416 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



with the infinitesinially firm and complicated devices of the Arabs, from which 

 I suspect that the doors were either made at Zanzibar or on the coast. . . . 

 The Sultana is the eldest daughter of the famous Kizabengo, a name infamous 

 throughout the neighbouring districts for his kidnapping propensities. He 

 was another Theodore on a small scale. Sprung from humble ancestry, he 

 acquired distinction for his personal strength, his power of harangue, and his 

 amusing and versatile address, by which he gained great ascendancy over 

 fugitive slaves, and was chosen a leader among them. Fleeing from justice, 

 which awaited him at the hands of the Zanzibar Sultan, he arrived in Ukami, 

 which extended at that time from Ukwere to Usagara, and here he commenced 

 a career of conquest, the result of which was the cession by the Uakami of an 

 immense tract of fertile country, in the valley of the Ungerengeri. On its 

 desirable site, with the river flowing close under the walls, he built his capital,' 

 and called it Simbamwenni, which means 'the lion,' or the strongest city." 



Two days' journey beyond Simbamwenni, Mr. Stanley had his first 

 attack of fever. Many of his attendants had suffered from dysentery and other 

 causes. The rainy season had now commenced, and for miles their course was 

 over swollen streams and swamps, half- wading half-swimming in the utmost 

 discomfort. The first of May found them struggling through the mire and water 

 of the Mataka river, with a caravan bodily sick, from the exertion and fatigue 

 of crossing so many rivers, and wading through marshes. Shaw was still 

 suffering from his first fever ; Zaidi, a soldier, was critically ill with the small- 

 pox. Most of the others were either really sick or driven to despair by the 

 fatigues of the journey. "I was compelled," says Mr Stanley, " to observe 

 that when mud and wet sapped the physical energy of the lazily-inclined, a 

 dog- whip became their backs, restoring them to a sound — sometimes to an 

 extravagant activity." 



Once clear of the valley of Mataka, the road improved, but as population 

 was scant, and game scarce, the expedition stopped for want of fresh meat for 

 several days. Farquhar broke down completely, and had to be left *at a 

 friendly village until their return ; but long before Mr. Stanley passed through 

 on his way to the coast he was in his grave. On the Mpwapa slopes the 

 party suffered from a plague of ear-wigs. " In my tent," says Mr. Stanley, 

 "they might be counted by thousands; in my sling cot they were by 

 hundreds ; on my clothes they were by fifties ; on my neck and head they 

 were by scores. It is true they did not bite, and they did not irritate the 

 cuticle, but what their presence and number suggested was something so 

 horrible that it drove one nearly insane to think of it. . . Second to the 

 ear- wig in importance were the white ants, whose powers of destructiveness 

 were simply awful. Mats, cloth, portmanteaus, clothes, in short every article 

 I possessed, seemed on the verge of destruction, and, as I witnessed their 

 voracity, I felt anxious lest my tent should be devoured while I slept In the 



