324 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 



and beads, muskets and ammunition. The destructive 

 and murderous effects of the last were the climax of 

 the system. 



Dr. Livingstone had seen nothing to make him regard 

 the African as of a different species from the rest of the 

 human family. Nor was he the lowest of the species. 

 He had a strong frame and a wonderfully persistent 

 vitality, was free from many European diseases, and could 

 withstand privations with wonderful light-heartedness. 



He did not deem it necessary formally to answer a 

 question sometimes put, whether the African had enough 

 of intellect to receive Christianity. The reception of 

 Christianity did not depend on intellect. It depended, 

 as Sir James Stephen had remarked, on a spiritual 

 intuition, which was not the fruit of intellectual culture. 

 But, in fact, the success of missions on the West Coast 

 showed that not only could the African be converted to 

 Christianity, but that Christianity might take root and 

 be cordially supported by the African race. 



It was the accursed slave-trade, promoted by the 

 Portuguese, that had frustrated everything. For some 

 time to come his efforts and his prayers must be directed 

 to getting influential men to see this, so that one way or 

 other the trade might be abolished for ever. The hope 

 of obtaining access to the heart of Africa by another 

 route than that through the Portuguese settlements was 

 still in Livingstone's heart. He would go home, but 

 only for a few months ; at the earliest possible moment 

 he would return to look for a new route to the interior. 



