se. "Pedestrianism," said
Livingstone, "may be all very well for those whose obesity requires much
exercise; but for one who was becoming as thin as a lath through the
constant perspiration caused by marching day after day in the hot sun,
the only good I saw in it was that it gave an honest sort of a man a
vivid idea of the tread-mill."

When Livingstone came to England, and was writing books, his tendency
was rather to get stout than thin; and the disgust with which he spoke
then of the "beastly fat" seemed to show that if for nothing else than
to get rid of it he would have been glad to be on the tread-mill again.
In one of his letters to Mr. Maclear he thus speaks of a part of this
journey: "It was not likely that I should know our course well, for the
country there is covered with shingle and gravel, bushes, trees, and
grass, and we were without path. Skulking out of the way of villages
where we were expected to pay after the purse was empty, it was
excessively hot and steamy; the eyes had to be always fixed on the
ground to avoid being tripped."

In the course of this journey he had even more exciting escapades among
hostile tribes than those which he had encountered on the way to Loanda.
His serious anxieties began when he passed beyond the tribes that owned
the sovereignty of Sekeletu. At the union of the rivers Loangwa and
Zambesi, the suspicious feeling regarding him reached a climax, and he
could only avoid the threatened doom of the Bazimka (_i.e._ Bastard
Portuguese) who had formerly incurred the wrath of the chief, by showing
his bosom, arms, and hair, and asking if the Bazimka were like that.
Livingstone felt that there was danger in the air. In fact, he never
seemed in more imminent peril:

_14th January_, 1856.--At the confluence of the Loangwa and
Zambesi. Thank God for his great mercies thus far. How soon I
may be called to stand before Him, my righteous Judge, I know
not. All hearts are in his hands, and merciful and gracious
is the Lord our God. O Jesus, grant me resignation to Thy
will, and entire reliance on Thy powerful hand. On Thy Word
alone I lean. But wilt Thou permit me to plead for Africa?
The cause is Thine. What an impulse will be given to the idea
that Africa is not open if I perish now! See, O Lord, how the
heathen rise up against me, as they did to Thy Son. I commit
my way unto Thee. I trust also in Thee that Thou wilt direct