376 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 



would have deemed the object worthy of the price. But 

 ever and anon, he seemed to be close on what he was 

 searching for, and certain to secure it by just a little 

 further effort ; while as often, like the cup of Tantalus, it 

 was snatched from his grasp. Moreover, during a life- 

 time of splendid self-discipline, he had been training him- 

 self to keep his promises, and to complete his tasks ; 

 nor could he in any way see it his duty to break the one 

 or leave the other unfinished. He had undertaken to 

 the Geographical Society to solve that problem, and he 

 would do it if it could be done. Wherever he went he 

 had always some opportunity to make known the father- 

 hood of God and His love in Christ, although the seed 

 he sowed seemed seldom to take root. Then he was 

 gathering fresh information on the state of the country 

 and the habits of the people. He was especially gather- 

 ing information on the accursed slave-trade. 



This question of the watershed, too, had fascinated 

 his mind, for he had a strong impression that the real 

 sources of the Nile were far higher than any previous 

 traveller had supposed — far higher than Lake Victoria 

 Nyanza, and that it would be a service to religion as well 

 as science, to discover the fountains of the stream on whose 

 bosom, in the dawn of Hebrew history, Moses had floated 

 in his ark of bulrushes. A strong impression lurked in 

 his mind that if he should only solve that old problem he 

 would acquire such influence that new weight would be 

 given to his pleadings for Africa ; just as, at the begin- 

 ning of his career, he had wished for a commanding style 

 of composition, to be able to rouse the attention of the 

 world to that ill-treated continent. 



He was strongly disposed to think that in the account 

 of the sources given to Herodotus by the Registrar of 

 Minerva in the temple of Sais, that individual was not 

 joking, as the father of history supposed. He thought 

 that in the watershed the two conical hills, Crophi and 



