black mud.

About ten men came as guides and as a convoy of honour to Mohamad.

_27th December, 1867._--In two hours we crossed Mandapala, now waist
deep. This part was well stocked with people five years ago, but
Casembe's severity in cropping ears and other mutilations, selling the
children for slight offences, &c., made them all flee to neighbouring
tribes; and now, if he sent all over the country, he could not collect
a thousand men.

[Livingstone refers (on the 15th Dec.) to some writings he was engaged
upon, and we find one of them here in his journal which takes the form
of a despatch to Lord Clarendon, with a note attached to the effect
that it was not copied or sent, as he had no paper for the purpose. It
affords an epitomised description of his late travels, and the stay at
Casembe, and is inserted here in the place of many notes written
daily, but which only repeat the same events and observations in a
less readable form. It is especially valuable at this stage of his
journal, because it treats on the whole geography of the district
between Lakes Nyassa and Moero, with a broad handling which is
impossible in the mere jottings of a diary.]

Town Of Casembe, _10th December, 1867._.

Lat. 9° 37' 13" South; long. 28° East.

The Right Honourable the Earl of Clarendon.

My Lord,--The first opportunity I had of sending a letter to the