70 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.R 



am sure, were you to witness the decorum and fixed attention which characterize 

 our congregations, you would say, what I am often induced to say, such hearers 

 surely cannot always remain hearers only. Knowledge, it is also true, is 

 increasing, and probably extending to a degree we are not aware of. Very 

 great advances have been made in civilization ; so that, were those persons who 

 saw the state of things as I saw them at the commencement of the mission, to 

 see them now, they would be amazed at the transformation. But we long to 

 witness more life and energy in the native character. We could wish to see our 

 members more in earnest, and concerned for the salvation of those around them. 

 This season has been one of great drought. Nine months without rain, and 

 no native harvest except on irrigated spots. This, with the general want of 

 grass, and consequent want of milk, has, of course, a very depressing influence 

 on the native mind. We are thankful that rains have begun to fall, and if they 

 continue, there is still time for the hills and plains to be covered with verdure. 

 We are all as busy as we well can be. All my time spared from public 

 engagements is taken up with the work of translation. Brother Ashton, also, 

 when not occupied in direct missionary work, and the charge of the school, is 

 constantly employed in the printing and bookbinding department, besides 

 assisting to correct for the press. A new edition of the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 

 and Isaiah, has just been printed. I am at the present moment engaged in 

 revising the smaller prophets, Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy, and nearly 

 all the Leviticus, in MS. The work has many interruptions. But if we do 

 not accomplish all we wish, we have the satisfaction that we are doing all we 

 can for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom." 



