Scotland/Scots > Last years of Livingstone

THE LAST YEARS OF LIVINGSTONE.
brought fish, salt, pepper, oil, grass-cloth, iron, fowls, goats,
sheep, pigs, in great numbers to exchange with those east of
the river for cassava, grain, potatoes and other farinaceous
products. They have a strong sense of natural justice, and
all unite in forcing each other to fair dealing. At first my
presence made them all afraid, but wishing to gain their
confidence, which my enemies tried to undermine or pre¬
vent, I went among them frequently, and seeing no harm in
me became very gracious; the bargaining was the finest
acting I ever saw. I understand but few of the words that
flew off the glib tongues of the women, but their gestures
spoke plainly. I took sketches of the fifteen varieties of fish
brought in, to compare them with those of the Nile farther
down, and all were eager to tell their names. But on the
date referred to I had left the market only a minute or two
when three men whom I had seen with guns, and felt in¬
clined to reprove them for bringing them into the market
place, but had refrained by attributing it to ignorance in
new comers, began to fire into the dense crowd around
them. Another party, down at the canoes, rained their
balls on the panic-struck multitude that rushed into these
vessels. All threw away their goods, the men forgot their
paddles, the canoes were jammed in the creek and could
not be got out quick enough, so many men and women
sprung into the water. The women of the left bank are
expert divers for oysters, and a long line of heads showed
a crowd striking out for an island half a mile off; to gain
it they had to turn the left shoulder against a current of
between a mile and a half to two miles an hour. Had