226 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
Its publication brought what he would have considered a 
competency had he felt himself at liberty to settle down 
for life. His lectures at Cambridge stirred up a mission¬ 
ary spirit which led to important results. In 1857 he 
severed his connection with the London Missionary 
Society, with whom, however, he always remained on 
the best of terms; and on February, 1858, he accepted 
the appointment of “ Her Majesty’s Consul at Kilimane 
for the Eastern Coast and the independent districts in 
the interior, and commander of an expedition for ex¬ 
ploring Eastern and Central Africa,” 
The Zambesi expedition, of which Livingstone thus 
became commander, sailed from Liverpool in H.M.S. 
Pearl on March 10, 1858, and reached the mouth of the 
Zambesi on May 14, and the party ascended the river 
from the Kongone mouth in a steam launch, the 
Ma-Robert, reaching Tette on September 8. The expe¬ 
dition was received with apparent friendliness by the 
Portuguese authorities, who professed to have no hand in 
the slave trade ; and the remainder of the year was spent 
in examining the river above Tette, and especially the 
Kebrabasa rapids. Most of the year 1859 was spent 
in the exploration of the river Shire and Lake Nyassa, 
which was discovered in September. All along the 
Shire the natives, when they were assured that the 
expedition was English, and abominated the slave trade, 
received the travellers with great good will, and gene¬ 
rally traded freely with them. Much of the year 1860 
was spent by Livingstone in fulfilling his promise to 
take such of the Makololo home as cared to go. Accom¬ 
panied by Dr. (now Sir John) Kirk and Charles Living¬ 
stone, he left Tette on May 15, reaching Sesheke by 
the Victoria Falls on August 18, where he received a 
warm welcome, and remained a month, and Tette was 
reached again on November 23. In January of next 
year arrived Bishop Mackenzie and a party of mission¬ 
aries sent out by the Universities Mission to establish a 
station on the Upper Shire. This was one practical 
result of Livingstone’s appeal when in England, and he 
who in Africa was neither Churchman nor Dissenter, was 
