Linyanti were such as nothing but the noblest Christian principle would
have induced them to encounter, or enabled them to surmount. The chief
of these was the great scarcity of water. One of their trials is thus
described:--

"From the Zouga we travelled on pretty comfortably, till near the end of
November, when we suffered much from want of water.... For more than a
week every drop we used had to be walked for about thirty-five miles.
Mrs. Helmore's feelings may be imagined, when one afternoon, the
thermometer standing at 107 deg. in the shade, she was saving just _one
spoonful of water_ for each of the dear children for the next morning,
not thinking of taking a drop herself. Mr. Helmore, with the men, was
then away searching for water; and when he returned the next morning
with the precious fluid, we found that he had walked _full forty
miles_."

At length, after enduring innumerable difficulties and privations for
seven months, they arrived at Linyanti, the residence of the chief
Sekeletu. He refused to allow them to remove to a more healthy spot, but
proposed that they should live with him in the midst of his
fever-generating marshes, and as no better plan offered, they were
compelled to accept it. In the course of a week all were laid low with
fever. Little Henry Helmore and his sister, with the infant babe of Mr.
Price, were the first to die; then followed the heart-stricken mother,
Mrs. Helmore; six weeks later Mr. Helmore breathed his last; and the
missionary band was reduced to Mr. and Mrs. Price and the helpless
orphans. As the only means of saving their lives the survivors prepared
to depart, but now the chief threw obstacles in the way of their doing
so. Their goods were stolen, their waggon taken possession of; and upon
Mr. Price telling the chief that "if they did not let him go soon they