attempted the ascent, but to have abandoned it on account of the
impenetrable duckweed (_Pistia stratiotes_.) We could not learn from any
record that the Shire had ever been ascended by Europeans. As far,
therefore, as we were concerned, the exploration was absolutely new. All
the Portuguese believed the Manganja to be brave but bloodthirsty
savages; and on our return we found that soon after our departure a
report was widely spread that our temerity had been followed by fatal
results, Dr. Livingstone having been shot, and Dr. Kirk mortally wounded
by poisoned arrows.

Our first trip to the Shire was in January, 1859. A considerable
quantity of weed floated down the river for the first twenty-five miles,
but not sufficient to interrupt navigation with canoes or with any other
craft. Nearly the whole of this aquatic plant proceeds from a marsh on
the west, and comes into the river a little beyond a lofty hill called
Mount Morambala. Above that there is hardly any. As we approached the
villages, the natives collected in large numbers, armed with bows and
poisoned arrows; and some, dodging behind trees, were observed taking aim
as if on the point of shooting. All the women had been sent out of the
way, and the men were evidently prepared to resist aggression. At the
village of a chief named Tingane, at least five hundred natives collected
and ordered us to stop. Dr. Livingstone went ashore; and on his
explaining that we were English and had come neither to take slaves nor
to fight, but only to open a path by which our countrymen might follow to
purchase cotton, or whatever else they might have to sell, except slaves,
Tingane became at once quite friendly. The presence of the steamer,
which showed that they had an entirely new people to deal with, probably
contributed to this result; for Tingane was notorious for being the
barrier to all intercourse between the Portuguese black traders and the
natives further inland; none were allowed to pass him either way. He was