town.

_5th March, 1873._--Time runs on quickly. The real name of this island
is Masumbo, and the position may be probably long. 31 deg. 3'; lat. 10 deg. 11'
S. Men not arrived yet. Matipa very slow.

_6th March, 1873._--Building a camp outside the town for quiet and
cleanliness, and no mice to run over us at night. This islet is some
twenty or thirty feet above the general flat country and adjacent water.

At 3 P.M. we moved up to the highest part of the island where we can see
around us and have the fresh breeze from the Lake. Rainy as we went up,
as usual.

_7th March, 1873._--We expect our men to-day. I tremble for the donkey!
Camp sweet and clean, but it, too, has mosquitoes, from which a curtain
protects me completely--a great luxury, but unknown to the Arabs, to
whom I have spoken about it. Abed was overjoyed by one I made for him;
others are used to their bites, as was the man who said that he would
get used to a nail through the heel of his shoe. The men came at 3 P.M.,
but eight had to remain, the canoes being too small. The donkey had to
be tied down, as he rolled about on his legs and would have forced his
way out. He bit Mabruki Speke's lame hand, and came in stiff from lying
tied all day. We had him shampooed all over, but he could not eat
dura--he feels sore. Susi did well under the circumstances, and we had
plenty of flour ready for all. Chanza is near Kabinga, and this last
chief is coming to visit me in a day or two.

_8th March, 1873._--I press Matipa to get a fleet of canoes equal to
our number, but he complains of their being stolen by rebel subjects. He
tells me his brother Kabinga would have been here some days ago but for
having lost a son, who was killed by an elephant: he is mourning for him
but will come soon. Kabinga is on the other side of the Chambeze. A
party of male and female drummers and dancers is sure to turn up at
every village; the first here had a leader that used such violent antics
perspiration ran off his whole frame. I gave a few strings of beads, and
the performance is repeated to-day by another lot, but I rebel and allow
them to dance unheeded. We got a sheep for a wonder for a doti; fowls
and fish alone could be bought, but Kabinga has plenty of cattle.

[Illustration: Dr. Livingstone's Mosquito Curtain.]

There is a species of carp with red ventral fin, which is caught and
used in very large quantities: it is called "pumbo." The people dry it
over fires as preserved