12 LECTURE I. 



I had gone towards the coast for the purpose of finding 

 a direct path to the sea, but on going through the country 

 we found forests so dense that the sun had not much in- 

 fluence on the ground, which was covered with yellow 

 mosses, and all the trees with white lichens. Amongst 

 these forests were little streams, each having its source in 

 a bog ; in fact nearly all the rivers in that country com- 

 mence in bogs. Finding it impossible to travel here in a 

 wheel conveyance, I left my waggon behind, and I believe 

 it is standing in perfect safety, where I last saw it, at the 



These men were genuine Africans, chiefly Makalolo, with a mixture of 

 several other tribes. The ships on board which our traveller took them 

 were her Majesty's cruisers, Pluto and Philomel. Here they were de- 

 lighted with their reception, and all they saw. The cannons for "putting 

 down the slave-trade with " especially delighted them. The officers won 

 their affections by their cordiality, and the sailors by like kindness and by 

 sharing their bread and beef with them. Respecting the ships they said, 

 "This is not a canoe at all ; it is a town." They looked on the decks 

 and rigging as being "a town upon town." The party left Loanda on 

 the return journey on the 20th September, 1854. The account they gave 

 of themselves, when arrived in their own country, was singularly amusing. 

 "We are the true ancients, who can tell wonderful things." Pitsane, 

 the head-man, related all they had seen, heard, and felt ; and this ac- 

 count did not lose in the telling. At Linyanti, all had a grand recep- 

 tion ; Secheletu himself wearing the officers' uniform sent him by the 

 Portuguese authorities at Loanda, while the men appeared in dashing 

 white dresses and red caps, calling themselves our traveller's "braves," 

 and trying to walk like Portuguese soldiers. They spoke of the wonder- 

 ful things they had met with, adding as a climax, "that they had 

 finished the whole world, and had turned only when there was no more 

 land." One glib old gentleman asked, " Then you reached Ma-Pobert 

 (Mrs Livingstone)?" They were obliged to confess "that she lived 

 a little beyond the world." (Travels, p. 501.) 



An account of the Doctor's other travelling companions will be found 

 at p. 14. 



