104 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOUENALS. [Chap. IV. 



invariably as acknowledgment for lodgings. The headman 

 of our next stage hid himself in fear, as we were near to 

 the scene of Bin Juma's unprovoked slaughter of five men, 

 for tusks that were not stolen, but thrown down, Our path 

 lay through dense forest, and again, on 5th, our march was 

 in the same dense jungle of lofty trees and vegetation that 

 touch our arms on each side. We came to some villages 

 among beautiful tree-covered hills, called Basilafige or 

 Mobasilange. The villages are very pretty, standing on 

 slopes. The main street generally lies east and west, to 

 allow the bright sun to stream his clear hot rays from 

 one end to the other, and lick up quickly the moisture 

 from the frequent showers which is not drained off by the 

 slopes. A little verandah is often made in front of the door, 

 and here at dawn the family gathers round a fire, and, while 

 enjoying the heat needed in the cold that always accom- 

 panies the first darting of the light or sun's rays across the 

 atmosphere, inhale the delicious air, and talk over their 

 little domestic affairs. The various shaped leaves of the 

 forest all around their village and near their nestlings are 

 bespangled with myriads of dewdrops. The cocks crow 

 vigorously, and strut and ogle ; the kids gambol and leap 

 on the backs of their dams quietly chewing the cud ; other 

 goats make believe fighting. Thrifty wives often bake their 

 new clay pots in a fire, made by lighting a heap of grass 

 roots : the next morning they extract salt from the ashes, 

 and so two birds are killed with one stone. The beauty of 

 this morning scene of peaceful enjoyment is indescribable. 

 Infancy gilds the fairy picture with its own lines, and it is 

 probably never forgotten, for the young, taken up from 

 slavers, and treated with all philanthropic missionary 

 care and kindness, still revert to the period of infancy as 

 the finest and fairest they have known. They would go 

 back to freedom and enjoyment as fast as would our own 

 sons of the soil, and be heedless to the charms of hard 



