Fragment of 1870 Field Diary (LXXXVIII-CI)
David Livingstone

Date of composition: 21 February-22 March 1871
Place of composition: Manyema
Repository: National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Shelfmark: MS.10703, ff. 32-35
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_000210
TEI encoding: Adrian S. Wisnicki, Megan Ward, Heather F. Ball, Ashanka Kumari, Alexander Munson

[liv_000210_0001]

LXXXVIII 21st arrived at Monandewa's vil. [32]
situated on a high ridge between two deep & difficult
gullies - People obliging & kind = chief's wife made a
fire for me in the evening unbidden - 22nd on N.W. to
5a high hill called Chibaude a yunde with a
spring of white water at the village on the top - Hunger
from some unknow cause but people cultivating
now on the plain below with a will - 23d on
to two large villages with many banana plants
10around but men said they were in fear of
the traders and shifted their villages to avoid
them - We then went on to the village Kahombogola
with a feeble old man as chief - country beautiful
and undulating - light green grass covers it all
15save at the brooks where the eye is relieved by
the dark green of lines of trees - grass tears the
hands and wets the extremities constantly - soil
formed of debris of granite rocks - rough &
stoney but everywhere fertile - one can rarely
20get a bare spot to sit down and rest

24th to a villag{villag}e near Lolinde R. then
cross Loengadze & sleep on bank of Luha R.

[liv_000210_0001]

LXXXIX to Mamohela welcomed by all the
Arabs - and got a letter from Dr Kirk and
another from the Sultan - and from Muha
mmad bin Nassib going to Karagwe
5all anxious to be kind Katomba gave
flour - nuts fowl & goat - a new way
opened to Kasongo's much shorter than
that I followed - I rest a few days &
then go on -

10

1st March 1871 I was to start this morning
but the Arabs asked me to take seven of their
people going to buy viramba as as they
know the new way the offer was gladly
accepted - I gave a note to Katomba
15to take my double barrelled gun at Ujiji
I pay him this for all his services &
he gives me a young she Soko to be carried
for me there Ujiji - She is a most friendly
little beast came up to me at once making [liv_000210_0001]
XC her chirrup of welcome - smelled my clothing
& held out her hand to be shaken - I slapped her
palm without offence though she winced - She
began to untie the cord with which she was
5afterwards bound with fingers & thumbs
in quite a systematic way and on being
interfered with by a man looked daggers &
screaming tried to beat him with her hands
she was afraid of his stick and faced him
10putting her back to me as a friend = When
allowed to unloose herself she walked away
using the hands as crutches - treading on the
backs of the fingers on the spaces between
the first joint from the nail to the second
15the knuckles & back of the hand being held
perpendicularly - sometimes she walks
upright but the crutch movement in
which the feet are lifted forward together
is the common way of going - she holds
20out her hand for people to lift her up and
carry her quite like a spoiled child then
bursts into a passionate cry somewhat
like that of a kite wrings her hands quite
25naturally as if in despair & sometimes adds
a foot to make the appeal more tender -
she sits eighteen inches high - Her black
long hair was beautiful while she was tended
by her mother who was killed - she eats
30everything - comes and sits down on my
mat beside me as a child would do - covering
herself with a mat to sleep - makes a
nest of grass or leaves and wipes her
face with a leaf - - When wounded Soko
35stuffs leaves into the hole - is not mis
chievous as the monkeys are

MS.10703 [liv_000210_0002]

XCI = I present[ ] my double barrelled gun to [33]
Katomba as he has been very kind called
away from Ujiji - He gave me the Soko
but will carry it to Ujiji for me - I have tried
5to refund all that the Arabs have ap-
-pended on me I left Mamohela on
2nd March and came to Munanbunda's
seven of Moenel{o}kila's people go with
us and serve as guides - on the 3rd
10we came to Monangongo 4th
[ ][ ] Headman hid himself from fear as
we are near to where bin Juma killed five
men - then on 5th we came through the
same dense forest country as on 4th
15and reached villages beside some hills
called Mobasilange - the village at
which we sleep is called Bazilange
most of them are very pretty and stand
on slopes the main streets East and
20West allow the bright sun stream his
[liv_000210_0002]
XCII his clear rays from one end to the
other and dry up the moisture of the frequent
showers - a little verandah is often put
in front of the door - Here at dawn the
5family gathers round the fire and sit in
the enjoyment of the delicious air talking
over their little domestic affairs & waiting
till the sun warms them - the leaves of the
forest trees around and near them are
10bespangled with thousands of dew drops
the cocks crow & strut - the kids gambol &
leap - The older goats make believe fighting
the fairy scene is no doubt one never
forgotten by the young whose infamy is
15guilded by the scene picture whose beauty is quite
indescribable - Thrifty winces often make
the heap of grass roots which bake their
clay pots ^ or make salt serve as the morning fire - In some
cases all the village is deserted as we come
20near - doors are shut & a bunch of leaves [liv_000210_0002]
XCIII on a handful of reeds green placed across
it to say "no entrance here" - chickens not caught
while all the fowls and goats are carried off
we{a}il for the hens & tell like the smoking fires
5of flight from the slave traders - They have
found out that I am not a slaver and
when the people remain stand calling
as I pass - "This is the good one ^ Bolongo" - "Friend
ship Friendship" - They sell their fine iron
10rings eagerly for a few beads - The rings are
out of fashion since beads came in -
"slaves" slap grown men in sheer wanton
-ness I have threatened to thrash them if
I see them but out of sight of me they do it
15still - The owners confess that all the mischief
is done by slaves, and then when Manyema
resent and kill the nasty curs vengeance
is taken by guns - The free men behave
better than the slaves = The Manyema are
20far more beautiful than other free of [liv_000210_0002]
XCIV bond of Zanzibar - The men say "if we had
Manyema women we should get beautiful
children" Many women are very pretty & the men
handsome. Hands feet & limbs perfect - orifices
5of the nose widened by snufftakers - teeth not
filed except a little space between two front incisors

5th March 1871 We heard today that Muhamads
people passed us on the West with much ivory
I lose thus 20 copper rings I was to take from
10them and all the notes they were to make
for me of the rivers they crossed =

6th passed through very large villages with many
forges in active work - men followed us as if
to fight but we got them to turn peaceably
15we dont know who are enemies so many
have been maltreated & had relatives killed - The
rain of yesterday made paths so slippery that
the feet of all were sorely fatigued and on
coming to Mangara's I resolved to rest on 7th
20near mt Kimari - gave a cloth & beads in lieu
of a fine fat goat from chief a clever good man

[liv_000210_0003]

XCV 9th March 1871. We marched about five hours 34
across a grassy plain without trees = Buga or Prairie
The torrid sun nearly vertical sent his fierce rays down
and fatigued us all - crossed two ^ Sokoye streams by bridges &
5slept at a village on a ridge of woodland overlooking
Kasonga - After two hours this morning we came
to a villages of this chief & at one were welcomed
by the safari of Salem Mokadam & I was given
a house - Kasonga is a very fine young man
10with European features and very clever and
good - Has four guns - Muhamads people
were led by his and spent all their copper for
some fifty frasilahs of good ivory {figure}
From this party men have been sent
15over Lualaba and about fifty frasilahs obtained
All praise Kasonga - - this place is about
6 miles ^ East from Lualaba and very healthy

10th Muhamads people are said to have gone
to Luapanga a powerful chief who told
20them they were to buy all their ivory from
[liv_000210_0003]
XCVI him - He had not enough and they wanted
to go on to a people who have ivory doorposts
But he said "You shall go neither forwards nor
backwards but remain here" He called an
5immense body of archers and said you must
fight these" - they killed Luapanga and many
of his people called Bahika - crossed a very
large river the Morombya or Morombwe
and again the Pembo river but dont seem
10to have gone very far North -

I wished to go from this in canoes but Ka-
songo has none so I must tramp for 5 or 6
days to Moene Lualaba to buy one if I have credit
with Abed

15

11th Had a long fierce oration from Amur in
which I was told again & again that I should be
killed and eaten - people wanted a white one
to eat = I needed 200 guns - must not go to die -
20I told him that I was thankful for advice if given by
one who had knowledge but his vehement threats [liv_000210_0003]
XCVII were dreams of one who had never gone
anywhere but sent his slaves to kill people = He
was only frightening my people and doing me an
injury - Baker had only twelve people & came
5near to this. "Were the people cannibals" &c &c
I left this noisy demagogue after saying I thanked
him for this warnings but saw he knew not
what he was saying - The traders from Ujiji
are simply marauders, and their people
10worse than themselves thirst for blood more
than for ivory - Each longs to be able to tell a tale
of blood, and Manyema are an easy prey
Abed Hassani assaulted the people at Moene Lualaba's
and now they keep to the other bank and I am
15forced to bargain with Kasongo for a canoe
and he sends to a friend for one to be seen on
the 13th. This Abed declared to me that he would
not begin hostilities but he began nothing
else. The propsect of getting slaves over -
20-powers all else & blood blood flows
in horrid streams - The Lord look on it
He will have some tale to tell Muhamad Bogh[ ]

[liv_000210_0003]

XCVIII 12th Rashid left today for Moene Lualaba
and I wait for Kasongos messengers to return
This spot is pretty - land undulating with trees
enough to be beautiful - Rice grows well and
5food is abundant - Kasonga says that he has
but one tongue & never lies - He is a contrast
to the Arabs who are nearly all liars - Musa &
party are fair average opennness of Moslem
falsehood - The only difference between their relig
10and them is that Muhamad lied to force his
countrymen to give up idolatry - The impudence
of his lies is their chief feature - As a trader he
went to Damascus & heard of St Paul's trans-
lation to the third heaven - Muhamad at once
15 concieved the idea of a translation to the seventh
heaven - He had no miracle to shew in evidence
but without shame tried to appropriate Moses
bringing water out of the rock but with the characteris
tic of all false miracles for no reason - did not
20 [figure] take water as all others did on his camel and
worked his miracle where it was not needed =

[liv_000210_0004]

XCIX - 13th sent my people to examine the canoe
Kasonga's men did not reach it yesterday
afraid because their Headman Kasongo
gave Hassani & Muhamad's people ivory
5to assault the people at Moene Lualaba's
the trap laid was 25 copper bracelets given as debt
They killed many and captured many more
and hope not to return here
for no reason but to get slaves ^ - they
10were market people famed by all as
good & civil - Kasongo's goodness extends
only to the traders - I told him that they
would attack him too when they had finished
all about him and he would go yet in a
15slave yoke like other Manyema It is
terrible this Manyema trade - It is simply
stealing people and shedding human blood
as a sort of salvo or accompaniment
to be able to say we fought Kasongo's
20enemies - Marvel not at the matter
there be higher than they.

[liv_000210_0004]

C - 14th March 1871 Men did not return yesterday
I heard only lately of Youngs search for me on Nyassa
and am deeply thankful to H M Govt and all
concerned in taking trouble to ascertain my fate
5 Musa and his companions are fair average speci
-mens of the lower classes of half caste Muham-
-madans - one need never expect aught from them
but heartlessness and falsehood - one like them
-selves who had been properly punished by Manganja
10came past us and reported that he had been
plundered by Mazitu or Batuta 150 miles distant ^ N.
Musa was terrified & though I offered to go due
West till far past the beat of the Batuta as soon
as I turned my face thither ran away - they alleged
15no other reason whatever but fear of Batuta - The
Sultan who knows his people better than anyone
else entrusts all his reverence & money affairs to
Banians from India - His father did the same - He
says if he trusted his customs income in the hands of
20his own Muhammadan subjects they would steal it
35 all - purloin the whole - This being true of the better [liv_000210_0004]
CI. 15th nothing better can be expected from their inferiors
Falsehood seems ingrained in their constitutions
No wonder that in all this region they have never tried
to propagate Islamism The natives soon learn to hate
5them, and slaving as carried on by the Kilwans
and the Ujijians is so bloody as to prove an
effectual barrier against proselytism - The
Muhamadans have in all their intercourse
in East Africa propagated nothing but
10syphilis and the domestic bug - In spreading
the disease they have been distressingly successful
even in Manyema - Filthy talkers all their
speech to the natives is too disgusting to
noticed - to avoid provoking ill will
15I listened as if I heard it not -

16th The party here assaulted Kasongo's people
yesterday and killed three men capturing as
usual women & children - My men not come
back - I fear engaged in some broil

20

17th - 18th not come yet though two men were
sent after them 19th as I feared having killed
three men - I am clear of blood guiltiness -
no large canoe seen - people angry because Kasongo
sent traders to them killed their guide and wounded
25others - I can send no where without danger of my men
eagerly engaging in bloodshed -

20th I am heart sore and sick of human blood -

{figure}

21st Kasongo's brothers child died
30and he asked me to remain today while
he buried the dead and he would give
me a guide tomorrow - Being rainy
I stop willingly -

Dugumbe is said to purpose going
35down the river to Kanayumbe River
and build on the land Kanayumbe
which is a loop formed by the river & is large
{figure} He is believed to possess great power
of divination and even of killing
40unfaithful women

22nd I am detained another day by sickness of
one of the party - very cold rain yesterday from
Nor West - I hope to go tomorrow towards the
sokoni or great market of this region -