It has sometimes been represented, in view of such facts as have just been recorded, that Livingstone was imperious and despotic in the management of other men, otherwise he and his comrades would have got on better together.  The accusation, even at first sight, has an air of improbability, for Livingstone’s nature was most kindly, and it was the aim of his life to increase enjoyment.  In explanation of the friction on board his ship it must be remembered that his party were a sort of scratch crew brought together without previous acquaintance or knowledge of each other’s ways; that the heat and the mosquitoes, the delays, the stoppages on sandbanks, the perpetual struggle for fuel[59], the monotony of existence, with so little to break it, and the irritating influence of the climate, did not tend to smooth their tempers or increase the amenities of life.  The malarious climate had a most disturbing effect.  No one, it is said, who has not experienced it, could imagine the sensation of misery connected with the feverish attacks so common in the low districts.  And Livingstone had difficulties in managing his countrymen he had not in managing the natives.  He was so conscientious, so deeply in earnest, so hard a worker himself, that he could endure nothing that seemed like playing or trifling with duty.  Sometimes, too, things were harshly represented to him, on which a milder construction might have been put.  One of those with whom he parted at this time afterward rejoined the Expedition, his pay being restored on Livingstone’s intercession.  Those who continued to enjoy his friendship were never weary of speaking of his delightful qualities as a companion in travel, and the warm sunshine which he had the knack of spreading around.

[Footnote 59:  This was incredible.  Livingstone wrote to his friend Jose Nunes that it took all hands a day and a half to cut one day’s fuel.]

A third trip up the Shire was made in August, and on the 16th of September Lake Nyassa was discovered.  Livingstone had no doubt that he and his party were the discoverers; Dr. Roscher, on whose behalf a claim was subsequently made, was two months later, and his unfortunate murder by the natives made it doubtful at what point he reached the lake.  The discovery of Lake Nyassa, as well as Lake Shirwa, was of immense importance, because they were both parallel to the ocean, and the whole traffic of the regions beyond must pass by this line.  The configuration of the Shire Valley, too, was favorable to colonization.  The valley occupied three different levels.  First there was a plain on the level of the river, like that of the Nile, close and hot.  Rising above this to the east there was another plain, 2000 feet high, three or four miles broad, salubrious and pleasant.  Lastly, there was a third plain 3000 feet above the second, positively cold.  To find such varieties of climate within a few miles of each other was most interesting.