xl PREFATORY LETTER. 



While making slow way from his state of great exhaus- 

 tion, he was glad for a short season, to rejoin the half-caste 

 traders ; but he never lost a day in which he did not no- 

 tice the manners of the Natives and the productions of 

 the country. As they went northwards the landscape im- 

 proved, the inhabitants were more numerous, and the food 

 was of better quality. The continued use of manioc pro- 

 duced a disease in the eyes ; but by mixing the oleaginous 

 ground-nut with it they had a more hearty and wholesome 

 food. Though the prevailing use of fire-arms had driven 

 the larger game into the forest they saw tracks of the 

 eland and the hippopotamus high up among the branches 

 of the Casai. Their most northern point was Cabango — a 

 large village composed of native huts, and a few miserable 

 square houses belonging to the half-caste slave agents of 

 the Portuguese traders of Cassange. The cruelty of these 

 agents provoked the indignation of the whole party. 

 "They have no hearts," exclaimed the Makololo, "and why 

 do the slaves let them?" 



The spirit of enterprize never left Dr Livingstone so long 

 as his strength lasted; and he at one time thought of fol- 

 lowing the track to Matiamvo ; hoping from that capital to 

 work his way to the Zambesi. But neither he nor his com- 

 panions were well-acquainted with the Balonda dialect ; and 

 the large stock of goods with which they had left Loanda was 

 rapidly wasting away. They, therefore, turned from Ca- 

 bango towards the south-east; and through gloomy forests, 

 and open swampy plains, journeyed on towards the water- 

 shed of Dilolo. While away from any slave-track they 

 were received with kindness; and they met with one 

 simple-hearted tribe who refused to eat beef when it was 

 offered them; because "the cows," they said, "were human 

 beings, and lived at home like men." 



It was the winter of the southern hemisphere, and 

 there were great ranges of temperature between night and 

 day among these swampy uplands. In the day the thermo- 



