The entries in his Journal are brief, and of little general interest during the time the book was getting ready.  Most of them have reference to the affairs of other people.  As he finds that Dr. Kirk is unable to undertake a work on the botany and natural history of the Expedition, unless he should hold some permanent situation, he exerts himself to procure a Government appointment for him, recommending him strongly to Sir R. Murchison and others, and is particularly gratified by a reply to his application from the Earl of Dalhousie, who wrote that he regarded his request as a command.  He is pleased to learn that, through the kind efforts of Sir Roderick, his brother Charles has been appointed Consul at Fernando Po.  He sees the American Minister, who promises to do all he can for Robert, but almost immediately after, the report comes that poor Robert has died in a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina.  He delivers a lecture at the Mechanics’ Institute at Mansfield, but the very idea of a speech always makes him ill, and in this case it brings on an attack of Haemorrhoids, with which he had not been troubled for long.  He goes to London to a meeting of the Geographical Society, and hears a paper of Burton’s—­a gentleman from whose geographical views he dissents, as he does from his views on subjects more important.  In regard to his book he says very little; four days, he tells us, were spent in writing the description of the Victoria Falls; and on the 15th April, 1865, he summons his daughter Agnes to take his pen and write FINIS at the end of his manuscript.  On leaving Newstead on the 25th, he writes, “Parted with our good friends the Webbs.  And may God Almighty bless and reward them and their family!”

Some time before this, a proposal was made to him by Sir Roderick Murchison which in the end gave a new direction to the remaining part of his life.  It was brought before him in the following letter: 

     “Jan. 5, 1865.

     “MY DEAR LIVINGSTONE:—­As to your future, I am anxious to
     know what your own wish is as respects a renewal of African
     exploration.

“Quite irrespective of missionaries or political affairs, there is at this moment a question of intense geographical interest to be settled:  namely, the watershed, or watersheds, of South Africa.

“How, if you would really like to be the person to finish off your remarkable career by completing such a survey, unshackled by other avocations than those of the geographical explorer, I should be delighted to consult my friends of the Society, and take the best steps to promote such an enterprise.

“For example, you might take your little steamer to the Rovuma, and, getting up by water as far as possible in the rainy season, then try to reach the south end of the Tanganyika.  Thither you might transport a light boat, or build one there, and so get to the end of that sheet of