l8 53-54] FROM LINYANTI TO LOANDA. 159 



service he was ever asked to repeat. The only uncom- 

 fortable feeling it raised was on the part of those who 

 stood on the side where the slides were drawn out. They 

 were terrified lest the figures, as they passed along, 

 should take possession of them, entering like spirits into 

 their bodies ! 



The loneliness of feeling engendered by the absence 

 of all human sympathy was trying. " Amidst all the 

 beauty and loveliness with which I am surrounded, there 

 is still a feeling of want in the soul, — as if something 

 more were needed to bathe the soul in bliss than the 

 sight of the perfection in working and goodness in plan- 

 ning of the great Father of our spirits. I need to be 

 purified — fitted for the eternal, to which my soul stretches 

 away, in ever returning longings. I need to be made 

 more like my blessed Saviour, to serve my God with all 

 my powers. Look upon me, Spirit of the living God, 

 and supply all Thou seest lacking." 



It was Livingstone's great joy to begin this long 

 journey with a blessed act of humanity, boldly summoning 

 a trader to release a body of captives, so that no fewer 

 than eighteen souls were restored to freedom. As he 

 proceeded he obtained but too plain evidence of the 

 extent to which the slave traffic prevailed, uniformly 

 finding that wherever slavers had been, the natives 

 were more difficult to deal with and more exorbitant 

 in their demands. Slaves in chains were sometimes met 

 with — a sight which some of his men had never beheld 

 before. 



Livingstone's successful management of the natives 

 constituted the crowning wonder of this journey. Usually 

 the hearts of the chiefs were wonderfully turned to him, 

 so that they not only allowed him to pass on, but supplied 

 him. with provisions. But there were some memorable 

 occasions on which he and his company appeared to be 

 doomed. When he passed through the Chiboque country, 



