36 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. II. 



20^ to 25th November. — We were now only about ten 

 miles from the confluence of the Luamo and Lualaba, but all 

 the people had been plundered, and some killed by the slaves 

 of Dugumbe. The Luamo is here some 200 yards broad 

 and deep ; the chiefs everywhere were begged to refuse us a 

 passage. The women were particularly outspoken in assert- 

 ing our identity with the cruel strangers, and when one 

 lady was asked in the midst of her vociferation just to look 

 if I were of the same colour with Dugumbe, she replied with 

 a bitter little laugh, " Then you must be his father ! " 



It was of no use to try to buy a canoe, for all were our 

 enemies. It was now the rainy season, and I had to move 

 with great caution. The worst our enemies did, after trying 

 to get up a war in vain, was to collect as we went by in 

 force fully armed with their large spears and huge wooden 

 shields, and show us out of their districts. All are kind 

 except those who have been abused by the Arab slaves. 

 While waiting at Luamo a man, whom we sent over to buy 

 food, got into a panic and fled he knew not whither; all 

 concluded that he had been murdered, but some Manyuema 

 whom we had never seen found him, fed him, and brought 

 him home unscathed : I was very glad that no collision had 

 taken place. We returned to Bambarre 19th December, 1869. 



20th December. — While we were away a large horde of 

 Ujijians came to Bambarre, all eager to reach the cheap 

 ivory, of which a rumour had spread far and wide; they 

 numbered 500 guns, and invited Mohamad to go with them,, 

 but he preferred waiting for my return from the west. We 

 now resolved to go due north ; he to buy ivory, and I to 

 reach another part of the Lualaba and buy a canoe. 



Wherever the dense primeval forest has been cleared off 

 by man, gigantic grasses usurp the clearances. None of 

 the sylvan vegetation can stand the annual grass-burnings 

 except a species of Bauhinia, and occasionally a large tree 

 which sends out new wood below the burned places. The 



