TEE QUANGO VALLEY. 143 



from plunder and a violent death. A man like this, who knows his own 

 powers thoroughly, and possesses the unusual faculty of commanding himself, 

 his passions and feelings, in all cases, illustrates our highest idea of what " a 

 leader of men " should be. To such men few undertakings, however dan- 

 gerous, are impossible ; their courage and honesty conquer the stranger, while 

 their followers cannot help imbibing these qualities to an extent which makes 

 them capable of efforts they would have shrunk from under inferior guidance. 



The travellers passed rapidly over the remainder of their route to the 

 Quango, avoiding villages, as the visiting of these only led to delays, no food 

 being procurable without making sacrifices of their now scanty necessaries. 

 On passing a village, swarms of children would rush out, and run for long 

 distances alongside of them, viewing them with wonder. They suffered 

 greatly from hunger ; but the near prospect of reaching Portuguese territory 

 and finding friends, kept them up, and induced them to strain every nerve to 

 reach it as speedily as possible. 



On the 30th of March, when so weak from fever and hunger that he had 

 to be led by his men to prevent his falling, Livingstone looked down from the 

 high land upon a valley about a hundred miles wide, through which the broad 

 Quango wound its way to the north-west. This great valley is nearly 

 covered with dark forest excepting along the course of the river, which 

 gleamed here and there from the midst of the green meadows which extend 

 a considerable way from its banks. On the further side lofty mountains rose 

 indistinctly through the haze, while the high ground from which he viewed 

 the magnificent scene was about a thousand feet above the level of the stream. 

 Weary and worn with want and disease, one can readily imagine the 

 feelings of this remarkable man, as he surveyed the magnificent valley spread 

 out before him, and had his eyes refreshed and his spirit stirred by the 

 sight of blue mountain summits, after hundreds of miles of travel through 

 a country all but flat. Beyond that broad stream lay friendly territory! 

 A few days more of trial and difficulty and he would be among a people who 

 would aid him in the completion of his great enterprise, and esteem it an 

 honour to supply him with the comforts and necessaries of which he stood so 

 much in need ! 



The chief of the Bashinje, a people on the east bank of the Quango, 

 made himself as troublesome as possible, as Livingstone would neither give 

 him a man nor one of the tusks belonging to Sekeletu. Everything they had 

 possessed, save the tusks and his instruments, was gone, and the clothes of the 

 travellers were hanging about them in tatters. The chief, a young man of 

 pleasing countenance, visited Livingstone, who showed him his watch, which 

 so excited his fear and wonder that he declined to see the magic lantern and 

 his pocket compass. Hunger and the near prospect of succour had made the 

 whole party determined to march on, even if they should have to cut their 



