re the descendants
of the Puritans, and I suppose the pedigree is through
Rowland Hill and Whitefield. But I was a member of the very
church in which John Howe, the chaplain of Oliver Cromwell,
preached, and exercised the pastorate. I was ordained, too,
by English Independents. Moreover, I am a Doctor too. Agnes
and Janet, get up this moment and curtsy to his Reverence!
John and Charles, remember the dream of the sheaves! _I_
descended from kilts and Donald Dhus? Na, na, I won't
believe it.

"We have a difficult, difficult field to cultivate here. All
I can say is, that I think knowledge is increasing. But for
the belief that the Holy Spirit works, and will work for us,
I should give up in despair. Remember us in your prayers,
that we grow not weary in well-doing. It is hard to work for
years with pure motives, and all the time be looked on by
most of those to whom our lives are devoted, as having some
sinister object in view. Disinterested labor--benevolence--is
so out of their line of thought, that many look upon us as
having some ulterior object in view. But He who died for us,
and whom we ought to copy, did more for us than we can do for
any one else. He endured the contradiction of sinners. May we
have grace to follow in his steps!'

The third, and at last successful, effort to reach Sebituane was made in
April, 1851. Livingstone was again accompanied by his family, and by Mr.
Oswell. He left Kolobeng with the intention not to return, at least not
immediately, but to settle with his family in such a spot as might be
found advantageous, in the hilly region, of whose existence he was
assured. They found the desert drier than ever, no rain having fallen
throughout an immense extent of territory. To the kindness of Mr. Oswell
the party was indebted for most valuable assistance in procuring water,
wells having been dug or cleared by his people beforehand at various
places, and at one place at the hazard of Mr. Oswell's life, under an
attack from an infuriated lioness. In his private Journal, and in his
letters to home, Livingstone again and again acknowledges with deepest
gratitude the numberless acts of kindness done by Mr. Oswell to him and
his family, and often adds the prayer that God would reward him, and of
His grace give him the highest of all blessings. "Though I cannot repay,
I may record with gratit