388 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



passes the stomach almost unchanged. The sorest grief of all was the loss of 

 the medicine box which your friends at Apothecaries' Hall so kindly fitted 

 up." Several of his attendants acting as carriers had made off with the box, 

 his plates and dishes, and most of his powder and two guns. " This loss, 

 with all our medicine, fell on my heart like a sentence of death by fever, as 

 was the case with poor Bishop Mackenzie ; but I shall try native remedies, 

 trusting Him who has led me hitherto to lead me still. We have been mostly 

 on elevated land, between 3,000 and 5,000 feet above the sea. I think we 

 are now in the watershed for which I was to seek. We are 4,500 feet above 

 the sea level, and will begin to descend when we go. This may be put down 

 as 10° 50' 2". We found a party of black half-caste armed slaves here, and 

 one promised to take a letter to Zanzibar, but they give me only half a day 

 to write. I shall send what I can, and hope they will be as good as their 

 word. We have not had a single difficulty with the people, but we have been 

 very slow. Eight miles a day is a good march for us, loaded as the boys 

 are ; and we have often been obliged to go zigzag, as I mentioned. Bless- 

 ings on you all." 



The next communication from Livingstone was addressed to Sir Roderick 

 Murchison, and was read at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on 

 the 29th of April, 1868. It is dated February 2nd, 1867. We give extracts 

 from it, cutting out parts referring to matters dealt with in the preceding 

 letter. From the end of July to the middle of September, Livingstone re- 

 mained at Mataka, about fifty miles from Nyassa on the Rovuma side. He 

 says, " There are at least a thousand houses in the town, and Mataka is the 

 most powerful chief in the country. . . He was anxious that some of the 

 boys (Nassick boys) should remain with him, and I tried my best to induce 

 them, but in vain. He wished to be shown how to make use of his cattle in 

 agriculture ; I promised to try and get some other boys, acquainted with 

 Indian agriculture, for him. This is the best point I have seen for an in- 

 fluential station, and Mataka showed some sense of right. When his people 

 went, without his knowledge, to plunder at a part of the lake, he ordered the 

 captives and cattle to be sent back. This was his own spontaneous act, and 

 it took place before our arrival ; but I accidentally saw the strangers. They 

 consisted of fifty-four women and children, about a dozen boys, and thirty head 

 of cattle and calves. I gave him a trinket in memory of his good conduct, 

 at which he was delighted, for it had not been without opposition that he 

 carried out his orders, and he showed the token of my approbation in 

 triumph." 



Leaving the shores of the lake he endeavoured to ascend Kirk's range ; 

 " but the people below were afraid of those above, and it was only after an 

 old friend, Katosa, had turned out with his wives to carry our extra loads, 

 that we got up. It is only the edge of a plateau peopled by various tribes of 



