960 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



dancing like children with a new toy. I had intended to remain at Gunira ; 

 but as my bed had not arrived, and there was nothing for me to eat, I went 

 back to Bagamoyo with Smith. Our interpreter and cook were to have come 

 to day from Zanzibar, but did not turn up. 



" 29tk. After getting a few more loads off, I set off for Gunira, taking a 

 quantity of pice with me for postho. Arrived at Gunira, I got the tent to rights. 

 A man came with some wild ducks for sale, Robertson arrived with his servant 

 William, and we put up our beds and made things comfortable, and then had 

 dinner. After prayers, and writing up my diary, we turned in, as both of us 

 were tired. 



" Aug. 1st. Mohammed came up early in the morning, and said the inter- 

 preter had come, so I decided at once to go on to Kekoko. When two-thirds 

 of the men were off, the four pack-donkeys were started, and I followed them, 

 leaving Robertson to see the rest of the men off, and follow on the riding- 

 donkey. About a mile from Gunira we came to a mud-hole, which had to 

 be crossed, and here my troubles began. The two smaller donkeys, includ- 

 ing the one carrying the precious ammunition, got through the mud fairly 

 well, but the other two lay down in it, and refused to stir. We had to take 

 their loads off, and haul them out by main force. I was toiling away with 

 coat off, shirt-sleeves rolled up, and up to my knees in a sticky compound of 

 black mud and water under a scorching sun for three quarters of an hour. 



At last, however, we were off again, and, crossing a wooded ridge, en- 

 tered the broad, flat valley of the Kingani, covered with a dense growth of 

 high grass in which antelope and hippopotamus are found. But here again we 

 had terrible work with the donkeys. There was a deep muddy ditch, down 

 which a slow stream of water was flowing, to be crossed. A single narrow 

 plank had been placed as a bridge, and over this we had to get the donkeys, 

 but they refused to go, and began to plunge, so we had to unload them all, 

 and haul them across. In the midst of my troubles, Robertson came up and 

 gave a helping hand, and, after an hour's hard work, we were off again, and 

 plodded on over the plain. There were immense quantities of a lovely little 

 pink here, varying in colour from pale crimson to deep scarlet. About half 

 a mile from the river we came to another ditch, narrow but deeper, and with 

 more water in it than the former. I made a bridge of logs, and bundles of 

 grass laid over, but the donkeys would not cross it ; so we cut some planks, 

 nailed them to posts driven into the mud, and forced the animals over a 

 plank bridge. We soon reached the river, and, having crossed it, encamped 

 for the night. The distance from Gunira to the river by my pedometer was 

 six miles and three-quarters. The day was bright and very hot. 



" 2nd. Got up early and went out to shoot some provisions. I deter- 

 mined to go on to Kekoko without delay. The road lay by the river for a 

 mile, and then entered a dense grass jungle, which gradually gave place to 



