I S53-S4-] FROM LINYANTI TO LOANDA. 165 



news of the battle of the Alma in the Crimea, in which his 

 friend, Colonel Steele, had distinguished himself, and of 

 the success of the Rae Expedition in finding the remains 

 of the party under Sir John Franklin. In an official 

 communication to Lord Clarendon, after Livingstone had 

 left, Mr. Gabriel says, 5th August 1855 : "I am grieved 

 to say that this excellent man's health has suffered a good 

 deal [on the return journey]. He nevertheless wrote in 

 cheerful spirits, sanguine of success in doing his duty 

 under the guidance and protection of that kind Providence 

 who had always carried him through so many perils and 

 hardships. He assures me that since he knew the value 

 of Christianity, he has ever wished to spend his life in 

 propagating its blessings among men, and adds that the 

 same desire remains still as strong as ever." 



While Living-stone was at Loanda, he made several 

 acquaintances among the officers of Her Majesty's navy, 

 engaged in the suppression of the slave-trade. For many 

 of these gentlemen he was led to entertain a high regard. 

 Their humanity charmed him, and so did their attention 

 to their duties. In his early days, sharing the feeling 

 then so prevalent in his class, he had been used to think 

 of epauletted gentlemen as idlers, or worse — "J rages 

 consumere nati." Personal acquaintance, as in so many 

 other cases, rubbed off the prejudice. In many ways 

 Livingstone's mind was broadening. His intensely 

 sympathetic nature drew powerfully to all who were 

 interested in what was rapidly becoming his own master- 

 idea — the suppression of the slave-trade. We shall see 

 proofs not a few, how this sympathetic affection modified 

 some of his early opinions, and greatly widened the sphere 

 of his charity. 



After all the illness and dangers he had encountered, 

 Livingstone might quite honourably have accepted a 

 berth in one of Her Majesty's cruisers, and returned to 

 England. But the men who had come with him from 



