360 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



some of the circumstances. One great difficulty is, that they speak the 

 language of Johanna only, for this necessitates the use of unskilled inter- 

 preters. 



" Our last communication from Dr. Livingstone was written by him on 

 the 18th May. He was then at Ngomano, where he remained fifteen days, 

 and probably his letter was written about the beginning of that time, or soon 

 after his arrival. We know that he started from Mikindany, struck the 

 Rovuma about thirty miles from its mouth, and proceeded to Ngomano, with- 

 out encountering any obstacle ; so far the natives were friendly, but the path 

 was most difficult, owing to the dense forest and tangled vegetation. I need 

 not recount what he has narrated, and what has, no doubt, been communi- 

 cated to you through Her Majesty's Secretary of State ; but shall briefly 

 state, so far as I have learned, the condition of the party when at Ngomano. 

 They mustered in all thirty-six, viz. : — Dr. Livingstone, twelve Bombay 

 Sepoys, ten Johanna men, nine boys (African) educated, and four Africans, 

 who had gone with him from the Zambesi to Bombay, where they awaited 

 his return. Ngomano, on the confluence of the Rovuma and the Loendi, is 

 the country between these streams, so that he had crossed the Rovuma before 

 reaching the village of the chief. The Loendi was seen to be the main 

 stream, the Rovuma being secondary to it. From previous expeditions 

 we know that the Rovuma below the confluence is very subject to sudden 

 rises and falls. In May it would be a considerable stream, but in October 

 and November a dry bed with hardly a boat passage, and fordable every mile. 

 Above the confluence of the Loendi, therefore, it must have become a series 

 of almost isolated pools, if the Loendi was the main source. On Dr. Living- 

 stone's arrival, the district was in a disordered state ; a drought had injured 

 the crop, and the little left had been carried off to the north of the Rovuma 

 by a marauding tribe of Mazitu. Dr. Livingstone seems to have obtained 

 provisions from the Mabiha of the south-east, and fifteen days after his arrival 

 to have proceeded westward. The first day's march was over desert country, 

 but the following day they again met the Rovuma, but did not cross it. 

 They had taken a path which proved a chord to one of the river-bends. 

 Passing small villages of the Walolo, a tribe speaking the Makua language, 

 and differing in little but the mark in the forehead from the main tribe to the 

 south, they reached hills towards the end of the third day's march ; these 

 were clothed with bamboo jungles, but little water was found. Here one of 

 the Africans, educated at Bombay, died. On the fourth and fifth days they 

 seem to have crossed open grazing plains with trees ; they were steadily 

 making an ascent, as indicated by the coldness of the mornings. 



" On the seventh day they were at Makarika, where they rested two 

 days, and after eleven marches came to Mataka, a town of considerable size, 

 the residence of a chief, who has power over a large district and many people ; 



