428 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



fingers, and vowed we were friends. The revolvers and Winchester's repeating 

 rifle were things so wonderful that to attempt to give you any idea of how 

 awe-struck he and his were, would task my powers. The chief roared with 

 laughter ; he tickled his men in the ribs with his forefinger ; he clasped their 

 fore and middle fingers, vowed that the Masungu (white man) was a wonder, 

 a marvel, and no mistake. Did they ever see anything like it before ? ' No,' 

 as solemnly as before. Is he not a wonder ? Quite a wonder — positively a 

 wonder." 



Pushing onwards, he made the acquaintance of the honey bird, and while 

 in timbered country never lacked the agreeable addition of honey to their 

 meals. The honey bird "is a pretty bird, not much larger than a wren. 

 When it sees a human being it becomes very busy all at once, hops and skips 

 and flies from branch to branch with marvellous celerity. The traveller lifts 

 up his eyes, beholds the tiny little bird hopping about, and hears its sweet call, 

 ' Sweet — Sweet — Sweet !' If he is a Wokonongo (a native tribe given to honey- 

 hunting), he follows it. Away flies the bird on to another tree ; then springs 

 to another branch nearer to the begging man, as if to say, ' Shall I — must I 

 come and fetch you ?' Another, assured by the advance of its friend, rushes 

 off to another tree, coquets about, and sweets his call rapidly — sometimes more 

 earnest and loud, as if chiding the traveller for being so slow ; and so on, until 

 at last the treasure is found and secured. As the honey bird is a very busy 

 little animal, while the man secures his treasure of honey, he holds himself 

 ready for another flight, and to discover another treasure." 



The following illustrates the trouble he had in maintaining discipline 

 among his own followers. A man of less courage and nerve must either have 

 laid down his life there and then, or have been compelled to abandon the 

 expedition for a time, if not for altogether. Three hours' journey from the 

 banks of the Grombe, where they had rested for three days, his men halted, and 

 refused to proceed. The rapid marching was beginning to tell upon them, and 

 they wished to remain encamped several days, where, from the quantity of 

 game about, they could rest and enjoy abundance. Ever since he had left 

 Kwihara, Stanley had been possessed by a feverish eagerness to push forward, 

 and was in consequence in no mood to submit to any needless detention. We 

 will let him tell what happened in his own words : — 



" As I was walking up to see what was the matter, I saw the guide and his 

 brother sitting on an ant-hill, apart from the other people, fingering their guns 

 in what appeared to be a most suspicious manner. Calling Selim, I took the 

 double-barrelled smooth-bore, and slipped in two charges of buckshot, and then 

 walked on to my people, keeping an eye, however, upon the guide and his 

 brother. I asked Bombay to give me an explanation of the stoppage. He 

 would not answer, though he mumbled something sullenly, which was unin- 

 telligible to me. I looked on the other people, and perceived that they acted 



