[It may be well to point out that several of these men had previously been employed by Dr. Livingstone on the Zambesi and Shire; thus Musa, the Johanna man, was a sailor on the Lady Nyassa, whilst Susi and Amoda were engaged at Shupanga to cut wood for the Pioneer.  The two Waiyau lads, Wakatani and Chuma, were liberated from the slavers by the Doctor and Bishop Mackenzie in 1861, and lived for three years with the Mission party at Chibisa’s before they were engaged by Livingstone.  The Nassick lads were entire strangers, and were trained in India.]

19th March, 1866.—­We start this morning at 10 A.M.  I trust that the Most High may prosper me in this work, granting me influence in the eyes of the heathen, and helping me to make my intercourse beneficial to them.

22nd March, 1866.—­We reached Rovuma Bay to-day, and anchored about two miles from the mouth of the river, in five fathoms.  I went up the left bank to see if the gullies which formerly ran into the bay had altered, so as to allow camels to cross them:  they seemed to have become shallower.  There was no wind for the dhow, and as for the man-of-war towing her, it was out of the question.  On the 23rd the cutter did try to tow the dhow, but without success, as a strong tide runs constantly out of the river at this season.  A squall came up from the S.E., which would have taken the dhow in, but the master was on board the Penguin, and said he had no large sail.  I got him off to his vessel, but the wind died away before we could reach the mouth of the river.

24th March, 1866.—­I went to the dhow, and there being no wind I left orders with the captain to go up the right bank should a breeze arise.  Mr. Fane, midshipman, accompanied me up the left bank above, to see if we could lead the camels along in the water.  Near the point where the river first makes a little bend to the north, we landed and found three formidable gullies, and jungle so thick with bush, date-palms, twining bamboo, and hooked thorns, that one could scarcely get along.  Further inland it was sticky mud, thickly planted over with mangrove roots and gullies in whose soft banks one sank over the ankles.  No camels could have moved, and men with extreme difficulty might struggle through; but we never could have made an available road.  We came to a she-hippopotamus lying in a ditch, which did not cover her; Mr. Fane fired into her head, and she was so upset that she nearly fell backward in plunging up the opposite bank:  her calf was killed, and was like sucking-pig, though in appearance as large as a full-grown sow.