followed, we felt sorry for wliat had happened. I t was the
first time we had ever been attacked by the natives or come
into collision with them; though we had always taken it for
granted that we might he called upon to act in self-defence,
we were on this occasion less prepared than usual, no game
having been expected here. The men had only a single round
of cartridge each; their leader had no revolver, and the
rifle he usually fired with was left at the ship to save it
from the damp of the season. Had we known better the
effect of slavery and murder, on the temper of these bloodthirsty
marauders, we should have tried messages and presents
before going near them.
The old chief, Chinsunse, came on a visit to us next day,
and pressed the Bishop to come and live with him. “ Chi-
gunda,” he said, “ is hut a child, and the Bishop ought to live
with the father rather than with the child.” But the old man’s
object was so evidently to have the Mission as a shield against
the Ajawa, that his invitation was declined. "While begging
us to drive away the marauders, that he might live in peace,
he adopted the stratagem of causing a number of his men
to rush into the village, in breathless haste, with the news
that the Ajawa were close upon .us. And having been reminded
that we never fought, unless attacked, as we were the
day before, and. that we had come among them for the purpose
of promoting peace, and of teaching them to worship the Supreme,
to give up selling His children, and to cultivate other
objects for barter than each other, he replied, in a huff, “ Then
I am dead already.”
The Bishop, feeling, as most Englishmen would, at the
prospect of the people now in his charge being swept off into
slavery by hordes of men-stealers, proposed to go at once to
the rescue of the captive Manganja, and drive the marauding
Ajawa out of the country. All were warmly in favour of this,
save Dr. Livingstone, who opposed it on the ground that it
would he better for the Bishop to wait, and see the effect
of the check the slave-hunters had just experienced. The
Ajawa were evidently goaded on by Portuguese agents from
Tette, and there was no bond of union among the Manganja
on which to work. I t was possible that the Ajawa
might be persuaded to something better, though, from having
long been in the habit of slaving for the Quillimane market,
it was not very probable. But the Manganja could easily be
overcome piecemeal by any enemy; old feuds made them
glad to see calamities befall their next neighbours. We
counselled them to unite against the common enemies of
their country, and added distinctly that w'e English would on
no account enter into their quarrels. On the Bishop inquiring
whether, in the event of the Manganja again asking aid
against the Ajawa, it would be his duty to accede to their
request,—“ Ho,” replied Dr. Livingstone, “ you will be oppressed
by their importunities, but do not interfere in native
quarrels.” This advice the good man honourably mentions
in his journal. We have been rather minute in relating what
occurred during the few days of our connexion with the
Mission of the English Universities, on the hills, because,
the recorded advice having been discarded, blame was thrown
on Dr. Livingstone’s shoulders, as if the Missionaries had no
individual responsibility for their subsequent conduct. This,
unquestionably, good Bishop Mackenzie had too much manliness
to have allowed. The connexion of the members of the
Zambesi Expedition, with the acts of the Bishop’s Mission,
now ceased, for we returned to the ship and prepared for our
journey to Lake Nyassa. We cheerfully, if necessary, will
bear all responsibility up to this point; and if the Bishop
afterwards made mistakes in certain collisions with the
slavers, he had the votes of all his party with him, and