246 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOUENALS. [Chap. X. 



others were despatched to buy food, but the Lake folks are 

 poor except in fish. 



Swifts in flocks were found on the Lake when we came 

 to it, and there are small migrations of swallows ever since. 

 Though this is the very hottest time of year, and all the 

 plants are burnt off or quite dried, the flowers persist in 

 bursting out of the hot dry surface, generally without leaves. 

 A purple ginger, with two yellow patches inside, is very 

 lovely to behold, and it is alternated with one of a bright 

 canary yellow ; many trees, too, put on their blossoms. The 

 sun makes the soil so hot that the radiation is as if it came 

 from a furnace. It burns the feet of the people, and knocks 

 them up. Subcutaneous inflammation is frequent in the 

 legs, and makes some of my most hardy men useless. We 

 have been compelled to slowness very much against my will. 

 I too was ill, and became better only by marching on foot. 

 Biding exposes one to the bad influence of the sun, while by 

 walking the perspiration modifies beneficially the excessive 

 heat. It is like the difference in effect of cold if one is in 

 activity or sitting, and falling asleep on a stage-coach. I 

 know ten hot fountains north of the Orange River; the 

 further north the more hot and numerous they become. 



[Just here we find a note, which does not bear reference to 

 anything that occurred at this time. Men, in the midst of 

 their hard earnest toil, perceive great truths with a sharp- 

 ness of outline and a depth of conviction which is denied to 

 the mere idle theorist : he says : — ] 



The spirit of Missions is the spirit of our Master : the 

 very genius of His religion. A diffusive philanthropy is 

 Christianity itself. It requires perpetual propagation to 

 attest its genuineness. 



9th November. — We got very little food, and kill a calf 

 to fill our mouths a little. A path east seems to lead out 

 from these mountains of Tanganyika. We went on east 



