i S 56-5 7.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 207 



slave-trade by lawful traffic, and at his suggestion engaged 

 George Fleming to go north with him as a trader, and 

 try the experiment. The project was not very successful, 

 owing to innumerable unforeseen worries, and especially 

 the rascality of Fleming's men. Livingstone found it 

 impossible to take Fleming to the coast, and had there- 

 fore to send him back, but he did his utmost to prevent 

 loss to his friend; and thus, as Mr. Rutherfoord said, " at 

 the very time that he was engaged in such important 

 duties, and exposed to such difficulties, he found time to 

 fulfil his promise to do what he could to save me from 

 loss, to attend to a matter quite foreign to his usual 

 avocations, and in which he had no personal interest ; 

 and by his energy and good sense, and self-denying 

 exertions, to render the plan, if not perfectly successful, 

 yet by no means a failure." 



Traveller, geographer, zoologist, astronomer, mis- 

 sionary, physician, and mercantile director, did ever man 

 sustain so many characters at once ? Or did ever man 

 perform the duties of each with such painstaking accuracy 

 and so great success ? 



As soon as he could tear himself from his first en- 

 gagements, he ran down to Hamilton to see his mother, 

 children, and other relatives. His father's empty chair 

 deeply affected him. " The first evening," writes one 

 of his sisters, "he asked all about his illness and death. 

 One of us remarking that after he knew he was dying 

 his spirits seemed to rise, David burst into tears. At 

 family worship that evening he said with deep feeling — 

 ' We bless thee, O Lord, for our parents ; we give thee 

 thanks for the dead who has died in the Lord.'" 



At first Livingstone thought that his stay in this 

 country could be only for three or four months, as he 

 was eager to be at Quilimane before the unhealthy season 

 set in, and thus fulfil his promise to return to his Mako- 

 lolo at Tette. But on receiving an assurance from the 



