m Oswell,
written in April last, containing the sad intelligence of Sir Roderick's
departure from among us. Alas! alas! this is the only time in my life I
ever felt inclined to use the word, and it bespeaks a sore heart; the
best friend I ever had,--true, warm, and abiding,--he loved me more than
I deserved; he looks down on me still." This entry indicates
extraordinary depth of emotion. Sir Roderick exercised a kind of spell
on Livingstone. Respect for him was one of the subordinate motives that
induced him to undertake this journey. The hope of giving him
satisfaction was one of the subordinate rewards to which he looked
forward. His death was to Livingstone a kind of scientific widowhood,
and must have deprived him of a great spring to exertion in this last
wandering. On Sir Roderick's part the affection for him was very great.
"Looking back," says his biographer, Professor Geikie, "upon his
scientific career when not far from its close, Murchison found no part
of it which brought more pleasing recollections than the support he had
given to African explorers--Speke, Grant, notably Livingstone. 'I
rejoice,' he said, 'in the steadfast tenacity with which I have upheld
my confidence in the ultimate success of the last-named of these brave
men. In fact, it was the confidence I placed in the undying vigor of my
dear friend Livingstone which has sustained me in the hope that I might
live to enjoy the supreme delight of welcoming him back to his own
country.' But that consummation was not to be. He himself was gathered
to his rest just six days before Stanley brought news and relief to the
forlorn traveler on Lake Tanganyika. And Livingstone, while still in
pursuit of his quest, and within ten months of his death, learned in the
heart of Africa the tidings which he chronicled in his journal[76]."

[Footnote 76: _Life of Sir R. I. Murchison_, vol. ii. pp. 297-8.]

At other times he is ruminating on mission-work:

"10_th July_.--No great difficulty would be encountered in
establishing a Christian mission a hundred miles or so from
the East Coast.... To the natives the chief attention of the
mission should be directed. It would not be desirable or
advisable to refuse explanation to others; but I have avoided
giving offense to intelligent Arabs, who, having pressed me,
asking if I believed in Mohamed, by saying, 'No, I do not; I
am a child of Jesus bin Miriam,' avoiding anything offensi