could it be a sin, they argued, to take back what was their own? We question whether any border cattle-lifter of the seventeenth century could have given a better reason for his cattle-stealing proclivities than this!

The party "met a venerable warrior, sole survivor save one, probably, of the Mantatee host which threatened to invade the colony in 1824. He retained a vivid recollection of their encounter with the Griquas. 'As we looked at the men and horses puffs of smoke arose, and some of us dropped down dead! Never saw anything like it in all my life- -a man's brains lying in one place and his body in another!' They could not understand what was killing them; a ball struck a man's shield at an angle, knocked his arm out of joint at the shoulder, and leaving a mark or burn, as he said, on the shield, killed another man close by. We saw the man with his shoulder still dislocated. Sebituane was present at the fighting, and had an exalted opinion of the power of white people ever afterwards."

CHAPTER XI.

RETURN JOURNEY-ARRIVAL AND DEATH OF MRS. LIVINGSTONE -DR. LIVINGSTONE RETURNS TO ENGLAND.

HE party left Sesheke on the 17th of September 1860 on their return journey to Kongone, at the mouth of the Zambesi, Leshore and Pit

sane (the latter the factotum of Dr. Living

stone in his journey to and from Loanda), and several Batoka men being sent with them to aid them in their journey, and bring the merchandise left at Tete, and a supply of medicine for Sekeletu, who was then nearly cured of his loathsome complaint. Although he and his people were suffering from famine, Sekeletu had been generous in his treatment of Dr. Livingstone and his companions, and when they left he gave them six oxen for their support until they reached the country below the falls, where food was more abundant. The party passed down the valley of the Zambesi, sometimes by land and sometimes in canoes— the latter being either bought or borrowed, or freely loaned for their use without reward, according to the friendly or unfriendly character of the proprietors.

At the Mburuma Rapids the party had a striking instance of the presence of mind and devotion of the Makololo. While passing the most dangerous of the rapids, the two canoes filled with water, and were in danger of being swamped, when of course the whole party must inevitably have perished. Two men, without a moment's hesitation, leaped out of each of the canoes, and ordered a Batoka man to do the same, as "the white men must be saved." "I cannot swim," said the Batoka. "Jump out, then, and

hold on to the canoe?" Swimming alongside, they guided the canoes down the swift current to the foot of the rapid, and then ran them ashore to bale them out.

The party arrived safely at Tete on the 23rd of November, after an absence of a little over six months. The two English sailors had enjoyed excellent health, and behaved themselves admirably during the absence of the party. Their gardening operations turned out a failure. A hippopotamus had paid the garden a visit and eaten up all the vegetables, and the sheep they had ate up the cotton when it was in flower, the crocodiles devoured the sheep left with them, and two monkeys they purchased ate the eggs of the fowls, and in turn the natives relieved them of all care of the latter by landing on the island during the night and stealing them. They were more successful in bargaining with the natives for food; their purchases were all made on board the steamer, and when more was demanded than the market price they brought a chameleon out of the cabin, an animal of which the natives have a mortal dread, and thus settled the matter at once by clearing the deck of the exorbitant traders.

Starting for the mouth of the Kongone, where they expected to meet some English cruisers with supplies, and the new steamer they had ordered, they were compelled to abandon the Ma-Robert, as she would keep afloat no longer. They reached the mouth of the Kongone on the 4th of January 1861, and found that the Portuguese had erected a custom-house there, and also a hut for a black lance-corporal and three men. The party took up their quarters in the custom-house. The soldiers were suffering from hunger. The provisions of Dr. Livingstone's party were also becoming exhausted, but as large herds of water-bucks were found in a creek between the Kongone and East Luabo, they were not put to any serious strait during the month they waited for the arrival of a ship. From drinking the brackish

water and eating the fresh pasturage, which is saline near the coast, the flesh of the antelopes was much sweeter and more tender than in the interior, where it is so dry and tough that the natives, who are not over fastidious, refuse to eat it for any length of time. The eggs of the pelican and the turtle were found in abundance, and, together with several varieties of fish, assisted in giving variety to their limited cuisine.

On the 31st of January their new ship, the Pioneer, anchored outside the bar, but owing to the state of the weather she did not venture in until the 4th of February. Shortly after two of H.M. cruisers arrived, bringing with them Bishop Mackenzie and the Oxford and Cambridge Missions to the tribes of the Shire and Lake Nyassa. The mission consisted of six Englishmen and five coloured men from the Cape; and as Dr. Livingstone and his party were under orders to explore the Rovuma, about seven hundred miles to the north of the Zambesi, and beyond Portuguese territory, they were somewhat at a loss what to do with them. If they acceded to Bishop Mackenzie's wishes, and conveyed them at once to Chibisa's village on the Shire, and left them there, they dreaded that, as they had no medical attendant, they might meet the fate of Mr. Helmore and his party at Linyanti. It was at last arranged that the bishop should, after accompanying his companions as far as Johanna, where they would await his return with H.M. Consul, Mr. Lumley, go with the expedition on board the Pioneer to the Rovuma, in the hope that by this route access might be found to Lake Nyassa and the valley of the Shire.

The Pioneer anchored in the mouth of the Rovuma or 25th of February, which they found to have a magnificent natural harbour and bay. They sailed up the river for thirty miles, through a hilly and magnificently wooded country, but were compelled to return as the river was

rapidly fallen in volume, and they were afraid that the ship might ground altogether, and have to lie there until the next rainy season.

In a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison, Dr. Livingstone gives a graphic account of the Rovuma River and the difficulties attending the navigation:

"The bed of the river is about three-quarters of a mile wide. It is flanked by a well-wooded table-land, which looks like ranges of hills five hundred feet high. Sometimes the spurs of the high land come close to the water, but generally there is a mile of level alluvial soil between them and the bank. So few people appear at first it looked like a 'land to let;' but having walked up to the edge of the plateau, considerable cultivation was met with, though to make a garden a great mass of brushwood must be cleared away. The women and children fled; but calling to a man not to be afraid, he asked if I had any objection to 'liquor with him,' and brought a cup of native beer. There are many new trees on the slopes, plenty of ebony in some places, and thickets of brushwood. The whole scenery had a lightgray appearance, dotted over with masses of green trees, which precede the others in putting on new foliage, for this may be called our winter. Other trees shewed their young leaves brownish-red, but soon all will be gloriously green. Further up we came to numerous villages perched on sand-banks in the river. They had villages on shore too, and plenty of grain stowed away in the woods. They did not fear for their victuals, but were afraid of being stolen themselves. We passed through them all right, civilly declining an invitation to land at a village where two human heads had been cut off. A lot of these river pilots then followed us till there was only a narrow passage under a high bank, and there let drive their arrows at us. We stopped and expostulated with them for a long time, then got them to one of the boats, and explained to them how