“The men sent by Dr. Kirk are Mohammedans, that is, unmitigated liars.  Musa and his companions are fair specimens of the lower class of Moslems.  The two head-men remained at Ujiji, to feast on my goods, and get pay without work.  Seven came to Bambarre, and in true Moslem style swore that they were sent by Dr. Kirk to bring me back, not to go with me, if the country were bad or dangerous.  Forward they would not go.  I read Dr. Kirk’s words to them to follow wheresoever I led.  ’No, by the old liar Mohamed, they were to force me back to Zanzibar.’  After a superabundance of falsehood, it turned out that it all meant only an advance of pay, though they had double the Zanzibar wages.  I gave it, but had to threaten on the word of an Englishman to shoot the ringleaders before I got them to go.  They all speak of English as men who do not lie....  I have traveled more than most people, and with all sorts of followers.  The Christians of Kuruman and Kolobeng were out of sight the best I ever had.  The Makololo, who were very partially Christianized, were next best—­honest, truthful, and brave.  Heathen Africans are much superior to the Mohammedans, who are the most worthless one can have.”

Toward the end of 1870, before the date of this letter, he had so far recovered that, though feeling the want of medicine as much as of men, he thought of setting out, in order to reach and explore the Lualaba, having made a bargain with Mohamad, for L270, to bring him to his destination.  But now he heard that Syde bin Habib, Dugumbe, and others were on the way from Ujiji, perhaps bringing letters and medicines for him.  He cannot move till they arrive; another weary time.  “Sorely am I perplexed, and grieve and mourn.”

The New Year 1871 passes while he is at Bambarre, with its prayer that he might be permitted to finish his task.  At last, on 4th February, ten of the men despatched to him from the coast arrive, but only to bring a fresh disappointment.  They were slaves, the property of Banians, who were British subjects! and they brought only one letter!  Forty had been lost.  There had been cholera at Zanzibar, and many of the porters sent by Dr. Kirk had died of it.  The ten men came with a lie in their mouth; they would not help him, swearing that the Consul told them not to go forward, but to force Livingstone back.  On the 10th they mutinied, and had to receive an advance of pay.  It was apparent that they had been instructed by their Banian masters to baffle him in every way, so that their slave-trading should not be injured by his disclosures.  Their two head-men, Shereef and Awathe, had refused to come farther than Ujiji, and were reveling in his goods there.  Dr. Livingstone never ceased to lament and deplore that the men who had been sent to him were so utterly unsuitable.  One of them actually formed a plot for his destruction, which was only frustrated through his being overheard by one whom Livingstone could trust.  Livingstone wrote to his friends that owing to the inefficiency of the men, he lost two years of time, about a thousand pounds in money, had some 2000 miles of useless traveling, and was four several times subjected to the risk of a violent death.