my best friends by being spoken ill of, for they
found me so different from what they had been led to expect that they
befriended me more than they otherwise would have done. It is the good
hand of Him who has all in his power that influences other hearts to
show me kindness."

The only available plan now was to cross the Indian Ocean for Bombay, or
possibly Aden, in the "Nyassa" and leave the ship there till he should
make a run home, consult with his friends as to the future, and find
means for the prosecution of his work. At Zanzibar a new difficulty
arose. Mr. Rae, the engineer, who had now been with him for many years,
and with whom, despite his peculiarities, he got on very well, signified
his intention of leaving him. He had the offer of a good situation, and
wished to accept of it. He was not without compunctions at leaving his
friend in the lurch, and told Livingstone that if he had had no offer
for the ship he would have gone with him, but as he had declined the
offer made to him, he did not feel under obligation to do so.
Livingstone was too generous to press him to remain. It was impossible
to supply Mr. Rae's place, and if anything should go wrong with the
engines, what was to be done? The entire crew of the vessel consisted of
four Europeans; namely, Dr. Livingstone--"skipper," one stoker, one
carpenter, and one sailor; seven native Zambesians, who, till they
volunteered, had never seen the sea, and two boys, one of whom was
Chuma, afterward his attendant on the last journey. With this somewhat
sorry complement, and fourteen tons of coal, Dr. Livingstone set out on
30th April, on a voyage of 2500 miles, over an ocean which he had
never crossed.

It was a very perilous enterprise, for he was informed that the breaking
of the monsoon occurred at the end of May or the beginning of June.
This, as he came to think, was too early; but in any case, he would come
very near the dangerous time. As he wrote to one of his friends, he felt
jammed into a corner, and what could he do? He believed from the best
information he could get that he would reach Bombay in eighteen days.
Had any one told him that he would be forty-five days at sea, and that
for twenty-five of these his ship would be becalmed, and even when she
had a favorable wind would not sail fast, even he would have looked pale
at the thought of what was before him. The voyage was certainly a
memorable one, and has only escaped fame by the still greater won