534 LIVINGSTONE'S IMPROVED HEALTH. 



The people live on the hills, and, having no guns, seldom 

 disturb the game. They have never been visited, even by- 

 half-castes ; but Babisa traders have come occasionally. 

 Continuous rains kept us for some time on the banks of 

 the Chiponga, and here we were unfortunate enough to 

 come among the tsetse. 



We tried to leave one morning, but the rain coming on 

 afresh brought us to a stand, and after waiting an hour, 

 wet to the skin, we were fain to retrace our steps to our 

 sheds. These rains were from the east, and the clouds 

 might be seen on the hills, exactly as the " Table-cloth " 

 on Table Mountain. This was the first wetting we had 

 got since we left Sesheke, for I had gained some experience 

 in travelling. In Londa we braved the rain, and as I 

 despised being carried in our frequent passage through 

 running water, I was pretty constantly drenched ; but 

 now, when we saw a storm coming, we invariably halted. 

 The men soon pulled grass sufficient to make a little shelter 

 for themselves by placing it on a bush, and having got my 

 camp-stool and umbrella, with a little grass under my 

 feet, I kept myself perfectly dry. We also lighted large 

 fires, and the men were not chilled by streams of water 

 running down their persons, and abstracting the heat, as 

 they would have been had they been exposed to the rain. 

 When it was over, they warmed themselves by the fires, 

 and we travelled on comfortably. The effect of this care 

 was, that we had much less sickness than with a smaller 

 party in journeying to Iyoanda. Another improvement 

 made from my experience, was avoiding an entire change 

 of diet. In going to Loanda I took little or no European 

 food, in order not to burden my men and make them lose 

 spirit, but trusted entirely to what might be got by the 

 gun, and the liberality of the Balonda ; but on this 

 journey I took some flour which had been left in the 

 waggon, with some got on the island, and baked my own 

 bread all the way in an extemporaneous oven made by 

 an inverted pot. With these precautions, aided, no doubt, 

 by the greater healthiness or the district over which we 

 passed, I enjoyed perfect health. 



When we left the Chiponga on the 30th we passed along 

 the range of hills on our left, which are composed of mica 

 and clay-slate. At the bottom we found a forest of large 

 silicified trees, all lying as if the elevation of the range had 

 made them fall away from it, and towards the river. An 



