256 LIVINGSTONE AND THE NATIVES. 



that our new friends were mixing up my message of 

 peace and friendship with Makololo affairs, and stated, 

 that it was not delivered on the authority of any one 

 less than that of their Creator, and that, if the Makololo 

 did again break His laws and attack the Balonda, the 

 guilt would rest with the Makololo and not with me. 

 The palaver then came to a close. 



By way of gaining their confidence, I showed them 

 my hair, which is considered a curiosity in all this region. 

 They said, " Is that hair ? It is the mane of a lion, 

 and not hair at all." Some thought that I had made 

 a wig of lion's mane, as they sometimes do with the 

 fibres of the " ife," and dye it black, and twist it, so as to 

 resemble a mass of their own wool. I could not return 

 the joke, by telling them that theirs was not hair, but 

 the wool of sheep, for they have none of these in the 

 country ; and even though they had, as Herodotus 

 remarked, " the African sheep are clothed with hair, 

 and men's heads with wool." So I had to be content 

 with asserting, that mine was the real original hair, such 

 as theirs would have been, had it not been scorched and 

 frizzled by the sun. In proof of what the sun could do, 

 I compared my own bronzed face and hands, then about 

 the same in complexion as the lighter-coloured Makololo, 

 with the white skin of my chest. They readily believed 

 that, as they go nearly naked and fully exposed to that 

 influence, we might be of common origin after all. Here, 

 as everywhere when heat and moisture are combined, 

 the people are very dark, but not quite black. There 

 is always a shade of brown in the most deeply coloured. 

 I showed my watch and pocket-compass, which are con- 

 sidered great curiosities ; but, though the lady was called 

 on by her husband to look, she would not be persuaded 

 to approach near enough. 



These people are more superstitious than any we had 

 yet encountered ; though still only building their village, 

 they had found time to erect two little sheds at the chief 

 dwelling in it. in which were placed two pots having charms 

 in them. When asked what medicine they contained, 

 they replied, " Medicine for the Barimo ; " but when 

 I rose and looked into them, they said they were medicine 

 for the game. Here we saw the first evidence of the 

 existence of idolatry, in the remains of an old idol at a 

 deserted village. It was simply a human head carved 



