The Personal Life of David Livingstone/CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIII.

GOING HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO.

A.D. 1860.

Down to Kongone--State of the ship--Further delay--Letter to Secretary of Universities Mission--Letter to Mr. Braithwaite--At Tette--Miss Whately's sugar-mill--With his brother and Kirk at Kebrabasa--Mode of traveling--Reappearence of old friends--African warfare and its effects--Desolation--A European colony desirable--Escape from rhinoceros--Rumors of Moffat--The Portuguese local Governors oppose Livingstone--He becomes unpopular with them--Letter to Mr. Young--Wants of the country--The Makololo--Approach home--Some are disappointed--News of the death of the London missionaries, the Helmores and others--Letter to Dr. Moffat--The Victoria Falls re-examined--Sekelétu ill of leprosy--Treatment and recovery--His disappointment at not seeing Mrs. Livingstone--Efforts for the spiritual good of the Makololo--Careful observations in Natural History--The last of the "Ma-Robert"--Cheering prospect of the Universities Mission--Letter to Mr. Moore--to Mr. Young--He wishes another ship--Letter to Sir Roderick Murchison on the rumored journey of Silva Porto.

It was necessary to go down to Kongone for the repair of the ship. Livingstone was greatly disappointed with it, and thought the greed of the vendor had supplied him with a very inferior article for the price of a good one. He thus pours forth his vexation in writing to a friend: "Very grievous it is to be standing here tinkering when we might be doing good service to the cause of African civilization, and that on account of insatiable greediness. Burton may thank L. and B. that we are not at the other lakes before him. The loss of time greediness has inflicted on us has been frightful. My plan in this Expedition was excellent, but it did not include provisions against hypocrisy and fraud, which have sorely crippled us, and, indeed, ruined us, as a scientific Expedition."

Another delay was caused before they went inward, from their having to wait for a season suitable for hunting, as the party had to be kept in food. The mail from England had been lost, and they had the bitter disappointment of losing a year's correspondence from home. The following portions of a letter to the Secretary of the Committee for a Universities Mission gives a view of the situation at this time:

"RIVER ZAMBESI, 26_th Jan._, 1860.

"The defects we have unfortunately experienced in the    'Ma-Robert,' or rather the 'Asthmatic,' are so numerous that     it would require a treatise as long as a lawyer's     specification of any simple subject to give you any idea of     them, and they have inflicted so much toil that a feeling of     sickness comes over me when I advert to them.

"No one will ever believe the toil we have been put to in    woodcutting. The quantity consumed is enormous, and we cannot     get sufficient for speed into the furnace. It was only a     dogged determination not to be beaten that carried me     through.... But all will come out right at last. We are not     alone, though truly we deserve not his presence. He     encourages the trust that is granted by the word, 'I am with     you, even unto the end of the world.'...

"It is impossible for you to conceive how backward everything    is here, and the Portuguese are not to be depended upon;     their establishments are only small penal settlements, and as     no women are sent out, the state of morals is frightful. The     only chance of success is away from them; nothing would     prosper in their vicinity. After all, I am convinced that     were Christianity not divine, it would be trampled out by its     professors. Dr. Kirk, Mr. C. Livingstone, and Mr. Rae, with     two English seamen, do well. We are now on our way up the     river to the Makololo country, but must go overland from     Kebrabasa, or in a whaler. We should be better able to plan     our course if our letters had not been lost. We have never     been idle, and do not mean to be. We have been trying to get     the Portuguese Government to acknowledge free-trade on this     river, and but for long delay in our letters the negotiation might have been far advanced. I hope Lord John Russell will help in this matter, and then we must have a small colony or    missionary and mercantile settlement. If this our desire is    granted, it is probable we shall have no cause to lament our long toil and detention here. My wife's letters, too, were lost, so I don't know how or where she is. Our separation, and the work I have been engaged in, were not contemplated, but they have led to our opening a path into the fine cotton-field in the North. You will see that the discoveries of Burton and Speke confirm mine respecting the form of the continent and its fertility. It is an immense field. I crave the honor of establishing a focus of Christianity in it, but should it not be granted, I will submit as most unworthy. I    have written Mr. Venn twice, and from yours I see something is contemplated in Cambridge.... If young men come to this country, they must lay their account with doing everything for themselves. They must not expect to find influence at    once, and all the countries near to the Portuguese have been greatly depopulated. We are now ascending this river without vegetables, and living on salt beef and pork. The slave-trade has done its work, for formerly all kinds of provisions could be procured at every point, and at the cheapest rate. We    cannot get anything for either love or money, in a country the fertility of which is truly astonishing.

A few more general topics are touched on in a letter to Mr. Braithwaite:

"I am sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Sturge. He wrote me a    long letter on the 'Peace principle,' and before I could     study it carefully, it was mislaid. I wrote him from Tette,     as I did not wish him to suppose I neglected him, and     mentioned the murder of the six Makololo and other things, as     difficulties in the way of adopting his views, as they were     perfectly unarmed, and there was no feud between the tribes.     I fear that my letter may not have reached him alive. The     departure of Sir Fowell Buxton and others is very unexpected.     Sorry to see the loss of Dr. Bowen, of Sierra Leone--a good     man and a true. But there is One who ever liveth to make     intercession for us, and to carry on his own work. A terrible     war that was in Italy, and the peace engenders more uneasy     forebodings than any peace ever heard of. It is well that God     and not the devil reigns, and will bring his own purposes to     pass, right through the midst of the wars and passions of     men. Have you any knowledge of a famous despatch written by    Sir George Grey (late of the Cape), on the proper treatment of native tribes? I wish to study it.

"Tell your children that if I could get hold of a    hippopotamus I would eat it rather than allow it to eat me.     We see them often, but before we get near enough to get a     shot they dive down, and remain hidden till we are past. As     for lions, we never see them, sometimes hear a roar or two,     but that is all, and I go on the plan put forth by a little     girl in Scotland who saw a cow coming to her in a meadow, 'O     boo! boo! you no hurt me, I no hurt you.'"

At Tette one of his occupations was to fit up a sugar-mill, the gift of Miss Whately, of Dublin, and some friends. To that lady he writes a long letter of nineteen pages. He tells her he had just put up her beautiful sugar-mill, to show the natives what could be done by machinery. Then he adverts to the wonderful freedom from sickness that his party had enjoyed in the delta of the Zambesi, and proceeds to give an account of the Shiré Valley and its people. He finds ground for a favorable contrast between the Shiré natives and the Tette Portuguese:

"They (the natives) have fences made to guard the women from    the alligators, all along the Shiré: at Tette they have none,     and two women were taken past our vessel in the mouths of     these horrid brutes. The number of women taken is so great as     to make the Portuguese swear every time they speak of them,     and yet, when I proposed to the priest to make a collection     for a fence, and offered twenty dollars, he only smiled. You     Protestants don't know all the good you do by keeping our     friends of the only true and infallible Church up to their     duty. Here, and in Angola, we see how it is, when they are     not provoked--if not to love, to good works....

"On telling the Makololo that the sugar-mill had been sent to    Sekelétu by a lady, who collected a sum among other ladies to     buy it, they replied, 'O na le pelu'--she has a heart. I was     very proud of it, and so were they.

"... With reference to the future, I am trying to do what I    did before--obey the injunction, 'Commit thy way to the Lord,     trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.' And I hope     that He will make some use of me. My attention is now     directed specially to the fact that there is no country     better adapted for producing the raw materials of English     manufactures than this....

"See to what a length I have run. I have become palaverist. I    beg you to present my respectful salutation to the Archbishop     and Mrs. Whately, and should you meet any of the kind     contributors, say how thankful I am to them all."

From Tette he writes to Sir Roderick Murchison, 7th February, 1860, urging his plan for a steamer on Lake Nyassa: "If Government furnishes the means, all right; if not, I shall spend my book-money on it. I don't need to touch the children's fund, and mine could not be better spent. People who are born rich sometimes become miserable from a fear of becoming poor; but I have the advantage, you see, in not being afraid to die poor. If I live, I must succeed in what I have undertaken; death alone will put a stop to my efforts."

A month after he writes to the same friend, from Kongone, 10th March, 1860, that he is sending Rae home for a vessel:

"I tell Lord John Russell that he (Rae) may thereby do us    more service than he can now do in a worn-out steamer, with     35 patches, covering at least 100 holes. I say to his     Lordship, that after we have, by patient investigation and     experiment, at the risk of life, rendered the fever not more     formidable than a common cold; found access, from a good     harbor on the coast, to the main stream; and discovered a     pathway into the magnificent Highland lake region, which     promises so fairly for our commerce in cotton, and for our     policy in suppressing the trade in slaves, I earnestly hope     that he will crown our efforts by securing our free passage     through those parts of the Zambesi and Shiré of which the     Portuguese make no use, and by enabling us to introduce     civilization in a manner which will extend the honor and     influence of the English name."

In his communications with the Government at home, Livingstone never failed to urge the importance of their securing the free navigation of the Zambesi. The Portuguese on the river were now beginning to get an inkling of his drift, and to feel indignant at any countenance he was receiving from their own Government.

Passing up the Zambesi with Charles Livingstone, Dr. Kirk, and such of the Makololo as were willing to go home, Dr. Livingstone took a new look at Kebrabasa, from a different point, still believing that in flood it would allow a steamer to pass. Of his mode of traveling we have some pleasant glimpses. He always tried to make progress more a pleasure than a toil, and found that kindly consideration for the feelings even of blacks, the pleasure of observing scenery and everything new, as one moves on at an ordinary pace, and the participation in the most delightful rest with his fellows, made traveling delightful. He was gratified to find that he was as able for the fatigue as the natives. Even the headman, who carried little more than he did himself, and never, like him, hunted in the afternoon, was not equal to him. The hunting was no small addition to the toil; the tired hunter was often tempted to give it up, after bringing what would have been only sufficient for the three whites, and leave the rest, thus sending "the idle, ungrateful poor" supperless to bed. But this was not his way. The blacks were thought of in hunting as well as the whites. "It is only by continuance in well-doing," he says, "even to the length of what the worldly-wise call weakness, that the conviction is produced anywhere, that our motives are high enough to secure sincere respect."

As they proceeded, some of his old acquaintances reappeared, notably Mpende, who had given him such a threatening reception, but had now learned that he belonged to a tribe "that loved the black man and did not make slaves." A chief named Pangola appeared, at first tipsy and talkative, demanding a rifle, and next morning, just as they were beginning divine service, reappeared sober to press his request. Among the Baenda-Pezi, or Go-Nakeds, whose only clothing is a coat of red ochre, a noble specimen of the race appeared in full dress, consisting of a long tobacco-pipe, and brought a handsome present.

The country bore the usual traces of the results of African warfare. At times a clever chief stands up, who brings large tracts under his dominion; at his death his empire dissolves, and a fresh series of desolating wars ensues. In one region which was once studded with villages, they walked a whole week without meeting any one. A European colony, he was sure, would be invaluable for constraining the tribes to live in peace. "Thousands of industrious natives would gladly settle round it, and engage in that peaceful pursuit of agriculture and trade of which they are so fond, and, undistracted by wars and rumors of wars, might listen to the purifying and ennobling truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ." At Zumbo, the most picturesque site in the country, they saw the ruins of Jesuit missions, reminding them that there men once met to utter the magnificent words, "Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ!" but without leaving one permanent trace of their labors in the belief and worship of the people.

Wherever they go, Dr. Livingstone has his eye on the trees and plants and fruits of the region, with a view to commerce; while he is no less interested to watch the treatment of fever, when cases occur, and greatly gratified that Dr. Kirk, who had been trying a variety of medicines on himself, made rapid recovery when he took Dr. Livingstone's pills. He used to say if he had followed Morison, and set up as pill-maker, he might have made his fortune. Passing through the Bazizulu he had an escape from a rhinoceros, as remarkable though not quite as romantic as his escape from the lion; the animal came dashing at him, and suddenly, for some unknown reason, stopped when close to him, and gave him time to escape, as if it had been struck by his color, and doubtful if hunting a white man would be good sport.

At a month's distance from Mosilikatse, they heard a report that the missionaries had been there, that they had told the chief that it was wrong to kill men, and that the chief had said he was born to kill people, but would drop the practice--an interesting testimony to the power of Mr. Moffat's words. Everywhere the Makololo proclaimed that they were the friends of peace, and their course was like a triumphal procession, the people of the villages loading them with presents.

But a new revelation came to Dr. Livingstone. Though the Portuguese Government had given public orders that he was to be aided in every possible way, it was evident that private instructions had come, which, unintentionally perhaps, certainly produced the opposite effects. The Portuguese who were engaged in the slave-trade were far too much devoted to it ever to encourage an enterprise that aimed at extirpating it. Indeed, it became painfully apparent to Dr. Livingstone that the effect of his opening up the Zambesi had been to afford the Portuguese traders new facilities for conducting their unhallowed traffic; and had it not been for his promise to bring back the Makololo, he would now have abandoned the Zambesi and tried the Rovuma, as a way of reaching Nyassa. His future endeavors in connection with the Rovuma receive their explanation from this unwelcome discovery. The significance of the discovery in other respects cannot fail to be seen. Hitherto Livingstone had been on friendly terms with the Portuguese Government; he could be so no longer. The remarkable kindness he had so often received from Portuguese officers and traders made it a most painful trial to break with the authorities. But there was no alternative. Livingstone's courage was equal to the occasion, though he could not but see that his new attitude to the Portuguese must give an altered aspect to his Expedition, and create difficulties that might bring it to an end.

A letter to Mr. James Young, dated 22d July, near Kalosi, gives a free and familiar account of "what he was about":

"This is July, 1860, and no letter from you except one    written a few months after we sailed in the year of grace     1858. What you are doing I cannot divine. I am ready to     believe any mortal thing except that Louis Napoleon has taken     you away to make paraffin oil for the Tuileries. I don't     believe that he is supreme ruler, or that he can go an inch     beyond his tether. Well, as I cannot conceive what you are     about, I must tell you what we are doing, and we are just     trudging up the Zambesi as if there were no steam and no     locomotive but shank's nag yet discovered....

"We have heard of a mission for the Interior from the English    Universities, and this is the best news we have got since we     came to Africa. I have recommended up Shiré as a proper     sphere, and hasten back so as to be in the way if any     assistance can be rendered. I rejoice at the prospect with     all my heart, and am glad, too, that it is to be a Church of     England Mission, for that Church has never put forth its     strength, and I trust this may draw it forth. I am tired of     discovery when no fruit follows. It was refreshing to be able     to sit down every evening with the Makololo again, and tell     them of Him who came down from heaven to save sinners. The     unmerciful toil of the steamer prevented me from following my     bent as I should have done. Poor fellows! they have learnt no     good from their contact with slavery; many have imbibed the     slave spirit; many had married slave-women and got children. These I did not expect to return, as they were captives of    Sekelétu, and were not his own proper people. All professed a    strong desire to return. To test them I proposed to burn their village, but to this they would not assent. We then went out a few miles and told them that any one wishing to    remain might do so without guilt. A few returned, but though this was stated to them repeatedly afterward they preferred running away like slaves. I never saw any of the interior people so devoid of honor. Some complained of sickness, and all these I sent back, intrusting them with their burdens. About twenty-five returned in all to live at Tette. Some were drawn away by promises made to them as elephant-hunters. I    had no objection to their trying to better their condition, but was annoyed at finding that they would not tell their intentions, but ran away as if I were using compulsion. I    have learned more of the degrading nature of slavery of late than I ever conceived before. Our 20 millions were well spent in ridding ourselves of the incubus, and I think we ought to    assist our countrymen in the West Indies to import free labor from India.... I cannot tell you how glad I am at a prospect of a better system being introduced into Eastern Africa than that which has prevailed for ages, the evils of which have only been intensified by Portuguese colonization, as it is    called. Here we are passing through a well-peopled, fruitful region--a prolonged valley, for we have the highlands far on    our right. I did not observe before that all the banks of the Zambesi are cotton-fields. I never intended to write a book and take no note of cotton, which I now see everywhere. On    the Chongwe we found a species which is cultivated south of     the Zambesi, which resembles some kinds from South America.

"All that is needed is religious and mercantile    establishments to begin a better system and promote peaceful     intercourse. Here we are among a people who go stark naked     with no more sense of shame than we have with our clothes on.     The women have more sense and go decently. You see great     he-animals all about your camp carrying their indispensable     tobacco-pipes and iron tongs to lift fire with, but the idea     of a fig-leaf has never entered the mind. They cultivate     largely have had enormous crops of grain, work well in iron,     and show taste in their dwellings, stools, baskets, and     musical instruments. They are very hospitable, too, and     appreciate our motives; but shame has been unaccountably left     out of the question. They can give no reason for it except     that all their ancestors went exactly as they do. Can you     explain why Adam's first feeling has no trace of existence in     his offspring?"

When the party reached the outskirts of Sekelétu's territory the news they heard was not encouraging. Some of the men heard that in their absence some of their wives had been variously disposed of. One had been killed for witchcraft, another had married again, while Masakasa was told that two years ago a kind of wild Irish wake had been celebrated in honor of his memory; the news made him resolve, when he presented himself among them, to declare himself an inhabitant from another world! One poor fellow's wail of anguish for his wife was most distressing to hear.

But far more tragical was the news of the missionaries who had gone from the London Missionary Society to Linyanti, to labor among Sekelétu's people. Mr. and Mrs. Helmore and several of his party had succumbed to fever, and the survivors had retired. Dr. Livingstone was greatly distressed, and not a little hurt, because he had not heard a word about the mission, nor been asked advice about any of the arrangements. If only the Helmores and their comrades had followed the treatment practiced by him so often, and in this very valley at this time by his brother Charles, they would probably have recovered. All spoke kindly of Mr. Helmore, who had quite won the hearts of the people. Knowing their language, he had at once begun to preach, and some of the young men at Seshéke were singing the hymns he had taught them. Rumors had gone abroad that some of the missionaries had been poisoned. In some quarters blame was cast on Livingstone for having misled the Society as to the character of Sekelétu and his disposition toward missionaries; but Livingstone satisfied himself that, though the missionaries had been neglected no foul play had taken place; fever alone had caused the deaths, and want of skill in managing the people had brought the remainder of the troubles. One piece of good news which he heard at Linyanti was that his old friend Sechéle was doing well. He had a Hanoverian missionary, nine tribes were under him, and the schools were numerously attended.

Writing to Dr. Moffat, 10th August, 1860, from Zambesi Falls, he says:

"With great sorrow we learned the death of our much-esteemed    friends, Mr. and Mrs. Helmore, two days ago. We were too late     to be of any service, for the younger missionaries had     retired, probably dispirited by the loss of their leader. It     is evident that the fever when untreated is as fatal now as     it proved in the case of Commodore Owen's officers in this     river, or in the great Niger Expedition. And yet what poor     drivel was poured forth when I adopted energetic measures for     speedily removing any Europeans out of the Delta. We were not     then aware that the remedy which was first found efficacious     in our own little Thomas on Lake 'Ngami, in 1850, and that     cured myself and attendants during my solitary journeyings,     was a certain cure for the disease, without loss of strength     in Europeans generally. This we now know by ample experience to be the case. Warburg's drops, which have a great reputation in India, here cause profuse perspiration only, and the fever remains uncured. With our remedy, of which we    make no secret, a man utterly prostrated is roused to resume his march next day. I have sent the prescription to John, as    I doubt being able to go so far South as Mosilikatse's.

Again the grand Victoria Falls are reached, and Charles Livingstone, who has seen Niagara, gives the preference to Mosi-oa-tunya. By the route which they took, they would have passed the Falls at twenty miles' distance, but Dr. Livingstone could not resist the temptation to show them to his companions. All his former computations as to their size were found to be considerably within the mark; instead of a thousand yards broad they were more than eighteen hundred, and whereas he had said that the height of fall was about 100 feet, it turned out to be 310. His habit of keeping within the mark in all his statements of remarkable things was thus exemplified.

On coming among his old friends the Makololo, he found them in low spirits owing to protracted drought, and Sekelétu was ill of leprosy. He was in the hands of a native doctress, who was persuaded to suspend her treatment, and the lunar caustic applied by Drs. Livingstone and Kirk had excellent effects[60]. On going to Linyanti, Dr. Livingstone found the wagon and other articles which he had left there in 1853, safe and sound, except from the effects of weather and the white ants. The expressions of kindness and confidence toward him on the part of the natives greatly touched him. The people were much disappointed at not seeing Mrs. Livingstone and the children. But this confidence was the result of his way of dealing with them. "It ought never to be forgotten that influence among the heathen can be acquired only by patient continuance in well-doing, and that good manners are as necessary among barbarians as among the civilized." The Makololo were the most interesting tribe that Dr. Livingstone had ever seen. While now with them he was unwearied in his efforts for their spiritual good. In his Journal we find these entries:

[Footnote 60: In 1864, while residing at Newstead Abbey, and writing his book, _The Zambesi and its Tributaries_, Dr. Livingstone heard of the death of Sekelétu.]

"_September_ 2, 1860.--On Sunday evening went over to the    people, giving a general summary of Christian faith by the     life of Christ. Asked them to speak about it afterward.     Replied that these things were above them--they could not     answer me. I said if I spoke of camels and buffaloes tamed,     they understood, though they had never seen them; why not     perceive the story of Christ, the witnesses to which refused     to deny it, though killed for maintaining it? Went on to     speak of the resurrection. All were listening eagerly to the     statements about this, especially when they heard that they,     too, must rise and be judged. Lerimo said, 'This I won't     believe.' 'Well, the guilt lies between you and Jesus,' This     always arrests attention. Spoke of blood shed by them; the     conversation continued till they said, 'It was time for me to     cross, for the river was dangerous at night.'"

"_September_ 9.--Spoke to the people on the north side of    the river--wind prevented evening service on the south."

The last subject on which he preached before leaving them on this occasion was the great resurrection. They told him they could not believe a reunion of the particles of the body possible. Dr. Livingstone gave them in reply a chemical illustration, and then referred to the authority of the Book that taught them the doctrine. And the poor people were more willing to give in to the authority of the Book than to the chemical illustration!

In _The Zambesi and its Tributaries_ this journey to the Makololo country and back occupies one-third of the volume, though it did not lead to any very special results. But it enabled Dr. Livingstone to make great additions to his knowledge both of the people and the country. His observations are recorded with the utmost care, for though he might not be able to turn them to immediate use, it was likely, and even certain, that they would be useful some day. Indeed, the spirit of faith is apparent in the whole narrative, as if he could not pass over even the most insignificant details. The fish in the rivers, the wild animals in the woods, the fissures in the rocks, the course of the streams, the composition of the minerals and gravels, and a thousand other phenomena, are carefully observed and chronicled. The crowned cranes beginning to pair, the flocks of spurwinged geese, the habits of the ostrich, the nests of bee-eaters, pass under review in rapid succession. His sphere of observation ranges from the structure of the great continent itself to the serrated bone of the konokono, or the mandible of the ant.

Leaving Seshéke on the 17th September, they reached Tette on the 23d November, 1860, whence they started for Kongone with the unfortunate "Ma-Robert." But the days of that asthmatic old lady were numbered. On the 21st December she grounded on a sand-bank, and could not get off. A few days before this catastrophe Livingstone writes to Mr. Young:

"_Lupata, 4th Dec_., 1860.--Many thanks for all you have been    doing about the steamer and everything else. You seem to have     gone about matters in a most business-like manner, and once     for all I assure you I am deeply grateful.

"We are now on our way down to the sea, in hopes of meeting    the new steamer for which you and other friends exerted     yourselves so zealously. We are in the old 'Asthmatic,'     though we gave her up before leaving in May last. Our     engineer has been doctoring her bottom with fat and patches,     and pronounced it safe to go down the river by dropping     slowly. Every day a new leak bursts out, and he is in     plastering and scoring, the pump going constantly. I would     not have ventured again, but our whaler is as bad,--all eaten     by the teredo,--so I thought it as well to take both, and     stick to that which swims longest. You can put your thumb     through either of them; they never can move again; I never     expected to find either afloat, but the engineer had nothing     else to do, and it saves us from buying dear canoes from the     Portuguese.

"_20th Dec._--One day, above Senna, the 'Ma-Robert' stuck on    a sand-bank and filled, so we had to go ashore and leave     her."

The correspondence of this year indicates a growing delight at the prospect of the Universities Mission. It was this, indeed, mainly that kept up his spirits under the depression caused by the failure of the "Ma-Robert," and other mishaps of the Expedition, the endless delays and worries that had resulted from that cause, and the manner in which both the Portuguese and the French were counter-working him by encouraging the slave-trade. While professedly encouraging emigration, the French were really extending slavery.

Here is his lively account of himself to his friend Mr. Moore:

"TETTE, _28th November_, 1860.

"MY DEAR MOORE,--And why didn't you begin when you were so    often on the point of writing, but didn't? This that you have     accomplished is so far good, but very short. Hope you are not     too old to learn. You have heard of our hindrances and     annoyances, and, possibly, that we have done some work     notwithstanding. Thanks to Providence, we have made some     progress, and it is likely our operations will yet have a     decided effect on slave-trading in Eastern Africa. I am     greatly delighted with the prospect of a Church of England     mission to Central Africa. That is a good omen for those who     are sitting in darkness, and I trust that in process of time     great benefits will be conferred on our own overcrowded     population at home. There is room enough and to spare in the     fair world our Father has prepared for all his progeny. I     pray to be made a harbinger of good to many, both white and black.

"I like to hear that some abuse me now, and say that I am *no    Christian. Many good things were said of me which I did not     deserve, and I feared to read them. I shall read every word I     can on the other side, and that will prove a sedative to what     I was forced to hear of an opposite tendency. I pray that He     who has lifted me up and guided me thus far, will not desert     me now, but make me useful in my day and generation. 'I will     never leave thee nor forsake thee.' So let it be.

"I saw poor Helmore's grave lately. Had my book been searched    for excellencies, they might have seen a certain cure for     African fever. We were curing it at a lower and worse part of     the river at the very time that they were helplessly     perishing, and so quickly, that more than a day was never     lost after the operation of the remedy, though we were     marching on foot. Our tramp was over 600 miles. We dropped     down stream again in canoes from Sinamanero to     Chicova--thence to this on shank's nag. We go down to the sea     immediately, to meet our new steamer. Our punt was a sham     and a snare.

"My love to Mary and all the children, with all our friends    at Congleton."

In a letter to Mr. James Young, Dr. Livingstone gives good reasons for not wishing to push the colonization scheme at present, as he had recommended to the Universities Mission to add a similar enterprise to their undertaking:

"If you read all I have written you by this mail, you will    deserve to be called a literary character. I find that I did     not touch on the colonization scheme. I have not changed in     respect to it, but the Oxford and Cambridge mission have     taken the matter up, and as I shall do all I can to aid them,     a little delay will, perhaps, be advisable.

"We are waiting for our steamer, and expect her every day;    our first trip is a secret, and you will keep it so. We go to     the Rovuma, a river exterior to the Portuguese claims, as     soon as the vessel arrives. Captain Oldfield of the 'Lyra' is     sent already, to explore, as far as he can, in that ship. The     entrance is fine, and forty-five miles are known, but we keep     our movements secret from the Portuguese--and so must you;     they seize everything they see in the newspapers. Who are my     imprudent friends that publish everything? I suspect Mr.    , of , but no one gives me a name or a clue. Some     expected me to feel sweet at being jewed by a false     philanthropist, and bamboozled by a silly R. N. I did not,     and could not, seem so; but I shall be more careful     in future.

"Again back to the colony. It is not to sleep, but    preparation must be made by collecting information, and     maturing our plans. I shall be able to give definite     instructions as soon as I see how the other mission works--at     its beginning--and when we see if the new route we may     discover has a better path to Nyassa than by Shiré--we shall     choose the best, of course, and let you know as soon as     possible. I think the Government will not hold back if we     have a feasible plan to offer. I have recommended to the     Universities Mission a little delay till we explore,--and for     a working staff, two gardeners acquainted with farming; two     country carpenters, capable of erecting sheds and any rough     work; two traders to purchase and prepare cotton for     exportation; one general steward of mission goods, his wife     to be a good plain cook; one medical man, having knowledge of     chemistry enough to regulate _indigo_ and sugar-making. All the attendants to be married, and their wives to be employed in sewing, washing, attending the sick, etc., as need requires. The missionaries not to think themselves deserving a good English wife till they have erected a comfortable abode for her."

In the Royal Geographical Society this year (1860), certain communications were read which tended to call in question Livingstone's right to some of the discoveries he had claimed as his own. Mr. Macqueen, through whom these communications came, must have had peculiar notions of discovery, for some time before, there had appeared in the Cape papers a statement of his, that Lake 'Ngami of 1859 was no new discovery, as Dr. Livingstone had visited it seven years before; and Livingstone had to write to the papers in favor of the claims of Murray, Oswell, and Livingstone, against himself! It had been asserted to the Society by Mr. Macqueen, that Silva Porto, a Portuguese trader, had shown him a journal describing a journey of his from Benguela on the west to Ibo and Mozambique on the east, beginning November 26, 1852, and terminating August, 1854. Of that journal Mr. Macqueen read a copious abstract to the Society (June 27, 1859), which is published in the Journal for 1860.

In a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison (20th February, 1861), Livingstone, while exonerating Mr. Macqueen of all intention of misleading, gives his reasons for doubting whether the journey to the East Coast ever took place. He had met Porto at Linyanti in 1853, and subsequently at Naliele, the Barotse capital, and had been told by him that he had tried to go eastward, but had been obliged to turn, and was then going westward, and wished him to accompany him, which he declined, as he was a slave-trader; he had read his journal as it appeared in the Loanda "Boletim," but there was not a word in it of a journey to the East Coast; when the Portuguese minister had wished to find a rival to Dr. Livingstone, he had brought forward, not Porto, as he would naturally have done if this had been a genuine journey, but two black men who came to Tette in 1815; in the Boletim of Mozambique there was no word of the arrival of Porto there; in short, the part of the journal founded on could not have been authentic. Livingstone felt keenly on the subject of these rumors, not on his own account, but on account of the Geographical Society and of Sir Roderick who had introduced him to it; for nothing could have given him more pain than that either of these should have had any slur thrown on them through him, or even been placed for a time in an uncomfortable position.