the Seychelles Islands (tak' yer speks and keek at the map
or gougrafy), then run my chance to get over by a dhow or
man-of-war to the Rovuma, going up that river in a boat, till
we get to the cataracts, and the tramp. I must take Belochees
from India, and may go down the lake to get Makololo, if the
Indians don't answer. I would not consent to go simply as a
geographer, but as a missionary, and do geography by the way,
because I feel I am in the way of duty when trying either to
enlighten these poor people, or open their land to lawful
commerce."

It was at this time that Mr. Hayward, Q.C., while on a visit to
Newstead, brought an informal message from Lord Palmerston, who wished
to know what he could do for Livingstone. Had Livingstone been a vain
man, wishing a handle to his name, or had he even been bent on getting
what would be reasonable in the way of salary for himself, or of
allowance for his children, now was his chance of accomplishing his
object. But so single-hearted was he in his philanthropy that such
thoughts did not so much as enter his mind; there was one thing, and one
only, which he wished Lord Palmerston to secure--free access to the
highlands, by the Zambesi and Shire, to be made good by a treaty with
Portugal. It is satisfactory to record that the Foreign Office has at
last made arrangements to this effect.

While the proposal on the part of the President of the Geographical
Society was undergoing consideration, certain overtures were made to Dr.
Livingstone by the Foreign Office. On the 11th of March he called at the
office, at the request of Mr. Layard, who propounded a scheme that he
should have a commission giving him authority over the chiefs, from the
Portuguese boundary to Abyssinia and Egypt; the office to carry no
salary. When a formal proposal to this effect was submitted to him, with
the additional proviso that he was to be entitled to no pension, he
could not conceal his irritation. For himself he was just as willing as
ever to work as before, without hope of earthly recompense, and to
depend on the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread;" but he
thought it ungenerous to take advantage of his well-known interest in
Africa to deprive him of the honorarium which the most insignificant
servant of Her Majesty enjoyed. He did not like to be treated like a
charwoman. As for the pension, he had never asked it, and counted it
offensive to be