1862-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 317 



feeling of sinking. At one time the two white men are 

 lost three days in the woods, without food or the means 

 of purchasing it ; but some poor natives out of their 

 poverty show them kindness. At another they can 

 procure no guides, though the country is difficult and 

 the way intersected by deep gullies that can only be 

 scaled at certain known parts; anon they are mistaken 

 for slave-dealers, and make a narrow escape of a night 

 attack. Another time, the cries of children remind 

 Livingstone of his own home and family, where the very 

 same tones of sorrow had often been heard ; the thought 

 brought its own pang, only he could feel thankful that in 

 the case of his children the woes of the slave-trade would 

 never be added to the ordinary sorrows of childhood. 

 Then he would enjoy the joyous laugh of some Manganja 

 women, and think of the good influence of a merry heart, 

 and remember that whenever he had observed a chief 

 with a joyous twinkle of the eye accompanying his laugh, 

 he had always set him down as a good fellow, and had 

 never been disappointed in him afterwards. Then he 

 would cheer his monotony by making some researches 

 into the origin of civilisation, coming to the clear conclu- 

 sion that born savages must die out, because they could 

 devise no means of living through disease. By and by 

 he would examine the Arab character, and find Maho- 

 metanism as it now is in Africa worse than African 

 heathenism, and remark on the callousness of the Maho- 

 metans to the welfare of one another, and on the especial 

 glory of Christianity, the only religion that seeks to 

 propagate itself, and through the influence of love share 

 its blessings with others. Anon he wo old dwell on the 

 primitive African faith ; its recognition of one Almighty 

 Creator, its moral code, so like our own, save in the one 

 article of polygamy ; its pious recognition of a future life, 

 though the element of punishment is not very conspicu- 

 ous ; its mild character generally, notwithstanding the 



