The only available plan now was to cross the Indian Ocean for Bombay, or possibly Aden, in the “Nyassa” and leave the ship there till he should make a run home, consult with his friends as to the future, and find means for the prosecution of his work.  At Zanzibar a new difficulty arose.  Mr. Rae, the engineer, who had now been with him for many years, and with whom, despite his peculiarities, he got on very well, signified his intention of leaving him.  He had the offer of a good situation, and wished to accept of it.  He was not without compunctions at leaving his friend in the lurch, and told Livingstone that if he had had no offer for the ship he would have gone with him, but as he had declined the offer made to him, he did not feel under obligation to do so.  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.  Had any one told him that he would be forty-five days at sea, and that for twenty-five of these his ship would be becalmed, and even when she had a favorable wind would not sail fast, even he would have looked pale at the thought of what was before him.  The voyage was certainly a memorable one, and has only escaped fame by the still greater wonders performed by Livingstone on land.

On the first day of the voyage, he made considerable way, but Collyer, one of his white men, was prostrated by a bilious attack.  However, one of the black men speedily learned to steer, and took Dr. Livingstone’s place at the wheel.  Hardly was Collyer better when Pennell, another of his men, was seized.  The chief foes of the ship were currents and calms.  Owing to the illness of the men they could not steam, and the sails were almost useless.  Even steam, when they got it up, enabled them only to creep.  On 20th May, Livingstone, after recording but sixteen knots in the last twenty-four hours, says in his Journal:  “This very unusual weather has a very depressing influence on my mind.  I often feel as if I am to die on this voyage, and wish I had sent the accounts