It enabled him to enter more readily into the relation of the African
tribes to their chiefs, which, unlike some other missionaries, he sought
to conserve, while purifying it by Christian influence. It showed itself
in the dash and daring which were so remarkbly combined in him with
Saxon forethought and perseverance. We are not sure but it gave a tinge
to his affections, intensifying his likes, and some of his dislikes too.
His attachment to Sir Roderick Murchison was quite that of a Highlander,
and hardly less so was his feeling toward the Duke of Argyll,--a man
whom he had no doubt many grounds for esteeming highly, but of whom,
after visiting him at Inveraray, he spoke with all the enthusiasm of a
Highlander for his chief.

The Ulva emigrant had several sons, all of whom but one eventually
entered the King's service during the French war, either as soldiers or
sailors. The old man was somewhat disheartened by this circumstance, and
especially by the fate of Charles, head-clerk in the office of Mr. Henry
Monteith, in Glasgow, who was pressed on board a man-of-war, and died
soon after in the Mediterranean. Only one son remained at home, Neil,
the father of David, who eventually became a tea-dealer, and spent his
life at Blantyre and Hamilton. David Livingstone has told us that his
father was of the high type of character portrayed in the _Cottar's
Saturday Night_. There are friends still alive who remember him well,
and on whom he made a deep impression. He was a great reader from his
youth upward, especially of religious works. His reading and his
religion refined his character, and made him a most pleasant and
instructive companion. His conversational powers were remarkable, and he
could pour out in a most interesting way the stores of his reading and
observation.

Neil Livingstone was a man of great spiritual earnestness, and his whole