LOOKING FOR A HOME. 85 



on board a homeward-bound ship, and bade them a farewell, 

 which proved to be for five long years. The distinct object in 

 view was a central station in the continent, where a mission 

 might be planted, from which Christian influence could radiate 

 the entire land. For such an end, he gladly braved the fore- 

 seen hardships and perils and endured a long forfeiture of the 

 sweet society of the dearest friends of earth. 



He left the Cape in the lumbering wagon drawn by ten oxen. 

 The companions were "two Christian Bechuanas from Kuruman, 

 two Bakwain men, and two young girls who had come from 

 Kolobeng as nurses for the children, and were now returning." 

 The party in such style would be a novel sight indeed for 

 many who read these pages. Think of starting in such fashion 

 from New York to St. Louis ; imagine the strange forests ; 

 see ever and anon the animals which we look on with wonder 

 through grated bars walking freely across the plains, or bound- 

 ing through thick jungles. Where our towns and cities are, let 

 there be only larger or smaller clusters of queer-looking huts of 

 mud and straw ; for the fashionable belles and gallants of our 

 communities think of nude and dusky beings, adorned only 

 with odd-looking ornaments of rude metals. But we cannot 

 imagine the thing. 



This journey of Livingstone, destined to stretch across the 

 whole continent, lay first along the centre of the promontory, 

 inclining a little eastward. Nearer the capital the inhabitants 

 are mainly of Dutch and French descent. Africa too has been 

 an asylum from religious persecution. God has allowed his 

 people to be driven forth "into all the world." After two 

 hundred years on this shore the people are hardly changed; 

 they are honest, industrious farmers, who have made a sterile 

 region moderately fruitful, though to the eye of our traveller it 

 was uninviting. There were no trees crowning the dark brown 

 hills, and the plains looked like the promises of a desert. The 

 names of the places which the party passed indicated that in 

 some other time there were buffalo and elands and elephants 

 roaming over this region. They have fled from the approach 

 of civilization. These farmers devote most of their attention to 

 herds and flocks, and the climate is peculiarly favorable to 

 their choice ; though, after you leave the Cape some distance, 



