“MY DEAR ROBERT,—­We have been going at the rate of 200 miles a day ever since we left Liverpool, and have been much favored by a kind Providence in the weather.  Poor Oswell was sorely sick while rolling through the Bay of Biscay, and ate nothing for about three days; but we soon got away from the ice and snow to beautiful summer weather, and we are getting nicely thawed.  We sleep with all our port-holes open, and are glad of the awning by day.  At night we see the Southern Cross; and the Pole Star, which stands so high over you, is here so low we cannot see it for the haze.  We shall not see it again, but the same almighty gracious Father is over all, and is near to all who love Him.  You are now alone in the world, and must seek his friendship and guidance, for if you do not lean on Him, you will go astray, and find that the way of transgressors is hard.  The Lord be gracious to you, and accept you, though unworthy of his favor.”

Sierra Leone was reached in a fortnight.  Dr. Livingstone was gratified to learn that, during the last ten years, the health of the town had improved greatly—­consequent on the abatement of the “whisky fever,” and the draining and paving of the streets through the activity of Governor Hill.  He found the Sunday as well kept as in Scotland, and was sure that posterity would acknowledge the great blessing which the operations of the English Squadron on the one hand and the various Christian missions on the other had effected.  He was more than ever convinced, notwithstanding all that had been said against it, that the English Squadron had been a great blessing on the West Coast.  The Christian missions, too, that had been planted under the protection of the Squadron, were an evidence of its beneficial influence.  He used constantly to refer with intense gratitude to the work of Lord Palmerston in this cause, and to the very end of his life his Lordship was among the men whose memory he most highly honored.  Often, when he wished to describe his aim briefly, in regard to slavery, commerce, and missions, he would say it was to do on the East Coast what had been done on the West.  At Sierra Leone a crew of twelve Kroomen was engaged and taken on board for the navigation of the “Ma-Robert,” after it should reach the Zambesi.  On their leaving Sierra Leone, the weather became very rough, and from the state of Mrs. Livingstone’s health, inclining very much to fever, it was deemed necessary that she, with Oswell, should be left at the Cape, go to Kuruman for a time, and after her coming confinement, join her husband on the Zambesi in 1860.  “This,” says Livingstone in his Journal, “is a great trial to me, for had she come on with us, she might have proved of essential service to the Expedition in case of sickness or otherwise; but it may all turn out for the best.”  It was the first disappointment, and it was but partially balanced by his learning from Dr. Moffat, who, with his wife, met them at the