In one of his letters to Mr. Maclear he thus speaks of a part of this
journey: "It was not likely that I should know our course well, for the
country there is covered with shingle and gravel, bushes, trees, and
grass, and we were without path. Skulking out of the way of villages
where we were expected to pay after the purse was empty, it was
excessively hot and steamy; the eyes had to be always fixed on the
ground to avoid being tripped."
In the course of this journey he had even more exciting escapades among
hostile tribes than those which he had encountered on the way to Loanda.
His serious anxieties began when he passed beyond the tribes that owned
the sovereignty of Sekeletu. At the union of the rivers Loangwa and
Zambesi, the suspicious feeling regarding him reached a climax, and he
could only avoid the threatened doom of the Bazimka (_i.e._ Bastard
Portuguese) who had formerly incurred the wrath of the chief, by showing
his bosom, arms, and hair, and asking if the Bazimka were like that.
Livingstone felt that there was danger in the air.
Pages:
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384