When Livingstone lost, in the unexplored valley of the Zambesi, the faithful wife who had been his inspiring companion in his wanderings in darkest Africa, he lost completely that enthusiasm for deeds of high emprise that before had been one of his leading characteristics. Writing to his distinguished friend, Sir Roderick Murchison, he mournfully declares: "I must confess this heavy stroke quite takes the heart out of me. Everything that has happened only made me more determined to overcome all difficulties; but after this sad stroke I feel crushed and void of strength.... I shall do my duty still, but it is with a darkened horizon that I again set about it." The noted English naturalist, Frank Buckland, in speaking of the aid afforded by his gifted mother to her distinguished husband, Dr. Buckland, writes as follows: "During the long period that Dr. Buckland was engaged in writing the book which I now have the honor of editing, my mother sat up night after night, for weeks and months consecutively, writing to my father's dictation; and this often until the sun's rays, shining through the shutters at early morn, warned the husband to cease from thinking and the wife to rest her weary hand. "Not only with the pen did she render material assistance, but her natural talent in the use of her pencil enabled her to give accurate illustrations and finished drawings, many of which are perpetuated in Dr. Buckland's works. She was also particularly clever and neat in mending broken fossils. There are many specimens in the Oxford Museum, now exhibiting their natural forms and beauty, which were restored by her perseverance to shape from a mass of broken and almost comminuted fragments. It was her occupation also to label the specimens, which she did in a particularly neat way; and there is hardly a fossil or a bone in the Oxford Museum which has not her handwriting upon it. "Notwithstanding her devotion to her husband's pursuits, she did not neglect the education of her children, but occupied her mornings in superintending their instruction in sound and useful knowledge. The sterling value of her labors they now, in after life, fully appreciate, and feel most thankful that they were blessed with so good a mother."[247]