924 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



any means, as conveying accurate and exact knowledge. Even the most 

 intelligent of Arabs, Wanguana, Wasawhili, and Central Africa natives, as if 

 originally they were taken out of the same matrix, have a terrible passion 

 for exaggeration. If the explorer is unable to visit the scene personally, he 

 may perhaps be excused — after sifting evidence, comparing information ac- 

 quired in different localities, and weighing with judgment and a sense of 

 distrust every particle of intelligence — for publishing geographical news on 

 native authority. It was not until after marching from the confluence of the 

 Ruvuvu and the Kagera to Ujiji, circumnavigating the Tanganyika, and hear- 

 ing Wazige and Warundi bear witness to the same facts, that I found courage 

 to publish what I had not personally exhausted. I will give you, in brief, 

 three instances of black people's mendacity, which will prove to you that 

 the best weapon an explorer can arm himself with is distrust. 



" Manwa Sera, Captain in the Anglo-American Expedition, during a 

 casual talk with me, related : ' Master, when I was in Karagwe, some five or 

 six years ago, I went to the top of a high mountain near Rumanika's, and I 

 saw an enormous lake to the west of me. I should say it would take three 

 days to reach it. I could not see the other side of this lake.' All was related 

 slowly, as if he weighed well each word, with great gravity, and a certain 

 dignity as of truth, but these were the facts as viewed by the Explorer: A 

 lake existed six or seven hours' march from Rumanika's ; length of lake, thir- 

 teen miles ; greatest breadth, eight miles ; name of lake, Jhema Rweru. 



"Next, Baraka, a smart young fellow, a soldier in the Anglo-American 

 Expedition, reported as follows : ' Speak of Ruanda ! Do I not know Ruanda, 

 and all the countries round about ! Who is he that has gone further than I 

 have ? Have I not been to Ankori ? Yes ; I have carried thirjgs to the 

 King of Ankori. Ruanda is yellow and flat. It is like a plain — extends away, 

 away westward — a plain, in truth !' Again, however, these are the facts as 

 ascertained by your Explorer : Ruanda is exactly the opposite of what Baraka 

 said. The view of Ruanda from Karagwe is of a succession of lofty moun- 

 tain ridges, separated by deep broad vaileys. Your Explorer pointed out the 

 strong contrast between fiction and fact to Baraka. Baraka laughed, and im- 

 pudently showed his ivories. 



" Next : A Mgwana, a long time resident within a few hundred yards of 

 the mouth of the Rusizi, spoke as follows to Livingstone and myself in 1871 : 

 ' White men, you want to know all about the Rusizi. I know all about it. 

 I came from Mukamba's yesterday. This river Rusizi goes out of the lake. 

 I tell you true, quite true.' Meantime facts were as follow : The Rusizi flows 

 into the Lake Tanganyika, and not out ; and the light-hearted Mgwana told 

 an unnecessary untruth. 



" A native of Central Africa rarely, however, wilfully lies about a matter 

 that does not concern his interests. Ignorance in most cases is the cause of 



