the country and its glorious
scenery. This revelation of the marvelous beauty of a country hitherto
deemed a sandy desert was one of the most astounding effects of
Livingstone's travels on the public mind. But the more he sees of the
people the more profound does their degradation appear, although the
many instances of remarkable kindness to himself, and occasional cases
of genuine feeling one toward another, convinced him that there was a
something in them not quite barbarised. On one point he was very
clear--the Portuguese settlements among them had not improved them. Not
that he undervalued the influences which the Portuguese had brought to
bear on them; he had a much more favorable opinion of the Jesuit
missions than Protestants have usually allowed themselves to entertain,
and felt both kindly and respectfully toward the padres, who in the
earlier days of these settlements had done, he believed, a useful work.
But the great bane of the Portuguese settlements was slavery. Slavery
prevented a good example, it hindered justice, it kept down improvement.
If a settler took a fancy to a good-looking girl, he had only to buy
her, and make her his concubine. Instead of correcting the polygamous
habits of the chiefs and others, the Portuguese adopted like habits
themselves. In one thing indeed they were far superior to the Boers--in
their treatment of the children born to them by native mothers. But the
whole system of slavery gendered a blight which nothing could
counteract; to make Africa a prosperous land, liberty must be proclaimed
to the captive, and the slave system, with all its accursed
surroundings, brought conclusively to an end. Writing to Mrs.
Livingstone from Bashinge, 20th March, 1855, he gives, some painful
particulars of the slave-trade. Referring to a slave-agent with whom he
had been, he says:

"This agent is about the same in appearance as Mebalwe, and
speaks Portuguese as the Griquas do Dutch. He has two
chainsful of women going to be sold for the ivory. Formerly
the trade went from the interior into the Portuguese
territory; now it goes the opposite way. This is the effect
of the Portuguese love of the trade: they cannot send them
abroad on account of our ships of war on the coast, yet will
sell them to the best advantage. These women are
decent-looking, as much so as the general run of Kuruman
ladies, and' were caught lately in a skirmish the Portugue