116 PREPARATION FOR JOURNEY TO LOANDA. 



masses ! Their dancing, roaring, singing, jesting, grumbling, 

 fighting and murdering were the wild expressions of their de- 

 gradation, and they rang in his ears continually like the cry of 

 the lost, like an unconscious prayer for help. He suffered 

 keenly, but more than ever was resolved to open Africa to the 

 full light of the truth which sets men free from superstitions 

 and all clinging corruptions. 



In September the explorer and Christian teacher was in Lin- 

 yanti again, arranging for a journey to Loanda on the western 

 coast. His eagerness to accomplish this journey found an ally 

 in the anxiety of the Makololo to open a direct trade with 

 white men. They felt restive under the old system of swindling 

 to which they had been so long subjected by the Mambari, who 

 had monopolized the trading between the interior and the coast. 

 Livingstone coincided too in this desire for the establishment of 

 direct trade with the interior ; for not only did the natives 

 themselves suffer for the lack of it, but he was convinced that it 

 would also work greatly against any missionary who might be 

 dependent on intercourse with these extortioning traders for 

 supplies. 



Frequent fevers had worn perceptibly on the vigorous con- 

 stitution of Dr. Livingstone. A man more easily discouraged 

 could have found a well-grounded excuse for claiming exemp- 

 tion from duties demanding such exposure and exertion. There 

 was no wavering in the heart of this man. He felt that he 

 must face death very deliberately. It was painfully impressed 

 on him that a lonely dissolution in wild forests, with only 

 heathen attendants, was quite probable ; but he reasoned, " If 

 we serve God at all it must be done in a manly way." He 

 banished all fears and braced himself to "succeed or perish." 

 Nothing is more touching than the picture of this great man, 

 after reflecting seriously on the dangers of the undertaking be- 

 fore him, sitting down in the rude hut of a savage and com- 

 mending his little daughter to a brother far away and to God. 



The Boers had relieved him of anxiety about worldly posses- 

 sions by relieving him of their possession. There was very 

 little to dispose of now. The friendly Makololo readily assumed 

 the care of his little store, and left him free to equip himself for 

 the long journey. The curious reader will be pleased to know 



