to prevent my toppling over in walking down. Below
us lay the valley of the Kwango in glorious sunlight." Another
fortnight and they were in Portuguese territory. The sight of white
men once more and a collection of traders' huts was a welcome sight
to the weary traveller. The commandant at once took pity on Livingstone,
but after a refreshing stay of ten days the English explorer started
off westward to the coast. For another month he pursued his way. It
was 31st May 1854. As the party neared the town of Loanda, the black
Makololos began to grow nervous. "We have stood by each other hitherto
and will do so to the last," Livingstone assured them, as they all
staggered into the city by the seashore. Here they found one Englishman
sent out for the suppression of the slave trade, who at once gave up
his bed to the stricken and emaciated explorer. "Never shall I forget,"
he says, "the luxury I enjoyed in feeling myself again on a good English
bed after six months' sleeping on the ground."

Nor were the Makololos forgotten. They were entertained on board an
English man-of-war lying off the coast. Livingstone was offered a
passage home, but he tells us: "I declined the tempting offers of my
friends, and resolved to take back my Makololo companions to their
Chief, with a view of making a path from here to the east coast by
means of the great river Zambesi."

With this object in view, he turned his back on home and comfort, and
on 20th September 1854 he left Loanda and "the white man's sea," as
the black guides called the Atlantic Ocean that washes the shores of
West Africa. Their way lay through the Angola country, rich in wild
coffee and cotton plantations. The weather was as usual still and
oppressive, but slowly Livingstone made his way eastward. He suffered
badly from fever as he had done on the outward journey. It had taken
him six months to reach Loanda from central Africa; it took a year
to complete the return journey, and it was September 1855 before
Linyanti was again reached. Waggons and goods left there eighteen
months before were safe, together with many welcome letters from home.
The return of the travellers after so long an absence was a cause of
great rejoicing. All the wonderful things the Makololos had seen and
heard were rehearsed many times before appreciative audiences.
Livingstone was more than ever a hero in their eyes, and his kindness
to his men was not forgotten. He had no difficulty in getting recrui