ear that this led
to any improvement at the time.

While stung into more than ordinary energy by the atrocious deeds he
witnessed around him, Livingstone was living near the borders of the
unseen world. He writes to Sir Thomas Maclear on the 27th October, 1862:

"I suppose that I shall die in these uplands, and somebody
will carry, out the plan I have longed to put into practice.
I have been thinking a great deal since the departure of my
beloved one about the regions whither she has gone, and
imagine from the manner the Bible describes it we have got
too much monkery in our ideas. There will be work there as
well as here, and possibly not such a vast difference in our
being as is expected. But a short time there will give more
insight than a thousand musings. We shall see Him by whose
inexpressible love and mercy we get there, and all whom we
loved, and all the lovable. I can sympathize with you now
more fully than I did before. I work with as much vigor as I
can; and mean to do so till the change comes; but his
prospect of a home is all dispelled."

In one of his despatches to Lord Russell, Livingstone reports an offer
that had been made by a party consisting of an Englishman and five
Scotch working men at the Cape, which must have been extremely
gratifying to him, and served to deepen his conviction that sooner or
later his plan of colonization would certainly be carried into effect.
The leader of the party, John Jehan, formerly of the London City
Mission, in reading Dr. Livingstone's book, became convinced that if a
few mechanics could be induced to take a journey of exploration it would
prove very useful. His views being communicated to five other young men
(two masons, two carpenters, one smith), they formed themselves into a
company in July, 1861, and had been working together, throwing their
earnings into a common fund, and now they had arms, two wagons, two
spans of oxen, and means of procuring outfits. In September, 1862, they
were ready to start from Aliwal in South Africa[66].

[Footnote 66: The recall of Livingstone's Expedition and the removal of
the Universities Mission seem to have knocked this most promising scheme
on the head. Writing of it to Sir Roderick Murchison on the 14th
December, 1862, he says: "I like the Scotchmen, and think them much
better adapted for our plans than those on whom the Universities Mission
has lighted.