47. David Livingston [Livingstone], Kolobeng, to Rev J. J. Freeman, Kuruman or elsewhere

Scope and Content

Entreats Rev Freeman to reconsider visiting further north than Kuruman [as part of his Deputation]; journey to Lake Ngami has taken longer than expected and he has been absent from Kolobeng for eight months this year; Mrs Livingstone and the children have been alone at Kolobeng for two months; oxen unfit and unable to travel further; refers to Freeman's speech delivered in Cape Town re the failure of the Niger Expedition [1841] in finding a route to the Interior of Africa [to develop 'natural resources and legitimate trade' as a means of displacing the traffic in slaves] and Livingstone's conviction that "This discovery belongs to Missionaries"; asks Freeman to come and give his advice on the work being done; the alternative is that the north "be left to traders & Boers?"

Administrative / Biographical History

Joseph John Freeman (1794-1851), LMS missionary and Foreign Secretary, appointed as a Deputation to visit the Society's stations in South Africa in 1848, arrived at Cape Town in February 1849 and completed his work by July 1850.

Access Information

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Archivist's Note

Catalogued

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