to ascertain how far
the navigation of the Zambesi was impeded by the rapids at Kebrabasa,
between twenty and thirty miles above Tette, which he had heard of but
not seen on his journey from Linyanti to Quilimane. The distance was
short and the enterprise apparently easy, but in reality it presented
such difficulties as only his dogged perseverance could have overcome.
After he had been twice at the rapids, and when he believed he had seen
the whole, he accidentally learned, after a day's march on the way home,
that there was another rapid which he had not yet seen. Determined to
see all, he returned, with Dr. Kirk and four Makololo, and it was on
this occasion that his followers, showing the blisters on their feet
burst by the hot rocks, told him, when he urged them to make another
effort, that hitherto they had always believed he had a heart, but now
they saw he had none, and wondered if he were mad. Leaving them, he and
Dr. Kirk pushed on alone; but their boots and clothes were destroyed; in
three hours they made but a mile. Next day, however, they gained their
point and saw the rapid. It was plain to Dr. Livingstone that had he
taken this route in 1856, instead of through the level Shidina country,
he must have perished. The party were of opinion that when the river was
in full flood the rapids might be navigated, and this opinion was
confirmed on a subsequent visit paid by Mr. Charles Livingstone and Mr.
Baines during the rainy season. But the "Ma-Robert" with its single
engine had not power to make way. It was resolved to apply to Her
Majesty's Government for a more suitable vessel to carry them up the
country, stores and all. Until the answer should come to this
application, Dr. Livingstone could not return with his Makololo to their
own country.

While making this application, he was preparing another string for his
bow. He wrote to his friend Mr. James Young that if Government refused
he would get a vessel at his own expense, and in a succession of letters
authorized him to spend L2000 of his own money in the purchase of a
suitable ship. Eventually, both suggestions were carried into effect.
The Government gave the "Pioneer" for the navigation of the Zambesi and
lower Shire; Livingstone procured the "Lady Nyassa" for the Lake (where,
however, she never floated), but the cost was more than L6000--the
greater part, indeed, of the profits of his book.

The "Ma-Robert," which had promised so well at first, now tu