well-doing. It is remarkable that, from the very
first, he should have seen the charm of that method which he employed so
successfully to the end.

In the course of this journey, Livingstone was within ten days of Lake
'Ngami, the lake of which he had heard at the Cape, and which he
actually discovered in 1849; and he might have discovered it now, had
discovery alone been his object. Part of his journey was performed on
foot, in consequence of the draught oxen having become sick:

"Some of my companions," he says in his first book, "who had
recently joined us, and did not know that I understood a
little of their speech, were overheard by me discussing my
appearance and powers: 'He is not strong, he is quite slim,
and only appears stout because he puts himself in those bags
(trousers); he will soon knock up.' This caused my Highland
blood to rise, and made me despise the fatigue of keeping
them all at the top of their speed for days together, and
until I heard them expressing proper opinions of my
pedestrian powers."

We have seen how full Livingstone's heart was of the missionary spirit;
how intent he was on making friends of the natives, and how he could
already preach in one dialect, and was learning another. But the
activity of his mind enabled him to give attention at the same time to
other matters. He was already pondering the structure of the great
African Continent, and carefully investigating the process of
desiccation that had been going on for a long time, and had left much
uncomfortable evidence of its activity in many parts. In the desert, he
informs his friend Watt that no fewer than thirty-two edible roots and
forty-three fruits grew without cultivation. He had the rare faculty of
directing his mind at the full stretch of its power to one great object,
and yet, apparently without effort, giving minute and most careful
attention to many other matters,--all bearing, however, on the same
great end.

A very interesting letter to Dr. Risdon Bennett, dated Kuruman, 18th
December, 1841, gives an account of his first year's work from the
medical and scientific point of view. First, he gives an amusing picture
of the Bechuana chiefs, and then some details of his medical practice:

The people are all under the feudal system of government, the
chieftainship is hereditary, and although the chief is
usually the greatest ass, and the most insignifica