his Journal are brief, and of little general interest
during the time the book was getting ready. Most of them have reference
to the affairs of other people. As he finds that Dr. Kirk is unable to
undertake a work on the botany and natural history of the Expedition,
unless he should hold some permanent situation, he exerts himself to
procure a Government appointment for him, recommending him strongly to
Sir R. Murchison and others, and is particularly gratified by a reply to
his application from the Earl of Dalhousie, who wrote that he regarded
his request as a command. He is pleased to learn that, through the kind
efforts of Sir Roderick, his brother Charles has been appointed Consul
at Fernando Po. He sees the American Minister, who promises to do all he
can for Robert, but almost immediately after, the report comes that poor
Robert has died in a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina. He delivers
a lecture at the Mechanics' Institute at Mansfield, but the very idea of
a speech always makes him ill, and in this case it brings on an attack
of Haemorrhoids, with which he had not been troubled for long. He goes to
London to a meeting of the Geographical Society, and hears a paper of
Burton's--a gentleman from whose geographical views he dissents, as he
does from his views on subjects more important. In regard to his book he
says very little; four days, he tells us, were spent in writing the
description of the Victoria Falls; and on the 15th April, 1865, he
summons his daughter Agnes to take his pen and write FINIS at the end of
his manuscript. On leaving Newstead on the 25th, he writes, "Parted with
our good friends the Webbs. And may God Almighty bless and reward them
and their family!"

Some time before this, a proposal was made to him by Sir Roderick
Murchison which in the end gave a new direction to the remaining part of
his life. It was brought before him in the following letter:

"_Jan._ 5, 1865.

"MY DEAR LIVINGSTONE:--As to _your future_, I am anxious to
know what _your own wish is_ as respects a renewal of African
exploration.

"Quite irrespective of missionaries or political affairs,
there is at this moment a question of intense geographical
interest to be settled: namely, the watershed, or watersheds,
of South Africa.

"How, if you would really like to be the person to finish off
your remarkable career by completing such a survey,
unshackled by other