I am happy also in being accompanied by men experienced in geology, in botany, in art, and in photography, who will bring back to England reports upon all those points, which I alone have attempted to deal with, and with very little means at my disposal.

The success-if I may call it success-which has attended my former efforts to open up the country, mainly depended upon my entering into the feelings and the wishes of the people of the interior of Africa. I found that the tribes in the interior of that country were just as anxious to have a part of the seaboard, as I was to open a communication with the interior; and I am quite certain of obtaining the co-operation of those tribes in my next expedition. Should I succeed in my endeavour, should we be able to open a communication advantageous to ourselves with the natives of the interior of Africa, it would be our great duty to confer upon them those great benefits of Christianity, which have been bestowed upon ourselves. Let us not make the same mistake in Africa that we have made in India, but let us take to that country our Christianity with us.

I confess that I am not sanguine enough to hope for any speedy result from this expedition, but I am sanguine as to its ultimate result. I feel convinced that if we can establish a system of free labour in Africa, it will have a most decided influence upon slavery throughout the world. Success, however, under Providence, depends upon us as Englishmen. I look upon Englishmen as perhaps the most freedom-loving people in the world, and I think that the kindly feeling which has been displayed towards me, since my return to my native land, has arisen from the belief that my efforts might at some future time tend to put an end to the odious traffic in

slaves. England has, unfortunately, been compelled to obtain cotton and other raw material from slave States, and has thus been the mainstay and support of Slavery in America. Surely, then, it follows, that if we can succeed in obtaining the raw material from other sources than from the slave States of America we should strike a heavy blow at the system of slavery itself.

I do not wish to arouse expectations in connexion with this expedition which may never be realized, but what I want to do is to get in the thin end of the wedge, and then I leave it to be driven home by English energy and English spirit.

I cannot express to you in adequate language the sense which I entertain of the kindness which I have received since my return to this country, but I can assure you that I shall ever retain a grateful recollection of the way in which you have received me on the eve of my departure from my native land.

Reference has been made in language most kind to Mrs Livingstone. Now, it is scarcely fair to ask a man to praise his own wife, but I can only say that when I left her at the Cape, telling her that I should return in two years, and when it happened that I was absent four years and a half, I supposed that I should appear before her with a damaged character. I was, however, forgiven. My wife will accompany me in this expedition, and I believe will be most useful to me. She is familiar with the languages of South Africa, she is able to work, she is willing to endure, and she well knows that in that country one must put one's hand to everything. In the country to which I am about to proceed, she knows that the wife must be the maid-of-all-work within, while the husband must be the jack-of-all-trades without, and

glad am I indeed that I am to be accompanied by my guardian angel. Allow me now to say just one word in reference to our chairman; let me just tell you that I found a few days back an abstract from an address, which he delivered to the Geographical Society in 1852, and which he had the assurance to send to me. In that address my distinguished friend foreshadowed a great portion of those discoveries which I subsequently made, and all I can now say is that I hope he will not do the same thing again."

This characteristic speech gives a complete account of our traveller's future plans in Africa.

As it regards the expedition which has just sailed from our shores, it is a very complete one.

Her Majesty's Government has granted £5000 wherewith to defray its expenses. The proposal for this grant was enthusiastically received in the House of Commons; Lord Clarendon has been particularly solicitous about Dr Livingstone's welfare and future success.

The President, Council, and members of the Royal Geographical Society have been active in assisting this expedition. At a crowded meeting held early in January at Burlington House, Sir R. I. Murchison in the chair, a communication was made to the meeting, by the desire of Lord Clarendon, expressing a wish that the Council would submit to the Foreign-office suggestions with reference to the expedition. Dr Livingstone had explained to the Council his own plan of operations, and had laid before it the names of those whom he proposed should accompany him: and a resolution had been passed, expressing their entire approbation of his project.

His associates are Commander Bedingfeld, R.N., well known for his exploration of the Congo and other African rivers, whose especial duties are to conduct the nautical affairs of the expedition, and to make a rough survey of the rivers in the interior; Dr Kirk, M.D., of Edinburgh, and botanist; Mr R. Thornton, of the School of Mines, as mining geologist; Mr T. Baines, as artist, for which position he is well qualified by his previous experience in Africa, and his travels in North Australia; Mr Rae, as engineer of the launch; and Dr Livingstone's brother, who will act as secretary and take charge of the establishment which it is proposed to fix for a time at the confluence of one of the tributaries of the Zambesi.

In consequence of the unhealthiness of the delta of the Zambesi, for about 250 miles below Teté, the Council expressed a wish that the expedition should be conveyed to Teté in a decked steam-vessel, of light draught, and that the steam launch should only carry them on from that point, or above Teté.

New Information and New Expeditions.

The above paragraph was written in March 1858; I now, in March 1860, proceed to extend this sketch of Dr Livingstone's life by giving in a condensed way the new information which we have received during the interval, both with regard to this expedition and the question of African exploration generally. I refer the reader to the interesting series of extracts from letters printed at the end of this book, written (with one or two exceptions) by Dr Livingstone to various friends since the expedition left the country.

I am indebted to Captain Bedingfeld' for his kindness in placing at my disposal a most interesting MS. narrative, written by himself, of the earlier proceedings of this expedition. From this MS. I condense a great part of the undermentioned particulars.

1 The following facts concerning the Captain are interesting. Not knowing how many years he has been in the service, I cannot here state the number.

Happily I know enough from correspondence, personal intercourse, and other testimony, to conclude that he is a frank, brave, and gentlemanly British officer, deserving of that further promotion which he will surely receive.

It appears that he has been mainly employed on the coasts of Africa, having spent 18 years in river navigation; during this time he negociated many treaties with the natives for the suppression of the slave trade.

Captain Bedingfeld is highly esteemed by his superior and other officers, who are personally acquainted with his eminent services on those fatal shores, for his intelligence, activity, vigilance as a cruiser, and especially for the philanthropic zeal which he has always displayed in the cause of injured Africa.

It will be remembered that he received Dr Livingstone on board H.M.S. Pluto, at St Paul de Loanda, offering to bring him home.

It appears that the captain had endangered his very life by hard work, and was returning home in shattered health, on board the Forerunner, when this ship was lost. This vessel was an African mailsteamer; she was wrecked on her passage home, on the Fora, off Madeira, on the 25th of October, 1854. Immediately after he had got out a boat and filled it with people, the ship slipped off the rock, and shot down perpendicularly into the water almost in an instant. Several persons (there were but few survivors) testify to the coolness and bravery displayed by Captain Bedingfeld on this occasion. Governor Kennedy (of Western Australia) speaks of his promptitude in saving several lives. The Captain took the Pluto up the Congo for many miles, and hence can speak from experience with respect to an expedition going up that river 2.

Since returning from the Zambesi he either awaits his country's call as a naval officer, or (as we may well hope may be the case) to employ his talents and experience still further in the cause of African exploration. 2 See pages 37-38.