hat these highlands of the Shire
Valley were the proper locality for commercial and missionary stations.
Thus one great object of the Expedition was accomplished. In another
point of view, this locality would be highly serviceable for stations.
It was the great pathway for conveying slaves from the north and
northwest to Zanzibar. Of this he had only too clear evidence in the
gangs of slaves whom he saw marched along from time to time, and whom he
would have been most eager to release had he known of any way of
preventing them from falling again into the hands of the slave-sellers.
In this region Englishmen "might enjoy good health, and also be of
signal benefit, by leading the multitude of industrious inhabitants to
cultivate cotton, maize, sugar, and other valuable produce, to exchange
for goods of European manufacture, at the same time teaching them, by
precept and example, the great truths of our holy religion."
Water-carriage existed all the way from England, with the exception of
the Murchison Cataracts, along which a road of forty miles might easily
be made. A small steamer on the lake would do more good in suppressing
the slave-trade than half-a-dozen men-of-war in the ocean. If the
Zambesi could be opened to commerce the bright vision of the last ten
years would be realized, and the Shire Valley and banks of the Nyassa
transformed into the garden of the Lord.

From the very first Livingstone saw the importance of the Shire Valley
and Lake Nyassa as the key to Central Africa. Ever since, it has become
more and more evident that his surmise was correct. To make the
occupation thoroughly effective, he thought much of the desirableness
of a British colony, and was prepared to expend a great part of the
remainder of his private means to carry it into effect. On August 4th,
he says in his Journal:

"I have a very strong desire to commence a system of
colonization of the honest poor; I would give L2000 or L3000
for the purpose. Intend to write my friend Young about it,
and authorize him to draw if the project seems feasible. The
Lord remember my desire, sanctify my motives, and purify all
my desires. Wrote him.

"Colonization from a country such as ours ought to be one of
hope, and not of despair. It ought not to be looked upon as
the last and worst shift that a family can come to, but the
performance of an imperative duty to our blood, our country,
our religi