, 

 and anything that does that is beneficial to the nation and 

 to its posterity. The discovery of the sources of the Nile 

 possesses, moreover, an element of interest which the North- 



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