270 LIVINGSTONE'S HAIR. 



said we came out of the sea, it did not mean that we came 

 from beneath the water ; but the fiction has been widely- 

 spread in the interior by the Mambari, that the real white 

 men live in the sea, and the myth was too good not to be 

 taken advantage of by my companions ; so, notwithstand- 

 ing my injunctions, I believe that, when I was out of 

 hearing, my men always represented themselves as led by 

 a genuine merman : " Just see his hair ! " If I returned 

 from walking to a little distance, they would remark of 

 some to whom they had been holding forth, " These people 

 want to see your hair." 



As the strangers had woolly hair like themselves, I had 

 to give up the idea of meeting anything more European 

 than two half-caste Portuguese, engaged in trading for 

 slaves, ivory, and bees' -wax. 



i hth. — After a short march we came to a most lovely 

 valley about a mile and a half wide, and stretching away 

 eastwards up to a low prolongation of Monakddzi. A 

 small stream meanders down the centre of this pleasant 

 green glen ; and on a little rill, which flows into it from 

 the western side, stands the town of Kabompo ; or, as he 

 likes best to be called, Shinte. (L,at. 12 2,7' 35" S., long. 

 22 47' E.) When Manenko thought the sun was high 

 enough for us to make a lucky entrance, we found the 

 town embowered in banana and other tropical trees having 

 great expansion of leaf ; the streets are straight, and 

 present a complete contrast to those of the Bechuanas, 

 which are all very tortuous. Here too we first saw native 

 huts with square walls and round roofs. The fences or 

 walls of the courts, which surround the huts, are wonder- 

 fully straight, and made of upright poles a few inches 

 apart, with strong grass or leafy bushes neatly woven 

 between. In the courts were small plantations of tobacco, 

 and a little solanaceous plant which the Balonda use as a 

 relish, also sugar-cane and bananas. Many of the poles 

 have grown again, and trees of the Ficus indica family 

 have been planted around, in order to give to the inhabi- 

 tants a grateful shade ; they regard this tree with some 

 sort of veneration as a medicine or charm. Goats were 

 browsing about, and, when we made our appearance, a 

 crowd of negroes, all fully armed, ran towards us as if they 

 would eat us up ; some had guns, but the manner in 

 which they were held, showed that the owners were more 

 accustomed to bows and arrows, than to white men's 



