The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

f it era I u rt.

Missionary Travels and Researches in South
Africa. By David Livingstone, LL.D.,
D.C.L. London: Murray.
Da. LIVINGSTONE deserves credit for having not
only written the best modern book upon Africa,
but for having, after a sixteen years residence
in the country, com»ressed his information
into a single volume. This art of condensa-
tion is a great gift in a traveller. Then he is
full without being tedious, observant without
being trifling, and impressive without being
pretentious. There is not a line of " fine
writing' in the whole book; he never seeks
to create an effect, but places before you so
sensibly and so feelingly the story of his
adventurous life, that your interest, in his
career is well sustained, and you close
the book impressed with his rigid truthful-
ness and earnest piety. There never was a
man morally or physically better fitted by
nature for the great task he imposed upon him-
self than Dr. Livingstone. Of a sanguine and
courageous disposition, eager in the acquisi-
tion of knowledge, loving truth, enthusiastic
in his admiration of nature, pious and sensi-
ble, possessing broad views and keen percep-
tions, and with a physique capable of great en-
durance, a better lima than he could not have
been selected for an African mission. In a
word, he is one of " Plutarch's men," and
these aro they who influence nations, and
stamp their mark upon the history of the
world.
In 1840 Dr. Livingstone embarked for Africa
under the auspices of the London Missionary
Society. Originally, be tells us in a brief
sketch of his early life, he had been brought
up as a " piecer " in a cotton factory at Glasgow,
but his love of knowledge and of religion de-
termined him to devote himself to the life of
a missionary. He saved his wages as a boy,
bought books which he read while at work,
and at the age of nineteen had saved so much
that he was enabled to give up cotton spin-
ning and devote himself to the study of medi-
cine and divinity, with the view of going to
China as a missionary, but the opium war
then raging induced him to turn his thoughts
to Africa, and iu 1840 he embarked for Cape
Town en route to Lattakoo, then, as now, the
farthest head missionary station of the London
society. His instructions were "to turn his
" attention to the north," and the first thing
he did was characteristic of the man. He
"cut himself off," to use his own words, from
European society for six months, retiring six-
teen miles away from the head station to a
native village, where he imposed upon himself
a careful study of the habits, laws, and lan-
guage of the Bakwains, a tribe of Bechuanas,
in order to qualify himself thoroughly for
intercourse with the natives. Finally, in 1843,
he settled at Kolobeng, in the beautiful
valley of Mabotsa (lat. 25' 14', lon. 28" 30'),
and here he remained in the heart of the
Bakwain country for some six years in the
exercise of his missionary duties. The Bak-
wains were a friendly, inoffensive race, afford.
ing excellent material for the missionary, but
they were harassed and hunted down by a
colony of lawless refugee Boers, who had
emigrated beyond the boundaries of the Cape
colony, and had established their republic
upon the frontier of the Bechuana territory.
Dr. Livingstone speaks in severe tones of the
cruelty and tyranny of these ruffians, who
make razzias upon the native villsges, carry
off prisoners into slavery, and bring disgrace
upon the European name. While here Dr.
Livingstone, from his observations on the ad-
vantages of commerce as an aid to the
spread of Christianity, conceived the idea
of pushing farther into the interior, in
order to open up the country, not only to
spiritual, but to more material benefits.
The accounts he received from the Bakwains
of the disposition of Sebituane, a great African
conqueror, and chief of the Makololo, con-
firmed him in his views. He made frequent
expeditions to the cast and to the north, and
he partly achieved his object by reaching the
banks of Lake His party were the
first Enr nns who had ever visited this lake.