536 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
of some fruit that was unknown to me. He then, with 
great gravity, pronounced certain cabalistic words, and 
cast the fruit-stones on the ground. Some of them 
remained with the inner side upwards, and others the 
reverse. After examining the positions they had taken, 
he came to the conclusion that my deceased relatives had 
possessed me, and that it was necessary for me to give 
him something, that he might charm them away. I bore 
all this nonsense with the utmost patience whilst feign¬ 
ing to lend the greatest credence to his words, and 
dismissed him with a small present of gunpowder. Later 
on in the day Gambella sent me 10 loads of maize and 
massambala. My encampment being now finished, I lost 
no time in shifting my quarters into it. 
By the 29th of August the fever had yielded somewhat 
to the strong doses of quinine I had taken, and my 
strength was coming back to me. Unfortunately, my 
moral condition retrograded in a like degree. At times, 
indeed, the depression of spirits was most inexplicable, 
and my energy gave way as my moral weakness took the 
stronger hold of me. I was becoming crushed by the 
weight of a terrible attack of home-sickness. The King 
himself displayed a good deal of concern at my condition, 
but each messenger who came to inquire after my health 
made a more exorbitant and impertinent request than 
his predecessor. On that day, he sent his musicians to 
play and sing for my entertainment; but when they had 
done, a demand was made of two cartridges of powder 
per man. In the afternoon I heard a great beating of 
drums in the city, and the King sent to request that I 
would fire off some volleys in the great square—a wish 
that I gratified by despatching a dozen of my men for the 
purpose. I afterwards learned that it was a convocation 
to war, and before referring to the motives which led to 
it, I would fain say a few words about the history of the 
Lui, taking up the narrative from the point at which it 
was left by Dr. Livingstone, that is to say, from the 
death of Chicreto. 
The empire, so powerfully sustained by the iron hand, 
wisdom, prudence and policy of Chibitano, began visibly 
