DR. LIVINGSTONE'S DIARY. 597 



being interfered with by a man looked daggers, and screaming tried to beat 

 him with her hands : she was afraid of his stick, and faced him, putting her 

 back to me as a friend. She holds out her hand for people to lift her up and 

 carry her, quite like a spoiled child ; then bursts into a passionate cry, some- 

 what like that of a kite, wrings her hands quite naturally, as if in despair. 

 She eats everything, covers herself with a mat to sleep, and makes a nest of 

 grass or leaves, and wipes her face with a leaf." 



" On behalf of mankind, however, Dr. Livingstone finally attests that, if 

 one is but civil, he can traverse Africa unhurt from shore to shore. The simple 

 African races would, to all appearance, be reasonably happy were it not for 

 the unmitigated and poisonous curse of slavery," of which the following charm- 

 ing picture of the simplicity of African village life by Dr. Livingstone affords 

 abundant proof: — " We came to some villages among beautiful tree-covered 

 hills, called Basilange or Mobasilange. The villages are very pretty, standing 

 on slopes. The main street generally lies east and west, to allow the bright 

 sun to stream his clear hot rays from one end to the other, and lick up quickly 

 the moisture from the frequent showers which is not drained off by the slopes. 

 A little verandah is often made in front of the door, and here at dawn the 

 family gathers round a fire, and, while enjoying the heat needed in the cold 

 that always accompanies the first darting of the light or sun's rays across the 

 atmosphere, inhale the delicious air, and talk over their little domestic affairs. 

 The various shaped leaves of the forest all around their village and near their 

 nestlings are bespangled with myriads of dewdrops. The cocks crow vigor- 

 ously, and strut and ogle : the kids gambol and leap on the backs of their 

 dams quietly chewing the cud ; other goats make believe fighting. Thrifty 

 wives often bake their new clay pots in a fire, made by lighting a heap of 

 grass roots : the next morning they extract salt from the ashes, and so two 

 birds are killed with one stone. The beauty of this morning scene of peaceful 

 enjoyment is indescribable. Infancy gilds the fairy picture with its own lines, 

 and it is probably never forgotten, for the young, taken up from slavers, and 

 treated with all philanthropic missionary care and kindness, still revert to the 

 period of infancy as the finest and fairest they have known They would go 

 back to freedom and enjoyment as fast as would our own sons of the soil, and 

 be heedless to the charms of hard work and no play which we think so much 

 better for them if not for us." How sad the contrast : — 



" In some cases we found all the villages deserted ; the people had fled 

 at our approach, in dread of repetitions of the outrages of Arab slaves. The 

 doors were all shut : a bunch of the leaves of reeds or of green reeds placed 

 across them, means ' no entrance here.' A few stray chickens wander about 

 wailing, having hid themselves while the rest were caught and carried off into 

 the deep forest, and the still smoking fires tell the same tale of recent flight 

 from the slave-traders." 



