Fleming’s men.  Livingstone found it impossible to take Fleming to the coast, and had therefore to send him back, but he did his utmost to prevent loss to his friend; and thus, as Mr. Rutherfoord said, “at the very time that he was engaged in such important duties, and exposed to such difficulties, he found time to fulfill his promise to do what he could to save me from loss, to attend to a matter quite foreign to his usual avocations, and in which he had no personal interest; and by his energy and good sense, and self-denying exertions, to render the plan, if not perfectly successful, yet by no means a failure.”

Traveler, geographer, zoologist, astronomer, missionary, physician, and mercantile director, did ever man sustain so many characters at once?  Or did ever man perform the duties of each with such painstaking accuracy and so great success?

As soon as he could tear himself from his first engagements, he ran down to Hamilton to see his mother, children, and other relatives.  His father’s empty chair deeply affected him.  “The first evening,” writes one of his sisters, “he asked all about his illness and death.  One of us remarking that after he knew he was dying his spirits seemed to rise, David burst into tears.  At family worship that evening he said with deep feeling—­’We bless thee, O Lord, for our parents; we give thee thanks for the dead who has died in the Lord.’”

At first Livingstone thought that his stay in this country could be only for three or four months, as he was eager to be at Quilimane before the unhealthy season set in, and thus fulfill his promise to return to his Makololo at Tette.  But on receiving an assurance from the Portuguese Government (which, however, was never fulfilled by them) that his men would be looked after, he made up his mind for a somewhat longer stay.  But it could not be called rest.  As soon as he could settle down he had to set to work with a book.  So long before as May, 1856, Sir Roderick Murchison had written to him that “Mr. John Murray, the great publisher, is most anxious to induce you to put together all your data, and to make a good book,” adding his own strong advice to comply with the request.  If he ever doubted the propriety of writing the book, the doubt must have vanished, not only in view of the unequaled interest excited by the subject, but also of the readiness of unprincipled adventurers, and even some respectable publishers, to circulate narratives often mythical and quite unauthorized.

The early part of the year 1857 was mainly occupied with the labor of writing.  For this he had materials in the Journals which he had kept so carefully; but the business of selection and supplementing was laborious, and the task of arrangement and transcription very irksome.  In fact, this task tried the patience of Livingstone more than any which he had yet undertaken, and he used to say that he would rather cross Africa than write another book.  His experience of book-making increased his respect for authors and authoresses a hundred-fold!