A NATIVE BEADLE. 127 



four elephants' tusks belonging to Sekeletu, by the sale of which they were to 

 test the value of the market on the coast. 



Surely never was so formidable a journey undertaken with so little pre- 

 paration in the way of mere personal comfort and convenience ; but the want 

 of hundreds of those things usually supposed to be " indispensable to travel- 

 lers " undertaking journeys of trifling danger and extent in comparison, were 

 more than made up by a large stock of pluck and endurance, and the courage 

 and resolve which are born of an enterprise which had for its object no 

 thought of personal interest, vain glory, or aggrandisement, but was under- 

 taken in the noblest spirit, solely in the interest of the physical and spiritual 

 welfare of the savage tribes of Central Africa. 



Scouts were sent to examine the country to the west, to discover an 

 outlet from Linyanti by a nearer route than the one taken on the previous 

 journey, but none could be found free from the plague of tsetse, and such as 

 were defiled by the existence of the slave trade ; and a passage through the latter 

 for an expedition, the leading material purpose of which was the extinction 

 of that detestable traffic, was out of the question. The expedition started for 

 the Chobe on the 4th November, 1853, and commenced their voyage down 

 that river at the island Manuka, where Livingstone had first met Sebituane. 

 Here Sekeletu and several of his principal men, who had accompanied them 

 thus far, took leave of them, wishing them success. After paddling at the 

 rate of five miles an hour for forty-two hours, they reached the Leeambye, 

 and proceeding up the river, they reached Sesheke on the 19th of November. 



Moriantsane, a brother-in-law of Sebituane, the chief of the various 

 tribes in and around Sesheke, supplied Livingstone with milk, honey, and 

 meal, and sent scouts up the river to the villages he was to stop at, enjoining 

 the headmen to have food ready for him and his party. The chief and large 

 numbers of the people assembled in the open air to listen to religious ad- 

 dresses from Livingstone. The audiences were very attentive, and appeared 

 anxious to profit by the instruction received, betraying their interest by 

 asking explanations of those things which were beyond their comprehension. 

 Moriantsane acted as a kind of amateur beadle in keeping order, on one 

 occasion hurling his staff at some young man he saw toying with a skin 

 instead of listening to the speaker. 



In their passage up the river abundance of food and fruit was provided, 

 and several varieties of the latter are worthy of notice. A fruit about the 

 size of an orange contains a number of seeds or pips imbedded in layers of a 

 pleasant juicy pulp. From the pips and bark are derived a variety of nux 

 vomica, from which strychnia is extracted. A fruit called mobola, about the 

 size of the date, when stripped of the seeds and dried forms a very palatable 

 dish, with a flavour of strawberries ; in a dried state it can be preserved for 

 a considerable period. The most palatable fruit of the district is called the 



