580 SOME GOOD IN ALL. 



long wished-for letters from his dear native land. His suffer- 

 ings during this illness were very great, and probably left him 

 an easier prey for the final sickness. God mercifully moved 

 the heart of Mohamad Bogharib to special kindness. In the 

 most vicious there are traces of the purity which reigned in 

 man before the fall had darkened and defiled the glorious em- 

 pire ; hints of former virtue that relieve the deepening degener- 

 acy of the soul, and contest the supremacy of evil, like the 

 glimmer, which lingers in the gathering darkness when the sun 

 is far away and his pencilings are so light that we do not call 

 them rays, relieves the night and contests the supremacy of 

 gloom. It is the redemption of our experience among men 

 from the shadow of their deformities, that it is veined, however 

 faintly, with kindnesses and loves. And it should awaken 

 emotions of gratitude, that God allows in the hearts of men 

 some remnants of the light and goodness which they have for- 

 feited, to mitigate the sorrows of their depravity. It is very 

 pleasing to think of the tenderness and kindness which Living- 

 stone received at the hand of a man, about whose heart scenes 

 of unrivalled cruelty had been moulding an adamantine casing 

 during so many years. Mohamad Bogharib was a specimen 

 Arab trader. He was thoroughly bent on gain ; he was over- 

 bearing and cruel. The doctor had seen much in him to con- 

 demn, very little to admire; but he had himself been shown 

 very marked and persevering kindness by him. During more 

 than a year he had furnished and cooked his food. Though 

 involved in wars, he had never once forgotten the wants of his 

 destitute fellow-traveller; and had been most assiduous in his 

 attentions. And now, when at last he was prostrated, he had 

 him borne forward by his followers. It was the first time in 

 his life that Dr. Livingstone had needed to be carried on his 

 journey, and he did not hesitate to record the kindness of 

 Mohamad and his gratitude. But though all care was used to 

 secure his comfort, the doctor describes this journey, on to the 

 lake, as one of great suffering. In his extreme illness, to be 

 carried at all must have been painful ; but to be carried across 

 a broken country, lying in a sort of cot resting on the shoulders 

 of four men, whose feet were wounded constantly by sharp 

 thorns and bruised by the rough ground, up hill and down, 



