enters
Moero. Casembe said that the Lunde ran into Mofwe; others denied this,
and said that it formed a marsh with numbers of pools in long grass;
but it may ooze into Mofwe thus. Casembe sent three men to guide me to
Moero.

_24th December, 1867._--Drizzly rain, and we are in a miserable spot
by the Kabusi, in a bed of brakens four feet high. The guides won't
stir in this weather. I gave beads to buy what could be got for
Christmas.

_25th December, 1867._--Drizzly showers every now and then; soil,
black mud.

About ten men came as guides and as a convoy of honour to Mohamad.

_27th December, 1867._--In two hours we crossed Mandapala, now waist
deep. This part was well stocked with people five years ago, but
Casembe's severity in cropping ears and other mutilations, selling the
children for slight offences, &c., made them all flee to neighbouring
tribes; and now, if he sent all over the country, he could not collect
a thousand men.

[Livingstone refers (on the 15th Dec.) to some writings he was engaged
upon, and we find one of them here in his journal which takes the form
of a despatch to Lord Clarendon, with a note attached to the effect
that it was not copied or sent, as he had no paper for the purpose. It
affords an epitomised description of his late travels, and the stay at
Casembe, and is inserted here in the place of many notes written
daily, but which only repeat the same events and observations in a
less readable form. It is especially valuable at this stage of his
journal, because it treats on the whole geography of the district
between Lakes Nyassa and Moero, with a broad handling which is
impossible in the mere jottings of a diary.]

Town Of Casembe, _10th December, 1867._.

Lat. 9 deg. 37' 13" South; long. 28 deg. East.

The Right Honourable the Earl of Clarendon.

My Lord,--The first opportunity I had of sending a letter to the
coast occurred in February last, when I was at a village called
Molemba (lat. 10 deg. 14' S.; long. 31 deg. 46' E.), in the country
named Lobemba. Lobisa, Lobemba, Ulungu and Itawa-Lunda are the
names by which the districts of an elevated region between the
parallels 11 deg. and 8 deg. south, and meridians 28 deg.-33 deg.
long. east, are known. The altitude of this upland is from 4000 to
6000 feet above the level of the sea. It is generally covered with
forest, well watered by numerous rivulets, and comparatively cold.