96 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. v. 



logical, and other problems bearing on the structure and 

 condition of the continent ; as a missionary statesman he 

 is planning how the actual force might be disposed of to 

 most advantage, and is looking round in this direction 

 and in that, over hundreds of miles, for openings for 

 native agents ; and to promote these objects he is writing 

 long letters to the Directors, to the Missionary Chronicle, 

 to the British Banner, to private friends, to any one 

 likely to take an interest in his plans. 



But this does not exhaust his labours. He is deeply 

 interested in philological studies, and is writing on the 

 Sichuana language : — 



" I have been hatching a grammar of the Sichuana language," he 

 writes to Mr. Watt. " It is different in structure from any other lan- 

 guage, except the ancient Egyptian. Most of the changes are effected by 

 means of prefixes or affixes, the radical remaining unchanged. Attempts 

 have been made to form grammars, but all have gone on the principle 

 of establishing a resemblance between Sichuana, Latin, and Greek ; 

 mine is on the principle of analysing the language without reference 

 to any others. Grammatical terms are only used when I cannot 

 express my meaning in any other way. The analysis renders the 

 whole language very simple, and I believe the principle elicited 

 extends to most of the languages between this and Egypt. I wish to 

 know whether I could get 20 or 30 copies printed for private distri- 

 bution at an expense not beyond my means. It would be a mere 

 tract, and about the size of this letter when folded, 40 or 50 pages 

 perhaps. 1 Will you ascertain the cost, and tell me whether, in the 

 event of my continuing hot on the subject half a year hence, you 

 would be the corrector of the press 1 . . . Will you examine catalogues 

 to find whether there is any dictionary of ancient Egyptian within 

 my means, so that I might purchase and compare 1 I should not 

 grudge two or three pounds for it. Professor Vater has written on 

 it, but I do not know what dictionary he consulted. One Tattam 

 has written a Coptic grammar ; perhaps that has a vocabulary, and 

 might serve my purpose. I see Tattam advertised by John Russell 

 Smith, 4 Old Compton Street, Soho, London, — ' Tattam (H.), Lexicon 

 Egyptiaco-Latinum e veteribus linguae Egyptiacae monumentis ; thick 8vo, 

 bds., 10s., Oxf. 1835.' Will you purchase the above for me 1 ?" 



At Mabotsa and Chonuane the Livingstones had spent 

 but a little time ; Kolobeng may be said to have been 



1 This gives a correct idea of the length of many of his letters. 



