The Blantyre Mission before Scott’s arrival became embroiled in violence, conflict and the humanitarian impulse to protect refugees. The pioneering Scotsmen were ill-prepared to face regional turbulence caused by slave raiding, trade in ivory and the presence of Arab and Portuguese traders. They also failed to discern between different kinds of dependency among Africans. The Scotsmen inserted themselves into these historical conditions with little knowledge other than what the legend of David Livingstone had disseminated in Britain. Yet the Scotsmen depended on Africans in ways they could not foresee, from the choice of the site for Blantyre to Chief Kapeni’s support for the mission. The Scotsmen’s resort to violence and even execution derived from their attempt at civic jurisdiction. By failing to recognize Africans as their co-knowers, they could not appreciate the dilemmas with which Africans had grappled before their arrival. A commission of inquiry instituted by the Church of Scotland brought the Mission’s first phase to an end.