D AV I D L IV I N GS TON E :

35 1 5 111 11 11 0 1 e an h biz i' wg ang .

A RTHUR M ONTEFIO RE ,

A A u t /z a r q/

H m mM s m le
y M eAjn m zz E xplore e
'

, r , fc .

T H IRD ED IT IO N . T H I R T EENT H T HO US AND .

NEW YO RK AND C H IC AGO .

un t in g
gr 39 , 93 1 11 13 1 1
P U B LI S H E R S O F EV AN G EL I CAL LI T E R A T U R E .
 TY P E S A FR I CA N R ACE S .

P R FA C E .

B y slo p rud ec eto mak em ild

w n

A ru gg e
d p ep 1e d th r u gh s ft d egrees
0 ,
an o o

S ubdu eth em to theus eful d th eg od an o .

”

T EN N Y S O N .

ITH I N the
compass of a fe w page s I have
end eavour e d to e nclose a gr e at life As a .

natural con sequ e nce I hav e o n ly been a bl e to re

,
co r d
the main e ven ts of D avid Livi n gston e s unparallel e d ’

ca r e
er S o mu ch of that career has b e
. en pe r forc e , ,

dismissed with a fe w wo r ds that I have end e

,
avou red
to aton e for omissions o f fact by throwi n g as con
tin uo usly as possibl eupon my r ecord of L ivi n gston es
’

life th e gl eam of his nobl e cha r act er I hav e don e .

this in the b e li ef that if a ught is omitt ed or se

, t ,

dow n in ou tlin e too rigid to sugg e st th eglow o f life ,

it will be aton e d fo r by th e li g ht re fle cted from his

el evat ed aims a n d by th e inte n se wa rmth of his
,

love for Afr ica and theAfr i can

6 P RE FA C E .

While i t has nothing to say which i s new t o th e

stud e n t o f geog r aphical o r missionary ent erpr i se in th e
Dark Continent this little book m ay hel p to tell to a
,

gene ral public with scan t tim eat it s d isposal an old

, , ,

o ld story
”
which su r ely can never pall And wh e
,
n .
,

r ead ing the chapt e rs that deal w ith the legacy which
Livi n gstone has left the world every o n emay fe el if he , ,

choos ethe p r ide o f possession and— which is far better

, ,

beled to assume the respons i bilities o f a legatee .

For my information I have go n eto the fountain head -

to the writings o f David Livingston e hims e lf B ut as I .

,

hav edrawn u pon Dr B la ik ies Person al Life o f him

.
’ ‘4

for some rema rks and passages in private l e t t ers which ,

explain his purpos e an d illu s trate his perso n al piety

in no comm on d e gr e
e I desire to a cknowledge my
,

indebtedness to that work For presen t p urposes .

,

however I have prefe

,
rr e
d the public labours of
Livingsto n e to h is p r ivat e life as setti n g forth that ,

geog r aphical environmen t in which he toiled for mor e

than thirty y e ars an d alo n g the paths o f which he
,

wande r ed for n e arly thirty thou san d m iles — a y ,

Th ri c eten y ears ,

Th ri c emulti pl i er! b y sup erhuma n pa gs n ,

I hu g e
n rs
n d t h i rs ts fe
-

an vers n d cold
, a ,

I cou g h s ach e
n s s t it ch es ulc erous th ro es a
, , , n d c ramps
before h ep a ssed over the mou ntains o f Urungu an d ,

y o f th eshadow of d eath
enter ed the vall e .

A R TH U R M O N T E F I O R E .

B EDF ORD P AR K W , .
 CO NTE NTS .

C H APT ER I .

P RE P ARAT I O N (1 81 3
GE
—Hi s b i rth —Paren tage
P A

of Afri ca—L ivi gs ton e

Thec i v i l i z ati o n n

Th e y u go n
“
ha d — S p i n i g cotto — S elf educa ti on —Hi s
n
”
n n n -

n at u ral b et—Hi s amb i t i o — Stud yi n g a t G las g ow —Lo n do

n n n

M i ss i o a ry S oc i ety —L ivi g s t n e in Lo don —A m ed i cal

n n o n

mi ss i on ary

C H APT ER I I .

EARLY Y EAR S I N A F R I CA ( 1 84 1
Arriva l in Afri c a —Th e Mo ffats — K u ruman a d B echw a n a la d
'

n n

— L ivi n g ston es firs t pos t M abotsa—E cou ter w i th a l i o

’
: n n n

H i s marriage—H i s s econ d s tat i Ch o ua n e —S echéle—The

on n

d rou gh t—R emov al to K olob en g—Troubl ew ith th e Bo e rs

—Da i l y l ife a n d labour—Co ti u ed d rou ght—R etreat P n n

On wa rd
8 CO N T EN T S

C H APT ER I I I .

M I SS I O NAR Y TR AV EL S ( 1 84 9
P AG E
L iv i n g st o n e a m i ss i o a y thou g h
,
n r e x r r—
plo e I n t o thei n teri o r
an

Th eK alaha ri D e sert —A s ta rt l i n g re ve lati o n —R iv er Z oug a

Lak eN g am i T ry try a g a i n — Th etsetsefi y—L i n y a n t i
,
-

an d Se bitua n e —T h e Z A M B E S I —D iffic ultie s—Cap e t ow n —A

fa re w ell —R etu rn t o Zamb es i —L i n y a n ti t o Loan d a

C H APT E R IV .

A C R O S S A F R I CA ( 1 8 5 4

s s a n d reco very—Loa da a n d th eP rtu g u es e—Th esl ave

S i ckn e n o

tra d e—A g reat ho n ou r—A g ol a—Ma rch i n g ea st a rm he n w

C oa n g o d th e K asa i —N at iv e fri e n d s —L ivi n g s t o e a n d

e
an n

S ek e letu— T h eV i c to ri a Falls — S ow i g th s eed — A he alt h y

n

regi o —Follow i n g th eZ a mb e
n s i —Q uilima n ea n d th eI n d i an
Oce an —Than k ful n ess

C HAPTER V .

H OM E ( 1 85 6
A n at i on a l w elcom e L ivi g s to es firs t book —Add ress es a n d
-
n n
’

—
sp eech es I n th e La d
“
Cak es —A t VVin dsor—Li vi g
n O
’
n

s t o n es vi ews on A fri ca — Hi s c ri ti cs — Comm i ss i o n from th e

’

G o v er m et—Th eCo sul Mi ss i on ary

n n n -

C H APT E R VI .

I N TH E Z A M B E S I C O U N TR Y ( 1 8 5 8
R eu rn to
t Af i ca O n th eZamb es i — TheS h i re
— r — T h ep i o n e e
r of

peac e— D i sco v e
ry O f L A K E N Y A sS A — L ivi n g sto n e a n d th e
Po rtu gu es e—Amo n g th eM a k ololo
 C O N TE N T s 9

C H A P TE R V I I .

N YA S S A L A N D ( 1 86 1
P AG E

Th e Un e i v s i t i e
s M i ss i o — W o k of th e e p e
d i t i o —O n th e
m
r n r x n

R o v u a—Mack en z i ea n d th em i ss i on a ri es —1 roubl es — Hi story ’ ’

a n d collaps e
— h e—
of m i ss i on T eLak ep opl M rs L ivin gs to n e
e .

h e r d ea t h — T h ecu rs e of sla v e
r y — R ecall of exp ed i ti on T he
b eck o i n g han d
n
”

C H APT ER VI I I .

I ND I A AN D EN GLAN D ( 1 8 64

A rema rkabl e v o y a g e— Bomba y a d E n g la d — Mi ss i on ary or

n n

e plo
x rer— T h e h o ra ry co sulsh i
on p — A t H am i lnto n —L ivi g n

sto n es comm i ss i on —A l g farew e

’
ll on

C H APT ER IX .

N I LE OR C O N GO ? ( 1 866
F rom Za ibar t o N y assa —D es erti o
n z d report f d eath—The n an o

s earch ex p editi on —T Lak eTa n gan i ka—A g reat loss—I S i t

O

th eN i l e or Co g o —M oe
, olO— I ll n e
ro a n d B a g w e
n ss — Ujiji 1 1 4 n

C H APT ER X .

TH E LA S T J OU RNEY ( 1 8 72

M a n yue
ma an Lualab a—I ll ess — Th ema ssa C eof N ya n g w e
d th e n I

— R etrea t t Ujiji— “ A ruckl e O f bo e

o s —S tan l ey t the n
’
o

resc ue — U ya ye n mb e—The ma rch to B a g elO— E xtrem e

n n w o

w eak ess — N ea ri g th eed— R each es C h it mbo s—T H E E N D

l
’
n n n a

F
-
a i th ful s e
rv a t s —A a ti o i mou r i g
n n n n n n
IO C O N T EN T S .

C H APT E R XI .

L I V I N G S T O NE S LE G AC Y ’
.

P AG E
Th er f a gra c eof hism emo ry — H iS p erso al ity a d i t s l eg ac y
n n n

M i ss i s w it h g egraph i cal eterp ri s e

on o —T h e supp ress i o n O f
n

th esla v et rad e — Hi s t o ry of m i ss i o n s in C et ral Afri ca— T he n

Chu rch es of S cotla d — U iv ers i ti es M i ss i n Lo do M i s

n n o n n

e
,

sio a r
n y S c i e
t y
o et c , G o g raph i
. cal et erp ri s e: St l e
y n an ,

Thomson A r o t O N eill etC

,
n ,
’

, .

C H A P T ER XI I .

L I V I N G S TO N E S LE GAC Y ’

T heO pen so reof th ewo rld T h eh i s t o ry of th eA ra b in Afri c a

-

—Test i mo n y fro m W i ssman S co tt D ru mmo n d Sta n l ey , , , ,

L avig eri e—Th e subst itut i o n of l egiti m ate comm erc e th e

m edy —Co n g o F ree St ate B rit i sh E as t Afri c a C O
,

re ,
.
,

Afri can L ak es C O etC —Th e pa ral y i n g i flu en c e of th e

.
,
. z n

P o rtug e s e Th epra y er O f a rig h t e o u s m ”

u an
 V I C T I MS S LA E T RA E
V D .

DAV I D LI V I N GS TO N E

HI S LA B O UR S A ND HIS LE GA C Y .

C H APT E R I .

P R EP A R A T I O N .

OR a cen t ury and mor eth eworld has w i tn e ssed

mod e r n C ivilization g rappli n g h e rewith O r iental ,

indol e nce a n d therewith sh e

,
e r barba r ism and e ve ry ,

wh e regrappling with succ ess I n Ame r ica Aust r alia .

, ,

and e ls e
wh e re theCaucasia n has achieve
,
d prosp e rity
and cont e n t wh e re the re d ma n o r th eblack was but a
vagrant savage This e . n d has b e en acqui re d by that
mig r ation Of peopl es a n d in t roductio n o f p e ac eful a rts
which w ecall colonization a n d which is only s e ,
cu re d
wh e n th e climat er e n ders E u r o p ean labour possibl ea n d
,

wh e n
,
owi n g to the C haract er o f th e aborigi n es th e ,

re sou r c e
s o f the count ry a reu n d e v elop e d O n th eoth e r .

hand in I ndia and th er ich d e

,
pe nd e n ci e
s which e n vi r on

that unique p e ninsula wher eth enative ,

s al ready pos
s ess ed a ce rtain civilizatio n and wh e r eth eC limat eis
,

t ropical th edo mi n a n t En g lish h aveov e

, rt ur n ed t hro n e
1 2 DAV I D L I V I N G S TO N E .

—
aft er thron e Of E astern splendour splen dour t oo fre
quen t ly dimmed by O rien t al corru ption — and at t he
presen t t im eare governing with security and enli gh t ened
ju stice hu ndreds o f millions of dusky Asiatics A n d .

this en d has be en g e ne rally gain ed by t he exercise O f

th at imp a r tial policy a n d rigid adh e ren ce to the duties O f
pow e r w hich sta mp in no comm on degree the national
charact e r Of E n gland h e ,
r stat e smen and the great ,

p r o-
con suls Of her empire U. nfettered colon i zat ion
and j ust governmen t have successfully grappled w i th
these proble ms in the past The problem o f th epresen t
.

an d future is a greater o n e still I t is nothing less .

than the conversion o f Afr ica to civilization ; a n d it ma y

we ll be doubted wh e th er eith e r Of these methods so —
successful e ls ewhere — can prove e ffectual here .

For Africa is a vast con tinen t u npi e rced by bay s and

,

gulfs a n d throwing o ut n o peninsulas to touch the ou ter

,

world U pon the l uxuriant table lan d Of the interior

.
-

a n enormou s population dw e lls— countless tribes whom

it is difficult for the adv enturou s trav e ller to reach and ,

still m o r e difficul t for th e co mm e rcial trader or th e

herald Of glad tidings of p e ace to labou r amo n gst with
o ut in t e rruptio n o r failure Remo t e from ot h e
. r lands ,

other C limat e ,
s other peoples other m anners the in
, ,

habitan t s a re fe arful igno r ant wayward helpl e

, ,
ss and , , ,

from wh at may be call e d their continental insulari ty ”

,

to o Often savagely suspiciou s a n d in hospitabl e .

For a generation and more pioneers hav ebe e n busily

penetrati n g this D ark Con t inen t ; openin g u p rout es by
l a n d and water ; conciliating powerfu l chi e fs ; healing
the sick and safe gu ardi n g t he strong discovering h uge
trac t s Of coun try Of g r eat fe rtil ity sometim es h e althful ,

bu t m ore Often hu r tful to t he E uropean ; re v ealing and

navigati n g vast inland seas and floating down g r eat
,

rive r s from th e h e art O f the continent to t he ocea n s

on e ither hand exhibiti n g the p ractical advantages Of
civilization ; a n d last tho ugh not least , preachi n g the
, ,
 P R E PA R AT I O N . 1 3

G ospel Of broth e rly love Fro m what th e

. se pion e ers
te ll us w ea refo r c e
,
d to conclud et hat ignor a nc ean d
cru e lty can n ibalism and slavery will only be swept
, ,

away from the long su ff e ring Afr ica n by t he slow but

-

suremetho ds Of po w e rful and r e spo n sibl ecommerce

such as the further e stablishment and developme n t O f
those comm e rcial kingdoms which hav ealready aris e n
in Africa— a n d by the p r eval e n c eo f what must bean
id e al ungu e ss e d at by the savag e: th ewell clad clea n ly -

, ,

de ce nt activ e p r osp e
, ,
r ous u n s e lfish and Christia n
, ,

missiona r y N on ehas told u s this more plainly and

.
,

non e sta n ds out more clearly from this group of

pione e rs than David Liv i n gstone the subj e
, ,
c t Of this
me moir .

As with so ma n y of that ass emblageo f uncrowned

monarchs who sta n d h e ,
ad an d should e rs abov eus by
right Of th e i r achi e veme n ts or th e ir cha r acte r and whos e ,

willing subj e cts a re bound to them by ties Of admi r a

tion and love r ath e r than O f loyalty o r habit D avid ,

Livingston esprang from a humbl erac e and personally ,

“
knew in his yout h what i t was to go forth to his work
and to his labou r u n til theeve n i n g in ord e r to e
,
arn
his daily b r ead Bor n on thel g th of M arch 1 8 1 3 at
.
, ,

Blantyre theh um o f th ebusy cotton factory was th e

,

most familiar sound O f his ea r ly y e ars H is father a .

,

small tea deal er his mother a hard worki n g hous e

-

,
-
wife ,

and neither with any t i me to educate their me r ry lad ,

it is n o t surprising that D avid should hav er e ach ed th e

age Of te n withou t giving any sp e cial sign O f future
t ue ss or affo r ding a n y r e
,
ason to his pare nts for not
vi n g by his hands A n d so the boy was
.

put to wo r k in this cotton factory as a pi e ce r an d ,

began t o cont r ibu te his share to the suppo r t O f the

family .

A change in one s lifenot infr equ e’

n tly b r ings n e w

possibiliti e s a n d oth e r hop e s be fo r eus This daily life .

O f man ual labour would seem to hav e e nl a rged the

14 DAV I D LI V I N GS TO N E .

horizon Of David s ou tlook for h ehas h i mself recorded

’
,

that with a portion Of his firs t week s wag e s he purchased ’

a La t in g r ammar ! This he placed u pon theloom and ,

as he p ass e d to and fro a t h i s work h ewould catch now , ,

a word , and n o w a sent e nce from its open page W ith .

lea r ni n g came the app etite for learn ing and every even
ing after the factory wo r k was done the lad would pore
, ,

ov er his books till m i dnigh t and e ven later H ere we , .

se ethestrength and tenaci ty of th eS co t tish C harac t er ,

for he had to beat work in the fac t ory by six O clock ’

n ex t morni n g and h e did n o t leave i t before e

,
ight
O clock at night Fourte en hours Of labou r with bu t
’
.
,

t wo i n t e rvals for meals migh t well have taken all the

,

str e n gth and s apped all th e d e t ermin a t ion Of a lad Of

ten ; and it is indeed a pleasan t reflec t ion that the
, ,

h umane l e gi sla t ion o f later years has rendered such a

s tate Of things impossible or at any rate ill e gal
,
.

As t he y ears rolled by , and t he lad became a you t h

and approached the verge o f m anhood this nightly ,

t oil Of a gen e
,
ral s elf education became concentra ted o n
-

works Of trav el and sc i e nce a subj ect he s till fu r ther ,

pursued o n rare holidays by exploring the country

round .The strong rel igiou s convictions which his
father and moth er had ever encou raged were stamped
w i th the hall ma r k Of since r ity through his o w n search
-

after t ruth a n d the r e lentles s s e

lf examination to which -

—
,

he subject e d himself There arose before him never t o

.

—
fade away the subl i me form o f Jesus Of N azareth the ,

G reat Physician N O wonder is it that D avid Livingston e

.

should have conceived a burn ing d e sire to follow in such

steps and carry the art of healing the body as well
,

as t he soul into those d i stan t lands and among those

i gnoran t suffering races i n the direction Of which his
,

studi e s a n d his natural sympathies had grad uall y

t ended .

L i vingstone was about nineteen years O f age when

e
h de t erm i ned to prepare for the life O f a medica l
 P R E PA R AT I O N . 1 5

missionary a n d it is again cha r act e

,
ristic O f his nation
ality that h eshould hav eset abou t this task i n finit e ly ,

more difficult then than now without s e eki n g aid or

,

influence fr om any person o r soci e ty He was by this .

time a spi n n e r and thewages h eea r n e

”
,
d in summ e r
sufficed to suppo r t him in wint e r at then e ighbouring
city O f G lasgow whither h ew e ,
n t to get th e ben e fit O f
the G re e k divinity and m edical lectu res Of i ts u niv e
, ,
r
sity. Hi s fi r st session was in the wint e r Of 1 83 6 3 7 -

and on its conclusion h eretur n ed to his labour at the

Blantyre mill .

I t was not withou t the st r ictest economy that D avid

was enabled to go through even th ee conomical cours e
o f a S cotch univ e rsity We can gather som e idea of
.

his styl eO f hous e kee pi n g in the Univ e rsity City wh e n ,

w er e member that his lodgings cost him no mor etha n

h alf a c r own a we ek and that in common with o th e
- -

, ,
r
S cotch students h e live d large
,
ly on oatm e al Yet .
,

e ven with this sparing diet and mod e st e stablishm e nt ,

it is o n record that he was u n abl e to ent e r on the

second s e ssion without p e cuniary h e lp from his e ld er
b r oth e r— h e lp be i t n ot e,
d which was sc r upulously
,

re paid S uch h e
. lp would hav e be e n unneed ed had
Livingstone b e e n only studying th e ology for th e ,

exp e nses O f t r aining as a missio n ary pureand simpl e

we r e compa ratively light ; but h ehad the twofold Object
in v i ew Of t e ndi n g both body and soul and the m e dical ,

fees were a heavy d r ain upo n his sl e nd er purse .

I t is evident that du r ing thetwo years at G lasgow ,

Liv i n g st one la r g e ly d eve loped the sci e ntific side Of his

nature H is v e
. ry lib e rality in th e ology was owin g to
his perfe ctly impartial m e thod O f testing e very qu e stion .

H ad he b e e n more Of a t heologian it is quit ec on c e iv ,

able h emight hav elos t much O f that primitive Christian

spirit which ma r k e d his whole life a n d withou t doubt ,

c on tribu te d la r g e ly to his success in d e aling with th e

r

raw Afr ican H ehas told us hims e

. lf that wh e n he ,
1 6 DAV I D L I VI NG S TO N E .

was advised to j oin theLondo n M issionary S oc i ety he ,

w a s a t tracted by its perfectly uns ecta r ian cha r acter ”

.

h ewrote
”
I t sends ,
neither epis copacy nor p r esby
, ,

te ria n ism nor i n d e pe,

ndency but the G osp e l Of Ch rist , ,

to the h e ath en This h eadds e

”
.
“
xactly agre ed with
, ,

my ideas O f w hat a missionary soci e ty ought to do .

And i n the course Of this book i t will be shown how

e xactly such ideas w ere cloth ed in his o w n missionary
life for to the very end he n eve
,
r c eas ed to claim
fo r bea r anc e t oward the ignora n t o r t he hostile and ,

toleranc etoward all .

T h e fr iends o f his un iversity years will be found ,

th e n not among the classmates of the theological

,

school but among those O f the medical and sci e

,
n tific .

Pe rhaps his g r eatest fr iend c e rtainly the most constant , ,

was Jam es Young w h o aft e r w ards devoted his attain

,

me nt s in chem i stry t o the purification Of pet r ol e um and ,

won for his nam eth efamilia r ity O f a household wo r d ,

as w e ll as fr om Li vi n gstone the jocular titl e o f S ir

”
Pa r affin Dr G raham t he Professor Of Chemistry
. .
, ,

and D r Andrew Bu ch anan o f the M e

. dical Faculty we r e , ,

also great and kin d fri e nds S ir Lyon P layfair was .

anoth e r classm ate and fr i e n d ; and those two g r eat

sci e n tists Professo r s j
,
ames Thomson and S ir William
Thomson wer eoth e rs
,
.

Duri n g hi s second s e ssion a t G lasgow ( 1 8 3 7

Livingstone forwarded his application to the London
M issio n a ry S ociety and as it contain s a cl e
,
ar definit i on
,

Of h is views Of a missionary s du ty i t will be w e ll to ’

,

quot ea portion O f it here T h emission ary s Obj e

” ’
ct .
,

he wrote “
is to end e
,
avo ur by e very mean s in his ,

power to m ake known the G o spel by preach i ng e

,
x ,

hortation conversation instruction Of the young ;

, ,

improving so far as in his pow e,

r th e t emporal con ,

d i tion Of those among whom h elabours , by in t roducing

the arts a n d sciences Of C iviliz a ti on a n d doin g every
’

t hing to commend Chris ti a nity to th e ir h ea r ts and

 P RE P A R AT I O N . 1 7

consc i ences For the first part O f this definition h e

”

was preparing by study and practical pi ety—by plain

.

living and high thi n king ; a n d for th e second by

picking up a s much Of carpent ry and other u s e ful trades

as possibl e Withou t som esuch wise anticipation as
.

this he would have been sadly puzzl e

,
d wh e n a few
yea r s aft e rwards he was confr onted with th e task O f
building both dwelling house and school house and
- -

cultivating grain and roots for his ow n sus t enanc eo n

his mission station
-
.

A great C lu e to all L i vingsto ne s actions both a t ’

this time and th r o ughou t the whole Of his after life -

e sp e cially when h is geographical labours in Afr ica w e re

re gard e d with disapprobation by many me n o f pious

lifebut narrow v iews—is to be fou nd in the in de e

p dn

e nce o f his C haract e r I t came out forcibly at his

.

final examin ation for the Diploma of Licen t iat e of

Faculty Of Physician s and S urgeons He says : B e “
.

tween me and the examiners a slight di fference Of

opinion e xisted as to wh e ther this instrument ( the
st e thoscop e ) could do what was ass er t ed I u n .

wittingly p r ocured for my self a n examination rath e r

more severeand prolonged than usual among e x a min
ing bodi e .s H owe ver I w a s admitted ,
It .

w a s wi t h u nfe igned delight I became a m e mber Of a

p r ofe ssion which is p r e eminently devoted to practical
-

ben e vol enc e a n d wh ich with unweari e

,
de ne rgy pursues
from age to age its end e avours to l essen human w oe ”
.

The London Missionary S ociety had accepted his

O ffe r provisionally and in S ept e
,
mber 1 8 3 8 Livingstone
went to London in order to interview the heads o f that
S ociety H ew a s then sen t to the R e
. v R ichard Cecil .
,

Of Chipping O ngar E ssex a n d with several other

, ,

candidates received t heological and pas t oral instruction

from that gentleman H is preaching capacity a ppea r ed
.

to be slight, and a s a n unfavourable re

,
port was s e nt
in t o the society i t w a s b y themeres t chanc et hat he
,

2
1 8 DAV I D L I V I N GS T O NE .

w as accep t ed S ome on epleaded in his favou r ; he

.

was given ano t her oppor t uni ty and finally his serv i ce s ,

were engaged There c a n be n o dou bt however that

.
, ,

an adverse dec i sion would have had no e ffec t upon

Livi ngstone s plans I ndeed such was his in de
’
.
pe n d
,

ence he would probably h ave rel i shed going out t o

,

preach a n d civilize t he hea t hen u nder the ae gis Of no

au thorized body far m ore tha n as t he accredited agen t
Of on e And as a m att e
. r O f fact i t wil l be se en later
, ,

that , when a difficulty arose Livings t one severed his ,

connection wi t h the S ociety rather than embarrass i ts

position o r his ow n .

The years o f prepara t ion were n ow draw i ng t o a

“
.

C lose a n d t he ques t ion of Whither

,
faced t he young
missionary I n his o w n m ind it had been se t tled for
.

some time ; his eyes had been fixed on Chin a a n d its

en ormou s and untilled harves t fi e ld for several years .

I t was with the S p e cial intention o f dealing w i th the

exclu sive p e ople of tha t cou ntry that he had d e t ermined
on becoming a doc t or and i t was therefore a grea t ,

blow t o his hopes when the opium war brok e o ut

be tween tha t coun t ry and G rea t Britain , and effec t ually
closed China to t he E u r opean F o r a while his desti .

na ti on was uncer tain ; bu t a meeting with R obert

M o ffa t who h a d lately re t urned t o E ngland from his
,

mission in S outh Africa led Livings t one to determine ,

on t ha t almos t unknown r e g ion a s the scene Of his

fu t ure labours Dr M o ffat has left a n accoun t o f t h is
. .

mee ti ng which h a s a special in teres t in t he light o f

,

the lifelong connect i on which was t o uni t e the tw o

me n ,
a n d a por ti on Of i t may be quo t ed here .

“
H e asked me whe t her I thought he would do for
Afri c a I sa i d I believed he would , i f he would n o t
.

g o to a n o ld s ta ti on bu t would advance
,
t o unoccupied
ground specify ing t he vas t plain t o the north where
, ,

I had some t imes seen in the morn i ng sun , t he smoke

,

o f a t hou sand vi ll ages where n o missionary ha d e v er

,
 M I S S I NAR Y S TATI N
O O , K UR U M AN .

C HAPT E R I I .

E A R LY YE A RS IN A F R I CA .

AV I D L I V I NGS T O N E had rece i ved genera l

orders from the S ociety to proceed first to
Kuruman the headquarters of the M o ffats and then
, ,

to advance northward into t he interior He was bear .

i ng with him five hu ndred cop i es O f M o ffa t s S e

chw a n a
’

N ew Testam ent j us t pr i nted under the veteran mis

,

sio n a ry s personal supe r vision in E ngland

’
an d was ,

looki n g forward with eagerness to theday when he

could strike out in t o t he new region se t apar t for his
labours .

At this tim eKuruman was the m os t nor t herly mis

sion a ry station i n S ou th Afri ca or, as Livingstone ,

chose to pu t it ,
the mos t sou th e
rn point Of the real
mission ary field . About seven hundred miles nor t h
east Of Capetown and at t hat time more u sually reach e
,
d
from Port E lizabeth Kuruman was situated C lose to
,

t he source Of th e Kuruman R ive r which flowing in a , ,

north westerly direction for abou t two hundred miles

-

and t h e n almo st due south for the same distance ,

ul ti mately entered the O range R iver t he mos t impor ,

 E A R LY Y E A R S IN AF R I CA . 21

ta n t Of S outh Afr ican riv e rs T O the south w e . st of -

Kuruman lay Gr iqualand and its Bo e r populatio n ; to

the south east across th eV aal the O range R iver F re
-

, ,
e
S tat e with a similar population
,
From the station .

northward stretch e d trib eafter trib e Of B e c hw a n a s ,

who passed by many di ffe re n t nam e s At Ku ruman .

itself th e y were B a tla pis; a little far ther to the nort h

and no r th west B a n g w a k e
-

,
tse; some two hundred
miles to thenorth B a k w a in s and beyond these again
, ,

the B a k a a N orthward O f th eB e
. c h w a n a s was M ata

be lela n d and beyo n d that th eZambesi

,
T heroute into .

the int er io r lay th rough th e se tribes ; fo r on the west

the mission ary was h e mm e d in by the wat e rless Kalahari
de sert and on the east by the unfriendly Boers
,
.

Little had as yet been achi e ved among then ativ e

t r ib e s lying alo n g this route ; for although R ob e rt ,

Moffat had mad e many journ e ys and had liv e d for

mo n ths at a time among va r iou s t r ibes O f theB ech
wanas and had ev e
,
n pene t rated to Matab e leland and
mad e its great C hief Mo se le k a tse w h o liv e
,
d o n the ,

w e st ern slopes Of themountain ridge which fo r m e d

the east e rn boundary of his cou n try a staunch p e rso n al ,

friend his lifes wo r k had centred in Kuruman and the

,
’

straggli n g population around .

Kuruma n in fact was the only place for a hund red

, ,

mil e s round where E uropeans co uld s e ttle and exis t ‘

.

And e ven at Kuruman the e xc e ssive d roughts which

are thecurs eO f the great e r part Of S outh Africa w e re
not unknown Be c h w a n a la n d was essentially a dry

country—so dry indeed that Livingstone has told u s

.

, ,

that n e edles could be left for months e xposed to the

outer air withou t rusting T o grow crops with success
.

irrigation was necessary and Mo ffatt had w on the ,

confidence Of th e nativ e s by his activ e exertion s to

procu r e by this mean s s e curity for the harvest He
”—
.

ha d thus taken th eprofe

“
ssional rain makers his -

mos t ac t ive opponents —i h the r e ar and enabled the ,

22 DAVI D L I V I NGS TO N E .

wretched na t ives to dispense with the serv i ces o f these

soothsayers By striking this blo w at the most in
.

fl ue n tia l in t erpre t ers Of th eo ld superstitions h e had ,

paved the way to a reception Of t he t i dings i t was his

mission to bring .

When Livingstone arrived a t Kuruman he found ,

a ff airs in a prospering condition From a few H otten

.
'

to t servan ts t he Christian congregation had increased

to about a thou sand the miss i on house a n d church had
,
-

been rebu il t o n a la r ger s cal eand Of stone the schoo ls ,

had become flourishing ins t itutions , a n d t he advan ce

Of civilization was marked by t hose o f t he nat i ves
who could aff ord it purchas i ng waggons and usin g
“
oxen for labou r in the place O f women The gar .

dens wrote Livings t one

,
“
i rriga t ed by the Kuruman
,

rivulet are w e
,
ll stocked with fruit trees and vines ,

and yi e ld E uropean vegetabl es and grain r eadily The .

pl e asant ness o f the place is enhanc ed by the c o n

t r as t it presen t s t o the surrounding scenery and the ,

fac t that i t owes all i ts beauty to the manual labour

Of the missionaries E xternally it presents a picture
.

o f civilized comfort to t he adj acen t t r ibes ; a n d by its

pri nting press

-
th elight O f Chris ti ani t y isgradually
di ff us ed in the surrounding region ”
.

I t mus t beremembered t hat all t his w a s n ot a t tain e d

wi t hou t much labou r and hardship For twenty years
.

the M o ffats had laboured o n t he banks Of the Kuru man

before they began to gather in the harvest o r entered
in t o the reward Of their labours A s Livings t one stood
.

in this oas i s he sa w the desert widening a n d lengthen

,

ing before him ; h is years o f toil and anxie ty were all

to come Would t hey too, bring a like accomplish
.
,

men t We shall se e .

While awaiting the permission Of t he S oc i ety to erec t

a mission s t a t ion north o f Kuruman Livings t one w a s
-

j ourney i ng u p and down the whole B e c hw a n a coun t ry

—
.

H evi si t ed the a w a n s whose ch i ef S e

B k i c hé le,
became
,
 EA R LY Y E A RS IN AF R I CA . 23

a grea t friend —t he Bamangwato the B a k a a a n d the

, ,

B a k h a tla in success i o n , s t udying th e ir la n guage and

cust o ms and in e
,
very way e quipping himself for us e ful
e ffort amongst th e m I n themeanwhile he was taking
.

care ful no t es Of theadaptability Of thecoun t ry to agri

culture, inquiring in t o the causes of its intense dry n e ss ,

and making up his mind e ve n at this early dat ea s to

th e ri ght method Of evangelizi n g Africa I t S pe
'

aks .

much for his p e rsp i cacity that the opinions he then

formed he neve r sa w cause to surre nd er H e wrot e .

home t o the Directors o f the S ociety with his usual

emphatic indepen de nc e pointing out how n e
,
cessary
it was to draw me n away from t he straggling popu
lation be t w e en Capetown and Kuruman and scatter ,

them t hro ughou t the more dens e ly peopled cou ntry to

-

th e nor t h Of that outpost ; in fact , h o w ne cessary it

was for the S oci ety t o r e ve rs eits policy Und e rvaluing
.

th e ir young r e presentative and re ,

jecting for a tim eat ,

le as t , what would naturally seem th e over sanguine -

views Of an inexperienced missiona ry , the S o ciety made

n o furth e r mov ethan to send their permission for the
fou ndi n g of a n e w stat i on .

I t was no t until late in t he year 1 8 4 3 that Livi n g

stone w a s abl eto move northward, and establish h is
first station in Afr ica in a pleasant valley l e adi n g from
a mountain range w hich the B a k h a tla call e
,
d Mabo t s a .

By t h i s n ame also the station cam eto beknow n .

S hortly afte r his arrival he me ,

t with that encounter
with a lion w hich i s perhaps on eOf the most familia r
ev e nts Of his life S tru ck to the ground by theb e
. ast
in his spring his fl e
,
sh to r n a n d th eupp e r bon eO f his
a r m cru n ched in thelion s mouth Livi n gstone was only
’
,

saved from death by thecourageous conduc t Of a faith

ful servant who w a s also a native deacon
,
I n his .

at t emp t to rescue his mas ter, Me ba lw enearly lost his

o w n life for the lion quitted his hold Of Livingstone s ’

arm dashed blindly at Me

, ba lw e biting him on the
,
24 DAVI D LI VI NG ST O N E .

thigh, a n d t h e n while i n t he act Of attacking an other

,

n ative fe ll dead from the bull e

, ts he h ad received .

’ “
Livings t one s commen t on t his is characterist i c : Bu t
for t he impo rt uni ti es Of friends, I meant to have k ept
( this story
”
) in s t ore t o t ell my C h i ldren when in my
do tage .

As soon as his arm was healed he set abou t building ,

the mission house and school house and in converting

- -

th e ground adjacen t into a garden Before long he

.

found cause for enlarging his hous e for in on e o f his ,

visits t o Kuruman he capped a fond at t achmen t to

M ary the eldest child Of the M o ffats by proposing
, ,

marriage a n d bei n g accepted M ary Mo ff at soon after

.

wards became M ary Livings t one a n d the t w o settled ,

down to a busy life among the B a k ha tla .

The life before the Doctor appeared t o him t o be

project ed on si milar lines t o t hat which t he veteran
M o ff at had b e en leading for so m any years though '

somewhat extend e d in usefuln e ss a n d i nfluence per ,

haps by h is grea t er medical skill H e was moreover

, .
, ,

determi n ed to pu t i n t o practic e his che r ish ed theory

o f t raining n atives for the minis t ry for on t his poi n t
,

he was always very dec i ded ; a n d i t is n ot sur

prising considerin g t he havo c fever had play ed with
,

the E uropeans a n d the difficul ty the impossibility

, , ,

o f procu r i ng the m in su ffic i ent numbers to grappl e

with the vast population Of th e i nt erior But neither .

t h i s nor the settled life o f M o ff at was to fall to h is

lot H e was reserved for a grea t er and more difficult
.

work .

H e had not b e en long at M abo t sa when through ,

some absurd jealously his fellow missionary accused

,

h i m Of overs tepping his rights and claim i n g to act wit h

greater freedom and ir r esponsibility t han his po sI tion
as a brot her missionary entitled him to This w eak .

brother circulated his fancied wrongs a n d suppression

a mon g t he m i ssionaries a t the Cape and even wro te ,
26 DAVI D L I V I N G S TO NE .

hom e to t h e S oc i ety Livings t one w a s n aturally in dig

.

nant but said l i ttle H e gave u p the house he had

,
.

built with his ow n hands and the garden he had crea t ed

by h i s o w n toil and left them g e
,
nerously in the posses
sion o f his en e my Turn i ng his back upon Mabotsa, he
.

m arched some fort y m iles n or t hward to C h on ua n e ,

th e
cap i tal Of the B a k w a in s and the residence Of the i r
,

chief S e
,
c h é le Here he founded h i s second s t a ti on
. .

The task Of building and cult i vating began aga i n ,

bu t he was cheered in his labour by the firm friendship

Of S e c h é le After thre
. e years Of i ns t ruc t ion and pro
ba tio n the chief received bapt i sm B u t t he people s ti ll .

h ung back Th e coun t ry was su ff eri n g from on eOf

.

t hose fearful S outh Afr i can droughts Of wh i ch t he

E u ropean can have n o conception and t he people were ,
”
t old by the baffled rain makers t hat Liv i ngstone had-

be witched therain , and none would com e t o rescue the i r

crops from failure or themselves from ruin unles s the
m i ssionary was sent away E ven S e ch e lecomplained
.
,

in cha r acteristic la n guag e Of the backwardness o f h i s ,

people in followi n g his e xample “

I n former ti mes
”
.
,
“
said he ,
when a chief w a s fond o f hun ti n g all his ,

people g o t dogs a n d became fond o f hunting too I f .

he w a s fond Of danci n g or mu sic a ll showed a liking ,

in t hese amusem e n ts to o I f the chief lo v ed b e

. er t hey ,

all rejoiced in s t rong drink Bu t in t his case it is .

d i ff eren t I love the Word Of G od and n o t o n eOf my

.
,

br e thren w ill join me .

S ome progress how e v er had been made for the

, , ,

D ay Of R est w a s generally Obs erved , and in s ecular

m atters th e peopl e recognised in the missio n ary a
fr i e nd The drough t and the hu n ger i t e
. ntail ed wer e
prime factors in their reluctan ce to embrace the n e w

religion They s t ill hoped success wo uld attend the

.

i ncan t ation s o f the ra i n makers They hoped in v ain

-
. .

Livi n gs t on e soon came to t he conclusion t ha t the

onl y chance Of miss i onar y su cc e ss a n d prosperity for
28 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

th eBo e rs and dur i ng his comparati vely lo n g resid e

,
nce
at Kolobeng he mad e several j ou rn e ys eastward into
their cou n try The Boers who had gradually retreated
.
,

in to the i nter i or as t he E nglish extended their sphere

o f influ e n ce t reated t he B e
,
c h w a n a s wi t h the same
cru e lty and contempt they had me t ed o ut to the coas t
K a ffi rs
. I n de ed t he i r chief grievance agains t the
,

E n glish was tha t they had the sam e law for the black
as fo r thewhit e The Boers t herefore regard e
. d th e
missionaries with u ndisguised hatred , and resist e d
eve ry a t t e mp t made to foun d a mission near t heir ow n
se t tl e men ts .

For L i vings t one t he y con ce i ved i n t ense an i mosity ,

seeing in him a doughty champ i on Of the ill us ed -

Be c hw a n a s They accu sed him o f selling gun s and

.

gunpowder to the natives ; for althou g h th e ,

y sa w n o
harm in wantonly massacring whole villages Of Bak
wains or B a kha tla s they n aturally objected to the
,

possibili t y o f the tables bei n g turned upon th e ms elves .

S pi es w e re sen t to discover the armed stre ngth o f

Se c h é le s me
’
a n d the mode Of Livingstone s
’
n life .

They could discover n o t hing o f the atrocities they had

imagined and so they conclud e
,
d tha t the mission ary
h ad t a ught the black proper t y th earts o f deceptio n
“

along w ith those Of civilization I n deed th einflu e. n ce

,

o f t he Boers w a s su ch — an d for the mat t e r Of that the

Dutch vote is still a n im portan t factor in S outh African
politics — th at Livingstone w a s for a time considered ,

even a t the headquarters o f G o v ern men t at Cap e to w n ,

to be a highly active and mischievous person

I t i s morepleasing to turn from the consideration Of
“
these Africanders t o a look at Livingstone in his
daily life and labou r H e h as left u s a v i vid pic t u re
.
,

too full Of detail for ins e rtion he r e E verything he

.

requ i r ed he had t o make from the raw ma t erial ; there

“ ”
were n o m anu fac t urers or middlemen at Kolobeng .

”
You wan t br i cks to build a house he t ells u s, a n d,
 E A R LY Y E A RS I N AF R I C A . 29

mu st forthwith proceed to the fi e ld c ut down a tre e , ,

a n d sa w it into pla n ks to mak ethe brick moulds ; the

materials for doors a n d windows t oo a r e standi n g in , ,

th efo r e st ; and if you wa n t to be resp e

,
ct ed by the
n a t iv e
,
s a hous eo f decent dimensions costing a n im ,

He
”
mense amount o f ma n ual labou r must be built ,
.

tells us furth e r o n that e very b r ick a n d stick o f the ,

thre e large houses h ehad built had to be put square by

his ow n hand .

The bread was almos t always baked in a n ov en

which was a hol ein the ground ; bu tter was chu r n e d in
a j ar ; ca n dles made in wooden moulds ; a n d sOa p p r o
cured from the ash es o f a plant Livingsto n e does not
—
.

forget to pay a t r ibut eto his wife a valuabl eh e lpm e et .

H ewrot ein his first published book M arri e d lifeis

all the sw e e te r when so many comfo r ts emanate directly
from thethrifty, striving hous e wife s han ds ” ’
.

Aft e r breakfasting e a r ly abou t six O clock — Living

— ’

ston eand his wife taught me n wom e n and C hildren

, ,

in school . S chool ov e r Mrs Livingstone att e

,
. n ded to

dom estic duties while h e ,

r husba n d worked as smith ,

carpenter or ga r d e
,
n er for himself o r his p e opl e .

Aft er di n ner a n d a n hour s S ie

,
sta his wifetaught the
’
,

infants t o sing and thegirls to se w Th re e nights a .

we e k a re ligiou s s ervice was h e ld and o n the oth e r ,

ev e nings Livingstone walk ed abou t the settlem e nt ,

conversing with any a n d all who might have qu e stion s

to ask him Tending the sick a n d ministering to th e
.

dis e ased th e
, y t ried to gain the a ffections Of thenative s
“
by sr pplyin g the wants O f the body S how kind .

att e n tion, says Livingsto n e t o thereckl e

“
,
ss oppon e nts
Of Christianity o n th ebe d Of sickness a n d pain and ,

they never c a n b ecome your personal e n e mies Here,

!
.

if anywhere, love begets love .

The first season had pass e d aw ay s ucc e ssfu lly at

Kolobe n g owi n g t o the irrigation wo r ks bu the
, ,

drought proved too muc h for their sl e nd er

30 DAV I D L I V I N GS T O NE .

t he second year and the r i ver Kolobeng shrank to a

,

mere rivulet Du ri ng the whole o f the second and

.

t hird years bu t ten in ches o f rain fell an d the fourth ,

year was bu t little better The river entirely dis

.

a ppeared and its bed had to be literally m i ned in order

,

to procu re mois t ure for the more p r ecious fruit trees -

.

Pasturage for cattle fail e d , and the cows gave no

m ilk the t ribe was in a bad way an d became restless
,

again The res t lessness seemed infectious for Living

.

stone, whose eyes looked ever northward and who ,

longed fo r power to disseminate n ativ e deacons and

schoolmas t ers among the people O f the i nterior made ,

up his mind that Kolobeng too mus t be left behind

, , ,

and th a t pastures n ew and m ore des i rabl e mus t be

sought I f the natives could n o t live a t Koloben g i t
.
,

was very e v iden t tha t E uropeans could n ot either and ,

t he soo n er a n e w s t ation was selected the bet t er for the

tribe among which he was living a n d the be t ter also
,

for the prosperi t y o f his G ospel preaching .

I n all his plan s n ot o n ethough t occurred Of retrea t

ing as he easily m i gh t hav e done t o the Colon y, a n d
, ,

livi n g in comparative e ase and perfec t secur ity N o ; .

h i s eyes were looking fearlessly no r t hward a n d his ,

whole soul br e a t hed theon eword O nward

 AN AF R I CAN V I LLA G E .

C H A PT E R I II .

M I SS I O N A RY TR A V E L S .

I TTLE d i d Livingston e think tha t when he le ft

Kolob e ng to s e ek a moresuitable settlem e nt for
himself and his friends the B a k w a in s he was r e ally ,

ent eri n g on a car e er Of t r avel a n d explo r ation which

was to plac ehis name o n th ehighest pinnacl eof fam e
and only end with his death .

Yet such was the case a n d th e ,

refor eit cannot bu t
be approp r iat eto co n sid e r her e as bri e fly as possible
, ,

the twofold position of Livingston eas a missionary and

an e xplorer.

I t is evident enough that wh e n he l e

,
ft his wifeand
thre echildren at Kolobeng his sole purpose was to seek
,

the count ry Of S e bitua n eand ascertain i f the regions o f

,

the great lake of which h ehad so Oft e

”
n he ard w e re
he althful a n d suitable to missio n ary ent e rp r ise I n his .

eff orts to pr e ach the G osp e l to thevarious t r ibes he

en countered he found it after a whil e impossibl e to
,

take his family with him and r e ,

luctantly he cons e nte d
to th e ir departure to E ngland At o n c ese . t fr e efrom
all family respo n sibility he e n tered int o those wide r
,
3 2 DAVI D L I V I N G S TO N E .

labours which ult ima t e ly led him across the continen t

Of Africa This was n o mere e ffort Of geographical
.

enterp r ise but unde r taken in a purely humanita r ian

,

spirit H e had by t hat time discover ed the growin g

.

en ormity Of the slave trade which prospered wh e rev er,

the Arabs , coast tr i bes and Por t uguese had access ; an d

,

t o stam p this out became on eo f t he ruling passions

Of his li fe W i t h a s t atesmanlike apprec i ation Of the
.

case he sa w t ha t i f he could fos t er leg i tima t e trade that

,

i n hum an flesh would p robably sub side I f t he tribes .

o f t he i nterior had nothin g to exchan g e for t hose co t ton s

a n d gu n s bright ti nsel ornamen t s, beads and wire

, ,

which were displayed so t emp t ingly before t heir eye s ,

a n d which they naturally coveted bu t the men women , , ,

and ch i ldren the y had cap t ured in their trib al wars ,

o r failing t hese even their o w n kith and kin then as

, , , ,

L i vingstone sa w plainly t he i r uncontrolled greed would,

lead th e m to t rade in slaves I n h is anxie ty to suppr ess.

t his growin g tra ffic , he sough t a n ou tle t for such ra w

m aterial a s the nat i ves could be induced to ga t her .

H is search for some great n atural highway t o the ocean

led him firs t to Loanda on the wes t coast, a n d then from
there to Q uilima n eon t he shores of the I ndian O cean .

Ye t all t he while he hungered for t he soul Of t he

African I t has already been men ti oned t ha t he believed
.

far more could be e ffected by nat i ve agencies than by

E uropean ; t hat t he vas t needs O f Africa could only
be met b y rais i ng u p a su i table supply from the
practicall y i nexhaus ti ble ma t erial a t hand H is v i ews, .

however di ffered from t he accep t ed i deas of mlss1 0 n a ry

,

labour Projected over a series o f years a n d much

.

t oil the y revealed t he true proport ion a n d perspective

,

o f even ts and e ortsff .

—
H ebec ame convinced a n d to
be convinced wit h Li v ings t one w a s to be enthusias t ic
as well— t hat t he evangelizing Of Africa w a s n o t to
be achieved in i t s earliest s tage by building station s
a n d se tt li n g permanen t ly am o ng on epeople ; but rat h e r
 MI SS I O N A R Y T R AV ELS .
33

by staying a few ye a r s with each t rib e p re achi n g the ,

G ospe l sp ecially i n structin g such as would r ec eiveit

, ,

a n d th e n moving o n to n e w t r ib es “
O ur own e . leva
tion h e said
,
” “
has be en th ework O f c e
,
n tu r i es ; and ,

re me mb e ri n g t his we should n o t i n dulg e in ov e

,
r
wrought expectations a s t o thee levation which thos e
who hav einherited thedegradation Of ag e s may attain
”
in our day .

An d so it happen e d that whenever a n d wherever he

,

trav e lled in theyears to come he sow e d t he se e

,
d as
he went Far a n d wid e he flung i t a n d far a n d w ide
‘

,
.

e v en to this day his nam eis remembe r ed with respect

,
.

Th ep r incipl ewhich actuat e d him through i t all is c on

ta in ed in those w e ll k n own words o f his : The end
-
“

o f the geographical fea t is only the beginning o f th e

missionary ent e rpris e ”

.

O n the I st Of June 1 8 4 9 and in company with two

, ,

E n glishm en ben t on sporting adventure — Mr O sw e ll

a n d M r Murray—Livingstone set o ut on his no r thwa r d
.

march . R ight in his track lay the g r e at Kalaha r i

Des e rt . From the O r ange R iver in the south to Lak e
N gami i n th enorth from theTransvaal on the east
,

to G rea t N amaquala n d on the we st this vast tract Of ,

e —
country xtends in its south e rn portions open and
grassy a n d in its northern wooded as well I t is flat and
, .

sandy and in many pa r ts grass grows luxuria n tly a n d

, ,

bush e s a n d trees a renot uncommon Here a n d th e re .

are disti n ctly traceable the beds Of ancient rive rs but n o ,

water e ver flo w s along t h em n ow I t i s a re gion O f few

.

wells and no streams a country o f complet ed r ought ;

,

a n d to th enatives a n d Boers who dw e lt east of it the ,

Kalahari Desert conv e y ed th e id e a Of utter desolation .

And yet this idea was in many respects erroneous .

La r genumbers o f Bushm en l e ad a n omadic lifeupon

this sandy plain From placeto plac ethey follow the
—a beast which resembl es the camel in his
.

antelop e
ab i lity t o disp e nse wi t h water—a s he roams on eof ,
34 DAV I D L I V I N GS TO NE .

enormou s herds acros s t he desert

,
Th e natives eat .

o f the scarlet cucumbers and the succulen t water melons -

which in many dist r icts carp e t the g r ound ; and the y

drink o f th ewat e r bea r ing tubers which found a foo t
-

o r so belo w the surface O f the soil produce a liquor of ,

surprising coolness And ju st as the sligh t and w i ry

.

physique o f the Bushman is adap t ed in n o common

measure to h i s local environ me n t so are many plants ,

found which are here and nowhere else provided , ,

with tuber reservoirs at a depth below the ground

-

sufficien t to preser ve life and ensuregrowth Animals .

whic h are u sually regarded as carnivorou s become

“ ”
herbivorou s in the presence Of tha t date palm o f -

the Kalahari t he wa t er melon

,
For n ot only d o the
-
.

elephan t an d rhinoceros delight in i t bu t t he j ackal , ,

the hy ae n a a n d even the lion himself eat o f i t readily

, , .

I n short despite the monotony Of th evege t at i on and

,

t he absolute wan t o f surfac ewater the Kalahari D esert ,

supports a large population n umerou s animals fruits Of , ,

several kinds in grea t qu an t ity a n d in many parts a n ,

abundance Of grass H os t ile in aspect i t h a s a n ot

.
,

unkindly heart : yet it s character is such that t he stranger

m ay d i e wher ethe native would fi n d enough a n d t o spare .

Aft er travelling fo r abou t a month sufferi n g a t times ,

a good deal from thirst a n d being deceived at others ,

by t he glittering salt p an s which appeared through

-

mirage t o be lakes o r rivers Livings t one a n d his par ty ,

reached the Zo n g a R i v e r From this poin t t o the N gami

.

Lake t he rou te w a s comparatively easy ; the river ra n

a sou t h easterly course from t he lake and t hey had bu t
-

t o follow the river .

I t w a s while ascend i ng t he Zo n ga t ha t L i v i ngs t one

firs t discovered t he n a t ure o f the region which is
generally called S ou t h Central Afri ca That vast
plateau o f sand which a rmcha i r geographers had
.

”
-

de c i ded was t he true character Of t his region disappeared ,

for e ver when L i v i ngs t one inquire d in t o the source Of

3 6 D A V I D LI V I N G S TO N E .

D escending the Zo n ga slowly and t aking mos t ,

ca r eful notes o f al l animal a n d vegetable li fe t hat met

his eyes Livingstone ret urned to Koloben g I n April
,
.

Of the following y ear how ever he once mo r e sta r ted

, ,

for the lake and S e bitua n es This time h e was a c’

.

compan i ed by his wifeand three childre n as well as by

ch e
,

Se le O n arriving at Le c h ula tebes h el o st no time

’
.

i n again pressi n g h is wish to b e allowed t o proc e ed

to Se bitua n es an d had j u st gained his point a n d
’

Obtained the promise Of substan tial help when an

unforeseen Occu rrence u pset all his plans Two Of his .

children and most o f h i s s e rvan t s were pros t rated wi t h

fever an d a n immediate depar t ure became nec e
,
ss a ry .

But it was t o the comparatively pure air o f t he more

elevated Kalahar i tha t Livingst one took h i s par ty
hi s depar t ure in fact was a re t reat
, ,
The low lying .
-

coun t ry rou nd the lake was eminently un healthy and ,

w i th slow steps a n d a sad heart L i vingstone returned

once m ore to Kolobeng .

—
H ere a fourth child was born only to be swept
away b y a n ep i demic preval e n t a t the time L i ving .

“
stone wro t e I t was the first death in our family .

We fel t her loss ke e n ly I t i s w onderful h ow

.

”
soon t he affec ti ons t w i ne round a little stranger S oon .

afterwards Mrs L i v i ngs t on e had a severe illn ess and

.
,

her hu sband bein g also in poor heal t h for the sake o f ,

change the whole party j ourneyed t o Kuruman wh e re ,

in the deligh t ful home which t he e fforts of R ober t

M o ffa t had crea t ed they gather ed streng t h for fu t ure
e ffor t .

I n April 1 8 5 1 a third a n d th i s ti me a success,

ful a t tempt was m ade to gain the country of the

,

Ma k olo lo The rou t e lay across t he wors t par t o f the

.

Kalahar i Desert a n d moret han once death from thirs t

,

appeared i mminent W hen wa t er becam e more fre

.

quen t ano t her danger appeared The children were

,
.

so sa v ag e ly a tt acked by mosqu it oes t ha t for a l on g ,

 M I SS I O N A R Y T R AV E L S .
37

tim eth e y were in a highly fe verish state Wh e n th e .

child re n se emed i mprovi n g a new cause for ala rm ,

aros e in the app e arance of the tsetse fly which -

th r eat e ned to d e st r oy the cattle th e ir sole mea n s o f ,

t r a n sport 5 0 gre
. at a part has this fly played in
African e xploration that a bri ef description Of it may
,

we ll begive n he r e .

I n siz e about tha t o f the common house fly a n d in ,

colour that o f thehon e y be ethis small a n d in sig n ifica n t

-

looking ins e c t is neverth e less te rribly po w er f ul O n .

this j ourn e y alone Livingst on e los t for ty th r e e oxen -

from its bite and they werewatch e

,
d so ca r efully that
he believ ed hardly a scoreo f fli e s had ev er s e ttl e d on
th e m Fatal as is its bite on the ho r s e ox o r dog it
.
, , ,

has n o effe ct upon ma n th emul e or goat o r upon wild

, , ,

a n imals I n the act of biting the middle prong of the

.
,

t r iple proboscis first pierc es the ski n and th en is partly ,

withdrawn while the mandibles set to wo r k Wh e n .

the fly has had its fill it brings its la r ge wings in to ,

action and go es away A n i r ritation s uperv e . ne s and ,

in th ecase of ma n sho r tly subsid e s I n theox how .

,

e ver aft er a fe
,
w days the poison has r e ach ed a hig h
stat eo f activi ty Catarrh occurs at the e
. yes a n d nos e ,

and in some parts a sli g ht sw e lli n g aris es Aft er .

this the muscles become flaccid th e a n imal rapidly ,

e maciated and i t ultimat e

,
ly di es of exhaustion S ome .

times if the bitten ox be in sup er ior condition th e

, ,

poison go e s to the brain produci n g bli n d n e ss and

,

stagg e r s and comparatively sudden d e

”
,
ath .

T h esymptoms which the organs o f animals S O d e

stroy ed pre se nt are those of blood poisoning and th e -

poison o f the tse t seis contained in a bulb at the root

-

Of the p r obosc i s The quantity how e

. ver is so minut e , ,

th a t it h a s been suppos e d that i t has the prop e r ty Of

re p roduction in the animal At any r at ethei n flu e . nce
Of th etsetseo n ho r ses a n d oxe
-
n is such that any o n e
who t r u s ts to them for thetran spor t o f h im se lf t hr o ug h
 3 8 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

a difficul t coun t ry will do his very u tmos t to avo i d t he

well — de fin e d localit i es which the fly a ffects .

At l ast L i vings t one reached the court Of S e bitua n e ,

a n d looked o n the face Of the ma n whose n ame was

the most wid e ly known and feared throughou t the
reg i on between the Cape Colony and t he Zambesi .

H e was a man in the pr i me Of life t all and st rong o f , ,

“
an Olive colou r a n d more frank in his an swers than
,
”
any other chief I ever met H is career had been a
.

chequered on e and i t was due t o h i s great coura g e and

,

ability that he had w o n for himself the posi ti on he held

as chief Of the warlike Ma k ololo H e received Liv i ng
.

s t on e mos t warmly and i t w a s a keen sorrow t o t he

,

lat t er and a grea t blow t o his hopes when S e bitua n e

died w it hin a mon t h Of his arr iv al .

Se bitu a n e was su cceeded b y M amoch i sane his ,

daughter a n d shegave L i vings t one and O swell per

,

m i ssion to go an ywhere t hey pleased t hroughou t her

country Th e . y a t on ce marched nor t h ward to fi n d the
great river Of wh i ch t he n atives had spoken a n d a t ,

the end of J une 1 8 5 1 t heir sear c h w a s rewarded a t

S esheke by t he discovery O f the Zambesi in t he heart
o f Africa .

Th i s was a d i scovery Of grea t geograph i cal i mpor

’
t an c c besides bearing d i rectly o n L i vings t one s cher i shed
,

scheme o f fi nd i n g a n d opening rou t es to t he oceans on

either hand U p t o this tim ethe very ex i stence Of the
.

river in the longi t ude Of S esheke was unknown The .

Por t u g uese, who held the coast on t he eas t a n d t he

wes t , were the p e ople mos t likely to kno w the e xten t
o f t he Zambesi ; but w it h few e xceptions t he Portu
g u es e have been during ,
the last cen t ury o r s o only ,

less disinclined t o explorat i on than to missionary en t er

pr i se Th e
. ir m aps , consequently placed t he sources
,

o f t he Zambes i far to the east Of ev e n S esheke ! A n d

y e t this is what Livingstone says Of t he river a t t hat
po i n t , and in t he dry season :
 M I SS I O N A R Y T R AV E L S .
39

The ri v e r was at its lowe st and yet th e r ewas a,

bre a dth o f from thre e hundred t o six hu ndred yards

Of deep flowing water At the p e .r iod o f its annual
in undation it rises fully twen ty fe et in p e rpendicula r
height a n d floods fi fteen or twenty mil es o f lands
,
”
adj acen t to its banks .

The o n e idea which poss e ssed L i v ingstone n ow was

to gauge the extent Of this vast highway for comm e rce
a n d civilization ; to t rac e it to i ts sourc e s to follow ,

it to the coast H e could not however do this with

.
, ,

his family n e ither could h eleave them in the swampy

region between the Chobe and the Zamb e si where th e ,

Ma k O lOlO were then living ; neither could h e send them

b ack t o Ko lobeng as th eBoers were not lik e
,
ly to leav e
them in peace th e re S O he determined , a s he has
.

“
told us to part from them for a time
,
I at once .

resolved to sav e my family fr om exposure t o this

unhealthy region by sending them to E ngland and to ,

retu rn alon e with a View to e

,
xploring the country in
search o f a healthy district that might prove a c entre
Of civil i zation and op en up the int e rior by a pa t h to the
east or wes t coast ”
.

H e a ccordingly took h i s family to t he Cape, a n d for

the fi r s t time after a laps eo f e leven years came in
contact with civiliz e d life Th e abs e nc ewas to befor
.

tw o years ; befor ethey met again five years had pass e d ,

and Livi n gston e from being a n unknown missionary

,

in B e c h w a n a la n d had l e
,
aped into wo r ld w i de fame by -

his famous journe y to Loanda , and th e n c eacross Africa .

W hile Livingston e was slowly return ing to Kolob eng ,

theBoers attacked the B a k w a in s, slew many and took ,

more away i n to cap t ivity H is o w n house was sack e

. d ,

the furniture carried away and all the books Of his ,

valued libra ry t orn to pi e ce s and the l e aves scatt e

,
re d
o n the grou n d outside his house E no rm ou s numb ers .

Of cattl ewe re raided and the children O f S e

, c h é le the ,

ch i e
f stol e
,
n I t was fortunat e for Livin g ston etha t he
.
4 2 DA VI D L I V I N G S T O N E .

was no t a t Kolobeng for Pretor i u s had threa t ened t o

,

kill him and t here c a n be li tt le dou b t tha t t hat threat

,

would have been carr i ed o ut There was no t the

.

shadow Of justification for th i s a n d o t her murderou s

i ncursion s o f the Boers ; and as L i v i ngstone subsequently
and shrewdly poin t ed o ut i f the B a k w a in s had been
,

producers of raw ma t erial for E nglish commerce, t he

ou t rageous conduc t Of the Boers would not have gone
unpunished n o t to men t ion unheeded by the E nglish
, ,

n ation And he adds : W e ought to encou rage the

.

African s to cultivate forour markets as t he mos t e ffec t ual

,
”
means , next to the G o spel Of the i r eleva t ion
,
.

As d i rectly assis t ing t o th i s end he becam e m ore

,

t han ever d e termined to open u p the in t e rior— the Boer

policy be i ng o n eo f exclusiveness S O aft e r some delay
.
,

owing to t he unse t tled s t a t e Of the cou ntry , he procure d

gu ides and a rrived safel y a t Linyanti the chief t own
, ,

Of t he Ma k ololo people , in the month Of J une , 1 8 5 3 .

I t will be remembered tha t dur i n g h i s last visi t he had

foun d t he countr y swampy and unheal t hy This second .

vi si t n o t only confirmed his Opin ion tha t the climate

w a s most hu rtful t o E uropeans bu t he also discovered
,

tha t many parts o f t he cou ntry were almos t impassable .

“
Livingstone speaks o f lofty grass which at certain ’

angle s c ut the hand s like a razor and which was so ,

w elded in t o m ass by climbing convolvuli t hat Often the ,

only way progr e ss could be m ade was by tw o or three

me n leaning aga i ns t a part and bendi n g i t down till
t h ey could stand o n a n d walk over it ! When to this
sort Of v egeta t ion i s added the fact that for miles an d
miles t he country was in fl oo d —stagnant ra t her than
curren t — t he difficulti es Of t ravel a n d theobs t acles to
t he ac ti ve work Of civilizat i on become m ore Obv i ous .

M amochisane, t he daughter o f t he Old chief S e bitua n e ,

appeared to have foun d the cares o f go v ernm e n t too

mu ch for her for she had handed them over to her
,

brother S e ,
ke le
tu B y th i s y oun g ma n Livin g ston e
.
44 DAV I D L I V I N G S TO N E .

t aken to purchase food from t he n a tives Li vi ngs t one s .

’

bed w a s a horse rug his blanket a sheep skin The

-

,
-
.

sole protection he a ff orded himself from tempes t uou s

w ea t h e r was represented by a sm all gipsy tent O n e .

moreit e m rem ain s t o be no ti ced H e had be e n g ive

. n
'

by M r M urray a magic lan t ern wi t h slides Of S cripture

.
-

scenes a n d t h i s always a fforded entertainmen t t o the

,

variou s audiences h e me t in h is j ourn e y “

I t was ”
.
,
“
he wrote ,
the onl y mode Of ins t ruc t ion I w a s ever
”
pressed to repea t .

Aft er crossin g t he r i ver C hobe a n d following i t s left ,

bank for some dis t ance Liv i ngstone arri ved a t S esheke
, ,

where for the second time he beheld the f grea t river ‘

-
t he Zambesi or Le ,
e a mbye ,
a s it was called by t he
n a t ives . H e proceeded in a n or t h westerly d i rection -

along t h e ban k Of t his r iver un t il he reached its c on,

fl ue n c e w it h t he Le e ba H ere the Le
. ea mbye ,
o r
Zambes i , bran ched O ff in a nor t h easterly direc ti o n -

away from t he course he had de t ermined to follo w .

The ban k o f the Le eba wh i ch i ssued from Lake

,

Dilolo in t he coun t ry o f Lunda in t he nor t h wes t ,

, ,
-

consequen t ly became his rou t e O n arr i vin g a t t he

.

lake he t rav e
,
lled across the coun t ry Of t he B a son g e ,

o v er the eleva t ed ridges which i ncreased in he i ght a n d

,

grand e ur a s he pressed forward a n d ultima t ely on t he ,

s 1 s t Of M ay ,
1 8 54 he arrived
,
a t Loanda t he chief t own ,

Of the Portuguese settlements on the wes t coast .

’
A few extrac t s from the D oc tor s journal will g i ve a
gl i mpse o f t he variou s scenes he encountered in this
march from Linyanti to Loanda, and enable the reader
to realise to a sligh t ex t en t some o f t he many di fficul t ies
a n d novelties which lay in h is path

The fores t s became more dense as we went nor t h .

We t ravelled much more in the deep gloom Of t he forest

than in Open su nlight Large cl i mbing plants en t w i ned
.

thems e lve s aroun d the trunks a n d branche s of gigant i c

trees l i ke bo a co n s
-
t ric t ors; a n d t hey often do cons tr i ct
 M I SS I O N A R Y T R A V E L S .
45

the trees by which th ey r ise a n d killing th e ,

m stand
, ,

er e ct t h emselv e s Th e re we
. reothe r t r e es quit en e w to
my companions ; ma n y o f them ra n up to a height Of
fifty fe et Of o n ethickness a n d without b r a n ches .

“
Th e rewas consid e rabl epleasure in spite o f r ain
p gloo mcon
,

an d fever in this new sc e

,
ne ry Th ed e e .

tra ste d strongly with th eshadel e ss glare of the Kalaha r i ,

which h a s l e ft a n ind e libl eimpression o n my m e mory .

Though dr e nch e d day by day at this time a n d for months

a fte r wards it was long before I could b e li eve that w e
,

w ere getting too much o f a good thing N or could I .

look at wat er b e i n g thrown a w ay without a slight ,

quick impression flitting across the mind that we we re

guilty of wasti n g it .

“
The number Of little village s se e med abou t equal
to the numbe r o f vall e ys E very village had its
idols near i t This is thecas eall through the country
.

o f the B a lon da ; so that when we came to a n idol in th e

,

woods we al w ays kn e
,
w that w ewere within a quart er
o f an hour o f human habitations .

“
W ecame to a most lovely valley abou t a mile a n d
a half wide A small stream meand e
. rs down the cent re
Of this pl e asant g reen glen ; and o n a littl erill which
flows into it from thewest e rn sid estands the town o f
—
Kabompo or as he likes best to be called S hi h te W e
,
.
,

found the town embo w ered in banana a n d other tropical

trees having gre a t expansion Of leaf He r e we .

first sa w na t ive huts with square walls a n d round roofs .

The fences or walls o f the courts which surround the

huts are wonderfully straight a n d made O f upright pol e
,
s
a few inches apa r t with strong grass or l e
,
afy bushes
neatly woven betw e en I n the courts weresmall plan
.

ta tion s o f t obacco and a little solanac e ous pla n t which

these B a lon da use as a relish also sugar and bananas .

When int e rviewi n g o n eOf the chi efs I introduced ,

th esubject o f theBibl e ; but o n e of t h eo ld cou n cillor s

brokein told all he had picked up from the Ma mba ri,
,
4 6 DAVI D L I V I NGS TO N E .

and glided O ff in t o several o ther subjec t s I t is a misery .

t o speak through an in t erpreter as I was n o w forced to ,

do W i th a body of me
. n like mine composed as t hey ,

were Of six di fferen t t ribes and all speak i ng the langu age
,

of the B e c hw a n a s t here was no di fficul ty in co m

,

mun ica tin g on common subjec t s w i th any tribe we

came t o ; bu t doling o ut a story in which they fel t n o
in t eres t and which I unders tood only suffic i en t ly well
,

t o perceive that a mere abridgmen t w a s g iven , w a s

”
un commonly slow work .

Througho ut this j ourney Livings t one suffered grea t l y

from fever a n d he arrived a t Loanda a mere bag Of
,
”
bones ,
so reduced was h i s frame by the cons t an t
re currence o f the mala r ia H e re i s a remark w hic h
.

s hows tha t he su ffered from more than t he actua l

“
disease °
O n S unday the l g th both I and severa l
, ,

o f o ur party were s e ized with fever a n d I could do ,

no t hing but t oss abou t i n my little tent w it h the ,

therm om eter above though th i s was the beginning

o f winter and my men made as much shade as possible
,

by plan ting branches Of trees all round a n d o ver it .

We have for t he firs t t ime in my exper i en ce i n Africa

, ,

had a cold wind from the nor t h All t he winds from .

that quar t er are hot a n d those from the sou th are cold ;
,

but they s e ldom blow from eith e r direct i on ”

.

N O wonder was i t that Livingstone rejoiced at reach

ing Loanda at last ! H is mind worn and depressed
by dis e ase and care his body wasted wit h fever a n d
,

chronic dysentery he was in a position to rece i ve

,

with all the gratitude of a g r at eful n ature the kindness

of the on e E nglishman living in Loanda a t tha t t i me .

Th i s w a s M r G ab r iel the B r itish commissioner for

.
,

t he suppression o f the slave trade “

S eeing me i ll ”
.
,

wro t e Livingstone he benevol ently O ffered me his bed

,
.

N ever shall I forget the luxur i ant pleasure I enjoyed in

feel i n g myself again o n a g ood E nglish couch after six ,
”
mon t hs sleep i ng o n t he g round I was soon a sleep l .
 AF R I CAN BU FFAL E S O .

CH A P T E R IV .

A C R O SS AF R I C A .

H E journ e y which had ended success fu lly a t

Loanda in spit eOf num e
,
rous physical di ffi culties
a n d the extortio n a n d hostility O f certai n chiefs had ,

n ot fulfill e d all Livi n gston ehad hop e d The count ry .

he had discovered was highly i n j u r ious to the h e alth

Of E u r opeans a n d could n o t th e
,
refore be r e garded as
suitabl efor th egreat mission centre e ve r b efore his
ey e s ; a n d th e difficulties Of th e rou t e preclud e d its
proving a n easy a n d safe high r oad from the i n t e -
r ior
o f the continent to th ese a H e had still before him
.

the discovery o f thes etwo necessiti es for the develop

me n t and e vangelization o f th e natives a n d to a man ,

o f Liv in g sto n es i n ten se consci e ntiousn e ss this discov e ry

’

app e a r ed in the light of an immediate duty Moreover .

,

his faithful Ma k olo lo who had accompa n ied him for so

,

many hundr e ds of mil e s to the shores o f the great se a ,

a n d who had look e d upon thewhite man s canoe in ” ’

the shape Of a B r itish war v e ssel a n d had declare

-
d it
,

se me
th e n could n o t be
“
to be n o canoe but a town ,
-

allow e d to fi n d th e ir way back t o Linyanti Their .

leader mu st tak ethem hims e lf .

48 DA V I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

In the meanwhile however, tha t leader was pro

,

stra te d by a severe at t ack o f fever lying for long w e e,

ks
on a bed o f sickness though carefully t ended by his
,

fe llow countryman Mr G abri e

-

,
l O n h i s recove ry
. .
,

Livingstone se t abou t acknowl e dging the many kind

nesses that had bee n shown him by the Portuguese
authori ties and inv estigat i ng th e s t ate Of a ff airs in
,

Loanda an d Angola , and the real policy o f the

government .

The t rade in sl aves Of which as he had drawn ,

nearer and nearer to the coas t he had met increasing

trac es as well as proofs was the uppermost idea in his
,

mind Despite the hospitality and person al courtesy

.

o f t he Port uguese he encountered at Loanda he could ,

n o t but se ethat t he attitude of hostility t o the slave

trade which they had recently announced was a mere
political form and that the m ater i al as well as the
,

personal i n t ere s t s Of the O fficials led them t o foste r

secretly, if n o t openly traffic i n flesh and blood , .

N othing could exceed h i s gratitude for their kindness

to him bu t nothing could w e
,
aken h i s firm convic t ion
that many o f t hem had a t hea r t the prosperity Of the
slave trade .

Although L i v i ngs t one w a s no t content with th e

discoveries he h ad made o n h i s way from Linyanti ,

there were no t wan ting others who Viewed his work

with the very highest apprec i ation The R oyal Ge o .

graphical S ociety regard ed it so favou r a bly tha t it ,

awarded him the Patron s G old M e dal Livings t on ein

’
.
,

deed w a sn o t unknown to the soci ety for i t had already

, ,

m ade h i m a grant o n his discovery Of Lak eN gami .

Th i s l as t achie v em e n t was o f great impo r tanc e; for

he had n o t only pass e d through e n ti r ely n ew country ,

taking mos t elaborate a n d careful not e s O f the g e o g ra

p hi c a l fac t s which everywhere presen ted th e ms elves to

him a n d en t ering most fully into consideration s o n th e
,

social fabr i c Of the inhabitan ts an d t he capabilities o f

 AC R O SS AF R I C A .
49

their e n v i ronment but h ehad also mad ean enormous

,

number o f ast r onomical calculations d e termi n i n g his ,

exact rout e and vastly e n hancing the value Of his maps

, .

I t was afte rwards said in public by his fri e nd S ir

Thomas M acl e ar the Ast r onomer R oyal at the Cap e
,
-

who h elped la rg e ly by hints and subseque n t Co r rections

to mak e thos e calculations complete that he n ever ,

k ne w a ma n who , knowi n g scarcely anything of th e

“

me thod o f maki n g geographical Observation s or l aying

down positions b e come so soon a n ad e
,
pt I say .
,

what that man has done is unprecedented Yo u .

could go to a n y point ac r oss the entirecon tinent alo n g ,

Livingstone s t r ack and fe

’
el ce r tain Of your position
,
”
.

Th e s er em arks though partly r e

,
ferr i n g to the wo r k
Livi n gston ehad just p e r form e d we re made afte r his ,

journ e y across the whole width O f A frl c a — a journ e y he

was now to commence H ehad taken six months to .

reach Loanda from Li n yanti ; th er etu r n jou rney was

to occupy just doubl ethat tim e an d six mo n ths more ,

w e reto be spen t in actual t r av e lling b e fo r e he reached

Q uilima n e .

I n addition to a n e w equipm e nt for the a r duous

wo r k before h im Livi n gsto n e took away from Loa n da
,

va r iou s pr e sents which t he Officials and merchants sent

to S e ke le
tu .

The Ma k ololo quite realised the benefit that direct

t rad ewith th ePo r t uguese o n the coast would beto them
e
,

and th ir appreciation o f all that th e y had seen was

enhanced by gifts to thems e lves O n leaving Loanda .
,

Livingsto n e gav eth e m eac h a musket besid e s takin g ,

with him a quantity Of cotton cloth a n d b e ads with ,

“
T h epa r ty was e nlarg e
”
which to pay his way . d by
several carr i e rs who were require
,
d to conv e y the in
creased baggage; and fi n ally on the 2 0 th o f S e ,
pt e mb e r ,

1 8 5 4 they se
,
t ou t from Loanda , and turned th e ir backs
upon t he whit ema n s sea ” ’
.

The route was almost identical wi t h that which the y

4 .
 s o DAV I D L I V I N G S T O N E .

had prev i ously followed Fin e ranges Of hills flanked .

t he path both north w ard and sou t hward an d while they ,

we re in Angola coffe e and cotton pla n tat i ons w e re

met with frequen tly As the country b e came mor e
moun tainous and th epath led thro ugh the dis trict O f
.

Ca z e ) the exce llence Of the co ffee — which g r ows wild

n
g ,
—becam emorem ark e d and produced a great impression
,

u pon Livingstone Th eg e neral fertili ty o f this hilly

.

regio n is in fact i ndis pu table bu t in Livingsto n e s

, , ,
’

time the ar t s Of cultivation were consp i cuou s by their

absence .

After spending some ti me a t various places in A ngola ,

the party set O ff again on their eastward m arch They .

were n o w passing t hrough a district d e void of ri ve rs ,

an d the rema r kable scarcity o f animal life m ad e t he

path almost dreary The he r ds o f g r aceful antelop e
.
,

the dark form s Of shaggy buffa loes an d the sle ek coated -

elands so common on t he banks o f the Zambesi were

, ,

absen t here The atm ospher ewas still and oppressiv e

.
,

and the glare o f t he sunli g ht o n the e ve r green foliage

made the o ccasion al S had eall the more welcome For .

th e trees were scattered and althou g h g ras s grew , ,

p r o lifi cly scrub

,
and b ush were scan t .

’
I n the ligh t Of Livingstone s later labours o n t he
head waters o f t he Congo an d of the recen t discoveri e
-

,
s
by Wissman and Pogge in t he basins O f t he C oango
’
and Kasai Livingstone s remarks o n crossing these
,

t w o rivers are specially in t eresti n g H e learn t through .

nati v e sources t hat the Kasa i a n d Coan g o finally converged

-
t he former rece i ving the latter— and that the united
streams were known a s the Zaire which was an ,

al te rn a t i ve n ame for the Congo H e also gathe r ed tha t .

a large number o f s tream s combined to form theKasai ,

a fact w hich l ater di scoveries have brought out in grea t

prominence : upon t he map o f Africa the feeders o f
the Kasai presen t an almost unique appearance The .

larg e wa t erfall wh i ch he w a s t old i n t errup t ed na vi g a ti o n

5 2 DAVI D L I V I N GS TO NE .

for a weapon t o settl eit . Both took very good car e ,

though not to meet e ach other when provid e

,
d with
weapons which might make th ea ffair ser i ou s Among .

thems e lves the natives cannot bear a grudge for long

at least as far as a fra n k exhibi t ion Of i t is concer n ed .

E arly in June soon aft e

,
r crossing t he Kasai the ,

m ount ain ridges were left beh i nd and Livingstone ,

e ntered o n the wide pla i ns which o n his westward

m arch h e had foun d flooded Animal life rapidly
.

i ncreased in quantity a n d va r ie ty and vegetat i on ,

assumed a brigh t er a n d more luxuriant character At .

o n e t ime they m arched across a wide belt O f y e llow

flowers at another over an equally broad band o f
,

flowers in every shade o f blue Aga i n and aga i n this

.

altern ation Of colour was repea t ed I t was whil e .

crossing t his beau tiful pla i n t hat t he Doc t or had his

twen ty sev e -
nth attack Of fever I ndeed throughout
.
,

his j ourney across Africa he was seldom i f ever free

,

from t his painful fea t ure Of Afr i can t ravel .

O n arriving at Lake D ilOlo Livingstone discovered

,

t hat t his comparatively small body Of wat er emptied its

waters both into the Zambesi a n d the Kasa i ; and that ,

consequently , it dis t ributed i t s contents as far as t he

I ndian O cean o n the o n eside a n d the A t lantic o n the
,

o t her I t was through this circum stance that t he c o n

.

tin e n ta l s t ru c t ure o f Africa became C lear to h i m The .

rivers in the western port i on flowed from elevated

, ,

ridges i nto the centre and he had learn t from t he A rabs

,

that much the same occurred in the eastern portion .

B ut that while o n edrainage sys t em had a southerly

decl ivi ty the other pursued a north e
,
rly cou rse In .

other words t he two great drain s o f Cen tral Africa are

,

the Congo and the Zambesi .

I n re feren ce t o t his grea t cen tral platea u ,

Living
“
I was
’
s tone s own words are well worth quoting .

thus ( a t D ilolo ) on the watershed or h i ghes t poin t Of

t he se t wo gr eat s y stems, bu t st i l l no t more t h an four
 AC R O SS AF R I CA .
53

thousand fe e t abov ethe l e ve l o f the sea and a thou ,

sand feet lower than the top Of the w e ste r n ridge w e

had already crossed ; yet instead o f lofty snow clad ,
-

mountains appea r ing to v e rify the conjectures o f the

speculativ e w ehad extensive pl a ins over which o n e
, ,

may travel a month w ith out se ein g anything high e r

than a n ant hill o r a tr e
-
e I was not then aware that
.

any o n ee ls ehad discov e red the eleva t ed trough form

o f the c e ntre Of Afr ica ”
.

This last re ma r k is in r e ference to S ir R oderick

M urchison who put forwa r d this theo ry while Living
,

ston e was bu r ied in the d e pths Of th e con t in e nt It .

was on the eastern ridge o f this basin li k e plat e au that -

theDoctor n ow hoped t o fi n d the h e althy dis t rict for

his much cherish e
-
d missionary centr e .

M any o f the native chi e fs w e remost ki n d to him .

Kat e ma whose domain s w e

,
re on th e Lo te mbw a and ,

w h o had trea t ed Liv i ngston ewith great hospitality on

thelas t jou r n ey was n o w rewarded with a sca r l e

,
t cloak ,

ornament e d W ith gold tinsel Wh e

.
n he left Livi n gston e
.
,

h emounted on t o theshoulders Of an att e nda n t This .

was in tended to bea dig n ifi e d mod eOf quitting hi s

guest ; but as K atema was a la r gema n Of stou t build
, ,

and his attendant but slight in fr am e the t e nure Of his ,

seat was appa r e n tly precarious and thegeneral effe ,

ct
not remote from the ludicrous .

S hi h t e again whos e town app e

, ,
ars on themap as
Kabompo was anoth e
,
r fr i e nd H e re ce d som e
iv e .

cotton cloth by way Of r eturn for his hospitality and

goodwill a n d was much st r uck with the adva n tag es O f
,

direct tradewith thew hit eme n o f th ecoast

“
Thes e .

Ma mba ri he said refe

,
rri n g to the n ativ es who w e
,
re
se n t from Bihe by thehalf cast et r ade r s -
thes eMam
bari C heat us by b rin g i n g littl epi e ces only ; but th e
next tim eyou pass I shall s e n d me n with you to trade ,

for mein Loa n da ”

.

Anoth e r fr ie n d in th eB a lon da cou ntry w a s Ma n e n ko ,

54 DAV I D L I V I N GS TO N E .

a fe male chie f S hewas u nable to meet Livings t one o n

.

this return journey bu t s e n t her husband S a mba n z a

, , ,

i nstead To cemen t etern al fri e n dship tha t blood

— ”—
.
,

brotherhood he re called k a se n di which i s so

common among the tr i b e s O f Cen tral Africa was ,

consummated ; and , as Livingstone gives a graph i c

description Of thecere mony i t will b ewell to quote hi s
,

words The ceremony took plac e between S a mba n z a

.

and P i tsane one o f the best Of the Doc t or s me

,
n
’
.

The hands O f t he p arties are j oined ; small i ncisions

are made o n the c lasped hands on the pits of t he ,

s t omach of eac h and o n theright ch e

,
eks and fore heads .

A small qu antity o f blood is tak e n O ff fro m thes epoints

in bo t h par t ies b y means of a stalk of grass The blood .

from on eperson is put in to on epo t O f n ative beer and ,

that of t he second i n to another ; each th en d r inks th e

other s blood an d th e
’
,
y are suppos ed to b e come per
p e tu a l frien ds o r relations D u r i n g the d r i n ki n g Of th e
.

be er s ome o f th epa r ty contin ue b eating the g r ou n d

,

with shor t clubs an d utter s e n te

,
n ces by way O f ratify

ing th etreaty The me n be

. lo n ging to each th e n fi n ish
th ebeer Th eprincipals in th ep e
. rformanc eO f k a se n di
’

are henceforth co n sid e red blood relations and a r e bound -

Th en e
”
t o disclose to each other any impending evil w .

made brothers clench the compact by presen t i n g to each

oth e r the most valuabl ethings th e y have abou t them .

M alarious fever and native hostility were no t the

only dangers that Livingstone had to face The wild .

animal s which abou n d in th eZam besi basin Often proved

formidable Obstacles in th e path Livi n gstone how .
,

ever never feared the lion much and in h is wri t ings

, ,

he did his bes t to d eth r one that lord O f th e desert

“ ”

from his place in public estimation Both th e el ephan t .

an d bu ffalo he con sidered mor edang e rou s t o then u

offending traveller a n d o n o n eoccasion in t his journ e
,
y
h e narrowly e scaped from death t hrough the m ali c i ous
a tt ack o f a bu ffalo .
 AC R O SS AF R I CA .
55

As I walked slowly h e says aft e ,

r the men on ,
“
,

an ext e nsiv eplai n cove r e d with a gr e at c r op of g rass

which was l a id by its ow n w e ight I Obs e rve d that a ,

solitary buffal o disturb e ,

d by oth e r s O f my ow n party ,

was co mi n g to me at a gallop I gla n ced a r ou n d bu t .

,

th eonly tr e eo n th eplai n was a hu n dre d ya r ds o ff and ,

th e r ew a s n o e scape e ls e w he r e I th e re fore cocked my

.

r ifl e w i th th ei n t e
,
n tion of givi n g him a st e ady shot in
th e fo r e he ad wh e ,
n h e should co me withi n th r e e or
four y a r ds o f me Th e thought flash e
. d across my
mind What if the gu n misses fi re?
,
I pl a ced it at
’

my should e r as h e cam eon at full sp e e d a n d that is ,

t re me n dous though g e
,
n e rally h eis a lumb e rin g looki n g -

animal in his paces A s mall bush a n d bu nch o f g rass

.

fifte e n yards O ff mad eh im s w e r v ea li ttle and e xposed

his should e r I just h ea r d the ball c r ack there as I
.

fe ll flat on my fac e T h epain must have mad eh im

.

re n ou n c ehis pu r pos e fo r h ebounded clos epast meon

,

to thew at e r wh e
,
r eh ewas fou n d d ead I n e xp r e ssi n g .

my tha n kfuln e ss to G od amo n g my me n th e y we re ,

much o ffe nd e d with thems e lv e s for n o t b ei n g p re se n t to

shi eld me from this da n ger Th etree n e ar mewas a

.

ca me l tho r n a n d r e
-

,
mi n d e d me that w ehad com eback
to thela n d o f thorn s a gain for the count ry w ehad l e ,
ft
is on eO f e ve r gre e
n s .
!

This pass a ge is worth quoti n g for mor e than th e

adven tu r e it desc r ib e s becaus ew ec a n disce r n in i t n o
,

fe we r tha n four of the chi ef t r aits Of Livingsto n e s ’

c ha r act e —
r four O f th el eading asp e cts O f his whol elife .

I n th efi r st pl a c e is hi s cool n e
,
ss in themome n t o f
da n g e r ; ne xt his tha n kfuln e
,
ss to G od and his custom
of rev e aling th ee xist e n c eof a ki n dly Provid e n c eto his

me n ; thi r d the fr i e
,
n dly r e latio n s tha t existed b e twe en
him and th e m ; and last ly th ehabit O f th en aturalist
, ,

which noted e verythi n g around him w ith the e y e o f

discernment howev e . r great o r n e ar peril might be .

Later o n wh e ,
n paddli n g down the Zamb e si in a
5 6 DAV I D L I V I N G S TO NE .

canoe he met with anothe r adventu re — t his t i m ew i th

,

a female h ippopotamu s This unwi e . ldly brut e with ,

o u t giving a mom e
’
n t s warning struck the canoe with ,

her forehead sen ding one hal f o f i t clean ou t o f the

,
-

wa t er O n e o f th emen was th rown i nto the river and

.
,

t he res t jumped in an d swam to shore which l uckily ,

for th e m was quite close I t is usual for trav e. ll e

rs by
wat e r to ke ep close t o shore in the day time as at that -

time t he hippopotami who are som etimes very savag e

, ,

frequent t he middle Of the stre a m By night wh e n .

,

these bru t es approach the banks trav e llers wit hdraw ,

to the middle I t was probably o n accoun t of kn owing

.

this tha t the charge o f t he hippopotamus was all the

more su rprising to L i vi n gs t one a n d his men .

O n arr i ving i n th e Barot se cou ntry Of which many ,

o f his me n we r e nat i ves th e r e we r e great r e

,
j oicings
marred here and there by the discovery o f the fi c k le
ness o f their wives These wom en appear to have
.

cons i dered an abse n ce Of two years o n the par t Of t heir

husbands qu i te su ffici e n t to warran t thei r remarriage -
.

Livingstone has told u s tha t Ma sha ua n a s wife who

“ ’
,

had borne him two child ren was among the number ,
.

H e wished to app e ar not to fe el i t much saying Why , ,

‘
,

wives are as pl e n tiful as grass and I can get anot her ;,

she m ay g O But he would add I f I had that fe

.
’
llow ,
‘
,

I would op e As most o f them had ’

n his ears for him .

mo r e w i ves than o n e I tried to console th e

,
m by saying
that th e y had still more than I had a n d tha t they had ,

e n ough yet ; bu t t hey felt th ereflection to be galling ,

that while t hey were toiling another had be e n de vouring

their corn .

I n S ept emb er 1 8 5 5 they marched into S eshek e and ,

Livingsto n e fou nd some goods and l ett ers which had ,

been lyi n g there for t welve months awaiti n g his re ,

turn N o t only had no t hing been taken bu t a hu t had

.
,

be en buil t ov e r th em fo r pro t ection from the w eath er .

S imilar ly on reaching Lin y an t i he found e

,
very t hi n g
58 DA V I D LI V I NG S TO N E .

j u st as h ehad l e ft i t This was a s t riki n g example

.

o f h onesty for th e Ma k o lolo werefeared through a

,

wide region for th e i r maraudi n g sp i rit and fondness

’

for raidin g among their n e ighbours ca ttle ’

.

T h e return o f th e trave ll er s was a tim e Of grea t

re j oicing All the wond e
. r ful things which the Ma k ololo
had s e en and m et w i th were reh e a r sed a hundred
ti mes to an au di e n c ewhos eappreciation n e ver waned ,

a n d w hos e appetite se e med only wh e tt ed by th etales

o f the marv e llou s adv e ntu res thei r ki n smen had gone
through The pre sents that th e Portuguese Officials
.

and m erchan ts h ad sent to S e ke letu w e re duly de

liv e “
red an d o n S u n day says Livi n gstone ,
when ,

Se kele tu mad ehis appe ara n c eat chu rch in his uniform ,

i t attract ed mor eatte n tio n tha n the s e rmon .

Livi n gsto n es un va ryi n g k indn e

’
ss to his men and the ,

hospitable n atu r e O f th etreatmen t thePo r tugu es ehad

ext ended to h is follow e rs w e re not forgotten They
,
.

spoke so w e ll Of their leader both in publ ic and in

,

private th at he soon had pl e

,
n ty of volunte e rs clamou r
ing fo r him to l e ad th e m down th eZambesi to the sea .

An d what pleased him morew a s the fact t hat the ,

M a k ololo s e em ed k e e n ly alive to the b e nefit O f t r ading

dir ect with Loanda and at once se t abou t prepar i ng
,

for ano t h e r expedi tion thit her Al though thi s firs t

.

trip on their o w n account was not altogether su ccessful ,

i t was owin g to th e ir inexpe r ience in trad erather than
any physical Obstacles p r esent e d by the j ourn ey And , .

at any rat e the r e se e

,
med eve ry probability of legi t im ate
trade ousti n g tha t n efar i ou s traffic which had begu n in
slaves .

O n th e 3 rd Of N ovember 1 8 5 5 L i vi n gstone left

, ,

Linya n t i and resumed his lon g march across Afr ica .

Se ke letu and a large number o f follow e rs accompanied

h im for som e distance an d then bade him an a ffe
,
c

tion a te farew e
’
ll Livi n gstone s sojourn am ong the
.

M a k olo lo had been m arked w i th conspicuou s su ccess ;

 60 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

da t e pa l m gl eam s like gold and t he s ca r l e t fru it ed

-

,
-

cypress lifts i ts d ark head above the surrounding

foliage The vege t ation i s trop i cal but t he scen e has
.
,

a repose which i s rare indeed i n a reg i on where all

form s o f lifeare exuberan t and aggressive .

These are som e o f thebeau ti es o f the m os t remark

able scene in the Zambesi basin B ut t he traveller .

passes them by al most u nheeded ; for right in fron t of

him and riv eting his gaze there r i se in to the h eavens
, ,

fi v e lofty column s o f vapour for all the world l ike ,

’
smoke These five great towers o f N ature s bu ilding
.

curl an d ben d to the fain t est bre eze and ye t never ,

ce ase t o soar till they are dissipate d in the ra rifie d

atmosphere o f greater elevation or mingling with the , ,

clou ds of a spen t storm are lost from View They are

,
.

t he sen tin el s over the most wonde r ful sigh t N a t u re has

prepared for man in Africa— a physical phenom e non o f
a pre em inen ce w hich i nduced Livingstone t o bapt i ze
-

them w it h a name o f equ al pre eminenc ein his ow n -

coun t ry and reveal to an a stounded world t hat u nr i valled

,

plunge o f waters as the V icto r ia Falls .

Livingstone cau tiou sly paddled t o an island in m i d

s t ream and on the very b r ink o f the fa l ls and this is ,

wh a t met hi s View Creepin g with awe t o the verge ,

I peered down int o a large ren t whic h had been made

from bank to ban k o f t he broad Z ambesi In .

looking down i n t o the fissure o n t he righ t o f t he islan d ,

on esees noth i ng bu t a d e nse white clou d which , at the ,

t ime we Visi ted the spot had two br i gh t rainbows o n

,

it
. From this cl oud ru shed up a great jet o f vapour
exactly lik e st ea m an d it mounted two o r three hun
,

dred feet high ; there, condensi n g i t changed i ts hue ,

t o that of da r k smoke and came back in a cons t ant

,

shower .O n th el e
ft o f the islan d we see t he water
a t the b ottom a w hite roll i ng m ass moving away to
,

t he prolon gat i on o f the fissure which branches o ff near ,

t he l eft bank o f th e ri ver The entire falls are

.
A C R O SS AF R I CA .
62 DAV I D L I V I NG S T ON E .

simply a crack made i n a ha r d basaltic rock from t he

right to the l e ft bank o f t he Zambesi an d then p ro ,

lo n ged from th el e ft ban k away th r ou g h thirty o r fo r ty

mil e s o f hills . Th ewalls o f this gigantic crack a r e
pe rpendicular a n d co mposed o f on e ho mogeneous mass
,
”
o f rock .

Th e s efalls are abou t three hundr e d fe et h igh an d

e i g hteen hu n dred yards in width The fissu r e into
.

w hich they plu n ge is so narro w as to be i nvisible till

the v erge is reached .

Livi n gston e was so imp r e ssed with this splendid

creatio n that he ret r aced his steps and persuaded
Se ke letu to visit the falls w i th him The effe ct on the
.

nativ emin d wa s o n eo f int e n se a w e .

The discovery o f the falls tak e n in co n j un ction wi t h

,

many oth e r facts known t o him le d Livingstone t o

,

conclud ethat in earlier tim e s a l arg eportion of Cen t ral

Africa had been on evast se r ies of lak es and that thes e ,

lak e s had dis appeared in t he fissures wh i ch t he forces

o f u pheaval had crea t ed in the elevated ridges which rim

the central basin As ins t ances o f similar outlets the

.
,

Co n go an d t he O range R ivers flowing through deep,

and narrow gorges o n reaching t he external rid g e, m ay

be cited I n passin g over the apex of the r i dge i n t he
.

neighbourhood o f the Zambesi Livingstone found it ,

fi vehun dred fe et in height and t hese easte r n highlan ds

,

m ore healthy than t hose he had already discovered in

t he west Th e
. re was moreover the additional advantage
, ,

Of a highway for civilizi n g and commercial purposes in

the great Zambesi R iver . H e had therefore a t last
com e to a region in which he migh t look w i th some
certain ty o f success for a distr i ct en tirely su i t able to
E u r opeans and capable of being u ti lized a s a grea t
,

m issionary set t lemen t and cen tre .

A n d a t t h i s stage o f t he jour n ey the nat i ves were

“ ”
bo t h hospitable a n d amenable to influence All .
,

h e say s ,
expressed grea t satisfac ti on on hear i n g my
64 DAV I D LI V I NG S T O N E .

message as I dir e,
cted their attent i on t o Jesus as t he i r
S aviour w hose word is, Peace on earth and good
,
‘

will t o men They called o ut We are ti r ed o f flight ;

.
’ ‘
,

g ive u s rest and sleep Later o n however, the

.
’
,

n atives mistaking him for a half caste Portuguese ,

,
-

showed a good deal o f hostility and Livings t one ,

very narrowly escaped with h is life from the people

o f M pe n de w h o,
dw e l t near t he confluence o f th e
Loa n gwa and Zambesi .

The cou ntry through which they were passing w a s

exc e edingly beau tiful At fi r s t furrowed by wide fe r tile
.

gl en s and a ft erward s open in g o ut int o a luxurian t

, ‘

p lain aboundi n g with a nimal life and v e

,
getation and ,

possessi n g the inestimable advan tage o f salubrity th e ,

Doctor felt that h e had at last reached the lan d of

promise for the missio n a ry cause M any o f t he hills .

were o f pure white m arbl e and pink m arble formed ,

the b ed of m ore than o n eo f the cont ributory s t ream s .

U pon t h e plains enormous herds o f zebras, buffaloes ,

an d el e phants grazed b e t ween the patch es o f dense

fores t which here an d there studded the grassy level .

Through this country the Zambesi rolled down t oward

the coas t a t the ra t e o f abou t fou r mil es a n hou r while ,

flocks o f water fowl swarmed u pon its banks or t ook

-

th eir fligh t acros s i t s wa t ers .

S o plen t iful was game, that the leadi n g me n had fre

qu e n t ly to shou t to the elephan ts or bu ff aloes which stood

in their path S om e times an elephan t would charge righ t
.

through t he litt le party ; at another t im e i t would b e

a buffalo U pon o n e occasion several bu ff aloes sud
.

de n ly charged a t full gallop into their midst o n eo f ,

them tossing a Ma k ololo high into theair Wond er .

ful t o relate he fell upon the groun d uni n j ured ! H e

,

had been carried so me distan ce on the horn s o f th e

bu ffalo, a n d then tossed ; ye t n ot only w a s n o bon e
broken bu t even the ski n was uni n jured The ma n
—
.
,

w as caref ull y shampooed O r to u se a phrase more

,
 AC R O SS AF R I CA . 65

in vogue just n ow ma ssag e ,

d— and in a fe w days was
a ctiv ely e ngage d in hunting buffaloes fo r food .

I n Ma r ch Livi n gston e arrived at T e t e thefu r th e st ,

outpost o f the Portugu e s ea n d was most kindly rec e

,
ived
by the gov e rn or F e ver again prostrated him a n d it
.
,

was n o t till thee n d o f Ap r il that h e could set o ut

onc emore for Q uilima n e H e l e ft his Ma k o lolo me
. n

at Tet e N early thre

. eyears elaps e d be fo r eh er e joined
th e m but h e had promis e
,
d to return a n d tak e them
hom e and b e
,
li e
ving in him implicitly t hey had
, ,

remai n ed .

Livingstone w e nt from Tet e to S e n a and though , ,

su ffe ring greatly from fe ve r h epush e d o n as soon as h e

,

could move and passi n g theimpo r tant affluence o f the

,

S hir e R iver finally r e ach e d Q uilima n eand gazed on the ,

gle ami n g wat ers o f the I ndian O cea n o n the2 0 th of

May 1 8 5 6
,
“
He re h ewrote
.
”
,
“
I was r e c eived into
,

the hous e o f Colo n e l N u n es o n e of the best me

,
n in
the country O n eo f th ediscoveries I havemad e
.

is t hat therea revast numb e rs of good p e opl ein the

world a n d I do most devou tly tend e
,
r my unfeign e d
thanks to that G racious O n ewho m e rcifully watched
ov e r mein e ve ry position a n d i n flu e n ced th ehear t s o f
,

bo t h black and whit eto r e gard mewith favour ”

.
 A FR I C AN C C T S
O KA OO .

C H AP TE R V .

H OM E .

“
FT E R wait i n g six weeks on t he g r eat mud
bank surrounded by extensive swamps a n d r ice
,

grounds which form s the site o f Q uilima n eLivingstone

,
”
,

e mbarked i n a British g un boa t for the M auritius Here

-
.

h e exper i enced the same generous hospitality which

had b e en ext ended to him at Q uilima n e an d wh en he ,

sailed in N ovember for E nglan d it was with recuperated

streng t h and some o f his old s t urdy S cotch vigou r .

After narrowly escaping shipwreck in t he M edi t erra n ea n ,

he finally reached E ngland o n the 9 th o f December 1 8 5 6 ,

.

The welcome that awaited him partook o f a national

charac t er, for from en d to e n d o f G reat Britain c on

gratula t ions and ho n ou rs came pouring in upon him ,

and the whole coun try rang with his name and his
achievemen ts in Africa I n the midst of much t o cause
.

thankfulness and j oy there w a s a sorrow which he fel t

,

most keenly Beside t he hear t h o f his co tt age home

.

’
a t Blantyre s tood his fathe r s empty cha i r While .

L i v i ngstone was o n his homeward journey t he father ,

t o whom he had long ed to t ell his wonderful e x pe

rie n ce s a n d who had looked so eagerly for his re t urn ,

68 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO NE .

of the interior of Africa a n d cam e in t ouch with the

civilized world at Q uilima n e he rece i ved a l e tt er from
,

the S ocie ty t o the e ffect that t hey w e

“
re restric t ed in
the i r power o f aiding plan s connected only remotely
wi t h the spread of the G ospel a n d tha t the fi n ancial ,

c i rcumstanc es o f t he S ociety were no t such a s t o a ff ord

a n y ground o f h O pethat i t would be in a position ,

wi thin a n y definite per i od to en t er u pon un t r i ed , ,

”
remo t e and difficul t fields o f labour
,
Livings t one .

took as any other ma n for the matter o f tha t would

,

have tak e n t his to be throw i ng a wet blanket upon

,
”

his en thus i asm and a hint tha t no support could be

,

looked for in further explorations o f a similar na t ure .

The S ociety app e ared desirous o f shelving the Doc t or s ’

plans ; so he did what he considered b est under the

circumstances, and shelved th eS ociety R eferring t o .

“
this le tt er in his work L i vingstone said ,
This ha s ,

been explained s ince as a n e ffusion caused by t emporary

finan c i al depression ; bu t feeling perfect confidence in
,

my Ma ko lolo friends I was determined t o return a n d

,

tru s t to their gen e rosity The o ld love o f independen ce

.
,

which I had so strongly before j oinin g t he S oc i et y,

a g ain return ed I n o t her words the connec ti on be
”
.
,

tw een him and the London M ission ary S ociet y w a s to

cease .

A t the p ubl i c recept i on given by t he S oc i et y to

Livingstone no t hing but kindly t h i ngs were said an d
, ,

Lord S haftesbury w h o presided pa i d a well deserved

, ,
-

t r i bute to the wife o f t he great explorer Tha t lady .

w a s born
”
said he
,
“
w it h on e distinguished name
, ,

which she changed for another S he was born a .

M o ff a t, and shebecame a Livingstone ”

The public is .

be tt er i nformed n ow than it was t hen , or Lord S ha fte s

bury would have had n o n e ed to sa y on eword more in
t he praise o f the du t iful daught e r o f R obert M o ffat, a n d
t he courageous wife o f D a vid L i v i ngstone
—
.

A mont h la t er he w a s b e
,
ginn i ng h is firs t book tha t
 H OM E . 69

v olum ewhich und e ,

r thetitle o f Missionary Trav e ls ,

was destin e d to w in a world wide reputation as a singu

-

la rly compl e te and abl e history o f his labours and

travels in Africa The b r oad View which h etook o f
.

'

his d uty as a missio n ary a n d the conscientiou sness

,

with which he acted up t o it o n e very occasion a re ,

remarkably conspicuous in the pages o f tha t most

interesting work Many subjects a re tre
. ated in it ,

a n d all with sci e ntific fidelity to fact There is no .

a t tempt a t ornate diction and no trace o f exaggeration

,
.

Those travellers tales o f d aring and adventure which

” ’
,

are so frequ ent in works of a similar nature a r e not to be ,

fou n d there . Wh en a remarkable discovery or a real

danger is noted , the language e mployed is so calm that
a c a sual reader might imagin ethe writ er i n diffe ren t to
their importance H erewe find a care
. ful description
o f some geographical fact and thereon eof a c o m
,

me rc ia l opportunity Anthropology botany ge

. ology , , ,

a stron omy, m e dicine, commerce sociology statistics , , ,

folk lore philology, a n d oth e

-

,
r important branches of
universal knowl e dge are all r e presented S uch ex .

amples o f th e m as he fou n d are desc r ibed with the

careful exactness o f the stud e n t and discussed with a ,

breadth o f View peculiar to the philosoph e r A n d yet .

—
through all this in t r icat efabric of fact thro ugh warp
—
and woof there runs the golde n th r ead which directed
and animated all his e ff orts a n d hallowed th elabours
,

o f h i s life. H is intense desire to b e n efit Africa and the

—
Afr ican to rid the o n eo f theblot with which slave ry
had da r k e ned it and to bring to theoth e
,
r th eabidi n g
e
b nefits o f t he G ospel o f p e —
ace a n d good will glows
th r o ugh all thenot e s of the naturalist a n d illumin e s the ,

gloomiest page in which t he deg r adation o f the nativ e

ra c e s is record e d The book is a mirror o f the scenes
.

an d pe opl ehe encountered and a n u nint e ,

ntional monu
ment to his o w n nobl edevot ion to a self impos ed duty -
.

Financially too the book was a succ ess Publish e

, ,
d .
7 0 DAV I D L I V I N G S TO N E .

a t a gu i nea t h e first editio n o f t welve thou sand was a t

,

once exhaus t ed E minent specialis t s v i ed with the Press

.

in giving i t unbou nded approval The practical world .

o f commerce was as much deligh t ed as the scien ti fic

circles o r the Chri s t ian churches Possib i lities hitherto

—
.

undreamed o f possibilities for fin anc i al as well as phil

an t hropic schemes — were revealed when Livingstone
gav eth i s record o f h i s m i ssionary t ra v els to t he reading
worl d .

O n al l s i des a n d by e very on ehe was sough t At

G lasgow, D ubl i n E din bu rgh
,
O xford Cambri dge
, , ,

H amilt on a nd his ow n n a t ive Blan tyre he gave

, ,

addresses which were listened to wit h equal interest by

,

the learned and the unlearned the old a n d the young , .

H on orary degrees were conferred o n him by O xfo r d ,

Cambr i dge a n d G lasgow

,
H e was elected to the
.

R oyal S ocie ty on t he proposal o f a d i stin g u i shed fello w

on b e
“ ”
half o f t he Q ueen The freedom o f the Ci ty
.

o f London o f G lasgo w , o f E dinburgh a n d o t her ci t i e

,
s ,

was bes t owed on h i m The medals of the French

.

G eographical S ociety a n d the S ocie t y o f Ar t s w ere

awarded him and in person he rec e
,
i ved t he gold medal
o f t he R o y al G e ographical S ociety H e was el ec t ed .

to the correspond i ng membership o f all t he chief geo

graphical societies o f t he world and h i s o w n College ,

o f Physicians an d S u rgeon s a t G lasgow welcomed him

t o the rare pr i v i lege o f an Honorary Fellowship .

A list o f some of the many distin ctions which were

“
showered upon this pla i n single minded man some ,
-

wh a t a tt enuated by y ears of t o i l and with a face tinged ,

”
by the sun o f Africa should not be closed without a
,

reference t o his visi t t o W i ndsor The Q ueen who .

,

never shows to more ad v an t a g e t han when honouring

som e illustriou s subject b y tha t graceful courtesy
for which sh e herself is so dis t inguished sen t for ,

Li vi ngstone I n t he course o f t he i ntervie w sheasked

.

man y t hou g h t ful , sea rch i ng q ues t ions, a n d re ce i ved

 H OM E .
7 1

replies which amused a s well as i n fo r med H ere i s .

on e. Livingstone told h e r that th eAfr ican ch i efs were

always asking him if his chief were r i ch a n d wh e n ,

answ e red in the affi r mative would ask ,

How many ,

cows has she? ”

With this method o f gauging he r
we alth the Q ue e
,
n was highly amused .

This quiet ma n from the wilds o f Africa was made ,

agai n st his will the lion of the season

“
,
”
Mobbed .

in R e gen t S treet ; pointedly referred to in church by

an indiscreet cl e rgyman who had noticed him and ,

consequently ru shed at by the congregation e — ven

—
across the pews as soon as thelas t Am e “
n a n d long
be foredec e ncy allowed th e m ; ov er whelm e d with in vi
ta tio n s to banquets and thedinner tables of th ein fl u -

e n tia l and wealthy ; writte n to by a legion o f inquisitiv e

rath e r than inqui r i n g p e r sons ; called o n and accoste d

by som e
“ “
bodies a n d nobodies wi th equal impro
” ”

p r iety
— Livingstone fou n d much o f his lifein London

mo re lively than pleasant I ndeed duri n g a pe r iod

.
,

o f his stay in E n gland he lived in th e sub urbs and

,

the country rather than risk the inconv e nient if kindly

att e ntion s that w e re paid to him No t that he was
.

inse n sible to thefe e li n g w hich was e xhibited towards

him but that he desi red for hi mself a little o f the
,

consideration which h ewas al w ays ready to acco r d to

others .

Livingstone s views on Afr ica and the work to be

’

done in its vast equatorial regions were e mphatic H e .

plac ed the slave tad e op e ,

nly introduced by the Arabs
a n d bolster e d u p by the Portuguese at thehead of the ,

abus e s to be swept away As long as it was permitt e

. d
to exist he saw plai n ly that n o re
,
al adva n c ecould be
made in the civilization and conve r sion o f thenativ e
races T hedistrust which it br e
. d in th en ative mind ,

and the hostility of the traders to thos e who would

supp r ess it re ndered the j ourneys o f the missionary
,

erilo us and h i s l abours fu tile Th at le g itima t e tra d e

p .
72 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO NE .

m
which the introdu ction o f com erce would prov i de was,
in Livingstone s opinion , t he most poten t weapon with
’

wh i ch to lay this hideous spectre I t appealed directly

.

to the self interests o f t he natives and revealed to t hem

-

the value o f labour While the resources o f fert ile

.

Central Afr i ca were u ndeveloped t he value o f t his ,

l abour was obscured ; bu t d irec t l y i t was perce i ved

t hat by cult i vating the soil produ c i ng raw materi a l
, ,

an d convey i ng i t t o centres o f trade an enormou s

i ncrease in prosper i ty would en sue the na tives —who ,

were keenly al i ve to the m ain chance — would spon ta

n e ou sly desert the traffi c i n blood and flesh and u t il i ze ,

their capt i ves in war o r those o f their ow n t ri bes whom

,

th e y sold, for the more remunerat iv e purpose s o f a gri

culture a n d commerce The sla v e t rade b y e
. mp tying ,

t he country o f t h i s l abour m ateri al , w a s prac ti call y

render i n g such a state o f things i mposs i ble, a n d shu t
ting up the in t e ri or in all i ts hopeless de g rada ti on a n d
helplessness By abolishing t h e slave t rade t herefore
.
, ,

legitima t e commerce and t he i n t roduct i on o f the way s

and mean s o f civi lization were made as probable as
they were possibl e; and hand in hand w i th civilization
, ,

thet each i ngs o f the Chr i st i an m i ss i onary wou ld dignify

labour inculca t e peace secure hones t y and generally
, , ,

eleva t e t he whole o f t he population .

With the slave trade bu t lit t le w a s possible ; t h e

slave trade suppressed all t hings would seem easy
,
.

This and much more were t he t exts o f e very S peec h

t h a t Livingst one made in E n gland R eferring t o his .

approaching departure he said in on eo f his speech e

,
s
at Camb r idge : Fo r my ow n part I inten d to go out ,

as a missio n ary an d hope boldly bu t with civility t o

, , ,

sta t e the t ru t h o f Christianit y , and my belief that those

w h o do not poss e ss it are in error My object in Africa
.

is no t on ly the e levation o f m an bu t that t he coun t ry

,

might be so opened tha t man mi g ht see the need o f his

’ ”
sou l s salvation .
 H OM E .
73

Upon a noth e r occasion whe n writi n g to on e who

,

thought there was too much “

ge ography a n d n ot
enough grace in his book hesaid : My views of
“ ” “
,

what is mission a ry are n ot so contract e d as those whos e

ide a l is a dumpy sort o f ma n with a Bibl eunder his
arm . I have labour e d in bricks a n d mortar at the ,

forge and carpent e r s be nch as w e

’
ll as in preaching
,

I fe el that I am not my ow n ’
a n d medical practice . I .

am serving C h r ist wh e n shooti n g a bu ff alo for my men

,

o r t aking an astronomical obs e rvation or writing to o n e

,

o f Hi s children who forg e t duri n g the little mom e

,
nt
o f penning a no t e that charity which i s eulogized as
,
’
‘
thinking no evil .

I n fact as L i vingston e says mo r ethan on ce in his

,

book, the leading influ ence o f his life and the most
powe r fu l mo t ive to all his actions are cont ained in
“
these words The end o f t he geographical feat is bu t
”
the beginning o f the missionary enterprise .

N o t withstanding t he excellen t reasons which he a d

d uc e d to th e contrary ther eweren o t wanting those
,

who t hought he had subme rged the m issionary in the

e x plorer. H is firm but court e ous refusal to a c t any
longer as an agen t o f the London Missiona ry S ociety
fo r taking which step hesaid afterwards “
I never felt
a si n gl epang —plac e
,

d him in a singula r ly independ e nt

position when such a n objection w a s raised , a n d gave
him a practical argument which was ha r d to confute
Knowing that some p e r son s do b e lieve that Opening
up a new count r y to the sympathies o f Christendom
w a s n o t a prop e r work fo r a n age n t o f a missionary

society to engage in I n ow r efr ain from taking any

,

salary from the S oci e ty with which I was con n ected so ,

n o pecu n iary loss is sustai n ed by any o n e

”
.

Many o the Portugues e esp e

f — cially thos ematerially
interested —wer efurious with Livingstone fo r his expo
sure o f th e ir suppo r t o f th eslavet r ad eand for pointing ,

o ut how opposed th e i r policy was to thedevelopmen t

74 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO NE .

of comm e r ce
. Liv i ngstone however ma de o ut too , ,

good a case fo r even the spec i al pleaders o f that

“

na t ion s colonial policy The prevalenc eof barba r ism

’
.

i n Portugues es ettlemen ts the shadowy authority o f the ,

officials over even the dis t ricts which w erenearest to

t he coast the exclusion o f commerce other than the
,

nefarious sys t em they monopolized the obstructive ,

tari ff i mpos e d at the two o r thr e e por t s which th e y

possessed th e ,
ir ign oran ce o f the cou ntry behind the
ma r it i me belt an d their unpleasa n t relation s with such
,

tribes as adj oined them were points which on eand all ,

Livi n gstone hi t right o n the head an d drove home with

convincing forc e .

The n ational fe eling t he opinion o f the autho r ities

, ,

an d the work an d writi n gs o f Livings t one hims e lf could

h ave bu t o n e conclusion I n F e brua r y 1 8 5 8 he was
.
,

a ppointed British consul for E ast Africa a n d t he dis

tric ts of the interior and at th esam etim eo ffe
,
r ed th e
leadership o f an expedi t ion for the exploration of Central
an d E ast e r n Africa .

The object o f the expedit i on was no t merely g e og ra

p h ica
. l The officers in charge were to encourage by
example and prec ep t the cultivation of such industr i es
a s would e n able the n a t ives to em ba r k on a reciprocal
t rade with G rea t Britain to inquire into the exten t and
utility o f such resources as were at hand and capable
of being i mmediate l y realised and above all t o in fl u , ,

ence the minds o f the n atives by an example o f c on

”
sistent mo r al conduct t o trea t them kindl y and minister
,

to th e ir bodily com fort t o t e ach them the simpl earts

,

o f manufacture ,
to in stru ct them in the broad virtu es
o f the Ch r istian faith
—
an d t o insist i h season and if
nece
, ,

ssary, o ut o f season — on the benefits o f t heir living

t ogether in u nity peace a n d goodwill
, ,
.

With such an obj e ct there was little doubt t hat

,

Livings t one would gladly take over thecontrol of the

Zambes i ex pedition As consul his position wit h
.
 CA M P .

C H A PT E R VI .

IN TH E Z A M B E S I C O UN TRY
.

t h e l oth o f M arch 1 8 5 8 the Zambes i E x ped i

, ,

tion left E ngland and, sailin g a id t he Cape of

,

G ood H ope arrived off the mouths o f the great river

,

in the followin g M ay .

The short s t ay that w a s made a t Capetown e n

route proved an event ful on eto Livingstone I t w as .

considered be t ter t h at his wife wh o was in poor h ealth ,

and su ffered much from fever symp t om s should remain ,

fo r a while wi t h her parents who werethen a t Cape ,

town an d rej oin her husband at a la t er da t e

,
Thi s .

was a disappointmen t to the lat t er as deep as it was

u n expected a n d al though he does n ot refer specially
, ,

to i t in his published j ou rnals in le t ters to friends he

,
”
charac t erizes the separa t ion as a great trial .

There was however some compensa ti on prepared

, ,

for him in the enthusiastic r e cep t io n he was accorded

by t he people o f Cape t own and the au t hori ti es o f
the Colony . I t will be remembered that when l ast
at Cape t own in 1 8 5 2 he was re
, ,
garded wi t h consider
able d i sfavou r owing to t he reports which t he B oers
,
 IN TH E ZA M B ES I CO U N T R Y .
77

had bro ught to the Colony N ow howeve r the table s .

, ,

were turn e d a n d thema n whom the peopl eo f Cape

,

town d elighted to sp e cially honour w a s Livingstone .

At a great a n d e nthusiastic public meeting the governor , ,

S ir G e orge G re y pres e nted him wi t h t he sum o f eight

,

hund red guineas e nclosed in a silve

,
r casket which had ,

been raised by public subscription as a testimonial to

the value o f the services he had performed which —
se rvices it was s e
,
en would large ly b e
,
ne fit Africa a s
a whole and Cap eColony in particular
,
.

Among them e mb er s o f the expedi tion w e re Cha r l es

Livingstone , the brother o f the Doctor w ho had ,

returned from clerical work in America o n purpose to

assis t him in his further explorations ; a n d Dr ( n ow .

S ir) John Kirk who was to be the naturalist and

,

physician o f the expedition a n d subs e qu e ntly for ,

many yea r s o ur highly esteemed consul at Zanzibar

-
.

The p a rty brought with th e m pack e d in sections a , ,

small steam launch for useon the Zambesi and which

-

was nam e d Met R obert aft er h i s wifew ho had be e

-
n give n ,

that name b y th e B a k w a in s in accordance with their

custom o f naming themother ( Ma ) aft e r her fi rst born -
.

The delta o f th eZamb e si is o f conside r able extent ,

i ts coast sid e from th eQ uilima n ebra n ch o n the north

-

to the Luabo on thesouth b e ing some e

'

ighty miles
,

in length The Q uilima n e chann e

. l how e ve r is n o w , ,

choked by vegetation and consequ e n tly d ry during th e

,

greater part o f t he year T he Lu abo is the chief

.

mouth a n d the river is navigable i n land withou t a

,

single break fo r nearly thr e e hundred miles — to the

Portuguese s e ttlement of Tete A fe w miles above the .

apex of thedelta the riv e r recei ves the S hir e which ,

is the ove r flow o f the important N yassa Lake Th e .

Zambesi is the great drain o f thepastoral b e lt o f S outh

Africa a n d its basin has a n area of som eeight hundred
,

e —
thousand square mil s or in other words is more than , ,

four times the S ize o f France The impor t a n ce o f the .

7 8 DA V I D L I V I N G S TO N E .

r ive r an d its fe rtile basin i s grea t and t he rec en t labours

,

o f the E nglish a n d S cotch i n various parts o f the

coun t ry which lie wi t hin its drai n ag esyst e m have re
ve aled w ith em phasis the valu e o f the discoveries and
pion e ering o f Livings t one a g e neration ago .

The shores o f the delta a relow closely embraced ,

by a m angrove j u n gle and pierc ed on all sides by

,

those stagn an t lagoon s which thedense and spreading

roots o f th emangrove i nvariably crea t e or foster F o r .

som e twe n ty m i l es inland from the K o n g o n emouth up ,

which the M e l R obe

-
rt ult i mately s t eamed the ma n ,

grove j ungle was found to be ve ry dense ; and Living

stone making every effort to re
,
ach a more healthy
re gion passed through a bel t o f wide le
,
ve l plain s o f
rich alluvial soil covered w it h gras s which grew t o
,

a he ight o f over te n fee t The n a t ives o f this bel t

.

of coun t ry live in houses raised on piles above the

r each o f flood an d en tered by ladders The fertility o f
,
.

the soil is ind i sputable a n d i s capable o f prov i ding

,

E urop ewith a n enormou s amou n t o f sugar and ric e ,

for the cultiva ti on o f wh i ch i ts low level a n d moist

na t ure r en der it adm i rably adap t ed From w i thin .

tw e n ty miles o f the se a to the head o f t he delta th i s

re gion o f fertile plains extends a n d although the clima t e

, ,

is by no mean s su it able for the E uropean a vast ih ,

dustry m ight hav e arisen here had n o t the foll y a n d ,

gre ed o f the Por t uguese by i ndulgi ng in the sla v e t rade ,

,

e mptied th ecountry o f the needful labour .

A t S hupa n g a the eleva t ion o f the country is some

,

wha t greater an d as a consequen ce t he climate a trifle

,

less malign ant From here howe ver to S ena Living

.
, , ,

s t one found the Portugu ese a t war with the nat i ves ,

and travelling became dangerous as well as difficul t .

The t ribes o n t he southern ban k were o f Zulu race and ,

t he Portu guese paid them a n annual tribute for the

right o f l i ving a n d trading in the i r coun t ry The t ri bes .

on the n or t h wereo f inferior phy sique a n d charac t er,

 IN T H E ZA M B E S I C O U N T RY .
79

and upon th e s ethePortuguese prey e d so un c e asi n gly ,

that the native spi r it was goad e d be yo n d su ffe ran ce ,

and oft en b r oke o ut in what c a n hardly be call e d

re bellion Th e sys tem o r no syst e
.
-
m o f colo n ization
which was pu rsued was proving somewhat exp e nsive ,

for at the time Livingstone wrote the provi n ce of

Mozambique was a h e avy charge upo n the Hom e
G ov e rnment and yi e
,
lded nothing in r etu r n .

Passi n g S e na — which is built o n the l e vel bank o f

theZambesi and has a background of mod e
,
r at e hills
and a look out across the r iver upon a lofty a n d
-

picturesque range—th e Doc t or pr e ss ed fo r ward to

Tete He r e h ewas r ec e iv ed by th eMa k o lolo— whom
fore —with the
.

hehad l e ft th e ren ea r ly thre eyears b e

gre at est a ff ectio n a n d e n thusiasm S ome of th e
. m had
di e d but th e su rvivors philosophically re
,
ma r k e d that
me n diein any count ry
”
. Whil eLivingston ewas in
E n gland th ePortugu e
,
s eG ove r n men t had i n form e d the
E nglish authorities that th e y had s ent orders to sup
port th e se Ma k o lolo u n til th e Doctor should re turn to
th e m Acti n g on this info r mation Livingston ehad not
.
,

return e d as soon as h ehad intend e d O n ar r ival at

.

Te te howe
,
ve r he found that not o n ly had the Po r tu
,

g ue se G ove r nment omitt e d to forwa r d th e necessa ry

intimation of their good intentions— i h ord e r to ca rry
th e m into e ffe ct —but that e ven thepay of the o fficials
of th e province was seve r al ye ars in arre ar ! Little
lik e ly w e re the Ma k ololo to rec e ive official co untena n ce
and support when the maint e nanc e o f the officials
th e ms e lves d e pe nd ed o n their o w n p e rso n al e fforts in th e
way of slave tradi n g and other m e
-
t hods o f gain more or
le ss legitimat e As it happen e
. d howe ve
,
r the p e r sonal
,

ge ne rosity o f the G overnor had materially assisted the

Ma k ololo in th e i r endeavour to support th e ms e lves .

Tet esta n ds upon som elow r idges on the right bank

o f theZamb e si a n d in Livingston es tim eit was sur ’
,

rou nd e d by a stone a n d mud wall, the huts o f the

80 DAV I D L I V I N GS TO N E .

natives be i ng outside this l i ne o f defence The Doctor .

found many ton s o f indigo gro w ing no t only in t he ,

vic i n i ty bu t even in the s t ree t s o f the town I ndeed

, .
,

th eindigo plan t was the chief w e ed o f the place a n d ,

re garded as such a n uisance t hat it was annually burned

o ff exactly in the same way a s t he n atives burned o ff
,

t he tall ju ngle grass This o n efact is a good illus t ra

.

t i on of t he neglect o f the Portuguese to avail t hemselves

of the natural resources o f the coun t ry in which th e y
had set tled .

I n spite o f t hi s Tet ewas a place o f some import

,

a nce owing to its b e

,
ing the fur thest inlan d se t tlement
o f the Portuguese A s a na t ural consequence, the
.

E urop ean s o f Tete were slave traders and the po s

se sso rs as well a s the vendors o f numerous slaves N ot .

i nfrequen tly th e y enriched themselves by t rad i ng in

ivory a n d gold dust bu t gradually th elucrativeness o f
-

that t raffic in human b e ings call e d with gri m hum our ,

“
black ivory o r ebony drew them away from the
” “
, ,

stable pursuit o f ag r icultur e to a feverish ques t after

S laves The result is e
. vid en ced in the state o f Te t e
to day The fer tile fields no longer cul ti va t ed have
-
.
, ,

re t urned to th e ir former j ungle condition and having ,

ne it her me n to work n or fight fo r them the Portuguese ,

G ove r nmen t has abandoned t he t own which is fast ,

lapsing to decay .

A short distance above Te t e the navigation o f th e

,

Zambes i is interrupt ed by th e K e bra ba sa rapids .

L i v i ngston e and Ki r k examin e d these falls with the

grea t est care no less than three times a n d they came ,

t o the conclusion tha t while i mpossible o f navigation ,

at ordinary t imes i t might be possible to do so at the

,

flood season when the riv e ,

r ros ea great height in t he
rocky ca n on which formed its bed and buried the rocks ,

a n d rap i ds below Bu t the force o f the s t ream at t his

.

ti me was t oo great for the M e l R obert t o s tem an d -

acc ord i ngl y L i v i n g s t one sen t a re por t back t o t h e

 IN T H E ZAMB ES I COU N T R Y . 81

G overnment pointi n g o ut the difficulties and asking

, ,

for a more powe rful st e amer .

I n the meanwhile he turned his attention to th eS hir e

,
.

O f this river thePortugues ecould t e ll him nothi n g but

what w a s erron e ous A n expedition i t was said, had
.
,

att e mpted to ascend it in former years bu t the impene ,

tra hlemass o f aquatic v e getation had made advance

impossibl e More . ov er theMa n ganja who dw e
,
lt o n its ,

banks w e,
re r ega r d ed as savag es o f themost blood
t hirsty type O u r gove r n me n t said o n ecommanda n t
.
”
, ,
“
has se n t us o rd e r s to a ssist and protect you bu t you ,

g o where we dar e not follow and h ow ca n we protect

,

you A s a matter o f fa Ct both Livingston ea n d ,

Ki r k were reported a s h aving been killed very shortly

a fter their departure

U pon entering th eS hir e in January 1 8 5 9 a good, ,

deal Of duckw e e d was met with but n e ver in suffici e nt,

mass to stem the progress o f canoes o r boats a n d aft e r ,

a few m iles i t almost disappeared The natives h ow .

,

e ver were very much in evid enc e and at first assumed

, ,

a n attitud eo f m arked hostility Bu t on being told that .

the whit e me n we re E nglish and that stat e me n t re

,

ce ivin g som esupport from thee ntirely nov e l boat in

which they t rav e lled th en ativ es b e cam e fri e
,
ndly an d ,

Tingane a notorious chi ef and a know n foeto the

, ,

Portuguese ext e nded his hospitality a n d protection

,

toward th e m .

A passage occurs in Livingston es book “

The
’
,

Zamb e si and its Tributa r i e s which may be quot e

”
,
d at
this point as showi n g th em e
,
thod adopted by him o n
goi n g among th e se savage tribes as a p e rfect stra n ge r .

“
I n commenci n g intercours ewith any peopl e w e
almost always refe rred to the E nglish d et e station
of slavery Mos t o f them a lready poss e
. ss some
inform a t ion respecting th ee ffort s m ade by theE nglish
at s e a to suppr ess th eslave t r ad e; and o ur wo r k b e ing
to induce them to rais e a n d sell cotton , instead o f
6
82 DAV I D L I V I N G S TO N E .

cap t ur i n g and selling t he i r fe llo w men our errand

-

appears qu i te na t ural and as the y all have cl e ar i deas

o f their ow n self interes t an d are keen traders t he
-

reasonableness of the proposal i s a t once admi tt ed ;

and as a belief in a S upreme Being t he M aker and ,

R uler o f all t hings an d i n the C ontinue d existen ce of

,

depart ed spirits is u niversal it becomes quite appro

, ,

p ria t e t o explain that we possess a Book containi n g

a revela t ion o f t he will o f H im t o whom in t heir ,

natu ral s t a t e they recogn i se n o r el a t ionship ”

.

Th roughout the most labor i ou s j ourneys in t he days ,

o f pain and disease , as well as t hose of vi g our and heal t h ,

Livingstone made a re g ular practice o f reading t he

Bible to h i s n ative followers , a n d explaini n g to them
the blessi n gs o f that U niversal Fatherhood wh i ch
regards all me n as brothers To the reve lation o f
.

such a l i fe as that o f t he G re
’

at Physician they would

lis t en wi t h the am azement o f children and be lost ,

in wond e r a t H im who laid down H is life for enemies

and fr i e nds alike For i t is n o t the ruling idea o f
.

Christianity which is a stumbling block to th en ative ; -

i t i s his inability after ages of moral darkness t o

, ,

en t irely eschew t he e v i l a n d cleav e to the good .

Livingston e in his compassion made allowances fo r

, ,

this ; and t hose who hav e taken u p his work do

“
well to remember it I s the civilized Christian so
.

con sistent that he c a n a fford t o cast a stone a t the

stark H e a t hen ?
A hundred m i les as t he crow flies from the
confluence o f t he S h i r e and Zambesi — or, if th e
meanderi ngs of t he river are t aken in t o account ,

some tw o hundred m i les fr om t hat poin t fu r th e — r

navigation was prev ented by the lowest o f thos e
large ca t arac t s which , from grati t u de and with appro
p ri a ten e s s
,
Liv i ngs t one afterwards called the Murchison
. e
Cataracts As thenativ s were to suspicious they o —
kep t wa t ch over t he little part y night and day for —
84 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

it to be pruden t t o advan ce along the bank the Doctor ,

sen t friendly messages to the neighbouring chiefs w it h ,

a V i ew t o fu t ure relations and re t u rned t o T e te , .

A m onth later he an d Kirk again arr i ved at the foo t

,

o f t he falls and t ravelling in a north eas t erly direction

, ,
-

a cross country they came t o the shores o f Lake

,

S h irw a o n the 1 8 th of April 1 8 5 9 This lake had never , .

been heard o f before, and conse q uently it was a genuine ,

an a bsolute discovery S ome seventy miles in length and

.

twen ty in breadth Lake S hirw a lies amid beau t iful

,

scenery The lofty ridge o f Zomba nine thou sand

.
,

feet in hei g ht which separa t es the lake from the S hir e

, ,

i s i ts western boundary ; an d o n the e as t r i ses t he

M alanj e cha i n a range o f equal magn i tude B u t t he
,
.

i mportance o f this discovery wa s enhanced t enfold when

L i vingstone learn t fro m t he n at i ves around i t s shores
tha t there was another lake t o t he north , only separa t ed
from t he S hirw a by a n arrow belt o f l and and c o m ,
“ ”
pared w i th which the S hirw a was no t hing in s i ze .

The Doc t or d i d n o t has t en for w ard t o th i s n e w

l ake a s he would have done had he been a mere
,

explorer ; but considering tha t t he gaining o f the

,

na t ives confidence wa s o f more value than exploration

’
,

he re t urned S lowly t o t he S hire, making fri ends a s he

wen t and finally reached Tete in safety
,
.

From here Livings t one and D r Ki r k steamed down .

to the mou t h o f the Kongo ue, in anticipa t ion o f meeting

a m an o f war which it had been arranged should
- -

bring them provisions Th is particular v e ssel failed

.

t o make its appeara n ce ; bu t by good fortune another

arr i ved and from it the y were enabled to reV i c t ual
,
-
.

Before r eturning t o Tete, t he M e l R obe rt w a s hauled -

up on land and her bot t om which was degenerating ,

w ith marked rapidity into the condition of a siev e ,

repaired with a deal o f labour and considerable ex

p en d itureof time The boat had proved
. a failure for
m an y reasons ; and if her builder had arr ived on the
 IN TH E ZA M B E S I COU N T R Y . 85

Zamb e si at th e time th e A sthma tic— as the me mb e rs

o f thee xp e ditio n call ed he r— was sn o r ti n g h e r l abo r iou s

way fr om K o n g o n eto T et e his r e ce ption at th ehands

,

of her c r ew would probably hav e b e e n ev e n wa r m e r

than that which the cli mate acco r ded S low sp e ed .
,

leaky d e cks badly fi tte d compartm e

-
n ts — so tha t the
,

water filtere d th r ough thesid e s an d w ett e d e ve rythi n g ,

ev e n th e b e ds a n d b e dding— w ere amo n g the chi ef

faults of the M e l R obe rt -
The disappointm e
. nt was
gre at for much had b e
,
en e
xp e ct ed esp e cially as the ,

builder had assu re d th e m that e xt r a good material

and workmanship had been put i n to th elaunch owing ,

to his lov e for thework which theM a R obe

“
rt was -

so mat e rially to assist !

I n August th eS hi re was ascend e d for the third tim e .

Th epeopl eo n this occasion w e rein n e arly ev e ry case

peac e ably inclin e d and Livingstone had ample oppor
,

tun ity to study thei r customs and i n qui r e into their b e li efs .

I t was hereh efirst me t with th epe lele cont r ivance ,

which in the opinion o f the n ative women so greatly
adorns them When told i t was ugly they replied much
.
,

as th e ir E urop ea n sisters mi g ht Re ally ! I t is th e

fashion .The pelele consists of a ring so ins ert e d in
th eupp e r lip as to draw it out in a horizontal lin e at
le ast two inch e s be yond th en os e T h er ing m ay be of .

metal or ivo ry and is i n s e

,
rt e
d at an ea r ly a g e .

These Ma n ganj a w e r e fou n d to b e li eve in a S up r e me

Being and also in a futu r estat e
,
We live said o n e
”
.
,

old chief o n ly a fe,

w days h ere but we liv eagai n aft e ,
r
de ath . W edo n o t k n ow wh ere o r in what condition , ,

o r with what compa n ions fo r th ed e ,

ad n e ver r etu r n to
te ll us . S om e tim e s the d ead do com eback a n d appear
to us in dreams ; bu t they nev e r sp e ak nor tell u s
wh e r e they hav egon e no r how th e ,
y fa r e .

Livin gston ew a s so i n t ere st e

d in th e s epeople that ,

writing to M r Jam es You n g his old coll e

. g efr iend h e
,
.
,

said I am ti r e
,
“
d of discovery wh e n no fr uit follo w s ”
,
86 DAV I D L I VI NGS TO N E .

and wen t o n t o d e scrib e the amoun t o f to i l w h i c h

the M e l R obe-
rt entail e
d on them was ti ng time which ,

m ight have been employed in del i vering the message

to t he people The quan tit y o f fuel she consumed was
.

enormou s and even w i th her furnace fu l l bu t little

,

speed was attained .

O n t he 1 6 th o f S eptember, 1 8 5 9 the g r ea t Lake ,

N yassa was d i scovered Th i s lake is more t han three .

hund r ed miles in length and abou t forty miles in width , .

I t fills a long t rench which i s some six hundred fe e

,
t
deep below the level o f the lak e and i s walled in on ,

t he e ast by a lofty range o f moun ta i ns reachi n g in t he ,

n orth east an eleva ti on o f ten thou sand fee t

-
The lake .

was found to be righ t in the t rack o f a grea t inland

trade From the cou n t ry o f Katanga a n d Cazem be
.
,

from those densely peopled d i stric t s ly i n g wes t o f th e

-

N yassa cam e Arab caravans brin g ing t he produce o f t he

cou n t ry —ivory malach it e copper orn amen t s, and too
,

often , e v en then gangs of slaves —down t o t he eas t

, ,

coast t o t he ports o f thePor t u g uese and th e A rabs to

, ,

I boe M ozambique a n d Kilwa

, ,
.

Livingstone sa w clearly t hat i f h e could es t ablish a

s t eamer upon this lake and buy t he i vory from the n atives
,

with E u r op e an goods he would a t once s t rike a deadly

,

blow a t the slave trade The o v er l and j ourney to the .

coast was so long and l abor i ous t ha t i t onl y paid t he

Arabs to bring slaves from fa r Ka t anga and Lunda
when t hey could u t ilize them for carry ing the ivory .

T h epresence o f this s t eamer would l ar g ely a ffe ct th e

i nterior t rade because the traders were n ot allowed by
,

the n at i ves to pass by the n orthern end o f the N yassa

so tha t with wa t er communication from e n d to end o f

the lake and excep t ing the on eb r eak o f sixty mil e

, ,
s a t the
M urchison Cataracts th e nce a id t he S hir e an d Zamb e
,
si
t o the se a a compara ti v e
,
ly small number o f men a n d
b u t tw o or three boa t s would be suffic i en t to hold the
nefar i ou s t raffi c in check This able me t hod of copin g .
 I N T H E ZA M B ES I CO UN T R Y .

w i th t he di fficu lties of thequestion was origina ted a n d ,

for a long time cherished by Livingstone H esa w the

,
.

Arg os i es of m agi c sa i ls ,

P i lotsof th epu rpl et w i l ig h t d ropp i g d ow n w i t h cos t l y b l e

,
n s a ,

from that n e w -
found Ca t hay reaching to the world o f
,

E urope and the shores o f his beloved Britain The .

trade which devastated thecoun try a n d blunted the b est

fe elings o f thepeople which made labour a n d commerce
,

imposs i b l e, and ma n
N eith e r b ru t en or h u ma n ,
But a ghoul ,
”

this t rade w a s t o be swept away t he people t aught to

,

obtain what they wanted by exchanging the fruit o f

th e ir ow n i n dustry humaniz e
,
d by p e ac eful labour and
Chr i stianiz ed by so w ers of the G osp e l see d life m ad e ,

pleasa n t a n d sacred as well a s safe homes provided by ,

the salubrious slopes o f t he mountains encircling N yassa

fo r E uropeans who could work with the i r ow n hands while
“
e
t heir t ongu s weren o t dumb — this was thevision
which aros e before Livings t one s eyes a s they l ooked’

across t he gleaming lake a n d rested on the unbrok en

hori zon and i t was the desire t o br i ng abou t its fulfil
,

ment that led h i m back t o the Zambesi a n d in touch

onc emore with those fr iends in far off E ngland who -

were best able t o assist him to this end .

H e was at this pe r iod most sanguine o f a great

succ e ss a n d th e
, re c a n be n o doubt that h ewould hav e
achieved somethi n g like i t had n ot theattitude o f the
Portuguese and t he Villainies o f the slave t raders
con spired to undo what he had already begun to do .

H e could no long e r bein doub t as to the real fe e '

lings
o f the maj ority o f the officials in E as t Africa ; for
althou g h t he Home G overnmen t continu ed to s e nd o ut
orders for his support these orders were neglected a n d
,

ignored I t became only too evid e

.
“
nt to t hese official
gen t ry t ha t L ivings t one mean t no half measures, -
88 DAV I D L I VI N GS T O N E .

bu t the o u t a n d ou t eradicat ion o f the slave t rade

- -
.

And as this would involve the fi n an cial ruin o f the

governors deput y gov e
,
rn ors commandan t s an d a hos t
-

, ,

o f small fry who were more o r less openly engag e d

in the profitable “
black ivory trad e i t b e
”
came the ,

obj ect o f t he Portuguese o n th eZa mb esi to put every

’
difficulty in L i vingstone s way t o blacken his charac t er ,

a n d re ad his motives back w ard with all the cunning ,

an d mendacity which na t ure and habit had so bounti

fully bestowed upon them S e e i ng th i s Liv i ngstone
.
,

m ade u p his mind t o be independen t o f them as far a s

poss i ble a n d i t w a s with t his in t en t ion tha t he subse
,

quently explored t he R ovum a R iver in the h ope o f

finding a n alternative rou t e t o the N yassa Kin d a s .

many o f t he Portuguese had been t o h i m personall y ,

he was determ i ned to oppose the official a t t i tude o f

t he coas t author i ties a n d escape from t he t rammel s
,

which it cas t abou t h is e ffo rts .

Before embarking on this n e w course, he had a

du ty to fulfil H e took th e M a k ololo back to t h eir
.

homes and he has told us with what genuine plea

,

sure h e preached again t o his fr i ends t he people o f ,

Se ke letu .

Their journey t h r ough the i n t ervening coun t ry had

been a great su ccess the people being friendl y and
,

hospitable Mpe . n de who had in ,

former years been
so hostile received Livings t one now with open arms
, .

Bu t t he M a k o lo lo wer e n o t prospering S e kele tu had .

been attacked by l e prosy a n d kept himself hidden in

,

h i s hu t palace Pr et enders had arisen a n d rebellion

.
,

broken o ut ; the p e opl e had not cul t ivated thei r fields

with th e ir usual diligence, a n d many were su ffer i n g
from famine .

L i vings tone stayed some time w i th the m pr e aching ,

and doctor i ng and h elping them in every way which

lay in his power and in S ep t ember left the m for t he
,

eas t coa st Desp it e his adv i cea n d warn i n g s, despi t e

.
 IN T H E ZA M B ES I CO U N T R Y . 89

his e ffo r ts a n d influenc e t he g re

,
at warlik e Ma k o lo lo
kingdom was b reaking up was al r e— ady drifti n g to
de struction . A few ye a r s aft e
rwards S e ke le tu died ,

a n d war aft e r war brok e over the country as the ,

various pretenders to supremacy ass e rted th e ir claims .

The usual end of a native e mpire was at hand .

N eighbouring t r ib e s pou r ed in o n e v ery sid e taking,

first o n e pa r t a n d then anoth er bu t always claiming

,

th e ir o w n ind e pend enc e and b eforelong th e

,
re re igned
in the rich valley o f the Zamb e si from th e V ictoria
,

Falls to the Barotse country a score o f independent

,

tribes who spoke o f S e bitua n ea n d S e keletu a n d th e

warlik eprowe ss of th eMa k ololo as persons a n d m att ers
o f history and who u n like Livingston es e arly fri e
’

, ,
nds ,

were giv en over to th ed ebasi n g and fa t al practice o f

the sl a ve trade The Ma k ololo em pire w a s n o more
. .
 A N A T I E ANCE CEN TR AL AF R I CA
V D , .

C H APT E R VI I .

N YA S S A LA N D .

’
N E of the results o f L i v i ngs t one s many le tt ers
home urgi n g the n ecessity and pointing o ut
,

the advan tages o f opening up the S hir e valley and the

shore s o f Lake N yassa by m i ssionary l abour and the
founding o f a colony was evid e ,
nc ed early in 1 8 6 1 by
th earrival o f several me mbers of the O xford an d Cam
bridg eMission to Afr i ca A t t he i r head to gu ide and
.
,

control was B i shop M ackenzie a hard wo r king a n d

, ,
-

patien t man W ith them arrived t he P ion e

. e
r a steamer ,

sen t by the G o v ernment in reply to Liv i ngston es request ’

,

and wh ich w a s t o be u ti lized n ow for work on the S hir e .

The M e l R obe
-
rt had succu mbed to her many ail men ts by

making a final exi t on a sandbank n e ar S en a L i vin g .

stone i h themeanwh i le had written hom eto hi s friend

M r Jam es Young asking him to purchase ano t her
.
,

s te a mer out of the ample funds which M issionary

Travels had raised for him a n d con sequ e
”
,
n tly good
days appeared to be in store for t hose w ho had b e en ex
h a ustin g time and s tre n g t h in t heir heavil y hand i capped -

st ru gg le for the regenera t ion o f Afr i ca .

9 2 DAV I D L I VI NG S TO N E .

would n ot demand so m uch o f th e energies o f the

expedition as to pre vent the constan t and con tinual
preaching o f the G ospel With commerce a n d Chris .

tia n ity advan cing side by side the peaceful conques t ,

o f this gr e at land o f wat er w ays seemed at hand The .

visio n indeed was fair bu t Livingstone w a s no t d est i ned

,

to b e hold its fulfilme n t .

O n his arrival at K on g o n e Bishop M ackenzi ew a s ,

all anxiety to proceed at once t o th e S hi re Bu t a s .

the P ion e er was u nder orders to explore th e R ovuma

R iver with a V i e w to ascertaini n g whe t her an al t e
,
r
native wa t er route t o the N yassa exis t ed a n d t here ,

be i ng no o t h er boat availabl e his i mmediate d epar t ure ,

w a s i mpossible The Bishop finally agreed to accompan y

.

Livings t one in his trip u p the R ovuma .

V ar i ous delays which had occurred preven t ed Living

stone from ascending the R ovum a far t her than to find
the scenery even more beau tifu l than tha t o f the
Zambesi then the rapid falling of t he river warned him
tha t i f the P ion e er was to get safely back to sea a n d not
me et o n som e sand o r m ud bank t he fate o f t he M a -

R obe rt i t was high time t o return

,
Had he n o t been .

accompanied b y memb ers o f th e m ission h e would ,

probably have trav e lled alon g thebanks o f th eriver ;

bu t he was i nduced o n their b e half t o abandon t he
a t temp t and comfor t himself with th eresolve t o pro
,

ce ed a t som efutur et i m efrom the N yassa eastward until

he a gain struck the riv er The P ion e er st e
amed o ut o f
.

the R ovuma an d with Livingstone as p i lot and captain

,

rou nded Cape Delgado sail ed down t he M ozambique

,

coast and s afely makin g the K o n g on emouth ascend e

, ,
d ,

the Zambesi and S hir e .

W h i le o n t he R ovuma th eP ion e e
r had proved to
draw to o much water for t he t or t uous an d frequently
shallow reaches o f African r i vers O n the S hi re t his .

defec t came o ut in startling pro minence Many a ti me .

sheg ro unded w h ere a vessel drawi n g bu t a fe w i n ches

 N YA S S A L AN D .
93

le ss would have passed with eas e O n o n eoc casion .

a whol e fortnight was employed in g e tting her o ff a

bank o f drifting sand which shehad only j ust grazed
,
.

This singl e d e fect caus e d i n num e rabl e d e lays and a

consta n t toil i n which the unacclimatized missio n aries
,

we re n o t far b ehind At least some of them fo r it is

.
,

n o t to be su pposed that among half a dozen me n fresh

from the luxuries o f U nive r sity a n d E n glish life n o t ,

o n ewould be a laggard o r less enthusiastic fo r the

,

mission caus ewhile wo r king u n de r a n African sun than

wh e n contemplating the r e generation o f a conti n en t
from th epersuasive va n tag e —grou n d o f E n gland But .

those who were mor efitted for th eha r d e n durance o f

r eal mission life b e hav e d nobly “

I n hauling the
.

P ion e er
”
,
wrote Livi n gston e over the shallow places
“
, ,

the Bishop with Horac eWaller a n d M r S cudamore

,
.
,

we re ever ready an d anxiou s to l e nd a ha n d a n d wo r ked ,

I n all r e
”
as ha r d as a n y o n board . spects save that
o f draught th eP ion e er was admirably suited for the
wo r k for which she had be e n built .

I n ascending the S hir e Livingston e r e

,
alis ed a truth
o f which both th e
,
n an d e ver since theexploration o f ,

Afr ica has yi e lded abu n da n t proof Too oft en if n o t .

,

invariably th epluck a n d su ffe

,
ring of the travell e r in
opening up n e w routes and discovering conten ted if
ignora n t races have b e e n ill reward e d by the imm e diate
result Fo r in his steps hav ecome the Arab a n d half
.

caste t r ad e rs a n d guided by his discoveri e

, s th e y have
laid wast e the smili n g fi e lds burn t the Villages and
,

t owns and carried o ff th ep e

, ople in C hains to be sold
as slaves Throughout C e
. n t r al Africa this rule has
obtained .The ad vanc e o f theArabs from the coast
has practically depopulat e d vast tracts o f the interior ,

an d e ven th ed e velopme n t o f the C o ngo Fr e eS tate has

n o t been a n unmixed bl e ssing The Arabs, taki n g
.

a dvantage of E uropean philanthropy hav eactually b e en ,

helped in their t rade in slaves by th eadvantage s which

94 DAV I D LI V I N GS TO N E .

t hat great comm e rcial highway h a s placed in t he i r

ha n ds N ow as in thedays o f Livings t on e t he great
.
, ,

question re m ains unsolv ed : H ow can we ben efit Africa

and n o t b e ne fit th eA r ab
Wi t h d e ep disappointmen t Liv i n gs t one pn o te d the
combined forces o f theexpedition a n d m ission up the
S hir e W he n near the Murchison Cataracts they met
.
,

Livi n gs t one says “

a lo n g lin e o f manacled men
, ,

women , a n d children The black owners arm e . d wi t h ,

musk ets and bedecked with various articles o f finery ,

m arched j au n t ily in the front middl e and rear o f the , ,

line some o f them blowing exultan t n otes ou t o f long

tin horn s Th e y seemed to fe
. el th at they w e r edoing
a very n oble t hing and might proudly m arch with a n ,

air o f triumph But the instan t the fe . llows caught a

glimpse o f the E nglish th e y dar t ed o ff lik e mad into
th e for e
”
st This was certainly a com pliment to the
.

n ation which Livings t one represented and o n ewhich ,

would never hav e been paid to t he Portugu e se T h e .

slaves were r e leased from their cha i n s, a n d t aken

cha r ge o f by the mission .

S hortly aft e r this fo r the firs t t ime during the D octor s

,
’

m any years o f travel in Afr ica he was fired upon by ,

th enativ e s The party had been freein g a number o f

.

slaves whom th e y had met and asc e rtaining that the , ,

Aj awa a t ri be near the Zomba rang e had be e

,
n activ e ly ,

engaged in raiding among the peaceful M a n ganj a for

slaves i t was resolved t o pay thechief o f the Aj awa a
,

Visit with a View to weani n g him from his nefariou s

,

ways The pa t h led through a coun t ry in the activ e

.

stage o f devasta ti on The smoke from burni n g villages.

arose t o heave n the shri e ks o f widowed and wound e

,
d
women fell o n their ears The Aj awa received th e .

party with a heav y fire and in self defe n ce it had

,
-

t o be r eturned H ad we known bett er says

.
”
,

Liv i n gstone “
the e ffect of slav ery and murd e
,
r on the
te mper o f t hese bloodthi r sty m arauders we should ,
 N YA S S A L A N D .
95

hav e t ri ed messages and presents b e fore going near

”
them .

A fe w days aft e
'

rwards t he mission fixed their first

station at M a gomero the town o f th echi ef C h ig un da
, ,

and w hich lay o n theeast e rn slope o f th eZomba rang e;

a n d th em e mbers o f thee xp e dition bad ethem farew e ll .

By way o f parting advic e and in an sw e r to a n inqui r y

,

o f the Bishop s as to
’
his p r otecting vi e i a rmis the
‘

Ma n ga n j as from th e marauding Aj awa Livingston e ,

d eclared most e mp h atically that such a policy would

le ad to mischief You will beoppressed by thei r im
.

p o rtu n it ie,
s bu t do n o t int erfe r e with n ative quarr els .

Had such advic e be e n he e de d the troubl e s which

,

subs e qu e ntly b e set th e mission would probably have

be en avoided .

T h er e maining history o f th e Un i versities M ission

in the basin o f the S hir e may be b r iefly related h e re .

O n Livingsto n e s d e pa r ture the Bishop and his c o

’
,

a dj uto rscommenced th e requisite pr e liminary operatio n s .

T h eBishop set to wo r k to l e arn thelanguag e M r Wall er ,

.

un de r took the buildi n g o f then e ce ssary houses and ,

M r S cudamore sta r ted a n infant school After a tim e

. .

th e y be cam es e riously i n volved with thenatives and in ,

th ecou r s eo f some agg r e ssiv edeali n gs with theslave

t r adi n g Aj awa and others suffe red much from exposure .

Th e anxi e ty a n d toil coupl e d with thefact that th e

,

u n he althy season was b r ingi n g with it the usual s eri es

o f ills le ,
d to theu nfo r tu n at ed e ath o f the Bi shop fr om ,

fe ve r whil eend e
,
avou r i n g to desc e nd the S hir e H is .

companio n Mr B ur r up who was also su ffering sev e

,
.
,
rely
from dysentery had just stre ,
ngth enough to stagge r to
thegrave which th e ir Ma k ololo s e rvants had mad e and ,

th e re rep e at som eportio n s o f the S e r vic efor theBu r ial

o f the Dead . M r Bu rr up was th e
. n car r ied back to
Magom er o by the Ma k ololo and soon aft e r di ed T h e
, .

be haviour o f th e s es er vants was spl e ndid For th re e .

lo n g w e e ks th e y sa t beside theBishop s mat as without ’

,
9 6 D A V I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

med i cine o r proper food he slowly grew weaker a n d

su ccum bed Their devo t ion to M r Burrup w a s as
. .

great ; and i ndeed t hroughou t t heir connec t ion w it h

, ,

the miss i on these men who had lea r n t t he character o f ,

t he w h i t e ma n from so great a teacher a n d example as

Dr Livi n gstone served their masters w i th con spicuou s
.
,

loy alty and zeal .

I n April 1 8 6 2 M r W aller a rr i ved a t S hupa n g a a t

,
.
,

the h e ad o f the Zamb esi delta, t o collec t provisions .

The depredation s o f the Aj awa and a drough t, which

occurs every few years in thi s re gion had made food ,

so s carc e that many o f t he people were s tarving , and

t he mission ari e s were suffering from diseases resulting
from poor an d i n su ffici en t food H aving h i red a n d .
‘

l oaded a number o f canoes Waller reascended the ,

S hir e only to discov e

,
r that the remn ant o f the m ission
a t M a g omero had fled down t o th elow valley o f the

S hire an d taken u p their quar t ers with Chibisa a

’

, ,

friendl y ch i e f This was a most unhealthy s it e bu t in

.
,

spite o f Waller s remons t rances all preferred to s t ay

’

by the S hi r e ra t her t han return to the u plands o f

Zomba Wi t hin a short space o f t i m e t hree of t he
.

par ty died an d Tozer who arriv ed soon after to succeed ,

M ackenzi eas bishop , d et e rm ined to abandon t he mI S S I On

o n the S hir e and make Zanzibar its headquarters
,
And .

this to Livi n gstone s un sp eakable grief he did The

,
’

,
.

Doctor writing to h i s friend Maclear, at the Cape, said

,

he fe l t inclined to sit down and cry ”

Thehopes and .

“
labou rs o f years seemed shat t ered in a momen t I .

” “
see that if yo u g o he wrote t o the Bishop, t he l as t
,

ray o f h ope for this wr etch ed trodden down people -

d i sappears and I again from the bo t tom o f m y h e

,
ar t
entreat you to reconsider the matter ”
.

The m a tt er w a s n o t r econs i dered however ; a n d ,

Ma c k e n z ieS suCc e
’
ssor while enj oying the style a n d
'

title o f Bishop o f Central Africa con t ented himse l f

“ ”
,

w it h apply i ng his o w n i n t erpreta t ion to the words ,

.
 N YA S S A L A N D .
97

confin i ng his re sidence and labours t o the island o f

Zanzibar and get t ing a distant View o f the contine n t on
,

a fi n eday .

I n t he meanwhile o n leavin g the mission at Mago me ,

ro ,

the Doctor with Charles Livingston eand John Ki r k had

started for N yassa The P ion eer w a s left at C h ibisa s
.
’
,

at the foot o f the M urchison Cataracts and a small boat ,

was ca r ried along the banks fo r some forty mil e s until

they could pu t it o n th eu pper S hire Then ce th e y
’

proc e eded to the N yassa arriving at th elake on the ,

2 n d of S e ptember .

The first point o f interest noticed was a long

promontory projecting like a tongu e in a n orth e
,
rly
, ,

direction from theextreme south o f th elake and which ,

th e y named Cape Maclear in ho n our o f the Doctor s ,

’

old frie n d the Astronomer R oyal at Capetown This

, .

p romon t ory is moun tai n ous and no bot t om could be got , ,

at that time with a lin eo f thirty fivefathom s The

,
-
.

N yassa in fac t was to prove a v ery di fferent lake from

, ,

the N gami .

The mountains on the wes t o f the lake are the lofty

edges o f the central plateau ; thos eon thee ast aft e r ,

wards called the Livings t o n eR a n ge are isolated Th e ,

.

months o f S e ptember and O ctober which Livings t on e

spen t on the lake were s t ormy an d these moun tain ,

ranges drew down upon its s ur face fierce and sudd e n

gusts o f wind The squalls would come wi t h a sudd e
. n
rush only discernible by the white line o f l e
,
aping
breakers before t hey swooped down u po n the small boat
with a roar and often was Livingstone caught a n d
,

detain e d on his oe ton r of the lake by t hese dang e

’
rous
'

sto rms .

“
N ever before in Africa he writes “
hav ewe se e n , ,

anything l i ke the dense population on the shore s of

Lake N yassa I n the southe r n part t here was an
.

almost unbroken chain of villages O n t he beach o f .

we ll nigh every litt l e sandy bay dark crowds were

-
98 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

s t and i ng gaz i ng a t th e novel sigh t of a boa t under

,

sail ; and where v er we landed we were surrounded in

a few seconds by hundreds o f men , women a n d childre n, ,

who hastened t o have a s t are a t the chirombo wild ’

e
-

animals To s e th e an i mal s feed was the greatest

.

’
at t rac t ion : never did the Zoological S ociety s lions or
monkeys draw more sightseers than we did The .

wondering mul t itude crowded round u s at meal t imes -

and formed a t hicket o f dark bodies all looking o n , ,

apparently w i th t he deepest i n t erest ; bu t they good

,

naturedl y kep t each o ther to a l i ne we made on the

sand and left u s room to d i ne Tw i ce t hey wen t the
,
.

len gt h o f l i fting up the edge of our sail which we used ,

a s a ten t a s boys do t he cur t a i n s o f travellin g mena

,

ge rie s a t home A t o n e vil l age only were they

.

impudent bu t the , y were ‘

eleva t ed by beer ’
They .

cult i vate t he soil pret ty ex t en sively and grow large ,

quan t i t ies o f ri ce a n d swee t po t a t oes as well a s maize, ,

m apira a n d mille t I n t he north however , cassava is

,
.
,

the staple produ c t wh i ch , w i th fish kept till the flavour

,
”
is high cons t itu t es the ma i n support of t he inhabitants
,
.

Livingstone foun d t he natives add i c t ed to t he use o f

the pelele the horizon tal ring orn am en t for t he upper
,

l i p and tattooed from head to foo t S ome o f the tribe s

, .

raised u p k n obs on theskin of t he face which gav ethe ,

appearance o f leprosy to many o f the older people I t .

was the fashion among them and mos t o f the tri bes o f
the Zambesi t o c ut their rea lly fine t ee t h t o poin t s like
thete e th o f cats E verywhere the v i sitors were rece i ved
.

w ith kindness save and excep t when t hey c ut across the

,

path o f t he slave t rader The peopl ethen became im .

“
puden t an d dishones t ; t heir first ques t ion was H ave ,

y o u come to buy slaves and o n be i ng told t hat th e

E nglish ne v e r bough t slaves the inquirers becam ec o n
te mptuous a n d even refused to sell food
,
I t was near .

on e o f t he crossing places on t he N yass a that Living

-

s t on ew a s robbed , for t he first t ime in Africa a number -

I OO DAV I D L I V I N G S T O N E .

o cc urred, a n d t he s t eamer lay at o n eshoal for fi velong

week s .

O n arr ivi n g a t t he Portuguese se tt lemen t s on t he

Z ambes i he expec t ed t o beques ti oned abou t t he freeing
,

of t he slaves whom he a n d t he Bishop had me t u p

th e S h i r e Bu t on l y on eremark was made ; h e was
.

“
Yo u t ook the governor s S laves did n t you
’ ’
a sked , ,

L i vings t one repl i ed t hat he certainly fre ed some gangs

he had encoun t ered and goes o n in his book to sa y , ,
“
t hat t he Portuguese o f Tete from the go vernor down ,
”
wards were extensively engaged in sla v ing
, .

The 3 oth o f January 1 8 62 was a grea t d ay for t he

, ,

Doctor H M S Gorg on appeared off the m outh o f the

. . . .

K on g on ea n d L i v i ngstone steaming ou t in the P ion e

, ,
er ,

wen t on board to find his wife a n d a st eamer which

, ,

he had ordered t hrough James Young a n d which was ,

intended for work o n the N yassa Mrs Livingstone . .

had been in E ngland since parting wi th her hu sband a t

Cap et own bu t had now come o ut to j o i n him in his
,

work S he was not to h e

. lp him for long .

The unhealthy season was a t i ts heigh t , a n d t he

party were d e layed a t S hupa n g a by t he slow proces s o f
conveying the many sections o f theLa dy Nya ssa t o tha t
place a n d there fit t ing t hem toge t her The surround i ng .

low land rank w it h v ege t ation a n d reekin g from t he

, ,

la t e rainy season , exhaled t he malari ous po i son in

e n ormo u s quan tit ies O n the 2 1 5 t o f April Mrs
—
. .
,

Liv i ngs t one fell ill on the 2 7 th sh edied .

Al t hou g h L i vingstone t ouches on t his grea t gri ef bu t

sl i gh t ly in h i s jou rnal —a n d which is con sisten t wi t h his
a lmos t comple t e suppression o f person al a n d religious

feelings in t ha t book —t he death o f his wife w a s a grea t

blow I n his priva t e j ournal we find ev i dence o f his
.

sorrowing tho ug h n ot a s on ewithou t hope Here are

, .

som ee x t rac t s
“
I lo v ed her when I married h e r, a n d t he l onger
I l iv ed wi t h h e r I l ov ed her them ore I t is the .
 N YA S S A L A N D . 1 01

firs t heavy stroke I have suffe red and quite takes ,

away my strength My M ary how often we have

.
,

lon g ed for a quiet hom e since you and I w e ,

re cast
adrift at Kolobeng ! G od pity the poor childre n ,

who were all tenderly attached to her ; and I a m left

alo n e in theworld b y on ewho m I felt to be a par t
o f myself . S he re sts by the large baobab t re e
a t S hupa n g a . V ividly do I rem e mber my first
passage down in 1 8 5 6 passi n g S hupa n g a with the
,

impr e ssion that it was a b e autiful spot I n some .

oth e r spot I may hav elooked at my own resting plac e ,

-

may be allo t ted I have often wished that it might

.

be in some far off still deep fores t w here I may sleep

-

swee t ly till the resurrection m orn .

The blow was crushing and for a whil e L i ving ,

s t one was quite b e wildered G radually his old energy .

returned and with som e

,
thing o f his old vigour he
superintend e d the launchi n g o f the La dy Nya ssa But .

a gain d e lay had worked against succ e ss for the rai n y ,

season w a s past and th e re was n o prosp ect of the

,

steamer bei n g able to ascend the S hir e till theend o f

t he year O n ce more therefore did Livingstone sail
.
, ,

u p the M ozambique coast and e nter the R ovuma .

After e xploring abou t a hund re d and fifty mil e s of

that river, and ascer t ain i ng in spite of the hostility o f
the nat ives that it had no direct connection with the
N yassa he returned t o the Zambesi a n d in January
, , ,

1 8 6 3 once again en t ered th eS hir e

, .

The desolation work e d by th eslave trad eduring his

absence was appalling The river banks which had
.

forme rly been so populou s we r e n o w sil e nt ; all the

Villages had been burn t and t h e ir inhabitants killed
,

o r carried away into captivity Here and there t hey .

came upon some wre tched su rvi vor suppor t ing hims e lf ,

on fish or wild berries but the population was either

,
“
de a d or gone . The sight a n d smell o f dead bodie s
w ase verywhere M any skele t on s la y b e
. s id ethepath ,
1 02 DAV I D LI V I NG S TO N E .

where i n the i r weakness t hey had fallen and exp i red .

The corpse o f a boy floa t ed past t he ship ; a

monstrous crocodile rushed a t i t with t h e speed of a
greyhound , caugh t it , and s hook it a s a terr i er dog
d oes a ra t . O thers d ashed at t he prey each w it h his ,

powerful t a i l causing t he wa t er t o churn a n d fro t h ,

as he furiou sly tore o ff a piece I n a few seconds i t

.

”
w a s all gone . The sigh t was fr i gh t ful t o behold .

As usual, in t he pa t h o f t he slave t rader had followed

a fam i ne. The labour o f t he coun t ry be i n g removed
w it hou t warni n g t he crops are n ot ga t hered i n and
, ,

t he seed i s n ot sown and those who have escaped t he

cruel merc i es of t he t rader die of the l i nger i n g pa i n s
o f starva t ion Aft er describ i ng t he hideou s s i ghts
which t he S hire
.

v alle y presented a t t ha t ti me , L i vin g

“
ston e wr it es °
The sigh t o f t his desert bu t e i g h t een ,

m onths a g o a wel l peopled valley , now li t erally s t rewn

-

w i th human bones forced t he conv i c t ion upon us t hat

,

u nless the sl ave t rade— t ha t m ons t er iniqui ty which

—
h a s so lon g brooded over Afr i ca is pu t down , l awful
”
c ommerce can not be es t ablished .

While t he La dy Nya ssa w a s being t aken to pieces,

a n d a road alongs i de t he Catarac t s u nder construction ,

t he Zambes i E xpedi ti on was recalled This w a s ano t her

.

’
blow to L i v i ngstone s plans though hardly t o his hopes ;
,

he had l ong expected i t The grounds upon wh i ch t he

.

recall was issued were t ha t t he expedit i on had prove d

more cos t ly t han had been e s ti ma t ed and the re t urn ,

w a s n o t adequate t o the expense A t the bo t tom o f

.

this t he s t rained relations between t he E nglish and

,

Portuguese G overnmen t shad a good deal o f influen ce

in the ma tt er ; and , although public fe ling a t home w a se
a roused on t he slave t radin g qu e -
stion there w a s some
,

c omplicat i on accordin g to the diploma t is t s in t he

, ,

manner in wh i ch t he exped i tion was dealin g o r said

to be dealing w i th its prac ti cal solut i on .

O f thev a lu eo f thew ork of thee xped iti o n t h ere

1 04 DAV I D L I VI N GS TO N E .

could be n o quest i on a n d a br i ef summary o f i ts

,

m ain ach i evemen ts was g i ven at the beginni n g o f this

chapter S ince t hen the grea t N yas sa Lak ehad been
.

naviga t ed and the possibility o f a water rou t e t o i t

,
-

by the R ovuma negatived The salubr i ty o f t he ele

.

vated coun try aroun d the lake and the higher poin t s
al ong the S hir e vall e y and no t directly o n the r i ve r
, ,

h ad been es t ablish e d and t he extrem e fertility o f th e

,

s oil pro ved bey ond doub t And las t and also first .
, ,

the labours of the expedit i on had t racked t he sla ver

t o h is inlan d haunts laid bare the cruelties a n d evils
,

wh i ch followed in hi s t ra i n and po i n t ed out the way

,

t o d i m i n ish his influence a n d circum v en t h i s cu nn i n g .

I n do i ng all t h i s L i v i ngston e and h is compan i ons had

,

proved to t he n atives that there were wh i te me n who

nei t her bough t n o r sold t he i r fellow crea t u res a n d t o -

,

whom the villa i n i es o f t he slave trade were de t es t able .

H e h ad ga i ned for t he name o f t he E ngl i sh bo t h t he

resp e ct an d a ffectio n o f the nat i ves .

H e had done t h i s bu t he w a s n o t con ten t Du ty ,

,
.

a s he sa w i t beckoned him i n t o the in t erior l ed him

, ,

on t o fur t her labour There w a s t o be n o t urn i ng

.

b ack fo r him .I n a le t ter t o M r Wall e r h e sa i d .

’
I don t know whe t her I am to go o n t he shelf o r n ot .

”
I f I do I make Africa t he shelf
,
The expedition might
.

be recalled a n d its work be fin ished bu t Livingstone ,

had not ye t fulfilled h is self imposed task and his -

work was to go o n The hand o f d uty was b eckoning

.

t o him from the hear t o f Afr i ca and he n o w prepared ,

to ob e y it .
 A I EW
V ON LA E T AN G A N I A
K K .

C H APT E R VI I I .

I NDI A A ND EN GL A ND .

EF O R E h ecould penet r ate Africa ag ai n w i t h any

chance o f success , Livingstone well kne w tha t
he mus t raise funds Th e re were two ways o f doing
.

this : first by selli n g theLa dy Nya ssa which had cost

, ,

him nearly an d in the ev e

,
n t o f n o t doing

tha t by going to E ngland and raisi n g mon e

,
y there .

H e resolv e d to try th efirst .

The Portug ue se authorities o n h e aring that the

,

steamer was for sale o ff e red to buy it but Livi n gston e

, ,

r efused to se ll i t to th e m knowing that it would soon

,

be subs e rving their purpos e s by h elping in the slave

traffic H e th en s ail ed up the coast to Zanzibar and
.
,

here again h e had som e o ff ers but the sums w e ,

re
cons i de red absurdly small a n d he d e termined to t ry
,

a n d sell her in a be t t e
r market With this obj ec t in.

v i ew he made up his min d to sail the little ship across

,

t he I ndian O c ean to Bombay .

O n the last day o f April 1 8 64 he sta r ted o n t his ,

pe r ilous voyage Though warn e

. d that theb re aking o f
the monsoo n wou l d probably take plac ebeforehe made
1 06 D A V I D LI V I N G S TO NE .

port Liv i ngs t one would n o t be de t erred I t i s likely

, .

enough t ha t h aving seen the steamer rid eo ut a heavy

,

cyclone off the M ozambique coas t w i thou t receiving any

injury he had formed a high opin i on of her se
, a w o rthi

ness an d i t i s cer t a i n t hat shehad never shown any

cau se why tha t character w a s n o t really deserved .

The distance was some t wo thousand five hundred

miles ; and though L i vi n g s t one had calcula t ed tha t h e
migh t m ake t he passage in some t hing under twen ty days
it really occu pied for t y fivedays H imself sk i pper he
-

had three E uropean s a s sa i lor s t oker and carpen t er ;

, ,

seven Z a mbe sia n s ignoran t o f seaman ship, t hough a c

,

customed t o r i ver navigation ; and tw o lads O f Chuma .

,

o n eo f t hese lads we shall hear aga i n

,
The Doc t or .

had fourteen t on s o f coal pu t in t he hold for usei n

calms and when on a dangerou s lee coas t .

These n atives t urned o ut admirable sailors ; for in

t he firs t week o r so when t wo of t he E nglishmen w e
,
re
la i d up w i th fever they learn t and performed all t he
,
“ ”
simple du ties of seamen The i r sk ip per wri t es o f
'

t hem S O eager were they t o do their du t y t hat only ,

o n e o f them la y down from se a sickness dur i ng the -

whole voyage Th e y t ook in a n d se

. t sa i l very cl everly
in a S ho r t time, and would climb o ut along a boom ,
reeve a rope t hrough t h e block and come back with t he ,

rope in their t ee t h though a t each lurch the performer

,

was dipped in t he se a
”
.

The D octor made h is cou r se firs t nor t herly an d alo n g

the east coast in order to take ad vantage of a s t rong
,

current an d t hen in a nor t h easterly direction t o

,
-

Bombay Bu t where he expect ed to find a steady

.

breeze he found calms ; and what w it h constan t calm s,

and currents alm os t the whole way across progress was ,

bu t slow , and pa ti ence extremely difficul t I ndeed a t .

,

times, he becam e very downcast a n d wro t e in h is ,

“
journal : I often feel as i f I am t o d i e on t h i s voyage ,

and w i s h I had sent t he a c coun t s to t h e G o v ernment ,

1 08 DAV I D L I VI N G S T ON E .

A bou t m i dn i gh t a w hite patch reported S eemed .

a shoal but none is m a r ked on char t

,
A t dayligh t .

w e foun d ourselves abreas t high land a t leas t five

hun dred fee t above se a lev e l H ills n ot so beaut i full y
-
.

coloured as those in Africa W e had calms after t he .

squalls and this morning the se

,
a is as smooth as glass ,

a n d a thick haze over t he land A scu m as o f dus t on .

the face o f the wa t er We came to ligh t ship I t

. .

was so hazy inlan d we could se enoth i ng whatever ;

t hen took the direction by chart an d s t eered right ,
’
i n t o Bombay mos t t hankfull y I men t i on G od s good .

prov i dence over me and be g t hat H e ma y accep t my

,
”
spared l i fe for H is serv i ce .

Trul y a rem arkable voyage ! Th i s l andsman t h i s ,

missionary t o the people of Cen t ral Afri ca nav i ga t ing ,

a l i tt le sh i p aga i ns t calm a n d curren t t hrough gale

, ,

a n d squall full t wo t hou sand five hundred miles , and

, '

s t eer i ng r i gh t i n t o por t, safe and soun d a n d, u ndoub t ,

e dly m os t t hankfully
,
H e was i ndeed t he ty pe o f al l
.

t hat is prac t ical and able a mas t er spiri t and y e t a ,

-

child in the han ds o f his G od Fearless eager, ne ver .

,

too o ld to learn though alwa y s will i n g a n d capable o f

,

t eaching I f e . ver there was a n all roun d man t ha t

‘
-

ma n was D avid Livi n gs t one .

Aft er a br i ef soj ourn a t Bombay where he rece iv ed ,

much kin dness from S ir B artle Frere, the then g o vern or ,

Dr W ilson the eminen t m i ssionary a n d many others

.
, , ,

L ivi ngston e left t he s t eamer for sale in dock a n d

“
,

s a i l ed on t he mail packet for E ngland, arriv i ng t here

-

on t he 2 3 rd o f July .

N o t h i ng bu t kindness a wa it ed him H i s old friend .

,

S ir R oderick Murch i so n welcomed him a s a brother ,

.

Lord Palmerston the E arl o f S haftesbury t he Duke

, ,

o f Argyl l and many me,

n o f t he highes t imp ortance a s

wel l as rank paid him every at t en tion

,
H e w a s much .

comfor t ed by conversation s he had wi t h P a lmerst o n ,

w h o se v ie w s on the sla v e trad ec oinc i d e d w it h his H e .
 I N DI A A N D EN GLA N D . 1 09

soon paid his o ld friend James Young a visi t a n d , , ,

t hence he went to Hamilton to se ehis mo t her a n d h is

children Thence to I nveraray to stay with the Duke o f
.
,

A rgyll ; a n d from there round by U lva the home o f his ,

Highland anc e stors to G lasgow where he mad ethe a c

, ,

quaintance of the veteran Dr Du ff then la t ely re turn e .d ,

from I ndia a n d so back again to H amil t on

,
.

I n August a n old fri e nd o f Kolobeng days Mr ,

.

Webb of N ewstead Abbey inv i ted h im to make his

, ,

home t here and though the invitation w a s accepted

,

for only a short pe r iod Livi ngstone stayed with M r

, .

Webb a n d his wife n e a r ly thewhol eof the time he was

in E ngland and wrote his book
,
The Zambesi a n d i ts ,

Tributaries in t he comfort a n d with th econveniences

”
,

which t hey placed at his disposal .

’
This book was n ot entirely Livi n gston e s work for ,

he incorporat ed the jou rnal of his broth er Charles a n d , ,

ind e ed had n ot Dr Kirk intended to publish a s e parate

,

e
.

book o n th natu r al his t ory o f theZambesi a n d S hir e ,

his notes also would have been included a n d his name

appeared on the title page Livingstone never grudged
-
.

any man his me e d a n d th e

,
s etw o able assistants always
re ceived the full e st recogni t ion a t his hands C hie fly .

through Livin g ton es e xertions h is brother r e

’
ceived the
a ppointmen t o f consul a t Fer n ando Po and Kirk w a s ,

made consul general at Zanzibar

-
Their ow n claims .
,

however for distinct re

,
cognition w e re grea t ; a n d when
Dr Kirk afterwards received the G old Medal o f the R oyal
.

“
G eographical S ociety for his long continued a n d un
,
-

remitting servic es to geography together with the

”
,

G rand Cross o f the O rder o f S S Michael a n d G eorge .

,

a s a proof o f his sovereign s approbation , he received

’

no more than was his due .

E arly in 1 8 65 Si r R oderick Murchison entered i n t o

correspondence w i th Livings t one with re gard to future
labours in Africa However much Murchison migh t be
.

in a ccor d w it h t he Doc t or on mat t er s geographical on ,

 I 10 D AV I D L I VI N G S T O N E .

ques ti on s m i s s i onary he held t o t ally d i fferen t v i ews .

This comes o ut in a le tt er he wro t e abou t th i s tim e ,

from which the follow i ng i s a n ex t rac t

Q uite i rrespective o f m ission aries or poli t ical a ffa i rs ,

t here is a t t his momen t a ques t ion o f i n t ense g e o g ra

p hi c a l i nteres t t o be se t tled — n a m ely ,

the watershed
o r wa t ersheds o f S ou t h Afr i ca . N o w , i f y ou would
really like t o be t he person t o finish off y our remarkable
career by completin g such a surve y unshackled by ,

o t her a vocat i on s t han those o f t he geograph i cal ex

p lo re r
, I should be del i gh t ed t o consul t m y fr i ends of

t he S oc i ety and take t he bes t s t eps to promote suc h

,
”
an en t erprise .

C onsequen t u pon th i s L ivi n g s t on e en t ered a no t e in

h i s j ournal wh i ch admirably es t abl i shes h i s vi ews o f
,
“
the ques t ion . An swered Si r R oder i ck abou t goi n g
o ut . S aid I could only feel in t he way o f du ty by
”
work i ng as a missionary . I n h i s le tt er he had said ,

My i ncl i na ti on leads me t o prefer to ha v e i n t ercourse

with the people, an d do what I c a n by talk i ng to
enligh t en t hem o n the sl ave t rade and g i ve t hem some
,

idea o f our religion . Th i s i s but harking back t o his

original idea when workin g amon g t he B a k w a in s o f
, ,

a band of missionar i es in t wos or threes o r even

,

s i ngly, pass i ng t hrou g h and t hrou g h , u p a n d down in ,

an d o ut t he whole coun try sowin g t he seed far and

,

wide, and publishing t he g lad t idings i ndeed abroad .

And ye t there were n ot wan ti ng those w h o sa i d he

had merged t he miss i onary i n the explorer !
W r iti ng la t er t o J ames Young, and referring t o t his
correspon den c e ,
he re i tera t ed his sta t emen t :
“
I would
n o t consen t to go s i m ply a s a geogra pher, bu t a s a

m i ss i onary, an d do geography by t he way, b e cause I

feel I a m in t he way o f du ty when t rying either t o
enl i gh t en t hese poor people o r open t he i r land t o lawful
commerce
D 1 1 ty —t ha t w a s the word , t he mo t ive I t w a s the
.

’
”
.
 I I2 DAV I D L I V I NGS T O N E .

t ha t n o pension need be exp ec t ed W hen some in flu

.

e n tia l frien ds o f t he Doctor rem onstra t ed with the

Fore i gn O ffi ce au t horities it w a s in t imated t ha t a salary
,

would be gran t ed wh en Livingstone se tt led perma

n e n tly somewhere — a h i n tima t ion which disclosed a
pa i nfu l ignorance o f t he du t ies a nd difficul ti e s a c c om
pany i ng su ch a pos t in so enormou s a re gi o n Bu t .

Livings t one though hur t by t he lack o f generosity was

, ,

to o en thusiastic for Africa t o hesita t e I n Africa he

.

knew the n a t ives had never heard of Cabine t s G eneral ,

E lection s, o r Chancellors o f t he E xchequer All that .

had been done for them appeared in the light o f per

sonal achievemen t s and individual influen ce W hether .

he was paid or not for h i s labou rs the poor African ,

whom he yearn ed t o benefit would accept o r rej ect his

e ff or t s and h i s teaching on purely personal grounds .

S o he determi n ed to accept t he appoin t men t .

N ow cam e the G eographical S ocie ty s commiss i on ’

.

Their objec t was t o ascertain the wa t ershed o f S outh

Cen tral Africa and o f cou rse to determine whe t her the
,

ul t imate sou rces o f the N ile were t o be found among

the hills or lakes o f t he in t erior south o f t he poin t where
S p eke a n d G ran t had seen t hat river com i n g from t he
V ic tor i a N yanza They wished also to set t le thec o n
.

n e c tion o r proximity o f the N yassa w i th t he Tanganika .

All t hi s t hey wanted done by Livingstone , a n d t hu s it

is t hat we fin d h i m s t artin g fo r Africa with a t wofold
purpose .

I f we quo t e h is ow n words a C lear idea will be ga i ned

,
“
a s to h i s o w n i n t en t i on s : I pu rpose to go inland ,

north o f the t erritory which t he Portugues ein E urope

claim , a n d endea v ou r to comme n ce t hat sys t em on t he
eas t wh i ch has bee n so em i nen t ly successful on t he
wes t coas t—a system comb i ning the repressive e ffor t s
o f H er Maj es ty s cru i sers w i th lawful t rade a n d Chr i s
’

t ian mission s, t he moral a n d m a t er i a l resul t s of wh i ch

ha v e been so g ratifying .
 I N DI A A N D ENG LA N D . I 1 3

Thi s refe r red to theduti e s o f his co n sulship an d h e ,

then proce e ds to d escrib ethework h ehad unde rt aken

to do for the G e ographical S oci e ty : I hop eto ascend
t he R ovuma o r some oth er r iv e r north o f Cape D e lgado ,

and in addition to my oth er wo rk shall st r iv e by

, , ,

passing alo n g the north e rn e n d o f Lak e N yassa and

round the southern en d o f Lak eTanganika to ascertain ,

t he wat e r shed o f that pa r t of Afr ica I n so doing I

.
,

have n o w ish to uns e ttl ewhat with so much toil and

danger was accomplish ed by S p e k e and G rant but ,

rath er to confi r m th e ir illust r ious discov er i e

s .

O n eo f thelast e nt r i es in Livingston es j ournal as h e

’

w a s bidding farewell to his friends and o n th epoint of

leaving London for ever may beapp r op r iat e ly quot ed

here: We have b e
“
en with Dr a n d M rs H amilton for
. .

—
some tim e good gracious p e
,
opl e The Lord bl ess
.

them and th e ir hous e hold ! D r Kirk and Mr Wall e

. r .

go down to Folkeston eto morrow and take leave o f us

-

there This is very kind Th eLo r d puts it into t h eir

. .

hearts to show kind n ess, and blessed beH is N ame I ”

 TH E M I S S I O N S TATI O N , I IN G S T O NIA N YA SS A L AK E
L V , .

C H A PT E R I X .

NI LE OR C O N GO

H E unso l d L a dy Nya ssa led L i v i ng st one back t o

Bombay and his pres e
,
n ce t here enabled h i m to
fin d a purchaser for t he vessel which he had bough t
o ut o f t he profits o f his book , a n d o n wh i ch he
had centred so man y hopes for t he tribes arou nd
Lake N yass a—hopes n ot t o be realised in his o w n
li fetime t hough largely fulfilled at th i s da y
,
The .

vessel had c os t hi m n early but t he h i ghest

price he could obtain for it was an d a s
Liv i ngs t one temporarily lodged t ha t sum in a n I ndian
bank whic h subsequently failed t he whole o f t he
, ,

original cost w a s los t .

From Bomba y he sailed to Zanz i bar bear i ng t o the ,

S ultan a letter o f i n t rodu c t ion couched in the mos t ,

cord i al language , from Si r B ar t le Frere the governor ; ,

a n d also ,
a s a presen t from tha t official t o t he Zanzi

b ar p ot en t a t e t he steam sh i p in wh i ch t he D o ct or m ade
,
1 1 6 DAV I D L I V I N GS TO N E .

their burd e ns for them assuring th em that t he Doc t or

,

would pay S ometim es when o n t he march the y would

.

lag behind and l i e down to sleep by t he roadside ; a t

others , t h e y would ac t ually throw away por t ions o f
the i r loads to make th em lighter ; o n ema n had twenty
pou nds o f tea to carry , and he delib e ra t ely reduced
tha t moderate burden to five pounds by throwing
away t he rest Another calmly appropria t ed a n umber
.

o f yards o f cloth from his load a n d packed them ,

in his own bundle H av i ng lagged behin d upon on e

occasion they killed a young buffalo —t he last o f the
.

,
—
bu ffaloes a n d ate i t U pon coming u p wi t h L i v i ng
.

s tone th e explan ation volun teered by the S epoys was

that a tiger had devoured it Yes ther ewas no
”
— .

doubt abou t it they saw the tiger -

Liv i ngstone .

“ ”
queried ,
D i d you see the stripes o f t he tiger ?
Yes — they all had most d i s ti n ctly There being no
,
.

str i ped tiger i n Africa the bottom o f this excuse ,

w as very soon knocked o u t .

As he advanced along t he banks of t he R ovuma or ,

de flected his course into the neighbour i ng country ,

L i vings t one found the soil i n v ar i ably fertile an d the

land well wa t ered B ut t he slave trade had already
.

depopula t ed many dis t r i cts a n d o n several occasion s ,

there w a s the greates t difficul ty in ge t t i ng food Proofs .

,

if proofs were needed o f th i s curs e d traffic became more

,

and m ore common O n one day th e

“

. y would fin d t he
corpse of a woman who had be e n tightly t i ed t o a t ree
and left to starve since shewas too weak t o keep u p
,

wi t h the caravan The next day a half s t arved corpse -

‘

would be fou nd lying in their pa t h —t he body o f a poor

,
.

wre t ch who had be en done to dea t h w i th a n axe Here .

tw o men lay still fet t ered in the g ore

,
eo r taming s t ick ,
-

whi ch plays so grea t a part i n the slave trade An d there .

the corpse o f a mere babe who had been flung in to the ,

’
long grass by the wayside in order that its mother s
s tren g t h should no t be overtaxed .
 N I LE OR CO NG O ? 1 1 7

O n arriving in July at M ta rik a s Livingston e re ’

,

roa c h e
d the chi e f fo r allowi n g his b e autiful count r y to
p
be robb e d o f it s p e opl e a n d the long stre
,
t ch e s o f once
cultivated fields to laps eagain i n to j u n gl e M ta rik a .
,

though o f un p r eposs e ssi n g app e a r ance took th er e proo f

,

in good pa r t m e ,
re ly stipulating that the Doctor gav e
thesa me saluta r y advic eto th eoth e r chi e fs Though .

perfe ctly willing to s e ll th e ir cou n t rym e n i n to slave ry ,

th ey did not lik eto be associat e d with th et e rr ible mo r

tality which att e nd e d th e proc e ss ; and, lik e a g reat
many oth e r pe opl e in contin e n ts oth e r than Africa ,

their logi c was o f that conv eni en t n ature which

justifies th e action whil e it ig n o res th e im me
,
diate
result .

Le avi n g M ta rik a s whose large s e

’
,
ttl e
me n t was situ
ated in hilly and fe r til e country a n d at a point in the
,

R ovuma wher ethat river was about a hu n dred yards

in width , the Doctor wo r k e d his way south th r ough a
depopulated district, where food was conseque n tly diffi
cult to obtain a n d a r riv e
,
d at Ma ta k a s ten days later ’
.

This chi ef h e found to be o f an amiabl e character ,

and during the fortnigh t he stayed at his settlement

Livingston e received u n stinted hospitality and o n his , ,

part repaid it by much good advice as to th e better

,

cult ivation o f the country, and th epractical wisdom o f

forswearing th eslave trade “
.
”
O ne day he writes in ,

his journal , calling a t Ma ta k a s I found as u sual, a

“ ’
, ,

large crowd o f idlers who always respond with a

,

laugh to ev e ry t hing he utters as wit H e ask e d, if

.

h ewent t o Bombay what ought he to take to s e

,
cure
some gold ? I replied I vory ,
‘
he rejoin e d Would ,
‘

slav e s not be a good sp e culation I repli e d that

if he took slav es there for sale th e y would put him
in prison T h eid ea o f th egreat M ataka in choke e
.
‘ ’

made him winc e ,

and th e laugh turned for once
”
against him .

O n t he 8 th o f Au g ust the Doctor onc emorereached

I I 8 DAVI D L I V I N G S T O N E .

—
Lake N yassa t h i s ti me a t tha t poin t the easternon

sh o rew h e ret he r i ver M isin j eempties its waters into

t he lake H ere he res t ed wrote up his journal , a n d
.
,

worked o ut a number o f as t ronomical observations

which he had made Among the notes he entered at
.

t his date are the following

“
S ome me n ha ve come down from Ma ta k a s and ’
,

repor t the arri v al o f an E nglishmen w it h ca t tle for me .

H eh as tw o eyes behind as well as t wo in fron t

’
This .

i s enough o f ne w s for a while

Mo k a la o sé has his li t tle afflic ti on s and he t ells me
,

o f them A w i fe ran a w ay
. I asked how many he
.

had ; he t old me twen ty in all : I then thought he

had nine t een t oo m any He answered w i th the u sual
.

re ason B u t who would cook for strangers i f I had

‘
,

but on e
A leopard took a dog o ut o f a house nex t t o ours
he had bitten a ma n before bu t not mortally ,
”
.

“
The fear which t he E n g lish h ave i nspired in t he
Arab slave traders is ra t her i nconvenient All flee .

before me as if I had the plague a n d I cann ot in c on

,

s equence t ransmi t le tt ers t o the coas t o r ge t across the

la k ef
’

“
I made very good blue ink from t he j uice o f a berry,
”
the fruit of a creeper .

“
The poodle dog C hitan e i s rapidly changing t he
-

colou r o f its hair All t he parts correspon ding t o the

.

ribs and neck are rap i dly becoming red ; the maj ority
”
o f country dogs are of t his colour .

Livings t one had left the coun t ry of the W a iya u a n d ,

was now among tribes of t he Manganj a race O f t he .

“
lat t er he says : They have great manes o f hair and ,

bu t little if any o f the prognathou s in the profil e .

Their bodies a n d limbs are very well made and the ,

countenance o f the me n is often very pleasant

-
The .

wo men are very plain a n d lumpy, bu t exce e dingly

indu st r ious in their g arden s fr o m e arly mornin g till
I 20 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO NE .

d ecl a red .
“
I want to go back to J ohann a to see my
father a n d mother a n d son .

’ “
Liv i ngs t one s commen t i s ch arac t eristic The y have
been such invet e rate thiev es that I am not sorry to ge t
”
rid Of them Bu t he did n o t know at t he time what
.

M usa s cunn i ng and carefu l consideration for number

’ “

one were capabl eo f F or b e

”
ing desirou s of ge
.
,
t t ing
his pay o n arriv i ng at Zanzibar he concocted a cock ,

a n d bull
”
s t ory in which he depicted th e fearful hos
tility o f t he natives as culmi n ating in a ferociou s attack
u pon the whole party and the mu rder o f the D octor,
.

I nto this narra t ive was woven a deal o f C i rcum s t ant i al

detail a n d wh en the n e
,
ws reached E ngland the greatest
consterna t ion and gri ef were fel t There were n o t .

wan t ing t hose who disbelieved the r e port however ; ,

a n d among t hem were H orac eW aller who had known

,

L i vings t one a n d worked w i th h i m o n the Zambesi and

S h i r e as well a s in E n gland a n d E dward D Young , .
,

who had a lso done good service o n t he Zambes i The .

la t ter gen t leman was commissioned by the G eographical

S ociety t o search for Li vi ngs t one and he perform ed his ,

work in so admirable a manner as to pro v e beyond all

doubt that M usa was as he had supposed him to be , a
,

liar. For according to t his fe

,
llow Livingstone had ,

gon e round t he north o f the lake, and no t t he sou t h ;

whereas M r Young not only fou nd men a t t he south
.

e n d o f t he lake who remembered t he Doc t or well ,

bu t also learnt frsm M arenga the chief all abou t , ,

Livings t on es soj ourn there and the whole s t ory of

’
,

the heartless d esertion a n d cowardice o f the Johanna

me
n .

And all the while Livings t one, w i th a d i minished

°

follo w ing was slowly j ourneying north w ard to the

,

Tanganika Here is a not e wh i ch occu rs in his

.

jour n al at t his period :

“
As for o ur g eneral d i s
course , we mention o ur relationshi p to o ur Father ;
H is love to all H is children — the g uil t Of sellin g
 N I LE OR CO NG O 1 21

any o f His children — the consequence W e mention

—
.

the Bible fu ture s t at e pray e — r ; advise u nion that ,

they should unite as o n e family to exp e l e ne mies ,

who came fi r st as s lav et r ade r s and end ed by l e ,

avi n g
th ecount ry a wilde r n e ss .

The qu e stio n o f the wat e r sh ed o f this part o f Afr ica

was decided by Livi n gsto n e H efi r st discovered that .

the Ta n ganika did n o t b e lo n g to the same drainage

system as the N yassa and then that a whole chain o f
,

lak es ext e
,
nding from Bemba o r B a n g w e o lo n orthward ;

was trav e r sed by o n e g r e at river whi ch rose a s the , ,

Chambeze in th euplan ds betw e

,
en N yassa and the
Tanganika which issued succ essi ve
,
ly fr om B a n g w e olo

as the Lua pa la from Lak e Mo e ,

ro as the Lu vw a and ,

from Lake K a molon do as th eLu alaba Within a com .

p a ra tiv e
ly sho r t dista n c e o f this point i t flows past
N yangw e a n A r ab s e
,
t tlement in the now d e popul ated
Ma n yue ma and this spot is th en o r th e
,
rn limit of Living
ston es investigation s in t o ther iver which largely oc e
’
n
,

pied the labour o f thelast y e ars o f his life and which ,

he beli e v ed would ultimately be found to fl ow into the

N ile And yet he would often pau se a n d wonder if
.
,

after all the Lualaba turned sharply to the west a n d

, ,

flowed with gr e at rapidity and possibly — owing to the

,

e le vat e de dge o f the c e —

ntral pla t eau ov er lofty falls to ,

the west coast fin ally e ,

ntering theAtl a ntic O c ean as
th e Congo Might it not even si n ce th en ativ e
.
,
s de
c la re d it flow e d north fo r ev e r and ev e r re ach into th e ,

far S oudan and form a mighty con t r ibu ta ry str e

,
am o f
th eN iger ? But he would turn away time a n d again
fro m thes eco n j ectures a n d believe as he hop e
,
d that , ,

it must ultimat e ly proveto bethe N ile That ri ver .

,

fam e d in sacred as well as profane history had an ,

allu r i n g charm for him ; and the thought that it might

be his pa r t to u ncove r th ehidden sources o f th er iver
whi ch had witn e ss e
d the wond e rful works o f the
Pharaohs and t he still moremarvellous acts in w h ic h
,
I 22 DA V I D L I V I N G S T O N E .

M oses had revealed the i rresis ti ble power o f t he O ne

God to thos ewho worsh i pped t he whi t e bull seem e d ,

to sanc t ify all t he t oil and reward the w e

,
ariness a n d
“ ”
pain which the ques t after t his h oly gra i l o f his
enj oined .

O n the I st o f A pr i l L ivi n g stone firs t s i gh t ed Lake

,

Ta n ganika at i ts sou t hern extremi ty The j ourney

, .

n orthward had been d i fficul t H ere across a coun t ry.

su fferi ng from t ribal wars and t here among a people

,

whose crops had failed , and where food was almost u n

ob t ainable And ye t elsewhere he woul d fin d a rich
.
, ,

and prolific distr i ct an d t he p eople well n ourished O n

, .

his m arch however two me

, , n whom he had t r usted im

p lic itl
y deserted and carr i ed O ff his medicine chest with ,

all the preciou s qu i nine a n d o t her remedies he po s

sessed This was indeed a loss o f t he firs t m agnitude
. .

Withou t medicine t he E uropean in Afr ica i s almos t

helpless ; hen ceforward he was t o su s t ain a t tack after
attack o f fever and dysentery i n u t ter h e lplessness to
,

ward them O ff o r t rea t t hem properly H e s ays in his .

j ournal at the time I felt as i f I had n o w recei v ed the

,
”
senten ce o f dea t h .

Though greatl y i mpressed w it h t h e beau ty a n d rich

ness o f the environmen t i n t o which this sou t hern t ongu e
o f t he Tanganika had thrus t itself Livings t one was ,

too i ll to really enj oy the s uccess he had gained The .

absence o f m edicin e brought o n severe attacks o f fever ,

an d he had fits o f insensibility which lasted for many

hours at a t ime F o r several days he lost all power in
.

his lower limbs a n d wi t h the greates t difficulty en t ered

,

a few no t es i n t o his j ournal .

O n recovering s t reng t h enough t o go forward he ,

passed along th ewes t ern coas t o f the Lake for a shor t

distance, an d then s t r uck westward in search o f t he
lakes he had heard of in that region .

A t t he v illage Of Pon da he fell in w it h a h alf caste -

A rab who of late y ears h a s come i n fo r a c o n siderable

1 24 D A V I D L I V I NGS TO NE .

no fe wer than twen ty n i ne o f these sponges The c on

-
.

stant we tt i ngs th econtinual wadings the e n tire absen ce

, ,

o f medicinal r e me dies soon t old upon a weakened fram e

, .

H i s ability to travel became less as the a t tack s were

m o r e fr equen t a n d th enew year 1 8 69 came i n when
,

Livings ton e was lyi n g on a bed o f sickness and almos t

mortal pain .

H e d et e
rm i n ed to go to Uj ij i and in company wi t h
a friendly Arab by nam e M oham e
,
d B og h a rib he set ,

o ut for this importan t town on the eastern shores o f

Ta n ganika Th eyear previou s to t h i s s t ep had been
.

spent i n investigating the sou r c es Of the ri ver which

e —
he b lieved would prove to be the N ile that r iv er
whose gift to t he world i s E gyp t Th at h ewas wrong .

we know now ; bu t the in domitable plu ck and t en acity

with which he fought agai n st every form o f difficulty
remain s as a brillian t exam pl e of that g en i u s which
h as been d e fined as the capac i ty for t aki n g in fini t e
pa In s
.

When hal f way to the Ta n g an i ka he becam e so i ll

-

that for the firs t time in the course o f nearly thirty

years he was carried wh e n o n th em arch W it h the .

body th e mind seemed to be failin g

,
I n the trees .

as he passed alon g he sa w figures and faces of me n

even himself lying dead “

Wh en I th i n k of my chil
.

dren and fr i ends he says

”
,
“
the lines ri n g through my ,

head perpetu ally

Ishall look i t o y o u r fac es
n

A d l i ste
n n to wh a t y ou sa y ,

A d b eoft e
n n ve ry n ea r y ou
Wh e n y o u th i k I m f r a wa yn
’
a .

O n arri ving at th e lake and after som e delay , he ,

was pu t in t o a cano e “ ”
Patience , he says . was ,

ne v er more ne eded than n ow I am near Ujij i ; but .

the S laves who paddle a r e ti r ed , and n o wonder ;

the y k eep u p a roarin g son g all thro ug h t he i r
 NI LE O R C O N Go ? 1 25

wo r k n ight a n d day . H op e to hold o ut to

”
Ujiji
.

O n th e 1 4 th o f March the little party pass e

,
d the
mouth o f the Ma la g a ra z i R iver, a n d t he sam e day
arriv ed at
 C R SS I N G A
O
“
S NGE
P O .

C H A P TE R 11 .

TH E LAST JOU R N EY .

S soon as he had recovered suffici e

a
n t s t ren g t h
to w a lk L i v i n g s t one prepared to se
,
t o ut fo r
Ma n yue ma which l a y westward o f the northern end
,

o f the lake and for t he Lu alaba which lay westwa rd

, ,

again o f Ma n yue ma H e s t arted on the 1 2 th of Jul y

ached B a mba rre
.
,

1 8 69 an d r e
, ,
a town i n M a n y ue m a o n ,

the 2 1 5 t of S e ptember .

The count ry o f Ma n yue ma was at t hat time qu i t e

u nknown . R umou r howev e ,
r h ad given it a bad
,

charac t er The people w ere reported to be cannibals ;

.

gorillas o r sok os abounded in thei r cou ntry ; and ,

although the richness o f the region and de n sity o f

its population were alike indispu t able t err i ble tales ,

o f peril were t old by t hose who had pierced the

i nterior . Bu t Livings tone wished to ascertain the
course o f the Lu alaba as i t flowed northward a n d ,

if poss i ble iden t ify it with the N ile NO trav e

. lle r s ’

tales could de t e r him so he started directly he could

”
.

H e found in t h i s country t h at eve ry prospec t w a s

“
p leas i n g ,
a n d only ma n w a s V i le ”
The .people were
1 28 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

a r rived with o n e! They were wor t hless scoundrels ,

a n d slaves t o boot As soon a s he s t ar t ed wes t

,
.

ward with them they mutinied a n d thre at ened t o ,

return t o t he i r comrades whom t hey had left a t Uj ij i

,

wit h the s t ores for t he Doctor an d who were mean ,

wh i le liv i n g On them By din t o f grea t pers i s t ence

.
,

however, Livings t one m anaged t o reach t he Lualaba

by t he end o f M arch and t o h is deep d i sappo i nt
,

men t h e then foun d that the r i ver had a somewha t

wes t erly course a n d was more probably the Con g o
,

than the N ile .

O n reachi n g N yangw e h i s far t hest po i n t he had a n

, ,

acute illus t ration o f the horrors o f slav i ng D uri ng .

his sta y in tha t settlem e n t some Arabs m assacred

several hundreds o f t he i n hab i tants w it hou t an hou r s ,
’

n o ti ce in a n attem pt to establish t heir o w n power

, .

From N yangw e t he carnage s pread ou t wards , a n d

v i llage aft er v i llage w a s soon in flames and murder ,

a n d robbery ram pan t M oved t o t he dep t hs o f h i s

.

heart bu t u nable to do anyth i n g t o help t he Ma n yue

,
ma ,

L i vings t on e at t em pted t o renew h is exploration s ; bu t ,

forced back by the worthless slaves who formed h is

escort and w h o said tha t their mas t ers at Zanz ibar had
,

told t hem to re turn o n meetin g him he was compelled ,

t o re t race his s teps t o Uj ij i some s i x hundred m i l es

,
“
distant I n the wors t o f health a mere ru ckle o f
.
,
”
bones as he pu t it he ar r ived at Ujij i o n the 2 3 rd o f
, ,

O ctober o n ly to find that the ras cal who h ad charge

,

o f his stores had s tolen the whole and con v er t ed t hem

t o his ow n use .

H is body racked by pain an d disease h i s min d ,

tormented b y a series o f bitter disappointments h i s ,

e ffor t s t hwarted and hopes blas t ed by the condu c t of

his very servan t s and then on ret urnin g a t l as t t o
, .

Ujij i on ly to find t hat the m e ans he required to bu y

even hi s daily bread had been dissipa t ed by a scoun d rel
who had a dded to t he crime o f theft the vice o f h y pocrisy
1 30 DAVI D LI V I N G S TO N E .

( the fellow had d i vi n ed o n t he Kora n a n d found that

—
,

th eD octor was d ad ) e surely a t this hour Livingstone

,

was passing t hrough a t rial fiery enough t o have

consumed all his pa t ience a n d resigna t ion ! Bu t j us t
a t this momen t when his s piri t s were a t their
,

lowest ebb, help o f t he mos t unexpec t ed k i nd was a t

h and .

O n t he l oth o f N ovember 1 8 7 1 , a well equipped ,

-

caravan en t ered Uj ij i t o t he u su al accompan i men t of

g un fi -
rin g shout i ng ,
a n d sin g ing ,
Ten t s saddl. es , ,

kettles a n d a large bath figured prom i nently o n t he

,

heads of t he pag a z is o r carriers I n fron t o f the

e
.

advancing com pany th Amer i can flag was carried ,

proclaim i ng t o Livin g s t one t he n ationali ty o f the n e w

arr i val The caravan was tha t which was fi t ted ou t by

.

M r G ordon Benne t t, o f t he N e
. w York H e ra ld a n d th e ,

whi t e ma n in command , who came forward with such

’
emo t ion t o grasp the Doc t or s hands was Henry M , .

S tanley Welsh by bir t h a n d Amer i can by adoption

, ,

and the trave l ling corresponden t of t ha t enterprising

pap e r H e came wit h unlim it ed resources at his
.

back n o t onl y to find L i vingstone bu t reli e

,
ve him ,

a s well .

O w i ng t o a na t ive w a r which had closed t he ord i nary

ca r avan rou t e S tanley had been obliged to leave most
,

o f his s t ores at U nyanyembe t he grea t Arab se t tl e ,

ment
between Ujij i a n d the eas t coast, a n d reach the lake
by a c i rcui t ous pa t h I t w a s a rranged t herefore t ha t he
.

a n d L i v i ngstone shou l d return together to Unyanyembe ,

and t hat the Doc t or who in sp i te o f his many su fferings

,

was de t ermined n ot to go home ti ll he had fin ished his

work, should t here rece i ve a su ffi c i en t quan t i ty o f cloth ,
beads a n d s t ores fo r his fur t her explora t ions Wh i le
,
.

waiting at Uj ij i however, S tanley a n d he proceeded to

,

the nor t h e n d o f t he lake t o ascerta i n , once a n d for all ,

i f t he river Lus i zi drained the Tanganika or merel y

flo w e d i n to it T h e la t te r w a s fou n d to bethe ca se
.
1 3 2 DAV I D L I V I N G S TO N E .

months i n which t hey had l i ve d toge t her in n o c ommon

degree o f familia r ity th e y had regarded each other
,

with the great est in teres t : t he o n e a ve t eran who had ,

born e the burd e n an d heat of the day ; the o t her a ,

young knight who had but j us t w on h i s golden spu rs .

Altho ugh as u nlike as possible in character S tanley was ,

to tak e u p m uch o f t he work which the Doc t or left

unfinished an d c arry i t t o a su ccessful end M oreover
, .
,

he was t o fill in th e public e ye as l arge if n o t so well

rou nded a space ; for although S tanl e y has l i ttle of the
m i ssionary about him he has achiev e ,
d su ch herculean
labours in Africa and has met w it h su ch u nqualified
,

success t ha t he may well be regarded as t he great e

,
st
’
traveller since Livingstone s time .

In the meanwhile Livings t one was wai t ing at

U nyanyembe for t he men S tanl e y was t o send H e .

employed mu ch of the t ime in writing letters and n oting

down what he could learn from the Arabs A few .

d ays a fter his parting wi t h St anley his fi fty nin t h b i rth -

day occurred and in his j ournal w efin d t hese words

,

I a gain dedicate my whole self t o Thee Accept me .

,

and gran t O graciou s Father that ere this year i s gone

, ,

In Je
’
I may finish my task su s n ame I ask it Amen ;
. .

so let i t be David Livingston e

.
”
.

I n M ay he w rote a letter for the N e w Yo rk H e ra ld ,

and it is in this le t ter t hat w efi n d thos ewords which

have s tr uck e very reader with th e ir patheti c in t enseness ,

and which m ay n ow be seen inscribed upon h i s tomb

in W estminster Abbey Thus t h e y run : Al l I c a n
.

add in my lon e l ines s is may H eaven s r i ch blessing ’

—America n , E nglish or Tu rk
,

come down on every o n e

—who will help to heal the open sore o f the world
,

H e was thinking as ever o f the gaping wound which

, ,

slavery had m ade .

E arly in J uly he heard o f S ir R oderick M urchison s ’

death a n d i t touched h i m d eeply tha t his o ld friend

,
’
should no t have lived to kno w Of S tanley s success .
 T H E LA S T J O U R N L Y . 1 33

Murchison s consta n t Suppo r t through thick and thin

’
, ,

had always b e en a g reat sourc e Of comfort to the

Doctor and sp e aki n g of the sa d intelligence h esays
, ,
”
,

Alas ! alas ! this is the o n ly time in my life I e ver

fe lt inclin e d to use the wo rd and it b e sp eaks a sore
,

he art
.
”

Later in the month when refl e ,

cti n g in his jou rn al o n
missio n s a n d then e cessity for lib e rality o f mind and
cha r ity he says : I have avoid e
“
d givi n g O ffe nce t o
intellig ent Arabs —who having pr e
,

ss ed me asking if ,

I beli e e —
v ed in M ohamm d by saying N o I do not , ,

I am a child o f J e su s bin M i r iam avoiding a n ythi n g ’

,

O ffe n sive in my to n e ”
.

A t last th eme n whom S tanl e y had s e n t O ff arrived ,

a n d they prov e d to be a very good lot S ome had be en .

with S ta n ley wh e n hereliev e d Livi n gsto n e an d others ,

we r e recruited from th eG eographical S ociety s Ex pe '

dition T h e Doctor start ed almost imm e

. diat e ly— on
th e 2 5 th o f Augus t — and r e ach e d the Tanganika
abou t six we e ks lat e r Followi n g theeast e
. rn shore s ,

h e rou nd e d th e sou th e rn point o f th e lak e an d in ,

bad h e alth st r uck south and th e n we

,
st for Lak e
B a n gw e o lo .

The rainy s e ason was upon th e m Day aft er day it .

rain ed o r drizzled o r hail e d a n d the cou ntry rapidly

,

und erw e n t a cha n g efor th ewors t S tre ams b e cam e

.

r i ve r s and rivers mighty and r e

,
sistl e ss torrents As .

the mountain slopes o f U ru n gu w e re l e ft b e hind that ,

disagreeable fe ature o f African geog raphy to which

—
Livingstone introduced us the sponge became “ —
frequ e nt Wherete
. rm fi rma was me t with too Often it ,

w a s overlaid with kn e e de ep wat e

-
r To m ak ematte r s .

wors e then atives assumed a n u n fr i e

,
ndly attitud e a n d ,

i t be cam e a lmost impossible to Obtai n food Fe ver .

and a n agg r avat e d fo r m Of dys e n te ry laid hold o f the

’
Doctor s worn out body and r educed his stre n gth to
-

sh c h an e xt en t that oncea g ain he had to be carri e d by

1 34 DA V I D L I V I NG S TO N E .

h is me
n a l ita n da a light palanquin w i th a wooden
on
e
,

fram e work They were splashing through the endless

.

sponges roun d the east end o f Lake B a n g w e o lo and ,

pushing forward through i nnu merable di fficulties All .

t he symptoms o f his illness became more acu te a n d ,

he su ffered m os t excruc i ating pain S everal t imes he .

fain t ed from loss o f blood an d a drowsiness seemed

,
.

t o steal over him ever a n d again The en t ries in his .

j ou rn al became shorter and shorter un ti l a t last only ,

the dates appeared : he was too weak t o write more .

Ye t we learn from S usi a n d C huma his faithful ,

servan t s , t hat he frequen tly asked ques ti on s of t he

n atives with regard to dis t an t hills the riv e rs they were ,

crossing wh e,
nce t hey came and wh i ther t hey flowed .

O n the 2 7 th o f April 1 8 7 3 h i s las t en t ry is mad e

, ,

in t he journal . I t must h ave cos t a grea t e ffor t ,

for all d ay he had lain in a st upor brough t on by ,

i n t ense weakness These a ret he las t words t ha t he

.

wrote
“
2 7 th April 1 87 3 Knocked u p quite and rem ai n
recover —sen t to bu y milch goa t s W e are o n the
.
, ,
— .

banks o f the Mollla mo .

To t he las t he preserved his habit o f faithfull y re

cording the geograph i cal fea t ures o f his position .

O n the following day he was gen tly lifted O ff his bed ,

l a i d in a canoe an d ferr i ed across the river H e was

,
.

t hen a s g en t ly replaced o n the k ita n da and borne along ,

.

H e w a s now near the V i llage o f Chitam bo a t the ,

sou t hern ex t remity o f B a n g w e olo a n d t he me n h astened

,

to reach this resting place Through dreary stretches

-
.

o f water they s t eadil y splashed t heir way Wh e ne ver .

a fa i rly dry patch w a s reached h e begged the m t o l ay ,

h i m dow n and let h im s tay The brave fe . llows did

what they could to encourage h i m , a n d o n the eveni n g
o f t he 2 9 th t hey r e ached the Village During the day .

h e h a d bee n so fain t as to be unable to articula t e a t

t i me s S ome o f t he me
. n had been thou g h t full y sen t on
1 36 DAVI D L I VI N C S rO N E .

in fron t to bu i ld a hu t for him and shortly a fte r arr i ving ,

t he Doc t or was laid down upon his bed .

O n thefo llo w mg morn i n g t he chief Ch i tambo cam e , ,

to c all upon him bu t the Doctor was t oo i ll t o talk with

,

him I n th e afternoon S usi placed hi s watch in the

.

palm o f t he D oc t or s h and , and held it there while for

’

the las t time t he k e y was slowly a n d wi t h d i fficulty

turn ed S om e hours later shortly before m i dnigh t he
.
, ,
“
I s t his th e Luapula ?
”
asked S usi , H is m i nd w a s
evidently failing .

A n hour lat e r he ask ed S usi to bring the m e

,
d i ci ne
ches t S electing the calomel w i th great di fficulty he
’

.
,

told S us i t o pour some water into a c up a n d then said ,

in a low i nd i s tinc t voice ,

All right you c a n go o ut n o w .

They were the last wo r ds that his fe llow cre a t ures -

ever heard him speak .

S hortly before dawn on t he I st o f M ay a lad who ,

sl ept within the hu t t o a tt en d t o his needs awoke S us i ,

Chuma an d two o r three more saying he feared the

, ,

master was dead They en t ered the hu t, an d by the

.

dim light o f th e candle which w a s s till burn i ng they

sa w the Doctor kne e ling on his kn e es b esid et he bed ,

his face rest i ng o n bo t h hand s, and his body leaning

aga i ns t t he edge They gazed in doub t fo r a fe
. w

momen t s ; bu t there was no stir n o breath i ng On e ,

.

s t epped for w ard a n d laid his h and on the worn a n d

hollo w ch e ek I t was cold The m aster was i ndeed d e
. . ad
Whil ein the act of praying to his Go d the heroic ,

soul had p assed away We shall never know what .

prayer h emade ; but knowing the se t purpose o f his

,

life th e great desirewith which h is whol ebei n g was

,

poss e ssed we may w e ,

ll and with re ve re n c ethin k that

in committi n g his spi r i t in to the ha n ds of th eG od who

gave it he did n ot omit t o pl e ad for the h e aling o f t h at
g rea t Open sore o f t he world in probing w hich h e
“
,

had l a i d down his life .

 T H E LA S T J O U RN E Y . 1 37

On ethi n g howeve r was ce r tain

,
Th espi r it o f him
,
.

who had trav e ll e d up a n d down Africa fo r ove r thi r ty

y ea r s whos eh e a r t was giv e n to h e r ca u s e and whos e

r sake —this noble

, ,

fe e t ne v er s eeme d to w e a ry fo r h e ,

gloriou s soul had now j ou r n e y ed to that undiscovered

count ry from whose bou r n no t r av ell er r e tu rn s Livi n g .

sto n ewas d ead H ow much that m e . ant This “ child

Of Je sus bin M iriam this int e
”
ns e ly human d e
,
vot ee to
G o d had laid down t h ecross only to r e
,
ceive thecrown
he
Cl i mb ed th es teep asc et o f h ea e n v n ,

Th r u g h p eri l to i l d pa
o , ,
an in

rack e d with bodily torm e nt h e kn e lt b esid e his be ,

d
in fa r away I lala a n d slept o n ly to awak ewith Ch rist
-

a n d be satisfi e Africa his o w n d e

“
d . ar Afric a with
, ,

a ll h e r wo e s and si n s and w r o n gs was to hear no ,

mo r e the voice o f him cryi n g in h e r wild e rn ess ;

no more could he pl e ad h e r caus e b e for e th e great
o n es of the world And yet though theLight o f that
.
,

Dark Co n ti n e n t was its e lf da r k e ne d the gl e am would ,

ling e r a n d illumi n e the gloomy places Me n would .

com e a n d gaz e a n d kindl e th e,

i r torch es as they fol
low e d in thos ewell know n st e ps a n d fought afresh his
-

old c r usade and littl e by littl e the light would s t e

,
al
ov e r themountains a n d r ay down upon the riv ers and
l ake s a n d th e p eopl ewould tu rn toward it and say
, ,
“
Be hold th e D aysp r i n g is at hand
,
”
And he who .

bo r e th e torch through th e long da r k night will be

(

e e e
r m mb r d thene N o t that h e will n e
. e —
d it th etoil
a n d pai n and sorrow will h av e va n ished and fo r e ve r ,
.

Ay ,
“
Bl ess ed a rethedead that diein th eLord ; for
th e y r es t from th e ir labou r s and th e ir wo r ks do follow
,

th em ”
.

Th ebeauty of his charact e r was n o t lost o n th epoo r

blacks who w e re w i th him With a fid e lity which is
.

ra r e in sto ry a n d a s e ,
n se o f re spo n sibility almost
unknown in benight e d Africa his se r va n ts p r e pare d to,
1 3 8 DAV I D L I V I N GS TO N E .

convey his body and personal e ff ec t s back to his own

people They buried his hear t and in t e
. rnal o rgan s
under a t ree and m arked the grave so tha t i t might
,

be recognised H i s body they dried in the sun and

.
,

embalmed in the bes t way they could W rapp i ng i t in .

calico and bark a n d coveri ng the whole with canvas

, ,

they se t o ut o n their long and d i fficult journ e y to

Zanzibar N umerou s dangers threat e
. ned them an d ,

t i m e a n d again they were su rrounded by hostile bands

hos t ile chiefly t hrough a su perstitiou s fear o f the d e ad .

Bu t s t ill they persevered ; and after beh avin g w i th a ,

courage and devotion worthy o f th e ir beloved m ast er ,

they at length brought hi s mortal remains safe ly to

the coast together w i th the whole o f his personal
,

e ffects . N earl y a year had been occu pied by the

journe y . N o t a note o r j ottin g o f all those las t
se ven years o f Livi n gstone s life was lost and i t is ’
,

e n tirely owing t o S usi a n d Chum a an d their faithful

com pan i on s that thi s is so O ur debt to thes e fine .

fe llows n o reward coul d wipe ou t I t is an endu ri ng .

Obligation .

O n th e 1 s th o f April 1 8 7 4 the body accompanied

, , ,

by S usi and Chuma arrived in E ngland I t was t aken

,
.

to the room s o f the G eographical S ociety and there ,

ide d— partly by the false j oin t in the u pper a rm

n tifi e ,

w hich had developed when t he l i on mangled h i m long

years before a t M abo t sa .

Three days l ater amo n g those who had worked with

,

him a n d for him in the presence o f the mighty dead

,

a s well a s the migh ty liv i ng , he was laid to rest in

Westminster Abb e y M o ffat a n d O sw e
. ll S te e
le and ,

Webb Waller and Ki r k Young and S t anley were th e

, ,
re ,

to pay a last tribu te o f a ffec ti on to th eir O ld com rade

and all who were pr e sen t were clos e ly drawn t o h i m
through ties o f admirat i on for h i s charac t er a n d
s y mpathy for his cau se I n former years wh e . n he ,

returned from Afric a , he had rece i ved t he r i n gi n g

1 40 DAV I D L I VI NG S TO N E .

we lcome o f a n ation .Upon tha t day when he came

a gain for the last time as he was laid to rest in
,

the Abbey that n ation str i cken with grief though

, ,

hardly yet a w are o f all h is g rea t ness, bade him a

mu t e fare w ell
.
 U N I E S I TI E S M SS I N S T EA M E R
V R I O ,
“
CH A LE S J AN S EN
R ,
’
OF F LI I ST
V NG O N “.

CHAPT E R XI .

L I V I N G S T O N E S L EG A C Y
’
.

w r ites Profe
H ER EV ER, ssor Drummond I n
h is admi r abl ebook o n “
T r opical Afr ica
a book which is distinguish e d by th em e r i t o f bre vi ty
amo n g a sco rea n d more wo r ks o n Afr ica as cumbrous
as the subject with which th e y deal W h erever David
Livingsto n es footst e
’
ps a recross e d in Africa the fra ,

g r an ee of his m e mory s e ems to r e mai n Co n fi rmatio n .

o f this stat e me nt though it is really u n n e

,
cessa ry i s ,

found in the following an e cdote told by th e R ev ,

.

Ch a n n ey Maples
“
Whil estayi n g wi th Matola I was told th e rewas a
,

man who sp e cially want e d to se ehis E n glish V isitors ,

because he had known som e thi n g of a whit ema n in o ld

days a n d if w ewe r eat all lik ehim he should l ik eto
,

make o ur acquainta n c e I d e si red that h emight be

d to us Fo r thwith he came —a pompous Old
.

p r es e
nt e .

man who spok ein a dignifi e

,
d mann e r a n d who had ,

eviden tly som einformation to commu nicat e O ver his

—
.

righ t s h oul d e n a l
r there hu g n O d coa t mould y pa rtially ,
1 4 2 DA VI D L I V I N G S T O N E .

e
aten away bu t s t il l ,
b e recogn i sed as o f d e
to cidedly
E n glish make and mat e rial Whos ew a s i t
. I thought ,

as he began wi t h much mys t ery to tel l o f a white ma n

who te ,
n ye ars ago , had t ravelled with h im to Ma ta k a s ’

t own ; a white m an he sa i d whom t o have on c e seen

, ,

a n d talked with w a s to remember fo r ever ; a white ma n

w ho t re a ted black men as his bro t hers and whose ,

me mory would be cherished all along t hat R ovuma

valley aft er we were all dead and gone Then he .

de —
scribed him a shor t ma n w i th a bushy mous t ache
a n d a ke en p i erci n g eye, whose words were al w ays
,

g en tle a n,
d whose mann e rs were alway s kind whom ,

a s a leader i t was a p r iv i lege t o follow a n d w h o kn e

w ,

t he w a y to t he hearts of all me n This was t he de .

scrip t ion t h i s African savage ( as me n speak) gave of

”
D r Liv i ngstone
. .

L i v i ngs t one s personali ty i ndeed h a s ach i eved more

’
, ,

t han even l ast ing impression s H e left the n a t ion a .

rich legacy . H e laid it upon t he i r sense o f righ t to

ca r ry o n the work wh i ch had dropped from h is hands .

To t his responsibility they have shown t hemselves

awake a n d the death of the most adm i rabl elabourer
,

in the vas t field of Afr i ca gave a n i mpe t us to geo

grap h i cal and miss ionary en terprise which has gone o n ,

in creasing t o the presen t t ime By deeds not words .

, ,

we rec all D av i d Livings t one t o mind ; by deeds n o t ,

words we expec t to recognise h issuccessors

,
.

’
Livingstone s le g acy is duplex in form The firs t .

t hing he left h is coun t ryme n t o do w a s the extension

o f m issionary teaching cou pled w it h the further develop
,

men t o f t hose region s o f Afri ca he had done so much

t o open to the Christian preach e r The second par t o f .

this legacy i s a hercul e a n task : it is n othing less than

the eradication of slavery chiefly by the substitu t ion of
,

le gitimate commerce and the fightin g a cru sade agains t

,

those influen ce s which fos t er t he slave t rade .

A brief h i st o r y of how the fir st port i o n of t h i s

1 44 DAV I D L I V I NG S TO N E .

the Christian Churches o f his n ati ve S cotland The .

origin o f this new mission was closely conn ected with

Livingston e for i t was chi e
, fly owi n g to Dr Jam es .

Stewart that the initiation o f the ent e r p r is etook place

a n d lon g years b e fore at the time o f M r s Livingston e s ’
, .

death D r S tewar t had come o ut to the Zam b e

,
. si to se e
wha t could be don e H e it was who laid th eD octo r s
.
’

beloved Mary M o ffat to rest under the baobab tr ee

“

at S h upa n g a an d spoke the words o f consolation besid e

,

her grave H e had return ed to S cotla n d and reported

.
,

tha t it w ould be better to wait a while ; but at the s ame ,

time h e was deeply impressed with the harvest fi e

, ld -

Of which h eh ad see n bu t a glimpse H e now sti r red .

u p the Churches ; a n d h aving fitt ed himself for m o re

,

valuable work by enteri n g the medical profession he i t ,

was wh o renewed t he work o f Chris t upon the sh ores

o f N yassa .

This work has prospered greatly S e ve r al o f the .

m issionaries are doctors and are healing th e bodi es ,

o f those whose soul s they are br i nging t o the G rea t

Physician At one place o n the la k e a t Bandawe

. ,
, ,

more t han t en thousand visits have been regis t ered in

o n eyear —
Among t eA n gon i those fierce m arauding
. h
tribes for fear o f whom M usa and his wretched Johanna
co mrades had deserted Livings t on e th ese medical
O fficers are doing a grea t work A t L i vingston i a , the .

ch i ef se ttlement w hich is situat ed on Cape M aclear at

, ,

Bandaw eand other stat ion s t hou sands a n d thou san ds o f

, ,

children hav ebeen taught to r e “

ad and write the sou nd
words o f t he G ospel o f brotherly love The writings .

o f the E vangelists , the best hymn s o f t he Churches and ,

works of smaller interest bu t great valu e have be en ,

t ranslated into the native tongu e so that th e people ,

m ay read and understand And further s t ill worki n g .

, ,

i n the spirit o f L i v i ngstone the n atives ha ve been ,

trained to preach t o t heir fellows .

That t hey c a n be thu s trained we have lately rece i ved

 ’
L I V I N GS TO N E S L EG ACY . 1 45

a st r iki n g testimony from Profe ssor Drummond Among .

his escort in Africa was on eMoolu a native Ch r istia n , ,

whom h ehad taken from the mission station under D r .

“‘ “
Laws at Bandawe Mission
. he says in ,

N atal and at the Cap eare a by word among the um -

sympath e tic ; but I never sa w M oolu do a n inconsistent

thing He could n eith e
. r re
ad n or write ; he knew only
some dozen words o f E n glish ; until seven ye ars ago
he had n e ve r se e n a whit ema n ; but I could trust him
with everything I had He was not . h ewas
neith e r b r ight n or cleve r ; he w a s a commonplac eblack ;
bu t he did his duty and n e ve r told a lie
,
The firs t .

night o f our camp after all had gon e to re,

st I re ,

me mber being rous e d by a low t alking I look e d o ut .

of my t en t a flood o f moonlight lit up the forest ; and

there kn e
,
eling upon the ground was a li ttl egroup ,

of nativ e s and Moolu in the centre conducti n g evening

,

prayers . Every night afterwards this s e rvice was re

p ea te d ,
n o matt e r h o w long t h e march w a s n o r h o w

tired the me n I mak eno comm e n t But this I will

sa y—Moolu s life gave him the right to do it
. .

’ ”
.

Before re achi n g the lak e and half way b etw e en

,
-

Chibisa a n d Magom e r o the first station s of the,

Univ e rsiti es Mission o f 1 8 62 64 there sta n d in the -

healthy district o f th eS hir e highlands the st atio n s Of

Blantyre and Mandala T h eid e a o f Blantyre is also
.

Livi n gstone s for it combin e

’
,
s the i n dust r ial and the
e vange lical I t was start ed in 1 87 6 th edirector b eing
.
,

a me dical missionary a n d his fi veassistant s artisans

,
.

From time to time this littl eforc ehas been recruit e d ,

but thedominant idea has b e en maintained To day i f .

-

on evisits th e sta t ions o f Blantyre a n d Mandala the ,

good work achieved by the Church o f S cotland is

pleasantly Visibl e Many o f the native lads who hav e
.

be e n educated in the mission schools mak eadmi r abl e

se rvants o r inte r preters for the activ emissionaries a n d
th e ir occasional guest th e Afr ican trave ,
ll er and the '
 1 46 DAV I D LI V I N G S TO N E .

influence for peace and industry wh i ch these lo n ely

lodges in the wild e rness exert on t he neighbouring
tribes i s remarkable At Blan tyre alone ov er
.

has been e xpended ; and fort unatel y with excell e,

nt ,

results The bu ildings o f the mission are o f br i ck and

.
,

the land has been ex t ens i vely cultivated With the aid .

o f sk i lled carpenters a n d gardeners a large industry

h a s been developed and private enterprise conducted

, ,

o n sound l i nes has h e ,

lped t o extend t he e fforts of the
missionari es Many o f t he sons o f neighbouring chiefs
.

ha v e been and still are educa t ed in t he schools a n d ,

here and there are outpos t s O ffi c e red by t rained n at i ve

t each e rs .

’
Passing northward and s t ill in Livingstone s foo t s t eps ,

we mee t with t he U n i versit i es M ission S ince 1 8 7 7 .

this mission h a s been working o n the mainland as we ll

as a t Zanzibar I ts sphere o f labour has spread from
.

the eas t coas t t o the shores Of N yassa i tself I t has .

pushed o n t hrough M akuas an d Yaos a n d M an g anja ,

and placed its ow n steamer on the lake G reat diffi .

c ulties h ave attended the Opening u p o f this work ,

owing to the marauding Ma k w a n g w a ra , who d e vastat e

the cultivated fields o f the more ag r icul t ural tribes and ,

render l i fe u n cer t ain and successful labour precari ous .

E normous sums have been spen t in developing this

enterpr i se a n d not w it hou t returns ; bu t t hi s would
,

seem to be t he most gigant i c task wh i c h any o f t he

societies have t ackled a n d progress must be es t imated
,

a t a higher value The u nhealthy C lima t e i s not the

.

least o f t he di fficulties a n d t he morta ligy among the

,

miss i onar i es has been very grea t N early a hundred .

a gen t s are spread abou t t his reg i on and they are ,

cons t an t ly recru i ted from the headquart e rs a t Zanzibar ,

w h ere preachers, teachers mechanics a n d ar t isans are

, ,

tra i ned for t he work Considerabl y over

. has
bee n spent in th i s d i s t rict ; and t hough costly bot h ,

in l iv e s a n d mone y, t he influence o f t he di sinteres t e d

1 4 8 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

Livingsto n e had dropp e d it ; his marv e llou s d escent

Of the L ualaba wh i ch he p r oved to be not the N ile
,

,
—
n or t he N iger but the Congo are no t th e se almos t
,

fabulous achiev e ments a n d t he envi r onm e

,
n t o f pe r il
and horror in which they a reset known to t he world ,

I n crossing Africa from t he east coast to th ewest a n d ,

thereby with Cam e

,
ron reversi n g the order o f t he first
,

great t r an s con tinental j ourney o f Li vings t one St anley

-

pu t a t rest a controversy which had raged with terr i ble

warmth and for many y e ars in scientific circl es H e .

not only proved tha t the riv e r wh i ch ran through

’
Livingstone s chain o f lakes in the very heart o f t he
con tin en t w a s n ot the N ile bu t he fo und the head ,

waters O f theN ile i tself Bu t he did more than t his ;

.

for he proved that for a thousand miles the Congo

flowed withou t cataract or fall ; for a thousand miles
i t was fitted to b e a natural highway from wi t hin a ,

shor t distance o f thecoast t o the cen tre o f Africa

a highway whos e value is simply incalculable I n d oing .

all this he ye t w a s bu t b e ginning ; for a few years

later he was building u p a mighty s t a t e o n th e banks
and in the b asin of this river by exploration, by ,

concilia t ion by comm e

,
rce The full m easure o f good
.

which the Congo Fre e St at e may perform fo r Afr ica

n on e o f u s can t e ll a t t he p r es en t tim e; bu t it ma y
safe ly be said that if the African i s to be redeemed
and h i s conti n ent i n cluded i n the ord e rly progress o f .

the world it will be don eby such commerc i al kingdoms

,

as the Free S ta t e which int roduc e the b e

,
ne fits o f
indus t ry and commerce while they fos t er and protect
t he spread o f a G ospel proclaiming the dignity of
labou r and t he valu eo f l i fe .

And after S tanley comes a long array o f workers

i n the sam efi e ld J oseph Thomson surveying E astern
.
,

Afr ica wi t h the e y e o f the g e

ologist proving the ,

Luk ug a t o be the d r ain o f theTanganika and t hereby ,

cl earing u p a m uch vex e d po i nt an d passing t hrough ,

 ’
L I V I N G S TO N E S L EG ACY . 1 49 .

u n ha rmed —perhaps becau s en ot harmi n g — the t e rrib le

Masai H H Johnston at work in th e district o f
. . .

Kilimanj aro e xploring th e fev er haunted lagoon s o f

,
-

the N iger Delta and winni n g fri e ,

nds for hims e lf and
theE n glish nation by a dem e anou r at onceeager a n d
courteous Fred e rick S tanl e
. y Arnot who of all t r a ,

ve llers has perhaps kept clos e st to the mod e l of Livi n g -

stone the gre

,
at mast e r o f them all H eis the ma n .

who d e
,
pending o n no soci e ty for p r ot e
ctio n or funds ,

has spen t s e ven years in Africa doing a g r eat work , .

His first obj e ct has e ver been to preach the glad

tidings ; to him the most impre ssive sight in Afr ica
is the gre at field whit eunto the harvest
“
He has .

cross e d Afr ica I n Kata n ga h e has laboured with

.

conspicuou s su cc e ss ; and h ehas but lately r e tur n e d

t o his self appointed mission fi e
-
ld bearing pr e sents
-

from E ngland to Chitambo I n acknowledgm e n t — too

tardy alas —O f kindn ess shown to Livi n gstone and

, ,

subsequ e ntly to his followers afte r that martyr s d eath ’

in his village .

And so th eroll r uns on — Cam e ron journ e yi n g across ,

Afr ica from Zanzibar to B e n guela surveyi n g e n ro ute ,

thos esouthern shores of Lake Tanganika so familiar to

Livingstone in his last ye a r s re achi n g N ya n g w e the
, ,

Doctor s most north e

’
r ly point and th e nce turning back
, ,

wh e n o n the very threshold o f the discov e ry o f t he

Congo t o travel to the w e
,
st coast by th eslav epaths -

through U rua and Ulunda ; O Ne ill making n e a r ly a ’

sco re of j ourneys from the Mozambiqu ecoast into the

int erior discove r i n g the Lake
,
s A ma ra mba and Chiu t a ,

reachi n g Blantyreby a direct overland rout e and sur ,

veyi n g with marv e llous accuracy e ve ry mil e o f his

wanderings Last gath e r i n g in a n ethnological ha rv e
,
st
from thecountries of theS outhern Masai N gu r u a n d , ,

ne ighbouring r e gions and lik eO Ne ill r e

,
co r di n g h is
,
’

j ourneys with that accu racy which mak es th e m the

morevaluable ; S e lous who has mad e the basi n of ,
1 5 0 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

t he Zambe si h i s spec i al provin ce who has trodde n ,

in Livingstone s footsteps a n d pierced the unknown

’

coun t ries o n either hand ; K e i t h J ohns t on , mos t ex

per t o f g e ographers who succumbed to the climate
,

b efore he had been able to se t a n indelible mark upon

the country ; H ore with his brave w i fe creatin g a t
, ,

Kavala I slan d i n the Lake Tangan i ka a base for

, ,

operations am ong the populous t ribes surrou nding the

lake i n vestigating native charac t er and l a nguage in
, ,

quiring into the n atural s cience o f t he region acting ,

as a n in t erpreter for the commercial needs o f the

t eeming millions a n d provin g to demonstra ti on t he
,

compa r ative healthiness o f t he cl i ma t e in tha t locali ty .

And the lis t is n o t exhaus t ed y e t W ithou t reckon .

in g on eof th emany explorer s o f o t her na ti onalities

’

the n ames o f th e fellow coun t rymen of Livingstone

-

follow o n o n eanother w i thou t a break M aples John .

,

son S tewart G renfell C omber W a k e

, , ,
fie,
—
ld a s on e
drops o ut of the line another stepping forward t o fill
h is place .Working a thou sand miles apar t o r side
by sid e they are all worki n g t o bu t o n eissue for the
,

e n d o f the geographical fe at is onl y t he be g innin g o f

”
t h e m i ss i on ary en t erprise .
I 52 DAV I D LI V I NGS TO N E .

G radually ho w e,
ver, as h i s strength g rew and he
learn t mor e o f the childish nature o f the peopl e he
wen t amongst , his cunning sugges t ed a no t her pol i cy .

H e mixed in n a t iv e polit i cs stirred u p o n e tr i b e ,

agains t t he other a n d took their par t i n war For

—
, .

this help he dem anded payment paymen t like S hy

lock in his pound of fl e
,
“ sh ”
This he received What . .

did t he easy going nat i ves wan t with the i r captives

-

in war ? The y h a d no idea o f employing labour o n

lds—the fields themselve s requ i red no more
,

the i r fi e
than the wives o f the ow n ers gave S tronger and
, .

stronger grew the invader H e though t no longer o f .

paying his way , bu t marched boastfully through t he

cou n t ry at t he head of his armed ruffi a n s and burn t ,

here , robbed there and capt ured everywhere The

, .

conques t was comple t e The Arab reign of t error had

.

arrived .

I t was t he beginn i ng o f t his final s t a g e wh i ch

L i v i ngstone wi t nessed at N yan g we, when over three
hundred wretched na t ives , men , women , and children ,
were sho t down with wan t on cruelty H e wrote home .

abou t t h i s atro ci ty and rou sed publ i c opinion in n o

,

common d e gree I nvestigation s on the coast gave a n

.

inkling of wha t was proceeding in t he in t er i or I t was .

estimated that from t he Arab port Of Kil w a, alon e ,

more than t wen t y thou sand slaves were annually

exported Bu t Livi ngs tone had said that for every
.

slave t hat arrived a t t he coast t wo had died or been

slaugh t ered in the i n t er i or The ou tcome o f h i s e fforts
.

w a s tha t Bri t ish men o f war blockaded t he eas t coas t ,

- -

a n d largely checked t he expor t o f slaves A n d ye t .

this w a s o f scan t avail ; the mouth o f the se w er was

indeed closed bu t the foul s t ream was only diverted,
,

to o v erflo w t he land and circula t e its fatal poison .

The action o f the slave trade oscillated to a n d fro,

from eas t t o west a n d north to sou t h The greed o f
,
.

t he nat iv e s w a s appealed to and men sold t he h e lples s ,

 ’
L I V I NGS TO NE S L EG ACY . 1 53

o r th eyoung e
of
th ir w o n trib e— relatives eve n sold
e ach other H abit is s econd nature and custom le
. d
,

th e s e wre t ched people to r e gard slav e ry as natu r al .

With fe arful loss o f life the population o f o n edist r ict

,

was d e po r t ed to anoth e r and that agai n els e

,
where a n d ,

so on a d in fi n itum as lo n g as gain could be acquire d .

T h eroots o f th et r ad ehad n o w st r uck d e e p T he .

simpl e almos t patriarchal life of theagricultural rac e

, ,
s
ceased to exist Lik ethe swoop of th efi sh e
. agle the -

Arab cam edown upon th escatt e re d Villages a n d bu r nt

and cap t ured and theweak t r ibes live
,
d in t e r r or whil e
th estrong pr e par e d for the t r ad er by raidi n g among the
weak O n eVillage became suspicious o f the oth e
. r and ,

th edwellings of the p e opl eretre at ed mo reand more to

th egloom o f th efor e st o r theisla n ds of thelake I n .

some distri c t s theevil was so accentuate d that th r e e

n atives coul d n o t be s e nt o n a m essag e in case tw o
“

should combine and s e ll the third before th e y r eturn e d

And t he woe o f it— thed e solation A y e ar o r so ago
the region a r ound thesouth e n d o f Ta n ganika t e em e d
wi t h life and simple industry To day th ema r ch of the
.
-

Arab c a n be followed by the cha rr e d e mbers which

ma r k the village s a n d the skel e
,
tons by the roadside
which a rea ll that is left of the peopl e Wissman wh e . n ,

desc e nding the Kasai a n d trave lling among th eB a son g e

passed through enormous villages —or r ath e
,

r tow n s
six and seven miles in l e ngth whose d e n s epopulation
,

cul t ivated the land for many miles around A y ear .

o r so after he cam e t o th e same plac e s — th e fi e lds

we re sprout i ng jungl e s the hous e
,
s me reh e aps of ash
and tinder Wh e. n Livi n gs t on e and S tanley t r av e ll e
d
through Ma n yuema nothing st r uck th em more tha n
the hordes o f inhabitants T O day M a n yue
. ma is a
-

wilderness . From N yangwe to S tanl e y Falls Tippu ,

Tip a n d me n o f his calib rehav edevastat e d vast tracts

o f country a n d th ewhole r e
,
gion lying west and south
o f Lakes M o e ro and B a n g w e olo is d e populat e d Th e .
1 54 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO N E .

Kasa i o n the wes t a n d t h e hilly coun t ry o f t he M asa i

o n t he east , from the head w a t ers o f the Koango t o the

lower wa t ers o f the R ovum a a n d from the M a nganja , ,

1 5
°
sou t h of t he equ ator t o the S oudanese of K o r
,
°
d o fa n 1 5 north of it, Africa is harassed by t hese fiends
,

in human form .

The slave trade would see m t o arouse a n d feed the ‘

wors t passions The mos t gra t ui t ous villainy a e

. com
p a n ie s it a,
n d b y sheer wanton cruelty thou sands o f
“
lives are sacr i ficed Abou t two years ago the Arabs
.

at the north e n d o f L a ke N yas sa after destroy i ng four ,

teen villages with m any O f th e ir i nhabitants pursued the ,

population o f on evillage in t o a patch o f t all dry grass ,

set i t on fire surrounded it a n d slew with t he bulle t

, ,

and t he spear t hos ew h o crawled o ut from the more

me rciful flames ”
T hi s was don e because t he people
.

had given them t rouble or had tried t o escape R a t her .

than give the wre t ched people a chan ce o f life the ,

me n a n d women who from u tt er weakness are unable

e
to march wi t h t he ga n g are tied tightly to a wayside
tree and left to die o f s t arvation I f any slav s escape .
,

the surv i v o rs are made t o feel t he anger o f their cap t ors .

The Arabs thi n k n othing o f hack i ng to dea t h some o f

the weaklings in t heir caravan I f a young mother is .

seen s t aggering under her load her babe i s t orn from ,

her a n d flung into t he gra ss by t he t rack there t o be ,

de voured by the hy ae na so r pee ke d to dea t h by t he birds

of prey .

The head o f t he Blantyre M ission the R e v D C ,

. . .

S co t t is quo t ed t o the following e ff ect by M r James

,
.

S tevens on o f the Afri can Lakes Company in h is

, ,

st irring lit t le pamphle t on t he subj ec t o f Ara b villa i n y

and Por t uguese indi fference
The A rab slave trade is making frigh t ful progres s
Cara v a n s o f Arabs are pouring in —for trade ? NO !
.

H ardly a b ale o f cloth goes u p coun t ry from the eas t

coa st ; i t is g un s and powder n o t e ven S pi ri t s I t is
, .
1 56 DAV I D L I V I NGS TO NE .

si n gle sentence from on eof his speeches will rev eal to

u s the fate of some o f t hese tw o million : “ When
caugh t the u nm a r ke t able ones are either killed or left
,

to die o f hunger ; the women are usually viola t ed and

”
then burn t .

I t would almost seem that Livings ton es idea o f sub

’

stitutin g l e gitima t e commerce for t he trade in slav es is

now o ut o f date an d powerless to s t em the flood A S .

regards i sola t ed endeavours to at t ain this end this may ,

be so b u t there c a n be n o doubt t hat organized c om

merce the creat i on o f g re
,
at comme r cial s tates or the ,

develop ment o f those which already exis t m ay hope ,

with som e assurance o f success to combat the evi l .

A good deal has been done on these lines The .

Co n go Free S tate has advanced civilization in no small

de g r ee wi t hin it s sphere o f influence The s avage
.

tribes h ave b e en shown t he benefits of peace an d trad e ,

and theadvantages to be reaped from con t ac t w it h t he

civilized world Commerc e has been m ade possible by
.

the openi n g up o f rivers and roads by t he founding o f

,

station s and cu ltivation o f soil by consisten t concil i atory

,

measures and the establishm e nt o f a general security .

Above all the n atives dwelling within a larg e por t ion

,

Of the s t ate h ave been protected from the horrors o f

the slave trade The Bri tish E ast Africa Company are
.

attemp t ing to do som e thing o f t he same kind be t w e en

the eas t coas t and the V ictori a N yanza, a n d the G er
mans a re show i ng the world how n o t t o do i t be t w een
Zanzibar and U n ya mw e z i .

The pluckiest an d perhaps the mos t successful e ff ort

to introduce commerce o f a legitimate order into Africa
h as been made by the Afri can Lakes Company This .

i s n o mer e comm erci al enterprise for its prime object

,

i s p h ilan t h ropic — to ou st the slave trade in N ya ssa la n d

by t he int r oduction o f commerce I t s t art e
. d Opera
tions abou t te n years ago and has gradually widened
,

a n d l en g thened its fiel d e v er since Wi th se ve

, ra l
 ’
L I VI NGS TO N E S L E G ACY . 1 57

st e am e r s on N yassa a n d th eS hi re and ov e r a doz en ,

t radi n g stations alo n g th erout e thecompany has pro ,

v ide d pl e nty o f scope for nativ e e n e rgy But i t has .

do n emore Thefamous S teve

.
“
nson R oad from th e ,

he ad o f Lake N yassa t o the southe r nmost point of th e

Tan ganika has b ee n const r uct e
,
d e n tirely by native s
under thee ngine er ing direction O f th elat e Mr Jam e s .

S tewart . Th e natives prov e d th e ms e lv e s ve ry w e ll

able to wo r k ke e pi n g t o regular labour hou rs a n d
, ,

handling their pick axes crowbars a n d spad e

-

,
s with ,

som e thing like E urop e an skill A station has be e .n

e r ect ed o n th eroad a n d o n eon the Ta n ganika and th e ,

chain o f communication from the se a compl e ted In .

additio n to this native produce is bought in la rge

,

quantities and the peopl ea ree

,
ncouraged to k e e p on
incr e asing the qua n tity M any expe riments hav eb e
. e n

made wi t h seeds not indige n ou s to the cou n try ; and in ,

short whatever common s e

,
nse has suggest e d should be
done has be e n done .

S ubsidiary to this company but ac t uated by its e ,

n

lightened motives are thee ,

xte n siv ecoffe e and sugar
plant ations at Zomba b e longing to two broth e
,
rs n am ed
Buchanan which r ival in e
,
xt e
nt a n d fertility those o f
th e Moirs the manag e
,
rs of th e Lak es Compa n y at
M andala A larg en ative population is al re
. ady d e p en
de nt on th e s e indust r i es Befo r e lo n g th e . re c a n be ,

littl edoubt that the co ffe e trad eo f theS hi re highla n ds

will prove a highly re munerative as well a s salutary
'

industry As a reward to th ese brave pioneers and for

.
,

the sake of th eharassed nativ e i t is to behop e d that,

su ch will prove to be the cas e .

The di ffi culty howe ,

ver remains : How ca n c o m,

merce be giv e n a fair chance and the slave trad ea

se -
t back Things have come to such a pass that bu t ,

o n esugg e stion seems fe asible A powe r ful compa n y

.
,

o r agglome r ation o f compani e s should be fo r m e d to,

con t rol British comm e rcial interests from th eS hi re t o

1 58 DAV I D L I V I N G S TO N E .

the head of the Tangan i ka Along th elakes i ts pol i c e .

steamers should ply a n d on the elevated spu r s and h ills

,

in t his lake region bodies o f well d r illed na ti v epolice -

should be held in reserve for any contingency The .

po i nts w here the caravan rou t es intersec t th i s lo n g

north a n d south line o f water communication should be
- -

re g arded as poin t s o f resistance a n d measures taken ,

accordingly The whole o f the east coast should again

.

be jealously wa t ched by g unboats a n d su ch co i gn s of ,

van t age a s Zanzibar K ilwa a n d t he like should by

, , , ,

treaty be declared free ports in the sense th a t no sl ave

,
“ ”
shou ld be known wi t hin t he i r limi t s I vory r i ngs .

“
and corners might well be created in order t o de
pr i ve t he Arab o f a great s ource o f profit and so starve ,

h i m out .

The ch i ef i nfluen c e aga i ns t such a se tt lemen t or in , ,

deed a n y se tt lement o f the question as regards Ny assa

,

land and it s more immedia t e d i s t ric t s is the Portuguese ,

indi fference to all enterpri se ; a n d firs t and foremos t, ,

all E nglish en terprise Portugal h a s neither men n or .

,

money nor commercial geniu s t o develop on equarter

,
-

o f the coun try sh eclaims ; bu t sh eis not o n accoun t ,

o f tha t, any more likely to t olera t e t he capping O f t he

e difice wh i ch Br i tish perse v erance h a s reared o ut of

blank sav agery Por t ugal, in fac t h a s ne it her a great
.
,

colonial policy n or a s t atesman wi t h a n altruis t ic idea .

Her a t titu de on the M ozamb i que coast and theZam besi

h a s resembled that o f a certain do g that once made
h i ms elf d isagreeable in a manger .

The Congo has been declared free and th e r eis no

— —
,

reaso n agains t indeed , e very reason fo r t he Zambesi

be i ng also o pened to the commerce o f the w orld The .

pe culiar circumsta n c e s which make u p the history of

Por t uguese settlement upon t he banks o f this r i ver
prev e nt t he subs t antiat i on i f they do n o t preven t the
,

makin g o f t he Portuguese cla i m for its appropr i at i on

,
.

M oreover t he Z a mbes i i s a hi g hway, a na t ural hi g hway,

,
[ 60 DAVI D L I VI N GS TO N E .

she has been almost alone in d e veloping these port i on s

o f Afr i ca and figh t ing agains t the influence of t he Arab

slave trader .

Portugal was firs t on the Zambesi t hat i s t rue ; bu t ,

L i vingstone showed m ost co n clu siv e ly t ha t she had

never u tilized h e r position by Christianizing the n at i ves ,

o r in a n y wa y opening u p the country ; and i ndeed , ,

that sh e was there o n su ffe rance S he fostered the .

slave trade in those days by connivi n g at i t s indulgenc e

to day sh efosters i t by holding back thos ewho would
-

suppress i t I t was Livi n gstone who led the way from

.

Loanda to Q uilima n e Livingstone who first ascended

the S hir e discovered Lakes S hirw a and N yassa and
, ,

pl ant ed the firs t steam e rs on the Zambesi I t was .

British mo n ey that mad ethe roads past the M u rch i son

Cataracts and from N yassa to Tanganika ; t hat esta
,

blish e d re gular commu n ication from the N yassa to t he

I ndian O cean British en e
. rgy and pluck have striven
for th i rty years a gains t t he forces o f barbarism a n d the
somnolence o f an effe t e power ; those were Bri tish lives
which are laid in that lon g seri es o f graves from the
Za mbesi to t he N yassa an d a B ritish sens eo f j us t ice
demands that Port ugal shou ld give ev ery facility to the
chivalrou s a t tack on the slave trade which w i th fe arful ,

odd s against t h e m , a mere handful o f nobl ehearted -

Britons are mak i n g min dful o f tha t sain t ly hero who

,

wrot edown his life long prayer, exactly a year befor e

-

his death in thes ewords

,
“ ’
All I c a n add in my loneline ss is may Heaven s ,

rich blessing come d own o n every on e — American ,

E n glish o r Turk who will help to heal t his open sore

,
-

o f the world

P rin te
d by H a z e
ll, W a t son , Vi
n e
y
, Ld .
, Lon don an d A ylesb ury.