PREFATORY LETTER. xlv 



refined appetites of Christian nations ; who profess, at least, 

 to believe the lessons of a Saviour common to all the sons 

 of men ? 



The expedition down the Zambesi had no other base to 

 rest upon than the influence gained by Livingstone over 

 the native Chiefs. He had not a scrap of property of his 

 own: but he had brought with him a good name from the 

 Bakwains : and well had he confirmed it while among the 

 Makololo, by his truth, his purity of life, and his courage 

 in the hour of danger. Had he been found wanting in 

 any one of these qualities they would have despised him. 

 Just before they started, Mamire (who had married Seke- 

 letu's mother) came to bid them farewell. " You," said he 

 to Dr Livingstone, " are now going among a people who 

 cannot be trusted because we have used them badly; but 

 you go with a different message from any they ever heard 

 before, and Jesus will be with you and help you though 

 among your enemies: and if He carries you safely, and 

 brings Ma-Robert back again I shall say he has conferred 

 a great favour upon me." When Dr Livingstone remarked 

 that he had nothing of his own to give, Mamire's answer 

 (translated literally) was as follows: "A man wishes to 

 appear among his friends, after a long absence, with some- 

 thing of his own to shew. The whole of the ivory in the 

 country is yours; so you must take as much as you can, 

 and Sekeletu will furnish men to carry it." 



The exploring party, composed of 114 men, — selected 

 from several distinct tribes, and with Sekwebu as their in- 

 terpreter among the tribes of the lower Zambesi — left Lin- 

 yanti on the 3rd of November, 1855. They bore with them 

 many tusks for sale at the end of the expedition ; hoes, 

 beads, and other articles for exchange while on the way ; 

 and they had twelve oxen, three for riding, and the rest 

 for bearing their baggage. Everything they had was with 

 confiding generosity supplied by Sekeletu ; and he himself. 



