His constant regard for the day of rest and great
unwillingness to engage in labor then, is the best proof that on this
occasion the necessity for working was to his mind absolutely
irresistible. He had found that active exercise every day was one of the
best preventives of fever; certainly it is very remarkable how
thoroughly the men of the Expedition escaped it at this time. In his
Journal he says: "After the experience gained by Dr. M'William, and
communicated to the world in his admirable _Medical History of the Niger
Expedition_, I should have considered myself personally guilty had any
of the crew of the 'Pearl' or of the Expedition been cut off through
delay in the mangrove swamps." Afterward, when Mrs. Livingstone died
during a long but unavoidable delay at Shupanga, a little farther up, he
was more than ever convinced that he had acted rightly. But some of his
friends were troubled, and many reflections were thrown on him,
especially by those who bore him no good-will.
The first important fact in the history of the Expedition was the
discovery of the advantage of the Kongone entrance of the Zambesi, the
best of all the mouths of the river for navigation.
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