But at this earlier stage, he had been conscientiously scrutinizing all that had any bearing on that question; and now that he finds himself close to his home, and can thank God for the safe confinement of his wife, and the health of the new-born child, he gathers together all the providences that showed that in this journey, which excited such horror even among his best friends, he had after all been following the guidance of his Father.  First, in the matter of guides, he had been wonderfully helped, notwithstanding a deep plot to deprive him of any.  Then there was the sickness of Sekomi, whose interest had been secured through his going to see him, and prescribing for him; this had propitiated one of the tribes.  The services of Shobo, too, and the selection of the northern route, proposed by Kamati, had been of great use.  Their going to Sesheke, and their detention for two months, thus allowing them time to collect information respecting the whole country; the river Chobe not rising at its usual time; the saving of Livingstone’s oxen from the tsetse, notwithstanding their detention on the Zouga; his not going with Mr. Oswell to a place where the tsetse destroyed many of the oxen; the better health of Mrs. Livingstone during her confinement than in any previous one; a very opportune present they had got, just before her confinement, of two bottles of wine[33]; the approbation of the Directors, the presentation of a gold watch by Captain Steele, the kind attentions of Mr. Oswell, and the cookery of one of their native servants named George; the recovery of Thomas, whereas at Kuruman a child had been cut off; the commencement of the rains, just as they were leaving the river, and the request of Mr. Oswell that they should draw upon him for as much money as they should need, were all among the indications that a faithful and protecting Father in heaven had been ordering their path, and would order it in like manner in all time to come.

[Footnote 33:  In writing to his father, Livingstone mentions that the wine was a gift from Mrs. Bysshe Shelley, in acknowledgment of his aid in repairing a wheel of her wagon.]

Writing at this time to his father-in-law, Mr. Moffat, he said, after announcing the birth of Oswell:  “What you say about difference of opinion is true.  In my past life, I have always managed to think for myself, and act accordingly.  I have occasionally met with people who took it on themselves to act for me, and they have offered their thoughts with an emphatic ‘I think’; but I have excused them on the score of being a little soft-headed in believing they could think both for me and themselves.”

While Kolobeng was Livingstone’s headquarters, a new trouble rose upon the mission horizon.  The Makololo (as Sebituane’s people were called) began to practice the slave-trade.  It arose simply from their desire to possess guns.  For eight old muskets they had given to a neighboring tribe eight boys, that had been taken from their enemies in war, being the only article for which the guns could be got.  Soon after, in a fray against another tribe, two hundred captives were taken, and, on returning, the Makololo met some Arab traders from Zanzibar, who for three muskets received about thirty of their captives.