8 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chai\ I. 



letters to the coast; as lie suspected that I would write 

 about his doings in Rua. 



21th April. — Syde had three canoes smashed in coming 

 up past Thembwe ; the wind and waves drove them on the 

 rocks, and two were totally destroyed : they are heavy un- 

 manageable craft, and at the mercy of any storm if they 

 cannot get into a shut bay, behind the reeds and aquatic 

 vegetation. One of the wrecks is said to have been worth 

 200 dollars (40?.). 



The season called Masika commenced this month with 

 the usual rolling thunder, and more rain than in the 

 month preceding. 



I have been busy writing letters home, and finished forty- 

 two, which in some measure will make up for my long 

 silence. The Ujijians are unwilling to carry my letters, 

 because, they say, Seyed Majid will order the bearer to 

 return with others: he may say, "You know where he is, 

 go back to him," but I suspect they fear my exposure of 

 their ways more than anything else.* 



16th May, 1869. — Thani bin Suellim sent me a note 

 yesterday to say that he would be here in two days, or say 

 three; he seems the most active of the Ujijians, and I 

 trust will help me to get a canoe and men. 



The malachite at Katanga is loosened by fire, then dug 

 out of four hills : four manehs of the ore yield one maneh 

 of copper, but those who cultivate the soil get more wealth 

 than those who mine the copper. 



[No change of purpose was allowed to grow out of sick- 

 ness and disappointment. Here and there, as in the words 

 written on the next day, we find Livingstone again with 

 his back turned to the coast and gazing towards the land 

 of the Manyuema and the great rivers reported there.] 



* These letters must have been destroyed purposely by the Arabs, for 

 they never arrived at Zanzibar. — Ed. 



