iderable advantage; it inspired the natives with confidence, and
promoted tender feelings and kind relations. The chief, Lechulatebe, was
at last propitiated at a considerable sacrifice, having taken a fancy to
a valuable rifle of Livingstone's, the gift of a friend, which could not
be replaced. The chief vowed that if he got it he would give Livingstone
everything he wished, and protect and feed his wife and children into
the bargain, while he went on to Sebituane. Livingstone at once handed
him the gun. "It is of great consequence," he said, "to gain the
confidence of these fellows at the beginning." It was his intention that
Mrs. Livingstone and the children should remain at Lechulatebe's until
he should have returned. But the scheme was upset by an outburst of
fever. Among others, two of the children were attacked. There was no
help but to go home. The gun was left behind in the hope that ere long
Livingstone would get back to claim the fulfillment of the chiefs
promise. It was plain that the neighborhood of the lake was not
habitable by Europeans. Hence a fresh confirmation of his views as to
the need of native agency, if intertropical Africa was ever to be
Christianized.

But Livingstone was convinced that there must be a healthier spot to the
north. Writing to Mr. Watt (18th August, 1850), he not only expresses
this conviction, but gives the ground on which it rested. The extract
which we subjoin gives a glimpse of the sagacity that from apparently
little things drew great conclusions; but more than that, it indicates
the birth of the great idea that dominated the next period of
Livingstone's life--the desire and determination to find a passage to
the sea, either on the east or the west coast:

"A more salubrious climate must exist farther up to the
north, and that the country is higher, seems evident from the
fact mentioned by the Bakoba, that the water of the Teoge,
the river that falls into the 'Ngami at the northwest point
of it, flows with great rapidity. Canoes ascending, punt all
the way, and the men must hold on by reeds in order to
prevent their being carried down by the current. Large trees,
spring-bucks and other antelopes are sometimes brought down
by it. Do you wonder at my pressing on in the way we have
done? The Bechuana mission has been carried on in a
_cul-de-sac._ I tried to break through by going among the
Eastern tribes, but the Boe