, Bishop Gray, of Capetown, had long been
thinking of a Central African Mission; but his plan, and that which
Mackenzie would have preferred, was to work gradually northwards from the
places already Christian, or partially so, instead of commencing an
isolated station at so great a distance, not only from all aid to the
workers, but from all example or mode of bringing civilized life to the
pupils. But Livingstone had so thoroughly won the sympathies of the
country that only the exact plan which he advocated could obtain favour,
and it was therefore felt that it was better to accept and co-operate
with his spirit than to give any check, or divide the flow by contrary
suggestions.

Thus Livingstone became almost as much the guide and referee of the
Zambesi expedition as ever a Cardinal Legate was of a crusade. Nor could
this be wondered at, for the ordinary Englishman is generally almost
ignorant of missions and their history, and in this case an able and
interesting book of travels had stirred the mind of the nation; nor had
experience then shown how much more there was of the explorer than of the
missionary in the writer.

From the first, Archdeacon Mackenzie was designated as the chief of the
mission. He felt the appointment a call not to be rejected. His sister
Anne viewed it in the same spirit, and was ready to cast in her lot with
him, and letters were written to the other sister in Natal proposing to
her to accompany them. Then came a year of constant travelling and
oratory in churches and on platforms, collecting means and rousing
interest in the mission--a year that would have been a mere whirl to any
one not possessed of the wonderful calmness and simplicity that
characterized Mackenzie, and made him just do the work that came to hand
in the best manner in his power, without question or choice as to what
that work might be.

By the October of 1860 all was ready, and the brother and sister had
taken leave of the remaining members of their family, and embarked at
Southampton, together with two clergymen, a lay superintendent, a
carpenter and a labourer, and likewise Miss Fanny Woodrow, Mrs.
Robertson's niece, who was to join in her work. Their first stage was
Capetown, where it had been arranged that the consecration should take
place, since it is best that a Missionary Bishop governing persons not
under English government should not be fettered by regulations that
concern her Prelates, not as belonging