438 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 



steadfast tenacity with which I have upheld my confidence 

 in the ultimate success of the last-named of these brave 

 men. In fact, it was the confidence I placed in the un- 

 dying vigour of my dear friend Livingstone which has 

 sustained me in the hope that I might live to enjoy 

 the supreme delight of welcoming him back to his own 

 country.' But that consummation was not to be. He 

 himself was gathered to his rest just six days before 

 Stanley brought news and relief to the forlorn traveller 

 on Lake Tanganyika. And Livingstone, while still in 

 pursuit of his quest, and within ten months of his death, 

 learned in the heart of Africa the tidings which he 

 chronicled in his journal." 1 



At other times he is ruminating on mission- work : — 



" 10th July. — No great difficulty would be encountered in estab- 

 lishing a Christian mission a hundred miles or so from the East Coast. 

 ... To the natives the chief attention of the mission should be 

 directed. It would not be desirable or advisable to refuse explanation 

 to others ; but I have avoided giving offence to intelligent Arabs who 

 having pressed me, asking if I believed in Mohamad, by saying, ' No, 

 I do not ; I am a child of Jesus bin Miriam,' avoiding anything offen- 

 sive in my tone, and often adding that Mohamad found their fore- 

 fathers bowing down to trees and stones, and did good to them by 

 forbidding idolatry, and teaching the worship of the only One God. 

 This they all know, and it pleases them to have it recognised. It 

 might be good policy to hire a respectable Arab to engage free porters, 

 and conduct the mission to the country chosen, and obtain permission 

 from the chief to build temporary houses. ... A couple of Europeans 

 beginning and carrying on a mission without a staff of foreign attend- 

 ants, implies coarse country fare, it is true ; but this would be nothing 

 to those who at home amuse themselves with vigils, fasting, etc. A 

 great deal of power is thus lost in the Church. Fastings and vigils, 

 without a special object in view, are time run to waste. They are 

 made to minister to a sort of self-gratification, instead of being turned 

 to account for the good of others. They are like groaning in sickness : 

 some people amuse themselves when ill with continuous moaning. 

 The forty days of Lent might be annually spent in visiting adjacent 

 tribes, and bearing unavoidable hunger and thirst with a good grace. 

 Considering the greatness of the object to be attained, men might go 

 without sugar, coffee, tea, as I went from September 1866 to Decem- 

 ber 1868 without either." 



1 Life of Sir R. 1. Murchison, vol. ii. pp. 297-8. 



