A third trip up the Shiré was made in August, and on the 16th of September Lake Nyassa was discovered. Livingstone had no doubt that he and his party were the discoverers; Dr. Roscher, on whose behalf a claim was subsequently made, was two months later, and his unfortunate murder by the natives made it doubtful at what point he reached the lake. The discovery of Lake Nyassa, as well as Lake Shirwa, was of immense importance, because they were both parallel to the ocean, and the whole traffic of the regions beyond must pass by this line. The configuration of the Shiré Valley, too, was favorable to colonization. The valley occupied three different levels. First there was a plain on the level of the river, like that of the Nile, close and hot. Rising above this to the east there was another plain, 2000 feet high, three or four miles broad, salubrious and pleasant. Lastly, there was a third plain 3000 feet above the second, positively cold. To find such varieties of climate within a few miles of each other was most interesting.
In other respects the region opened up was remarkable. There was a great amount of fertile land, and the products were almost endless. The people were industrious; in the Upper Shiré, notwithstanding a great love of beer, they lived usually to a great age. Cleanliness was not a universal virtue; the only way in which the Expedition could get rid of a troublesome follower was by threatening to wash him. The most disagreeable thing in the appearance of the women was their lip-ornament, consisting of a ring of ivory or tin, either hollow or made into a cup, inserted in the upper lip. Dr. Livingstone used to give full particulars of this fearful practice, having the idea that the taste of ladies at home in dress and ornament was not free from similar absurdity; or, as he wrote at this time to the Royal Geographical Society of Vienna, in acknowledging the honor of being made a corresponding member, "because our own ladies, who show so much virtuous perseverance with their waists, may wish to try lip-ornament too." In regard to the other sex, he informed the same Society: "I could see nothing encouraging for the gentlemen who are anxious to prove that we are all descended from a race that wore tails."
In the highland regions of the Shiré Valley, the party were distinctly conscious of an increase of energy, from the more bracing climate. Dr. Livingstone was thoroughly convinced that these highlands of the Shiré Valley were the proper locality for commercial and missionary stations. Thus one great object of the Expedition was accomplished. In another point of view, this locality would be highly serviceable for stations. It was the great pathway for conveying slaves from the north and northwest to Zanzibar. Of this he had only too clear evidence in the gangs of slaves whom he saw marched along from time to time, and whom he would have been most eager to release had he known of any way of preventing them from falling again into the hands of the slave-sellers. In this region Englishmen "might enjoy good health, and also be of signal benefit, by leading the multitude of industrious inhabitants to cultivate cotton, maize, sugar, and other valuable produce, to exchange for goods of European manufacture, at the same time teaching them, by precept and example, the great truths of our holy religion." Water-carriage existed all the way from England, with the exception of the Murchison Cataracts, along which a road of forty miles might easily be made. A small steamer on the lake would do more good in suppressing the slave-trade than half-a-dozen men-of-war in the ocean. If the Zambesi could be opened to commerce the bright vision of the last ten years would be realized, and the Shiré Valley and banks of the Nyassa transformed into the garden of the Lord.
From the very first Livingstone saw the importance of the Shiré Valley and Lake Nyassa as the key to Central Africa. Ever since, it has become more and more evident that his surmise was correct. To make the occupation thoroughly effective, he thought much of the desirableness of a British colony, and was prepared to expend a great part of the remainder of his private means to carry it into effect. On August 4th, he says in his Journal:
"I have a very strong desire to commence a system of colonization of the honest poor; I would give £2000 or £3000 for the purpose. Intend to write my friend Young about it, and authorize him to draw if the project seems feasible. The Lord remember my desire, sanctify my motives, and purify all my desires. Wrote him.
"Colonization from a country such as ours ought to be one of hope, and not of despair. It ought not to be looked upon as the last and worst shift that a family can come to, but the performance of an imperative duty to our blood, our country, our religion, and to humankind. As soon as children begin to be felt an incumbrance, and what was properly in ancient times Old Testament blessings are no longer welcomed, parents ought to provide for removal to parts of this wide world where every accession is an addition of strength, and every member of the household feels in his inmost heart, 'the more the merrier.' It is a monstrous evil that all our healthy, handy, blooming daughters of England have not a fair chance at least to become the centres of domestic affections. The state of society, which precludes so many of them from occupying the position which Englishwomen are so well calculated to adorn, gives rise to enormous evils in the opposite sex,--evils and wrongs which we dare not even name,--and national colonization is almost the only remedy. Englishwomen are, in general, the most beautiful in the world, and yet our national emigration has often, by selecting the female emigrants from workhouses, sent forth the ugliest huzzies in creation to be the mothers--the model mothers--of new empires. Here, as in other cases, State necessities have led to the ill-formed and ill-informed being preferred to the well-formed and well-inclined honest poor, as if the worst as well as better qualities of mankind did not often run in the blood."
The idea of the colony quite fascinated Livingstone, and we find him writing on it fully to three of his most confidential business friends--Mr. Maclear, Mr. Young, and Sir Roderick Murchison. In all Livingstone's correspondence we find the tone of his letters modified by the character of his correspondents. While to Mr. Young and Sir Roderick he is somewhat cautious on the subject of the colony, knowing the keen practical eye they would direct on the proposal, to Mr. Maclear he is more gushing. He writes to him:
"I feel such a gush of emotion on thinking of the great work before us that I must unburden my mind. I am becoming every day more decidedly convinced that English colonization is an essential ingredient for our large success.... In this new region of Highlands no end of good could be effected in developing the trade in cotton and in discouraging that in slaves.... You know how I have been led on from one step to another by the overruling Providence of the great Parent, as I believe, in order to a great good for Africa. 'Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass.' I have tried to do this, and now see the prospect in front spreading out grandly.... But how is the land so promising to be occupied?... How many of our home poor are fighting hard to keep body and soul together! My heart yearns over our own poor when I see so much of God's fair earth unoccupied. Here it is really so; for the people have only a few sheep and goats, and no cattle. I wonder why we cannot have the old monastery system without the celibacy. In no other part where I have been does the prospect of self-support seem so inviting, and promising so much influence. Most of what is done for the poor has especial reference to the blackguard poor."
In his letter to Mr. Young he expressed his conviction that a great desideratum in mission agency was missionary emigration by honest Christian poor to give living examples of Christian life that would insure permanency to the gospel once planted. He had always had a warm side to the English and Scottish poor--his own order, indeed. If twenty or thirty families would come out as an experiment, he was ready to give £2000 without saying from whom. He bids Mr. Young speak about the plan to Thorn of Chorley, Turner of Manchester, Lord Shaftesbury, and the Duke of Argyll. "Now, my friend," he adds, "do your best, and God's blessing be with you. Much is done for the blackguard poor. Let us remember our own class, and do good while we have opportunity. I hereby authorize you to act in my behalf, and do whatever is to be done without hesitancy."
These letters, and their references to the honest poor, are characteristic. We have seen that among Dr. Livingstone's forefathers and connections were some very noble specimens of the honest poor. It touched him to think that, with all their worth, their life had been one protracted struggle. His sympathies were cordially with the class. He desired with all his heart to see them with a little less of the burden and more of the comfort of life. And he believed very thoroughly that, as Christian settlers in a heathen country, they might do more to promote Christianity among the natives than solitary missionaries could accomplish.
His parents and sisters were not forgotten. His letters to home are again somewhat in the apologetic vein. He feels that some explanation must be given of his own work, and some vindication of his coadjutors: