Invariably as he goes along, Dr. Livingstone aims at two things: at teaching some of the great truths of Christianity, and rousing consciences on the atrocious guilt of the slave-trade. In connection with the former he discovers that his usual way of conducting divine service--by the reading of prayers--does not give ignorant persons any idea of an unseen Being; kneeling and praying with the eyes shut is better. At the foot of the lake he goes out of his way to remonstrate with Mukaté, one of the chief marauders of the district. The tenor of his addresses is in some degree shaped by the practices he finds so prevalent:
"We mention our relationship to our Father, the guilt of selling any of his children, the consequences:--_e.g._ it begets war, for as they don't like to sell their own, they steal from other villagers, who retaliate. Arabs and Waiyau, invited into the country by their selling, foster feuds,--wars and depopulation ensue. We mention the Bible--future state--prayer; advise union, that they would unite as one family to expel enemies, who came first as slave-traders, and ended by leaving the country a wilderness."
It was about this time that Wikatani, one of the two Waiyau boys who had been rescued from slavery, finding, as he believed or said, some brothers and sisters on the western shore of the lake, left Livingstone and remained with them. There had been an impression in some quarters, that, according to his wont, Livingstone had made him his slave; to show the contrary, he gave him his choice of remaining or going, and, when the boy chose to remain, he acquiesced.
Dr. Livingstone had ere now passed over the ground where, if anywhere, he might have hoped to find a station for a commercial and missionary settlement, independent of the Portuguese. In this hope he was rather disappointed. The only spot he refers to is the district west of Mataka's, which, however, was so difficult of access. Nearer the coast a mission might be established, and to this project his mind turned afterward; but it would not command the Nyassa district. On the whole he preferred the Zambesi and Shiré valley, with all their difficulties. But the Rovuma was not hopeless, and indeed, within the last few years, the Universities Mission has occupied the district successfully.
The geographical question of the watershed had now to be grappled with. It is natural to ask whether this question was of sufficient importance to engage his main energies, and justify the incalculable sacrifices undergone by him during the remaining six years of his life. First of all, we must remember, it was not his own scheme--it was pressed on him by Sir Roderick Murchison and the Geographical Society; and it may perhaps be doubted whether, had he foreseen the cost of the enterprise, he would have deemed the object worthy of the price. But ever and anon, he seemed to be close on what he was searching for, and certain to secure it by just a little further effort; while as often, like the cup of Tantalus, it was snatched from his grasp. Moreover, during a life-time of splendid self-discipline, he had been training himself to keep his promises, and to complete his tasks; nor could he in any way see it his duty to break the one or leave the other unfinished. He had undertaken to the Geographical Society to solve that problem, and he would do it if it could be done. Wherever he went he had always some opportunity to make known the father-hood of God and his love in Christ, although the seed he sowed seemed seldom to take root. Then he was gathering fresh information on the state of the country and the habits of the people. He was especially gathering information on the accursed slave-trade.
This question of the watershed, too, had fascinated his mind, for he had a strong impression that the real sources of the Nile were far higher than any previous traveler had supposed--far higher than Lake Victoria Nyanza, and that it would be a service to religion as well as science to discover the fountains of the stream on whose bosom, in the dawn of Hebrew history, Moses had floated in his ark of bulrushes. A strong impression lurked in his mind that if he should only solve that old problem he would acquire such influence that new weight would be given to his pleadings for Africa; just as, at the beginning of his career, he had wished for a commanding style of composition, to be able to rouse the attention of the world to that ill-treated continent.