it
particularly intellectual, for its nest shows no more contrivance than
that of a cushat dove. The curiosity of the people was very great, and
sometimes it took an interesting direction. "Do people die with you?"
asked two intelligent young men. "Have you no charm against death?
Where do people go after death?" Livingstone spoke to them of the great
Father, and of their prayers to Him who hears the cry of his children;
and they thought this to be natural.

He rested at Bambarre till the 1st of November, and then went westward
till he reached the Luamo River, and was within ten miles of its
confluence with the Lualaba. He found the country surpassingly
beautiful: "Palms crown the highest heights of the mountains, and their
gracefully-bent fronds wave beautifully in the wind. Climbers of cable
size in great numbers are hung among the gigantic trees; many unknown
wild fruits abound, some the size of a child's head, and strange birds
and monkeys are everywhere. The soil is excessively rich, and the
people, though isolated by old feuds that are never settled,
cultivate largely."

The country was very populous, and Livingstone so excited the curiosity
of the people that he could hardly get quit of the crowds. It was not so
uninteresting to be stared at by the women, but he was wearied with the
ugliness of the men. Palm-toddy did not inspire them with any social
qualities, but made them low and disagreeable. They had no friendly
feeling for him, and could not be inspired with any. They thought that
he and his people were like the Arab traders, and they would not do
anything for them. It was impossible to procure a canoe for navigating
the Lualaba, so that there was nothing for it but to return to Bambarre,
which was reached on the 19th December, 1869.

A long letter to his son Thomas (Town of Moenekuss, Manyuema Country,
24th September, 1869) gives a retrospect of this period, and indeed, in
a sense, of his life:

"My dear Tom,--I begin a letter, though I have no prospect of
being able to send it off for many months to come. It is to
have something in readiness when the hurry usual in preparing
a mail does arrive. I am in the Manyuema Country, about 150
miles west of Ujiji, and at the town of Moenekoos or
Moenekuss, a principal chief among the reputed cannibals. His
name means 'Lord of the light-gray parrot with a red tail,'
which abounds here, and he points away still further we