THE UNIVERSITY'S MISSION. 403 



Robert " had rested in the former time, and all hands congratu- 

 lated each other that so far at least there was occasion for grati- 

 tude. The history of the " University's Mission/' by Rev. Henry 

 Rowly, is hardly more encouraging than the effort at Linyanti. 

 But there ought not to have been felt to be any vindication in 

 need of men who had proven their zeal by most arduous labors 

 and painful sacrifices, and their faithfulness by at last laying 

 their lives on the altar of the cause they had espoused. Nor ought 

 it to be necessary to find a solution of the calamitous termination of 

 it, aside from the absolute difficulty of a noble enterprise. 

 The hearts of Christians ought to be so set on the salvation of 

 the heathen that they will not hesitate to face the most fatal 

 diseases and the most unfriendly receptions in the prosecution 

 of their work. The real explanation of the misfortunes of the 

 devoted members of the Shire mission can hardly be found in 

 the unfriendliness of the natives or the unhealthiness of the 

 country. They settled there at a time when the country was 

 suffering a most distressing series of depredations. The Ajawa, 

 encouraged by the Portuguese, were burning and plundering the 

 upper Manganja country. From the time of their arrival there 

 was no time of quiet. The general unrest and excitement was 

 unfavorable, and they were ultimately driven for safety into the 

 lower country to be the prey of the relentless fevers. As far 

 as possible, Dr. Livingstone encouraged and aided them, but he 

 served the government, whose claims could not be neglected. 



As soon therefore as they could perform such services for their 

 friends as seemed most urgent, and had seen them safely on the 

 spot which the good Bishop Mackenzie had selected, Drs. Liv- 

 ingstone and Kirk, with Charles Livingstone, started for Lake 

 Nyassa, furnished with a light four-oared gig, a white sailor and 

 a score of attendants. And it may be interesting to the reader, 

 that people readily engaged to carry the boat forty miles for a 

 cubic of cotton cloth a day ! When they had passed the last of 

 the cataracts they launched their boat " for good " on the Shire, 

 and passed easily and peacefully on to the lake, and sailed into 

 it on the 2d of September. It was found to be over two hun- 

 dred miles long and from twenty to sixty wide, a deep sea-like 

 shade resting on its surface. They had never before seen in 

 Africa anything like the dense population which thronged its 



