The journey was difficult, and on the northern branch of the Zouga many trees had to be cut down to allow the wagons to pass. The presence of a formidable enemy was reported on the banks of the Tamanak'le,--the tsetse-fly, whose bite is so fatal to oxen. To avoid it, another route had to be chosen. When they got near the lake, it was found that fever had recently attacked a party of Englishmen, one of whom had died, while the rest recovered under the care of Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone. Livingstone took his family to have a peep at the lake; "the children," he wrote, "took to playing in it as ducklings do. Paidling in it was great fun." Great fun to them, who had seen little enough water for a while; and in a quiet way, great fun to their father too,--his own children "paidling" in his own lake! He was beginning to find that in a missionary point of view, the presence of his wife and children was a considerable advantage; it inspired the natives with confidence, and promoted tender feelings and kind relations. The chief, Lechulatebe, was at last propitiated at a considerable sacrifice, having taken a fancy to a valuable rifle of Livingstone's, the gift of a friend, which could not be replaced. The chief vowed that if he got it he would give Livingstone everything he wished, and protect and feed his wife and children into the bargain, while he went on to Sebituane. Livingstone at once handed him the gun. "It is of great consequence," he said, "to gain the confidence of these fellows at the beginning." It was his intention that Mrs. Livingstone and the children should remain at Lechulatebe's until he should have returned. But the scheme was upset by an outburst of fever. Among others, two of the children were attacked. There was no help but to go home. The gun was left behind in the hope that ere long Livingstone would get back to claim the fulfillment of the chiefs promise. It was plain that the neighborhood of the lake was not habitable by Europeans. Hence a fresh confirmation of his views as to the need of native agency, if intertropical Africa was ever to be Christianized.
But Livingstone was convinced that there must be a healthier spot to the north. Writing to Mr. Watt (18th August, 1850), he not only expresses this conviction, but gives the ground on which it rested. The extract which we subjoin gives a glimpse of the sagacity that from apparently little things drew great conclusions; but more than that, it indicates the birth of the great idea that dominated the next period of Livingstone's life--the desire and determination to find a passage to the sea, either on the east or the west coast:
"A more salubrious climate must exist farther up to the north, and that the country is higher, seems evident from the fact mentioned by the Bakoba, that the water of the Teoge, the river that falls into the 'Ngami at the northwest point of it, flows with great rapidity. Canoes ascending, punt all the way, and the men must hold on by reeds in order to prevent their being carried down by the current. Large trees, spring-bucks and other antelopes are sometimes brought down by it. Do you wonder at my pressing on in the way we have done? The Bechuana mission has been carried on in a _cul-de-sac._ I tried to break through by going among the Eastern tribes, but the Boers shut up that field. A French missionary, Mr. Fredoux, of Motito, tried to follow on my trail to the Bamangwato, but was turned back by a party of armed Boers. When we burst through the barrier on the north, it appeared very plain that no mission could be successful there, unless we could get a well-watered country leaving a passage to the sea on either the east or west coast. This project I am almost afraid to meet, but nothing else will do. I intend (D.V.) to go in next year and remain a twelvemonth. My wife, poor soul--I pity her!--proposed to let me go for that time while she remained at Kolobeng. You will pray for us both during that period."