124 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. V. 



tell ine the names of the fishes and other things. Lepido- 

 sirens are caught by the neck and lifted out of the pot to 

 show their fatness. Camwood ground and made into flat 

 cakes for sale and earthen balls, such as are eaten in the 

 disease safura or earth-eating, are offered and there is quite 

 a roar of voices in the multitude, haggling. It was pleasant 

 to be among them compared to being with the slaves, who 

 were all eager to go back to Zanzibar : some told me that 

 they were slaves, and required a free man to thrash them, 

 and proposed to go back to Ujiji for one. I saw no hope of 

 getting on with them, and anxiously longed for the arrival of 

 Dugumbe ; and at last Abed overheard them plotting my de- 

 struction. " If forced to go on, they would watch till the first 

 difficulty arose with the Manyuema, then fire off their guns, 

 run away, and as I could not run as fast as they, leave me to 

 perish." Abed overheard them speaking loudly, and ad- 

 vised me strongly not to trust myself to them any more, as 

 they would be sure to cause my death. He was all along a 

 sincere friend, and I could not but take his words as well- 

 meant and true. 



18th May. — Abed gave me 200 cowries and some green 

 beads. I was at the point of disarming my slaves and 

 driving them away, when they relented, and professed to 

 be willing to go anywhere; so, being eager to finish my 

 geographical work, I said I would run the risk of their 

 desertion, and gave beads to buy provisions for a start 

 north. I cannot state how much I was worried by these 

 wretched slaves, who did much to annoy me, with the 

 sympathy of all the slaving crew. When baffled by un- 

 toward circumstances the bowels plague me too, and dis- 

 charges of blood relieve the headache, and are as safety- 

 valves to the system. I was nearly persuaded to allow Mr. 

 Syme to operate on me when last in England, but an old 

 friend told me that his own father had been operated on by 

 the famous John Hunter, and died in consequence at the 



