Sekwebu, the leader of his men, put in a word:
"Ah, if you only knew him as well as we do, who have lived with him,
you would know how highly he values your friendship; and as he is a stranger
he trusts in you to direct him." The chief, convinced that
he was an Englishman, received the party hospitably and forwarded them
on their way.
The frequent appearance of English goods showed that they were approaching
the coast, and not long afterward Livingstone met a couple of native traders,
from whom, for two small tusks, he bought a quantity of American cotton
marked "Lawrence Mills, Lowell", which he distributed among his men.
For another month they traveled slowly on through a fertile country,
abounding in animal life, bagging an elephant or a buffalo
when short of meat. Lions are numerous, but the natives, believing that
the souls of their dead chiefs enter the bodies of these animals, into which
they also have the power, when living, of transforming themselves at will,
never kill them. When they meet a lion they salute him
by clapping their hands - a courtesy which his Highness frequently returns
by making a meal of them.
