e coast, and not long afterward Livingstone met a couple
of native traders, from whom, for two small tusks, he bought a quantity
of American cotton marked "Lawrence Mills, Lowell", which he distributed
among his men.

For another month they traveled slowly on through a fertile country,
abounding in animal life, bagging an elephant or a buffalo when short of
meat. Lions are numerous, but the natives, believing that the souls of
their dead chiefs enter the bodies of these animals, into which they
also have the power, when living, of transforming themselves at will,
never kill them. When they meet a lion they salute him by clapping their
hands--a courtesy which his Highness frequently returns by making a meal
of them.

In this region the women are decidedly in the ascendant. The bridegroom
is obliged to come to the village of the bride to live. Here he must
perform certain services for his mother-in-law, such as keeping her
always supplied with fire-wood. Above all things, he must always, when
in her presence, sit with his legs bent under him, it being considered a
mark of disrespect to present his feet toward her. If he wishes to leave
the village, he must not take his children with him; they belong to his
wife, or, rather, to her family. He can, however, by the payment of a
certain number of cattle, "buy up" his wife and children. When a man is
desired to perform any service he always asks his wife's consent; if she
refuses, no amount of bribery or coaxing will induce him to disobey her.

On the evening of March 2, Livingstone, tired and hungry, came within
eight miles of the Portuguese settlement of Tete. He sent forward the
letters of recommendation which he had received from the Portuguese on
the other side of the continent. Before daylight the following morning
he was aroused by two officers and a company of soldiers, who brought
the materials for a civilized breakfast--the first of which he had
partaken since he left Loanda, eighteen months before. "It was," he
says, "the most refreshing breakfast of which I ever partook."

Tete stands on the Zambesi, three hundred miles from its mouth. The
commandant received Livingstone kindly, supplied his men with provisions
for immediate use, gave them land upon which to raise future supplies,
and granted them permission to hunt elephants in the neighborhood on
their own account. Before long they had established a brisk trade
in fire-wood, as their countrymen had done at Loa