THE TEIBUTE TO FAITHFULNESS. 213 



the discouragements of it called for prayer. There was no ex- 

 cuse for retreat. His hand was on the plough : he would not 

 look back. 



" The mother of Sekeletu prepared a bag of ground-nuts, by 

 frying them in cream with a little salt, forming a kind of sand- 

 wiches, which constitute a dish which the Makololo consider 

 fit for a king." Sekeletu appointed a man named Sekwebu and 

 Kanyati to head the party which should attend him. Mamire, 

 who had married the mother of Sekeletu, called for a parting 

 word. " You are," said he, " going among a people who can- 

 not be trusted because we have used them badly ; but you go 

 with a different message from any they have heard before, Jesus 

 will be with you and help you though among enemies, and if 

 he carries you safely and brings you and Ma Robert back again, 

 I shall say he has conferred a great favor on me. May we ob- 

 tain a path whereby we may visit and be visited by other tribes 

 and by white men." This was the most influential man in the 

 tribe, and his interest in the enterprise of Livingstone was cer- 

 tainly encouraging. 



He not only gave his blessing and his kind encouragement in 

 words, but added, " And as a man wishes, of course, to appear 

 among his friends after a long absence with something of his 

 own to show, the whole of the ivory in the country is yours, 

 so you must take as much as you can, and Sekeletu will furnish 

 you men to carry it." Such was the confidence and love which 

 filled the breasts of this people for a man who in all the years 

 of his intercourse with them had been uniformly consistent in 

 his own life and devoted to their welfare ; a people by no 

 means stupid, or given to hasty confidences, the most formid- 

 able tribe in all southern Africa, and the most warlike. As 

 the reward of his faithfulness, Dr. Livingstone was thus adopted 

 by the children of the wilderness, and was allowed to employ 

 their own energies and resources in opening a way for Christianity. 



11 



