LIVINGSTONE AS A NAVIGATOR. 349 



swamp a boat. It lasts, however, but a short time, for as soon as the flow 

 begins all is smooth again. I believe that the Eovuma may be navigable for 

 a vessel of light draught eight or nine months out of the twelve, and the bay- 

 is perfectly safe, and magnificent. "David Livingstone. 



" P.S. 24th Feb. 1864.— The Bishop is off before me. I take the boys 

 and cbildren (40 in number) whom he wished to abandon, and send them 

 myself to the Cape. Having once liberated them, I felt in honour bound to 

 see them secure from a return into slavery, and am sure that the gentlemen 

 who sent out the mission would have done the same." 



He kept with him on board the Lady Nyassa seven men, and two boys — 

 Chumah and Wekotani — of whom we shall hear more hereafter. 



The Lady Nyassa steamed from Mozambique to Zanzibar ; and as Living- 

 stone had determined to dispose of her, he started in her on a voyage of 2,500 

 miles for that purpose to Bombay, which he accomplished in safety, arriving 

 there on the 13th of June, having left Zanzibar on the 16th of April; the 

 heroic explorer acting as navigator, his crew consisting of three Europeans, 

 viz., a stoker, a sailor, and a carpenter, and seven native Zambesi men, and 

 two boys. Considering that the three European members of his crew were 

 laid aside for a month each, and his native Zambesi men had to be taught the 

 duties of the ship, and that the Lady Nyassa was a tiny light craft constructed for 

 lake and river navigation, the feat of sailing her across the Indian Ocean was 

 not the least marvellous of the many daring undertakings he has successfully 

 carried through. When they steamed into the harbour of Bombay, he says 

 "the vessel was so small, that no one noticed our arrival." His appearance 

 in civilized society after such a fashion, must have been as unexpected and 

 wonderful as his turning up among the Portuguese in the West, after travelling 

 from the Cape right across country through regions till then wholly unknown. 

 The two native boys, who were about sixteen years of age named respectively 

 Wekotani and Chumah, were left with Dr. Wilson, of Bombay, to be educated. 

 This astounding feat in seamanship — a voyage of 2,500 miles in the Lady 

 Nyassa — did not strike Livingstone as being anything very wonderful. In a 

 letter to Sir Roderick Murchison from Bombay, he says : — 



" We arrived at Bombay on the 13th instant, after a passage of 44 days 

 from Zanzibar. From Zanzibar we crept along the African coast, in order to 

 profit by a current of at least 100 miles a day. If Solomon's ships went as far 

 South as Sofala, as some suppose, they could not have done it during the 

 south-west monsoon against such a current. We went along beautifully till 

 we got past the line ; we then fell in with calms, which continued altogether 

 for 24i days. The sea was as smooth as glass ; and, as we had but one 

 stoker, we could not steam more than nine or ten hours at a time. By 

 patience and perseverance we have at length accomplished our voyage of 2,500 

 miles, but now I feel at as great a loss as ever. I came here to sell my 



