1 66 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vm. 



the Barotse country to Loanda had to return, and Living- 

 stone knew that they were quite unable to perform the 

 journey without him. That consideration determined 

 his course. All the risks and dangers of that terrible 

 road — the attacks of fever and dysentery, the protracted 

 absence of those for whom he pined, were not to be thought 

 of when he had a duty to these poor men. Besides, he 

 had not yet accomplished his object. He had, indeed, 

 discovered a way by which his friend Sekeletu might sell 

 his tusks to far greater advantage, and which would thus 

 help to introduce a legitimate traffic among the Makololo, 

 and expel the slave-trade ; but he had discovered no 

 healthy locality for a mission, nor any unexceptional 

 highway to the sea for the purpose of general traffic. 

 The east coast seemed to promise better than the west. 

 That great river, the Zambesi, might be found to be a 

 navigable highway to the sea. He would return to 

 Linyanti, and set out from it to find a way to the eastern 

 shore. Loaded with kindness from many quarters, and 

 furnished with presents for Sekeletu, and for the chiefs 

 along the way, Livingstone bade farewell to Loanda on 

 20th September 1854. 



The following letter to Mrs. Livingstone, written a 

 month afterwards, gives his impressions of Loanda and 

 the neighbourhood : — 



" Golungo Alto, 25th October 1854. — It occurs to me, my dearest 

 Mary, that if I send you a note from different parts on the way through 

 this colony, some of them will surely reach you ; and if they carry any 

 of the affection I bear to you in their composition, they will not fail 

 to comfort you. I got everything in Loanda 1 could desire ; and 

 were there only a wagon-path for us, this would be as good an 

 opening into the interior as we could wish. I remained rather a 

 long time in the city in consequence of a very severe attack of fever 

 and dysentery which reduced me very much ; and I remained a short 

 time longer than that actually required to set me on my legs, in 

 longing expectation of a letter from you. None came, but should any 

 come up to the beginning of November, it will come after me by post 

 to Cassang6. 



