t was Lake Tanganyika lying some two
thousand feet below them. Its "surpassing loveliness" struck
Livingstone. "It lies in a deep basin," he says, "whose sides are nearly
perpendicular, but covered well with trees, at present all green; down
some of these rocks come beautiful cascades, while buffaloes,
elephants, and antelopes wander and graze on the more level spots,
and lions roar by night. In the morning and evening huge crocodiles
may be observed quietly making their way to their feeding-grounds,
and hippopotami snort by night."

Going westwards, Livingstone met a party of Arabs amongst whom he
remained for over three months, till he could make his way on to Lake
Meoro, reported to be only three days' journey. It took him sixteen
days to reach it. "Lake Meoro seems of goodly size," he says, "and
is flanked by ranges of mountains on the east and west. Its banks are
of coarse sand and slope gradually down to the water. We slept in a
fisherman's cottage on the north shore."

After a stay of six weeks in the neighbourhood, Livingstone returned
to the Arabs, until the spring of 1868, when he decided to explore
the Lake Bangweolo. In spite of opposition and the desertion of more
men, he started with five attendants and reached this--one of the
largest of the central African lakes--in July. Modestly enough he
asserts the fact. "On the 18th I saw the shores of the lake for the
first time. The name Bangweolo is applied to the great mass of water,
though I fear that our English folks will bogle at it or call it
Bungyhollow. The water is of a deep sea-green colour. It was bitterly
cold from the amount of moisture in the air."

This moisture converted the surrounding country into one huge bog or
sponge, twenty-nine of which Livingstone had to cross in thirty miles,
each taking about half an hour to cross.

[Illustration: THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE BANGWEOLO, 1868: LIVINGSTONE ON
THE LAKE WITH HIS MEN. From Livingstone's _Last Journals_, by
permission of Mr. John Murray.]

The explorer was still greatly occupied on the problem of the Nile.
"The discovery of the sources of the Nile," he says, "is somewhat akin
in importance to the discovery of the North-West Passage." It seemed
to him not impossible that the great river he found flowing through
these two great lakes to the west of Tanganyika might prove to be the
Upper Nile.

It was December before he started for Tanganyika. The new year of 1868
opened badly. Half-way, he beca