We
find him both in his published book and still more in his private
Journal repeating his admiration of the country and its glorious
scenery. This revelation of the marvelous beauty of a country hitherto
deemed a sandy desert was one of the most astounding effects of
Livingstone's travels on the public mind. But the more he sees of the
people the more profound does their degradation appear, although the
many instances of remarkable kindness to himself, and occasional cases
of genuine feeling one toward another, convinced him that there was a
something in them not quite barbarised. On one point he was very
clear--the Portuguese settlements among them had not improved them. Not
that he undervalued the influences which the Portuguese had brought to
bear on them; he had a much more favorable opinion of the Jesuit
missions than Protestants have usually allowed themselves to entertain,
and felt both kindly and respectfully toward the padres, who in the
earlier days of these settlements had done, he believed, a useful work.
But the great bane of the Portuguese settlements was slavery.
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