14G LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. VI. 



8th August. — They would come to uo parley. They knew 

 their advantage, and the wrongs they had suffered from 

 Bin Juma and Mohamad's men when they threw down 

 the ivory in the forest. Tn passing along the narrow path 

 with a wall of dense vegetation touching each hand, we 

 came to a point where an ambush had been placed, and 

 trees cut down to obstruct us while they speared us ; but 

 for some reason it was abandoned. Nothing could be de- 

 tected ; but by stooping down to the earth and peering up 

 towards the sun, a dark shade could sometimes be seen : 

 this was an infuriated savage, and a slight rustle in the 

 dense vegetation meant a spear. A large spear from my 

 right lunged past and almost grazed my back, and stuck 

 firmly into the soil. The two men from whom it came 

 appeared in an opening in the forest only ten yards off 

 and bolted, one looking back over his shoulder as he ran. 

 As they are expert with the spear I don't know how it 

 missed, except that he was too sure of his aim and the 

 good hand of God was upon me. 



I was behind the main body, and all were allowed 

 to pass till I, the leader, who was believed to be Moha- 

 mad Bogharib, or Kolokolo himself, came up to the point 

 where they lay. A red jacket they had formerly seen 

 me wearing was proof to them that I was the same that 

 sent Bin Juma to kill five of their men, capture eleven 

 women and children, and twenty-five goats. Another spear 

 was thrown at me by an unseen assailant, and it missed me 

 by about a foot in front. Guns were fired into the dense 

 mass of forest, but with no effect, for nothing could be 

 seen; but we heard the men jeering and denouncing us 

 close by : two of our party were slain. 



Coming to a part of the forest cleared for cultivation 

 1 noticed a gigantic tree, made still taller by growing 

 on an anthill 20 feet high; it had fire applied near its 

 roots,. I heard a crack which told that the fire had done 



