430 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



became numerous, and buffalo met the delighted eyes everywhere. Crossing 

 the mountainous ridge of Mivara, with its lengthy slope slowly declining 

 westward, the vegetation became more varied, and the outlines of the land 

 before us more picturesque. We grew satiated with the varieties of novel fruit 

 which we saw hanging thickly on the trees. There was the Mbember, with 

 the taste of an over-ripe peach ; the Tamarind pod and beans, with their 

 grateful acidity, resembling somewhat the lemon in their flavour ; the 

 Matonga, or nux vomica, was welcome ; and the luscious Singive, the plum of 

 Africa, was most delicious of all. There were wild plums like our own, and 

 grapes unpicked, long past their season, and beyond eating. 



"Guinea-fowl, the moor-hen, ptarmigan, and ducks, supplied our tables; 

 and often the hump of a buffalo, or an extravagant piece of venison, filled our 

 camp-kettles. My health was firmly re-established. The faster we prosecuted 

 our journey, the better I felt. I had long bidden adieu to the nauseous calomel 

 and rhubarb compounds, and had become quite a stranger to quinine. There 

 was only one drawback to it all, and that was the feeble health of the Arab 

 boy, Selim, who was suffering from an attack of acute dysentery, caused by 

 inordinate drinking of the bad water at the pools at which we had camped 

 between Manyara and Mvera ; but judicious attendance, and Dover's powders, 

 brought the boy round again. After a halt of three days at this village for 

 the benefit of the Arab boy, we proceeded westerly. . . Traversing a dense 

 forest of young trees, we came to a plain dotted with acres of ant-hills. Their 

 uniform height (about seven feet high above the plain) leads me to believe that 

 they were constructed during an unusually wet season, and when the country 

 was inundated for a long time in consequence. The surface of the plain also 

 bore the appearance of being subject to inundations. Beyond this plain about 

 four miles we came to a running stream of purest water — a most welcome sight, 

 after so many months spent by brackish pools." 



Pushing onwards, their proximity to the Tanganyika lake was evident 

 from the number of streams, all trending towards that goal of their hopes. 

 The neighbourhood of these streams was thickly covered with brushwood, and 

 the vicinity of these was dreaded by his followers, and not without cause. He 

 says : — " The undergrowth of bushes and tall grass, dense and impenetrable, 

 likely resorts of leopard, lion, and wild boar, were enough to appal the stout- 

 est heart. One of my donkeys, while being driven to water along a narrow 

 path edged by the awesome brake on either side, was attacked by a leopard, 

 which fastened its fangs in the poor animal's neck ; and it would have made 

 short work of it, had not its companions set up a braying chorus that might 

 well have terrified a score of leopards. And that same night, while encamped 

 contiguous to the limpid stream of Mtambu, with that lofty line of enormous 

 trees rising dark and awful above us, the lions issued from the brakes beneath, 

 and prowled about a well-set bush defence of our camp, venting their fearful 



