530 LIFE OF DA VI D LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



commenced between a party of Arabs numbering six hundred guns and the 

 chief of the district situated west of Chitimbwa, while I was at the south end 

 of the lake. 



"The Arabs hearing that an Englishman was in the country, naturally 

 inquired were he was, and the natives, fearing that mischief was intended, 

 denied positively that they had ever seen him. They then strongly advised 

 me to take refuge on an inhabited island ; but, not explaining their reasons, I 

 am sorry to think that I suspected them of a design to make me a prisoner, 

 which they could easily have done by removing the canoes, the island being 

 a mile from the land. They afterwards told me how nicely they had cheated 

 the Arabs, and saved me from harm. The end of the lake is in a deep cup- 

 shaped cavity, with sides running sheer down at some parts two thousand 

 feet into the water. The rocks, of red clay schist, crop out among the sylvan 

 vegetation, and here and there pretty cascades leap down the precipices, form- 

 ing a landscape of surpassing beauty. Herds of elephants, buffaloes, and 

 antelopes, enliven the scene, and with the stockaded villages embowered in 

 palms along the shores of the peaceful water, realize the idea of Xenophon's 

 Paradise. When about to leave the village of Mbette, or Pambette, down 

 there, and climb up the steep path by which we had descended, the wife of 

 the chief came forward, and said to her husband and the crowd looking at us 

 packing up our things, ' Why do you allow this man to go away ? He will 

 certainly fall into the hands of the Mazitu [here called BatubaJ, and you 

 know it, and are silent.' On inquiry, it appeared certain these marauders 

 were then actually plundering the villages up above the precipices at the foot 

 of which we sat. We waited six days, and the villagers kept watch on an 

 ant-hill outside the stockade, all the time looking up for the enemy. When 

 we did at last ascend, we saw the well-known lines of march of the Mazitu — 

 straight as arrows through the country, without any regard to the native 

 paths; their object was simply plunder, for in this case there was no blood- 

 shed. We found that the really benevolent lady had possessed accurate in- 

 formation. On going thence round the end of the lake, we came to the village 

 of Karambo, at the confluence of a large river, and the head man refused us 

 a passage across ; 'because,' said he, 'the Arabs have been fighting with the 

 people west of us; and two of their people have since been killed, though 

 only in search of ivory. You wish to go round by the west of the lake, and 

 the people may suppose that you are Arabs; and I dare not allow you to run 

 the risk of being killed by mistake.' On seeming to disbelieve, Karamba 

 drew his finger across his throat, and said, 'If at any time you discover that 

 I have spoken falsely, I give you leave to cut my throat.' That same after- 

 noon two Arab slaves came to the village in search of ivory, and confirmed 

 every word Karamba had spoken. 



"Having previously been much plagued by fever, and without a particle 



