THE EXPLANATION OF IT. 215 



on the altar of their enlightenment. We honor Livingstone 

 for the purity and strength which could so charm and control 

 those degraded savages, and we are conscious of a deeper inter- 

 est in the savages who possess hearts so readily charmed by 

 purity and in love with honor. The singular co-operation of 

 the wild tribes with a lonely missionary for the accomplishment 

 of ends which might dignify the noblest civilization, furnishes 

 a commentary on the missionary and on the tribes, unsurpassed 

 in history. 



But it ought not to be wonderful that a single Christian man 

 should penetrate even those wilds and summon about him friends 

 eager to help him, for there is a power of kindness mightier 

 than the word of kings, and there is a providence of God 

 mightier than prejudice. We cannot fail to perceive the presence 

 of an influence more beneficent than chance and more sagacious 

 than human wisdom in the events which were gradually con- 

 verting the life of Livingstone into that of an explorer. And 

 we cannot fail to perceive an influence superior to that of in- 

 tellect emanating from this divinely appointed man. An edict 

 had gone forth among those tribes mightier than the desire of 

 a hundred missionaries, commanding their favor for those new 

 enterprises, and a law was prevailing in the camps of those 

 voluntary followers more potent than any outward show of 

 authority. The sign of the cross was the unseen banner over 

 Livingstone, the love of his heart was the unseen power of the 

 man : both were new in Africa : both are powerful everywhere. 

 By the favor of God and the power of love he enlisted the most 

 ignorant and degraded men in the highest and holiest service. 

 How real and how abundant their interest was is manifested in 

 the cordiality and perseverance of their attention. A more 

 warm-hearted and resolute body of men was hardly ever seen 

 than assembled on the 3d of November, 1855, at the town of 

 Linyanti, to attend the " friend of Sebituane " on his journey 

 to the sea. Sekeletu himself accompanied him as far as the 

 splendid falls of the Zambesi, and with his own eyes saw that the 

 large company which he had furnished for the expedition were 

 well under way and thoroughly equipped. Before they had 

 reached that point indeed, while still in the valley of the Chobe, 

 before reaching Sesheke, the party encountered one of those ter- 



