Part of the
country was flooded, and they were wading all day, and forcing their way
through reeds with sharp edges "with hands all raw and bloody." "On
emerging from the swamps," says Livingstone, "when walking before the
wagon in the morning twilight, I observed a lioness about fifty yards
from me in the squatting way they walk when going to spring. She was
followed by a very large lion, but seeing the wagon she turned back."
It required all his tact to prevent guides and servants from deserting.
Everyone but himself was attacked by fever. "I would like," says his
journal, "to devote a portion of my life to the discovery of a remedy
for that terrible disease, the African fever. I would go into the parts
where it prevails most and try to discover if the natives have a remedy
for it. I must make many inquiries of the river people in this quarter."
Again in another key: "Am I on my way to die in Sebituane's country?
Have I seen the last of my wife and children, leaving this fair world
and knowing so little of it?"
February 4, 1853: "I am spared in health while all the company have been
attacked by fever.
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