10S DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vt. 



and Enoch, that if you are wise, you will make the most of your union 

 while you are together, and not fail to write me fully, while you have 

 the opportunity here. . . . 



" Charles thinks we are not the descendants of the Puritans. I 

 don't know what you are, but I am. And if you dispute it, I shall 

 stick to the answer of a poor little boy before a magistrate. M. ' Who 

 were your parents 1 ' Boy (rubbing his eyes with his jacket-sleeve), 

 ' Never had none, sir.' Dr. Wardlaw says that the Scotch Indepen- 

 dents are the descendants of the Puritans, and I suppose the pedigree 

 is through Rowland Hill and Whitefield. But I was a member of the 

 very church in which John Howe, the chaplain of Oliver Cromwell, 

 preached, and exercised the pastorate. I was ordained too by English 

 Independents. Moreover, I am a Doctor too. Agnes and Janet, get 

 up this moment and curtsy to his Reverence ! John and Charles, 

 remember the dream of the sheaves ! / descended from kilts and 

 Donald Dhu's 1 Na, na, I won't believe it. 



" We have a difficult, difficult field to cultivate here. All I can 

 say is, that I think knowledge is increasing. But for the belief 

 that the Holy Spirit works, and will work for us, I should give 

 up in despair. Remember us in your prayers, that we grow not 

 weary in well-doing. It is hard to work for years with pure motives, 

 and all the time be looked on by most of those to whom our lives are 

 devoted, as having some sinister object in view. Disinterested labour 

 — benevolence — is so out of their line of thought, that many look upon 

 us as having some ulterior object in view. But He who died for us, 

 and whom we ought to copy, did more for us than we can do for any 

 one else. He endured the contradiction of sinners. May we have 

 grace to follow in His steps ! " 



The third, and at last successful, effort to reach 

 Sebituane, was made in April 1851. Livingstone was 

 again accompanied by his family, and by Mr Oswell. 

 He left Kolobeng with the intention not to return, at 

 least not immediately, but to settle with his family in 

 such a spot as might be found advantageous, in the hilly 

 region, of whose existence he was assured. They found 

 the desert drier than ever, no rain having fallen through- 

 out an immense extent of territory. To the kindness of 

 Mr. Oswell the party was indebted for most valuable 

 assistance in procuring water, wells having been dug or 

 cleared by his people beforehand at various places, and 

 at one place at the hazard of Mr. Oswell's life, under an 

 attack from an infuriated lioness. In his private Journal, 



