RETURN TO TETE. 



401 



so soon with only a remnant of his strength. But it was out of 

 the question for Dr. Livingstone to think of even a protracted 

 visit. The new steamer for which he had petitioned his govern- 

 ment was expected to arrive at the Kongone in November, and 

 it was necessary that he should hasten thither. He was still firm 

 in his belief that there could be found no more desirable field 

 for missionary work. There were difficulties, but none which 

 would not be surmounted gradually by wise and active laborers. 



The seaward journey occupied about two months, and it was 

 toward the end of November when they reached Tete, and the 

 Zambesi was then so low that they were compelled to wait until 

 December before they could go on to the Kongone, where they 

 arrived on the 4th of January, 1861. The expected vessel was 

 behind time, and there was nothing to be done but to wait as 

 patiently as possible for her arrival. In such a focus of decay- 

 ing vegetation nothing was to be dreaded so much as inactivity, 

 and they were compelled to seek exercise and amusement in 

 hunting and searching about the fetid swamps. Indeed in all 

 parts of Africa, as elsewhere, an active life has been found the 

 safest. A mind fully occupied and hands full of work are the 

 surest precautions against the subtle enemy whicK lurks in those 

 vast wildernesses. On the 31st of January, 1861, their new 

 ship, the " Pioneer," arrived from England and anchored out- 

 side the bar ; but the weather was stormy and she did not venture 

 in till the 4th of February. 



Two of her Majesty's cruisers came at the same time, bringing 

 Bishop Mackenzie and the Oxford and Cambridge mission to 

 the tribes of the Shire and Lake Nyassa. The mission consisted 

 of six Englishmen and five colored men from the Cape. It was 

 a puzzle to know what to do with so many men. The estimable 

 bishop, anxious to commence his work without delay, wished 

 the " Pioneer " to carry the mission up the Shire as far as Chi- 

 bisa's, and there leave them. But there were grave objections 

 to this. The " Pioneer " was under orders to explore the Ro- 

 vuma, as the Portuguese government had refused to open the 

 Zambesi to the ships of othfr nations, and their officials were 

 very effectually pursuing a system which, by abstracting the 

 labor, was rendering the country of no value either to foreigners 

 or to themselves. She was already two months behind her 



