LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 
3 1 7 
“The hands of the parties are joined; small incisions are made on 
the clasped hands, on the pits of the stomach of each, and on the right 
cheeks and foreheads. A small quantity of blood is taken off from 
these points in both parties by means of a stalk of grass. The blood 
from one person is put into one pot of native beer, and that of the 
second into another; each then drinks the other’s blood, and they are 
supposed to become perpetual friends or relations. During the drink¬ 
ing of the beer, some of the party continue beating the ground with 
short clubs, and utter sentences by way of ratifying the treaty. The 
men belonging to each then finish the beer. The principals in the 
performance of ‘kasendi’ are henceforth considered blood-relations, 
and are bound to disclose to each other any impending evil.” The 
new-made brothers clench the compact by presenting to each other the 
most valuable things they have about them. 
Malarious fever and native hostility were not the only dangers 
that Livingstone had to face. The wild animals which abound in the 
Zambesi basin often proved formidable obstacles in the path. Liv- 
v ingstone, however, never feared the lion much, and in his writings 
he did his best to dethrone that “lord of the desert” from his place in 
public estimation. Both the elephant and buffalo he considered more 
dangerous to the unoffending traveler, and on one occasion in this jour¬ 
ney he narrowly escaped from death through the malicious attack of a 
buffalo. 
In September, 1855, the party marched into Sesheke, a Makololo 
town on the Zambesi, and Livingstone found some goods and letters, 
which had been lying there for twelve months, awaiting his return. 
Not only had nothing been taken, but a hut had been built over them 
for protection from the weather. Similarly, on reaching Linyanti he 
found everything just as he had left it. This was a striking example 
of honesty, for the Makololo were feared through a wide region for 
their marauding spirit and fondness for raiding among their neigh¬ 
bors’ cattle. 
The return of the travelers was a time of great rejoicing. All 
the wonderful things which the Makololo had seen and met with were 
rehearsed a hundred times to an audience whose appreciation never 
waned, and whose appetite seemed only whetted by the tales of the 
marvelous adventures their kinsmen had gone through. The pres- 
