The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death | Page 7

gave a plateful; and he even sent again
for more coffee after I had seen reason to resent his sending back my
present. I replied, "He won't send coffee back, for I shall give him
none." In revenge he sends round to warn all the Ujijians against taking
my letters to the coast; this is in accordance with their previous conduct,
for, like the Kilwa people on the road to Nyassa, they have refused to
carry my correspondence.
This is a den of the worst kind of slave-traders; those whom I met in
Urungu and Itawa were gentlemen slavers: the Ujiji slavers, like the
Kilwa and Portuguese, are the vilest of the vile. It is not a trade, but a
system of consecutive murders; they go to plunder and kidnap, and
every trading trip is nothing but a foray. Moené Mokaia, the headman

of this place, sent canoes through to Nzigé, and his people, feeling their
prowess among men ignorant of guns, made a regular assault but were
repulsed, and the whole, twenty in number, were killed. Moené Mokaia
is now negotiating with Syde bin Habib to go and revenge this, for so
much ivory, and all he can get besides. Syde, by trying to revenge the
death of Salem bin Habib, his brother, on the Bakatala, has blocked up
one part of the country against me, and will probably block Nzigé, for I
cannot get a message sent to Chowambé by anyone, and may have to
go to Karagwé on foot, and then from Rumanyika down to this water.
[In reference to the above we may add that there is a vocabulary of
Masai words at the end of a memorandum-book. Livingstone compiled
this with the idea that it would prove useful on his way towards the
coast, should he eventually pass through the Masai country. No doubt
some of the Arabs or their slaves knew the language, and assisted him
at his work.]
_29th May, 1869._--Many people went off to Unyembé, and their
houses were untenanted; I wished one, as I was in a lean-to of Zahor's,
but the two headmen tried to secure the rent for themselves, and were
defeated by Mohamad bin Saleh. I took my packet of letters to Thani,
and gave two cloths and four bunches of beads to the man who was to
take them to Unyanyembé; an hour afterwards, letters, cloths, and
beads were returned: Thani said he was afraid of English letters; he did
not know what was inside. I had sewed them up in a piece of canvas,
that was suspicious, and he would call all the great men of Ujiji and ask
them if it would be safe to take them; if they assented he would call for
the letters, if not he would not send them. I told Mohamad bin Saleh,
and he said to Thani that he and I were men of the Government, and
orders had come from Syed Majid to treat me with all respect: was this
conduct respectful? Thani then sent for the packet, but whether it will
reach Zanzibar I am doubtful. I gave the rent to the owner of the house
and went into it on 31st May. They are nearly all miserable Suaheli at
Ujiji, and have neither the manners nor the sense of Arabs.
[We see in the next few lines how satisfied Livingstone was concerning
the current in the Lake: he almost wishes to call Tanganyika a river.

Here then is a problem left for the future explorer to determine.
Although the Doctor proved by experiments during his lengthy stay at
Ujiji that the set is towards the north, his two men get over the
difficulty thus: "If you blow upon the surface of a basin of water on one
side, you will cause the water at last to revolve round and round; so
with Tanganyika, the prevailing winds produce a similar circulation.".
They feel certain there is no outlet, because at one time or another they
virtually completed the survey of the coast line and listened to native
testimony besides. How the phenomenon of sweet water is to be
accounted for we do not pretend to say. The reader will see further on
that Livingstone grapples with the difficulty which this Lake affords,
and propounds an exceedingly clever theory.]
Tanganyika has encroached on the Ujiji side upwards of a mile, and the
bank, which was in the memory of men now living, garden ground, is
covered with about two fathoms of water: in this Tanganyika resembles
most other rivers in this country, as the Upper Zambesi for instance,
which in the Barotsé country has been wearing eastwards for the last
thirty years: this Lake, or river, has worn eastwards too.
_1st June, 1869._--I am thankful to feel getting strong again,