ure, ultimately, to exercise a commanding influence. Depend
upon it, a kind word or deed is never lost."

Evidently, Dr. Livingstone felt himself in a difficult position at the
head of this enterprise. He was aware of the trouble that had usually
attended civil as contrasted with naval and military expeditions, from
the absence of that habit of discipline and obedience which is so firmly
established in the latter services. He had never served under Her
Majesty's Government himself, nor had he been accustomed to command such
men as were now under him, and there were some things in his antecedents
that made the duty peculiarly difficult. On one thing only he was
resolved: to do his own duty to the utmost, and to spare no pains to
induce every member of the Expedition to do his. It was impossible for
him not to be anxious as to how the team would pull together, especially
as he knew well the influence of a malarious atmosphere in causing
intense irritability of temper. In some respects, though not the most
obvious, this was the most trying period of his life. His letters and
other written papers show one little but not uninstructive effect of the
pressure and distraction that now came on him--in the great change which
his handwriting underwent--the neat, regular writing of his youth giving
place to a large and heavyish hand, as if he had never had time to mend
his pen, and his only thought had been how to get on most quickly. Yet
we see also, very clearly, how nobly he strove after self-control and
conciliatory ways. The tone of courtesy, the recognition of each man's
independence in his own sphere, and the appeal to his good sense and
good feeling, apparent in the instructions, show a studious desire,
while he took and intended to keep his place as Commander, to conceal
the symbols of authority, and bind the members of the party together as
a band of brothers. And though in his published book, _The Zambesi and
its Tributaries_, which was mainly a report of his doings to the
Government and the nation, he confined himself to the matters with which
he had been intrusted by them, there are many little proofs of his
seeking wisdom and strength from above with undiminished earnestness,
and of his striving, as much as ever, to do all to the glory of God.

As the swift motion of the ship bears him farther and farther from home,
he cannot but think of his orphan children. As they near Sierra Leone,
on the 25th March, he sends