Chap. V. mpende. 137 



broken leg, which showed no symptoms of ever having 

 begun to heal. Wild animals sometimes suffer a great 

 deal from disease, and wearily drag on a miserable exist- 

 ence before relieved of it by some ravenous beast. Once 

 we drove off a maneless lion and lioness from a dead 

 buffalo, which had been in the last stage of a decline. 

 They had watched him staggering to the river to quench 

 his thirst, and sprang on him as he was crawling up 

 the bank. One had caught him by the throat, and the 

 other by his high projecting backbone, which was broken 

 by the lion's powerful fangs. The struggle, if any, must 

 have been short. They had only eaten the intestines 

 when we frightened them off. It is curious that this is 

 the part that wild animals always begin with, and that it 

 is also the first choice of our men. Were it not a wise 

 arrangement that only the strongest males should continue 

 the breed, one could hardly help pitying the solitary 

 buffalo expelled from the herd for some physical blemish, 

 or on account of the weakness of approaching old age. 

 Banished from female society, he naturally becomes morose 

 and savage; the necessary watchfulness against enemies 

 is now never shared by others ; disgusted, he passes into a 

 state of chronic war with all who enjoy life, and the 

 sooner after his expulsion that he fills the lion's or the 

 wild-dog's maw, the better for himself and for the peace 

 of the country. 



We encamped on the 20th of June at a spot where 

 Dr. Livingstone, on his journey from the West to the East 

 Coast, was formerly menaced by a chief named Mpende. 

 No offence had been committed against him, but he had 

 firearms, and, with the express object of showing his 

 power, he threatened to attack the strangers. Mpende's 

 counsellors having, however, found out that Dr. Living- 

 stone belonged to a tribe of whom they had heard that 

 " they loved the black man and did not make slaves," his 



