1857-58-] FIRST VISIT HOME. 233 



with commander and assistant, and a large staff of officers, 

 was too expensive. All that Livingstone wished was a 

 steam launch, with an economic botanist, a practical 

 mining geologist, and an assistant. All was to be plain 

 and practical ; nothing was wished for ornament or show. 

 Before we come to the last adieus, it is well to glance 

 at the remarkable effect of Dr. Livingstone's short visit, 

 in connection with his previous labours, on the public 

 opinion of the country hi regard to Africa. In the first 

 place, as we have already remarked, there was quite a 

 revolution of ideas as to the interior of the country. It 

 astonished men to find that, instead of a vast sandy 

 desert, it was so rich and productive a land, and mer- 

 chants came to see that if only a safe and wholesome 

 traffic could be introduced, the result would be hardly 

 less beneficial to them than to the people of Africa. In 

 the second place, a new idea was given of the African 

 people. Caffre wars and other mismanaged enterprises 

 had brought out the wildest aspects of the native char- 

 acter, and had led to the impression that the blacks were 

 just as brutish and ferocious as the tigers and crocodiles 

 among which they lived. But Livingstone showed, as 

 Moffat had showed before him, that, rightly dealt with, 

 they were teachable and companionable, full of respect 

 for the white man, affectionate towards him when he 

 treated them well, and eager to have him dwelling among 

 them. On the slave-trade of the interior he had thrown 

 a ghastly light, although it was reserved to him in his 

 future journeys to make a full exposure of the devil's 

 work in that infamous traffic. He had thrown light, too, 

 on the structure of Africa, shown where healthy localities 

 were to be found, copiously illustrated its fauna and 

 flora, discovered great rivers and lakes, and laid them 

 down on its map with the greatest accuracy ; and he had 

 shown how its most virulent disease might be reduced to 

 the category of an ordinary cold. In conjunction with 



