310 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 



Cape, which must have been extremely gratifying to him, 

 and served to deepen his conviction that sooner or later 

 his plan of colonisation would certainly be carried into 

 effect. The leader of the party, John Jehan, formerly of 

 the London City Mission, in reading Dr. Livingstone's 

 book, became convinced that if a few mechanics could be 

 induced to take a journey of exploration it would prove 

 very useful. His views being communicated to five other 

 young men (two masons, two carpenters, one smith), they 

 formed themselves into a company in July 1861, and had 

 been working together, throwing their earnings into a 

 common fund, and now they had arms, two wagons, two 

 spans of oxen, and means of procuring outfits. In Sep- 

 tember 1862 they were ready to start from Aliwal in 

 South Africa. 1 



After going to Johanna for provisions, and to 

 discharge the crew of Johanna men whose term of 

 service had expired, the Expedition returned to Tette. 

 On the 10th January 1863 they steamed off with the 

 "Lady Nyassa" in tow. The desolation that had been 

 caused by Marianno, the Portuguese slave-agent, was 

 heart-breaking. Corpses floated past them. In the 

 morning the paddles had to be cleared of corpses caught 

 by the floats during the night. Livingstone summed 

 up his impressions in one terrible sentence :- — - 



" Wherever we took a walk, human skeletons were seen 

 in every direction, and it was painfully interesting to 

 observe the different postures in which the poor wretches 

 had breathed their last. A whole heap had been thrown 

 down a slope behind a village, where the fugitives often 

 crossed the river from the east ; and in one hut of the 



1 The recall of Livingstone's Expedition and the removal of the Universities 

 Mission seem to have knocked this most promising scheme on the head. Writing 

 of it to Sir Roderick Murchison on the 14th December 1862, he says : "I like the 

 Scotchmen, and think them much better adapted for our plans than those on whom 

 the Universities Mission has lighted. If employed as I shall wish them to be in 

 trade, and setting an example of industry in cotton or coffee planting, I think they 

 are just the men I need brought to my hand. Don't you think this sensible ? " 



