Having taken much
interest in the purchase of the vessel, and thought he was getting a
great bargain because its owner professed to do so much through "love of
the cause," Livingstone was greatly mortified when he found he had got
an inferior and unworthy article; and many a joke he made, as well as
remarks of a more serious kind, in connection with the manner which the
"eminent shipbuilder" had taken to show his love.
Early in 1859 the exploration of the Shire was begun--a river hitherto
absolutely unknown. The country around was rich and fertile, the natives
not unfriendly, but suspicious. They had probably never been visited
before but by man-stealers, and had never seen Europeans. The Shire
Valley was inhabited by the Manganja, a very warlike race. Some days'
journey above the junction with the Zambesi, where the Shire issues from
the mountains, the progress of the party was stopped by rapids, to which
they gave the name of the "Murchison Cataracts." It seemed in vain to
penetrate among the people at that time without supplies, considering
how suspicious they were.
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