thoughts were given up to the care of her children and the anxieties consequent upon narrow means, was the constant instructor of her children in religious matters. Her dis tinguished son tells us that his earliest recollection of her recalls a picture so often seen among the Scottish poor"that of the anxious housewife striving to make both ends meet." Her loving and kindly nature acted as a valuable counterpoise to the strict and austere rule of the father, and kept alive in the hearts of her children a love and respect for all things sacred, which an enforced study of dry theological books might have endangered or destroyed.

The little education which the "piecer" boy of ten had received had aroused within him the desire for more, and the genuineness of this desire was proved by the purchase of a copy of "Ruddiman's Rudiments of Latin" with a portion of his first week's earnings. For many years he pursued the study of Latin with enthusiastic ardour, receiving much assistance in this and other studies at an evening school, the teacher of which was partly supported by the intelligent members of the firm at Blantyre Works, for the benefit of the people in their employment. Livingstone's work hours were from 6 A. M. to 8 P.M.; school hours from eight to ten, and private reading and study occupied from ten to twelve; and at the latter hour it was often necessary for his mother to take possession of his books and send the youthful student to bed. Eighteen hours out of the twenty-four were given up to toil and self-improvement, a remarkable instance truly of determined effort on the part of a mere boy to acquire knowledge which his hard lot would almost have seemed to have placed beyond his reach.

Even when at work the book he was reading was fixed upon the spinning-jenny, so that he could catch sentence after sentence as he passed in his work. At sixteen years of age he tells us that he knew Horace and Virgil better than he did in 1857. Notwithstanding the limited leisure

at his disposal, he made himself thoroughly acquainted with the scenery, botany, and geology of his district. In these excursions he was frequently accompanied by his elder and younger brothers, John and Charles; but he was much alone, and while his temper was far from being moody or morose, he was fond of rambling about, his only companion. being a book of travels or a scientific treatise. His thirst for knowledge was stronger than his desire for boyish pastimes.

At nineteen years of age Livingstone was promoted to the laborious duties of a cotton spinner, and while the heavy toil pressed hard upon the young and growing lad, he was cheered by the reflection that the high wages he now earned would enable him, from his summer's labour, to support himself in Glasgow during the winter months while attending medical and other classes at the University; to attend which he walked to and from his father's house daily, a distance of nine miles. He never received a particle of aid from any one, nor did the resolute youth seek or expect such, well knowing that his difficulties and trials were no greater than those of dozens of his fellows who sat on the same benches with him in the class-rooms. The religious awakening which we have already alluded to, which occurred when he was about sixteen years of age, inspired him with a fervent ambition to be a pioneer of Christianity in China, and his practical instincts taught him that a knowledge of medicine would be of great service in securing him the confidence of the people he was so desirous of benefiting, besides ensuring his appointment as a medical missionary in connection with a society of that name recently formed in his native land.

At the conclusion of his medical curriculum he had to present a thesis to the examining body of the University, on which his claim to be admitted a member of the faculty of physicians and surgeons would be judged. The subject.

was one which in ordinary practice required the use of the stethoscope for its diagnosis, and it was characteristic of the independence and originality of the man, that an awkward difference arose between him and the examiners as to whether the instrument could do what was claimed for it. This unfortunate boldness procured him a more than ordinarily severe examination, through which he passed triumphantly. Alluding to this in after years. he drily remarked that "the wiser plan would have been to have had no opinions of my own. Looking back over the years of toil and hardship which had led up to this important stage in his career, and looking forward to the possibilities of the future, he might well say that "it was with unfeigned delight I became a member of a profession which is preeminently devoted to practical benevolence, and which with unwearied energy pursues from age to age its endeavours to lessen human woe."

Writing in 1857, he tells us that on reviewing his life of toil before his missionary career began, he could feel thankful that it was of such a nature as to prove a hardy training for the great enterprises he was destined afterwards to engage in; and he always spoke with warm and affectionate respect of the sterling character of the bulk of the humble villagers among whom he spent his early years.

The outbreak of the opium war with China compelled him reluctantly to abandon his cherished intention of proceeding to that country, but he was happily led to turn his thoughts to South Africa, where the successful labours of Mr. (now Dr.) Robert Moffat were attracting the attention of the Christian public in this country. In September 1838, he was summoned to London to undergo an examination by the directors of "The London Missionary Society," after which he was sent on probation to a missionary training establishment conducted by the Rev. Mr. Cecil, at Chipping Ongar, in Essex. There he remained until the

early part of 1840, applying himself with his wonted diligence to his studies, and testifying his disregard for hard labour by taking more than his full share of the work of the establishment: such as grinding the corn to make the household bread, chopping wood, gardening operations, etc., etc.; part of the training at Chipping Ongar being a wise endeavour to make the future missionaries able to shift for themselves in the uncivilised regions in which they might be called upon to settle.

At Chipping Ongar he indulged his habit of making long excursions in the country round; and on one occasion he walked to and from London, a distance of fifty miles, in one day, arriving late at night completely exhausted, as he had hardly partaken of any food during the entire journey. From his earliest years, up to his attaining manhood, his training, both mental and physical, had been of the best. possible kind to fit him for the great career which lay before him, which may be said to have had its commencement when he landed at Cape Town in 1840.

CHAPTER II.

SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE-THE BUSHMEN, THE HOTTENTOTS, THE KAFFRES, AND THE BECHUANA TRIBES, AND THEIR HABITS, ETC.

HE tract of country now known to us as Cape Colony was originally occupied by the Dutch about the middle of the 17th century. A

large proportion of the original settlers were of German origin, but a considerable number were of French, many French families having settled there between the years 1680 and 1690, driven thither by the persecution to which Protestants were at that time subjected in France. The French and German settlers enslaved the native Hottentots, Kaffres, and Bushmen, and compelled them to labour for them on their farms; and down to a very recent period this enforced servitude of the native tribes was the occasion of constant warfare and murder. In 1796 the Cape settlement was taken by the English, but on peace being concluded between the two nations, it was restored to the Dutch in 1803. War breaking out shortly after, the Colony was again taken possession of by England, and has continued to be a dependency of this country ever since. From that time many people from England have settled in the country, both in the towns and throughout the country districts. Cape Colony, from east to west, measures nearly six hundred miles, and from north to south four hundred and fifty miles. The Colony of Natal is one hundred and seventy-five miles in length by about a hundred and twenty in breadth. The population of Cape Colony, including British Kaffraria and