THE MAKALOLO PREPARE TO FIGHT. 215 



Zurubo, they slept opposite the island of Shotanaga in the Zambesi, and were 

 surprised by a visit from a native with a hat and jacket on, from the island. 

 He was quite black, and had come from the Portuguese settlement of Tete, 

 which they now learned to their chagrin was on the other side of the stream. 

 This was all the more awkward, as he informed them that the people of the 

 settlement had been fighting with the natives for two years. Mpende, a 

 powerful chief, who lived farther down the river, had determined that no 

 white man should pass him. All this made them anxious to cross to the other 

 bank of the river ; but none of the chiefs whose villages lay between their 

 present position and Mpende's town, although in every other way most 

 friendly, dared to ferry them across, in dread of offending that powerful chief. 



All but unarmed as they were, and dependent upon the kindness of the 

 people through whose country they were passing, their progress being retarded 

 by the feebleness of their tsetse-bitten oxen, there was no help for it but to 

 proceed and trust to Providence for the reception they might receive from the 

 dreaded chief who was at war with the Portuguese in their front. Trusting 

 in the purity of his motives, and that dauntless courage, tempered with discre- 

 tion, which had never deserted him, Livingstone passed on, the fear of what 

 awaited him in front not preventing him from admiring the beauty of the 

 country and its capability under better circumstances of maintaining a vast 

 population in peace and plenty. Nearing Mpende's village, where a conical 

 hill, higher than any he had yet seen, and the wooded heights and green 

 fertile valleys commanded his admiration, he all but forgot the danger of his 

 situation, until forcibly reminded of it by the arrival of a formidable number 

 of Mpende's people at his encampment, uttering strange cries, waving some 

 red substance towards them, and lighting a fire on which they placed chains — 

 a token of war — after which they departed to some distance, where armed 

 men had been collecting ever since daybreak. 



Fearing a skirmish, Livingstone slaughtered an ox, according to the 

 custom of Sebituane, with the view of raising the courage of his men by a 

 plentiful meal. Although only half-armed, in rags, and suffering from their 

 march, yet inured as they were to fatigue, and feeling a confidence in their 

 superiority over the Zambesi men, notwithstanding all drawbacks in comfort 

 and circumstances, Livingstone had little fear of the result if fight he must ; 

 but in accordance with his constant policy, he was bound to accomplish 

 his object in peace, if that were possible. His men were elated at the 

 prospect of a fight, and looked forward to victory as certain, and the posses- 

 sion of corn and clothes in plenty, and of captives to carry their tusks and 

 baggage for them. As they waited and ate the meat by their camp-fire, they 

 said, " You have seen us with elephants, but you don't know yet what we can 

 do with men." 



By the time breakfast was dispatched, Mpende's whole tribe was asembled 



