Shortly before (5th February, 1850), when
writing to his father with reference to a proposal of his brother
Charles that he should go and settle in America, he had said: "I am a
missionary, heart and soul. God had an only Son, and He was a missionary
and a physician. A poor, poor imitation of Him I am, or wish to be. In
this service I hope to live, in it I wish to die." The spectre of the
slave-trade had enlarged his horizon, and shown him the necessity of a
commercial revolution for the whole of Africa, before effectual and
permanent good could be done in any part of it. The plan which he had
now in view multiplied the risks he ran, and compelled him to think anew
whether he was ready to sacrifice himself, and if so, for what. All
that Livingstone did was thus done with open eyes and well-considered
resolution. Adverting to the prevalence of fever in some parts of the
country, while other parts were comparatively healthy, he says in his
Journal: "I offer myself as a forlorn hope in order to ascertain whether
there is a place fit to be a sanatorium for more unhealthy spots.
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