642 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



looking clean and tidy, in a dress of grass cloth. He presented a striking 

 contrast to his appearance when he had called on the white man, when he 

 was decked out in tawdry and dirty clothes which had been made up for him 

 by the Arabs, and when he had produced an unfavourable impression on the 

 white man's mind. Whilst Cameron remained at the village, both the chief's 

 men and his own who had been to the west of the Lomami, returned with 

 the answer of the chief resident there, and which was to the effect, that no 

 people armed with guns had ever passed through his territory, and that if 

 any came he would resist them, and, if possible, destroy them. At the same 

 time the traveller saw many men who declared that they had been both to 

 Lake Sankorra and Lake Iki; and there was every reason for believing that 

 their statement was true. 



On his return, therefore, to the Arab settlement, he racked his brains to 

 find out what was best to be done ; and when Tipo-tipo told him of Portu- 

 guese traders coming to a place about two hundred or two hundred and fifty 

 miles south-south-west from the settlement, he made up his mind to go there, 

 and then to try to work his way back to Sankorra, thus avoiding the chief 

 who had refused to give him permission to pass. No sooner did Tipo-tipo 

 hear of his determination to push on in this direction than he gave him three 

 guides, natives of Urua, under charge of Mona Kasanga, son of the chief of 

 Kowamba (a lake on the Lualaba), to show him the road. His men now 

 threw every obstacle they could in his way, as they were thoroughly afraid 

 of going on through a country where no caravan had passed ; some half-a- 

 dozen deserted the day he started, and although he sent back from the place 

 he halted at, he could get no news about them. 



In addition to giving Cameron the native guides, Tipo-tipo also sent a 

 free man of Zanzibar to accompany him for ten days on the road ; but this, 

 although intended to be a help, proved rather a hindrance, as he said every 

 day, after about two hours' marching, that the next place at which they could 

 possibly halt was about six or seven hours further on, and therefore they had 

 better camp where they were. He seemed to share an opinion common 

 among the Arabs, that a European was unable to march far or fast in Africa : 

 he soon had this opinion, however, practically disproved. 



The road along which they travelled led them close to the right bank of 

 the Lomami, of which they caught glimpses from time to time. They cross- 

 ed numerous affluents, all of which they had to ford. The country was on 

 the whole level ; here and there hollows were grooved out through the sand 

 and pebbles, which formed the upper strata. These small valleys were always 

 well-wooded, and many very beautiful ferns and mosses grew in them, some 

 of the club-mosses being above twelve inches high. After journeying some 

 days, the guides became very doubtful about the road ; and as most of the 

 villages through which they passed had been deserted by the inhabitants 



