DR. LIVINGSTONE'S LETTERS. 389 



Hanganja, who had never been engaged in slaving ; in fact they had driven 

 away a lot of Arab slavers a short time before. We used to think them all 

 Maravi, but Katosa is the only Maravi chief we know. The Kanthunda, or 

 climbers, live on the mountains that rise out of the plateau ; the Chipeta live 

 more on the plains there ; the Echewa still further north. We went among 

 a very hospitable people, until we thought we were past the longitude of the 

 Mazitu ; we then turned north, and all but fell into the hands of a marauding 

 party of that people. After a rather zigzag course, we took up the point we 

 had left in 1863, or say 21' west of Chimanga's, crossed the Loangwa, in 

 12° 45' south, as it flows in the bed of an ancient lake, and after emerging 

 out of this great hollow we ascended the plateau of Lobisa, at the southern 

 limit of 11° south. The hills on one part of it rise to a height of 6,600 feet 

 above the sea. . . We had now (on the plains) a good deal of gnawing 

 hunger, as day after day we trod the sloppy dripping forests, which yield 

 some wretched wild fruit and lots of mushrooms. A woman collected a load 

 of half a hundred weight ; after cooking they pound them into what they call 

 porridge ; but woe is me ! they are only good for producing dreams of the 

 roast beef of by-gone days. . . When we got to the Chambeze, which is 

 true to the character of the Zambesi, in having abundant animal life in its 

 waters, we soon got an antelope on its banks. We crossed it in 10° 24'; it was 

 flooded with clear water, but the lines of bushy trees which showed its actual 

 banks were not more than forty yards apart. 



" We arrived here (at Bemba) on the 1st day of January ; it is a stock- 

 aded village, with three lines of defence, the inner one having a deep dry 

 ditch round it. I think, if I am not mistaken, we are on the watershed be- 

 tween the Chambeze and Luapula. I have not had any time to take observa- 

 tions, as it is the rainy season, and almost always cloudy ; but we shall rest a 

 little here and get some flesh on our bones. Altitude about 4,500 feet above 

 the sea. The Luapula is said to be a very large river, but I hope to send 

 fuller information from Tanganyika. I have done all the hunting myself, 

 have enjoyed good health, and no touch of fever ; but we lost all our medi- 

 cines — the severest loss of goods I ever sustained ; so I am hoping, if fever 

 comes, to tend it off by native remedies, and trust in the watchful care of a 

 Higher Power. . . The chief here seems a jolly, frank person ; but unless 

 the country is insecure, I don't see the use of his lines of circumvallation. 

 He presented a cow on our arrival, and an elephant's tusk, because I had sat 

 upon it. 



" I have had no news whatever from the coast since we left it, but hope 

 for letters and our second stock of goods (a small one) at Ujiji. I have been 

 unable to send anything either; some letters I have written in hopes of 

 meeting an Arab slave-trader, but they all skedaddled as soon as they heard 

 the English were coming." 



