Narrative of an expedition to the Zambesi and its tributaries : and of the discovery of the lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864,

London : John Murray, 1865

Livingstone wrote this book following his 1858 expedition up the Zambezi River in East Africa. Employed by the British Foreign Office to “introduce commerce, civilization, and Christianity” to the people of the region, Livingstone first aimed to investigate the river and its tributaries as highways for commerce, a notion reflecting Britain’s aggressive interest in colonial expansion. This illustration resembles nineteenth-century picturesque architectural drawings, which typically convey the grand scale of buildings, ruins, or their surrounding landscapes through perspective and the inclusion of diminutive figures. Livingstone wrote that, in their tall stature, the pandanus trees “remind us of the steeples of our native land,” thus comparing the African landscape to the aesthetics of Gothic church architecture.