to4 DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 



till you are hoarse. Oh you Radicals, don't be thinking- 

 it came out of your pockets ! Long live Victoria !" ] 



Defeated in his endeavour to reach Sebituane in 1849, 

 Livingstone, the following season, put in practice his 

 favourite maxim — " Try again." He left Kolobeng in 

 April 1850, and this time he was accompanied by Sechele, 

 Mebalwe, twenty Bakwains, Mrs. Livingstone, and their 

 whole troop of infantry, which now amounted to three. 

 Travelling in the charming climate of South Africa in the 

 roomy wagon, at the pace of two miles and a half an 

 hour, is not like travelling at home ; but it was a proof of 

 Livingstone's great unwillingness to be separated from 

 his family, that he took them with him, notwithstanding 

 the risk of mosquitos, fever, and want of water. The 

 people of Kolobeng were so engrossed at the time with 

 their employments, that till harvest was over, little mis- 

 sionary work could be done. 



The journey was difficult, and on the northern branch 

 of the Zouga many trees had to be cut down to allow the 

 wagons to pass. The presence of a formidable enemy 

 was reported on the banks of the Tamanak'le, — the tsetse- 

 fly, whose bite is so fatal to oxen. To avoid it, another 

 route had to be chosen. When they got near the lake, 

 it was found that fever had recently attacked a party of 

 Englishmen, one of whom had died, while the rest 

 recovered under the care of Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone. 

 Livingstone took his family to have a peep at the lake ; 

 "the children," he wrote, "took to playing in it as duck- 

 lings do. Paidling in it was great fun," Great fun to 

 them, who had seen little enough water for a while ; and 

 in a quiet way, great fun to their father too — his own 

 children "paidling" in his own lake! He was begin - 



1 In a more serious vein he wrote in a previous letter : " I wonder you do not go 

 to see the Queen. I was as disloyal as others when in England, for though I 

 might have seen her in London, I never went. Do you ever pray for her?" This 

 letter is dated 5th February 1S50, and must have been written before he heard of 

 the prize. 



