488 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



in a despatch to Lord Granville, gives a striking picture of the country and 

 the difficulties of travel : — 



" The country is extremely beautiful, but difficult to travel over. The 

 mountains of light grey granite stand like islands in new red sandstone, and 

 mountain and valley are all clad in a mantle of different shades of green. 

 The vegetation is indescribably rank. Through the grass — if grass it can be 

 called, which is over half-an-inch in diameter in the stalk, and from ten to 

 twelve feet high — nothing but elephants can walk. The leaves of this mega- 

 therium grass are armed with minute spikes, which, as we worm our way 

 along elephant-walks, rub disagreeably on the side of the face where the 

 gun is held, and the hand is made sore by fending it off the other side for 

 hours. The rains were fairly set in by November ; and in the mornings, or after 

 a shower, these leaves were loaded with moisture which wet us to the bone. 

 The valleys are deeply undulating, and in each innumerable dells have to be 

 crossed. There may be only a thread of water at the bottom ; but the mud, 

 mire, or fscottice) ' glaur' is grievous: thirty or forty yards of the path on each 

 side of the stream are worked by the feet of passengers into an adhesive com- 

 pound. By placing a foot on each side of the narrow way, one may waddle 

 a little distance along ; but the rank crop of grasses, gingers, and bushes, 

 cannot spare the few inches of soil required for the side of the foot, and down 

 he comes into the slough. The path often runs along the bed of the rivulet 

 for sixty or more yards, as if he who first cut it out went that distance seek- 

 ing for a part of the forest less dense for his axe. In other cases, the Muale 

 palm, from which here, as in Madagascar, grass-cloth is woven, and called by 

 the same name, ' lamba,' has taken possession of the valley. The leaf-stalks, 

 as thick as a strong man's arm, fall off and block up all passage, save by a 

 path made and mixed up by the feet of elephants and buffaloes ; the slough 

 therein is groan-compelling and deep. 



"Every now and then the traders, with rueful faces, stand panting; 

 the sweat trickles down my face; and I suppose that I look as grim as 

 they, though I try to cheer them with the hope that good prices will re- 

 ward them at the coast for ivory obtained with so much toil. In some 

 cases the subsoil has given way beneath the elephant's enormous weight; 

 the deep hole is filled with mud ; and one, taking it all to be about calf 

 deep, steps in to the top of the thigh, and flaps on to a seat, soft enough, 

 but not luxurious; a merry laugh relaxes the facial muscles, though 1 have 

 no other reason for it than that it is better to laugh than to cry. 



" Some of the numerous rivers which in this region flow into Lualaba are 

 covered with living vegetable bridges : a species of dark glossy-leaved grass, 

 with its roots and leaves, felts itself into a mat that covers the whole stream. 

 "When stepped upon, it yields twelve or fifteen inches, and that amount of 

 water rises up on the leg. At every step the foot has to be raised high 



