Fragment of 1870 Field Diary (X-XIII)
David Livingstone

Date of composition: 10 October 1870
Place of composition: Bambarre
Repository: National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Shelfmark: MS.10703, ff. 1-2
Clendennen & Cunningham number(s): Field Diaries, 037
Digital edition and date: Livingstone Online, 2016
Publisher: University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, MD, USA
Project id: liv_000202
TEI encoding: Adrian S. Wisnicki, Megan Ward, Heather F. Ball, Alexander Munson

[liv_000202_0001]

X to be copied into Journal = 10th Octr 1870 came out of hut today 1
after being confined to it since 22nd July or 80 days – by irritable
ulcers on the feet - The last 20 days I suffered from fever
which reduced my strength, taking away my voice and
5purging me = appetite good but the third mouthful of any
food caused [ ]{n}ausea & vomiting – purging took place of
profuse sweating – I am thankful to feel myself well –
only one ulcer open the size of a split pea – Malachite was
the remedy most useful but the beginning of the rains may
10have helped the cure as it does to others = copper rubbed down
is used when malachite cannot be had – We expect
Syde Bin Habib soon - He will take to the river and I
hope so shall I – The native traders reached people who
had horns of oxen got from left bank of Lualaba – Ka-
15tomba’s people got most ivory namely 50 tusks – the others
only four – the Metamba or forest is of immense extent
and there is room for much ivory to be picked up
at 5 or 7 bracelets of copper per tusk if the slaves sent
will only be merciful – The nine villages and a 100 men
20killed by Katomba’s slaves at Nasangwa were
all about a string of beads fastened to a powder horn
which a manyema man tried in vain to steal – – Ka
gets 25 of the 50 tusks brought by his people

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XI. we expect letters & perhaps men by Syde Bin Habib.

No news from the coast had come to Ujiji save a rumour
that some one was building a large house at Bagamoio
but whether French or English no one can say – possibly
5the Mission urged on by Colonel Playfair & Dr Kirk
Tozer curiously enough follows the policy of Bp Mackenzie
which he so formally repudiated – Rearing boys got from
captives of men of war and writing to India that to teach
the young thus obtained is the great secret of mission work
10He does not know that the especial instruction
of the young has been advocated & acted on for the last
30 years in Africa India South Seas & elsewhere – Possibly
the erection of a huge establishment on the mainland
may be a way of laboriously proving that it is more healthy
15than the island to which he was driven by fear of death
It will take a long time to prove by stone & lime that the higher
lands 200 miles inland ar better still both for longevity
and work – I am in agony for news from home
All I feel sure of now is that my friends will all wish
20me to complete my task – I join in the wis now as
better than doing it in vain afterwards

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XII. The Manyema hoeing is little better than scraping the 2
soil & cutting through the roots of grass & weeds by a horizontal
motion of the hoe or knife – They leave the roots of maize
groundnuts – sweet potatoes & dura to find their way into
5the rich soft soil, and well they succeed so there is no need
for deep ploughing - The groundnuts & cassave hold their
own against grass for years Bananas if cleared of
weeds yield abundantly – Muhamad sowed rice
just outside the camp without any advantage being secured
10by the vicinity of a rivulet and it yielded for one measure
of seed one hundred & twenty measures of increase – This
season he plants and on the damp soil
along a rivulet called bonde The rainwater does not
percolate far – The clay retains it about 2 feet beneath the
15surface – this is a cause of unhealthiness to man – Fowls
and goats have been cut off this year in large numbers
by an epidemic -

Sentence to be inserted after ""there may only be a thread"
20of water at the bottom but the mud is grievous" Some 20
or 40 yards of the path on each bank is mixed up by the feet
of passengers into a deep stickey mass – [ ]{You} may put one
foot on each side and{of} the walk and waddle onwards but soon
that fails you for the rank vegetation often usurps the few
25foot holds you have and down
inches you come into the mire

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XIII. Often too the path takes the bed of the rill for 50 or 60 yds
as if the first passenger had gone that distance seeking a space
of forest less dense for his path = Near a village the road run-
-ning along a rivulet may have been to make it difficult for an
5enemy to find a path by night = The approaches to hamlets on the
side of a hill are certainly made with a view to confuse marauders
for they come near the dwellings and then ascend to a point
above the highest point of the village, and they go winding up
and down the steepest parts of the slope The rank vegetation
10being left so that it is impossible to take a straight course –

The visit of the Ujijian traders must be felt by the Man-
-yema to be a severe infliction - The huts are appropriated and
no leave asked – Firewood - pots – baskets food used without
scruple and anything that pleases is taken away – Usually the
15women flee into the forest and return to find the whole place a
litter of broken food – I tried to pay the owners of the huts in
which I slept but often in vain for they were hidden in the forest
and feared to come near – It was common for old men
to come forward to me with a present of bananas as I passed
20uttering with trembling accents "Bolongo "Bolongo" friendship
friendship. If I stopped to make a little return present others
ran for plantains or palm toddy = The slaves eat up what
they demanded without one word of thanks - "but they are
bad" dont give them anything" Why what badness is there in
25giving food - "O they like you" but hate us" - one man gave
me an iron ring and seemed inclined to be friendly –
yet they are undoubtedly bloodthirsty to other Manyema
& kill each other