Book Description

David Livingstone (1813-1873) was a Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa. Missionary Travels in South Africa is his account of his second expedition, in 1853. His purpose was to abolish the slave trade by opening the continent to Christian commerce and missionaries. Livingstone walked over 4,000 miles, from Cape Town, South Africa through the Kalahari Desert and west to the coastal town of Loanda. He then turned east, followed the Zambesi River, and ended his travels in Mozambique. He reached the east coast at Quelimane, in Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique), in 1856. Livingstone was a keen observer with wide-ranging interests. He was fascinated, for instance, upon seeing his first ostrich: "When the ostrich is feeding his pace is from twenty to twenty-two inches; when walking, but not feeding,