allowed. The connection
of the members of the Zambesi Expedition, with the acts of the Bishop's
Mission, now ceased, for we returned to the ship and prepared for our
journey to Lake Nyassa. We cheerfully, if necessary, will bear all
responsibility up to this point; and if the Bishop afterwards made
mistakes in certain collisions with the slavers, he had the votes of all
his party with him, and those who best knew the peculiar circumstances,
and the loving disposition of this good-hearted man, will blame him
least. In this position, and in these circumstances, we left our friends
at the Mission Station.

As a temporary measure the Bishop decided to place his Mission Station on
a small promontory formed by the windings of the little, clear stream of
Magomero, which was so cold that the limbs were quite benumbed by washing
in it in the July mornings. The site chosen was a pleasant spot to the
eye, and completely surrounded by stately, shady trees. It was expected
to serve for a residence, till the Bishop had acquired an accurate
knowledge of the adjacent country, and of the political relations of the
people, and could select a healthy and commanding situation, as a
permanent centre of Christian civilization. Everything promised fairly.
The weather was delightful, resembling the pleasantest part of an English
summer; provisions poured in very cheap and in great abundance. The
Bishop, with characteristic ardour, commenced learning the language, Mr.
Waller began building, and Mr. Scudamore improvised a sort of infant
school for the children, than which there is no better means for
acquiring an unwritten tongue.

On the 6th of August, 1861, a few days after returning from Magomero,
Drs. Livingstone and Kirk, and Charles Livingstone started for Nyassa
with a light four-oared gig, a white sailor, and a score of attendants.
We hired people along the path to carry the boat past the forty miles of
the Murchison Cataracts for a cubit of cotton cloth a day. This being
deemed great wages, more than twice the men required eagerly offered
their services. The chief difficulty was in limiting their numbers.
Crowds followed us; and, had we not taken down in the morning the names
of the porters engaged, in the evening claims would have been made by
those who only helped during the last ten minutes of the journey. The
men of one village carried the boat to the next, and all we had to do was
to tell the headman that we wanted fresh