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.
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