Livingstone was too generous to press him to remain. It was impossible
to supply Mr. Rae's place, and if anything should go wrong with the
engines, what was to be done? The entire crew of the vessel consisted of
four Europeans; namely, Dr. Livingstone--"skipper," one stoker, one
carpenter, and one sailor; seven native Zambesians, who, till they
volunteered, had never seen the sea, and two boys, one of whom was
Chuma, afterward his attendant on the last journey. With this somewhat
sorry complement, and fourteen tons of coal, Dr. Livingstone set out on
30th April, on a voyage of 2500 miles, over an ocean which he had
never crossed.
It was a very perilous enterprise, for he was informed that the breaking
of the monsoon occurred at the end of May or the beginning of June.
This, as he came to think, was too early; but in any case, he would come
very near the dangerous time. As he wrote to one of his friends, he felt
jammed into a corner, and what could he do? He believed from the best
information he could get that he would reach Bombay in eighteen days.
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