398 THE MISSION. 



selves to a removal from their deadly swamps to some healthier 

 locality. It had seemed very desirable to establish a mission 

 among these people because of the extent of their dominion, and 

 because at their capital Christian teachers would be in constant 

 intercourse with representatives of numerous tribes. Accord- 

 ingly, the London Missionary Society, under whose auspices the 

 exploration of their country had been effected, undertook the 

 work of establishing a mission at the town of Linyanti, and 

 appointed Rev. Halloway Helmore, who had been seventeen 

 years a missionary among the Bechuanas, and associated with 

 him Messrs. Mackenzie and Price. These younger men, accom- 

 panied by gentle and true-hearted wives, who ventured to hope 

 that they could go where Mrs. Livingstone had gone, left Eng- 

 land in June, 1858, and in July landed at the Cape. After 

 many trying experiences, the mission party at last reached the 

 scene of their appointment, in February, 1860. In August, 

 when Dr. Livingstone arrived, there was only the sad story of 

 their effort and a number of graves. They had come on the 

 ground in the most unfavorable season, and from the time of 

 their arrival were the victims of the prevailing fever of the place. 

 The account of their sufferings is a discouraging page in the 

 history of African missions, but we can hardly yield the con- 

 victions which have grown on us in following the experience of 

 Dr. Livingstone through the years of his intercourse with the, 

 Makololo. The illness and bereavement through which the 

 survivor of the enterprise regarded the people could hardly fail 

 to give a darker shade to their characters. They doubtless suf- 

 fered some wrongs in addition to the ravages of disease, but we 

 would much rather find the explanation of their sickness in the 

 deadly exhalations of the neighboring swamps than accept the 

 suggestion of poisoning ; and with the accounts of Rev. John 

 Mackenzie and the " Travels of Livingstone" both before him, 

 we are convinced that a candid reader would feel confident that 

 the conduct of the people toward Mr. Price, after the death of 

 Mr. Helmore, might have found an explanation in some mis- 

 understanding or mistake which would shield the actors from 

 the charge of so ungenerously plundering a bereaved and suffer- 

 ing guest. Certainly, however strongly the trials .and losses of 

 the enterprise may speak against the tribe whose elevation was 



