give one stamp with that; this is the only movement in common. The arms and head are often thrown about also in every direction; and all this time the roaring is kept up with the utmost possible vigor; the continued stamping makes a cloud of dust ascend, and they leave a deep ring in the ground where they stood. If the scene were witnessed in a lunatic asylum it would be nothing out of the way, and quite appropriate even, as a means of letting off the excessive excitement of the brain; but here gray-headed men joined. in the performance with as much zest as others whose youth might be an excuse for making the perspiration stream off their bodies with the exertion. Motibe asked what I thought of the Makololo dance. I replied, 'It is very hard work, and brings but small profit.' 'It is,' replied he, 'but it is very nice, and Sekeletu will give us an ox for dancing for him.' He usually does slaughter an ox for the dancers when the work is over.

"The women stand by, clapping their hands, and occasionally one advances into the circle, composed of a hundred men, makes a few movements, and then retires. As I never tried it, and am unable to enter into the spirit of the thing, I cannot recommend the Makololo polka to the dancing world, but I have the authority of no less a person than Motibe, Sekeletu's father-in-law, for saying 'it is very nice.' They often asked if white people ever danced. I thought of the disease called St. Vitus's dance, but could not say that all our dancers were affected by it, and gave an answer which, I ought to be ashamed to own, did not raise some of our young country women in the estimation of the Makololo.

"As Sekeletu had been waiting for me at his mother's, we left the town as soon as I arrived, and proceeded down the river. Our speed with the stream was very great, for in one day we went from Litofe to Gonye, a distance of forty-four miles of latitude; and if we add to this the windings of the river, in longitude the distance will not be much less than sixty geographical miles. At this rate we soon reached Sesheke, and then the town of Linyanti.

"I had been, during a nine weeks' tour, in closer contact with heathenism than I had ever been before; and though all, including the chief, were as kind and attentive to me as possible, and there was no want of food (oxen being slaughtered daily, sometimes ten at a time, more than sufficient for the wants of all), yet to endure the dancing, roaring, and singing, the jesting, anecdotes, grumbling, quarreling, and murdering of these children of nature, seemed more like a severe penance than anything I had before met with in the course of my missionary duties. I took thence a more intense disgust at heathenism than I had before, and formed a greatly elevated opinion of the latent effects of missions, in the south, among tribes which are reported to have been as savage as the Makololo. The indirect benefits which, to a casual observer, lie beneath the surface and are inappreciable, in reference to the probable wide diffusion of Christianity at some future time, are worth all the money and labor that have been expended to produce them."

CHAPTER X.

LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS THE CONTINENT.

THE

III.-UP THE LEEBA RIVER.

HE Makololo were so quick to perceive the advantages of a regular trade with white men, that the greatest difficulties in the way of Livingstone's further exploration were removed. He decided to wait at Linyanti until the rains should have moderated the tropical heats, and then set out to find a way to St. Paul de Loanda. His observation of the latitude of Linyanti showed that the port of St. Philip de Benguela was much nearer, and he could have made arrangements with the Mambari tribe to pass through their territory; but he wisely preferred not to follow in the wake of slave-traders. Parties sent out to the westward, to discover a belt of territory free from the tsetse fly, returned unsuccessful, and the best prospect seemed to be to ascend the Zambesi and the Leeba as far as possible, and then strike westwards for the coast. Livingstone's account of the discussion of the matter among the natives, and his preparations for the further journey, must be given in his own words:

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"A 'picho'was called to deliberate on the steps proposed. In these assemblies great freedom of speech is allowed; and on this occasion one of the old diviners said, 'Where is he taking you to? This