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DAVID LIVINGSTONE,

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CAREFULLY COMPILED FROM RELIABLE SOURCES.

JOHN G. MURDOCH,

49 CASTLE STRELA, HOLBORN, LONDON:

PREFACE.

\ HEN the report of the death of Dr Livingstone reached this country,

many people refused to give it credit. He had so often been given up
for lost and mourned as dead, his countrymen were reluctant to believe that
the grand old man would never more be seen amongst them.

Eyer since the indomitable Stanley took his last look of the great travel-
ler—who, although for nearly six years he had been wholly cut off from
civilisation, still lingered, self-exiled, until his work should be completed—
the interest in his movements had not abated. From the Congo or from
the Nile—according to the opinions formed as to the further course of the
mysterious Lualaba, whose gathering waters he had followed from the up-
lands which divide the African central valley from that of the Zambesi, to a
point within a couple of hundred miles of the hitherto supposed head waters
of the Nile—intelligence of his movements had been looked for with an
impatience which shows how strong an impression this remarkable man and
his extraordinary career had made upon the public mind.

The life of this truly great man, from its childhood to its close, is a
living lesson which the youth of our country cannot take too closely to heart.
The child and boy who, while undergoing the drudgery of twelve hours’
daily labour in a factory, found time and means to educate himself for the
noble office of a Christian Missionary to the heathen, is as interesting and
instructive a study as that of the grown man, whose determined will and untir-
ing effort have made us familiar with more of the formerly unknown regions
of the earth than any previous explorer of ancient or of modern times.

The present narrative—mainly designed for that large class of modern
readers who have neither the time nor the opportunity for becoming acquainted
with the many sources from which it has been gleaned—has been written and
compiled with the view of giving a graphic account of a memorable life
story, the full details of which are either shut up in books beyond the reach
of the majority of readers, locked up in files of newspapers, or buried in the
Reports and Journals of the Royal Geographical Society—these latter, a

iv PREFACE.

source totally inacessible to the general reader. ‘The narrative is supple-
mented by details of the Livingstone Relief Expeditions under Mr. Stanley,
Mr. Young, and Lieutenant Cameron; a brief memoir of Mr. Stanley, with a
full account of his explorations into the heart of Central Africa, under the
auspices of the ‘‘ New York Herald” and the London ‘“‘ Daily Telegraph ;” a
sketch of Cameron’s journey across the African Continent from the Kast to
the West Coast; and a record of the establishment of the great Missionary
Settlements on Lakes Nyassa, Tanganyika, and Nyanza. The founding of
these Institutions may be regarded as the appropriate fruit of Livingstone’s
labours—the fitting crown of his heroic and glorious career.

In the companion volume to this ‘“ Life of Livingstone” will be found a
complete history of African discovery, from the earliest period down to the
researches and explorations of the illustrious travellers of this nineteenth
century. The possessor of these two volumes will know all that is necessary
to a general reader, of the vast continent which is destined to play so import-
ant a part in the future history of the world.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Early Years—Education—Arrival at Cape Town as a Missionary : : ae :

CHAPTER II.
South Africa and its People—The Bushmen, the Hottentots, the Kaffres, and the Bechuana
Tribes, and their Habits, &c. és n : 5 . é 5 6 6 ; ;
CHAPTER III.

Dr. Livingstone arrives at Kuruman—Missionary Experiences—Visits the Bechuana Tribes—
Resolves to Settle among the Bakwains—Adventure with a Lion—Marriage—Journeys

to the Zouga River—The Bakwains Attacked by the Boers . 0 ‘ c
CHAPTER IY.
Livingstone’s Letters to the London Missionary Society from Kuruman, Mabotsa, Chonuane,
Kolobeng, &c., &e : ¢ 5 : 5 ° ° ° ° 0 6 9
CHAPTER Y.
The Kalahari Desert—Sekomi and his People—Discovers Lake ;Ngami—Visits Sebituane—
Death of Sebituane—Discovers the Zambesi . 3 . .
CHAPTER VI.

Dr. Livingstone’s Letters from Central Africa—Mr. Chapman on the Country and People

round Lake Ngami—Journey up the Course of the Zambesi or Leeambye—Preparations

for Journey to the West Coast, &c. : . : : ° : :

CHAPTER VII.

Starts for the West Coast—Ascends the Leeambye and the Leeba—Abundance of Animal
Life—Two Female Chiefa—Visits Shinte

35

57

71

95

125

v1 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.
Dr. Livingstone’s Letters Home detailing his Discoveries—Receives the Royal Geographical
Society’s Gold Medal for the Year—The Province of Angola, &o. . 0 3 3 5
CHAPTER IX.

Stay at Loanda—Starts on Return Journey—Dr. Livingstone again attacked with Fever—The
Makololo suffer from Sickness—Descent of the Leeba and Leeambye—Arrival at

Linyanti—Dr. Moffat’s Visit to Moselekatse’s Country . : ° ° e ° 6
CHAPTER X.
Start for the East Coast—The Victoria Falls—The Batoka Tribes—Reaches Zumbo, a Deserted
Portuguese Settlement 6 3 6 5 5 ° : : S 6 5
CHAPTER XI.

Stay at Tete—Senna—Arrival at Kilimane—Letters to Sir Roderick Murchison Concern-
ing the People of South and Central Africa, their Language, &c.—Departure for
England . ° ° 3 0 : 3 : . 5 5 0 .

CHAPTER XII.

Dr. Livingstone in England—Special Meeting of the Geographical Society—Enthusiastic
Reception—Farewell Banquet—Sir Roderick Murchison’s Estimate of Dr. Livingstone,
and his Labours . : ° 5 3 a : : 6 0 . c 6

CHAPTER XIII.
Dr. Livingstone and his Fellow Travellers Leave for Africa—Ascend the Zambesi—Dificulties
of Nayigation—Ascend the Shire—Discover Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa

CHAPTER XIV.

Start for Linyanti—Cutting up an Elephant—The ‘‘Go-naked” Tribe—the Victoria Falls—
They find Sekeletu Il—Leave Sesheke—Arrive at Kongone .

CHAPTER XY.

Arrival of a New Steamer—Arrival of Bishop Mackenzie and Party—Liberation of a Band of
Slaves on the Shire—Disastrous ending to the Mission—Arrival and Death of Mrs.

Livingstone—Dr. Livingstone returns to England i 6 é : O 5 5

Page

149

169

199

221

235

273

301

321

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVI

Dr. Livingstone Starts a Third Time for Africa—Re-ascends the Rovuma—His Reported
Murder—Expedition sent in Search of him hears of his Safety . or

CHAPTER XVII.

The Livingstone Search Expedition under Mr. E. D. Young— Departs for South Africa—
Ascends the Zambesi and the Shire—Hears of the Safety of Livingstone—Returns to
England—Letters from Dr. Livyingstone—Death of Dr. Livingstone again reported, &e.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The ‘‘ New York Herald’s” Expedition in Search of Dr. Livingstone—Mr. Stanley arrives at
Unyanyembe—War and other Perils—Hostility of the Natiyes—Reach a on Lake
Tanganyika—Stanley Finds and Succours Dr. Livingstone, &c. . .

CHAPTER XIX.

Mr. Stanley and Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji—Expedition to the Rusizi—Lake Tanganyika, and
the Tribes on its Shores—Livingstone and Stanley arrive at Unyanyembe—Mr. Stanley
bids the great Traveller Farewell—Memoir of Mr. Stanley, &e. c : 5

CHAPTER XX.

Dr. Livyingstone’s Account of his Explorations—His Theory of the Connection between the
Lualaba and the Nile—Horrors of the Slave-Trade—A Man-Hating Tribe—Massacre of

the Manyema, &c.

CHAPTER XXII.

Sir Bartle Frere’s Expedition, and its Results—Abolition of Slavery on the Gold Coast—
Expeditions sent to assist Dr. Liyingstone—His Death—Some Account of his Family, &c.

CHAPTER XXII.

Account of the last Illness and Death of Dr. Livingstone—Funeral Procession—Burial Service
in Westminster Abbey, &c.—Letter to Mr. Gordon Bennett—An Arab Prince’s Opinion
of Women—Domestic Life of a Central African Harem—Polygamy and Monogamy—
Tendency of Slavery—Christian Missions, &c. C 6 b 5 3

Vil

Page

351

405

437

479

509

vill CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Dr, Livingstone’s ‘Last Journals’”—Enthusiastic Reception—Eulogistic Reviews by the
Secular and Religious Press—Founding of an Industrial Mission at the Southern end of
Lake Nyassa, as a Memorial to Dr. Livingstone

CHAPTER XXIV.

Lieutenant Cameron’s Expedition to Lake Tanganyika—Discovery of the Lukuga, the long-
looked for Outlet to the waters of the Lake—Lieutenant Grandy’s Expedition to the
Congo District—Recall on the Death of Livingstone ; : :

CHAPTER XXY.

Description of Zanzibar—Its €ommercial Advantages and Prospects—Mr. Stanley’s Interview
with the Sultan of Zanzibar—Capture of an Arab Slave Dhow—Organisation of a New
Exploring Expedition under Mr. Stanley—Proposed Route, &e.

CHAPTER XXVL

Lieutenant Cameron Starts from Ujiji—At Kasenge—Between the Rugumba and the Lukuga
—Dress of the Wabudjwa—Joins Trading Caravans—The Bambarre Mountains—Crosses
the Luama—Troubles at Karungu—Leaves for Kwakasongo—Reaches Nyangwe.

CHAPTER XXVIL

Cameron Leaves Nyangwe—Suffers from Fever—Russuna’s Village—Tipo-tipo’s Camp—
Kasongo—Crosses the Lukanzi—Halts at Munza—Arrives at Hilemba—The Villages
of Lake Mohrya—Camp Burnt down—Continues his Journey towards the Coast .

CHAPTER XXVIIL

Ussambi—The Country of the Walunda—Lovale and its People—Kibokwe—King Antonio
Kagnombe—Settlement of Senhor Guilherme Goncalves—Other Settlements—Bailunda
—Arrives at Benguela—Reports himself at Loanda—Reaches Liverpool— Welcome Re-

ception everywhere . : : 0 . Q 9

Page

579

601

609

6

33

639

co:

CONTENTS.

eee SS ee ee eee ee

CHAPTER XXIX.

Stanley Marches from Bagamoyo to Mpwapwa—Through Northern Ugogo—Country of
Urimi—Death of Edward Pocock—Conflict with the Waturu—Iramba—Arrival at Lake
Nyanza—Exploration of the Lake—Visit to Mtesa, King of Unganda—Mtesa’s Conver-
sion to Islamism—Desire for Christian Teachers—Interview between Colonel de Belle-
fond and Stanley—Stanley’s Departure from Uganda—Lake Victoria Nyanza an Island
Sea—Meetings of the Royal Geographical Society . ° ° ° : 2 .

CHAPTER XXX.

Stanley Leaves the Kagera River—Encamps at Makongo—Danger from the Natives—
Arrival at Alice Island—Encounter with Natives at Bambireh—Storm on the Lake—
Complete Exploration of the Victoria Nyanza—Embassy from King Rwoma—Ukerewe
—Camp at Usukuma—Chastisement of the Bambireh People—March across Uganda—
The Gambargara Mountain and its White People—Journey to the Albert Nyanza—Visit
to King Rumanikah—The Kagera River—Hot Springs of Mlagata—Arrival in Western
Unyamwezi—Letters from Francis John Pocock c . ° ° ° . .

CHAPTER XXXI.

Missionary Response to Mtesa’s Invitation—The Victoria Nyanza Mission—The Livingstonia
Mission on the Lake Nyanza—The Mission at Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika—Mr. Cot-
terill’s Expedition to Livingstonia . 0 : . ° : ° ° . °

CHAPTER XXXII.

Description of Angola by Mr. J. J. Monteiro—Changes in Vegetation and Climate—River
Congo—Voyage up the River—The Bay of Muserra—Ambriz—Quiballa and Quilumbo
—Bembe—From Ambriz to Loanda—Porto Domingos—Districts of Cazengo and Gol-
ungo Alto—River Quanza—Benguela—District of Dombe Grande—Mossamedes—The
Muquices—Climate of Angola—Treatment of Diseases—Habits and Customs of the
Natives—Insects and Reptiles—Fruits—Safety of Travellers 9 0 :

CHAPTER XXXII.

Despatches from Mr. Stanley—Circumnayigation of Lake Tanganyika—Legends as to Its
Origin—Meaning of the Name—Geological Changes—The Alexandra Nile—The Warundi
and Waruanda—Small-Pox at Ujiji—Frank Pocock’s Letters—Comment of “The
Daily Telegraph” on the Despatches .

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THE LIFE AND EXPLORATIONS

OF

DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

CHAPTER I.

Larly Years.—Education.—Arrival at Cape Town as a
Missionary.

Da? LIVINGSTONE was born at Blantyre near Glasgow, in 1813. He

was the son of humble but respectable parents, whose simple piety and
worth were noticeable even in a community which, in those days, ranked
above the average for all those manly and self-denying virtues which, a
few generations ago, were so characteristic of the lower classes of Scotland.
Humble and even trying circumstances did not make them discontented
with their lot, nor tend to make them forget the stainless name which
had descended to them from a line of predecessors whose worldly circum-
stances were hardly better than their own.

In the introduction to his ‘‘ Missionary Travels and Researches in
South Africa,” published in 1857, Dr. Livingstone gave a brief and modest
sketch of his early years, together with some account of the humble,
although notable family from which he could trace his descent. ‘One
great-grandfather,” he tells us, ‘‘fell at the battle of Culloden, fighting
for the old line of kings, and one grandfather was a small farmer in Ulva,
where my father was born. It is one of that cluster of the Hebrides thus
spoken of by Sir Walter Scott :—

‘And Ulva dark, and Colonsay,
And all the group of islets gay
That guard famed Staffa round.’

‘Our grandfather was intimately acquainted with all the traditionary
legends which that great writer has since made use of in ‘The Tales of
a Grandfather,’ and other works. As a boy I remember listening with

B

2 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

delight, for his memory was stored with a never-ending stock of stories,
many of which were wonderfully like those I have since heard while
sitting by the African evening fires. Our grandmother too, used to sing
Gaelic songs, some of which, as she believed, had been composed by
captive Highlanders languishing among the Turks.

The reverence of your true Highlander for his ancestors, and his
knowledge of them and their doings for many generations, have been
frequently the subject of mirth to the Lowlanders or Sassenachs, as they
are termed by the Celts; but in such instances as that of the family of
which we are treating, these feelings are not only virtues, but become the
incentives to bold and manly effort in the most trying circumstances.
Livingstone tells us that his grandfather could rehearse traditions of the
familiy for six generations before him. One of these was of a nature to
make a strong impression on the imaginative and independent mind of
the boy, even when almost borne down with toil too severe for his years.
He says “‘One of these poor hardy islanders was renowned in the district
for great wisdom and prudence; and it is related that, when he was on
his death-bed, he called all his children around him, and said, ‘Now, in
my lifetime, I have searched most carefully through all the traditions I
could find of our family, and I never could discover that there was a
dishonest man among our forefathers. If therefore, any of you or any of
your children should take to dishonest ways it will not be because it runs
in our blood; it does not belong to you. I leave this precept with you:
Be honest!”

With pardonable pride and some covert sarcasm, Livingstone points out
that at the period in question, according to Macaulay, the Highlanders ‘‘ were
much like Cape Kaffres, and any one, it was said, could escape punishment
for cattle stealing by presenting a share of the plunder to his chieftain.”
Macaulay’s assertion was true of the clans and bands of broken men who dwelt
near the Highland line; but even in their case these cattle-lifting raids hardly
deserved the designation of pure theft; as even up to the middle of the last
century they looked upon the Lowlanders as an alien race, and consequently
enemies whom it was lawful to despoil. The conduct of the needy and am-
bitious nobles who drove them from their native glens and mountains, where
their fathers had lived and hunted for centuries, with a view to possessing
themselves of their inheritance, too often furnished a sufficient excuse for the
deeds of violence and plunder which figure so prominently in the annals of the
country down even to the days of George II.

Like most of the Highlanders, his ancestors were Roman Catholics, but
when Protestantism got fairly established in Scotland, the apostacy of the
chief was followed by that of the entire clan. Livingstone says, ‘‘ they were
made Protestants by the laird (the squire) coming round, with a man haying

EARLY YEARS. 3

a yellow staff, which would seem to have attracted more attention than his
teaching, for the new religion went long afterwards, perhaps it does so still,
by the name of ‘the religion of the staff.’ ”

In the olden time, religion to them was only secondary to their devotion
and attachment to their chief, and never seems to have taken any firm hold of
their imaginations. The country was poor in money, and the priests they
were familiar with were needy and ignorant; and within the Highland line
there were no splendid edifices or pomp of worship to rouse their enthusiasm,
so that the abandonment of their old mode of worship entailed no sacrifice.*

With the breaking-up of the clans and the introduction of industrial
occupations, and the teaching and preaching of devoted adherents of the new
religion, the minds of the Highlanders were moved, and for many generations
and even at the present day the Presbyterian form of worship has no more
zealous adherents than the people of the Highlands of Scotland. The man
with the yellow staff was, in all likelihood, one of the commissioners sent out
by the General Assembly to advocate the cause of the new religion among
those who were either indifferent about it, or were too remote from Edinburgh
to be affected by the deadly struggle for supremacy which was going on be-
tween the old creed and the new religion.

Towards the end of the last century, finding the small farm in Ulva in-
sufficient for the maintenance of his family, Livingstone’s grandfather removed
to Blantyre, where he, for a number of years, occupied a position of trust in
the employment of Messrs. Monteith & Co., of Blantyre Cotton Works, his
sons being employed as clerks. It formed part of the old man’s duty to con-
yey large sums of money to and from Glasgow, and his unflinching honesty
in this and other ways won him the respect and esteem of his employers, who
settled a pension on him when too old to continue his services.

Livingstone’s uncles shared in the patriotic spirit which pervaded the
country during the war with France, and entered the service of the king; but
his father having recently got married settled down as a small grocer, the
returns from which business were so small as to necessitate his children being
sent to the factory as soon as they could earn anything to assist in the family
support. Dayid Livingstone was but ten years of age, in 1823, when he
entered the mill as a ‘‘ piecer,” where he was employed from six o’clock in the
morning until eight o’clock at night, with intervals for breakfast and dinner.

* In Waverley, Sir Walter Scott very happily illustrates the non-religious character of your
true Highlander about the middle of last century. Waverley had just parted with Fergus Mc-Ivor,
and was approaching a Lowland village, “ and as he now distinguished not indeed the ringing of bells,
but the tinkling of something like a hammer against the side of an old mossy, green, inverted porridge
pot, that hung in an open booth, of the size and shape of a parrot’s cage, erected to grace the east
end of a building resembling an old barn, he asked Callum Beg if it were Sunday.

‘Couldna say just preceesely, Sunday seldom cam’ aboon the Pass o’ Bally-Brough.’”

4 ; LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, this early introduction to a life of toil
would have been the commencement of a lifetime of obscurity and privation.
Let us see how David Livingstone bore and conquered the cruel circumstances
of his boyhood, and made for himself a name which is known and respected
throughout the civilised world; and is accepted by the savage inhabitants of
Central Africa as conveying to their minds the ideal of all that is best in the
character of “the white man.”

Between the delicate “‘piecer” boy of ten and the middle-aged man
who returned to England after an absence of sixteen years, in December
1856, with a world-wide reputation, there was a mighty hill of difficulty
nobly surmounted, and we cannot attach too much importance to the
mode in which he conquered those difficulties and hindrances, which, but
that they are mastered every now and again in our sight by some bold
and daring spirit, we are almost inclined to think insurmountable. It is
a true saying, that every man who has earned distinction must have been
blessed with a parent or parents of no mean order, whatever their position
in society. What his ancestors were like we gather from his own brief
allusion to them; and the few remarks he makes regarding his parents
and their circumstances, supplemented by some information procured from
one who knew them, enables us to give a picture of his home surroundings,
which will assist us materially in estimating the courageous spirit which carried
the delicate and overworked boy safely through all his early toils and trials.

To the mere observer, Livingstone’s father appeared to be somewhat
stern and taciturn, and an overstrict disciplinarian where the members of
his family were concerned; but under a cold and reserved exterior he
sheltered a warm heart, and his real kindliness, as well as his truth and
uprightness are cherished in the memories of his family and his intimates.
He was too truthful and conscientious to become rich as a small grocer in
a country village; while his real goodness of heart induced him to trust
people whose necessities were greater than their ability or desire to pay,
to the further embarrassment of a household his limited business made
severe enough.

He brought up his children in connection with the Church of Scotland,
from which he seceded a few years before his death, and joined an
Independent congregation worshipping in Hamilton, some miles distant.
Speaking of the Christian example he set before his family, his famous
son says, ‘‘ He deserved my lasting gratitude and homage for presenting
me from infancy with a continuously consistent pious example, snch as_
that, the ideal of which is so beautifully and truthfully portrayed in
Burns’ ‘Cottar’s Saturday Night.’” He was a strict disciplinarian, and
looked with small favour on his son’s passion for reading scientific books
and works of travel; but his son had much of his own stubborn and

WHICH LIVINGSTONE WAS BORN

IN

THE ROOM

March 19

eT ss ip
a Se

EARLY YEARS. 5

independent temperament where he supposed himself to be in the right;
and sturdily preferred his own selection of books to “The Cloud of
Witnesses,” ‘ Boston’s Fourfold State,” or ‘‘ Wilberforce’s Practical Chris-
tianity.” His refusal to read the latter work procured him a caning,
which was the last occasion of his father’s application of the rod.

As is the case of many a young man in like circumstances, his father’s
importunity and unfortunate selection of authors fostered a dislike for
merely doctrinal reading, which continued until years afterwards, when a
perusal of “The Philosophy of Religion,” and the “‘ Philosophy of a Future
State,” by Dr. Thomas Dick, widened his understanding, and gratified him
by confirming him in what he had all along believed, “that religion and
science are not hostile, but friendly to each other.” Both his parents had
taken much pains to instil the principles of Christianity into his mind,
‘but it was only after becoming acquainted with the writings of Dr. Dick
and others, that their efforts bore fruit. The depth of his religious con-
victions may be realised when we contemplate the sacrifices he afterwards made
in his evangelistic labours, but his strong understanding saved him from
becoming either a sectary or a bigot. While there was no more earnest-
minded or devoted servant of Christ than Dr. Livingstone, there was none
so liberal and so large-hearted in his acceptance of all honest and God-
fearing men who strove to do good, whatever their creed might be.

His father died in February 1856, at the time when his son was making
his way from the interior of Africa to the coast, on his return to England,
“expecting no greater pleasure in this country than sitting by our cottage
fire and telling him my travels. I revere his memory.” The applause of the
best and the highest in the land; in the social circle, or in the crowded
assembly; with hundreds hanging on his every word, was as nothing compared
to the long talks he had looked forward to with the kindly though stern father
he had not seen for so many years; but it was not tobe. He has small notions
of the strength of filial affection in the heart of such a man who cannot
sympathize with his sorrow and disappointment.

His mother, a kindly and gentle woman, whose whole thoughts were given
up to the care of her children and the anxieties consequent upon narrow
means, was the constant instructor of her children in religious matters. Her
distinguished son tells us that his earliest recollection of her recalls a picture
so often seen among the Scottish poor—“ that of the anxious housewife striving
to make both ends meet.” Her loving and kindly nature acted as a valuable
counterpoise to the strict and austere rule of the father, and kept alive in the
hearts of her children a love and respect for all things sacred, which an
enforced study of dry theological books might have endangered or destroyed.

The little education which the “ piecer” boy of ten had received, had
aroused within him the desire for more, and the genuineness of this desire was

6 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

proved by the purchase of a copy of ‘‘ Ruddiman’s Rudiments of Latin” with
a portion of his first week’s earnings. For many years he pursued the study
of Latin with enthusiastic ardour, receiving much assistance in this and other
studies at an evening school, the teacher of which was partly supported by
the intelligent members of the firm at Blantyre Works, for the benefit of the
people in their employment. Livingstone’s work hours were from 6 a.m. to
8 p.m; school hours from eight to ten, and private reading and study
occupied from ten to twelve; and at the latter hour it was often necessary
for his mother to take possession of his books and send the youthful
student to bed. Eighteen hours out of the twenty-four were given up to
toil and self-improvement, a remarkable instance truly, of determined
effort on the part of a mere boy to acquire knowledge which his hard lot
seemed to have placed almost beyond his reach.

Even when at work, the book he was reading was fixed upon the
spinning-jenny so that he could catch sentence after sentence as he passed
in his work. At sixteen years of age, he tells us that he knew Horace
and Virgil better than he did in 1857. Notwithstanding the limited leisure
at his disposal, he made himself thoroughly acquainted with the scenery,
botany, and geology of his district. In these excursions he was frequently
accompanied by his elder and younger brothers, John and Charles; but he
was much alone, and while his temper was far from being moody or morose,
he was fond of rambling about, his only companion being a book of travels
or a scientific treatise. His thirst for knowledge was stronger than his desire
for boyish pastimes.

Dr. Livingstone’s eldest brother John is still alive. He emigrated to
North America in early life, and settled at Listowel, twenty-five miles from
Niagara Falls, as a farmer and storekeeper. He is a man of energetic
character, and has done much towards the improvement of a large tract
of country all but unreclaimed when he entered it. Like all the other
members of his family, he is respected for his humble and unobtrusive
piety, and for his uprightness and worth as a man of the world. An
indefatigable representative of the Mew York Herald visited and interviewed
him in 1872, and treated the readers of the Herald to a graphic account
of the old gentleman and his surroundings, when Mr. Stanley and his
discovery of Livingstone were attracting universal attention.

‘Charles, Dr. Livingstone’s younger brother, and his loved companion in
the brief holiday, hours of his boyhood, educated himself for the ministry,
and was for a good many years pastor of one of the New England Pres-
byterian churches. He shared in the adventurous spirit of his brother,
and, as we shall see further on, accompanied him on his second expe-
dition to the Zambesi. Returning to England, he was appointed one of
H.M. Consuls to the West Coast of Africa,—a position which gave him much

HARLY YEARS. 7

opportunity of doing good to the heathen, which he turned to account with
great zeal and success. In the year 1873, his health having broken down, he
started on his. return to England, but died on the passage home.

At nineteen years of age Livingstone was promoted to the laborious
duties of a cotton spinner, and while the heavy toil pressed hard upon the
young and growing lad, he was cheered by the reflection that the high wages
he now earned would enable him, from his summer’s labour, to support him-
self in Glasgow during the winter months while attending medical and other
classes at the University; to attend which he walked to and from his father’s
house daily, a distance of nine miles. He never received a particle of aid
from any one, nor did the resolute youth seek, or expect such, well-knowing
that his difficulties and trials were no greater than those of dozens of his
fellows who sat on the same benches with him in the class-rooms. The
religious awakening which we have already alluded to, which occurred when
he was about sixteen years of age, inspired him with a fervent ambition to
be a pioneer of Christianity in China, and his practical instincts taught him
that a knowledge of medicine would be of great service in securing him the
confidence of the people he was so desirous of benefiting, besides ensuring his
appointment as a medical missionary in connection with a society of that
name recently formed in his native land.

At the conclusion of his medical curriculum he had to present a thesis
to the examining body of the University, on which his claim to be ad-
mitted a member of the faculty of physicians and surgeons would be
judged. The subject was one which in ordinary practice required the use
of the stethoscope for its diagnosis, and it was characteristic of the inde-
pendence and originality of the man, that an awkward difference arose
between him and the examiners, as fo whether the instrument could do
what was claimed for it. This unfortunate boldness procured him a more
than ordinarily severe examination, through which he passed triumphantly.
Alluding to this in after-years, he drily remarked that “The wiser plan
would have been to have had no opinions of my own.” Looking back
over the years of toil and hardship which had led up to this important
stage in his career, and looking forward to the possibilities of the future,
he might well say that “It was with unfeigned delight I became a member
of a profession which is pre-eminently devoted to practical benevolence, and
which with unwearied energy pursues from age to age its endeavours to
lessen human woe.”

Writing in 1857, he tells us, that on reviewing his life of toil before
his missionary career began, he could feel thankful that it was of such a
nature as to prove a hardy training for the great enterprises he was
destined afterwards to engage in; and, he always spoke with warm and
affectionate respect of the sterling character of the bulk of the humble
villagers among whom he spent his early years.

8 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

The outbreak of the opium war with China compelled him reluctantly
to abandon his cherished intention of proceeding to that country, but he
was happily led to turn his thoughts to South Africa, where the successful
labours of Mr. (now Dr.) Robert Moffat were attracting the attention of the
Christian public in this country. In September, 1838, he was summoned to
London to undergo an examination by the directors of ‘The London Mis-
sionary Society,” after which he was sent on probation to a missionary
training establishment, conducted by the Rev. Mr. Cecil, at Chipping Ongar,
in Essex. There he remained until the early part of 1840, applying himself
with his wonted diligence to his studies, and testifying his disregard for hard
labour by taking more than his full share of the work of the establishment:
such as grinding the corn to make the household bread, chopping wood,
gardening operations, etc., etc.; part of the training at Chipping Ongar
being a wise endeavour to make the future missionaries able to shift for
themselves in the uncivilized regions in which they might be called upon
to settle.

At Chipping Ongar he indulged his habit of making long excursions
in the country round; and on one occasion he walked to and from London,
a distance of fifty miles in one day, arriving late at night completely
exhausted, as he had hardly partaken of any food during the entire journey.
From his earliest years, up to his attaining manhood, his training, both
mental and physical, had been of the best possible kind to fit him for the
great career which lay before him; which may be said to have had its
commencement when he landed at Cape Town in 1840.

CHAPTER IL

South Africa and its People.—The Bushmen, the Hottentots, the Kaffres,
and the Bechuana Tribes, and their Habits, &c.

de tract of country now known to us as Cape Colony was originally occu-

pied by the Dutch about the middle of the 17th century. A large propor-
tion of the original settlers were of German origin; but a considerable number
were of French , many French families having settled there between the years
1680 and 1690, driven thither by the persecution to which Protestants were at
that time subjected in France. The French and German settlers enslaved the
native Hottentots, Kaffres, and Bushmen, and compelled them to labour for
them on their farms, and down to a very recent period this enforced servitude
of the native tribes was the occasion of constant warfare and murder. In
1796 the Cape settlement was taken by the English, but on peace being
concluded between the two nations, it was restored to the Dutch in 1803.
War breaking out shortly after, the Colony was again taken possession of
by England, and has continued to be a dependency of this country
ever since. From that time many people from England have settled
in the country both in the towns and throughout the country districts.
Cape Colony, from east to west, measures nearly six hundred miles, and
from north to south four hundred and fifty miles. The Colony of Natal
is one hundred and seventy five miles in length by about a hundred and
twenty in breadth. The population of Cape Colony, including British
Kaffraria and Natal, is about a million, more than one half of whom are
natives.

The abolition of slavery in the British dependencies freed the Hottentots,
the Kaffres, and the Bushmen; but, as we shall see further on, at the time
Dr. Livingstone commenced his career in Africa the Dutch Boers still com-
pelled the labour of those tribes in the neighbourhood of their settlements
who were too weak to resist them. The usual method was to manufacture a
cause of quarrel, which would give a colourable pretext for attacking a native
settlement, when they would carry off a number of the young of both sexes,
who became slaves in everything save the name. We believe that the exposure
of this traffic by Dr. Livingstone and his celebrated father-in-law, Dr. Moffat,
has resulted in a complete stoppage of this iniquitous traffic; but it was not

Cc

10 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

effected until many Missionaries were driven from their settlements by the
Boers, who very naturally objected to their teaching the natives that all men
were equal in the sight of God. As we shall see further on, Dr. Livingstone
suffered at their hands; but as he, in addition to being a missionary, was also
a great explorer and discoverer of hitherto untrodden regions in the far
interior, his denunciations had an effect in high quarters which those of
a mere preacher of the Gospel to the heathen would not have had, and the
local Government put a stop to the detestable practice. As in every other
quarter of Africa where it exists, slavery was at the root of all the wars and
bloodshed which made it so difficult and dangerous for white men, whatever
their object, to penetrate into the interior.

Previous to Dr. Livingstone’s arrival in Africa, Dr. Moffat and a devoted
band of labourers had been working zealously and successfully among the
Hottentot, Bushmen, and Bechuana tribes; and the former had made frequent
journeys to the north, and had reached points farther to the northward than
any of his predecessors and contemporaries. After Livingstone, he is the
most notable figure in African Missionary enterprise, and has spent upwards
of fifty years of his life in evangelistic labours in South Africa; displaying a
courage and a devotedness truly apostolic. When in his prime he was a man
of commanding exterior. Upwards of six feet in height, possessed of physical
power and endurance above the ordinary, and having a singular faculty of
adapting himself to circumstances whatever their nature, he gained a great
ascendancy over the Chiefs of the interior and their followers. The noble
old man, although over eighty years of age, is still alive, and was the most
notable figure among those who stood by the grave of his great son-in-law in
Westminster Abbey.

Mr. Gordon Cumming, the great lion hunter, on visiting Kuruman, thus
alludes to him :—

‘“‘T was here kindly and hospitably entertained by Mr. Moffat and Mr.
Hamilton, both missionaries of the London Society, and also by Mr. Hume,
an old trader, long resident at Kuruman. The gardens at Kuruman are
extremely fertile. Besides corn and vegetables, they contain a great variety
of fruits, amongst which were vines, peach-trees, nectarines, apple, orange,
and lemon trees, all of which in their seasons bear a profusion of the most
delicious fruit. These gardens are irrigated with a most liberal supply of
water from a powerful fountain which gushes forth, at once forming
a little river, from a subterraneous cave, which has several low, narrow
mouths, but within is lofty and extensive. Mr. Moffat kindly showed
me through his printing establishment, church, and school-rooms, which
were lofty and well built, and altogether on a scale which would not have
disgraced one of the towns of the more enlightened colony. It was Mr.
Moffat who reduced the Sichuana language to writing and printing; since

MODE OF TRAVELLING. 11

which he has printed thousands of Sichuana Testaments, as also tracts
and hymns, which are now eagerly purchased by the converted natives.
Mr. Moffat is a person admirably calculated to excel in his important
eallmg. Together with a noble and athletic frame he possesses a face in
which forbearance and Christian charity are very plainly written, and his
mental and bodily attainments are great. Minister, gardener, blacksmith,
gunsmith, mason, carpenter, glazier—every hour of the day finds this
worthy pastor engaged in some useful employment—setting by his own
exemplary piety and industrious habits, a good example to others to go
and do likewise.” Speaking of another visit he says: ‘‘ The following day
was Sunday, when I attended Divine service in the large church morning
and evening, and saw sixteen men and women, who had embraced the
Christian faith, baptized by Mr. Moffat. It was now the fruit season
(January, 1845), and the trees in the gardens of the missionaries were
groaning under a burden of the most delicious peaches, figs, and apples.
The vines bore goodly clusters of grapes, but these had not yet ripened.”

Years of perseverance and patient effort on the part of Dr. Moffat
and his colleagues had been crowned with success, and the material and
spiritual advancement of the natives was most marked. Further on we
treat at some length of the trials and difficulties which they had to go
through, before reaching such a state of progress and happiness.

As we proceed we shall draw upon the writings of Dr. Moffat and others,
when these will assist us in illustrating the manners and customs of the
people, and help to increase our knowledge of the countries—and their animal
and vegetable life—under our review.

The mode of travelling in and around the Kalahari desert and the districts
to the south is on horseback, or in waggons drawn by oxen. These waggons
are heavy lumbering wooden structures, on broad wheels, to enable them to pass
easily over the stretches of loose sandy soil which are of frequent occurrence at
a distance from the few rivers and streams which intersect the country. These
waggons are drawn by oxen—a team, or span, consisting of from 4 to 12
oxen, according to the weight of the baggage carried. To the north of the
Kuruman River, the travellers must carry their food, water, and. bedding,
and encamp for the night in the open air, unless when they can lodge with a
friendly tribe. In the most favourable seasons the country to the north of
Cape Colony is very scantily supplied with water, and in a period of drought
the suffering from want of water on the part of the natives is very great. As
all the animals on which they depend for food migrate during the continuance
of a drought, the suffering of the people is greatly intensified; and many
tribes move their quarters in search of a land more fortunately situated.

Many Hottentots, Bushmen, and Kaffres reside throughout the colony.
Several tribes of pure Hottentots are found in a savage state to the north-

12 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

west of the Colony. The Bechuana tribes and the Bushmen occupy the
country to the north, and in the east the Kaffre tribes hold sway.

The Bushmen have never shown any aptitude for agriculture. They have
an instinctive passion for freedom which nothing can subdue, and in order to
preserve their independence they have scattered themselves over the interior,
and are generally found in regions where the impossibility of carrying on
agricultural operations, and the scarcity of water render it impossible that the
Bechuanas or Hottentots can interfere with them. They are smaller than
any of the other purely African races, and appear to be identical with the
Pygmies spoken of in the classics, and recently found by Du Chaillu in
the Ashango country to the west of the tropics; and by Dr. Schweinfurth in
Central Africa. In their habits they approach the Gipsies of modern Europe,
and seldom settle in a district for any length of time. Their huts are of
the most primitive description, so that they can move their quarters at a
moment’s notice. Many of them are kept in a species of slavery by other
native tribes, but they embrace the earliest opportunity of flying to the
wilderness. In 1811 Burchell met in with individuals of this singular
people, and gave the following account of them in his ‘Travels in the
Interior of South Africa.” He says “Hitherto we had not seen a single
native ; a circumstance occasioned, most probably, by their universal distrust
of visitors from out of the colony. But having by their spies and observation,
satisfied themselves that we were friends, a party of eleven Bushmen, with
three women, paid us a visit this morning. They were in stature, all below
five feet; and the women still shorter; their skin was of a sallow brown
colour, much darkened by dirt and grease. Their clothing appeared in my
eyes, wretched in the extreme; but, doubtless, not so to them, as they all
seemed contented enough; although, when we first met, I observed in their
looks great mistrust and symptoms of much fear. These gradually wore off;
and, after we had confirmed the assurances of our peaceable intentions, by
presents of tobacco and beads, they recovered their natural tone, and chat-
tered and clacked with each other in a very lively manner.

Among them were some young men, whom, with all the remains of ancient
prejudices, I could not help viewing as interesting. ‘Though small and deli-
cately made, they appeared firm and hardy; and my attention was forcibly
struck by the proportional smallness and neatness of their hands and feet. . .
The women were young; their countenances had a cast of prettiness, and, I
fancied too of innocence: their manners were modest, though unreserved.
Their hair was ornamented with small cowrie shells, and old copper buttons,
which were interwoven with it. One of them wore a high cap of leather, the
edge of which protected her eyes from the sun: at her back, and entirely hid
excepting the head, she carried her infant, whose exceedingly small features
presented to me an amusing novelty. The poor little thing bore all the rough

NATIVES FISHING ON THE NYASSA

WAR TREE IN A VILLAGE

A BUSH BELLE. 13°

jolting motion, with a degree of patience and unconcern, which plainly showed
it to have been used to it from the day of its birth, . . . We plentifully
feasted these poor creatures, and, I believe, made them happier than they
had been for a long while. Through an interpreter, they asked me my
name, and expressed, in artless terms, how much pleasure I had given them
by so bountiful a present of tobacco.”

Burchell having shot a hippopotamus had an opportunity of giving a
party of Bushmen an unwonted feast. The flesh was hastily cooked and
eaten half raw, in astounding quantities. He gives the following graphic
sketch of a Bush Selle -—

“‘ Among these happy, dirty creatures, was one who, by her airs and dress,
showed that she had no mean opinion of her personal accomplishments: she
was, in fact, the prettiest young Bush-girl I had yet seen; but her vanity,
and too evident consciousness of her superiority, rendered her less pleasing
in my eyes, and her extravagance in dress made her perhaps a less desirable
wife in the eyes of her countrymen; for the immoderate quantity of grease,
red ochre, &e., with which her hair was clotted, would ruin any but a very
rich husband: herself, and every part of her dress, were so well greased, that
she must have been in her nation, a girl of good family; and the number of
leather rings with which her arms and legs were adorned, proclaimed her to
be evidently a person of property; round her ankles she carried about a
dozen thick rings of this kind, which, added to a pair of sandals, gave her the
appearance of wearing buskins.

‘*‘ But the most remarkable piece of affectation with which she adorned
herself, was, three small bits of ivory, of the size and shape of sparrows’ eggs,
loosely pendant from her hair; one in front as low as the point of her nose,
and one on the outer side of each cheek, all hanging at the same length.
These dangled from side to side as she moved her head, and, doubtless, made
full amends for their inconvenience, by the piquancy they were thought to
add to the wearer’s beauty. The upper part of her head was crowned with a
small leather cap, fitted closely, but quite unornamented, and I should have
had a pleasure in gratifying her with a present of a string of beads, to render this
part of her dress more smart, if I had not been fearful that by doing this, I should
excite in her countrymen an inclination to beg and importune for what I
meant to reserve only for the natives further in the interior. Her vanity and
affectation, great as it was, did not as one may observe sometimes in both
sexes, in other countries, seem to choke her, or produce any alteration in the
tone of her voice, for the astonishing quantity of meat which she swallowed,
and the readiness with which she called out to her attendants for more, plainly
showed her to be resolyed that no squeamishness should interfere with her
enjoyment on this occasion. .

“Tn five or six years after their arrrival at womanhood, the fresh plump-

14 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ness of youth has already given way to the wrinkles of age. . . . Their
early, and it may be said premature symptoms of age may, perhaps, with
much probability, be ascribed to a hard life, an uncertain and irregular
supply of food, exposure to every inclemency of weather, and a want of
cleanliness, which increases with years.”

Their arms consist of the bow-and-arrow, a spear, and a kind of club
with a round knob at the end called a kerri. Their arrows are tipped with
a mixture of vegetable and serpent poisons, and a wound from a poisoned
arrow is usually of so deadly a character that the other tribes of South Africa
look upon an encounter with the Bushmen with dread. They hunt the wild
animals of the country, and either shoot them with poisoned arrows or catch
them in pit-falls. With their spears they kill the fish in the rivers, and,
according to Burchell, they use the spear with great dexterity.

The bow is of hard wood, about five feet in length, and is thickest at the
middle. The string is made of the intestines of the smaller animals. The
arrows, which are made of reeds, are about three feet and a half long, and are
winged with a feather. When the poison is put upon the bone or iron tips of
the arrows, it is in a glutinous state but hardens rapidly. The serpent poi-
son, as we have already mentioned, is mixed with the sap of certain poisonous
plants. The arrow is partially slit through within half an inch of the bone or
iron point, and frequently breaks off, leaving the head in the wound, which
ensures a more rapid death to the man or animal struck.

The arrows are kept in a quiver made of the hollow stem of a sort of
aloe. The bottom and the tip of the quiver are covered with leather, and
not unfrequently it is altogether covered with leather. Their bows do not
carry with accuracy beyond a hundred yards. They must have studied the
horrid art of poisoning with considerable skill, as they are aware that the poi-
son of serpents acts rapidly and affects the blood, while the vegetable poisons
with which they mix it corrupt the flesh. If the poison be fresh, there is very
little hope of any animal surviving even a slight wound, and the Bushman
hunter will track a wounded animal for many miles until it dies. When a
man is wounded, he will, if he has the courage, cut out all the flesh surround-
ing the wound and so remove the danger.

Lichtenstein says that:—‘“‘ By far the greater part of the arrows are
pointed with bone: those with the iron heads are never used in the chase;
they are reserved to be employed against mankind. The preparing the
arrows and mixing the poison are considered by them as arts, in which few
ever attain entire perfection. In like manner it is not every one among them
that can distinguish the poisonous sorts of serpents from those that are harm-
less. In general, it may be taken as a rule that those which move with the
greater agility are of the noxious kind. The well-known horned serpent,
which among the colonists is esteemed so very dangerous, is little esteemed

DEATH FROM A POISONED ARROW. 15

by the Bushmen, because it does not move swiftly. Some which are very
poisonous are slow and languid in their movements at the time they are about
to cast their skins, and the Bushmen affirm they have then no effective poison.
The greater the trouble they have in catching a serpent, and the more it
writhes and seems enraged, the more pungent is the poison esteemed, the more
certain and dreadful in its effects. The dexterity and courage shown by
them in catching these serpentsare truly astonishing. No sooner do they see
the animal upon the level ground than they set their foot upon its neck, press
the head fast together with their fingers, and then separate the head from the
body with a knife. They then take the bag of poison out of the head, and
prepare it for use, before time can be allowed for the least particle of its pun-
gency to evaporate.”

Lichtenstein was an eye witness to the fatal effects resulting from a
wound with a poisoned arrow. He and his followers were travelling in a
neighbourhood where a party of Bushmen were at feud with the Hottentots
and settlers. The Bushmen were known to be in the neighbourhood, but
no danger was apprehended :—

“On a sudden we heard the twang of a bow on one side of us; and,
at the same moment, my Hottentot gave a scream, and exclaimed that he
was wounded: then hastily turning round, fired his gun. The arrow stuck
in his side, between the sixth and seventh ribs, and entered nearly two
inches deep. Our companions hastened up to us immediately, and assisted
me to draw it out carefully. In this we partially succeeded, notwithstand-
ing the hook that turns back (a kind of barb); but we found, alas! that
the iron point, which is generally loosely fastened on, was left in the
wound, and with it, as we were afraid, some of the poison. Destitute as we
were of every kind of remedy, nothing remained but to seek the nearest
house with all the haste possible. We turned therefore directly to the
right, and descending the hill by a steep path, brought our wounded man
to a winter habitation directly, though the latter part of the way he ex-
perienced such dreadful agony from the wound, that he was scarcely able
to sit upon his horse. Every possible assistance was here given us by the
good people of the house; but a too great length of time had elapsed
before this assistance could be obtained: in an hour and a half after our
arrival the poor creature expired. The patient lost all recollection, and
died in strong convulsions. . . Amidst all the afflictions which this accident
occasioned me, I had much reason to rejoice that the Bushmen were such
careful marksmen; for, if the arrow had deviated the least from the direction
it took, I was so close to the Hottentot aimed at, that I should have
received it, and he would have been saved.”

The Bushmen, and most tribes in the African interior, eat the flesh of
serpents, and, with good reason, for it is most excellent; being tender and

16 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

juicy, and affords a pleasant variety after a lengthened diet on antelope flesh,
which is hard and stringy in comparison.

Besides killing fish with the spear, they have other methods of ensnaring
them. They make baskets of the twigs of trees and rushes, not unlike
the eel baskets used in our home rivers, and use them in the same manner.
Tf they expect a flood they make upon the strand, while the water is low,
a large hole, and surround it with a wall of stone with an opening up stream.
After the flood has subsided they find a number of fish in the excavation which
have been unable to pass out. They watch the ostriches from the heights and
finding out where their eggs are, secure them, and having eaten the contents
preserve the shells to hold water—which they bury in the earth to preserve
it against a season of scarcity. In common with many other African tribes
they show great cunning in hunting the ostrich itself, and get near enough to
wound them with a poisoned arrow by adopting the following stratagem
thus described by Dr. Moffatt :—

“A kind of flat double cushion is stuffed with straw, and formed some-
thing like a saddle. All, except the under part of this, is covered over with
feathers, attached to small pegs, and made so as to resemble the bird. The
neck and head of an ostrich are stuffed, and a small rod introduced. The
Bushman intending to attack game, whitens his legs with any substance he
can procure. He places the feathered saddle on his shoulders, takes the
bottom part of the neck in his right hand, and his bow and poisoned arrows
in his left. Such as the writer has seen were the most perfect mimics of the
ostrich, and at a few hundred yards distant it is not possible for the human
eye to detect the fraud. This human bird appears to peck away at the
verdure, turning the head as if keeping a sharp look-out, shakes his feathers,
now walks and then trots, till he gets within bow-shot; and when the flock
runs from receiving the arrow, he runs too. The male ostriches will, on some
occasions, give chase to the stranger bird, when he tries to elude them in a
way to prevent them catching his scent ; for when once they do, the spell is
broken. Should one happen to get too near in his pursuit, he has only to run
to windward, or throw off his saddle, to avoid a stroke from a wing, which
would lay him prostrate.” The same stratagem which enables them to
approach the ostrich enables them to get within reach of a herd of antelopes,
or any other animals whose flesh they eat.

They collect locusts, when a swarm of these insects overrun the country,
by digging a trench, into which they collect in heaps. These they eat, after
preparing them in ahasty manner. They also gather and eat large quantities
of a species of white ant, which burrows in the ground, and is found in large
quantities. Several bulbous plants supply them with food, and as they con-
tain a large amount of juice, make up for the scarcity of water in desert
places; as we shall see when we accompany Dr. Livingstone to the Kalahari

CHARACTERISTICS OF BUSHMEN. 17

Desert; but these and all other kinds of food are only used by the Bushmen
and other African tribes when they cannot get flesh meat. Almost all South
African animals, both herbivorous and carnivorous, and birds eat locusts.

Speaking of the Bushmen, Dr. Moffat says :—

‘As a whole they are not swarthy or black, but rather of a sallow
colour, and in some cases so light, that a tinge of red in the cheek is
perceptible. They are generally smaller in stature than their neighbours of
the interior; their visage and form is very distinct, and in general the top of the
head broad and flat; their faces tapering to the chin, with high cheek bones,
flat noses, and large lips. Since the writer has had opportunities of seeing
men, women, and children from China, he feels strongly inclined to think
with Barrow, that they approach nearest in colour and in the construction
of their features, to that people than to any other nation.” Among the
Bechuanas, the Bushmen are kept in a kind of vassalage, and are called
Balala. ‘* These Balalas,” Dr. Moffat says, ‘“‘ were once inhabitants of the
towns, and have been permitted or appointed to live in country places, for
the purpose of procuring skins of wild animals, wild honey, and roots, for
their respective chiefs. The number of these country residents was increased
by the innate love of liberty, and the scarcity of food in towns, or the
boundaries to which they were confined by water and pasture. These again
formed themselves into small communities, though of the most temporary
character, their calling requiring migration, having no cattle of any descrip-
tion. Accustomed from infancy to the sweets of comparative liberty, which
they vastly preferred to a kind of vassalage in the towns, or kraals, they
would make any sacrifice to please their often distant superiors rather than
be confined to the irksomeness of a town life. Such is their aversion, that I
have known chiefs take armed men, and travel a hundred miles into desert
places, in order to bring back Balala, whom they wished to assist them in
watching and harvesting the gardens of their wives. . . . They live
a hungry life, being dependent on the chase, wild roots, berries, locusts, and
indeed anything eatable that comes within their reach; and when they have
a more than usual supply they will bury it in the earth from their superiors,
who are in the habit of taking what they please.

Their servile state, their scanty clothing, their exposure to the
inclemency of the weather, and their extreme poverty, have, as may be easily
conceived, a deteriorating influence on their character and condition. They
are generally less in stature, and though not deficient in intellect, the life
they lead gives a melancholy cast to their features, and from constant inter-
course with beasts of prey, and serpents in the path, as well as exposure to
harsh treatment, they appear shy, and have a wild and frequently suspicious
look. Nor can this be wondered at, when it is remembered that they associate
with savage beasts, from the lion that roams abroad by night and day, to the

D

18 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

deadly serpent which infests their path, keeping them always on the alert
during their perambulations.”

When they build huts they are, as we have already said, of the most
primitive description; but frequently they have no claim to such an appella-
tion. Lichtenstein, a very careful observer, gives a very graphic account
of their temporary abodes; although it is but right to say that the Bushmen,
since the time of his writing, have benefited in this and many other respects
from their more frequent intercourse with the Europeans, and more cultivated
tribes, he says :—

‘“‘He (the Bushman) is fond of taking up his abode for the night in
caverns among the mountains, or clefts in the rocks; in the plain he makes
himself a hole in the ground, or gets into the midst of a bush, when,
bending the boughs around him, they are made to serve as a shelter against
the weather, against an enemy, or against wild beasts. . . It is this
custom which has given rise to the name by which these savages are
known. The holes in the ground above mentioned, which sometimes serve
these people as beds, are only a few inches deep, of a longish round form,
and even when they have to serve for a whole family, not more than five
or six feet wide. It is incredible how they manage to pack together in so
small a space, perhaps, two grown persons and several children: each is
wrapped in a single sheep-skin, in which they contrive to roll themselves
up in such a manner, round like a ball, that air is all but entirely kept
from them. In very cold nights they heap up twigs and earth on the
windward side of the hole; but against rain they have no other shelter
than the sheep skin. In the hot season of the year, they are fond of
lying in the beds of the rivers, under the shade of the mimosas trees,
the branches of which they draw down to screen themselves from the
sun and wind.”

The following, from Mr. Gordon Cumming, gives a reason for the con-
stant hostility of the native tribes and the settlers to the Bushmen :—

‘Unlike the Kaffre tribes, who lift cattle for the purpose of preserving
them and breeding from them, the sole object of the Bushmen is to drive
them to their secluded habitations in the desert, where they massacre them in-
discriminately, and continue feasting and gorging themselves until the flesh
becomes putrid. When a Kaffre has lifted cattle, and finds himself so hotly
pursued by the owners that he cannot escape with his booty, he betakes him-
self to flight, and leaves the cattle unscathed; but the spiteful Bushmen have
a most provoking and cruel system of horribly mutilating the poor cattle,
when they find that they are likely to fall into the hands of the rightful
owners, by discharging their poisoned arrows at them, ham-stringing them,
and cutting lumps of flesh off their living carcases. This naturally so incenses
the owners, that they never show the Bushmen any quarter, but shoot them

THE PYGMIES. 19

down right and left, sparing only the children, whom they tame and turn
into servants. The people who suffer from their depredations are Boers,
Griquas, and Bechuanas, all of whom are possessed of large herds of
cattle, and the massacre of the Bushmen, arising from these raids, is
endless.”

Dr. Schweinfurth, in his recent work, ‘‘ The Heart of Africa,” points out
the remarkable similarity between the Akka, a tribe of dwarfs in Central
Africa, who are found about 400 miles to the north of the furthest point, to
which Livingstone followed the Lualaba. He says :-—

‘“‘Searcely a doubt can exist but that all these people, like the Bushmen
of South Africa, may be considered as the scattered remains of an aboriginal
population now becoming extinct; and their isolated and sporadic existence
bear out the hypothesis, For centuries after centuries Africa has been
experiencing the effects of many emigrations; for thousands of years one
nation has been driving out another, and, as the result of repeated subjuga-
tions and interminglings of race with race, such manifold changes have been
introduced into the conditions of existence, that the succession of new
phases, like the development in the world of. plants, appears almost, as it
were, to open a glimpse into the infinite.

‘Incidentally I have just referred to the Bushmen, those notorious natives
of the South African forests, who owe their name to the likeness which the Dutch
colonists conceived they bore to the ape, as the prototype of the human race.
I may further remark that their resemblance to the equatorial Pygmies is in
many points very striking. Gustav Fritsch, the author of a standard work
upon the natives of South Africa, first drew my attention to the marked simi-
larity between my portraits of the Akka and the general type of the Bushmen,
and so satisfied did I become in my own mind that I feel quite justified (in
my observations upon the Akka) in endeavouring to prove that all the tribes
of Africa, whose proper characteristic is an abnormally low stature, belong to
one and the self-same race.” In another place he says, ‘‘ The only traveller,
I believe, before myself that has come into contact with any section of this
race is Du Chaillu, who, in the territory of Ashango, discovered a wandering
tribe of hunters called Obongo, and took the measurements of a number
of them. He describes these Obongo as ‘not ill shaped,’ and as having
skins of a pale yellow brown, somewhat lighter than their neighbours.”

From the days of Herodotus downwards, traditions of a dwarfish race
of human beings in Central Africa have existed, and the explorations of
Dr. Livingstone and others are only ncw teaching us how thoroughly
Africa was known to the ancient Greeks. We are in short only re-discovering
countries and peoples which had been previously discovered, and had sunk
into oblivion with the great people who had wrested their knowledge of
them from the inhospitable regions of equatorial Africa, where pestilence

20 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and savage men and animals have again preserved them from the know-
ledge of civilized nations for many centuries.

In speaking of the Hottentots, we usually associate with the name
the natives who are found within the boundaries of Cape Colony, and are
employed by the Europeans in agricultural and other pursuits. These
have lost many of the characteristics of savage life and have picked up
not a few civilized accomplishments, which can hardly be said to be an
improvement on the native habits they have abandoned. For several
generations they were actually slaves, and even up to a recent period they
were slaves in all but the name. Their language, when they have forgotten
or neglected the language of their fathers, is a broken English or Dutch,
hardly so intelligible to the stranger as the broken English of the
American nigger. They are a tall, strong, and hardy race, and
make good soldiers, and have done signal service in assisting our
troops in putting down the numberless risings of the bold and warlike
Katftres.

The discipline and confinement of a military life at the depts prove very
irksome to these sons of the wilderness, but during a campaign they have,
with very few exceptions, proved themselves. excellent soldiers. The com-
plexion of the Hottentot is not so dark as that of the native Africans of the
West, and many of the tribes of Southern and Central Africa, nor have they
the same round full faces. ‘The nose is very much depressed, so that the
mouth and lips project in many cases beyond it; the cheek bones are high,
and the comparatively full brow gives token of considerable intelligence.
The hair is hard and dark, and when not worn long, resembles tufts of black
wool. The eyes are small and usually black, the part surrounding the
ball being a yellowish white. The huts or dwelling houses of the Hotten-
tots within the Colony are greatly superior to those in use by the Hotten-
tots and other native tribes beyond the colony, and are built in imitation
of the houses of Europeans, although they are of much less solid construc-
tion. Their innate love of freedom leads them to prefer living in the
country, although of late years many of them have settled in the towns,
where they are employed in all kinds of manual labour. They are orderly
members of the community unless when they indulge in ardent spirits
when they become noisy and unruly. A very large number of them have
become Christians, and give their children an elementary education.. Much
of this is due to the missionaries specially sent out to them, and to the
resident clergymen who minister to the European population. In their
gardens they cultivate vegetables of various kinds. The women attend to
the gardens and save a little money by working at times for the farmers,
and by weaving mats made from a kind of sedge found in the rivers and
streams. Their clothing is, for the most part, of English manufacture, and

THE HOTTENTOT ROBBER—AFRICANER. 21

frequently displays those vagaries in colour which delight the eye of the
savage all over the world.

As the Hottentot tribes who live beyond the colonial frontier differ in
no very marked manner in their mode of life from the Bechuanas, of whom’
we shall treat further on, we need not dwell upon their habits while living
in a natural state here.

Numbers of Hottentots, who were smarting under injuries, received at
the hands of the whites formed themselves into bands, and for many years
carried murder and pillage among the settlers. The most noted freebooting
Hottentot, of whom we have any record, was Africaner. One of our earliest
recollections is the receiving at a Sunday school a copy of a tract, with
the picture of a black man on the first page of it, which gave an account
of this dreaded chief, and his wonderful conversion to Christianity. We
are indebted to Dr. Moffat for the following account of Africaner. Dr.
Moffat knew him intimately as we shall see, but his conversion was due
to the brothers Albrechts, who were sent out to Africa by the London
Missionary Society, the same society that sent out Drs. Moffat and
Livingstone :—

‘This notable robber added not a little to their anxieties. Appearing
before them on one occasion, he said, ‘As you are sent by the English, I
welcome you to the country; for though I hate the Dutch, my former
oppressors, I love the English; for I have always heard that they are the
friends of the poor black man.’ So early and so fully was this man, the
terror of the country, impressed with the purity and sincerity of the mis-
sionary character, that, hearing it was the intention of the Albrechts to remove
to a more eligible situation, he came to the missionaries (after having sent
repeated messages), entreating them not to leave that part of the country,
and testifying the pleasure he felt at seeing the progress his children had
made under their instruction, promising to send the rest, which he did eventu-
ally, taking up his abode with them, and causing his people to do the same.

*‘ Before proceeding with the painful record of events which followed in
vapid succession, it may be proper here to glance briefly at Africaner’s history
and character. In doing this, it will be well to fix the attention on Jager, the
eldest son of the old man, who, from his shrewdness and prowess, obtained the
reins of the government of his tribe at an early age.* He and his father once
roamed on their native hills and dales, within 100 miles of Cape 'Town; pas-
tured their own flocks, killed their own game, drank of their own streams,
and mingled the music of their heathen songs with the winds which burst

* The father of the large family of Africaners or Jagers, had resigned the hereditary right of
chieftainship to his eldest son Jager, afterwards Christian Africaner; the old man, who lived to a
great age, being superannuated,

22 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

over the Witsemberg and Winterhoek mountains, once the strongholds of his
clan. As the Dutch settlers increased, and found it necessary to make room
for themselves, by adopting as their own the lands which lay beyond them,
the Hottentots, the aborigines, perfectly incapable of maintaining their ground
against these foreign intruders, were compelled to give place by removing to
a distance, or yielding themselves in passive obedience to the farmers. From
time to time he found himself and his people becoming more remote from the
land of their forefathers, till he became united and subject to a farmer named
le Here he and his diminished clan lived for a number of years. In
Africaner P. found a faithful and an intrepid shepherd; while his valour
in defending and increasing the herds and flocks of his master enhanced his
value, at the same time it rapidly matured the latent principle which after-
wards recoiled on that devoted family, and carried devastation to whatever
quarter he directed his steps. Had P treated his subjects with common
humanity, not to say with gratitude, he might have died honourably, and
prevented the catastrophe which befell the family, and the train of robbery,
crime, and bloodshed which quickly followed that melancholy event.

It can serve no good purpose here to detail the many provocations and
oppressions which at length roused the apparently dormant energies of the often
dejected chieftain, who saw his people dwindling to a mere handful ; their wives
and daughters abused, their infants murdered, while he himself had to subsist on
a coarse and scanty pittance, which, in the days of his independency, he would
have considered as the crumbs of a table fit only for the poorest of the poor.
Demonstrations too tangible to admit of a doubt, convinced him and his
people, that in addition to having their tenderest feelings trodden under foot,
evil was intended against the whole party. . They had been trained to
the use of fire-arms; to act not only on the defensive, but offensive
also; and Africaner, who had been signally expert in re-capturing stolen
cattle from the Bushmen pirates, now refused to comply with the com-
mand of the master, who was a kind of justice of peace. Order after order
was sent down to the huts of Africaner and his people. They positively
refused. They had on the previous night received authentic information that
it was a deep-laid scheme to get them to go to another farm, where some of
the party. were to be seized. Fired with indignation at the accumulated woes
through which they had passed, a tempest was brooding in their bosoms.
They had before signified their wish, with the farmer’s permission, to have
some reward for their often galling servitude, and to be allowed peaceably to
remove to some of the sequestered districts beyond, where they might live in
peace. This desire had been sternly refused, and followed by severity still
more grievous. It was even-tide, and the farmer, exasperated to find his
commands disregarded, ordered them to appear at the door of his house.
This was to them an awful moment; and though accustomed to scenes of

AFRICANER REBELS. 23

barbarity, their hearts beat hard. It had not yet entered their minds to do
violence to the farmer. Jager, with his brothers and some attendants, moved.
slowly up towards the door of the house. Titus, the next brother to the chief,
dreading that the farmer in his wrath might have recourse to desperate mea-
sures, took his gun with him, which he easily concealed behind him, being
night. When they reached the front of the house, and Jager, the chief, had
gone up the few steps leading to the door, to state their complaints, the far-
mer rushed furiously on the chieftain, and with one blow precipitated him to
the bottom of the steps. At this moment Titus drew his gun from behind,
fired on P. , who staggered backward, and fell. They then entered the
house, the wife haying witnessed the murder of her husband, shrieked, and
implored mercy. They told her on no account to be alarmed, for they had
nothing against her. They asked for the guns and ammunition which were
in the house, which she promptly delivered to them. They then straitly
charged her not to leave the house during the night, as they could not ensure
her safety from others of the servants, who, if she and her family attempted
to flee, might kill them.

** This admonition, however, was disregarded. Overcome with terror,
two children escaped by a back door. These were slain by two Bushmen,
who had long been looking out for an opportunity of revenging injuries they
had suffered. Mrs. P escaped in safety to the nearest farm. Africaner,
with as little loss of time as possible, rallied the remnant of his tribe, and,
with what they could take with them, directed their course to the Orange
River, and were soon beyond the reach of pursuers, who, in a thinly scattered
population, required time to collect. He fixed his abode on the banks of the
Orange River; and afterwards, a chief ceding to him his dominion in Great
Namaqua-land, it henceforth became his by right, as well as by conquest.

“‘ Attempts were made on the part of the Colonial Government and the
farmers to punish this daring outrage on the P family; but though
rewards were offered, and commandoes went out for that purpose, Africaner
dared them to approach his territories. Some of the farmers had recourse to
another stratagem to rid the frontiers of such a terror; they bribed some of
the Bastards, who were in the habit of visiting the colony, from the upper
regions of the Orange River. This gave rise to a long series of severe, and
sometimes bloody conflicts between the Africaners and the chief Berend and
his associates,—Berend being impelled by a twofold reward, and Africaner by
a desire to wreak his vengeance on the farmers, who were once his friends,
the instigators of the deeply laid scheme. ‘Though these two chiefs dreadfully
harassed each other, neither conquered; but continued to breathe against each
other the direst hatred, till, by the gospel of peace, they were brought to ‘beat
their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks.’ ”

“As soon as Africaner had discovered the origin of the plot, which had

24 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

well nigh overthrown his power, he visited the boundaries of the colony. A
farmer named Engelbrecht, and a Bastard Hottentot, fell the victims to his
fury, and their cattle and other property were carried off, to atone for the in-
juries inflicted by the machinations of the farmers. Africaner now became a
terror, not only to the colony on the south, but also to the tribes on the north.
The original natives of the country justly viewed him as a dangerous neigh-
bour, even though he had obtained, by lawful means, a portion in their
country. ‘They considered him as the common enemy. ‘This led to pilfering
and provocations on their part; conduct which he was sure to pay back, in
their own way, with large interest. The tribes fled at his approach. His
name carried dismay even to the solitary wastes. At a subsequent period,
as I was standing with a Namaqua chief, looking at Africaner, in a supplicat-
ing attitude, entreating parties ripe for battle, to live at peace with each other:
Look,’ said the wondering chief, pointing to Africaner, ‘there is the man,
once the lion, at whose roar even the inhabitants of distant hamlets fled from
their homes! Yes, and I’ (patting his chest with his hand), ‘have, for fear
of his approach, fled with my people, our wives and our babes, to the moun-
tain glen, or to the wilderness, and spent nights among beasts of prey, rather
than gaze on the eyes of this lion, or hear his roar.’

‘¢ After the general aspect of affairs began to settle in that part of the
country, where Africaner’s head-quarters were, other distant and interior parts
of the country became a theatre, in which the inhabitants of the colony were
pursuing a bloody game, in shooting the aborigines, and carrying off their
cattle. The landrost of one of the colonial districts sent a message to Afri-
caner, requesting him to try and put a stop to these proceedings, and especially
those of a farmer, who, with his Bastard attendants, had esconced themselves
in a stronghold in the country. Africaner promptly obeyed the call, and as
he did not intend to fight them, he went with some of his chief men on oxen,
to recommend them peaceably to retire from the country in which they were
such a scourge. On approaching the temporary dwellings of these freebooters,
and within gunshot, the farmer levelled his long gnn at the small party, and
several slugs entering Africaner’s shoulder, instantly brought him to the
ground. His companions immediately took up their arms, and the farmer,
knowing that their shots were deadly, kept out of the way, allowing the
wounded chief and his attendants to retire, which they did, and returned home
brooding revenge.

‘“‘ As soon as the slugs were extracted, and the wound partially healed,
though the arm was lamed for life, Africaner, who was not a man to be
frightened from his purpose, resumed his campaign; and the result was, that
this marauder, under a Christian name, was driven from his stronghold, and
compelled to take refuge in the colony whence he had come. ‘The success
which, in almost every instance, followed the arms of such a small and incon-

AFRICANER’S MODE OF FIGHTING 25

siderable body of banditti as that of Africaner, may be ascribed to his mode
of warfare. He endeavoured always to attack his enemy on the plain; or, if
entrenched, or among bushes, the usual mode of fighting in the country, he
instantly drove them from their sheltering-places ; where, if both parties were
of the same mind, they would continue, from day to day, occasionally dis-
charging their missiles, or firing a shot. By Africaner’s mode of warfare the
conflict was soon decided. His reasons were these: he did not like suspense
when life was at stake: he preferred to conquer a people before they had
time to be alarmed, which saved them much agony of mind, and spared the
unnecessary effusion of blood. Africaner was a man of great prowess, and
possessed a mind capable of studying the tactics of savage warfare. His
brother Titus was, perhaps, still more fierce and fearless; and, though a little
man, he was an extraordinary runner, and able to bear unparalleled fatigue.
He has been known, single-handed, to overtake a party of twenty possessing
firearms, and only retired when his musket was shot to pieces in his hand.
On one occasion Berend’s party, who were far superior in numbers, headed
by Nicholas Berend, unexpectedly carried off every ox and cow belonging to
Africaner ; only a few calves being left in the stall. After a desperate though
very unequal contest for a whole day, having repeatedly taken and lost their
cattle, they returned home, slaughtered the calves which were left them, and
rested a couple of days in order to dry the flesh in the sun, ready for the in-
tended campaign. For several days they pursued their course along the
northern banks of the Orange River, and having, by spies, found out the
rendezvous of the enemy on the southern side of the river, they passed beyond
them, in order to attack them from a quarter on which they fancied they were
safe. They swam over in the dead of the night, with their ammunition and
clothes tied on their heads, and their guns on their shoulders. The little force
thus prepared, not unlike that of Bruce at Bannockburn, seized their oppor-
tunity, and, when all the enemy were slumbering in perfect security, aroused
them by a volley of stones falling on their fragile huts. The inmates rushed
out, and were received by a shower of arrows; and before they could fairly
recover their senses, and seize their guns, the discharge of musketry convinced
them that they were besieged by a host encamped in the most favourable
position: they consequently fled in the greatest consternation, leaving the
captured cattle, as well as their own, in the hands of the Africaners.
“Nicholas Berend, to whom reference has been made, was brother to
the chief Berend (afterwards of the Griqua mission, and now of the Wes-
leyan mission among the Basuto), and a very superior man both in appearance
and intellect. I have frequently travelled with him, and many a dreary mile
have we walked over the wilderness together. Having an excellent memory,
and good descriptive powers, he has often beguiled the dreariness of the road,
by rehearsing deeds of valour in the days of heathenism, in which this struggle
E

26 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

with Africaner bore a prominent part, and on which he could not reflect with-
out a sigh of sorrow.

‘Among the remarkable interpositions of Divine Providence in saving
his life from destruction, he more than once repeated the following, with much
emphasis. It happened when he was engaged in a desperate conflict with
Titus Africaner, from whose lips I heard the same tale. The two had been
engaged for hours in mutual strife, taking and retaking a herd of cattle. By
means of the large drove and bushes, each had managed to conceal himself.
Suddenly a passage opening in the troop, which exposed the enraged com-
batants to each other’s view, their rifles were instantly levelled. ‘The moment
they touched the triggers, a cow darted in between, and the two balls lodged
in the centre of the animal, which fell dead on the spot. But for this inter-
position, both would, in all probability, have fallen, as they were most expert
marksmen. ‘Titus, a man who could take his gun in the dead of night, enter
an immense deep pool in the Orange River, swim to the centre, take his seat
on a rock just above the surface of the water, and wait the approach of a hip-
popotamus, which he would shoot just as it opened its monstrous jaws to seize
him—a man who would deliberately smile the moment he laid the lion dead
at his feet—this man who appeared incapable of fear, and reckless of dan-
ger, could not help acknowledging being most powerfully struck with his
escape from the ball of his antagonist, and would say to me when I referred to
the fact, ‘ Mynheer knows how to use the only hammer which makes my hard
heart feel.’ Nicholas finished his Christian course under the pastoral care of
the Rev. T. L. Hodgson, Wesleyan missionary at Boochuap.”

In 1818 Dr Moffat took up his quarters at Africaner’s Kraal. The
account he gives of the country and its then resources is not very inviting.
After waiting an hour or more after his arrival for a visit from the Chief, he
Says :

““While engaged in an interesting conversation with Africaner on the
state and prospect of the mission in connection with the barrier to civilization,
not only from the state of country and climate, but also from the want of
intercourse with the colony, the idea darted into my mind, that Africaner
would do well to accompany me to Cape Town; and I at once made the pro-
posal. The good man looked at me again and again, gravely asking whether
I were in earnest, and seemed fain to ask if I were in my senses too; adding,
with great fervour, ‘I had thought you loved me, and do you advise me to go
to the Government, to be hung up as a specimen of public justice?’ and put-
ting his hand to his head, he asked, ‘Do you not know that I am an outlaw, and
that 1000 rix-dollars have been offered for this poor head?’ These difficul-
ties I endeavoured to remove, by assuring him that the results would be most
satisfactory to himself as well as to the Governor of the Cape. Here Africa-
ner exhibited his lively faith in the gracious promises of God, by replying, ‘]

AFRICANER STARTS FOR CAPE TOWN. 27

shall deliberate, and commit (or, as he used the word according to the Dutch
translation), roll my way upon the Lord; I know he will not leave me.’

“‘ During three days this subject was one of public discussion, and more
than one came to me with grave looks, asking if I had advised Africaner to go
to the Cape. On the third day the point was decided, and we made prepara-
tions for our departure, after having made the necessary arrangements for
continuing the means of instruction during my absence. Nearly all the in-
habitants accompanied us half a day’s journey to the banks of the Orange
River, where we had to wait several days, it having overflowed all its banks.
The kindness of the people, and the tears which were shed when we parted
from them, were deeply affecting.

‘‘ Arriving at Pella (the place, as before stated, to which some of the
people from Warm Bath had retired when the latter was destroyed by
Africaner), we had a feast fit for heaven-born souls, and subjects to which the
seraphim above might have tuned their golden lyres. Men met who had not
seen each other since they had joined in mutual combat for each other’s woe ;
met—warrior with warrior, bearing in their hand the olive branch, secure
under the panoply of peace and love. They talked of Him who had subdued
both, without a sword or spear, and each bosom swelled with purest friend-
ship, and exhibited another trophy destined to adorn the triumph of the
Prince of Peace, under whose banner each was promoting that reign in
which—

‘No longer hosts encountering hosts,
Their heaps of slain deplore ;

They hang the trumpet in the hall,
And study war no more.’

Here I again met with Mr. Bartlett and family, who, with the chief and people
of the station, loaded us with kindness.

‘“‘ We spent some pleasant days while the subject of getting Africaner
safely through the territories of the farmers to the Cape, was the theme of
much conversation. ‘To some the step seemed somewhat hazardous. Africa-
ner and I had fully discussed the point before leaving the station; and I was
confident of success. Though a chief, there was no need of laying aside any
thing like royalty, with a view to travel in disguise. Of two substantial
shirts left, I gave him one; he had a pair of leather trousers, a duffel jacket,
much the worse for wear, and an old hat, neither white nor black, and my
own garb was scarcely more refined. As a farther precaution, it was agreed,
that for once I should be the chief, and he should assume the appearance of a
servant, when it was desirable, and pass for one of my attendants.

“ Tudicrous as the picture may appear, the subject was a grave one, and
the season solemn and important; often did I lift up my heart to Him in
whose hands are the hearts of all men, that his presence might go with us.

28 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

=

It might here be remarked, once for all, that the Dutch farmers, notwith-
standing all that has been said against them by some travellers, are, as a
people exceedingly hospitable and kind to strangers. Exceptions there are,
but these are few, and perhaps more rare than in any country under the sun.
Some of these worthy people on the borders of the colony congratulated me
on returning alive, having often heard, as they said, that I had been long
since murdered by Africaner. Much wonder was expressed at my narrow
escape from such a monster of cruelty, the report having been spread that Mr.
Ebner had but just escaped with the skin of his teeth. While some would
scarcely credit my identity; my testimony as to the entire reformation of
Africaner’s character, and his conversion, was discarded as the effusion of a
frenzied brain.

“It sometimes afforded no little entertainment to Africaner and the
Namaquas, to hear a farmer denounce this supposed irreclaimable savage.
There were only a few, however, who were sceptical on this subject. At one
farm, a novel scene exhibited the state of feeling respecting Africaner and
myself, and likewise displayed the power of Divine grace under peculiar cir-
cumstances. It was necessary, from the scarcity of water, to call at such
houses as lay in our road. The farmer referred to was a good man in the
best sense of the word: and he and his wife had both shown me kindness on
my way to Namaqua-land. On approaching the house, which was on an
eminence, I directed my men to take the waggon to the valley below, while I
walked toward the house. The farmer, seeing a stranger, came slowly down
the descent to meet me. When within a few yards, I addressed him in the
usual way, and stretching out my hand, expressed my pleasure at seeing him
again. He put his hand behind him, and asked me, rather wildly, who I was.
I replied that I was Moffat, expressing my wonder that he should have for-
gotten me. ‘ Moffat!’ he rejoined, in a faltering voice, ‘it is your ghost!’
and moved some steps backward. ‘Iam no ghost.’ ‘Don’t come near me!’
he exclaimed, ‘ you have been long murdered by Africaner.’ ‘But I am no
ghost,’ I said, feeling my hands, as if to convince him and myself, too, of my
materiality ; but his alarm only increased ‘Everybody says you were mur-
dered ; and a man told me he had seen your bones;’ and he continued to gaze
at me, to the no small astonishment of the good wife and children, who were
standing at the door, as also to that of my people, who were looking on from
the waggon below. At length he extended his trembling hand, saying, ‘When
did you rise from the dead?’

“As he feared my presence would alarm his wife, we bent our steps towards
the waggon, and Africaner was the subject of our conversation. I gave him
in a few words my views of his present character, saying, ‘He is now a
truly good man.’ To which he replied, ‘I can believe almost any thing you
say, but that I cannot credit; there are seven wonders in the world, that

AFRICANER AT CAPE TOWN. 29

would be the eighth. I appealed to the displays of Divine grace
in a Paul, a Manasseh, and referred to his own experience. He replied
these were another description of men, but that Africaner was one of the
accursed sons of Ham, enumerating some of the atrocities of which he
had been guilty. By this time we were standing with Africaner at our feet,
on whose countenance sat a smile, well knowing the prejudices of some of the
farmers. The farmer closed the conversation by saying, with much earnest-
ness, ‘ Well, if what you assert be true respecting that man, I have only one
wish, and that is, to see him before I die; and when you return, as sure as
the sun is over our heads, I will go with you to see him, though he killed my
own uncle.’ I was not before aware of this fact, and now felt some hesitation
whether to discover to him the object of his wonder; but knowing the sin-
cerity of the farmer, and the goodness of his disposition, I said, ‘ This, then,
is Africaner!’ He started back, looking intensely at the man, as if he had
just dropped from the clouds. ‘Are you Africaner?’ he exclaimed. He arose,
doffed his old hat, and making a polite bow, answered, ‘Iam.’ The farmer
seemed thunderstruck; but when, by a few questions, he had assured himself
of the fact, that the former bugbear of the border stood before him, now meek
and lamb-like in his whole deportment, he lifted up his eyes, and exclaimed,
‘O God, what a miracle of thy power! what cannot thy grace accomplish!’
The kind farmer, and his no less hospitable wife, now abundantly supplied
our wants; but we hastened our departure, lest the intelligence might get abroad
that Africaner was with me, and bring unpleasant visitors.

“On arriving at Cape Town, I waited on his Excellency the Governor,
Lord Charles Somerset, who appeared to receive with considerable scepticism,
my testimony that I had brought the far-famed Africaner on a visit to his
Excellency. The following day was appointed for an interview, when the
chief was received by Lord Charles with great affability and kindness; and
he expressed his pleasure at seeing thus before him, one who had formerly
been the scourge of the country, and the terror of the border colonists. His
Excellency was evidently much struck with this result of missionary enter-
prise, the benefit of which he had sometimes doubted. I remembered when I
first arrived at Cape Town, the reply to my memorial for permission to pro-
ceed to my destination in Great Namaqua-land, was, that his Excellency had
cogent reasons for not complying with my request, and I was obliged to re-
main eight months in the colony: this time was not, however, lost, for it was
turned to advantage by learning the Dutch language, and attending to other
preliminaries for a missionary campaign. Whatever he might think of his
former views, his Excellency was now convinced that a most important
point had been gained; and, as a testimony of his good feeling, he presented
Africaner with an excellent waggon, value eighty pounds sterling.

“ A short time previous to my visit to the Cape, a deputation from the

30 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

London Missionary Society, consisting of the Revs. J. Campbell and Dr.
Philip, arrived for the purpose of examining the state of our African missions,
and to them Africaner’s visit was a subject of deep interest. It appeared to
be one of the happiest moments of Mr. Campbell’s life to hold converse with
the man, at whose very name, on his first visit to Namaqua-land, he had
trembled, but on whom, in answer to many prayers, he now looked as a
brother beloved. Often while interpreting for Mr. C., in his inquiries, I have
been deeply affected with the overflow of soul experienced by both, while re-
hearsing the scenes of bygone days.

‘“ Africaner’s appearance in Cape Town, excited considerable attention,
as his name and exploits had been familiar to many of its inhabitants for more
than twenty years. Many were struck with the unexpected mildness and
gentleness of his demeanour, and others with his piety and accurate know-
ledge of the Scriptures. His New Testament was an interesting object of
attention, it was so completely thumbed and worn by use. His answers to a
number of questions put to him by the friends in Cape Town, and at a public
meeting held there, exhibited his diligence as a student in the doctrines of
the Gospel, especially when it is remembered that Africaner never saw a
Catechism in his life, but obtained all his knowledge on theological subjects
from a careful perusal of the Scriptures, and the verbal instructions of the
missionary.”

The closing scene of the Life of Africaner is thus described by Mr.
Archbell, a Wesleyan missionary :—

‘‘ When he found his end approaching, he called all the people together,
after the example of Joshua, and gave them directions as to their future
conduct. ‘ We are not,’ said he, ‘what we were, savages, but men professing
to be taught according to the Gospel. Let us then do accordingly. Live
peaceably with all men, if possible: and if impossible, consult those who are
placed over you, before you engage in any thing. Remain together, as you
have done since I knew you. ‘Then, when the Directors think fit to send you
a missionary, you may be ready to receive him. Behave to any teacher you
may have sent as one sent of God, as I have great hope that God will bless
you in this respect when I am gone to heaven. I feel that I love God, and
that he has done much for me, of which I am totally unworthy.

‘¢¢My former life is stained with blood; but Jesus Christ has pardoned
me, and I am going to heaven. Oh! beware of falling into the same evils
into which I have led you frequently; but seek God, and he will be found of
you to direct you.’

‘“‘ Africaner was a man of sound judgment, and of undaunted courage ;
and although he himself was one of the first and the severest persecutors of the
Christian cause, he would, had he lived, have spilled his blood, if necessary,
for his missionary.”

THE KAFFRES. 31

We have been induced to make this lengthy extract on account of its
giving a notable missionary experience, and illustrating a state of matters
very prevalent forty years ago, when the settlers and the natives were at
constant feud with each others.

Tue Karrres are allied to the Bechuana tribes. They are a bold and
warlike race, and having been dispossessed of portions of their land by the
colonists, they, for many years, kept up a state of war, which the whole force
of the Government could hardly bring to a termination. When hard pressed
they retreated to their mountain fastnesses, to issue forth on the next favour-
able opportunity, carrying ruin and desolation to many a homestead and
township. Burchell gives the following account of his first meeting with five
members of this nation :—

‘‘These men were not less than six feet in height, strong, and finely
proportioned, and, excepting a leather saross, or mantle, wore no covering
whatever; a circumstance, so far as I have since been able to learn, quite
peculiar to the osas, or Kaffres on the eastern side of the colony. Their
bodies and cloaks were reddened all over with ochre, mixed with grease.
They accosted us in an easy, manly tone, and with manners perfectly free
from servile timidity. . . . They were the most importunate beggars I
had ever met with; soliciting for tobacco, or whatever else they saw which
they thought would be useful; complaining also that their wives’ heads
were uncovered, and much required a handkerchief to protect them from the
sun. It was impossible to avoid their importunities, except by granting what
they asked for; and at last we got rid of them by giving them three legs of
mutton, a handkerchief for each, and a quantity of tobacco, enough for them
and their wives. I purchased from these men, for a handkerchief, a very
neat basket, wove with rushes so admirably close, that they are always used
for holding milk or other liquids. He was careful not to let this opportunity
pass without begging for something, and first asked for some brandy, which
being refused, he asked for money to buy some; for these people are shrewd
enough to understand very well the nature and use of the Cape money. Two
of them could speak Dutch very readily; and the principal one with a polite
and friendly air that I little expected in a savage, if such a term could
properly be applied to him, gently raised my hands to his lips in taking leave,
and expressed at the same time the warmest acknowledgments of gratitude
for the presents I had made them.”

The Kaffres are fuller in the face and darker in colour than the Hotten-
tots; the beard is fuller, and they are much stronger and more finely formed.
Like the Bechuanas, to whom they are allied, they practice circumcision, but
appear to be unable to account for the origin of this practice. Their wealth
consists chiefly in cattle. Their huts are circular in shape, and are formed of
brushwood and grass. The land is the property of the whole tribe, and they

32 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

shift from place to place as inclination or necessity may suggest. The tribe
is split up into sub-divisions, each under a separate chief, and they are often
in a state of warfare with one another. Their principal grain is the Indian
millet. Their arms are principally the lance, which they use with great
dexterity, and a small battle axe. A kind of club, called the kirri, is used,
principally to turn aside the lance of an enemy; for which purpose they also use a
shield made of hardened ox-hide. The kirri is used as a weapon of offence when
they come to close quarters. Writing nearly seventy years ago, when the Kaffres
were a terror to the European settlers in Cape Colony—Lichtenstein says :—
‘“‘ What makes the neigbourhood of these savages extremely irksome is, that
in peace they expect as a sort of tribute what in war they seize by force.
They often come in large bodies, and will stay several days, and even weeks,
scarcely thinking themselves obliged, even although they are entertained all
the time without cost; and this the inhabitants do, to obviate, if possible, any
cause of quarrel with them. Many times, in making peace, endeavours have
been made to establish a fixed boundary, which neither side shall pass without
express permission from the Chiefs of the country, but to this they would
never consent, asserting that there was no use in being at peace if people could
not make visits to their friends to enquire after their welfare. Their impor-
tunity, their number, and the fear of quarrelling with them, since they are
very ready to catch at any pretence for a quarrel, commonly secure them
good entertainment.”

Lichtenstein was visited by a party of Kaffres, who treated him to
‘a pantomimic representation of their mode of fighting, ranging them-
selves in two rows, and showing me, by the most rapid and powerful
movements of the body, how they throw the weapon (the lance) at the
enemy. They also imitated their manner of avoiding the weapons of their |
opponent, which consisted in changing their places at every moment, springing
hither and thither with loud cries, throwing themselves at one instant on the
ground, and then rising with astonishing velocity to take their aim anew.
The activity and readiness of their motions, the variety and rapid changes of
attitude in these fine, athletic, naked warriors, made this sight as pleasing as
it was interesting, on account of its novelty. . . . After it began to rain
hard, we invited our visitors into the house, where they entertained them-
selves till late in the evening with a dance after their fashion; this was as
stiff and disagreeable as their activity and dexterity in the use of their arms
had been otherwise. The men first came forward in a row, with folded arms,
stamping with a number of strange disagreeable motions of the head,
shoulders, and body, while the women, with the most hideous grimaces,
moved slowly round the men, one after the other. Then they sing, or rather
howl a strange melody, which cannot be pleasing throughout to an European’s
ear, and which could not be performed upon any of our instruments, because

MODE OF TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS. 33

their intervals stand in a very different relation one to another than ours.
Yet they imitate these intervals and the melody of these songs upon their
imperfect instruments very true. One of the women employed herself in
making baskets of rushes, such as are mentioned by Sparman, thick enough to
hold milk. The work is uncommonly neat, and does great honour to the
inyentor ; but the mode in which it is done could not be described without
great prolixity.”

The agriculture of the Kaffres and the Bechuana and other tribes of South
Africa was originally of a most primitive description. To the north, where
game was abundant, it was very much neglected. Their corn is known as the
Indian millet or Guinea corn, and is called Kaffre corn by the colonists. The
grain grows in a large bunch at the top of the stalk, differing from Indian corn,
the grain of which forms a large cylindrical ear. Among the Bechuanas it is
known as mabbeli. The stalk, when the plant is not over ripe, is very juicy
and refreshing, and is frequently chewed by the natives, especially when
water is scarce.

The grain is mostly eaten after boiling in water; and it is sometimes
pounded into a thick pulp with milk after boiling, and left until it becomes
sour and solidifies, when it is called Bukoli or bread.

A small species of kidney bean is cultivated in considerable quantities.
The stalk grows to a height of from two to three feet, and the seed is smaller
than our garden bean. Water melons and bulbous plants of various kinds, as
we shall see further on, form no inconsiderable portion of the diet of the
natives to the south of the river Zouga, and in periods of drought, when the
animals leave the country in search of water, these together with locusts, frogs,
snakes, and almost any kind of animal they can surprise and kill form their
only food. Several of the bulbous plants, a kind of pumpkin and the cala-
bash gourd, are cultivated in theirgardens. Various wild berry-producing plants,
roots, and fruit trees form no unimportant addition to their food when in season.

The natives are all hunters, and they sometimes organise a battue on a
large scale. Several hundred natives, armed with spears, and as many
muskets as they can muster, silently surround a herd of antelopes, zebras,
and quaggas. Advancing slowly and silently they drive the game inwards, the
human cordon gradually thickening as they close in, until the startled herd find
themselves surrounded by a living wall of yelling savages. In their frantic
efforts to break through they are speared in great numbers. After a gorge on
the half cooked flesh, they cut the flesh into strips and hang it on the
branches of trees and shrubs, to dry it for preservation.

They frequently form a couple of long fences of shrubs, commencing wide
apart and converging at a point, where pit-falls have been dug, and carefully
covered over with grass and shrubs; in these pit-falls they fix sharp pointed
stakes, on which the animals impale themselves. Sometimes animals enter

F

34 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

this enclosure voluntarily, and at other times they are driven into it, when in
pressing to get out at the narrow end, they fall into the pits in great numbers,
and are speedily despatched with lances.

The breeding of cattle, and the cultivation of the soil, havemaderapid strides
of late years among the Kaffres and Bechuanas. Following the example set
by the missionaries and settlers, large tracts of ground are made fruitful by a
simple system of irrigation in the neighbourhood of streams and springs of
water. In this way a plentiful crop of grain, potatoes, and other vegetables,
and various kinds of fruit are grown in considerable quantities ; but an unusally
dry season, which turns the springs and streams into hollows of burning sand,
puts an end, for the time, to all resources, natural and artificial, and a season
of great suffering ensues, in which many of their cattle die, or are slain for
food; and many of the natives, especially the young and old of both sexes, die for
want of the necessaries of life. In time they will no doubt learn to provide for
these seasons of scarcity, but their careless and improvident habits are difficult to
eradicate.

In the foregoing sketch of the three leading races of mankind, native to
South Africa, we have been anxious to present them as they were when Dr.
Livingstone began his labours amongst them. The people he visited and
lived amongst for the first ten years of his life in Africa were all, with the
exception of the Bushmen and Hottentots, more or less of the same kindred as
the Kaffres, and speaking a language of the same character, if not always
identical. ‘The manners and customs of tribes distinct from these will fall to
be treated off as we proceed in our narative. Since 1840 the relations of
the white population to the natives who live amongst them, and who occupy the
country bordering on the territory, have greatly changed for the better. Slowly
but surely civilization is improving the black man, and increasing the number
of his resources, and consequently the comforts of his life. Wise legislation,
missionary enterprise, and the frequent visits paid to the country by European
sportsmen, have all borne their share in this elevating process. But of all
the agencies which have been at work for the improvement of the savage
people of Africa, none have had so powerful and so immediate an effect for
good as the single-handed labours of David Livingstone.

CHAPTER III.

Dr. Livingstone arrives at Kuruman.—Missionary Experiences.— Visits the Bechuana
Tribes.—Resolves to settle among the Bakwains.—Adventure with a Iion.—
Marriage.—Journeys to the Zouga River.—The Bakwains attacked by the Boers.

A Regularly ordained worker in the Christian field, and a well instructed
doctor and surgeon, with an enthusiastic love for the work he was en-
gaged in, after a brief stay at the Cape, Dr. Livingstone proceeded, in accord-
dance with the instructions he had received from the Missionary Society to
Kuruman, with the view of establishing a mission station still further to the
north, where ground had not then been broken.

The calling of a Missionary in South Africa in these days was one
that offered no reward save that which follows the doing good to one’s
fellow creatures. Under the best of circumstances life among the savages
was, and is, of the most comfortless description. For a large proportion
of the time so spent, the Missionary must suffer from hunger and from thirst;
from the inclemency of the weather and the total want of congenial society.
Dangers to life and limb from savage beasts and equally savage men, are
all but constant; and to crown all, the good work, the reward of so much
suffering and self-denial proceeds but slowly, and, not unfrequently, days,
weeks, and months pass without a sign that the seed sown with such
anxiety has taken root in the heart of a single human being. The annals
of Missionary effort among the savage tribes of South Africa up to the
date of his entering upon his career were filled with a superabundance of
unpromising experiences, terminating in many instances, in disappointment
and in an early death. True, during the previous twenty years Robert
Moffat and several others, had begun to reap, in some small degree, the
fruits of the incessant toil and effort of years; but there was little which
they had to tell which could be tempting to the young enthusiast, who thought
only of merely worldly distinction.

To travel from place to place was then a work of great difficulty and
some danger even close to the colonial frontier. The following from Dr.
Mofiat’s “‘ Missionary Labours” was no mere isolated experience :—

“Having travelled nearly the whole night through deep ‘sand, the
oxen began to lie down in the yoke from fatigue, obliging us to halt
before reaching water. The next day we pursued our course, and on
arriving at the place where we had hoped to find water, we were disap-

36 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

pointed. As it appeared evident that if we continued the same route we
must perish from thirst, at the suggestion of my guide we turned north-
ward, over a dreary, trackless, sandy waste, without one green blade of
grass, and scarcely a bush on which the wearied eye could rest. Becoming
dark, the oxen unable to proceed, ourselves exhausted with dreadful thirst
and fatigue, we stretched our wearied limbs on sand still warm from the
noon-tide heat, being the hot season of the year. Thirst aroused us at an
early hour; and finding the oxen incapable of moving the waggon one inch,
we took a spade, and, with the oxen, proceeded to a hollow in a neighbouring
mountain. Here we laboured for a long time, digging an immense hole in
the sand, where we obtained a scanty supply, exactly resembling the old
bilge-water of a ship, but which was drunk with an avidity which no pen can
describe. Hours were occupied in incessant labour to obtain a sufficiency for
the oxen, which, by the time all had partaken, were ready for a second
draught; while some, from the depth of the hole and the loose sand got
scarcely any. We filled the small vessels which we had brought, and
returned to the waggon over a plain glowing with a meridian sun; the
sand being so hot, it was distressingly painful to walk. The oxen ran
frantic, till they came to a place indurated with little sand. Here they
stood together, to cool their burning hoofs in the shade of their own bodies;
those on the outside always trying to get into the centre. In the evening,
when about to yoke them in order to proceed on our journey, we found
that most of them had run off, An attendant, who was despatched in search
of them, returned at midnight with the sad tidings that he was compelled
by thirst, and terror of meeting with lions, to abandon his pursuit.

“No time was to be lost, and I instantly sent off the remaining oxen
with two men, to take them to the next fountain, and then proceed to
solicit assistance from Mr. Bartlett, at Pella. Three days I remained with
my waggon-driver on this burning plain with scarcely a breath of wind,
and what there was felt as if coming from the mouth of an oven. We
had only tufts of dry grass to make a small fire, or rather flame; and little
was needful, for we had scarcely any food to prepare. We saw no human
being, although we had an extensive prospect; not a single animal or beast
of prey made its appearance; but in the dead of the night we sometimes
heard the distant roar of the lion on the mountains, where we had to go
twice a day for our nauseous but grateful beveraye. At last when we were
beginning to fear that the men had either perished or wandered, Mr. Bartlett
arrived on horseback, with two men, having a quantity of mutton tied
to their saddles. I cannot conceive of an epicure gazing on a table groaning
under the weight of viands, with half the delight that I did on the mutton,
which, though killed only the preceding evening, reyuired no keeping to
make it tender.”

MISSIONARY TRIALS. 37

Arrived at the scene of his labours this was the sort of experience which
awaited Dr. Moffat, Mrs. Moffat, and his coadjutor, Mr. Hamilton.

‘Our time was incessantly occupied in building, and labouring frequently
for the meat that perisheth; but our exertions were often in vain, for while
we sowed, the natives reaped. The site of the station was a light sandy
soil, where no kind of vegetables would grow without constant irrigation.
Our water ditch, which was some miles in length, had been led out of the
Kuruman River, and passed in its course through the gardens of the natives.
As irrigation was to them entirely unknown, fountains and streams had been
suffered to run to waste, where crops even of native grain, which supports
amazing drought, are seldom very abundant from the general scarcity of rain.
The native women, seeing the fertilizing effect of the water in our gardens,
thought very naturally that they had an equal right to it for their own, and took
the liberty of cutting open our water ditch, and allowing it, on some occasions,
to flood theirs. This mode of proceeding left us at times without a drop of
water, even for culinary purposes. It was in vain that we pleaded, and
remonstrated with the chiefs; the women were the masters in this matter.
Mr. Hamilton and I were daily compelled to go alternately three miles with
a spade, about three o’clock p.m., the hottest time of the day, and turn in the
many outlets into native gardens, that we might have a little moisture to
refresh our burnt-up vegetables during the night, which we were obliged to
irrigate when we ought to have rested from the labours of the day. Many
night watches were spent in this way; and after we had raised with great
labour yegetables, so necessary to our constitutions, the natives would steal
them by day as well as by night, and after a year’s toil and care, we scarcely
reaped anything to reward us for our labour. The women would watch our
return from turning the streams into the water-course, and would immediately
go and open the outlets again, thus leaving us on a thirsty plain many days
without a drop of water, excepting that which was carried from a distant
fountain, under a cloudless sky, when the thermometer at noon would
frequently rise to 120° in the shade. x

“When we complained of this, the women, who one would have thought
would have been the first to appreciate the principles by which we were
actuated, became exasperated, and going to the higher drain, where the water
was led out of the river, with their picks completely destroyed it, allowing the
stream to flow in its ancient bed. By this means the supply of water was
reduced one-half, and that entirely at the mercy of those who loved us only
when we could supply them with tobacco, repair their tools, or administer
medicine to the afilicted.

ey Our situation might be better conceived than described : not one
believed our report among the thousands by whom we were surrounded.
Native aid, especially to the wife of the missionary, though not to be

38 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

dispensed with, was a source of anxiety, and an addition to our cares; for
any individual might not only threaten, but carry a rash purpose into effect.
For instance, Mrs. Moffat, with a babe in her arms, begged, and that very
humbly, of a woman, just to be kind enough to move out of a temporary
kitchen, that she might shut it as usual before going in to the place of
worship. The woman seized a piece of wood to hurl it at Mrs. M.’s head,
who, of course, immediately escaped to the house of God, leaving her the
undisputed occupant of the kitchen, any of the contents of which she would
not hesitate to appropriate to her own use. . . . As many men and
women as pleased might come into our hut, leaving us not room even to
turn ourselves, and making everything they touched the colour of their greasy
attire; while some were talking, others would be sleeping, and some pilfering
whatever they could lay their hands on. This would keep the house-wife a
perfect prisoner in a suffocating atmosphere, almost intolerable; and when
they departed, they left ten times more than their number behind—company
still more offensive. As it was not pleasant to take our meals amongst such
filth, our dinner was often deferred for hours, hoping for their departure ; but,
after all, it had to be eaten when the natives were despatching their game at
our feet.

‘‘ Our attendance at public worship would vary from ten to fifty; and
these very often manifesting the greatest indecorum. Some would be
snoring ; others laughing; some working; and others, who might even be
styled the noblesse, would be employed in removing from their ornaments
certain nameless insects, letting them run about the forms, while sitting by
the missionary’s wife. Never having been accustomed to chairs or stools,
some, by way of imitation, would sit with their feet on the benches, having their
knees, according to their usual mode of sitting, drawn up to their chins. In
this position one would fall asleep and tumble over, to the great merriment
of his fellows. On some occasions an opportunity would be watched to rob,
when the missionary was engaged in public service. The thief would first
_ put his head within the door, discover who was in the pulpit, and, knowing
he could not leave his rostrum before a certain time had elapsed, would go to
his house and take what he could lay his hands upon.”

Tools, household utensils, and even the meat out of the pot were stolen,
and the cattle driven away, and possibly one of them killed and eaten.
Slowly but surely the devoted missionaries made their way to the hearts and
better natures of the natives, until their trials and difficulties would become
less and less and then finally disappear; but the above is no over-drawn picture of
missionary experience for the first few months of residence with a native tribe.
All this, and much more, would be well known to David Livingstone long
before he set foot in Africa, or penetrated into the interior from Kuruman.

At Kuruman and neighbourhood he found Moffat and his coadjutors

ADVENTURE WITH A LION. 39

hard at work, and remained with them a few months, familiarising himself
with their mode of operations, visiting and making himself acquainted with
the Bechuana people, their manners and customs, language and country, with
a view to settling amongst them; the chief of one of the Bechuana tribes
being favourable to his projects.

In his second preparatory excursion into the Bechuana country, he
settled for six months at a place called Lepelole, and with characteristic
thoroughness of purpose completely isolated himself from European society,
in order to obtain an accurate knowledge of the language. Deeming that
this was to be the scene and centre of his future labours, he commenced his pre-
parations for a settlement among the Bakwains, as that section of the Be-
chuana people who inhabited the district round Lepelole was named. When
these arrangements were almost completed, he made a journey, principally
on foot, to the north, and penetrated within ten days’ journey of the lower
part of the river Zouga; and if discovery had been his object, he might even
then have discovered Lake Ngami. At this time the great traveller’s slim
appearance gaye little token of the hardy physique which was to enable him
afterwards to undergo months and years of toilsome journeyings in regions
never before visited by civilized man; but this trial trip proved the pluck
and stamina which were to stand him in so good stead in many undertakings
of much greater magnitude, and gave him a gratifying notion of his power of
overcoming difficulties of a novel and trying character.

Returning to Kuruman, intelligence followed him that the Bakwains,
among whom he had made up his mind to settle, had been driven from Le-
pelole by the Barolongs, a neighbouring tribe, so that he was obliged to set
out anew in search of another locality in which to establish his mission station;
when, after some time spent in inspecting he fixed upon the valley of Mabotsa.
Here he had an extraordinary adventure with a lion, which, from the singular
nature of his experiences, merits insertion here. Several lions had been car-
rying destruction among the cattle of the natives, and Livingstone went with
the people to assist in the extermination of the marauders. The lions were
traced to a small wooded hill, which the people surrounded, and proceeded to
beat through the underwood, with the view of driving the prey into a position
where the shooters could see and fire at them. Livingstone, having fired at
one of the animals, was in the act of reloading, when he heard a shout of
warning from the people near.

“Starting and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of
springing upon me. I was upon a little height. He caught my shoulder as
he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. Growling
horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a rat. The
shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse
after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there

40 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that
was happening. It was like what patients partially under the influence of
chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel not the knife. This
singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake
annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast.
This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the car-
nivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for
lessening the pain of death. Turning round to relieve myself of the weight,
as he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Me-
balwe (a native schoolmaster), who was trying to shoot him at a distance of
ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels; the
lion immediately left me, and attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another
man whose hip I had cured before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo,
attempted to spear the lion while he was biting Mebalwe; he left Mebalwe
and caught this man by the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets he had
received took effect, and he fell down dead. . . . Besides crunching the
bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds in my arm.” The broken
and splintered bones were very imperfectly attended to, as Dr. Livingstone
had to act as his own surgeon, and the arm ever afterwards was of compara-
tively little service to him.

Livingstone shrank from inquirers who were anxious to have minute
details as to the perils he had gone through; not that he really made light of
them, but he had a horror of sensationalism, and avoided every temptation to
enlarge upon difficulties which were inevitable at the time of their occurrence.
‘Tn connection with the above incident,” says a writer in the British Quarterly
Review for April, 1874, ‘‘ we well remember how, when on a visit to England,
he was eagerly questioned by a group of sympathetic friends as to what he
was thinking of when in the lion’s grasp, and how he quietly answered, that
he was thinking, with a feeling of disinterested curiosity, which part of him
the brute would eat first.”

Lions are much more numerous, and encounters with them much more
frequent than Dr. Livingstone’s comparatively few allusions to them would
lead us to expect. He never cared to take up time and space in chronicling
his dealing with them, or other kinds of wild animals, unless there was some-
thing unusual in the experience. In travelling even in the neighbourhood of
the colonial frontier, travellers had to dispose themselves and their oxen at
night so as to be least exposed to the attack of these animals; fires being
frequently kindled to keep them at a distance. The traveller in these regions
would not be abroad many days, before himself and his cattle were put in
extreme peril by the visits of lions. Cattle in their terror, when his roar rever-
berates through the darkness, frequently break loose, and run wildly in their
panic right into the danger they somuch dread. In the early morning and the

ADVENTURE WITH A LION. 41

NN oT

evening travellers not unfrequently find themselves face to face with the
‘‘ King of the Forest.” If unarmed, the best course to pursue is to stand per-
fectly still, never moving a muscle, when, if the lion be unaccustomed to the
presence of man, he will be so startled at the appearance of a singular animal
standing on two legs, which does not run from him, that he will retreat, con-
tinually turning round from time to time, until he has reached a safe distance;
when he will bound away to the intense satisfaction of the biped who has
treated him to so unwonted an encounter. If under such circumstances the party
make a single movement, either towards flight or through nervousness, the
lion will almost certainly be upon him, when if he be unarmed, the traveller’s
chances of escape are exceedingly remote. It is not the power of the human
eye, as is vulgarly supposed, which will make the lion under such circumstances
turn aside; it is the unwonted phenomena of a strange animal which shows no
fear. No wild animal is so easily intimidated by a strange appearance as the
lion ; a branch of a tree stuck into the ground in front of the carcase of an
animal he had previously slain and feasted off, will deter him from recom-
mencing his meal for a considerable time.

The traveller armed with a rifle has need of all his coolness in dealing
with a lion. Ifhe fire and only wound the animal his position is infinitely
more dangerous than it was before. Even when wounded unto death, the
hunter must guard against the last dying effort which in most cases will be
expended in leaping upon him. The native dog is very useful in affording a
warning of the approach of lions; and is so courageous that it will advance
upon the great brute and bark in his face. The following graphic incident is
from Burchell’s “ Travels in Southern Africa.” In the morning while making
his way through a bush-covered country he encountered a lion and lioness. The
latter disappeared among the bushes but the lion stood his ground.

“ At this moment we felt our situation not free from danger, as the animal
seemed preparing to spring upon us, and we were standing on the bank at only
the distance of a few yards from him, most of us being on foot and unarmed,
without any possibility of escaping, Ihad given up my horse, and was on foot
myself; but there was no time for fear, and it was useless to attempt avoiding
him. Poor Tring (a Hottentot woman) was in great alarm; she clasped her
infant to her bosom, and screamed out, as if she thought her destruction
inevitable, calling anxiously to those who were nearest the animal, Take care!
Take care! Yn great fear for my safety, she half insisted upon my moving
further off: I however stood well upon my guard, holding my pistols in my
hand, with my finger upon the trigger; and those who had muskets kept
themselves prepared in the same manner. But, at this instant, the dogs boldly
flew in between us and the lion, and surrounding him, kept him at bay by
their violent and resolute barking. The courage of these faithful animals was
most admirable: they advanced up to the side of the huge beast, and stood

q #

49 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

making the greatest clamour in his face, without the least appearance of fear.
The lion, conscious of his strength, remained unmoved by their noisy attempts,
and kept his head turned towards us. At one moment, the dogs perceiving his
eyes thus engaged, had advanced close to his feet, and seemed as if they would
actually seize hold of him; but they paid dearly for their impudence, for
without discomposing the majestic and steady attitude in which he stood fixed,
he merely moyed his paw, and at the next instant I beheld two lying dead.
In doing this, he made so little exertion, that it was scarcely perceptible by
what means they had been killed. Of the time which we had gained by the
interference of the dogs, not a moment was lost; we fired upon him; one of
the balls went through his side just between the short ribs, and the blood
immediately began to flow; but the animal still remained standing in
the same position. We had now no doubt that he would spring upon us;
every gun was instantly reloaded; but happily we were mistaken, and were
not sorry to see him move quietly away. . . . Of the courage of the
lion I have no very high opinion, but of his majestic air and movement, as
exhibited by this animal, while at liberty in his native plains, I can bear
testimony. Notwithstanding the pain of a wound of which he must soon after-
wards have died, he moved slowly away with a stately and measured step.”

Livingstone, notwithstanding his terrible experience recorded above, held
the same feeling in regard to the courage of the lion; but because a lion does
not always attack a man when it has the opportunity, this fact is no proof that it
lacks courage. When the lion has had a full meal it will undoubtedly avoid
an encounter; and he cannot be aware that mankind have made him the
symbol of courage and strength, and that he is expected to show both on all
and every occasion. He only kills that he may eat, and only attacks man
and animals when he is hungry, or is brought suddenly into contact with
them. Further, his instincts are so peculiar that we cannot guess what
strange thing or circumstance may have turned him aside in such an
instance as that related above. Ina state of nature he only kills his prey
when pressed by hunger, and unlike the tiger, unless fighting for his life,
never kills from a wanton thirst for blood. This which is made to detract from
his courage and nobility, is, to our thinking, another reason, and a poweriul
one, for his being allowed to retain his title of “‘ King of the Forest.” Un-
doubtedly the most courageous animal is the dog, but much of that courage
has been gained by association with man. The wild dog, like the wolf, hunts
in packs, and is very unwilling to attack man under any circumstances, and only
does so when supported by numbers. Imagine what a lion would be if tamed,
and trained only to exercise his courage and terrible strength against animals
and the enemies of his master!

Lichtenstein relates an extraordinary encounter with a lion on the part
of a Dutch settler, for which we must find room :—

ADVENTURE WITH A LION. 43

“Tt is now,” said he, “‘more than two years since, in the very place
where we stand, I ventured to take one of the most daring shots ever hazarded.
My wife was sitting within the house near the door; the children were
playing about her, and I was without, near the house, busied in doing
something about a waggon, when, suddenly, although it was mid-day, an
enormous lion appeared, came up, and laid himself quietly down in the shade,
upon the very threshold of the door. My wife, either frozen with fear, or
aware of the danger attending any attempt to fly, remained motionless in her
place, while the children took refuge in her lap. The cry they uttered
attracted my attention, and I hastened towards the door; but my astonish-
ment may well be conceived when I found the entrance to it barred in such
a way.

‘ Although the animal had not seen me, unarmed as I was, escape seemed
impossible, yet I glided gently, scarcely knowing what I meant to do, to the
side of the house, up to the window of my chamber, where I knew my
loaded gun was standing. By a most happy chance, I had set it into the
corner close by the window, so that I could reach it with my hand; for, as
you may perceive, the opening is too small to admit of my haying got in;
and, still more fortunate, the door of the room was open, so that I could
see the whole danger of the scene. The lion was beginning to move, perhaps
with the intention of making a spring. There was no longer any time to
think: I called softly to the mother not to be alarmed, and, invoking the
name of the Lord, fired my piece. The ball passed directly over the hair of
my boy’s head, and lodged in the forehead of the lion, immediately above his
eyes, which shot forth, as it were, sparks of fire, and stretched him on the
ground, so that he never stirred more.” ‘‘ Never,” says Lichtenstein, ‘‘ was
a more daring attempt hazarded. Had he failed in his aim, mother and ~
children were ineyitably lost. If the boy had moved, he had been struck ;
the least turn in the lion, and the shot had not been mortal to him.” In this
extraordinary case we imagine it was the unusualness of the scene, and the
perfect passiveness of the wife and children which made the animal delay his
attack. He required to take in the unwonted scene, and find out if it
portended no danger to him. Inaction of this kind is not at all unusual in
animals, and is not unknown among men when they are placed in novel
circumstances.

Dr. Moffat had many hair-breadth escapes from lions, and we regret
haying no space to record some of the more striking cases. The following
account of his escape from a double danger is worthy of insertion here :—

“Tn one of my early journeys, I had an escape from a leopard and a
serpent. I had left the waggons, and wandered to a distance among the
coppice and grassy openings in quest of game. I had a small double-barrelled
gun on my shoulder, which was loaded with ball and small shot; an antelope

44 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

passed at which I fired, and slowly followed the course it took; after advancing
a short distance, I saw a leopard staring at me from between the forked
branches of a tree, behind which his long spotted body was concealed, twisting
and turning his tail like a cat just going to spring upon his prey. This I
knew was a critical moment, not having a shot of ball in my gun. I moved
about as if in search of something in the grass, taking care to retreat at the
same time. After getting, as I thought, a suitable distance to turn my back,
I moved somewhat more quickly, but in my anxiety to escape what was
behind, I did not see what was before, until startled by treading on a large
Cobra de Capella serpent asleep on the grass. It instantly twirled its body
round my leg on which I had nothing but a thin pair of trousers, when I
leaped from the spot, dragging the venomous and enraged reptile after me,
and while in the act of throwing itself into a position to bite, without turning
round, I threw my piece over my shoulder and shot it. Taking it by the
tail, I brought it to my people at the waggons, who, on examining the bags
of poison, asserted that had the creature bitten me, I could never have reached
the waggons. The serpent was six feet long.”

The African leopard, which grows to a size frequently not much inferior
to a small tiger, is a much more dangerous foe than the lion; because it gives
no warning of its presence. It is generally encountered among trees, seldom
venturing out upon the plain, unless to stalk any of the animals it preys upon.
Its favourite position is on the thick branch of a great tree, from which it
drops upon its prey, which is all unconscious of its proximity. When
wounded, they turn upon the hunter with terrible fury, and fight until they
drop dead. The sheep and cattle folds of the settlers suffer from its visits,
and the cattle of the native tribes, and not unfrequently the children and
adults, fall a prey to this savage and blood-thirsty animal. A single leopard
has been known to enter a sheep fold and kill dozens of sheep before its thirst
for blood was satiated. In this, as we have already pointed out, it differs from
the lion, who kills only one of a herd in a single visit.

Sechele, the chief of the tribe of Bakwains, to which tribe Livingstone
attached himself, was a remarkable man, as had also been his father and
grandfather before him; the latter was a great traveller, and was the first
to tell his people of the existence of a race of white men. During his
father’s life, those two extraordinary travellers, Dr. Cowan and Captain
Donovan, lost their lives in his territory, and were supposed to have been
murdered by the Bakwains until Livingstone learned from Sechele that they
had died from fever in descending the river Limpopo, after they had been
hospitably entertained by his father and his people. At that time the coun-
try was rich in cattle and pasturage, as water was more abundant. The
country in Central and Southern Africa is so rapidly under-going a change
through the drainage caused by the disruption of the soil carrying off the

SECHELE LEARNS TO READ. 45

water at a much lower level, that vast districts, now almost desert, were rich
in cattle, and populous with human beings, within the memory of people
then living.

The father of Sechele was murdered when the chief was a boy, and a
usurper proclaimed himself the head of the tribe. The friends of the children
applied to Sebituane, chief of the Makololo, to reinstate them, and punish the
rebels. This he successfully accomplished; and between him and his subject
tribes, and Sechele and his people, there was much friendly relation in
consequence, This ultimately led to Livingstone’s visiting Sebituane’s country,
and making the acquaintance of perhaps the wisest native ruler he came in
contact with in all his wanderings.

The government in the Bechuana tribes is patriarchal: the chief is the
head of the tribe, and a father is the chief of his family. Round the hut of
the chief are the huts of his wives, those of his relations, and the leading
men of the tribe; and round the hut of the father are ranged those of his
family, when they take up house. Kinship is as minutely defined and is as
much a matter of pride with the natives of South Africa, as among the inha-
bitants of the highlands of Scotland.

The first time Livingstone held a public religious service, Sechele listened
with much attention; and on receiving permission to ask questions regarding
what he had heard, inquired if Livingstone’s forefathers knew of a future
judgment. On receiving an affirmative answer and a description of the great
white throne, and Him who shall sit on it, before whose face the heaven and
earth shall flee away, etc., he said, ‘‘ You startle me; these words make all
my bones to shake; I have no more strength inme. But my forefathers were
living at the same time yours were; and how is it that they did not send them
word about these terrible things sooner? They all passed away into darkness,
without knowing whither they were going.” Questions these, like some
frequently asked by children of their elders, more easily sympathised with than
answered.

So eager was Sechele to learn to read, that he acquired a knowledge of
the alphabet on the first day of Livingstone’s residence at Chounane. Mr.
Oswell, a gentleman of independent fortune travelling in the country, from
a love of sport and adventure and a desire to extend the geographical know-
ledge of South Africa—who, as we shall see, afterwards joined Livingstone in
his expedition to Lake Ngami—taught him arithmetic. After he was able to
read, nothing gave him greater pleasure than the getting Livingstone to listen
to his reading of the Bible. Isaiah was his favourite book; and he would
frequently say,—‘‘ He was a fine man—Isaiah; he knew how to speak.”
Sympathising with the difficulties encountered in converting his people, he
offered to convert them in a body ; and could hardly be made to understand
Liyingstone’s objection to making Christians in a wholesale manner through

46 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the agency of whips made of rhinoceros-hide. Thinking of the difficulties in
the way of being baptized and making an open professson of his belief in
Christianity, more especially as regarded the number of his wives; the putting
away of all whom, save one, would get him into trouble with their relatives,
he frequently said, ‘‘ Oh, I wish you had come into this country before I be-
came entangled in the meshes of our customs.” At his own request, Livingstone
held family worship in his hut, in the hope that it might induce his
people to become attached to Christianity. But as the country was at that
time suffering from a long-continued drought, which was attributed to the
chief taking up with the new religion, few attended save the members of his
own family. Speaking of the influence of the example of a chief in all other
things, he said, bitterly, “I love the word of God, and not one of my breth-
ren will join me.” No doubt if he had become a drunkard or a plunderer
of other tribes, he would have had plenty of followers, so powerful is evil
example !

When he applied for baptism, Livingstone asked him, since he knew his
Bible, and his duty as laid down therein, how he was to act? He went home
and sent all his superfluous wives to their parents, with all the goods and chat-
tels they had been in the habit ofusing, intimating that he had no fault to find
with them, but that he only followed the will of God. Crowds attended to
witness the baptism of Sechele and his family; many of them shedding tears
of sorrow over what they termed the weakness of their chief in forsaking the
ways of his forefathers. Notwithstanding that he made few converts, Liv-
ingstone had the satisfaction of seeing that the influence of himself and his
devoted and energetic helpmate—he had married a daughter of Robert Moffat’s
in 1844—was attended with valuable resultsif only temporal, in introducing a
higher tone of morality among the people. -This influence was so strong as
to have prevented war with neighbouring tribes on no less than five distinct
occasions.

The drought which afflicted the country shortly after Livingstone settled
among the people, and after they had removed to the Kolobeng,—a stream
forty miles distant from the previous settlement; where an experiment in
irrigation, under the direction of Livingstone, was tried with much success for
a time, until the parent stream became dried up,—was popularly believed to
be the result of the evil influence of the missionary over the mind of the
chief, the more especially as he had previously been a believer in rain-making,
and had a high reputation among his people as a rain-doctor. After his con-
version and baptism, he forswore the medicines and incantations with which
he had previously charmed the rain-clouds to descend upon the land ; and as
this was attributed to Livingstone’s influence, and the people were starving
for want of food and water for months, it proved a great hindrance to the
good work amongst them.

THE RAIN-MAKER. 47

The Rain-maker 1s a most important official in savage countries where
water is scarce, and periods of drought of frequent occurrence. When after
weeks or months of dry weather, the vegetation of the country is burned up
and the fountains and streams turned into hollows, filled with loose sand, his
influence is greater than that of the chief or king himself. So implicit is
their belief in the power of this functionary that they will do anything at
his bidding. If the rain fails to come at his bidding, as in the case of the witch-
woman of our English rural districts, sacrifices material or otherwise are made
at his suggestion to propitiate the mysterious power who controls the rain.
Sometimes he will cause them to drag the bodies of the dead into the bush,
and leave them to the hyenas instead of burying them. At other times he will
demand the heart of a lion or a live baboon, or set them some like feat, the accom-
plishment of which will take time; trusting, that in the interval the much
coyeted rain may come and save his credit. A common demand is for sheep
and goats to kill, when endless methods have been tried and the heavens ‘still
remain as brass.” The ignorant savages frequently slay the wretched imposter
for his failure to make good his pretensions.

Notwithstanding their dislike to the new religion, its preacher and ex-
pounder lived amongst them in the most perfect safety. He possessed the
secret of ingratiating himself with these savage Africans in a higher degree
than was ever before known; and, whether staying for a time among the
yarious tribes, or passing through their territory, the respect in which he was
almost invariably held is the most remarkable feature in his career. This
noble, resolute, and God-fearing man went amongst them for their good, and
that only; and interfered with nothing that did not lie directly in his path of
duty. He was there to serve them and do them good, and they were quick in
discovering this. He asked nothing from them and at all times strove to
make himself independent of them, in the matter of his household wants.
With his own hands he built his hut, tilled his garden, and dug his irrigating
canals. The wild animals, needful for the food of his household, fell to his
own gun; and the fruits of the earth were of his own gathering in. During
all his years of labour in South Africa, his mission cost the inhabitants nothing ;
while they received much in higher ideas of justice and right, and in improved
skill in husbandry and in the construction of their houses. Whatever
were their feelings as to the religion he taught, the man himself was above
the suspicion of eyil, and went in and out amongst them, a genuine repre-
sentative to their minds of manliness, truth, and justice.

His noble wife was no less popular. Her training, as the daughter of

Robert Moffat, made the trials of her life no sacrifice to her. In dealing with
the women and children she was most valuable, and there cannot be a doubt
that the fact of his being married, and living a happy and contented domestic
life amongst them, had a great deal to do with the influence he possessed

48 - LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

over the minds of the ignorant and superstitious Bakwains. As a blacksmith
and a carpenter his skill was superior to theirs, and he never hesitated to doff
his coat and give any of them the benefit of his labours when skill was re-
quired, wisely receiving some service which they could render him as a set-
off. In this way a feeling of mutual obligation and exchange of service was
fostered and encouraged, in which no notion of charity had a part.

In speaking of their daily experience, he tells us that they rose about six
o'clock. ‘ After family worship and breakfast. . . . we kept school—
men, women, and children being all united. This lasted until eleven o’clock.
The missionary’s wife then betook herself to her domestic affairs, and the
missionary engaged in some manual labour, as that of a smith, carpenter, or
gardener. If he did jobs for the people, they worked for him in turn, and
exchanged their unskilled labour for his skilled. Dinner and an hour’s rest
succeeded, when the wife attended her infant school, which the young liked
amazingly, and generally mustered a hundred strong; or she varied it with
sewing classes for the girls, which were equally well relished. During the
day every operation must be superintended, and both husband and wife must
labour till the sun declines. After sunset the husband went into the town to con-
verse, either on general subjects or on religion. On three nights of the week
we had a public religious service, as soon as the milking of the cows was
over, and it had become dusk; and one of instruction on secular subjects,
aided by pictures and specimens.” These services were diversified by attend-
ing upon the sick, and prescribing for them, giving food, and otherwise
assisting the poor and wretched. The smallest acts of friendship, even an
obliging word and civil look, are, as St. Xavier thought, no despicable part
of the missionary armour. Nor ought the good opinion of the most abject to
be neglected, when politeness may secure it. Their good word, in the ag-
eregate, ensures a reputation which procures favour for the gospel. Show
kindness to the reckless opponents of Christianity on the bed of sickness, and
they never can become your personal enemies: there if anywhere, “love begets
love.” Almost everything they required had to be manufactured by them-
selves. Bricks to build his house were made by himself in moulds formed of
planks sawn from trees which fell to his own axe. The abundant forest fur:
nished plenty of materials for roofing, doors, windows, and lintels The corn
was ground into meal by his wife, and when made into dough was baked in
an extempore oven constructed in an ant-hill, or in a covered frying-pan placed
in the centre of a fire. A jar served as a churn for making butter. Candles
were made in moulds from the tallow of various animals. Soap was made
from the ashes of a plant called salsola, or from ordinary wood ashes. Shut
out from all communication with civilization, the toil and care demanded in
supplying their every necessity did not appear a hardship. He says, ‘“‘ There
is something of the feeling which must have animated Alexander Selkirk on

DIFFICULTIES WITH THE BOERS. 49

seeing conveniences spring up before him from his own ingenuity ; and mar-
ried life is all the sweeter when so many comforts emanate directly from the
thrifty striving housewife’s hands.”

The good done by continuous labour of this kind, undertaken in so noble
and self-denying a spirit, is incalculable. If the grown-up men and women
resisted his persuasions and held coldly aloof from his teaching of the gospel, their
respect for him induced them to permit their children to attend the various
religious and secular classes taught by him and his devoted wife. The seed
sown in these young minds before the superstitions of their elders had taken
root, will in time bring forth an abundant reward for the earnest labour
expended; while their general comfort will be greatly enhanced by the
superior knowledge acquired from him, in husbandry and other peaceful
avocations.

In a new country just beyond the pale of civilization, always advancing
as law and order are extended, reckless, and adventurous men, most of whom
are fugitives from justice, establish themselves, and prey upon the savage tribes
who are unable to defend themselves from their cruelty and exactions. A
band of such men, under the leadership of a Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter, had
established themselves as far into the interior as the Cashan Mountains, on
the borders of the Bechuana territory. At first they were warmly welcomed
by the Bechuanas, because they had conquered and expelled a Kaffre chief,
who had exercised a cruel authority over the neighbouring tribes. Their joy
was shortlived as they found that the Boers, as Potgeiter and his followers in
common with all Dutch settlers and their descendants are called, compelled
them to do all their manual labour without fee or reward. These men looked
with no favourable eye on the doings of Livingstone, when they found that
they could neither frighten nor coerce him. The teaching that all men were
equal in the sight of God, was most distasteful to men who lived upon the
enforced labour—the slavery in fact—of the tribes around them. When
threats had no ayail, they circulated reports that he had with him quantities
of firearms, and that he was assisting the Bakwains to make war against their
neighbours. As they could not intimidate Livingstone, they sent a threaten-
ing letter to Sechele, commanding him to surrender to the Dutch, and
acknowledge himself their vassal, and stop English traders from proceeding
into the interior. This last was the true bone of contention. Possessing a
better knowledge of the value of skins, ivory, etc., than the Bechuanas, they
wished to close the country against any traders but themelves.

Sechele, notwithstanding the risk he ran in quarreling with them, sent
them a bold and resolute reply :—

‘“‘T am an independent chief, placed here by God, not you. Other tribes
you have conquered, but not me. The English are my friends. I get every-
thing I wish from them. I cannot hinder them from going where they like.”

H

50h LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

The Boers had broken up and sacked several mission stations, and
conquered the tribes which gave them shelter, carrying away men and women
as slaves. But the friendly Bakwains escaped for a time, and they did not dare
to attack them until Livingstone was absent on his first journey to Lake Ngami,
when four hundred armed Boers attacked Sechele’s town, and slaughtered a con-
siderable number of adults, and carried away over two hundred children as
captives. The Bakwains defended themselves bravely until nightfall, killing
eight of the Boers, when they retreated to the mountains. Under the pretext
that Livingstone had taught them to defend themselves, and was consequently
responsible for the slaughter of their fellows, his house was plundered; his
books and stock of medicines destroyed; his furniture and clothing, and large
quantities of stores left by English gentlemen, who had gone northwards to
hunt, were carried off and sold to pay the expenses of their lawless raid.
The reason so few of the Boers were slain in this as in other similar expedi-
tions in which they indulged, was, because they compelled natives they had
conquered and enslaved to take their places in the front, while they fired
upon the people over their heads in comparative safety. In speaking of the
determined opposition of the Boers, Livingstone says, ‘‘The Boers resolved
to shut up the interior, and I determined to open the country; and we shall
see who has been most successful in resolution,—they or I.”

During the continuance of the drought, the Bakwains suffered great
privations, which Livingstone and his wife shared. The wild animals leave
a district in such circumstances, and the domestic animals that are not killed
and eaten to sustain life, die of hunger and thirst. Everything that would
sell was disposed of to tribes more favourably situated, in exchange for corn
and other necessities. The country round was scoured by women and
children for the numerous bulbous plants which could sustain life, while the
men hunted for wild animals in the neighbourhood of the infrequent fountains,
where they came to slake their thirst in their wanderings over the arid and
sun-dried country.

Sometimes when a herd of antelopes, zebras, quaggas, etc., were dis-
covered in the neighbourhood, they were surrounded, and driven with shouts
into a V shaped enclosure, at the end of which a huge pit was dug, into which
they fell and were despatched with spears. The meat was equally divided
among the people, Livingstone coming in for his share with the rest. But
for the frequent recurrence of such lucky hauls as this, the sufferings of
the people from an exclusive and scanty vegetable diet must have been
extreme.

Livingstone was mainly dependent upon his friends at Kuruman for
supplies of corn during this trying period, and on one occasion they were
reduced to use bran as asubstitute, which required three labourers’ grinding
powers to render it fit for baking into cakes. Supplies of all kinds were so

GORDON CUMMING. 51

irregular, that they were fain to put up with locusts on many occasions, and
while not partial to such a diet, he preferred them to shrimps, “‘ though I would
avoid both as much as possible.”

As locusts never abound excepting in a dry season and when other kinds
of food are scarce, the natives eat them, whenever they can manage to gather
as many as will make a dish. This custom is not peculiar to Africa, but
extends to all tropical countries. The wings and legs are removed, and the
bodies are hastily prepared in the form of a raw cake. We have conversed
with more than one traveller who has partaken of this dish, and they say,
that under the circumstances, they did not find the mess unpalatable.

A large species of frog, called matlemetto, by the natives, when procurable
was greatly relished, especially by the Doctor’s children. During the con-
tinuance of dry weather, this frog remains in a hole which it excavates for
itself in the ground, out of which it emerges during rain, assembling in
numbers with such rapidity that they are vulgarly supposed to come from the
clouds along with the rain. At night they set up a croaking in their holes,
which assisted Livingstone materially in hunting for them when the cupboard
was innocent of more preferable flesh meat.

These frogs are of large size, and having a good deal of flesh on their
bones, which is both juicy and tender when properly cooked, it formed a
capital substitute for ox or antelope flesh.

Gordon Cumming, on the occasion of one of his visits to Dr. Livingstone,
attended Divine service. ‘‘I had,” he says, ‘ considerable difficulty to main-
tain my gravity, as sundry members of the congregation entered the church
clad in the most unique apparel. Some of these wore extraordinary old hats
ornamented with fragments of women’s clothes and ostrich feathers. Their
fine hats they were very reluctant to take off, and one man sat with his beaver
on immediately before the minister until the door-keeper went up to him and
ordered him to remove it. At dinner we had a variety of excellent vegetables,
the garden producing almost every sort in great perfection; the potatoes, in
particular, were very fine. . . Being anxious to visit Sechele and his tribe,
Dr. Livingstone and I resolved to leaye Bakatla and march upon Chonuane
with one of my waggons on the ensuing day; the Doctor’s object being to
establish peace between the two tribes, and mine to enrich myself with
ivory, etc.”

The following sketch of Sechele and his surroundings prior to his con-
version, from the pen of Mr. Gordon Cumming, merits insertion here :—

‘““The appearance of this chief was prepossessing, and his manner was
civil and engaging; his stature was about 5 feet 10 inches, and in his person
he inclined to corpulenecy. His dress consisted of a handsome leopard-skin
kaross, and on his arms and legs, which were stout and well turned, he wore
a profusion of brass and copper ornaments, manufactured by tribes residing a

52 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

long way to the eastward. In the forenoon I accompanied Sechele to his
kraal, situated in the centre of the town, and alongside of it stood respectively
the kraals of his wives, which were five in number. These kraals were neatly
built, and were of a circular form, the walls and floors being smoothly plastered
with a composition of clay and cow dung, and secured from the weather by a
fine and well-constructed thatch of rank-dry grass. Each kraal was sur-
rounded by an area enclosed with a strong impenetrable fence 6 feet in
height. The town was built on a gentle slope on the northern side of a broad
extensive strath, throughout the whole extent of which lay wide fields and
gardens enclosed with hedges of the wait-a-bit thorn.

‘“‘A short time previous to my arrival, a rumour having reached Sechele
that he was likely to be attacked by the emigrant Boers, he suddenly resolved
to secure his city with a wall of stones, which he at once commenced erecting.
It was now completed, entirely surrounding the town, with loopholes at
intervals all along, through which to play upon the advancing enemy with
the muskets which he had resolved to purchase from hunters and traders like
myself.

‘“T was duly introduced to the five queens, each of whose wigwams I
visited in succession. These ladies were of goodly stature and comely in
their appearance; they all possessed a-choice assortment of karosses of
various descriptions, and their persons were adorned with a profusion of
ornaments of beads and brass and copper wire. Sechele professed, and was
believed by his tribe, to be a skilful rain-maker.”

We The Griquas taking advantage of the superstitions of the
Bechuanas, often practice on their credulity, and, a short time before I visited
Sechele, a party of Griquas, who were hunting in his territory, had obtained
from him several valuable karosses in barter for a little sulphur, which they
represented as a most effectual medicine (charm) for guns, having assured
Sechele that by rubbing a small quantity on their hands before proceeding to
the fields they would assuredly obtain the animal they hunted. It happened,
in the course of my converse with the chief, that the subject turned upon ball-
practice, when, probably relying on the power of his medicine, the chief
challenged me to shoot against him for a considerable wager, stipulating, at
the same time, that his three brothers were to be permitted to assist him in
the competition. The chief staked a couple of valuable karosses against a
large measure filled with my gun-powder, and we then at once proceeded to
the waggon, where the match was to come off, followed by a number of the
tribe. Whilst Sechele was loading his gun, I repaired to the fore-chest of the
waggon, when, observing that I was watched by several of the natives, I
proceeded to rub my hands with sulphur, which was instantly reported to the
chief, who directly joined me, and, clapping me on the back, entreated me to
give him a little of my medicine for his gun, which I of course told him he

A VISIT TO SECHELE 53

must purchase. Our target being set up, we commenced firing; it was a
small piece of wood, six inches long by four in breadth, and was placed on the
stump of a tree at the distance of one hundred paces. Sechele fired the first
shot, and very naturally missed it, upon which I let fly and split it through
the middle. It was then set up again, when Sechele and his brothers
continued firing, without once touching it, till night setting in put an end to
their proceedings. This, of course, was solely attributed by all present to the
power of the medicines I had used.”

When Dr. Livingstone was informed of the circumstance he was very
much shocked, declaring that in future the natives would fail to believe him
when he denounced supernatural agency, having now seen it practised by his
own countrymen.

Mr. Chapman, who visited Sechele shortly after the attack of the Boers,
gives an interesting account of the condition of the chief and his people at
that time. He says :—

“On the 15th of October we were delighted to be under way steering for
Sechele’s Town, which, after several days’ march through heavy sands and
dense forests, in parts well stocked with game, we reached on the 28th.
Wirsing and I proceeded to Sechele’s residence on horseback, riding forward
the last stage through rugged glens and among rocky hills, never venturing
to move faster than a walk We found the chief at his residence, perched on
a hillock composed of blocks of sandstone, loosely piled upon each other, a fit
abode for baboons only.

**Sechele, chief of the Bakwains, a tribe mustering about 500 men, stands
about 5 ft. 10 in. high, has a pleasing countenance, and is rather stout. He
was dressed in moleskin trousers, a duffel jacket, a wide-awake hat, and
military boots. In address and behaviour Sechele is a perfect gentleman.
He can read and write, having learnt within the last few years, and is an
accepted member of the Kuruman church. He was instructed by Dr. Living-
stone, who lived with him for four or five years. Sechele is said to be very
quick at learning, and anxious to substitute more civilized customs among his
tribe in the place of their own heathenish practices. He is also said to be
good-natured and generous. He presented us with a fat ox for slaughter, a
custom prevailing among all the tribes that can afford it.

“Sechele at once pronounced us to be Englishmen; and having corroborated
the intelligence we had already heard from Sekomi respecting his disasters
(Mr. Chapman’s visit to Sekomi will be alluded to further on), he apologised
for not being able to receive us as he would like; but he entertained
us with roast beef, sweet and sour milk, served in clean dishes,
aud with silver spoons, also with sweet earth-nuts; and while we were doing
Justice to his hospitality, a man stood fanning away the flies with a bunch of
white ostrich feathers. His loss, he infermed us, was sixty-eight men killed

54 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of his own tribe, besides a number of women, and between 200 and 300
children carried away captives. He lost, also, about 1500 head of cattle, and
several thousand sheep and goats. For his cattle he seemed not to care so
much, although his people were starving. He hoped to be able to replace them
by the profits of hunting for ivory ; but his people felt sorely the loss of their
children. Ninety waggon-loads of corn had been carried off by the Boers,
and the rest they had burnt in his town. Besides his own property, they had
carried off several waggons, oxen, and other property belonging to English
gentlemen at that time travelling to the lake.

“From Sechele we learnt that the war originated with Maselleelie, chief
of the Batkatla tribe at Mabotsa, who had often been promised by the
Boers that if he supplied them with a number of servants he would be
exempted from further demands; but on giving one supply after another, still
more was demanded, in spite of the promises made him. At length he refused,
and became surly, thinking probably, with many others of the natives, that
the late fever had so diminished the numbers of the Boers that he could
successfully resist their authority. The Batkatla chief having ascertained,
however, that the Boers intended to punish him, and being an arrant coward,
fled to Sechele for protection, it being a custom amongst those races that when
one tribe flies to another and solicits protection it must be given; so that on
the Boers demanding that Maselleelie should be delivered up, Sechele refused,
saying he ‘ could not do it unless he was to cut open his own bowels and let
them fall out.’

““Most of the people of Sechele’s tribe were out during the day grubbing
for roots, their only food at present. Famine, ‘the meagre fiend,’ that
‘blows mildew from between the shrivelled lips,’ had already made great
havoc among them. Several mothers had followed the Boers home, and,
hiding themselves during the day, endeavoured at night to steal away their
children ; a few only had succeeded and returned.

‘On the 1st of November we obtained a guide from Sechele to conduct us
to the main road, our waggons haying been brought since our own arrival up
to his town. We accordingly departed, and at night overtook some emaciated
Bakwains, roasting the roots they had gathered during the day. I ate one
of these roots, but I thought I should have died from the effects it produced,
creating a lather like soap, and blistering the inside of my mouth ina few
minutes. I drank water to cure it, but that only aggravated the symptoms.
The pain J suffered was at last allayed by putting some fat into my mouth.

“Next day we travelled still south, and reached Kolobeng in the forenoon.
This is the site of the town where Dr. Livingstone lived with the tribe. His
house had been pillaged, and presented a melancholy picture of wanton
destruction. The Boers had taken away everything that was valuable to
them in the shape of furniture, utensils, and implements, and destroyed some

A VISIT TO KURUMAN. 55

hundreds of volumes of Sechuana Testaments, and other religious works and
tracts, the leaves of which still lay scattered for nearly a mile in every direc-
tion. Even the window and door frames had been taken out, and the floor
was strewed with bottles of valuable medicines, the use of which the Boers
did not understand. The town where Sechele was attacked, and which was
burnt to the ground, a few miles from Kolobeng, presented a melancholy
scene of desolation, bestrewn with the unburied carcases and bleaching bones
of the natives who fell.”

The following is Mr. Chapman’s account of Kuruman in 1853 :—

“Next day I rode over to Kuruman, where I found my friend, Mr. Thomp-
son, who afterwards travelled in company with us. Here I was introduced
to the worthy missionaries, Messrs. Moffat and Ashton, and their families, the
memory of whose uniform kindness I shall ever cherish. Milk, new bread,
and fresh butter, we were never in want of while near these good people, and
of grapes, apples, peaches, and all other products of the garden, there was
never any lack at our waggons, Every one is struck with the beauty of
Kuruman, although the site cannot boast of any natural charms. All we see
is the result of well-directed labour. A street of about a quarter of a mile in
length is lined on one side by the missionary gardens, enclosed with substan-
tial walls, and teeming with fruit and vegetables of every description. A row
of spreading willows are nourished by a fine watercourse, pouring a copious
stream at their roots for nearly a mile, and beyond the gardens flows to the
eastward the river Kuruman, between tall reeds, with flights of waterfowl
splashing on its surface. The river issues a few miles south from a grotto
said to be 100 yards long, and very spacious, the habitation of innumerable
bats, owls, and serpents of a large size. Stalactites of various shapes and
figures are to be found in this grotto. I have seen some beautiful specimens
adorning mantelpieces. One party discovered in the roof of this grotto
portions of a human skeleton perfectly petrified, and a part of which was
broken off.

“On the opposite side of the street, and facing the row of gardens, the
willows, and the stream, is a spacious chapel, calculated to hold more than
500 people. It is built of stone, with a missionary dwelling-house on either
side of it, and a trader’s dwelling-house and store at the western end. All
these, as well as the smaller but neat dwellings of the Bechuanas, built in the
European style, and in good taste, have shady seringa trees planted in the
front. At the back of the missionary premises there are store and school rooms,
workshops, ete., with a smithy in front. Behind the chapel is a printing
office, in which native compositors were setting type for the new editions of
Mr. Moffat’s bible. Thousands of Sechuana books have been as well printed
and as neatly bound in this establishment, under the superintendence of Mr.
Ashton, as they could bein England. The natives here are the most enlightened

56 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and civilized I have seen, the greater portion wearing clothes, and being able
to read and write. It was pleasant on Sunday to see them neatly and cleanly
clad going to church three times a day. In their tillage they are also making
rapid progress, and, having adopted European practices, instead of the hoe
they use the plough.”

From this stage in the career of Livingstone the character of his labour
was destined to be changed. There was to be henceforth for him no rest, and
no permanent place of abode. ‘The mysteries of the unknown and untrodden
regions of Africa beckoned him onward, and he was possessed of all the
qualities needful for the work he was so eager to engage in. United to a
high courage and determined perseverance, there was in him an eager
longing for knowledge, which no difficulties could conquer; and when to
these qualities we add those which characterise the Christian of the purest
type, whose loving charity comprehended and embraced all God’s creatures,
we have presented to us the highest example of the Christian hero and
gentleman. Before proceeding to follow up his career of discovery we will,
in the following chapter, gather together what brief records we can glean
of his labours as a missionary among the Bakwains.

CHAPTER IV.

Livingstone’s Letters to the London Missionary Society, from Kuruman, Mabotsa,
Chonuane, Kolobeng, &¢., Fe.

ce reader cannot fail to be interested in what Livingstone had to say to the

directors of the London Missionary Society as to his mission work, and
the remarks made on his reports by the officials of the society. It is a matter
of regret that they reproduced his letters so sparingly. One cannot help
feeling, in going over the society’s reports, that the boldness and enterprise
of Livingstone were viewed with a kind of puzzled wonderment by these
worthy people. In their doubts and misgivings as to the results of his daring
raid into the unknown heart of the country they could only hope that if it was
God’s will good might come out of the explorations of their servant, who
seemed bent on bringing the whole of Central Africa within the sphere of
their operations.

At a very early stage of his career, Livingstone had discovered that he
could serve the people of Africa best by opening up the country and securing
the interest of people of all ranks and classes in their condition and circum-
stances. As a mere missionary accredited to a certain specified district, his
labours, however successful, could only be known to a limited number of
people. As a missionary explorer his discoveries and adventures would
attract the attention of the entire intelligent community, not only in his own
country, but throughout the civilized world, and result in a service rendered
to the savage people of Africa which the united labours of half a hundred
missionaries could not accomplish. In a letter to his brother John, written
in December, 1873, from the neighbourhood of Lake Bangweolo, he says :—

* Tf the good Lord above gives me strength and influence to complete the
task, I shall not grudge my hunger and toil, above all, if He permits me to
put a stop to the enormous evils of this inland slave trade I shall bless His
name with all my heart. The Nile sources are valuable to me only as a
means of enabling me to open my mouth among men. It is this power I
hope to apply to remedy an enormous evil, and join my little helping hand
in the great revolution, that in His all embracing providence, He has been
carrying on for ages.”

Fortunately for the public, and also for a good many of the readers of the
London Society’s Missionary reports, Livingstone’s accounts of his discoveries in

I

58 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Central Africa were handed over by the secretary to the Geographical Society,
and they were published in its journals. The notion that Livingstone had
proved unfaithful to his calling as a missionary when he started upon his
career as an explorer is held by many otherwise good and sensible people
even now. ‘The extract from the letter to his brother, which we have given
above, puts the matter in its proper light. He knew that the great ones of the
earth would become interested in new peoples living in novel conditions in
hitherto unexplored territory, who could not be got to feel any great interest
in savage tribes living on the outskirts of civilization.

In telling the wonderful story of vast peopled regions hitherto unknown,
he got the opportunity—which he never let slip—of telling them of the spiritual
and physical needs of their inhabitants, and of pointing out how easy a matter
it would be for the people in more favoured countries to help them. His dis-
coveries, while no doubt intensely interesting to himself, were most valuable in
his sight, because, to use his own words, they enabled him ‘to open his mouth
among men.” ‘To the directors of the London Missionary Society the account
of the conversion or awakening of a single savage Bakwain appeared to be of
far more consequence to Christianity than the discovery of the River Zouga,
Lake Ngami, and the Zambesi; and it was in all likelihood years before they
became aware of the fact that these and such like discoveries would do more
for the cause they had at heart than years of missionary enterprise further to
the South. Of all the services which the London Missionary Society have
rendered to humanity and the cause of Christianity, the placing of Dr.
Livingstone in South Africa in circumstances which enabled him to drift
into the great work which occupied every hour of his after life is undoubtedly
the greatest. The Christian and charitable public will not, we believe, be
slow to remember this, nor that their efforts in christianising the heathen in
Africa and elsewhere have for many years been attended with a success
hitherto unexampled in the history of missionary labour.

The following is Livingstone’s report to the London Missionary Society,
published in 1848, after his second tour among the tribes to the north of
Kuruman :—

“The population is sunk in the very lowest state both of mental and
moral degradation: it would be difficult, if not impossible, for Christians at
home to realise anything like an accurate notion of the grossness of that
darkness which shrouds their minds. I could not ascertain that they had the
least idea of a future state; and though they have some notions which seem
to be connected with a belief in its existence, I have not met one who could
put the necessary links together in the chain of reasoning, so as to become
possessed of the definite idea. In some countries, the light which the Gospel
once shed has gone out, and darkness has succeeded. But though eighteen
centuries have elapsed since life and immortality were brought to light, there

MISSION TO THE BAKHATLA. 59

is no certainty that these dark regions were ever before visited for the purpose
of making known the light and liberty and peace of the glorious Gospel. It
would seem that the myriads who have peopled these regions have always
passed away into darkness, and no ray from heaven ever beamed on their
path. ®And with whom does the guilt rest, if not with us who compose the
church militant on earth? My mind is filled with sadness when I contem-
plate the prospects of these large masses of immortal beings. I see no hope
for them, except in Native Agents. The more I see of the country, its large
extent of surface, with its scattered population, and each tribe separated by a
formidable distance from almost every other, the more convinced I feel, that
it will be impossible, if not impolitic, for the Church to supply them all with
Europeans. Native Christians can make known the way of life: there are
some in connection both with the churches at Kuruman and Griqua Town
who have done it effectually. Others too are rising up, who will soon be
capable of teaching; and if their energies are not brought into operation by
taking up the field now open before us, I do not see where the benevolent
spirit springing up among the converts of the two Missions is to find an
outlet.”

As a result of this journey, Livingstone determined on commencing
Missionary operations among the Bakhatla tribe. In the Missionary Society
report for 1844, we find the following allusion to this determination :—

*¢ Tn the course of last year, Mr. Livingstone made two journeys into the
interior, for the purpose of obtaining information as to the moral condition of
the tribes scattered over those vast and desert regions, and with a view also
to the adoption of suitable measures for introducing the Gospel, with its
attendant blessings, among some of the numerous tribes yet sitting in the
darkness of the shadow of death. On the latter occasion, he was accompanied
by Mr. Edwards, and the result of their labours was the commencement of a
station among the Bakhatla tribe, from whom they received a cordial welcome,
and every encouragement to persevere in the project which they contemplated.
They purchased a large piece of ground, and proceeded to erect a hut, and
had every prospect of success in this new and important undertaking.

“The location, upon which they have fixed, is very near the spot where
Mr. Campbell turned his face homeward, and also near the place where the
renowned Moselekatse lived. ‘I walked,’ says Mr. Livingstone, ‘ over the
site of his town lately, and a few human bones were the only vestiges I could
observe of all that belonged to the tyrant.’ Moselekatse, however, still lives,
and his name continues to be a terror to the natives; and his people, called
the Matabele, came last year nearly as far as their former country ; but the
Missionaries say, ‘If we wait till we run no risk, the Gospel will never be
introduced into the interior. Native teachers will not go alone, for they
dread the name of Moselekatse, as they do the name of the king of terrors.’

60 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

The brethren spent about two months at the place, and intended to remove
there immediately.”

The following is from the Society’s report for 1845:—

‘Tn the last report, the friends of the Society were informed of the opening
of a mission among the Bakhatla, in the Bechuana country, through the
zealous and judicious efforts of our brother, the Rey. D. Livingstone, assisted
by Mr. R. Edwards. The progress of the labours of our devoted brethren
among this barbarous and degraded tribe has been most encouraging, and
there is reason to hope that to many the tidings of redeeming mercy will
prove the savour of life unto life. Through divine goodness, Mr. Livingstone
and his excellent native brother and valuable coadjutor, Mebalwe, who nobly
came to his help in the moment of most imminent peril, and nearly with the
sacrifice of his own life, have entirely recovered from the serious injury they
sustained from the attack of a lion, which occurred not far from the new
station, in the early part of last year.

‘‘The character and condition of the people among whom he labours,
and in part the preparatory measures contemplated for the regular organisa-
tion of the station and the instruction of the natives, are thus described by
Mr. Livingstone in an early communication from this distant sphere of
Missionary effort :—

‘““The Bakhatla are at present busily engaged removing from their
former location to the spot on which we reside (Mabotsa), and it is cheering
to observe that the subordinate chiefs have, with one exception, chosen sites
for their villages conveniently near to that on which we propose to erect the
permament premises. We purpose to build a house to serve as school and
meeting-house, and when that is done, we hope our efforts to impart a know-
ledge of saving truth will assume a more regular form than at present.

““T visited the Bakhatla frequently before the establishment of the
mission, but it was not uritil my fifth visit that sufficient confidence was
inspired to draw forth a cordial invitation for me to settle among them; this
is the only good I can yet ascertain as effected by my itinerancies to them.
The reason seems to be that too long a period has intervened between each
journey to produce any lasting impression. And this is not to be wondered
at, for nothing can exceed the grovelling earthliness of their minds. They
seem to have fallen as low in the scale of existence as human nature can.
At some remote period, their ancestors appear to have been addicted to
animal worship, for each tribe is called after some animal. By it they swear,
and in general they neither kill nor eat it, alleging as a cause, that the animal
is the friend of their tribe. Thus the word Batlapi, literally translated, is ‘ they
of the fish ;’ Bakwain, ‘ they of the crocodile ;’ Bakhatla, ‘ they of the monkey,’ &c.

‘‘ But if the conjecture is not wrong, they have degenerated from even
that impure form of worship, and the wisest among them have now no

MISSION TO THE BAKHATLA. 61

knowledge of it, but suppose that some of their ancestors must have been
ealled by these names. They have reached the extreme of degradation.
When we compare the Bakhatla with the inhabitants round Lattakoo, the
latter appear quite civilized; and their present state of partial enlightenment
shows thatthe introduction of the Gospel into a country has a mighty
influence even over those by whom it is either not known or rejected. I am
not now to be understood as speaking of the converts, nor of the new phases
of character, the transforming power of the Gospel has developed among
them, but I allude to the unconverted, and to those other than saving
influences of Christianity, which so materially modify the social system at
home. On many these influences have operated for years, and they have not
operated in vain. Hence, the mass of the population in the Kuruman district
are not now in that state the Gospel found them, and in which the poor
Bakhatla now are. There the existence of Deity is tacitly admitted by nearly
all; those who form the exceptions to this rule, denying it rather on account
of attachment to their lusts than in sober seriousness; and I believe the
number is but small who have not the idea floating in their minds that this
life is but the beginning of our existence and death, but one event in a life
which is everlasting.

‘‘ But the Bakhatla have no thoughts on the subject: their mind is darkness
itself, and no influences have ever operated on it, but those which must leave
it supremely selfish. It is only now that Christians have begun to endeavour
to stop the stream which has swept them generation after generation into
darkness. And oh, ‘may the Holy Spirit aid our endeavours, for without his
mighty power all human efforts will be but labour in vain.’ That power
excited over Bechuanas—raising them from the extreme of degradation and
transforming them into worshippers of the living God—constitutes the wonder
and the cause for gratitude in the Bechuana Mission.”

The report goes on to state that :—

‘“‘ Around Mabotsa, there are about twelve villages of considerable size
and population, which Messrs. Livingstone and Edwards regularly visit, and
several of which—those near Kurrechane—have been placed under the
immediate charge of Mebalwe, the native evangelist. This worthy man is
of great service in the Mission by the amount of manual labour which he
cheerfully renders, and by the affectionate addresses he frequently delivers to
his countrymen on the work of Christ and the way of salvation. There is
reason to hope that he will prove an eminent blessing to many among the
native tribes, and to the cause of Christ generally, in this part of the Bechuana
country.”

In the Society’s report for 1846 we find the following :—

“Mr. Livingstone has removed to Chonuane, about forty or fifty miles N.E.
of Mabotsa, the residence of Sechele, the interesting and rather intelligent

62 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

chief of a numerous tribe of Bakwain, among whom the prospects of useful-
ness are encouraging. The country has a fine undulating surface. The soil
is rich, and there is no want of timber, grass, water, or rain, as the place is
situated not far from the tropic of Capricorn. The Chief is learning to read,
and has begun to instruct his wives; and his example will doubtless exercise
a powerful influence on the people. ”

In the Society’s report for 1848, we find a letter from Livingstone with
remarks upon it.

‘Mr. Livingstone, who has removed with his tribe to a more suitable
locality, occupied a part of the year in visiting the Kuruman, and his report
embraces the proceedings and labours of his mission subsequent to that
period :—

‘‘ When we returned to Chonuane,” he writes, ‘“‘ we found that, though
the season for sowing had arrived, the chief had forbidden his people begin-
ning with their gardens until it was ascertained whether or not another trial
could be made of the locality. Some of his people, he said, were opposed to
removal, as Chonuane afforded abundance of native food, and the only direc-
tion in which they could move would be nearer the dreaded Moselekatse.
‘ But,’ added he, ‘I see you are unable to live in comfort here, and though
all my people should leave me, I am determined to cleave to you wherever it
may be needful to go.? We made our choice, and are truly grateful to the
Source of all Wisdom and Goodness that we had obtained so much favour in
the eyes of the heathen as induced a simultaneous movement of the whole
tribe (the very next day after our decision was known) to perform a journey
of about forty miles to the north-west, and build a new town entirely on
our account.

‘‘The stream on which our new settlement is formed is called the
Kolobeng, and so far as temporal matters are concerned we have the prospect
of abundance of both native and European produce; and, better still, we can
now reasonably indulge the hope that, through the Divine blessing, the
Gospel will not only be permanent here, but sound out to the dark regions
beyond.

‘While engaged in cutting wood for a temporary dwelling, the chief,
without a single suggestion from us, intimated his intention to erect a school.
‘JT desire,’ said he, ‘ to build a house for God, the Defender of my town, and
that you be at no expense with it whatever.’ Had we been able to bestow
the requisite superintendence, a substantial building might have been secured,
for more than 200 workmen were ready to labour upon it. But being
engaged in erecting our own huts, and as it was difficult to manage such
numbers of uninstructed workmen, all anxious to do something, I was obliged
to plan a small building, the materials of which, though frail, they knew best
how to use.

REMOVAL TO KOLOBENG. 63

“Tt was with no small pleasure we found ourselves, soon after our
removal, able to resume regular services. The people also undertook our
watercourse, while they gladly received our assistance in erecting a square
house for their chief. Forty of the older men made the watercourse, and a
younger band of sixty-five built the dam. When the house was finished for
the Chief Sechele, he requested us to establish a prayer-meeting in it. He
said, ‘ Although I have not yet given up my sin (polygamy), I greatly desire
to have prayer in my house every evening.’ He invites his people to attend
this meeting as well as our other services; and we are sensible of an increase
of knowledge in many.”

The report, in commenting on the above and unpublished portions of
Livingstone’s letter, says :—

‘Some of the leading men of the tribe are making persevering exertions
to acquire a knowledge of reading; their progress, however, appears to be
hardly equal to their diligence; they seem to experience considerable diffi-
culty in the mental effort required to join letters into words, probably from
not haying been accustomed to any exercises of this kind in their youth.
They have been heard to remark, that if the Missionary would give them
medicine which would enable them to conquer the difficulty, they would
gladly drink it. Sechele and his brothers have been found the most apt to
learn among all the natives; the chief has read through twice the New
Testament and Scripture selections, and he never allows Mr. Livingstone, in
his frequent visits to the town, to retire, without requesting him to read and
explain one or two chapters of the Word of God. ‘Our present position
(adds our brother) is one of hope, and all our dependence for success is on
the arm of Him who is almighty to save. We expect your prayers that Jesus
may be glorified among this heathen tribe, and that we may have grace to
ascribe to Him alone all the glory.’ ”

In the Missionary Report for 1849, there appears a most interesting
communication from Livingstone relative to the conversion of Sechele and its
consequences :—

“©The removal of Mr. Livingstone from Chonuane to a more eligible
locality, situated on the Kolobeng River, was stated in last report. In his first
annual communication from this station, our brother thus describes the progress
of his labours and the prospects of his misson.

“Tn addition to other effects produced by the Gospel among the Bakwains,
circumstances have also developed considerable opposition ; but it has been of
a kind which has tended to encourage rather than depress, inasmuch as our
most bitter opponents seem to entertain no personal animosity towards us, and
never allude to their enmity to the Gospel in our presence, unless specially
inyited to state the grounds on which it rests. An event which has excited more
open hostility than any other that has occurred, was the profession of faith and

64 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

subsequent reception of the chief into Church-fellowship. As the circum-
stances which led us to receive his confession as genuine are somewhat peculiar,
I will briefly mention them, in order to shew the propriety of the step which
we have taken.

““Sechele, though generally intelligent, had imbibed, to a great extent,
the prevailing superstitions of his country, and, in addition to his being the
chief rain-doctor of the tribe, there is evidence to show that he was reckless
of human life. He had the reputation among other tribes of being addicted
to witchcraft, but he himself thought it highly meritorious to put all suspected
witches to death.

“From the first day of our residence with the Bakwains to the present
time, the chief attended school, and all our services, with unvaried regularity.
The first indication of deep feeling I observed in him was, when sitting
together one day under our waggon, during the heat of noon, I endeavoured to
describe the ‘ great white throne,’ and ‘the judgment seat,’ as mentioned in
the Book of Revelation. He said, ‘'These words shake all my bones—my
strength is gone;’ and when I spoke of the existence of our Lord, previous to
his appearance among men, and of His Divine nature, Sechele was greatly
surprised. Often, during the three years we have spent with this tribe, we
have witnessed the power of the Word of God in elevating the mind and
stimulating its affections; and so with the chief. As his knowledge increased,
he grew bold in the faith, professed among his people his own firm belief in
the truths of Christ, and expressed great thankfulness that the Gospel was sent
to him while so many remained in darkness. The greatest sacrifice he had to
make was the renunciation of polygamy. In respect to all other sins, the
people generally had conceived anidea of their sinfulness, but they neverimagined
that in this practice there was any degree of moral turpitude. The superfluous
wives of Sechele were decidedly the most amiable females of the town, and
our best scholars; and, hoping that their souls might also be given to us, we
felt that it was not our duty otherwise to press the point in question, than by
publicly declaring the whole counsel of God. Shortly after, the chief sent
two of them back to their parents, with this message, That he could no longer
retain them, as the Word of God had come between him and their daughters.
With this we observed a gradual change in his disposition, and a steady
improvement in his character; and, as he also professed an earnest desire to
observe the laws of Jesus, we felt no hesitation in receiving him to the fellowship
of the church. :

‘© A third wife was taken to her own tribe, because she had no relatives
among the Bakwains, and she left us with many tears. A fourth, although in
the same situation, we thought might remain, because she has a little daughter.
Each of the wives carried away all that belonged to her, and the chief supplied
each of them with new clothing previous to their departure. As soon as it was

APPOINTMENT OF A NATIVE TEACHER. 65

known that he had renounced his wives on account of the Gospel, a general
consternation seized both old and young—the town was as quiet as if it had
been Sunday—not a single woman was seen going to her garden—pichos
(or councils) were held during the night, in order to intimidate him from his
purpose; but, after seeing him tried in various ways for a period of two months,
we proceeded to administer to him the ordinance of baptism. Many of the
spectators were in tears, but these were in general only tears of sorrow for the
loss of their rain-maker, or the severance of ties of relationship. We commend
this new disciple to your prayerful sympathies; and to the great God, our
Saviour Jesus Christ, through the power of whose spirit alone we hope for
success, be the undivided glory of his salvation |”

The report goes on to say that :—

‘“‘ The infant-school, under the care of Mrs. Livingstone, containing about
70 children, has made encouraging progress during the year, though the
attendance of the children has been somewhat interrupted, in consequence of
a partial failure of the crops compelling many of them to spend their time in
wandering about the country in search of food.

‘Mr. Livingstone has employed a portion of the year in superintending and
assisting the erection of mission-premises, and also in opening an out-station, and
settling the native teacher, Paul, among the people of the chief Mokhatla.”

In this year Livingstone sent a letter to the Secretary of the Missionary
Society, giving details of his discoveries and experiences. This was not, we
presume, supposed to deal with matters having any interest for subscribers to
the society. It was handed over to the Geographical Society, and was pub-
lished in its journal. A copy of it will be found inserted in its proper place
in the next chapter.

In the report for 1850, the difficulties resulting from the hostility of the
Boers during 1849 are alluded to :—

**The prospects of this Station were in the early part of last year con-
siderably overcast by the prevalence of excessive drought, and the consequent
total failure of the crops. The men being frequently absent on hunting
excursions, and the women and children also away in search of roots and locusts,
the meetings for Divine Worship, and the schools, were comparatively
deserted. In their eagerness to procure that which would satisfy the wants
of the body, the people evinced little disposition to attend to the unfelt wants
. of the soul. .

“ A tribe called the Bakaa, who had suffered considerably by the repeated
attacks of the Bamangwato, lately came a distance of 150 miles, to join the
Bakwains. Haying no sense of security in their own country, they were
attracted to this station by the report that the chief Sechele had embraced
the ‘word of peace.’ They came, as they said, in order ‘to enjoy sleep, as

they had none at home.’ They number about 1,000; and, while thankful for
1-4

66 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

their arrival as an increase to his immediate sphere of usefulness, the
missionary can at present regard them only as a fresh infusion of heathenism
added to the present unchristianized mass.”

In December, 1848, Mr. Livingstone made an attempt to locate the native
teacher Paul in the centre of a population of many thousand souls :—

“The tribe selected,” writes Mr. Livingstone, ‘‘ was that of Mokhatla,
because that chief had urgently requested that Paul might be appointed his
teacher. But the Boers have taken possession of the whole country, and
though their commandants have always expressed themselves in a most
friendly manner towards our object, they made me aware of a strong under-
current of opposition. Being unwilling to believe that this would be
developed in any other way than it had formerly been in our itinerancies,
yet feeling anxious lest it should prove a hindrance. to Paul in his work, I
delayed setting out until our arrangements at home were such as would admit
of my spending a few months with him. When the commandant, who was
in Mokhatla’s vicinity, learnt that it was no longer mere itinerancies we
contemplated, he suddenly altered his tone, and threatened in a most furious
manner to send a commando against the tribe with which we meant to settle,
alleging that my object was to take possession of the country for the English
Government ; and that I wished to introduce fire-arms among all the tribes. I
replied, by denying connection with Government, having, as he knew, when
on a former occasion I entreated him to refrain from a projected expedition
against Sechele, distinctly refused to become a political partizan, and added,
that I should certainly proceed in my work by the authority of Christ, and if
he obstructed it by driving the people away, the blood of their souls would be
required at his hand. He offered to present no impediment if I would
‘ promise to teach the natives that the Boers are a superior race to them.’ We
immediately made preparations to build a school-house, but before we had
made any progress, we were informed that a deputation from the Dutch
Synod had come to within forty miles of us. In the belief that the Boers
might be won over to forbearance by their ministers, and that the com-
mandant’s mind might be disabused of his prejudices, we advanced to meet
the deputation. Both Potgeiter and his sub-commandants had preceded us ;
they were now all flattery towards my person and objects, and all they would
request of me, previous to a thorough and permanent removal of all obstacles,
was, about one month’s delay. During this period, they solemnly and
repeatedly promised that they would exert themselves to the utmost of their
power to win over such of their subjects as were opposed to missionary
operations. As they even entreated me not to force or appear to force the
matter, by building at present, and the preachers thought I ought to concede
the point, I agreed to return for a short period to Kolobeng; and having
visited some other towns on my route, I came home in January.”

ATTACK BY THE BOERS. 67

In the report for 1853, we find the following account of the long
threatened attack of the Boers, which took place in the previous year :—

“‘ Reference was made in the last report to the precarious tenure by which
Dr. Livingstone held possession of this field of labour, to the proposed
emigration of the Bakwains to a more favoured locality, and to the opening
prospects of Dr. L. in the regions to the north.

‘‘Subsequent events, however, of a most unexpected and disastrous nature,
have led to the abrupt abandonment of the station, both by the missionary
and his people. These events are detailed by Dr. Livingstone in the following
communication, dated Kuruman, 20th September, 1852 :—

‘On the 28th ult. 600 Boers and 700 natives appeared in the Bakwain
country. The natives were compelled to accompany them. Before going to
Sechele’s town, they sent a party with four waggons down the Kolobeng to
my house. The town is eight miles distant, and, ever since the removal of
the Bakwains, the house was guarded by a few Balala placed by it for that
purpose by Sechele. It remained in perfect security for two years, and
gentlemen passing northward deposited a portion of their stores in it till their
return. And, so far as the Bakwains were concerned, these stores were as
safe as if under Chubb’s locksin London. Well, the Boers broke it open, tore
all my books,* and scattered the leaves all over the place, destroyed my
medicines by smashing the bottles against the adjacent rocks, carried away
all the best furniture, and broke the rest; took the smith’s forge, all the tools,
corn-mills, and certain stores of coffee, tea, &c., left by English gentlemen,
who have gone to Sebituane’s country. The whole body of the Boers then
went to Sechele’s town, and attended church there, Mebalwe, a native teacher,
conducting the service. After the afternoon service, they told Sechele to send
away his women and children, for they had come to fight with him, because,
though repeatedly ordered by them to prevent Englishmen from going north-
wards, he had not only permitted, but encouraged them. He replied, that he
was a man of peace, and asked why he should obstruct Englishmen, who had
always treated him well. Next morning they commenced firing on the town
with swivels. It soon took fire, and the flames having compelled the women
and children to flee, and the men to huddle together on a small hill in the town,
the Boers killed 60 natives. The men, however, kept their position the
whole day on the hill, and killed 35 of the Boers. The Boers, having
horses, carried off all the cattle of the Wanketse and Bakwains; they burnt
or carried off all the corn of the three tribes. My cattle and those of three
native teachers were also carried off.

*‘ Undeterred by these trials and discouragements, and cut off from the

* Dr. Livingstone enumerates the Septuagint, Hebrew Bible, Lexicon, Cyclopsdias, Atlas,
Edinburgh, Quarterly, and Medical Reviews, &c. &.

68 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

hope of rendering further service to the ruined and scattered Bakwains, Dr.
Livingstone was, at the date of his latest communication, the 10th November
ult., on the eve of starting once more for the north, with a view to ascertain
the practicability of introducing the Gospel to the people inhabiting the lake
region.”

The following from the Missionary report for 1856, gives a graphic
picture of the consequences resulting from the continued hostility of the
Boers :—

‘¢ The Colony of the Cape, under the influence of its present enlightened
and benevolent Governor, already exhibits decisive indications of social
improvement; and the measures of the Colonial Legislature have generally
been distinguished by a spirit of equity and conciliation towards the coloured
classes to which aforetime they have been strangers. In the Eastern District,
indeed, sustained by the influence of the Graham’s Town Journal, the old
calumnies continue to be reiterated against the Missionaries of our Society,
and the Native tribes, especially such as are connected with the Missionary
Institutions; but it is hoped that the Hottentots and Fingoes, who have
embraced the Gospel, will be enabled by well doing to put to silence the
ignorance and malignity of their calumniators.

‘Beyond the present boundary of British rule, however, the treaty formed
in the year 1852 with the Trans Vaal Boers by Major Hogg and Mr. Owen,
the Commissioners of our Government, threatens the most dangerous results
to the liberty and lives of the aborigines. It will be remembered that while,
by this treaty, there was granted to these old adversaries of* British interests
the free importation from the Colony of fire-arms and ammunition, the same
right was strictly denied to the Native tribes; and thus they were left without
the means of self-defence against the hostile aggressions of these invaders of
their country. The influence on the minds of the natives, thus delivered over
to the tender mercies of their enemies, will be seen in the burning words of a
Native Chief addressed to Mr. Moffat :—

“Do you not see,” said he, ‘that, without a fault on our part, we have
been shot down like game? Do you not see that we are reduced to poverty
by the Boers, who are eating our meat, and drinking our milk ?” and, raising
his voice to a higher key, he asked—‘‘ Where are our children? When
fathers and mothers lie down at night they ask—‘ Where are our children?
and when they rise in the morning they ask—‘ Where are our sons and our
daughters?’ and because there is none to answer they weep. They have
wept this morning, they will weep again to-night. Are the Boers to be per-
mitted to kill us that our children may become their slaves? Did we ever
injure them? If we did, let the Boer whom we injured, or whose sheep and
goats we stole, come and bear witness. Is it because we have not white skins
that we are to be destroyed like lbatana (beasts of prey). Why do the

DIFFICULTIES WITH THE BOERS. 69

English assist the Boers? Why do they give them power over lands that
are not theirs to give? Why do the English supply them with ammunition
when they know the Boers? You have spoken about what the word of God
says; have not the English the word of God? and have not the Boers the
Word of God? Are we alone to obey the Word of God because we are black ?
Are white people not to obey the Word of God because they are white? We
are told that the English love allmen. They give or sell ammunition, horses,
and guns to the Boers, who have red teeth,* to destroy us; and if we ask to
buy powder we can get none; no! no! no! black men must have no ammuni-
tion, they must serve the white man. Is this their love? The English are
not friends to the black man. If I am accusing the English or the Boers
falsely tell me. Are these things not so? You know all these things better
than we do!”

“From the sorrowful statement of our experienced and judicious Mis-
sionary it will appear that these complaints, though strongly uttered, were
not exaggerated, and that it is indeed difficult to overrate the future conse-
quences of this ill-judged and unrighteous measure on the interests and exist-
ence of the Natives. On this painful subject Mr. Moffat observes :—

** As to whether the countries through which I have passed are likely
soon to become fields. for Missionary operation I am anything but sanguine.
Of the willingness of the natives themselves to receive instruction no doubt need
be entertained; but at present the prospect is anything but encouraging.
Past events show to a demonstration that between the natives and the Trans
Vaal Boers there can be no peace, until the former, as far as they can be
reached, shall become the vassals of the latter, whose transactions have hitherto
been characterised by a deep-rooted enmity to all missionary operations. Why
these things are permitted is a problem beyond the wisdom of man to solve;
but of one thing we are assured, that the atrocities which of late years have
been carried on in the interior are not unnoticed by him who has said,
‘ Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’

“‘ The Mission Churches within the Colony, composed chiefly of Hottentots,
formerly the slaves of the Colonists, are acquiring consolidation and strength.
Since the enjoyment of their freedom they have improved in industry, and
have reaped those advantages which it never fails to secure; in many instances
they have purchased land, erected comfortable dwellings, and made great
advances in all the comforts of civilized life.”

The following from Mr. Moffat’s report, published in 1851, is in striking
contrast with the account he gave of his early experiences at Kuruman,
which we quoted in a previous chapter :—

*‘ Qur public services, especially on the Sabbath, are well attended ; and I

* Teeth red with blood implies great cruelty.

70 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

»

am sure, were you to witness the decorum and fixed attention which characterize
our congregations, you would say, what I am often induced to say, such hearers
surely cannot always remain hearers only. Knowledge, it is also true, is
increasing, and probably extending to a degree we are not aware of. Very
great advances have been made in civilization; so that, were those persons who
saw the state of things as I saw them at the commencement of the mission, to
see them now, they would be amazed at the transformation. But we long to
witness more life and energy in the native character. We could wish to see our
members more in earnest, and concerned for the salvation of those around them.
This season has been one of great drought. Nine months without rain, and
no native harvest except on irrigated spots. This, with the general want of
grass, and consequent want of milk, has, of course, a very depressing influence
on the native mind. We are thankful that rains have begun to fall, and ifthey
continue, there is still time for the hills and plains to be covered with verdure.
We are all as busy as we well can be. All my time spared from public
engagements is taken up with the work of translation. Brother Ashton, also,
when not occupied in direct missionary work, and the charge of the school, is
constantly employed in the printing and bookbinding department, besides
assisting to correct for the press. A new edition of the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
and Isaiah, has just been printed. I am at the present moment engaged in
revising the smaller prophets, Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy, and nearly
all the Leviticus, in MS. The work has many interruptions. But if we do
not accomplish all we wish, we have the satisfaction that we are doing all we
can for the advancement of the Redeemer’s kingdom.”

CHAPTER V.

The Kalahari Desert.—Sekomi and his People.—Discovers Lake Ngami.— Visits
Sebituane.—Death of Sebituane.—Discovers the Zambest.

N the first of June, 1849, Livingstone started on his long contemplated
journey, to settle the existence of Lake Ngami and visit the numerous
tribes occupying the intervening country. He was accompanied by Messrs.
Murray and Oswell, two enterprising Englishmen, who, in addition to the
mere love of sport and adventure, were anxious to be of service in extending
our knowledge of the geography of Central Africa. Just before starting, a
number of people from the lake district came to Koloberg, with an invitation
from their chief, Lechulatebe, to Livingstone to visit him. These gave so
glowing an account of the wealth of the district near the lake in ivory and
skins, that the Bakwain guides were as eager to proceed as the strangers were.
The Kalahari desert, which lay between the travellers and the goal of
their hopes, covers a space of country extending from the Orange River in the
south about 29°, to Lake Ngami in the north, and from about 24° east longi-
tude to near the west coast. It is not strictly speaking a desert, as it is
covered with coarse grass and several kinds of creeping plants, with here and
there clumps of wood and patches of bushes. It is intersected by dry water-
courses, which rarely contain any water, although at no distant period they
were the channels by which the superabundant waters caused by the rains
farther north found their way to some parent stream, fertilizing the country
in their passage. But for the number of bulbous plants which -are edible, -
human life could not be sustained in this now arid region, unless during the
most favourable seasons. The more prominent of these are a scarlet-coloured
cucumber ; the /eroshua, a small plant with long narrow leaves and a stalk no
thicker than the stem of a tobacco pipe, springing from a tuber from four to six
inches in diameter, which, ‘‘ when the rind is removed, we found to be a mass
of cellular tissue, filled with a fluid much like that of a young turnip.” The
mokuri, another plant of the same kind, is a creeping plant, to which are
attached several tubers as large as a man’s head. The water melon is the
most important and abundant of these edible plants, vast tracts being literally
coyered with it in seasons when the rainfall has been larger than ordinary,
when it serves both as meat and drink to the passing travellers and their oxen,
and affords a plentiful support to the numerous families and little colonies of
Bushmen, who have taken refuge in the desert.

72 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Animals of various kinds abound in seasons of plenty, and are at all times
to be met with in considerable numbers. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the
giraffe, the eland, the gnu and many other varieties of antelopes, associate
together in herds, and are preyed upon by lions, hyenas, jackals, and leo-
pards. Smaller varieties of felines, snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous, are
plentiful, and feed on the various rodents which are numerous in all dry dis-
tricts in Central Africa. Ants and several varieties of ant-eaters abound. A
large caterpillar, which feeds during the night on the leaves of a kind of
acacia-tree called mivato, and buries itself in the sand during the day, is dug
for by the natives, and roasted and eaten. But for the want of water the
passage of this vast tract of country would be comparatively easy, but as days
frequently passed without so much asa single drop being found, the priva-
tions of Livingstone and his companions, and the oxen which drew their
waggons, were severe in the extreme. No white man had ever succeeded in
crossing it before, but the resolute men who now attempted it were not to be
daunted by difficulty.

Tribes of Bushmen, whom Livingstone imagines to be the aborigines of
South Africa, inhabit the desert, and a tribe of Bechuanas, called Bakalahari,
who had been driven into the desert by the more powerful tribes of their own
nation, he also found settled there enjoying that liberty which was denied
them in more salubrious regions. The Bushmen are nomadic in their habits,
never cultivating the soil but following the herds of game from place to place.
Their only domestic animal is a breed of native dogs which assist them in
hunting, and which have sadly deteriorated in consequence of the privations
to which they along with their masters are exposed.

The Bakalahari cultivate the scanty and inhospitable soil, and grow
melons and other tuberous plants, and breed goats and other domestic
animals. They settle at a distance from water, which diminishes the chance
of visits from unfriendly Bechuanas. The water is carried by their women
from a distant well or spring, and is stored up in the shells of the eggs of the
ostrich and buried in the earth. The Bakalahari and the Bushmen hunt the vari-
ous wild animals for their skins, which they exchange with the tribes to the east-
ward for tobacco and other luxuries, spears, knives, dogs, etc; receiving in most
cases a very inadequate price for them. Some idea of the extent of the busi-
ness done, and the abundance of animals in the desert, may be formed from
the fact that twenty thousand skins were purchased by the Bechuanas during
Livingstone’s stay in their country, and these were principally those of the
feline, (lions, leopards, tiger-cats, &c.) The Bakalahari are mild and gentle
in their habits, and are frequently tyrannized over by the powerful tribes of
the Bechuanas with whom they deal. The Bushmen, although inferior to
them in every way, are treated with more respect, their ready use of the bow
and the poisoned arrow securing them from pillage and annoyance.

THE CHIEF SEKOMI. 73

Water, being the scarcest and most valuable commodity in the country,
is carefully hidden, to preserve it from any wandering band who might take
it by force. Livingstone’s method of conciliating them, and gaining their
good opinion, was by sitting down quietly and talking to them in a friendly
way until the precious fluid, which no amount of domineering or threatening
could have brought forth, was produced.

The progress of the party was necessarily slow, as they could only march
in the mornings and evenings, and the wheels of the waggons in many places
sank deep in the loose sand. In some places the heat was so great that the
grass and twigs crumbled to dust in the hand. Hours and days of toilsome
journeyings were sometimes rewarded by the arrival at a spring, where the
abundant water fertilized a small tract around, on which the grass flourished
rank and green, affording a welcome meal to the horses and oxen after they
had slaked their burning thirst at the spring; although, often for many
hours the eyes of the party were not gladdened by the sight of such an oasis.
At times their courage almost died within them, and men and cattle staggered.
on mechanically, silent, and all but broken in spirit. After being refreshed
the three travellers would enjoy a few hours’ hunting at the game which was
always abundant at such places, and set out again on their journey with re-
newed vigour and high hopes as to the accomplishment of their purpose; in
striking contrast to the despair and dread which had been their experience
only a few hours previous.

Sekomi, a powerful chief, who had no wish to see the white men pass his
territory, and open out a market direct in ivory and skins with the tribes of
the interior, tried hard to dissuade the travellers from proceeding further on
their journey ; but the fearless men he had to deal with were not to be turned
aside from their purpose by any merely human obstacle.

Sekomi was visited after this period by Mr. Gordon Cumming, who carried
a message and a present to him from Dr. Livingstone. The appearance of the
great chief did not impress Mr. Cumming favourably, he says :—‘‘ He appeared
to be about thirty years of age, and was of middle stature; his distinguishing
feature was a wall-eye, which imparts to his countenance a roguish look that
does not belie the cunning and deceitful character of the man. As he came up
to the waggons, I met and shook hands with him, and wanted him to partake of
coffee with me. I could see that he was enchanted at my arrival. He talked
at a very rapid pace, and assumed an abrupt and rather dictatorial manner,
occasionally turning round and cracking jokes with his councillors and nobility.
He was very anxious to ascertain from Isaac the contents of the waggons, and
he said that he would buy everything I had brought, and that he would give
me a large bull elephant’s tusk for each of my muskets.”

Mr. Cumming proved the chief’s match at a bargain-making, and succeeded .
in getting his own price for muskets, viz., three tusks for a single musket,

L

74 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

with some powder and a bullet mould thrown in. The value of the single tusk
was £30, and the value of a musket £16. Theivory was originally bought by
Sekomi on far better terms than these. They were procured from the Bushmen
for a few beads, and small articles of daily use amomg them, and they were
carried for many miles by a colony of poor Bakalahari who were subject to
him, and who did all his carrying almost without fee or reward.

Previous to this, muskets were almost unknown among them, and the
delight of the chief and his head men at becoming possessed of some, was
similar to that of a boy when he gets his first pop-gun. ‘He insisted on
discharging each of the muskets as he bought it. It was amusing to see the
manner in which he performed this operation. Throwing back his kaross, and
applying the stock to his naked shoulder, he shut his good eye, and kept the
wall-eye open, to the intense amusement of the Hottentots who were his
instructors on the occasion. ach report caused the utmost excitement and
merriment among the warriors, who pressed forward and requested that they
also might be permitted to try their skill with these novel implements
of war.”

Sekomi was visited by Mr. James Chapman, author of “Travels in the
interior of South Africa,” several years after the period of Mr. Cumming’s
visit. He did not appear to have profited much by the visits of civilized
travellers. Mr. Chapman entertained him to breakfast. He says :—

‘“‘He seemed not at all at home in the use of knife and fork. Plunging
the fork into his meat, he held it up in the air, and cut slices from it, which
went flying in all directions, falling on the heads of his admiring followers.
I advised him to put the meat on his plate and cut it there; but he soon upset
the plate, which lay in his lap, and, nearly plunging the fork into his thigh,
spilt the gravy over his naked legs, to be licked off by his nearest follower.”
The chief had with him a sorcerer, or medicine-man, who is thus described :—

‘“His neck was ornamented with armlets of lons’, lizards’, and other
reptiles’ claws, with snakes’ heads and roots, supposed to possess infallible
remedies against injuries which the evil-disposed may contemplate against
the chief or his tribe. Four small pieces of ivory, figured over with black
spots, are used as dice; and at any time when they feel disposed to look into
the past or future these dice are consulted, the natives believing implicitly in
the pretended prophecies, instead of obeying the dictates of reason and
prudence when assailed by danger.”

Mr. Chapman relates an instance of magnanimous conduct on the part
of Sekomi in sparing the life of a Boer, after the attack on Sechele’s town had
exasperated the natives to such a degree that every Boer caught on their
territory was remorselessly slain. Vilogen, a Boer, who had been in the habit
of visiting and trading with Sekomi, arrived with Mr. Chapman at the head-
quarters of the chief immediately after he had heard of the attack upon Sechele

MAGNANIMITY OF SEKOMI. 75

and his tribe. In sparing his life and dismissing him, Sekomi addressed him
to the following effect :—

““You have ever been kind to me and my people; your life is spared ;
although, if I mistake not, had you been at home you would have joined your
countrymen in this unjust war, and after you get home, you will, in all
probability, come back and kill me, that is nothing. Go, and carry my
defiance to your countrymen. I know I have but one year to live, and will
prepare myself to die—but to die the death of a warrior. Go, tell those who
left you to be killed, that he who should have done the deed has been your
preserver. Sleep well this night, and as the day dawns I shall supply you
with a faithful guide. Make for the Limpopo; from thence cross the Mariqua,
and proceed cautiously along the southern banks homewards. Sechele’s men
are waiting outside to see you killed, and expect to take back the tidings.
They have come here to urge me to do it, but I will not stain my hands with
the blood of a friend.”

Mr. Chapman also succeeded in inducing Sekomi to spare the lives of a
party of Boers, who were returning from hunting in the interior. When told
that the English people considered it cowardly to kill defenceless enemies, the
chief replied :—‘‘ Fear not, I have heard your mouth, and, although I have
been advised by many to kill them, as they are the worst of the Boers
belonging to Enslin’s party, who have done great injuries to the black tribes,
and deserve death by our law, and although our kindred have been murdered
by our friends at home, still I will take your advice, and not be the first
aggressor. I shall, nevertheless, let the Boers know of my displeasure, and,
being determined to have no friendly intercourse with them, I shall warn
them to keep beyond the limits of my boundary on pain of death.”

The travellers came upon several great tracts of salt-pans which lay glit-
tering in the sun, showing so like lakes, that on sighting the first one Mr.
Oswell threw his hat up into the air at the sight “‘ and shouted a huzza which
made the Bakwains think him mad. I was a little behind,” says Living-
stone, ‘‘and was as completely deceived by it as he, but as we had agreed to
allow each other to behold the lake at the same instant, I felt a little cha-
grined that he had, unintentionally, got the first glance. We had no idea
that the long looked-for lake was still more than three hundred miles distant.”
These mirages were so perfect that even the Hottentots, the horses, and the
dogs, ran towards them to slake their burning thirst.

After reaching the river Zouga their further progress was easy, as they
had only to follow its course to find the object of their search, from which it
appeared to flow. Sebituane had given orders to the tribes on the banks of
the river to assist the travellers in every way, an injunction which did not
appear to be needed to ensure them kindly treatment at the hands of the
Bayeiye as they were called. On inquiring from whence a large river which

76 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

flows into the Zouga from the north came from, Livingstone was told that it
came ‘from a country full of rivers—so many that no one can tell their
number.” This was the first confirmation of the reports he had previously
received from travelled Bakwains, and satisfied him that Central Africa was
not a ‘large sandy plateau,” but a land teeming with life and traversed by
watery highways, along which Christianity and commerce and the arts of
peace would in the future be conveyed to vast regions never as yet visited by
civilized man. From that moment the desire to penetrate into that unknown
region became more firmly rooted in his mind; and his enthusiastic hopes
found vent in his letters to England, to his friends and correspondents.

On the 1st of August, 1849, Livingstone and his companions stood on the
shore of Lake Ngami, and the existence of that fine sheet of water was estab-
lished. It is almost a hundred miles in circumference, and at one time must
have been of far greater extent, and it was found to be about two thousand
feet above the level of the sea from which it is eight hundred miles distant.
They found flocks of water-birds in and about the lake and the country in
the neighbourhood of it, and the river running into it abounded in animal
life. This was the first successful exploration of Livingstone, which drew the
attention of the general public towards him, and for a period of twenty-five
years, he was destined to engage the public attention to an extent unprece-
dented in the annals of modern travel and adventure. Finding it impossible,
from the unfriendliness of Lechulatebe, chief of the Batauana tribe, to visit
Sebituane, as he had intended, the travellers passed up the course of the
Zouga, the banks of which they found to be plentifully covered with vegeta-
tion and splendid trees, some of them bearing edible fruits. Wild indigo and
two kinds of cotton they found to be abundant. The natives make cloth of
the latter, which they dye with the indigo. Elephants, hipoppotami, zebras,
giraffes, and several varieties of antelopes were found in great abundance. A
species of the latter, which is never found at any distance from watery or
marshy ground, hitherto unknown to naturalists, was met with in considerable
numbers. Several varieties of fish abound in the river, which are caught by
the natives in nets, or killed with spears. Some of these attam to a great
size, weighing as much as a hundred-weight.

The following letter was addressed by Dr. Livingstone to Mr. Tidman,
Foreign Secretary, London Missionary Society :—

‘“‘ Banks of the River Zouga, 3rd September, 1849.

“ Dear Sir,—I left my station, Kolobeng (situate 25° South lat., 26 Hast
long.) on the 1st of June last, in order to carry into effect the intention of
which I had previously informed you—viz., to open a new field in the North,
by penetrating the great obstacle to our progress, called the Desert, which,
stretching away on our west, north-west, and north, has hitherto presented an
insurmountable barrier to Kuropeans.

VV) Niel SV ialfemeelinveeallinvey\UIEUitGl ia Viseseel sh Tiel

THE BAYEIYE TRIBE. 7

“A large party of Griquas, in about thirty waggons, made many and
persevering efforts at two different points last year; but though inured to the
climate, and stimulated by the prospect of much gain from the ivory they
expected to procure, want of water compelled them to retreat.

“Two gentlemen, to whom I had communicated my intention of pro-
ceeding to the oft-reported lake beyond the Desert, came from England for
the express purpose of being present at the discovery, and to their liberal and
zealous co-operation we are especially indebted for the success with which that
and other objects have been accomplished. While waiting for their arrival
seven men came to me irom the Batavana, a tribe living on the banks of the
lake, with an earnest request from their chief for a visit. But the path by
which they had come to Kolobeng was impracticable for waggons; so,
declining their guidance, I selected the more circuitous route by which the
Bermangueato usually pass, and having Bakwains for guides, their self-
interest in our success was secured by my promising to carry any ivory they
might procure for their chiefs in my waggon; and right faithfully they
performed their task.

** When Sekomi, the Bermangueato chief, became aware of our inten-
tion to pass into the regions beyond him, with true native inhumanity he
sent men before us to drive away all the Bushmen and Bakalahari from our
route, in order that, being deprived of their assistance in the search for water,
we might, like the Griquas above mentioned, be compelled to return. This
measure deprived me of the opportunity of holding the intercourse with these ~
poor outcasts I might otherwise have enjoyed. But through the good pro-
vidence of God, after travelling about three hundred miles from Kolobeng, we
struck on a magnificent river on the 4th of July, and without further difficulty,
in so far as water was concerned, by winding along its banks nearly three
hundred miles more, we reached the Batayana, on the Lake Ngami, by the
beginning of August.

“‘ Previous to leaving this beautaful river on my return home, and com-
mencing our route across the Desert, I feel anxious to furnish you with the
impressions produced on my mind by it and its inhabitants, the Bakoba or
Bayeiye. They are a totally distinct race from the Bechuanas. They call
themselves Bayeiye (or men), while the term Bakoba (the name has somewhat
of the meaning of ‘slaves’) is applied to them by the Bechuanas. Their
complexion is darker than that of the Bechuanas, and of 300 words I collected
of their language, only 21 bear any resemblance to Sichuana. They paddle
along the rivers and lake in canoes hollowed out of the trunks of single trees ;
take fish in nets made of a weed which abounds on the banks; and kill
hippopotami with harpoons attached to ropes. We greatly admired the
frank manly bearing of these inland sailors. Many of them spoke Sichuana
fluently, and while the waggon went along the bank I greatly enjoyed follow-

78 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ing the windings of the river in one of their primitive craft, and visiting their
little villages among the reeds. The banks are beautiful beyond any we had
ever seen, except perhaps some parts of the Clyde. They are covered in
general with gigantic trees, some of them bearing fruit, and quite new. ‘Two
of the Baobab variety measured 70 to 76 feet in circumference. The higher
we ascended the river the broader it became, until we often saw more than
100 yards of clear deep water between the broad belt of reeds which grow in
the shallower parts. The water was clear as crystal, and as we approached
the point of junction with other large rivers reported to exist in the North, it
was quite soft and cold. The fact that the Zouga is connected with large
rivers coming from the North awakens emotions in my mind which make the
discovery of the lake dwindle out of sight. It opens the prospect of a high-
way capable of being quickly traversed by boats to a large section of well-
peopled territory. The hopes which that prospect inspires for the benighted
inhabitants might, if uttered, call forth the charge of enthusiasm—a charge, by
the way, I wish I deserved, for nothing good or great, either in law, religion,
or physical science, has ever been accomplished without it: however, I do not
mean the romantic, flighty variety, but that which impels with untiring
energy to the accomplishment of its object. I do not wish to convey hopes
of speedily effecting any great work through my own instrumentality, but I
hope to be permitted to work, so long as I live, beyond other men’s line of
things, and plant the seed of the gospel where others have not planted ;
though every excursion for that purpose will involve separation from my
family for periods of four or five months. Kolobeng will be supplied by
native teachers during these times of absence; and when we have given the
Bakwains a fair trial it will probably be advisable for all to move onward.

‘‘ One remarkable feature in this river is its periodical rise and fall. It
has risen nearly 3 feet in height since our arrival, and this is the dry season.
That the rise is not caused by rains is evident from the water being so pure.
Its purity and softness increased as we ascended towards its junction with the
Tamunakle, from which, although connected with the lake, it derives the
present increased supply. ‘The sharpness of the air caused an amazing keen-
ness of appetite, at an elevation of little more than 2,000 feet above the level
of the sea (water boiled at 2073 thermometer) and the reports of the Bayeiye,
that the waters came from a mountainous region, suggested the conclusion
that the increase of water at the beginning and middle of the dry season must
be derived from melting snow.

‘‘ All the rivers reported to the north of this have Bayeiye upon them,
and there are other tribes upon their banks. To one of these, after visiting
the Batavana, and taking a peep at the broad part of the lake, we directed our
course. But the Batavana Chief managed to obstruct us by keeping all
strangers passing them to tribes beyond. Sebituane, the chief, who in former

THER BAYEIYE HEAR THE WORD OF GOD. 79

years saved the life of Sechele, owr chief, lives about ten days north-east of the
Batavana. The latter sent a present as a token of gratitude. This would
have been a good introduction; the knowledge of the language, however, is
the Jest we can have. I endeavoured to construct a raft at a part which was
only 50 or 60 yards wide, but the wood, though sun-dried, was so heavy it
sunk immediately; another kind would not bear my weight, although a
considerable portion of my person was under water. I could easily have swam
across, and fain would have done it; but landing without clothes, and then
demanding of the Bakoba the loan of a boat, would scarcely be the thing for
a messenger of peace, even though no alligator met me in the passage. These
and other thoughts were revolving in my mind asI stood in the water—for
most sorely do I dislike to be beaten—when my kind and generous friend,
Mr. Oswell, with whom alone the visit to Sebituane was to be made, offered to
bring up a boat at his own expense from the Cape, which, after visiting the
chief and coming round the north end of the lake, would become missionary
property. To him and our other companion, Mr. Murray, I feel greatly
indebted ; for the chief expense of the journey has been borne by them. They could
not have reached this point without my assistance; but for the aid they
have rendered in opening up this field, I feel greatly indebted; and should
any public notice be taken of this journey, I shall feel obliged to the directors
if they express my thankfulness.

“The Bayeiye or Bakoba listened to the statements made from the
Divine Word with great attention, and, if I am not mistaken, seemed to
understand the message of mercy delivered better than any people to whom
I have preached for the jirst time. They have invariably a great many
charms in the villages; stated the name of God in their language (without
the least hesitation) to be ‘ Oreaja,’ mentioned the name of the first man and
woman, and some traditionary statements respecting the flood. I shall not,
however, take these for certain till I have more knowledge of their language,
They are found dwelling among the reeds all round the lake and on the banks
of all the rivers to the north. i

“With the periodical flow of the rivers, great shoals of fish descend.
The people could give no reason for the rise of the water, further than that a chief,
who lives in a part of the country to the north, called Mazzekiva, kills a man
annually, and throws his body into the stream, after which the water begins
to flow. When will they know Him who was slain, that whosoever will
may drink of the water of life freely ?

“‘'The sketch, which I enclose, is intended to convey an idea of the
River Zouga and the Lake Ngami. ‘The name of the latter is pronounced as
if written with the Spanish N, the g being inserted to show that the ringing
sound is required. The meaning is ‘Great water.’ The latitude taken by a
sextant, on which I can fully depend, was 20° 20'S., at the north-east extremity,

80 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

where it is joined by the Zouga; longitude about 24° E. We do not, however,
know it with certainty. We left our waggon near the Batavana town, and rode
on horseback about six miles beyond to the broad part. It gradually widens out
into a Frith, about 15 miles across, as you go south from the town, and in the
south south-west presents a large horizon of water. I? 7s reported to be about
70 miles in length, bends round to the north-west, and there receives another
river similar to the Zouga. The Zouga runs to the north-east. The thorns
were so thickly planted near the upper part of this river that we left all our
waggons standing about 180 miles from the lake, except that of Mr. Oswell,
in which we travelled the remaining distance. But for this precaution our
oxen would have been unable to return. I am now standing ata tribe
of Bakurutse, and shall in a day or two re-enter the desert.

‘“‘The principal disease reported to prevail at certain seasons appears
from the account of the symptoms the natives give to be pneumonia, and not
fever. When the wind rises to an ordinary breeze, such immense clouds of
dust arise from the numerous dried-out lakes, called salt pans, that the whole
atmosphere becomes quite yellow, and one cannot distinguish objects more
than two miles off. It causes irritation in the eyes, and as wind prevails
almost constantly at certain seasons, this impalpable powder may act as it
does among the grinders in Sheffield. We observed cough among them, a
complaint almost unknown at Kolobeng. Mosquitoes swarm in summer, and
banyan aud palmyra trees give in some parts an Indian cast to the scenery.
Who will go in to possess this goodly land in the name of Him whose right it
is to reign ? ‘* Davip Livinestone.”

The second journey to Lake Ngami was undertaken in April, 1850, with
the view of pushing up the Tamunakle, a tributary of the Zouga, to visit
Sebituane. Sechele, Mrs. Livingstone, and her three children accompanied
the intrepid traveller on this journey. Just as he had arranged with Lechula-
tebe to furnish the necessary guides, and to undertake the protection of Mrs.
Livingstone and the children during his absence, the latter were seized with
fever. As several of their attendants were seized at the same time, the attempt
was given up as hopeless at this time, and the party, after recruiting in the
pure air of the desert, returned to Kolobeng.

Writing of this journey from Kolobeng, August 24, 1850, Livingstone
says :—

‘“‘Mrs. Livingstone and Mebalwe, the native teacher, had joined in my
desire to visit Sebituane; and.Sechele, our chief, having purchased a waggon,
the first service he wished it to perform was to place him in presence of the
man who, in former years, when assaulting the Bakwain town, ordered his
followers to be sure and spare the lives of the sons of Mochoasele (Sechele’s
father). The attack having been made in the dark, Sechele was badly ~
wounded, and lay insensible till the morning. When recognised, Sebituane

SECOND VIEW OF LAKE NGAMI. 81

gave orders to his doctors to attend to the wounds, and subsequently restored
him to liberty. Had we succeeded in reaching Sebituane, the interview
between the two chiefs might have been interesting. Our chief sent a present
to his former benefactor last year, but his messengers were prevented going
in the same way that we were. They have been more successful this year ;
so, though we have not been able to go as far as we intended, we are thankful
to hear that the way has been opened by them.

*‘ Having no apprehension that Sekomi would throw obstacles in our
way, we visited his tribe both in going and returning. As he is an old
friend, I apologised for passing to the westward of him in our last trip, on the
ground that, as I knew he was very much opposed to our finding a passage
to the lake (he having twice refused our request to pass), I had determined
to go in spite of him, and yet without contention. He replied, ‘ U’ntsitile,
mi kia boka’ (You beat me, and I thank you, or acknowledge it). His entire
conduct was the opposite of what it was last year. We had more intercourse
with the Bakalahari, especially with the inhabitants of a large village about
40 miles N. of the Bamangwato; and as we passed through their country in
April, before the pools, which are usually filled by the rains, are dried up, we
suffered no inconvenience from ‘want of water. After visiting the Bakarutse,
who live at the lower end of the Zouga, we crossed that river, and ascended
on its northern bank. Our intention in passing along the northern bank of
the Zouga was to follow the course of the Tamunakle until we reached
Sebituane, but, when near the junction of the two rivers, we were informed
by a Bakhoba chief named Palane, that the fly called ‘tsetse’ abounded on
the Tamunakle. As its bite is fatal to oxen, horses, and dogs, though harm-
less to men and goats, and we had no more oxen than were sufficient to draw
our waggons, I proposed proceeding alone; but Mrs. L. preferring to wait during
my absence among the Batavana, we recrossed the Zouga, and went down
towards the lake. Sechulathebe, the chief, furnished guides, and informed us
that the distance would be performed partly by land and partly by water, as
the Tamunakle had a very zigzag course; that the riding ox would certainly
die soon after I returned, in consequence of being bitten by the fly, and
promised to furnish my family with meat during my absence, but objected to
Sechele going along with me, because his messenger had not yet returned to
tell how Sebituane’s mind stood affected towards him. Everything seemed
favourable, and, before starting, I took my wife down to take a peep at the
lake. We felt rather more curiosity than did an Englishman who came to
buy ivory from the Batayana, for, although within six miles of it, he informed
us that he had never visited it. On the day following our driver and leader
were laid up by fever, and subsequently to that two of our children, and
several of the people besides; a young English artist, Mr. Rider, who had
taken some views of the lake scenery, and a ’ Hottentot belonging to another

M

82 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

party, died of it. As the malaria seemed to exist in a more concentrated form
near the Ngami than in any other part, we were compelled to leave, after
spending two Sundays with the Batavana; and as the time at my command
would have been spent before I could safely leave my people, the fever and
the fly (the tsetse) forced me to return to Kolobeng. I was mistaken last year
in supposing the epidemic, of which we heard, to be pneumonia; there is
undoubtedly a greater amount of cough on the river than at Kolobeng, but
the disease which came under my observatien this year was real marsh-fever.
The paludal miasma is evolved every year as the water begins to flow and
moisten the banks of vegetable matter. When the river and lake are full the
fever ceases, but it begins again when evaporation has proceeded so far as to
expose the banks to the action of the sun. Our visit was made last year
when the river was nearly at its height; but the lake had now retired about
20 feet from the spot on which we stood last year; this might be about
3 feet in perpendicular height. In the natives, the effects of the poison |
imbibed into the system appear most frequently in the form of a bilious fever,
and they generally recover after a copious evacuation of bile. In some it
appears as continued fever. In a child there was the remittent form, while
in two cases it was simply intermittent. In one case the vascular system of
the abdomen was greatly affected, and the patient became jaundiced and
died; in another there were only muscular pains and rapid decline of
strength; while in several others there was only pain in the head, which a
dose of quinine removed. Mr. Wilson, an enterprising trader, who had it in
its most severe form, had several violent fits of intermittent fever when
recovering from the other, while at a distance of 400 miles from the lake. This
disease seems destined to preserve intertropical Africa for the black races of
mankind. If the Boers, who have lately fallen upon the plan of waylaying
travellers between Kuruman and this, should attempt to settle on either lake or
river, they would soon find their graves. As the Ngami is undoubtedly a hollow
compared to Kolobeng, and the Teoge, a river which falls into the lake at
its N.W. extremity, is reported to flow with great rapidity, the region beyond
must be elevated. A salubrious spot must be found before we can venture
to form a settlement: but that alone will not suffice, for Kolobeng is
270 miles by the trochameter from Kuruman, and the lake by the
same instrument is 600 miles beyond this station. We must have a
passage to the sea on either the eastern or western coast. I have hitherto been
afraid to broach the project, but as you are aware, the Bechuana mission was
virtually shut up ina cul-de-sac on the North by the Desert, and on the East by
the Boers. The Rev. Mr. Fridoux, of Motito, lately endeavoured to visit the
Ramapela, and was forcibly turned back by an armed party. You at home
are accustomed to look upon a project as half finished when you have secured
the co-operation of the ladies. Well, then, my better half has promised me

VARIETIES OF FISH. 83

twelve months’ leave of absence for mine. Without promising anything, I
mean to follow a useful motto in many circumstances and ‘try again.’

“The following information, gleaned from intelligent natives, may be
interesting and probably is not far from the truth, as they could have no object
in deceiving me. The Ngami is merely a reservoir for the surplus waters of
a much larger lake or marsh, containing numerous islands, about 150 or 200
miles beyond. Sebituane, who was defeated by the Griquas near Motito or
Latakoo, in 1824, lives on one of these islands. Theriver, which falls into the
Ngami at its N.W. extremity, is called the Teoge; it runs with so much
rapidity that canoes ascend with great difficulty, and when descending no
paddling is required, as the force of the current suffices to bring the boats down.
Large trees are frequently brought down, and even springboks and other
antelopes have been seen whirling round and round in the middle of the stream,
as it hurried on their carcasses to the lake. But this flow only occurs at
one period of the year, and whence the increase of water in the upper lake is
derived no one can tell. Other rivers are reported as existing beyond Sebituane’s
district, and a large population is said to live on their banks. The names of
these tribes are: Bagomae, Barovaia, Barosia, Batongka, Banambia, Banami,
Bazatoa, Bachorongka, and Babiko. The people of the last-named tribe are
famed for their skill in manufactures, are lighter in colour than the Bakhoba,
and have longer hair and beards. All the iron used among the people near
the lake comes from the North. Though the Bakhoba are much more inquisitive
than the Bechuanas, I never met with one who had even heard of the existence
of the sea. They had heard of a people whom we conjectured to be Portuguese,
and we saw an old coat which we believed to be of Portuguese manufacture.
Although we have seen the Zouga flowing and even rising considerably, the
natives assert that soon after the small reservoir near the Bakurutse villages,
called Kumatao, is filled by the Zouga, the latter ceases to flow, the rains do
not affect it in the least, and in many partsits bed becomes quite dry. This
is also the case, according to report, with the Tamunakle and Teoge. During
a certain portion of the year the beds of these rivers exhibit only a succession
of pools with dry patches between them. The fishes, which we saw so
abundant in July and August last year, had not descended from the North
in June. The Bakhoba seemed quite sure they would appear in the month
following, and they enumerated nine varieties of them in the lake and rivers,
two of which are said to attain occasionally the length of a man. Of the
five varieties which came under our observation four were very good eating ;
the fifth, the Glanis siluris, had attained a length of about 3 feet. Crocodiles,
or alligators, and hippopotami are also found, but the latter are now scarce in
consequence of the Bakhoba frequently hunting them; they kill them by
meaus of a large harpoon, to which a strong rope is attached, in somewhat the
same manner as whalers do, They use nets made of the hibiscus, baskets,

84 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and assegais (spears) for killing fish; their canoes are flat-bottomed, and scooped
out of single trees. The banks of the river are in many parts lined with trees
of gigantic growth. I observed twelve quite new to us at Kolobeng. The
banyan and palmyra were recognised as Indian trees by our friend Mr.
Oswell; the baobab, the body of which gives one the idea of a mass of granite
from its enormous size, yields a fruit about the size of a quart-bottle; the
pulp between the seeds tastes like cream of tartar, and it is used by the
natives to give a flavour to their porridge. Three others bear edible fruits,
one of which, called ‘ moporotla,’ yields a fruit, an unripe specimen of which
measures 20% inches in length and 7} in circumference ; the seeds are roasted
and eaten, and the body of the tree is used for making canoes. Another,
called ‘ motsouri,’ is a beautiful tree, and very much resembles the orange,
but we did not see the fruit. The natives pound the root of a kind of flag,
and obtain flour not greatly inferior to that from wheat in taste and
appearance ; this flag is called ‘ tsitla,’ and grows abundantly on both lake
and river. The root of a water-lily is likewise used as a vegetable, but it is
not so agreeable as the tsitla. The people sow when the river has risen high
enough to moisten the soil of the flats in which their gardens are situated ;
they do not require to wait for rain, as the other tribes must do, for they
have good crops, though but little rain falls. Rain-makers are consequently.
at a discount among the Bakhoba. Besides the usual native produce they
cultivate an excellent ground-nut.

‘“‘ The banks of the Zouga are studded with pitfalls, which the Bakhoba
dig for the purpose of killing game. Some of these are very neatly smeared
over with mud, and if a sharp look out is not kept, one finds himself at the
bottom with the sand running down on him, as the first intimation of the
presence of the trap; they are from 8 to 10 feet in depth, and the wild
animals are so much afraid of them that they drink during the night, and
immediately depart to the desert. Elephants abound in large numbers, but
previous to our first visit the ivory was of no value; the tusks were left in the
field with the other bones. I saw 13 which had been thus left, and which
were completely spoiled by the weather. In our first visit the Batavana would
have preferred to sell a tusk for a few beads to parting with a goat for twice
the amount; they soon, however, acquired a knowledge of the value of ivory.
In one village the headman informed me that two of his wives had been
lulled by elephants entering the village during the night and turning over the
huts, apparently by way of amusement. Besides elephants, rhinoceros,
buffaloes, &c., we observed a new species of antelope, called ‘leche ;’ it is
rather larger than the pallah, the horns in shape are like those of the water-
buck, the colour of the skin is a beautiful brownish yellow, and its habits are
those of the waterbuck. Mr. Oswell has this year secured a new variety of
the koodoo.

SALT PANS. 85

“The country beyond the Bamangwato, so far as we have penetrated, is
quite flat, only intersected here and there by the dry beds of ancient rivers.
The desert does not deserve its name, excepting from its want of water, for it
is usually covered with abundance of grass, bushes, and trees; nor is it destitute
of inhabitants, as both men and animals exist in considerable numbers. Man,
however, has a hard struggle to keep soul and body together. The Bakalahari
children are usually distinguished by their large protruding abdomen, and ill-
formed legs and arms; their listless eye shows that youth has few joys for
them. Although much oppressed by the Bechuanas, who visit them annually in
order to collect skins, they are often at variance among themselves. They
obtain water in certain hollow parts called “‘sucking-places,” where there is a
stratum of wet sand about 3 feet below the surface, by means of a reed. A
bunch of grass is tied round one end of it, to act as a sort of filter; this is
inserted in the wet sand and that which was taken out in making the hole is
firmly rammed down around it. The mouth applied to the free extremity
draws up enough of water to fill a load of ostrich egg-shells. By making wells
in these spots we several times obtained water sufficient for our oxen. The
natives were always anxious that we should not in digging break through a
hard layer at the bottom of the wells, asserting that if we did the water would
be lost. The Bushmen of the desert are perhaps the most degraded specimens
of the human family: those near the river Zouga look much better ; the river
supplies them with fish and ‘“‘tsitla,” and they seem expert in the use of the
bow and arrow, for they have killed nearly all the lions. The Botletli are real
Bushmen in appearance and language, and about twelve years ago were in
possession of large herds of cattle. We saw specimens of the horns of these
cattle, which measured from 6 to 8 feet from point to point. The Bushmen
are very numerous on all sides of both lake and river, and the language has as
much klick as it has further South.

** Of the animals which live in the desert, the eland is, perhaps, the most
interesting. It is the largest of the antelope kind, attains the size of a very
large ox, and seems wonderfully well adapted for living in that country: for
though they do drink a little if they pass near water, they can live for
months without a drop: they become very fat, the meat is excellent, and, as they
are easily run down by a good horse, it is surprising to me that they have not been
introducedinto England. Thesoilis generally sandy; vegetationis not much more
luxuriant, except in the immediate vicinity of the river than in this portion of
Africa generally. All the rocks we saw consisted of calcareous tufa, travertin,
and sandstone. On the banks of the lake there is a rock of igneous origin.
The tufa contains no shells, but the salt-pans near the lower end of the Zouga
are covered with four varieties of recent shells. It is probable these flats,
called salt-pans because sometimes covered with an efflorescence of salt, were
reservoirs, such as the Kumatoa is mow, at a period when the flow of the

86 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Zouga was greater than it is at present. The country generally is
unquestionably drying up. Streams and fountains which, in the memory of
persons now living, supplied villages with water, are now only dry water-
courses ; and as ancient river-beds are now traversed by more modern streams,
giving sections which show banks of shells, gravel, and rolled boulders, it is,
perhaps, not unreasonable to conjecture that an alteration in the elevation of the
entire country is taking place. At present, wherever the bed of the Zouga
may lead (perhaps towards the Limpopo ?), water seldom flows far past the
Bakarutse villages.”

On the occasion of the third and successful journey, undertaken with the
view of meeting Sebituane, his wife and children accompanied him as before.
Shobo, a Bushman, undertook to be their guide; but losing his way, his
courage failed him, and he refused to proceed, finally disappearing altogether.
Driving on at random, the travellers suffered terrible privations. At last
knowing that water was near by the number of birds they saw, and the fresh spoor
of the rhinoceros, and other animals, they unyoked the oxen, and they knowing
the signs, pushed forward until they came to the Matabe, a tributary of the
Tamunakle. Their sufferings were so great for several days that it almost
seemed as if his children were doomed to perish before his. eyes. This was
all the more hard to bear as a supply of water had been wasted by one of the
servants. His wife looked at him, despair at the prospect of losing her children
in her eyes, but spoke no word of blame. Here the travellers made the
acquaintance of that terrible insect, the tsetse, whose bite is so fatal to cattle
and horses. It is not much larger than the common house-fly, and is of a
brown colour, with three or four bars of yellow in the abdomen. Its bite is
fatal to the horse, the ox, and the dog. Within a few days the eyes and nose
of the bitten animal begin to run, and a swelling appears under the jaws, and
sometimes on the belly. Emaciation sets in, and at the end of three months,
when the poor beast is only a mass of skin and bone, purging commences, and
it dies of sheer exhaustion. Man, and the wild animals which abound in the
district, the goat, the mule, and the ass, enjoy a perfect immunity from its
bite.

On the banks of the Chobe the travellers came across a number of Ma-
kololo men, and learning from them that their chief, Sebituane, was absent
twenty miles down the river Chobe, Mr. Oswell and Livingstone proceeded
in canoes to visit him. He had marched some two hundred miles to welcome
the white men into his country. On hearing of the difficulties they had
encountered in their endeavours to reach him, he expressed his satisfaction at
their having at last succeeded, and added: ‘ Your cattle are all bitten by the
tsetse, and will certainly die ; but never mind; I have oxen, and will give you
as many as you need.”

In their ignorance they thought little of this; but the death of forty of

SHBITUANE. 87

their oxen, although not severely bitten, too surely attested his better
knowledge.

The great chief Livingstone had so long desired to see was a tall, wiry
man, with a deep olive complexion. He belonged originally to the south of
Kuruman, where his warlike and undaunted bearing (for he was not born a
chief) procured hima small following of bold men, who retreated before the
cruel raid of the Griquas in 1824.

The Bakwains and others of the Bechuanas made war upon him, and
drove him to desperate shifts; but his courage and genius stood him in good
stead through innumerable difficulties, and forcing his way through the
desert of Kalahari, he maintained for a long period a desperate struggle with
the Matabele, who were then led by a chief called Moselekatse, a warrior
almost as renowned as himself, for the possession of the country between the
Zouga and Zambesi. After a long and terrible struggle, Moselekatse was
finally beaten in his attempt to subject Sebituane to his rule. Sebituane’s
frank and manly bearing, and his kindness and benevolence to his people,
and the strangers who trusted to his hospitality, secured him the affections of
his own people, and that of the tribes which he conquered.

Aiter he had subdued all the tribes in the neighbourhood of Lake Ngami,
his strong desire to open up communication with white men led him to
the country of the Zambesi, fighting and conquering every tribe in his line of
march. Long before he saw Dr. Livingstone he had determined on opening
out a highway for trade with the west coast, and considering the character of
the man, we can readily imagine the blow which his untimely death would
be to him. No wonder he was adored by all who came in contact with him.
Livingstone tells us that, ‘‘ when a party of poor men came to his town to
sell their hoes or skins, no matter how ungainly they might be, he soon knew
them all. A company of these indigent strangers, sitting far apart from the
Makololo around the chief, would be surprised to see him come alone to them,
and, sitting down, inquire if they were hungry. He would order an
attendant to bring meal, milk, and honey, and mixing them in their sight, in
order to remove any suspicion from their minds, make them feast, perhaps
for the first time in their lives, in a lordly dish. Delighted beyond measure
with his affability and liberality, they felt their hearts warm towards him,
and gave him all the information in their power; and as he never allowed
a party of strangers to go away without giving every one of them, servants
included, a present, his praises were sounded far and wide. ‘ He has a heart;
he is wise!’ were the usual expressions we heard before we saw him,” says
Livingstone.

He was much gratified at the confidence reposed in him by Livingstone’s
proposing to leave his wife and children with him, in the event of his pushing
further into the interior, or returning to Kolobeng for his household

88 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

effects, and he promised to convey them to his head-quarters, where they might
locate themselves. But this was not to be: these great men but met to
part, and that for ever. The intrepid chief whose liberal notions had enabled
Livingstone to push thus far into the interior of the country, was stricken
with inflammation of the lungs, and died after a few days’ illness. On the
Sunday afternoon on which he died, Livingstone visited him, taking his boy
Robert with him. ‘Come near,” he said, ‘‘and see if I am any longer a
man: Iam done.” Arrived but recently amongst them, the great missionary
must have felt cut to the heart that he dare not deal as he would have wished
with him. He feared to attempt to arrest his malady in case he might be
blamed for caxsing his death if he had not succeeded in curing him. He
could only speak of the hope after death, and commend him to the care of
God. His last act was characteristic of the unselfish kindness of the man.
Raising himself from his prone position, he called a servant, and said, “‘ Take
Robert to Manunku [one of his wives], and tell her to give him some milk.”

The death of Sebituane was a severe blow to Livingstone. Had he lived,
much that was to do which proved difficult, notwithstanding the friendliness
of his successor and his people, might have been earlier and more easily
accomplished had that noble and enlightened chief lived to second his efforts
and possibly share in his journey. ‘‘ He was,” Livingstone says, ‘‘ the best
specimen of a native chief I ever met. I never felt so much grieved by the
loss of a black man before, and it was impossible not to follow him in thought
into the world of which he had just heard before he was called away, and to
realise somewhat of the feelings of those who pray for the dead. The deep,
dark question of what is to become of such as he must, however, be left where
we find it, believing that, assuredly the Judge of all the earth will do right.”
From sources other than those supplied by Dr. Livingstone, we are enabled
to form a very high estimate of the wisdom and humanity of Sebituane. The
liberality of his government over the conquered tribes was equalled by his
generosity. His policy in war was to spare life as much as possible. Jf the
conquered chief submitted to his rule, he reinstated him in his position, and
made him the instrument of carrying out wise laws. At the time of his death
the tribes under his rule were living in peaceful and contented dependence.
His power was absolute over a wide tract of country, and his rule was so popu-
lar that no ambitious rival chief dared, while he lived, attempt to contest his
supremacy.

Mr. Chapman thus speaks of Sebituane :—

‘‘ He was not only one of the greatest warriors of his nation, but his
name is held in respect for his liberal government and generosity to his
enemies. He had subjected a great many tribes in these parts, fifteen of
which I have heard enumerated. His policy was generally to spare life as
much as possible ; but the conquered chief he would either kill, or, separating

DWELLING HOUSES IN A TREE. 89

him from the rest, would place him in a tract of country where he would
be always in his power. He would return them their cattle to live on, give
them a daughter or relative to wife, and administer his own laws. This
liberal plan, unlike that adopted by other tribes, combined with a judicious
and uniform treatment, inspired theconquered people with such confidence in, and
devotion and reverence for their new chief, that they generally soon preferred
his government to the former. In this manner amalgamation took place, and
the original tribe of Basutos are now, perhaps, the least of the whole
population; and the climate not being congenial to their former habits, they
have become the most effeminate of the races under Sekeletu’s sway.”

The Matabele are very much dreaded by the Bechuanas, and, indeed, by
all the neighbouring tribes. They are very blood-thirsty, and when they
surprise a village, massacre all the old and middle-aged of both sexes, carrying
the young into captivity. No Matabele is looked upon as being a man until
he has slain an enemy, and his standing as a warrior is regulated by the
number of men he has slain. They sell their captives to the half-caste
Portuguese dealers in human flesh, who come up the Zambesi.

Moselekatse, the chief of the Matabele, a warrior nearly as renowned as
Sebituane—who had succesfully resisted his arms—whose name was a terror to
the Bechuanas, and other tribes bordering on his territory, was visited, at his
own request, by Mr. Moffat in 1830. Hearing of the white men at Kuruman
and their doings, Moselekatse sent two of his head men with some returning
traders to invite the great missionary to his town. On his way to visit the
chief, Mr. Moffat found a small colony of Bakones, settled among the branches
of a huge Baobab tree. He says:—

““My attention was arrested by a beautiful and gigantic tree, standing in
a defile leading into an extensive and woody ravine, between a high range of
mountains. Seeing some individuals employed on the ground under its shade,
and the conical points of what looked like houses in miniature, protruding
through its evergreen foliage, I proceeded thither, and found that the tree was
inhabited by several families of Bakones, the aborigines of the country. I
ascended by the notched trunk, and found, to my amazement, no less than
seventeen of these aérial abodes, and three others, unfinished. On reaching
the topmost hut, about thirty feet from the ground, I entered, and sat down.
Its only furniture was the hay which covered the floor, a spear, a spoon, and
a bowl full of locusts. Not having eaten anything that day, and from the
novelty of my situation, not wishing to return immediately to the waggons, I
asked a woman who sat at the door with a babe at her breast, permission to
eat. This she granted with pleasure, and soon brought me more in a pow-
dered state. Several more females came from the neighbouring roosts, stepping
from branch to branch, to see the stranger, who was to them as great a
curiosity as the tree was to him. I then visited the different abodes, which

N

90 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

were on several principal branches. ‘The structure of these houses was very
simple. An oblong scaffold, about seven feet wide, is formed of straight
sticks. On one end of this platform a small cone is formed, also of straight
sticks, and thatched with grass. A person can nearly stand upright in it; the
diameter of the floor is about six feet. The house stands on the end of the
oblong, so as to leave a little square space before the door. On the day previous
I had passed several villages, some containing forty houses, all built on poles,
about seven or eight feet from the ground, in the form of a circle; the ascent
and descent is by a knotty branch of a tree placed in front of the house. In
the centre of the circle there is always a heap of the bones of game they
have killed. Such were the domiciles of the impoverished thousands of the
aborigines of the country, who having been scattered and plundered by Mosele-
katse, had neither herd nor stall, but subsisted on locusts, roots, and the chase.
They adopted this mode of architecture to escape the lions which abounded
in the country. During the day the families descended to the shade beneath
to dress their daily food. When the inhabitants increased, they supported
the augmented weight on the branches, by upright sticks, but when lightened
of their load, they removed these for firewood.

‘As a proof of the necessity of such an expedient as above described, I may
add, that during the day, having shot a rhinoceros, we had reserved the hump
of the animal to roast during the night, a large ant-hill was selected for the
purpose, and being prepared by excavation and fire, this tit-bit was deposited.
During the night, a couple of lions attracted by the roast, drew near, and
though it was beyond gun-shot, we could hear them distinctly, as if holding
council to wait till the fire went out, to obtain for themselves our anticipated
breakfast. As the fire appeared to have gone out altogether, we had given
up hope till morning light showed us that the lions had been in earnest, but
the heat of the smouldering ant-hill had effectually guarded our steak.”

Mr. Moffat’s journey led across many miles of country, which had been
devastated by Moselekatse. One of the attendants of a chief man of the latter
gave him a graphic account of the overthrow of his tribe by Moselekatse.
Pointing to the scantily peopled country around them, he said :— i

“‘'There lived the great chief of multitudes. He reigned among them like
aking. He was the chief of the blue-coloured cattle. They were numerous
as the dense mist on the mountain brow; his flocks covered the plain. He
thought the number of his warriors would awe his enemies. His people boasted
in their spears, and laughed at the cowardice of such as had fled from their
towns. ‘I shall slay them, and hang up their shields on my hill. Our race
is a race of warriors. Who ever subdued our fathers? they were mighty in
combat. We still possess the spoils of ancient times. Have not our dogs
eaten the shields of their nobles? The vultures shall devour the slain of our
enemies.’ Thus they sang and thus they danced, till they beheld on yonder

RECEPTION BY MOSELEKATSE. 91

heights the approaching foe. The noise of their song was hushed in night,
and their hearts were filled with dismay. They saw the clouds ascend from
the plains. It was the smoke of burning towns. The confusion of a whirl-
wind was in the heart of the great chief of the blue-coloured cattle. The
shout was raised, ‘ They are friends;’ but they shouted again, ‘ They are
foes,’ till their near approach proclaimed them naked Matabele. The men
seized their arms, and rushed out, as if to chase the antelope. The onset
was as the voice of lightning, and their spears as the shaking of a forest in the
autumn storm. The Matabele lions raised the shout of death, and flew upon
their victims. It was the shout of victory. Their hissing and hollow groans told
their progress among the dead. A few moments laid hundreds on the ground.
The clash of shields was the signal of triumph. Our people fled with their cattle
to the top of yonder mount. The Matabele entered the town with the roar
of the lion; they pillaged and fired the houses, speared the mothers, and cast
their infants to the flames. The sun went down. The victors emerged from
the smoking plain, and pursued their course, surrounding the base of yonder
hill. They slaughtered cattle: they danced and sang till the dawn of day;
they ascended and killed till their hands were weary of the spear. Stooping
to the ground on which we stood, he took up a little dust in his hand; blow-
ing it off, and holding out his naked palm, he added, ‘ That is all that remains
of the great chief of the blue-coloured cattle!’ ‘It is impossible for me,’
says Mr. Moffat, ‘to describe my feelings while listening to this descriptive
effusion of native eloquence; and I afterwards embraced opportunities of
writing it down, of which the above is only an abridgement. I found also
from other aborigines that his was no fabled song, but merely a compendious
sketch of the catastrophe.’ ”

Arrived at the town of the great chief, Mr. Moffat was received with
much pomp :—

‘On riding into the centre of the large fold, which was capable of hold-
ing ten thousand head of cattle, we were rather taken by surprise to find it
lined by eight hundred warriors, beside two hundred which were concealed
in each side of the entrance, as if in ambush. We were beckoned to dismount,
which we did, holding our horses’ bridles in our hands. The warriors at the
gate instantly rushed in with hideous yells, and leaping from the earth with
kilts around their bodies, hanging like loose tails, and their large shields,
frightened our horses. They then joined the circle, falling into rank with as
much order as if they had been accustomed to European tactics. Here we
stood surrounded by warriors, whose kilts were of ape skins, and their legs
and arms adorned with the hair and tails of oxen, their shields reaching to
their chins, and their heads adorned with feathers.

“ Although in the centre of a town all was silent as the midnight hour,
while the men were motionless as statues. Hyes only were seen to move, and

92 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

there was a rich display of fine white teeth. After some minutes of profound
silence, which was only interrupted by the breathing of our horses, the war
song burst forth. There was harmony, it is true, and they beat time with
their feet, producing a sound like hollow thunder, but some parts of it was
music befitting the nether regions, especially when they imitated the groan-
ings of the dying on the field of battle, and the yells and hissings of the con-
querors. Another simultaneous pause ensued, and still we wondered what
was intended, till out marched the monarch from behind the lines, followed
by a number of men bearing baskets and bowls of food. He came up to us,
and having been instructed in our mode of salutation, gave each a clumsy but
hearty shake of the hand. He then politely turned to the food, which was
placed at our feet, and invited us to partake. By this time the waggons were
seen in the distance, and having intimated our wish to be directed to a
place where we might encamp in the outskirts of the town, he accompanied us,
keeping fast hold of my right arm, though not in the most graceful manner,
yet with perfect familiarity. ‘The land is before you; you are come to your
son. You must sleep where you please.’ When the ‘ moving houses,’ as
the waggons were called, drew near, he took a firmer grasp of my arm, and
looked on them with unutterable surprise; and this man, the terror of thousands,
drew back with fear, as one in doubt as to whether they were not living crea-
tures. When the oxen were unyoked, he approached the waggon with the utmost
caution, still holding me by one hand, and placing the other on his mouth, in-
dicating his surprise. He looked at them very intently, particularly the wheels,
and when told of how many pieces of wood each wheel was composed, his
wonder was increased. Aiter examining all very closely, one mystery yet
remained, how the large band of iron surrounding the felloes of the wheel
came to be in one piece without either end or joint. ’Umbate, my friend and
fellow-traveller, whose visit to our station had made him much wiser than his
master, took hold of my right hand, and related what he had seen. ‘ My
eyes,’ he said, ‘saw that very hand,’ pointing to mine, ‘ cut these bars of iron,
take a piece off one end, and then join them as you now see them.’ A minute
inspection ensued to discover the welded part. ‘Does he give medicine to
the iron ?’ was the monarch’s inquiry. ‘No,’ said ’Umbate, ‘nothing is used
but fire, a hammer, and a chisel.’ Moselekatse then returned to the town,
where the warriors were still standing as he left them, who received him
with immense bursts of applause.

‘‘ Moselekatse did not fail to supply us abundantly with meat, milk, and a
weak kind of beer, made from the native grain. He appeared anxious to please,
and to exhibit himself and people to the best advantage. In accordance with
savage notions of conferring honour, all the inhabitants and warriors of the
neighbouring towns were ordered to congregate at head-quarters, and on the fol-
lowing day a public ball was given in compliment to the strangers. A smooth

MOSELEKATSE. 93

plain adjoining the town was selected for the purpose, where Moselekatse took
his stand in the centre of an immense circle of his soldiers, numbers of women
being present, who with their shrill voices and clapping of hands took part in the
concert. About thirty ladies from his harem with long white wands marched to
the song backward and forward on the outside of the ranks, their well lubricated
shining bodies being too weighty for the agile movements which characterized
the matrons and damsels of lower rank. They sang their war songs, and one
composed on occasion of the visit of the strangers, gazing on and adoring
with trembling fear and admiration, the potentate in the centre, who stood
and sometimes regulated the motions of thousands by the movement of his
head, or the raising or depression of his hand. He then sat down on his
shield of lion’s skin, and asked me if it was not fine, and if we had such
things in my country. I could not gratify his vanity by saying I did admire
that which excited the most thrilling sensations in his martial bosom, and as
to there being balls, public balls, in honour of the great and renowned, I did
not choose to acknowledge.

“This public entertainment or display of national glory occupied the
greater part of the day, when the chief retired swollen with pride, amidst the
deafening shouts of adoring applause, not only of the populace, but of his
satraps, who followed at a distance to do him homage at his own abode.
Whenever he arose or sat down, all within sight hailed him with a shout,
Baaite! or Aaite ! followed by a number of his high sounding titles, such as
Great King, King of heaven, the Elephant,” ete.

Mr. Moffat gives the following account of this Conqueror of the Desert :—

“When a youth his father was the chief of an independent tribe. His
people were attacked by one more powerful, and routed. He took refuge under
the sceptre of Chaka, who was then rendering his name terrible by deeds of
crime, Moselekatse, from his intrepid character, was placed at the head of a
marauding expedition, which made dreadful havoc among the northern tribes ;
but, instead of giving up the whole of the spoils, he made a reserve for himself.
This reaching the ears of Chaka, revenge instantly burned in the tyrant’s
bosom, who resolyed to annihilate so daring an aggressor. Moselekatse
was half prepared to take flight, and descend on the thickly-peopled re-
gions of the north, like a sweeping pestilence. He escaped, after a desperate
conflict with the warriors of Chaka, who killed nearly all the old men, and
many of the women. His destructive career among the Bakone tribes has been
noticed; but dire as that was, it must have been only a faint transcript of the
terror, desolation, and death, which extended to the utmost limits of Chaka’s
arms. Though but a follower in the footsteps of Chaka, the career of Mosele-
katse, from the period of his revolt till the time I saw him, and long after,
formed an interminable catalogue of crimes. Scarcely a mountain, over exten-
sive regions, but bore the marks of his deadly ire. His experience and native

94 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

cunning enabled him to triumph over the minds of his men, and made his
trembling captives soon adore him as an invincible sovereign. Those who
resisted, and would not stoop to be his dogs, he butchered. He trained the
captured youth in his own tactics, so that the majority of his army were for-
eigners ; but his chiefs and nobles gloried in their descent from the Zulu dynasty.
He had carried his arms far into the tropics, where, however, he had more than
once met with his equal (this was Sebituane) ; and on one occasion, of six hun-
dred warriors, only a handful returned to be sacrificed, merely because they had
not conquered, or fallen with their companions. Abject representatives came,
while I was with him, from the subjugated tribes of the Bamanguato, to solicit
his aid against a more distant tribe, which had taken their cattle. By means
like these, it may be said, ‘He dipped his sword in blood, and wrote his
name on lands and cities desolate.’ In his person he was below the middle
stature, rather corpulent, with a short neck, and in his manner could be ex-
ceedingly affable and cheerful. His voice, soft and effeminate, did not indicate
that his disposition was passionate; and, happily for his people, it was not
so, or many would have been butchered in the ebullitions of his anger.”

Mr. Moffat frequently visited him and his people after this, and was suc-
cessful in planting Christianity amongst them.

According to his wish, Sebituane was succeeded in the chieftainship by a
daughter, to whom Livingstone and his party applied for leave to settle and
travel in the country, which was granted. In company with Mr. Oswell,
Livingstone discovered the Zambesi in the end of June, 1851, at a point
where it was not known previously to exist. The sight of that noble stream,
even in the dry season, flowing majestically eastward, with a breadth of from
three to six hundred yards, must have filled Livingstone’s mind with the hope
of the near approach of the time when commerce and Christianity would flow
into the heart of the country along this great natural highway.

As the Makololo between the Chobe and the Zambesi live on the low
marshy grounds in the neighbourhood of these rivers and their affluents, as a
protection from their numerous enemies, the question of where a mission
station could be settled was a serious one. The healthy regions were de-
fenceless and not to be thought of in the then state of the country. So there
was no help for it but to move south once more, and after shipping his family
for England, return to complete the work which no mere personal considera-
tions would have stopped at this juncture.

CHAPTER VI.

Dr. Invingstone’s Letters from Central Africaa—Mr. Chapman on the Country and
People Round Lake Ngami.—Journey up the Course of the Zambesi or
Leeambye.—Preparations for Journey to the West Coast, &e.

The following letter, dated Banks of the River Zouga, 1st October, 1851,
while it repeats to some extent information already given, contains so much
interesting matter that we give it entire :—

*« This letter will be forwarded by a party of Griquas who leave this river
to-morrow, and proceed direct to Phillippolis. We left our old route at
Nahokotsa and proceeded nearly due north, crossed the bed of the Zouga, and
certain salt pans remarkable for their extent. One called ‘Ntivetive’ was
about fifteen miles broad and probably one hundred long. Beyond this we
passed through a hard flat country covered with mopane trees, and containing
a great number of springs, in limestone rock. A considerable number of
Bushmen live in the vicinity, and they seem to have abundance of food.
Leaying this district of springs and guided by a Bushman, we crossed an
excessively dry and difficult tract of country, and struck a small river called
Mabali. Visiting a party of Bushmen and another of Banajoa, we, after some
days, reached the Chobe in 18° 20’S., the river on which Sebituane lived. The
tsetse (a venomous insect), abounded on the southern bank, and, as the depth
is from twelve to fifteen feet, we could not cross with the waggons; the cattle
were accordingly taken over to an island, and Mr. Oswell and I proceeded
about thirty miles down the river in a canoe. It was propelled by five
superior rowers; and to us who are accustomed to bullock waggons, the speed
seemed like that of boat races at home.

Sebituane received us kindly, and offered to replace our cattle, which
were all believed to be bitten by tsetse. He returned to the waggons
with us, and subsequently fell sick, and to our great sorrow, died.
He formed one of the party of Mantatees repulsed by the Griquas, at
old Lattakoo, and since then he has almost constantly been fighting.
He several times lost all his cattle, but, being a man of great ability,
managed to keep his people together, and ended his days richer in cattle,
and with many more people under his sway, than any other chief we
know in Africa. A doctor who attended him interrupted with rudeness when
I attempted to speak about death, and his people took him away from the
island when not far from his end. Mr. Oswell and I went over to condole

96 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

with his people soon after the news of his death came, and they seemed to
take our remarks thankfully. We remained two months with them; they
are by far the most savage race of people we have seen, but they treated us
with uniform kindness, and would have been delighted had we been able to
remain with them permanently. Such was my intention when I left Kolo-
beng, and having understood that there were high lands in that region, to
avoid the loss of time which would occur in returning for my family, 1
resolved that they should accompany me. The deep rivers among which they
now live, are a defence to them against the Matabele. To have removed them
to the high land would have been rendering them defenceless; and the country
itself was so totally different from anything I could have anticipated, I felt
convinced that two years alone in it, are required for the successful com-
mencement of a mission. It is for hundreds of miles intersected with
numerous rivers, and branches of rivers coming out of these and returning
into them again; these are flanked with large reedy, boggy, tracts of country.
Where trees abound, if not on an island, the tsetse exists; indeed we seem to
have reached the limits of waggon travelling.

““We proceeded on horseback about one hundred miles further than
the place where the waggons stood to see the Sesheke or river of the
Barotse. It is from three hundred to five hundred yards broad, and
at the end of a remarkably dry season, had a very large volume of
water in it. The waves lifted the canoes and made them roll beauti-
fully, and brought back old scenes to my remembrance. The town of
Sesheke is on the opposite shore; the river itself, as near as we could ascer-
tain by both instruments, 17° 28’ South. It overflows the country periodically
for fifteen miles out, contains a waterfall called Mosiatunya (smoke sounds), the
spray of which can be seen ten or fifteen miles off. The river of Bashukolompo
is about eighty yards wide, and when it falls into the Sesheke the latter is called
Zambesi. There are numerous rivers reported to connect the two, and all
along the rivers there exists a dense population of a strong black race. That
country abounds in corn and honey, and they show much more ingenuity in
iron work, basket work, and pottery, than any of the people south of them.

“‘ That which claims particular attention is the fact that the slave trade
only began in this region during 1850. A party of people called Mambari, from
the west, came to Sebituane bearing a large quantity of English printed and
striped cotton clothing, red, green, and blue baize of English manufacture,
and with these bought from the different towns about two hundred boys; they
had chains and rivets in abundance, and invited the people of Sebituane to go
a marauding expedition against the Bashukolompo by saying, you may take
all the cattle, we will only take the prisoners. On that expedition they met
with some Portuguese, and these gave them three English guns, receiving in
return at least thirty slaves. These Portuguese promised to return during

TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. 97

this winter. The people confessed that they felt a repugnance to the traffic,
but (the Mambari and Portuguese) refused cattle for their clothing and
guns. It seems to me that English manufactures might come up the Zambesi
during the months of June, July, and August, or September, by the hands of
Englishmen, and for legitimate purposes, as well as by these slave dealers for
their unlawful ends. There is no danger from fever if people come after
May, and leave before September. The Government might supply informa-
tion to traders on the coast. I shall write you fully on this subject, as also on
another of equal importance, but at which I can only now hint.

“You will see by this accompanying sketch what an immense region
God has in His providence opened up. If we can enter in and form a settle-
ment, we shall be able, in the course of a very few years, to put a stop to the
slave trade in that quarter. Itis probable that the mere supply of English manu-
factures in this part of the country will effect this, for they did not like it, and
promised to abstain. I think it will be impossible to make a fair commence-
ment unless I can secure two years devoid of family cares. I shall be obliged
to go southward, perhaps to the Cape, in order to have my uvula excised and
my arm mended. It has occurred to me, that as we must send our children
to England soon, it would be no great additional expense to send them now
along with their mother. This arrangement would enable me to proceed
alone, and devote about two, or perhaps three years to this new region; but
I must beg your sanction, and if you please, let it be given or withheld as soon
as you conyeniently can, so that it might meet me at the Cape. To orphanize
my children, will be like tearing out my bowels; but when I can find time to
write to you fully, you will perceive it is the only way, except giving up the
region altogether.”

In the Missionary Magazine for June, we have the continuation of his
account of his visit to the interior. He says:—

“‘The confusion which has for a considerable time prevailed on our
borders, contains to those who are intimately acquainted with the native
tribes, unmistakable evidence of a state of transition; and though not at all
anxious to inflict our simple faith as to the ultimate result of the transition
process, on those who can see further into a millstone than ourselves, or even
desirous to stave off the blame, which such eagerly heap on the agents of the
London Missionary Society, we may hint that the process, when conducted by
missionaries, untrammelled by the interference of Government, is incom-
parably the cheapest at least, both with respect to blood and treasure. And
the intentions of Providence seem to indicate a wide extension of the process.
The Bible will soon be all translated and printed in the Sichuana. The
Providence of God fixed the residence of the translator on a spot which
became the city of refuge for individuals and families from nearly every
tribe in the country. The translation, by this circumstance, became better

i¢) *

98 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

adapted for general use, and contains less of a provincial character than it
otherwise would have done. It is owing to this circumstance that if a word
is objected to, ten to one but the objector is familiar only with a dialect
peculiar to a minority of the Bechuana nation.

“Then there is the extensive prevalence of that language and its
grammatical exactitude. It is totally different from all European languages,
and the Bush or Hottentot. Its forms and inflections are nearly perfect, and
tribes, which have through war or other degrading influences lost much of the
expressiveness of their dialects, admire the Sichuana Testament on account of
the little loss that language has sustained. Sebituane hag planted it on the
banks of the Zambesi. It is the court language there, as the Norman-French
was in our court some centuries ago. He encountered great difficulties in
crossing the Kalahari desert. The extreme thirst which his people and cattle
underwent in passing along nearly the same route as that at present pursued
in our course to the Lake Ngami, resulted in the loss of nearly all his cattle—
hundreds in the frenzy of thirst fled back to Mushue, Lopeps, &c., and were
captured by tribes living on this side of the desert. He went before us to
prepare our way. The existence of the Kalahari desert excludes the shadow
_ of the shade of foundation for the idea that any white man ever crossed it
before Mr. Oswell and myself. Even the Griquas, who were well acquainted
with the desert, always attempted to go through it. Those who succeeded
subsequently to the period of our discovery did so with the entire loss of
waggons and oxen. The idea of passing, as it were, round the end of the
desert instead of through it, never entered any one’s head until we put it in
practice.

‘In our late journey to the country of Sebituane, or the region situated
about two hundred miles beyond the Lake Ngami, we followed our usual
route towards the Zouga until we came to Nahokotsa. From thence our
course became nearly due north.

“‘ Karly on the morning of the 19th of June we found ourselves on the
banks of the River Chobe, lat. 18° 20’ south, long. 26° east.

‘The extensive regions to the north-north-east and north-west of the
Chobe and Sesheke rivers, under the sway of the late Sebituane, and now
governed by his people called Makololo, in the name of his daughter, is for
hundred of miles nearly a dead level. In passing over one hundred miles
from the point where the waggons stood to the River Sesheke, we saw no hill
higher than an ant hill. The country is intersected by numerous deep rivers,
and adjacent to each of these, immense reedy bogs or swamps stretch away in
almost every direction. Oxen cannot pass through these swamps; they sink
in up to the belly, and on looking down the holes made by their legs, the
parts immediately under the surface are seen to be saturated with water.

“The rivers are not like many in South Africa, mere ‘ nullahs,’ con-

THE RISE AND FALL OF RIVERS. 99

taining nothing but sand and stones. All of those we saw contained large
volumes of water. The period of our visit happened to be the end of an
extraordinary dry season, yet, on sounding the Chobe, we found it to have a
regular depth of 15 feet on the side to which the water swung, and of 12 feet
on the calm side. The banks below the lowest water mark were more
inclined to the perpendicular than those of a canal. It was generally as deep
at a foot from the bank as in the middle of the stream. ‘The roots of the
reeds and grass seem to prevent it wearing away the land, and in many parts
the bank is undermined and hangs over the deep water. Were its course not
so very winding, a steam vessel could sail on it. The higher lands in this
region are raised only by a few feet above the surrounding level. On these,
the people pasture their cattle, make their gardens, and build their towns.
The rivers overflow their banks annually. The great drought prevented the
usual rise of the water while we were in the country in July, and the people
ascribed the non-appearance of the water to the death of their chief. But
when the rivers do fill, the whole country is inundated, and must present
the appearance of a vast lake with numerous islands scattered over its surface.
The numerous branches given off by each of the rivers and the annual over-
flow of the country, explain the reports we had previously heard of
* Linokanoka’ (rivers upon rivers), and ‘large waters’ with numerous islands
in them. The Chobe must rise at least 10 feet in perpendicular height before
it can reach the dykes built for catching fish, situated about a mile from its
banks, and the Sesheke must rise 15 or 20 feet before it overflows its banks.
Yet, Mr. Oswell and I saw unmistakeable evidence of that overflow, reaching
about 15 miles out. We were fortunate in visiting the country at the end of
a remarkably dry year, but even then the amount of zigzag necessary to avoid
the numerous branches of the rivers—the swamps and parts infested by the
tsetse—would have frittered away the only season in which further progress,
by means of waggons, would have been practicable. As the people traverse
the country in eyery direction in their canoes, and even visit their gardens
in them, a boat may be indispensable in the equipment of future travellers.
“The soil seemed fruitful. It is generally covered with rank coarse
grass ; but many large and beautiful trees adorn the landscape. Most of
these were to us entirely new. We claimed acquaintance, however, with the
gigantic Baobab, which raises its enormous arms high above all the other
forest trees, and makes them by the contrast appear like bushes below it.
Large numbers of date trees and palmyras grow on the road to Sesheke.
The former were in blossom at the time of our visit, and we saw date seeds
under them, Of the new trees, some were very beautiful evergreens; and in
addition to numbers of large parasitical plants, we observed two of the
orchidian family. One splendid fruit tree particularly attracted our notice,
but, unfortunately, all the seeds (about the size of peach stones) were broken

100 * LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

by some animal. In addition to the usual grains grown by the natives, they
raise large numbers of a kind of earth-nut called ‘motuohatsi’ (man of the
earth). It is sweet when roasted in the ashes and also when boiled. It has
grown well at Kuruman, and has been distributed in the colony of the Cape.
The people of the Barotse tribe cultivate the sugar-cane and sweet potato.
Wheat, maize, peach, and apricot stones, and other garden seeds, have been
left with the Makololo, as they willingly promised to make and sow a garden
for our use. As the moisture from the river seems to permeate the soil, it is
probable that some of these seeds will vegetate and increase the food of the
inhabitants ; but of this, their stout appearance seemed to indicate no want.
‘The people inhabiting these regions are a black race, totally distinct from
the Bechuanas. The people of Sebituane are called Makololo, and the black
race which we found inhabiting the numerous islands is divided into several
tribes, which pass by different names; as the Barotse, Banyeti, Batoko,
Bashukulompo, &c. The Makololo are a sort of omnium gatherum, of different
Bechuana tribes, all speaking Sichuana. The providence of God has prepared
the way for us, for wherever we went we found the Sichuana, into which the
Bible is nearly all translated, in common use. It is the court language.
There are besides the different dialects of the black tribes, viz., those of the
Barotse, Batoka, &c.; and though the radicals bear some resemblance to the
Sichuana, and are of the same family, none of the Bechuana could under-
stand them when spoken. The Barotse are very ingenious in basket making
and wood-work generally. The Banyeti are excellent smiths, making ox and
sheep bells, spears, knives, needles, and hoes of superior workmanship; iron
abounds in their country, and of excellent quality; they extract it from the
ore, and they are famed as canoe builders; abundance of fine, light, but strong
wood called molompi, enables them to excel in this branch of industry ; other
tribes are famed for their skill in pottery; their country yields abundance of
native corn, &c.; and though their upper extremities and chests are largely
developed, they seem never to have been much addicted to wars. They seem
always to have trusted to the defences which their deep reedy rivers afford.
Their numbers are very large. In constructing the rough sketch of the
country given in the map, we particularly requested of the different natives
employed, that they would only mention the names of the large towns. As scores
of them were employed by Mr. Oswell and myself, and they generally agreed
in their drawings and accounts of the towns, &¢., we consider what we have
put down, to be an approximation to the truth. The existence of the large
towns indicated, derives additional confirmation from the fact that in our ride
to Sesheke we saw several considerable villages containing 500 or 600 inhabi-
tants each, and these were not enumerated by our informants as being too
small to mention.
European manufactures, in considerable quantities, find their way in from

THE TRADE IN IVORY. 101

the east and west coasts to the centre of the continent. We were amused soon
after our arrival at the Chobe, by seeing a gentleman walking toward us in a
gaudily-flowered dressing gown, and many of the Makololo possessed cloaks
of blue, red, and green baize, or of different-coloured prints. On inquiring
we found that these had been obtained in exchange for slaves, and that this
traffic began on the Sesheke only in 1850. A party of another African tribe,
called Mambari, came to Sebituane in that year, carrying great quantities of
cloth and a few old Portuguese guns marked ‘ Legitimo de Braga,’ and though
cattle and ivory were offered in exchange, everything was refused except boys
about fourteen years of age. The Makololo viewed the traffic with dislike, but
haying great numbers of the black race living in subjection to them, they
were too easily persuaded to give these for the guns. Hight of these old
useless guns were given to Sebituane for as many boys. They then invited
the Makololo to go on a fray against the Bashukolompo, stipulating before-
hand, that in consideration for the use to be made of their guns in the attack
on the tribe, they should receive all the captives, while the Makololo should
receive all the cattle. While on this expedition the Makololo met a party of
slaye-dealers on the Bashukolompo or Mauniche river; these were either Portu-
guese or bastards of that nation, for they were said to be light coloured hike us
(our complexion being a shade darker than wash leather), and had straight
hair. These traders presented three English muskets to the Makololo, and
the latter presented them with about thirty captives. ‘The Mambari went off
with about two hundred slaves, bound in chains, and both parties were so weil
pleased with their new customers, that they promised to return in 1851. We
entertained hopes of meeting them, but they had not yet come when we left.
The Mambari came from the north-west, and live in the vicinity of the sea
coast on that side; while the other slave dealers come up the Zambesi, from
the east coast. Can Europeans not equal the slave dealers in enterprise? If
traders from Europe would come up the Zambesi, the slave dealer would soon
be driven out of the market. Itis only three years since we first opened a
market for the people on the river Zouga and Lake Ngami. We know of nine
hundred elephants haying been killed in that period on one river alone.
Before we made a way into that quarter there was no market; the elephants’
tusks were left to rot in the sun with the other bones, and may still be seen,
completely spoiled by sun and rain; but more than £10,000 worth of ivory
has come from that river since its discovery; and if one river helps to swell
the commerce of the colony, what may not be expected from the many rivers,
all densely populated, which are now brought to light? ‘ But the blacks will
be supplied with fire-arms and give the colonists much trouble afterwards.’
Yes they will, and that too, most plentifully by those who make the greatest
outery against the trade in arms, and the sale of gunpowder. But can the
trade in fire-arms be prevented? So long as, according to Cumming’s state-

102 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ment, 8,000 per cent. can be made by it, it is in vain to attempt to stop it.
The result of all our observation in the matter is, the introduction of guns
among the natives has the same effect among them as among European
nations; it puts an end to most of their petty wars, and renders such as do
occur much less bloody than they formerly were. We do not plead for the
trade. We only say stop that, and stop the slave trade, by coercion ¢fyou can.
Tf any one will risk something in endeavouring to establish a trade on the
Zambesi, we beg particularly to state that June, July, and August are, as far
as our present knowledge goes, the only safe months for the attempt. He who
does establish a fair trade will be no loser in the end. We had frost on the Chobe
in July, but the winter is very short. We saw swallows on Sesheke in the
beginning of August, and the trees generally never lose their leaves.”

From Mr. Chapman’s travels we are tempted to give here a series of
extracts supplementing Livingstone’s account of the countries to the south of
the Zambesi. Near the streams and lakes the abundance of animal life is very
striking. In his account of his approach to Lechulatebes town, Mr. Chapman
gives a graphic account of animal and plant life on the Botletlie or Zouga
river :—

‘‘ The vegetation is everywhere luxuriant, and the animals seem to revel
in it. The birds, in particular, are seen in countless numbers and of endless
varieties. We saw some (Jibbaroos) as large as adjutants, with long red beaks
turned upward at the extremity, the plumage black and white. Also three
kinds of demoisella cranes, and a large magnificent hawk, with black breast
and throat. It is dark sepia grey above, snow white underneath, with black
spots. Hundreds of grouse and pheasants, with their young broods, run
before us, and hawks are all day snapping them up, while mice and lizards,
coming out to bask, are so plentiful that these rapacious birds have no want
of food. Wherever the water has pushed over the banks, and formed little
swamps and pools, we see hundreds of ducks and geese of several kinds, also
the large yellow-billed duck, with glossy green wings, and the large whistling
ducks. :

‘Next morning, which was bitterly cold, with again a southerly wind, I
started early, cooped up in a middling-sized ill-shapen canoe, with a Makobo
and two little sons with him, one to paddle and the other for company. We
poled or paddled, or drifted with the stream, as chance offered, frequently
having to tear our way through the dense reeds which shut up our path. For
a mile or two the river would be quite free and open, and often so shallow
that we had to put back and return by another channel, or get out and drag
the boat, so that I somewhat repented that I had not rather undertaken the
journey on foot. At times we forced our way through large and picturesque
basins, under perpendicular white cliffs, crowned with gigantic over-hanging
trees, while the green slopes on the opposite side were clothed with a carpet

TROPICAL SCENERY. 103

of emerald, on which cattle and goats were browsing. The water in these
little lakes was almost entirely hidden under the profusion of immense lotus
leaves, which lay on its surface, and were buoyant enough to support the weight
of stilt legs (a rare bird), snipes, and other aquatic birds, running about in quest
of their food. These leaves, large and oblong, are slit at one end as far as
the stalk, and though as thin as a sheet of paper, receive their buoyancy from
the fact of their outer edges drying and curling up to the sun, so that they
float like large ducks in the water; excepting when the wind sometimes lifts
one up, causing it to flap like the wings of a bird. Thousands of pretty lotus
flowers enliven the scene, while they emit an odour grateful and invigorating
to the senses. We passed over some beds of hard sandstone, worn full of
round cayities. At times I fancied we were about to bump up against a
brown coral-like reef, which, however, yielded before us and proved to be a
peculiar aquatic plant. We started some lovely little king fishers, with
plumage of most ethereal hues, and I shot a brace of white storks. I got
pretty well tired of the boat, and occasionally took a walk on the banks,
leaying the boat to pursue its course. . . . By-and-bye we came to a
large makuchon tree shading a large circle on the north bank, and I knew
another hour would land us at the town. Just here there are many shallows,
so that in many parts a waggon can easily cross. There are scarcely any
reeds on the banks, and large plains exist which were covered with water
and reeds, even so lately as twenty or thirty years ago.”

This stream, the Botletle, or Zouga, Livingstone supposed to be the outlet
of Lake Ngami, but Mr. Chapman and others, who have beenrepeatedly round the
lake, have found that it has no outlet, and that it is gradually shrinking in
dimensions. During the rainy season a portion of the waters of the Zouga
flows eastwards, while another portion flows westwards into the Lake;
Livingstone must have seen it when the channel lake-wards was full, and the
surplus water of the river was flowing to the east. The change of climate is
rapidly reducing the waters which flow into it, and in all probability the country
round will, within a few generations, assume the character of the Kalahari desert.
To the south there is a large shallow salt lake, and all over the country salt-pans,
or the beds of former salt lakes are found. The grass-eating animals frequent
these salt-pans just as their congeners in North America visit the salt licks. Mr.
Chapman has passed twice between Lake Ngami and Walvisch Bay on the
West Coast, and next to Dr. Livingstone, has explored the largest amount of
South African territory. His two volumes of “ Travels in the Interior of
South Africa,” are most interesting reading. His descriptions of the flora
and fauna of the vast regions he has traversed are most copious and valuable,
and we take the opportunity here of acknowledging our indebtedness to his
graphic and entertaining pages.

Mr, Chapman had thoughts of settling for a time between Lake Neami

104 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

—

and the West Coast, and endeavouring to make peace between the various
warlike tribes of the district, while he traded in ivory and skins, and made a
careful study of the natural history of the district, but the wars between the
Namaqua Hottentots and the Damaras, rendered it impossible. The follow-
ing picture of the scene in which he hoped to settle, will give a good idea of
the beauty and fertility of vast tracts in Central Africa :—

‘Tn the course of the ensuing fortnight I removed to Wilson’s old place in
the Schwagoup river, where my cattle were grazing. I made a pit for the
cattle, and one for ourselves, with a garden, &c., and collected material for
building a house, in the hope of yet being able to make peace between the
hostile tribes, and bring my wife and family to settle in this country, with a
view to prosecute for a few more years my researches in natural history, &e.

‘“‘'The site at the ‘‘ shambles,” as the spot was called, was a lovely one for
a dwelling, surrounded by a park of most gigantic and graceful anna trees.
Over these trees, at the back of my residence, peeps out a large smooth mass
of granite mountain, towering a thousand feet above the plain; and on the
southern or opposite side is another reddish-looking mountain sparsely covered
with green grass and bush. In this hill copper has been found. To the
westward the hills are crossed with wavy streaks of quartz through soft grey
granite. The werft was overrun with dry burr-grasses, the seeds of which,
together with a wild vegetable, or spinach, called omboa, constitutes an
article of food of the Damaras. Dark and heavy clusters of a creeping or
parasitical plant hang gracefully around the thick stems of the anna trees. ‘T'o
the north there are open, undulating, bush-dotted plains, extending for several
miles, and terminated by sharp-angled, serrated hills in the distant north and
west. Pheasants run cackling about on my homestead by hundreds, de-
stroying my garden, and guinea-fowls and korhaans are heard. ‘The zebra,
the koodoo, the ostrich, and other tenants of the wilds, are to be found on the
station. The grazing and the water is good and abundant, and nothing is
wanting but peace in the country to make this, and a thousand other equally
pleasant spots, a delightful place of residence.

‘Continual rumours of immediate attack by the Hottentots, however,
forbid anything like repose. We are kept in a state of constant alarm, and
all exercise of peaceful industry was rendered impossible. This state of
suspense which paralysed all useful effort, was succeeded, after some weeks,
by a lull, and it was understood that an accommodation had been come to
on the part of the respective leaders, and that the strife between the Damaras
and Hottentots was virtually at an end. Encouraged by these reports, and
finding it impossible to exist in Damara Land, I resolved upon removing my
property into the Hottentot country, and as the Damaras were again gaining
courage and moving up to Wilson’s and Bessingthwaite’s places, near the
Hottentots, I succeeded in getting a few to accompany me to the matchless

HONEY BEER. 105

copper-mines near Jonker’s place,— where they knew there was abundance
of food, and a prospect of trade with the Hottentots. Accordingly, I packed
up my things and started, on December 6th, for Otjimbengue; a thousand
Damaras met me on the road, and their moro! moro! (good morning) was
always accompanied with tutu lako (give me tobacco).

“<The country eastward was green and flourishing, the valley of the Kaan
teeming with guinea-fowl, of which I shot a great number. I reached Rim-
hoogte on the evening of the 8th, and, with some delays consequent on the
necessity of waiting for my cattle to come up, arrived a few days later at my
destination. I found the houses at the mines in a terribly tumble-down con-
dition. But as Mr. Andersson, who had a claim to the buildings, had given
me permission to occupy any of them if I felt disposed to run the risk of
doing so, I set to work at renovating the best of them, and made a garden
while waiting the arrival of Jan Jonker, to whom I had notified my presence
there On the 17th, I received a visit from the chief, who was accompanied
by his uncle, old Jan Jonker, with an interpreter and one or two attendants.
Jan Jonker himself looked very much improved since I had last seen him:
he was smartly dressed, had grown stouter and more manly in figure, and
exhibited, in the questions he put to me, a degree of shrewdness and general
intelligence which I little expected to find in the debauched youth of bygone
years He evidently sought to extract from me all the information at my
disposal; and I could not but admire the assumed air of indifference with
which he asked the most important questions. We had much conversation on the
disturbed state of the country, and the disputed points between the Damara
and Hottentot nations. He denied the alleged grievances of the former people,
and resented warmly the interference of English traders in native affairs.

“‘ Jan Jonker and his party left me next morning, the chief promising
that he would send to warn the Topnaars not to molest my property, intima-
ting at the same time that they were not his subjects, but a perfectly inde-
pendent people, over whom he had no direct control. I wished to give hima
letter, to be forwarded to Amraal’s to meet my brother, who is expected from
the lake; but he declines taking charge of it, there being at present no com-
munication with that tribe, owing to the small-pox, which, he says, is making
dreadful ravages.

“‘ Having now made all the arrangements I thought necessary to ensure
the safety of my people , whom I left in charge of my servant, James Har-
rison, I left, on the 19th, for the Bay, in order to meet my wife, who was
determined in future to be my travelling companion. Passing a day at
Mr. Bessingthwaite’s house (where a pot of honey-beer, or methlegen, the
favourite beverage of the Hottentots, was hospitably brewed in my honour)
on the way, and descending by Rimhoogte into the valley of the Kann river,
I reached Otjimbengue in time to spend the Christmas there.

P

106 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘¢ The Kaan, which the road frequently crosses, is a very turbulent moun-
tain torrent; it is one of the largest branches of the Schwagoup river above
Otjimbengue, and pours occasionally a large body of water into that river,
but, owing to the quick drainage, never offers a long-continued impediment
to waggon travelling. When, however, its turbid waves come rolling down
with thundering roar after the rains, the traveller has only to wait patiently
until its fury is spent

“The Kaan valley offers many a scene of striking interest to the lover of
Nature and the pencil of the artist. One of the most striking features in the
surrounding scenery is found in the uniform parallel stratifications of schist
projecting some distance from the earth, and all bearing in one direction; the
intervals are covered with a mixture of last year’s crop of dry grass, blending
with the incipient crop of this. An occasional white-stemmed gouty-looking
motiudi tree, with its large, pointed, oval, pulpy leaves, strongly serrated,
and tall aloes, cacti, and euphorbias are seen. The round and sometimes
broken and cliffy hills, dotted with verdant sweet-gums, their bases often
washed by the flood, offer pictures which it is pleasant to behold, surrounded,
as they often are, with pretty forests of blooming, sweet-scented mimosa from
whose black stems the silvery gum is trickling, while their bright blossoms
perfume the morning air. The blue jay, with heavy wing, hovers mockingly
overhead, vociferating in concert with gay-painted but screeching paroquets
and discordant guinea-fowls, whose notes are further augmented by the
whir—r—r of pheasants and partridges, which rise on every side, while insects
of green and gold buzz and boom amongst the foliage.

‘<The least interesting part of this valley is clothed with dabby (Tamarisk),
a few pretty ebony trees, aged and wide-spreading mokalas and anna-booms.
Here graceful koodoos are still found browsing and the rock buck perches on the
highest pinnacles, and the equally agile mountain zebra (the small black one of
the Cape), wary as a cat, barely shows his head over the mountains, ere,
tossing his mane and rearimg back, he suddenly flings out his heels and
plunges forward in mad gallop. The stemmboks keep on the lower plains, and
baboons are found in large gangs grubbing for bulbs (/unchies) and the roots
of the purple-blossomed sorrel, which is also abundant, and is a nourishing
and wholesome vegetable to man as well. Through such a landscape it is an
interesting sight to watch the red wheels of the white-tilted waggons drag-
ging heavily after the sturdy team of parti-coloured oxen, often stumbling
and kneeling over the sharp flints; now rolling with the roar of distant thunder
down the rocky steps of the mountains, with difficulty maintaining its equili-
brium ; now grating down the quartzy slope with the drag on, the oxen drag-
ging sometimes on their haunches; anon grinding over the pebbly bed of the
stream, on emerging from which the sore-footed cattle more firmly tread the
soft. red, sandy road, cut through a carpet of emerald, until they bury them-

SECHELE’S LETTER. 107

selves out of sight in the blooming groves, while the mountains re-echo with
the driver’s harsh voice and the crack of his huge whip.

** We halted during the day at a spot where Isaak, a half-witted Hottentot
lad by whom I was attended, noticed a plant of the cactus or euphorbia tribe,
known by the name of elephant’s trunk. Isaak plucked several of the younger
shoots of the plants, and, rubbing off the prickles with a stone, set me the
example of eating some. Notwithstanding that I knew the plant to be freely
eaten by the Namaquas, I thought, on tasting the first mouthful, that Isaak
was bent upon poisoning me, and made some horrible wry faces. Isaak
however, devoured several pounds of the nauseous plant.”

Livingstone, in pursuance of a design intimated at the close of last chap-
ter, and further alluded to in the letter published in this chapter, accompanied
his family to the Cape, from whence they were to be conveyed to England.
On his return he was delayed at Kuruman for a fortnight by the breaking of
a waggon wheel, which prevented him from being present with Sechele and the
friendly Bakwains at Kolobeng, when the long-threatened attack of the Boers,
already detailed, was carried into effect. Previous to this, Sechele had sent
his children to Mr. Moffat at Kuruman to be educated.

The news of the attack of the Boers was brought by Masabele, Sechele’s
wife. She had herself been hidden in a cleft of rock, over which a number of
Boers were firing. Her infant began to ery, and terrified lest this should
attract the attention of the men, the muzzles of whose guns appeared at every
discharge over her head, she took off her armlets as playthings to quiet the
child. She brought Mr. Moffat a letter which tells its own tale; nearly lite-
rally translated it is as follows :—

*‘ Friend of my heart’s love, and of all the confidence of my heart; I am
undone by the Boers, who attacked me, although I had no guilt with them.
They demanded that I should be in their kingdom, and I refused. They de-
manded that 1 should prevent the English and Griquas from passing (north-
wards). I replied: These are my friends, and I can prevent no one (of them).
They came on Saturday and I besought them not to fight on Sunday, and
they assented. They began on Monday morning at twilight, and fired with
all their might, and burned the town with fire and scattered us. They killed
sixty of my people, and captured women, and children, and men; and the
mother of Baloriling (a former wife of Sechele) they also took prisoner. They
took all the cattle and all the goods of the Bakwains; and the house of
Livingstone they plundered, taking away all his goods. The number of
waggons they had was eighty-five, and a cannon; and after they had stolen
my own waggon and that of Macabe, then the number of their waggons (count-
ing the cannon as one) was eighty-eight. All the goods of the hunters (cer-
tain English gentlemen hunting and exploring in the north) were burned in
the town; and of the Boers were killed twenty-eight. Yes, my beloved

108 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

friend, now my wife goes to see the children, and Robus Hae will convey her
to you. ““T am, SEcHELE, The son of Mochoasele.”

The report of this disaster raised such a panic among the Bechuanas that
Livingstone had great difficulty in engaging any one to accompany him from
any of the tribes near Kuruman. At last m conjunction with George
Heming, a man of colour, who was on his way to the Makololo country, with
the view of opening up a trade with them, half-a-dozen servants were procured.
‘They were,” he says, ‘‘the worst possible specimens of those who imbibe
the vices without the virtues of Europeans; but we had no choice, and were
glad to get away on any terms.”

At Motilo, forty miles to the north, the travellers met Sechele on his way,
as he said, to submit his case ‘‘ to the Queen of England.” He was so firmly
impressed with a belief in the justice of Englishmen, that they found it im-
possible to dissuade him from making the attempt. On reaching Bloemfontein,
he found some English troops just returned from a battle with the Basutos.
The officers were much interested in Sechele, invited him to dinner, and sub-
scribed a handsome sum amongst them to defray his expenses. He proceeded
as far as the Cape, when, having expended all his means, he was compelled to
return to his own country without accomplishing his object.

If anything had been required to prove that the Dutch Boers on the
frontier were actuated by selfish interests only, the fact that they were so
assured of their ability to chastise the Bakwains for receiving Livingstone and
other Englishmen, that they agreed to wait over the Sunday before attacking
them, at Sechele’s request, would be evidence sufficient.

Sechele’s journey was not altogether in vain, as on his return he adopted
a mode of punishment he had seen in the colony—the making criminals work
on the public roads. As Livingstone had made up his mind to go into the
interior, he became the missionary to his own tribe. So popular did he
become, that within a very short period numbers of the tribes formerly living
under the Boers attached themselves to him, until he became the most power-
ful chief in the district.

It is facts like these which enable us to form a true idea of the influence
of the teaching and examole of a noble-minded and self-denying man like
Livingstone among the tribes of Central Africa.

On his way to the north, Livingstone found the unfortunate Bakwains
suffering severely from the destruction of their property and the plunder
of their cattle. Notwithstanding that Sechele had given orders that no vio-
lence was to be offered to the Boers during his absence, a band of young men
had ventured out to meet a party of Boers, and as the latter were in a minority
they ran off leaving their waggons, which the young men brought in triumph
to Letubamba, the head-quarters of the tribe. The Boers were alarmed, and
sent four of their number to sue for peace, which was granted on their return-

A TROUBLESOME ROAD

SLAVE HUNTERS AT LINYANTI. 109

ing Sechele’s three children, whom Schloz, the Boer leader, had carried off
as slaves. One of them had three large unbound open sores on its body,
caused by falling into the fire. This, and the general appearance of the poor
children, spoke eloquently of the cruel treatment they had been subjected to.

A larger fall of rain than ordinary having taken place, the travellers
found little difficulty in crossing the hem of the Kalahari desert. Water
melons and other succulent roots were abundant. They met an English
traveller, Mr. J. Macabe, who had crossed the desert at its widest part, his
cattle on one occasion subsisting on the water melons for twenty-one days.
Macabe had, previous to Livingstone’s discovery of Lake Ngami, written a
letter in one of the Cape papers, recommending a certain route as likely to
lead to it. The Trans-vaal Boers fined him five hundred dollars for writing
about “‘ onze velt,” our country, and imprisoned him until it was paid. Mr.
Macabe’s comrade, a Mr. Maher, fell a victim to the hatred engendered by the
Boers. A tribe of Barolongs having taken him for a Boer, shot him as he
approached their village. When informed that he was an Englishman their
regret at the misadventure was extreme.

At Linyanti the capital of the Makololo, the travellers were heartily
welcomed by Sekeletu, the son of Sebituane, who had succeeded to his sister.
Mamoschisane had found it impossible to carry out her father’s wishes; and
this could hardly be wondered at, since one of these was that she should have
no husband, but use the men of the tribe or any number of them she chose,
just as he himself had done by the women; but these men had other wives,
and as Livingstone drily puts it, in a proverb of the country, ‘“‘ The temper
of women cannot be governed,’ and they made her miserable by their
remarks. She chose one man who was called her wife, and her son the child
of Mamoschisane’s wife; but disliking the arrangement, shortly after her
father’s death she declared she would never govern the Makololo. Sekeletu,
who was afraid of the pretensions of Mpepe, another member of the family,
urged her to continue as chief, offering to remain with her and support her
authority in battle. She wisely persisted in her determination to abdicate,
indicating Sekeletu as her successor. ‘I have been a chief only because my
father wished it. I always would have preferred to be married and have a
family like other women. You, Sexeletu, must be chief, and build up your
father’s house.”

Sekeletu was afraid of Mpepe, whose pretensions were favoured by the
Mambari tribe and the half-caste Portuguese, who carried on the slave trade
between the tribes in the interior and the dealers in human flesh on the coast.
All their hopes of being able to carry on their trade lay in the success of his
rebellion. Previous to Livingstone’s arrival at Linyanti, a large party of
Mambari had arrived there; but on the receipt of intelligence that Living-
stone was approaching, they fled so precipitately as not even to take leave of

110 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Sekeletu. A marvellous evidence truly of the moral influence of Eugland,
even when only represented by one resolute man, on savage men who are
seldom amenable to anything save superior force! The Mambari retreated to
the north, where several half-caste slave traders, under the leadership of a
hali-caste Portuguese, had erected a stockade. Through the aid of the fire-
arms of the slave traders, Mpepe hoped to be able to make himself the head
of the Makololo; while they, in the event of his being victorious, expected to
be rewarded by the captives he might make in the course of the struggle.

Here and elsewhere the religious services were held in the Kotla, or public
meeting place, under the trees near the chief hut, and these were always well
attended. The meetings were called at Mabotsa and Kolobeng by the chief’s
herald. As many as seven hundred frequently attended these meetings. At
Kelobeng, Sechele’s wife frequently came in after service had begun, as if to
draw attention, not to her dress, but to her want of dress. Sechele, in great
displeasure, would send her out azain to put on some clothing. As she retired
she pouted, and looked the very picture of feminine annoyance. If a woman
found that another woman was seated upon her dress, she would give her a
shove with her elbow, which the other would return with interest, until
several others would join in the fray, the men swearing at them all to enforce
silence. Ifa child cried, it was enough to set a great many of the audience
into a fit of laughter; it seemed to them the perfection of a joke for a squalling
child to interrupt the grave and earnest missionary.

Mpepe, determining to strike the first blow, had armed himself with a
battle-axe, avowing his intention of striking Sekeletu down on the occasion of
their first interview, trusting to his being exalted to his position as chief,
during the panic which would inevitably take possession of the Makololo
on his death. At Livingstone’s request, Sekeletu accompanied him on a
journey, with a view of ascending the Leeambye, and when they had
got about sixty miles on their way they encountered Mpepe. At their
first interview Livingstone sat between them, and was thus unconsciously
the means of saving the life of Sekeletu. Some of Mpepe’s friends having
informed Sekeletu of his murderous intentions, he despatched several of his
attendants to his hut, who, seizing him by the arms, led him about a mile
from the encampment, where they speared him. This summary settlement
of a grave political difficulty thoroughly established Sekeletu in his position,
and removed what could hardly have failed to become a serious hindrance to
the carrying out of Livingstone’s cherished schemes. Mpepe’s men fled to the
Barotse, a tribe living in the district Livingstone and Sekeletu were on their
way to visit; and they, considering it unadvisable to go there during the
commotion excited by that occurrence, returned to Linyanti for a month,
when they again set out for the purpose of ascending the river from
Sesheke. They were accompanied by a large number of attendants, who are

THE ZAMBESI VALLEY. 111

thus deseribed :—‘‘ It was pleasant to look back along the long extended line
of our attendants, as it twisted and bent according to the course of the foot-
path, or in and out behind the mounds, the ostrich feathers of the men waving
in the wind. Some had the white ends of ox-tails on their heads, hussar
fashion, and others great bunches of black ostrich feathers, or capes made of
lions’ manes. Some wore red tunics, or various coloured prints, which the
chief had bought from Fleming; the common men carried burdens; the
gentlemen walked with a small club of rhinoceros horn in their hands, and
had servants to carry their shields; while the machaka—battle-axe men—
carried their own, and were liable at any time to be sent off a hundred miles
on an errand, and expected to run all the way.” Sekeletu was closely ac-
companied in marching by his own mopato, or body-guard of young men about
his own age, who were selected for the personal attendance and defence of the
chief, and seated themselves round him when they encamped.

The Makololo were rich in cattle, and the chief had numerous cattle stations
all over the country. In journeying, as on this occasion, his attendants were
fed by the chief, an ox or two being selected from his own herds, if there were
any in the neighbourhood ; if not the headman of the nearest village presented
one or two for the purpose. The people of the villages presented the party
on their arrival with draughts of the beer of the country and milk. As elands,
antelopes, and other kinds of game were frequently met within the plains between
Linyanti and the Leeambye they never wanted for food. The party struck
the Leeambye at a village considerably above Sesheke, where it is about six
hundred yards broad. After crossing to the north side of the river several
days were spent in collecting canoes. During this interval Livingstone took
the opportunity of going in pursuit of game to support the party, and to ex-
amine the adjacent country. The country is flat, diversified with small tree-
covered mounds, which are too high to be covered by the floods during the
rainy season. The soil on the flat parts is a rich loam, and this and the
abundant floods during the rainy season enable the natives to raise large
supplies of grain and ground-nuts. Vast numbers of a small antelope, about
eighteen inches high, new to naturalists, named the tian-yane, are found on
these plains, together with many of the larger antelopes, including a new or
striped variety of the eland; buffaloes and zebras were found on the plains,
so that there was no difficulty in the way of providing for so large a party.

. This journey was undertaken by Livingstone and Sekeletu with the object
of finding a healthy spot for establishing the head-quarters of the Makololo
within friendly or defensible territory. The low-lying and swampy districts
they had been compelled for purposes of safety from their numerous enemies
to occupy, was exercising a fatal influence on the physique and the increase
of the tribe. Fevers and other diseases incidental to marshy districts were
common. Livingstone himself had suffered severely from an attack of fever,

112 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and the intelligent chief and the headmen of the tribe were wise enough
to understand the value of the counsel of their missionary friend, when he
advised the removal of the bulk of the tribe to a more elevated and healthy
locality. Such a position had to be sought for beyond the reach of the annual
inundations, which for a period transform the course of the river for miles
into lakes and swamps; as when the waters subside, the miasma arising from
the wet soil and the rotting vegetation under a tropical sun makes the district
a hot-bed of fever and dysentery. Coming from the comparatively cold and
hilly region of the south, the Makololo suffered more severely from the effects
of the climate than the various tribes of Makalaka Sebituane had found living
in the district, and made subject to his rule. From choice they lived in the
neighbourhood of the river; as their agriculture is entirely dependent on the
annual floods. They cultivate dura, a kind of grain, maize, beans,
ground-nuts, pumpkins, water-melons, and cucumbers; and in the Barotse
valley, along the course of the Leeambye, the sugar-cane, sweet-potato, ete.,
are added to the agricultural produce, the fertility of the soil being increased
by rude efforts at irrigation.

Having collected thirty-three flat-bottomed canoes, capable of conveying
one hundred and sixty men, the imposing flotilla, rowed by Makalaka men,
who are more skilful watermen than the Makololo, moved rapidly up the
broad waters of the Leeambye; the great explorer enjoying an exhilaration
of spirits natural to an adventurous man, who, first of all his countrymen,
passed up this noble stream, and who saw clearly the great and important
part which a magnificent natural highway like this would play in the civilizing
of the numerous tribes of Central Africa. At many places the river is more
than a mile broad, its surface broken by islands, small and large. The islands
and the banks are thickly covered with trees, among which are the date-palm,
with its gracefully curved fronds, and the lofty palmyra, with its feathery
mass of foliage towering over all. Elephants and the larger species of game
were very abundant, but in consequence of the presence of that destructive
insect, the tsetse, the villagers on the banks had no domestic cattle. The
inhabitants of the valley of the river here are known as Banyete, and are,
from their skill in making various utensils, the handicraftsmen of the neigh-
bouring tribes. They make neat wooden vessels with lids, wooden bowls,
and, after Livingstone had introduced the custom of sitting on stools, they
exercised their taste and ingenuity in the construction of these in a variety
of shapes. Wicker baskets made of the split roots of trees, and articles of
domestic and agricultural utility in pottery and iron, were also among the
products of their skill. Iron ore is dug out of the earth, and smelted, and
fashioned into rude hoes, almost the only implement of husbandry known at
the time of his visit.

The Banyete never appear to have been a warlike people. War is either

ARTIFICIAL MOUNDS. 113

caused by slavery or the possession of cattle; and as the slave-dealers had
never reached their peaceful habitations, and the tsetse rendered the possession
of cattle impossible, they had lived secure from the ambitious and selfish
designs of more powerful and warlike tribes. Tribute was regularly paid to
Sekeletu in the simple articles constructed by their industrial skill, and in ex-
change they lived contented and happy under his protection. When the river
is low, a series of rapids make navigation difficult for considerable distances,
but the travellers met with no serious obstacle until they reached the falls of
Gonye, where the river, narrowing into a space of seventy or eighty yards wide,
falls a distance of thirty feet. There they had to carry the canoes for about a
mile over land. ;

At this place Livingstone heard of a tradition of a man who took advan-
tage of the falls to lead a portion of the river over the level country below for
the purposes of irrigation. His garden or farm was pointed out, and though
neglected for generations, they dug up an inferior kind of potato, which was
found to be bitter and waxy. If properly cultivated and irrigated, Living-
stone appears to think that the valleys through which the great rivers and
their afiluents flow might be made as productive as the valley of the Nile, to
which that of the Zambesi bears a striking resemblance. The intelligent and
generally peaceable character of the tribes visited by Livingstone in Central
Africa is a guarantee that, with the introduction of agricultural implements,
and the humanising influence of contact with civilization, such a desirable
state of matters may speedily follow the opening up of the country for pur-
poses of legitimate trade with Europeans.

The valley of the Barotse, a district inhabited by a people of that name,
subject to the Makololo, which extends west to the junction of the Leeambye
and Leeba, is about one hundred miles in length, and from ten to thirty miles
in width, with the Leeambye winding down the middle. The whole of this
valley is inundated, not by local rainfall, but by the flooding of the river, just
as the Nile valley is flooded by the overflow of that river, caused by rains
falling within the tropics. The villages of the Barotse are built on mounds,
which are at a sufficient elevation to be secure from the annual floods. These
mounds are for the most part artificial, and are said to have been raised by a
famous chief of the Barotse, named Santuru, who planted them with trees,
which give a grateful shade besides adding to the beauty of the scenery. As
this portion of the valley is free from the dreaded tsetse, the Barotse have
plenty of cattle, which find abundant food in the rich pasturage. At the
approach of the floods they retire to the high grounds, where food being less
abundant, they rapidly fall off in condition. Their return to the low ground.
on the subsidence of the river is a season of rejoicing among the people, be-
cause the time of plenty has returned once more.

In one of the Barotse towns Mpepe’s father lived, and as he and another

Q

114 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

man had counselled Mamochisane to kill Sekeletu and marry Mpepe, they:
were led forth and tossed into the river. On Livingstone remonstrating
against this off-hand shedding of human blood, Nokuane, who had been one
of the executioners on this occasion, and had also assisted in slaying Mpepe,
excused the act by saying, ‘‘ You see we are still Boers; we are not yet
taught.” Surely a terrible sarcasm coming from a savage on the doings of
so-called civilized men! At Naliele, the capital of the Barotse, which is built
on a great mound raised by Santuru, the party were visited by some of the
Mambari. The pure Mambari are as black as the Barotse, but many of them
were half-caste Portuguese, and could read and write. The head of the party
Livingstone believed to be a true Portuguese. Mpepe had given them full
permission to trade in his district, and they had not been slow to take advan-
tage of the permission in exchanging the commodities they brought with them
for slaves, assuring the people they were only to be employed by them to
cultivate the land, and that they would take care of them as their own
children. The notion that they were taken and sold across the sea was new to
these simple people, and the lesson taught by Livingstone could not fail to be
useful in circumscribing the abominable traffic among themselves and the other
tribes he visited on his way to the west coast. Santuru was once visited by
the Mambari, but he and his headmen refused them permission to buy any of
his people. The Makololo in expelling them from the country quoted this as
a precedent.

Finding that Katonga, as the high ground beyond Naliele was called,
was extensive, and free from the annual inundations, Livingstone visited it,
but although exceedingly beautiful, and abounding in gardens of great
fertility, cultivated with much care by the Barotse, it was found to be equally
unhealthy with the low ground. The view from Katonga is thus described :
‘‘ We could see the great river glancing out at several points, and fine large
herds of cattle quietly grazing on the green succulent herbage, among
numbers of cattle-stations and villages which are dotted over the landscape.
Leches (a kind of antelope) in hundreds fed securely beside them, for they
have learned only to keep out of bow-shot, or two hundred yards. When
guns come into a country, the animals soon learn their longer range, and
begin to run at a distance of five hundred yards.” As the current of the river
was here about four and a half miles an hour, a sure sign of a rapidly
increasing rise in the country, Livingstone determined on pushing still further
up the stream in search of a healthy location which he might make his head-
quarters.

Leaving Sekeletu at Naliele, he proceeded up stream, the chief having
presented him with men and rowers, and also a herald to announce his
arrival at the villages with proper effect, by shouting at the top of his voice,
‘‘¢ Here comes the lord, the great lion,’ the latter phrase being ¢aw e tona,

A NATIVE DANCE. 115

which in his imperfect way of pronunciation became saw e éona, and, so like
the great sow, that I could not have the honour with becoming gravity, and
had to entreat him, much to the annoyance of my party, to be silent.” At
all the villages the party met with a hearty welcome, as being to them
messengers of peace, which they term “sleep.” After pushing his way
to the junction of the Leeba with the Leeambye, and failing to find a
suitable spot for a mission settlement, the party descended to Naliele, but
not before Livingstone had made a guess that there lay the high road to the
west coast, and that its head waters must be within a hundred and twenty
miles of the Coanza, which would lead them down to the coast near Loanda.
The Coanza, as he afterwards found, does not come from anywhere near the
route he afterwards followed to Loanda.

The following extract from ‘“‘The Missionary Travels” will give some
idea of the abundance of large game in this region, and their want of fear of man.
“‘ Kighty-one buffaloes defiled in slow procession before our fire one evening,
within gun-shot; and hundreds of splendid elands stood by day without fear
at two hundred yards’distance. They were all of the striped variety, and with
their fore-arm markings, large dewlaps, and sleek skins, were a beautiful sight
to see. The lions here roar much more than in the country further south. One
evening we had a good opportunity of hearing the utmost exertions the animal
can make in that line. We had made our beds ona large sandbank, and could
be easily seen from all sides. A lion on the opposite shore amused himself for
hours by roaring as loudly as he could, putting, as 1s usual in such cases, his
mouth near the ground, to make the sound reverberate. . . . Wherever
the game abounds, these animals exist in proportionate numbers. Here they
were frequently seen, and two of the largest I ever saw seemed about as tall
as common donkeys; but the mane made their bodies appear rather larger.”

Coming down the river to the town of Ma Sekeletu (the mother of
Sekeletu) they found the chief awaiting them. After a short stay, the party
started on their voyage down the river, and reached Linyanti after an absence
of nine weeks. This being the first visit paid by Sekeletu to that portion of
his dominions, the travellers were received with the utmost enthusiasm every-
where, the headmen of the villages presenting him with more eatables and
drinkables than even his numerous followers could devour, notwithstanding
their wonderful powers in that way. The enthusiasm of the people usually
wound up with an extraordinary dance, which Livingstone describes: ‘ It
consists of the men standing, nearly naked, in a circle, with clubs or small
battle-axes in their hands, and each roaring at the loudest pitch of his voice,
while they simultaneously lift one leg, stamp heavily twice with it, then lift the
other, and give one stamp with that; this is the only movement in common.
The arms and head are thrown about also in every direction; and all this
time the roaring is kept up with the utmost possible vigour. The continued

116 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

stamping makes a cloud of dust around, and they leave a deep ring in the
ground where they have stood. If the scene were witnessed in a lunatic
asylum, it would be nothing out of the way, and quite appropriate even as a
means of letting off the excessive excitement of the brain ; but the grey headed
men joined in the performance with as much zest as others whose youth might
be an excuse for making the perspiration stream off their bodies with the
exertion. . . . The women stand by clapping their hands, and occasionally
one advances into the circle composed of a hundred men, makes a few move-
ments, and then retires.”

The effect the experience gained in this journey had upon him, and the
reflections induced thereby, are indicated in the following extract. ‘I had
been,” he says, “during a nine weeks’ tour, in closer contact with heathenism
than I had ever been before; and though all, including the chief, were as
kind and attentive to me as possible, and there was no want of food, yet to
endure the dancing, roaring, and singing, the jesting, anecdotes, grumbling,
quarreling, and murdering of these children of nature, seemed more like a
severe penance than anything I had before met with in the course of my mis-
sionary duties. I took thence a more intense disgust at heathenism than I had
before, and formed a greatly elevated opinion of the latent effect of missions
in the south, among tribes which are reported to have been as savage as the
Makololo. The indirect benefits which, to a casual observer lie beneath the
surface, and are inappreciable, in reference to the probable wide diffusion of
Christianity at some future time, are worth all the money and labour that
have been expended to produce them.”

The following account, written by the great traveller of his first passage
up the Leeambye, forms a very valuable supplement to the brief narrative we
have already given. It is dated Town of Sekeletu, Linyanti, 20th Septem
ber, 1853 :— ea

‘ As soon as I could procure people willing to risk a journey through the
country lately the scene of the gallant deeds of the Boers, I left Kuruman ;
and my companions being aware of certain wrathful fulminations uttered by
General Piet Scholtz to deter me from again visiting the little strip of
country which the Republicans fancy lies between Magaliesberg and Jeru-
salem, our progress was pretty quick till we entered lat. 19°, at a place that I
have marked on my map as the Fever Ponds. Here the whole party, except
a Bakwain lad and myself, was laid prostrate by fever. He managed the
oxen and I the hospital, until, through the goodness of God, the state of the
invalids permitted us again to move northwards. I did not follow our old
path, but from Kamakama travelled on the magnetic meridian (N.N.W.), in
order to avoid the ¢se¢se (fly). This new path brought us into a densely
wooded country, where the grass was from 8 to 10 feet high. The greater
leafiness of the trees showed we were in a moist climate, and we were most

INUNDATED COUNTRY. 117

agreeably surprised by the presence of vines growing luxuriantly, and yield-
ing clusters of dark purple grapes. The seeds, as large as split peas and very
astringent, leave but little room for pulp, though the grape itself is of good
size. The Bakwain lad now became ill; but, by the aid of two Bushmen, we
continued to make some progress. I was both driver and road-maker, having
either the axe or whip in hand all day long till we came to lat. 18° 4. Here
we discovered that the country adjacent to the Chobe was flooded: valleys
looked like rivers, and after crossing several we came to one, the Sanshureh,
which presented a complete barrier to further travelling with waggons. It
was deep, half a mile broad, and contained hippopotami. After searching in
yain for a ford, our two Bushmen decamped. Being very anxious to reach
the Makololo, I took one of the strongest of our invalids, crossed the Sanshureh
in a small pontoon, kindly presented by Messrs. Webb and Codrington, and
went N.N.W. across the flooded country in search of the Chobe. After
splashing through about 20 miles of an inundated plain, we came to a mass
of reed, which towards the N.E. seemed interminable. We then turned for a
short distance in the direction of our former waggon-stand, and from a high tree
were gratified by a sight of the Chobe; but such a mass of vegetation grew
between the bank and the flowing river, that our utmost efforts failed in pro-
curing a passage into it. The water among the reeds either became too deep,
or we were unable to bend down the barrier of papyrus and reed bound
together by a kind of conyolvulus. You will understand the nature of our
struggles, when I mention that a horrid sort of grass, about 6 feet high, and
having serrated edges which cut the hands most cruelly, wore my strong
moleskin ‘ unmentionables’ quite through at the knees, and my shoes (nearly
new) at the toes. My handkerchief protected the former; but in subsequent
travelling through the dense grass of the plains the feet fared badly. Though
constantly wet up to the middle during the day, we slept soundly by night
during the three days we spent among this mass of reeds, and only effected a
passage into the open water of the Chobe river on the fourth day. After
paddling along the river in the pontoon about 20 miles, we discovered a
village of Makololo. We were unexpected visitors, and the more so since
they believed that no one could cross the Chobe from the South bank without
their knowledge.

* Tn their figurative language they said, ‘I had fallen on them as if from
a cloud, yet came riding on a hippopotamus’ (pontoon). A vague report of
our approach had previously reached the chief, and two parties were out in
search of us; but they had gone along the old paths. In returning to the
waggons, which we did in canoes and in a straight line, we found the distance
not more than 10 miles. Our difficulties were now ended, for a great number
of canoes and about 140 people were soon dispatched from the town. They
transported our goods and waggons across the country and river, and when

118 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

we had been landed on the other side of the Chobe, we travelled northward
till within about one day from Sesheké, in order to avoid the flooded lands
adjacent to the river. We there struck upon the path which Mr. Oswell and
I travelled on horseback in 1850, and turning into it proceeded S.W. until we
came to Sekeletu’s town Linyanti. Our reception here was as warm as could
have been expected. The chief Sekeletu, not yet 19 years of age, said he had
got another father instead of Sebituane; he was not quite sure, however,
about learning to read: ‘he feared it might change his heart and make him
content with one wife only, as in the case of Sechele.’ It is pleasant to hear
objections frankly stated.

“About the end of July we embarked on our journey to the North,
embarking at Sekhose’s village on the Zambesi, or, as the aborigines
universally name it, the Leeambye, viz., the river. This village is about 25
miles West of the town of Sesheké. When I proposed to Sekeletu to examine
his country and ascertain if there were any suitable locality for a mission, he
consented frankly ; but he had not yet seen me enough. Then he would not
allow me to go alone; some evil might befall me, and he would be accountable.
This and fever caused some delay, so that we did not get off till about the end
of July. In the meantime I learned particulars of what had taken place here
since my last visit in 1852.

“The daughter of Sebituane had resigned the chieftainship into
(Sekeletu’s) her brother’s hands. From all I can learn she did it gracefully
and sincerely. Influential men advised her to put Sekeletu to death, lest he
should become troublesome when he became older. She turned from their
proposals in disgust, called a meeting, and with a womanly gush of tears,
said she had been induced to rule by her father, but her own inclination had
always been to lead a domestic life. She therefore requested Sekeletu to take
the chieftainship, and allow her to marry.

“¢ He was equally sincere in a continued refusal during several days, for
he was afraid of being cut off by a pretender, who had the audacity to utter
some threatening words in the assembly. I, who had just come from a nine
weeks’ tour, in company with a crowd who would have heen her courtiers, do
not now wonder at the resolution of Sebituane’s daughter: there was no want
of food, oxen were slaughtered almost every day in numbers more than
sufficient for the wants of all. They were all as kind and attentive to me as
they could have been to her, yet to endure their dancing, roaring, and singing,
their jesting, anecdotes, grumbling, quarrelling, murdering, and meanness,
equalled a pretty stiff penance.

‘“‘The pretender above referred to, after Sekeletu’s accession, and at the
time of my arrival, believing that he could effect his object by means of a
Portuguese slave-merchant and a number of armed Mambari, encouraged them
to the utmost. The selling of children had been positively forbidden by the

ON THE LEEAMBYE. 119

lawful chief Sekeletu, but his rival transported the slave-trading party across
the Leeambye river, and gave them full permission to deal in all the Batoka and
Bashukulompo villages to the East of it. A stockade was erected at Katongo,
and a flag-staff for the Portuguese banner planted, and in return for numerous
presents of ivory and cattle, that really belonged to Sekeletu, she pretender
received a small cannon. Elated with what he considered, success, he came
down here with the intention of murdering Sekeletu himself, having no doubt
but that, after effecting this, he should, by the aid of his allies, easily reduce
the whole tribe.”

The circumstances connected with the failure of the conspiracy have
already been related, and need not be repeated.

‘*‘ Another Portuguese slave-merchant came also from the West. He
remained here only three days, and finding no market, departed. A large
party of Mambari was encamped by Katongo, about the time of our arrival
at Linyanti. No slaves were sold to them; and when they heard that I
had actually crossed the Chobe, they fled precipitately. The Makololo
remonstrated, saying I would do them no harm, but the Mambari asserted
that I would take all their goods from them because they bought children.
The merchant I first spoke of had probably no idea of the risk he ran in
listening to the tale of a disaffected under chief. He was now in his stockade
at Katongo, and influential men proposed to expel both him and the Mambari
from the country. Dreading the results which might follow a commencement
of hostilities, I mentioned the difficulty of attacking a stockade, which could
be defended by perhaps forty muskets. ‘Hunger is strong enough,’ said an
under chief—‘ a very great fellow is he.’ As the chief sufferers in the event
of an attack would be the poor slaves chained in gangs, I interceded for
them, and as the result of that intercession, of which of course they are
ignorant, the whole party will be permitted to depart in peace: but no
stockading will be allowed again.

““Qur company, which consisted of 160 men, our fleet of 33 canoes,
proceeded rapidly up the river towards the Barotse. I had the choice of all
the canoes, and the best was 34 feet long and 20 inches wide. With six
paddlers we passed through 44 miles of latitude, by one day’s pull of 103
hours : if we add the longitude to this, it must have been upwards of 50 miles’
actual distance. The river is indeed a magnificent one. It is often more than
a mile broad, and adorned with numerous islands of from 3 to 5 miles in
length. These and the banks, too, are covered with forest, and most of the
trees on the brink of the water send down roots from their branches like the
banian.‘ The islands at a little distance seem rounded masses of sylvan vege-
tation of various hues, reclining on the bosom of the glorious stream. The
beauty of the scene is greatly increased by the date palm and lofty palmyra
towering above the rest, and casting their feathery foliage against a cloudless

120 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

sky. The banks are rocky and undulating ; many villages of Kanyeti, a poor
but industrious people, are situated on both of them. ‘They are expert hunters
of hippopotami and other animals, and cultivate grain extensively. At the
bend of Katima Molelo the bottom of the river bed begins to be rocky, and
continues so the whole way to about lat. 16°, forming a succession of rapids and
cataracts, which are dangerous when the river is low. The rocks are of hard
sandstone and porphyritic basalt. ‘The rapids are not visible when the river
is full; but the cataracts of Kale Bombwe and Nambwe are always dangerous.
The fall of them is from 4 to 6 feet in perpendicular height ; but the cataracts
of Gonye (hard by) excel them all. The main fall of these is over a straight
ledge of rock, about 60 or 70 yards long and 40 feet deep.

‘¢'Tradition reports the destruction in this place of two hippopotami hunters,
who, too eager in the pursuit of a wounded animal, were with their prey drawn
down into the frightful gulf. We also diggedsome yams in what was said to have
been the garden of a man, who of old came down the river and led out a portion
of it here for irrigation. Superior minds must have risen from time to time in
these regions, but ignorant of the use of letters, they have left no memorial.
One never sees a grave nor a stone of remembrance set up. The very rocks
are illiterate; they contain no fossils. All these beautiful and rocky parts of
the valley of the river are covered with forest, and infested with the ¢seése fly ;
but in other respects the country seems well adapted for a residence. When,
however, we come to the northern confines of lat. 16°, the tsetse suddenly
ceases, and the high banks seem to leave the river and to stretch away in
ridges of about 300 feet high to the N.N.E. and N.N.W., until between 20
and 80 miles apart; the intervening space, 100 miles in length, is the Barotse
country proper: it is annually mundated not by rains but by the river, as
Lower Egypt is by the Nile, and one portion of this comes from the North-
west and another from the North. There are no trees in this valley, except
such as were transplanted for the sake of shade by the chief Santuru; but it
is covered with coarse succulent grasses, which are the pasturage of large
herds of cattle during a portion of the year. One of these species of grass
is 12 feet high, and as thick as a man’s thumb. ‘The villages and towns are
situated on mounds, many of which were constructed artificially.

“T have not put down all the villages that I visited, and many were seen at a
distance; but there are no large towns, for the mounds on which alone towns and
villages are built are all small, and the people require to live separate on account
of their cattle. Nailele, the capital of the Barotse country, does not contain
1,000 inhabitants ; the site of it was constructed artificially. It was not the an-
cient capital.” The river now flows over the site of that, and all that remains of
what had cost the people of Santuru the labour of many years, is a few cubic
yards of earth. As the same thing has happened to another ancient site, the
river seemis wearing eastwards. ‘Ten feet of rise above low-water mark

ON THE LEEAMBYE. 121

submerges the whole valley, except the foundations of the huts, and 2 feet
more would sweep away the towns. This never happens, though among the
hills below the valley the river rises 60 feet, and then floods the lands adjacent
to Sesheke on both sides. The valley contains, as I said, a great number of
villages and cattle-stations. These, and large herds of cattle grazing on the
succulent herbage, meet the eye in every direction. On visiting the ridges,
we found them to be only the commencement of lands which are never
inundated: these are covered with trees and abound in fruitful gardens, in
which are cultivated sugar-cane, sweet potato, two kinds of manioc, two kinds
of yam-bananas, millet, &c. Advantage is taken of the inundation to
raise large quantities of maize and Kaffre corn, of large grain and beautiful
whiteness. These, with abundance of milk and plenty of fish in the river,
make the people always refer to the Barotse country as the land of plenty.
No part of the country can be spoken of as salubrious. The fever must be
braved if a mission is to be established ; it is very fatal even among natives.
I have had eight attacks of it; the last very severe: but I never laid by. I
tried native remedies in order to discover if they possessed any valuable
means of cure; but after being stewed in vapour baths, smoked like a red
herring over fires of green twigs in hot potsherds, and physicked secundum
black artem, 1 believe that our own medicines are safer and more efficacious.
I have not relinquished the search, and as I make it a rule to keep on good terms
with my professional brethren, ] am not without hope that some of their
means of re-establishing the secretions (and to this, indeed, all their efforts are
directed) may be well adapted for this complaint.

“T did not think it my duty to go towards Mostoatunya, for though a
hilly country, the proximity to Moselekatse renders it impossible for the
Makololo to live there; but I resolved to know the whole Barotse country
before coming to the conclusion now reached that the ridge East of Nailele is
the only part of the country that can be fixed on for a mission. I therefore
leit Sekeletu’s party at Nailele, the Barotse capital, and went northwards.
The river presents the same appearance of low banks, without trees, till we
come to 14° 38’ lat. Here again it is forest to the water’s edge, and f¢setse. I
might have turned now; but the river Londa, or Leeba, comes from the
capital of a large state of the former name, and the chief being reported
friendly to foreigners, if I succeed in reaching the West coast, and am per-
mitted to return by this river, it will be water-conveyance for perhaps two-
thirds of the way. We went, therefore, to the confluence of the Leeba or
Londa (not Lonta as we have wiitten it) with the Leeambye: it is in
14° 11 South. The Leeba comes from the North and by West or N.N.W.;
while the Leeambye there abruptly quits its northing and comes from the
E.N.E. (The people pointed as its course due East. Are the Maninche or
Bashukulompo river and Leeambye not one river, dividing and meeting again

R

122 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

down at the Zambesi?) The Loeti, with its light-coloured water, flows into
the Leeambye in 14° 18. It comes from Lebale, which is probably a country
through which a Portuguese merchant informed me he had passed, and had
to cross as many as ten considerable rivers in one day: the Loeti comes from
the W.N.W. ‘The current of the Leeambye is rapid ; 100 yards in 60 seconds
of time, or between 4 and 5 miles an hour. Our elevation must have been
considerable; but I had to regret having no means of ascertaining how muchit
was. The country flooded by the river ends on the West bank before we
reach the Loeti, and there is an elevated table-land, called Mango, on which
grows grass, but no trees. The Barotse country, when inundated, presents
the appearance of a lake from 20 to 30 miles broad and 100 long.

‘The Makololo quote the precedent of Santuru, who, when he ruled this
country, was visited by Mambari, but refused them permission to buy his
people as slaves. This enlightened chief deserves a paragraph, and as he was
a mighty hunter, you will glance at it with no unfriendly eye. He was very
fond of rearing the young of wild animals in his town, and, besides a number
of antelopes, had two tame hippopotami. When I visited his first capital, the
people led me to one end of the mound and showed me some curious instru-
ments of iron, which are just in the state he left them. They are surrounded
by trees, all of which he transplanted when young. ‘On these,’ said the
people, ‘ Santuru was accustomed to present his offerings to the gods’ (Barimo
—which means departed souls too). The instruments consisted of an upright
stem, having numerous branches attached, on the end of each of which was a
miniature axe, or hoe, or spear. Detached from these was another, which
seemed to me to be the guard of a basket-hilted sword. When I asked if I
might take it as a curiosity, ‘O no, he refuses.’ ‘Who refuses?’ ‘Santuru.’
This seems to show a belief in a future state of existence. After explaining
to them the nature of true worship, and praying with them in our simple form,
which needs no offering on the part of the worshipper except that of the heart,
we planted some fruit-tree seeds, and departed in peace.

‘“‘T may relate another incident which happened at the confluence of the
Leeba and Leeambye. Having taken lunar observations, we were waiting
for a meridian altitude for the latitude, before commencing our return. My
chief boatman was sitting by, in order to bind up the instruments as soon as
I had finished. There was a large halo round the sun, about 20° in diameter.
Thinking that the humidity of the atmosphere which this indicates might
betoken rain, I asked him if his experience did not lead him to the same view.
‘O no,’ said he, ‘it is the Barimo who have called a picho (assembly).
Don’t you see they have placed the Lord (sun) in their centre ?’

“On returning towards Nailele, I went to the eastern ridge in order to
examine that, and to see the stockade of the Portuguese slave-merchant,
which was at Katongo. He had come from the furthest inland station of the

ARAB SLAVE HUNTERS. 123

Portuguese, opposite Benguela. I thought of going westward on my further
travels in company with him, but the sight of gangs of poor wretches in
chains at the stockade induced me to resolve to proceed alone.

‘Some of the Mambari visited us subsequently to their flight, of which
I spoke before. They speak a dialect very much resembling the Barotse.
They have not much difficulty in acquiring the dialects, even though but
recently introduced to each other. They plait their hair in threefold cords,
and arrange it down by the sides of the head. They offered guns and
powder for sale at a cheaper rate than traders can do who come from the Cape
Colony ; but the Makololo despise Portuguese guns, because different from
those in the possession of other Bechuanas—the bullets are made of iron.
The slave-merchant seemed anxious to show kindness, influenced probably by
my valuable passport and letter of introduction from the Chevalier Duprat,
who holds the office of arbitrator in the British and Portuguese mixed com-
mission in Cape Town. This is the first instance in which the Portuguese
have seen the Leeambye in the interior. The course of Pereira* must be
shifted northwards. He never visited the Barotse: so the son and companions
of Santuru assert ; and the event of the visit of a white man is such a remark-
able affair among Africans, it could scarcely be forgotten in a century.

“‘T have not, I am sorry to confess, discovered a healthy locality. The
whole of the country of Sebituane is unhealthy. The current of the river is
rapid as far as we went, and showed we must have been on an elevated table-
land ; yet the inundations cause fever to prevail very extensively. I am ata
loss what to do, but will not give up the case as hopeless. Shame upon us
missionaries if we are to be outdone by slave-traders! I met Arabs from
Zanzibar, subjects of the Imaum of Muscat, who had been quite across the
continent. They wrote Arabic fluently in my note- boos and boldly avowed
that Mahomet was greatest of all the prophets.

“At one time, as I mentioned above, I omelet of going West in
company with the slave-traders from Katongo, but a variety of considerations
induced me to decide on going alone. I think of Loanda, though the distance
is greater, as preferable to Benguela, and as soon as the rains commence will
try the route on horseback. Trees and rivers are reported, which would
render travelling by means of a waggon impossible. The Portuguese are
carried in hammocks hung on poles; two slaves carry aman. It does not
look well.

““T am sorry to say that the Boers destroyed my celestial map, and
thereby rendered it impossible for me to observe as many occultations as I
had intended. I have observed very few; these I now send to Mr. Maclear,
in order that he may verify my lunars. If I am not mistaken, we have placed

* A Portuguese traveller.

124 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

our rivers, &c., about 2° of longitude too far East. Our waggon-stand, instead
of being 26° East, is not more than 23° 50’ or 24’. It is probable that an error
of my sextant, of which I was not aware, deranged the calculations of the
gentleman who kindly undertook to examine them. I send many lunar
observations too, and hope it may be convenient for Mr. Maclear to examine
them, and let you know whether I am right or wrong in my calculations.

‘‘ Sportsmen have still some work before them in the way of discovering
all the fauna of Africa. This country abounds in game; and, beyond
Barotse, the herds of large animals surpass anything I ever saw. LHlands
and buffaloes, their tameness was shocking to me: 81 buffaloes defiled slowly
before our fire one evening, and lions were impudent enough to roar at us.
On the South of the Chobe, where Bushmen abound, they are very seldom
heard: these brave fellows teach them better manners. My boatman informed
me that he had seen an animal, with long wide spreading horns like an ox,
called Uiombikalela—perhaps the modern bison; also another animal, which
does not live in the water, but snorts like a hippopotamus, and is like that
animal in size—it has a horn, and may be the Asiatic rhinoceros. And we
passed some holes of a third animal, which burrows from the river inland, has
short horns, and feeds only by night. I did not notice the burrows at the
time of passing, but I give you the report as I got it.

“The birds are in great numbers on the river, and the sand-martins
never leave it. We saw them in hundreds in mid-winter, and many beautiful
new trees were interesting objects of observation ; but I had perpetually to
regret the absence of our friend Mr. Oswell. I had no one to share the
pleasure which new objects impart, and, instead of pleasant conversation in
the evenings, I had to endure the everlasting ranting of Makololo.”

In 1849, the Royal Gecgraphical Society awarded Livingstone a gold
chronometer watch for his discoveries, and in 1850 he was awarded a royal
premium of 25 guineas for the discovery of Lake Ngami. Several attempts
to reach the Lake from the east and from the west, one of which was specially
instituted by the Geographical Society, had failed, and many people had
begun to look upon the existence of the Lake as a myth, until they were
startled by its discovery by Livingstone and his fellow travellers—Messrs.
Murray and Oswell. From this time, as his intention of penetrating further
into the country was well known, great expectations were formed of the
additions he would make to our knowledge of these hitherto unvisited regions;
and, as we shall sec, these were not disappointed, but more than abundantly
gratified.

CHAPTER VIL.

Starts for the West Coast.—Ascends the Leeambye and the Leeba.—Abundunce of
Animal Infe-—Two Female Chiefs.— Visits Shinte.

aes the longest journey he had yet undertaken, and during which for

many months his safety was to be a matter of painful speculation to his
friends and the thousands of intelligent men and women throughout the civi-
lized world who had been watching the doings of the intrepid missionary,—
extended from the south coast to St. Paul de Loanda, the capital of Angola,
on the west coast; and from thence across the continent to Killimane, on
the East Coast of Africa.

As Sekeletu and the headmen of the Makololo were as alive to the advan-
tages which would accrue to them from the opening out of trade with the west
coast, as Livingstone was for these and higher purposes which they could not
comprehend, every assistance was rendered which could help a traveller in
carrying out his bold and daring attempt to make his way across the country.
A picho, or conference of the headmen of the tribe presided over by the chief,
was held to discuss the adventure, and the best way of assistinginit. One of
the old men, who was famed asa croaker, said, ‘‘ Where is he taking you to?
This white man is throwing you away. Your garments already smell of
blood.” This foreboding had no influence on Sekeletu or any of his men; they
were too much accustomed to hearing his prognostications of evil from every
enterprise; and it was decided that a band of twenty-seven picked men,
principally Barotse—they being best acquainted with the tribes to the west—
should accompany Livingstone, as the contribution of the chief and his people
towards the accomplishment of an object so desirable to all.

In answer to the question, whether, ‘‘ In the event of your death, will not
the white people blame us for having allowed you to go away into an unhealthy
and unknown country of enemies?” Livingstone replied that none of his
friends ‘“‘ would blame them, because he would leave a book with Sekeletu, to
be sent to Mr. Moffat in case I did not return, which would explain to him all
that had happened until the time of my departure.” This book was a volume
of his journal, and months afterwards, when the Makololo were despairing of
ever seeing or hearing anything of him again, it was delivered, along with a
letter, by Sekeletu to a trader to be delivered to Mr. Motfat. No trace of this

126 | LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

journal could be found on his return, which was a matter of much regret, as it
contained valuable notes on the habits of wild animals, etc.

The following illustrates admirably the spirit which animated this extra-
ordinary man when ready to start on his dangerous enterprise. ‘‘ The prospect —
of passing away from this fair and beautiful world thus came before me in a
pretty plain matter-of-fact form; and it did seem a serious thing to leave wife
and children, to break up all connection with earth, and enter on an untried
state of existence; I find myself in my journal pondering over that fearful
migration which lands us in eternity ; wondering whether an angel will soothe
the fluttering soul, sadly flurried as it must be on entering the spirit world,
and hoping that Jesus might speak but one word of peace, for that would
establish in the bosom an everlasting calm. But as I had always believed that,
if we serve God at all, it ought to be done in a manly way, I wrote to my
brother, commending our little girl to his care, as I was determined to succeed
or perish in the attempt to open up this part of Africa. The Boers, by taking
possession of all my goods, had saved me the trouble of making a will; and
considering the light heart now left in my bosom, and some faint efforts to
perform the duty of Christian forgiveness, I felt that it was better to be the
_ plundered party than one of the plunderers.”

Wisely resolving that his baggage should be so limited in quantity as not
to excite the cupidity of any unfriendly tribe, he took with him only three
muskets, a rifle, and a double-barrelled gun, with the necessary ammunition; a
few biscuits, several pounds of tea and sugar, and about twenty pounds of
coffee, a beverage greatly relished by the natives. Of wearing apparel,
independent of what they wore, they had a small tin canister filled with shirting,
trowsers, and shoes, to be donned when the party should reach the neighbour-
hood of civilization, and another supply in a bag was for use during the
journey.

Another tin can contained a stock of medicines. A third contained his
books, consisting of a nautical almanac, Thomson’s Logarithms, and a Bible;
and a fourth box contained a magic lantern, a sextant and artificial horizon,
a thermometer, a chronometer watch with a stop for seconds, anda small but
powerful telescope, with a stand capable of being screwed to a tree, and two
compasses, one of them for the pocket, were carried apart. A small gipsy
tent to sleep in, a blanket, and a horse-rug, from the simplicity of the other
impedimenta, might be termed the luxuries of his baggage roll. As the
country so far as explored by him abounded im game, he trusted to his good
rifle and double-barrelled gun for furnishing the bulk of the food required ;
but in case of having to pass through a country where these were not plenti-
ful, twenty pounds of beads of the value of forty shillings, were set apart for
the purchase of such necessities in the way of food as they might require. In
addition to the absolutely necessary baggage, the party carried with them

A NATIVE BEADLE. 127

four elephants’ tusks belonging to Sekeletu, by the sale of which they were to
test the value of the market on the coast.

Surely never was so formidable a journey undertaken with so little pre-
paration in the way of mere personal comfort and convenience; but the want
of hundreds of those things usually supposed to be ‘“‘ indispensable to travel-
lers” undertaking journeys of trifling danger and extent in comparison, were
more than made up by a large stock of pluck and endurance, and the courage
and resolve which are born of an enterprise which had for its object no
thought of personal interest, vain glory, or aggrandisement, but was under-
taken in the noblest spirit, solely in the interest of the physical and spiritual
welfare of the savage tribes of Central Africa.

Scouts were sent to examine the country to the west, to discover an
outlet from Linyanti by a nearer route than the one taken on the previous
journey, but none could be found free from the plague of tsetse, and such as
were defiled by the existence of the slave trade; and a passage through the latter
for an expedition, the leading material purpose of which was the extinction
of that detestable traffic, was out of the question. The expedition started for
the Chobe on the 4th November, 1853, and commenced their voyage down
that river at the island Manuka, where Livingstone had first met Sebituane.
Here Sekeletu and several of his principal men, who had accompanied them
thus far, took leave of them, wishing them success. After paddling at the
rate of five miles an hour for forty-two hours, they reached the Leeambye,
and proceeding up the river, they reached Sesheke on the 19th of November.

Moriantsane, a brother-in-law of Sebituane, the chief of the various
tribes in and around Sesheke, supplied Livingstone with milk, honey, and
meal, and sent scouts up the river to the villages he was to stop at, enjoining
the headmen to have food ready for him and his party. The chief and large
numbers of the people assembled in the open air to listen to religious ad-
dresses from Livingstone. The audiences were very attentive, and appeared
anxious to profit by the instruction received, betraying their interest by
asking explanations of those things which were beyond their comprehension.
Moriantsane acted as a kind of amateur beadle in keeping order, on one
oceasion hurling his staff at some young man he saw toying with a skin
instead of listening to the speaker.

In their passage up the river abundance of food and fruit was provided,
and several varieties of the latter are worthy of notice. A fruit about the
size of an orange contains a number of seeds or pips imbedded in layers of a
pleasant juicy pulp. From the pips and bark are derived a variety of nux
yomica, from which strychnia is extracted. A fruit called mobola, about the
size of the date, when stripped of the seeds and dried forms a very palatable
dish, with a flavour of strawberries; in a dried state it can be preserved for
a considerable period. The most palatable fruit of the district is called the

128 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

mamosho; it is about the size of a walnut. These fruits, which in the
Leeambye valley grow on trees, some of them attaining a great size, are found
in the Kalahari desert, where they exist as small herbaceous plants. In the
well-watered country, plants which in the dry regions of the south are mere
shrubs, become great trees; illustrating in a remarkable manner, the effect of the
drying up of the numerous water courses in regions once as rich in vegetation
as the valleys of the Zambesi and its tributaries. A number of his
attendants, with the baggage and oxen of the party, marched by land, the
canoe party regulating their advance to suit their rate of progress.

As the trees were puttivg on their fresh green leaves, the banks of the
river were much more beautiful than on the occasion of his previous visit.
In case of accident from the attack, or the sudden uprising near them, of the
hippopotami, they hugged the banks, often passing under the grateful shade
of giant trees, among whose branches the ibis, turtle-doves, and many other
birds were perched, careless of the near neighbourhood of the canoes and
their occupants. Plovers of various kinds wheeled overhead, raising a great
clamour. One of these, from its hard metallic cry called setula-tsipi, or
hammering wire, is the bird famous for its friendship with the crocodile of the
Nile, which it invariably accompanies, boldly entering its terrible jaws, and
eating water insects which attach themselves to the roof of the mouth of the
brute, and cause it much annoyance. It is provided with a spur on its
shoulder (the top of the wing) about half an inch in length, which it uses as a
weapon of defence. This bird and its habits were known to Herodotus, and
up till twenty years ago, when Mr. St. John actually witnessed it feeding
within the iron jaws of the huge reptile, the account was looked upon as
fabulous. In places where the banks are steep, several species of birds
build their nests in holes which they dig with their bills. Among these, the
most notable is the bee-eater, a pretty little bird, a species of sand-martin,
and several varieties of king-fishers, one of them as large as a pigeon.

Song birds in endless variety, some of them new to science, enlivened
the passage of the river, and flocks of green pigeons rose from the trees as
they passed. In some districts several species of canaries were as common
and as destructive to garden produce as sparrows are in England. The
natives tame them, and keep them in wicker cages; their notes are clear and
sweet. ‘Tame pigeons were alsocommon. This love for birds would appear
to have been initiated by Santuru in the Leeambye valley, who kept a great
many tame animals; among others, a couple of hippopotami—ungainly pets
enough.

The boomslang, a species of tree-snake, preys upon the small birds; the noise
and chattering of a number of birds fluttering round a tree usually indicate
its presence. The birds are unable or unwilling to keep aloof from the dan-
gerous proximity of this reptile, which with its body coiled round a branch,

LIVINGSTONE AS A PEACE-MAKER. 129

its head and about a foot of its neck erect, quietly waits until one of them,
more reckless than the rest, comes within reach of its spring.

The snake-bird, so called because in swimming the whole body is
submerged, and only the head and neck appear above water, floated about them.
The fish-hawk and the pelican preyed on the finny tribe on the shoals,
the former sometimes relieving the pouch of the latter of its prey when its
ungainly bill was temptingly open. Guinea fowls were common on the banks,
while snipes, herons, spoon-bills, scissor-bills, flamingoes, cranes, geese, and
various other aquatic birds, were met with in great numbers, especially in the
uninhabited districts. Vast shoals of fish descended the river with the floods,
the rainy season haying set in. These are taken by the natives in the shallow
creeks, in baskets, nets, and by clumsy hooks. When not eaten fresh, they are
preserved by smoke-drying for future use. Several species of mullet are very
abundant, and are the most in favour as food. Crocodiles and iguanas, a
species of lizard, the flesh of which is greatly relished by the natives, plunged
into the water at the approach of the canoes; while in creeks and shady parts
hippopotami floundered about, the females carrying their young upon their
backs.

Elephants, rhinoceroses, antelopes, zebras, etc., were abundant on land,
and as a consequence lions, leopards, and other carnivorous animals were
common.

When nearing Naliele, Livingstone heard that a party of Makololo,
headed by Lerimo, an under chief, had carried out a successful foray against
Masiko, a son of Santuru, the chief of a tribe who had settled with his people
to the north of Naliele. This expedition was undertaken with the full sanction
of Mpololo, the uncle of Sekeletu, and head chief of the district. Some prisoners
had been taken and several villages destroyed. As this was in the direction
Livingstone was going, and as Sekeletu had strictly forbidden that such forays
should be undertaken, he determined, in the name and by the authority of
Sekeletu, to condemn the transaction and compel restitution of the prisoners,
he undertaking to conduct them to their homes.

At Ma Sekeletu’s town he found Mpololo himself, and being supported
by the mother of Sekeletu, he succeeded in getting the captives returned to
their homes, and an apology sent to Masiko. A fresh foray, for which a
number of men had been collected, was abandoned ; and through the influence
of Livingstone a cowardly warfare, undertaken for the purpose of plunder,
was prevented, and a knowledge of the peaceful and wise designs of Sekeletu
disseminated, which could not fail to be of much value to the comfort and
happiness of the district. 5

Mosantu, a Batoko man, was despatched to Masiko with the captives of
his tribe, with a message that he (Livingstone) was sorry to find that Santuru
had not borne a wiser son; Santuru loved to govern men, but Masiko wanted

8

130 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

to govern wild beasts. Several captives belonging to other tribes further to
the north were taken with the party.

Passing up the placid Leeba he saw a tree in flower which brought the
pleasant fragrance of hawthorn hedges back to memory ; its leaves, flowers,
perfume, and fruit, resembled those of the hawthorn, only the flowers were
as large as dog-roses, and the ‘‘ haws like boys’ marbles.” On the banks of
the Leeba and Leeambye, and further to the north, the flowers are dis-
tinguished for their sweet perfume; a pleasant contrast to many of those
further to the south, which emit either no smell, or only a nauseous odour.

Crocodiles were very numerous; and as it was the season for hatching,
large numbers of young ones, from a foot long and upwards, were met with ;
the little creatures biting savagely at the spears with which his attendants
impaled them. ‘The natives search for and eat the eggs when they are fresh,
so that an increase of population would greatly diminish the number of these
dangerous reptiles. They feed on fish and the smaller species of game which
come to the water to drink; now and again picking a child, a woman, or a
man off the banks, or seizing them in the water when bathing. The natives
have little dread of them; and when armed with a knife or javelin, go into
the water and attack and kill them. One of Livingstone’s attendants, in
swimming across a creek, was seized by one; but being armed with a javelin,
he wounded it severely behind the shoulder, and escaped with a severe teetli-
wound in the thigh where the brute had seized him.

In the south, where some tribes hold the animal sacred, when a man has
been bitten by a crocodile he is shunned by the rest of his tribe as being un- —
clean; but further north no such custom is known, and they voluntarily hunt
it for the sake of its flesh, which they eat.

At the village of Manenko, two Balonda men visited Livingstone, and
informed him that one of his party was believed to have acted as a guide to
Lerimo during his foray in the district. Having a captive boy and girl with
him whom he was conducting back to their people, to show that neither he
nor Sekeletu had anything to do with the sins of inferior men, they were so
far satisfied that his intentions were peaceable, and departed to report the
conversation to Manenko, the first female chief they had come across. After
waiting two days an answer came from this African amazon, accompanied
with a basket of manioc roots, telling them that they were to remain until she
should visit them. Other messengers arrived with orders that he should visit
her; but having lost four days in negotiations, he declined going at all, and
proceeded up stream to the confluence of the Leeba and Makondo. Here one
of the party picked up a bit of a steel watch-chain; and its being there was
explained by the information that it was here the Mambari crossed in going
and coming to Masiko.

Among other articles of commerce the Mambari bring Manchester goods

A FEMALE CHIEF. 131

into the valley of the Leeba and Leeambye, which seem so wonderful in the
eyes of the simple natives that they could hardly believe that they were the
work of mortal hand. No explanation satisfies them. ‘‘ How can the irons
spin, weave, and print so beautifully? Truly, ye are Gods!” It was impos-
sible for them to understand the hard and prosaic toil endured in the manu-
facture of similar fabrics for years by the white man who stood before them—
toil sweetened by the opportunity the remuneration for it gave it to prepare
himself for the great work he was to accomplish on their behalf, a work which
to the worldly and unthinking brought no adequate reward for these early
trials and toils.

Sheakondo, chief of the village of the same name at the mouth of the
~ Lonkonye, visited the biyouac of the party with two of his sons. The people
who accompanied him had their teeth filed to a point, by way of beautifying
themselves. They were tattooed and marked on the body with stars formed
by the skin being raised in small cicatrices. They wear little or no clothing,
and anoint their bodies with butter or ox-fat, and when these fail them, with
oil they extract from the castor-oil plant. Sheakondo, who appears to have
been a fine specimen of an unsophisticated savage, seemed awe-struck when
told some of the “‘words of God.” The elder of his wives presented some
manioc roots, begging for butter to anoint herself in exchange, which was
given to her ; and, as she had little clothing and was not very clean, he says:
‘“‘T can readily believe that she felt her comfort greatly enhanced thereby.”
The younger and more favoured wife also begged for butter; and she had
numbers of iron rings on her ankles, to which were suspended small pieces of
sheet-iron, which made a tinkling as she walked mincingly in African style—
simple ornaments which appeared to give her a great deal of pleasure.
Livingstone drily remarks, ‘‘ The same thing is thought pretty by our own
dragoons in walking jauntily.”

Wending their way up stream, they arrived at the village of another
female chief, Nyamoana, the mother of Manenko and the sister of Shinte, the
greatest Balonda chief of the Leeba district. Nyamoana gave Livingstone an
audience. She was seated alongside of her husband, on skins, on a raised
couch, surrounded by a trench. Round this trench sat about a hundred of
her people of all ages, the men armed with bows, spears, and broad swords.
After a palaver, Livingstone drew their attention to his hair, which was
always a subject of curiosity in the district. They imagited it a wig made
of a lion’s mane, and could hardly believe it to be hair. He explained to
them that his was the real original hair, ‘‘Such as theirs would have been,
had it not been scorched and frizzled by the sun.” In proof of what the sun
could do, he uncovered his bosom, and showed them the contrast between its
white hue, and his bronzed face and hands. As they go nearly naked and
exposed to the sun, this practical lesson enabled them readily to grasp the

132 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

idea of a common origin for whites and blacks. This was a familiar illustra-
tion of Livingstone’s in addressing the natives.

Nyamoana’s people were very superstitious, and it was here that he first
saw evidence of the existence of idolatry. The idol was a human head rudely
carved on a block of wood. His watch and pocket compass were scanned
with much curiosity; but although invited to look at them by her husband,
the chief appeared to be afraid of them, and could not be persuaded to
approach near enough to see them.

On expressing his intention of proceeding up the Leeba, which appeared
still to come from the direction he wished to go, Nyamoana urged him not to
do so, as there was a cataract in front, and the Balobale, whose country lies
to the west of the river, might kill the party. As the Balobale were unfriendly
to the Makololo, his attendants joined with her in urging that they should
proceed by land, and visit her brother Shinte. In the midst of the
discussion, Manenko appeared upon the scene, and, throwing her influence
into the scale, carried the day against the further ascent of the river.

Manenko was a tall, well-formed, hardy, and masculine woman, about
twenty years of age; a profusion of ornaments and medicines, supposed to act
as charms, being suspended about her person. She scarcely wore any
clothing, and her body was smeared with a mixture of fat and red ochre, as
a protection against the weather. When asked why she, who could procure
plenty of clothing, went about in a state of nudity, she replied that it was
necessary for her as chief to show her indifference to the weather. She was
a splendid pedestrian, and on a march made her attendants and companions
glad when she proposed a halt. lLivingstone’s people succumbed at once
to the strong will of this female ruler: and Livingstone himself, though reso-
lute and inflexible in carrying out his own purposes in his own way, was
compelled to give way to her wishes. What could he do or say whena
difference arose, when, approaching him, she put her hand on his shoulder in
a motherly way, and said, ‘‘ Now my little man, just do as the rest have
done ?”

As the tribes in the districts where he now found himself had no cattle,
the party suffered severely from the want of food. All they had had for several
days was a small dole of manioc roots every evening from Nyamoana. This
was the state of affairs when Mosantu arrived from his visit to Masiko,
accompanied by an imposing embassy, consisting of his under chiefs, who
brought a fine elephant’s tusk, two calabashes of honey, and a large
piece of blue baize, as presents. He sent his expressions of pleasure at
the return of the captives, and at the prospects of a peaceful alliance with
the Makololo.

An ox was given by Livingstone as a return for his gifts; but the poor
under chiefs were so hungry that they wished to kill and eat it. On asking

NATIVE BEEHIVES. 133

his permission to do this, he was reluctantly compelled to decline, as he had
nothing he could send instead, and had no food to offer them.

Manenko and her husband Sambanza, accompanied by a drummer, whose
duty it was to thump regularly on his drum, in order to acquaint all people
they might meet with the fact that a personage of importance was coming,
started to escort Livingstone and his party to Shinte’s town. The rain poured
in torrents, notwithstanding that her husband endeavoured to stop it by
various incantations and vociferations. Manenko marched on unconcernedly
at such a rate as made it difficult for the men to keep up with her. Living-
stone being still weak from fever, which was aggravated by the low diet of
the last few days, was on oxback, the indomitable Manenko walking by his
side, keeping up a lively conversation. All suffered from want in this journey;
the bulk of what they got was begged from the inhabitants of the villages
they passed, and they were a sad contrast to the kindly Makololo, for on
several occasions they refused to give them even the scantiest supply. Even
when, on one occasion, Manenko herself went to beg something for Living-
stone she only managed to procure five ears of maize, and this notwithstanding
that the headman of the village was a subject of her uncle’s.

In the forests they came upon artificial beehives, which are formed by
removing the bark whole from a tree, which is then sewn up, closed at both ends,
and after a hole is perforated in each for the bees to pass in and out by, they
are hung upon the trees. The bees, finding so suitable a place for the deposit
of their honey and wax, take possession of it, and at the proper season their
store is removed by the natives. In this way all the honey and wax exported
from Loanda is collected. A piece of medicine (a charm) is attached to the
tree, and proves a sufficient protection. Their idolatry is the result of fear
only ; and their dread of unknown and terrible consequences keeps the people
honest under such circumstances.

To the west of the Leeba, Livingstone and his men found it useless to
follow the fluttering flight of the bee eater, or honey bird, as all the bees of
the district were artificially provided with hives; and he would not permit
any of the hives to be interfered with.

Great quantities of edible mushrooms were found in the forest, and as
they were pleasant to eat, some of them even when raw, they proved a great
blessing in their present half-starved condition. Some of these grow to a
great size—as large as the crown of a hat—and several of them are of colours
unknown to Europe, one being dark blue. In this district he first saw signs
of the insecurity of life and property. The huts were closed with upright
stakes, which were removed and replaced as the inmates went in or departed.
The dealings with the Mambari in slaves, and the over-reaching nature of
their bargainings, had introduced a lower state of morals than he found pre-
vailing among the Bechuanas and the Makololo, where theft and over-reaching

134 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

were all but unknown in their transactions with each other, and the relations
between the members of each tribe were conducted with primitive simplicity and
justice. In all ages and at all times, wherever slavery exists and is fostered
by white men, the vices of civilization, without its virtues, become rampant.

Kabompo, Shinte’s town, stands in a pleasant green valley with a limpid
brook running through it. The town was embowered in trees, and the huts were
well built, and had square walls (the first he had seen), and circular roofs. The
streets were straight, and each hut had its patch of ground, in which tobacco,
sugar-cane, and bananas were carefully cultivated, the whole being surrounded
by a straight fence of upright poles a few inches apart, with grass, or leafy
branches interwoven between. Outside these fences trees of the Ficus Indica
family, which they hold in veneration, form a grateful shade. Two native
Portuguese traders, and a large number of Mambari were in the town, dealing
in their wares, and trading in human flesh. For the first time the Makololo
men saw slaves in chains. ‘They are not men,” they exclaimed, ‘‘ who treat
children so.”

Shinte gave Livingstone a grand reception in the Kotla, or place of
assemblage. About a hundred women were present; this was the first occa-
sion in which he had seen women present in the Kotla on a formal or state
occasion. A party of musicians, consisting of three drummers and four per-
formers on the marimba, filled up the intervals with music. The marimba
‘consists of two bars of wood placed side by side, here quite straight, but
farther north, bent round so as to resemble half the tire of a carriage wheel ;
across these are placed about fifteen wooden keys, two or three inches broad,
and fifteen inches long; their thickness is regulated according to the deepness
of the note required; each of the keys has a calabash beneath it; from the
upper part of each a portion is cut off to enable them to embrace the bars, and
form hollow sounding-boards to the keys; and little drumsticks elicit the
music. Rapidity of execution seems much admired among them, and the
music is pleasant to the ear.”

After a man had imitated ‘‘the most approved attitudes observed in actual
fight, as of throwing one javelin, receiving another on the shield, springing
to one side to avoid a third, running backwards and forwards, leaping, ete.
Sambanza (Manenko was indisposed) and the spokesman of Nyamoana, stalked
backwards and forward before Shinte, giving him a full and true account, so
far as they knew, of the white man and his object in passing through the
country, recommending him to receive him well and send him on his way.
Several speakers among his own headmen also delivered orations, the women
bursting into a plaintive melody between each. This over, Shinte stood up,
and the reception was at an end. The power and standing of Shinte among
the Balonda chiefs was borne out by the numbers present, there being about
a thousand people and three hundred armed men.”

RECEPTION BY SHINTE. 135

On this occasion no communication passed between Livingstone and
Shinte. By some mistake, the former was permitted to take a seat at a con-
siderable distance from the latter; and the one being too dignified to approach
his guest, and the other imagining that all was according to etiquette at
Kabompo, they parted without exchanging a word; but it was remarked by
his attendants that Shinte scarcely took his eyes off Livingstone during the
interview. Next day Livingstone was commanded to visit him, and found
him frank and straightforward; he was about fifty-five years of age, about
the middle height, and of dignified bearing. After discussing Livingstone’s
plans, he signified his approval of them. After the business was over,
Livingstone inquired if he had ever seen a white man before. ‘Never; you
are the very first man I have seen with a white skin and straight hair; your
clothing, too, is different from any we have ever seen.”

On receiving a hint that ‘‘ Shinte’s mouth was bitter for want of tasting
ox-flesh,” Livingstone presented him with one to his great delight, recom-
mending him to trade in cows with the Makololo, as his country was so well
adapted for them. When he visited him on the return journey Livingstone
found that this shrewd savage had followed his advice. When Manenko, who
was busy preparing a hut and court-yard suitable to her pretensions, heard
that the white man had presented her uncle with an ox, she was very wroth.
“‘ This white man belonged to her. She had brought him, and therefore the
ox was hers, not Shinte’s,” and ordering her men to bring it, she had it
slaughtered, only sending her uncle a leg, with which he appeared to be quite
contented. She evidently had her own way with him, as with all others with
whom she came in contact.

The magic lantern was a never-failing source of interest and instruction
everywhere; the simple savages never tired of looking at the pictures, many
of them trayelling miles to see them; chiefs and people inquiring minutely as
to the meaning of every picture. As many of them were illustrations of
Scripture subjects, he found it a ready means of introducing them to Bible
truths. A kind of beer or mead is largely drunk among the Balonda, and.
many cases of intoxication,—a thing unknown further south,—were observed.
Sambanza, the husband of Manenko, got hopelessly tipsy on one occasion,
and staggered towards the hut of his wife; and although, as Livingstone
says, she ‘‘ had never promised ‘ to love, honour, and obey him,’ she had not
been ‘ nursing her wrath to keep it warm,’ so she coolly bundled him into the
hut, and put him to bed.”

At their last interview, Shinte presented Livingstone with a string of
beads, and the end of a common sea-shell mounted with string, “‘ which is
considered in regions far from the sea of as great value as the Lord Mayor’s
badge in London. He hung it round my neck, and said, ‘There, now you
have a proof of my friendship.’” For two such shells he afterwards found a

136 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

slave could be bought, and five of them were considered a handsome price for
an elephant’s tusk worth ten pounds.

The following extract from Livingstone’s first letter to Sir Roderick
Murchison supplements the above account of his interview with Shinte :—

““We were received in what they consider grand style. The old
chief sat under a species of Fcus Indica, on a raised seat, having
some hundreds of women behind him, all decked out in their best,
and that best was a profusion of red baize. Some drums and _ primi-
tive instruments made of wood, were powerfully beaten; and different
bands of men, each numbering about fifty or eighty persons, well armed
with large bows and iron-headed arrows, short broadswords and guns,
rushed yelling towards us from different quarters As they all screwed up their
faces so as to look very fierce and savage, I supposed they were trying whether
they could not make us take to our heels. But they knelt down and made their
obeisance to Shinte, which in all this country consists in rubbing dust on the
upper and front part of the arms and across the chest. When several hundreds
had arrived, speeches were delivered, in which my history, so far as they
could extract it from my companions, was given. ‘The Bible containing a
message of peace.’ ‘The return of two captives to Shinte.’ ‘The opening of
anew path for trade,’ &c., were all described. ‘ Perhaps he is fibbing, perhaps
not; they rather thought he was.’ ‘But as they were good-hearted, and not
at all like the Balobale, or people of Sekeletu, and had never done any evil to
any one, Shinte had better treat him well and send him on his way.’ The
women occasionally burst forth with a plaintive ditty, but I could not distinguish
whether it was in praise of the speakers or of themselves ; and when the sun
became hot the scene closed.

“Shinte came during the night and hung around my neck a particular
kind of shell, which is highly valued as a proof of the greatest friendship ;
und he was greatly delighted with some Scriptural pictures which I showed
him from a magic lantern. The spirit of trade is strong in all Africans, and
the Balonda chiefs we visited all highly approved of our journey. Each
expressed an earnest hope that the projected path might lead through his town.
Shinte facilitated our progress to the next important chief, named Katema.”

After furnishing him with guides, and a stock of provisions, they parted
with mutual good wishes, each being serviceable to the other to an extent of
which Shinte had little idea.

The great explorer was now in regions where his knowledge of the
language of the Bechuanas and the Makololo was of no service to him;
and he speaks bitterly of the inconvenience and drawbacks of speaking
through an interpreter.

From Kabompo to Katema’s town, Livingstone and his party passed
across a country rich in woods and fertile plains, the latter covered from a

A NATIVE SNUFF TAKER. 137

depth of a few inches to several feet with water, the result of the incessant
rains which fell daily. In this vast plain the rivers which unite to form the
Zambesi take their rise. The people at the various villages were very
friendly, presenting Livingstone and his party with abundance of food, and
even striving who should have the pleasure of entertaining them. The
people were very superstitious, their superstition taking the form of a dread
and terror of some being or beings unseen, and supposed to be near and dan-
gerous. In the forests medicines were found fixed to the trees as charms ;
human faces cut out of the bark, and propitiatory gifts hung in the branches,
and bundles of twigs, to which every passer by added his or her quota, all
designed as offerings to the unseen powers, who draw them by fear and not
by love, were frequently met with.

Several remarkable chiefs and headmen were met and conversed with
during this stage of the journey. Mozinkwa, a headman of Katema’s and
his wife (he had only one), were above the ordinary run in character and
intelligence. They had a large and well-kept garden, hedged round. The
hut and courtyard were surrounded by a living and impenetrable wall of
banian trees. Cotton grew round all the premises. Plants used as relishes
to the insipid porridge of the district, castor-oil plants, Indian brignalls, yams,
and sweet potatoes were carefully and successfully cultivated. Several large
trees planted in the middle of the yard formed a grateful shade to the huts of the
family, who were fine specimens of the negro race at its best. Livingstone
was much touched by the worth and kindness of this family, and amongst
other things promised to bring the wife a cloth from the white man’s country
on his return; but alas! before his return she was dead, and Mozinkwa and
his family had forsaken their pleasant huts and gardens, as a Balonda man
cannot live in a spot where a favourite wife has died.

In speaking to these people on religious subjects, he found that nothing
made so much impression upon them as the fact that the Son of God came
down from heaven to die for men, and really endured death in our stead out
of pure love, and to tell about God and the place from whence He had come.
lf this method of interesting them did not succeed, he found it impossible to
move them. As human sacrifices had been at one time common among the
Balonda, and at the time of Livingstone’s visit were still practised to a limited
extent, on the occasion of the death of great chiefs, &c., they readily appre-
ciated the extent of the sacrifice made by a great being in submitting himself
to death in the place of others.

Quendende, the father-in-law of Katema, a fine old man with long woolly
hair reaching to the shoulders, plaited on either side, and the back hair
gathered into a lump on the nape of the neck, received a visit which gratified
him much. Quendende was a snuff-taker and prepared the titillating powder

in a primitive fashion; the leaves of the tobacco plant after béing dried at the
T

138 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

fire were pounded in a mortar, after which it was ready for use. The whole
party were hospitably entertained by him, and he took great interest in all
that the white man told him, and gave him much information as to the Ba-
londa and their habits inreturn. Speaking of Matiamvo, a powerful chief of
the district, he said that so absolute was he, that when any of the mountain
traders arrived, he would select a large portion of their goods, and hand over
a number of his people, or even the inhabitants of an entire village, as pay-
ment. He was aman of violent temper and appeared to have been really
insane, as “ he sometimes indulged in the whim of running a muck in the
town, and beheading whomsoever he met, until he had quite a heap of human
heads.” That these people have some notion of a future state is evident from
the answer of an ambassador of Matiamvo when he was rebuked for his
cruelty, and told that he would be judged in company with those he destroyed.
“We do not go up to God as you do; we are put into the ground.”

Katema received the party seated on a sort of throne, with about three
hundred of his principal men around him, and thirty women, said to be his
wives, seated behind. The main body of the people were seated in a semi-
circle about fifty yards distant. Intemese, the chief guide sent with Living-
stone by Shinte, in a speech, gave the history of the white man, his doings
and intentions. Katema placed twelve large baskets of meal, half a dozen
fowls, and a dozen eggs before them, telling them to “go home, and cook
and eat, and you will then be in a fit state to speak to me at an audience I
will give you to-morrow.” Katema was described by Livingstone as ‘a tall
man, about forty years of age, and his head was ornamented with a helmet
of beads and feathers. He had on a well worn snuff-brown coat, with a
broad band of tinsel down the arms, and carried in his hand a large tail made
of the caudal extremities of a number of gnus,” which had charms attached
to it.

He had a great idea of his own importance, and did not fail to give
Livingstone the benefit of it on the morrow. ‘I am the great Moene (lord)
Katema, the father of Matiamvo. There is no one in this country equal to
Matiamvo and me; I have always lived here, and my forefathers too. There
is the house in which my father hved. You found no human skulls near the
place where you encamped. I never killed any of the traders, they all come
to me, I am the great Moene Katema, of whom you have heard.”

Livingstone presented him with several small articles, apologising for the
meagreness of his gift, and asking him what he should bring him from the
coast, hinting that it might not be bulky. Mverything (he said laughing) of
the white people would be acceptable, and he would receive anything thank-
fully ; but the coat he had then on was old and he would like another.

Unlike the chiefs farther to the south, he had a herd of cattle, reared
from two he had bought from the Balobale when he was young. They were

LAKE DILOLO. 139

fine animals, almost white, and as handsome and nearly as active as Elands.
As he did not milk them they were in a semi-wild state; and when he wanted
to kill one it had to be stalked and shot.

Livingstone explained to him how to milk them. The Balonda are
remarkable for a formal etiquette which will not permit them to eat meat
prepared by others, or to eat in the presence of strangers; and when an
inferior meets a superior he drops on his knees and puts handfuls of dust on
his breast.

Here several of Livingstone’s people suffered from fever, and he had
another attack himself. These frequent seizures had reduced his strength,
but had not impaired in the slightest degree that resolute and iron will which
allowed nothing to interfere with the great end he had in view. Before he
was quite recovered he was on the move again accompanied by three guides
given by Katema. While here and at Shinte’s town they had wanted for
nothing the people had to give, and they were able to return the compliment,
as while there they killed an ox, a share of which was a great boon to people
who seldom tasted flesh meat. The want of cattle throughout a district so
admirably adapted for them, on account of the abundance of grass and water,
and its freedom from tsetse struck him as singular.

Pushing on through flooded plains and dank forests, the party reached
the narrow end of Lake Dilolo, which at its widest is about three miles broad,
and is about seven miles long. Livingstone’s weak state rendered it unde-
sirable that he should examine it carefully, even although this only involved
a few miles of travel. The frequent attacks of fever from which he had sutf-
fered made him anxious to loiter as little by the way as possible. His pas-
sionate desire was to reach the coast; and the only dread that seemed to
possess him was, that he might succumb before accomplishing his purpose, in
which case his long and toilsome journey would have been useless to man-
kind. On reaching the unflooded higher lands beyond the plain, Livingstone
discovered to his joy and surprise that he now stood on an elevated plateau
which formed the water-shed both of the northern and the southern rivers.
The streams running north fell into the Kasai, or Loke, and those to the
south united to form the Zambesi (under the names of the Leeba and the
Leeambye), the upward course of whose waters he had followed with so much
ease and comfort. Unwittingly he had also reached the western extremity of
the water-shed of the great Lualaba, about which he had so much to tell us
years afterwards. :

Here the valleys were deeper and more beautiful than any he had yet
seen, their steep sides were seamed with water courses; and as each of these
valleys was drained by a running stream, the growth of the trees was not
impeded by the accumulation for months annually of stagnant water. Many
of these trees grew to a great height—sixty and eighty feet of clean straight

140 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

trunk ere the branches were reached being not uncommon. The ground
underneath was covered with a luxuriant crop of green grass, through and
over which beautiful flowers of all colours stood out, gladdening the sight and
perfuming the air.

Turning westwards through such scenery as this, Livingstone found
himself among tribes who owed allegiance to Katema, and whose dealings
with the Mambari had taught them to give nothing to strangers out
of friendship. Gunpowder or calico was demanded for everything;
and as he had none of these to spare, and as his last parcel of beads was
about all he had to traffic with during the long and arduous journey still
before him, he began to dread that the expedition was doomed to suffer more
from hunger than it had yet done. Kangenke, a chief whose village is near
the Kasai, although not inclined to play the generous host, readily furnished
guides, enabling the party to proceed at once. They crossed the Kasai in
canoes, the men pointing out its course, saying, “ Though you sail along it
for months, you will turn without seeing the end of it.” The Kasai and its
tributaries unite and form the Congo, which falls into the Atlantic Ocean four
degrees to the north of Loanda, whither the expedition was bound, so that its
course was long enough to give these untravelled savages a high notion as to
its unknown extent. Speaking of the stream where the party crossed it,
Livingstone likens it to his native Clyde, which in its lower reaches above
Glasgow is richly wooded.

Food was now getting scarce, as none could be got unless in exchange
for something out of their little store. One of the guides caught a blue
mole and two mice, which he dressed for his supper, a distinct indication that
larger game was scarce, or not to be had. Since his entrance into the country
of Balonda the sight of herds of game and even single individuals had
become few and far between; and these had become so shy from being
hunted, that there was no chance of getting within gun-shot of them without
horses and other hunting appliances which he had not got. The weakness
caused by the frequent attacks of fever, and the bad setting of his shoulder,
which had been shattered by the lion that attacked him at Chounane, left
him hardly able to carry or hold his gun straight. Katende, a chief, sent a
message to Livingstone that he must give him either a man, a tusk, beads,
copper rings, or a shell, before he would be allowed to pass; to which demand
an explanation of his circumstances, and one of his remaining shirts, was
sent, together with a message that if he liked he might come and take any-
thing else, in which case he would reach his own chief naked and have to
account for it by telling that Katende had taken them. The shirt was
detained, and a little meal and manioc, and a fowl sent in exchange to the
famishing band.

They passed onward without seeing Katende. and reached a river with

AK FROM FEVER ESCORTED TO SHINTES TOWN

7
FE
c

W

AN AFRICAN PIKEMAN. 141

a wooden bridge across it, which Livingstone was surprised to find in the posses-
sion of a ‘‘ pikeman” who demanded toll—a functionary he had not expected
to meet with so far from the confines of civilization. A payment of three
copper bracelets secured the passage of the party. For days their route was
across a country intersected by valleys through each of which flowed a
flooded stream, more or less difficult to cross. In passing one of these Living-
stone lost his hold of the tail of an ox, and swam unassisted to the other
side, to the great joy of his men, who leaped into the water to save him.
They had not known till then that he could swim, and expressed their satis-
faction and contempt for future difficulties of a similar nature by saying,
“* We can all swim. Who carried the white man across the river but himself?”

Livingstone’s men, who had accompanied him from the Leeambye and
the Chobe, and passed through so many miles of country not half so fertile
as the region they had been passing through for days, expressed their
astonishment at the want of cattle and the non-cultivation of the soil, espe-
cially as the country was about as thickly peopled as their own. He came
to the conclusion that when wild game was abundant in the district it had
been afilicted with tsetse, and that now, on account of the introduction of
guns &c., these becoming scarce, the insect plague had ceased, a state of
matters of which, up to that time, Shinte, Katemo, and Matiamvo, were the
only chiefs who had had the wisdom to take advantage.

__ The travellers were now in the country of the Chiboque, a people who,
through their connection with the Mambari had imbibed a passion for plun-
dering all strangers by way of toll for the right of passage through their
country, which subjected the party to much danger and inconvenience.
Wishing to be on good terms with Njambi, a chief of some consequence, the
hump and ribs of an ox they had slaughtered were sent to him. The gift
was accepted, and a present of food was promised next day, which resolved
itself into a small quantity of meal and a demand for a man, an ox, a gun,
some powder, or cloth. About mid-day the young men of the tribe began to
gather round the party; and as they were overheard remarking that they had
only five guns, it was evident they intended plundering and perhaps murder-
ing them. Livingstone’s men stood on the defensive, while the young
Chiboque brandished their swords and pointed their guns at Livingstone,
who sat quietly on a camp stool with his double barrelled gun across his
knees.

The resolute and calm demeanour of the party had its effect; and the
chief consented to take a seat along with several of his headmen beside
Livingstone to talk matters over. He complained that one of his men,
Pitsane, had spat upon one of the Chiboque, and that the matter might be
settled by the present of a man, an ox, or a gun. It was no use explaining
to them that the offence was a pure accident, they were determined to have

142 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

all they could get, and after a bunch of beads and a large handerkerchief had
been given, they were more clamorous than ever. Feeling certain that he
and his men could give a good account of these plundering savages, but being
determined to avoid bloodshed unless driven to extremity, Livingstone main-
tained his coolness, which had its effect upon his men as well as upon the
Chiboque. Before the chief and his counsellors were aware of it, they found
themselves cut off from their people and surrounded by Livingstone’s party.
This induced a more friendly understanding, and taught them unmistakably
that any attempt at plunder would be met with a most formidable defence.
Being desirous of satisfying them as far as possible, a tired ox was given to
the chief, who promised to send food in return,—but all he sent was a small
basket of meal and a few pounds of the flesh of his own ox. As they could
now depart, Livingstone forbore remonstrating against the shabby treatment
they had received, and pushed on.

For several days he suffered severely from fever, being scarcely able to
sit upon his ox, and when quite prostrate from its effects, a mutiny arose
among his men, who were dissatisfied on account of some presents he had
made to his guides and chief men, who had become disheartened, and whose
goodwill and courage were so necessary to the safety of the expedition.
Having explained the matter to them, and promised to slay an ox at the next
village they reached, he imagined that harmony was restored. Some time
after, on recovering from a stupor induced by fever, he found matters in a
worse state than ever. Feeling how necessary it was that order should be
restored, he staggered from his bed armed with his double-barrelled pistol,
and, partly by threats and cajolery, restored amity amongst them. Several
days afterwards, the exactions of the Chiboque and the dangers with which
they were daily beset sapped the courage of his men, and they demanded to
be led back to their homes, as they saw no hope of being able to reach the
coast. After using all his power of persuasion without avail, he announced
his intention in the event of their deserting him, of proceeding to his destina-
tion alone. This had the desired effect; some of them made answer: ‘‘ We
will never leave you. Do not be disheartened. Wherever you lead we will
follow. Our remarks were made only on account of the injustice of these
people.”
Those who had accompanied him all the way, said ‘they were all my
children; they knew no one but Sekeletu and me, and they would die for
me.” At every step of his journey we are called upon to admire the wisdom
and courage of this heroic man. On many occasions the slightest indiscretion
or rashness would have ruined the expedition by exciting the jealous and sus-
picious nature of those savage tribes; and when real danger threatened, his cool
and resolute bearing—offering no violence, but showing unmistakably that if
such were absolutely necessary it would be forthcoming—saved them frequently

THE QUANGO VALLEY. 148

from plunder and a violent death. A man like this, who knows his own
powers thoroughly, and possesses the unusual faculty of commanding himself,
his passions and feelings, in all cases, illustrates our highest idea of what “a
leader of men” should be. To such men few undertakings, however dan-
gerous, are impossible; their courage and honesty conquer the stranger, while
their followers cannot help imbibing these qualities to an extent which makes
them capable of efforts they would have shrunk from under inferior guidance.

The travellers passed rapidly over the remainder of their route to the
Quango, avoiding villages, as the visiting of these only led to delays, no food
being procurable without making sacrifices of their now scanty necessaries.
On passing a village, swarms of children would rush out, and run for long
distances alongside of them, viewing them with wonder. They suffered
greatly from hunger; but the near prospect of reaching Portuguese territory
and finding frieuds, kept them up, and induced them to strain every nerve to
reach it as speedily as possible.

On the 30th of March, when so weak from fever and hunger that he had
to be led by his men to prevent his falling, Livingstone looked down from the
high land upon a valley about a hundred miles wide, through which the broad
Quango wound its way to the north-west. This great valley is nearly
covered with dark forest excepting along the course of the river, which
gleamed here and there from the midst of the green meadows which extend
a considerable way from its banks. On the further side lofty mountains rose
indistinctly through the haze, while the high ground from which he viewed
the magnificent scene was about a thousand feet above the level of the stream.
Weary and worn with want and disease, one can readily imagine the
feelings of this remarkable man, as he surveyed the magnificent valley spread
out before him, and had his eyes refreshed and his spirit stirred by the
sight of blue mountain summits, after hundreds of miles of travel through
a country all but flat. Beyond that broad stream lay friendly territory!
A few days more of trial and difficulty and he would be among a people who
would aid him in the completion of his great enterprise, and esteem it an
honour to supply him with the comforts and necessaries of which he stood so
much in need!

The chief of the Bashinje, a people on the east bank of the Quango,
made himself as troublesome as possible, as Livingstone would neither give
him a man nor one of the tusks belonging to Sekeletu. Everything they had
possessed, save the tusks and his instruments, was gone, and the clothes of the
travellers were hanging about them in tatters. The chief, a young man of
pleasing countenance, visited Livingstone, who showed him his watch, which
so excited his fear and wonder that he declined to see the magic lantern and
his pocket compass. Hunger and the near prospect of succour had made the
whole party determined to march on, even if they should have to cut their

144 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

way through these unfriendly people. In answer to the threats and demands
of the chief, he was told firmly that they ‘‘should certainly go forward next
day, and if he commenced hostilities, the blame before God would be his ;”
and Livingstone’s interpreter added of his own accord, ‘‘ How many white
men have you killed in this path?” meaning, ‘‘ You have never killed any
white man, and you will find one more difficult to manage than you imagine.”

Arrived at the Quango, another Bashinje chief insisted upon having an
ox, @ man, or a gun, before he would permit them to be ferried across.
Livingstone’s men stripped off the last of their copper rings and gave them to
him; but he still insisted upon a man. While in the midst of this difficulty,
a young half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, Cypriano di Abreu, who
had crossed from the other side to purchase beeswax, made his appearance,
and joined with Livingstone in inducing his men to go down to the river
bank. There Cypriano succeeded in arranging matters with the ferryman,
and to their great joy they found themselves in Portuguese territory. They
passed with light hearts through the tall grass, which in the valley of the
Quango is frequently over six feet in height. Three miles to the west of the
river they came to several neat square houses, before which many cleanly
looking half-caste militiamen, part of Cypriano’s command, stood and saluted
them.

Livingstone’s tent was pitched in front of Cypriano’s dwelling, and in
the morning his men were plentifully supplied with pumpkins and maize,
while Livingstone was entertained to a breakfast in his dwelling, of ground
nuts, roasted maize, and boiled manioc roots, with guavas and honey as a
dessert. ‘‘I felt sincerely grateful,” says Livingstone, ‘for such a breakfast.”
Several of Cypriano’s friends joined them at dinner, before partaking of
which, each guest had water poured on his hands to wash them, by a female
slave.

One of the guests cut up a fowl with a knife and fork, the only set in the
house, so that they all partook of the fowl with their fingers, their hands
being washed at the conclusion of the dinner as at the commencement.

During the few days they remained with Cypriano, he killed an ox for
their entertainment, and stripped his garden of its produce to feed them; nor
did his kindness end here, as he furnished them with as much food as would
serve them during the four or five days’ journey to Cassange.

All these half-caste militiamen could read and write; they were Roman
Catholics, but knew nothing about the Bible. The militia are quartered
among the Bangala, the people of the district, on account of their having, at
one time, made themslves troublesome to the Portuguese traders—killing one
of them. When the governor of Angola had reduced them to obedience, the
militia were established amongst them to enforce their good behaviour. These
militia receive no pay, but maintain themselves by trade and agriculture.

AT CASSANGE. 145

As the party had crossed several streams and had marched for miles
among wet grass which grew two feet over their heads, they had a very
forlorn appearance as they entered Cassange, the farthest east Portuguese
settlement, and presented themselves to the gaze of civilized men. The first
gentleman Livingstone met asked him for his passport, ‘‘ and said it was neces-
sary to take me before the authorities. As I was in the same state of mind
in which individuals are who commit a petty depredation in order to obtain
the shelter and food of a prison, I gladly accompanied him to the house of
the commandant, Senor de Silva Rego. Having shown my passport (letters
of recommendation from the Chevalier Du Prat, of Cape Town) to the gentle-
man, he politely asked me to supper; and as we had eaten nothing except the
farina of Cypriano, from the Quango to this, I suspect I appeared particularly
ravenous to the other gentlemen around the table.” One can readily sym-
pathise with him, when he adds, ‘‘ Had they not been present, I might have
put some in my pocket to eat by night; for after fever the appetite is unusu-
ally keen, and manioc is one of the most unsatisfying kinds of food.” One
of the guests, Captain Antonio Rodrigues Neves, took the worn and exhausted
traveller to his house with him, where he remained during his stay, and pre-
sented him with a decent suit of clothing. This kindly man also furnished
food for the famishing party. ;

The Portuguese traders in Cassange numbered about forty, and were all
officers in the militia; they were exceedingly kind to the coloured people
about them—their half-caste and full-coloured clerks and assistants in the
business sitting at table with them. None of them had European wives with
them, but most of them had families by native women whom they treated
with every kindness and consideration, seldom or never deserting them, and
providing for them as if they were legitimately born.

At Cassange the tusks belonging to Sekeletu were sold, and as two
muskets, three small barrels of gunpowder, and English baize and calico suffi-
cient to clothe the whole party, with several large bunches of beads, were
received for one tusk, Livingstone’s companions were quite delighted, as in
their own country they only received one gun for two tusks. Another tusk
was sold for calico with which to pay their way to the coast, as it is the chief
currency of the district, and the remaining two were sold for money to buy a
horse for Sekeletu at Loanda.

Livingstone was astonished to find that the traders at Cassange had an
accurate knowledge of the country and the courses of the rivers far to the east,
although this information had never appeared on any European map.

The commander handsomely sent a soldier with the party as a guide to
Ambaca, entertained Livingstone to a farewell dinner, and presented his com-
panions with an ox to regale themselves with. The merchants accompanied
him some distance in hammocks carried by slaves, and having given him

U

146 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

letters of introduction to their friends in Loanda, they parted with mutual
expressions of good-will. Livingstone’s guide was a man of colour, a
native of Ambaca, and a full corporal in the militia. He was attended by
three slaves, two of whom carried his hammock, in which he always reclined
in state on entering and leaving a village; the third slave carried a box which
contained his dishes, clothing, and writing materials, for he could both read
and write, as nearly all his brethren could. Although a pure native himself,
when he lost his temper in dealing with any of his slaves, he called him a
“negro,” asif he meant it as a term of reproach.

Crossing the high lands which bounded the Quango valley to the west,
Livingstone found no difficulty in procuring abundance of food from the |
inhabitants of the numerous villages in exchange for pieces of calico and beads.
The rains and night dews brought on another attack of fever; and a consider-
able portion of the journey was made in pain and misery. ‘The skin of his
body became abraded in various places; and his strong courage almost failed
him even when the hour of his success was so near at hand.

Arrived at Ambaca, Livingstone was hospitably entertained by the
commandant, who recommended wine for his debility; and here he took the
first glass of that beverage he had taken in Africa. While sleeping in the house
of the commandant he was bitten by an insect called the ¢ampan, a kind of
tick, varieties of which range in size from a pin’s head toa pea. It invariably
attacks the parts between the toes, sucking the blood till quite full. Its bite
is poisonous, and causes a sensation of pain and itching, which passes up the
limb until it reaches the abdomen, when it causes purging and retching.
When these effects do not follow, fever often sets in, which frequently results
in death. Before starting, the commandant gave them two militia soldiers as
guides, to replace their Cassange corporal, who left them here; and pro-
vided them with as much bread and meat as would serve them until they
reached the next station. With characteristic liberality, Livingstone tells us
that the ability of so many of the people of Ambaca to read and write, “is
the fruit of the labours of the Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries, for they
taught the people of Ambaca; and ever since the expulsion of the teachers by
the Marquis of Pombal, the natives have continued to teach each other.
These devoted men are held in high estimation throughout the country to this
day. All speak well of them; and now that they are gone from this lower
sphere, I could not help wishing that their own Roman Catholic fellow Chris-
tians had felt it their duty to give the people the Bible, to be a light to their
feet when the good men themselves were gone.”

» Nothing of note occurred during the remainder of the journey. The
Portuguese, without exception, treated the party with the utmost considera-
tion and kindness, which was all the more gratifying to him on account of
his debilitated condition. Parties of Mambari were met who did not seem

ARRIVAL AT LOANDA. 147

pleased at finding Makololo men so far from their native Zambesi, and so
near a market where they would discover the true value of their elephants’
tusks. They tried to induce them to return, by repeating the legend that the
white men lived in the sea, and that harm would happen to them. But
Livingstone’s companions were now proof against such fables; and although
full of wonder and doubt as to the new world they were about to enter, and
the treatment they might receive, they determined to stand by him to the last.

On catching their first glimpse of the sea, the astonishment of his com-
panions was boundless; speaking of their first sight of it, on their return to
their friends, they said: ‘‘ We marched along with our father, believing that
what the ancients had always told us was true, that the world had no end;
but all at once the world said to us, ‘I am finished, there is no more of me.’”

There was only one Englishman in Loanda—which had thena population of
eleven thousand souls—Mr. Gabriel, the British commissioner for the suppres-
sion of the slave trade, and he gave his countryman a warm welcome. He
had sent an invitation to meet him on the way from Cassange, whence intel-
ligence of the arrival of an Englishman from the interior of Africa,—a region
from which no European had ever before come,—had reached Loanda; but
it had missed him on the way. After partaking of refreshments, and noticing
how ill his guest looked, he conducted him to bed. ‘Never shall I forget,”
says he, ‘‘the luxuriant pleasure I enjoyed in feeling myself again on a good
English couch, after six months’ sleeping on the ground. I was soon asleep,
and Mr. Gabriel coming in almost immediately, rejoiced at the soundness of
my repose.”

He had achieved his purpose: the mystery of South Africa was solved.
Instead of being a vast barren desert, he had found it to be a populous and
fertile region, watered by splendid streams, navigable for hundreds of miles,
abounding in animal life of all kinds, and inhabited by tribes capable of benefit-
ing from the ciyvilizing and humanizing influences of honest commerce, and the
teaching of the Gospel. What are the triumphs of arms compared with the
great work this heroic man had achieved? On these vast fertile plains, there
is room for millions of human beings living peaceful and industrious lives. Is
it too much to hope, that within a period not very remote, the tribes of South
and Central Africa will have become all that he believes them capable of
becoming, and that they will hold in reverence the name and memory of the
undaunted Englishman who first introduced them and their country to the
knowledge of the civilized world ?

Livingstone and his party started from Linyanti on the 11th of Novem-
ber, 1853, and reached Loanda on the 31st of May, 1854, the journey thus
occupying something more than six months, during which period none of his
friends, either savage or civilized, heard anything of him. He had disap-
peared into the wilderness; and, like many more daring spirits, it was

148 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

supposed that he had fallen a victim to the climate or the cruelty of some
savage chief. Not the least remarkable fact connected with his journey was,
that he had not lost a man in the long and toilsome journey; and, as we shall
see, he was equally fortunate in returning.

Instead of burning and parched plains, he had found, as he had shrewdly
suspected he would, that, with the exception of a portion of the Bechuana
country and the Kalahari desert, the vast districts between the confines of
civilization at Kuruman and St. Paul de Loanda on the west coast—and from
all he could see and learn of the northern watersheds, equally vast districts
to the north of his line of march,—were seamed with rivercourses which
poured their waters into magnificent streams which found their way to the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and were for many hundred miles of their course
navigable for flat-bottomed vessels. The long rainy season gave to the earth
a fertility which the abundant animal life of these districts could not master ;
and the tall grass lay rotting on the ground in the flooded districts, a tangled
mass impeding the progress of the traveller, the dense swathes of which were
used by the various species of antelopes for hiding their young from their
numerous enemies.

Save in the immediate neighbourhood of the rivers and swamps the
natives are subject to fewer diseases than Europeans. In return for the
comforts and industrial appliances of civilized life they could give cotton,
indigo, skins, ivory, ete.; and a legitimate and mutually helpful trade of this
kind with the civilized centres of the world would do more in ten years towards
the suppression of the traffic in human flesh than all the money Great Britain
has spent for this object since the abolition of slavery in her dependencies.

This great district he found as thickly populated as the Bechuana country
by tribes ranking high among savages in intelligence, who, in the main, led
peaceable and blameless lives,—cultivating their gardens, feeding their cattle,
catching the fish in the rivers, and hunting the game of the plains, and
cherishing traditions of wise and distinguished forefathers of their tribes. To
the west, through their connection with the slave traders of the coast, and the
evil passions which invariably follow this inhuman traffic, he found a people
who had lost the peaceful and patriarchal simplicity of their brethren of the
interior ; but amongst them he found wise and intelligent chiefs and head-
men, with whom it appeared to him easy, given the opportunity of bringing
the proper teaching and experience before them through missionary and com-
mercial effort, to introduce a purer and nobler life,

VONVO!] 40 1fMVWd is

CHAPTER VIII.

Dr. Tivingstone’s Letters Home Detailing his Discoveries,—Receives the Royal
Geographical Society’s Gold Medal for the Year.—The Province of Angola, &c.

HE Missionary Magazine for October, 1855, was able to give the following
brief account of Dr. Livingstone’s great journey :—

“‘Qur enterprising missionary has, since the early part of 18538, been
engaged on his fourth tour of exploration in the interior of Africa. Arriving
at the town of the Chief Sekeletu, on the river Linyanti, in September of that
year he proceeded in a north-westerly direction, in company with a detachment
of the followers of that chief, in search of an outlet on the west coast, and, after
surmounting great difficulties and hardships, he at length reached St. Paul de
Loanda at the end of May, 1854.

* In consequence of the loss of some of Dr. Livingstone’s letters, by the
wreck of the vessel in which they were despatched, the detailed account of his
extended journey has not yet come to hand; but our readers will be gratified
by the notice of its more recent incidents embodied in the subjoined extracts
from his last communication.

“Under date, Cassange, Angola, West Africa, 14th January, ult.,
Dr. Livingstone writes :—

‘“« As soon as I was sufficiently recovered from the severe indisposition
which kept me prostrate for a long time after my arrival at Loanda, I wrote
you a iull account of the journey, concerning which you have probably received
information from other sources. I regretted that you had not received the
earliest intelligence directly from my own hand, and that regret was increased on
learning a few days ago at Punjo Andonjo, that all my letters and maps had
been lost in the wreck of the ‘ Forerunner,’ off Madeira.

“ Having left the river Zambesi or Leeambye in latitude 14°11’ S., and
longitude 23 40’ E., we ascended the Leeba until we had the country at Lobale
on our left, and Loanda on our right. We then left the canoes and travelled
N.N.W. on oxback till we reached the latitude of this place, viz., 9°37’, whence
proceeding westwards we at last reached Loanda.

‘“‘In passing through a part of Loanda we found the people exceedingly
kind, and generally anxious that we should succeed in opening up a new road
to the coast ; they belong to the negro race and are more superstitious than any
of the southern tribes; they would not eat with us, and near every village we

150 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

observed an idol, consisting either of a clay figure of a lion or alligator, or a
block of wood on which a human face was rudely carved. In cases of sickness
or failure in any pursuit, offerings of food are presented and drums beat before
them during whole nights. The Balonda invariably go armed with short
broadswords, large bows and arrows, and guns, and seem to possess but little
sense of security in their own country. Cases of kidnapping of children occurred
while we were passing, and these with persons who flee from one chieftain to
another are generally sold to half-blood Portuguese who visit the country as
slave dealers. The country appeared to contain a large population, and it
abounds in the necessaries of life. The soil is fertile, and the climate admits
of the crops appearing in all the different stages all the year round.

““The time of our visit was unfortunately the season of the heavy
rains, which appear to follow the course of the sun in his progress north. Our
experience can scarcely be considered a fair criterion of what may occur
during the rest of the year: perpetual drenchings, a hot sun (the temperature
never under 84 in the shade), quickly drying our clothing, and frequently
sleeping in damp beds, prevented my forming a reliable idea of the salubrity
of the climate. My companions, all native Zambesians, had nearly as much
sickness as myself—intermittent fever being the complaint from which we all
suffered most. The country, however, is elevated, and, abounding in flowing
streams, is moreover of great fertility and beauty. The time spent in the
way was also longer than may be required at other seasons, because we had
to halt early in the afternoons, in order to allow the men to build little huts
for shelter during the night. The dense-tangled forests, however, presented
an insurmountable obstacle to travelling in waggons, but the plains on our
west may not be similarly obstructed.

‘‘ When we came into the vicinity of the Portuguese settlements, the
native tribes treated us rather badly. Some levied heavy fines on the most
frivolous pretences; others demanded payment for leave to pass at all. I
parted with everything I could dispense with, and my men gave all their
ornaments and most of their clothes, either for food, fines, or ferries. But
when we explained we had nothing to part with besides, it did not in the
least appease the violence of the mobs which surrounded us, we must pay
either a man, an ox, or a gun, and were looked upon as interlopers, wishing
to cheat them out of their dues. At last, on reaching the river Quango, by
the generous assistance of a young Portuguese sergeant of Militia, we entered
the territory of Portugal, and received the kindest treatment from all classes
all the way to Loanda.

‘Tn that city I arrived nearly knocked up, and suffering from fever and
dysentery. Edmund Gabriel, Esq., Her Majesty’s Commissioner for the
Suppression of the Slave Trade, and the only Englishman I know in the city,
most generously received me and my twenty-seven companions into his liouse.

INFLUENCE OF MISSIONARIES. 151

I shall never forget the delicious pleasure of lying down on his bed, after
sleeping six months on the ground, nor the unwearied attention and kindness,
through a long sickness, which Mr. Gabriel invariably showed. May God reward
him! My companions were struck with awe at the sight of a city, and more
especially when taken on board Her Majesty’s ships of war. The kindness of
the officers of the cruisers removed the last vestige of fear from theirminds; for
finding them to be all my countrymen, they saw the fallacy of the declara-
tions of the negroes of every village we came to west of Cassange, ‘that the
white man was taking them to the sea, and would sell them all, to be taken
on board ship, fattened, and eaten.’ They were afterwards engaged in
discharging coals from a ship for wages, and will marvel to the end of their
lives at the prodigious quantity of ‘stones that burn’ one ship could contain.
They previously imagined their own little canoes on the Zambesi the best
vessels, and themselves the most expert sailors in the world.

*‘ His excellency the Bishop of Angola, then the acting governor of the
province, received my companions with great kindness, and assured them of
his protection and friendship as well as desire to promote commercial inter-
course with the country of Sekeletu. He also sent a present of a horse and
handsome dress for that chief, and showed very great attention to myself in
my sickness. The merchants too, of Loanda, took the opportunity of our
return, to send presents to Sekeletu; and as they give much more for the
produce of his country than can be or is done by merchants from the Cape
colony, it is to be hoped that intercourse with either Cassange or Loanda,
will promote the civilization of the interior. . . . Ihave been remarkably
well treated by the Portuguese. The Government did everything in its
power to facilitate my progress through the province. . . . I visited
several of the ‘extinct convents,’ or, as we should say, deserted missionary
stations. The churches are standing in some instances, and would require but
little to put them in good repair. South American fruit trees grow in the neat
gardens which the missionaries laid out, the bedsteads stand in the dormitories
as they left them, and the chests in which the brethren stowed their provisions;
but there were no books nor any inscriptions on the graves which would enable
one to learn something of the dust which sleeps beneath. But turning to the
people we soon recognise their memorials in the great numbers who can both
read and write. There are few of the people of Ambaca who cannot use their
pen, and the sight is not uncommon in that district of a black man sitting in
the evening with a fire-stick in one hand, and a pen in the other, writing in a
beautiful hand a petition to a commandant. I looked upon these relics of
former times with peculiar interest. . . . Among the benefits conferred
on the country by the missionaries may be mentioned coffee. A few mocha
seeds were planted, and it has now extended itself over the whole country.
Plantations of it are daily discovered in the forests, and only require to be

152 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

cleaned to yield as good quality of fruit as can be found in the world. A few
months ago it was discovered at Cassange, 300 miles inland. . . . I
return because I feel that the work to which I set myself is only half
accomplished. The way out to the eastern coast may be less difficult than
I have found that to the west. If I succeed, we shall at least have a
choice. I intend, God helping me, to go down the Zambesi or Leeambye
to Killimane. I may, in order to avoid the falls of Mosioatunya, and
the rapid and rocky river above that part, go across from Sesheke to the
Mauniche-Loeuge or river of the Bashokolompo, and then descend it to the
Zambesi. Ii I cannot succeed I shall return to Loanda, and thence embark
for England. I expected letters at Loanda, and feel much disappointed at
receiving none. I asked my friends to write to that place, and now suppose
they believed I should never reach it. I shall feel obliged if you will send a
letter to Killimane. I know not whether I shall reach it. I mean to try.”

The following extracts from a letter written by Dr. Livingstone to Dr.
Tidman give a graphic account of the countries and peoples he had visited
previous to October, 1855, the date of the letter :—

‘“¢ Dear Sir,—The excessive heat and dust which prevail previous to the
commencement of the rainy season, have prevented my departure from the town
of Sekeletu, as I intended at the beginning of this month, in order to descend
the Leeambye or the Zambesi. And though often seized with sore longing for

the end of this pilgrimage, the certainty that the present weather would soon
lay me up with fever, at a distance from friends, almost reconciles the mind
to the delay. As I now possess considerable knowledge of the region to which
I have devoted some years of toil, I will employ my present comparative
leisure in penning a sort of report, which may enable you to form a clear idea
of inter-tropical Africa as a missionary field.

‘¢PHysicaAL FEATURES OF THE CouNTRY.

‘“‘Tt may be advantageous to take a glance at the physical features of the
country first, in order to be able to appreciate the nature of the obstacles
which will have to be surmounted by those whom God may honour to intro-
duce Christianity into this large section of the heathen world. The remarks
made for this purpose must be understood as applying exclusively to the
country between 18 and 10°S. latitude, and situated towards the centre of
the continent. The region thus indicated may be described as an extensive
plain, intersected in every direction by large rivers, with their departing and
re-entering branches. They bear on their bosoms volumes of water, such as
are totally unknown in the south, and never dry up as the Orange and most
other African rivers do. They appear as possessing two beds, one of inunda-
tion, and another cut out exactly like the Clyde above Bothwell bridge. They
overflow annually during the rainy season in the north, and then the beds of

A MISSION FIELD. 153

inundation—the haughs or holms—are all flooded, though, as in the Barotse
valley, they may be more than 20 miles broad. The main body of the water
still flows in the now very deep low water bed, but the rivers look more like
chains of lakes than streams. The country between this and Sheseke was,
during the present year, nearly all under water. The parts which remained
dry are only a few feet above the general level, and canoes went regularly
from Linyanti to Sheseke, the distance being in a straight line more than 120
miles. It was an unusually wet year, and the plains are not yet free from
large patches of stagnant, foul-smelling water; though we expect the rains of
another season to begin during the present month. The inundation, if I may
judge from my own observation, is by no means partial. The exceptions are
where overtopping rocks form high banks, and there we have rapids and
cataracts, which impede navigation, and have probably been the barriers to
inland trade. When the supply of water from the north diminishes, the rivers
are confined to the low water channels, and even at their lowest are deep
enough to prevent invasion by enemies who cannot swim or manage eanoes.
Numerous lakes, of considerable size, are left on the lately flooded meadows
by the retiring rivers, and these are either fringed with reeds or covered with
mat rushes, papyrus plants, the Egyptian arum, the lotus, and other water-
loving plants. They are always drying up, but are never altogether dry ere
the next wet season begins.

“The country over which the rivers never rise is nearly two hundred
feet higher than the holms.

“THe INHABITANTS, THEIR ACCESSIBILITY TO CHRISTIANITY.

“ Tn regard to the people inhabiting this large and populous territory, it
is difficult in the absence of all numerical data to present a very precise idea.
The tribes are large, but divided into a great number of villages. So thickly
were these dotted over the country, that in travelling in a straight line in which
we could rarely see more than a mile on each side, we often passed ten or
twelve hamlets in a single day. Occasionally, however, we marched ten miles
without seeing any. In no part of the south I have visited is such a population
seen. Angola contains 600,000 souls, and Loanda seemed more populous and
of larger extent thanit. 'The Cape Colony, with 200,000 souls, possesses some
hundreds of missions and other Christian instructors and schoolmasters, but it
will bear no comparison with Loanda as a missionary field. The Makololo
territory has several tribes—Batoka, Barotse, Bashubca, Banyeti, Makalaka,
&c.—and there is no impediment to immediate occupation by missionaries ;
and to such as aspire to the honour of being messengers of mercy to the actual
heathen, there is no more inyiting field in South Africa. I am not to be
understood as meaning that any of these people are anxious for the Gospel.
They are quite unlike the intelligent inquiring race of the Punjaub, or the

iv

154 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

vivacious islanders of the Pacific. But there is not such callous indifference
to religious truth as I have seen elsewhere, nor yet that opposition which
betokens progress in knowledge. But there is a large population, and we are
sure, if the word of life is faithfully preached, in process of time many will
believe. I repeat again, that I know of no impediment to immediate efforts
for their instruction. Every headman and chief in the country would be
proud of the visit or residence of a white man. ‘There is security generally
for life and property. I left by mistake a pontoon in a village of Loanda, and
found it safe eighteen months afterwards. Some parcels sent by Mr. Moffat,
by means of Matebele, lay a whole year on an island in the Zambesi, near
Mosioatunya. It is true, it was believed, that they contained medicine,
which might bewitch, but regular rogues are seldom scared by such
preservatives. The Balonda are a friendly industrious race, and thousands
of the Balobale find an asylum among them from the slave-dealing pro-
pensities of their chiefs. They seem to possess a more vivid conviction of
their relation to the unseen world than any of the southern tribes. In the
deep dark forests near their villages, we always met with idols and places of
prayer. The latter are spots about four feet broad and forty long, kept
carefully clear of vegetation and falling leaves. Here, in the still darkness of
the forest night, the worshipper, either male or female, comes alone and prays
to the gods (Barimo) or spirits of departed relatives, and when an answer to
the petition seems granted, meal or other food is sprinkled on the spot as a
thank offering.

‘““'The Balonda extend to 7 south latitude, and their paramount chief is
always named Matiamvo. There are many subordinate chiefs all nearly
independent. The Balobale possess the same character, but are more warlike,
yet no prudent white man would be in the least danger among them. It seems
proper to refer to the Chiboque, Bashingo, and Bangala, who treated us more
severely than any I had previously met with in Africa. Sometimes they
levelled their guns at us, and it seemed asif we must fight to prevent entire
plunder and reduction to slavery. But I thank God we did them no harm,
and no one need fear vengeance on our account. A few more visits on this
principle would render them as safe as all other tribes, concerning which it
may confidently be stated, that if one behaves as aChristian and a gentleman
he will invariably be treated as such. Contrary conduct will give rise to remarks
and treatment of scorn.”

LANGUAGES.

‘Reference has been made to the Barotse, Batoka, &c., as of the true
negro race which occupies the interior of the continent. By their subjection
to the Makololo, they have acquired considerable knowledge of the Sichuana
language. We have thus a very important field open in a tongue into which

TRADING HABITS OF THE NATIVES. 155

the whole of the Sacred Scriptures will, it is hoped, soon be translated, and
the time necessary for learning and reducing the negro language may not be
sa barren asis usually the case. The Barotse, Batoka, Balonda, and Ambonda
dialects (or language spoken by the Angolese), with those spoken in Luba and
beyond, as also those of the people on the east coast, are all undoubtedly
cognate with the Bechuana tongue and Kaffre. The very considerable number
of words exactly alike or only slightly varied in their inflections, can only be
explained on that hypothesis, for there has been no intercourse between these
tribes, at least for centuries past. Each of the negro tribes readily learns the
language of the others. The Bechuanas, however, often fail to acquire that
of the negroes though living among them. Yet my companions acquired it in
Angola as readily as I could a smattering of Portuguese, and failed entirely
in the latter. The influence of the Sacred Scriptures in the true negro language
will be immense. If we call the actual amount of conversion the direct results
of missions, and the wide diffusion of better principles the indirect, I have no
hesitation in asserting that the latter are of infinitely more importance than the
former. 1 donot undervalue the importance of the conversion and salvation of
the most abject creature that breathes, but viewing our work of wide sowing
of the good seed, relatively to the harvest when all our heads are low, there
can, I think, be no comparison.

“Tt might be premature to contemplate the probability of any results
from the circulation of the edition of the Testament which was furnished to
Park; but the circumstances are somewhat similar, seeing that all the Arabs
I have met with are able to read and write. We may accomplish that which
he was not permitted todo. It will, at all events, be working in the right
direction.

OPENINGS FOR THE ULTIMATE SPREAD OF CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY.

**The Africans are all deeply imbued with the spirit of trade. We
found great difficulty in getting past many villages; every artifice was em-
ployed to detain us, that we might purchase our suppers from them. And
haying finished all the game, they are entirely dependent on English calico
for clothing. It is retailed to them by inches; a small piece will purchase a
slave. If they had the opportunity of a market they would raise on their
rich soil abundance of cotton, and zingoba beans for oil. I cannot say they
were lazy, though they did seem to take the world easy. Their hair was
elaborately curled; many of their villages were models of neatness, and so
were their gardens and huts. Many were inveterate musicians. The men
who went with me to Loanda did so in order to open up a path for commerce,
and without any hope of payment from me. Though compelled to part with
their hard-won earnings in that city for food, on our way home I never heard
amurmur. The report they gave of the expedition, both in public and

156 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

private, and very kind expressions towards myself, were sufficiently flattering.
A fresh party was dispatched with ivory, under the guidance of an Arab from
Zanzibar, and two days only given for preparation; and when they return, or
even sooner, my companions are to start again. That their private opinions
are in accordance with their public professions, I have evidence in the
number of volunteers who offer themselves to go to the east with me,
knowing I have not wherewith to purchase food even. And they are not an
enthusiastic race either; there is not the least probability of any mere adven-
turer attaining much influence among them. If the movement now begun is
not checked by some untoward event, the slave trade will certainly come to a
natural termination in this quarter, our cruisers have rendered slaves so little
value now on the coast. Commerce has the effect of speedily letting the
tribes see their mutual dependence. It breaks up the sullen isolation of
heathenism. It is so far good. But Christianity alone reaches the very
centre of the wants of Africa and of the world.

‘“‘ Theoretically I would pronounce the country about the forks of the
Leeba and Leeambye, or Kabompo, and the river of the Bashukolompo, as a
most desirable central point for the spread of civilization and Christianity.
And unfortunately I must mar my report by saying I feel a difficulty as to
taking my children there without their own intelligent self-dedication. I can
speak for my wife and myself only—we will go whoever remains behind.”

We give a few extracts from an interesting letter written by Dr. Living-
stone, and addressed to Sir Roderick Murchison. It is the earliest of that
series of letters between these two distinguished men we have been able to
recover :—

‘The commerce of the country over which Sekeletu now reigns, and that
of numerous tribes situated more to the East, have been until lately completely
neglected by Europeans. A large waterfall, called Mosioatunya, is conjectured
to have prevented the Portuguese from ascending the Zambesi; and the Desert
presented an insurmountable obstacle to commercial enterprise in the south.
Accordingly, when we first visited the country we saw many instances in which
valuable ivory had been allowed to rot with other bones, just where the animal
had fallen. Indeed tusks went by the name of “‘ mere bones” (marapohela=
bones only); and, though the inhabitants soon acquired an idea of their superior
value, they have not, up to the present time, received prices suff ent to
stimulate them to proper efforts to procure large supplies. Elephants abound
in the land, and there are many daring hunters; but a few pieces of cloth
present only a very small indication that the tusks are of more value than the
flesh. The elephants have always been killed more for food than for profitable
barter; and other articles of trade, such as beeswax, which abounds in some
parts of the country, are thrown aside as useless.

‘“The common methods of killing elephants may be mentioned. The

MODE OF ELEPHANT HUNTING. 157

hunters having observed the path by which certain elephants or a herd go to
water, select the highest overhanging trees as best adapted for their purpose.
They are armed with spears hens very long handles, made of very light
wood, and blades about two feet ene Pene with a barb on the shaft. As
the sinrel: generally drink during the night, the men perch themselves on
branches hanging nearly over the anh, ant) aren the elephant comes unsus-
pectingly along, plunge their spears into his body. The wounded animal
rushes madly away, and, as the spear is held in by the barb, the motion of
the body causes the long handle to swing in different directions. Contact
with trees produces the same effect; and, as the motions of the blade are
uniform with those of the handle, the numerous internal gashes soon bring
this strong animal to the ground. Another method is by means of a log of
wood, having a poisoned spear-head inserted. It is suspended on a branch
above the elephant’s path by means of a cord, which again is secured to a
small wooden catch on the ground. When the catch is touched by the foot of
the elephant in passing along, the beam falls un his back, and the barbed
spear-head remains. In this case the trust of the hunter lies in the
poison. Still another method is that of deep, wedge-shaped pitfalls, carefully
covered over and plastered, so as to have the same appearance as the rest of
the path. Many females and young animals are destroyed by this last
means; but it is evident that with better arms and the prospect of a speedy
and profitable sale of the ivory, much more produce would appear. The
present means are often rendered futile by one elephant helping another out
of a pitfall, or by the sagacious beast snuffing danger in the wind, and
abruptly leaving the country. Even when successful, it can only be with one
animal, for the others at once forsake the district if one of their number
falls a victim.

** The inhabitants of the Balonda country, belong to the true woolly-headed
negro race, and differ remarkably from the Bechuanas and other tribes in the
south in their treatment of females and in the practice of idolatry. They swear
by their mothers, and never desert them; they allow the women a place
and voice in their public assemblies, and frequently elevate them to the chief-
tainship.

“The Bechuanas, on the contrary, swear by their fathers, glory in the
little bit of beard which distinguishes them from the sex which they despise,
and, though they have some idea of a future state, it exerts but little influence
on their conduct. Their supreme God is a cow, and they never pray.”

After giving details of his intercourse with Shinte, which we have already
quoted, Dr. Livingstone goes on to explain the river system of the country.
He struck the Leeba after leaving Shinte’s town:—‘‘It had,” he says,
“assumed the same easterly and westerly course as the Leeambye. After
crossing it we were obliged to go almost due North, in consequence of the

158 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

plains of Lobale on our West being flooded and impassable. It happened to be
the rainy season, and never did twenty-four hours pass without frequent
drenching showers. All the streams were swollen, so as to appear con-
siderable rivers; but as they were generally furnished with rustic bridges, we
may infer their flow to be perennial. Several extensive plains were crossed
with the water standing more than a foot deep; and broad valleys also, along
which the water flowed fast towards the Leeba, deep enough to wet our
blankets, which we used as pads on the oxen instead of saddles. Both this
and the water in the rivers were so clear, that, in using the bridges over the
latter, though they were submerged breast-deep, we could easily see the sticks
on which to place our feet. This clearness of the water, which we observed
in the Zouga, Chobe, and Leeambye, at the times of inundation, is the result
of the rains falling on a mat of grass so thick as to prevent the abrasion of the
soil. As the tropical rains cause the plains of Lobale to present a similar
phenomenon, it may not be unreasonable to conclude that the water of
inundation of the Barotse valley and lower parts of the Zambesi, is supplied
by copious rains in the North, and, as the natives reported, comes chiefly
from Lobale.

‘““ We suffered less detention than might be expected from the swollen
state of the rivers; for though we had to swim some of them, all except two
boys knew the art; and we never stopped to dry our clothes, unless it were in
the afternoons. We got drenched, either by rains or rivers, two or three
times every day; but the sun was hot, and we suffered noinconvenience. If,
however, we arrived at our sleeping-place damp, or got our blankets wet,
intermittent fever was sure to follow.

‘““The country of the Balonda through which we passed was both fertile
and beautiful. Dense forests alternate constantly with open valleys covered
with grass resembling fine English meadows. The general surface, though flat,
seems covered with waves disposed lengthways from N.N.E. toS.8.W. The
crest of each of these earthen billows is covered with forest 4 or 5 miles broad ;
while the trough, about a mile wide, has generally a stream or bog in the centre,
with the habitations and gardens of the inhabitants on the sides. The forests
consist of lofty evergreen trees, standing close together, and interlaced with
great numbers of gigantic climbers. The trees, covered with lichens, and the
ground with mosses and ferns, indicate a much more humid climate than is to
be found in the south. The only roads through these dense thickets are small
winding footpaths; and as an attempt to stop an ox suddenly, only makes him
rush on, we were frequently caught by the overhanging climbers, and came to
the ground head foremost. On this account I never trusted to the watch
alone for longitudes.

“The streams with which the country is well supplied differ remarkably
in the directions in which they flow. Many were flowing southwards; but a

KINDNESS OF BALONDA PEOPLE. 159

distance of about 20 miles brought us to streams running N.E., and in much
deeper yalleys. I suspected that we were travelling on an elevated table-
land, because the current of the Zambesi and other rivers was rapid, and we
had large Cape-heath and rhododendrons, which grow on elevated positions,
together with a wonderful lack of animal life. This proved to be the fact, for
when we were about 40 miles E.S.E. of the Quango we came upon a sudden
descent, perhaps about 2000 feet, which to me seemed about the same height
as Table Mountain at the Cape. Ninety or one hundred miles West from
this descent appeared as it were a range of mountains; but it is only the
edge of a similar table-land, identical with that on the margin of which we
stood. This presents the same mountainous appearance to a person coming
from the West. The intervening valley is called Cassange, and through it
flows the Quango and other rivers.

‘Only when we reached the declivity which forms the valley of Cassange
could I conceive why all the rivers that flowed North N.E., or N.W., ran in
much deeper valleys than those which followed an opposite course. The
slopes down to the feeders of the Kasai and Quango are more than 500 yards
long and pretty steep, while the beds of the branches of the Leeba are never
more than 10 yards below the level of the surrounding country. The whole
valley of Cassange seems to have been a work of denudation, for on all sides
the declivity presents the same geological peculiarities, viz., a covering of
brown hematite, mixed with quartz pebbles, lying upon bright-red friable
clay slate. This, differing only in hardness and paleness of colour, continues
to the bottom; but towards the centre of the valley it takes the form of
argillaceous schist. A detached mountain, 7 or 8 miles 8.S.W. of Cassange,
called Kasala, and having perpendicular sides all round, possesses the same
structure. I regret much having no instruments to measure the elevations of
these parts; but, after ascending again at Tala Mungongo, we appeared to
descend again all the way to Ambaca, where we met primitive and secondary
rocks, the latter containing metals.

‘This country, as compared with that to the South, is well peopled. We
came to villages every few miles, and often passed as many as ten in a day.
Some were extremely neat; others were so buried in a wilderness of weeds,
that, though sitting on the ox in the middle of the village, we could see only
the tops of the houses. There is no lack of food; manioc or the tapioca
plant is the staff of life, and requires but little labour for its cultivation. The
seasons seemed to allow of planting or reaping all the year round. The
Balonda were all extremely kind; and, indeed, had they been otherwise, we
should have starved; for there is no game, and all the goods which I had
brought from the Cape were expended before we started, excepting a few
beads.

“When we came near to the Portuguese possessions, the tribesaltered very

160 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

much for the worse; and the Chiboque so annoyed us by heavy fines levied on
the most frivolous pretences, that we changed our course from N.W. to N.
This did not relieve us long, for, when we came nearer Cassange, we found
our route obstructed by the M’bangala, who demanded payment of ‘a man,
an ox, or a gun,’ for leave to pass at all. A refusal on our part was some-
times followed by a whole tribe surrounding us, brandishing their swords,
arrows, and guns, and tumultuously vociferating their demands. The more we
yielded, the more unreasonable the mob became, till at last, in order not to
aid in robbing ourselves, we ceased speaking, after telling them that they
must strike the first blow. My men, who were inured to fighting by Sebituane,
quickly surrounded the chief and councillors. These felt their danger, and
speedily became more amicable They never disputed the proposition that the
ground they cultivated alone belonged to them, and all the rest of the country
to God. This being the idea in the native mind, they readily admitted that
they had no right to demand payment for treading on the soil of our common
Father. But they pleaded custom; ‘slave-traders always gave them a slave.’
My companions being all free subjects of Sekeletu, had as good a right to give
me as I had to give one of them; and the affair usually ended by our agreeing
to give each other food in token of friendship. I had to part with an ox; and
their part of the contract was sometimes fulfilled by sending us two or three
pounds of the meat of our own animal, with many expressions of regret at
having nothing else to give. It was impossible to avoid laughing at the coolness
of the generous creatures. I had paid away my razors, shirts, and everything
I could dispense with; but, though I showed these extortioners the instruments
and all we had, as being perfectly useless to them, the oxen, men and guns
still remained. ‘You may as well give what we ask for, as we shall get the
whole to-morrow, after we have killed you;’ or, ‘ You must go back from whence
you came, and say we sent you;’ were some of the witticisms, which, with
hunger, were making us all sulky and savage. If Sekeletu had allowed my
companions to bring their shields, I could not have restrained them; but we
never came into actual collision, and, as far as we are concerned, the way is
open for our return. On the last occasion on which we parted with an ox,
objections were raised against one which had lost his tail, because they imagined
a charm had been inserted in the stump, which might injure them; and the
remaining four, still in our possession, very soon exhibited the same peculiarity
of their caudal extremities. Attempts have frequently been made by the
Balonda and other distant tribes to open up commercial intercourse with
the Portuguese, and these have always been rendered abortive by the bor-
derers.”

The value and magnitude of the discoveries made by Dr. Livingstone left
the members of the Royal Geographical Society in ne dubiety as to who should
be the gold medallist forthe year. At the annual meeting the president of the

HONOURS AWARDED TO LIVINGSTONE. 161

Society, Lord Ellesmere, after handing the medal to Dr. Tidman, who repre-
sented the London Missionary Society, said :—

“* After the observations which have been addressed to this Meeting, on
the subject of Dr. Livingstone’s merits, by a Right Reverend Prelate, the
Bishop of Oxford, a Fellow of this Society, it has become scarcely necessary
for me to say anything in justification of an award, which I know will meet
with an assent as unanimous in this assembly as it did in our Council-room.
If its further vindication were necessary, I should appeal rather to the eye
than the ear. I should point to the pregnant sketches of the routes of
recent South African discoverers on our walls; and borrowing from the
epitaph of Wren the simple word ‘Circumspice,’ request you to search for
yourselves, where Dr. Livingstone entered on the terra incognita of South
Africa, and where, at Loanda, he emerged. The satisfaction with which I
pronounce the award of our Society, unanimous as I am sure it is, is only
alloyed by the circumstance that Dr. Livingstone is not here in person to
receive it, as he might have been, but for that noble spirit of perseverance
and fidelity to his engagements with a native chief, which has launched him
again on his adventurous career. It is some consolation to feel that, in his
absence, I could not more appropriately confide this Medal than to the hands
of Dr. Tidman, the distinguished Secretary of the London Missionary
Society, which has found and sent forth an instrument for their sacred pur-
poses, so illustrious as Dr. Livingstone. Your character, Sir, and your
functions remind me, that if Dr. Livingstone has incidentally done that for
science which has deserved from us, as a scientific Society, our highest reward,
he has gone forth with even higher objects than those which we specially
pursue. Your presence here reminds me that his object has been the intro-
duction of Christian truth into benighted regions, and that the means and
method of his action have been strictly appropriate to his ends. Within these
two days a volume in the Portuguese language has been placed in my hands,
the record of a Portuguese expedition of African exploration from the East
Coast. I advert to it to point out the contrast between the two. Colonel
Monteiro was the leader of a small army—some 20 Portuguese soldiers and
120 Kaffres. I find in the volume no reason to believe that this armed and
disciplined force was abused to any purpose of outrage or oppression; but
still the contrast is as striking between such military array and the solitary
grandeur of the missionary’s progress, as it is between the actual achieve-
ments of the two; between the rough knowledge obtained by the Portuguese
of some 300 leagues of new country, and the scientific precision with which
the unarmed and unassisted Englishman has left his mark on so many impor-
tant stations of regions hitherto a blank, over which our associate Mr.
Arrowsmith* has sighed in vain. To you then, Sir, I gladly confide this mark

* Mr. Arrowsmith, a great Geographer and Constructor of Maps.
WwW

162 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of our Society’s appreciation of Dr. Livingstone’s merits; and I would fain
hope that our award will add somewhat to the satisfaction, you and your
fellow-labourers must indulge, in having selected and sent forth such an instru-
ment of your high and holy designs.”

The Rey. Dr. Tidman replied :—

“My Lord,—In receiving this mark of honour on behalf of Dr. Living-
stone, I can but very inadequately express the gratification which I feel that
my intrepid and devoted friend should have secured the distinguished com-
mendation of the President and Council of the Royal Geographical Society.

“When I had the pleasure on a former occasion of receiving, as Dr.
Livingstone’s representative, the award of a chronometer watch from your
Society, I ventured to express the sanguine expectation that, if his life
were spared, he would hereafter accomplish more extended labours for
the exploration of the interior of Southern Africa.’ That expectation was
founded on the knowledge I have long possessed of the indefatigable in-
dustry and dauntless courage of Dr. Livingstone ; his ardent love of science;
and above all, his disinterested Christian benevolence toward the aboriginal
tribes of that hitherto unexplored region: for I need not inform your
lordship and this meeting, that, how anxious soever our missionary traveller
may be to ascertain the geographical facts and physical features of the country,
his first and ultimate object is with the people, by introducing them to a know-
ledge of that inspired volume which is the true source of civilization and
happiness in the present life, no less than of immortal hope and joy beyond it.

‘When Christian missionaries half a century since commenced their
work of mercy in Southern Africa, the native tribes possessed no symbol,
or visible form of thought; and the Rev. Robert Moffat and others had to
acquire the knowledge of their rude speech, not by the eye, but by the ear;
to make the hut of the savage their study, and by a nice comparison of
atterances and sounds, to learn, by slow degrees, the thoughts and feelings of
the natives. But over these difficulties their ardour and perseverance
triumphed; and they have given back to these aborigines, in their own
tongue, various treatises on education and useful knowledge, together with
that inspired volume which can make men wise unto salvation.

“Dr. Livingstone, in the course of his extended journey, found his
knowledge of the Sichuana language invaluable; for notwithstanding the
variety of dialects which prevailed among different tribes, he was able to
hold easy and intelligent intercourse with all; but, in addition to the charm
which the traveller bears about him who can speak the language of the people
whom he visits, Dr. Livingstone carries with him the stronger charm of
truthfulness, rectitude, and disinterestedness—these have secured for him a
good name, and throughout his journey, with rare exceptions, he was received
with confidence and treated with kindness by the natives.

LORD ELLESMERE’S ADDRESS. 163

‘‘T sympathise deeply in the pleasure expressed by the Bishop of Oxford,
who moved the adoption of your report, that this most successful effort to
explore the terra incognita of Southern Africa- has been accomplished by a
Christian missionary; and I can confidently assure your lordship and this
meeting, that you will find in these devoted labourers, in every field of their
efforts, the true friends of science and social improvement, no less than the
faithful teachers of religion.

“Tt would be premature to offer an opinion on the probable results of
Dr. Livingstone’s researches in the future extension of civilization and
Christianity in South Africa; but it is a benevolent and noble enterprise to
seek out these myriads, who have remained for ages unknown to the great
family of man; and as they are now brought within our sympathy, so we
may hope, by God’s help, to extend to them hereafter the blessings of know-
ledge and of true religion.”

In his annual address delivered to the members of the Royal Geographical
Society, Lord Ellesmere alluding again to the labours and discoveries of Dr.
Livingstone, said :—

“Dr. Livingstone’s unparalleled journey from the Cape of Good Hope
through the interior has, since the last anniversary, been continued with
perfect success as far as Loanda in the Portuguese territory on the West coast.
His map arrived here safely, but unfortunately the journals and communica-
tions which had been transmitted to the Society through our associate Lieut.
Bedingfield, R.N., were lost in the ‘Forerunner.’ Dr. Livingstone had left
his friend Sekeletu with 27 men and oxen, as well as a consignment of ivory,
entrusted to him by that chief. With this party he ascended the Leeambye
and a portion of the Leeba flowing from the northward, as far as the Balonda
country, which he found populous and well governed under a powerful chief
named Matiamvo. Here the party left the boats and proceeded on oxback.
The natives continued to exhibit great kindness as far as the borders of
the Portuguese settlements, when exorbitant payments for passage were
demanded, in accordance with the practice of these border tribes, which
has hitherto effectually obstructed commerce, but which, it is hoped, will be
overruled. After vainly endeavouring to avoid these plunderers, he succeeded
in reaching the Quango, where a fortunate meeting with a Portuguese settler
obtained him protection till he reached Cassange, in lat. 9° 37 30’ South and
long. 23° 43° East. From thence he proceeded without difficulty to Loanda,
where he was received with unbounded favour and hospitality by the Portu-
guese authorities and the whole population.

“ Heavy rain constantly occurred throughout the journey. The whole
route passed over a plateau of extreme fertility, well watered, and populous,
and great hopes are entertained of its being laid open to commerce and
civilisation.

164 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“‘ Dr. Livingstone has left Loanda to return with his party to Sekeletu,
with a present of trade goods for that worthy chief from the Portuguese mer-
chants. From thence it was the traveller’s intention to follow the Leeambye,
in the expectation of reaching Killimane on the West coast, where he hoped
to find some means of returning to England, and begged that inquiries might
be made for him by one of H.M.’s ships on the station.

“Tn connection with Dr. Livingstone’s adventures, a communication has
just been received by the London Missionary Society from his father-in-law,
the veteran missionary Robert Moffat, who is stationed at Kuruman, and has
spent nearly forty years in South Africa. Finding that letters and parcels
which had been transmitted for Livingstone through a native chief had been
detained, Dr. Moffat started from Kuruman with supplies for his brave son-in-
law in June, 1854, accompanied by two traders, Messrs. Chapman and
Edwards. This journey occupied seven months, and it is alone of great
interest, relating to a beautiful, wooded, and well-watered country, occupied
by a very powerful chief and warlike people. The dominions of this ruler,
named Moselekatse, extend from the river Zambesi southwards, over an
immense territory, to the river Limpopo, and eastwards towards the river
Shash, a tributary of the Limpopo. It is inhabited by Matabele, or Zulus
of the original stock, and by several other tribes, including the Bakone on
the South, the Mashona on the North, the Batonga, &e. The town of Matlo-
kotloko in the Mashona country, where Moselekatse was residing, is ten days
to the southward of the Zambesi river. The Mashona speak the language of
the Makalaka, a dialect of the Sichuana, which was reduced to a written form
by Dr. Moffat, who has also translated and printed the Bible in that widely-
spread tongue. Dr. Moffat succeeded in forwarding the supplies for Dr.
Livingstone to his friend Sekeletu at Linyanti. He learned that the traveller
was still on his journey to the West coast, and was expected to return when
the summer rains commenced. Dr. Moffat established the most friendly
relations with Moselekatse, who could scarcely be persuaded to part with him,
and at last gave him an escort and supplies for the entire journey to Kuruman.
Further accounts of this interesting journey will, we hope, be made known
from Dr. Moffat’s journals. ”

The Senatus Academicus of Glasgow University—Livingstone’s Alma
Mater—unanimously conferred upon him the degree of M.D. immediately
after the receipt of the intelligence of his arrival at Loanda had reached this
country.

The Portuguese would appear to have been more successful in their
colonising efforts on the west coast of Africa than they have been on the east
coast, as we shall see when we follow Dr. Livingstone to the mouth of the
Zambesi. The following is his account of Angola :—

“The province of Angola possesses great fertility and beauty, and its

THE PROVINCE OF ANGOLA. 165

capabilities, both agriculturally and commercially, are of a very high order ;
indeed, I do not fear contradiction in asserting it to be the richest in resources
of Western Africa.

** As I have now had the advantage of passing through the province twice,
and have honestly endeavoured to obtain correct knowledge of the country, I
venture to give you my impressions, as not calculated to mislead any except
those whose general views of the world are much more gloomy than mine.

** As we proceed from the coast inland, the country, except in the vicinity
of rivers, presents a rather arid appearance. There are not many trees, but
abundance of hard, coarse grass. But the low meadow-lands, of several miles
width, lying adjacent to the rivers, are sufficiently fertile, and yield annually
fine crops of sugar-cane, different vegetables and manioc (the staff of life
through all this part of Africa), also oranges, bananas, and mangoes, of
excellent quality. Proceeding eastwards, we enter on a different sort of
country, about longitude 14° E. It is mountainous, well watered with
perennial streams, and mollified by fogs deposited from the western winds,
which come regularly to different places at different hours every day. Near
the Muria we enter dense forests, whose gigantic trees, covered with scarlet or
other coloured blossoms, and giving support to numerous enormous climbers,
with the curious notes of strange tropical birds, present the idea of excessive
luxuriance, and recall the feelings of wildness produced when standing in
similar sylvan scenery in the interior of Brazil. The palm which yields the
oil of commerce grows everywhere. Pine apples, bananas, and different kinds
of South American fruit-trees first introduced by the missionaries, flourish in
the woods, though apparently wild and totally uncared for. Most excellent
coffee, from a few seeds of the celebrated Mocha, propagates itself spon-
taneously in the forests which line the mountain-sides. Cotton of rather
inferior quality finds itself so well suited with climate and soil, that it appears
as if indigenous. Provisions are abundant and cheap. Ten pounds of the
produce of the manioc plant, which, under the classical appellation ‘ Revalenta
Arabica,’ sells in England for twenty-two shillings, may, in the district
referred to, be purchased for one penny. Labour, too, is abundant and
cheap ; twopence per day is considered good wages by carpenters, smiths,
potters, &c., as well as by common labourers. The greatest drawback the
population has in developing the resources of the country, is the want of
carriage-roads for the conveyance of produce to markets. The slave-trade
led to the neglect of every permanent source of wealth. All the merchandise
of the interior was transported on the shoulders and heads of the slaves, who,
equally with the goods, were intended for exportation. And even since the
traffic has been effectually repressed by our cruisers, human labour for trans-
port has alone been available. This is a most expensive and dilatory system,
as the merchants and persons of smaller means, on whose industry access to a

166 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

proper market would have a most beneficial effect, possess no stimulus for
exertion in cultivation. Some use is made of the river Zenza by means of
canoes, and considerable trade is carried on between the districts on the
Coanza and Loanda by the same means; but the bars at the mouths of both
rivers present serious obstacles to speedy transit.

“The country still further inland becomes gradually more open. Ambaca
presents an undulating surface, with ranges of mountains on each side in the
distance. It possesses a great number of fine little streams, which might be
turned to much advantage for water-power and irrigation. Both it and Pungo
Adongo abound in cattle. The latter seems more elevated; for, as we cross
the Lotete, the boundary between the two districts, we enter upon the same
vegetation and trees which characterise Lunda. Wheat, grapes, and European
vegetables, grow in nearly the same spots with bananas and other tropical fruits.
Indeed, by selecting proper localities, cotton, sugar, coffee, and other products
of hot climates, might be raised to any amount in this fine and beautiful country,
together with many of the grains and fruits of colder regions. No attempts
have hitherto been made to develop its internal resources. It is but lately that
coffee-plantations were turned to as a source of wealth. Some were discovered
during my progress, and the actual extent of the tree is still unknown: I saw
it at Tala Mungongo, nearly 300 miles from the coast. Different kinds of gum
abound, as gum elemi, Jndia rubber, &c., and, among metals, very superior iron
is found all through the country. Rich copper ore exists in the interior of
Ambriz, and there are indications of coal.

‘“‘ Cassange is at present the farthest inland station of the Portuguese. It
may be called the commercial capital of the interior. Trade in ivory and wax
is carried on with great vigour and success; and large quantities of English cotton
goods are sent into the country beyond, by means of natives or half-blood
Portuguese. The merchants treat their customers with great liberality. At
the time I write, Captain Neves is preparing presents, consisting of cloth, beads
carpets, furniture, &c., of upwards of £50 value, for Matiamvo, the most
powerful potentate east of this. This chief lives about long. 24°, and
monopolises the trade which, but for him, might pass to tribes called Kanyika
beyond him.

‘“‘ The deep valley of Cassange is wonderfully fertile, but success in trade
prevents the merchants from paying any attention to agriculture. The soil,
so far as present experience goes, would place Mr. Mechi’s pipes for liquid
manure at a discount, for it requires nothing but labour; the more it is worked,
the more fruitful it becomes.

“The government of the country may be described as a military one, and
closely resembles that which Sir Harry Smith endeavoured in vain to introduce
among the Kaffres. The imposts are exceedingly light, consisting of a tax of
eightpence on each hearth, and sixpence on each head of cattle. Something

COMMERCE OF ANGOLA. 167

is also levied on gardens near the coast, and on weavers and smiths. The
population is large, between 500,000 and 600,000 souls being under the sway
of the Portuguese; and of this large number, the majority are free-born. In
those districts to the statistics of which I had access, the slaves did not form
5 per cent. of the entire population, and a very large proportion was dependent
on agriculture alone. There are very few whites comparatively; and, from
the polite way in which persons of colour are addressed and admitted to the
tables of the more afiluent, it might be inferred that there is as little prejudice
against colour as in any country in the world. Nothing struck me as more
remarkable than the change produced on convicts by their residence in this
colony. No sooner do they arrive than they are enlisted into the 1st regiment
of the line, and perform similar duties to our Foot Guards in London. The
11,000 inhabitants of Loanda go comfortably to bed every night, although
they know that the citadels and all the arms of Loanda are in the hands of
convicts, many of whom have been transported for life. The officers are not
supposed to have been guilty of any offence against the laws of their country,
and probably they may have considerable influence with the men; but their
testimony eyen is, that the men perform their duty well, and are excellent
soldiers. Some ascribe the remarkable change to the utter hopelessness of
escape, the certainty of detection and punishment of any crime, and the fear
of being sent to the deadly district of St. Jose de Encoge (something like our
Norfolk Island, but not so bad); but, however accounted for, the beneficial
change in the men is unquestionable.

“‘ Another pleasing feature in the population is the ability of many to
read and write. It is considered a disgrace in Ambaca for a free man of
either colour to be unable to write. This general diffusion of education is
the result of the teaching of the Jesuit missionaries, who were expelled the
country by the Marquis of Pombal. If the results of their teaching have
been so permanent, without anything like a proper supply of books, we may
be allowed to indulge the hope that the labours of Protestants of all denomina-
tions, who endeayour to leave God’s word behind them, will be not less
abiding.

“‘ The commerce of Angola has been remarkably neglected by the English ;
for, though the city of Loanda contains a population of 11,000 souls, clothed
chiefly in the produce of English looms, and though, in many parts of the
interior, cheap Glasgow and Manchester goods constitute the circulating
medium, there is not a single English house established at the capital. For
this anomaly various reasons are assigned: the most cogent of these appears
to be, that those who first attempted to develope a trade, unfortunately
accepted bills on Rio Janeiro in part payment of their cargoes, at a time
when the increased numbers and vigilance of our cruisers, caused the bank-
ruptcy of many houses both in Rio and Loanda. Heavy losses were sustained,

168 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and Angola got a bad name in the mercantile world in consequence. No
attempt has ever been made since. Still, with the same difficulties and
burdens as the English encountered, the Americans carry on a flourishing trade
with Loanda. A very large proportion of the goods imported in other ships
are English manufactures, taken in exchange for colonial produce, which has
gone by the expensive and circuitous route of Lisbon, 7. e. produce on which
the expense of port-dues, freight, commission, &c., is paid from Loanda to
Lisbon, and again thence to London. As the same round of expenses is
incurred on English manufactures, a British merchant carrying merchandise
direct to and from England, and dealing in Loanda in a liberal spirit,
would almost certainly establish a lucrative trade.”

Several of Dr. Livingstone’s letters which we have drawn upon so
largely in this chapter were written after his return to Linyanti, but as
they refer to the journey, the first part of which he had at this stage
of our narrative so successfully completed, we have given them a place
here. We must now accompany him and his native party on their way back
to Linyanti, where they had been given up as lost. We cannot too much
admire the spirit which impelled him to return from whence he had come in
redemption of the pledge he had given to Sekeletu-and his people. After
months of arduous travel, and constant attacks of sickness, we could scarcely
have blamed him if he had been tempted to go home to England for a time
to recruit. The great secret of his success as a traveller, and the confidence
the native tribes reposed in him, was the dependence they felt they could
place in his word. With few exceptions, his word was never doubted by a
native African. Higher compliment than is conveyed in this fact could not
be passed upon him.

CHAPTER IX.
Stay at Loanda.—NStarts on return Journey.—Dr. Livingstone again attacked with
Fever.—The Makololo suffer from Sickness.— Descent of the Leeba and Leeam-
bye.—Arrival at Linyanti.—Dr. Moffat’s Visit to Moselekatse’s Country.

AS Livingstone’s illness was of so serious a nature as to require a consider-

able period of rest and treatment, he remained at the house of Mr.
Gabriel, where he was treated with every kindness and attention ; nor was the
comfort and well-being of his attendants forgotten. Mr. Gabriel presented
them with red caps and striped cotton jackets, in which costume they were
presented by Dr. Livingstone to the bishop, who was acting as provisional
Governor. The bishop, who took a warm interest in Livingstone and his
attendants, offered the latter a free passage to Loanda as soon as they might
wish to return. Two British ships of war, engaged in the suppression of the
slave trade, having come into the harbour, their commanders, Captain Skene
and Commander Bedingfield, invited the party to visit their ships. Nearly
the whole of them went, although filled with misgivings as to what migh*
befall them. The kindness of the sailors, who gave them a share of their
dinners, put them at their ease. The firing of a cannon gave them a high
idea of the power and the determination of the countrymen of Livingstone in
their endeavour to put down the slavery. The size of the ship filled them
with amazement. ‘It is not a canoe, it is a town,” they said of the brig of
war; “and what sort of town is this which you must climb up into with a
rope ?”

The respect in which Livingstone was held by every one in authority
increased their reverence for him, and added to their own importance as the
servants and companions of a man so highly esteemed among white men.
This tended to enhance their devotion for him; and as this and the other
wonders they saw did not lose in the rehearsing to their friends on the Chobe
and the Leeambye, the influence and standing of Livingstone among the
tribes of Central Africa were greatly increased.

Compassionating Livingstone’s emaciated condition, Captain Bedingfield,
of H.M.S. Piuto, who was returning to England on board the Forerunner, an
African mail steamer, in consequence of the shattered state of his health,
which had suffered through a long and arduous service on the coast, offered
him a passage home. ‘This kind offer Livingstone, true to his idea of duty,
was compelled to decline. The twenty-seven subjects of Sekeletu had come

x

170 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

thus far with him on the understanding that he should take them back again
to their own country if that were possible. In addition to this, he felt that
the long land journey through swamps and forests from the Leeba to the
Quango, made the passage from the centre of the continent to the west coast
one of extreme difficulty; and he had already begun to think of a more easy
route down the valley of the Zambesi to the east coast, which he could explore
after his return to Linyanti.

During his convalescence, his attendants of their own accord employed
themselves in gathering firewood in the neighbouring forest, which they sold
in the town. Through the interest of Mr. Gabriel, who was delighted with
this evidence of their industrious habits, they were employed in unloading a
coal vessel, which had come from England, at sixpence a day. In speaking
of this to their friends on their return, they endeavoured to convey some idea
of the size of the vessel by stating that “they had laboured every day, from
sunrise to sunset, for a moon and a half, unloading, as quickly as they
could, stones that burn, and were tired out, still leaving plenty in her.” The
money they earned was spent in purchasing clothing and ornaments to take
back with them to their own country; their good sense being shewn in se-
lecting plain, strong calico, instead of the more coloured and flaring fabrics.

Through the intelligent kindness of the authorities and merchants at
Loanda, the expedition left that place handsomely provided with comforts
and necessities. The authorities sent a colonel’s uniform and a horse for
Sekeletu, and gave suits of clothing to all the men. The public subscription
among the merchants provided two donkeys, in the hope of introducing the
ass into districts where its insensibility to the poison of the tsetse would make
it invaluable as a beast of burden. His man-of-war friends provided Living-
stone with a good new tent, manufactured by the crew of the Philomel.
Livingstone provided each man with a musket, and procured a good stock of
ammunition, beads, and cotton cloth. They set out on the 20th of September,
1854, having remained at Loanda nearly four months. Their baggage was
as heavy as it was valuable; and they were much beholden to the bishop,
who furnished them with twenty carriers, to assist them to the nearest station,
and ordered the commandants of the districts they had to pass through to give
Livingstone and his party all needful help.

The hard dry ground tried the feet of his attendants severely ; and on
account of this, and an attack of malaria, from which several of them suffered,
their progress was slow. ‘Towards the middle of December, they reached
the estate of Colonel Pires, which is situated to the south of the Lucalla, one
of the tributaries of the Coanza, in the district of Pungo Andongo, where he
learned to his great sorrow and regret that the Forerunner was lost, and that his
dispatches, journals, and maps had gone to the bottom with her. It was mat-
ter for congratulation to him that his friend, Captain Bedingfield, was among

A PLAGUE OF ANTS. 171

the saved; and with characteristic energy he set to work, while under the ho-
spitable roof of Colonel Pires, to re-write his journal. Colonel Pires had two
estates, and was the most energetic and successful planter of the district.
His slaves, in consequence of being so well treated, might readily, from their
zeal and efficient service, have been taken for iree servants. Through his
exertions the district has become the garden of Angola, producing abundant
crops of figs, grapes, wheat, butter, cheese, &c., &c. Coming to the country
as a servant on board ship, Colonel Pires, by his skill and perseverance, had
become the richest merchant in the country. He could number his cattle
by thousands, and, if need were, could have defended himself and his property
with several hundred armed slaves, who would have fought for him with
willing devotedness.

The fort and village of Pungo Andongo are situated in the midst of a
group of rocky columns, several of which are over three hundred feet in
height, and about one hundred feet in width at the base. As the village is
situated in an open space in the centre of these rocks, and is only reached by
narrow and circuitous roads, commanded by the rocks, it must have been a
place of great strength when the country was in an unsettled state under the
Jingas, the original possessors of the country. This warlike tribe, which was
driven out of their territory by the Portuguese, have settled farther to the
north, where they maintain an independent existence.

Crossing the Coanza and several of its tributaries, they reached Tala
Mungongo, where they made a short stay, and suffered from a plague of red
ants, which were so numerous and so formidable that slaves were obliged to
sit up all night burning fires of straw round the slaughtered carcase of a cow,
otherwise the insects would have devoured it. These march in a compact band,
several inches wide, and attack man and every animal crossing their track
with determined pugnacity. The stinging pain caused by their bites is com-
pared by Livingstone to that produced by sparks of fire falling upon the bare
skin. They perform considerable service in devouring any carrion they
come across, and by eating the white ants, rats, and mice, small snakes, and
even the large pythons, when they find them in a state of surfeit. They do
not form hills like the white ants, but construct their nests in burrows at
some distance from the surface of the ground.

At Cassange he was again hospitably entertained by Captain Neves; and
during his short stay he finished the re-writing of his journal, and to his great
joy received a packet of the Times newspaper, which gave him, among other
news, ‘‘an account of the Russian war up to the terrible charge of the light
brigade. The intense anxiety I felt to hear more may be imagined by every
true patriot; but I was forced to live on in silent thought, and utter my poor
prayers for friends who, perchance, were now no more, until I reached the
other side of the continent.” When he next came witiin reach ot news from

172 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

home, the Russian war was ended, and the Indian mutiny was the absorbing
topic of interest and anxiety among his countrymen. This complete isolation
from all news from the civilized quarters of the world was not the least of the
trials to which his adventurous career exposed him.

But for the prevalence of fever, which perhaps improved cultivation might
tend to diminish, Livingstone speaks of Angola as being ‘‘in every other
respect an agreeable land, and admirably adapted for yielding a rich abun-
dance of tropical produce for the rest of the world.” He further says that,
‘“‘ had it been in the possession of England, it would now have been yielding
as much or more of the raw materials of her manufactures, as an equal extent
of territory in the cotton-growing states of America. A railway from Loanda
to this valley (the Quango) would receive the trade of most of the interior of
South Central Africa.” Livingstone’s men, during their passage through
Angola, collected better breeds of fowls and pigeons than those in their own
country. The native tribes of Angola are very superstitious ; and notwith-
standing the vigilance of the Portuguese government, practise many of their
inhuman rites,—notably the ordeal for witchcraft, which consists in the
accused party drinking the sap of a poisonous tree, a test which very
frequently proves fatal.

After partaking of the hospitality of their good friends in Portuguese
territory, they bade adieu to civilized society, and crossed the Quango,
reducing the ferryman’s charge from thirty yards of callico to six, their more
prosperous appearance and better armament having its effect in expediting
their progress where they had previously suffered so much. Sleeping on the
damp ground during the incessant rains brought on a severe attack of
rheumatic fever, which delayed his journey for twenty days, as the faithful
Makololo would not stir during his weak state. Petty chiefs endeavoured to
extract handsome presents for permission to pass through their small territories,
but experience had taught the Explorer to set them at defiance, the wisdom
of which course was shown when the party were attacked in a forest by a chief
and his braves, whom they confronted so resolutely as to make them glad to
be permitted to depart with whole skins.

As the Makololo suffered from sickness, their progress was slow,—about
two-thirds of their time being taken up with stoppages to recruit or to collect
provisions. Making a detour to the south the party came in contact with
several tribes who had not been contaminated by connection with slave traders;
and amongst these they procured abundance of food on reasonable terms. The
men were great dandies, the oil dripping from their hair on to their shoulders,
until every article of clothing was saturated with it. These tribes amused them-
selves with various kinds of musical instruments of most primitive manufacture,
and never went out savearmed to theteeth; their gunsand bows were ornamented
with strips of the hides of the various animals they had shot. Their women

A CHIEF OUTWITTED. — 173

tended pet lap-dogs with as much care as their civilized sisters, with a better
excuse for their peculiar taste in pets, as these were fattened for eating. Flesh
meat was so scarce with them that they were always pleased to give something
in return for the smallest piece of ox flesh. Rats, mice, lizards, and birds, espe-
cially the latter, were so diligently hunted and trapped for food, that they were
seldom seen. Parasitic plants were so plentiful, that in many places a man
had to precede the party in the forests armed with a hatchet to cut a passage.
The luggage on the backs of the oxen was frequently entangled by them and
thrown to the ground,—the same fate frequently overtaking the leader of the
party himself. Provisions were exceedingly cheap,—a fowl and 20 lbs. of
manioc meal costing a yard of calico, worth threepence. From the Quango
valley the party had been accompanied by Paseval and Favia, two half-caste
slave traders. It was instructive to notice that they could not carry on their
peculiar traffic without paying heavy black-mail in the shape of presents to
every petty chief whose village they visited; nor could they trust their native
bearers, who seemed to consider it the right thing to plunder them on all
oceasions. They were compelled to wink at these irregularities, as the safety
of their merchandise was entirely in their hands.

Kawawa, a Balonda chief, being baulked in his endeavours to extract
black-mail from the party, sent forward four of his men to the ferry across
the Kasai, with instructions to the ferrymen that they should not be carried
across the stream, which was about a hundred yards broad and very deep,
unless they got a man, an ox, a gun, andarobe. Atnight, Pitsane, who had
seen where the canoes were hidden among the reeds on the opposite side
of the stream, secured a canoe, in which they all passed safely across, to
the chagrin of the ferrymen and Kawawa’s messengers, who could hardly
guess how they managed to cross, as the canoes were all safe on their side of
the stream,—Pitsane had replaced the canoe after it had done its work, and
swam across to join his comrades, some beads being left in it as payment
for a small quantity of meal got from the ferryman on the previous day.
In their mortification at being so completely worsted Kawawa’s people
shouted across to them, ‘‘ Ah, you are bad!” to which the Makololo returned
for answer, “‘ Ah, ye are good! and we thank you for the loan of your
canoe.”

The country before them might now be considered as friendly territory
in which the simple inhabitants could be trusted to assist them in their onward
progress, and whose generous kindness would render less serious the exhausted
condition of their stores of baggage and ornaments, which had disappeared
through the exactions ofthe unfriendly chiefs and tribes whose territory they
had passed through since crossing the Quango, and the payment for provisions
during the long delays caused by the ill health of the party. The goods and
ornaments the Makololo had received in presents, or had purchased out of

174 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

their earnings at Loanda, had nearly all gone, together with the iron they had
purchased for Sekeletu.

The open plains of the Balonda country were comparatively clear of
water, save in low-lying spots, and as the vegetation was less dense than they
had found it farther to the east, their progress was more easy. Animal life
became more abundant as they proceeded, giving cheering token of the land
of plenty to which they were approaching—vultures sailed overhead; switts
and several varieties of swallows flitted about; wild ducks and other water-
fowl were seen in considerable numbers in the neighbourhood of the streams
and pools; small herds of the larger game, rendered very shy in consequence
of being regularly hunted by the natives, were frequently seen; and jet black
larks made the air musical with their song in the early mornings. The plain was
radiant with flowers; one Livingstone specially noticed which grows in such
numbers as to give its hue to the ground. The variety of colour of this
flower was remarkable. A broad band of yellow on being closely exa-
mined would resolve itself into individual flowers, exhibiting every variety
of colour from the palest lemon to the richest orange. A hundred yards
of this rich carpeting would be succeeded by another broad band of the same
flower of a blue colour, made up of every variation of that tint from the
lightest to the darkest blue, and even purple. The colour of the birds was
as variable in this and other districts as that of the flowers.

On the second day’s journey from the Kasai, Livingstone suffered from
his twenty-seventh attack of fever; and after an exhausting journey he
reached Lake Dilolo. ‘The sight of the blue waters,” he tells us, ‘and the
waves lashing the shore, had a most soothing influence on the mind, after so
much of lifeless, flat, and gloomy forest. The heart yearned for the vivid
impressions which are always created by the sight of the broad expanse of
the grand old ocean.” Livingstone’s old friend, Katema, entertained the
party most hospitably, presenting them with a cow and abundance of meal.
According to promise, Livingstone presented him with a cloak of red baize,
a cotton robe, a quantity of beads, an iron spoon, and a tin pannikin con-
taining a quarter of a pound of powder. Katema had come from his hunting
eround to meet the party, to which he returned after his interview with
Livingstone, leaving instructions with his headmen to attend to their wants,
and provide them with a guide to the Leeba.

At Shinte’s town the party were most hospitably entertained by that
intelligent chief; and Nyamoana, his sister, who had changed the site of her
village in consequence of the death of her husband, treated them with every
kindness and gave them the loan of five small canoes in which to proceed
down the Leeba. Livingstone’s companions also bought several light sharp.
prowed canoes for hunting animals in the water. Manenko was unable to visit
the party in consequence of a burn in the foot, but her husband, Sambanza, came

ONCE MORE AMONG FRIENDS. 175

instead, and as an earnest of good-will performed the ceremony called hasendi
—Pitsane and Sambanza being the parties engaged. The hands of the parties
were joined, and small incisions sufficient to cause bleeding made in the hands,
on the pits of the stomachs, the right cheeks, and the foreheads. Drops of
blood were conveyed from the wounds of each on a stalk of grass and dipped
in beer—the one drinking the beer mixed with the other’s blood. During
the drinking of the beer members of the party beat the ground with clubs
and muttered sentences by way of ratifying the treaty. This ceremony
constitutes the parties engaging in it blood relations, each being bound to
warn the other of impending evil, even if it involved the disclosure of an
intended attack on the tribe of the other by his own chief. After the
ceremony they exchanged presents—Pitsane getting an abundant supply of
food and two shells, and Sambanza receiving Pitsane’s suit of green baize,
faced with red.

Below the confluence of the Leeba and Leeambye the party met some
native hunters, well provided with the dried flesh of the hippopotamus,
buffalo, and the crocodile. They stalk these animals among the reeds with a
cap made of the skin of the head of an antelope, with the horns attached,
and the breast and shoulder skin, or with the neck and head attached, of a
species of crane. By adopting these stratagems, they get within bow shot of
the animal they wish to kill. They presented Livingstone with three fine
water turtles, one of which had upwards of forty eggs in its body. The eggs
and flesh of these turtles are most excellent, and were joyfully accepted by
the party. Here Livingstone had a narrow escape from a bull buffalo, which
charged him at full speed. In rounding a bush the animal exposed his
shoulder into which he sent a bullet. ‘‘ The pain must have made him
renounce his purpose, for he bounded past me into the water, where he was
found dead.”

At Libonta they were received with every demonstration of joy and
thankfulness for their return. For months they had been given up as dead ;
such a scene of kissing and hand-shaking ensued, as made Livingstone glad
when they were all quietly seated in the kotla to hear the report of their adven-
tures. He wisely declined to be the spokesman of the party himself, but
Pitsane enlarged for a whole hour on the wonders they had seen, and the ad-
ventures they had come through. The members of the party had with par-
donable vanity throughout all their trials preserved a suit of white European
clothing with red caps, and these were donned for the occasion and excited
the admiration of their friends. Next day they had two religious services in
the kotla, where Livingstone ‘‘ addressed them all on the goodness of God in
preserving us from all the dangers of strange tribes and disease.” The men
presented them with two fine oxen, and the women brought abundance of
milk, meal, and butter. They explained the total expenditure of their means

176 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

in the return journey, as a reason for their giving nothing in return ; and the
good Libontese answered—“ It does not matter; you have opened a path for
us, and we shall have sleep (peace).”

All the way down the Barotse valley they were received with the same
enthusiasm, and as generously treated. At Chitlane’s village they were in-
vited to collect a colony of yonubi linkololo, a long-legged bird about the size
of a crow, which breeds among the reeds on the banks of the Leeambye.
They secured a hundred and seventy-six of them, and when roasted they made
capital eating. All along their route it was a continuous feast of joy—the
donors partaking with the party of the meats they furnished.

At Sesheke Livingstone found several packages sent up the river to him
by Dr. Moffat, whose long and fatiguing journey in search of him, already
briefly related, will be found fully described further on. In these, which had
been carefully kept by the Makololo in a hut on an island in the river, as
they feared witchcraft on the part of the Matabeles (their enemies) who had
brought them, he found English newspapers and magazines, and some pre-
served eatables. Amongst other information the papers contained, was the
explanation by Sir Roderick Murchison, after a study of Mr. Barnes’ geological
map, and discoveries made by Livingstone and Mr. Oswell, of the peculiar con-
formation of the continent of Central Africa. Speaking of this wonderful
prediction of the physical characteristics of a country of which Sir Roderick
had no knowledge, save that supplied by induction, Livingstone says :—
‘‘' There was not much use in nursing my chagrin at being thus fairly cut out
by the man who had foretold the existence of Australian gold before its dis-
covery, for here it was, in black and white. In his easy chair he had fore-
stalled me by three years, though I had been working hard through jungle,
marsh, and fever, since the light dawned in my mind at Dilolo. I had been
cherishing the pleasing delusion that I should be the first to suggest the idea
that the interior of Africa was a watery plateau of less elevation than flanking
hill ranges !”

Arriving at Linyanti in September, Livingstone found his waggon and
goods standing where he had left them more than twelve months before. Not
an article had been touched, although they all possessed great value in the
eyes of the Makololo. Chief and people were loud in their demonstrations of
joy at the unlooked-for return of the wanderers. A great meeting was held
to receive their report and the presents sent from the Governor and merchants
of Loanda. The wonderful story of their adventures lost nothing in the tell-
ing at the hand of the Makololo who had accompanied him ; and the presents
sent to the chief filled them with unbounded admiration. Sekeletu was proud
of his colonel’s uniform, and when he donned it at the first religious service
held after their arrival, his splendid suit attracted more attention than the
sermon. The two donkeys were greatly admired, as they promised to be the

MAN TOSSED BY A BUFFALO. 177

parents of a flock of domestic animals of great value. They had borne the
long journey with that patient and untiring endurance so characteristic of
their species, and took very kindly to the abundant vegetation of their new
home.

For a great part of the journeys now so happily closed, Dr. Livingstone,
on account of his weakness, rode on ox-back. The back of an ox is a very
uneasy seat, and slow and sedate as the animal usually appears, he can be
skittish and mischievous enough. Sinbad, Dr. Livingstone’s ox, was not by
any means free from the vices of his kind. ‘He had,” he says ‘a softer
back than others, but a much more intractable temper. His horns were bent
downwards, and hung loosely, so he could do no harm with them; but as we
wended our way slowly along the narrow path, he would suddenly dart aside.
A string tied to a stick put through the cartilage of the nose serves instead
of a bridle; if you jerk this back, it makes him run faster on; if you pullit to
one side, he allows his head and nose to go, but keeps the opposite eye directed
to the forbidden spot, and goes in spite of you. The only way he can be
brought to a stand is by a stroke with a wand across the nose. When Sinbad
ran in below a climber stretched over the path, so low that I could not stoop
under it, I was dragged off and came down on the crown of my head; and he
never Siloned an opportunity of the kind to pass without trying to Sntiiet a
kick, as if I neither had nor deserved his love.”

Before reaching the Leeba on the return journey when food was scarce,
the question of erating Sinbad was frequently mooted, but the traveller had
come to like this dumb companion of his wanderings. Possibly as he always
liked to be overcoming something, the daily encounters with Sinbad helped
to relieve the tedium of his journey. Never was so long a journey accom-
plished with so few accidents. Near Naliele his canoe was nearly upset by a
hippopotamus. When proceeding along the shore, he says :—

“ At midnight, a hippopotamus struck the canoe with her forehead, lifting
one half of it quite out of the water, so as nearly to overturn it. The force of
the butt she gave, tilted Mashanana out into the river; the rest of us sprang to
the shore, which was only about ten yards off. Glancing back, I saw her come to
the surface a short way off, and look to the canoe, as if to see if she had done
much mischief. It was a female, whose young one had been speared the day
before. This is so unusual an occurrence, when the precaution is taken to
coast along the shore, that my men exclaimed, ‘Is the beast mad?’ There were
eight of us in the canoe at the time, and the shake it received shows the
immense power of this animal in the water.”

The buffalo is at all times a dangerous animal, and one of the Makololo men
had a narrow escape from one on the outward journey. Three buffaloes on a wild
stampede dashed through their lines. ‘‘ My ox,” Livingstone says, “ set off

at a gallop, and when I could manage to Panes back, I saw one of the men
Y

178 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

up in the air about five feet above a buffalo, which was tearing along with a
stream of blood running down his flank. When I got back to the poor fellow,
I found he had lighted on his face, and, though he had been carried about
twenty yards before getting the final toss, the skin was not pierced nor was a
bone broken. When the beasts appeared he had thrown down his load and
stabbed one in the side. It turned suddenly upon him, and, before he could
use a tree for defence, carried him off. We shampooed him well, and then
went on, and in about a week he was able to engage in the hunt again.”

Save an unsuccessful attack on one of the party by a crocodile, already
alluded to, and a severe bite received by another from a non-poisonous snake,
there are no other mishaps to chronicle. Hunger and fever and unfriendly
tribes were the most dangerous enemies they had to encounter, and they
had passed safely through them all.

Having been so long separated from his family, and having come through
so many trials and difficulties, which left him feverish and enfeebled, no one
would have blamed him if he had harnessed his oxen to his waggon and
departed for Kuruman or the Cape, to rest and recruit before attempting
another journey. But this was not in accordance with Livingstone’s sense of
duty. His popularity gave him hopes of being able to make an impression
on the Makololo by his religious teaching; and their kindness, and their
confidence in him made him desirous of serving them in other ways. The
road to Loanda was long and difficult; and so much of it passed over land
inhabited by unfriendly tribes, that he felt this was not the proper outlet for
the merchandise of Central Africa. For months his mind had wandered
down the course of the great Zambesi, to the East coast; and the more he
thought over the matter, the more he became convinced that that was the
proper route, and that it was his duty to settle the point without delay.

He was all but destitute, and was indebted to the faithful Makololo for
everything he required while amongst them; and he could not carry out his
intention of passing to the coast without their aid in men, oxen, and material.
Nor were these wanting. Explaining to Sekeletu the method of preparing
sugar, the latter asked him if he could purchase a mill for him at the East coast.
On his replying that he had nothing with which to buy a mill, Sekeletu and his
councillors said, ‘‘The ivory is all your own; if you leave any in the
country, it will be your own fault.” Sekeletu then gave him an order for a
sugar mill, ‘‘and for all the varieties of clothing he had ever seen, and
especially a Mohair coat, a good rifle, beads, brass wire, etc., and any other
beautiful thing you may see in your own country.” As he had found the
two horses left with him when Livingstone started for Loanda of great use,
especially in hunting, he was anxious to have more; and these Livingstone
expected to be able to get for him at the nearest Portuguese settlements.

The mother of Sekeletu, who had joined her son at Linyanti, prepared a

MOFFAT AND MOSELEKATSE. 179

bag of ground nuts, by frying them in cream with a little salt, as a sort of
sandwich for the journey; and every one seemed anxious to contribute some-
thing for the use of the party. One hundred and fourteen men, principally
volunteers, were selected to accompany him and carry the ivory, with which
they were to pay their way to the coast, and purchase the articles they meant
to bring back. Sekwebu, who had been captured by the Matabele whena boy,
had travelled along with the tribe in which he was captive to the district near
Tete, and was intimately acquainted with the country on both sides of the
Zambesi and the dialects spoken, was appointed the head of the expedition.
Mamire, a chief who had married the mother of Sekeletu, since Livingstone’s
departure for the west coast, a man of great wisdom and prudence, on bidding
Livingstone farewell, said, ‘‘ You are now going among a people who cannot be
trusted because we have used them badly ; but you go with a different message
from any they have ever heard before; and Jesus will be with you, and help
you, though among enemies; and if He carries you safely, and brings you and
Ma-Robert back again, I shall say he has bestowed a great favour upon me.
May we obtain a path whereby we may visit, and be visited by other tribes,
and by white men!” On Livingstone mentioning his inability to pay the
men who would accompany him, the sagacious chief replied, ‘‘ A man wishes,
of course, to appear among his friends after a long absence, with something
of his own to show; the whole of the ivory in the country is yours, so you
must take as much as you can, and Sekeletu will furnish men to carry it.”

As the wives of many of his companions in the journey to Loanda had
given their husbands up as lost and taken to themselves other helpmeets,
Livingstone had some difficult questions as to possession to settle. In cases
where the man had only one wife, he decided without hesitation that she
should go back to the original husband ; but when a man had more than one he
declined to decide what should be done, in case it should be thought that he
favoured polygamy. Some of the men consoled themselves for the loss of
their wives by taking others.

Soon after his arrival a picho was held to consider the propriety of settling
in the Barotse valley, to be nearer the west coast for the purpose of trade
with the new market the expedition had opened to them. At this ‘“ picho”
Sekeletu said, addressing Livingstone, ‘I am perfectly satisfied as to the
great advantages for trade of the path which you have opened, and think
that we ought to go to the Barotse, in order to make the way for us to Lo-
anda shorter; but with whom am I to live there? If you were coming with
us, | would remove to-morrow; but now you are going to the white man’s
country to bring Ma-Robert (Mrs. Livingstone); and when you return you
will find me near to the spot on which you wish to dwell.”

Dr. Moffat’s account of his expedition through the country of Mosele-
katse, and his intercourse with that great chief and his people, already alluded

180 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

to by Dr. Tidman in his speech before the members of the Geographical Society,
is so interesting that we find room for several lengthy extracts. The influence
Dr. Moffat had over this powerful and cruel savage chief is evidenced by
his consenting to visit his enemies the Makololo with him. We cannot
help regretting that difficulttes—as we shall see—prevented their reaching
Linyanti. It would have been interesting to notice how the Makololo and
Matabele, who had been enemies for nearly forty years, would have deported
themselves, when meeting in their unwonted character of friends. Mr. Chap-
man, whose travels we have drawn upon so frequently, and Mr. Edwards,
another English traveller, accompanied Dr. Moffat. The party started in
June, 1854; on June 20th they reached Sekomi’s town :—

‘This morning, at an early hour, Sekomi, who had been often heard to
say that he would not give up the letters and papers until Livingstone himself
should come with a large reward, sent down the parcels, the very sight of
which grieved me. Most of them ought to have been sent a twelvemonth
ago. Soon after a number of men presented themselves before my waggon,
and a rather insignificant person saluted me, to which I answered by remark-
ing that I was going to see the chief. He laughed, and added, ‘J am
Sekomi!’ I remarked that he was beforehand with me, as it was my duty
to wait on him as my superior, according to custom. He admitted this with
something like a smile, but appeared quite at a loss to know what to say. He
felt he had got into a difficulty and lost my esteem (if ever I had any for
him), by not forwarding Livingstone’s parcels, for which he knew well he
would be rewarded. He tried to get out a sentence or two in palliation of his
ungrateful conduct to Livingstone, who, I knew, had been kind to him, but
made such a bungling excuse, that I recommended him to confess at once that
he had behaved badly, and I should then hope he would improve some day.
I tried to convince him how sorry I was, but he only laughed, and tried to
divert my thoughts from the subject, by telling me how glad he was to see me.
The subject of Christian instruction was introduced, and its importance
enlarged upon, but it proved most unwelcome.”

On the 10th of July they came across several Bamanguato—subjects of
Moselekatse.

‘We got two of them to guide our waggons to a neighbouring village
of the same people, where they said were some cattle, and an officer belong-
ing to Moselekatse. With grateful hearts we saw that all was right, and much
sooner than we yesterday anticipated. After advancing several miles we
were met by a company of the same people, who requested us. to halt till they
should communicate with a chief man at a village about five miles beyond. To
their inquiries as to what they were to say to the chief man, they were told
that I was Moffat, or Moshete, as they pronounce it, of the Kuruman.
Though no one of the scores who were standing round had seen me, they

A ROCKY COUNTRY. (181

appeared quite familiar with the name, and all knew that their sovereign was
anxious to see me. The messenger must have been a swift one, as the Mata-
bele made his appearance in an hour and a half with several attendants. He
saluted with rather an awkward, but hearty shake of the hand. He assured
me, again and again, of the delight Moselekatse would have on hearing of
my long looked-for arrival. On mentioning the names of some Matabele I
knew, and inquiring about their welfare, he snapped his fingers apparently
with great satisfaction, as this was an additional proof that I was the veritable
Moffat, for, as I afterwards learned, if he had taken a counterfeit Moffat to
his master, his days would have been numbered in a few seconds. He said
he would send messengers to head-quarters to request that persons should be
sent who knew me; that he had seen me when he was a boy, but I had then
a long black beard. We started again for the village where he was residing
pro tempore to collect taxes, which we reached the same evening.

“‘Mr. Edwards and I took our guns and walked out to the woody heights
and cornfields lately harvested, to seek pheasants and guinea fowls. We were
struck with the beauty and fertility of the country. We also found hundreds
of acres of new ground prepared for next year’s sowing. The trees were hewn
down and the branches laid round the bottom of the trunks to be burned when
sufficiently dry. The ground is all made up in ridges about 15 in. high, and
from 4 to 6 ft. apart, so as to allow the water to run off. ‘The grain is sown on
the tops of the ridges, where it appears to grow luxuriantly. The whole
country, as far as the eye can reach, is very mountainous, and these mostly
isolated, and frequently composed of enormous blocks and boulders. Blocks
may ke seen 30 or 40 ft., standing on one end on the top, and sometimes on
the brow of hills, which the slightest touch of an earthquake would bring
thundering down hundreds of feet. Though these mountains are rugged,
they look fine, being partially or nearly wholly covered with trees, many of
which are evergreens, or in leaf nearly the whole year. Trees may be seen,
chiefly of the ficus tribe, growing on the solid granite rock, and with trunks
running up perpendicular walls of a great height, and adhering so close to the
rocks, and being of the same colour, it requires a near approach to convince
one that they are not parts of the rock itself. A fine field for the botanist as
well as the geologist! I saw some trees and shrubs entirely new to me, but,
not being in flower at the time, could not tell to what genus they belonged.
Granite of various grain predominates; indeed the foundations of the whole
country appear to be granitic, with enormous blocks of quartz, which is also
found filling up large rents and furrows in the solid rock; also slaty gneiss
and pieces of basalt in the bottoms of rivers, as if washed down from higher
places. It would appear as if grain might be cultivated anywhere, even at
the tops of hills, where the soil is frequently very rich. ‘Though rain has
not fallen for months I found some places quite damp, and the débris of the

182 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

granite hills and the sand afford an easy passage for the water to the number-
less small rivers, so that the water is, except during the rainy season, under-
going a constant filtration. In the evening two Matabele women came down
from the village to see the friend of their chief. They are altogether different
in their dress to that of the other tribes. On asking if they knew me, they
said, ‘ We know your size, your nose, and your eyes, but what has become of
the long black beard ?’ they inquired. I found that these two respectable-
‘looking matrons, and two others, had been charged with bewitching at head-
quarters, and were banished to this distant outpost. This, to say the least, is
a merciful punishment for the Matabelian tyrant.

“‘ Having got in readiness we started again with a company of Bamanguato,
who were to be our guides and assistants under one who is their chief, called
Mapongko (words or news), and, being as familiar with the Matabele language
as his own, he will serve as interpreter. After having passed through a
picturesque country—fine water and abundance of pasture—we halted at what
is called the M’akue river, having travelled 18 miles in 9 hours, with frequent
hindrances from cutting down trees and seeking roads across ravines. Last
night we slept near some large masses of granite, near a range of pools; the
night cold, with heavy dew, although the atmosphere appeared dry during the
day. The country exceedingly picturesque, andthe mountains and trees number-
less as their shapes. Wherever the eye is directed nothing but hills on hills
rise in endless succession ; nearly all are covered with enormous granite blocks
and trees, though, to a superficial observer, there appears to be scarcely any
soil. We also passed hills, some not less than 6 miles in circumference,
exactly resembling the half or third part of a perfect sphere above the ground,
solid granite, and, to the eye, as smooth as an orange, without a single tuft of
graes or loose pebble on the whole surface. Having scrambled part of the way
up such granite globes it appeared to me that not a particle, not even grains of
sand had lain on them since washed by the waters of the flood. The alluvial
deposits accumulated in the valleys between these hills are exceedingly rich,
and send forth luxuriant brushwood and grass. Sometimes the granite crops
out in large flat masses, and having been washed by the rains of some thousand
summers, these are employed as threshing-floors, in the vicinity of the native
gardens. Blocks rising above trees, on the tops of hills, might, without much
effort of the imagination, be taken for ancient castles, surrounded with broken
ramparts. I examined a single block near to where we passed, on an entirely
level surface of rich soil. It exhibited a perpendicular face of 50 by 40 ft.,
smooth as if it had been chiseled, and looked asif intended for a base to some
stupendous monument. Among the débris of the surrounding hills are large
quantities of quartz, blue stone, mica, slate. It is very evident, from the
appearance of these mountains, that there have been no earthquakes here
since a very remote period, or otherwise thousands of boulders of great

MOSELEKATSE. 183

magnitude would have been hurled from the dizzy heights, where they seem
to tremble with a breath of air.

‘Last night, when about retiring to rest, two messengers from Moselekatse
arrived, who had left yesterday morning, and had travelled most of the night.
The principal one delivered the message with great animation, and with many
extravagant expressions about the delight the news of my arrival had
imparted to the sovereign. Observing him to be evidently much fatigued
with his run, I remarked that, instead of starting early to-morrow, we should
defer till the afternoon following, that he might rest. To this he would on
no account agree, adding, ‘No rest for me. I want none till I see you in the
presence of Moselekatse.’ We accordingly started early, and, after much
winding, got through a range of high precipitous hills. All the rivers we
passed, since leaving the Banguaketse, run to the Hast and E.S.E. We have
passed to-day rivers which all flow to the N.N.W., while farther to the right
there are still tributary streams going to the Limpopo. We are thus travelling
along the backbone, or highest place of this part of Africa, between 27° and
29 KE. long. All the rivers to the N.W. turn North and fall into the
Zambesi.

“Last night, after having all got fast asleep, a man arrived from the town
with an ox to be slaughtered. The native idea was, that we must kill and
eat the whole night, and start on the coming morn. It was kindly
intended, but not according to our way of doing things. On we went, and
as we passed some towns, out rushed men and women to see us. It was a
favourable opportunity ; for no one dares to come to head-quarters, except on
special business, so they made the best of the time they had. Early in the
forenoon, as we approached the royal residence, we met men with shields and
spears coming in procession to inform us of the king’s happiness at our arrival.
We, as a matter of course, expected to see some such display as I had
witnessed on my former visits. Being considerably in advance of the
waggons we entered the large public fold, and, following a chief man, were
led to the opposite side, where sat in different parties about 60 chief men.
The town appeared new, or rather half finished. There was nothing like the
finish I had seen before in regal towns. We stood for some minutes at a door-
way in the fence, which seemed to lead to premises behind, where some kind
of preparations were going on. While our attention was directed to the
waggons, Moselekatse had been moved to the entrance where we were stand-
ing. On turning round there he sat on a kaross, but how changed! The
vigorous and active monarch of the Matabele, was now aged, lame in the feet,
incapable of standing, or even moying himself along the floor. I entered,
and he grasped my hand, gave me an impressive look, drew his mantle over
his eyes, and wept. Some time elapsed before he could even speak or look at
me. In the meantime Mr. Edwards, who had gone to direct the waggons,

184 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

came up, little expecting to see the hero of so many. battles, and the con-
quering tyrant of so many tribes, bathed in tears, which he endeavoured in
vain to hide, probably from some of his wives who stood behind him, and his
nobles who stood waiting in silence without. After some minutes spent in
this way he repeated my name several times, adding, ‘Surely I am only
dreaming that you are Moffat.’ I remarked that God, whom I served, had
spared us both, and that I had come once more to see him before I should die,
and, though very sorry to see him so ill, I was thankful to God that we were
permitted to meet again. He pointed to his feet, which I had observed to
be dropsical, and said that they, as well as other parts of his body, were
killing him, adding, ‘ Your God has sent you to help me, and heal me.’

‘¢ Moselekatse’s dominion extends from the Shashe River on the South to
the Zambesi on the North, and all the numerous canoes and boatmen on the
southern bank acknowledge his authority. On account of the tsetse, or fly,
much of the country towards the Zambesi cannot possibly be occupied with
cattle; they are swept off immediately by that small but overwhelming
insect. The scattered inhabitants have abundance of game, and are able to
keep sheep and goats, which do not suffer; it is remarkable that this should
be the case, for though their hair or wool is thicker than other animals,
there are vulnerable parts, which the tsetse can easily reach; dogs im-.
mediately fall victims.

“This morning I said to my interpreter, and to another who might be
called the king’s aide-de-camp, that I wished to convey to Moselekatse all my
plans, and what I wished to accomplish during my stay. When I mentioned
Linyanti, and that, as I had goods, &ec., for Livingstone, I intended to go
thither, or as near the Makololo as I could, in order to forward his supplies,
the proposal seemed to operate on them like an electric shock, and they
supplicated me most humbly, for the sake of their lives, not to send them to
their master with such a message; that I must on no account whisper such a
thing—the king must first see me for a month or two to come. The day
had been so windy, cold, and damp, his majesty had kept within doors, and
one or two, who might be considered sheriffs, being absent, some women from
the harem, and others who had brought beer, &e., to the town, took the
favourable opportunity of drawing near to have a look at me. Though cold,
they had nothing like dress on the upper part of their bodies, and, according
to the Matabele custom, very little anywhere else. They appeared very
cheerful and happy, most of them with arms over each other’s necks.
They acted with great decorum, and when they retired they said they
were glad I had come, and were thankful for the opportunity of seeing me.
By far the greater part of his people are not pure Matabele, but belong to the
tribes whom Moselekatse had subjugated during his long career.

‘The Mashona have more or less intercourse with the Portuguese, and

MOSELEKATSE. 185

- with tribes contiguous, for they barter from that quarter coarse cottons, though
they themselves make garments of cotton of a very coarse texture. I also saw
among them two musical instruments, consisting of about forty notes, com-
posed of as many strips of iron fastened to a small board within a large
calabash, into the opening of which the two hands are introduced, playing in
the same manner as one would on the pianoforte. The instrument exhibits
considerable ingenuity, and, for a people so barbarous, is a successful one.
Their dress, though rude enough, is much more decent than that of the Mata-
bele, and indeed they seem to be an entirely different people. Their language
is the same as the Makalaka tribe, of which, though a branch of the Sichuana,
I could understand but little. The Mashona say their fathers emigrated from
the south-east, beyond the land of the Baraputsi. Some of their customs are
peculiar, and different from any other tribe I know.

‘‘T had some conversation with Moselekatse, and tried to make him
understand that the world moved, and not the sun; that the earth was a
globe, and not a flat; that people could go round and round, and, were a
hole pierced through its centre to the other side, he would find people on
what would also appear to him a plain or sea. He looked rather bewildered
at these facts, for he had no idea that I was deliberately telling falsehoods.
I described to him the speed with which waggons travelled in England, and
ships on the sea; but it seemed like multiplying words to no purpose, as it
was far above his conception. He, however, freely admitted the superior
wisdom of the white men, which afforded me an excellent text to explain to
him the process by which the Maengelise, as he calls them, have reached their
present state of refinement and wisdom.

‘In the course of another conversation with Moselekatse I had handed
to him some tin yessels I had made, which he admired, and no doubt
viewed me as a pertect genius of a tinker. I had before conversed with him
about Livingstone, and now stated plainly that it was my purpose to go to
Sekeletu’s country, or as near it as I could get, in order to hear if he had
returned from the journey to the west coast, and to convey goods and letters
I had brought for him. This resolution was to him like a dose of assafeetida ;
he replied that he was my son, and I must not leave him, especially as he was
sick—that there was no one, even among his own people, whom he loved and
confided in like myself, and he could not give his consent to my undertaking
such a journey. He then began to number up bugbears, with the hope of
frightening me, and talked of fevers which pervaded all the rivers and swamps
through which I must pass—crocodiles, and savage hordes. Putting on a very
grave face, I said, ‘ Moselekatse, Livingstone is my child, and he is a servant
of God; if I return without seeing him, or hearing certainly about him, I
shall return with a heavy heart, and tell my friends Moselekatse does not love
me.’ I added, that if he had any fears of my perishing on the road, I should

Z

186 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

leave a letter, which he could send to the Kuruman, which would tell Mamele,
as he called Mrs. Moffat, that it was entirely my own fault.

“‘'Two young girls, about ten years of age, daughters of Moselekatse, ot
different mothers, came from a neighbouring town to see him, or rather me.
He kissed each of them on the brow and then on each cheek. I observed
others kiss them on each cheek, the brow, and chin. This seems to be the
mode of Matabele kissing; it is done by men, too, when they meet after a
long absence. The girls seemed the very picture of health; though they
drank beer daily, their countenances exhibited great childish sweetness, while
their bodies, well washed and anointed with oil, presented the most perfect
female symmetry ; but the women in general are no beauties. :

‘“‘Moselekatse said, that as he had sent men to inquire respecting the
road, and as they would go till they could learn something about Livingstone,
he would wish me to defer my journey till they had returned. Supposing
this to be a plan, like others, to prolong my stay, I could not agree, especially
as the hot weather would soon commence, and the rainy season in the month
of October, which would render travelling in a country like this next to
impossible. He showed me a number of elephants’ tusks, which he said he
intended to present to me as a token of the gratitude he felt for the kindness
he had received from me since he first knew me. I replied, that though I
could fully appreciate his kind intentions, I felt I could not accept of anything
of the kind till I should have accomplished my purpose in getting
Livingstone’s goods, &c., conveyed to him, and, if it were possible, seeing
him myself. I added, that if he aided me in this undertaking, I should
esteem his help more valuable than his present, and that I should be more
ready to make him a present than to receive one, and that I should return to
the Kuruman rich without a single tusk. These remarks made him look
unusually grave, and, after a pause, he said, ‘ Verily you love Livingstone,
and you love me too;’ and, taking me by the hand, said, ‘ You shall go.’ I
snapped my fingers in Matabelian fashion, and thanked him with all my
heart.

‘Tn the morning, when about to start in search of Livingstone, Moselekatse
got into my waggon, followed by some parcels of presents which he had
received from one and another, and which were deposited within. He sat down
very composedly, and requested that the waggons might start. I supposed
he was intending to go only to the next town, as he was followed by most of
the men, some of them rather too advanced in years to proceed far. Bidding
adieu to my kind-hearted fellow-traveller—who would have been happy to
accompany me, but, being in partnership with Mr. Chapmaa, he felt it his duty.
to remain a while longer—away we went, with about 100 men and nearly
half that number of dogs, large and small. Passing the first town without
halting, we came to a pass between two hills, commanding a beautiful and

MOSELEKATSE ON THE MARCH. 187

rather extensive view. Here we halted under an ancient sycamore till the
chief’s own waggon, which he had sent for, should arrive. To my surprise,
the waggon no sooner arrived, than he requested that we should proceed to
where there were bushes and firewood. On its joining us we again set off—
his sable majesty keeping possession of my bed or stretcher, which, by its
creaking, gave token that it had got an unusual load. After winding through
considerable thickets along the base of hills, we descended into a pretty
valley, where was every requisite for a comfortable bivouac. During the last
two hours we had been followed by some carrying karosses, others food, and
about twenty women with large calabashes of beer on their heads. Mose-
lekatse’s waggon being placed alongside of mine, the people then, as at every
halting-place during the journey, commenced hewing and tearing down
branches from trees, principally evergreens. Of these, very commodious
booths were formed in all directions, leaving an open space in the centre for
the cattle to sleep in. On the left of my waggon was a booth for my four
men, in which Moselekatse chooses to sleep, and not in his waggon, or among
his own people. To the right of my waggon was what may be called a royal
pavilion of evergreens, where he sometimes sat, and his personal attendants
reposed. Immediately in front of my waggon was another large circular fence,
where there were about nine of his wives, and twenty other women—beer-
carriers. Several large companies occupied other portions of the encampment,
which, lighted up by the blazing fires, presented an animated spectacle.
Before dark a troop of fat cattle were brought, of which two were slaughtered,
and strips of meat soon garnished the live coals at every fire-place; and if
human masticators were busy, tongues were performing their part to some
purpose, which never seemed to incommode the sovereign of all, who walked
about evidently much pleased.

“ After passing half the night meditating plans, I got up and found our
governor in excellent spirits. When I asked him what he thought we were to
do, ‘ Let us go on,’ was the reply. While we were sitting together, eating a
royal dish of meat—paunch cooked with fat, not invitingly clean, but such as
travellers get accustomed to—the men who had been sent to ascertain the
state of the country arrived. Their intelligence at once settled the point as
to our advance. Water was not to be had for oxen until the fourth day, and
then only amongst the tsetse. We talked and reasoned long on the subject,
till I asked the chief what he thought was best to be done. He replied, ‘I
am here to serve you; you must say what you wish, and I shall do it or order
it. The idea of sending men with Livingstone’s goods at that moment struck
me, on which I inquired how far it was to Linyanti; and if messengers were
sent, when would they return; or, if I were to go on foot, how long should J
be absent? ‘Twenty or thirty days,’ was the reply; and if to the Barotse
country, where Sekeletu might be, it would be a much longer time. I rose,

188 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and said, ‘I must think alone,’ and I should tell him the result of my cogita-
tions. I soon after received the same testimony from William, and another
individual upon whose word I could rely; for I knew well that if Moselekatse
said Linyanti was just three steps on the other side of the moon, all his people
would say so too. I returned to Moselekatse and proposed to go on foot if
he would give me a certain number of his men. To this he would on no
account agree ; and declared that if I went he would go too, and would be
carried when he could no longer walk. I then made the proposal that, if he
would give me men sufficient to carry all Livingstone’s goods and papers to
Linyanti, I should divide them into packages such as they could manage. To
this he promptly agreed, and the next moment ordered a man to make a
selection of individuals best acquainted. with the country. The whole day
was employed in making arrangements, and orders were given for twenty men
and an officer to be in readiness. There were seventeen packages. The men,
after hearing my instructions, repeated and re-repeated them, placed the bags,
boxes, &c., some on their heads, others on their shoulders, and, taking their
shields and spears, marched off. They were well supplied with food to enable
them to pass through perhaps as wild and desolate a region as can well be
found ; to go through forests, over mountains and morasses to the country of
those who are their enemies. No persons of any tribe with which I am
acquainted would have dared to attempt such a thing. It is more than I
had anticipated. Having thus done all in my power to supply the wants of
Livingstone, who doubtless will find all most acceptable should he be spared
to receive them, I began to think how I could make the best of my time in
the company of Moselekatse, who had given such unmistakeable proofs of his
willingness to serve me. On the departure of the men, I turned to him and
said, ‘ How happy and how thankful I now feel! for with one word you have
rolled off the big stone which lay on my heart.’ This remark made him
smile with unwonted cheerfulness. We soon unyoked and returned about
twelve miles by the way wecame. He remained with me at my waggon most
of the evening, which afforded the opportunity of talking to him on the all-
important subject of religion. He had heard me say that, but for the desire
I felt to show him how grateful I was for his kindness, I should prefer taking
a direct course homewards, instead of returning to Matlokotloko, but that now
I should return with him thither with all my heart. He remarked that he
wished to show me still more kindness. I replied that the greatest kindness
he could now show was to allow me to deliver to him and his people the
message of God, which was the great object I had in view in my present
journey ; that if he consented to this, I should desire nothing else. On
hearing this he appeared thoughtful, stood up, and walked off to another part
of the encampment.

“JT have just now learned, with thankfulness, that Livingstone lad, with

PROBABLE TRADE ROUTES. 189

extraordinary perseverance, reached St. Paul de Loanda, and was to return
to Linyanti. It affords me no little gratification to see that I was directed by
a wisdom, far other than that of man, in what I was able to accomplish on
his account. If he be spared to return to Linyanti, he will have the satisfac-
tion of receiving supplies for the outer, as well as the inner man.

** As to whether the countries through which I have passed are likely
soon to become fields for missionary operation, I am anything but sanguine.
Of the willingness of the natives themselves to receive instruction no doubt
need be entertained ; but at present the prospect is anything but encouraging.
Past events show to a demonstration that between the natives and the Trans-
Vaal Boers there can be no peace, until the former, as far as they can be
reached, shall become the vassals of the latter, whose transactions have hitherto
been characterised by a deep-rooted enmity to all missionary operations. To
me the case appears more hopeless than ever, since the inhabitants of the
Soyvereignity, or Free State, have with heart and hand espoused the cause of
the Trans-Vaal Republic, and are lending their aid in the work of exter-
minating the Aborigines. If a road were opened up from Sebituane’s or
Moselekatse’s country to the East coast, and permission obtained there for free
intercourse with the interior, a wide field would be opened for missionary
enterprise. The Matabele having traded with Enghshmen, who come
up the Zambesi from the coast in boats, shows what could be done.
Between the country of Moselekatse and the Zambesi, there is, however,
an insuperable barrier to travelling with either oxen or horses, on
account of the tsetse, so often referred to in these pages, and described
by Livingstone in his former journeys. They commence South of
the Limpopo river, run North till near the Zambesi, and then stretch along
between that and the country which I traversed towards the country of
Sebituane. The Makalaka, Bakurutse, Mashona, Becuabi, Masuase, Batonga,
and other tribes, with whom I came into contact among the Matabele, did not
appear to exhibit anything very savage in their disposition.

“Tt is the character of the Matabelan warfare, and the nature of their
government, that make them a terror to the surrounding tribes.

“Nothing remains but to seek to reach the interior tribes by the Hast
or West coast, and any missionary who has witnessed the deteriorating
influence of a juxtaposition with the civilized communities would a thousand
times prefer isolation, notwithstanding the difficulties it would involve in
obtaining supplies. The most part of Moselekatse’s country I should suppose
to be healthy, especially the higher portion of it, principally of granite
foundation. That the fever prevails in the more northern portions, especially
in wet seasons, there is no doubt; but not with the virulence witnessed by
Livingstone farther to the N.W. On the whole the country is beautiful, and
would present a rich treat to the geologist, as well as to the botanist—but how

190 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

much more to the Christian missionary, with its numerous inhabitants, living

and dying under a twofold tyranny !”

With the following extracts we exhaust Dr. Livingstone’s allusions to his
memorable journey to Loanda and back, and its results and probable conse-

quences. The letter from which these extracts are taken was addressed to

Sir Roderick Murchison :—

‘“‘By anote dated Cabango, in August last, I endeavoured to convey an idea
of the country between Cassange and that point, and, ifthe rough tracing enclosed
reached its destination, you will have remarked that there was little absolutely
new tocommunicate. The path followed is that usually trodden by native Por-
tuguese, who are employed by Angolese merchants to trade with Matiamvo—the
‘Muata-ya-nvo’ of some—the paramount chief of the negro tribes called Londa
(Lunda) or Balonda. There is another and straighter course situated a little
farther north, and I suppose it is there the scarcity of water mentioned by
others is experienced. We never found it necessary to carry a supply, and
almost always spent the night at villages situated on streams or rivulets. A
Portuguese merchant and planter, Senhor Graca, of Monte Allegre, whose
acquaintance I had the pleasure of making, was once a visitor to Matiamvo ;
and his notes, having been published in the Government Gazette or ‘ Boletim’
of Loanda, might, I conceive, still be found in Lisbon. A severe and long-
continued attack of fever, soon after crossing the Quango, made me so very
feeble and deaf, that I was glad to avail myself of the company and friendly
aid of three native Portuguese, whose employer, Senhor Neves of Cassange,
very politely enjoined them by letter to forward my plans by every means in
their power. The virtue of the Chiboque was thereby not much exposed
to temptation to take advantage of my weakness—a temptation which
often proves rather too powerful for the goodness of more enlightened speci-
mens of humanity. The most then I could effect in the circumstances was to
put down the rivers with greater precision than any of my predecessors, who
have uniformly been unfurnished with instruments.

“The rate of travelling of such traders may be interesting to those who
examine their accounts of journeys to otherwise unknown regions. I found the
average between a great number of regular sleeping stations to be 7 geo-
graphical miles. The average time required was 34 hours, and the speed 2
geographical miles an hour. The stoppages from all causes amounted to 20
days monthly ; so that a month’s journey means actually one of 10 days, or 70
miles. The carriers are very unwilling to help each other; hence the sickness
of one man often stops the march of the whole party. When we parted with
them, our own rate was 103 geographical miles per day. This required an
average of five hours’ march at the rate of two geographical miles an hour,
and we travelled twenty days each month. The negro step was quicker than
ours, but we generally overtook them while resting, and arrived in equal times.

TAKING THE LOAN OF A CANOE. 191

If we kept going for 6 successive days, both men and oxen showed symptoms
of knocking up, although they were a most willing company, and all were
anxious to get home. It was therefore necessary to give another day weekly
for rest, besides Sunday. The starchy nature of the food had, I believe,
considerable influence on the rate of progress. In winding through forest,
I could not make any approach to a reckoning of distance ; an observation was
always necessary. The zigzag would make the day’s march to be probably
not much under 20 miles in these cases.

“*T had indulged the hope of proceeding to the head-quarters of Matiamvo,
who seems to be located 19 days east-north-east of Cabango, or on lat. 8 20'S.,
long. 22° 32’ E. But the long delay had now made such an inroad into
our stock of goods that we saw clearly, by the time of our arrival there,
we should be unable either to give a suitable present to the prince, or
pay our way afterwards to the south. This alone would not have proved a
barrier, for a branch of the Leeambye or Zambesi is reported to flow south-
wards from a part a few days east of his town, 23° or 24° E. long. (?), and it
would have been of great importance to have discovered water conveyance all
the way down to the country of the Makololo. But it is universally asserted
and believed that Matiamyo will on no account permit any white man, or even
native trader, to pass in that direction; it is his own principal resort for ivory.
The tribes living there kill many elephants, and bring the ivory to him as
tribute. They are called Kanyika and Kanyoka, or Banyika and Banyoka.
Haying but slender acquaintance with the Londa dialect, we felt that neither
pay nor persuasion could be effectively employed to secure permission to follow
our object; so we decided on leaving Cabango to proceed south-east to our
friend Katema, and thence down the Leeba.

‘The people among whom we now travelled being Balonda only, we
got on very comfortably, except in one instance, in which a chief named
Kawawa, who had heard of our treatment by the Chiboque in going north,
presumed on his possessing the fords of the Kasai, so far as to demand tribute
from the white man. Nothing could exceed the civilities which passed between
us on the Sunday of our stay in his town. But when we offered to cross the
river he mustered all his forces to compel payment of ‘a gun, an ox, a man,
a barrel of powder, a black coat! or a book which would tell him if Matiamvo
had any intention of sending to cut off his head.’ Unless we had submitted
to everything, as the Mambari do, and given a bad precedent for all white
men afterwards, we were obliged to part with ‘daggers drawn.’ The canoes
were all concealed among the reeds, but my men were better sailors than his;
and haying taken the loan of one by night, in order to show how scrupulously
honest we were, we left it and a few beads on their own side of the river, and
thanked them next morning for their kindness amidst shouts of laughter.

“The route we followed to Katema, being considerably to the east of that

192 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

by which we went to Loanda, a curious phenomenon, which then escaped our
notice, was now discovered, viz., that of the river Lotembwa flowing in two
nearly opposite directions. By the tracing sent from Angola, you will see it
as if rising in the small lake Dilolo. Such seemed the fact as far as the southern
portion of the river is concerned. Our former route having led us to the Kasai,
at some distance west of the northern portion, we were not aware of its existence.
In returning, however, we were surprised at being obliged to cross the Lotembwa
before we reached Lake Dilolo. It was more than a mile broad, three or four
feet deep, and full of Arum Egyptiacum, lotus, papyrus, mat-rushes, and other
aquatic plants. Not being then informed of the singular fact that it actually
flows N.N.W. into the Kasai, I did not observe the current, simply concluding
it was a prolongation of the Lotembwa beyond the lake, and that it rose in a
long flat marsh, as most of the rivers in this quarterdo. But we were positively
informed afterwards that the flow was to the Kasai, and not into Dilolo. I
have no reason to doubt the correctness of this information. I could not
ascertain whether Lake Dilolo gives much water to the northern Lotembwa ;
but if there had been a current of one-fourth the strength of that which flows
into the southern Lotembwa, I must have observed it. It looks like an arm of
the lake where I crossed it, and probably flows faster when nearer the Kasai.
The southern Lotembwa proceeds from an arm of the lake, half a mile broad,
and at the part where most of the water flows itis chin deep. We crossed the
river above its confluence with the latter arm, and the great body of flowing
deep water it contained there (from 80 to 100 yards wide) made me suppose
that it receives a supply from the northern as well as from the southern end of
Dilolo. The fever having there caused vomiting of large quantities of blood,
I could not return and examine the curious phenomenon more minutely ; but
I consider it as almost quite certain that Lake Dilolo divides its waters between
the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. A portion flows down the Kasai—Zaire, or
Congo, and another down the Leeba to the Zambesi. The whole of the
adjacent country is exceedingly flat. In coming to the Lotembwa from the
north we crossed a plain 24 miles broad, and so level that the rain-water stands
on it for months together; and when going north we waded through another
plain to the south of the northern Lotembwa, 15 miles broad, with about a foot
of water on it, and the lotus flowers in bloom therein.

“As the Royal Geographical Society receives geographical information
from every quarter, and then acts on the eclectic principle of securing the good
and true from the heaps of materials which travellers abroad and loungers at
home may send to the crucible, I have, with less diffidence than I should
otherwise have felt, resolved to state some ideas which observation and native
information have led me to adopt as to the form of the southern part of the
continent. It is right to state also distinctly that I am now aware that the same
views were clearly expressed in the anniversary speech of 1852, by the

CENTRAL AFRICAN RIVERS. 193

gentleman to whom this letter is addressed. Yet having come to nearly the
same conclusions about three years afterwards, and by a different method, the
reasons which guided my tortoise pace may, though stated in my own way,
be accepted as a small contribution to the inferences deduced by you (Sir
Roderick Murchison) from the study of the map of Mr. Barnes.

‘In passing northwards to Angola, the presence of large Cape heaths,
rhododendrons, Alpine roses, and more especially the sudden descent into the
valley of the Quango, near Cassange, led me to believe we had been travelling
on an elevated plateau. I had hopes then of finding an aneroid at Loanda;
but having been disappointed in this, from my friend Colonel Steel having gone
to the Crimea, I had to resort, on my return, to observations of the temperature
of boiling water as a means of measuring elevations.

*« The highest point in the district of Pungo Andongo is given to show
that it is lower than the ridge, which I believe is cut through by the valley of
Cassange, in which the Quango now flows. And the top of the ascent of Tala
Mungongo—which, to the eye, looks much higher than the eastern ascent, if
we may depend on the point of ebullition as an approximation—is in reality
much lower; indeed not more elevated than Lake Ngami, which is clearly in
a hollow. In coming along this elevated land towards the Quango, we were
unconsciously near the crest of a large oblong mound, or ridge, which pro-
bably extends through 20° of latitude, and gives rise to a remarkable number
of rivers: thus, the Quango on the north; the Coanza on the west; the
Langebongo, which the latest information identifies with the Loeti, and the
numerous streams which unite and form the Chobe, on its south-east; all
the feeders of the Kasai and that river itself on the east; and probably also
the Embara or river of Libebe on the south. Yet this elevation is by no
means mountainous. The general direction of all these rivers, except the
Coanza and Quango, being towards the centre of the continent, with a little
northing or southing in addition, according as they belong to the western or
eastern main drains of the country, clearly implies the hollow or basin form
of that portion of intertropical Africa. The country about Lake Dilolo seems
to form a partition in the basin; hence the contrary direction of its drainage.

“Viewing the basin from this (Linyanti) northward, we behold an
immense flat, intersected by rivers, in almost every direction, and these
are not the South African mud, sand, or stone rivers either, but deep
never-failing streams, fit to form invaluable bulwarks against enemies who can
neither swim nor manage canoes. They have also numerous departing and
re-entering branches, with lagoons and marshes adjacent, so that it is scarcely
possible to travel along their banks without the assistance of canoes. We
brought two asses as a present from certain merchants in Loanda to Sekeletu,
and as this animal is not injured by the bite of the tsetse, they came as frisky
as kids through all the flowing rivers of Loanda; but when we began to descend

Al

194 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the Leeambye, dragging them almost hourly through patches of water or
lagoons, they were nearly killed, and we were obliged to leave them at Naliele.
These valley rivers have generally two beds, one of low water and another of
inundation. The period of inundation does not correspond with the rainy
season here, but with a period in the north subsequent to that. The flood of
the Leeambye occurs in February and March, while that of the Chobe, from
its being more tortuous, is a month later. We hear of its being flooded 40
miles above Linyanti, eight or ten days before it overflows there. When these
rivers do overflow, then the valley assumes the appearance of being ornamented
with chains of lakes. This is probably the geologically recent form which the
great basin showed, for all the low-water channels in the flats are cut out of soft
calcareous tufa, which the waters of this country formerly deposited most
copiously. The country adjacent to the beds of inundation is, except where
rocks appear, not elevated more than from 50 to 100 feet above the general
level.

“ That the same formation exists on the eastern side of the country appears
from the statements of Arabs or Moors from Zanzibar. They assert that a
large branch of the Leeambye flows from the country of the Banyassa
(Wun’yassa) to the south-west, and passes near to the town of Cazembe ; it is
called Luapula. The Banyassa live on a ridge parallel to the east coast; and
though they have no lake in their own country, they frequently trade to one
on their N.N.W. My Arab informants pass this lake on their way back to
Zanzibar. It is said to be ten days’ north-east of Cazembe, and is called
Tanganyika, and is said to be connected with another named Kalague
(Garague ?). Both are stated to be so shallow that the canoes are punted the
whole way across, and the voyage occupies three days. Will it be too specu-
lative to suppose that these large collections of fresh water are the residue of
greater and deeper lakes, just as Lake Ngami is, the openings in the eastern
ridge not being deep enough to drain those parts of the basin entirely ?

‘“‘In a foray made by the Makololo to the country about east of Masiko’s
territory, during our visit to Loanda, they were accompanied by the Arab
Ben Habib, from whom I received much of the above information. This
party saw another river than the Luapula, coming from the north-east, with a
south-west course, to form a lake named Shuia (Shooea). A river emerges
thence, which, dividing, forms the Bashukulompo and Loangwa rivers.
There is a connection between these and the Leeambye too, a state-
ment by no means improbable, seeing the country around Shuia (lat. 13,
long. 27° or 28° E. ?) is described as abounding in marshes and reedy valleys.
When there, the Arab pointed to the eastern ridge, whence the rivers come,
and said, ‘ When we see that, we always know we are about to begin the
descent of ten or fifteen days to the sea.’

“T am far from craving implicit faith in those statements, for my

DR. BUCKLAND. 195

informants possess a sad proneness to ‘amiability,’ and they will roundly
assert whatever they think will please you. For example:—‘ Are you happy
asaslave?’ ‘QO, infinitely more so than when I was free;’ and then run
away from their masters. But my object in making inquiries was unknown ;
and, when supported by the testimony of the Makololo, the statements may
be taken as supporting the view that the central parts of Africa south of the
equator, though considerably elevated above the level of the sea, form really
a hollow in reference to two oblong ridges on its eastern and western sides.
As suggestive of further inquiry only, I may mention, though not pretending
to have examined the pretty extensive portions of the country which came
under my observation with the eye and deep insight of a geologist, that the
general direction of the ranges of hills appears to be parallel to the major axis
of the continent. The dip of the strata down towards the centre of the
country led to the conclusion, before I knew of the existence of the ridges,
that Africa had in its formation been pressed up much more energetically at
the sides than at the centre. The force which effected this, I supposed, may
have been of the same nature as that which determined most recent volcanoes
to be in the vicinity of the sea. This seems to have been the case in Angola
at least; and having probably been in operation over a vast extent of coast,
decided the very simple littoral outline of Africa. I am induced to make this
suggestion because, when the ridges are situated far from the coast, they do
not seem to owe their origin to recently erupted rocks. There is a section of the
western ridge, near Cassange, nearly a thousand feet in height; and except a
capping of hematite mixed with quartz pebbles, it is a mass of the red clay shale
termed in Scotland ‘keel,’ the thin strata of which are scarcely at all disturbed. —
This keel is believed to indicate gold. Had I met with a nugget I would have
mounted a mule instead of the ungainly beast (his ox Sinbad) I rode.

“T have mentioned the locality of Lake Dilolo as forming a sort of parti-
tion in the central valley, but it is not formed by outcropping rocks, as one
may travel a month beyond Shinte’s without seeing a stone; but in proceeding
south of Ngami, the farther we go the greater has been the filling up by
eruptive traps. The 25th parallel of latitude divides a part of the valley,
containing 1000 feet more filling up than that north of Kolobeng; and, strangely
enough, the only instance of a large transported boulder occurs just at the
edge of the more hollow part. The plains to the south of that are elevated
perhaps 5000 feet above the level of the sea. But the erupted rocks, as that
on which Kuruman stands, have brought up fragments of the very old bottom
rocks in their substance.

“ As I am not aware that the late Dr. Buckland made any public use of
a paper which I sent to him in 1843, on the gradual desiccation of the
Bechuana country, it may not be improper to mention, in support of the actual
drying up of all the rivers which have a westerly course, that I had pointed

196 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

out the bed of a still more ancient river than those trickling rills which now
pass by the name. It flowed from north to south, exactly as the Zambesi does
now, and ended in a large lake, which must have been discharged when the
fissure was made through which the Orange river now flows. At the point of
confluence between river and lake some hills of amygdaloid caused an eddy,
and in the eddy we have a mound of tufa and travertin full of fossil bones.
From these I had hopes of ascertaining the age of the river; but, in addition
to my time being much restricted by sacred duties, I had no instrument with
me when I discovered these beautiful fossils, which stand out in relief on the
rock. On the second occasion I was called off by express to the child of
another missionary, and galloped a hundred miles to find him in his grave.
To crown all, some epiphises and teeth, which I sent with specimens to illus-
trate the geology of the interior, though taken to England by the Rev. H. H.
Methuen, were stolen from the railway before reaching Dr. Buckland’s hands.
As it is not likely that I shall ever visit the spot again, I may mention that
the mound is near Bootschap, and well known to the Rev. H. Helmore, who
would willingly show it to any one desirous of procuring specimens. They
are perfectly fossilised, and about the same size as zebras or buffaloes.

“With respect to the spirit in which our efforts have been viewed by the
Makololo, I think there is no cause for discouragement. The men of my
company worked vigorously while at Loanda, and their savings appeared to
them to be considerable. But the long journey back forced us to expend all
our goods, and on arriving at the Barotse we were all equally poor. Our
reception and subsequent treatment were, however, most generous and kind.
The public reports delivered by my companions were sufficiently flattering to
me, and their private opinions must have been in unison, for many volunteers
have come forward unasked to go to the east. A fresh party was despatched
with ivory for Loanda, and only two days were allowed for preparation.
They are under the guidance of the Arab from Zanzibar already alluded to,
and the men have no voice in the disposal of the goods; they are simply to
look and learn. After my late companions have rested some time, it is in-
tended for them to return as independent traders. This was not my sugges-
tion—indeed I could scarcely have expected it, for the hunger and fatigue
they endured were most trying to men who have abundance of food and
leisure at home. But the spirit of trade is strong in the Africans, and they
are much elated with the large prices given at Loanda.

‘‘Tf no untoward event interferes, a vigorous trade will certainly be
established. The knowledge of the great value of ivory puts a stop to the
slave-trade in a very natural way. As our cruizers on the west coast render
property in slaves of very small value there, the Mambari, who are generally
subjects of Kangombe of Bihe, purchase slaves for domestic purposes only;
but to make such a long journey as that from Bihe to the Batoka country, east

PUZZLING VARIETY OF NAMES. 197

of the Makololo, at all profitable, they must secure a tusk or two. These can
only be got among certain small tribes who depend chiefly on agriculture for
subsistence, and are so destitute of iron that they often use hoes of wood.
They may be induced to part with ivory and children for iron implements,
but for nothing else. The Mambari tried cloth and beads unsuccessfully, but
hoes were irresistible. The Makololo wished to put a stop to their visits by
force, but a hint to purchase all the ivory with hoes was so promptly responded
to, that I anticipate small trade for the Mambari in future. If any one among
the tribes subject to the Makololo sells a child now, it is done secretly. The
trade may thus be said to be pretty well repressed. A great deal more than
this, however, is needed. Commerce is a most important aid to civilisation,
for it soon breaks up the sullen isolation of heathenism, and makes men feel
their mutual dependence. Hopes of this make one feel gratified at the success
which has attended my little beginning. But it is our blessed Christianity
alone which can touch the centre of the wants of Africa. The Arabs, it is well
known, are great in commerce, but not much elevated thereby above the
African in principle. My Arab friend Ben Habib, now gone to Loanda, was
received most hospitably by an old female chief called Sebola Makwaia; and
she actually gave him ivory enough to set him up as a trader; yet he went
with the Makololo against her to revenge some old feud with which he had
no connexion.”

The Victoria Falls were viewed with dread by the natives living at a
distance. They supposed them to be the haunt of some powerful and myste-
rious deity. Dr Livingstone says :—

“The former name of the spot was Shongwe, the meaning of which I
cannot ascertain. The Makololo, in passing near it, said, ‘‘ Mosi oa tunya,”
‘smoke does sound.” Very few of them ever went near to examine the cause
before my visit. When the river is in flood, the vapour is seen and the sound
heard ten or more miles distant. Although I have not felt at liberty to act on
my conyiction on the subject of names, I think all rivers and hills discovered
by Englishmen ought to have English names. The African name is known
only to people in the locality. I could not get the name Zumbo lately from
the people among the ruins, and passed Dambarari on the opposite side of the
river, nobody haying ever heard the name before. The same would have
happened of course had they been English or Portuguese names, but we should
not have the nonsense with which, by mis-spelling, we and the printers disfigure
the maps. See how many ways Bechuanas are mentioned—Booshuanas, Boot-
jouanas, Bertjouanas, &c.: Makrakka for Makabe; Marelata for Moretcle;
Wanketzeens for Bangwaketse; Beza (God) for Reza. We on the spot are
often misled getting information from (native) foreigners, who pronounce names
according to their own dialects, and are thereby often guilty of leading those
at home astray. English names, too, are surely better than the round Dutch

198 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

names,—‘ sand,’ ‘stone,’ ‘mud,’ or ‘reed’ rivers. I do not urge the point,
but I think it merits consideration.”

The value of ivory showed clearly how far the slave-traders had advanced.
Where ivory was common and had no value attached to it, it was a certain
indication that the place had not been visited by half-caste traders from the
east or west coast. No traders had been at or near the Falls prior to his visit.
He says :—

“That trade has never extended thus far from either the east or western
coasts, is, I believe, extremely probable from the grave of the elder Sekote
being still seen on Kalai Island, ornamented with seventy large elephants’
tusks planted round it, and there are about thirty tusks over the resting-places
of his relatives. Indeed, ivory was used only to form the armlets and grave-
stones of the rich, and it is now met with in a rotten state all over the Batoka
country. This fact I take as corroborative of the universal assertion, that no
trader ever visited the country previous to the first and unsuccessful attempt
of the Mambari to establish the slave trade with Santuru, the last chief of the
Barotse.”

CHAPTER X.

Start for the East Coast.—The Victoria Falls—The Batoka Tribes.—Reaches
Zumbo, a Deserted Portuguese Settlement.

N the 3rd of November, 1855, Livingstone and his fellow-adventurers,
accompanied by Sekeletu with 200 of his followers, who were to accom-
pany them as far as Kalai, on the Leeambye, started from Linyanti. The
whole party were fed at Sekeletu’s expense,—the cattle for the purpose being
taken from his cattle stations, which are spread over the whole territory
owning him allegiance. Passing through a “tsetse” district when dark, to
escape its attacks, they were overtaken by a tremendous storm of thunder,
lightning, and rain, which thoroughly drenched the party. Livingstone’s
extra clothing having gone on, he was.looking forward ruefully to the pros-
pect of passing the night on the wet ground, when Sekeletu gave him his
blanket, lying uncovered himself. He says, “I was much touched by this
little act of genuine kindness. If such men must perish by the advance of
civilization, as certain races of animals do before others, it is a pity. God
grant that ere this time comes they may receive that gospel which is a solace
for the soul in death!”

Writing to Sir Roderick Murchison about this touching incident and
the general kindness of Sekeletu, he uses words which, at the risk of repetition,
are worth quoting :—‘‘ When passing Sheseke on our way down the river in
November last, Sekeletu generously presented ten slaughter-cattle and three of
the best riding oxen he could purchase among his people, together with sup-
plies of meal and everything else he could think of for my comfort during the
journey. Hoes and beads were also supplied to purchase a canoe, when we
should come to the Zambesi again, beyond the part where it is constricted by
the rocks. These acts of kindness were probably in part prompted by the
principal men of the tribe, and are valuable as showing the light in which our
efforts are viewed; but as little acts often show character more clearly than
great ones, 1 may mention that—having been obliged to separate from the |
people who had our luggage, and to traverse about 20 miles infested by the
tsetse during the night—it became so pitchy dark, we could only see by the
frequent gleams of lightening, which at times revealed the attendants wander-
ing hither and thither in the forest. The horses trembled and groaned, and
after being thoroughly drenched by heavy rain we were obliged to give up

200 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the attempt to go farther, and crawled under a tree for shelter. After the
excessive heat of the day one is peculiarly sensitive to cold at night. The
chief’s blanket had fortunately not gone on; he covered me with it, and
rested himself on the cold, wet ground until the morning. If such men must
perish before the white race by an immutable law of heaven, we must seem
to be under the same sort of ‘terrible necessity’ in our ‘ Kaffre wars’ as the
American professor of chemistry said he was when he dismembered the man
whom he murdered.”

On the island of Kalai, they found the grave of Sekote, a Batoka chief,
who had been conquered by Sebituane, and had retreated to this place, where
he died. The ground near the grave was garnished by human skulls, mounted
on poles, and a large heap of the crania of hippopotami—the tusks being
placed on one side. The grave was ornamented with seventy large elephants’
tusks, planted round it with the points inwards, forming an ivory canopy; and
thirty more were placed over the graves of his relatives. As they neared the
point from which the party intended to strike off to the north-east from the
river, Livingstone determined to visit the falls of Mosioatunya, known as the
falls of Victoria since his visit. He had often heard of these falls from the
Makololo. None of them had visited them, but many of them had been near
enough to hear the roar of the waters and see the cloud of spray which hangs
over them. The literal meaning of the Makololo name for them is, “‘ smoke
does sound there,” or ‘‘ sounding smoke.”

He visited them twice on this occasion, the last time along with Sekeletu,
whose curiosity had been aroused by his description of their magnificence.
Just where the sounding smoke of which Sebituane and the Makololo had told
him, rises up for several hundred feet into the sky, and is visible for over
twenty miles—a spectacle of ever changing form and colour—the mighty
stream, nearly a mile in width, plunges in a clear and unbroken mass into a
rent in the basaltic rock which forms the bed of the river and the low hills
which bound the river in front and on either side for a considerable distance
of its course. This chasm is from eighty to a hundred feet in width, and of
unknown depth, the thundering roar of the falling waters being heard for a
distance of many miles. The throbbing of the solid ground, caused by the
immense weight and force of the falling water is felt at a great distance from
the tremendous chasm in which the great river is engulfed.

After a descent of several yards, the hitherto unbroken mass of water
presents the appearance of drifted snow, from which jets of every form leap
out upon the opposite side of the chasm. For about a hundred feet, its
descent can be traced to where it reaches the seething surface of the water
below ; from which it arises, in jets of water like steam. A dense smoke cloud
of spray which, descending on all sides like rain, wets the on-looker to the
skin, maintains a constant green verdure within the reach of its influence,

THH VICTORIA FALLS. 201

The depth of the narrow chasm, which draws off such a vast volume of
water must be very great. At one place it has been plumbed to a depth
more than twice that of the pool into which the St. Lawrence falls at Niagara.
The great smoke clouds are formed by five distinct columns of spray which
ascend from the gulf to a height of from two to three hundred feet. Three
of these columnus—two on the right, and one on the left of Garden Island,
which overlook the falls, appeared to Livingstone to contain as much water
in each, as there is in the Clyde at the fall of Stonebyres during a flood. The
waters are drained off near the eastern end of the falls by a prolongation of
the rocky chasm, which pursues its way, with little variation as to breadth,
in a zigzag course through the mass of low hills for over thirty miles, when
the feed waters break into the plain and spread out to their former
width, to be here and there narrowed by the several rapids which interrupt
its navigation, in some cases even to the light canoes of the bold and skilful
Makalaka and Batoka men.

The scene round the falls is exceedingly beautiful. The banks and islands
are covered with vegetation, through which the giants of the African forest
rear their lofty crests. The baobab, each of whose arms would form great
trees, the palmyra, with its feathery leaves, the mohonou, in form like the
cedars of Lebanon, the cypress-like motsouri, and other varieties of trees
similar to our own oaks, elms, and chestnuts, stand out clear against the back-
ground of smoke cloud, which during the day glows in the sun, and is
surmounted by magnificent rainbows, and at night shines with a yellow sul-
phurous haze, shadowed by clouds of pitchy blackness, as if belched from the
crater of a burning mountain. No wonder the ignorant natives look upon
this scene, so grand and so terrible in its beauty and majesty, as the abode of
their God Barimo; it is the highest manifestation of the power and gran-
deur of nature with which they are acquainted. The untutored savage
worships power and mystery ; and here these are presented to him in a form
which cannot fail to impress his imagination.

Previous to the formation of the immense fissure into which the Zambesi
falls, the plains above must have been the bed of a vast lake, and its whole
course from the falls upwards, previous to Livingstone’s visit, had been popu-
larly supposed to be a parched desert. ‘The great traveller notices that while
he was engaged in resolving this a writer in the Atheneum, dealing with the
previous discoveries and guesses as to the extent of this river, placed its source
in the neighbourhood of the falls, on the edge of a great desert, and made its
upper waters, the Leeba and the Leeambye, turn sharply to the south, and
lose themselves in the arid wastes of the Kalahari desert; so difficult is it to
get mere theorists to give up a long-existing notion. ‘To this writer a central
desert must exist, and all other physical facts, however new and strange, must
conform to it.

Bl

202 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

We cannot resist giving Dr. Livingstone’s account of the Victoria Falls,
as furnished to Sir Roderick Murchison :—

‘Our convoy down to Mosioatunya consisted of the chief and about 200
followers. About 10 miles below the confluence of the Chobe and Leeambye
or Zambesi, we came to the commencement of the rapids. Leaving the canoes
there, we marched on foot about 20 miles further, along the left or northern
bank, to Kalai, otherwise called the island of Sekote. It was decided by those
who knew the country well in front, that we should here leave the river, and
avoid the hills through which it flows, both on account of tsetse and the
extreme ruggedness of the path. By taking a north-east course the river
would be met where it has become placid again. Before leaving this part of
the river I took a canoe at Kalai, and sailed down to look at the falls of
Mosioatunya, which proved to be the finest sight I have seen in Africa. The
distance to the ‘Smoke-sounding’ Falls of the Zambesi was about 8 miles in a
S.S.E. direction, but when we came within 5 miles of the spot we saw five
large columns of ‘smoke’ ascending 200 or 300 feet, and exhibiting exactly
the appearance which occurs on extensive grass-burnings in Africa. The river
above the falls is very broad, but I am such a miserable judge of distances on
water that I fear to estimate its breadth. I once showed a naval officer a space
_ in the bay of Loanda which seemed of equal breadth with parts of the river which
I have always called 400 yards. He replied, ‘That is 900 yards.’ Here I
think I am safe in saying it is at least 1000 yards wide. You cannot imagine
the glorious loveliness of the scene from anything in England. The ‘ Falls,’
if we may so term a river leaping into a sort of straight-jacket, are bounded
on three sides by forest-covered ridges about 400 feet in height. Numerous
islands are dotted over the river above the falls, and both banks and islands
are adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of colour and form.

‘“‘ At the period of our visit many of the trees were spangled over with
blossoms, and towering above them all stands the great burly baobab, each
of whose (syemite-coloured) arms would form the bole of a large ordinary
tree. Groups of graceful palms, with their feathery-formed foliage, contribute
to the beauty of the islands. As a hieroglyphic, they always mean ‘ far from
home;’ for one can never get over their foreign aspect in picture or land-
scape. ‘Trees of the oak shape and other familiar forms stand side by side
with the silvery Mohonono, which in the tropics looks like the cedar of
Lebanon. The dark cypress-shaped Motsouri, laden with its pleasant scarlet
fruit, and many others, also attain individuality among the great rounded
masses of tropical forest. We look and look again, and hope that scenes
lovely enough to arrest the gaze of angels may never vanish from the memory.
A light canoe, and men well acquainted with the still water caused by the
islands, brought us to an islet situated in the middle of the river and forming
the edge of the lip over which the water rolls. Creeping to the verge, we

THE VICTORIA FALLS. 203

peer down into a large rent which has been made from bank to bank of the
broad Zambesi, and there we see the stream of a thousand yards in breadth
suddenly compressed into a channel of fifteen or twenty. Imagine the Thames
flanked with low tree-covered hills from the tunnel to Gravesend, its bed of hard
basaltic rock instead of London mud, and a rent or fissure made in the bed,
from one end of the tunnel to the other, down through the keystones of the
arch, to a depth of 100 feet, the lips of the fissure being from 60 to 80 feet
apart. Suppose farther, the narrow rent prolonged from the tunnel to
Gravesend along the left bank, and the Thames leaping bodily into this gulf,
compressed into 15 or 20 yards at the bottom, forced to change its direction
from the right to the left bank, then turning a corner and boiling and roaring
through the hills, and you may conceive something similar to this part of
the Zambesi.

“In former days the three principal falls were used as places where
certain chiefs worshipped the Barimo (gods or departed spirits). As even at
low water there are from 400 to 600 yards of water pouring over, the constancy
and loudness of the sound may have produced feelings of awe, as if the never-
ceasing flood came forth from the footstool of the Eternal. It was mysterious
to them, for one of their canoe songs says,

‘The Leeambye—nobody knows
Whence it comes or whither it goes.’

“Perhaps the bow in the cloud reminded them of Him who alone is
unchangeable and above all changing things. But, not aware of His true
character, they had no admiration of the beautiful and good in their bosoms.
Secure in their own island fortresses, they often inveigled wandering or fugi-
tive tribes on to others which are uninhabited, and left them there to perish.
The river is so broad, that, when being ferried across, you often cannot see
whether you are going to the main land or not. To remove temptation out
of the way of our friends, we drew the borrowed canoes last night into our
midst on the island where we slept, and some of the men made their beds
in them.

“Before concluding this account of the falls, it may be added that the
rent is reported to be much deeper further down, perhaps 200 or 300 feet ;
and at one part the slope downward allows of persons descending in a sitting
posture. Some Makololo, once chasing fugitives, saw them unable to restrain
their flight, and dashed to pieces at the bottom. They say the river appeared
as a white cord at the bottom of an abyss, which made them giddy and fain
to leaye. Yet I could not detect any evidence of wear at the spot which was
examined, though it was low water, and from seven to ten feet of yellow dis-
colouration on the rock showed the probable amount of rise. I have been led
to the supposition by the phenomena noticed by both Captain Tuckey and

204 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Commander Bedingfield in the Congo or Zaire, that it, as well as the Orange
River, seems to be discharged by a fissure through the western ridge. The
breadth of the channel among the hills, where Captain Tuckey turned, will
scarcely account for the enormous body of water which appears farther down.
Indeed, no sounding can be taken with ordinary lines near the mouth, though
the water runs strong and is perfectly fresh.

“On the day following my first visit I returned to take another glance
and make a little nursery garden on the island; for I observed that it was
covered with trees, many of which I have seen nowhere else; and as the wind
often wafted a little condensed vapour over the whole, it struck me this was
the very thing I could never get my Makololo friends to do. My trees have
always perished by being forgotten during droughts; so I planted here a lot
of peach and apricot stones and coffee-seed. As th’s island is unapproachable
when the river rises, except by hippopotami, if my hedge is made according
to contract, I have great hopes of Mosioatunya’s ability as a nuseryman. On
another island close by, your address of 1852 remained a whole year. If you
had been a lawyer, instead of a geologist, your claims to the discovery would
have been strong, as ‘a bit of your mind’ was within sight and sound of
the falls very long before the arrival of any European.* I thank you for
sending it.”

Mr. Chapman, who visited the falls several times, gives the following as
his impression on the second visit. His introduction to the falls at a distance
occurred under the following circumstances :—

“When we halted for the night, under a gigantic tree by the path-
side, we had no idea that we were so near the falls, but as the boisterous
laughter and merry frolicking of our little Makalaka subsided, there gradually
arose in the air a murmuring, and at length a roaring sound, increasing as the
night advanced, and sounding like the dashing of a mighty surf upon a rock-
bound coast. So much does the sound resemble this, that a stranger,
unacquainted with the existence of a waterfall here, and unaware of his
distance from the sea, could not be persuaded to the contrary. It was one
everlasting roar, broken occasionally by the thundering, like successive
cannonading in the distance ; and thus it sounded all through the night. . .

““T should remark that on sailing down the river, one ignorant of the
fact may approach to within a very few yards of the falls, without dreaming
of being on the verge of such a chasm, owing to the strange and mysterious
manner in which the whole stream, of nearly a mile in breadth, has
saddenly disappeared before the eyes, vanishing as if it had been swallowed
by the earth. In all falls that I have seen, a perspective view of the water

* Sir Roderick’s address was contained in the packages sent by Dr. Moffat from Moselekatse’s
country, all of which Livingstone found carefully preserved on an island in the Zambesi on his return
froma the west coast.

OF THE ZAMBESI

FALLS

VICTORIA

THE VICTORIA FALLS. 205

below has always been visible, but there is nothing of the kind here. You see
land before you on your own level, which seems as if springing out of the
stream on which you are sailing, and proceed in utter unconsciousness of the
danger ahead, discovering at length that it is on the opposite side of the rent.
But for this circumstance, the Victoria Falls, presenting one unobstructed
view, would not alone have been the most magnificent, but the most
stupendous sight of the kind on the face of the globe.”

In another place he says :—

** As I neared the falls from the north, the sound issuing from the crack
is more subdued ; the smoke during the heat of the day less; but although
we can sometimes hardly hear the roaring of the water, though within half a
mile of it, we can feel very distinctly a quivering sensation in the earth, like
the distant rumbling of an earthquake. But the sound of the waters is very
different under the various circumstances in which it is heard, whether from a
height or from a valley ; wake up at any time during the night, and you may
hear it like the roaring of a mighty wind, or the commotion of a strong sea.
I have since heard it at the distance of fifteen miles on an elevated region in
the south.

‘There are a thousand beauties to be seen here which it is impossible to
describe. My senses became truly overwhelmed with crowding sensations
while gazing on these wondrous works of God, but I cannot describe them.
In passing, we again peep down into the depths of the yawning chasm at the
west end, belching forth its dense clouds of vapour, and follow with our eyes
through the blinding brilliancy of the rainbow the boiling, roaring, dashing,
splashing, gushing, gleaming, bounding stream, and exclaim, ‘ How beauti-
ful!’ ‘How terrible!’ These rainbows, seen from a distance of about two
miles at 4 p.m., their depth being then very much enlarged on the rising spray,
impart a most startling effect. On observing it for the first time from this
point, it looked so much like sulphurous fire issuing from the bowels of the
earth, that I was on the point of exclaiming to my companion, ‘ Look at that
fire.’ The many streams of vapour flying fast upwards through the broad
and vivid iris of the rainbows looked so like flames, that even I was for the
moment mistaken. We passed the Three Rill Cliff, and came again to the
first extensive fall of water. Here the stream, pouring over the edge of the
precipice, tumbles like gigantic folds of drapery. I have never seen anything
with which I can compare it. Here green, there convolute streams pour
down in heavier volumes, bearing behind in their flight a thousand comet-like
sparkles of spray. . . Here and there a deeper channel has been worn,
down which a larger body of water falls into the basin below, again to
rebound, boiling, to the surface, over which rose swift volumes of smoke from
the falling mass, puffed out like great discharges of musketry, and enveloping
the scene in an aerial misty shroud, through which the oblique rays of the sun

206 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

are seen in eyer-shifting perspective. But while watching intently to catch
every charm of these falls, it vanishes on the instant. The view is always
changing, yet ever recurring. Creep again to the uppermost pinnacle over
the outlet—a giddy height—and peer into the crack to the right and left;
here large, heavy, fleecy masses chase one another down like phantoms
chasing phantoms, and then dissolve into thin air before they are overtaken.
Wherever the large broad masses fall, the height does not seem so stupendous
as where the streams are smaller.”

At some points the spectator can look down into the chasm for a distance
of three hundred feet, but when a large body of water raises clouds of spray
the eye can penetrate only to about a third of that area. From the surface
of the water to the bottom of the rent, the distance must be very great,
considering the enormous quantity of water which flows into it. Before the
disruption of the earth which formed the crack, the whole of the Makololo
country and the valley of the river, as Dr. Livingstone pointed out, must
have been under water; and, from his observations and those of others, it is
evident that the falls are of recent formation, and may not date many
generations back.

Taking leave of Sekeletu and his followers, the party pushed northwards
through the Batoka country. This powerful and numerous tribe had been
conquered and decimated by Sebituane and the Matabele, until vast tracts of
fruitful hill and plain, in which the larger game abounded, werealmost devoid
of human life. The Batoka people are of a low type, and are of a cruel and
vindictive disposition, evil qualities, probably fostered by the wars they have
been forced to wage against more powerful tribes. They have a barbarous
habit of knocking out the front teeth in the upper jaw, which gives to their
faces a hideous expression. They explained that they did this in order to
look like oxen, and not like zebras, as they hold the latter animals in
detestation.

Speaking of the country he was now passing through in his letter to Sir
Roderick Murchison, Livingstone says :—

‘¢ The sources of the rivulets, which have all a mountain-torrent character,
as well as the temperature of the boiling water, showed that we were ascending
the eastern ridge. The first stream is named Lekone, and is perennial. It
runs in what may have been the ancient bed of the Zambesi, before the fissure
was made. I could examine it only by the light of the moon, but then it
seemed very like an ancient river channel. The Lekone runs contrary to the
direction in which the Zambesi did and does now flow, and joins the latter
five or six miles above Balai. If little or no alteration of level occurred when
the fissure was formed; then, the altitude of the former channel being only a
little higher than Linyanti, we have a confirmation of what is otherwise
clearly evident, that the Zambesi was collected into a vast lake, which included

A DEGRADED TRIBE. 207

not only Lake Ngami in its bosom, but spread westwards beyond Libele,
southwards and eastwards beyond Nehokotsa. Indeed, in many parts south
of Ngami, when an anteater makes a burrow, he digs up shells identical with
those of mollusca now living in the Zambesi. And all the surface indicated
is covered by a deposit of soft calcareous tufa, with which the fresh waters of
the valley seem to have formerly been loaded. The water in the Barotse
valley was probably discharged by the same means; for Gonye possesses a
fissure character, and so does another large cataract situated beyond Masiko
in the Kabompo country.

“Tt would be interesting to ascertain if these rents were suddenly made
and rémain in their original state, or whether they are at present progressive.
I had a strong desire to measure a point of that of Mosioatunya, but had
neither the means of accurate measurement, nor of marking the hard rock
afterwards. ‘They have proved drains on a gigantic scale; and if geologists
did not require such eternities of time for their operations, we might hazard
a hint about a salubrious millenium for Africa.

‘Shall we say that they are geologically recent, because there is not
more than 3 feet worn off the edge subjected to the wear of the water? and
that they are progressive, as the gradual desiccation of the Bechuana country
shows a slow elevation of the ridges? No one will probably think much of
the negative fact, that there is no trace of a tradition in the country of an
earthquake. The word is not in the language; and though events, centuries
old, are sometimes commemorated by means of names, I never met any ap-
proach toa Tom Earthquake or Sam Shake-the-ground among them. Yet
they do possess a tradition which is wonderfully like the building of the
Tower of Babel, ending differently, however, from that in the Bible, the
bold builders having got their heads cracked by the giving way of the
scaffolding. There is also the story of Solomon and the harlots; and all
trace back their origin to a time when their forefathers came out of a cave in
the north-east in company with animals. The cave is termed Loe (Noe ?), and
is exceptional in the language, from having masculine pronouns.”

In the valley of the Lekone, a considerable river which falls into the
Zambesi below the falls, they rested a day at the village of Moyara, whose
father had been a powerful chief, with many followers and large herds of
cattle and goats. His son lives among the ruins of his town, with five wives
and a handful of people, while the remains of his warlike and more powerful
father are buried in the middle of his hut, covered with a heap of rotting ivory.
Bleached skulls of Matebele, evidences of his power and cruelty, were stuck
on poles about the village. The degraded condition of the Batoka among the
more powerful tribes was exemplified by the fact that a number of them were
introduced into his party by Sekeletu to carry his tusks to the nearest Portu-
guese settlement.

208 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

The open plains and the short grass and firm ground made travelling a
luxury compared with their experiences in going to the west coast, and the
party marched on in the highest spirits. Fruit trees, yielding edible fruit,
were abundant; several of them were similar to those they had seen on the
coast near Loanda. Large regiments of black soldier ants were seen; they
are about half an inch in length, and march in close column headed by
leaders, which are considerably larger than the others. They prey upon the
white ants, which are stung by the leaders, the sting producing a state of coma,
during which they are carried away to be eaten by the marauders. When dis-
turbed in their march, they utter a distinct hissing or chirping sound. But for
the black ants, the white ants would increase to an alarming extent, and make
the country a desert by eating up everything vegetable. The white ants
perform several useful functions. The soil, after being manipulated by them
in forming their houses and nests, becomes exceedingly fertile, and they re-
move all decaying vegetation, just as the black ants do all putrid flesh and
excrement.

The Batoka, like the Makololo and other inland tribes, smoke the
mutokwane, a species of hemp, which produces a kind of intoxication, which
sometimes leads to a fit of mad frenzy. So strongly are they addicted to this
practice, that even Sekeletu and his head men could not be persuaded by
Livingstone to abandon it.

Buffaloes, antelopes, elephants, zebras, and lions and other felines
abounded in the district crossed by them during the early part of their jour-
ney. In consequence of being little disturbed, the larger game were very
tame. Livingstone shot a bull baffalo among a herd. When wounded, the
others endeavoured to gore it to death. This herd was led by a female; and
he remarks that this is often the case with the larger game, as the leader is
not followed on account of its strength, but its wariness, and its faculty of
discerning danger. The cow buffalo-leader, when she passed the party at
the head of the herd, had a number of bnffalo birds seated upon her withers.
By following the honey-birds, his attendants procured abundance of honey,
which formed an agreeable addition to their meals.

The ruins of many towns were passed, proving the density of the popu-
lation before the invasion of the country by Sebituane, and his being driven
out of it by the Matabele and other rival tribes. At the river Dila they saw
the spot where Sebituane had lived. The Makololo had never ceased to
regret their enforced departure from this healthy, beautiful, and fertile region;
and Sekwebu had been instructed by Sekeletu to point out to Livingstone its
advantages as a position for their future head quarters. Beyond the Dila
they reached a tribe hostile to the Makololo, but, although they assumed a
threatening attitude, the party, owing to Livingstone’s courage and firmness,
passed through unharmed, Save on this occasion, the Batoka were most

STRANGE MODE OF SALUTATION. 209

friendly, great numbers of them coming from a distance with presents of
maize and fruit, and expressing their great joy at the first appearance of a
white man amongst them. The women clothe themselves much as the Ma-
kololo women do, but the men go about 7 puris naturalibis, and appeared to
be quite insensible to shame. The country got more populous the farther
east they advanced, but the curiosity and kindness of the people fell off as
they proceeded. Food was abundant; the masuka tree was plentiful, and its
fruit was so thickly strewn about the ground that his men gathered and ate it
as they marched. Everywhere among these unsophisticated sons of nature,
who had all they wished for in their genial climate—plentiful herds, and
abundant crops of maize and fruit—the cry was for peace. Before the advent
of Sebituane the country had been swept by a powerful chief named Pingola,
who made war from a mere love of conquest; and the memory of their suf-
ferings had entered deeply into their hearts. A sister of Monze, the head
chief of the tribes in the district they were now traversing, in expressing
her joy at the prospect of being at peace, said ‘‘It would be so pleasant to
sleep without dreaming of any one pursuing them with a spear,”

Monze visited the party wrapped in a large cloth, and rolled in the dust,
slapping the outside of his thighs with his hands—a species of salutation
Livingstone had a strong repugnance to, especially when performed by naked
men; but no expression of his feelings tended to put a stop to it. Monze
gave them a goat and a fowl, and a piece of the flesh of a buffalo which had
been killed by him, and was greatly pleased with a present of some handker-
chieis; the head men of the neighbouring villages also visited them, each
of them provided with presents of maize, ground nuts, and corn. Some of
these villagers had the hair of their heads all gathered in a mass, and woven
into a cone, from four to eight inches in width at the base, ending in a point
more or less prolonged.

Livingstone’s own sketch of the country, and the mode of travel, etc., in
one of his letters, merits a place here :—

“Still ascending the western side of the ridge (to the north of the
Zambesi), we cross another rivulet named Unguesi, which flows in the
same direction as Lekone, and joins the Zambesi above the point where
the rapids begin. The next tributary, called Kalomo, never dries; and
being on the top of the ridge, runs south, or south and by east, fall-
ing into the Zambesi below the falls. Lastly, we crossed the Mozuma,
or Dela, flowing eastwards. We continued the eastern descent till we
came to the Bashukulompo River, where it may be said to terminate, for
we had again reached the altitude of Linyanti. We intended to have struck
the Zambesi exactly at the confluence, but we were drawn aside by a wish
to visit Semalembue, who is an influential chief in that quarter. The
Bashukulompo River is here called Kehowhe, and further down it is named

ol

210 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Kafue. Passing through some ranges of hills, among which the Kafue winds,
we came to the Zambesi, a little beyond the confluence. It is here much
broader than that part of it called Leeambye, but possesses the same character
of reedy islands, sandbanks, and wonderful abundance of animal life. It was
much discoloured by recent rains; but as we came down along the left bank,
it fell more than two feet before we had gone thirty miles. It is never dis-
coloured above Mosioatunya. Hence I conclude the increase or flood was
comparatively local, and effected by numerous small feeders on both banks
east of the ridge. When we ascended the Zambesi, towards Kabompo, in
January, 1854, the annual flood which causes inundation had begun, and with
the exception of sand, which was immediately deposited at the bottom of the
vessel, there was no discolouration. Ranges of hills stand on both banks as
far as we have yet seen it. The usual mode of travelling is by canoe, so there
~ are generally no paths, and nothing can exceed the tedium of winding along
through tangled jungle without something of the sort. We cannot make more
than two miles an hour; our oxen are all dead of tsetse, except two, and the only
riding ox is so weak from the same cause as to be useless. Yet we are more
healthy than in the journey to Loanda. The banks feel hot and steamy both
night and day, but I have had no attack of fever through the whole journey.
I attribute this partly to not having been ‘too old to learn,’ and partly to
having had wheaten bread all the way from the waggon at Linyanti. In
going north we braved the rains, unless they were continuous ; and the lower
half of the body was wetted two or three times every day by crossing streams.
But now, when rain approaches, we halt, light large fires, and each gets up a
little grass shed over him. Tropical rains run through everything, but, though
wetted, comparatively little caloric is lost now to what would be the case
if a stream of water ran for an hour along the body. After being warmed by
the fire, all go on comfortably again, and the party has been remarkably
healthy. In the other journey, too, wishing to avoid overloading the men,
and thereby making them lose heart, I depended chiefly on native food, which
is almost pure starch, and the complete change of diet must have made me
more susceptible of fever. But now, by an extemporaneous oven, formed by
inverting a pot over hot coals, and making a fire above it, with fresh bread
and coffee in Arab fashion, I get on most comfortably. There is no tiring of
it. I mention this because it may prove a useful hint to travellers who may
think they will gain by braving hunger and wet. ¥

‘“‘From the longitudes, I estimate the distance from top to top of the
ridges to be about 600 geographical miles. I purposely refrain from mention-
ing any of my own calculations of lunar observations, because it would
appear so presumptuous to allow them to appear on the same page with those
of Mr. Maclear, who, moreover, undertakes the labour with such hearty
good-will, that I fear the appearance even of undervaluing his disinterested aid.

ROCKY FORMATION OF THE COUNTRY. 211

“The eastern ridge seems to bend in to the west at the part we have
crossed, and then trends away to the north-east, thereby approaching the east
coast. It is fringed on some parts by ranges of hills, but my observations
seem to show they are not of greater altitude than the flats of Linyanti. I
cannot hear of a hill on either ridge, hence the agricultural phrase I employ.
And if the space between the ridges is generally not broader than 600 miles,
instead of calling the continent basin-shaped, it may be proper to say that it
has a furrow in the middle, with an elevated ridge on each side, each about
150 or 200 miles broad, the land sloping on both sides thence to the sea.

‘*T have referred to the clay-shale, or ‘keel’ formation, of which I gota
glance in the western ridge. In the eastern we have a number of igneous
rocks, with gneiss and mica-slate, all dipping westwards; then large rounded
masses of granite, which appear to change the dip to the eastward. I bring
specimens of both classes of rocks along with me. Is this granite the cause
of elevation?

J shall refer to but one topic more. The ridges are both known to be
comparatively salubrious, closely resembling in this respect that most healthy
of healthy climates, the interior of Southern Africa, adjacent to the desert.
The grass is short; one can walk on it without that high, fatiguing lift of the
foot necessary among the long tangled herbage of the valley. We saw
neither fountain nor marsh on it; and, singularly enough, we noticed many of
the plants and trees which we had observed on the slopes of the western ridge.

“Tf my opinion were of any weight, I would fain recommend all visitors
to the interior of Africa, whether for the advancement of scientific knowledge,
or for the purposes of trade or benevolence, to endeavour to ascertain whether
the elevated salubrious ridges mentioned are not prolonged farther north than my
inquiries extend, and whether sanatoria (health stations) may not be established
on them. At present I have the prospect of water-carriage up to the bottom of
the eastern ridge. If a quick passage can be effected thither during a healthy
part of the season, there is, I presume, a prospect of residence in localities
superior to those on the coast. Did the Niger expedition turn back when
near such a desirable position for its stricken and prostrate members ?

‘1 have said that the hills which fringe the ridge on the east are not of
great altitude. They are all lower than the crest of the ridges, and bear
evident marks of having been subjected to denudation on a grand scale.
Many of the ranges show on their sides, in a magnified way, the exact
counterparts of mud-banks left by the tides. A coarse sandstone rock which
contains banks of shingle and pebbles, but no fossils, often exhibits circular
holes, identical with those made by round stones in rapids and water-falls.
They are from 3 to 4 feet broad at the brim; wider internally, and 6 or 8 feet
deep. Some are convenient wells, others are filled with earth; but there is
no agency now in operation in the heights in which they appear which could

212 LIFH OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

have formed them. Close to the confluence of the Kafue there is a forest of
silicified trees, many of which are five feet in diameter; and all along the
Zambesi to this place, where the rock appears, fragments of silicified wood
abound. I got a piece of palm, the pores filled with silica, and the woody
parts with oxide of iron. I imagined it was one of the old bottom rocks,
because I never could see a fossil in it in the valley; but at and about Tete I
found it overlying beds of coal!”

As buffaloes and elephants were plentiful, one was now and again shot, so
that the party seldom wanted flesh meat. A party of his men on one occasion
slaughtered a female elephant and her calf with their spears, native fashion.
The mother had much the appearance of a huge porcupine, from the number
of spears sticking into her flesh when she fell exhausted by the loss of
blood. This was a needlessly cruel method of recruiting their stores of food,
and Livingstone did not encourage it; although he found shooting the larger
game for food both trying and hazardous, as he could make little use of
the arm which had been fractured by the lion when among the Bakwains.
His skill was very much impaired, and was provokingly enough at its lowest
ebb when meat was most wanted.

‘“‘T never before saw,” he says in one of his letters, ‘‘ elephants so nume-
rous or so tame as at the confluence of the Kafue and Zambesi. Buffaloes,
zebras, pigs, and hippopotami, were equally so, and it seemed as if we had
got back to the time when megatheriz roamed about undisturbed by man.
We had to shout to them to get out of the way, and then their second thoughts
were—‘ It’s a trick.’ ‘We’re surrounded’—and back they came, tearing
through our long-extended line. Lions and hyzenas are so numerous that all
the huts in the gardens are built on trees, and the people never go half a mile
into the woods alone.”

They had now got into a district where rains were frequent, and so much
had they been spoiled by the beautiful dry weather and fine open country
they had passed through, that at first, as he has told us above, they invariably
stopped and took shelter when it fell.

It was on the 18th December they reached the Kafue, the largest tributary
of the Zambesi they had yet seen. It was about two hundred yards broad, and
full of hippopotami. Here they reached the village of Semalembue, who made
them a present of thirty baskets of meal and maize, and a large quantity of
ground nuts. On Dr. Livingstone explaining that he had little to give in re-
turn for the chief’s handsome gift, he accepted his apologies politely, saying
that he knew there were no goods in the country from which he had come. He
professed great joy at the words of peace which Livingstone addressed to him,
and said, “‘ Now I shall cultivate largely, in the hope of eating and sleeping
in peace.” The preaching of the gospel amongst these people gave them the
idea of living at peace with one another as one of its effects. It was not

WHITH MAN’S MEAL. 213

necessary to explain to them the existence of a Deity. Sekwebu pointed out
a district, two and a half days’ distance, where there is a hot fountain which
emits steam, where Sebituane had at one time dwelt. ‘ There,” said he,
‘had Sebituane been alive, he would have brought you to live with him.
You would be on the bank of the river, and by taking canoes, you would at
once sail down to the Zambesi, and visit the white people at the sea.”

The country they were now in was diversified by low hills, and every
available piece of ground in the valleys in the neighbourhood of the villages
was careiully tilled. The gardens near the river are surrounded by pitfalls,
to prevent the inroads of the hippopotami, which are very numerous and
quite tame, showing no fear when any of the party approached them. As
they required meat, they shot a cow hippopotamus, and found the flesh tasted
very much like pork. The range of hills amongst which they now were, rose
from six to nine hundred feet above the level of the river, and these were but
the outer and lower fringe of a higher range beyond. From the top of the
outer range of hills, they had a splendid view of the surrounding country.
The course of the Katue, through hills and forests, could be followed towards
its confluence with the Zambesi, and beyond that lay a long range of dark
hills, and above the course of the Zambesi floated a line of fleecy clouds.
Elephants, zebras, and buffaloes were met with in vast herds, which showed
no dread at their approach. They also saw large numbers of red-coloured
wild pigs.

As they approached the Zambesi, the ground became more and more
thickly covered with broad-leaved brush-wood, and water-fowl rose out of the
pools and streams and flew overhead in large numbers. On again reaching
the river, they found it greatly increased in volume, and flowing at the rate
of four and a half miles an hour. When Sekwebu was a boy, this region was
thickly inhabited, and all the natives had plenty of cattle. The return to it
of the larger game, after the depopulation of the country, had introduced the
dreaded insect, ‘‘ tsetse,” which rapidly destroyed the cattle.

Every village they passed furnished two guides, who conducted them by
the easiest paths to the next. Along the course of the Zambesi, in this
district, the people are great agriculturists—men, women, and children were
all very busily at work in their gardens. The men are strong and robust,
with hands hardened by toil. The women disfigure themselves by piercing
the upper lip, and inserting a shell. This fashion universally prevails among
the Maran, which is the name of the people. The head men of the villages
presented the party freely with food, and one of them gave Livingstone a
basinful of rice, the first he had seen for a long time. He said he knew it
was white man’s meal, and refused to sell a quantity unless for a man.
Strange that his first introduction to one of the products of civilisation in this,
to him, new region, should be simultaneous with the appearance of a hateful

214 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

commerce, fostered by a race holding themselves so much superior to the
savage tribes of the interior through which they had passed, who held it in
abhorrence.

Previous to Livingstone’s arrival in this part of the country, Sinatomba,
an Italian slave-dealer, who had married the daughter of a neighbouring
chief, had ascended the river in canoes with fifty armed slaves, and carried off
a large number of people and a quantity of ivory from several inhabited
islands. At the instigation of his father-in-law, several chiefs assembled their
followers and attacked him as he descended the river, defeating and slaying
him and liberating his prisoners. Selole, a great chief, hearing of the
approach of a white man with a large following, imagining that this was
another Italian slave-trader, or Sinatomba himself risen from the dead, made
great preparations for attacking the party. A timely explanation of the
object of their journey put matters to rights at once. At Mburumba’s village
his brother came to meet them, and in explanation of the delay caused by the
threatened attack, told them that the Italian had come among them, talking
of peace as they did, and had kidnapped slaves and bought ivory with them,
and that they were supposed to be of the same calling. As they had been
unsuccessful in hunting the day before, an elephant having got clear off with
from seventy to eighty spears fixed in his flesh in addition to the last dozen
of Livingstone’s bullets, he said, ‘‘ The man at whose village you remained
was in fault in allowing you to want meat; for had he only run across to
Mburumba, he would have given him a little meal, and, having sprinkled
that on the ground as an offering to the gods, you would have found your
elephant.” Among these tribes, the chiefs are all supposed to possess
supernatural power.

Mburumba did not visit the party himself, and, although he sent presents
of meal, maize, and native corn, the conduct of his people was very suspicious,
as they never came near them unless in large numbers, and fully armed with
bows and spears. The party were suspicious of the intentions of the guides
sent by Mburumba to take them to his mother’s village; but they reached
their destination in safety, and were hospitably treated by Ma-Mburumba,
who furnished them with guides, who conveyed them to the junction of the
Loangwa and the Zambesi. As the natives assembled in great force at the
place where they were to cross the Loangwa, they were still in dread of being
attacked ; but whatever were their reasons for this formidable demonstration,
they allowed the party to pass safely to the other side.

Beyond the river they came upon the ruins of stone houses, which were
simply constructed, but beautifully situated on the hill-sides commanding a
view of the river. These had been the residences of Portuguese traders in
ivory and slaves when Zumbo, which they were now approaching, had been
a place of considerable importance as a Portuguese trade settlement. Passing

THE MAKALOLO PREPARE TO FIGHT. 215

Zumbo, they slept opposite the island of Shotanaga in the Zambesi, and were
surprised by a visit from a native with a hat and jacket on, from the island.
He was quite black, and had come from the Portuguese settlement of Tete,
which they now learned to their chagrin was on the other side of the stream.
This was all the more awkward, as he informed them that the people of the
settlement had been fighting with the natives for two years. Mpende, a
powerful chief, who lived farther down the river, had determined that no
white man should pass him. All this made them anxious to cross to the other
bank of the river; but none of the chiefs whose villages lay between their
present position and Mpende’s town, although in every other way most
friendly, dared to ferry them across, in dread of offending that powerful chief.

All but unarmed as they were, and dependent upon the kindness of the
people through whose country they were passing, their progress being retarded
by the feebleness of their tsetse-bitten oxen, there was no help for it but to
proceed and trust to Providence for the reception they might receive from the
dreaded chief who was at war with the Portuguese in their front. Trusting
in the purity of his motives, and that dauntless courage, tempered with discre-
tion, which had never deserted him, Livingstone passed on, the fear of what
awaited him in front not preventing him from admiring the beauty of the
country and its capability under better circumstances of maintaining a vast
population in peace and plenty. Nearing Mpende’s village, where a conical
hill, higher than any he had yet seen, and the wooded heights and green
fertile valleys commanded his admiration, he all but forgot the danger of his
situation, until forcibly reminded of it by the arrival of a formidable number
of Mpende’s people at his encampment, uttering strange cries, waving some
red substance towards them, and lighting a fire on which they placed chains—
a token of war—aiter which they departed to some distance, where armed
men had been collecting ever since daybreak.

Fearing a skirmish, Livingstone slaughtered an ox, according to the
custom of Sebituane, with the view of raising the courage of his men by a
plentiful meal. Although only half-armed, in rags, and suffering from their
march, yet inured as they were to fatigue, and feeling a confidence in their
superiority over the Zambesi men, notwithstanding all drawbacks in comfort
and circumstances, Livingstone had little fear of the result if fight he must;
but in accordance with his constant policy, he was bound to accomplish
his object in peace, if that were possible. His men were elated at the
prospect of a fight, and looked forward to victory as certain, and the posses-
sion of corn and clothes in plenty, and of captives to carry their tusks and
baggage for them. As they waited and ate the meat by their camp-fire, they
said, ‘‘ You haye seen us with elephants, but you don’t know yet what we can
do with men.”

By the time breakfast was dispatched, Mpende’s whole tribe was asembled

216 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

at about half a mile distance from their encampment; spies, who refused to
answer any questions, advanced from among the trees which hid the position
of the main body came up to the encampment of the party. To two of these
Livingstone handed the leg of an ox, desiring them to carry it to Mpende.
This brought a visit from two old men, who asked Livingstone who he was,
“‘T am a Lekoa” (Englishman), he replied. ‘‘ We don’t know the tribe,” they
said ; ‘‘ we suppose you are Mozunga (Portuguese), with whom we have been
fighting.” As the Portuguese they knew were half-castes, Livingstone bared
his bosom and asked if they had hair and skin like his. “No,” they replied,
“we never saw skin so white as that. Ah! you must be one of that tribe
that loves the black man.”

Through the intercession of one of these men, Sindese Oalea, the head
man of a neighbouring village, Mpende, after a long discussion with his coun-
cillors, was induced to believe Livingstone’s account of himself and his inten-
tions, and to treat him and his party with great generosity and kindness.
Skewebu was sent to the chief with a request that he might be permitted
to buy a canoe to convey one of his men who was ill. Mpende said, ‘“ That
white man is truly one of our friends. See how he lets me know his afflic-
tions.” ‘ Ah!” said Sekwebu, ‘‘if you only knew him as well as we do who
have lived with him, you would understand that he highly values your friend-
ship, and that of Mburuma, and as he is a stranger, he trusts in you to. direct
him.” He replied, ‘“‘ Well, he ought to cross to the other side of the river,
for this bank is hilly and rough, and the way to Tete is longer on this than
on the opposite bank.” ‘ But who will take us across if you do not?”
“Truly,” replied Mpende, ‘‘I only wish you had come sooner to tell me
about him ; but you shall cross.” And cross they did, leaving the place in
very different spirits from those with which they had approached it.

The people here and lower down the river he found well-supplied with
cotton goods, which they purchased from the Babisa, a tribe farther to the
east, who had been doing all the trade with the interior during the two years
the war with the Portuguese had lasted. Beyond the range of hills to the
north lived a tribe called Basenga, who are great traders in iron ore; and
beyond them again, in a country where the Portuguese had at one time
washed for gold, lived a people called Marayi, who are skilful agriculturists,
raising in addition to corn and maize, sweet potatoes, which grow to a great
size in the fertile soil of the district, and which they have learned to preserve
for future use by burying them in the ground, embedded in wood ashes. The
ground on the north side of the river appeared to be much more fertile than
that in the south. In many places he found evidence that coal was
abundant.

A little way down the river they arrived opposite an island belonging to
a chief called Mozinkwa; here they were detained by heavy rains, and the

SAND RIVERS. 217

illnesss of one of the Batoka men, who died. He had required to be carried
by his fellows for several days, and when his case became hopeless they wanted
to leave him alone to die; but to such an inhuman proposal Livingstone could
not of course give his consent. Here one of the Batoka men deserted openly
to Mozinkwa, stating as his reason, that the Makololo had killed both his
father and his mother, and that he would not remain any longer with them.

Towards the end of January they were again on their way; and early
in February, as his men were almost in a state of nudity, Livingstone gave
two tusks for some calico, marked Lawrence Mills, Lowell, U.S. The clayey
soil and the sand-filled rivulets made their progress slow and difficult. The
sand rivers are water-courses in sandy bottoms, which are full during the
rainy seasons and dry at other times, although on digging a few feet into the
bed of the stream, water is found percolating on a stratum of clay. “‘ This,”
Livingstone says, ‘“‘is the phenomenon which is dignified by the name of
rivers flowing underground.” In trying to ford one of these sand rivers—the
Zingesi—in flood, he says, ‘‘I felt thousands of particles of coarse sand
striking my legs, and the slight disturbance of our footsteps caused deep
holes to be made in the bed. The water . . . dug out the sand beneath
the feet in a second or two, and we were all sinking by that means so deep
that we were glad to relinquish the attempt to ford it before we got half way
over; the oxen were carried away down to the Zambesi. These sand rivers
remoye vast masses of disintegrated rock before it is fine enough to form soil.
The man who preceded me was only thigh deep, but the disturbance caused
by his feet made it breast deep for me. The stream of particles of gravel
which struck against my legs gave me the idea that the amount of matter
remoyed by every freshet must be very great. In most rivers where much
wearing is going on a person diving to the bottom may hear literally
thousands of stones knocking against each other. This attrition, being carried
on for hundreds of miles in different rivers, must have an effect greater than
if all the pestles and mortar mills of the world were grinding and wearing
away the rocks.”

The party were now in a district where a species of game-law exists. If
an elephant is killed by a stranger, or a man from a neighbouring village
living under another chief, the under half of the carcase belongs to the lord of
the soil, nor must the hunter commence to cut it up until the chief claiming
the half, or one of his headmen, is present. The hind leg of a buffalo, and a
large piece of an elephant must be given in like circumstances to the occupier
of the land on which they were grazing when shot. The number of rivulets
and rivers enable them to mark out their terrritory with great exactness. In
this district the huts are built on high stages in the gardens, as a protection
from the attacks of lions, hyenas and leopards.

Betore leaving the land of a chief named Nyampungo, who had enter:

Di

218 ‘LIFE OF DAVID LI VINGSTONE, LL.D.

tained them hospitably, Livingstone’s men killed a bull elephant, and had to
wait a day until some of the chief’s people came to superintend the cutting
up and secure his half of the animal. Nyampungo’s men brought with them
a basket of corn, a fowl, and a few strings of handsome beads as a thank-
offering for his having killed the elephant. While they were cutting up and
cooking the carcase, a large number of hyenas collected round them at a
respectful distance, ‘and kept up a loud laughter for two nights. I asked
my men what the hyenas were laughing at, as they usually give animals
credit for a share of intelligence; they said that they were laughing because
we could not take the whole, and that they would have plenty to eat as well
as us.”

Speaking of the birds of Central Africa, he says, ‘‘ These African birds
have not been wanting in song, they have only lacked poets to sing their
praise, which ours have had from the time of Aristophanes downwards. Ours
have both a classic and a modern interest to enhance their fame. In hot dry
weather, or at mid-day, when the sun is fierce, all are still; let, however, a
good shower fall, and all burst forth at once into merry lays and loving court-
ship. The early mornings and the cool evenings are the times for singing.”

In the Mopane country they met with numbers of a red-beaked variety
of hornbill, which builds its nest in an aperture in a tree. When the nest is
built the female retires into it, while the male covers the orifice with clay, all
save a narrow slit for the introduction of air and for feeding her, which the
devoted bird does until the eggs are hatched. As the female is very fat at
such times, the natives search for their nests, and capture and eat them.
Lions were abundant, and were treated as privileged animals by the natives,
no one attempting to hunt them, as it is supposed that when a chief dies, he
can metamorphose himself into a lion.

At the village of a chief called Monina, Monahin, one of Livingstone’s
men disappeared during the night. As he had been ill for some time and
had complained of his head, Livingstone imagined that he had wandered in
an insane state, and been picked up by a lion. They prowled about the
native settlements at night with great boldness, making it dangerous for any
one to be about after dark. He had proved very valuable to Livingstone,
and he felt his loss greatly. The general name of the people of this district is
Banyai; they are ruled over by several chiefs, the government being a sort of
feudal republican. The people of a tribe, on the death of their chief, have the
privilege of electing any one, even from another tribe, to be his successor, if they
are not satisfied with any of the members of his family. The sons of the
chiefs are not eligible for election among the Banyai. The various chiefs of
the Banyai acknowledge allegiance to a head chief. At the time of Living-
stone’s visit, this supreme position was held by a chief called Nyatewe. This
custom appears to prevail in South and Central Africa; and if the chief

NEWS FROM HOME. 219

who wields supreme power is a wise and prudent ruler, the result is highly
beneficial.

Among the Banyai the women are treated with great respect, the
husband doing nothing that his wife disapproves. Notwithstanding this, a
barbarous custom prevails amongst them if a husband suspects his wife of
witcheraft or infidelity. A witch-doctor is called, who prepares the infusion
of a plant named goho, which the suspected party drinks, holding up her hand
to heaven in attestation of her innocence. If the infusion causes vomiting,
she is declared innocent; but if it causes purging, she is held to be guilty,
and burned to death. In many cases the drinking of the infusion
causes death. This custom prevails, with modifications, amongst most of
the tribes of Central Africa, and is found as far west as Ambaca. When
a Banyai marries, so many head of cattle or goats are given to the
parents ; and unless the wife is bought in this way, the husband must enter
the household of his father-m law and do menial offices, the wife and her
family having exclusive control of the children. The Banyai men are a fine
race; but the superior courage and skill Livingstone’s men displayed in
hunting, won the hearts of the women; but none of them would be tempted
into matrimony, where it involved subjection to their wives.

Several of the chiefs through whose villages they passed occasioned some
trouble by disbelieving the statement of Livingstone, that he was unable
to make presents. A powerful chief, Nyakoba, who sympathised with their
condition, gave them a basket of maize, and another of corn, and provided
them with guides to Tete, advising them to shun the villages so as to avoid
trouble. This they succeeded in doing till within a few miles of Tete, where
they were discovered by a party of natives, who threatened to inform
Katolosa, the head chief of the district, that they were passing through the
country without leave. A present of two tusks satisfied them, and they were
allowed to depart.

Within eight miles of Tete, Livingstone was so fatigued as to be unable
to go on, but sent some of his men with his letters of recommendation to the
commandant. About two o’clock on the morning of the 3rd of March, the
encampment was aroused by the arrival of two officers and a company -of
soldiers sent with a supply of provisions for the party by the commandant.
As Livingstone and his men had been compelled for several days to live on
roots and honey, their arrival was most timely. He says, ‘“‘It was the most
refreshing breakfast I ever partook of, and I walked the last eight miles with-
out the least feeling of weariness, although the path was so rough that one of
the officers remarked to me, ‘ This is enough to tear a man’s life out of him.’
The pleasure experienced in partaking of that breakfast was only equalled by
the enjoyment of Mr. Gabriel’s bed when I arrived at Loanda. It was also
enhanced by the news that Sebastopol had fallen, and the war was finished.”

220 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

Major Sicard, the Portuguese commandant at Tete, treated Livingstone
and his men with the greatest generosity. He clothed himself and his men,
and provided them with food and lodgings, declining to receive several tusks
which were offered in compensation. As the most of his men were to be left
here, Major Sicard gave them a portion of land on which to cultivate their
own food, and permission to hunt elephants—the money they made from the
tusks and dried meat to be used for the purchase of articles to take to Sekeletu
on their return.

Had Livingstone set out on his journey several months earlier he would
have arrived in the neighbourhood of Tete during the war between the natives
and the Portuguese, when he would have had little chance of escaping with
his life. His arrival was not unexpected at Tete, as through Lord Clarendon
and the Portuguese minister, Count de Layradio, the Portuguese authorities
on the Zambesi were warned of his expected appearance. A short time
previous to his arrival, some natives came down the river to Tete and said,
alluding to the sextant and artificial horizon, ‘ that the Son of God had come ;”
and that he was “able to take the sun down from the heavens and place it
under his arm.” Major Sicard then felt sure that this was the man mentioned
in Lord Clarendon’s despatch.

CHAPTER XI.

Stay at Tete—Senna.—Arrival at Kilimane.—Letters to Sir Roderick Murchison
Concerning the People of South and Central Africa, their Language, etc.,
ete.—Departure for England.

S Livingstone was in a very emaciated state, and fever was raging at Kili-
mane, the point on the coast to which he was bound, he was induced to
remain at Tete for a month, during which time he occupied himself by mak-
ing several journeys in the neighbourhood, visiting a coal-field, etc., etc.
The village of Tete he found to consist of a large number of wattle-and-daub
native huts with about thirty European houses built of stone. The place had
declined greatly in importance through the introduction of the slave trade.
In former times considerable quantities of wheat, maize, millet, coffee, sugar,
oil, indigo, gold dust, and ivory were exported, and as labour was both abun-
dant and cheap the trade was profitable. Livingstone says, ‘‘ When the slave
trade began, it seemed to many of the merchants a more speedy mode of
becoming rich to sell off the slaves, than to pursue the slow mode of gold-
washing and agriculture; and they continued to export them until they had
neither hands to labour nor to fight for them. . . . The coffee and sugar
plantations and gold-washings were abandoned, because the labour had been
exported to the Brazils.” The neighbouring chiefs were not slow to take
advantage of the impoverished state of the Portuguese and _ half-caste
merchants of Tete. ‘A clever man of Asiatic and Portuguese extraction,
called Nyaude, had built a stockade at the confluence of the Luenya and
Zambesi; and when the commandant of Tete sent an officer with his company
to summon him to his presence,” they were surrounded and bound hand and
foot. The commandant “then armed the whole body of slaves and marched
against the stockade of Nyaude,” but before they reached it, Nyaude despatch-
ed a strong party under his son Bonga, who attacked Tete, plundered and
burned the whole town, with the exception of the house of the commandant
and a few others, and the church and fort. ‘The women and children having
taken refuge in the church were safe, as the natives of this region will never
attack a church. The news of this disaster caused a panic among the party
before the stockade of Nyaude, and they fled in confusion, to be slain or
made captives by Katolosa the head chief of the district to the west of Tete.
Another half-caste chief, called Kisaka, on the opposite bank of the river,
near where the merchants of Tete had their villages and principal plantations,

222, LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

also rebelled, and completed the defeat and impoverishment of the Portu-
guese. ‘An attempt was made to punish this rebel, but it was unsuccessful,
and he has lately been pardoned by the home government. One point in the
narrative is interesting. They came toa field of sugar-cane so large that
4,000 men eating it during two days did not finish the whole. Nyaude kept
the Portuguese shut up in their fort for two years, and as he held the com-
mand of the river, they could only get goods sufficient to buy food by sending
to Kilimane by an overland route along the north bank of the Zambesi.”
The memory of one man’s sufferings in this affair evoked the following from
Livingstone—“ The mother country did not, in these ‘ Kaffre wars,’ pay the
bills, so no one became rich or blamed the missionaries. Major Sicard from
his good character had great influence with the natives, and put a stop to the
war more than once by his mere presence on the spot. We heard of him
among the Banyai as a man with whom they would never fight, because he
had a good heart.” No doubt the influence of this good and generous man
helped Livingstone and his party in their march through the districts which
had so recently been disturbed.

In consequence of a sudden change of temperature, Major Sicard and
Livingstone and nearly every person in the house suffered from an attack of
fever; Livingstone soon recovered, and was unremitting in his attention to
the others. His stock of quinine becoming exhausted, his attention was
drawn by the Portuguese to a tree called by the natives kumbanzo, the bark
of which is an admirable substitute. He says, ‘there was little of it to be
found at Tete—while forests of it are at Senna, and near the delta of Kili-
mane. It seems quite a providential arrangement, that the remedy for fever
should be found in the greatest abundance where it is most needed. . . . The
thick soft bark of the root is the part used by the natives; the Portuguese use
that of the tree itself. I immediately began to use a decoction of the bark of
the root, and my men found it so efficacious that they collected small quan-
tities of it for themselves, and kept it in little bags for future use.”

On the 22nd of April Livingstone started on his voyage down the river
to Killimane, having selected sixteen men from among his party who could
manage canoes. Many more wished to accompany him, but as there was a
famine at Kilimane in consequence of a failure of the crops, during which
thousands of slaves were dying of hunger, he could take no more than was
absolutely necessary. The commandant sent Lieutenant Miranda with
Livingstone to convey him to the coast. At Senna, where they stopped, they
found a more complete ruin and prostration than at Tete. For fifteen miles
from the head of the delta of the Zambesi, the Mutu, which is the head
waters of the Kilimane river, and was then erroneously supposed to be the
only outlet to the Zambesi, was not navigable, and the party had to walk
under the hot sun. This together with the fatigue brought ona severe attack

PROVISION MADE FOR THE MAKOLOLO. 223

of fever, from which Livingstone suffered greatly. At Interra, where the
Pangaze, a considerable river, falls into the Muto, navigation became prac-
ticable. The party were hospitably entertained by Senhor Asevedo, “a man
who is well known by all who ever visited Kilimane and who was presented
with a gold chronometer watch by the Admiralty for his attentions to English
officers.” He gave the party the use of his sailing launch for the remainder
of the journey, which came to its conclusion at Kilimane, on the 20th of May,
1856, ‘‘ which wanted (Livingstone says) only a few days of being four years
since I started from Cape Town.” At Kilimane, Colonel Galdino Jose Nunes re-
ceived him into his house, and treated him with marked hospitality. For
three years he had never heard from his family direct, as none of the letters
sent had reached him; he had now the gatification of receiving a letter from
Admiral Trotter, ‘‘ conveying information of their welfare, and some news-
papers, which were a treat indeed. Her Majesty’s brig, the Frolic, had called
to inquire for me in the November previous, and Captain Nolloth of that ship
had most considerately left a case of wine, and his surgeon, Dr. James Walsh,
divining what I should need most, left an ounce of quinine. These gifts
made my heart overflow. . . . But my joy on reaching the coast was
sadly embittered by the news that Commander McLune, of Her Majesty’s
brigantine Dart, in coming into Kilimane to pick me up had, with Lieut.
Woodruffe and five men, been lost on the bar. I never felt more poignant
sorrow. It seemed as if it would have been easier for me to have died for
them, than that they should all have been cut off from the joys of life in gener-
ously attempting to render me a service.” In speaking of the many kind
attentions he received while at Kilimane, he says—‘“‘ One of the discoveries I
have made is that there are vast. numbers of good people in the world; and I
do most devoutly tender my unfeigned thanks to that gracious One who
mercifully watched over me in every position, and influenced the hearts of
both black and white to regard me with favour.”

Ten of the smaller tusks belonging to Sekeletu were sold to purchase
calico and brass wire for the use of his attendants at Tete, the remaining
tweuty being left with Colonel Nunes, with orders to sell them and give the
proceeds to them in the event of his death or failure to return to Africa.
Livingstone explained all this to the Makololo, who had accompanied him to
Kilimane, when they answered, “‘ Nay, father, you will not die; you will return
to take us back to Sekeletu.” Their mutual confidence was perfect; they
promised to remain at Tete until he returned to them, and he assured them
that nothing but death would prevent his rejoining them. The kindness and
generosity of the Portuguese merchants and officers have already been
alluded to; a continuance of the same was promised to his men during his
absence, and it was understood that the young King of Portugal, Don Pedro,
as soon as he heard of their being in his territory, sent orders that they

224 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

should be maintained at the public expense of the province and Mozambique,
until Livingstone should return to claim them.

The following remarks on the influence of locality on the character of
peoples, as exemplified by the African tribes he had come in contact with,
their language, habits, etc., are extracted from Dr. Livingstone’s letters to
Sir Roderick Murchison :—

“Perhaps nowhere else do hills seem to exert a more powerful and well-
marked influence on national character than they do in Africa. Every one is
aware of the brave resistance offered by the Kaffre mountaineers to the British sol-
diers, than whom I believe there are none more brave beneath the sun. And the
whole of the hill tribes, with but few exceptions, possess a similarity of character.
They extend chiefly along the eastern side of the continent. Those among
whom I have lately travelled have been fighting with the Portuguese for the
last two years, and have actually kept the good men of Tete shut up in their
fort during most of that time. They are a strong, muscular race, and, from
constant work in the gardens, the men have hands like those of English plough-
men. Like hill people in general, they are much attached tothe soil. Their
laws are very stringent. The boundaries of the lands of each are well defined,
and, should an elephant be killed, the huntsman must wait till one comes from
the lord of the land to give permission to cutit up. ‘The underlying tusk and
half of the carcase are likewise the property of him on whose soil the elephant
fell. They may well love their land, for it yields abundance of grain, and
here superior wheat and rice may be seen flourishing side by side. Their
government is a sort of republican-feudalism, which has decided that no child
of a chief can succeed his father. A system of separating the young men from
their parents and relatives would have pleased the author of the Cyropedia :
yet the frequent application of the ordeal to get rid of a wife no longer loved
shows that Xenophon’s beau ideal does not produce gallantry equal to that
which emanates from the birch of a wrathful village dominie among ourselves.
The country towards Mozambique supports people of similar warlike propen-
sities; and if these are owing to an infusion of Arab blood in their veins, that
mixture does not seem to have had much influence on their customs, for those
are more negro than aught else. They all possess a very vivid impression of
the agency of unseen spirits in human affairs, which I believe is especially
characteristic of the true negro family.

“Situated more towards the centre of the continent, we have the
Bechuana tribes, who live generally on plains. Compared with the Kaffre
family, they are all effeminate and cowardly; yet even here we see courage
manifested by these who inhabit a hill country. Witness, for example,
Sebituane, who fought his way from the Basuto country to the Barotse and
to the Bashukulompo. Moshesh showed the same spirit lately in his
encounter with English troops. These stand highest in the scale, and certain

A HOSPITABLE PEOPLE. 225

poor Bechuanas, named Bakalahari, are the lowest. The latter live on the
desert, and some of their little villages extend down the Limpopo. They
generally attach themselves to influential men in the Bechuana towns, who
furnish them with dogs, spears, and tobacco, and in return receive the skins of
such animals as they may kill either with the dogs or by means of pitfalls.
They are all fond of agriculture, and some possess a few goats; but the
generally hard fare which they endure makes them the most miserable objects
to be met with in Africa. From the descriptions given in books, I imagine
the thin legs and arms, large abdomens, and the lustreless eyes of their
children, make the Bakalahari the counterparts of Australians.

‘But though it is all very well, in speaking in a loose way, to ascribe
the development of national character to the physical features of the country,
I suspect that those who are accustomed to curb the imagination in the severe
way employed to test for truth in the physical sciences would attribute more
to race or breed than to mere scenery. Look at the Bushmen—living on the
same plains, eating the same food, but oftener in scantier measure, and
subjected to the same climatorial and physical influences as the Bakalahari,
yet how enormously different the results!) The Bushman has a wiry, compact
frame; is brave and independent; scorns to till the ground or keep domestic
animals. The Bakalahari is spiritless and abject in demeanour and thought,
delights in cultivating a little corn or pumpkins, or in rearing a few goats.
Both races have been looking at the same scenes for centuries. 'T'wo or three
Bechuanas from the towns enter the villages of the Bakalahari, and pillage
them of all their skins of animals without resistance. If by chance the Bechu-
anas stumble on a hamlet of Bushmen, they speak softly, and readily deliver up
any tobacco they may have as a peace-offering, in dread of the poisoned arrow
which may decide whether they spoke truly in saying they had none.

‘¢ Acain, look at the river Zouga, running through a part of the Bushman
and Bakalahari desert. The Bayeiye or Bakoba live on its reedy islets, culti-
vate gardens, rear goats, fish and hunt alternately, and are generally possessed
of considerable muscular development. Wherever you meet them they are
always the same. They are the Quakers of the body politic in Africa. They
never fought with any one, but invariably submitted to whoever conquered
the lands adjacent to their rivers. They say their progenitors made bows of
the castor-oil plant, and they broke; ‘ therefore (!) they resolved never to fight
any more.’ They neyer acquire much property, for every one turns aside
into their villages to eat what he can find. I have been in their canoes and
found the pots boiling briskly until we came near to the villages. Having
dined, we then entered with the pots empty, and they looked quite innocently
on any strangers who happened to drop in to dinner. Contrast these Friends
with the lords of the isles, Sekote and others, living among identical circum-
stances, and ornamenting their dwellings with human skulls.

El

226 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, Li.D.

“The cause of the difference observed in tribes iahabiting the same
localities, though it spoils the poetry of the thing, consists in certain spots
being the choice of the race or family. So when we see certain characters
assembled on particular spots, it may be more precise to say we see the
antecedent disposition manifested in the selection, rather than that the part
chosen produced a subsequent disposition. This may be evident when I say
that, in the case of the Bakalahari and Bushmen, we have instaiucs of com-
pulsion and choice. The Bakalahari were the first body of Bechuana
emigrants who came into the country. They possessed large herds of very
long-horned cattle, the remains of which are now at Ngami. A second
migration of Bechuanas deprived them of their cattle and drove them into
the desert. ‘They still cleave most tenaciously to the tastes of their race;
while, for the Bushman, the desert is his choice, and ever has been from near
the Coanza to the Cape. When we see a choice fallen on mountains, it means
only that the race meant to defend itself. Their progenitors recognised the
principle, acknowledged universally, except when Kaffre police or Hottentots
rebel, viz., that none deserve liberty except those who are willing to fight
for it. This principle gathers strength from locality, tradition develops it
more and more, yet still I think the principle was first, foremost, and
alone vital.

‘In reference to the origin of all these tribes, I feel fully convinced, from
the very great similarity in all their dialects, that they are essentially one race
of men: the structure, or we may say the skeletons, of the dialects of Kaftre,
Bechuana, Bayeiye, Barotse, Batoka, Batonga or people of the Zambesi,
Mashona, Babisa, the negroes of Londa, Angola, and people on the west coast
are all wonderfully alike. A great proportion of the roots is identical in all.

‘‘The Bushman tongue seems an exception, but this, from the little I can
collect of it, is more apparent than real. While all the others are developed
in one and nearly the same direction, this deviates into a series of remarkable
klicks. The syllable on which, in other dialects, the chief emphasis is put, in
this sometimes constitutes the whole word. But though the variations lie in
klicks, the development is greater than in the other dialects. They have for
instance, the singular, plural, and dual numbers; the masculine, feminine, and
neuter genders; and the aorist tense ; which the others have not.

“Tending in the same way as this indisposition to diseases which
decimate tribes which are passing away, is the fact that the Africans are
wonderfully prolific. ‘The Bushmen are equally so, but the Bechuanas are an
exception which the introduction of Christianity may remove. As this has
not, it is reported, happened in the Pacific, the data on which our hopes are
founded may prove deceptive.

‘“‘ With respect to the perpetuity of the African race, we have stronger
hope than in the case of the South Sea Islanders, and other savage nations in

KILIMANE. 227

contact with Europeans. The well-known preference that fever manifests
for the natives of Northern Europe, and the indisposition it exhibits to make
victims of Africans, would lead persons resident in one region of this continent
to say that the white race was doomed to extinction. However to be explained,
the Africans who have come under my observation are not subject to many of
the diseases which thin our own numbers. Smallpox and measles paid a
passing yisit through the continent some thirty years ago; and though they
committed great ravages, they did not remain endemic nor return. They did
not find a congenial soil; and though the period preceding the rains is
eminently epidemic in its constitution, excepting hooping cough, no epidemic
known in Europe appears. There is an indisposition independent of climatic
influences, which becomes, I imagine, evident, when a certain loathsome dis-
ease is observed to die out spontaneously in Africans of pure blood; and those
of mixed blood are subjected to all its forms with a virulence exactly pro-
portioned to the amount of European blood in their veins.

“‘Strangers are so liable to be unintentionally misled by the careless
answers of uninterested inhabitants, I would fain have subjected every
important point to the test of personal examination, but except in the cases
of gold, coal, iron, and a hot fountain, which did not involve any additional
fatigue, I had to rely on the information of others alone. The difference of
climate must account for the disproportionate exhaustion experienced by
myself and companions from marches of a dozen miles, compared with that
produced in our naval officers by those prodigious strides we read of having
been performed in the Arctic Circle. Indeed I was pretty well ‘knocked up’ by
not much more than a month on foot; the climate on the river felt hot and
steamy, water never cools, clothes always damp from profuse perspiration ;
and as the country is generally covered with long grass, bushes, and trees, the
abundance of well-rounded shingle everywhere renders it necessary to keep
the eyes continually on the ground. Pedestrianism under such circumstances
might be all very well for those whose obesity calls for the process of Press-
neitz; but for one who had become as lean as a lath, the only discernible
good was that it enabled an honest sort of man to gain a vivid idea of ‘a
month on the treadmill.’ ”

Dr. Livingstone soon concluded that Kilimane was not the proper posi-
tion for the port of the Zambesi, but he was not then aware that another and
a better mouth of the river, only known to themselves, was used for the ex-
portation of slaves. He says:—

“The Portuguese, in extenuation of the apparent disadvantage of building
the ‘ capital of the rivers of Senna’ (Kilimane) where it possesses such slender
connection with the Zambesi, allege that the Mutu in former times was large,
but it is now filled up with alluvial deposit. The bar, too, was safer then than
itisnow. Toa stranger it looks remarkable that the main stream of the

228 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Zambesi, sometimes called Cuama and Luabo, which is, at least, three quarters
of a mile broad at the mouth of the Mutu, should be left to roll on to the ocean
unused. It divides, it is true, below that into six or seven branches; but two
of these named, near the sea, Melambe and Catrina, present comparatively
safe harbours at their mouths and free passage into the interior for large
launches during the entire year. These harbours are not more insalubrious
than Kilimane and Senna.

‘With respect to Kilimane, one could scarcely have found a more man-
killing spot than it. The village is placed on a large mudbank, so moist that
water is found by digging two feet deep, and it is surrounded by mango-bushes
and marsh. The walls of the houses, too, sink gradually, so as to jam the
doors against the floors. That the subject of securing a better harbour for the
commerce of the magnificent country.drained by the Zambesi merits the
attention of the Portuguese Government, as interested in its prosperity, a
glance at the articles which might be exported to a great amount will sufficiently
show.

““ Coal.—The disturbances effected by the eruptive rocks in the grey
sandstone have brought many seams of coal to the surface. There are no fewer
than nine of these in the country adjacent to Tete, and I came upon two before
reaching that point. One seam in the rivulet Muatise is 58 inches in diameter;
another is exposed in the Morongoze, which, as well as the Muatize, falls into
the Revubue, and that joins the Zambesi from the north about two miles below
Tete. The Revubue is navigable for canoes during the whole year, and but
for a small rapid in it, near the points of junction with these rivulets, canoes
might be loaded at the seams themselves. Some of the rocks have been ejected
in a hot state since the deposition of the coal, for it is seen in some spots
converted into coke, and about ten miles above Tete there is a hot fountain
emitting abundance of acrid steam; the water at the point of emergence is
158 Fahr., and when the thermometer is held in it half a minute it shows
steadily 160° When frogs or fish leap into it from the rivulet in which it is
situated, they become cooked, and the surrounding stones were much too hot
for the bare feet of my companions.

“The remarks about the absence of any tradition of earthquakes in my
last letter must be understood in reference to the country between the ridges
alone, for I find that shocks have frequently been felt in the country of the
Maravi, and also at Mozambique, but all have been of short duration, and
appeared to pass from east to west.

“‘ Tron.—In addition to coal, we have iron of excellent quality in many
parts of the country. It seems to have been well roasted in the operations of
nature, for it occurs in tears or rounded masses, admitting of easy excavation
with pointed sticks, and it shows veins of the pure metal in its substance.
When smelted it closely resembles the best Swedish iron in colour and tough-

GOLD DIGGINGS. 229

ness. I have seen spears made of it strike the crania of hippopotami and
curl up instead of breaking, the owner afterwards preparing it for further use
by straightening it, while cold, with two stones.

“¢ Gold.—li we consider Tete as occupying a somewhat central position
in the coal-field, and extend the leg of the compasses about 33’, the line which
may then be described from north-east round by west to south-east nearly
touches or includes all the district as yet known to yield the precious metal.
We have five well-known gold-washings from north-east to north-west. There
is Abutua, not now known, but it must have been in the west or south-west,
probably on the flank of the eastern ridge. Then the country of the Bazizula,
or Mashona, on the south, and Manica on the south-east. The rivers Mazoe,
Luia, and Luenya in the south, and several rivulets in the north, bring gold
into the coal-field with their sands; but from much trituration it is gener-
ally in such minute scales as would render amalgamation with mercury
necessary to give it weight in the sand, and render the washing profitable.
The metal in some parts in the north is found in red clay-shale which is soft
enough to allow the women to pound it in wooden mortars previous to washing.
At Mashinga it occurs in white quartz. Some of the specimens of gold which
I have seen from Manica and the country of Bazizula (Mosusurus) were as
large as grains of wheat, and those from rivers nearer Tete were extremely
minute dust only. I was thus led to conclude that the latter was affected by trans-
port, and the former showed the true gold-field as indicated by the semicircle.
Was the eastern ridge the source of the gold, seeing it is now found not far
from its eastern flank ?

“‘ We have then at present a coal-field surrounded by gold, with abund-
ance of wood, water, and provisions—a combination of advantages met with
neither in Australia nor California. In former times the Portuguese traders
went to the washings accompanied by great numbers of slaves, and continued
there until their goods were expended in purchasing food for the washers.
The chief in whose lands they laboured expected a small present—one pound’s
worth of cloth perhaps—for the privilege. But the goods spent in purchasing
food from the tribe was also considered advantageous for the general good,
and all were eager for these visits. Itis so now in some quarters, but the
witchery of slave-trading led to the withdrawal of industry from gold-washing
and every other source of wealth; and from 130 to 140 Ibs. annually, the
produce has dwindled down to 8 or 10 lbs. only. This comes from independent
natives, who wash at their own convenience, and for their own profit.

‘A curious superstition tends to diminish the quantity which might be
realised. No native will dig deeper than his chin, from a dread of the earth
falling in and killing him; and on finding a piece of gold it is buried again,
from an idea that without this ‘ seed’ the washing would ever afterwards prove
unproductive. I could not for some time credit this in people who know right

230 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

well the value of the metal; but it is universally asserted by the Portuguese,
who are intimately acquainted with their language and modes of thought.
It may have been the sly invention of some rogue among them, who wished to
baulk the chiefs of their perquisites, for in more remote times these pieces were
all claimed by them.

“* Agriculture.—The soil formed by the disintegration of igneous rocks is
amazingly fertile, and the people are all fond of agriculture. I have seen
maize of nearly the same size of grain as that sold by the Americans for seed
in Cape Town. Wheat, for which one entertains such a friendly feeling,
grows admirably near Tete, in parts which have been flooded by the Zambesi,
and it doubles the size of the grain at Zumbo. When the water retires the
sowing commences. A hole is made with a small hoe, a few grains dropped
in, and the earth pushed back with the foot. This simple process represents
all our draining, liming, subsoil-ploughing, &c.; for with one weeding a fine
crop is ready for the sickle in four months afterwards.

‘‘ Wheat, sugar, rice, oil, and indigo were once exported in considerable
quantities from Tete. Cotton is still cultivated, but only for native manufac-
ture. Indigo of a large kind grows wild all over the country. There are
forests of a tree which acts as the cinchona near Senna. Does not this show
the Divine care over us ?—where fever prevails the remedy abounds. We
have also sarsaparilla, calumba-root, and senna leaves in abundance; the last
I believe to be the same as is exported from Egypt.

‘Tt may not be out of place here to call attention to native medicines as
worthy the investigation of travellers. I have always had to regret the want
of time to ascertain which were efficacious and which were not, and whether
there are any superior to our own. It is worthy of note that the bark, which
is similar in properties to that which yields the quinine, has been known as a
potent febrifuge by the natives from time immemorial. Our knowledge of
the virtues of the bark is comparatively recent. Some may think we have
more medicines in the Pharmacopceia than we know well how to use, but the
fact of well-educated persons resorting to Homceopathy, Holloway’s oint-
ment, Morison’s pills, and other nostrums, may indicate an actual want, to be
supplied by something more potent than either raillery or argument. Few
such I imagine would in cool blood prefer Parr’s life pills to quinine in
intermittent fever; and if we had a remedy for cholera only half as efficacious
as quinine in Kilimane fever, it would be esteemed a universal blessing.
Many native remedies are valueless, perhaps the majority are so; but they
can cure wounds inflicted by poisoned arrows. In Inhambane and Delagoa
Bay a kind of croup prevails: it is probably the Laringismus stridulus, as it
attacks and proves very fatal to adults. Singularly enough, it was unknown
till the first visit of Potgeiter’s Boers to Delagoa Bay, who brought it from
parts to the south-west where it prevails, and left it there, though none of

EVIL EFFECTS OF SLAVERY. 231

them were suffering from it at the time. It is still unknown here. This case
is analogous to ships leaving diseases at the South Sea Islands. After many
had perished, a native doctor pointed out a root which, when used in time,
elfects a speedy cure. The Portuguese now know the remedy and value it
highly. I am not disposed to believe everything marvellous; but from
excoriations haying been made, by means of the root, on the tongue of the
patient, and abstraction of blood so near the seat of the disease having been
successful in this very intractable disease, I think the black doctor deserves
some credit. The fact, too, that certain plants are known by widely separated
tribes all over the country as medicinal, is an additional reason for recom-
mending those who have n thing but travel and discovery on hand to pick
up whatever fragments of aboriginal medical knowledge may come in their way.

“Tn addition to the articles of commerce mentioned above, I saw
specimens of gum copal, orchilla-weed, caoutchouc, and other gums. There
are two plants, the fibres of which yield very strong thread and ropes. Bees
abound beyond Tete, but the people eat the honey and throw the wax away.
There are several varieties of trees which attain large dimensions, yielding
timber of superior quality for durability in shipbuilding. I saw pure negroes
at Senna cutting down such trees in the forest, and building boats on the
European model, without the superintendence of a master. Other articles of
trade are mentioned by writers, but I refer to those only which came under
my personal observation.

“‘T feel fully persuaded that, were a stimulus given to the commerce of
the Zambesi by a small mercantile company proceeding cautiously to develop
the resources of this rich and fertile country, it would certainly lead to a
most lucrative trade. The drawbacks to everything of this sort must, however,
be explicitly stated: and though anxious to promote the welfare of the teeming
population of the interior by means of the commercial prosperity and inter-
course of the coasts, I should greatly regret any undue expectations from
unconsciously giving a too high colouring to my descriptions. I shall therefore
try to explain the causes of the miserable state of stagnation and decay in
which I found the Portuguese possessions.

“] have already stated that the slave-trade acted by withdrawing labour
from every other source of wealth in this country, and transferring it to the
plantations of Cuba and Brazil. The masters soon followed the slaves; hence
this part of Africa contains scarcely any Europeans possessing capital and
intelligence or commercial enterprise. Of those who engaged in the slave-
trade in both eastern and western Africa, it is really astonishing to observe how
few have been permanently enriched by it. ‘There seems a sort of fatality
attending these unlawful gains, for you again and again hear the remark, ‘ He
was vich in the time of the slave-trade.’ Beyond all question, it has impover-
ished both the colonists and the country. And when our cruisers, by their

232 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

indomitable energy, rendered the traffic much more perilous than any other
form of gambling for money, they conferred a double benefit. The slave was
prevented from being torn from his home and country, and the master was
compelled to turn to more stable sources of income and wealth. But when
this took place it was found that the strong arms which washed for gold and
cultivated coffee, cotton, wheat, indigo, sugar, earthnuts for oil, &c., were
across the Atlantic, and a civil war breaking out completed the disorder.

‘‘Our explanations were, however, considered satisfactory ; indeed, when
we could get a palaver, they were never unreasonable until we came close to
Tete; but it was unpleasant to be everywhere suspected. The men belonging
to some chiefs on the Zambesi never came near us unless fully armed; others
would not sit down, nor enter into any conversation, but after gazing at us
for some time with a sort of horror they went off to tell the chief and great
men what they had seen. We appeared an uncouth band, for the bits of
skins, alias fig-leaves, had in many cases disappeared, and my poor fellows
could not move about without shocking the feelings of the well-clothed Zam.
besians. The Babisa traders (Muizas) bring large quantities of cotton cloth
from the coast to the tribes beyond Zumbo. Both Moors and Babisa had
lately been plundered too. They could not have taken much from us, for the
reason contained in the native proverb, ‘You cannot catch a humble cow by
the horns.’ We often expected bad treatment, but various circumstances
ccnspired to turn them from their purposes.

‘“‘Tt is impossible to enumerate all the incidents which, through the
influence of our Divine protector on the hearts of the heathen, led to our
parting in friendship with those whom we met with very different sentiments ;
but [ must not omit the fact that, if our cruisers had accomplished nothing
else, they have managed to confer a good name on our country. I was quite
astonished to find how far the prestige had spread into the continent; and in
my case they had ocular demonstration of more than a hundred evidently
very poor men going with one of ‘that white tribe’ without either whip or
chain. My headman speaks the language perfectly, and being an intelligent
person, he contributed much by sensible explanations to lull suspicion. We
had besides no shields with us; this was often spoken of, and taken as
evidence of friendly intentions; and for those who perversely insisted that we
were spies, we had forty or fifty gallant young elephant-hunters, and the
extraordinary bravery they sometimes exhibited seemed to say it would
scarcely be wholesome to meddle with such fellows. The personal character
of some chiefs led at once to terms of friendship. With others we spent
much time in labouring in vain to convince them we were not rogues and
vagabonds: they were in the minority, as the utterly bad are everywhere
else. With fair treatment the inhabitants on the Zambesi would, I believe,
act justly ; they are not powerful as compared with our Kaffres of the Cape.”

SAD END OF SEKWEBU. 233

After waiting about six weeks at Kilimane, the Frolic arrived, bringing
abundant supplies for all his needs, and £150 to pay his passage home, from
the agent of the London Missionary Society at the Cape. The admiral at the
Cape sent an offer of a free passage to the Mauritius, which Livingstone
gladly accepted. As six of the eight of his attendants who had accompanied
him to Kilimane had, by his instructions, gone back to Tete to await his
return, while the sion eight who had accompanied him as far as the delta of
the arabe had also pereenecl only two were left with him when the Frolic
arrived. One of these was Sekwebu, who had been so useful throughout the
journey that he determined to take him to England with him, so that he
might be able to tell Sekeletu and the Makololo what sort of country England
was, and further increase the confidence and trust already reposed in him and
in his countrymen generally. The other one begged hard to be permitted to
accompany them, and it is a matter for regret that the expense alone
prevented Livingstone from acceding to his wishes. There was a heavy sea
on when they crossed the bar to the Frolic, and as this was Sekwebw’s first
introduction to the ocean he appeared frightened. On board ship he seemed
to get accustomed to his novel situation, picked up a few words of English,
and ingratiated himself with the crew, who treated him with great kindness.

During all this time there was, although unnoticed, a strain upon his
untutored mind, which reached its climax when a steamer came out to tow the
Frolic into the harbour at the Mauritius. The terror evoked by the sight of the
uncouth panting monster with its volume of smoke culminated in madness, and
he descended into a boat alongside. On Livingstone following him to bring
him back, he said, “No! no! it is enough that I die alone. You must not
perish ; if you come I shall throw myself into the water.” Noticing then that
his mind was affected, Livingstone said, ‘‘ Now Sekwebu, we are going to Ma-
Robert.” This had a calming effect upon his mind, and he said ‘‘ Oh, yes;
where is she? and where is Robert?” (Livingstone’s son). The officers pro-
posed to put him inironsfor atime; but Livingstone, fearing that this would
wound his pride, and that it might be said in his own country that he had
bound him like a slave, unfortunately would not consent to this. ‘“‘ In the
evening a fresh accession of insanity occurred; he tried to spear one of the
crew, then leaped overboard, and, though he could swim well, pulled himself
down hand under hand, by the chain cable. We never found the body of
Sekwebu.”

At the Mauritius, Livingstone was hospitably entertained by Major-Gen.
C. M. Hay, and was induced to remain some time there to recruit his shattered
health. On the 12th of December, 1856, he arrived in England after an
absence of seventeen years, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company
generously refunding his passage money, when made aware of the dis-

tinguished personage they had had the honour of carrying. On the day pre-
F 1

234 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ceding his arrival the Zimes informed the country that—‘‘ The Rev. Dr.
Livingstone had arrived at Marseilles from Tunis, on the 6th inst., and was
then in good health; his left arm is, however, broken and partly useless, it
having been torn by a lion. When he was taken on board the Frolic on the
Mozambique coast, he had great difficulty in speaking a word of English,
having disused it so long while travelling in Africa. He had with him a
native from the interior of Africa. This man, when he got to the Mauritius,
was so excited with the steamers, and various wonders of civilization, that he
went mad, and jumped into the sea and was drowned. Dr. Livingstone had
been absent from England seventeen years. He crossed the great African
continent almost in the centre, from west to east, has been where no civilized
being has ever been before, and has made many notable discoveries of great
value. He travelled in the twofold character of missionary and physician,
having obtained a medical diploma. He is rather a short man, with a pleas-
ing and serious countenance, which betokens the most determined resolution.
He continued to wear the cap which he wore while performing his wonderful
travels. On board the Candia, in which he voyaged from Alexandria to Tunis,
he was remarkable for his modesty and unassuming manners. He never
spoke of his travels except in answer to questions. The injury to his arm was
sustained in the desert while travelling with a friendly tribe of Africans. A
herd of lions broke into their camp at night, and carried off some of their
cattle. The natives, in their alarm, believed that a neighbouring tribe had
bewitched them. Livingstone taunted them with suffering their losses through
cowardice, and they then turned to face and hunt down the enemy. The
Doctor shot a lion, which dropped wounded. It afterwards sprang on him,
and caught him by the arm, and, after wounding two natives who drew it off
him, it fell down dead. The wounded arm was not set properly, and Dr.
Livingstone suffered excruciating agony in consequence.”

CHAPTER XII.

Dr. Livingstone in England—Special Meeting of the Geographical Soctety—En-
thusiastie Reception—Farewell Banquet—Si Roderick Murchison’s Estimate
of Dr. Livingstone and his Labours.

rie Cape Town a meeting was held on the 12th of November, 1856, for the

purpose of taking steps to express the public sense of the eminent services
rendered to science, civilisation, and Christianity by Dr. Livingstone. Sir
George Grey, the governor, who occupied the chair, said :—“‘ I think no man
of the present day is more deserving of honour than Dr. Livingstone—a man
whom we indeed can hardly regard as belonging to any particular age or
time, but who belongs rather to the whole Christian epoch—possessing all
those qualities of mind, and that resolute desire at all risks to spread the gospel,
which we haye generally been in the habit of attributing solely to those who
lived in the first ages of the Christian era. Indeed, that man must be of
almost apostolic character, who, animated by a desire of performing his duty
to his Maker and to his fellow-men, has performed journeys which we cannot
but regard as altogether marvellous.” The Bishop of Cape Town, the judges,
and other government officials took part in the proceedings, which were of a
most enthusiastic character. The meeting resolved to enter into a subscrip-
tion for a testimonial to the great traveller, which Sir George Grey headed
with a donation of £50.

In England, curiosity had been excited by the appearance of short para-
graphs in the newspapers treating of his discoveries, but it was not until a
meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on which occasion the Society’s
gold medal was presented to the distinguished traveller, that the magnitude
of his discoveries and the heroic character of the man came to be properly
understood.

It was on the 15th of December, 1856, that the special meeting of the Royal
Geographical Society was held to receive and do honour to Dr. Livingstone.
The proceedings at this meeting were of so singularly exceptional a character,
that we do not hesitate to re-produce the report of it here as it appeared in the
“ Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society.”

Sir Roderick Murchison, the President of the Society, was in the chair,
and the room was filled with a distinguished assemblage. In opening the
meeting the President said :—

GENTLEMEN,—We are now specially assembled to welcome Dr. Living-

236 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

stone, on returning from Southern Africa to his native country after an
absence of sixteen years, during which, while endeavouring to spread the
blessings of Christianity through lands never before trodden by the foot of a
British subject, he has made discoveries of incalculable importance, which
have justly won for him, our Victoria or Patron’s Medal.

When that honour was conferred in May, 1855, for traversing South
Africa from the Cape of Good Hope, by Lake Ngami and Linyanti to Loanda
on the west coast, the Earl of Ellesmere, then our president, spoke with
eloquence of the ‘‘ scientific precision, with which the unarmed and unassisted
English missionary had left his mark on so many important stations of
regions hitherto blank.”

If for that wonderful journey, Dr. Livingstone was justly recompensed
with the highest distinction we could bestow, what must be our estimate of
his prowess, now that he has re-traversed the vast regions, which he first
opened out to our knowledge? Nay, more; that, after reaching his old
starting point at Linyanti in the interior, he has followed the Zambesi, or
continuation of the Leeambye river, to its mouths on the shores of the Indian
Ocean, passing through the eastern Portuguese settlements to Kilimane—
thus completing the entire journey across South Africa. In short, it has been
calculated that, putting together his various journeys, Dr. Livingstone has not
travelled over less than eleven thousand miles of African ground.

Then, how does he come back to us? Not merely like the far-roaming
and enterprising French missionaries, Huc and Gabet, who, though threading
through China with marvellous skill, and contributing much to our knowledge
of the habits of the people, have scarcely made any addition to the science of
physical geography ; but as the pioneer of sound knowledge, who, by astro-
nomical observations, has determined the site of numerous places, hills, rivers,
and lakes, nearly all hitherto unknown to us.

In obtaining these results, Dr. Livingstone has farther seized upon every
opportunity of describing to us the physical features, climatology, and
geological structure of the countries he has explored, and has made known
their natural productions, including vast breadths of sugar-cane and vine-
producing lands. Pointing out many new sources of commerce, as yet
unknown to the enterprise of the British merchant, he gives us a clear insight
into the language, manners, and habits of numerous tribes, and explains to us
the different diseases of the people, demonstrating how their maladies vary
with different conditions of physical geography and atmospheric causes.

Let me also say that he has realised, by positive research, that which was
necessarily a bare hypothesis, and has proved the interior of Southern Africa
to be a plateau traversed by a network of lakes and rivers, the waters of
which, deflected in various directions by slight elevations, escape to the
eastern and western oceans, by passing through deep rents in the hilly,

SIR RODERICK MURCHISON’S SPEECH. 237

flanking tracts. He teaches us that these last high grounds, differing essen-
tially from the elevated central region, as well as from the rich alluvial deltas
of the coasts, are really salubrious, or, to use his own language, are perfect
sanatoria.

I have thus alluded, in the briefest manner, to the leading additions to
our knowledge which have been brought before you by Dr. Livingstone.
The reading of the last letters, addressed to myself, was, by the direction of
my lamented predecessor, Admiral Beechey, deferred until the arrival of the
great traveller; in order that the just curiosity of my associates might be
gratified by having it in their power to interrogate him upon subjects of such
deep importance ; and, above all, that we might commit no mistakes in hastily
constructing maps from immature data; certain sketch maps having been
sent to us, before it was possible to calculate his observations and reduce them
to order.

Passing then from this meagre outline of the results to science, what
must be our feelings as men, when we mark the fidelity with which Dr.
Livingstone kept his promise to the natives who, having accompanied him to
St. Paul de Loando, were reconducted by him from that city to their homes ?
On this head my predecessors and myself have not failed, whenever an
opportunity occurred, to testify our deep respect for such noble conduct.
Rare fortitude and virtue must our medallist have possessed, when—having
struggled at the imminent risk of life through such obstacles, and escaping
from the interior, he had been received with true kindness by our old allies
the Portuguese at Angola—he nobly resolved to redeem his promise, and
retrace his steps to the interior of the vast continent. How much, indeed,
must the moral influence of the British name be enhanced throughout Africa,
when it has been promulgated that our missionary-has thus kept his plighted
word to the poor natives who faithfully stood by him!

Turning to Dr. Livingstone, the Preswent then said—Dr. Livingstone,
it is now my pleasing duty to present to you this our Patron’s or Victoria
Medal, as a testimony of our highest esteem. I rejoice to see on this occasion,
such a numerous assemblage of geographers and distinguished persons, and
that our meeting is attended by the ministers of foreign nations. Above all,
I rejoice to welcome the representative of that nation whose governors and sub-
jects, in the distant regions of Africa, have treated you as a brother, and without
whose aid many of your most important results could not have been achieved.
Gladdened must be the hearts of all the geographers present, when they see
you attended by men, who accompanied and aided you in your earliest
labours. I allude particularly to our own fellows, Colonel Steele, Mr. Cotton
Oswell, and Captain Vardon, who are now with us. As these and other
distinguished African travellers are in this room, and among them Dr.
Barth, who alone of living men, has reached Timbuctoo and returned, may

238 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

not the Geographical Society be proud of such achievements? I therefore,
heartily congratulate you, sir, on being surrounded by men, who certainly are
the best judges of your merits, and I present to you this medal, as a testimony
of the high admiration with which we all regard your great labours.

Dr. LivinestonE replied :—Sir, I have spoken so little in my own tongue
for the last sixteen years, and so much in strange languages, that you must
kindly bear with my imperfections in the way of speech-making. I beg to
return my warmest thanks for the distinguished honour you have now con-
ferred upon me, and also for the kind and encouraging expressions with
which the gift of the gold medal has been accompanied. As a Christian
missionary, I only did my duty, in attempting to open up part of southern
inter-tropical Africa to the sympathy of Christendom; and I am very much
gratified by finding in the interest, which you and many others express, a
pledge that the true negro family, whose country I traversed, will yet become
a part of the general community of nations. ‘The English Government and
the English people, have done more for Central Africa than any other, in the .
way of suppressing that traffic, which has proved a blight to both commerce
and friendly intercourse. May I hope that the path which I have lately
opened into the interior, will never be shut; and that in addition to the
repression of the slave trade, there will be fresh efforts made for the develop-
ment of the internal resources of the country? Success in this, and the
spread of Christianity, alone will render the present success of our cruisers in
repression, complete and permanent. I cannot pretend to a single note of
triumph. A man may boast when he is pulling off his armour, but I am just
putting mine on; and while feeling deeply grateful for the high opinion you
have formed of me, I fear that you have rated me above my deserts, and that
my future may not come up to the expectation of the present. Some of the
fellows of your society—Colonel Steele, Captain Vardon, and Mr. Oswell, for
instance—could, either of them, have effected all that I have done. You are
thus not in want of capable agents. I am, nevertheless, too thankful now,
that they have left it to me todo. I again thank you for the medal, and
hope it will go down in my family as an heirloom worth keeping.

The Riegur Hon. H. Lasoucurern, M.P., Her Majesty’s Secretary of
State for the Colonies, then said,—Sir Roderick Murchison, I thought it a
great privilege to be allowed to attend to-night upon your invitation; and
certainly with little expectation that I should be called upon to address you
on this interesting occasion. I am happy to say, however, that the resolution
which has been put into my hands, and which I have been requested to
propose to the meeting, is one that I am sure will require no arguments of
mine to recommend it to your very cordial adoption. You have heard from
the president, how the distinguished traveller, who is here to-day to give an
account of the achievements which he has performed on the field of Atrica,

MUR. LABOUCHERE’S SPEECH. 239

you have heard, how cordially and usefully he was assisted by the Governors
of the Portuguese Establishments on the coast of Africa. There is, perhaps,
no nation which can boast more than Portugal, of having largely contributed
to early geographical enterprise, to our better knowledge of the globe which
we inhabit, and to the spread of commerce throughout the earth. I may also
say that the mention of the name of Portugal, is always agreeable to British
ears, because there is no country with which we are united by an older, by a
closer, and, I trust, by a more enduring connection. I think it is fortunate
and gratifying to us, on the present occasion, that we have the advantage of
having among us, the distinguished nobleman who represents Portugal in this
country ; therefore, we shall be able to convey to the Portuguese authorities,
through him, the acknowledgment which, I am sure, we must be all anxious
to make on the present occasion. J am too well aware of the value of your time,
and of the superior claims that others have upon it, to be desirous of address-
ing you atany length. Of the importance of the discoveries made in Africa, I
am sure we must all feel the strongest and deepest sense; it is, at all events,
a matter of liberal curiosity to all men, to obtain a better knowledge of our
earth. But there are interests very dear to the people of this country, which
are closely connected with everything that relates to a better knowledge of
Africa. ‘There is none, I believe, which has taken a faster hold on the people
of Britain than, not only to put a stop to the horrible traffic in slaves, which
was once the disgrace of our land as much, if not more than of any other;
but also, as far as possible, to repay to Africa the debt which we owe her, by
promoting in every manner, with regard to her inhabitants, the interests of
civilization and commerce. We must feel how important a better knowledge
of the internal resources and of the condition of Africa must be, in all the
efforts which Parliament or statesmen can make in that direction. I will not
trespass longer upon your time, but conclude by reading the resolution which
has been placed in my hands, and which is one that I am sure will meet from
you, a very cordial reception :—

“That the grateful thanks of the Royal Geographical Society be con-
veyed, through his Excellency Count de Lavradio, the Minister of the King
of Portugal, to His Majesty’s Authorities in Africa, for the hospitality and
friendly assistance they afforded to Dr. Livingstone, in his unparalleled
travels from St. Paul de Loanda to Tete and Kilimane, across that
continent.”

Sir Henry Rawuinson, F.R.G.S., then said—Sir, I could have wished
that the task of seconding the resolution had been confided to abler hands;
but since the president has issued his orders—orders which are equivalent to
the laws of the Medes and the Persians, with which I am tolerably well
acquainted,—I am obliged humbly to bow to the task. After the eloquent
description you haye heard of the merits of the Portuguese nation, it would

240 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ill become me to intrude long upon your time; but I would wish to call your
attention to the really great obligations which science is generally under to
the Portuguese, especially with regard to the geography of Africa. We are
too apt to forget the debt of gratitude which we owe to them for our know-
ledge of the interior of Africa, almost up to the present time, when Dr.
Livingstone has completed the chain of their discoveries. We must remember
that it was Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese, in the first instance, who doubled
the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese have established settlements
throughout Southern Africa from the earliest times down to the present,
and until Dr. Livingstone has laid down all his discoveries upon the map,
the old Portuguese maps of the interior of Africa, especially the southern
portion, are the best available. It is singularly interesting and gratifying to
find, that it should be to the Portuguese Governors, that we are indebted for
the hospitable reception, which they gave to our distinguished traveller, Dr.
Livingstone, and which has enabled him to return home in safety, and
acquaint us with the results of all his discoveries. As you are about to hear
from Dr. Livingstone some brief account of his travels, I will not longer
trespass on your time, but merely second the resolution which has been
submitted to your notice.

The resolution having been put from the chair, was carried unanimously.

The Count de Lavradio then rose, and after a brief apology in English
for his want of fluency in our language, thus spoke in French :—

‘‘ Mr. Prestpent,—As I did not expect to have the honour of speaking
before you, it is with great hesitation and timidity that I rise to address a
few words to you, in order to express my gratitude for the resolution you
have just adopted. My first duty is to return my sincere and hearty thanks
to the Right Hon. Mr. Labouchere, in the name of the Sovereign, whom I
have the honour to represent, and in that of the Portuguese nation, to which
I belong, not only for the resolution which he has proposed—that the Royal
Geographical Society should adopt—but also for the sentiments of admiration
and esteem which he has so well expressed for the memory of the intrepid
and learned Portuguese navigators, who, in discovering seas and lands, till
then unknown, carried everywhere the germs of civilization, and rendered
very great services to science. I also beg Sir H. Rawlinson to accept my
best thanks for the kindness with which he has supported the proposition ot
Mr. Labouchere, in recalling to the remembrance of the society the important
discoveries made by the Portuguese. My warmest thanks are also due to
you, Mr. President, for the good-will with which you have submitted the
proposition of Mr. Labouchere to the society ; and to you, gentlemen, the
members of the Royal Geographical Society, for the unanimity of your
approbation. I assure you, I shall hasten to transmit to my Government the
resolution just adopted, and I feel sure it will be much flattered by it. When

COUNT DE LAVRADIO'S SPEECH. 241

I learned that Dr. Livingstone was going to endeavour to traverse Southern
Africa from the western to the eastern shore, I wrote to my Government,
praying it to dispatch the most positive orders, that all the Portuguese
colonies should lend Dr. Livingstone all the protection he should require, to
enable him to pursue his travels in a safe and comfortable manner. I am
happy to learn that the orders of my Government have been executed. And
now, Mr. President, and gentlemen, the members of the Royal Geographical
Society, permit me to thank you in my own name, for the honour you have
conferred upon me in inviting me to this assembly. At any time I should be
very happy and highly honoured to find myself among the elite of the learned
English geographers and travellers; but, to-day, my happiness is still greater
since this august assembly is particularly called to celebrate the return of
Dr. Livingstone to Europe—this courageous savant—this friend of humanity,
who, braving the greatest dangers, exposing himself to all sorts of privations,
employed the best years of his life in exploring Central Africa, with the
single-minded and noble aim of enriching science and of diffusing in far-off
lands the morality of the Gospel, and with it, the benefits of true civilization.
Men, such as Dr. Livingstone, are, permit me the expression, veritable
Proyidences, which Heaven, in its mercy grants us, to console us for the
many useless or wicked persons who inhabit a part of the earth. Everybody
knows that it is nearly four centuries and a half since some Portuguese
navigators, as courageous, and as learned, undertook and accomplished some
great discoveries. The names of Zamo, of Prestrillo, of Dias, of the great
Vasco de Gama, and of many others, are well known; but everbody does not
know, that, at the same time that these navigators were crossing the seas,
surveying the coasts, and trying to make the tour of Africa in order to reach
Asia, others were endeavouring to arrive at the same result, by crossing the
interior of Africa. Before the year 1450, by the orders and instructions of
the great and immortal Infante Don Henri of Portugal, the greatest and most
_ learned prince of his time, Jean Fernandez penetrated into the interior of
Africa, where, shortly after, he was joined by Anton Gonsalves. Some years
after, several other Portuguese penetrated into the interior of Africa; some
searching for Timbuctoo, and others in various other directions. History
has preserved the names of several of these travellers, and it may be said
that the Portuguese have never relinquished their endeavours to penetrate
into the interior of Africa. Towards the end of the last century, the learned
Dr. Lacerda, furnished with good instruments, proposed to traverse Southern
Africa, from the eastern to the western shore; unfortunately, death surprised
him in the midst of these learned travels, in the country of the King of’
Cazembe. Afterwards, other travellers undertook to cross Africa, and from
1806 to 1811, Pedro Jean Baptista and Amaro Jose, with the instructions of
Colonel Francisco de Castro, went from the western to the eastern shore, and
Gl

242 i LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

returned to Loanda by the same road, after an absence of more than four
years. The journal of their travels has been printed, but, unfortunately,
they were not sufficiently well-informed to be able to determine astronomically
the position of the different places they had crossed.* Gentlemen, I must
conclude, and if I have cited these facts and these names, it is by no means
for the purpose of diminishing the glory that belongs to Dr. Livingstone ;
but, on the contrary, to recognise that he has obtained results more complete
than those who preceded him. The name of Dr. Livingstone is already
inscribed in the history of the civilization of Southern Africa, and it will
always cccupy a very distinguished place there.

‘¢ Honour then to the learned Dr. Livingstone !

‘“‘ Mr. President and gentlemen, I beg your pardon for having trespassed
so long on your time and attention, and thank you for the kindness with
which you have condescended to listen to me; but before sitting down,
allow me to ask you to accept of my best wishes for the prosperity of the
Royal Geographical Society, which has rendered so many and such great
services to science, to commerce, and to civilization. Accept also my best
wishes for the British Empire—may this land of order and of liberty—this
country, where all the unfortunate find a safe and generous asylum, always
preserve its power! I offer these wishes as the representative of the oldest,
most constant, and most faithful ally of England; I offer them also as a
private individual.”

The Secrerary then read extracts from the three last communications,
addressed by Dr. Livingstone from Africa to Sir Roderick Murchison, which
had been reserved for that occasion. They were full of minute and graphic
details relating to the regions explored by the traveller, and were listened to
with the utmost interest. (In the preceding chapter we have drawn largely
upon these letters.)

The PRreEsipENT said: We return thanks to Dr. Livingstone for having
communicated these able documents to us, a very small portion of which has
been read by Dr. Shaw. It is impossible, on an occasion like the present,
fully to estimate the value of Dr. Livingstone’s communications; but there
are so many subjects, some of them of deep interest to persons here assembled,
and others of vast importance to the world at large, that I hope Dr. Livingstone
will explain to us, viva voce, some of those remarkable features in his travels, on
which he would wish most to dwell. J particularly invite him to indicate to
the meeting, those portions of the country, the produce of which is likely to

* In regard to this Dr. Livingstone said afterwards :—‘‘ After the first European had traversed
the African continent the Portuguese Minister claimed the honour for two black men (trading per-
sons of colour), and these blacks, in the memory of a lady now living at Tete, came thither dressed
and armed as the people of Loanda, but proceeded no further. They thus failed by about 400 miles
of what was claimed for them.”

CENTRAL AFRICAN RIVERS. 243

be rendered accessible to British commerce. I wish him to point out, on the
diagram made for this occasion by Mr Arrowsmith, the lines of those ridges
which he describes as perfect sanatoria or healthy districts, distinguished from
the great humid or marshy region in the interior, and as being equally dis-
tinguished from the deltas on the coast, in which the settlements of Europeans
have hitherto been made. It is important to observe that large tracts of this
country are occupied by coal-fields, of which we have had the first knowledge
from our distinguished traveller. There are indications throughout the
flanking ranges, of great disturbance of the strata, by the intrusion of igneous
rocks which have very much metamorphosed them. The strata upon the two
sides of Africa, dip inwards, and the great interior region thus forms an
elevated plateau arranged in basin-shape. This vast basin is occupied by
calcareous tufa, the organic remains in which seem to indicate that at a
period not remote in the history of the globe, this great marshy region has
been desiccated, leaving in these broad plateaus of calcareous tufa, the
remains of lacustrine and land animals, which are still living in the country.
I hold in my hand a geological map of the Cape territory as prepared by Mr.
Bain, which, coupled with the discovery of Lake Ngami, led me to offer to
you that speculation on the probable physical condition of the interior of
Africa which the observations of Dr. Livingstone have confirmed.

Dr. Livinestone then rose, and, pointing to the diagram of Africa, said :
The country south 20° is comparatively arid; there are few rivers in it, and
what water the natives get, is chiefly from wells. But north of 20’, we find a
totally different country, wonderfully well watered, and very unlike what
people imagine Central Africa to be. It is covered by a network of waters,
which are faintly put down in the map, and chiefly from native information.
The reason why we have trusted to native information in this case, is this:
when Mr. Oswell and I went up to the Chobe in 1851, we employed the
natives to draw a part of the Zambesi in the centre of the country, which had
hitherto been unknown to Europeans. They drew it so well, that although I
have since sailed up and down the river several times, and have taken obser-
vations all along, I have very little to add to that native map. The natives
show on their maps that you can go up one river and get into another. You
can go up the Kama, for instance, and get into another, the river of the
Banyenko. You can go up the Simah and get into the Chobe, and can come
down into the Zambesi, or Leeambye. You can go up the river Teoge, and
round again by the Tzo to Lake Ngami. If you go up the Loi, you can get
into the Kafue. And they declare that if you go up the Kafue in a canoe,
you can get as far as the poimt where that river divides from the Loangua.
All these rivers are deep and large, and never dry up as the South African
rivers do. Some will say that the natives always tell you that one river
comes out of another. Yes, if you do not understand the language you may

244 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

say so. I remember when Colonel Steele and I were together, the natives
pointed him out as still w7/d, and said I was tame, because I understood the
language. Now, I suppose, when a geographer tells you that, when the
natives say, ‘‘ one river runs into or out of another,” they don’t mean what
they say ; but, in reality, the natives mean that the geographer is still wild,
he is not ¢ame, 7. e. he does not know the language. I found the natives to be
very intelligent; and, in this well watered part, to be of the true Negro
family. They all had woolly hair, and a good deal of it, and they are darker
than those who live to the south. The most remarkable point I noticed
among them, was the high estimation in which they hold the women. Many
of the women become chiefs. If you ask a man to do something for you, he
will perhaps make some arrangements about payment; but before deciding
to do it, he is sure to say, ‘‘ Well, I will go home and ask my wife.” If the
wife agrees to it, he will do what you want; but if she says no, there is no
possibility of getting him to move. The women sit in the public council, and
have a voice in the deliberations. Among the Bechuanas the men swear by
their fathers, but among the true negroes they swear by their mothers. Any
exclamation they make is, ‘‘ Oh, my mother !”—while among the Bechuanas
and the Kaffres they swear by their father. if a woman separate from her
husband, the children all go with the mother—they all stick by the mother.
If a young man falls in love with a young woman of another village, he must
leave his own village and live with her; and he is obliged to keep his mother:
in-law in firewood. If he goes into her presence, he must go in a decent way,
clapping his hands in a supplicatory manner ; and if he sits, he must not put
out his feet towards her—he must bend his knees back, and sit in a half-bent
position. I was so astonished at this, that I could scarcely believe their own
statements as to the high estimation in which they held the ladies, until I
asked the Portuguese, if they understood the same, as I did. They said,
exactly the same; they had been accustomed to the natives for many years,
and they say that the women are really held in very great estimation. I
believe they deserve it ; for the whole way through the centre of the country,
we were most kindly treated by them. When I went up the Zambesi, I pro-
ceeded as far as the 14th degree, and then returned to Linyanti. I found the
country abounding in all the larger game. I know all the country through
which Mr. Gordon Cumming and others have hunted, and I never saw any-
thing before like the numbers of game that are to be found along the Zambesi.
There are elephants all the way to Tete, in prodigious numbers, and all the
other large game, buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, and a great variety of antelopes,
There are three new species of antelope that have never been brought to
Europe.

Seeing the country was well supplied with game, I thought it was of
little use burdening my men with other provisions; I thought I could easily

Sg

PUNISHMENT OF HUSBANDS. 245

supply our wants with the gun, and I did not wish to tire them and make
them desire to return before we had accomplished our journey; so we went
with scarcely anything. All the way up the river we had abundance of food,
and any one who is anything of a shot, may go out and kill as much in two
or three hours, as will serve for three or four days. The animals do not know
the gun, and they stand still, at bowshot distance. We got on very well in
this way, until we came to Shinte. There we found that the people, having
guns, had destroyed all the game in the district, and that there was nothing
left but mice; you see the little boys and girls digging out the mice. I did
not try to eat them, but we were there obliged to live entirely upon what the
people gave us. We found the women remarkably kind to all of us; the
same in going down the Zambesi. Whatever they gave, they always: did it
most gracefully, very often with an apology for its being so little. Then,
when coming to the eastward, we found it just the same. They supplied us
liberally with food wherever we went, all the way down, till we came near
to the settlements of the Portuguese. In the centre of the country, we found
the people generally remarkably civil and kind; but as we came near to the
confines of civilization, then they did not improve. We had a good deal of
difficulty with different tribes, as they tried to make us pay for leave to pass.
It so happened that we had nothing to pay with. They wanted either an ox,
agun, oraman. I told them that my men had just as good a right to give
me, as I had to give one of them, because we were in the same position—we
were all free men. Then they wanted an ox, and we objected to it, saying,
“« These oxen are our legs, and we cannot travel without them; why should
we pay for leave to tread upon the ground of God, our common Father ?”
They agreed it was not right to ask payment for that, but said it had always
been the custom of the slave-traders, when they came in, to give a slave or an
ox, and we ought to do the same. But I said, ‘‘ We are not slave-dealers, we
never buy nor sell slaves.” ‘But you may as well give us an ox,” they
replied, ‘‘ it will show your friendship ; we will give you some of our food, if
you give us some of yours.” If we gave them an ox, they very often gave
us back two or three pounds of our own food; this is the generous way they
paid us back. But with the women we never found any difficulty.

Let me mention the punishment which women inflict upon their husbands
in some parts. It is the custom of the country for each woman to have her
own garden and her own house. The husband has no garden and no house,
and his wives feed him. I have heard a man say, ‘‘ Why, they will not feed
me; they will give me nothing at all.” A man may have five wives, and
sometimes the wives combine and make a strike against him. When he
comes home he goes to Mrs. One. She says, “‘I have nothing for you; you
must go to Mrs. Zwo.” He then goes to Mrs. Two, and she says, “‘ You can
go to the one you love best ;” and in this way the husband is sent from one

246 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

to the other, until he gets quite enraged. In the evening I have seen the
poor fellow get up in a tree, and in a voice loud enough to be heard by the
whole village, ery out, ‘I thought I had married five wives, but I find I have
married five witches; they will not let me have any food.” The punishment
a woman receives for striking her husband, I thought very odd, the first time
I saw it in the town of Sechele. The chicf’s place is usually in the centre of
the town. Ifa woman happens to forgot herself so far as to give her husband
a blow, she is brought into the centre of the town, and is obliged to take him
on her back and carry him home, amid the jeering and laughter of the people,
some of the women crying out, “‘ Give it to him again.”

Slavery exists in the country, 7. ¢., domestic slavery ; but the exportation
of slaves is effectually repressed. I found in Angola, that slaves could scarcely
be sold at all. I saw boys of 14 years of age, sold for the low sum of 12s.
If they could send these to Brazil, they would fetch a very much higher price,
perhaps 60 dollars. In passing along, we went in ompany with some native
Portuguese, who were going into the interior, and who had eight slave women
with them, and were taking them towards the centre of the country to sell them
for ivory. It shows that the trade is turning back towards the interior. In
passing through the country, I found thatthe English name had penetrated a long
way in. The English are known as the tribe “ that likes the black man.” The
Portuguese, unfortunately, had been fighting with them near Tete; but the
natives had been aided by half-breeds, and kept the Portuguese shut up at
Tete, two whole years. In coming down the river, I knew nothing of this
war. Once we saw great numbers of armed men going along the hills and
collecting ito a large force, and all the women and children sent out of the
way. When we got to where they were, some of the great men came to ask
what Iwas? ‘Are you a Mozungo ?”—that is the name they apply to the
Portuguese ; I did not know it, however, at that time. ‘‘ No,” I said, “I am
a Lekoa.” ‘ Then,” they said, ‘‘ they did not know the Lekoa.” I showed
them my arm. I could not show my face as anything particularly white, but
I showed my arm, and said, ‘‘ Have the Mozungo skin like that?” “No, no;

we never saw such white skin.” ‘‘ Have they long hair like mine ?”—the
Portuguese make a practice of cutting the hair short. ‘No; you must then
be one of the white tribe ‘ that loves the black man.’” ‘Yes, Iam.” I was

then in the midst of the belligerents, without having any wish to engage in
the quarrel. They finally allowed me to pass.

Once when we came to a tribe, one of my head men seemed to have become
insane and ran away, and we lost three days seeking for him. This tribe
demanded payment for leave to pass, and I gave them a piece of cloth. In
order to intimidate us they got up the war dance, and we made them another
offer, and gave another piece of cloth. But this was not satisfactory, and then
they got up their war dance in full armour, with their guns and drums and

TRAVELLERS’ TALES. 247

everything quite warlike, in the sight of our encampment. My men had been
perfectly accustomed to fighting ; they were quite veterans, but in appearance
they were not near so fine as these well-fed Zambesians. They thought they
were intimidating us, but my men were perfectly sure of beating them. One
of my chief men seemed to be afraid, because they never make a war dance
without intending to attack, and got up during the night and said, “ There
they are, there they are!” and ran off, and we never saw him again.

The country is full of lions, and the natives believe that the souls of
their chiefs go into the lion, and consequently when they meet a lion they
salute and honour it. In travelling, the natives never sleep on the ground ;
they always make little huts up in the trees. We had a good many diffi-
culties of the nature I have described, with the different tribes on the confines
of civilization. The people in the centre of the country seem totally different
from the fringe of population near the coast. Those in the centre are very
anxious to have trade. You may understand their anxiety in this respect
when I inform you, that the chief of the Makololo furnished me with 27 men
and 15 oxen, canoes, and provisions, in order to endeavour to form a path to
the West Coast; and on another occasion the same man furnished 110 men,
to try and make another path to the Kast Coast. We had found the country
so full of forest, and abounding with so many rivers and so much marsh, that
it was impossible to make a path to the west, and so we came back and
endeavoured to find one to the east. In going that way, we never carried
water a single day. Any one who has travelled in South Africa, knows the
difficulty of procuring water, but we were never without water a single day.
We slept near water, passed by water several times during the day, and slept
near it again.

The western route being impracticable for waggons, we came back,
and my companions returned to their friends and relatives. I did not
require to communicate anything about our journey, or speak even a word
about what we had seen; as my men got up in all the meetings which were
held, and told the people of what had passed. One of the great stories they
told was, ‘‘ We have been to the end of the world. Our forefathers used to
tell us that the world has no end, but we have been to the end of the world.
We went marching along, thinking that what the ancients had told us was
true, that the world had no end; but all at once the world said to us, ‘I am
finished ; there is no more of me; there is only sea in front.’ All my goods
were gone when I gn down into the Barotse valley, among the Makololo,
and then they supplied me for three months; and in forming the eastern path,
which I hope will be the permanent one into the interior of the country, the
chief furnished me with twelve oxen for slaughter and abundance of other
provisions, without promise or expectation of payment. At one time it was
thought, instead of going down the way we came, we should go on the other

°

248 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

or south side of the river. But this river forms a line of defence against the
Matabele, where my father-in-law, Dr. Moffat, went. I was persuaded by
some to go in that direction. But when I had heard the opinions of all who
knew the country, and those who had lived in that direction, I resolved to go
north-east, and strike the Zambesi there.

In passing up towards Loanda, we saw that the face of the country was
different, that it was covered with Cape heaths, rhododendrons, and Alpine
roses, showing that we must be on elevated ground. Then we came to a-
sudden descent of 1,000 feet, in which the river Quango seemed to have
formed a large valley. I hoped to receive an aneroid barometer from Colonel
Steele, but he had gone to the Crimea. In going back, therefore, I began to
try the boiling point of water, and I found a gradual elevation from the west
coast until we got up to the point, where we saw the Cape heaths and
rhododendrons; then, passing down inland, we saw the rivers running
towards the centre of the country, and the boiling point of water showed
a descent of the surface in that direction too. This elevated ridge is formed
of clay slate. In going north-east, towards the Zambesi, we found many
rivulets, running back towards the centre of the country. Having gone
thither, we found the elevation the same as it was on the western ridge, and
the other rivers, as described by the natives, flowing from the sides into the
centre, showing that the centre country is a valley—not a valley compared to
the sea, but a valley with respect to the lateral ridges. There were no large
mountains in that valley; but the mountains outside the valley, although
they appeared high, yet, actually, when tried by the boiling point of water,
were not so high as the ridges, and not much higher than the valley.

The PresipenT: Will you describe the White Mountains ?

Dr. Livinestone: They lie to the north-east of the Great Falls. They
are masses of white rock somewhat like quartz, and one of them is called
‘“‘ Tabacheu,” which means ‘‘ white mountain.” From the description I got
of its glistening whiteness, I imagined that it was snow ; but when I observed
the height of the hill, I saw that snow could not lie upon it.

The Presipent: The society will observe that this fact has an important
application.

Dr. Livinestone: I observed to them, ‘‘ What is that stuff upon the top
of the hill?” They said it was stone, which was also affirmed to me while I
was at Linyanti, and I have obtained pieces of it. Most of the hills have
this coping of white quartz-looking rock. Outside the ridges the rocks are
composed of mica and mica-slate, and crystalline gneiss at the bottom. Below
we have the coalfield, which commences at Zumbo. Higher up there are
very large fossil trees, of which I have brought specimens.

The Prustmpent: The point to which I called your attention. with
reference to the white rocks, is important, as it may apply to the mountains

THE HOTTENTOT TRIBE. 249

towards the eastern coast of Africa, which have been supposed to be covered
with snow, and are commonly called the “‘ Mountains of the Moon.” It seems
that the range of white-capped hills, which Dr. Livingstone examined, trended
towards those so-called mountains,‘and it may prove that the missionaries,
who believe that they saw snowy mountains under the equator, have been
deceived by the glittering aspect of the rocks under a tropical sun. I would
also ask Dr. Livingstone if he has formed any idea of that great interior lake,
which is said to be 600 or 700 miles long; and whether the natives gave him
any information respecting it ?

Dr. LivinestoneE: When I was on my way from Linyanti to Loanda, I
met with an Arab, who was going to return home towards Zanzibar across the
southern end of the lake ‘‘ Tanganyika,” and who informed me that in the
country of the Banyassa (Wun’ Yassa?) there is an elevated ridge which
trends towards the N.N.E. The lake lies west of it, and in the northern part
is called Kalague. They cross the southern end of it, and when crossing
they punt the canoe the whole way, and go from one island to another,
spending three days in crossing. It seems,.from the description I got
from him, to be a collection of shallow water, exactly like Lake Ngami,
which is not deep either, as I have seen men punting their canoes over it.
It seems to be the remnant of a large lake, which existed in this part,
before the fissure was made to allow the Zambesi to flow out. That part
of the country is described by many natives as being exceedingly marshy.
The Makoloko went up to the Shuia Lake and found all the country
exceedingly marshy, and a large lake seems to be actually in existence, or a
large marsh with islands in it. But it can scarcely be so extensive as has
been represented, as in that case I must have crossed part of it or heard
more of it.

Mr. F. Gatton, F.R.G.S.: I should be glad to ask Dr. Livingstone,
whether, in his route across Africa, he fell in with any members of the
Hottentot race. In old maps the northern limit of the Hottentot race is
placed but a short distance beyond the Orange River; later information has
greatly advanced their boundary, and in my own travels, I found what
appeared to be an important headquarters of that people, at latitude 18° South.
There they were firmly established in the land, and were on intimate terms
with their negro neighbours, the Ovampo. These Hottentots asserted that
their race was equally numerous still farther to the northward of the most
distant point I was able to reach, and I have been unable as yet, to obtain
any information by which any northern limit to the extension of the Hot-
tentot race can, with certainty, be laid down.

De. LiyinestonE: When I went up to discover Lake Ngami with Mr.
Oswell, I found people who have the ‘‘ click” in their language, and who
seem to be Hottentots; they had formerly large quantities of cattle, and

H 1

250 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

intermarry with the Bushmen. Again, two Portuguese of Loanda described
to me a people in 12° South as Bushmen, but I did not see them.

Mr. Gatton: I might mention in corroboration of Dr. Livingstone’s
report of a gradual desiccation of the Bechuana country, that the Damaras
entertain a precisely similar belief. They say that within the existing
generation, their country has become dried up to a marked extent; hence,
without doubt, this same physical phenomenon affects the entire breadth of
Southern Africa.

Dr. LivinestonE: You not only see remains of ancient rivers all through
the country, but you find actually the remains of fountains; you see holes
made in the solid rock, where the water has fallen, when flowing out of these
fountains, and you find in the sides of some of the holes, pieces of calcareous
tufa, that have been deposited from the flowing of the water.

Proressor Owen: I have listened with very intense interest to the
sketches of those magnificent scenes of animal life, that my old and most
esteemed friend, Dr. Livingstone, has given us. It recalls to my mind the
conversation I had the pleasure to enjoy with him in the Museum of the
College of Surgeons, seventeen years ago. I must say, that the instalment
which he has given us of his observations on animal life this evening, more
than fulfils the highest expectations that I indulged of the fruit that science
would receive from his intended expedition. It has, so far, exceeded all our
expectations ; but it is not only in reference to those magnificent pictures of
mammalian life,—that reference is to those new forms of that peculiar family
of ruminants, the antelopes; but it is to those indications of the evidence of
extinct forms of animal life which interest me still more. I hope some frag-
ments will yet come to us of those accumulated petrified remains of animals,
which it has been Dr. Livingstone’s good fortune, among many very wonderful
and unique opportunities of observing nature, to have seen.

Mr. J. Macqurgn, F.R.G.S., observed—Lacerda does not give either the
longitude or the latitude of Tete. He gives the latitude of Maxenga to the
north of Tete, 15 19’ South, the estimated distance to which from Tete,
according to the rate of time in travelling, places Tete, by my calculation, in
16° 20' South lat. Dr. Lacerda gives the latitude of the Isle of Mozambique,
at the western entrance of the Lupala, 16°31’ South. Dr. Livingstone gives
it 16° 34’, a concordance which proves the accuracy of both. Dr. Lacerda’s
accuracy, thus established, is of great importance, because he gives us two
important astronomical observations far to the northword. The first, at
Mazavamba, 12° 33’ South lat., and 32° 18 East long., and 20 miles south
of the Arroanga of the north, 260 miles from Tete, which is the same river as
that designated the Loangua by Dr. Livingstone, at its junction with the
Zambesi. The second observation was made at Muiro Achinto, now called
Chama, lat. 10° 20: South, and long. 30° 2: East, from which point Gamitto’s

MRS, LIVINGSTONE. 251

daily bearings and distances enable us to fix the capital of Cazembe with
sufficient accuracy. Westward of Mazavamba, about 60 miles, is the great
mountainous chain of Maxinga, or Muchinga, rising from 16,000 to 17,000
feet above the level of the sea. A branch of it runs north-east, another to the
westward, and a third to the S.8.W., by the Zumbo, stretching southward to
the mountains of Chidam and those called Mushome.

The accounts of the Embarah are fully substantiated by Brocheda and
the journeys of Ladislaus. Embarah is the Aimbara, or the chief tribe and
ruler of the great province of Quanhama, situated to the westward of the
great river Cubango. This river rises in Nanno, near the sources of the
Cunene, but instead of joining that river, as hitherto supposed, it pursues its
way on the westward of Bihe to the south-east, and joins the Leeambye, and
is doubtless the parent stream of the Chobe. This may give a great water
communication from the western portion of Bihe to the Indian Ocean, which
is important. The land to the east of Bihe is very high. It is, properly
speaking, the Libale. In July and August, the hills are reported to be
covered with snow, and the lakes and rivers to be completely frozen over.
This degree of cold so near the equator (14° to 15° South lat.) gives a very
high elevation. Ladislaus in his southern journey penetrated to 22° 5’ South
lat., and 22° 43° East long., at which point he must have been at one time only
about three days’ journey distant from the point where Dr. Livingstone was
at that time, and who was probably the white man of a party described as
riding on an ox. Ladislaus has also penetrated northwards and north-east-
wards around the Cassaby to 4° 41° South lat., and 25° 43° East long.

It affords me great pleasure to see Dr. Livingstone among us. I have
closely followed his journeys since I heard of him on the top of the volcanic
Bakkaluka hills riding on the ox, convinced that he would soon send us most
important information. Dr. Livingstone has travelled more in Africa than
any other traveller ancient or modern, while he has laid down with geographic
accuracy every point over which he travelled from sea to sea—the Atlantic to
the Indian Ocean.

Captain Varpon, F.R.G.S.: I beg to supply an omission which my
friend, Dr. Livingstone, has made this evening. He has expatiated at great
length on the amiability of the African ladies; but there is one lady whom I
met in South Africa, and from whom, I believe, many South African travellers,
whom I see in this room, experienced the greatest kindness and hospitality.
Dr. Livingstone has not made any allusion to her, and I rise to do so. This
lady, I need scarcely say, is his own wife. I observe here Colonel Steele,
Mr. Oswell, Mr. Gordon Cumming, and others, who will bear me out in say-
ing that we received the greatest kindness from Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone ;
their hospitality was unbounded, and I am glad of having this opportunity of
publicly thanking them before the Royal Geographical Society. Dr. Living-

252 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

stone has said, with his usual modesty, that he has not done much, that any
of us might have done as much. I beg to differ from him. As to my own
small excursion on the Limpopo, after what I have heard to-day, I feel so
ashamed of myself, that I fancy I have only just returned from Blackheath.

CotoneL STEELE, F'.R.G.S.: My travels in South Africa were much like
Captain Vardon’s. Dr. Livingstone was my earliest companion in Africa, but
we travelled such a short distance in company, that I am afraid any remarks
I could offer, beyond again returning my best thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Living-
stone for their hospitality, would be of no importance to the society.

The Presipent: Colonel Steele’s modesty has prevented him from stating
that without the instruments with which he had provided Dr. Livingstone, he
could not have made the excellent observations which have been obtained.

Mr. Gorvon Cummine begged to confirm what Captain Vardon had said
with respect to the kindness with which Dr. Livingstone received all parties
who visited him. He was not aware that Dr. Livingstone had alluded to the
insect (the tsetse) whose bite is fatal to cattle. One year, while hunting in
the mountains, he, Mr. Cumming, lost all his horses and oxen from the bites
of this fly, and if it had not been for the kindness of Dr. Livingstone in at
once sending him his own cattle, he would scarcely have been able to have
extricated himself from his dilemma and returned to Europe.

Mr. J. Crawrurp, F.R.G.S.: Perhaps Dr. Livingstone will have the
goodness to give us some notion of the state of society among these people,
especially among the tribes that inhabit the plateau valley. That ought to be
a place in which there is a considerable civilisation with a decent form of
government. ‘They seem to have many advantages, an excellent climate,
excellent soil, and an excellent supply of water. What is the state of the arts
among those people? Do they understand the art of making malleable iron
or steel? Do they know the use of any other metal, or the use of alloys, as
those of copper? Can they weave, or make bread? What plants do they
cultivate? And what are they likely to produce in exchange for our mer-
chandise ? I strongly suspect, from what Dr. Livingstone has said respecting
the women, that the great portion of the labour, even of the ficld, is left to
them, and is not performed by the men, otherwise how could the women be
able to feed the men? They must work in order to procure that with which
the men are fed. I expect the men are idle and the women laborious. Some
men would appear to have as many as five wives. How come they to
monopolise so many ?

Dr. Livinesrone said: The new articles of commerce that I observed are
chiefly fibrous substances, some of them excessively strong, and like flax.
They abound in great quantities on the north bank of the Zambesi. There
are also great quantities of a tree, the bark of the root of which is used by
the Portuguese and natives as the Cinchona. It has been employed in fever

MARKETABLE COMMODITIES. 253

by the aborigines of the country from time immemorial, and both the
Portuguese and my companions and myself found it very efficacious. It
is remarkable that where the fever most prevails, there the tree, which I
believe to be a cinchona, abounds. It seems the remedy is provided for the
disease, where it prevails most. Now, in connection with the opening up of
this river and the fever, I have seen on the banks of the Zambesi whole forests
ot this Cinchonaceous tree, particularly near Senna. A decoction of the bark
of the root has been found to act exactly as quinine: it is excessively bitter,
and may prove a good substitute. There is also Calumba root, which the
Americans purchase, to be used as a dye, and it is found in large quantities.
A species of sarsaparilla is to be found throughout the whole country. The
sugar-cane grows abundantly, but the natives have no idea of sugar, although
they have cultivated the cane from time immemorial. The chief of the
Makololo sent about thirty elephant tusks down to the coast, and gave me a
long list of articles, which I was to buy for him in the white man’s country.
As I had been entirely supported by him for several months, I thought it my
duty to accept his commission, and I intend to obtain these articles for him.
Among other things he ordered a sugar-mill. When he found that we could
produce sugar from the cane, he said, ‘‘If you bring the thing that makes
sugar, then I will plant plenty of cane, and be glad.”

Then, again, indigo grows all over the country in abundance. The town
of Tete has acres of it; in fact, it is quite a weed, and seems to be like that
which grows in India, for before the slave trade became so brisk indigo was ex-
ported from Tete. The country also produces the leaves of senna, and, as far
as I could ascertain, exactly like that which we import from Egypt. There is
plenty of beeswax through the whole country ; and we were everywhere invited
by the honey-bird to come to the hives. Any one who has travelled in Africa
knows the call of the honey-bird. It invites travellers to come and enjoy the
honey, andifyou followit, you are sure to be led to the honey. Somenatives have
given it a bad character. Sometimes, when a man follows the bird, he comes
in contact with a lion or a serpent, and he says, “It is a false bird, it has
brought me to the lion.” But if he had gone beyond the lion, he would have
come to the honey. The natives eat the honey and throw the wax away.
In Angola it is different. There, a large trade in wax is carried on, and the
bees are not so numerous as in the eastern parts of the country ; but here they
have no market. It was the same with ivory when Lake-Ngami was dis-
covered. They will not throw away an ounce of it now. Then, again, there
are different metals found. ‘There is a very fine kind of iron ore; and at
Cazembe there is much malachite, from which the natives extract copper.
Then there is gold round about the coal-field, and gold has been procured by
washing from time immemorial. In former times the Portuguese went to
different places for gold with large numbers of slaves. It was before the time

254 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the great exportation of slaves began. The chiefs had no objection to their
washing for gold, provided they gave a small present first. Then there is
coal near Tete; no fewer than eleven seams exist, one of which I found to be
58 inches in diameter. The coal has been lifted up by volcanic action.
There is also a hot spring there. The thermometer stands at 160°. The coal
from two of these seams could be easily exported, as they are situated on a
small river, about two miles below Tete, and the coal could with very little
trouble be brought down. When you go up the Luabo, or largest branch,
the river is rather narrow, but as you ascend it gets much broader. The
Mutu is another river that joins the Zambesi. At the point of junction of the
Mutu or Kilimane river with the Zambesi, the beginning of the Delta, that
river is three-quarters of a mile broad. When I passed down to that point
it was a deep, large river, as it was then full. The Portuguese tell me there
is always a large body of water in the river, during certain months in the
year. This great body of water, spread over a large space, is in the dry
season shallow, except in the channel, which is rather winding. At some
seasons the channel changes its course. There are many reedy islands in it,
and these are sometimes washed away. During five months of the year there
is plenty of water for navigation, and during the whole year there is water
enough for canoes. <A vessel of light draught like the Portuguese launches,
could go up to about 20 miles beyond Tete with the greatest ease, during
those months. At Kebrabasa in Chicova, there are rapids, caused by certain
rocks jutting out of the stream. I did not see them, as we were obliged in
our descent to leave the river, on account of the rivulets being filled by the
large river coming into flood, and to pass down by land all the way from the
hill Pinkue to Vunga, and thence to Tete. There is another rapid called
Kansala. Beyond that the river is smooth again, until you come to the
“Great Falls of Victoria,” where it would be quite impossible for any one to
go up, as it is a deep fissure or cleft.

Mr. Consut Brann, F.R.G.S8.: I am unwilling to be altogether silent on
the present interesting occasion, having resided a good many years in that
part of the West Coast of Africa which Dr. Livingstone visited, and where
our associate Mr. E. Gabriel still resides. I had been obliged by ill health to
leave the country shortly before Dr. Livingstone’s arrival; but the Doctor
could not have fallen into better hands than into those of Mr. Gabriel. It
was from a letter addressed by Mr. Gabriel to Lord Ellesmere, that this
society first heard of Dr. Livingstone’s arrival at Cassange. Mr. Gabriel
immediately sent an invitation to the Doctor to take up his abode with him,
during his stay at Loanda, and at his house the Doctor and his faithful com-
panions found a home. The Doctovr’s first report from Loanda to the London
Missionary Society, was written at his sick-bed by Mr. Gabriel’s own hand.
He accompanied the Doctor part of the way ov his return journey through

MAKOLOLO TRADING PARTY AT LOANDA. 255

Angola, and from that time up to the present, I have been in the habit of
receiving from him letters manifesting the deepest interest in the Doctor’s
progress in the interior of Africa. I wish to mention these facts in justice to
Mr. Gabriel, because on my arrival the other day in England, I received a
letter from him simultaneously with Dr. Livingstone’s arrival, in which he
expresses the utmost anxiety for the Doctor's safety. I have written, and a
letter is now on its way to Loanda, announcing the Doctor’s safe arrival
among us. But it is not only to Mr. Gabriel that I would allude; for when
Dr. Livingstone arrived at Loanda, I was delighted to hear how he had been
received by the Portuguese. I resided nearly nine years among this people,
and I can testify that I never received greater acts of kindness from any other
nation, than from them. I had among them some of my best friends, whose
friendship was unequivocally tested under trials and in sickness, and I was
delighted to hear that the same kindness which I had experienced at their
hands had been experienced by Dr. Livingstone. I am glad to have this
opportunity of testifying, in the presence of the Portuguese Minister, my
gratitude for the kindness I received from his countrymen during my
residence in the province of Angola.

But the consequences resulting from Dr. Livingstone’s journey, are
calculated to contribute so much to the interests of the Portuguese African
Colonies, that I am sure in time, they will be more than repaid for the kind-
ness they showed him. Dr. Livingstone’s arrival at Angola I look upon, as
one of those opportune events, which sometimes have an important influence
on the destinies of a country ; at no period could such a visit have been more
fortunate. The minds of men were unsettled in consequence of the depressed
condition of the peculiar traffic which had so long been paramount, and the
attention of thinking persons was turned to legitimate trade and the develop-
ment of the resources of the country. Farther, the Portuguese Government
had passed a measure for registering and gradually emancipating the slaves
in their colonies. Those who take an interest in the progress of the African
race will be glad to hear of this fact.

Dr. Livingstone arrived about this time, and showed that by opening up-
a communication with the interior of Africa, a rich trade might be carried on,
that would more than compensate for the loss the colony was likely to sustain
from the abolition of the slave trade. The Doctor prophesied that, very soon
after his journey had become generally known, an attempt would be made on
the part of the tribes in the interior, to communicate with the coast. This
prophecy has been fulfilled; for I learn from a communication from Mr.
Gabriel that a caravan of negroes, fitted out by Sekeletu and led by one of
the Arabs, who crossed from the coast of Zanzibar to Benguela in 1851, had
arrived at Loanda by way of Bihe. This expedition has not, it would seem,
been very profitable, owing to causes incident, I should hope, only to first

256 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

attempts; but I trust that experience will render the next more suc-
cessful. I shall not, at this late hour, read Mr. Gabriel’s very interest-
ing communication, but limit myself to stating the fact it announces,
which proves that the inland tribes are anxious to open up a commu-
nication with the coast, and shows how correctly Dr. Livingstone calculated
the result.

I wish to mention another result of Dr. Livingstone’s visit. At Loanda
we had but one small newspaper; the Doctor wrote a series of articles for it,
which appears to have stimulated a literary taste, and you here see the

‘ Loanda Aurora, a literary journal,” printed at the Government press, and,

I believe, one of the fruits of Dr. Livingstone’s visit to that city.

The Prestipent: I have now only to congratulate the meeting upon
having received so much instruction from Dr. Livingstone. I may well say
he has communicated to us the outlines of a book, which I hope will soon be
published for the information of the British public. Iam glad to add that
there is no person fuller of gratitude to the Portuguese than Dr. Livingstone
himself. If he has not here expatiated upon that subject, I can testify that
in private letters which he has addressed to me, he has uniformly dwelt
upon the very kind and liberal conduct of the Portuguese authorities, officers,
and people to himself and party. He was also most kindly received by
General Hay, commanding Her Majesty’s forces in the Mauritius, and
restored to health by the hospitality of our countryman.

Next day the London Missionary Society honoured him with a public
reception in Freemason’s Hall, and in the evening he was entertained at a
dinner by the Society at the Milton Club, Ludgate Hill. Both gatherings
were attended by a numerous and distinguished assemblage. At the latter,
Mrs. Livingstone was present in the gallery, and received a share in the
ovation with her husband.

A great meeting was held in the Egyptian Hall, Mansion House, the
Lord Mayor in the chair, for the purpose of raising a fund towards presenting
a testimonial to Dr. Livingstone. Upwards of £450 was subscribed in the
room. This sum was ultimately raised to one thousand guineas. In Scotland
a special Livingstone Testimonial Fund was instituted, and £1000 col-
lected. Addresses poured in upon the great traveller from all quarters. The
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge conferred the degree of D.C.L. and
LL.D. on him respectively. In his own country—Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Hamilton &c., presented him with the freedom of their corporations, and
entertained him at banquets, &c., &c. The Geographical Society of France
presented him with the gold medal for the year, and throughout the civilized
world the magnitude and importance of his discoveries were ungrudgingly
admitted, while the dauntless intrepidity of his character and the manly sim-

plicity of his bearing tended greatly to enhance the general estimate of his

THH PRESS ON DR. LIVINGSTONE. 257

worth. His appearance and manner on the platform at this time were thus
described in the Wonconformist newspaper :—

‘A foreign-looking person, plainly and rather carelessly dressed, of
middle height, bony frame, and Gaelic countenance, with short-cropped hair
and moustachios, and generally plain exterior, rises to address the meeting.
He appears to be about forty years of age. His face is deeply furrowed, and
pretty well tanned. It indicates a man of quick and keen discernment,
strong impulses, inflexible resolution, and habitual selfcommand. Unani-
mated, its most characteristic expression is that of severity; when excited, a
varied expression of earnest and benevolent feeling and remarkable NS
ment of the ludicrous in circumstances and character passes over it. :
When he speaks, you think him at first to be a Frenchman; but as he tells a
Scotch anecdote in true Glasgowegian dialect, you make up your mind that
he must be, as his face amehenies a countryman from the north. His com-
mand of his mother tongue being imperfect, he apologises for his broken,
hesitating speech, by informing you that he has not spoken your language for
nearly sixteen years; and then he tells you, as but a modest yet earnest man
can, concerning his travels. . . . His narrative is not very connected
and his manner is awkward, excepting once when he justifies his enthusiasm,
and once when he graphically describes the great cataract of Central Africa.
He ends a speech of natural eloquence and witty simplicity by saying that he
has ‘begun his work, and will carry it on.’ His broken thanks are drowned
by the applause of the audience.”

The press was not slow to acknowledge the greatness and importance of
the discoveries he had made, nor stinted in its admiration of the manner in
which he carried out his self-imposed task. The Star said, ‘‘ We believe that
along the whole line of eleven thousand miles which he traversed in Africa,
the name of Dr. Livingstone will awaken no memories of wrong or pain in the
heart of man, woman, or child, and will rouse no purposes of vengeance to fall
on the head of the next European visitor that may follow in his footsteps.
His experience has utterly belied the truculent theory of those who maintain
that barbarous and semi-barbarous nations can be influenced only by an appeal
to their fears, and that the safety of the traveller consists in a prompt and
peremptory display of force. . . . Dr. Livingstone, clothing himself in a
panoply of Christian kindness, passed unscathed among the warlike African
tribes, and won them to an exhibition of noble generosity of character towards
himself and his companions.” The ‘‘leader” wound up an eloquent tribute
with the following :—

“For seventeen years, smitten by more than thirty attacks of fever,
endangered by seven attempts upon his life, continually exposed to fatigue,
hunger, and the chance of perishing miserably in a wilderness, shut out from
the knowledge of civilized men, the missionary pursued his way, an apostle

pl

258 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and a pioneer, without fear and without egotism, without desire of reward. Such
a work, accomplished by such a man, deserved all the eulogy that can be be-
stowed upon it. For nothing is more rare than brilliant and unsullied success.”

Dr. Livingstone remained in England until the 10th of March, 1858, in
the interval publishing his ‘ Missionary Travels in South Africa,” a task
which he found so irksome as to induce him to say that he would rather cross
the continent of Africa from coast to coast once more than write another book.
Finding that his freedom of future action might be encumbered by his con-
tinuing his connection with the Missionary Society he separated himself from
it. His pay as a missionary was too small for the calls upon him as a son, a
husband, and a father; and he concluded, not unnaturally, that funds would
be forthcoming, through the aid of Government or otherwise, to enable him to
continue his efforts for the opening up of the interior of Africa for legitimate
commerce and the suppression of the slave trade. ‘‘ While I hope to continue
the same cordial co-operation and friendship which has always characterised
our intercourse, various reasons induced me to withdraw from pecuniary de-
pendence on any Society. I have done something for the heathen, but for an
aged mother, who has still more sacred claims than they, I have been able to
do nothing; and a continuance of the connection would be a perpetuation of
my inability to make any provision for her declining years.”

On the 18th of February, 1858, a Farewell Livingstone Festival took place
at the Freemasons’ Tavern, London, Sir Roderick Murchison in the chair.
Three hundred and fifty gentlemen, representing the elite of English society
in literature, science, art, politics, &c., sat down to dinner. The gallery was
occupied by a brilliant assemblage of ladies.

The toasts were given with all the honours, and the band of the
Grenadier Guards and the Duke of Argyle’s piper played Scotch and other
airs. After the usual loyal and formal toasts, Sir Roderick Murchison rose
amidst great applause, and said :—

‘“‘T rise, gentlemen, to propose the toast of the evening—‘ Health to the
excellent man who sits on my right hand, and success to his expedition.’
(Vehement and long continued applause.) When this farewell dinner to my
distinguished friend was suggested ten days ago only, by a few ardent
Geographers, with a request that I would take the chair, it might well have
been supposed that in so brief a space of time it would be difficult to obtain
an attendance worthy of the great occasion ; but I felt assured that the name
of Livingstone alone would attract an assembly larger than any room in
London could contain. (Cheers.) My anticipation, gentlemen, was correct ;
and it truly gratifies me to see that this impromptu ‘coup de voyageur’ has
brought together men of real distinction in all the great classes of the British
public. (Cheers.) The only weak part of the programme, I said to my
friends, would be that of your chairman (cries of ‘ No, no’); but at all events,

FAREWELL FESTIVAL. 259

you know, gentlemen, that my geographical friends and myself have done
our best to honour the great traveller and good missionary. (Cheers.)

“‘ At any public meeting held a year and a half ago, it would have been
necessary to dwell upon the merits of Livingstone; but now his name has
become a household word among my countrymen, and no efforts of mine can
raise him higher in that esteem which he has won for himself, and especially
I rejoice to say by the sale of 30,000 copies of the work issued by the flourish-
ing firm of Murray, Livingstone, and Co. (laughter), and by which he has
secured independence for himself, and a provision for his wife and family.
(Cheers. )

“‘ My eminent friend has not only made us thoroughly well acquainted
with the character and disposition of the inhabitants and the nature of the
animals and plants of the interior of Africa, but has realised that which no
missionary has ever accomplished before; since with consummate talent,
perseverence, and labour he has laid down the longitude as well as latitude of
places hitherto unknown to us, and has enriched every department of know-
ledge by his valuable and original discoveries. These are great claims upon
the admiration of men of science; but, great as they are, they fall far short
of others which attach to the name of the missionary who, by his fidelity to
his word, by his conscientious regard for his engagements, won the affections
of the natives of Africa by the example which he set before them in his treat-
ment of the poor people who followed him in his arduous researches through
that great continent. (Loud cheers.)

“« Sitting by my side (laying his hand on Dr. Livingstone’s shoulder) is
the man who, knowing what he had to encounter—who having twenty or
thirty times struggled with the fever of Africa—who, knowing when he
reached the western coast, at St. Paul de Loanda, that a ship was ready to
carry him to his native land, where his wife and children were anxiously
awaiting his arrival, true to his plighted word, threw these considerations,
which would have influenced an ordinary man, to the winds, and reconducted
those poor natives who had accompanied him through the heart of the country
back to their homes !—thus by his noble and courageous conduct leaving for
himself in that country a glorious name, and proving to the people of Africa
what an English Christian is. (Loud and long continued cheering.)

‘‘ So much for the character of the man of whom, as a Scotchman, I am
justly proud ; and now a few words with regard to his present expedition, of
which I may say that no enterprise could have been better organized than it
has been, under the recommendation of my distinguished friend, aided by the
countenance and hearty co-operation of Lord Clarendon, and the very
judicious arrangements of Captain Washington, the Hydrographer of the
Admiralty, on whom fortunately has fallen the chief labour of its organization.
(Loud cheers.) he naval officer of the expedition is Commander Bedingfeld,

260 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

a man well known to geographers for his successful explorations of the coast
and rivers of Western Africa, especially the Congo, and my dear friend will
no doubt receive substantial assistance from that gallant officer. (Cheers.)
Dr. Kirk, of Edinburgh, an accomplished botanist, zoologist, and physiologist,
also accompanies the expedition; whilst my clever young friend Richard
Thornton will, I doubt not, do good service as the mining geologist.
(Cheers.) Mr. Baines, too, whose previous travels in Africa and North
Australia and striking sketches are well known to the public, will be there ;
and last but not least in usefulness among the members of the expedition
let me mention Mrs. Livingstone. (Loud and long continued cheering.)

‘‘ When I remember the efforts which have been made in the cause of
Christianity and for the diffusion of knowledge by that exemplary lady (loud
cheers), when I know how she, the daughter of that faithful missionary, the
venerable Moftat, has educated her children, and when I see the spirit with
which she is again going to cross the broad seas and to share all the toils and
perils of her husband, I cannot but think that the services of Mrs. Livingstone
(acquainted as she is with many of the languages of South Africa) will tend
materially to the success of the expedition.* (Loud and protracted cheering.)

** But, gentlemen, I would not, however, wish you to raise your hopes too
high as to the immediate results of this expedition, which is in truth one of
an exploratory character only. It is, in fact, merely the sowing of the seed
which, under God’s Providence, may produce an abundant harvest. We
must not look to a sudden importation of indigo or of cotton, and those raw
materials which we manufacture in this country, nor must we expect suddenly
to light upon a new El Dorado; though I believe that my friend may find
districts which abound in gold and copper, and good thick coal-seams. |

‘Yet if, after all, those expectations to which the commercial world looks
should fail—if we gain nothing more than the implanting in Africa of that
good name which Dr. Livingstone is sure to leave (cheers), and that accession
to our knowledge which the discoveries of our great explorer are certain to
supply, and which it would be a disgrace to Britain not to endeavour to
obtain, even then I say that the Livingstone expedition will have a great and
a glorious issue. (Loud and long continued cheering.) I propose, therefore,
the health of our eminent friend Dr. Livingstone, and success to his noble
enterprise. (The toast was drunk with the utmost enthusiasm; and after the |
cheering had ceased, at the suggestion of a gentleman in the body of the
room, three more hearty cheers were given for Mrs. Livingstone.)”

The name of Sekeletu, chief of Livingstone’s Makololo friends, was
announced at the bottom of the room, and a cheer was claimed for him.

* As we shall see further on, Mrs. Livingstone did not go to Africa until Dr. Livingstone had been
for some time in the interior.

LIVINGSTONE’S HOUSE AT HAMILTON

FAREWELL FESTIVAL. 261

Dr. Livingstone, in rising to return thanks, showed unmistakeably how
much he was affected by the reception which he had met with. He said :—

*‘ When I was in Africa I could not but look forward with joyous antici-
pation to my arrival in my native land; but wheu I remember how I have
been received, and when I reflect that I am now again returning to the scene
of my former labours, I am at a loss how to express in words the feelings of
my heart. (Loud cheers.) In former times, while I was performing what I
considered to be my duty in Africa, I felt great pleasure in the work; and
now, when I perceive that all eyes are directed to my future conduct, I feel
as if I were laid under a load of obligation to do better than I have ever done
as yet. (Loud cheers.) I expect to find for myself no large fortune in that
country (renewed cheers), nor do I expect to explore any large portions of a
new country ; but I do hope to find in that part of the country which I have
partially explored, a pathway by means of the river Zambesi which may lead
to high lands where Europeans may form a healthful settlement, and where by
opening up communication and establishing commercial intercourse with the
natives of Africa they may slowly, but not the less surely, impart to the
people of that country the knowledge and the inestimable blessings of
Christianity. (Loud cheers.)

“Tam glad to have connected with me in this expedition my gallant
friend Captain Bedingfeld (hear, hear), who knows not only what African
rivers are, but also what are African fevers. (A laugh.) With his aid I may
be able to determine the principles of the river system of that great continent;
and if I find that system to be what I think it is, I propose to establish a
depot upon the Zambesi, and from that station more especially to examine
into that river system, which, according to the statements of the natives,
would afford a pathway to the country beyond, where cotton, indigo, and
other raw material might be obtained to any amount.

“‘T am happy also in being accompanied, as Sir Roderick has told you,
by men experienced in geology, in botany, in art, and in photography, who
will bring back to England reports upon all those points, which I alone have
attempted to deal with, and with very little means at my disposal. (Loud
cheers. )

“ The success—if I may call it suecess—which has attended my former
efforts (renewed cheering) to open up the country mainly depended upon my
entering into the feelings and the wishes of the people of the interior of Africa.
I found that the tribes in the interior of that country were just as anxious to
have a path to the seaboard as I was to open a communication with the
interior, and I am quite certain of obtaining the co-operation of those tribes
in my next expedition. Should I succeed in my endeavour—should we be
able to open a communication advantageous to ourselves with the natives of
the interior of Africa, it would be our duty to confer upon them those great

262 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

benefits of Christianity which have been bestowed upon ourselves. (Cheers.)
Let us not make the same mistake in Africa that we have made in India
(renewed cheering), but let us take to that country our Christianity with us.
(Cheers. )

*“T confess that I am not sanguine enough to hope for any speedy result
from this expedition, but I am sanguine as to its ultimate result. (Cheers.)
I feel convinced that if we can establish a system of free labour in Africa, it
will have a most decided influence upon slavery throughout the world. (Loud
cheers.) Success, however, under Providence, depends upon us as Englishmen.
I look upon Englishmen as perhaps the most freedom-loving people in the
world, and I think that the kindly feeling which has been displayed towards
me since my return to my native land has arisen from the belief that my
efforts might at some future time tend to put an end to the odious traffic in
slaves. (Loud cheers.) England has, unfortunately, been compelled to
obtain cotton and other raw material from slave States (cheers), and has thus
been the mainstay and support of slavery in America. Surely, then, it follows
that if we can succeed in obtaining the raw material from other sources than
from the slave States of America, we would strike a heavy blow at the system
of slavery itself. (Loud cheers.)

“JT do not wish, any more than my friend Sir Roderick, to arouse
expectations in connexion with this expedition which may never be realised,
but what I want to do is to get in the thin end of the wedge (cheers), and
then leave it to be driven home by English energy and English spirit. (Loud
cheers. )

““T cannot express to you in adequate language the sense which I
entertain of the kindness which I have received since my return to this
country, but I can assure you that I shall ever retain a grateful recollection of
the way you have received me on the eve of my departure from my native
land. (Cheers.)

‘Reference has been made in language most kind to Mrs. Livingstone.
(Cheers.) Now, it is scarcely fair to ask a man to praise his own wife
(laughter), but I can only say that when I left her at the Cape, telling her _
that I should return in two years, and when it happened that I was absent
four years and a half, I supposed that I should appear before her with a
damaged character. (Laughter.) I was, however, forgiven. (Laughter and
cheering.) My wife, who has always been the main spoke in my wheel, will
accompany me in this expedition, and will be most useful to me. She is
familiar with the languages of South Africa, she is able to work, she is willing
to endure, and she well knows that in that country one must put one’s hand
to everything. In the country to which I am about to proceed she knows
that at the missionary’s station the wife must be the maid-of-all-work within,
while the husband must be the jack-of-all-trades without, and glad am I

FAREWELL FESTIVAL. 263

indeed that Iam to be accompanied by my g guardian angel. (Loud cheering.)
Allow me, in conclusion, to say one word in reference to our excellent chair-
man. In packing up my things a few days ago, I found the identical address
which he delivered to the Geographical Society in 1852, and which he had
the impudence to send out to me in the heart of Africa, where it lay upon an
island a whole year before I got it. In that address my distinguished friend
actually foreshadowed a great portion of my discoveries; and all I can now
say is, that I hope he will not do the same again. (Laughter and long
continued applause.) ”

The company then gave “‘ Three times three for Mrs. Livingstone,” and
that lady, from the gallery, bowed in acknowledgment of the compliment.

The Duke of Argyle, in returning thanks for the House of Lords, said :—

*‘T deem it a great honour, gentlemen, to any Government and to any
Parliament to be able to assist in that noble enterprise to which Dr. Living-
stone has devoted his best energies, and to which he is now willing to devote
his life. Perhaps no enterprise of modern times has attracted so large an
amount of public attention; and this because it includes within itself almost
every variety and degree of interest. First and foremost there is the interest
which attaches to the character of the man; and it is right, gentlemen, that
this should be the first and foremost interest of all. The progress of the
world depends upon its great men; and happy is that people which knows
them when they appear. (Cheers. )

“‘ Dr. Livingstone has to-night told us, with that moderation and sobriety
of expectation aan is one of the most remarkable characteristics of his mind,
that he looks for no great immediate results; but he hopes, he says, to be
able to serve as the ‘small end of the wedge.’ Now, gentlemen, I say that
at all times and in all successful movements for the improvement of the human
race, ‘the small ends of the wedge’ have been individual men of great
endowments for their special work. (Loud cheers.)

“T will not dwell on some of those features in the character of Dr.
Livingstone which have been referred to With so much feeling by our chair-
man; but I think I cannot go far wrong when I say that one thing at least
for which he is admired by his countrymen is for that lofty and enduring
courage—that true British pluck—for there is no better word—of which we
have lately seen many noble examples, but which has never been exhibited in
a nobler form than that which—not under the strong incitement of a desire to
preserve the lives of those nearest and dearest to him, or of the pride, the
just pride of national dominion, but for objects hid in the far distant future—
has sustained Dr, Livingstone for years through the deserts and the swamps
of Africa. Then, as another great source of public interest, there is the love
of natural science. I recognise around me the faces of many who are devoted
to that science in its various branches: nor is there one of them who may not

264 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

reasonably expect material additions to his knowledge from the researches of
our guest. Dr. Livingstone has told us how our chairman, in two great
branches of inquiry in which he is almost equally distinguished, had in some
degree anticipated and forestalled the result of his (Dr. Livingstone’s) dis-
coveries ; and sharing as I am sure our chairman does in the higher interests
of this expedition, he cherishes also, I suspect, a secret hope that it may add
another province to the already extended dominions of the Silurian king.
(Laughter.) I see at this table my distinguished friend Professor Owen. He
also, gentlemen, is well able—no man more able—to appreciate the ‘ higher
ends’ of our guest’s exertions; but mingled with his interest in these, he too
perhaps has an eye open to special pursuits—and to bones which may extend
the range of his favourite ‘ homologies.’ (Laughter.)

‘But the real source, gentlemen, of the interest taken by the public in
the enterprise of Dr. Livingstone, is the deep and abiding interest which they
take in that great cause with which it is specially connected—that great cause
to which their attention was roused in the last generation by the eloquence of
Wilberforce and his associates—the cause of the African race. (Cheers.) I
have been astonished during this last week to receive from America a journal
containing the report of a discussion which has lately taken place in the
Senate of that great Republic, in which it was asserted that there were evident
symptoms of a change of feeling upon this subject in England. And I was
even more surprised to see the reply made to that assertion by another
member of the same body, which was to the effect that he did not believe
there was any change on the part of the people of this country, although he
feared there was a change of policy on the part of its Government. Now,
gentlemen, there is nothing I am more anxious to say on this occasion than
to give an emphatic denial to both assertions. (Cheers.) ‘There is no change
in the feeling of the people—as little is there any change in the policy of the
Government. I need hardly say that as regards slavery in America the
Government of this country neither has, nor can have, any policy at all.
There can be no doubt that any ‘public or official interference on our part
upon that subject would only tend to add to the many powerful motives
already arrayed on the side of slavery, the just susceptibilities of national
independence. But as regards the policy of the Government with reference
to the slave-trade, and generally towards the African race, it is the same as it
has ever been since this country was awakened to her duty. I think I could
appeal to the keenest opponent of Lord Palmerston whether, during his long
and distinguished public career, there has been any subject on which he has
shown more constantly his characteristic energy and tenacity of purpose.
(Cheers.) I can sincerely say that the great motive which has induced him
and my noble friend Lord Clarendon, and the other members of the Govern-
ment, to support the enterprise of Dr. Livingstone, has been the hope that

FAREWELL FESTIVAL. 265

it may tend to promote the civilization and improvement of the people of
Africa. (Loud applause.) ;

‘“‘ Before I sit down, gentlemen, I trust I may be allowed to refer for a
moment to a matter which has been touched upon by our chairman. I am
proud of Dr. Livingstone not only as a Scotchman, but as a native of that
part of the country with which I am more particularly connected. Dr.
Livingstone has himself informed me that at a very recent period his family
came from the little island of Ulva, on the coast of Argyllshire, an island
belonging to what Sir Walter Scott has called

‘‘the group of islets gay

That guard famed Staffa round.”
And I deem it, gentlemen, a circumstance not altogether unworthy of remark,
that Ulva stands in very close proximity to another island which was one of
the earliest seats of missionary enterprise in our own country. Most of you
will probably recollect the famous sentence in which the great moralist and
philosopher of England, Dr. Johnson, records his visit to that celebrated spot.
I think I can remember it with substantial accuracy. ‘ We were now treading
that illustrious island whence roving tribes and rude barbarians derived the
benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion. The philosophy of that
man is but little to be envied whose patriotism would not kindle on the plains
of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of
Iona.’ If such be the feelings with which we should tread upon the spot
which at the distance of so many centuries has been hallowed by the footsteps
of the Christian missionary, surely it is with something of the same feelings
of reverence with which we should assemble here to-night, to bid God-speed
to one whose name will be remembered in after ages, and perhaps by millions
of the human race, as the first pioneer of civilization and the first harbinger

of the Gospel.” ,
In proposing the toast of the various missionary societies, Sir Benjamin

Brodie said :—

““T shall not occupy your time, gentlemen, for more than a few minutes
before I name the toast which I have undertaken to propose.

‘““ We recognize in Dr. Livingstone the intrepid and enterprising traveller,
exploring regions which, in great part at least, had not been before explored
by Europeans, contributing to the general stock an abundance of valuable
information in geography, in natural history, in geology ; associating with
races of mankind of whom we had little or no previous knowledge, conversing
with them in their own language, familiarising himself with their habits,
institutions, and modes of thought; and thus promoting the advancement of
that most important of all the sciences, the science of human nature.

(Cheers. )
“Nor was Dr. Livingstone thus occupied, as in the case of ordinary

ri

266 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

travellers, for a few months or for one or two years, but for many successive
years. During this long period he continued his researches with unabated
zeal; without being appalled by danger, or disheartened by the privations to
which he was subjected, or the difficulties which he had to encounter ; not the
least of these being, repeated and severe attacks of bodily illness. (Cheers.)

‘“‘ But Dr. Livingstone is also presented to us under another aspect, as a
Christian missionary, using his endeavours to extend the advantages of
civilization, not after the fashion of the Roman conquerors of Gaul and
Britain, by transplanting, at the cost of rapine and bloodshed, the arts and
sciences of an older and more civilised people into the conquered country,
but by communicating knowledge, promoting education, and inculcating the
principles of a religion which enjoins the exercise of kindness, charity, and
justice, which tells us that we are to forgive our enemies, and do unto others
as we would that they should do unto us.

‘“‘ There are others in Africa engaged in the same pursuits, who, however
occupied with their duties as missionaries, have found leisure from time to
time to transmit to Europe important information on other subjects, and to
whom science is much indebted; and I have to propose to you as a toast—
‘The Members of the Missionary Societies who by their Christian labours
have so much enlarged our acquaintance with Africa and its inhabitants.’ ”
(Cheers.)

The Bishop of Oxford, in proposing the health of Sir Roderick Murchison,
said :—

“Tn proposing, therefore, gentlemen, to you the health of our chairman,
I know that I have with me the universal concurrence of all the members of
this great gathering. (Cheers.) In truth, sir, for reasons which connect
themselves immediately with our important object to-night, you are the fittest
man amongst us to occupy that post. For you as a most distinguished
geologist and geographer, and as the head of the Royal Geographical Society,
have done more by far than any who have not carefully examined the whole
matter can conceive, both to support our enterprising friend Dr. Livingstone
during his arduous undertakings, and finally to crown them with success.
(Cheers. )

‘¢ Gentlemen, I need but draw your attention for a single moment to the
pregnant words in which Dr. Livingstone has dedicated his recent volume to
our chairman in order to convince you of this. Weigh well these words, ‘ as
a token of gratitude for the kind interest he has always taken in the author’s
pursuits and welfare ;’ and then remember the simple-hearted, truth-speaking
writer from whose pen they flowed, and you will be more able to estimate
what were really our chairman’s services in this great undertaking. (Cheers.)

“Truly it does need the combination of different men and different
faculties before any such vast undertaking as this can be achieved. There

FAREWELL FESTIVAL. 267

must be, first, the physical, the intellectual, the moral, and the spiritual
faculties combined in one person, which are so eminently combined in Dr.
Livingstone, before the actual agent in such explorations can be provided.
But then beyond these personal qualifications he must have support from
home ; there must be the mere physical support, as I may call it, of money,
means, ships, companions, goods for presents, and the like; and then, far
beyond these, there must be that internal consciousness of possessing the
sympathy of hearty, generous, trusting friends at home; that inward stirring
of a true national life within the individual; the reflection within himself of
the outcoming towards him of the strong national life at home which makes
the poet, or the hero, or the great explorer. In how many times of trial,
difficulty, and despondency does the stirring of this inward life again invi-
gorate the far-off man in the midst of his lonely wanderings in the desert!
(Cheers. )

“But then the existence of this home remembrance must, in a great
degree, depend on there being at home some few who are able and willing
generously to keep alive the home remembrance of the absent man and an
interest in his work. For at home all things are moving so fast that things
out of sight are soon things out of mind. The world round us goes at such
speed, its objects, its cares, its pleasures, its amusements, its entanglements,
shift and vary with such rapid and endless permutation, that unless there be
some ‘ sacred prophet’ evermore at hand to sing to us of the absent, he passes
out of remembrance; and this work for Dr. Livingstone was done by our
chairman: from the chair of the Geographical Society, amongst men of
science, amongst statesmen, he kept alive the interest which was due to
Livingstone and his work. And how well qualified above other men he was
to do this, the rest of that dedication shows: for it embalms the really
remarkable fact already alluded to, that our chairman by his mere scientific
deductions had arrived at the true hypothesis as to the physical conformation
of the African continent which Livingstone verified by actual observation.
And so, for these discoveries, there were combined the various necessary con-
ditions—(Cheers}—the Geographical Society, headed by its president, to
solicit the Government to keep alive the interest of the public, and so to
support the enterprising traveller. He, too, combined in himself rare
faculties for his work of stepping out, if I may so express it, as to African
explorations the first track of civilized feet on the dangerous and untrodden
snows, which at any moment might be found to have merely loosely covered
fathomless abysses. He had the physical strength needed for such work.
He had the capacity for understanding the greatness of his enterprise, and,
gentlemen, I believe him to be full of the truest greatness. (Cheers.)

“You will not think that I speak too strongly when I say that I believe
we owe a debt of unparalleled magnitude to our dark brethren dwelling in

268 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

that great continent. For we, as a nation, were of old the great founders
and the great conductors of the accursed slave-trade. Complete at last, thank
God! but late as well as complete, was our repentance, and all that we can
do we are bound to do to remedy the wrongs we have inflicted. And fearful
have they been. How humiliating is it to us in our talk of the onward march
of civilization, and of piercing with our discoveries into the heart of African
barbarism, to learn from Dr. Livingstone that he can trace by the presence of
vice, and crime, and rapine, and distrust, and insecurity of property and life,
the very limits of the past intercourse of the black savages of Africa with the
white Christians of Europe! (Cheers.) For it was not only on the coast
line that deep injury was inflicted by that accursed trade; but far within
that coast line, wherever the agents of that traffic penetrated, there were
contamination and destruction. And how can this evil be undone? Much
may be done by our naval squadron, and for doing anything by any means I
am convinced that its vigorous maintenance is essential ; but the best successes
of that blockade can only create the calm necessary for the working of other
influences, and amongst the very first, if not actually as the very first, of
those influences I esteem the establishment of lawful commerce. (Cheers.)

““ Now, this Livingstone had the grasp of mind to perceive; to see that
he should be most effectually opening the way for the future evangelisation of
Africa, if he first opened a path by which lawful Christian commerce could
pass and repass into those hitherto separated regions. (Cheers.)

‘Well, but in addition to this he had many other faculties, which all
made up together the combination necessary to qualify him to act as the true
discoverer of Africa. For, besides what I have named already, he had a clear,
shrewd, strong understanding, great simplicity, great power of mastering
languages, great courage, great power of influencing others, great gentleness
by which he won on their affections, and, above all, he had, to qualify him
for his work, downright, straightforward, sterling British truth and honesty.
(Great cheering.)

‘‘ For supporting, then, this man as he has supported him, we owe, I
think, all thanks and honour to our chairman, and I call upon you to drink
with all the honours long life and happiness to him.”

Professor Owen, in proposing the toast of ‘“‘ The Universities and
Scientific Bodies,” which have united the geographers to honour Livingstone,
said :—

‘“T rise to express the pleasure with which I avail myself of the oppor-
tunity I am favoured with of publicly acknowledging the deep sense of the
obligation which, in common with all men of science, and more especially the
cultivators of natural history, I feel towards the distinguished traveller we
have this day assembled to honour. (Cheers.)

“‘ During the long and painful journeyings by which the great geographi-

FAREWELL FESTIVAL. 269

eal discoveries were made that place the name of Livingstone among the
foremost in that science—though harassed by every difficulty, enfeebled by
sickness and encompassed by dangers—in perils of swamps and waters, in
perils of noxious and destructive beasts, or of crafty and hostile men—yet no
phenomenon of nature, whether meteoric or living, appears to have escaped
the clear glance and self-possessed cognition of the determined explorer.
(Loud cheers.)

‘Tn regard to zoology, I must state that I never perused the work of any
traveller from which I had to take, from the same number of pages, so many
extracts of new and original notices of the living habits of rare animals, as
from the volume of African travels of which Mr. Murray now announces the
‘Thirtieth Thousand.’ In this work the South African colonist and the
entomologist are alike benefited by the most precise and authentic evidence
yet obtained of the terrible tsetse-fly, and its fatal effects on the ox, horse,
dog, and other animals indispensable to colonising progress. The scientific
staff about to accompany Livingstone in his second exploration of the
Zambesi will doubtless, aided by his experience, clear up all the mystery
of this most extraordinary property attributed to an insect no bigger
than the house-fly. In the same unpretending volume we find a rich
store of new facts in natural history, told with the charm of direct transcript
from nature, and with the raciness of original power, and that humour which
is so often the concomitant of great and simple minds. In regard to the
singular economy of the ants and teremites, with what interest we read of the
unhooking of the wings by the insect itself after the nuptial flight, when the
bride, her one holiday excursion ended, lays down her ‘limber fans’ of
glistening gauze, and betakes herself henceforth to the duties of domestic life,
—of the untiring activity of the workers, under the scorching sun, which
unweariedness the deep-thinking traveller illustrates by comparison with the
beating of the heart, perhaps unconscious of the profound physiological truth
embodied in this comparison of insect movements with the involuntary or
reflex muscular action in higher animals! How mysterious seems that power
of most rapid diffusion of a subtle penetrating effluvium, which Livingstone
notices as the defence of certain ants, with experimental determinations of
distance and rate of progress of the emanation! (Applause.) The same
faculty of exact inquiry is manifested in the experiments, which remind us of
those of Hunter—born, like Livingstone, in the parish of Kilbride—by which
our traveller determined the independent source of the fluid secretion of the
tree-insect, from which it dripped in such extraordinary quantity, both whilst
attached to the twig and when insulated from its sap-vessels. The ornitho-
logist has wondered at the seeming monstrous beaks of the hornbills, little
dreaming of that strange economy manifested in the voluntary imprisonment
of the incubating female, plastered up with her nest in the cleft of a tree, a

270 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

fissure only being left through which she can protrude the tip of her long bill
to receive food from her attendant mate, and he, reciprocally, poke his into
the procreative prison to tempt her with some dainty. (Applause.)

‘“‘ Of the ostrich much has been written; yet we wanted Livingstone’s
testimony of the vocal power of the wild male, roaring like the lion, and only,
as our traveller tells us, distinguishable by being heard in broad day instead
of by night. (Continued applause.) Of the king of beasts himself the
volume contains the richest storehouse of facts, from direct and varied
observations of him in his native wilderness. .

‘“‘ Perhaps, however, this is the part of our friend’s book that has failed
to give unmixed satisfaction to the British public. We dislike to have our
settled notions disturbed by provokingly unvarnished, uncompromising asser-
tions of facts that militate against a cherished prepossession. Some of us feel
rather sore at our notions of the majesty of England’s old emblematic beast
being upset by the sum of our guest’s opportunities of intimate acquaintance
with the natural disposition and habits of the lion of South Africa. (Laughter.)
Fearfully intimate, indeed, was part of his experience! That direful grip—
which since has left one arm a dangling appendage—when the dishevelled
mane of the irate monster was tossed about his victim’s head, and the hot
breath driven with deafening roar into his ear!—did it shake all respect for
the traditional nobility of the lion out of the Doctor’s mind? Certain it is,
the sum of his recorded observations shows the lion to be a slothful, skulking,
cruel beast of prey,—by no means the psychical compound we have delighted
to associate with our national emblem. (Laughter.) Perhaps, however, I
have a word of comfort for those who would still glorify its type. Species
differ in habits. The British hon is not a mere heraldic monster, but was
once a grim flesh-and-blood reality. I have had the satisfaction of deter-
mining that the Fels spelea of our Yorkshire, Somersetshire, and Devonshire
bone-caves was a veritable lion, surpassing in bulk, and with paws of twice
the relative size, of those of the largest living lion of North or South Africa.
The old British species has passed away—at least he now only shakes his
mane and roars in metaphor (continued laughter); but the extinct antetype
may have possessed all the qualities which his most ardent admirer would
have ascribed to him. (Cheers.)

‘It is hard for the naturalist, when on his favourite topic, to forbear
gleaning from Livingstone’s full and rich storehouse of facts about buffaloes,
rhinogeroses, elephants, and so forth. But the hour reminds me that time has
fled apace—quickly because so pleasantly.

“Our excellent chairman has pointedly adverted to one quality in
Livingstone—his inflexible adherence to his word. (Cheers.) It is shown in
small as well as great things. When, eighteen years ago, the young
missionary was preparing himself for his task, he devoted part of his short

FAREWELL FESTIVAL. 271

leisure in London to studying the science of comparative anatomy in the
Hunterian Museum, then under my charge. On taking leave of me he
promised to bear me in mind if any particular curiosity fell in his way.
Such an one did in the course of his Zambesi travels—the tusk of an elephant
with a spiral curve. It was a heavy one; and you may recall the difficulties
of the progress of the weak, sick traveller, on the bullock’s back. Every
pound weight was of moment; but Livingstone said, ‘ Owen shall have this
tusk,’ and he placed it in my hands in London. (Loud cheers.)

‘Tn the perusal of the missionary’s travels it is impossible not to infer the
previous training of a strong and original mind richly and variously stored ;
not otherwise could science have been enriched by such precious records of
wanderings in a previously untrod field of discovery. Our honoured guest
may feel assured that whilst the cultivators of science yield to no class of
minds in their appreciation and reverence of his dauntless dissemination of
that higher wisdom which is not of this world, such feelings enhance their
sense of obligation for his co-operation in the advancement of that lower
wisdom which our great poet defines as ‘resting in the contemplation of
natural causes and dimensions.’ (Applause.)

“Every man to whom it has been given to add to human knowledge
looks back with grateful feelings to the school or college where he acquired
his elements of the sciences. With the same feeling that Livingstone may
recall the old lecture halls at Glasgow, so do I those of Edinburgh. We may
both rejoice that the natural sciences have always had so large a share of the
teachings in those universities. At the same time we cannot forget that we
have both been honoured by a degree from the oldest and most classical
university of England.”

At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, subsequent to Living-
stone’s departure for the Zambesi, Sir Roderick Murchison indicated the
objects he had in view, and his fitness for carrying them to a successful issue,
in the following :—

“‘ Having observed in the character of my friend Dr. Livingstone a happy
union of simplicity, patience, unruffled temper, and kindness, with quickest
perception, and the most undaunted resolution, I feel persuaded that, vast as
have been his achievements, he is still destined to confer great advantages
upon South Africa and his own country. His aim, when he returns to Kili-
mane and Tete, in the spring of 1858, or the first period of the healthy
season, and after he has rejoined his old companions the Makololo, who are
anxiously waiting for him, will be to endeavour to establish marts or stations
beyond the Portuguese colony, to which the inhabitants of the interior may
bring their goods for sale, and where they may interchange them for British
produce. At these stations, which will be in those flanking, high grounds of
the African continent that he has described as a perfect sanatoria, he will en-

272 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

deavour to extend the growth of cotton, as well as to teach the natives how
to till their land, taking out with him for these intents cotton-seed, gins,
ploughs, &c. He will further endeavour to bring to the English market a
vegetable called Buaze, which possesses so tough and fibrous a tissue as to
render it of great value even to the natives in their rude manufactures.
Specimens of this plant, which grows in profusion on the north bank of the
Zambesi, have been converted into a substance that has been pronounced by
a leading manufacturer to be worth, when prepared, between fifty and sixty
pounds per ton, and applicable to all purposes for which flax is employed.
In this material, therefore, alone, to say nothing of indigo, cotton, beeswax,
ivory, and the ores of iron, with much good coal, we have sufficient indication
that no time should be lost in establishing a regular intercourse with the
natives of so prolific a region.

“Thus, acting as the pioneer of civilisation, Dr. Livingstone will first
engage the good will of the natives through their love of barter, and, having
secured their confidence by honesty of purpose, he will the more readily be
able to lead them to adopt the truths of that religion of which he is a minister,
and of the value of which his whole life is a practical illustration.

‘‘ Fortunate is it for our country that we have in the Earl of Clarendon
a Minister of Foreign Affairs, who not less than the noble Premier has been
the consistent and vigorous supporter of every measure tending to root out
the trade in slaves; and impressed as our Government is with the desire to
sow those seeds of civilization among the natives, and probably realise the
cheering prospect of a great production of the raw material necessary for our
manufactures by the independent nations of Africa, let us hope that, whilst
the Niger or Kwara Expedition under Baikie, to which I have adverted, is
working towards that good end upon the West, the benevolent and enter-
prising Livingstone, already so dear to the natives, may be sent back to
reside among his friends the Makololo, as the ‘ Agent of the Queen of the
people who love the Black Man.’”

CHAPTER XIII.

Dr. Livingstone and His Fellow Travellers Leave for Africa.—Ascend the Zam-
besi.—Difficuliies of Navigation—Ascend the Shire-—Discover Lakes Shirwa
and Nyassa.

HE interest felt by the public in the second mission of Dr. Living-
stone to Africa was shared by the Government of the day. Lord
Palmerston, who was then at the head of Her Majesty’s Government,
readily assented to rendering assistance to enable him to prosecute his
researches in the valley of Zambesi. Lord Clarendon then held the seals of
the Foreign Office, and under his auspices a mission was formed and means
furnished to enable Dr. Livingstone to provide himself with efficient assistance
and equipment for the proper prosecution of his new enterprise. This provi-
sion included his brother, the Rey. Charles Livingstone, who had joined him
from the United States, Dr. Kirk, as botanist, since well-known to the public
as Her Majesty’s Consul at Zanzibar, Mr. R. Thornton, as geologist and
naturalist, Mr. Baines, as artist, and Captain Bedingfeld, as navigator and
surveyor of the river systems. A small steamer constructed of steel, and chris-
tened the Wa-Robert in honour of Mrs, Livingstone, was specially designed
for the navigation of the Zambesi.

The party proceeded to the Cape on board Her Majesty’s Colonial steam-
ship, Pearl, where they were joined by Mr. Francis Skead, R.N., as surveyor,
and arrived off the mouths of the Zambesi in May. The real mouths of the
Zambesi were little known, as the Portuguese Government had let it be
understood that the Killimane was the only navigable outlet of the river.
This was done to induce the English cruisers employed in the suppression of
the slave trade to watch the false mouth, while slaves were quietly shipped
from the true one; this deception being arepacetesl—aren after the publication
of Livingstone’s Janae a map issued by the Portuguese colonial
minister. The Ma-Robert was put together and launched, and “Pion inlets to
the river, each of them superior to the Killimane, Fiseonaned and examined.
The four mouths are known as the Milambe, the Luabo, the Timbwe, and the
Kongone; the latter being selected as the most navigable.

Dr. Livingstone’s manly exposure of the deception practised by the Portu-
guese Government for the purpose of encouraging the slave trade, excited the
wrath and jealousy of the Portuguese Government officials, who have vainly

L1

274 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

endeavoured to throw discredit upon his discoveries. This feeling was not
shared by the local authorities, who were, or pretended to be, really ignorant
of the existence of the true channel, and showed their appreciation of his
discovery by establishing a fort at the mouth of the Kongone.

Steaming up the channel, the natives retreating in terror at their approach,

the party had an opportunity of admiring the fertility of the soil, and the
abundant animal and vegetable life with which the delta abounds. The
delta is much larger than that of the Nile, and if properly cultivated would,
Livingstone thinks, grow as much sugar-cane as would supply the wants of
the whole of Kurope. The dark woods of the delta ‘resound with the lively
and exultant cries of the kinghunter, as he sits perched on high among the
trees. As the steamer moves on through the winding channel, a pretty little
heron or bright kingfisher darts out in alarm from the edge of the bank.
The magnificent fishhawk sits on the top of a mangrove tree digesting his
morning meal of fresh fish, and is clearly unwilling to stir until the imminence
of the danger compels him at last to spread his great wings for flight. The
glossy ibis, acute of ear to a remarkable degree, hears from afar the unwonted
sound of the paddles, and, springing from the mud where his family has been
quietly feasting, is off screaming out his loud, harsh, and defiant ha! ha! ha!
long before the danger is near.”

‘‘The mangroves are now left behind, and are succeeded by vast level
plains of rich dark soil, covered with gigantic grasses, so tall that they tower
over one’s head, and render hunting impossible. Beginning in July, the grass
is burned off every year after it has become dry. . . . Several native huts
now peep out from the bananas and cocoa-palms on the right bank; they
stand on piles a few feet above the level of the low damp ground, and their
owners enter them by means of ladders.” The native gardens were in a high
state of cultivation—rice, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes, cabbages,
onions, peas, cotton, and sugar-cane being freely cultivated. The natives
they met with were well fed, but very scantily clothed. They stood on the
banks and gazed with wonder at the Pearl and the Ma-Robert, one of them,
an old man, asking if the former was made out of one tree. They were all
eager to trade, coming alongside the steamers in their canoes with fruit, and
food, and honey, and beeswax, and shouting ‘‘ Malonda, Malonda !—Things
for sale.”

When the water became too shallow for the passage of the Pearl, she left
the party; Mr. Skead and a Mr. Duncan, who had accompanied them from
the Cape, returning with her. Several members of the expedition were left on
an island, which they named Expedition Island, from the 18th of June until the
13th of August, while the others were conveying the goods up to Shupanga and
Senna. This was a work of some danger, as the country was in a state of
war—a half-caste chief, called Mariano, who ruled over the country from the

DR. LIVINGSTONE UNDER FIRE. 275

Shire down to Mazaro at the head of the Delta, having waged war against the
Portuguese for some time previous to their visit. He was a keen slave-hunter,
and kept a large number of men well armed with muskets. So long as he
confined himself to slave-hunting forays among the helpless tribes, and
carried down his captives in chains to Kilimane, where they were sold and
shipped as ‘‘free emigrants” to the French island of Bourbon, the Portuguese
authorities did not interfere with him, although his slave-hunting expeditions
were conducted with the utmost atrocity, he frequently indulging his thirst for
blood by spearing large numbers of helpless natives with his own hand.
Getting bolder, he began to attack the natives who were under the protection
of the Portuguese, and then war was declared against him. He resisted for
a time; but fearing that he would ultimately get the worst of it, he went to
Kilimane to endeavour to arrange for peace with the governor; but Colonel
da Silva refused his proffered bribes, and sent him to Mozambique for trial.
When Livingstone’s party first came in contact with the rebels at Mazaro,
they looked formidable and threatening ; but on being told that the party were
English, they fraternised with them, and warmly approved of the objects of
the expedition.

A little later, a battle was fought between the contending parties within
a mile and a half of Livingstone’s party; and on landing to pay his respects
to several of his old friends who had treated him kindly on the occasion of
his former appearance amongst them, he found himself among the mutilated
bodies of the slain. The governor was ill of fever, and Livingstone was re-
quested to convey him to Shupanga; and just as he had consented, the battle
was renewed, the bullets whistling about his ears. Failing to get any assist-
ance, Livingstone half supported and half carried the sick governor to the
ship. His Excellency, who had taken nothing for the fever but a little
camphor, and being a disbeliever in Livingstone’s mode of treatment, was
after some difficulty cured against his will. A little after this, Bonga,
Mariano’s brother, made peace with the governor, and the war came to
an end.

For miles before reaching Mazaro, the scenery is uninteresting, consisting
of long stretches of level grassy plains, the monotony of which is broken here
and there by the round green tops of stately palm-trees. Sandmartins flitted
about in flocks, darting in and out of their holes in the banks. On the
numerous islands which dot the broad expanse of the stream, many kinds of
water-fowl, such as geese, flamingoes, herons, spoonbills, etc., were seen in large
numbers. Huge crocodiles lay basking on the low banks, gliding sluggishly
into the stream as they caught sight of the steamer. The hippopotamus
“rising from the bottom, where he has been enjoying his morning bath after
the labour of the night on shore, blows a puff of spray out of his nostrils,
shakes the water out of his ears, puts his enormous snout up straight and

276 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

yawns, sounding a loud alarm to the rest of the herd, with notes as of a mon-
strous bassoon.”

The Zulus or Landeens are the lords of the soil on the right bank of the
Zambesi, and take tribute from the Portuguese at Senna and Shupanga.
Each merchant pays annually 200 pieces of cloth of sixteen yards each, be-
side beads, and brass wire; and while they groan under this heavy levy of
black mail, they are powerless, as a refusal to pay it would involve them in a
war in which they would lose all they possess. In the forests near Shupanga,
a tree, called by the natives mokundu-kundu abounds; it attains to a great size,
and being hard and cross-grained, is used for the manufacture of large canoes.
At the time of Livingstone’s visit, a Portuguese merchant at Kilimane paid
the Zulus 300 dollars per annum for permission to cut it.

Livingstone’s old friends, Colonel Nunes and Major Sicard, received the
traveller and his party with much goodwill, causing wood to be cut for fuel
for the steamer. The wood used for this purpose was lignum vite and African
ebony; Rae, the engineer, knowing the value of these at home, ‘said it made
his heart sore to burn woods so valuable.” _ The india rubber tree and calumba
root were found to be abundant in the interior; and along the banks of the
river, indigo was growing in a wild state. The Ma-Robert turned out a
failure, the builder, having deceived Livingstone as to her power, &e. It
took hours to get up steam, and she went so slowly that the heavily-laden
native canoes passed more rapidly up the river than she did. One can hardly
think with temper on a misadventure like this, and can readily sympathise
with his feeling of annoyance when he found that for all practical purposes
she was worse than useless. Near the mouth of the Shire, Bonga, with some
of his principal men visited the party ; and in addition to assuring them that
none of his people would molest them, presented them with some rice, two
sheep, and a quantity of fire-wood. Within six miles of Senna, the party
had to leave the steamer, the shoal channel not being deep enough for her
draught. ‘The narrow winding path, along which they had to march in
Indian file, lay through gardens and patches of wood, the loftiest trees being
thorny acacias. The sky was cloudy, the air cool and pleasant, and the little
birds in the gladness of their hearts, poured forth sweet strange songs, which,
though equal to those of the singing birds at home on a spring morning, yet
seemed somehow as if in a foreign tongue. We met many natives in the
wood, most of the men were armed with spears, bows and arrows, and old
Tower muskets; the women had short-handled iron hoes, and were going to
work in the gardens: they stepped aside to let us pass, and saluted us politely,
the men bowing and scraping, and the women, even with heavy loads on
their heads, curtseying— a curtsey from bare legs is startling!”

On an island near Senna they visited a small fugitive tribe of hippopotami
hunters, who had been driven from their own island in front. They are an

A VOLUNTARY SLAVE. 277

exclusive people, and never intermarry with other tribes. These hunters
frequently go on long expeditions, taking their wives and children with them,
erecting temporary huts on the banks of the rivers, where they dry the meat
they have killed. They are a comely race, and do not disfigure themselves
with lip-ornaments, as many of the neighbouring tribes do. Livingstone
gives the following description of the weapon with which they kill the hipopo-
tamus :—“‘‘ It is a short iron harpoon inserted in the end of a long pole; but
being intended to unship, it is made fast to a strong cord of milola or hibiscus
bark, which is wound closely round the entire length of the shaft and secured
at its opposite end. wo men in a swift canoe steal quietly down on the
sleeping animal; the bowman dashes the harpoon into the unconscious victim,
while the quick steersman sweeps the light craft back with his broad paddle.
The force of the blow separates the harpoon from its corded handle; which,
appearing on the surface, sometimes with an inflated bladder attached, guides
the hunters to where the wounded beast hides below until they despatch it.”

Near Tete, a seam of excellent coal, of twenty-five feet in thickness, was
visited and examined. » Coal and iron are common in the lower Zambesi, the
latter being of excellent quality, and quite equal to the best Swedish. The
existence of these minerals must play an important part in the regeneration
of the people and the civilization of this vast and important district.

The Ma-Robert anchored in the stream off Tete on the 8th of September,
and great was the joy of the Makololo men when they recognised Dr. Living-
stone. Some were about to embrace him; but others cried out, ‘‘ Don’t
touch him; you will spoil his new clothes.” They listened sadly to the
account of the end of Sekwebu, remarking, ‘‘Men die in any country.”
They had much to tell of their own doings and trials. Thirty of their num-
ber had died of small-pox; and other six, becoming tired of wood-cutting,
went away to dance before the neighbouring chiefs. They visited Bonga,
the son of Nyaude (not the brother of Mariano), who cruelly put them to
death. ‘‘ We do not grieve,” they said, ‘‘ for the thirty victims of small-pox,
who were taken away by Morimo (God); but our hearts are sore for the six
youths who were murdered by Bonga.” If any order had been given by Don
Pedro for the maintenance of the Makololo men during Livingstone’s absence,
it never reached Tete; and they were dependent on their own exertions and
the kindness of Major Sicard, who treated them most generously, and gave
them land and tools to raise some food for themseives.

At Tete, the party took up their abode in the Residency House, and re-
ceived the most generous hospitality from Major Sicard and all the Portuguese
residents. A singular case of voluntary slavery came under Livingstone’s
notice here. Chibanti, an active young fellow, who had acted as pilot to the
expedition, sold himself to Major Sicard, assigning as a reason that he had
neither father nor mother, and that Major Sicard was a kind master. He sold

278 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

himself for three-and-thirty yard-pieces of cloth. With two of the pieces he
bought a man, a woman, and a child; afterwards he bought more slaves, and
owned a sufficient number to man one of the large canoes with which the trade
of the river is carried on. Major Sicard subsequently employed him in car-
rying ivory and other merchandise to Kilimane, and gave cloth to his men
for the voyage. The Portuguese, as a rule, are very kind to their slaves; but
the half-castes are cruel slave-holders. Livingstone quotes a saying of a hu-
mane Portuguese which indicates the reputation they bear:—‘‘ God made
white men, and God made black men; but the devil made half-castes.”

The party visited and examined the Kebra-basa Rapids, and found them
very formidable barriers to the navigation of the river. They are so called
from a range of rocky mountains which cross the Zambesi at that spot. The
river, during the dry season, is confined to a narrow channel, through which
the water forces itself, boiling and eddying within a channel of not more than
sixty yards in width, the top of the masts of the Ma-Robert, although thirty
feet high, not reaching to the flood-mark on the rocky sides. The whole bed
and banks of the stream are broken by huge masses of rock of every
imaginable shape. The rapids extend for upwards of eight miles, and could
only be passed by a steamer during the floods. The march along the banks
of the river among the rocks, which were so hot from the heat of the sun as
to blister the bare feet of the Makololo men, was most fatiguing. Several
miles above these rapids is the cataract of Morumbwa, where the river is
jammed into a cavity of not more than fifty yards in width; with a fall of
twenty feet in a slope of thirty yards. During floods it is navigable, the
rapids being all but obliterated through the great rise in the river, the rocks
showing a flood mark eighty feet above the level of the stream.

Dr. Livingstone’s account of the rapids and the country in the neighbour-
hood, as given in his letters to the Foreign Offices, is so interesting that
we give several extracts here :—

“‘ They were not seen by me in 1856, and, strange as it may appear, no
one else could be found who could give an account of any part except the
commencement, about 30 miles above this. ‘The only person who had possessed
curiosity enough to ascend a few miles, described it as a number of detached
rocks jutting out across the stream, rendering the channel tortuous and
dangerous. A mountain called Panda Maboa (Copper Mountain—a mass of
saccharine marble at the top, contains joints of the green carbonate of copper,
which is said to have been worked—hence the name) stretches out towards the
range of hills on the eastern bank, so as to narrow the river to 60 or 80 yards.
This is the commencement of Kebra, or, more correctly, Kebra-basa. We
went about four miles beyond Panda Maboa, in this little steamer, and soon
saw that the difficulty is caused by the Zambesi being confined by mountains
to a bed scarcely a quarter of a mile broad. This bed, viewed from a height,

KEBRA-BASA RAPIDS. 279

appears covered with huge blocks of rock, interspersed with great rounded
boulders. Large patches of the underlying rock, which is porphyry and
various metamorphic masses huddled together in wild confusion, are also
seen on the surface; and winding from side to side in this uppper bed
there is a deep narrow gorge, in which, when we were steaming up the
usual call of the man at the lead was, ‘no bottom at ten fathoms.”
Though the perpendicular sides of this channel are generally of hard
porphyry or syenite, they are ground into deep pot-holes, and drilled into
numerous vertical groves similar to those in Hastern wells, where the draw-
rope has been in use for ages; these show the wearing power of the water
when the river is full. The breadth of this channel was from 30 to 60 yards,
and its walls at low water from 50 to 80 feet high. At six or seven points
there are rocky islands in it which divide the water into two or three channels
for short distances. The current, which we generally found gentle, increases
in force at these points to four or five knots, and as our vessel has only a
single engine of 10-horse power, it can scarcely stem that amount in open
water; and besides, being of an extremely awkward and unhandy ‘ canoe-
form,’ and only one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, it is evident we cannot
risk her in any but the gentlest currents. The attempt to haul her through
would have doubled her up, so we left her at the beginning of the first rapid,
and went forward to examine the parts above on foot. The usual course
traders have pursued is to come to a point below, where we left the steamer
in canoes, and leaying them there, go overland through the level Shidima
country, well away from the mountains which skirt the river, and when they
reported an impediment to navigation, they referred to the unwieldy canoes
only in common use on the lower parts of the Zambesi. These cannot paddle
against a 4-knot stream; nor can they punt at a depth of 60 feet, nor tow
along a precipice often 80 feet high, and always smooth, slippery, or jagged.
But though there is an impediment to canoe-navigation, it would prove none
during four or five months each year to a steamer capable of going 12 or 14
knots an hour.

“With Dr. Kirk, Mr. Rae, and some Makololo in company, we marched
about 12 miles nearly North from the entrance, at Panda Maboa. The upper
bed, in which we were travelling, was excessively rough, but we occasionally
got glances of the river at the bottom of the groove, and saw four rapids.
The people having all fled from some marauding party, we could neither get
provisions nor information, and returned in order to organize a regular
exploration of the whole difficulty.

“Major Sicard having found out that a native Portuguese, Sn. Jose
Santa Anna, had, when young, hunted elephants among the mountains which
confine the Zambesi, engaged him to accompany us in our second expedition,
which consisted of the seven members of our party and ten Makololo.

280 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Leaving the steamer at a safe spot above Panda Maboa, we proceeded up the
left bank, the different members pursuing their several avocations as much as
the roughness of the march would allow. A careful sketch and a photograph
were made of the worst rapid we had then seen; there was a fall of about 5
feet in 20 yards, but on our return a rise of the river of between 3 and 4 feet
had made it nearly level.

‘Crossing the Luia, a small river coming into the Zambesi from the
North-east (lat. 15° 87° South), we turned Westwards, and soon reached the
beginning of the range Shiperizioa, which, without knowing the name, we
had previously seen. This part of the river our guide had only once seen
from a distant mountain, and supposed what was now only a small, and by no
means steep rapid, to be a large waterfall. The range Shiperizioa, appearing
to end in a fine peak at least 2300 feet high, we resolved to ascend it and get
a view of the river beyond. A hippopotamus having been killed, a party was
left to cut up the meat while we went on to the peak. It was found inaccessible
from the river-side. It forms the most prominent feature in the landscape,
and we thought it right to pay a compliment to our Portuguese friends, by
naming it Mount Stephanie, after their young Queen. As our guide, Sn. Jose,
had hunted all along the river to Chicova, and a party of natives who came to
beg meat, agreed with him in asserting that no waterfall existed above Mount
Stephanie, we began our return to the steamer. But after one day’s march
homewards one of the Makololo mentioned that he had received information of
the existence of a larger cataract than any we had seen, and that too from one
of the above-mentioned party of natives, 1t was at once resolved that Dr. Kirk
and I should return and verify this while the rest of the party worked their
way downwards.

‘“¢ Accompanied by four Makololo, we now proceeded by the back or
northern side of Mount Stephanie, and were fortunate enough to find a village
situated in a beautiful valley, with a fine stream of water running through it.
The people are called Badema, and though mountaineers, possess but little of
that brave character which we are accustomed to ascribe to such people. They
generally flee from strangers; their gardens were seen on the highest parts
of the mountains; some of them on slopes at an angle of 70°, where there
was very little soil. They cultivate the native cotton in preference to the
imported, as the former, though yielding less, has by far the strongest fibre,
and the plants continue yielding annually, though burned down to the ground.
They support the branches which remain by trellice-work, as we do grape-vines ;
their looms are of the most primitive description, but they value the cloth made
from them much more than they do our more beautifully woven fabrics.

‘“‘ Zandia, the head man of this village, furnished us with two guides to |
take us to Pajodzi, the point to which canoes are accustomed to descend; for
though he asserted that there was no waterfall, we considered it our duty to

ROUGH TRAVELLING. 281

see all the difficult part by descending from that point before reporting to Her
Majesty’s Government. The next village we came to gave a totally different
account; the men asserted that there was a waterfall so frightful as to be
perfectly unapproachable: ‘no elephant had ever gone near it, nor hippopo-
tamus; not even an alligator could reach it, and a man might perish with
thirst in sight of, but unable to approach it.’ On asking how they happened
to get near this frightful abyss, they replied that it was more accessible from
the other side. They had a political reason for not showing us the river ; the
Banyai, on the opposite lands (Shidima) have been in the habit of exacting
large payments from the traders for leave to pass. Eighty fathoms of calico
are sometimes paid to a single village, and the villagers here were afraid that
blame would be imputed by the Banyai to them in the event of our opening
a path whereby their exactions would be avoided. By insisting that our two
guides from Zandia should fulfil their bargain, they went on, but led us to a
point near Mount Stephanie, where, emerging from the mountains, we found
ourselyes a good thousand feet above the Zambesi; the mountains on both
sides slope at a high angle down to the water, and there is no upper or flood-
bed. The water, about 300 yards broad, appeared to us at the height we first
saw it, not more than a third of this width. The guides pointed toa rapid,
caused by two rocks about eight feet high in the middle of the stream, as the
watertiall ; but refusing to credit them, we resolved to go up along the bank
westward.

“On descending to the water’s edge wefound the steep sloping bank
covered with enormous boulders, with a black glaze, as if they had recently
been smeared over with tar. Wherever the water flows over rocks for a long
time this peculiar glaze appears; it has been observed in the Congo, and has
been mentioned by Humboldt in the Orinoco. The guides declared that it was
totally impossible to go further, though their soles were furnished with a thick
cracked skin similar to that of the elephant. The marks of these cracks were
visible on the sand they trod upon. The Makololo head-men—very willing
fellows—showed me their feet on which the blisters were broken by the hot
rocks over which we had climbed, and said they were fairly done up; that it
was evident the villagers magnified the difficulty from political motives; and
that there was no impediment save such as we had already seen. On urging
them to make another effort, they said that they ‘always imagined I had a
heart till then; they were sorry Kirk could not understand them, for he would
acquiesce in their views and go back—I had surely become insane ;’ and next
day they endeavoured by signs to induce him to return. Leaving them there
Dr. Kirk and I went on alone; but while striving with all our might we could
not make more than one mile in three hours. © It was in truth the worst tract I
ever travelled over ; our strong new English boots were worn through the soles.
The sun’s rays were converged by the surrounding hills into a sort of focus, and

ml

282 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

the stones were so hot the hand could not be held on them a moment, though
we were in danger of being dashed down into the crevices by letting go for
an instant. The reflection from the rocks felt exactly like the breath of a
furnace. I felt sure that if I had come down this way in 1856 instead of
through the level Shidima country, I should have perished before reaching
Tete; for now, with but a fortnight’s exposure, and an examination of about
30 miles, we all returned as lean and haggard as if we had been recovering
from serious illness. One of the Makololo came up to us in the afternoon,
and seeing farther progress to be impracticable, we were returning, when we
met the rest of the party. After sleeping among the hot rocks, where no
covering is necessary, we next day induced the guides and Makololo to go on
through the spurs from the mountain, along whose flank we were toiling, until
they became perpendicular cliffs, requiring a great deal of dangerous climbing
to get past; in the afternoon we were rewarded by the sight of a cataract
called Morumbua, the only one we had seen deserving the name; on both
sides there are perpendicular walls of rock, along the face of which no towing-
line could be carried. The inaccessible sides are 500 or 600 feet high. The
cataract itself presents a fall (as nearly as we could guess at a distance of 500
yards) of 30 feet, and the water comes down at an angle of 30°. When the
river is full it is at least 80 feet higher than when we saw it, and no cataract
is visible at the place we saw the broken water. We stood in a pot-hole and
dropped down a measuring-tape 53 feet to the level of the water. In flood
the river at that same pot-hole is at least 30 feet deep. We witnessed on our
return the effect of a three feet rise, in rendering a cataract already mentioned,
of five feet, nearly level. It is quite a moderate computation to say the perpen-
dicular rise among the hills is 80 feet. ‘This, while it obliterates some rapids, will,
in all probability, give rise to others; and the disparity of statement among the
natives may partially be accounted for by their having seen the river at different
stages of flood. Resolving to return and examine the whole when the river is
in full flood in February, we commenced the ascent of the high mountain
behind us, and were three hours in cutting our way through the tangled forest
which covers it and all the mountains here. The rains are unusally late this
year, but the trees had put on fresh leaves, and rendered the scenery of a
lively light-green appearance. Looking northwards from the heights we
reached, we saw an endless succession of high hills, chiefly of the conical form.
This district may be called the beginning of the really healthy region. We
slept for a fortnight in the open air, and seldom put on a blanket till towards
morning; nor did we use quinine: yet all returned in good health, and
have remained so.

‘‘ We have ascertained nothing to invalidate the opinion which I have
expressed, that the highlands beyond this are healthy, and fit for the residence
of Europeans. The only ailments the party has been subject to, with the

NAVIGATION OF THE ZAMBESI. 283

exception of one slight sun-stroke, have been colds, modified by the malaria
to which we were exposed in the Delta. Dr. Kirk and I have enjoyed
uninterrupted good health. The only cases of real fever we have seen have
been among the Kroomen, and, as far as our experience goes at present,
Europeans are more likely to be safe and useful than Kroomen.

“The geologist reports having found three fine beds of coal; the first
seven feet thick, the second thirteen feet six inches, and the third twenty-five
feet in thickness. They are all in cliff sections, and the last was fired a few
years ago by lightning, and burned a long time. I have already reported on
its good quality, though obtained only from the surface. Mr. Thornton will
run a shaft some distance in order to ascertain its quality there. There are
immense quantities of the finest iron-ore in the same district.

*‘T was not aware that sugar was manufactured by the natives till lately,
but I bought six pots of it, at the rate of two yards of calico for twenty
pounds. This is only the beginning of the fine country, and I naturally feel
anxious that my companions should have an opportunity of verifying my
statements respecting both its productions and people. As for the inhabitants
near the Portuguese, I almost despair of doing anything with them. My
hopes are in my own countrymen and the natives of the central regions.

“The Zambesi being now about twelve feet above low-water mark in
November, it was difficult to recognise it as the same river. It is truly what
Captain Gordon called it,‘ more like an inland sea than a river,’ and exhibits
none of those sand-banks to the view which, in trying to depict it at its lowest
ebb, we have marked in the tracings sent home.

“On the day after our arrival here Messrs. C. Livingstone and Baines
returned from Kebra-basa: their reports coincide exactly with what I stated in
No. 12 as to the effectof a rise of the river on the rapids. It thoroughly obliterates
formidable cataracts; but a vessel of good steam-power is necessary to stem
the current in the middle and resist the suction of the eddies. On hearing that
the rapid was so much changed that, but for the mountains which had been
sketched, the situations of the cataracts would not have been known, I felt
strongly inclined to attempt hauling the vessel up; but she can carry no cargo,
and, besides the risk of her breaking up in the attempt, we should very soon
be destitute of supplies after we had succeeded.”

Finding it impossible to take their steamer through the Kebra-basa
Rapids, the party forwarded from Tete, to which they had returned, informa-
tion to that effect to the English Government, requesting that a more suitable
vessel for the ascent of the river should be sent out to them. In the
meantime, they determined on ascending the Shire, which falls into the
Zambesi about a hundred miles from its mouth. The Portuguese could give
no information about it, no one ever having gone up it for any distance, or
found out from whence it came. Years ago, they informed him, that a

284 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Portuguese expedition had attempted to ascend it, but had to turn back on
account of the impenetrable masses of duck-weed which grew in its bed and
floated in shoals on its surface. The natives on its banks were reported to be
treacherous, thievish, and bloodthirsty ; and nothing but disaster was predicted
as the end of such a foolhardy expedition.

Dr. Livingstone and his party had come all the way from England
to explore the district, and were not to be lightly turned aside from
their object; so, early in January, 1859, they boldly entered the Shire.
They found for the first twenty-five miles that a considerable quantity of
duckweed was floating down the river, but not in sufficient quantity to
interrupt its navigation, even in canoes. As they approached the native
villages, the men assembled on the banks, armed with bows and arrows; but
it was not until they reached the village of a chief called Tingane, who had
gained considerable notoriety by his successful prevention of the Portuguese
slave-traders from passing farther to the north, that they met anything like
serious opposition. Here five hundred armed men were collected, who com-
manded them to stop. Livingstone boldly went on shore, and at an interview
with the chief and his headmen, explained the objects of the party and their
friendly disposition. 'Tingane, who was an elderly, well-made man, grey-
headed, and over six feet high, withdrew his opposition to their further pro-
gress, and called all his people together, so that the objects of the exploring
party might be explained to them.

Following the winding course of the river for about two hundred miles,
their farther progress was arrested by a series of cataracts, to which the party
gave the name of “‘ The Murchison,” in honour of the great friend of the ex-
pedition, Sir Roderick Murchison. In going down the stream, the progress
of the Ma-Robert was very rapid. The hippopotami kept carefully out of the
way, while the crocodiles frequently made a rush at the vessel as if to attack it,
coming within a few feet of her, when they sank like a stone, to re-appear
and watch the progress of the unknown invader of their haunts, when she
had passed.

Although narrower than the Zambesi, the Shire is much deeper and more
easily navigated. The lower valley of the Shire is about twenty miles wide,
and very fertile; the hills which enclose it on either side are covered with
wood, in many cases to their summits ; some of these hills rise to a height of
4000 feet above the level of the sea. They visited one of the loftiest of the
hills, called by the natives Morambala. On the wooded sides of this mountain
Dr. Kirk found thirty species of ferns. In the forests near its base, monkeys,
antelopes, rhinoceroses, and several varieties of the larger birds were abund-
ant. ‘¢ A hot fountain boils up on the plain, near the north end. It bubbles
out of the earth, clear as crystal, at two points, or eyes, a few yards apart
from each other, and sends off a fine flowing stream of hot water. ‘The tem-

LAKE SHIRWA DISCOVERED. 285

perature was found to be 174° Fahr., and it boiled an egg in about the usual
time.” Two pythons coiled together among the branches of a tree were shot,
the largest was ten feet long. Their flesh is greatly relished by the natives.
The people who dwelt on the mountain slopes, here and elsewhere on the
lower Shire, were found to be a hardy and kindly race. They cultivate
maize, pumpkins, and tobacco in their gardens on the plains, and catch fish in
the river, which they dry for future sale or for their own use. On the occasion
of a future ascent of the river, as we shall see, the party found that many of
these hardy mountaineers had been swept away in a slave raid by Mariano.

In the middle of March they started for a second trip up the Shire, when
they found the natives altogether friendly, and anxious to sell them rice,
fowls, and corn. Within ten miles of the Murchison Cataracts they entered
into amicable relations with a chief named Chibisa, whose career had been of
a very warlike character, which he excused and explained by stating that the
parties with whom he had fought had all been in the wrong, while he was
invariably in the right He was a true believer in the Divine right of kings.
“He was an ordinary man, he said, when his father died, and left him the
chieftainship ; but directly he succeeded to the high office, he was conscious
of power passing into his head, and down his back; he felt it enter, and knew
that he was a chief, clothed with authority, and possessed of wisdom; and
people then began to fear and reverence him.”

Fortunately his people were of the same mind, for they bathed in the
river without dread of the crocodiles, after he had placed a medicine in it to
prevent their biting them.

Drs. Livingstone and Kirk, and several of the Makololo men left the
steamer and the other members of the party at Chibisa’s village, and pro-
ceeded overland to Lake Shirwa, the inhabitants of the district through which
they passed presenting a hostile appearance. Through a misunderstanding
their guide took them first to an extensive marsh, which they christened Ele-
phant Marsh, from the large number of those animals they saw there. After-
wards they pushed on without guides, save when an idiot from a native
village joined them, and accompanied them a considerable way on their
march, when no sane member of the tribe would consent to guide them for
love or money. The people who occupy the district beyond the Shire were
called Manganja, and were distinguished for their bold and independent
bearing. Drs. Livingstone and Kirk, while keeping themselves prepared for
any attack, were careful to give no cause of offence, and so managed to avoid
getting into any serious difficulty with this warlike people, to the disgust
of the Makololo men, who were anxious to give them a taste of their
quality.

On the 18th of April they discovered Lake Shirwa. The water was
brackish, and in it were enormous numbers of leeches, the attacks of which

286 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

prevented them obtaining the latitude by the natural horizon, which they
hoped to do on a sand-bank at some distance from the shore. Several
varieties of fish, hippopotami, and crocodiles were abundant in the waters of
the lake. The lake was found to be 1800 feet above the level of the sea.
They did not on this occasion get any reliable information as to its extent.
Lofty mountains, whose height was supposed to be about 8000 feet, stand near
its eastern shore; and on the west is a long ridge, called Mount Zomba, with
a height of about 7000 feet, and a length of about twenty miles. In
returning to the steamer they changed their route, and passed through a
country peopled by friends of Chibisa, who did not interfere with their
progress. They found their quartermaster, John Walker, ill of fever; and
having cured him, they steamed down to the Zambesi, reaching Tete on the
28rd of June.

We again turn to Dr. Livingstone’s communications to the Foreign
Office with the view of supplementing our narrative at this stage :—

‘‘ In accordance with the intention expressed of revisiting the River Shire
as soon as the alarm created by our first visit had subsided, I have the pleasure
of reporting to your Lordship that, having found the people this time all
friendly, we left the vessel in charge of the quartermaster and stoker, with a
chief named Chibisa (latitude 16 2 South, longitude 35° East), and, with Dr.
Kirk and thirteen Makololo, advanced on foot till we had discovered a magni-
ficent inland lake, called Shirwa. It has no known outlet, but appears
particularly interesting from a report of the natives on its banks, that it is
separated from Lake Nyassa, which is believed to extend pretty well up to the
equator, by a tongue of land only five or six miles broad ; and, as we ascertained,
the southern end of the Shirwa is not more than 30 miles distant from a branch
of the navigable Shire.

‘We had traced the Shire up to the northern end of Zomba, but were
prevented by a marsh from following it further on that side. Coming round
the southern flank of the mountain, on the 14th April, we saw the lake, and
were then informed that the river we had left so near it had no connexion with
Lake Shirwa. We then proceeded eastwards, and on the 18th April reached
its shores: a goodly sight it was to see, for it is surrounded by lofty moun-
tains, and its broad blue waters, with waves dashing on some parts of its
shore, look like an arm of the sea. The natives know of no outlet. We saw
a good many streams flowing into it, for the adjacent country is well watered;
several rivulets which we crossed unite and form the Talombe and Sombane,
which flow into the lake from the south-west. The water of the Shirwa has
a bitter taste, but is drinkable. Fish abound, and so do alligators and hippo-
potami. When the southerly winds blow strongly, the water is said to retire
sufficiently from that side to enable the people to catch fish in weirs
planted there.

RE-ASCENT OF THE SHIRE. 287

‘<The lake is of a pear-shape, only the narrow portion is prolonged some
80 miles South of the body where we stood. There is an inhabited moun-
tain-island near the beginning of the narrow part: the broad portion may be
from 25 to 30 miles wide. We ascended some way up the mountain Pirimiti,
and, looking away to the N.N.E., we had 26° of watery horizon, with two
mountain-tops, rising in the blue distance like little islands 50 or 60 miles
away. ‘The natives use large canoes, for fear of storms on it, and reckon it
four days’ paddling in a calm to reach the end; but with a strong wind they
ean do it in two days. Until it is surveyed, it will not be over-estimated at
60 or 70 miles in length. This does not include the southern narrow portion
of 30 miles. \

“The whole region was well, though not densely, peopled with Man-
ganja, who inhabit both banks of the River Shire from Morambala up to
Chibisa’s place; but they occupy the eastern bank only and the adjacent
mountains beyond that point. The western bank above Chibisa is peopled by
the Maravi. None of this tribe are to be met with near Shirwa, so it would
appear to be improper to identify it with the ‘Lake Maravi’ of the maps;
nor can we set it down as that concerning which I collected some informa-
tion from Senhor Candido, of Tete, for it was described as 45 days to
the N.N.W. of that village. The Portuguese do not even pretend to know
Shirwa.

‘“‘ We made frequent inquiries among the people if they had ever been
visited by white men before, and we were invariably answered in the negative.
A black woolly-haired slave-trader once visited the part; but the discovery is
not spoken of in reference to such, the lake being surrounded by them, but it
is claimed for Dr. Kirk and myself, as Europeans who accomplished it, entirely
ignorant of any information that may or may not be locked up in Portuguese
archives.”

As their provisions were almost exhausted, the chief members of the
party proceeded down the river to meet some of Her Majesty’s cruisers off the
Kongone; and here they were compelled to beach the Ma-Rovert for repairs.
Besides being a bad sailer, she leaked so that the cabin was constantly
flooded, the water coming not only from below, but through the deck when-
eyer it rained. The damp caused by this state of affairs was very prejudical
to their health, and also caused the destruction of many botanical specimens,
occasioning much worry and loss of time in replacing them with others. After
receiving a supply of provisions from Her Majesty’s brig Persian, the party
returned to Tete, and started on their third ascent of the Shire. On this
occasion they examined a lagoon, called ‘the Lake of Mud” in the language
of the natives, in which grows a lotus root called nytka, which the natives
collect; when boiled or roasted, it resembles our chestnuts, and as it is
common throughout South Africa, it is extensively used as food. These

288 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

lagoons and marshes, which are common in the course of the great
rivers of South Africa, mark the spot where extensive lakes existed when
the waters passed off to the sea at a higher level than they do at the
present day.

As the miserable little steamer could not carry all the men they required
in this more extended expedition, they were compelled to place some of them
in boats, which were towed astern. Unfortunately one of these capsized, and
one of the Makololo men was drowned. At Mboma, where the people were
eager to sell any quantity of food, the party were entertained by a native
musician, who drew excruciating notes from a kind of one-stringed violin.
As he threatened to serenade them all night, he was asked if he would not
perish from cold. ‘Oh no,” he replied; ‘I shall spend the night with my
white comrades in the big canoe; I have often heard of the white men, but
have never seen them till now, and I must sing and play well to them.” A
small piece of cloth bought him off, and he departed well satisfied.

On the banks were many hippopotami traps, which ‘consist of a beam
of wood five or six feet long, armed with a spear-head or hardwood spike co-
vered with poison, and suspended by a forked pole to a cord, which, coming
down to the path, is held by a catch, to be set free when the ssattaell endl on
it. . . . One got frightened by ‘he ship, as she was steaming close to the
bank. In its eager hurry to escape, it rushed on shore, and ran directly under
a trap, when down came the heavy beam on its back, driving the poisoned
spear-head a foot deep into its flesh. In its agony it plunged back into the
river, to die in a few hours, and afterwards furnished a feast for the natives.
The poison on the spear-head does not affect the meat, except the part around
the wound, which is cut out and thrown away.”

In the Shire marshes, in addition to abundance of the large four-footed
game, water-fowl of many kinds were seen in prodigious numbers. Dr. Living-
stone says :—

‘¢An hour at the mast-head unfolds novel views of life in an African
marsh. Near the edge, and on the branches of some favourite tree, rest
scores of plotuses and cormorants, which stretch their snake-like necks, and in
mute amazement turn one eye and then another towards the approaching
monster. The pretty ardetia, of a light yellow colour when at rest, but
seemingly of a pure white when flying, takes wing and sweeps across the
green grass in large numbers, often showing us where buffaloes are, by perch-
ing on their backs. Flocks of ducks, of which the kind called sorii is most
abundant, being night feeders, meditate quietly by the small lagoons, until
startled by the noise of the steam machinery. Pelicans glide over the water
catching fish, while the scopus and large herons peer intently into the pools.
The large black and white spur-winged goose springs up and circles round to
find out what the disturbance is, and then settles down again with a splash,

A FEMALE CHIEF. 289

Hundreds of linongolas rise from the clumps of reeds or low trees, in which
they build in colonies, and are speedily in mid air. Charming little red and
yellow weavers remind one of butterflies, as they fly in and out of the tall
grass, or hang to the mouths of their pendant nests, chattering briskly to
their mates within. . . . Kites and vultures are busy overhead beating
the ground for their repast of carrion; and the solemn-looking, stately-
stepping marabout, with a taste for dead fish, or men, stalks slowly along the
almost stagnant channels. . . . Towards evening hundreds of pretty
little hawks are seen flying in a southerly direction, and feeding on dragon-
flies and locusts. . . . Flocks of scissor-bills are then also on the wing,
and in search of food ploughing the water with their lower mandibles, which
are nearly half an inch longer than the upper ones.”

Beyond the marshes in many places the soil is saline, and the natives
procure large quantities of salt, by mixing the earth with water in a pot with
a small hole in it, evaporating the liquid as it runs through in the sun.
Livingstone noticed that on these saline soils the cotton grown is of a larger
and finer staple than elsewhere. When the party arrived at Chibisa’s village,
they found several of the men busy cleaning, sorting, and weaving cotton.
This was a sight which greeted them in most of the villages on the Shire ;
and as cotton can be grown there to any extent, there can be no doubt that,
if slavery was put down and legitimate commerce introduced, the course of
this fine river would become a thriving and populous district, as food can be
grown to any extent, and there is plenty of grass for innumerable herds of
cattle.

On the 28th of August, Livingstone and his three white companions,
accompanied by two guides and thirty-six Makololo men, left the vessel in
charge of the remainder of the party, and started in search of Lake Nyassa.
A short march up a beautiful little valley, through which flowed a small
stream, led them to the foot of the Manganja hills, over which their course
lay. Looking back from a height of 1000 feet the beautiful country for many
miles with the Shire flowing through it excited their admiration; while as
they approached the summit of the range, innumerable valleys opened out to
their admiring gaze, and majestic mountains reared their heads in all direc-
tions. This part of the journey was exceedingly toilsome, but the uniform
kindness of the inhabitants and the beauty of the scenery made up for their
exertions. Among the hill-tribes women are treated as if they were inferior
animals, but in the upper valley of the Shire, they found that women were
held in great respect, the husband seldom doing anything unless the wife
approved. A portion of the valley was ruled over by a female chief named
Nyango. On reaching the village the party went to the doalo, or speaking
place, under the shade of lofty trees, where mats of split reeds or bamboo were
usually placed for the white members of the party to sit upon. Here the

wei

290 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

grand palaver was held, at which their objects and intentions in visiting the
country were discussed with due gravity and form.

The inhabitants of this district are very industrious; in addition to
cultivating the soil extensively, they work in iron, weave cotton, and make
baskets. Each village has its smelting-house, charcoal-burners, and black-
smiths. The axes, spears, needles, arrowheads, bracelets, and anklets are
excellent, and are sold exceedingly cheap. Crockery and pottery of various
kinds are also largely manufactured; and fishing-nets are made from the
fibres of the duaze, a shrub which grows on the hills.

The use of ornaments on the legs and arms is common, but the most
extraordinary custom is that of the pelele, worn by women. A small hole is
made in the upper lip, and gradually widened,—the process of widening
extending over several years,—until an aperture of from one to two inches is
rendered permanent; into this a tin or ivory ring is forced until the lip
protrudes a couple of inches beyond the nose. ‘‘ When an old wearer of a
hollow ring smiles, by the action of the muscle of the cheeks, the ring and
lip outside it are dragged back and thrown over the eyebrows. The nose is
seen through the middle of the ring, and the exposed teeth show how care-
fully they have been chipped to look like those of the crocodile.” No reason
was given for this monstrosity, excepting that it was the fashion. The
prevalence of such a hideous custom, is the more to be wondered at, as the
Manganja are a comely people, intelligent-looking, with well-shaped heads
and agreeable features.

They brew large quantities of a kind of beer. ‘‘ The grain is made to
vegetate, dried in the sun, pounded into meal, and gently boiled. When
only a day or two old, the beer is sweet, with a slight degree of acidity,
which renders it a most grateful beverage in a hot climate, or when fever
begets a sore craving for acid drinks.” It is pinkish in colour, and of
the consistency of thin gruel. It takes a large quantity of it to produce
intoxication ; but as they must drink it rapidly, as it will not keep for any time,
intoxication among the Manganjas is very common—whole villages being often
found by the travellers on the spree. It apparently has no baneful effects upon
them, nor does it shorten life, as the party never saw so many aged people
as they did while amongst this people. One aged chief, Muata Manga,
appeared to be about ninety years of age. ‘‘ His venerable appearance
struck the Makololo. ‘ He is an old man,’ they said; ‘a very old man; his
skin hangs in wrinkles, just like that on elephants’ hips.’ ”

Speaking of the drinking habits of the Manganjas, Dr. Livingstone said
in one of his letters—‘‘I saw more intoxication in the forty days of our
march on foot than I had seen in other parts during sixteen years. Itisa
silly sort of drunkenness; only one man had reached the fighting stage, and
he was cured by one of the Makololo thrusting him aside from the path he

NATIVE PISTOLS. 291

wished to obstruct, and giving him a slap in the face.” It would appear that,
like many combative people nearer home, he was only “ pot valiant.”

They very rarely wash, and are consequently very dirty. An old man
told them that he had once washed, but it was so long since that he did not
remember how he felt; and the women asked the Makololo, ‘‘Why do
you wash; our men never do?” As might have been expected, skin
diseases were common. They believe in a Divine being whom they call
Morungo, and in a future state; but where or in what condition the spirits
of the dead exist, they do not know, as although the dead, they say, sometimes
return to the living, and appear to them in their dreams, they never tell them
how they fare, or whither they have gone.

‘Our friends the Portuguese do not enter the River Shire: the Manganja
are brave, and repelled an expedition sent in former times before it had gone
30 miles. ‘Traders are afraid to go, as some native ones have been plundered ;
but we have gone about 150 miles without once coming into collision. The
Manganja cultivate the soil very extensively, and more men than women were
sometimes seen at this occupation. The soil is very rich: the grass, generally
from 6 to 8 feet high, overhangs the path, which, from being only about a foot
wide, there is a perpetual pattering on the face in walking. A few yards often
hides a companion completely, and guides are always necessary, it being
impossible to see, on entering a path, where it leads. Even the hills, though
very steep and stony, are remarkably fertile. Gardens are common high up
their sides and on their tops: they present a pleasant diversity of light and
shade in the general dark green colour of the trees, with which nearly all are
covered. Cotton is cultivated largely, and the farther we went the crop
appeared to be of the greater importance. The women alone are well clothed
with the produce, the men being content with goat-skins and a cloth made of
bark of certain trees. Every one spins and weaves cotton: even chiefs may
be seen with the spindle and bag, which serves as a distaff. The process of
manufacture is the most rude and tedious that can be conceived: the cotton
goes through five processes with the fingers before it comes to the loom. Time is
of no value. They possess two varieties of the cotton plant. One, indigenous,
yields cotton more like wool than that of other countries: it is strong, and feels
rough in the hand. ‘The other variety is from imported seed, yielding a
cotton that renders it unnecessary to furnish the people with American seed.
A point in its culture worth noticing is, the time of planting has been selected
so that the plants remain in the ground during winter, and five months or so
aiter sowing they come to maturity before the rains begin, or insects come
forth to damage the crop.

“The Manganja have no domestic animals except sheep, goats, fowls,
and dogs. Provisions are abundant, and at a cheap rate. They have no
ivory, and few wild animals are seen; but they assert that elephants and

292 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

large game abound among the Maravi, West of the Shire. Their weapons
are large bows and poisoned arrows with iron heads. LHyery one carries a
knife, and almost every village has a furnace for smelting black magnetic
iron-ore. Spears are rarely seen, but are very well made and of excellent
iron. Firearms have not been introduced; but a rude imitation of a pistol
has been made by a people N.N.W. of them in a country called Siria, and it
is used with powder only on occasions of mourning. ‘They were not aware
that it could propel a ball. It cannot be classed with arms, but with the
apparatus of the undertaker. They think that making a noise at funerals is
the proper way of expressing grief.”

Lake Nyassa was discovered a little before noon on the 16th of September,
1859, with the river Shire running out at its southern end in 14° 25 S. latitude.
The chief of the village near the outlet of the Shire, called Mosauka, invited
the party to visit his village, and entertained them under a magnificent ban-
yan-tree, giving them as a gift, a goat and a basket of meal. A party of Arab
slave-hunters were encamped close by. They were armed with long muskets
and were a villainous looking set of fellows. Mistaking the country of the
white men they had met so unexpectedly, they offered them young children
‘for sale; but on hearing that they were English, they showed signs of fear,
and decamped during the night. Curiously enough, one of the slaves they
had with them recognised the party; she had been rescued by Her Majesty’s
ship Lynz at Kongone along with several others. She said, ‘‘ that the Arabs
had fled for fear of an uncanny sort of Basunga” (white men or Portuguese).

Several great slave-paths from the interior cross the upper valley of the
Shire. The chiefs are ashamed of the traffic, and excuse themselves by saying
that they ‘‘do not sell many, and only those that have committed crimes.”
The great inducement to sell each other is, that they have no ivory and no-
thing else with which to buy foreign goods: a state of matters which the
Arab traders know how to take advantage of, as they want nothing but slaves
and the food they may require when on the hunt. Nothing but the establish-
ment of legitimate commerce can be expected to put a stop to the slave traffic
in such circumstances as these. The sight of slaves being led in forked sticks
excited the indignation of the Makololo, and they could not understand why
Livingstone did not allow them to set them free, by force if necessary. They
said, ‘“‘Ay, you call us bad, but are we yellow-hearted like these fellows ?
why don’t you let us choke them?” These slave-sticks were about three
feet in length, with a fork at one end into which the neck is thrust. The
stick is retained in its position by putting a piece of stout wire through the
ends of the fork, which is turned down at either end. The price of slaves
near Lake Nyassa was four yards of cotton cloth for a man, three for a woman,
and two for a boy or girl. When flesh and blood cost so little as an absolute
purchase, free labour could be bought at a price which would make the

BSNS Oi GAT PAT AVES DaRe IV ESNis “INNO Sa AWaEARNY

THE MAIL BAGS LOST. 293

rearing of cotton, corn, &c., a profitable speculation if a proper means of
communication with the coast were opened up. Water carriage by the Shire and
the Zambesi exists all the way, save for a distance of about thirty miles at the
Murchison Cataracts; and from the character of the country, the making of a
road for this distance would be no serious difficulty. At the time of Living-
stone’s visit, cotton, of which the Manganja grew considerable quantities for
their own use, was worth less than a penny per pound.

The tribes on the Upper Shire were suspicious and less hospitable than
those in the lower valley. Many slave-trading parties had visited them with
as much pretension to friendliness as Dr. Livingstone and his party, only to
abuse their confidence. As every care was taken to do nothing that could
give offence, they were slowly but surely won over to a belief in the friendly
intentions of the red men, as they termed Livingstone and his white friends.
Lake Nyassa, as he proved on his second visit, was more than two hundred
miles long, with a breadth of from eighteen to fifty or sixty miles at its widest
parts. It is narrowest towards its southern end, and has somewhat of the
boot-shape of the Italian peninsula.

The party returned to the steam-boat after a land journey of forty days,
very much exhausted from eating the cassava root. In its raw state it is
poisonous, but when boiled twice, and the water strained off, it has no evil
effect. The cook, not knowing this, had served it up after boiling it until the
water was absorbed ; and it was only after it had been tried with various mix-
tures, and the whole party had suffered for days from its effects, that the
cause was discovered.

At Elephant Marsh on their return, they saw nine vast herds of ele-
phants ; they frequently formed a line two miles long.

From Chibisa’s Village Dr. Kirk and Mr. Rae, with guides, went overland
to Tete, and suffered greatly from the heat on the journey, arriving there very
much exhausted. The steamer with the other members of the expedition had
arrived at Tete before them and gone down to Kongone, as it was necessary to
beach the vessel for repairs, as she leaked worse than ever. Off Senna, Senhor
Ferrao sent them a bullock, which was a very acceptable gift. At Kongone
they were supplied with stores from Her Majesty’s ship Lynz; but unfortu-
nately a boat was swamped in crossing the bar, and the mail bags, with
despatches from Government and letters from home, were lost. It is easy to
sympathise with Livingstone’s distress at this most unfortunate accident.
“‘ The loss of the mail bags,” he says “‘ was felt severely, as we were on the
point of starting on an expedition into the interior, which might require eight
or nine months; and twenty months is a weary time to be without news of
friends and family. After returning to Tete, where they stayed some time
enjoying the hospitality of the Portuguese merchants, Livingstone and his
companions, before proceeding inland to visit the Makololo country, sailed down

294 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the Zambesi with Mr. Rae (the engineer), who was about to return to England
to superintend the construction of a successor to the Ma-Robert, which was now
of no use for the purposes for which she was intended. At Shupanga, Sinin-
yane, one of the Makololo, exchanged names with a Zulu, and ever afterwards
only answered to the name of Moshoshoma. This custom is common among
the tribes on the Zambesi. After exchanging names the parties owe to each
other special duties and services,ever afterwards. While at Kebra-basa,
Charles Livingstone was made a comrade for lfe—names not being ex-
changed—of a hungry native traveller to whom he gave some food and a small
piece of cloth. Eighteen months afterwards, the man having prospered in
the interval, he came into the camp of the party while on their journey into
the interior, bringing a liberal present of rice, meal, beer, and a fowl, saying,
“that he did not like them to sleep hungry or thirsty.” Some of the Mako-
lolo took the names of friendly chiefs, and others took the names of famous
places they had visited; the assumed names being retained after their return
to their own country.

While anchored in the river the party suffered from the visits of certain
animals and insects. Mosquitoes of course were plentiful at certain seasons
in the low-lying districts, but other tormentors were of a novel description.
Livingstone gives a graphic account of some of them, from which we quote
the following :—‘‘ The rats, or rather large mice of this region, are quite
facetious, and, having a great deal of fun in them, often laugh heartily.
. . ~ No sooner were we all asleep, than they made a sudden dash over
the lockers and across our faces for the cabin door, where all broke out into a
loud he! he! he! he! he! he! showing how keenly they enjoyed the joke.
They next went forward with as much delight and scampered over the men.
Every evening they went fore and aft, rousing with impartial feet every
sleeper, and laughing to scorn the aimless blows, growls, and deadly rushes of
outraged humanity. . . . Scorpions, centipedes, and poisonous spiders
were not unfrequently brought into the ship with the wind, and occasionally
found their way into our beds; but in every instance we were fortunate
enough to discover and destroy them, before they did any harm. ;
Snakes sometimes came in with the wood, but oftener floated down the river
to us, climbing on board with ease by the chain-cable, and some poisonous
ones were caught in the cabin. A green snake lived with us several weeks,
concealing himself behind the casing of the deck in the day time. To be
aroused in the dark by five feet of cold green snake gliding over one’s face
is rather unpleasant, however rapid the movement may be. Myriads of two
varieties of cockroaches infested the vessel; they not only ate round the roots
of our nails, but even devoured and defiled our food, flannels, and boots; vain
were all our efforts to extirpate these destructive pests; if you kill one, say
the sailors, a hundred come down to his funeral !”’

INDUSTRIOUS MONKEYS. 295

At Senna and Tete he noticed a singular service in which domesticated
monkeys were engaged. In speaking of the opportunities the merchants at
these places allow to pass them of creating a thriving legitimate commerce, he
says—‘‘ Our friends at Tete, though heedless of the obvious advantages which
other nations would eagerly seize, have beaten the entire world in one branch
of industry. It is a sort of anomaly that the animal most nearly allied to
man in structure and function should be the most alien to him in respect to
labour, or trusty friendship; but here the genius of the monkey is turned to
good account. He is made to work in the chase of certain ‘ wingless insects
better known than respected.’. Having been invited to witness this branch of
Tete industry, we can testify that the monkey took it kindly, and it seemed
profitable to both parties.”

The following is taken from Dr. Livingstone’s report on the Shire
Valley :—

**T have the honour to convey the information that we have traced the
river Shire up to its point of departure from the hitherto undiscovered Lake
Nyinyesi or Nyassa, and found that there are only 33 miles of cataracts to be
passed above this, when the river becomes smooth again, and continues so right
into the lake in lat. 14° 25’ south. We have opened a cotton and sugar
producing country of unknown extent, and while it really seems to afford
reasonable prospects of great commercial benefits to our own country, it presents
facilities for commanding a large section of the slave-market on the east coast
and offers a fairer hope of its extirpation by lawful commerce than our previous
notion of the country led us to anticipate. The matter may appear to your
Lordship in somewhat the same light, if the following points in the physical
conformation of the country are borne in mind.

*‘ There is a channel of about from five to twelve feet, at all seasons of the
year, from the sea at Kongone harbour up to this cataract, a distance of about
200 miles, and very little labour would be required to construct a common
road past the cataracts, as the country there, though rapidly increasing in
general elevation, is comparatively flat near the river.

“The adjacent region may be easily remembered as arranged in three
well-defined terraces. The lowest of these is the valley of the Shire, which
is from 1200 to 1500 feet above the level of the sea, and exactly like the
valley of the Nile near Cairo, but beyond the cataracts somewhat broader.
The second terrace lies east of this, and is upwards of 2000 feet in altitude,
and some three or four miles broad. A third terrace, still further east, is over
3000 feet high at its western edge, or about the height of Table Mountain at
the Cape, which is often mentioned as the most remarkable mountain in that
part of Africa. The terrace is 10 or 12 miles broad, and is bounded on the
east by Lake Shirwa, or Tamandua, and a range of very lofty mountains. On
this last terrace rises Mount Zomba, which, on ascending, we found to be in

296 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

round numbers 7000 feet high; a mass of the same mountain, eight or ten
miles distant from our encampment on it, must be at least 8000 feet
in altitude.

‘‘These features of the country are mentioned in order to show that we
have very remarkable varieties of climate within a few miles’ distance of each
other. We travelled in the hottest season of the year, or that called in West-
ern Africa ‘the smokes,’ when, from the burning of tens of thousands of acres
of tall grass, the atmosphere takes on a good deal of the appearance of a partial
London fog; only here it is broiling hot. While we were marching in the
Shire valley, or lowest terrace, the air was sultry and oppressive, the thermo-
meter in the shade even often standing at 96°, and the water never under a
temperature of 81° Fahr., but when we ascended the second terrace, the air
became delightfully cool, and every mile or two we crossed a running rill of
deliciously cold water. The third terrace was cold, and equally well supplied
with running brooks; while on the top of Zomba our native companions
complained bitterly of the cold.

“The mountain itself is of large extent, and at the part we ascended
there is a large valley with a fine stream and much cultivation on the top;
several parts of it are well wooded, and Dr. Kirk, the botanist, found pepper
growing wild: an indication of a decidedly humid climate. On each of the
three terraces cotton is cultivated extensively: this is not of the indigenous
variety only, but foreign seeds have come up the Shire to some parts of the
terraces, and also to the lake region, from the east coast. The length of
staple to which these imported varieties have attained shows a suitable soil
and climate. A good deal of salt is met with in certain soils here; and in all
probability sea-island, the dearest of all cottons, would flourish, for specimens
of common kinds were found superior to the Egyptian. The indigenous
variety feels more like wool than cotton, but foreign seeds were eagerly
accepted by the people from Mr. C. Livingstone, and the best means for
disarming their suspicions that we might turn out to be a marauding party,
was frankly to state that we came to find out and mark paths for our traders
to follow and buy their cotton.

‘We found a heavy swell on the lake, though there was no wind, and
there was no appearance of the water ever falling or rising much from what
we saw it. The river Shire never varies more than two or three feet from the
wet to the dry season, and as it is from 80 to 150 yards broad, 12 feet deep, and
has a current of 23 knots an hour, the body of water which gives it off must be
large and have considerable feeders. At its southern end the lake seemed
eight or ten miles broad, and it trended away to the N.N.W.; a hilly island
rose in the distance. It is small, and is called Bazulu. The same range of
lofty mountains that les east of Shirwa, or Tamandua, appeared as if con-
tinued along the north-east shore of Nyassa.

REPORT ON THE ZAMBESI. 297

In his letters he made a formal report on the Zambesi, and its capacity
as a channel of commerce, and the importance of the district through which
it flows for trading purposes, he says :—

‘Tn endeavouring to form an estimate of the value of the Zambesi for
commercial purposes, it is necessary to recollect that we were obliged in the
first instance to trust to the opinions of naval officers who had visited it, and
the late Captain Parker, together with Lieutenant Hoskins, having declared
that it was quite capable of being used for commerce, though the Portuguese
never did, and do not now enter it directly from the sea, we trusted in the
testimony of our countrymen, and though we failed to find a passage in by
Parker’s Luabo, we discovered a safe entrance by the Urande Kongone; and
H.M.S. ZLynz, Captain Berkely, at a subsequent period, found a good channel
by the main stream (Parker’s Luabo) though we had failed to observe it in a
three days’ search. The question of safe entrance from the sea having thus
been satisfactorily solved, our attention was next directed to the rest of the river,
the subject of this report. Itisdesirable alsoto remember that, in an experimental
expedition like ours, it was plainly an imperative duty to select the most healthy
period of the year, in order to avoid the fate of the Great Niger Expedition. Had
we come at any time between January and April, a large vessel could have been
taken up as far as Tete, but that is the most unhealthy time of the year, and we
then looked on the African fever as a much more formidable disease than we do
now. We entered the river in June, when it was falling fast, but even then
the official reports of Captain Gordon and other naval officers were precisely
the same as those of Captain Parker and Lieutenant Hoskins. Their testi-
mony, however, referred to only about 70 miles from the sea, Mazaro, the
point at which the Portuguese use of the river begins. We have now enjoyed
a twelvyemonth’s experience, which is the shortest period in which all the
changes that occur annually can be noted, and we have carefully examined
the whole, from the sea to Tete, five times over, in a craft the top-speed of
which, (33 knots) admitted of nothing being done in a hurry, and may there-
fore be considered in a position to give an opinion of equal value to that of
flying visitors, better qualified in all other respects for the task. As a report
on the river would be incomplete without a description of it when at its
lowest, I sent the journal of Mr. T. Baines to the Society, which was written
at the worst part of the river, and in a season said by all to be one of unusual
drought. Mr. Baines was taken up by a southern channel, which contained
much less water than that which we ascended a month later; but adopting
that journal as showing what the river may again become in a season of
drought, I would only add that in passing from the sea to Tete, when the
river had fallen still lower than at the period when the journal was penned,
we were obliged to drag the vessel over three crossings, 100 or 150 feet long,
of from 24 to 18 inches of water. It is not, however, to be understood that

ol

298 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

such is then the general depth. In the broad parts of the river we have three
or four channels, and the greater part of these channels contains water from
8 to 15 feet deep, even when the river has reached its lowest ebb. But we are
often obliged to cross from one channel to another, and sometimes from one
bank to the other; and it is in these crossings that the difficulties occur. I
am not aware that anything has been written on the form of the bottoms of
rivers, but familiarity with that and the signs on the surface will enable one
man to find three fathoms, while another will run aground in one or two feet.
From our experience of a year in which the river was unusually low, and the
rise deferred to a later than ordinary period, it is certain that a vessel really
of 18 inches or 2 feet draught could ply at all seasons on the first 300 miles
of the Zambesi.

‘We have in the course of one year cut up into small pieces upwards of
150 tons of lignum vite alone, which, according to the average prices in
London during 1858, was worth about £900. This wood, when dry, was, in
the absence of coal, the only fuel with which we could get up steam, owing to
the boiler-tubes being singularly placed all on one side and chiefly below the
level of the fire, from which novel arrangement one side remains long cold
while the other is hot, like a patient in the palsy; and four and a half or five
mortal hours of fuel-burning are required to get up steam; yet by incessant
labour and a dogged determination to extract all the good possible out of an
engine probably intended to grind coffee in a shop-window, we have traversed
2350 miles of river. Now, had we been permitted to show what could be
effected in this one branch of commerce, it is not unreasonable to say that
every time the saw went through lignum vite it might have been to secure or
dress a log. Without any great labour we might have cut a thousand instead
of one hundred and fifty tons of that valuable wood, and given a practical
exposition of what may, and very probably soon will be effected by the
Germans in Zambesi commerce.

‘The only paper that reached us up to the middle of June last contained
a short notice of the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, in which
some interesting assertions were made in connection with a pretty theory and
an engineering plan, that the Zambesi, which, under the very serious
disadvantages of that plan, we have actually been navigating, was not
navigable at all. If our fellow-members will only believe that we have a
merry smile on our faces, we would venture to move, for the support of the
theory, in parliamentary fashion, that the word ought be inserted thus:
‘Wheat ought not to grow at the level of the sea;’ ‘indigo ought not to grow
more than a foot high,’ and ‘it ought not to contain indigo at all.’ ‘The seeds
of cucumbers and water-melons ought not to contain a fine bland oil, fit for the
purposes of the table,’ because that would be like ‘extracting sunbeams from
cucumbers.’ ‘The Zambesi ought not to be navigable for commercial

REPORT ON THE ZAMBESI. 299

purposes,’ and the Steam Launch ‘ Asthmatic’ ‘ought to have been intended
to draw something more than merely ‘ grist to the mill.’

“From October, 1858, to June, 1859, 5782 elephants’ tusks have gone
down the Zambesi from Tete alone; of these two-thirds were large, or
upwards of 50lbs. each. The weight of the whole was in round numbers
100,000lbs. All merchandise is carried in large unwieldy canoes, which cost
between £60 and £70 each. When loaded they draw about two feet and carry
two tons, at an expense of £10 sterling from Kilimane to Tete, when the
river is full. When the small channel between the Zambesi and the Kilimane
river is dry, which is the case at least nine months in the year, the expense is
much increased by the land-carriage to Mazaro. English manufactured goods
come in a roundabout way by Banian or Gentoo traders from Bombay, and
they are obliged to give larger prices for ivory than the Americans or Germans,
who are absorbing all the trade of Eastern Africa. Several Tete merchants
have been waiting at Kilimane for months in expectation of American ships
with cottons. For the information of mercantile men it may be added that
the American calicoes are coarse, unbleached, yard-wide cottons, costing at
Kilimane between 5d. and 6d. per yard; and muskets, inferior to English
trade arms, from 26s. to 36s. each. With calicoes, guns, and gunpowder, they
easily secure all the trade on the east coast below Zanzibar. No attempt is
made to encourage the native taste for better articles, which exists quite as
strongly here as on the west coast. Red and blue colours are often unravelled,
respun, and rewoven into country cloths, and towards Lake Shirwa the only
scraps of these colours that come in to the country are exclusively claimed by
the chiefs.”

“Tf we divide the Zambesi into three reaches, namely, from the sea to
Kebra-basa—from Kebra-basa to Kansolo—and thence to Victoria Falls—we
find that each reach is abundantly supplied with coal. Your Lordship’s
attention has already been directed to the coal-field at Tete. In addition to a
former discovery of coal on the south bank above Chicova, we now discovered
the mineral in two rivulets on the north bank. Blocks of it, a foot or more
square, lay in a stream, called Sinjere, and, curiously enough, the natives did
not know that it would burn. The same coal-field extends, with occasional
faults from the bursting through of igneous rocks, nearly to the Victoria Falls,
and the quality is better even than that of Tete. It resembles closely English
domestic coal, for it froths like toasting-cheese in an open fire. This vast
coal-field will possibly modify the calculations of philosophers as to the amount
of mineral in the world, and it may constitute an important element in the
future greatness of the Cape colony.

“Dr. Kirk and I, with four Makololo, went up to tne worst or
unapproachable rapid, called ‘Morumbua.’ Our companions were most
willing fellows; but at last gave in, showing their horny soles blistered, and

300 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the blisters broken. Our good strong boots were quite worn through ; a pair
of ‘powries’ (none-such) went as the others, though in ordinary travelling
there was no wearing them down. On still urging the Makololo to another
effort, they said that ‘they always believed I had a heart till then; I had
surely become insane, and they were sorry Kirk could not understand
them, for if he could he would go back with them.’ A fortnight and
thirty miles made us all lean and haggard, as if recovering from
severe illness. Had I come by this way in 1856, I should never
have reached Tete. I do not attempt to describe the rocks, broken, twisted,
huddled about in the wildest manner and confusion, over which we struggled:
it is impossible. But this region, with its lofty healthy mountains, will yet
become famous for tourists. We climbed over mountains 2,000 or 2,300 feet
high, and cut our way through the tangled forest that covers them. I once
thought highly of field geography, and despised that of the easy chair; but I
gave in now. Commend me to travelling with a pair of compasses or seven-
league boots, without any regard to the slight obstacles which Nature has inter-
posed. Easy-chair geography will do for all the easy-going people, and is often
believed in by even the public; but you need not supppose I have been going
the length of making no observations, though I cannot send you any on this
occasion; no time to transcribe.”

‘The people inhabiting the valley of the Zambesi above the confluence
of the Kafue are chiefly Baleuje and Bawe; but they are much mixed with
other tribes. They all cultivate the soil and raise large quantities of grain.
A considerable amount of remarkably fine cotton is also planted, yet a large
number of the men go stark naked. They are not inferior in any respect to
the natives who clothe themselves—the women are all decently covered; but
these Baenda-pezi, or go-nakeds as they are called, are absolutely devoid of
shame. Their tobacco-pipes are elaborately ornamented with iron and
copper, and they are sufficiently conceited in the fashion of their hair and the
colour of the beads around their necks; but though they deny the existence
of any law on the subject except custom, neither laughing nor joking could
arouse the sense of decency. What was of more importance, they were very
hospitable, and accompanied us for days together, carrying the burdens of our
men for very small payments.”

CHAPTER XIV.

Start for Linyanti—Cutting up an Elephant.—The “ go-naked” Tribe.—The
Victoria Falls—They jind Sekeletu Tll.—Leave Sesheke.—Arrive at Kongone.

Aes Livingstone felt bound in honour to revisit Sekeletu and take back the

men who had accompanied him from that chief in his wanderings,
together with the merchandise he had purchased for his use with the tusks
entrusted to him, the party started from Tete for Linyanti, on the 15th of
May, leaving ten English sailors in charge of the ship until their return. As
many of the men had taken up with slave women they did not leave with
much good will, and before the party had reached Kebrabasa Rapids, thirty
of them had deserted. Before starting, Livingstone had paid them in cloth,
&c., for their services in the expedition, being anxious that they should make
as good an appearance as possible when they reached Linyanti. Many of
them had earned a good deal during their stay at Tete, while Dr. Livingstone
was absent in England ; but as they unfortunately picked up a good many of
she evil habits of the natives round Tete, they had squandered all they pos-
sessed. It is painful to think that these unsophisticated sons of nature
should haye come so far to see and meet civilized people with such results.
Not only were the slave and half-caste population drunken and immoral, but
the Portuguese merchants with few exceptions were no better.

A merchant at Tete sent three of his men with the party to convey a
present for Sekeletu, two other merchants sent him a couple of donkeys,
and Major Sicard sent them men to assist them on their return, when, of
course, their attendants would be reduced, should the Makololo men elect to
remain, and no one volunteer to accompany them on their return down the
river. In order to escape the exactions of the Banyai tribes, the party pro-
ceeded up the left bank of the river. At several of the villages, on their way
up the Zambesi valley, they saw and conversed with pondoros, as men are
called who pretend to be able to change themselves into a lion or other animal.
Strangely enough, this power appeared to be believed in by the people; even
the wife of the pondoro, during the period when he retires into the forests to
change his shape, leaving food for him in a hut in the forest prepared for
him, the change to the brute form apparently not destroying or altering the
human appetite. These excursions usually last until the pondoro has dis-
covered some animal just slain by a lion, when he returns to his village and

302 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

leads them to the carcase, taking credit to himself, of course, for having killed
it during his transformation.

“‘Tt is believed also,” says Dr. Livingstone, ‘‘ that the souls of departed
chiefs enter into lions, rendering them sacred. On one occasion, when we had
shot a buffalo in the path beyond the Kafue, a hungry lion, attracted probably
by the smell of the meat, came close to our camp, and roused up all hands by his
roaring.” One of their native followers, imbued with the popular belief that
the brute was a chief in disguise, took him to task in his intervals of silence
for his meanness in wanting to plunder the camp.

“You a chief, eh? You call yourself a chief do you? What kind a
chief are you to come sneaking about in the dark, trying to steal our buffalo
meat? Are you not ashamed of yourself? A pretty chief truly; you are
like the scavenger beetle, and think of yourself only. You have not the heart
of a chief; why don’t you kill your own beef? You must have a stone in
your chest, and no heart at all indeed!”

Near the village of a chief called Sandia, six of the Makololo shot a cow
elephant. In this district, the chief claims one half of any game killed on his
ground, This right was to some extent waived, the headman of the hunting
party superintended the cutting up of the brute and apportioned the pieces—
‘the head and right hind leg belong to him who killed the beast, that is to him
who inflicted the first wound ; the left leg to him who delivered the second, or
first touched the animal after it fell; the meat around the eye to the English,
or chief of the travellers; and different parts to the headmen of the different
fires, or groups, of which the camp is composed ; not forgetting to enjoin the
preservation of the fat and bowels for a second distribution.” The cutting up
of the carcase is a scene of wild excitement. ‘Some jump inside, and roll
about there in their eagerness to seize the precious fat, while others run off
screaming; with pieces of the bloody meat, throw it on the grass, and run back
for more; all kept talking and shouting at the utmost pitch of their voices.
Sometimes two or three, regardless of all law, seize the same piece of meat, and
have a brief fight of words over it. . . . Inan incredibly short time tons of meat
are cut up, and placed in separate heaps around.” The following is the method
of cooking the elephant’s forefoot, which the white members of the party had
for breakfast on the following morning. ‘A large hole was dug in the ground
in which a fire was made, and when the inside was thoroughly heated, the entire
foot was placed in it, and covered over with the hot ashes and soil. Another
fire was made above the whole, and kept burning all night. . . . Itisa
whitish mass, slightly gelatinous, and sweet, like marrow. . . . Elephants’
trunks and tongues are also good, and, after long simmering, much resemble
the hump of a buffalo, and the tongue of an ox; but all the other meat is tough,
and, from its peculiar flavour, only to be eaten by ahungry man.” The natives
eat enormous quantities of meat when they have the opportunity.

NATIVE POLITICIANS. 303

“They boil as much as their pots will hold, and eat until it becomes
physically impossible for them to stow away any more. An uproarious dance
follows, accompanied with stentorian song; and as soon as they have shaken
their first course down, and washed off the sweat and dust of the after per-
formance, they go to work to roast more; a short snatch of sleep succeeds, and
they are up and at it again; all night long it is boil and eat, roast and devour,
with a few brief interludes of sleep. Like other carnivora, these men can
endure hunger for a much longer period than the mere porridge-eating tribes.”
As game was abundant, the weather excellent for camping, and the route
known, travelling was not an unpleasant task. Flocks of guinea fowl and
other birds, were met with daily; and, as they were in good condition, and
their flesh excellent, the party enjoyed a variety of flesh meat.

In camping the men by turns cut grass for the beds of the three English-
men,—Dr. Livingstone being placed in the middle, Dr. Kirk on the right, and
Charles Livingstone on the left. Their bags, rifles, and revolvers were placed
near their beds, and a fire was kindled near their feet. A dozen fires were
kindled in the camp nightly, and replenished from time to time by the men
who were awakened by the cold. On these grass beds, with their rugs drawn
over them, the three Englishmen slept soundly under some giant tree, through
whose branches when awake they could look up to the clear star-spangled
moonlitsky. Their attendants slept between mats of palm leaves, which were
sewn together round three sides of the square, one being left open to enable
the man to crawl in between the two. These sleeping bags are called fwmbas,
and when they were all at rest within the encampment, they had the appear-
ance of sacks strewn round about the camp fires.

In camp, when food was plenty, there was no lack of amusement.
After the camp fires were lighted and the important labours consequent
on cooking and eating were over, the party sat round the fires talking and
singing.

“‘ Every evening one of the Batoka played his sansa, and continued at
it until far into the night; he accompanied it with an extempore song, in
which he rehearsed their deeds ever since they left their own country.”
Political discussions frequently arose, in which radical and revolutionary
theorists combated loyal and constitutional orators, after the manner of
political clubs at home. On these occasions “ the whole camp was aroused,
and the men shouted to one another from the different fires; whilst some
whose tongues were never heard on any other subject, now burst forth into
impassioned speech. The misgovernment of chiefs formed an inexhaustible
theme.

““¢ We could govern ourselves better,’ they cry, ‘so what is the use of
chiefs at all? they do not work. The chief is fat, and has plenty of wives;
whilst we, who do the hard work, have hunger, only one wife, or more likely

304 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

none; now this must be bad, unjust, and wrong.’ _All shouted to this a loud
‘ ehe,’ equivalent to our ‘ hear, hear.’

““ Next the headmen, Kanyata, and Tuba, with his loud voice, are heard
taking up the subject on the loyal side.”

“<The chief is the father of the people; can there be people without a
father, eh ? God made the chief. Who says that the chief is not wise? He
is wise, but his children are fools.’ ‘Tuba goes on generally till he has
silenced all opposition ; and if his arguments are not always sound, his voice
is the loudest, and he is sure to have the last word. ”

About five o’clock in the morning the camp was astir; the blankets were
folded and stowed away in bags; the fwmbas and cooking pots were fixed on
the end of the carrying sticks, which were borne on the shoulders. The
cook carried the cooking utensils used for the Englishmen; and after a cup of
tea or coffee, the whole party were on the march before sunrise.

At nine, breakfast was prepared at a convenient spot. In the middle of
the day there was a short rest, and early in the afternoon they pitched their
camp—the white men going a-hunting if food was required, and examining
the neighbourhood. Their rate of progress was about two and a half miles an
hour as the crow flies, and their daily march lasted about six hours. After
several days of this, the natives complained of being fatigued, even when well
fed with fresh meat. They lacked the stamina and endurance of the
Europeans, although travelling in their own country.

In the Chicova plains, a chief named Chitora brought the party a present
of food and drink, because, he said, ‘‘ He did not wish us to sleep hungry :
he had heard of Dr. Livingstone when he passed down, and had a great
desire to see and converse with him; but he was a child then, and could not
speak in the presence of great men. He was glad that he had seen the Eng-
lish now, and was sorry that his people were away, or he should have made
them cook for us.” Here and at other places they noticed that the natives
filtered their water through sand, even although at the time the water of the
river was clear and limpid. During the flood as the water is polluted with
all sorts of filth collected near the native villages, the filtering process is very
necessary.

Of the effect the white men have upon the native population on a first
encounter, Dr. Livingstone says :—

“There must be something in the appearance of white men frighfully
repulsive to the unsophisticated natives of Africa; for, on entering villages
previously unvisited by Europeans, if we met a child coming quietly and
unsuspectingly towards us, the moment he raised his eyes, and saw the men in
‘bags’ (trousers), he would take to his heels in an agony of terror, such as -
we might feel if we met a live Egyptian mummy at the door of the British
Museum. Alarmed by the child’s wild outcries, the mother rushes out of her

A DISAPPOINTED CHIEF. 305

hut, but darts back again at the first glimpse of the same fearful apparition.
Dogs turn tail and scour off in dismay, and hens abandoning their chickens
fly screaming to the tops of the houses. The so-lately peaceful village
becomes a scene of confusion and hubbub, until calmed by the laughing
assurance of our men, that white people do not eat black folks; a joke having
oftentimes greater influence in Africa than solemn assertions. Some of our
young swells, on entering an African village, might experience a collapse of
self-inflation, at the sight of all the pretty girls fleemg from them, as from
hideous cannibals, or by witnessing, as we have done, the conversion of
themselves into public hobgoblins; the mammas holding naughty children
away from them, and saying, ‘ Be good, or I shall call the white men to bite

Ou.’ ”? =
; The two donkeys rivalled them in the interest they excited. ‘‘ Great
was the astonishment when one of the donkeys began to bray. The
timid jumped more than if a lion had roared beside them. All were startled,
and stood in mute amazement at the harsh-voiced one, till the last broken
note was uttered; then, on being assured that nothing in particular was
meant, they looked at each other, and burst into a loud laugh at their
common surprise. When one donkey stimulated the other to try his vocal
powers, the interest felt by the startled natives must have equalled that of the
Londoners, when they first crowded to see the famous hippopotamus.”

_ Here, they examined seams of excellent coal, and found lumps of it
which had been brought down from the near hill ranges by the brooks,
and astonished the natives by showing them that the black stones would burn.
They stated that there was plenty of it among the hills. Some of the chiefs
wore wigs made of the fibrous leaves of a plant called 7, allied to the alova;
when properly dyed these wigs have a fine glossy appearance. Mpende and
his people, who were objects of some dread to Livingstone and his companions
in their journey to the coast from Linyanti were now most friendly: the chief
apologising for his want of attention to the traveller and his party as they
passed on their way to the coast. Several Banyai chiefs sent their headmen
across the stream to demand tribute, but the travellers were glad to be in a
position to resist such exactions. Halting near the village of a chief named
Pangola, he demanded a rifle in exchange for the food they needed, and
refused to trade on any other terms; fortunately, a member of the party managed
to shoot a water-bok, which rendered them independent of the greedy savage,
who was intensely mortified at seeing them depart without his having traded
with them in any way. He cried after them as they passed on their way,
“You are passing Pangola. Do not you see Pangola?” But the whole
party were so disgusted with him that they would have no dealings with him
on any terms.

Passing the ruins of the once flourishing Portuguese settlement of Zumbo,
Pl

306 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

which is beautifully situated in the midst of fertile plains watered by two
splendid rivers, the travellers moralised on the worse than utter failure attending
the establishment of the Portuguese on the east coast of Africa. ‘“ Not a single
art (says Dr. Livingstone) save that of distilling spirits by means of a gun-barrel,
has ever been learnt from the strangers ; and if all the progeny of the whites were
at once to leave the country, their only memorial would be the ruins of a few
stone and mud-built walls, and that blighting relic of the slave-trade, the
belief that man may sell his brother man; a belief which is not of native
origin, for itis not found except in the track of the Portuguese.” Beyond the
ruins of their churches at Zumbo, there is nothing in the habits and beliefs of
the people to tell that Christianity was once taught there. At Tete, Senna,
and Kilimane, where the Jesuits have still establishments, although shorn of
their original splendour, their want of success is in deep contrast to the good
done among the people of Ambaca, which is still perceptible after several
generations. Maintaining a footing in the country only on the sufferance of
the Zulus and other native tribes, it is a matter of deep regret that the Portu-
guese government should be permitted to stand in the way of the elevation of
a people, and the civilization of a vast territory.

Between Zumbo and the falls, game of all kinds was so abundant that
their native attendants got fat, and became fastidious in their eating, declining
antelope and preferring buffalo flesh and guinea fowl. The natives were
curious and hospitable at all the villages they passed, and their bold and
fearless bearing told that they were now beyond the range of the operations
of the slave-traders. Families were frequently met marching in single file—
the man at the head, carrying nothing save his weapons of defence, his wives
and sons and daughters following with their scanty household utensils and
comforts. These parties always came in for a share of the white men’s
abundance of flesh meat. Around the foot of the great tree of audience at
every village, or suspended from its branches, were collections of buffalo and
antelope horns and skulls, the trophies of the chase. The travellers remarked,
that ‘‘ at these spots were some of the most splendid buffalo heads we have
ever seen; the horns after making a complete circle had commenced a second
turn. This would be a rich country for a horn-fancier.”

The only thing edible they wanted in the central plains was vegetables ;
now and again they got a supply of sweet potatoes, which allayed the dis-
agreeable craving which a continuous diet of meat and meal had induced.
After crossing the Kafue, the party got amongst a people of Batoka origin,
and belonging to the same tribe as several of the attendants who had left
Linyanti with Livingstone. Here they were told that Moselekatse’s (Sebi-
tuane’s great enemy) chief town was above three hundred miles distant, and
that the English had come to him and taught him that it was wrong to kill
people, and that now he sent out his men to collect and sell ivory. It was

THE GO-NAKED TRIBE. 307

refreshing to find that news of this description had travelled so far. The
Bawee, a people who go entirely nude, or clothed only in a coat of
red ochre (of whom we shall hear more from Mr. C. Livingstone), were
very friendly. The party tried to discover the reason for their going
naked, but could only learn that it was the custom; the habit was only con-
fined to the males, the women being always more or less clothed. They felt
no shame, nor could any feeling be aroused by laughing and jocking at their
appearance. They “evidently felt no less decent than we did with our
clothes on; but whatever may be said in favour of nude statues, it struck us
that man in a state of nature is a most ungainly animal. Could we see a
number of the degraded of our own lower classes in like guise, it is probable,
that, without the black colour which acts somehow as a dress they would look
worse still.”

Leaving the bank of the Zambesi for a time, the party travelled through
the Batoka highlands, where the free air of the hill side was most invigorat-
ing and beneficial, especially to Dr. Kirk, who had suffered from fever. The
country, although very fertile, is thinly populated, Sebituane and Moselekatse
having ravaged it in their numerous forays The Batoka are a peace-loving
and industrious people; they were so hospitable that it would have pained
them if the party had passed without receiving something. Very frequently
they prepared their camp for them,—smoothing the ground with their hoes
for their beds, collecting grass and firewood, erecting a bush fence to protect
them from the wind, and carrying water from the distant well or stream.

Once they were visited by a noble specimen of the Go-nakeds, clothed
only in a tobacco pipe, with a stem two feet long wound round with polished
ivory. ‘‘God made him naked,” he said, “‘ and he had therefore never worn
any clothing.”

Great quantities of tobacco are grown in the Batoka country, which is
famed for its quality; they are inveterate smokers, but always had the polite-
ness to ask the white men’s permission before smoking in their presence.
Above Kariba the people had never before been visited by white men. The
chief of Koba, on being asked if any tradition existed among his people of
strangers having visited the country, answered “‘ Not at all; our fathers all
died without telling us that they had seen men like you. To-day I am exalt-
ed in seeing what they never saw”; while others, in a spirit worthy of Charles
Lamb, who threatened to write for the ancients, because the moderns did not
appreciate him properly, said, ‘‘ We are the true ancients; we have seen
stranger things than any of our ancestors, in seeing you.”

The following admirable account of the Batoka country and its people is
from the pen of Mr. Charles Livingstone :—

“The country of the Batoka, in Central Africa, lies between the 25th
and 29th degrees of Kast longitude and the 16th and 18th of South latitude.

308 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

It has the river Kafue on the North, the Zambesi on the Hast and South, and
extends West till it touches the low fever-plains of the river Majeela, near
Sesheke.

‘“‘ But a few years since these extensive, healthy highlands were well
peopled by the Batoka; numerous herds of cattle furnished abundance of
milk, and the rich soil largely repaid the labour of the husbandman. Now
enormous herds of buffaloes, elephants, antelopes, zebras, &c., fatten on the
excellent pasture which formerly supported multitudes of cattle, and not a
human being is to be seen. We travelled from Monday morning till late in
the Saturday afternoon (from Thabacheu to within 20 miles of Victoria Falls)
without meeting a single person, though constantly passing the ruined sites of
Batoka villages. These people were driven out of this, the choicest portion
of their noble country, by the invasion of Sebituane. Many were killed, and
the survivors, except those around the Falls, plundered of their cattle, fled to
the banks of the Zambesi and to the rugged hills of Mataba. Scarcely, how-
ever, had the conquerors settled down to enjoy their ill-gotten riches when
they themselves were attacked by small-pox ; and, as soon as its ravages had
ceased, the fighting Matabele compelled them to abandon the country, and
seek refuge amidst the fever-swamps of Linyanti.

‘““The Batoka have a mild and pleasant expression of countenance, and
are easily distinguished from the other Africans by the singular fashion of
wearing no upper front teeth, all persons of both sexes having them knocked
out in early life. They seem never to have been a fighting race, but to have
lived at peace among themselves, and on good terms with their neighbours.
While passing through their country we observed one day a large cairn. Our
guide favoured us with the following account of it:—‘ Once on a time the
ancients were going to fight another tribe; they halted here and sat down.
After a long consultation they came to the unanimous conclusion that, instead
of proceeding to fight and kill their neighbours, and perchance getting them-
selves killed, it would be more like men to raise this heap of stones as their
earnest protest against what the other tribe had done, which they accordingly
did, and then returned quietly home again.’

‘“‘ But, although the Batoka appear never to have had much stomach for
fighting with men, they are remarkably brave hunters of buffaloes and
elephants. They rush fearlessly close up to these formidable animals, and kill
them with their heavy spears. The Banyai, who have long levied black-mail
from all Portuguese traders, were amazed at the daring bravery of the Batoka
in coming at once to close quarters with the elephant and despatching him.
They had never seen the like before. Does it require one kind of bravery to
fight with men, and another and different sort to fight with the fiercest
animals? It seems that men may have the one kind in an eminent degree,
and yet be without the other.

NATIVE GRAVEYARDS. 309

‘The Batoka having lived at peace for ages, had evidently attained to a
degree of civilization very much in advance of any other tribe we have yet
discovered. They planted and cultivated fruit-trees. Nowhere else has this
been the case, not even among the tribes which have been in contact with the
Portuguese for two hundred years, and have seen and tasted mangoes,
oranges, &c., &e. The natives round Senna and Tete will on no account
plant the stone of a mango. They are firm believers in a superstition that
‘if any one plants a mango, he will die soon afterwards.’

“‘Tn and around the Batoka villages some of the most valuable timber-
trees have been allowed to stand, but every worthless tree has been cut down
and rooted out, and the best of the various fruit-trees of the country have
been carefully planted and preserved, and also a few trees from whose seeds
they extracted oil. We saw fruit-trees which had been planted in regular
rows, the trunks being about three feet in diameter, and also grand old
Motsakiri fruit-trees still bearing abundantly, which had certainly seen a
hundred summers.

“‘Two of the ancient Batoka once travelled as far as the river Loangwa.
There they saw the massan-tree in fruit, carried some all the way back to the
Great Falls, and planted them. Two of the trees are still standing, the only
ones of the kind in all that region.

‘They made a near approach to the custom of even the most refined
nations in haying permanent graveyards, either on the sides of sacred hills,
or under the shady fig-trees near the villages. They reverenced the tombs of
their ancestors, and erected monuments of the costliest ivory at the head of
the grave, and often even entirely enclosed it with the choicest ivory. Other
tribes on the Zambesi throw the body into the river, to be devoured by
alligators; or, sewing it in a mat, place it on the branches of the baobab, or
cast it into some gloomy, solitary spot overgrown with thorns and noxious
weeds, to be devoured by the foul hyena. But the Batoka reverently buried
their dead, and regarded the ground as sacred to their memories. Near the
confluence of the Katfue, the chief, accompanied by some of his headmen,
came to our sleeping-place with a present; their foreheads were marked
with white flour, and there was an unusual seriousness in their de-
meanour.

‘“‘ We were informed that shortly before our arrival they had been accused
of witchcraft. Conscious of innocence they accepted the terrible ordeal, or
offered to drink the poisoned muavi. For this purpose they made a journey
to the sacred hill where reposed the bodies of their ancestors, and, after a
solemn appeal to the unseen spirits of their fathers to judge of the innocence
of these their children, drank the muavi, vomited, and were therefore
declared to be ‘ Not guilty.’ They believed in the immortality of the soul,
and that the souls of their ancestors knew what they were doing, and were

310 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

pleased or not accordingly. The owners of a large canoe refused to sell it
because it belonged to the spirits of their fathers, who helped them in killing
the hippopotamus.

“Some of the Batoka chiefs must have had a good deal of enterprise.
The lands of one in the western part of the country lay on the Zambesi,
which protected him on the South; on the East and North was an impassable
reedy marsh, filled with water all the year round, leaving only his West border
unprotected and open to invasion. He conceived the bold project of digging
a broad and deep canal, nearly a mile in length, from the West end of the
reedy river to the Zambesi, and actually carried it into execution; thus
forming a large island, on which his cattle grazed in safety, and his corn
ripened from year to year secure from all marauders.

‘“‘ Another chief, who died a number of years ago, believed that he had
discovered a remedy for tsetse-bitten cattle. His son showed us the plant,
which was new to our botanist, and likewise told us how the medicine was
prepared. The bark of the root is dried, and—what will be specially
palatable to our homeeopathist friends—a dozen tsetse are caught, dried, and
ground with the bark to a fine powder. The mixture is administered
internally, and the cattle are also smoked, by burning the rest-.of the plant
under them. The treatment is continued some weeks, as often as symptoms
of the poison show themselves. This, he frankly said, will not cure all the
bitten cattle, for cattle, and men too, die in spite of medicine; but should a
herd by accident stray into a tsetse district and get bitten, by this medicine
of Kampakampa, his father, some of them could be saved, while without it
all would be sure to die.

‘““A remarkably prominent feature in the Batoka character is their
enlarged hospitality. No stranger is ever allowed to suffer hunger. They
invariably sent to our sleeping-places large presents of the finest white meal,
with fat capons “to give it a relish,” and great pots of beer to comfort our
hearts, with pumpkins, beans, and tobacco; so that, as they said, we ‘ should
not sleep hungry or thirsty.’

“‘In travelling from the Kafue to Sinamanes, we often passed several
villages in the course of a day’s march. In the evening, deputations arrived
from those villages at which we could not sleep, with liberal presents of food.
It evidently pained them to have strangers pass them without partaking of their
hospitality. Repeatedly were we hailed from huts, asked to wait a moment
and drink a little beer, which they brought with alacrity.

‘When we halted for the night, it was no uncommon thing for these
people to prepare our camp. Entirely of their own accord, some with their
hoes quickly smoothed the ground for our beds; others brought bundles of
grass and spread it carefully over the spot; some with their small axes
speedily made a brush-fence round to shield us from the wind; and if, as

RAGS AT A DISCOUNT. 311

occasionally happened, the water was a little distant, others hastened and
brought a pot or two of water to cook our food with, and also firewood. They
are an industrious people, and very fond of agriculture. For hours at a time
have we marched through unbroken corn-fields of nearly a mile in width.
They erect numerous granaries for the reception of the grain, which give
their villages the appearance of being unusually large; and when the water
of the Zambesi has subsided they place the grain, tied up in bundles of grass,
well plastered over with clay, on low sand islands, as a protection against the
attacks of marauding mice and men.

“Owing to the ravages of the weevil, the native corn can hardly be
preserved until the following crop comes in. However largely they may
cultivate, and abundant the harvest, it must all be consumed the same year in
which it is grown. This may account for their making so much of it into
beer. The beer they brew is not the sour and intoxicating kind found among
other tribes, but sweet, and highly nutritious, with only a slight degree ot
acidity to render it a pleasant drink. We never saw a single case of intoxi-
cation among them, though all drank great quantities of beer. They were
all plump, and in good condition.

‘“‘ Both men and boys were eager to work for very small pay. Our men
could hire any number of them to carry their burdens for a few beads a-day
or a bit of cloth. The miserly and extra-dirty cook had an old pair of
trousers some of us had given him, and which he had long worn himself:
with one of the decayed legs of his trousers he hired a man to carry his
heavy load a whole day ; a second man carried it the next day for the other
leg; and what remained of the old trousers, minus the buttons, procured the
labour of another man for the third day.

‘A peculiar order of men is established among them, the order of the
Endah Pezes (Go-Nakeds). The badge of this order, as the name suggests,
consists in the entire absence of the slightest shred of clothing. They are
in the state in which Adam is reported to have been before his invention of
the fig-leaf apparel. We began to see members of this order about two days
above the junction of the Kafue; two or three might be seen in a village.
The numbers steadily increased, until in a short time every man and boy
wore a badge of the Endah Pezes. The chief of one of the first villages, a
noble, generous fellow, was one, as were likewise two or three of his men. In
the afternoon he visited us in the full dress of his order, viz., a tobacco-pipe,
nothing else whatever, the stem about two feet long, wound round with
polished iron. He gave us a liberal present. Early next morning he came,
accompanied by his wife and daughter, with two large pots of beer, in order
that we might refresh ourselves before starting. Both the women, as comely
and modest-looking as we have scen in Africa, were well clothed and adorned.

“The women, in fact, are all well clothed, and have many ornaments.

$12 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Some wear tin ear-rings all round the ear, no fewer than nine often in each
ear. There was nothing to indicate that they had the slightest idea of there
being anything peculiar in the no-dress-at-all style of their order. They rub
their bodies with red ochre. Some plait a fillet two inches wide, of the inner
bark of trees, shave the wool off the lower part of the head to an inch above
the ear, tie this fillet on, having rubbed it and the wool which is left with the
red ochre mixed in oil. It gives them the appearance of having on a neat
forage-cap. This, with some strings of beads, a little polished iron wire
round the arms, the never-failing pipe, and a small pair of tongs to lift up a
coal to light it with, constitute all the clothing the most dandyfied Endah
Peze ever wears.

“‘ They raise immense quantities of tobacco on the banks of the Zambesi
in the winter months, and are, perhaps, the most inveterate smokers in the
world. ‘The pipe is seldom out of their hands. They are as polite smokers
as any ever found in a railway carriage. When they came with a present,
although it was their own country, before lighting their pipes they asked if
we had any objections to their smoking beside us, which of course, contrary
to railway travellers, we never had. They have invented a novel mode of
smoking, which may interest those who are fond of the weed at home. They
take a whiff, puff out the grosser smoke, then by a sudden inhalation before
all is out contrive to catch, as they say, and swallow the pure spirit of the
tobacco, its real essence, which common smokers lose entirely. Their tobacco
is said to be very strong; it is certainly very cheap; a few strings of beads
will purchase as much as will last any reasonable smoker half a year. Their
government, whatever it may have been formerly, is now that of separate
and independent chiefs.”

At Moachemba, the first of the Batoka villages which owed allegiance to
Sekeletu, the party distinctly saw the smoke of the Victoria Falls, twenty
miles distant. Here their native attendants heard news from home. T'ake-
lang’s wife had been killed by Sekeletu’s headman at the Falls, on a charge
of witchcraft; Inchikola’s two wives, believing him to be dead, had married
again; and Masakasa was intensely disquieted to hear that two years before
his friends, giving him up for dead, had held a kind of Irish wake in his
honour, slaughtered all_ his oxen, and thrown his shield over the Falls. He
declared he would devour them, and when they came to salute him would
say, “‘I am dead; I am not here; I belong to another world, and should stink
if I came among you.” The Batoka wife of Sima, who had remained faithful
to him during his absence, came to welcome him back, and took the young
wife he had brought with him from Tete away with her without a murmur of
disapproval. At night, when the camp was quiet, Takelang fired his musket
and cried out, “‘I am weeping for my wife; my court is desolate; I have no
home!” ending with a loud wail of anguish.

SHOOTING THE RAPIDS. 313

Dr. Livingstone and his English friends had news also to receive of a pain-
ful character. An attempt to establish a mission at Linyanti under the Rev.
F, C. Helmore had failed. The mission originally consisted of nine Europeans
and thirteen coloured people from the neighbourhood of Kuruman. Of these,
five Europeans, including Mr. Helmore and his wife, and four natives, died
within three months, and the survivors retreated disheartened from the region
which had been so deadly to their devoted companions. Sekeletu had behaved
very badly to the members of the mission, and got into trouble on account of
his conduct with Sechele, who considered himself the guardian and protector
of the white men in these parts.

The various headmen of Sekeletu having been holding forays among the
Batoka, had to be lectured by Dr. Livingstone—a discipline which they took
in good part, excusing themselves by endeavouring to prove that they were
in the right, and could not avoid fighting.

On the 9th of August, 1860, the party reached the Victoria Falls, and
Dr. Livingstone and his two companions were rowed through the rapids to
Garden Island, to obtain a view of the falls. The canoe in which they sat
was owned by Tuba Mokoro, which means “ Smasher of canoes,” a somewhat
ominous title, which his success and skill on the present occasion belied. The
party had to embark several miles above the falls, and were strictly enjoined
to maintain silence. For a considerable distance the river was smooth and
tranquil, the beautiful islands, densely covered with tropical vegetation,
adding to the pleasure felt in the rapid and easy movement of the craft.
Near the falls the surface of the river is broken by rocks, which, as the
water was then low, protruded their heads above the stream, breaking the
current into boiling and foaming eddies, which required all the skill of the
boatmen to pilot their way through. ‘There were places”—Livingstone
says—‘‘ where the utmost exertion of both men had to be put forth in order to
force the canoe to the only safe part of the rapids, and to prevent it from
sweeping down broadside, when in a twinkling we should have found ourselves
floundering among the plotuses and cormorants, which were engaged in
diving for their breakfast of small fish. At times it seemed as if nothing
could save us from dashing in our headlong race against the rocks, which,
now that the river was low, jutted out of the water; but, just at the very nick
of time, Tuba passed the word to the steersman, and then with ready pole
turned the canoe a little aside, and we glided smoothly past the threatened
danger. Never was canoe more admirably managed. . . . We were
driving swiftly down. A black rock, over which the foam flew, lay directly in
our path. The pole was planted against it as readily as ever, butit slipped just
as Tuba put forth his strength to turn the bow off. We struck hard, and were
half full of water in a moment. Tuba recovered himself as speedily, shoved off
the bow, and shot the canoe into a still shallow place, to bale out the water.”

al

314 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

At the falls they met an Englishman, a Mr. Baldwin, from Natal, who
had reached them, his only guide for the greater part of the way being his
pocket compass. He had anticipated the arrival of his waggon by two days.
Mashotlam had ferried him across the stream, and when nearly over he had
jumped out and swam ashore. “If” said the chief, “ he had been devoured
-by one of the crocodiles which abound there, the English would have blamed
us for his death. He nearly inflicted a great injury upon us, therefore, we
said, he must pay us a fine.” Mr. Baldwin was, when Dr. Livingstone and
his friends met him, contentedly waiting the arrival of his waggon, so that he
might pay the fine.

On reaching Sesheke, where Sekeletu was, Dr. Livingstone found matters
in a bad way with the Makololo. Sekeletu was suffering from leprosy, and
had withdrawn himself from the sight of his people. A long-continued
drought had almost destroyed the crops, and the country was suffering from
a partial famine. The illness and inactivity of Sekeletu had induced chiefs
and headmen at a distance to do as they pleased; which meant too often the

_ill-usage of their immediate dependants, and the plundering of neighbouring
and friendly tribes.

On the arrival of the party an unbroken stream of visitors poured in
upon them, all desirous of paying their respects to Dr. Livingstone, and to
tell him the haps and mishaps which had befallen them during his absence.
All were in low spirits. Sekeletu, believing himself bewitched, had slain a
number of his chief men, together with their families; distant friendly tribes
were revolting ; famine was upon them, and the power of the Makololo was
passing away. These forebodings were only too soon realised. In 1864
Sekeletu died; and in the struggle which ensued for the succession, the wide
kingdom his father had conquered and ruled over, with a wisdom unexampled
among his peers, was broken up.

They found Sekeletu sitting in a covered waggon, which was enclosed in
a high wall of reeds. His face was slightly disfigured by the thickening and
discolouration of the skin where the leprosy had passed over it. He had a
firm belief that he had been bewitched. As the doctors of his own tribe
could do nothing for him, a female doctor of the Manyeti tribe was endea-
vouring to cure him at the time of Dr. Livingstone’s arrival. After some
difficulty she allowed the white men to take her patient in charge, and under
their treatment he all but recovered. :

The two horses left by Dr. Livingstone in 1853 were still alive, notwith-
standing the severe discipline to which they had been subjected. Sekeletu
had a great passion for horses, and about a year before the arrival of Living-
stone and his friends from Tete, a party of Makololo were sent to Benguela
on the west coast, who had purchased five horses, but they had all died on the
journey, through being bewitched as they believed, and they arrived with -

A LOST NOTE-BOOK FOUND. : 315

nothing to show for them save their tails. The merchants at Benguela had
treated them kindly, and made them presents of clothing and other articles.
As they had only recently arrived, and their clothes were comparatively
unworn, they proved, when arrayed in their best, to be as well if not better
dressed than Livingstone and his white friends. ‘‘ They wore shirts well
washed and starched, coats and trousers, white socks, and patent leather.
boots, a red Kilmarnock cowl on the head, and a brown wide-awake on the
top of that.” They and the travelled natives who had come from Tete
fraternised, and held themselves to be something superior on account of what
they had seen; but, as in more enlightened regions, there was not wanting a
party who believed inignorance. ‘‘ They had seen the sea, had they ?” these
would say, “‘and what is that ? nothing but water. They could see plenty of
water at home—ay, more than they wanted to see; and white people came
to their town—why then travel to the coast to look at them ?”

Sekeletu was well pleased with the articles brought for him. The sugar
mill had been left at Tete, being too bulky to be carried with them. On the
arrival of a proper steamer for the navigation of the Zambesi, he was informed
it would be sent up as far as the falls. In his ignorance as regarded the power
of artillery, he asked if cannon could not blow away the falls, and allow the
vessel to come up to Sesheke.

Two packages containing letters and newspapers from Kuruman were
lying at Linyanti, and a messenger was sent for them, who returned with
only one (the other being too heavy for him), within seven days, during
which time he had travelled 240 miles.

As Dr. Livingstone wished to get some more medicine and papers out of
the waggon he had left at Linyanti in 1853, he determined to proceed there
himself. On his arrival he found the waggon and its contents untouched from
the time of his departure in 1853, and everything in its place. This
illustrates the trustworthy character of the Makololo, which was still further
exemplified by the discovery of one of the books of notes he had left with
Sekeletu on his departure for the west coast in 1853. It will be remembered,
that fearing he was dead Sekeletu had given two books, together with a letter
addressed to Mr. Moffat, to a native trader, and that nothing further had been
heard of them. On being told that the trader, to whom they had said they had
given the books and letters, had denied having received them, Seipone, one of
Sekeletu’s wives, said ‘‘ He lies; I gave them to him myself.” The trader
afterwards went to Moselekatse’s country, and his conscience having bothered
him, it is presumed, “‘ one of the volumes was put into the mail-bag coming
from the south, which came to hand with the lock taken off in quite a
scientific manner.”

In the waggon Livingstone found the supply of medicine he had left
there untouched, and it was a melancholy reflection that Mr. Helmore and

316 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the other members of his mission should have died there, with the medicines
they needed lying within a hundred yards of their encampment. In return-
ing to Sesheske he heard of a lion being killed by the bite of a serpent.
Animals were frequently the victims of poisonous snakes, but he seldom heard
of their attacking human beings. While the Makololo generally accepted the
leading truths of Christianity, there were some habits and superstitions which
it was found difficult to shake. The belief in witchcraft and sorcery was
deeply rooted. They said, ‘“‘ They needed the book of God; but the hearts
of black men are not the same as those of the whites. They had-real sorcerers
among them. If that was guilt which custom led them to do, it lay between
the white man and Jesus, who had not given them the book, nor favoured
them as He had the whites.” As to cattle-lifting from their weaker neighbours,
they said, ‘‘ Why should these Makalaka (a term of contempt for the blacker
tribes) possess cattle if they cannot fight for them?” The pithy border creed—
“ . . . the good old rule
Sufficeth them, the simple plan,

That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can,”’

—was universally understood in its naked simplicity ; and despite their general
ignorance, they could reason very ingeniously. The cattle they took from
neighbouring tribes were in all likelihood the descendants of cattle which at
an earlier period had belonged to themselves; how, therefore, could it be a
sin, they argued, to take back what was their own? We question whether
any border cattle-lifter of the 17th century could have given a better reason
for his cattle stealing proclivities than this!

To those who knew the history of the Makololo tribe and its great chief
Sebituane, the prospect of its passing away as a power in Central Africa was
sad indeed. Indolence—the Makalaka did all their hard work—and the
pestilent country on the Chobe and Zambesi induced a rapid deterioration of
the manly qualities which had made them predominant over the tribes of the
interior. Livingstone says :—

“None but brave and daring men remained long with Sebituane: his
stern discipline soon eradicated cowardice from his army. If the chief saw a
man running away from the fight, he rushed after him with amazing speed,
and cut him down; or waited till he returned to the town, and then sum-
moned the deserter into his presence.’ ‘ You did not wish to die in the field,
you wished to die at home, did you? You shall have your wish! and he was
instantly led off and executed.’ ”

The Makololo made use of the spoons given them to convey their food
to the palm of their hand which conveyed it to the mouth. They were
horrified at seeing Dr. Livingstone and his friends put butter on their bread,
as they only eat it when melted. ‘‘ Look at them look at them,” they said,

Wea WM sh tah Sel sl ty

x

MATOKWANE SMOKERS. 317

“they are actually eating raw butter.” The principal use they made of
butter was to anoint the body. L

“The Makololo women have soft, small delicate hands and feet; their
foreheads are well shaped, and of good size; the nose not disagreeably flat ;
the mouth, chin, teeth, eyes, and general form, are beautiful, and contrasted
with the west coast negro, quite lady-like. Having maid-servants (children
of the Barotse and Makalaka) to wait on them and perform the principal part
of the household work, abundance of time is left them, and they are some-
times at a loss to know what to do with it.”

The party “‘ met a venerable warrior, sole survivor, save one, probably, of
the Mantatee host which threatened to invade the colony in 1824. He retained
a vivid recollection of their encounter with the Griquas. ‘As we looked at
the men and horses, puffs of smoke arose, and some of us dropped down dead !
Never saw anything like it in all my life, a man’s brains lying in one place
and his body in another!’ They could not understand what was killing
them ; a ball struck a man’s shield at an angle; knocked his arm out of joint
at the shoulder; and leaving a mark or burn, as he said, on the shield, killed
another man close by. We saw the man with his shoulder still dislocated.
Sebituane was present at the fighting, and had an exalted opinion of the
power of white people ever afterwards.”

The natives of Central Africa smoke Barig or native hemp, under the
name of Matokwane. Dr. Livingstone says :—

‘We had ample opportunity for observing the effect of this Matokwane
smoking on our men. It makes them feel very strong in body, but it
produces exactly the opposite effect upon the mind. ‘Two of our finest young
men became inveterate smokers, and partially idiotic. The performances of
a group of Matokwane smokers are somewhat grotesque; they are provided
with a calabash of pure water, a split bamboo, five feet long, and the great
pipe, which has a large calabash or antelope’s horn chamber to contain the
water, through which the smoke is drawn, on its way to the mouth. Each
smoker takes a few whiffs, the last being an extra long one, and hands the
pipe to his neighbour. He seems to swallow the fumes; for, striving against
the convulsive action of the muscles of the chest and throat, he takes a
mouthful of water from the calabash, waits a few seconds, and then pours
water and smoke from his mouth down the groove of the bamboo. The
smoke causes violent coughing in all, and in some a species of frenzy, which
passes away in a rapid stream of unmeaning words, or short sentences, as
‘the green grass grows,’ ‘the fat cattle thrive,’ ‘the fish swim.’ No one in
the group pays the slightest attention to the vehement eloquences, or the sage
or silly utterances of the oracle, who stops abruptly, and, the instant common
sense returns, looks rather foolish.”

The party left Sesheske on the 17th of September, 1860. Leshore and

318 LiFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Pitsane (the latter the factotum of Dr. Livingstone in his journey to and
from Loanda), and several Batoka men being sent with them to aid them in
their journey, and bring the merchandise left at Tete, and a supply of
medicine for Sekeletu, who was then nearly cured of his loathsome complaint.
Although he and his people were suffering from famine, Sekeletu had been
generous in his treatment of Dr. Livingstone and his companions; and when
they left he gave them six oxen for their support until they reached the
country below the falls, where food was more abundant. The party
passed down the valley of the Zambesi, sometimes by land and sometimes in
canoes—the latter being either bought or borrowed, or freely loaned for their
use without reward, according to the friendly or unfriendly character of the
proprietors. Below the junction of the Kafue with the Zambesi, they met a
half-caste ivory hunter named Sequasha, who, along with a large number of
armed slaves, had been hunting elephants since they passed up the river. He
told them that his men had killed 210 elephants during the trip. This
Sequasha was an unscrupulous villain. Shortly before this he had entered into
a league with the headman of a chief called Mpangwe, near Zumbo, to kill the
chief. With a picked party of slaves, armed with loaded muskets, he visited
the unsuspecting chief, who received him kindly ; and while he was minister-
ing to their wants, the chief and twenty of his people were shot in cold blood.
For this diabolical service he received ten tusks, and the headman usurped the
place of his murdered master. Sequasha carried a plentiful supply of wares
with him to purchase tusks and food, and among other articles he had a
quantity of American clocks, which got him into trouble with a tribe of
Banvai. He set them all a-going in the presence of the chief, who was
greatly frightened at the strange noise they made, and imagining that they
were intended to bewitch himself and his people, it was decided that Sequahas
should pay a heavy fine of cloth and beads for his imprudence.

They again met Sequasha at Senna, when he confessed to having brought
down 25,800 lbs. of ivory. At Tete he was afterwards cast into prison, the
reason given being his disorderly conduct in the interior—the true reason
being the desire to share a part of his wealth. He was soon after set at
liberty, no doubt after he had compounded with the authorities.

At the Mburuma Rapids the party had a striking instance of the presence

of mind and devotion of the Makololo. While passing the most dangerous of
the rapids, the two canoes filled with water, and were in danger of being
swamped, when of course the whole party must have perished. Two men
without a moment’s hesitation leaped out of each cf the canoes, and ordered a
Batoka man to do the same, as ‘‘ the white men must be saved.” ‘ I cannot
swim,” said the Batoka. ‘Jump out then, and hold on to the canoe ?”
Swimming alongside, they guided the canoes down the swift current, to the
fcot of the rapid, and then ran them ashore to bale them out.

WOMAN SEIZED BY A CROCODILE. 319

In one of the Kebrabasa Rapids, Dr. Kirk’s canoe was swamped, the
occupants scrambling ashore with difficulty ; but unfortunately a chronometer,
a barometer, his notes of the journey, and botanical drawings of the fruit
trees in the interior, were lost. The river was very low and crocodiles were
numerous. On one occasion, as they were dragging the dead body of a
hippopotamus behind one of the canoes, these reptiles rose in such numbers
and tugged so hard at the huge carcase that they had to cut it adrift to save
the canoe from being swamped. On another occasion, one of these monsters
seized a water-bok, which had been wounded by a shot, and dragged it into
the river. The poor animal made a desperate resistance and succeeded in
freeing itself, when another crocodile gave chase, but a ball aimed at it drove
it to the bottom. At many places in the interior stockades were erected to
preserye the women from the attacks of crocodiles while taking water from the
river. At Tete and Senna, where many slave women were seized by croco-
diles, no such precautions were taken (even although Livingstone offered a
subscription towards the expense). The lives of slaves were too valueless to
occasion either thought or trouble for their preservation to men otherwise
humane.

After the accident to Dr. Kirk’s canoe, the party passed the remainder of
the rapids on foot, through a rough and trying country, which greatly fatigued
the whole party; one of the two donkeys they had with them died from
sheer exhaustion. Although the natives are very partial to the flesh of the
zebra and the quagga, which are a sort of second cousins to the donkey, they
would not eat its flesh. They said, ‘‘It would be like eating man himself,
because the donkey lives with man, and is his bosom companion.”

The party arrived safely at Tete on the 23rd of November, after an
absence of a little over six months. The two English sailors had enjoyed
excellent health, and behaved themselves admirably during the absence of the
party. Their gardening operations turned out a failure. A hippopotamus
had paid the garden a visit and eaten up all the vegetables, and the sheep
they had ate up the cotton when it was in flower, the crocodiles devoured
the sheep left with them, and two monkeys they purchased ate the eggs of
the fowls, and in turn the natives relieved them of all care of the latter by
landing on the island during the night and stealing them. They were more
successful in bargaining with the natives for food; their purchases were all
made on board the steamer, and when more was demanded than the market
price, they brought a chameleon out of the cabin, an animal of which the
natives have a mortal dread, and thus settled the matter at once, by clearing
the deck of the exorbitant traders.

One night they were roused by hearing shrieks of distress, and on rowing
to the spot found a woman in the jaws of a crocodile. Rescuing her with the
loss of a leg below the knee, they took her on board, gave her a-bottle of rum,

320 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

bandaged the leg, and carried her to her hut in the village. Next morning
they found the bandages torn off and the unfortunate creature left to die.
‘“T believe,” remarked one of the sailors, ‘‘ her master was angry with us for
saving her life, seeing as how she had lost her leg.”

Starting for the mouth of the Kongone, where they expected to meet
some English cruisers with supplies and the new steamer they had ordered,
they were compelled to abandon the Ma-Robert, as she would keep afloat no
longer. They reached the mouth of the Kongone on the 4th of January,
1861, and found that the Portuguese had erected a custom-house there, and
also a hut for a black lance-corporal and three men. The party took up
their quarters in the custom-house. The soldiers were suffering from hunger.
The provisions of Dr. Livingstone’s party were also becoming exhausted, but
as large herds of water-boks were found in a creek between the Kongone and
East Luabo, they were not put to any serious strait during the month they
waited for the arrival of a ship. From drinking the brackish water, and
eating the fresh pasturage, which is saline near the coast, the flesh of the
antelopes was much sweeter and more tender than in the interior, where it is
so dry and tough that the natives, who are not over-fastidious, refuse to eat it
for any length of time. The eggs of the pelican and the turtle were found in
abundance, and together with several varieties of fish assisted in giving variety
to their limited cwisine.

They found some natives pounding the woody stems of a poisonous
climbing plant, and hanging it up in bundles. Having staked off a portion
of the stream with bushes to prevent the exit of the fish, the poisonous plants
were placed in the water and either killed the fish or stupified them, so that
they were easily secured.

CHAPTER XV.

Arrival of a New Steamer.—Arrival of Bishop Mackenzie and Party.—Lite-
ration of a Band of Slaves on the Shire.-—Disastrous ending to the Mission.—
Arrival and Death of Mrs. Livingstone.—Dr. Livingstone returns to England.

OX the 31st of January, their new ship the Pioneer anchored outside the bar,

but owing to the state of the weather she did not venture in until the 4th
of February. Shortly after two of H.M.S. cruisers arrived, bringing with
them Bishop Mackenzie, and the Oxtord and Cambridge Missions, to the tribes
of the Shire and Lake Nyassa. The mission consisted of six Englishmen and
five coloured men from the Cape; and as Dr. Livingstone and his party were
under orders to explore the Rovuma, about 700 miles to the north of the
Zambesi, and beyond Portuguese territory, they were somewhat at a loss what
to do with them. If they acceded to Bishop Mackenzie’s wishes and con-
veyed them at once to Chibisa’s village on the Shire, and left them there, they
dreaded that, as they had no medical attendant, they might meet the fate of
Mr. Helmore and his party at Linyanti. It was at last arranged that the
bishop should, after accompanying his companions to Johanna, where they
would await his return with H.M. Consul, Mr. Lumley, go with the expedition
on board the Pioneer to the Rovuma, in the hope that by this route access
might be found to Lake Nyassa and the valley of the Shire.

The Pioneer anchored in the mouth of the Rovuma on the 25th of
February, which they found to have a magnificent natural harbour and bay.
They sailed up the river for thirty miles, through a hilly and magnificently
wooded country, but were compelled to return as the river was rapidly falling
in volume, and they were afraid that the ship might ground altogether, and have
to lie there until the next rainy season.

In a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison, Dr. Livingstone gives a graphic
account of the Rovuma River and the difficulties attending the navigation :—

“The bed of the river is about three-quarters of a mile wide. It is
flanked by a well-wooded table-land, which looks like ranges of hills, 500 feet
high. Sometimes the spurs of the high land come close to the water, but
generally there is a mile of level alluvial soil between them and the bank. So
few people appeared at first, it looked like a ‘land to let;’ but, having walked
upto the edge of the plateau, considerable cultivation was met with, though to

make a garden a great mass of brushwood must be cleared away. The women
R1

322 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and children fled; but calling to a man not to be afraid, he asked if I had any
objection to ‘liquor with him,’ and brought a cup of native beer. There are
many new trees on the slopes, plenty of ebony in some places, and thickets of
brushwood. The whole scenery had a light-gray appearance, dotted over
with masses of green trees, which precede the others in putting on new foliage,
for this may be called our winter. Other trees showed their young leaves
brownish-red, but soon all will be gloriously green. Further up we came to
numerous villages, perched on sandbanks in the river. They had villages on
shore, too, and plenty of grain stowed away in the woods. They did not fear
for their victuals, but were afraid of being stolen themselves. We passed
through them all right, civilly declining an invitation to land at a village
where two human heads had been cut off. A lot of these river-pilots then
followed us till there was only a narrow passage under a high bank, and there
let drive their arrows at us. We stopped and expostulated with them for a
long time; then got them to one of the boats, and explained to them how
easily we could drive them off with our rifles and revolvers, but we wished to
be friends, and gave about 30 yards of calico in presents, in proof of friendship.
All this time we were within 40 yards of a lot of them, armed with muskets
and bows, on the high bank. On parting, as we thought, on friendly terms,
and moving on, we received a volley of musket-balls and arrows, four bullet-
holes being made in my sail; but finding that we, instead of running away,
returned the fire, they took to their heels, and left the conviction that these
are the Border ruffians who at various points present obstacles to African
exploration—men-stealers in fact, who care no more for human life than that
respectable party in London who stuffed the ‘ Pioneer’s’ life-buoys with old
straw instead of cork. It was sore against the grain to pay away that calico;
it was submitting to be robbed for the sake of peace. It cannot be called
‘black mail,’ for that implies the rendering of important services by Arabs ;
nor is it ‘custom dues.’ It is robbery perpetrated by any one who has a
traveller or trader in his power, and, when tamely submitted to, increases in
amount till wood, water, grass, and every conceivable subject of offence is
made occasion for a fine. On our return we passed quietly through them all,
and probably the next English boat will be respected. Beyond these Makonde
all were friendly and civil, laying down their arms before they came near us.
Much trade is carried on by means of canoes, and we had the company of
seven of these small craft for three days. They bring rice and grain down
to purchase salt. When about 60 miles up, the table-land mentioned above
retires, and we have an immense plain, with detached granite rocks and hills
dotted over. Some rocks then appear in the river, and at last, at our turning
point, the bed is all rocky masses, four or five feet high, with the water rush-
ing through by numerous channels. The canoes go through with ease, and
we might have taken the boats up also, but we were told that further up the

HUNTING THE SENZE. 323

channels were much narrower, and there was a high degree of probability that
we should get them smashed in coming down.

‘“¢We were on part of the slave-route from the Lake Nyassa to Quiloa (Kilwa)
about 30 miles below the station of Ndonde, where that route crosses the Rovuma,
and a little further from the confluence of the Liende, which, arising from the
hills on the east of the Lake Nyassa, flows into the Rovuma. It is said to be very
large, with reeds and aquatic plants growing in it, but at this time only ankle-
deep. It contains no rocks till near its sources on the mountains, and between
it and the lake the distance is reported to require between two and three days.
At the cataracts where we turned there is no rock on the shore, as on the Zam-
besi, at Kebra-basa, and Murchison’s cataracts. The land is perfectly smooth,
and, as far as we could see, the country presented the same flat appearance, with
only a few detached hills. The tsetse is met with all along the Rovuma, and
the people have no cattle in consequence. They produce large quantities of
oil-yielding seeds, as the sesame, or gerzelin, and have hives placed on the
trees every few miles. We never saw ebony of equal size to what we met on
this river; and as to its navigability, as the mark at which water stands for
many months is three feet above what it is now, and it is now said to be a
cubit lower than usual, I have no doubt that a vessel drawing when loaded
about 18 inches would run with ease during many months of the year. Should
English trade be established on the Lake Nyassa, Englishmen will make this
their outlet rather than pay dues to the Portuguese.

“We return to put our ship on Nyassa. by the Shire, because there we
haye the friendship of all the people, except that of the slave-hunters. For-
merly we found the Shire people far more hostile than are the Makonde of
Royuma, but now they have confidence in us, and we in them. ‘To leave
them now would be to open the country for the slave-hunters to pursue their
calling therein, and we should be obliged to go through the whole process of
gaining a people’s confidence again.

“Jt may seem to some persons weak to feel a chord vibrating to the dust
of her who rests on the banks of the Zambesi, and thinking that the path
thereby is consecrated by her remains. We go back to Johanna and Zam-
besi in a few days. Kind regards to Lady Murchison, and believe me ever
affectionately yours.”

On the Rovuma they found that hunting the senze, ‘‘ an animal the size
of a large cat, but in shape more like a pig, was the chief business of men and
boys, as we passed the reedy banks and low islands. They set fire to a mass
of reeds, and, armed with sticks, spears, bows and arrows, stand in groups
guarding the outlets through which the scared senze may run from the
approaching flames. Dark dense volumes of impenetrable smoke now roll
over the lee-side of the islet, and showed the hunters. At times vast sheets
of lurid flames bursting forth, roaring, crackling and exploding, leap wildly

324 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

far above the tall reeds. Out rush the terrified animals, and amid the smoke
are seen the excited hunters dancing about with frantic gesticulations, and
hurling stick, spear, and arrow, at their burned-out victims. Kites hover
over the smoke, ready to pounce on the mantes and locusts as they spring
from the fire. Small crows and hundreds of swallows are on eager wing,
darting into the smoke and out again, seizing fugitive flies. Scores of insects,
in their haste to escape from the fire, jump into the river, and the active fish
enjoy a rare feast.”

Soon after reaching the sea, fever prostrated the bulk of the crew, and
the command and navigation of the ship devolved upon Dr. Livingstone,
who was quite equal to the occasion. He drily remarks, ‘‘ That the habit
of finding the geographical positions on land, renders it an easy task to steer
a steamer, with only three or four sails set, at sea; when, if one does not
run ashore, no one follows to find out an error, and where a current affords
a ready excuse for every blunder.” After calling at Johanna for the bishop’s
friends, they sailed for the mouth of the Zambesi, and steamed up that river
to the Shire, up which they ascended as far as Chibisa’s village, the ship
being dragged over the shallows with extreme difficulty. She drew five feet
of water, which rendered her quite useless for the navigation during the dry
season of either of the three great rivers which flowed through the tract of
country they were accredited to.

On arriving at Chibisa’s, they learned that war was raging in the
Manganja country ; and that on the following day a slave party, on its way
to Tete, would pass through the village. ‘‘Shall we interfere ?” was the
question asked of each other. On the one hand, there was the risk to be run,
if they did, of irritating the authorities at Tete, where the principal portion of
the private baggage of the party was stored, and which might be confiscated
in retaliation. On the other hand, Dr. Livingstone and the whole party were
indignant that his steps should be followed by slave parties, who had never
entered the country before, and called themselves his children and followers,
while they extended the range of the accursed traffic, which he had gone through
so much privations to put down. ‘The decision, as might have been expected,
was, that they should run all risks, and do what they could to stop the traffic.
This is Dr. Livingstone’s account of what followed :—

‘* A long line of manacled men and women made their appearance; the
black drivers, armed with muskets, and bedecked with various articles of
finery, marched jauntily in the front, middle, and rear of the line, some of
them blowing exulting notes out of long tin horns. They seemed to feel that
they were doing a very noble thing, and might proudly march with an air of
triumph. But the instant the fellows caught a glimpse of the English, they
darted off like mad into the forest; so fast, indeed, that we caught but a
glimpse of their red caps, and the soles of their feet. The chief of the party

ENCOUNTER WITH SLA VE-HUNTERS. 325

alone remained ; and he, from being in front, had his hand tightly grasped by
a Makololo! He proved to be a well-known slave of the late commandant at
Tete, and for some time our own attendant while there. On asking him how
he obtained these captives, he replied, he had bought them; but on our
inquiring of the people themselves, all save four said they had been captured
in war. While this inquiry was going on, he bolted too. The captives knelt
down, and in their way of expressing thanks, clapped their hands with great
energy. They were thus left entirely in our hands, and knives were soon at
work cutting women and children loose. It was more difficult to cut the men
adrift, as each had his neck in the fork of a stout stick, six or seven feet long,
and kept in by an iron rod, which was riveted at both ends across the throat.
With a saw, luckily in the bishop’s baggage, one by one the men were sawn
out into freedom. ‘The women, on being told to take the meal they were
carrying and cook breakfast for themselves and the children, seemed to con-
sider the news too good to be true; but after a little coaxing went at it with
alacrity, and made a capital fire by which to boil their pots with the slave
sticks and bonds, their old acquaintances through many a sad night and weary
day. Many were mere children, about four years of age and under. One
little boy, with the simplicity of childhood, said to our men, ‘ The others tied
and starved us, you cut the ropes and tell us to eat; what sort of people are
you? where do you come from?’ ‘Two of the women had been shot the day
before for attempting to untie the thongs. . . . One woman had her
infant’s brains knocked out, because she could not carry her load and it; and
a man was despatched with an axe, because he had broken down with fatigue.”

The number liberated was eighty-four in all; and on being told that they
were at liberty to go where they pleased, or remain with the mission, they
chose the latter. During several days following many more captives were
liberated, their drivers running from before the faces of the white men.
Months afterwards at Tete, several merchants, all of whom were engaged in
the slave trade, remarked to Dr. Livingstone that he had released some of the
governor’s slaves, to which he replied that he had liberated several groups of
slaves in the Manganja country; and this was all that passed in regard to the
transaction.

Leaving the rescued slaves, the party started to visit the Ajawa people,
who were carrying war and slavery among the Manganja, and came upon them
in the act of sacking and burning a village, where Dr. Livingstone and his
friends had been previously entertained by the peaceful inhabitants, so many
of whom were then engaged in weaving cotton, that they had jestingly called
it “the Paisley of the hills.” After engaging with the bishop in fervent prayer,
the party advanced to demand a parley. The poor Manganja seeing them
shouted out, ‘‘ Our Chibisa is come ;” Chibisa being well known as a great gene-
ral and conjurer. The Ajawa ran off yelling, War! war! and refused to listen

826 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

to them ; but, rallying and forming themselves into a body, they began to shoot
at them with their poisoned arrows, until the party were reluctantly compelled
in self-defence to fire upon their assailants, who fled, shouting back that they
would follow and kill them while they slept. This was the first occasion on
which, in all his wanderings, Dr. Livingstone had felt compelled to use force;
and it was with sad hearts that he and his companions returned to the village
they had left in the morning, having failed in their attempt at conciliation,
and having been compelled reluctantly to take a step which might subject
them to much blame and misconstruction at the hands of lukewarm friends, and
the secret enemies of the cause they had at heart.

As the bishop had made up his mind to settle among the Manganja at
Magomero, he felt naturally indignant at the idea of the people in his charge
being swept away into slavery in hordes, and proposed that they should at once
follow the triumphant Ajawa, and drive them out of the country, and liberate
the captives they might have in their possession. All were in favour of this
course save Dr. Livingstone, who saw clearly what would be the result if a
Christian missionary took such a step as this, and he cautioned them not in
any circumstances to interfere by force in any of these wars, even although
called upon by the Manganja to go to their assistance in their extremity. It
is necessary to mention this, because, many people ignorantly blamed Dr. Liv-
ingstone for having given him different counsel. The site chosen for the
mission settlement was on a small promontory, formed by the windings of the
little clear stream called the Magomero. It was completely surrounded by
stately trees. The weather was delightful, and provisions were cheap and
abundant; and when Dr. Livingstone and his friends left them to proceed to
Lake Nyassa, the bishop had commenced to learn the languages, Mr. Waller
was busy superintending the building operations, and Mr. Scudamore was
getting together the members of an infant school. They were full of hope
and ardour, and saw nothing before them but success in the noble work they
had sacrificed home and comfort to carry out.

The disastrous end of the mission may as well be told here. After
labouring for some time with much acceptation among the neighbouring
tribes, and being anxious to discover a nearer route to the Shire, Messrs.
Proctor and Scudamore, with a number of Manganja carriers, left in
December to explore the country for a new route. Their guides misled them,
and they found themselves in a slave-trading village, where the threatening
aspect of the people boded mischief. Warned by a woman that if they slept
there they would be all killed, they prepared to leave, when the Anguro
followed, shooting their arrows at the retreating party. Two of the carriers
were taken prisoners, and the two missionaries, barely escaping with their
lives, swam a deep river, and made their way with great difficulty to
Magomero, where they arrived exhausted with their exertions.

FATE OF THE MISSION. ~ 327

The wives of the two carriers pleaded with the bishop that, as their
husbands had been made captive in his service, he should rescue them from
slavery. It appeared to him to be his duty to do this; and on asking the
Makololo who had remained with him to assist in the expedition, they joyfully
assented, as they held the prowess of the natives of the district in contempt,
and knew of no better way of settling a difference with them than by a
resort to force. There can be no doubt that had the bishop given them leave
to do as they pleased, they would have cleared the country of the offenders ;
but he restrained them, which gave the delinquents an opportunity of
escaping. The offending village was burned, and a few sheep and goats
taken. The headman being afraid to retain the captives any longer liberated
them, and they returned to their homes. As this expedition was undertaken
during the rainy season, and the missionaries got frequently wet, their
health was seriously affected.

The Cape Argus gives a summary of the fate of the leaders of the mission
and the proceedings of Captain Wilson and Dr. Kirk in taking Miss Mackenzie,
Mrs. Burrup, and the Rey. Mr. Hawkins, to the Mission Station on the Shire :—

** At Shupanga, about ten miles from Mozzaro, the Pioneer, it was found,
could proceed no further. There was, therefore, no alternative but to prose-
cute the remainder of the journey in the two boats, which were provisioned
for ten days; and as it was supposed that their destination might be reached
in four the prospect did not look very formidable. When we say that, instead
of four, twelve days elapsed ere the boats made the junction of the Rua river,
60 miles from their journey’s end, and that during this period the ladies were
in open boats, exposed to all the extremes of a fearfully unwholesome atmos-
phere, to the thousand insect-plagues which literally render existence almost
unbearable, and that the crews were, man after man, struck down by insidious
disease, it will be readily understood how wretched was their situation, and
how heavily those in charge felt their responsibility.

** At this part of the river it was that the bishop and Mr. Burrup were
expected to be in readiness to receive them. But the natives would not give
any information. No one appeared, and Captain Wilson, knowing that pro-
visions would be needed by the Gorgon, sent one of the two boats back down
the river on a foraging expedition, while he pushed up with the other to leave
the ladies at Chibisa. The crew of the former suffered terribly from fever on
their way, and indeed, from all accounts, were most miraculously preserved,
especially as provisions and medicine were all used up; and of stimulants
there were none.

‘Captain Wilson in his boat went on safely enough to Chibisa, the
nearest spot to the mission station: there he left the ladies in charge of the
doctor, and tried to get overland with Dr. Kirk, of the Pioneer, and four men;
but when within two days’ march of the place he was attacked by fever, which

328 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

had nearly proved fatal. Dr. Kirk even had looked out for a place in which
to bury him. Dr. Kirk, too, was struck down, but most providentially a
messenger, who had been dispatched forward, returned with some of the
mission party. This may be said to have saved them from death.

“Then it was that Captain Wilson and Dr. Kirk first learned the dis-
astrous news which has shocked and saddened so many. ‘The natives at Rua
had known of it, but had kept silence, fearing lest they should be suspected of
having caused the deaths of the bishop and Mr. Burrup, by witchcraft. One
night, indeed, the boat in which were Miss Mackenzie and Mrs. Burrup had
anchored within 100 yards of the bishop’s grave.

“On the 14th of February, it was first known at the station, by the
arrival there of one of the Makololo, who reported the bishop’s death, and
intimated the approach of the Rev. Mr. Burrup, who was carried on some
rough branches of trees by two Makololo, but so shrunk and ill as to be
scarcely recognisable. From Mr. Burrup it was gathered, that, after leaving
the station on January 3, the bishop and he had slept five nights on the road ;
that at Chibisa they obtained a small canoe (the only one) with some men,
who paddled them down to thé island (Malo). Unfortunately they were
upset, got wet through, and, worst of all, lost a case in the water, containing
clothes, powder, and medicine. At first they were well received by Chief
Chikangi. The bishop had an attack of low fever, which soon gained ground
on a constitution which, though naturally strong, had been weakened by
exposure and suffering. It soon became evident that he was sinking fast, as
his speech was wandering, and he was perfectly helpless. The same after-
noon, on the other side of the river, in a secluded spot under a large tree, the
Rev. Mr. Burrup was reverently reading the burial service in the dim twilight
over his lost leader, with no one near to share his affliction save the Makololo
who had dug the grave.

‘On the next day, Mr. Burrup prepared to return to the station.
Nothing but death was before him. Leaving a letter for Dr. Livingstone, he
journeyed on to Chibisa. ‘Thence to the station he was carried, being too
weak to walk. From the 14th February, the day of his arrival, hopes of his
recovery were entertained for a short time; but ere long diarrhoea added to
his weakness, and the fever was aggravated by the want of proper nourishing
food. On the morning of the 22nd he breathed his last ; and on Sunday, the
following day, he was buried near the station. Neither Miss Mackenzie, Mrs.
Burrup, nor the Rev. Mr. Hawkins, ever reached the station: they returned
to the Cape in H.M.’s ship Gorgon.”

After the deaths of Bishop Mackenzie and Mr. Burrup, “it appears that
several applications were made for assistance against the Ajawa, which, how-
ever, were resolutely declined. A constant succession of claims, nevertheless,
ultimately decided Mr. Procter, who on Bishop Mackenzie’s death had been

DIFFICULTIES OF THE MISSIONARIES. 329

left in charge of the mission, to visit Urbona, the chief of the Mingazi, in
order to get his sanction to reside in his district, the country being hilly,
particularly fine, and pleasant. Mr. Procter and Mr. Dickenson undertook
this journey, and started off early on the morning of March 20; and on
reaching their destination obtained permission to have a tour of exploration
through the district governed by Urbono, in order to select a site which would
not only be healthy, but also be appropriate for the carrying out of their
mission. Accordingly, they proceeded towards a fine long spur of the western
extremity of the Chiradzu Mountain, as the place looked promising. After
erossing a valley which lay between them and the ridge which they wanted
to reach, and ascending the ridge a considerable distance, Mr. Procter found
the country favourable to their purpose. The want, however, of a stream,
compelled them to abandon the thought of residing there. After making
further explorations, the party returned to their mission station, where they
continued until April 15, a period of nearly a month, educating the natives,
&c., without being molested. On that day, however, news reached them of
a series of incursions of the Ajawa, which rendered it imperative to change
their station. This was accordingly done, about 70 men being engaged to
assist in carrying their luggage. It was decided that they should proceed to
Chibisa’s village, on the Shire, for the present. The journey, which occupied
ten days, was accomplished safely, almost all the people—in number about
60—ireed through the exertions of the mission party, accompanied them.
Mr. Procter’s communication concludes: ‘ We are situated on a bank about
100 feet high, and for nearly a month have not felt any ill effects worse than
those which came upon us in our former place. We hope we shall be able
to remain here for a few months, and go on with our previous work, aequiring
the language and teaching our own people.’ ”

About December it was apparent that yet other victims had to suffer
from the malaria of these regions. The Rey. H. C. Scudamore expired on
the morning of 1st January, 1863. The following letter from the Rev. L. J.
Procter gives an account of the state of affairs prior to Mr. Scudamore’s
death :—

‘“‘ Signor Vianna’s, on the Zambesi, 27th Dec., 1862.

‘The wretched state of the country on the hills and along the Shire has
compelled us again to have recourse to the Portuguese for a further supply of
the food merely absolutely necessary, and I have come down with one of our
native people to purchase rice for ourselves and mapira for our dependents.
On reaching this place, the residence of Signor Vianna, on the 16th, I fell
in with Dr. Livingstone, who had just returned from the Rovuma, which he
had been exploring in boats, and where he tells me he had been partially
successful in his search for a river-route to Lake Nyassa; but that he and
his party had been in considerable danger from a number of river-pirates who

sl

330 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

had attacked them with guns: they had come upon rapids in the river, but
the country around was favourable for land carriage. All were well on the
Pioneer, and they were going on to Shupanga, whence they would start up
the Shire for Chibisa’s, as soon as the rise in the water should be sufficient.
As regards ourselves, he told me that there was a great quantity of stores for
us at Killimane, which had been brought from the Cape by H.M.S. Rapid,
in November, and which he had assisted in landing with considerable trouble
and difficulty—another kindness for which we are indebted to the good
Doctor.

‘“¢ As IT came down the Shire I found the people in considerable affright
on account of Mariano in the higher parts of the surrounding country, where
an immense number of fugitives had also gathered together: the lower parts
were ravaged and almost deserted, burnt villages being the signs of what had
been going on, and a number of guns fired only three or four miles distant
from an island on which we one night slept, the tokens of what is still going on.
Mariano has about 2,000 men, armed with guns for the most part, in his service,
and is leagued now with the Portuguese at Killimane for slaving purposes.

‘“We have had the greatest difficulty in getting even a very small
quantity of seed-corn from the natives. A short time before my departure
we sent Charles Thomas, one of the Cape men, up the hills south of our last
station to try if he could buy any; but he had very small success. He went
towards the Milanje, and got very near the very place where I and Scudamore
were attacked: the people there pleaded famine, not it appears from real
want, against which there was abundant external evidence, but because they
were evidently unwilling to encourage any traffic or even communication
with the English. Charles gave a miserable account of the country in the
neighbourhood of our late district, and the route to it from the Shire: it is at
least decimated on account of the famine; he passed through many villages
where all the inhabitants, he was told, had died of hunger. Mbami’s village
itself, with which I presume you are by this time familiar as the first
stopping-place on our route to Magomero, is destitute of people; all have
perished except the chief himself and a few of his family. He paid us a visit
a short time ago and was then looking himself in a half-starved condition,
very different from the stout and hearty personage who greeted us there on
our first journey up. With regard to Satchi, and the country between it and
Magomero, I think I have informed you in my previous letter.

“‘T took a journey with some of our own people down the Shire a short
time before I left Mikarango, to try if anything was to be bought in the way
of seed or corn, but I could get nothing: there were large crops coming on,
but at present the complaint is famine. The people on the right bank, our
side of the river, were also in great fear of another Portuguese rebel, of
whom I made mention in one of my last letters as staying with Chibisa.”

DIFFICULTIES OF THE MISSIONARIES. 331

The following postscript (dated 27th February) to a letter dated 10th
February, 1863, from the Rev. J. L. Procter, already mentioned, narrates the
state of matters up to date :—

Having alluded to the departure of Mr. Rowley, one of the mission to
Tete for food (the expected supplies not having arrived), Mr. Procter says :—
“This is our last resource; animal food is failing us, and even before
Rowley can return we shall be reduced to simply vegetable diet. Of course,
therefore, much depends upon this difficult and trying journey to Tete,
which will oceupy at least a month. If food can be had, all will be well: if
not, our case is desperate, and but one resource will be left for us. I have
accordingly written thus to Mr. Woodcock, our hon. secretary :—‘ Under the
circumstances I feel it my duty to state that, if animal food cannot be
insured, and if help in men and some additional provisions do not arrive from
home, we shall be compelled to quit our present abode for the sea-coast,
whence we shall try to make our way to either Johanna, Natal, or the Cape;
and, not to leave any indefiniteness in this sad statement, I will add that,
if we receive no addition to our numbers, or see no better hopes for the
future before the 15th June next, we shall then proceed to make our way
down the river in the best way we can. Grievous as this resolve is, I fear we
cannot do otherwise. The whole country is in a state of utter ruin and
destitution, and the drought still continues. Our surgeon, Mr. Dickinson,
assures us that we have only this alternative unless we choose to stay and die
for want of proper sustenance.’ ”

A few weeks afterwards, Captain Wilson, of H.M.S. Gorgon, together with
Dr. Kirk and a large party, including Mrs. Mackenzie and Mrs. Burrup, went
up the Shire, to jom the mission as they hoped; and, although they were close
by the grave of Bishop Mackenzie, they could hear nothing from the chief of
Malo of the mission. He was in all likelihood afraid that he might be blamed
for his death. At Chibisa’s, the faithful Makololo told them the sad news they
had come so far to hear. This information awakened fresh anxiety as to the
fate of the others; so, leaving the ladies with Dr. Ramsay and the Makololo,
Captain Wilson and Dr. Kirk pushed up into the hill country, where they met
the survivors of the mission party at a chief’s called Soche. Captain Wilson
was suffering from a severe attack of fever, and the whole party were so
exhausted that there was nothing for it but to return to the boat, and sail sadly
down the river to the Pioneer. On the 4th of April, the Gorgon sailed for the
Cape, taking with her all the surviving members of the mission save one.

On the 6th of August, 1861, Drs. Livingstone and Kirk, and Mr. Charles
Livingstone, started for Nyassa, with a light four-oared gig, attended by a
white sailor and a score of natives. ‘They found no difficulty in hiring peo-
ple to carry the boat from village to village, and as they had the means of
crossing the streams they met with, were quite independent of the humours of

332 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the various chiefs and headmen, with whom, on previous occasions, they had
had to bargain for being transferred across the streams. The course of the
river was followed closely so as to avail themselves of the still reaches between
the rapids for sailing, and when they had passed the last of them, they
launched their boat for good on the Shire. The upper portion of the river is so
broad and deep that it is roughly spoken of by the natives as a portion of the
lake. At one point in the upper reaches of the river Lake Shirwa is only a
day’s journey distant; and within a recent period they must have been con-
nected. The native land party which they had sent forward to join them
above the rapids, passed thousands of Manganja living in temporary huts, who
had been compelled to fly before the bloodthirsty Ajawa.

The following is a singular instance of tenacity of life in a native woman
on the Shire, who had been wounded in an attack by the Ajawa:—

‘‘ In the afternoon a canoe came floating down empty, and shortly after
a woman was seen swimming near the other side, which was about two
hundred yards distant from us. Our native crew manned the boat and
rescued her; when brought on board, she was found to have an arrow-head,
eight or ten inches long in her back, below the ribs, and slanting up through
the diaphragm and left lung towards the heart—she had been shot from
behind when stooping. Air was coming out of the wound, and, there being
but an inch of the barbed arrow-head visible, it was thought better not to run
the risk of her dying under the operation necessary for its removal; so we
carried her up to her own hut. One of her relatives was less scrupulous, for
he cut the arrow and part of the lung. Mr. Young sent her occasionally
portions of native corn, and strange to say, found that she not only became
well, but stout.”

The cooler temperature on the broad and deep waters of the lake was very

enjoyable after the stifling heat on the river, which in its upper reaches is
enclosed in an almost impenetrable belt of papyrus and other water plants;
but they were very nearly shipwrecked in a tremendous storm which burst
upon them almost without warning. ‘‘ The waves most dreaded came rolling
on in threes, with their crests driven into spray, streaming behind them.
Had one of these white-named seas struck our frail bark, nothing could
have saved us, for they came on with resistless fury; seaward, in shore, and
on either side of us, they broke in foam, but we escaped. . . . We had to
beach the boat every night to save her from being swamped at anchor; did
we not believe the gales to be peculiar to one season of the year, we would call
Nyassa the Lake of Storms.”

At no place in Africa had Dr. Livingstone found the population so dense
as on the shores of Nyassa. In some parts there was almost one unbroken
succession of villages, and the inhabitants lined the shores of every bay, look-
ing in wonder on a boat when propelled by sails. Whenever they landed

LAKE NYASSA. 333

they were the objects of untiring curiosity. The people are industrious
agriculturists and fishers, and appeared to enjoy plenty of everything. No
fines or dues were exacted from the explorers, nor presents demanded. The
northern dwellers on the lake during a portion of the year reap a singular
harvest. At the proper season clouds as of smoke from burning grass hang °
over the lake and the adjacent country. These clouds are formed of countless
myriads of minute midges or gnats, and are called by the natives kungo,
which means a cloud or fog. The natives gather these insects by night, and
boil them into thick cakes, which they eat as a relish to their vegetable food.
“A kungo cake, an inch thick, and as large as the blue bonnet of a Scotch
ploughman, was offered to us; it was very dark in colour, and tasted not unlike
cayiare, or salted locusts.”

The lake swarmed with fish, which the native fishermen catch in nets
and basket traps, with hook and line. The principal fish, called the samika, a
kind of carp, grows to a length of two feet. Its flesh was delicious, better
than that of any fish the party had tasted in Africa. Fine watermen as the
Makololo were, they frankly confessed that the lake fishermen were their
superiors in daring and skill.

Their fishing nets were formed from the fibres of the duaze, and their
clothes were manufactured from cotton grown by themselves, or from the
fibres of the bark of a tree which is abundant in the district. The fishermen
presented the party with fish, while the agricultural members of the com-
munity gave food freely. The chief of the northern parts, a tall, handsome
man named Marenga, gave them largely of food and beer. ‘‘ Do they wear
such things in your country ?” he asked, pointing to his iron bracelet, which
was studded with copper and highly prized. The doctor said he had never
seen such in his country, whereupon Marenga instantly took it off and
presented it to him, and his wife also did the same with hers. On the return
of the party he tried to induce them to spend a day with him drinking beer,
and when they declined he loaded them with provisions.

The following account of Lake Nyassa and the people on its shores and
their habits is extracted from a letter addressed by Mr. Charles Livingstone
to Sir Roderick Murchison in January, 1862 :—

“The depth of the lake,” he says, ‘‘is indicated by the different colour of
its waters. Near the land, and varying in width from a few yards to several
miles according to the nature of the coast, is a belt of light green, and to this
joined ina well-defined line the blue or indigo of the ocean, which is the colour
of the great body of Nyassa.

“Not far from where we turned back, and about a mile from shore, we
could find no bottom with over a hundred fathoms of line out. The tempera-
ture of this mass of water, near the end of September, was 72’, and the air
was always cooler on the beach than farther inland. We visited the lake in

334 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

perhaps the stormiest season of the year (September and October), and were
repeatedly detained by severe gales. At times, while sailing pleasantly over
the blue water, with a gentle breeze and under a cloudless sky, suddenly and
without any warning, would be heard the sound of the pursuing gale, as it
came roaring on, dragging myriads of white-crested waves in its excited
wake. We got caught, one morning in a heavy gale. As a sort of forlorn
hope the anchor was let go in seven fathoms, a mile from the land, with the sea
breaking, even far out beyond us. The waves we dreaded most rushed upon
us in squadrons of threes, with a few minutes of comparative quiet between
the successive charges. Had one of these almost perpendicular-sided masses
broken on our frail bark nothing could have saved us, but, to our heartfelt
relief, as on they came with resistless force they broke before reaching us, or
on one side, or behind. For six mortal hours we faced the fierce charges of
those terrible trios, not knowing but some one of their waves might be carry-
ing our fate on its hoary and uplifted head. A low, dark cloud came slowly
from the mountains, and for hours hung directly over our heads. Our black
crew became so sea-sick as to be unable to sit up, and the bow-oar had to be
constantly at work to keep the boat’s head to the sea. The natives, with our
land party, stood on the high cliffs, commiserating the unhappy fate of the
poor white men, and exclaiming, as the boat was hid by the waves, ‘ Ah]
they’re lost! they’re dead!’ In the afternoon the gale moderated, the anchor
was soon up, the glad boat ran for the land, dashed through the boiling surf,
and in a few seconds was safe on the beach.

“The west side of Nyassa is a succession of bays of similar form, as
though produced by a common cause, such as the prevalence of north-easterly
winds; and each is separated from its neighbour by a rocky headland, with
detached rocks extending some distance out to sea. In general these bays
have a sandy beach or pebbly shore. The great south-westerly bay has a
safe and commodious harbour. A good deal of the land adjacent to the lake
is low, sometimes marshy, with numerous waterfowl and some elephants.
Eight or ten miles back of the plain are ranges of high and well-wooded
granite hills, running nearly parallel with the lake, and presenting in several
places magnificent views of range towering behind range, until the distant
blue mountains bound the prospect by rearing their lofty summits to the
skies. Towards the north the plain becomes narrower, and near where we
turned disappears altogether. ‘The mountains then rise abruptly out of the
lake, and form the north-east boundary of a high and extensive table-land,
resembling the Batoka ccuntry, healthy, and well-suited for pasturage and
agriculture.

‘“¢ Never before, in Africa, have we seen anything like the dense popula-
tion of Lake Nyassa, especially in the south. In some parts there seemed to
be an unbroken chain of villages.~ On the beach of well-nigh every little

LAKE NYASSA. 335

sandy bay, black crowds were standing gazing at the novel spectacle of a boat
under sail; and whenever we landed we were surrounded in a few seconds by
hundreds of men, women, and children, who had hastened to stare at the
‘ chiromba,’ or wild animals. To see the animals feed was the great attraction.
Never did Zoological Society’s lions draw a tithe of such multitudes. They
crowded round us at meal times, a wilderness, an impenetrable thicket of
negroes, looking on with the deepest apparent interest. The zeal they
manifested in order to witness the whole procedure was more amusing than
agreeable. The smell of black humanity, in a state of perspiration, is not
pleasant while one is eating.

“They cultivate the soil pretty extensively, and grow large quantities of
sweet potatoes, as well as rice, maize, native corn, &c.; but in the north
manioc was the staple product, and, with fish kept till they attain a high
flavour, constituted the principal food of the inhabitants. During a certain
portion of the year, however, they have a curious harvest, which furnishes a
singular sort of food. The cakes are dark in colour, and tasted not unlike
decayed red-herring. Plenty of excellent fish are found in the lake; some of
the kinds were new to us. One, called sanjika, somewhat resembles trout,
and runs up the rivers to spawn as salmon do at home. The largest were
above two feet in length; splendid fish, the best we have ever eaten in Africa.
They were running up the rivers in August and September, and numbers of
fishermen were actively employed in catching them. Dams were constructed,
full of sluices, in each of which was set the fatal trap fish-basket, over whose
single entrance might have been written ‘ All hope abandon ye who enter here.’
A short distance below, nets were stretched across from bank to bank, so that it
seemed a marvel how even the most sagacious sanjika could get up without
being taken, unless a free passage is left at night.

‘In the lake the fish are caught chiefly with nets, but in deep water,
some kinds are taken in fish-baskets, lowered to a great depth, and attached by
a long line to a float, around which is often fastened a mass of grass or weeds,
to serve, perhaps, as an alluring shade for the fish. Fleets of fine canoes are
engaged in the lake fisheries; the men have long paddles, and stand while
using them. They sometimes venture out when there is a considerable
sea on.

‘“‘ Perhaps the first impression one receives of the men is that they are
far from being industrious—in fact, are downright lazy. During the day,
groups are seen lying asleep under the shady trees, and appearing to take life
remarkably easy. But a little further acquaintance modifies first impressions,
as it leads to the discovery that many of the sleepers work hard by night.
In the afternoon they examine and mend their nets, place them in the canoes,
and paddle off, frequently to distant islands, or other good fishing-grounds, and
during a large portion of the night the poor fellows are toiling, passing much

336 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the time in the water dragging their nets. Many men and boys are
employed in gathering the buaze, preparing the fibre, and making it into
long nets. When they come for the first time to gaze at suspicious-looking
strangers, they may, with true African caution, leave their working materials
at home. From the number of native cotton cloths worn.in many villages at
the south end of the lake, it is evident that a goodly number of busy hands
must be constantly at work. An extensive manufacture of bark-cloth also is
ever going on from one end of the lake probably to the other, and much toil
and time are required before the bark becomes soft and fit to wear. A pro-
digious amount of this bark-cloth is worn, indicating the destruction of an
immense number of trees every year.

‘The lake people are by no means handsome. The women are fright-
fully ugly, and really make themselves hideous by the very means they adopt
with the laudable view of rendering their persons beautiful and attractive.
The pelele, or upper-lip ornament, is as fashionable as crinoline in other
countries. Some are made of tin in the shape of a small dish, and they some-
times actually carry things in them. Others are of white quartz, and give
the wearer the appearance of having an inch or two of one of Price’s patent
eandles thrust through the lip and projecting beyond the point of the nose.
A few are of a blood-red colour, and at a little distance the lady looks as if
she had come off only second best in a recent domestic squabble. All are
tattooed, the figures varying with the tribes. Some tattoo their faces, after a
fashion so execrable, that they seem to be covered all over with great ugly
warts or pimples. The young boys and girls, however, are reasonably good-
looking. In regard to their character they are pretty much like other people.
There are decent ones among them, and a good many are, as they say in
Scotland, ‘nae better than they suld be.’ If one of us happened to be at
hand when a net was hauled, a fish was usually offered. Sailing one day past
a number of men who had just dragged their net ashore, we were hailed, and
asked to come and get a fish, and received a generous present. The northerly
chief, Marenga, was remarkably generous, giving us large presents of food
and beer, both going and returning. Others also made us presents of food.

“‘ In some things the people of Nyassa are as far advanced as the most
highly civilised communities. They have expert thieves among them. On
our way up we had a disagreeable visit from some of this light-fingered class.
They called one morning when two of us were down with fever, between the
rather early hours of three and five, and, notwithstanding a formidable array
of revolvers and rifles, quietly relieved us of a considerable amount, while we
all slept ingloriously throughout the whole performance. We awoke, as
honest men do, at the usual hour, and the fact of our loss soon burst upon us.
‘My bag’s gone!’ cried one of the victims, ‘and all my clothes! and my
boots, too!’ ‘ Both of mine are off!’ responded another. ‘ And so is mine!’

MAZITU SLAVE TRADERS. 337

chimed in a third: ‘and the bag of beads ! and the rice!’ ‘Is the cloth gone
too?’ ‘No; it’s all safe: I used it for a pillow.’

«¢¢ There is honour among thieves,’ it is said. These Nyassa scoundrels
left on the beach our aneroid barometer and a new pair of boots, thinking,
perhaps, that they might be of use to us though of none to them. It was
rather humiliating to be so completely done for by a few black thieves.

*‘ A few of the best fisheries seem to be the private property of indi-
viduals. We found shelter from a storm one morning in a spacious lagoon
which communicated with the lake by a narrow passage. Across this strait
stakes were driven in, leaving spaces for the fish-baskets. About a score of
men were busily engaged in taking out the fish. We tried to purchase some,
but they refused to sell. ‘The fish were not theirs, they belonged to a man
in a neighbouring village: they would send for the owner.’ In a short time
the gentleman made his appearance, and sold us some. He did not appear
to be the chief, but one who owned, or had farmed out, this very productive
fishery.

“Some of their burying-grounds are wonderfully well arranged and
eared for. One of these was on the southern shore of the fine harbour in the
great bay. A neat and wide path was made on its east and south sides. A
grand, old, sacred fig-tree stood on the north-east corner, and its wide-spread-
ing branches threw their kindly shade over this last resting-place of the dead.
Other splendid trees grew around the hallowed spot. The graves were raised
exactly as they are at home, but lay north and south, the heads being at the
north. The graves of the sexes were distinguished by the implements which
the buried dead had been accustomed to use in their respective occupations,
while amidst the joys of life. The heavy stick used in pounding corn, one
end in the graye and the other thrust through the basket in which the meal
is sifted, showed that a woman slept beneath the sod; a piece of fishing-net
and a broken paddle were over the grave of a fisherman, and all the graves
had numerous broken pots arranged around them. At the head of some a
banana-tree had been carefully planted. The people of the neighbouring
village were friendly, and readily brought us food for sale.”

On the northern shore of the lake the Mazitu had settled, and were carrying
on the slave trade with terrible rigour, sweeping away the helpless people like
sheep. They had frequently attacked Marenga and his people; but the thickets
and stockades around their villages enabled the bowmen to pick off the Mazitu
in security, and they were driven off. Many of the Mazitu were settled on
islands in the lake, from which they emerged to plunder and make captive
the peaceable inhabitants on the shores of the lake. Long tracts of country
were passed through where ‘‘ the population had all been swept away; ruined
villages, broken utensils, and human skeletons, met with at every turn, told a
sad tale of ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’ The extent of the trade done in slaves

rl

338 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

in the Nyassa district may be gathered from the fact that 19,000 slaves alone
pass through the custom-house of the island of Zanzibar; and those taken out
of the country form only a small section of the sufferers, as many thousands
more are slain in the slave raids, and die of famine after having to fly from
their homes.” The exploration of the lake extended from the 2nd of Septem-
ber to the 26th of October, 1861, and was abandoned for a time because they
had expended or lost the most of their goods. The party frequently suffered
from the want of flesh meat, although from the great size of the game, they
frequently had much more than they could use, in which case the natives
gladly accepted the surplus. On one occasion they killed two hippopotami and
an elephant, ‘‘ perhaps in all some eight or ten tons of meat, and two days
after they ate the last of a few sardines for dinner.” The wretched and ruined
Manganja, although all their sufferings were caused by the demand for human
flesh, sold each other into slavery when they had a chance. In speaking of a
native of this tribe who sold a boy he had made captive in a hostile raid, Dr.
Livingstone notes his “having seen a man who was reputed humane, and in
whose veins no black blood flowed, parting for the sum of £4 witha good-
looking girl, who stood in a closer relationship to him than the boy to the
man who excited our ire; and she being the nurse of his son besides, both son
and nurse made such a pitiable wail for an entire day, that even the half-caste
who had bought her relented, and offered to return her to the white man, but
in vain.” It is so long since our Government washed its hands, at an
immense cost, of this iniquitous traffic, and it expends so much annually to put
it down on the coast of Africa, that the knowledge that such things can be
done by civilized men comes with a shock upon us. Surely the wonderful
trials Dr. Livingstone has come through in his campaign against this detesta-
ble traffic will not have been suffered in vain; and the knowledge of such
crimes against humanity will be the prelude to their extinction !

Arriving at the village at the foot of the cataracts, the party found it in
a much more flourishing condition than when they passed up. A number of
large huts had been built, and the people had a plentiful stock of cloth and
beads. The sight of several fine large canoes, instead of the old leaky ones
which lay there before, explained the mystery—the place had become a
crossing place for the slaves on their way to Tete. Well might the indignant
members of the expedition say that ‘ nothing was more disheartening than
the conduct of the Manganja, in profiting by the entire breaking up of their
nation.”

The party reached the ship on the 8th of November, and on the 14th
Bishop Mackenzie and Mr. Burrup, who had only just joined him, visited them;
as they started on their downward voyage, they ‘gave and received three
hearty English cheers, as they went to the shore and we steamed off.” This
was the last they saw of these devoted men, as they soon after perished in the

DEATH OF MRS. LIVINGSTONE. 339

manner already related. The ship having run aground about twenty miles
below Chibisa’s, they were detained five weeks, until the river rose sufficiently
to float her off; and during their detention, the carpenter’s mate, a fine healthy
young Englishman, died of fever, being the first death of a member of the
expedition, although they had been three years and a half in the country.

At Mboma’s village they heard that the notorious Mariano had been
allowed to leaye Mozambique in order to collect a heavy fine which had been
imposed upon him after trial for his crimes. He had immediately taken to
his old trade, slavery, and had depopulated a large tract of country on the
right bank of the river. While expressing indignation at his conduct, and
sending an expedition against him, which he was supposed to have defeated,
the leader of it being sent back loaded with presents, the party had no doubt
that the Portuguese officials at Mozambique were quite aware of his intentions
before he started, and were in all likelihood sharing in his ill-gotten gains.
The sending a force against him was merely a ruse to save appearances.

Sailing down the Zambesi, they anchored in the Great Luabo mouth of
the Zambesi; and on the 30th of December H.M.S. Gorgon arrived, towing
the brig which brought Mrs. Livingstone, Miss Mackenzie, and Mrs. Burrup;
the former had come out to join her husband, while the latter were on their
way to join their friends at Magomero, where they arrived, as we have
already seen, too late to see their friends alive.

The progress of the Pioneer with the party, and a portion of the sections
of the Lady Nyassa, a vessel which Livingstone had had specially built for
river navigation, in pieces of a size which one man could carry on land, was
so distressingly slow, in consequence of the machinery having been allowed to -
get out of order, that Livingstone and his friends determined to land and put
the pieces of the Lady Nyassa together at Shupanga, while Captain Wilson,
Dr. Kirk, and Dr. Ramsay, and Mr. Sewell of the Gorgon, and the mission
party, went forward in the gig of that ship.

During the unhealthy season several of Dr. Livingstone’s party suffered
from fever, and about the middle of April Mrs. Livingstone was prostrated by
that disease; and notwithstanding that she received every attention which
affection and skill could render, she died on the 27th of that month, and was
buried on the following day under the shadow of a giant baobab-tree, the Rev.
James Stewart, who had shortly before come out to enquire into the practica-
bility of establishing a mission in connection with the Free Church of Scotland,
reading the burial service. The gallant seamen of the Gorgon mounted guard
for several nights over her last resting-place. It is impossible not to sympathise
with the stricken husband, who thus lost the wife of his early years, who had
shared in so many of his trials and difficulties, just when he was re-united to
her after a separation of four years. Beloved and revered as she was by white
men as well as by black, the party who stood under the wide spreading

340 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. .

branches of the baobab-tree must have been a sad and melancholy one. One
comforting reflection there was—she died among dear and loving friends, and
not alone among savages, like Bishop Mackenzie and Mr. Burrup, the know-
ledge of whose death was so soon to overwhelm with grief the two companions
of her voyage out, who little dreamed when they sorrowed for her that the
dear ones they had come so far to see had already been consigned to the grave
by savage, although friendly hands.

When the Lady Nyassa was put together at Shupanga, she was launched in
the presence of a large assemblage of natives, who had come from far and near
to witness it. They could not believe that being of iron she would float, and.
their astonishment was great when they saw her glide lightly and gracefully
into the water. The figure head, which was the head and bust of a female,
was pointed to as a wonderful work of art. As it was now well on in June,
and the river was at its lowest, it would be impossible to sail up the river until
December. The party proceeded in the Pioneer to Johanna to obtain a supply
of provisions and other requisites, and some draught oxen to carry the sections
of the Lady Nyassa past the Murchison Cataracts. Mr. Lumley, H.M. Consul
at Johanna, forwarded their views in every way, and gave them six of his
own trained oxen from his sugar plantation.

In the interval which must elapse before they could sail up the Shire, the
principal members of the expedition, with a number of native assistants,
proceeded to explore the Rovuma, as Dr. Livingstone was still of opinion
that a better way to Lake Nyassa might be found by ascending this river; but
his hopes were doomed to disappointment. The Rovuma was found to
contain a much smaller volume of water than many of the tributaries of the
Zambesi. Shallows were numerous, and snags formed by the sinking of large
trees in the mud during the subsidence of the floods, rendered the navigation
difficult even for the boats of H.M.S. Orestes, which had been lent to the party
for the ascent. Ninety miles from its mouth their further progress was
arrested by a series of cataracts, and there was nothing for it but to return
to Johanna, and proceed to Lake Nyassa by the valley of the Shire.

The lower part of the Rovuma valley was found to be very sparsely
populated, and of no great breadth, the hills lying close to the river on either
side. Sixty-five miles up the stream they arrived at an inhabited island, and
after some difficulty they managed to open friendly relations with the natives,
and purchased food from them. Here not only the females, but many of the
young men, wore the pelele or lip rmg. Farther up the stream, at the tempo-
rary village of an armed band of slave-traders, an attempt was made to
arrest their further progress unless a toll was paid. Rather than proceed to
extremities, Dr. Livingstone gave them thirty pieces of calico, which so
excited their cupidity that they fired a volley of musketry and poisoned arrows
at the party, fortunately without effect. A few shots fired at them drove these

EFFECTS OF A SLAVE RAID. 841

bloodthirsty cowards into the forest, and secured the party from any further
attack.

The people in the neighbourhood of the cataracts were found to be peace-
ful and industrious, and friendly in their disposition. They are called Makoa,
and are known by a cicatrice on the brow, in the form of a crescent, with the
horns pointing downwards. The hills on either side of the river were lofty,
and seemed to be the outlying spurs of a still wider range on either side.
Coal was found in such circumstances as warranted the party in believing that
it existed in abundance in the valleys.

In January 1863, the Pioneer steamed up the Shire, with the Lady Nyassa
in tow; and she had not breasted its waters for many hours before the party
came upon traces of the wholesale ravages of the notorious and bloodthirsty
Mariano. A little more than twelve months before, the valley of the Shire
was populous with peaceful and contented tribes ; now the country was all but
a desert, the very air polluted by the putrid carcases of the slain, which lay
rotting on the plains, and floated in the waters of the river in such numbers as
to clog the paddles of the steamer. Once they saw a crocodile making a rush
at the carcase of a boy, and shake it as a terrier dog shakes a rat, while others
rushed to share in the meal, and quickly devoured it. The miserable inhabit-
ants who had managed to avoid being slain or carried off into captivity, were
collecting insects, roots, and wild fruits—anything in short that would stave
off starvation, in the neighbourhood of the villages where they had formerly
enjoyed peace and plenty. They were entirely naked, save for the palm-leaf
aprons they wore, as everything of any value had been carried off by the slave
stealers. The sight of hundreds of putrid dead bodies and bleached skeletons
was not half so painful as the groups of children and women who were seen
sitting amidst the ruins of their former dwellings, with their ghastly famine-
stricken faces and dull dead eyes. These made up such a tale of woe and
misery that those who were dead might be deemed fortunate in comparison
with the survivors, who instinctively clung to the devastated spot they had
once called home, and those who had been led into life-long captivity. Hvery-
where dead bodies were met with. In the huts when opened the mouldering
corpse was found “ with the poor rags round the loins, the skull fallen off the
pillow; the little skeleton of the child, that had perished first, rolled up in a
mat between two large skeletons.”

Mr. Thornton rejoined the party on the Shire, bringing with him supplies
for the mission and the expedition party, after successfully assisting Baron
Vanderdecken in a survey of the Kilimanjaro mountains, and the ascent of
the highest member of the range to a height of 14,000 feet, discovering at the
same time that the height above the level of the sea of the highest peak was
20,000 feet. These mountains above 8,000 feet are covered with perpetual
snow. His present mission was to examine the geology of the district in the

342 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

neighbourhood of the cataracts; but before he had well begun his arduous
labour he was attacked with fever, and died on the 21st of April.

While busily making a road through the forest to connect the lower Shire
with the upper, beyond the Murchison cataracts, Dr. Kirk and Mr. Charles
Livingstone, after repeated attacks of fever and dysentery, were compelled to
leave for England; the undaunted chief of the expedition remaining at his
post, although he also had had a severe attack of fever. Before they had com-
pleted their arrangements for passing the cataracts, a despatch arrived from
Lord John Russell, then minister for foreign affairs, withdrawing the expedi-
tion. As the ascent of the river could not be made for some time, Dr.
Livingstone determined on a journey to the neighbourhood of Lake Nyassa,
selecting five of the Makololo men, who had settled near Chibisa’s, and several
of the Johanna men and natives on the spot, making in all twenty native
assistants, to accompany him. In attempting to ascend the cataracts in boats,
one of these, with valuable stores in it, was lost through the foolhardiness of
several Zambesi men, who were desirous of showing that they could manage
her better than the Makololo.

As a punishment, the Zambesi men were sent back to Chibisa’s for
provisions, cloth, and beads, Dr. Livingstone determining to go on on foot.
The bold explorer managed to penetrate through a hitherto unvisited country,
to a point several hundred miles west of the lake. At the different villages he
was well received, after his intentions were made known. In many places he
was received with coldness, and the inhabitants were in daily dread of a
slave-stealing raid bemg made upon them, and naturally looked with suspicion
on an armed party, headed by a white man. The country was very populous,
and exceedingly beautiful, showing every variety of scenery to be found
between the level plain and the summits of the mountain ridges, at a height
of from three to four thousand feet above the level of the sea.

The party were the recipients of much kind attention from the great bulk
of the simple inhabitants of the district through which they passed; and again
and again Dr. Livingstone had proofs, both of eye and ear, that the native
tribes in the interior, who have not suffered from the introduction of the slave
trade, lead comparatively blameless and industrious lives. It was a refreshing
sight to see men, women, and children, preparing the ground for their crops,
or clearing the latter of weeds, which were carefully gathered and burned, as
in highly farmed England; or grinding their corn in the stone mill, which
consists all over the districts he had visited, ‘‘ of a block of granite, or even
mica schist, fifteen or eighteen inches square, and four or six thick, with a
piece of quartz or other hard rock, about the size of half a brick, one side
of which has a coarse surface, and fits into a concave hollow in the large and
stationary stone. ‘The work-woman kneeling, grasps this upper millstone
with both hands, and works it backwards and forwards in the hollow of the

TALL NATIVES. 343

lower millstone, in the same way that a baker works his dough, when pressing
it and pushing it from him. The weight of the person is brought to bear on
the movable stone; and while it is pressed and pushed forwards and backwards,
one hand supplies every now and then a little grain, to be thus at first bruised,
and then ground in the lower stone, which is placed on the slope, so that the
meal, when ground, falls on to a skin or mat spread for the purpose.”

Before being ground, the corn is pounded in a large wooden mortar,
exactly similar to the method of the ancient Egyptians. The pestle is about
six feet long, and four inches in thickness. By this process the husk is removed
from the grain; and that it is a tedious process we have the authority of Solo-
mon, who thought that it took more vigour and trouble to separate ‘a fool
from his folly” than to remove the hard husk from the wheat.

‘A chief named Muazi presented Livingstone with a basket of unground
corn; and on his hinting that he had no wife to grind it for him, the chief’s
buxom spouse archly said, ‘I will grind it for you; and leave Muazi, to
accompany and cook for you in the land of the setting sun.’”

Everywhere he was struck with little touches of human nature, which
told him that blacks and whites in their natural ways were very much the
same. Sleeping outside a hut, but near enough to hear what passed in the
interior of it, he heard a native woman commence to grind in the dark, about
two o’clock in the morning. ‘“‘ Ma,” said her little daughter, ‘“‘ why grind in
the dark?” After telling her to go to sleep, she said, ‘‘I grind meal to buy
a cloth from the strangers, which will make you a little lady.” And no doubt
the little child went to sleep quite contented, just as an English girl would,
under like circumstances.

Their greatest luxury was beer, of which they drank considerable quan-
tities, generally in an hospitable kind of way, inviting their neighbours to share
in the jollification. Under such circumstances they politely praise the quality
of the liquor provided, a common saying being that it was so good, ‘the taste
reaches right to the back of the neck.”

The merchants or traders of the district are the Babisa. They are dis-
tinguished by a line of horizontal cicatrices, down the middle of the forehead
and chin. They collect the ivory from the Manganja and the Ajawa, and
carry it to the coast and sell it, bringing back European manufactures, beads,
ete., in return for it, and deal in tobacco and native iron utensils. Some of
the natives to the west of the lake were very tall and strong; many of them
were a good way over six feet in height, and six feet was common. On reach-
ing Lake Nyassa on their return journey, they found many of the inhabitants
living in hiding among the reeds by the margin of the lake; temporary huts
being erected on the flattened reeds, which were so thick and strong as to
form a perfect, though yielding floor, on the surface of the lake. They had a
miserable half-starved appearance, agriculture being out of the question while

344 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

they were living in constant terror of a visit from slave-trading bands. No
one would sell any food unless in exchange for some other article of food, for
the simple reason that they were starving, many of them dying from sheer
want.

Before the party got back to the ship they were caught in the rains;
sometimes it came on at night, with unpleasant results, when the party were
asleep with no shelter but the umbrageous foliage of some giant tree. Living-
stone says, ‘‘when very tired a man feels determined to sleep in spite of every-
thing, and the sound of dripping water is said to be conducive to slumber,
but that does not refer to an African storm. If, when half-asleep, in spite of
a heavy shower on the back of the head, he unconsciously turns on his side,
the drops from the branches make such capital shots into the ear, that the
brain rings again.” Curiously enough, the keen bracing air of the highlands
had a deleterious effect on the Zambesi men.

The following is Dr. Livingstone’s account of the journey to the north-
west of Lake Nyassa, in a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison :—

‘“‘ The despatch containing instructions for our withdrawal, though dated
2nd of February, did not reach me before the 2nd of July, when the water
had fallen so low that the Pzoneer could not be taken down to the sea. To
improve the time, therefore, between July and the flood of December, I
thought that I might see whether a large river entered the northern end of
Lake Nyassa, and, at the same time, ascertain whether the impression was
true that most of the slaves drawn to Zanzibar, Kilwa, Iboe, and Mozambique,
came from the Lake district. With this view I departed, taking the steward
of the Pioneer and a few natives, carrying a small boat, and ascended the
Shire. Our plan was to sail round the eastern shore and the north end of the
lake, but unfortunately we lost our boat when we had nearly passed the falls
of the Shire; the accident occurring through five of our natives trying to
show how much cleverer they were than the five Makololo who had hitherto
had the management of it. It broke away from them in a comparatively still
reach of the river, and rushed away like an arrow over the cataracts. Our
plans after this had to be modified, and I resolved to make away for the
north-west on foot, hoping to reach the latitude of the northern end of the
lake without coming in contact with the Mazitu, or Zulus, who have de-
populated its north-western shores, and then go round the Lake from the
west.

‘“¢ We soon came to a range of mountains running north and south, rising
about 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. The valley on the eastern base
was 2,000 feet above the sea, and was of remarkable beauty—well supplied
with streams of delicious cold water. This range forms the edge of the high
table-land (called Deza) on which the Maravi dwell. We were, however,
falsely told that no people lived on the other side, and continued our course

SLAVE VALUES. 345

along the valley until we came out at the heel of the lake—the bold moun-
tainous promontory of Cape Maclear on our right, and the hills of Tsenga in
front of us. Again starting off towards the north-west, we came to a stockade
which the Mazitu, or other natives pretending to be of this tribe, had attacked
the day before, and we saw the loathsome relics of the fight in the shape of
the dead bodies of the combatants. Wishing to avoid a collision with these
people, we turned away towards the north-east until we again came to the
lake, and marched along its shores to Kota-Kota Bay (lat. 12° 55’ South).

** At Kota-Kota Bay we found two Arab traders busily engaged in
transporting slaves across the lake by means of their boats; they were also
building a dhow to supply the place of one which was said to have been
wrecked. These men said that they had now 1500 souls in their village,
and we saw tens of thousands of people in the vicinity who had fled thither
for protection. They were the same men whom we had seen on our last visit,
but at that time they had very few people. Every disturbance amongst the
native tribes benefits the slave-trader. They were paying one fathom of
calico, value one shilling, for a boy, and two fathoms for a good-looking girl.
Yet, profitable as it may seem, the purchase of slaves would not pay, were it
not for the value of their services as carriers of the ivory conveyed to the
coast by the merchants. A trader with twenty slaves has to expend at least
the price of one per day for their sustenance: it is the joint ivory and slave
trade which alone renders the speculation profitable. It was the knowledge
that I was working towards undermining the slave-trade of Mozambique and
Iboe by buying up the ivory, that caused the Portuguese to exert all their
obstructive power. I trust that operations in the interior, under a more able
leader, will not be lost sight of ; for these will do more to stop the slave-trade
than all the cruisers on the ocean.

“ Kota-Kota Bay, which is formed by a sandy spit running out and _pro-
tecting the harbour from the east wind, is the crossing-place for nearly all the
slaves that go to Kilwa, Iboe, and Mozambique. A few are taken down to
the end of the lake, and for cheapness cross the Shire; but at Kota-Kota lies
the great trade-route to Katanga, Cazembe, &c. ‘The Babisa are the principal
traders; the Manganja are the cultivators of the soil. The sight of the new
dhow gaye me a hint which perhaps may be useful. She was 50 feet by 12, and
5 feet deep. I should never think again of carrying more than the engine
and boilers of a vessel past the cataracts; the hull could be built here more
easily than it could be conveyed hither. On the southern shores of the lake
there are many trees whose trunks are above 2 feet in diameter and 60 feet
in height without a branch. The Arabs were very civil when we arrived,
and came forth to meet us, and presented us with rice, meal, and sugar-cane.
Amongst other presents they made us was a piece of malachite.

“On leaving Kota-Kota we proceeded due west. In three days we

ul

346 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ascended the plateau, the eastern side of which has the appearance of a range
of mountains. The long ascent, adorned with hill and dale and running
streams, fringed with evergreen trees, was very beautiful to the eye, but the
steep walk was toilsome, causing us to halt frequently to recover our breath.
The heights have a delicious but peculiarly piercing air: it seemed to go
through us. Five Shupanga men, who had been accustomed all their lives to
the malaria of the Zambesi Delta were quite prostrated by that which, to me,
was exhilarating and bracing. We travelled about 90 miles due west on the
great Babisa, Katanga, and Cazembe slave-route, and then turned to the
north-west. The country is level, but the boiling-point showed a slope in
the direction we were going. The edge of the plateau is 3,440 feet above the
sea-level. At the Loangwa end of the lake the height shown is 3,270 feet. The
direction of the streams verifies these approximate heights and your famous
hypothesis too; for the Loangwa of the lake finds its way backwards to the
Nyassa, whilst another river of the same name, called the Loangwa of the
Maravi, here flows to the westward, and enters the Zambesi at Zumbo. The
feeders of these rivers are boggy valleys, with pools in their courses. We
were told we had crossed one branch of the Moitala, or Moitawa, which flows
N.N.W. into a small lake called Bemba.* The valleys in which the rivers rise
closely resemble those in Londa or Lunda; but here each bank is dotted over
with villages, and a great deal of land is cultivated; the vegetation is more
stunted, and the trees covered with flat lichens, like those on old apple-trees
in Scotland, besides a long thready kind similar to orchilla-weed ; the land on
which maize has been planted is raised into ridges instead of, as elsewhere,
formed into hollows—all which reveals a humid climate.

‘““ As we were travelling in the direction whence a great deal of ivory is
drawn by the traders on the slave-route, hindrances of various kinds were put
in our way. The European food we had brought with us was expended; the
people refused to sell us food, and dysentery came back on us in force.
Moreover, our time was now expired. I was under explicit orders not to under-
take any long journey, but to have the Pioneer down to the sea by the earliest
flood. I might have speculated on a late rise in the Zambesi, but did not like
the idea of failing in my duty, and so gave up the attempt to penetrate farther
to the west. The temptation to go forward was very great; for the lake
Bemba was said to be but ten days’ journey distant; and from this, according
to native report, issues the river Loapula (or Luapula), which flowing west-
ward, forms the lakes Mofu (or Mofue) and Moero, and then, passing the town
of Cazembe, turns round to the north and is lost in Tanganyika. Is there an
outlet to Tanganyika on the west into the Kasai, to the east of the point at

* We were destined to become very familiar with this Lake in connection with Dr. Livingstone’s
last journeyings in Central Africa.

DEATH OF MARIANO. 347

which I formerly crossed that river ?* All agreed in asserting that no river
flowed eastward into Lake Nyassa Two small ones do, but at a distance of,
say, 80 or 90 miles from the lake; the watershed is to the west. One should
haye no bias in investigating these questions by the aid of travelled natives ;
but I had a strong leaning to a flow from Tanganyika into Nyassa or the
Zambesi. I was, however, stoutly opposed by all; and I had crossed so many
running streams, which, from entering the lake among reeds, had not been
observed from the boat on our first visit, that, before reaching Kota-Kota, I
had come to the conclusion that a large river from the North was not needed
to account for the perennial flow of the Shire. I am sorry I have only native
information to give instead of my own direct observations; but, having been
confined to work of much greater importance than exploration, the above was
all I could achieve when set free.

“ As the steward and myself were obliged to try our best during the limited
time at our disposal, it may be worth mentioning that we travelled 660 geo-
graphical miles in 55 travelling days, averaging 12 miles per day in straight
lines. The actual distance along the wavy, up-and-down paths we had was
of course much greater. The new leaves on the trees of the plateau were
coming out fresh and green, and of various other hues, when we were there,
and on reaching the ship on the 31st of October, we found all, except the
evergreen ones by streams, as bare of leaves as in mid-winter.

The party reached the ship early in November, and found those they had
left there in good health. The exploring party had travelled nearly seven
hundred miles in a straight line, which gave a mileage of twelve and a half
per day, but taking the windings into account, Livingstone put their rate of
advance down at fifteen miles, a wonderful progress truly in an unknown
country. An Ajawa chief, named Kapeni, waited upon them, and gratified
Livingstone by saying that he and most of his people were anxious to receive
English missionaries as their teachers. The effect of this was marred by intelli-
gence which reached him shortly afterwards, that Bishop Tozer, Bishop
Mackenzie’s successor, after a short stay near the mouth of the Shire, on the
top of Mount Marambala, had determined to leave the country. In descend-
ing the river they heard that Mariano, the infamous slave-stealing half-caste,
had died of debauchery some time previous.

From Shupanga he wrote on the 10th of Feb., 1864 :—‘‘ The river rose in
tremendous force on the 19th of January—much later than usual. Its lateness
extracted many a groan from me, for it was plain that I had plenty of time
to have examined Lake Bemba, which I suppose to be the beginning of the
drainage system which finds an outlet by the Congo. Mofu, or Mofue, was

% Tn his last journey Dr. Livingstone found that the river he alludes to had no connection with
Lake Tanganyika, but is, as he supposed, the head waters of the Nile.

348 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

seen, I believe, by Montiero in his journey to Cazembe. Part of our line
of march was along the route from Kilwa to the same chief.”

_ The following extract from a letter of Dr. Livingstone to the late Admiral
Washington, relates to the end of Bishop Tozer’s mission, and the exactions of
the Portuguese :—

“The Mission of the Universities has been a sore disappointment to me,
but on public grounds alone, for it formed no part of my expedition. Before
I left the Zambesi, I heard from Bishop Tozer, the successor to Bishop
Mackenzie, that he had determined to leave the country as early in the present
year (1864) as possible. He selected the top of an uninhabited mountain—
Morambala, at the mouth of the Shire—for his mission-station. Fancy a mission-
station on the top of Ben Nevis! It is an isolated hill in the middle of a generally
flat country; consequently all the clouds collect around the summit, and the con-
stant showers and fogs at certain times make the missionaries run, to avoid
being drenched, into the huts. Unlike the first, the second party has been quite
useless; they never went near any population that could be taught, and are now
about to run away altogether. Wishing to be strictly accurate as to the
incredible fact of a missionary bishop without a flock, I made minute inquiry,
and found that on the mountain there were three native huts at one spot, four
at another, and nine at a third; but none, except the first three, within easy
access of the station. Twenty-five boys whom we liberated, and gave to the late
Bishop Mackenzie, were very unwillingly received by his successor, although
without them he would have had no natives whatever to teach. He wished to
abandon certain poor women and children who were attached to the mission by
Bishop Mackenzie, but Mr. Waller refused to comply with his proposal, and
preferred to resign his connection with the mission. In reference to a promise
by the Government of Portugal to send out fresh instructions to the Portu-
guese officials to render us every assistance, which was made in answer to
Lord Russell’s remonstrance to the authorities at Lisbon, we have only a fresh
imposition, in the shape of a tax for residence at Killimane, on Dr. Kirk’s
party. Itamounted to between £7 and £8, which, of course, I must pay. The
duty of 4d. per pound weight on calico seems to say, ‘ We Portuguese mean to
seal up the country more closely than ever.’ I never intended to make use of
the Zambesi after getting the steamer on the Lake. I only thought, as we had
discovered this opening, we ought to make use of it to get up there, and then
send out ivory by the Rovuma, during the eight months of the year that it is
navigable. I regret not being able to finish what I had begun. I thank you
for the charts of the Rovuma, and shall endeavour to take soundings, not on
the bar, for there is none, but opposite the mouth. The only thing like a bar
is a phenomenon which occurs at half-ebb, and up to the time when the tide
turns, at which period the water, rushing out of the river, falls from three or
four fathoms into nineteen fathoms, and thus causes a commotion which might

LIVINGSTONE AS A NAVIGATOR. 349

swamp a boat. It lasts, however, but a short time, for as soon as the flow
begins all is smooth again. I believe that the Rovuma may be navigable for
a vessel of light draught eight or nine months out of the twelve, and the bay
is perfectly safe, and magnificent. “Davin LivINGsTONE.

“PS. 24th Feb. 1864.—The Bishop is off before me. I take the boys
and children (40 in number) whom he wished to abandon, and send them
myself to the Cape. Having once liberated them, I felt in honour bound to
see them secure from a return into slavery, and am sure that the gentlemen
who sent out the mission would have done the same.”

He kept with him on board the Lady Nyassa seven men, and two boys—
Chumah and Wekotani—of whom we shall hear more hereafter.

The Lady Nyassa steamed from Mozambique to Zanzibar; and as Living-
stone had determined to dispose of her, he started in her on a voyage of 2,500
miles for that purpose to Bombay, which he accomplished in safety, arriving
there on the 13th of June, having left Zanzibar on the 16th of April; the
heroic explorer acting as navigator, his crew consisting of three Kuropeans,
viz., a stoker, a sailor, and a carpenter, and seven native Zambesi men, and
two boys. Considering that the three Kuropean members of his crew were
laid aside for a month each, and his native Zambesi men had to be taught the
duties of the ship, and that the Lady Nyassa was a tiny light craft constructed for
lake and river navigation, the feat of sailing her across the Indian Ocean was
not the least marvellous of the many daring undertakings he has successfully
earried through. When they steamed into the harbour of Bombay, he says
“the vessel was so small, that no one noticed our arrival.” His appearance
in civilized society after such a fashion, must have been as unexpected and
wonderful as his turning up among the Portuguese in the West, after travelling
from the Cape right across country through regions till then wholly unknown.
The two native boys, who were about sixteen years of age named respectively
Wekotani and Chumah, were left with Dr. Wilson, of Bombay, to be educated.
This astounding feat in seamanship—a voyage of 2,500 miles in the Lady
Nyassa—did not strike Livingstone as being anything very wonderful. Ina
letter to Sir Roderick Murchison from Bombay, he says :—

“We arrived at Bombay on the 13th instant, after a passage of 44 days
from Zanzibar. From Zanzibar we crept along the African coast, in order to
profit by a current of at least 100 miles a day. If Solomon’s ships went as far
South as Sofala, as some suppose, they could not have done it during the
south-west monsoon against such a current. We went along beautifully till
we got past the line; we then fell in with calms, which continued altogether
for 244 days. The sea was as smooth as glass; and, as we had but one
stoker, we could not steam more than nine or ten hours at a time. By
patience and perseverance we have at length accomplished our voyage of 2,500
miles, but now I feel at as great a loss as ever. I came here to sell my

350 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

steamer, but with this comes the idea of abandoning Africa before accomplish-
ing something against the slave-trade; the thought of it makes me feel as
though I could not lie in peace in my grave, with all the evils I know so well
going on unchecked. What makes it doubly galling is, that while the policy
of our Government has, to a very gratifying extent, been successful on the
West coast, all efforts on the East coast have been rendered ineffectual by a
scanty Portuguese convict population. The same measures have been in
operation here, the same expense and the same dangers, the same heroic
services have been performed by Her Majesty’s cruisers, and yet all in vain.
The Zambesi country is to be shut up now more closely than ever, and, unless
we have an English settlement somewhere on the mainland, beyond the so-
called dominions of the Portuguese, all repressive measures will continue
fruitless. I would willingly have gone up some of the other rivers with my
steamer, instead of coming here, but I had only three white men with me—
a stoker, a sailor, and a carpenter—and seven natives of the Zambesi. The
stoker and the sailor had both severe attacks of illness on the way, and it
would have been imprudent to have ascended an unexplored river so short-
handed. Could I have entered the Juba, it would have been not so much to
explore the river, as to set in train operations by merchants and others which
should eventually work out the destruction of the slave-trade.”

Dr. Livingstone arrived in England in July, 1864, and busied himself
with the preparation of his narrative for the press, and denise over further
efforts to be made for the amelioration of the condition of the natives of Central
Africa. It was quite clear to him that no help in this direction must be looked
for from the Portuguese government, which, in spite of the utter valuelessness
of its possessions on the east coast of Africa, seemed to wink at the devasta-
tion and depopulation of the country by slave dealers, and threw every obstacle
in the way of any one anxious to acquire information regarding the tribes
bordering on their territory, and the possible introduction of legitimate com-
merce amongst them. The horrors Dr. Livingstone had to make us acquainted
with then, and those which he was only telling us so recently, after having
been lost to his country and friends for years, have raised such a storm of
indignation throughout the civilized world, as cannot fail to hasten the end
of the frightful traffic in human beings, which is carried on under the pro-
tection of the Portuguese flag.

CHAPTER XVI.

Starts a Third Time for Africa.—Re-ascends the Rovuma.—His Reported Murder.—
Expedition sent in Search of him Hears of his Safety.

HEN Dr. Livingstone arrived in England, the discoveries of Captain
Speke and Major Grant were the subject of almost universal interest
among the intelligent public; and he had not been long amongst us, when
the enthusiasm those had excited, and the cravings for further knowledge of
the regions about the head waters of the Nile, were further indulged by the
discoveries of Sir Samuel Baker. Lakes, hill ranges, and populous native settle-
ments, were slowly filling up the great blank patch in the centre of the vast
continent of Africa, which for centuries had been assumed to be a vast sandy de-
sert, a second and greater Sahara. From the known regions of Southern Africa
Livingstone had, from his several expeditions prior to 1852, when he marched
across the Kalahari desert and discovered Lake Ngami, down to his leaving
the Zambesi, on the conclusion of his last series of explorations, laid down
rivers, lakes, mountain ranges, and native settlements, over a tract of country
vastly more extensive than was ever explored by a single individual in the
history of discovery and adventure. His discoveries in the south, and those
of his contemporary explorers farther to the north, had settled the fact beyond
dispute, that the centre of Africa was peopled by tribes mentally and indus-
trially capable of elevation, if the iniquitous slave-trade was suppressed, and
legitimate commerce with civilized nations introduced amongst them; and
that they inhabited regions rich in vegetable and animal life, and watered by
magnificent rivers and streams, which filled the minds of thoughtful men with
the hope of seeing opened, within a reasonable time, new corn, cattle, cotton,
coffee, sugar, indigo, coal, and iron-producing regions of so vast an extent, as
to render the European continent independent in the future of the exhaustion
of her present stores, through the demands of a population daily increasing
in number and in wealth.

Between Speke and Grant’s and Baker’s discoveries, and Livingstone’s in
the south, there was still a vast tract of country of which little or nothing
reliable was known. Further investigation, and a due consideration of the
character of the newly-explored regions, led thinking men to doubt and ques-
tion the fact that Captain Speke had traced the Nile to its head quarters, when
he watched it flow a noble stream from the Victoria Nyanza Lake. These

352 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

doubts and questions soon resolved themselves into actual belief that the head
waters of the river of Egypt must be carried as far south, and farther south, as
some thought, than Lake Tanganyika.

Dr. Livingstone had not unnaturally looked forward to a considerable
period of rest in the bosom of his family after his laborious exertions during the
preceding six years; but there was to be henceforward for him no rest on
this side of the grave. The minds of men were drawn towards the unknown
country between lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, and there was one man on
whom the eyes of all men were turned as its explorer. The great traveller
himself, after he had seen his book, The Zambesi and its Tributaries, through the
press, had not made up his mind as to his future operations, when he was
waited upon by Sir Roderick Murchison. That gentleman, with all the
astuteness of a Scotch diplomatist, did not at once ask Dr. Livingstone to go
himselfi—on a new mission.

‘6 My dear Livingstone,” he said, ‘‘ your disclosures respecting the interior
of Africa have created a profound excitement in the geographical world. We
(the Geographical Society) are of opinion that we ought to send another ex-
pedition into the heart of Africa to solve the problem of the water shed
between the Nyassa and the Tanganyika lakes; for when that is settled, all
questions about Central Africa will be definitively resolved. Whom could you
recommend to take charge of it as a proper man ?”’

After some reflection, Dr. Livingstone recommended a gentleman well
known to them both. This gentleman, on being spoken to, would only con-
sent to go on the understanding that he would be sufficiently remunerated for
his services. There can be only one opinion as to the propriety of the con-
ditions on which this gentleman was willing to act; as it would hardly be fair
to expect a man advanced in years to undertake a mission of such privation
and difficulty without ample compensation. As the Geographical Society
could not guarantee any pecuniary reward, that gentleman declined to proceed
to Africa.

Sir Roderick was much distressed at this refusal, and calling on Dr.
Livingstone to announce the non-success of his efforts, he said—‘‘ Why
cannot you go? Come, let me persuade you. I am sure you will not refuse
an old friend.” ‘I had flattered myself,” said Dr. Livingstone, ‘ that I had
much prospective comfort in store for me in my old days. And pecuniary
matters require looking after for the sake of my family ; but since you ask
me in that way, I cannot refuse you.”

‘‘Never mind about the pecuniary matters,” said Sir Roderick. “It
shall be my task to look after that; you may rest assured your interests shall
not be forgotten.”

At this time Dr. Livingstone’s circumstances were of such a nature, as
but for this generous offer, to give him considerable anxiety. His first book,

DR. LIVINGSTONE LEAVES FOR AFRICA. 353

The Missionary Travels, sold to the extent of 30,000 copies, and in consequence
returned him a large sum of money. While on the Zambesi, and when the
second steamer, the Pioneer, sent out to him proved a failure, he ordered the
Lady Nyassa at his own expense, her cost being £6,000. She was lying at
Bombay, and would be of no use in the contemplated journey at all. The
sale of his second book, The Zambesi and its Tributaries, up to the time of which
we are writing, had not much exceeded 3,000 copies, so that if he left for
Africa and was lost to sight for several years, the future of his motherless
children could not fail to be a source of anxiety to him.

The generous offer of Sir Roderick Murchison, his old and tried friend,
put him at his ease as to the future welfare of his family, and he began at
once, with his usual promptitude and energy, to prepare for his departure upon
what was to be his last expedition. Lord John Russell (now Earl Russell)
and then Prime Minister, sent Mr. Hayward, Q.C., to him, to sound him as to
what he would like the Government to do for him. No doubt his lordship
wished to know what honour or reward he wished for himself. Livingstone,
quite unmindful of himself, said, ‘‘If you stop the Portuguese Slave Trade,
you will gratify me beyond measure.” A second time Mr. Hayward asked
him if anything could be done for himself, and his answer was, ‘‘ No, he
could not think of anything.” Many times when he was waiting in the heart
of Africa for succour from the coast, the thought came into his mind that he
had then lost an opportunity of providing for his children.

Two thousand pounds were subscribed for the expedition. Mr. James
Young, the well-known paraffin oil manufacturer, and a friend of Living-
stone’s at College, furnished £1,000, and promised that whenever he lacked
funds he would supply him to any amount. The Government gave £500,
and the Royal Geographical Society subscribed a like sum. As Dr. Living-
stone, when he reached Bombay, sold the Lady Nyassa steamer, and placed
the sum received for her (£2,000) in bank, to be drawn upon by him for the
expenses of the expedition, he actually subscribed one-half the entire sum he
believed he had at his disposal at starting. Months after he had passed into
the interior of Africa, the banker with whom he had deposited the money
became bankrupt, and the whole sum was totally lost.

Lord John Russell happily connected the expedition with the public
service by renewing Dr. Livingstone’s appointment as H.M. Consul to the
tribes in the interior of Africa, thus giving to his mission a semi-official
character.

Dr. Livingstone left England to set out on his last expedition on the 14th
of August, and was accompanied to Paris by his eldest daughter, Agnes.
From Paris he went to Bombay, where, having completed his arrangements,
he proceeded to Zanzibar, accompanied by the two African boys (Chumah and
Wekotani) he had left with Dr. Wilson, a number of men from the Johanna

Ware

354 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Islands, a Sepoy Havildar, a few enlisted Sepoys, and some Wasawahili. Thus
accompanied, he sailed in an Arab dhow from Zanzibar on the 28th March,
1864, and landed at the mouth of the Rovuma, after a voyage of several days.

Before leaving Bombay, Wekotani wrote the following letter to a
gentleman in England (Mr. Horace Waller, we believe.) We give a literal
translation of it here, as it cannot fail to interest our readers.

‘“‘T, Wekotani, and I, Chumah, send a letter to give to you, W——. The
Doctor has said all is well, and has given to me the money which you gave to
him, the Doctor; this is done of the good heart.

“As for us, Chumah and Wekotani, the Doctor said to us, ‘ Farewell ;
remain yet at Bombay; cause to be learned reading and the art of writing.’
I said, even I, Wekotani, ‘It is good, my chief.’ ‘Farewell,’ said he.

‘“‘T have answered to the voice of the Doctor, and I now write to you
this letter; and when it is finished I shall like to write to you yet another.

‘‘'The Doctor has arrived ; he said, ‘Come here, Wekotani and Chumah,
and take that money which W has given out of a good heart.

““T, Wekotani, learn that one of the boysis dead. I know Kaminya-
pongwi is dead; God has taken him. I learn my kinsman Chinsoro has
married a wife ; I learn that there is a child born to Uriah. If it be a boy, I
know not; if a girl, I know not.

‘“‘ Now I, Wekotani, speak to Uriah and Chinsoro, my kinsmen. He, even
he, the Doctor, has said: ‘ Wekotani and Chumah,’ said he, ‘let us go to the
Rovuma.’ The chief W. has spoken; he says—‘ You, Wekotani, go
with the Doctor before him on the path, and see other large waters, and speak
with and see the Waiou (Ajawa), and speak the Waiou language.’ I said,
‘This is good, and I travel once more, and travelling there will be no sitting
down when the great water is reached. I, I return with the Doctor.’

‘“‘Now I am informed of Adams, and Chumala, and Blair. W—— says
Blair and Adams are at Natal, a country belonging to the English, says he.

“‘T speak to you, W. ; you who used to live with Chinsoro—and to
A ; he lived with Sumbani, I and you, W. , 1, Wekotani; there is no
forgetting W-. with me.

“Now I have written my letter, telling W—— I am at Bombay. Of
Chiku and his companions, the traders, four are dead. Chiku is present. I
have finished writing.

“T remain, Sir,
“Yours mostly obediently.
‘¢ WEKOTANI.

“You, W , made pictures (photographs), portraying Chinsoro; and
I have seen his countenance and that of his wife, of Uriah and of his wife,
and I see Daoma and those women Ochuomvala and her mother; Jambani,
I do not see his face. Chiku says, may it be well with you, W: shy

LETTER FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE. 355

Early in November, the following letter was received from Dr. Living-
stone. It was dated from Ngomano, 18th May, 1866, and was the first
communication of any importance received from him since he had passed into
the interior :—

‘When we could not discover a path for camels through the Mangrove
swamps of the mouth of the Rovuma, we proceeded about twenty-five miles
to the north of that river, and at the bottom of Mikindany bay entered a
beautiful land-locked harbour, called Kinday or Pemba. ‘The entrance seems
not more than three hundred yards wide; the reef on each side of the
channel showing so plainly of a light colour that no ships ought to touch.
The harbour is somewhat the shape of the spade on cards, the entrance being
like the short handle. There is nearly a mile of space for anchorage, the
southern part being from ten to fourteen fathoms, while the north-west portion
is shallow and rocky. It is a first-rate harbour for Arab dhows, the land rising
nearly all round from two to three hundred feet. The water is so calm, Arabs
can draw their craft to the shore to discharge and take in cargo. They are
also completely screened by the masses of trees growing all round it from sea-
ward observation.

“The population consists of coast Arabs and their slaves. The six
villages in which they live are dotted round the shore, and may contain three
hundred souls in all. They seemed to be suspicious, and but for our having
been accompanied by H.M.S. Penguin, would have given trouble. The
ordinary precaution of placing a sentry over our goods caused a panic, and
the Sirkar or head man thought that he gave a crushing reply to my explana-
tions when he blubbered out, ‘ But we have no thieves here.’

‘Our route hence was 8.S.N. to the Rovuma, which we struck at the
spot marked on the chart as that at which the Pioneer turned in 1861. We
travelled over the same plateau that is seen to flank both sides of the Rovuma
like a chain of hills from four to six hundred feet high. Except where the
natives who are called Makonde have cleared spaces for cultivation, the whole
country within the influence of the moisture from the ocean is covered with
dense jungle. The trees in general are not large, but they grow so closely
together as generally to exclude the sun. In many places they may be said
to be woven together by tangled masses of climbing-plants, more resembling
the ropes and cables of a ship in inextricable confusion than the graceful
creepers with which we are familiar in northern climates.

“Trade paths have already been made, but we had both to heighten and
widen them for camels and buffaloes. The people at the sea-coast had
declared that no aid could be got from the natives. When we were seven
miles off, we were agreeably surprised to find that for reasonable wages we
could employ any number of carriers and wood-cutters we desired. As they
were accustomed to clear away the gigantic climbers for their garden ground,

356 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

they whittled away with their tomahawks with remarkable speed and skill.
But two days continuous hard labour was as much as they could stand. It is
questionable whether any people (except possibly the Chinese) who are not
meat-eaters can endure continuous labour of a kind that brings so many
muscles into violent action as this work did. French navvies could not com-
pete with the English until they were fed exactly like the latter. The
Makonde have only fowls, a few goats, and the chance of an occasional gorge
on the wild hog of the country.

ee Such rocks as we could see were undisturbed grey sandstone,
capped by ferruginous conglomerate. Upon this we often stumbled against
blocks of silicified wood, so like recent wood that any one would be unwilling
to believe at first sight they were stones. This is a sure indication of coal
being underneath, and pieces of it were met in the sands of the river.

‘When about ninety miles from the mouth of the Rovuma, the geologi-
cal structure changes, and with this change we have more open forest, thinner
vegetation, and grasses of more reasonable size. The chief rock is now
syenite, and patches of fine white dolomite lie upon it in spots. Granitic
masses have been shot up over the plain, which extends in front all the way
to Ngomano, the confluence of the Rovuma and the Loendi. In the drier
country we found that one of these inexplicable droughts had happened over
the north bank of the Rovuma, and a tribe of Mazitu, propably Zulus, had
come down like a swarm of locusts, and carried away all the food above
ground, as well as what was growing. I had now to make forced marches
with the Makonde in quest of provisions for my party, and am now with
Machumora, the chief at Ngomano, and by sending some twenty miles to the
south-west, I shall obtain succour for them. This is the point of confluence,
as the name Ngomano implies, of the Rovuma and the Loendi. The latter is
decidedly the parent stream, and comes from the south-west, where, in addi-
tion to some bold granitic peaks, dim outlines of distant highlands appear.
Even at that distance they raise the spirits, but possibly that is caused partly
by the fact that we are now about thirty miles beyond our former turning-
point, and on the threshold of the unknown.

‘“‘T propose to make this my head-quarters till I have felt my way round
the north end of Lake Nyassa. If prospects are fair there I need not return,
but trust to another quarter for fresh supplies, but it is best to say little about
the future. Machumora is an intelligent man, and one well-known to be trust-
worthy. He is appealed to on all hands for his wise decisions, but he has not
much real power beyond what his personal character gives him.

“The Makonde are all independent of each other, but they are not
devoid of a natural sense of justice. A carrier stole a shirt from one of my
men; our guide pursued him at nigli‘, seized him in his own house, and the
elders of his village made him pay about four times the value of the article

REPORTED MURDER OF LIVINGSTONE. 357

stolen. No other case of theft has occurred. No dues were demanded, and
only one fine—a very just one—was levied.”

Here, as elsewhere in Central Africa, the Arabs had not been successful
in imposing the Moslem creed upon the natives. The Arabs believed it to be
useless to persevere in any attempt to teach them, as the Makonde had no idea
of a Deity. The fatal dsetse fly engages Livingstone’s attention here, as in so
many districts of Central Africa. He had selected buffaloes and camels, think-
ing that they would brave the fatal effects of its bite. He says :—‘‘ The expe-
riment with the buffaloes has not been satisfactory ; one buffalo and two camels
died. Had we not been in a éseése country, I should have ascribed this to
over-work and bruises received on board the dhow which brought them from
Zanzibar. These broke out into large ulcers. When stung by gad-flies blood
of the arterial colour flows from the punctures. This may be the effect of the
tsetse, for when an ox known to be bitten was killed, its blood was all of the
arterial hue. I had but four buffaloes for the experiment, and as three yet
remain, I am at present in doubt.”

In March, 1867, the whole civilized world was startled by the receipt
of intelligence that Dr. Livingstone had been slain in an encounter with a
party of Mafite or Mazitu on the western side of Lake Nyassa, at a place called
Kampunda or Mapunda. The intelligence came in the shape of a dispatch
from Dr. G. E. Seward, Acting Consul at Zanzibar to Lord Stanley (now
Earl Derby), then Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

** Zanzibar, December 10th, 1866.

“My Lorp—I send you the saddest news. Dr. Livingstone, in his
dispatch from Ngomano, informed your lordships that he stood ‘on the
threshold of the unexplored.’ Yet, as if that which should betide him had
already thrown its shadow, he added, ‘ it is best to say little of the future.’

** My Lord, if the report of some fugitives from his party be true, this
brave and good man has ‘ crossed the threshold of the unexplored ;’ he has
confronted the future, and will never return. He was slain, so it is alleged,
during a sudden and unprovoked encounter with those very Zulus, of whom
he says, in his dispatch, that they had laid waste the country round about
him, and had ‘swept away the food from above and in the ground.’ With
an escort reduced to twenty by desertion, death, and dismissals, he had
traversed, as I believe, that terra incognita between the confluence of the
Loanda and Royuma rivers at Ngomano, and the eastern or north-eastern
littoral of Lake Nyassa; had crossed the lake at some point, as yet unas-
certained ; had reached a station named Kampunda, on its western shore ;
and was pushing west or north-west into dangerous ground, when between
Marenga and Maklisoora a band of implacable savages stopped the way, a
mixed horde of Zulus, or Mazitu, and Nyassa folk.

** The Nyassa folk were roamed with bow and arrow, the Zale with the

358 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

traditional shield, broad-bladed spears and axes. With Livingstone there
were nine or ten muskets; his Johanna men were resting with their loads
far in the rear. The Mazitu instantly came on to fight; there was no parley,
no avoidance of the combat; they came on with a rush and with war-cries,
and rattling on their shields with their spears. As Livingstone and his party
raised their pieces, their onset was for a moment checked, but only fora
moment.

“ Livingstone ened, and two Zulus were shot dead (his boys fired too,
but their fire was Harnuless): he was in the act of reloading, when three
Mazitu leaped upon him through the smoke. ‘There was no resistance, there
could be none, and one cruel axe-cut from behind put him out of life. He
fell, and when he fell, his terror-stricken escort fled, hunted by the Mazitu.
One, at least, of the fugitives escaped ; and he, the eye-witness, it is who tells -
the tale—Ali Moosa, chief of his escort of porters.

““The party had left the western shores of Nyassa about five days.
They had started from Kampunda, on the lake’s borders (they left the
Havildar of Sepoys there dying of dysentery, Livingstone had dismissed the
other Sepoys of the Bombay 21st at Mataka), and had rested at Marengo,
where Livingstone was cautioned not to advance. The next station was
Maklisoora ; they were traversing a flat country broken by small hills, and
abundantly wooded. Indeed, the scene of the tragedy so soon to be consum-
mated would appear to have been an open forest-glade.

‘“‘ Livingstone, as usual, led the way, his nine or ten unpractised
musketeers at his heels. Ali Moosa had nearly come up with them, having
left his own Johanna men resting with their loads far in the rear. Suddenly
he heard Livingstone warn the boys that the Mazitu were coming; the boys
in turn beckoned Moosa to press forward. Moosa saw the crowd here and
there among the trees, and he had just gained the party, and had sunk down
behind a tree to deliver his own fire, when his leader fell (by an axe-cut from
behind). Moosa fled for his hfe along the path he had come, meeting his
Johanna men, who threw down their loads, and in a body rushed into the
deeper forest. . . . If the Mazitu really passed Moosa, his escape and
that of his people verges on the marvellous.

“‘ However, at sunset, they in great fear left their forest refuge, and got
back to the place where thea hoped to find their baggage. It was gone, and
then with increasing dread they crept to where the slain traveller lay. Near
him, in front, lay the grim Zulus, who were killed under his sure aim; here
and there lay some four fugitives of the expedition. That one blow had
killed him outright; he had no other wound but this terrible gash; it must
have gone, from their description, though the neck and spine, up to the throat
in front, and it had nearly decapitated him. Death came mercifully in its
instant suddenness, for David Livingstone was ‘ever ready.’ They found

DR. KIRK ON LIVINGSTONE’S ROUTE. 359

him stripped only of his upper clothing, for the Mazitu had respected him
when dead. They dug with some stakes a shallow grave, and hid from the
starlight the stricken temple of a grand spirit—the body of an apostle of
freedom, whose martrydom should make sacred the shores of that sea which his
labours made known to us, and which, now baptized with his life’s blood, men
should henceforth know as ‘ Lake Livingstone. . . The Johanna men
made the best of their way back to Kampunda, not venturing near any
village or station; they lost themselves in the jungle, and were fourteen days
on the way.

** At Kampunda they witnessed the end of the Havildar of Sepoys. He
alone of all the Indians was faithful; on the threshold of this Consulate of
Zanzibar, he pledged himself at the moment of starting never to forsake his
leader—nor did he; to the last he struggled on, worn with dysentery, but
broke down hopelessly on the road to Marenga. A day or two later, and he
would have shared his leader’s fate. Insubordinate, lazy, impracticable, and
useless, Livingstone had dismissed the other Sepoys at Mataka. Had they
been faithful like the Havyildar, I should not have had to inscribe a record of
this sad happening. Their unfitness for African travel might have been
predicted. At Kampunda the Johanna men were deprived of their weapons
by the chief, who also kept the Havildar’s. Here they joined an Arab slave-
caravan, recrossed the Nyassa and made for Kilwa, the great slave outlet on
the Zanzibar coast.

“‘ But here again, and where least expected, they encountered the Mazitu.
They had reached a place within eight days south-west of Kilwa, when the
appearance of a band of these savages scattered the caravan. Abandoning
ivory, slayes—their all—the Arab leaders thought best of saving their lives.
The Johanna men again made their escape, and reached Kilwa, whence by the
kindness of the customs people they were at once sent to Zanzibar. They
arrived here on the 6th December ;

‘J must reserve other details for a subsequent letter; but I may state
that no papers, effects, or relics of Livingstone, are likely to be recovered.

““G. Epwin Sewarp.”

With the same mail Sir Roderick Murchison received several letters from
Dr. Kirk, then Assistant Consul at Zanzibar—and as he was a prominent
member of Dr. Livingstone’s expedition to the Zambesi and its tributaries,
his impressions regarding Dr. Livingstone’s route and the importance to be
attached to the report of his murder are of interest and importance :—

“My Dear Sm Ropericx—Although the evidence is, in many points,
contradictory in detail, and the survivors can give no clear account of their
route, I find no cause to doubt their veracity in the main points of the narra-
tive, and allow for much from the fact that an early flight alone saved them
—an act of cowardice which would lead them in a measure to exaggerate

360 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

some of the circumstances. One great difficulty is, that they speak the
language of Johanna only, for this necessitates the use of unskilled inter-
preters.

“Our last communication from Dr. Livingstone was written by him on
the 18th May. He was then at Ngomano, where he remained fifteen days,
and probably his letter was written about the beginning of that time, or soon
after his arrival. We know that he started from Mikindany, struck the
Rovuma about thirty miles from its mouth, and proceeded to Ngomano, with-
out encountering any obstacle; so far the natives were friendly, but the path
was most difficult, owing to the dense forest and tangled vegetation. I need
not recount what he has narrated, and what has, no doubt, been communi-
cated to you through Her Majesty’s Secretary of State; but shall briefly
state, so far as I have learned, the condition of the party when at Ngomano.
They mustered in all thirty-six, viz.:—Dr. Livingstone, twelve Bombay
Sepoys, ten Johanna men, nine boys (African) educated, and four Africans,
who had gone with him from the Zambesi to Bombay, where they awaited
his return. Ngomano, on the confluence of the Rovuma and the Loendi, is
the country between these streams, so that he had crossed the Rovuma before
reaching the village of the chief. The Loendi was seen to be the main
stream, the Rovuma being secondary to it. From previous expeditions
we know that the Rovuma below the confluence is very subject to sudden
rises and falls. In May it would be a considerable stream, but in October
and November a dry bed with hardly a boat passage, and fordable every mile.
Above the confluence of the Loendi, therefore, it must have become a series
of almost isolated pools, if the Loendi was the main source. On Dr. Living-
stone’s arrival, the district was in a disordered state; a drought had injured
the crop, and the little left had been carried off to the north of the Rovuma
by a marauding tribe of Mazitu. Dr. Livingstone seems to have obtained
provisions from the Mabiha of the south-east, and fifteen days after his arrival
to have proceeded westward. The first day’s march was over desert country,
but the following day they again met the Rovuma, but did not cross it.
They had taken a path which proved a chord to one of the river-bends.
Passing small villages of the Walolo, a tribe speaking the Makua language,
and differing in little but the mark in the forehead from the main tribe to the
south, they reached hills towards the end of the third day’s march; these
were clothed with bamboo jungles, but little water was found. Here one of
the Africans, educated at Bombay, died. On the fourth and fifth days they
seem to have crossed open grazing plains with trees; they were steadily
making an ascent, as indicated by the coldness of the mornings.

‘Qn the seventh day they were at Makarika, where they rested two
days, and after eleven marches came to Mataka, a town of considerable size,
the residence of a chief, who has power over a large district and many people ;

DR. KIRE’S REPORT. 361

these are of the Waiao tribe, the same whom we call Ajawa on the Zambesi.
This is a high mountainous country, with fine scenery and abundant water.
The streams passed had a south-east direction, or seemed to flow from the
Loendi, and one crossed on the ninth day’s march from Ngomano was of
considerable size.

** This region is well peopled, and has abundance of cattle, besides goats
and fowls. While here Dr. Livingstone was well received by the chief, pre-
sents were exchanged, and provisions obtained. In the short journey already
accomplished, the Bombay Sepoys had proved unequal to the fatigues and
irregular supply of food; the cattle and camels employed to carry loads had
died, seemingly from the ¢se¢se fly, and drilled Sepoys were of no use to take
their place; they were easily fatigued and useless. Here Dr. Livingstone dis-
carded all, except the Havildar, who bravely stuck by him, and advanced while
his men returned towards the coast, in company with a slave caravan which
passed that way, soon after Dr. Livingstone had left Malaka. An estimate of
Dr. Livingstone’s confidence in these men may be proved from the fact that
his letters and despatches were entrusted to the Chief Malaka to be given to
the first caravan: these important documents have not yet been received,
although six of the Sepoys have come in, and Arab caravans have arrived at
Kilwa. Great interest will attach to the recovery of those papers, as in
them Dr. Livingstone would probably state whether he purposed again
returning to Ngomano (where he had left some stores on advancing), after
haying settled the end of the Nyassa and its northern limits towards Lake
Tanganyika. I have little doubt myself that any idea he may have had of
returning had, by this time, been abandoned ; indeed, it seemed contrary to
Dr. Livyingstone’s nature to retrace his steps, nor could he have done so with-
out disorganising his now enfeebled expedition. His only chance of keeping
the remainder seems to have been to advance beyond the regions in
which desertion was easy. Having been fifteen days at Malaka, his party
advanced, still in a westerly course: the first day’s march one of the Bombay
educated negroes ran back, and returned to Zanzibar eventually with the
Sepoys.

ie Reaching the Lake after eight days’ march, they obtained four
canoes, and, embarking in the morning, were all landed on the opposite shore
by mid-day. Comparing the water with parts of the Zanzibar harbour, my
informants, the Johanna men, estimate the width as nearly six miles, which,
from the time taken to cross, seems under the truth; but, it is to be
remembered, that they are not explicit as to where they embarked. On this,
however, they are decided, that water extended to the north as far as they
could see, and they heard of no end in that direction. To the south it seemed
still wider. They also stated that the canoes were propelled by means of
poles, and paddles were seldom used. The water was not deep; the opposite

wil

362 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

shore was of white sand, with plains to the west, but no hills visible, although
high mountains appeared to the south.

“That night they slept at a small village on the western shore, and,
leaving the water behind, marched west to Kampunda. The people of this
place possess only a few cattle, but they gave a goat to Dr. Livingstone, and
he remained one day. One of the Zambesi boys, Wekotani by name,
deserted him; and the Havildar, worn out by disease, which attacked him in
crossing the Nyassa, lagged behind and was left. Dr. Livingstone’s party
was thus reduced to twenty men, all told; of these, however, very few knew
how to handle fire-arms, and could be of no service in case of a determined
attack by natives. They left Kampunda, and arrived at Marenga after two
days’ march over level land, journeying west. After remaining a day at
Marenga, they again followed a westerly course over smooth ground.
Marenga, who was civil to the party, ferried them in canoes over a muddy
channel or swamp, rather than a river. Soon after this they passed Maksura,
still keeping west, and slept one night in the jungle. They had been told
that the Mazitu were fighting in this part, but they had been so long near them
that Dr. Livingstone seemed not to regard it. This was to the men, but no doubt
he was aware that suddenly he might find himself face to face with them, as had
happened to us on a former occasion on Lake Nyassa, not far south of this very

lace.
; “The fatal attack occurred at 9 a.m. on the morning march. As to the
date itis doubtful. If the data such as I have been able to elicit, from a mass of
contradictory evidence, is to be relied on, it would be about the 15th of July;
not before then, but possibly, if there had been stoppages, of which no account
has been taken, as late as the end of that month. A great difficulty here occurs;
for, on reckoning back on the date of arrival of the Johanna men at Zanzibar,
we find a discrepancy of nearly a month unaccounted for. And whether this
is to be intercalated before or after the fight, I am as yet unable to determine ;
but if the meeting with the Mazitu and Dr. Livingstone’s death did not happen
in July, it must have been in the following month. As I was saying, about
9 a.m. on the morning’s march, they found themselves traversing a plain
country, covered with grass as high as a man’s waist, and abounding in low
bushes, with forest trees and dense wood at intervals, such, indeed, as is seen
a little further south, where the country is known. Livingstone led the way,
having next to him, as usual, the Zambesi boys and the Bombay educated
Africans, while Moosa, the head of the Johanna men, drew up the rear. As
Moosa is our only authority for what happened at this time, I may state that
he was about fifty yards behind Dr. Livingstone, when the boys passed the
word for the Doctor in front that the Mazitu were seen a little distance off.
On this he ran a little forward, having with him his loaded rifle. When he
had reached within ten paces of Dr. Livingstone, the Mazitu were near and

DR. KIRE’S REPORT. 363

charging, their heads dressed with feathers visible above the large Kaffre
shields of ox-hide. Their arms were spears and battle-axes.

“On seeing Dr. Livingstone and his boys with levelled muskets, they
checked their charge for a moment, and came on with a hissing sound when
they found they were not fired on. Dr. Livingstone then shot the foremost
man: he dropped dead. The others fired, and, as the smoke cleared away,
Moosa saw three men facing Dr. Livingstone. » Moosa was at this time stand-
ing behind a tree, in order to fire. Seeing the Mazitu suddenly so close, he
appears to have been panic-stricken. Dr. Livingstone had emptied his gun,
and was endeavouring to re-load, when faced by these three Mazitu, who cut him
down with a blowfrom a battle-axe, which severed the neck-bone, so thatthe head
dropped forward, and he fell instantly. What happened in the field after this
is unknown. Moosa ran off, and, having been behind, probably was unseen,
while the Mazitu attacked those who were with the Doctor and had fired.

‘“‘Moosa in his flight met his men; they had already heard the firing a
little way in front, and were prepared to throw down their loads and make
off. This they now did, and ran to a distance, where they hid themselves in the
bush. Near sunset they came out; and, desirous of seeing if any of the loads
still remained, they stealthily approached the place. Finding nothing where
they had thrown them down, and seeing no one, they became bolder and
cautiously advanced, when they saw Dr. Livingstone’s body stripped of all
but the trousers, and presenting one wound in the back of the neck. They
scraped a hole in the soil, and placed the body there, covering it over with
the earth. They did not stay longer; near Livingstone’s corpse were the
bodies of two of the boys, which they recognised in the dim light by the
unragged trousers stillonthem. The corpses of two Mazitu lay near—it might
be twenty yards off—their shields by their sides, but their spears and axes had
been carried off. Nothing remained to bring away; the Mazitu had taken all.
The nine Johanna men who had come back saw two boysdead. One Johanna
man, and all the Bombay and Zanzibar boys, are missing; and there is little
chance that any one of them ever returns, taking as truth the statements
solemnly made by the Johanna man and his eight companions, who all declare
that, although, with the exception of Moosa, none saw Dr. Livingstone fall,
yet they assisted afterwards in depositing the body in a shallow grave.

“T shall not now follow in detail the narrative of the return journey. Dr.
Livingstone was gone; it has, therefore, little interest. It was only a gang
of ignorant negroes, destitute of everything, and fearing every man they saw,
endeavouring first to avoid habitations, then joining a coast caravan, which
they met after crossing the lake at Kampunda. On the way to the coast at
Kilwa, the party was suddenly attacked by a band of Mazitu and dispersed.
Every one fied, the Johanna men now for the second time; ivory and slaves
were abandoned, and left to the will of the dreaded marauders. No account

364 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

is given by the Johanna men of their having crossed the Rovuma on the return
journey; but they crossed some river beds, at that time dry, with pools of water in
them. No doubt one of them was the Rovuma, which could be little more than as
described, in the dry season, before the junction of the Loendi, its chief supply.

“Thus has ended what at one time promised to be an expedition rich in
results, and we must pause again in the march of discovery, leaving the map
of Africa a disconnected string of lakes, every one of which is incompletely
surveyed. Beginning at the north, the Victoria Nyanza is known only at its
north and south ends; the intermediate coast on the west side has not been
seen, and the east is entirely hypothetical, beyond the simple fact that it must
have limits in that direction. As to the Albert, but a small part is known;
and, like the Tanganyika, its north and south ends are as yet a blank. The
southern end, however, is now the only one of interest, on account of the —
possibility of its uniting with the Tanganyika, and thus moving the Nile
sources far to the south, and proving the Portuguese who visited the Cazembe
to have been the first to reach them. I do not say that such a thing is pro-
bable ; I believe itisnot. Isuspect, however, that Dr. Livingstone was satisfied
the Nyassa did not extend far beyond where he crossed it, if indeed it was the
Nyassa that he passed over. His first object, and one of his chief aims, was to
determine the extent of the Nyassa westwards, and it is very improbable that
he would push on into an unknown and decidedly dangerous land beyond it,
leaving this important point unaccomplished. ‘That it was the northern pro-
longation of the Nyassa I am decidedly inclined to believe; for, firstly, the
general direction from Ngomana—which was west—would lead him there. It
could be none of the southern crossings by which he traversed the lake, for
indeed no part of the lake south of latitude 11°S. is shallow. Certainly nowhere
could it be crossed in canoes propelled by long bamboos. On the western side,
also, there are hills at all the crossings, except at Kota Kota, and there the
lake is wide. I believe that Dr. Livingstone first came upon the lake near
latitude 10° W., where the lofty mountains which were seen by us further south,
on both sides, have subsided. The precipitous rocky borders of the Nyassa,
in latitude 11°, are too marked a feature to escape the observations of the most
obtuse; and the Johanna men all spoke of the land on both sides as flat, the
shores sandy, and the water shallow.

‘Let me close this very hurried letter, impressing once more on you that
the information it contains is the result of an imperfect investigation; much
has still to be elicited, much never will be known. If I disbelieved the story,
you know I would be the last to repeat it; but I do think that substantially,
although not in detail, it is correct. ‘* Joun Kirk.”

On the 26th of January, 1867, Mr. Seward sent a despatch to the Foreign
Office, which greatly tended to the fostering of a hope that the great traveller
was not murdered, as had been so circumstantially asserted.

MORE HOPEFUL INTELLIGENCE. 365

‘*T have the honour,” he says, ‘‘ to inform you that, in pursuance of an
intention expressed in my last despatch, concerning the asserted death of Dr.
Livingstone, I have personally made inquiries amongst the traders at Kilwa
and Kiringi, and have gathered information there which tends to throw dis-
credit on the statement of the Johanna men, who allege that they saw their
leader dead.

**'The evidence of the Nyassa traders strengthens the suspicion that these
men abandoned the traveller when he was about to traverse a Mazitu-haunted
district, and, for ought they knew to the contrary, Dr. Livingston may yet be
alive.”

The foregoing are the most important of the many communications
regarding the reported death of Dr. Livingstone, read to the fellows of the
Royal Geographical Society at their meeting on the 25th of March, 1867, and
they have been selected for insertion here, because they give the best reswme
of the tale told by Moosa and the other Johanna men.

That Livingstone should fall by the hand of violence in his efforts to
penetrate the interior of Africa was no unlikely circumstance, and the story
we have rehearsed above was so circumstantial in all its details that it was
a matter of no surprise that many should sorrowfully accept it as true. But
there were a good many of Dr. Livingstone’s friends who declined to believe
that the great traveller was yet dead—chief of whom were Sir Roderick
Murchison, Messrs. E. D. Young, and Horace Waller.

After the letters from Mr. Seward and Dr. Kirk had been read, Sir
Roderick Murchison said that—

“* He could not, as an old and dear friend of Livingstone, avoid clinging
to the hope that he was still alive; and that he might be at that very moment
on that Lake Tanganyika, which he had gone out to explore. If he only
succeeded in passing the narrow tract inhabited by the warlike Mazitu, he
would be comparatively safe, and so far from the lines of communication that
it would be impossible to hear of him for many months, except by the accident
of some Arab trader bringing down the intelligence to the coast. It was on
this account, and trusting to the last despatch from our Consul, officially
reporting what he had heard from Arab traders as to the untruthfulness of the
Johanna men, that he thought there might still be some hopes—he would not
say very sanguine hopes—that their illustrious friend was not dead. At
all events, they ought, before they decided, to have better evidence than that
of these men, all belonging to one tribe, and not, like the negro Africans,
attached to Livingstone, but only his baggage-bearers, and in the rear, and
who were described as a cowardly race. If any of these negroes, several of
whom were said to have escaped, had returned and told the story, they might
then believe it. And why should they not have returned, if their leader
was dead, as well as the Johanna men? He thought it was their duty to

366 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

cling to the hope as long as they could, until some decisive evidence was
obtained.”

Sir Samuel Baker, the great Nile traveller and discoverer of the Albert
Nyanza lake, and recently the leader of an expedition sent by the Viceroy of
Egypt into the interior of Africa to put down the Slave trade, said—

“The news of Livingstone’s death lay so heavily upon his mind that he
could not speak of the lake system of Africa without first expressing his opinion
respecting the fate of the great traveller. From his personal experience in
Africa of nearly five years, he was compelled to differ in opinion from Sir
Roderick Murchison. For his part he felt perfectly certain, from the evidence
that had been laid before them, that they should see Livingstone’s face no
more. To him, who knew the native character, which was the same—exceed-
ingly brutal and savage—throughout Africa, it was no wonder Livingstone
was killed: it was only a wonder that one man out of a hundred ever returned
from that abominable country. The death of Livingstone had given a check
to African exploration, and he felt perfectly convinced that for a long time to
come the centre of Africa would be closed to us. . . He felt certain that
no individual enterprise would ever open Africa, except to this extent—that
an unfortunate traveller, weary and toilworn, might return to the Geographical
Society, and state with all humility the little that he had done. With regard
to Livingstone, he was perfectly convinced that, as Baron Von der Decken
and Dr. Roscher had been killed, and Mrs. Livingstone had left her bones in
Africa, so Livingstone had fallen a sacrifice; and although they could not
erect a monument to his memory on the place where he fell, yet his name’
would live in their hearts as that of a man who had nobly done his duty.”

Mr. Horace Waller said ‘he was with Dr. Livingstone many months in
Africa on the Shire river, and knew many of these people whose names had
been mentioned to the meeting. He had met men of the Mazitu tribe. They
are a terror to the Portuguese; and although Dr. Kirk imagined that they
crossed to the northward of the Zambesi forty years ago, he was led to believe
that the particular band, who were killing everybody right and left throughout
the country, only crossedin 1856. It had been stated in the public papers that
Dr Livingstone, before he struck the lake, had been in collision with the slave-
dealers. He had the pleasure of telling them, from letters he had received
within the last few days from Zanzibar, that Livingstone had not been in colli-
sion at all with the slave-dealers. As to Ali Moosa, he knew him very well;
he was the head of these twelve Johanna men; but he was thoroughly untruth-
ful, and would le through thick and thin whenever it answered his purpose.
Moosa was a man he would not put confidence in at all. But Dr. Kirk had
been there: he knew Moosa, and he knew all the men, and he was the most
likely man of all who had been upon that coast to come to a sound conclu-
sion. He may say he placed faith in the sagacity of Dr. Kirk, and whatever

DOUBTS AS TO LIVINGSTONE’S DEATH. 367

opinion Dr. Kirk entertained with regard to the fate of Livingstone he must
entertain.”

Captain Sherard Osborne said that—

“The fate of Livingstone at this moment was remarkably analagous to
that of Franklin in 1848. Franklin was missing, and there were plenty of
people ready to come forward and produce indubitable proofs that Franklin
had perished close to the threshold of his work. He and others doubted it
strongly; but so fiercely was the question agitated that some of the best and
soundest authorities in this country were disposed to relinquish the idea of
Franklin’s pushing forward then, as he believed poor Livingstone might be
pushing forward now. He held that they, as members of the Geographical
Society, should act upon the broad principle that, until they had positive
proof of the death of Livingstone, or any other explorer, it was their duty
not to cease their efforts to rescue them. If it were easy for the slave-trader
and the missionary to traverse Africa, he maintained that other men could
penetrate to Luenda and see if Livingstone had left that place in safety, and
bring back any papers he might have left there. If Livingstone had fallen,
he believed the efforts made to solve the mystery of his death would lead, in
all probability, to the clearing up of the mystery of the African lake regions,
just as the problem of the northern polar regions had been solved in the
search for Franklin.”

Mr. Baines said, “‘as one who had been with Livingstone eighteen months
in Africa, he wished to bear testimony to his perseverance and ability as an
explorer. With regard to his reported death, he himself had been reported
dead, and in 1860 or 1861 it was stated that Dr. Livingstone had been
killed; -but the editor of the Cape paper added very sensibly, that Dr. Miller,
who brought down the letters, had previously been reported dead, and had
come out alive.” Mr. Baines said he did not give up hope; at the same time
he had very great fear, founded on the conclusions Dr. Kirk had come to,
who would not be easily deceived by the natives.”

The President, Sir Roderick Murchison, in concluding the discussion,
said he was glad to find that gentlemen well acquainted with parts of the
region recently explored, had, as well as himself, a hope that Livingstone
might be still alive. Although it was a ray of hope only, they would, he
was sure, agree with him that an expedition should be sent out to clear up
this painful question. Until that was done he should remain in doubt as to
the death of the great explorer.

Mr. E. D. Young, afterwards the leader of the Livingstone Search
Expedition, gaye an equally indifferent account of the truth and honesty of
Moosa. He says:—

“TY had previously a good experience of the salient points in the
character of the Mohammedans. It had fallen to my bad lot on a former

368 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

occasion to be brought into contact with just such practices in Moosa, head-
man for the nonce, as would stand him in good stead, supposing desertion,
pillage, and a plausible tale should ever suggest themselves to him as a way
out of a difficulty. He had served under me for a year on the river Shire,
and the tropical growth of rascality during an idle six months there (as
witnessed in him and his followers) was marked, but certainly not amusing.
The first canon in their creed was to lie; the second made stealing an honest
transaction towards their Christian neighbours. With consciences thus
pretty well fortified, these two laws were rigorously exercised amongst bead
sacks, calico bales, bundles of brass wire, rice bags, and beef casks, on
every available opportunity when my back was turned. It was no use
stopping their grog—that stern preventative measure with the ordinary Jack-
tar—for they drank none. A religion which winks at the above practices,
sneezes if the air brings upon it a whiff of anything so unlawful and unclean
as rum! At my wits’ end, I hit upon two expedients. Distance from their
home lent no aid to disenchant the visions of spotless purity in which the
faithful must indulge. If rum were loss of houris, pork was simply destruc-
tion to all ideas of peace of mind. Now it so happened a pig was brought
to us one day at Ma Titti, where the Pioneer and her motley crew were lying
for six months. A fathom or two of cloth transferred to my possession a
nondescript beast, with bristles like cocoa-nut fibre brushed different ways,
and with teeth, legs, tail, and ears, tending to defy ought but the merest
semblance of things swine-like.

‘“‘Great was the dismay of Moosa and his companions when they saw a
small cabin fitted up in the bows, with a packing case or two, and some
handy spars, for our new acquisition. To stay in the same ship was
simply impossible to the followers of the Prophet. However, a compromise,
with a view to further business, was eventually come to. Piggy was on no
account to be suffered out of his sty, except at such times as the faithful
were safely on shore; as long as they worked well so did the arrangement.
But things soon lapsed. Less work and more lying and stealing took the
place of the wholesome dread of being run up against by the unclean.

‘“‘ Necessity is the mother of invention. So after the unusually success-
ful result in seeing how not to do things, one day I had eight bells struck,
and, as usual, the Johanna men got ready to dine on shore. What was their
dismay to hear the clatter of trotters, and in a moment the ‘defiled’ was
amongst the faithful! Sauwve qui peut was the order of the day. Piteous
appeals, to which hunger lent its zest at the accustomed dinner hour, was
showered down upon me from the rigging. ‘Ah Misser Young, ’spose you
catch ’em porco, ’spose we work plenty.’

“Qn these conditions at last I relented, and for a time a mere glance of
my eye towards ‘porco’s’ sty was enough to get quite a paroxysm of work

JOHANNA. VALUE OF LIFE. 369

out of them. Then this failed, and I had to resort to a still more persuasive
‘argument. The stealing was becoming past endurance. « A culprit was
caught, and a long threatened operation (which for brevity’s sake we will
call ‘two dozen’) was to be his lot, as soon as he was tied up and a proper
person found to administer the corrective. That a follower of the Prophet
should be struck by the ‘Kaftre’ was out of the question, and a loud protest,
founded on this theory, at last had its hearing. I relented, but a second
impossibility took its place. Still more unheard of was it that ‘dog should
eat dog,’ or Moslem thrash Mussulman! However, of these two evils, the faith-
ful decided it was the least, not without a bias, as I discovered very soon.
The reason became apparent as the brotherly consideration which came to
the front in the attempt to mitigate, if not prevent, the flagellation. Moosa
himself consented to wield an impromptu and very mild sort of ‘cat.’ I
had the culprit properly fastened to the rigging to receive his whipping, and
took my station to see it justly administered. All was ready; Moosa, with a
stern sense of justice and self-sacrifice for principle’s sake manifested on his
countenance, handled the ‘cat’ in the most approved fashion. Great was
the preparation for the blow, and Ali Baba must evidently be cut in twain at
the first go off! Not so: the well feigned uplifted vengeance in the lash
came down to a modification in the fall, which left the tawny skin of the
marauder merely tickled. This would not do; defeat was ruin, or at least
plunder more pertinacious than ever.

“Coming up behind M. Moosa with a rope’s end, I told him that it was
evident he was at a loss to know exactly how hard he was to hit—an
excusable failing considering his scanty knowledge of plain English—and
I could furnish him with a simple but sure guidance. So it was ‘Now Moosa’
(thwack) pass that on to Ali Baba! The result was marvellous, and although
Moosa never could exactly see why he could not pass on just what he received,
I broke up a cabal which made detection and punishment alike a burden to our
otherwise sorely tried life with these Johanna men.”

The Johanna men, like all Mohammedans, showed themselves careless of
life and selfish to a degree. Mr. Charles Livingstone relates an incident
which occurred in the Zambesi illustrative of this :—

“Once, when they were all coming to the ship after sleeping ashore,
one of them walked into the water with the intention of swimming off to the
boat, and while yet hardly up to his knees, was seized by a horrid crocodile,
and dragged under; the poor fellow gave a shriek, and held up his hand for
aid, but none of his countrymen stirred to his assistance, and he was never
seen again. On asking his brother-in-law why he did not help him, he
replied, ‘ Well, no one told him to go into the water. It was his own fault
that he was killed.’”

The grave doubts as to the truth of the Johanna men, expressed by

x1

370 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

men so competent to judge as to the value of their evidence, communicated
itself to the public, and within a very short space of time the hope was
generally current that their statements were unworthy of credence. On the
8th of April Sir Roderick Murchison intimated to a meeting of the Royal
Geographical Society that the Council had drawn up the following resolution
with regard to Dr. Livingstone :—

“The Council are of opinion that it is highly desirable that a tentative
expedition or expeditions should proceed, whether from Zanzibar to the head
of Lake Nyassa, or from the Zambesi to that point, with a view to ascertain
the fate of Dr. Livingstone; and that the expedition committee be requested -
to report upon the measures advisable to be adopted.”

It was then resolved —

“That the President be requested to communicate this resolution to
Lord Stanley (then Minister for Foreign Affairs), with the expression of a
hope that Her Majesty’s Government will see fit to adopt such measures as
may appear to them most conducive to the end in view, in which not only
geographers, but the public at large, take so deep an interest.”

On the 27th of May Sir Roderick Murchison was in a position to intimate
that Her Majesty’s Government had agreed to co-operate with the Royal
Geographical Society, and that an expedition was about to start for the
neighbourhood of Lake Nyassa, by way of the Zambesi, which would set at rest
all doubts as to the truth or falsehood of the Johanna men.

“In the meantime,” he said, ‘‘ not believing in the death of Livingstone,
on the sole testimony of one of the baggage-bearers who fled, and who has
already given different versions of the catastrophe, I am sure the Society and
the public will approve of the course I recommended, and in which I was
cordially supported by the Council, and, to their great credit, by Her
Majesty’s Government—viz., to send out a boat expedition to the head of
Lake Nyassa, and thus ascertain the truth. If by this exhaustive search we
ascertain that, sceptical as we are, the noble fellow did fall at that spot where
the Johanna men said he was killed, why, then, alas! at our next anniver-
sary it will be the sad duty of your President, in mourning for his loss, to
dwell upon the wondrous achievements of his life. If, on the contrary, we
should learn from our own envoys, and not merely from Arab traders, that
he has passed on into the interior (and this we shall ascertain in six or seven
months), why then, trusting to the skill and undaunted pluck of Livingstone,
we may feel assured that, among friendly negro tribes, who know that he is
their steadfast friend, he may still realise one of the grandest geographic
triumphs of our era, the connection of the great Tanganyika with the Nile
system.

‘“‘But even here I would have my countrymen, who are accustomed to
obtain rapid intelligence of distant travellers, not to despair, if they should

THE LIVINGSTONE SEARCH EXPEDITION. 371

be a year or more without any news of our undaunted friend. For, if he
be alive, they must recollect that he has with him a small band of youthful
negroes, none of whom could be spared to traverse the wide regions between
Tanganyika and the coast. Until he himself reappears—and how long was
he unheard of in his first great traverse of southern Africa—we have, there-
fore, little chance of knowing the true result of his mission. But if, as I
fervently pray, he should return to us, with what open arms will the country
receive him! and how rejoiced will your President be if he lives to preside
over as grand a Livingstone festival as he did when the noble and lion-hearted
traveller was about to depart on his second great expedition.

“The party which I have announced as about to proceed to Africa, to pro-
cure accurate information concerning Livingstone, will be commanded by Mr.
E. D. Young, who did excellent service in the former Zambesi expedition in
the management of the Nyassa river-boat. With him will be associated Mr.
Henry Faulkner, formerly a Captain of H.M’s. 17th Lancers, a young volun-
teer of great promise,* and three acclimatised men, Mr. J. Buckley, an old ship-
mate of Mr. Young’s, and Mr. John Reed, a mechanic, and the other a seaman.
The expedition, I am happy to say, is warmly supported by Her Majesty’s
Government, and the building of the boat is rapidly progressing under the
order of the Board of Admiralty.

“The boat will bea sailing one; made of steel, and built in pieces, no one
of which will weigh more than forty pounds, so that the portage of the whole
by natives past the cataracts of the Shire will be much facilitated. The
Government have arranged for the transport of the party to the Cape, with the
boat and stores, by the African Mail Steamer, on the 9th of next month (June).
Arrived there, one of the cruisers will take them to the Luabo mouth of the
Zambesi, where the boat will be put together, and the party, having engaged
a crew of negroes, will be left to pursue their noble and adventurous errand
by the Zambesi and the Shire, to the head of Lake Nyassa. On account of
the heavy seas which prevail on the western or leeward side of that lake, the
expedition will keep close to its eastward shore, hitherto unexplored, and it is
expected it will reach Kampunda, at the northern extremity, by the end of
October, and there ascertain whether our great traveller has perished as
reported, or has passed forward in safety through Cazembe to the Lake
Tanganyika.”

At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on the 3rd of June, Sir
Roderick Murchison introduced Mr. Young and Mr. Faulkner to the meeting.
In the course of some remarks concerning the expedition of which he had
taken the command, Mr. Young said, that “‘he did not believe the report of
Moosa, the Johanna man, who had been under him nearly two years on the
Zambesi, and had shown himself to be totally untruthful.”

* Mr. Faulkner went out at his own cost.

372 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Mr. Petherick, the great Nile traveller, in the course of some remarks on
the expedition, said, ‘‘ He entirely coincided with Sir Roderick Murchison in
disbelieving the report of Dr. Livingstone’s death. Any man who had had a
long experience of the negroes of those districts would detect a falsehood on
the very face of the story that Moosa had told. It was too circumstantial for
a true account. His statement, that after the fight he returned with his com-
panions several hours afterwards, and found the bodies of Livingstone and
three or four of his companions on the ground unmolested, was so unlike the
usual mode of proceeding of these people, that it could not be correct. Hvery
African traveller knew that the trophy most prized by savages such as the
Mazitu, would be a portion of the body of the enemy they had slain; and if
the poor Doctor had fallen, his body would have been cut up into as many
pieces as there were savages to be gratified. It was, he thought, to be deeply
regretted that the object of the expedition, now about to leave England, was
merely to ascertain the certainty of the fate of Dr. Livingstone, and was on
so small a scale as to preclude it from the possibility of affording the illustrious
traveller, should he be in life, that relief of which he might be in need. He,
himself had been in his late journey in a similar strait, and had he not most
fortunately obtained supplies from one of the trading stations, he and his party
must have succumbed.”

On the 25th of November letters were read from H.M.’s Consul at
Zanzibar, H. A. Churchill, and Dr. Kirk, that they had heard from a native
trader just returned from Central Africa, that a white man had been seen in
the country of Marungo, near the town of the head chief Katumba,* and that
they had hopes that this white man was none other than Dr. Livingstone.
Early in December a letter was received by Mr. Webb of Newstead Abbey
from Dr. Kirk, which may be said to have satisfied the public that Dr.

- Livingstone was alive and pushing on towards the north. Dr. Kirk says :—

‘‘ The interesting discovery that a white man had been seen seven months
ago to the south of Lake Tanganyika, induced Mr. Churchill, the Consul, and
myself, to go to Bagamoyo, a place on the coast, the point of arrival and
departure of the Ujiji caravans. The result of our visit has been to find two
other men who also saw the wanderer in the interior at Marunga, and to place
his existence beyond a doubt. We have also learned something about his
personal appearance, his escort, and the route he was taking; and have been
told that letters were given to one of the headmen of another caravan that
was at Marunga. This man, we have since been told, is a well-known man;
so that on his arrival from the interior, expected in the course of a month, we
may not only have our curiosity satisfied, but I sincerely hope our best wishes.

*It was in this district, and near Katumba’s town, that the great traveller died, about six years
after his first appearance there.

LIVINGSTONE’S SAFETY ASSURED, 373

for our dear friend Livingstone realized. I hope we shall find that he has
been successful, and is pushing his way to the Albert Nyanza, thence to
emerge via the Nile, on the Mediterranean. He will have been the first man
who has not only crossed the continent, but has passed through the whole
length of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to the mouth of the Nile. But
the essential part of his work will have been done before he reaches the Nile,
and he may safely return towards Zanzibar, if so minded, with laurels suffi-
cient to constitute him the greatest of all explorers, and the African traveller
par excellence. You see I am very sanguine that our friend is still alive. The
manner in which we obtained the testimony was very satisfactory. In the
first place, I picked up the news amongst the native traders. I then addressed
the caravan people, and drew out their story while they were unsuspicious of
its interest, so that neither Hindee traders nor Suaheli men had an object to
tell lies, nor any idea how to act if they wished merely to please. Besides,
our conversation was carried on without an interpreter, and, although making
no pretence to a full knowledge of the language, I knew quite sufficient to
be able to express myself, and dispense with that feeble source of conference,
an interpreter. With the prospect of letters from Livingstone so near, we may
well refrain from all speculation on the subject of his geographical discoveries.”

The reports recorded by Dr. Kirk in the above were further confirmed
from other sources, and by the time that the Search Expedition under the
command of Mr. KE. D. Young returned with the intimation that the story of
Ali Moosa was a fabrication, concocted by him to screen the desertion of him-
self and the other Johanna men, the public were in the daily expectation of
hearing from Dr. Livingstone himself. Mr. Young and Mr. Faulkner made
their report to the Royal Geographical Society on the 27th of January, 1868.
Unfortunately Sir Roderick Murchison was not present at the meeting on
account of illness. He addressed a letter to the Members of the Society, in
which he said, with justifiable pride, that his “friends of the Geographical
Society will recollect that, from the first, I expressed my belief that the
Johanna men had deserted Livingstone, and had concocted a false and wholly
incredible account of his death. I subsequently gave as an hypothesis of
their reasons for deserting that they were coast-men, and acquainted only
with the Zambesi and its tributaries ; and that when their chief decided upon
plunging into the heart of Africa, they fled from him; and, indeed, they
assigned as their motive to the native chief, to whom they told the truth, that
it was fear which prevailed on them. Had they only re-told this story to the
Consul at Zanzibar, what sufferings of the friends of Livingstone would they
not have averted, instead of bringing on themselves the execrations of every
one! I hope some measures will be taken to make these wretches feel that,
in reporting to British authorities, they must speak the truth.”

The public waited with impatience for news from the great traveller

374 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

himself. He had been so long lost in unknown and untrodden regions, that
they looked forward to a stirring narrative of new countries, new peoples,
and strange adventures, equal to that with which he had treated them after
his famous march across Africa in company with the Makololo men. A higher
feeling than mere curiosity was at work in the public mind. The series of
remarkable explorations in Africa, commencing with that of Livingstone in
the south, in 1849, and ending with the discovery of the Albert Nyanza Lake
by Samuel Baker, had kept that vast continent constantly in the foreground
as a scene of discovery, and the great explorer was known to be approaching
the ground so recently travelled by Speke, Grant, Burton, and Baker, the
great explorers of the north and east. ‘The mysterious heart of Africa was
fast giving up its secrets, and few doubted but that the indefatigable Living-
stone would pass through the as yet unknown lands that lay between the
country of Cazembe, and the great lake region of Speke and Baker The Nile,
which had been a mystery since the earliest dawn of civilization, had been
traced further and further to the south, and Livingstone, who had passed far
to the north of the watershed of the Zambesi, was in the line of march which,
if successfully prosecuted, must solve the mystery of its source and its annual
floods. How he was to be thwarted and turned aside through the bungling
carelessness of those responsible for the sending of his supplies, and how death
at last was to intervene between him and the full accomplishment of his work,
were unthought of possibilities in the joy at finding that he was alive and well;
but they were doomed within a few short years to be the subject of bitter re-
flection to millions throughout the globe.

CHAPTER XVII.

The Livingstone Search Expedition under Mr. E. D. Young.—Departs for South
Africa.—Ascends the Zambesi and the Shire-—Hears of the Safety of Inving-
stone.—Returns to England.—Letters from Dr. Livingstone.—Death of Dr.
Tnvingstone again reporied, ete., ete.

W* proceed to give a brief account of the “ Livingstone Expedition and

its results.” Mr. Young and his companions reached Table Bay on the
12th of July, 1867. The Rev. Mr. Lightfoot, who had taken charge of the
forty-two natives brought from the Shire valley by Dr. Livingstone and Mr.
Waller in 1864, recommended two of their number to act as interpreters to the
expedition, and make themselves otherwise useful. The names of the two
were Chinsoro (the friend of Wekotani) and Sinjeri. The former had been
befriended by Dr. Dickinson, of the Oxford and Cambridge Mission; and the
latter had been at the same time a servant to Mr. Horace Waller. Both of
them had been rescued from slavery.

H.M.S. Petrel, Captain Gordon, conveyed the expedition to the Kongone
mouth of the Zambesi, which they reached on the 25th of July. Speaking of
the scene presented to their gaze, Mr. Young says :—

‘‘ There is something very singular about the embouchures of African rivers.
At first sight the long dark avenues of mangrove trees, through which the
channels discharge their waters, do away with the idea of solitude. It seems
as if the hand of man had been at work. The trees appear to have been -
trimmed to a level at the top, and they overhang the rivers far too methodi-
cally to impress the mind with the utter loneliness that really haunts such
localities. The first impression is anything but disagreeable, and not a fair
introduction to the vastness and grandeur of the interior country. The
Zambesi, it must be remembered, enters the sea by a great variety of channels.
It has ceased to exist as a river some forty miles above the sea. The waters
of one of the grandest streams imaginable find their way as best they can to
the ocean, where they become entangled in the swampy delta which lies between
its broad channel and the sea.

“ The full desolation of the scene is withheld till one sees a canoe stealing
along under the shadow of the overhanging trees. Black in colour, manned

376 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

by two or even one dark crouching form, frightened at the appearance of the
stranger, it seems as if the denizens of such a wilderness were ashamed to be
found there—as if it were an intrusion on a solitude which is too real. To
confirm this the traveller has but to set foot amongst the mangroves; all the
outward trim order vanishes in an instant. It is a deceitful garb of green,
hung over a tangle of poles—living, dying, and dead—which stick out of a
sickening, filthy mud bed, defying the searcher to venture many yards.

Passing up the river deserted houses on every side told that the hold of
the Portuguese in the country had become most precarious. At Shupanga they
picked up a native who had been one of the crew of the Pioneer. His English
name was John Gaitty. His delight at seeing Mr. Young was most unbounded,
and he very willingly agreed to join the party. Mr. Faulkner and Mr. Young
visited Mrs. Livingstone’s grave under the large Baobab tree at Shupanga,
and several of Mr. Young’s old comrades on the Shire “ fetched their hoes and
cleared all the grass away from it for us.” The greatest respect seemed to be
shown for the memory of one so dear to a man whose fame is fair and clear
both to friend and former foe wherever our steps lead us. . . Before start-
ing I saw to the plastering and white-washing of the tomb, and having paid
the men who performed this duty, we started up the river.”

At Senna the ruin which had befallen the Portuguese settlements afforded
Mr. Young the subject for wise reflections. He says:—

‘“‘In former times it was tenanted by a little group of slave and ivory
dealers, Senhor Ferrao standing out in bold relief for his well-known hos-
pitality to all comers, and his universal goodness to his slaves. We were
grieved to hear he was no more, but his son received us most hospitably.
From him we gathered that the Landbeen Kaffres had not only destroyed the
once important town of Tete on the right bank of the river above us, but that
they had also killed one hundred and thirty of the European convict troops
and three officers, taking the Governor prisoner into the bargain. Sorry as
we naturally felt for the loss of life, it was a source of gratification to learn
that this nucleus of infamy had at last been done away with.

‘Tete had hitherto been the great head-quarters of a slave traffic which
had brought desolation into the country in which we were about to travel.
From this land, to the north of Tete, women and children were collected, no
matter at what-cost of life and bloodshed, to be transported to the tribes on
the south of the Zambesi, in exchange for ivory. These tribes to whom they
were thus sold as slaves, had been so long at war that hardly any but the fighting
men remained. The traders’ ready sagacity saw that, instead of paying enor-
mous import duties on calico, beads, muskets, etc., if they could only collect
these poor things instead, and make barter goods of them, all such drawbacks
would be avoided. Livingstone’s discoveries, his free roamings through the
Shire uplands, his reports of a teeming population, industrious and peaceable,

A MARSH SCENE. 377

first furnished the desired hunting ground for the Tete men. . . The
whole country was laid waste, tribe was set against tribe, the strong sided
with the strong against the weak, the captives were bought at a price varying
from two to five yards of calico a-piece, and the population had thus become
exterminated in the hills.”

Two years previous to the visit of Mr. Young’s party, the Zambesi and
its tributaries had come down in unusual flood—the former river forcing a
passage for the bulk of its waters across country to the Shire, which they
reached twenty miles from its mouth. Two guides having been procured who
were acquainted with the new channel, Mr. Young determined to pass through
it to the Shire. Once fairly into the channel the perils of its navigation
presented themselves when it was too late to turn back. ‘ Our boats,” Mr.
Young says, ‘‘ were hurried along like leaves in a mill race, and to stop was
impossible. The first part lay through trees, and the danger of being dashed
against ‘snags’ was every moment recurring. There was nothing to do but
‘carry on,’ although it felt more like being in a railway train than a boat:
once only did we receive a bad bump, and most fortunately it neither capsized
nor stove us. ‘This headlong career kept on till we made a large open space,
and we were very glad to cast anchor on a sandbank for the night.”

The channel widened into a marsh, through which the navigation was
most intricate and difficult. The abundance of animal and plant life in this
marsh called forth his admiration and wonder :—

“The plentiful supply of water, the rank vegetation for cover and food,
and the patches of forest, afford all that the antelope tribe and the large game
of Africa require. Elephants, rhinoceros, and buffalo, are very plentiful,
whilst water-buck, zebra, and numerous other animals, stray about in mixed
herds. . . Acres of azure-blue lilies hide the water in places, and for the
moment deceive the eye which has acknowledged, day by day, the similar
hue above. Hollyhocks and convolvuli are amongst the reeds; the palm
tree’s stateliness, and the acacia’s blossom, are things that fix themselves in
the mind; the mists are whiter, the cries of the birds wilder, the largeness
larger, and the stillness of the dawn more still upon these lagoons than any-
where else. All nature by concert seems to acknowledge the reign of stillness,
knowing that sound travels so easily and swiftly over water and through white
fog. Rarely is silence broken, and then only by sounds which utter allegiance
to the scene. It is the lion’s roar before the dawn, the hippopotamus’ trumpet
yibrating over the glassy expanse of water as day breaks, and the shriek as
from another world of the fish-hawk—these sounds are allowable and allowed
in the Shire marshes. The report of a gun is sacrilege; a bird’s song would
be destruction. By the pools stand white ghostly-looking bitterns, bleached
for night, whose very lustreless eyes seem swollen to perpetual silence: they
rise from the sedge in flakes; they slide a few boat-lengths over the water,

edi

378 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and then settle down again, lifeless and alone. _ Myriad strings of geese move
twice a-day, when the scene-shifting must be done—that is, when sun rises
and sun sets—but they do it as noiselessly as they can. ‘Troops of pelicans
pass here and there, quartering the heavens into long lines with the geese, but
no noise comes from them—they never move again when once they alight
unless disturbed, for all and everything must help to keep all still.”

The fish-hawk of these regions attracts the attention and admiration of
all travellers. Dr. Livingstone perpetually alludes to it in his writings. Mr.
Young speaks of it as the presiding genius of the water-courses. ‘It is im-
possible,” he says, ‘‘ ever to forget his weird, impressive cry as he flies on and
on ahead. . . Nothing catches the eye so quickly as his large, snow-
white head and beautiful chocolate-coloured wings, which at their full expanse
measure between six and seven feet. He may be seen soaring-over the water,
now throwing back his head to give his wild laugh, which rings from rock to
rock, and anon dashing down into the water to seize a fish. When this is
secured with his talons, he either flies off with it to a sand-bank, or if, as
sometimes happens, it becomes a question of mere strength which shall con-
quer, he will consent to be dragged along the surface till he can at last make
sail again, and lead his tired captive to a shoal place.”

On the Shire Mr. Young met with a singular superstition. On the
extreme peak of the Kolubvi hills a woman is incarcerated in a hut, and the
natives resort to her to listen to her ravings, which they believe to have a
divine origin. The original occupant of the hut was the wife of a distinguished
Manganja chief, who was supposed by his followers to be a spirit. After his
death he spoke to them through a prophetess, who is constantly being re-
newed, as the solitary vigil on the hill-top generally renders the post vacant
every year or two. As any female member of the tribe is eligible for the
office of ‘ prophetess,” great is the consternation “‘ when it is known that
‘Zarima’s’ life has fled from the hill-top.”

Near the junction of the Ruo and the Shire, and close by the last scene
in the life of Bishop Mackenzie, the party encountered a large body of natives,
who loudly expressed their delight at once more meeting with the “ English.”
‘Nearing Chibisa’s, every yard renewed old recollections, and a little further
on we encountered a well-known face—there stood one of our old comrades,
the Makololo!. The news spread from village to village like wildfire: ‘The
English! the English !’”

‘“‘We found a very large population where we had left a scanty one.
The whole place was in an uproar. Crowd after crowd came to the bank
of the river, and the shouting, dancing, and clapping of hands, told its own
tale. It was a welcome although a deeply thoughtful moment. What had
been done—what might still be done with such good feeling as a grounc-
work? Arrived at Chibisa’s it seemed as if all the surrounding country had

ENGAGING NATIVE BEARERS. 379

gathered together to greet us. The people rushed into the river to drag our
boats to shore, calling out continually, ‘Our fathers, the English, are come
again! Here is Mr. Young! Mr. Young! Mr. Young!’ They were wild
with delight.”

When the Makololo were all assembled together, Mr. Young explained
to them the purpose of their journey, and asked them if they would join him.

“They answered me,” says Mr. Young, ‘through their chief Malako, in
the quaint and perfect form with which a savage addresses his hearers in
council assembled. ‘Mr. Young, Narki (the name by which Dr. Livingstone
goes among the Makololo) was our father; and you who were out here with
him, behaved well to us during your former stay. You are as our father now,
and we will go anywhere with you, and do anything you wish us to do.’ I
stated my conditions in plain terms to them. They replied: ‘ You may give
us what you please; only tell us what to do.’”

At Ma-Titi, the commencement of the Murchison cataracts, the party
built a hut to contain their stores, and, taking the steel boat to pieces, made
arrangements for the tedious land journey of sixty miles to the clear water
beyond. The engaging of native bearers to carry the pieces of their steel
boat and other impedimenta was a work to try the patience of the calmest-
tempered mortal. ©

*‘ Any one,” says Mr. Young, ‘‘ who has had to do with the natives, can
picture to himself some portion of the task that met me next morning. It
would be an interesting problem to solve, whether an African really ever did
think he had justice shown him when it came to carrying a certain burden
for a certain wage. There les the load, and up stands the stalwart form
by its side. Then comes the question, ‘Two yardsof calico?’ Impossible!
Why nothing would justify him in shouldering it, or rather heading it for
that A long haggle succeeds, for it is the prominent feature throughout the
length and breadth of the land to lose no opportunity of indulging in this in-
satiable habit; finally, a few more inches concludes a bargain which seems
irrevocable.

‘But it now occurs to our worthy, for the first time, that he will raise the
load at his feet, and feel its weight: what contortions! what squeaks of sur-
prise! ‘ Why one would think the M‘Sungi (white man) wished to kill him.’
‘No, never! he is dead already if he has to convey such a load as that the
length of his nose.’ Another wrangle succeeds, and another three or four
inches of calico makes the package appear full of corks, whereas it might have
been supposed to contain cannon-balls ten minutes before. This sort of work
does not grow on one by repetition: multiply it by, say, a round hundred,
and then a tolerable notion may be conceived of what it is to get all in order
for the march.”

Two Krumen were left in charge of the hut and the other boats until the

380 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

return of the party, and these were strengthened by the addition of Buckley,
the seaman, after the party had passed the cataracts, and put the Search
together, and launched her on the Shire once more. The passage of the
cataracts was accomplished in four days, during which time they came in con-
tact with very few natives. They had nearly all been swept away—killed or dis-
persed by the slave parties. Nothing was left to show where a teeming and
happy population had existed only a few years before save the ruins of their
huts, and the skeletons of the slain bleaching in the sun and rain.

The natives they encountered were in dread of an attack from the Mazitu
or the Ajawa. The former were ravaging the country to the eastward of the
Shire and Lake Nyassa, and the latter were devastating the country to the
west. The toil of the journey was very severe on account of the heat, and
nothing but the abundance of animal food provided by Mr. Faulkner’s gun
could have induced the natives to maintain the rate of travel they accom-
plished. The country they passed through, if difficult of travel, was magnifi-
cent. On the second day they passed a waterfall known as Tenzani, which
Mr. Young says, as a waterfall, “‘is worth going from England to see. Of
great height, even at this time of the year, the volume of water which pours
through its zig-zag channel, and then over a sheer cliff, is magnificent. What
a spectacle it must be in the rainy season, when the flood rises certainly a
hundred feet in the gorge at Patamanga, and pours through a narrow cleft!
It must be one of the sights of the world. We were able to notice that there
is this extraordinary increase in the flood when the rains come, by roots and
debris left fully the height I have named above the ordinary level. Most
singularly we discovered, perched up at a great elevation, an English oar,
rotten and worm-eaten. The readers of the ‘Zambesi and its Tributaries’
will recollect the occasion of Dr. Livingstone losing his boat, oars, and gear
in 1863, amongst these cataracts. This was a relic of the accident which the
flood had placed in its own niche to commemorate some of the difficulties of
the explorer’s life.”

While putting the boat together, on the 29th of August, the party were
informed by some natives that a white man had been seen some time ago in
-Pamalombi, a small lake on the Shire, not far below its outlet from Nyassa.
This traveller had a dog with him, and he had left there to go further in
a westerly direction! What could this mean? Launching the Search on the
Shire, they started for Lake Nyassa, the natives coming to the shore in hun-
dreds to gaze upon them, and warn them of the bloodthirsty Mazitu who,
they said, were in front. These reports being reiterated at every stopping
place, even the courage of the Makololo failed, and it was with great difficulty
they could be got to go forward. On one occasion an immense concourse of
spectators stood waiting their approach upon the right bank of the river.
Most of them were armed with spears and bow and arrows, and seemed deter-

LIVINGSTONE’S TRAIL STRUCK. 381

mined on hostilities. They had taken the Search party for a band of Mazitu,
and when they learned that there were English on board, they became most
friendly.

On the shores of Lake Nyassa they heard of Dr. Livingstone having been
seen, and the party had to come to the conclusion that “all previous calcula-
tions, all those shrewd ponderings and siftings of evidence at the Geographical
Society were put an end to by the simple narrative that fell from the lips of
a poor native.” Landing ina small bay on the east shore of Nyassa, they were
hospitably received by a party of natives. The headman advanced and
asked them if they had seen the Englishman who had been there some time
previous. In reply to the questions of Mr. Young, they got a most accurate
description of Dr. Livingstone, his apparel, etc.; the well-known naval cap
which he wore being graphically described. In describing the boxes the
Englishman had with him, the headman said—

“There was one, a little one; in it there was water which was white;
when you touched it by placing your finger in it, ah! behold it would not
wet you, this same white water: I lie not.”

Q. “* What was it for—what did the Englishman do with it?”

A. “He used to put it down upon the ground, and then he took a thing
in his hand to look on the sun with.”

Q. ‘‘ Now show me what you mean ; how did he do this ?”

This brought out all the singular capability of the savage for pantomimic
illustration. The old chief gravely took up a piece of stick, and his actions,
as he imitated a person taking observations with the sextant’s artificial horizon
(which I may explain to my less experienced readers, is a small square trough
of mercury—the white water), could not have been surpassed. The gravity
with which he stretched his feet apart and swayed himself backwards to look
up at the sun along his piece of stick, and then brought it down to a certain
point, was a masterpiece of mimicry. It is a quality among all savages, and
a most amusing half-hour can at any time be got out of them by exercising
it. To ask them to describe a hunting scene was a favourite plan; they will
imitate the gait of every animal in a manner which would convince a European
he had everything to learn in the way of catching salient points and represent-
ing them truthfully.”

As the natives here remembered the names of Chumah, Wekatoni, and
Moosa, and gaye an accurate account of the other members of Livingstone’s
party, there could be no doubt that they had only to follow up his line of
march to learn the truth or falsehood of Moosa’s story. At another native
settlement a chief appeared, holding in his hand a small English Prayer Book.
Striking the trail of Dr. Livingstone on the western shore of the lake, they
found that, at a place called Paca homa, Moosa and his companions had not
been of the party. The work they had come so far to accomplish was all

382 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

but completed. Here they were informed that he had gone into the Babisa,
or Bisa country. At Marenga’s village, ‘a black mass of heads stood far and
wide on the shore to witness our approach. I stood up in the bow of the boat,
and, taking off my cap to show them that I was not an Arab, I called out that
we were English, who were about to visit the chief. This caused the most
friendly demonstration of hand-clapping and gesticulating, and our reception
was as warm as if we had landed at Plymouth, instead of at a village on this
far lone lake in Africa, all but unknown even in name. We landed, and on
making our request to see Marenga, we were conducted by one of his wives °
to the old chief’s hut.”

‘“‘T found myself in the presence of a fat, jovial-looking old fellow, the
very picture of good living and good humour. Without further to do he seized
me by the hand, and shook it most violently, clearly demonstrating, not only
his respect for my countrymen, but also for their mode of salutation. This
ended, he asked me at once if I had brought his old friend, the other English-
man, with me. On hearing that he was not with us, and that, on the contrary,
our object was to learn what had become of him, the old fellow very frankly
volunteered all the information in his power.”

The information Mr. Young received from Marenga was to the effect that
Dr. Livingstone had stayed a day in his village, and that two days after his
departure Moosa and his companions had returned to his village, giving the
following as their reasons for having deserted him :—

“‘They were merely Arabs,” said they, ‘‘who had come across Living-
stone in his wanderings, and had consented to help him in his undertaking ;
but really there must be a limit to all things, and as they knew he was about
to enter a very dangerous country, they were not justified in further indulging
their disinterested natures in assisting a traveller, and having, as it were, torn
themselves away from him with reluctance, they must get back to the coast.”

Further, Marenga informed him that if anything had happened to Dr.
Livingstone, even at a long distance to the north, he would have heard of it,
as he had tidings of his well-being for a month’s journey from his village.

This Marenga was a character, and he and his surroundings were a sub-
ject of interest and amusement to Mr. Young. He was originally from the
Babisa country, and had travelled a great deal in his youth. -Gathering around
him a band of experienced natives, he settled on the coast of the lake, and
did a large trade in slaves and ivory with Kilwa, Ibo, and Mozambique.

‘“‘ With great satisfaction,” says Mr Young, ‘he introduced me to forty
of his young wives, who, although not fair, and far under forty in years in
any case, were as sleek as good living and pomdi drinking could make them.
Their reverence for their liege lord was excessive, and he could not stir with-
out his least want or wish being anticipated by one or other of them. Marenga
had led a hard life in his younger days, and had travelled far and wide; now

A JOLLY OLD CHIEF. 383

he was determined to take it easily, and drink pomé7 to his heart’s content.
This latter determination engrossed the whole attention of more than one
dusky Hebe, and the quantity the attractive damsels succeeded in getting
their spouse to imbibe was astonishing. One device certainly never struck
me before, and it is, I am afraid, too late to put it on record, now that the
good old days are gone. It consists in tickling the patient when he has had
quite enough to be good for him. In Marenga’s case the operation seemed to
answer the purpose of getting far more into him than was possible by other
means, and his sober moments were anxiously looked for by us during our
stay ; the tickling was anything but to our fancy. However, in his better
moods, he was confidential to a degree.”

Marenga consulted Mr. Young about a gun he had which was clothed
with charms outwardly, and stuffed with them inwardly to a degree which
would have made it a serious matter for the person who might attempt to fire
it off. Mr. Young proceeded to unload the weapon, and drew out of it a most
heterogeneous collection of materials.

‘* First and foremost out came about three or four inches of stringy bark,
very much like oakum, then a plug of iron, then a conglomeration which I
was gravely told was powerful medicine, but which required a pharmacopzeia
the most uncanny to elucidate. At a venture, I should say it consisted of
brains (most likely human), snakes’ skins, and castor oil made into a kind of
ointment, and, for effect’s sake coloured with red ochre. Then came another
layer of bark oakum, and, astern of all, about a handful of coarse blasting
powder ; a doze, in fact, that was more fitted for a cannon than a musket.
‘It’s sure to kill some one,’ said Marenga, looking gravely at me, and I quite
concurred in the notion. Natives, as a rule, have no idea of the strength of
powder, and it is very common to see the protuberance of a badly united frac-
ture of the collar-bone, where a load of this kind has upset the unfortunate
artillery-man head over heels, shattering at times his hands and the heads of
the bystanders.”

“ . . Surely if there be a representative still living of old King Cole,
he exists in our worthy host! Such a place for drumming and singing I never
heard of. The first law of his court was, that the sound of singing should
never be out of his ears, wherever he happened to be, and there seemed no
chance of a repeal the whole time we werethere. On the 20th of September,
aiter getting the latitude of Marenga’s village, we bade adieu to the old fellow
and his forty wives. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, he happened to
be very drunk at the time. In one way we were lucky, for no delay took
plaee for either parting cup or parting present. During his more sober mo-
ments in the morning, he gave us a very nice ox, which came in most accept-
ably.”

As they had satisfactorily established the falsehood of Moosa’s story, the

384 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

object of the expedition was accomplished. In sailing down the lake the
party encountered several of the tremendous storms for which it is famous.
They landed at Mapunda, which is the village in which, according to Moosa,
he and his followers were robbed and ill-treated. The chief was unfortunately
from home, but the party were hospitably entertained by his mother. Here
they learned that Wekatoni, who found some of his relatives in the village,
elected to remain in spite of the persuasions of Dr. Livingstone. Unfor-
tunately the lad was not then at the village, but the natives brought Mr.
Young “a small book Wekatoni had left at his hut, called ‘The First
Footsteps in the way of Knowledge.’ The lad’s name is written in it: ‘This
book belongs to Wekatoni, Bombay, 15 December, 1864,’ and there are other
schoolboy-scribblings also. I had it replaced by my Bible, and it was with
pleasure I gave it, on my return to England, to one who had stood by when
Wekatoni saw the white man for the first time, and gave his footsteps free-
dom by cutting the slave’s thongs from the lad’s limbs in years gone past,
upon the Manganja hills.”

Mr. Young left a letter for Wekatoni, telling him the reports which had
been circulated as to the death of Dr. Livingstone, and the reason for his
journey, and pleaded with him to make his way to Kilwa or Mozambique, and
place himself once more within the pale of civilization. As yet there has
been no response to this appeal, and no European has been in the lake region
who could bring any tidings as to his future fate. The mother of Ma-
punda treated the party with great hospitality, and solemnly denied that
Moosa and his companions had either been robbed or ill-treated in the
village. Her manner of doing this is worthy of note :—

“Standing erect in the middle of her assembled people, she stooped and
picked up a handful of sand, and then, looking up to the sky, and again
down to the ground, she slowly let it trickle from her hand, and with all the
solemnity of a heavy oath, declared that every word was utterly false; and
I believed her. She was certainly the most remarkable native woman I had
ever come across, and the respect shown for her by all her people was
profound.”

But for the dread of the Mazitu Mr. Young would have thoroughly ex-
amined the north end of Lake Nyassa, but the Makololo were in terror of
their cutting them off from their settlement near Chibisa’s, and he was re-
luctantly compelled to start at once on his homeward voyage. On the return
their boat nearly came to grief from a hippopotamus. ‘‘ We had struck him
on the head with a rifle ball, and his struggles were tremendous. All we
could do to keep him from getting under the boat seemed useless, and the
blows dealt to our steel vessel shook her from stem to stern. Had it been a
smaller boat, or one less strongly built, we should have been upset and
smashed to pieces.”

x

HIPPOPOTAMI HUNTERS. 385

At Ma Titi they remained for a short time to recover from the fatigues
of the land journey, and here one of the party had a narrow escape from a
crocodile. Mr. Young says, ‘I have alluded before to the extreme audacity
of the crocodiles. As our men were standing on the shore, a few yards from
the river, to their dismay a huge crocodile rushed from the water open-
mouthed at them. Most fortunately, the man at whom he darted had his
rifle in his hand, and literally drove a ball through its head at his very feet.”
The same man, John Gaitty, was tossed and terribly mauled by an elephant
further down the Shire, and notwithstanding that several of his ribs were
broken and he was otherwise dreadfully bruised, he recovered. Near Malo
they came upon a party of hippopotami hunters called Akombwi, and arrived
just in time to see a most exciting display of their courage and skill in cap-
turing these denizens of the Shire marshes. ‘‘ There were not less than twenty
harpoons sticking into a half-grown hippopotamus, and his exertions to tear
himself away from the men who were hauling him bodily ashore was truly
frightful. To add to the effect, another huge animal, exasperated at his
sufferings, dashed boldly in and crushed up one of the canoes as if it had
been a bundle of matches.”

“T do not know that there is anything in the way of sport that requires
such consummate courage and coolness as their mode of hunting. The
hunter has to trust entirely to his activity with the paddle to escape the claws
of the animal, and a touch from the monster upsets the frail canoes as easily
as a skiff would be capsized by a touch from a steamer. It requires, in fact,
that the harpooner should keep his balance exactly as he stands in the bow
of his long slim canoe, and that during the utmost excitement. The moment
the weapon is lodged in the hippopotamus, he has to sit down, seize his paddle,
and escape, or he is instantly attacked; nor is the next stage of proceedings
less fraught with danger.

““Tt now becomes necessary to get hold of the pole, which floats on the
water; the iron head of the harpoon, which has come out of its socket, re-
mains attached to this pole by along and very strong rope. The hunter
hauls upon this till he knows that the hippopotamus is under water, just ‘ up-
and-down’ beneath his canoe. To feel for the moment when the line suddenly
slackens—a sure sign he is rising to the surface—and to prepare to deliver
another harpoon the instant his enormous jaws appear with a terrible roar
above water within a few feet of him, is about as great a trial of nerve as
can very well be imagined. Constantly are the canoes crushed to atoms.
The only escape then is to dive instantly, and gain the shore by swimming
under water, for the infuriated animal swims about looking on the surface
for his enemies, and one bite is quite enough to cut a man in two. When I
add, where the presence of blood in the water is the sign for every crocodile
within hail to lick his lips and make up stream to the spot, I am sure it re-

z1

386 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

commends itself as a sport to the most enthusiastic canoer in England, or the
most base sportsman, who had ‘done all that sort of thing and got sick of it,’
in the common routine of English sports. The Akombwi will show him
more pluck in half-an-hour, and more exercise of muscle, brain, and nerve,
than in any sport I ever saw.

“ As a race the men are magnificent. To watch the evolutions of their
canoes, as they pass and repass over the deep pools in which hippopotami lie,
is a very beautiful sight. ach canoe is manned by two men, and the har-
pooner’s attitude, as he stands, erect and motionless, with the long weapon
poised at arm’s length above his head, would make the painter or sculptor
envious of a study. Hard exercise and activity develop every muscle, and
the men, as a rule, have the most magnificent figures. They are as generous
as they are brave. They lead a wonderful life, living mostly on the rivers,
establishing villages for a year or two in one place or another, where
families build huts and cultivate a patch of ground. The flesh of the hip-
popotami they kill is always eagerly exchanged for grain by the natives
along the river, and the curved teeth, the hardest of all ivory, find a ready
market with the Portuguese.”

Before leaving the Shire, Mr. Young visited the graves of Bishop
Mackenzie and his brave companions, and reverently renewed them. They
found that the natives had treated them as sacred. Arrived at Shupanga,
he paid off his native crew who had been with him three months. Early
in November the party dropped down to the Kongone mouth of the Zambesi,
where H.M.S. Racoon called for them according to arrangement on the Ist
of December. In every respect the search expedition under Mr. Young’s
command was the most successful on record. Not only did they com-
pletely succeed in the object of their quest, but there had been no case of
fever during the entire journey, and no accident to life or limb to record
save the attack on John Gaitty by the elephant in the Shire. Well might
Sir Roderick Murchison say of it:—

“To put together a boat constructed in sections, to find a negro crew
for the navigation of the Zambesi, to take the boat to pieces, and have it
carried up thirty-six miles along the sides of the cataracts to the river Shire—
then, after navigating the waters of the lake until the fate of Livingstone was
clearly ascertained, to convey her back to the Zambesi, and finally bring her
and the party safe back to England without the loss of a single man—this,
indeed, is a real triumph.”

The first accounts of his movements from Dr. Livingstone himself, reached
this country in the shape of a letter to a friend in Edinburgh, about the 20th
of April, from which we make the following extracts. It is dated the
country of the Chipeta, which is far to the north-west of the peimt to which
the search expedition traced him, and was written on the 10th of November,

a

LETTER FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE. 387

1866. ‘It has been quite impossible to send a letter coastwise ever since we
left the Rovuma. The Arab slave-traders take to their heels as soon as they
hear that the English are on the road. I am a perfect bugbear to them.
Eight parties thus skedaddled, and last of all my Johanna men, frightened out
of their wits by stories told them by a member of a ninth party who had
been plundered of his slaves, walked off and left me to face the terrible
Mazitu with nine Nassick boys. The fear which the English name has
struck into the slave-traders has thus been an inconvenience. I could not go
round the north end of the lake for fear that my Johanna men, at sight of
danger, would do then what they actually did at the southern end; and the
owner of two dhows now on the lake kept them out of sight, lest I should
burn them as slavers, and I could not cross in the middle.” Rounding the
southern end he got up to Kirk’s range, and among Manganja not yet made
- slaye-sellers. ‘‘ This was a great treat, for, like all who have not been con-
taminated by that blight, they were very kind; and, having been worried
enough by unwilling sepoy and cowardly Johanna men, I followed my bent
by easy marches, among friendly, generous people, to whom I tried to im-
part some new ideas in return for their hospitality. The country is elevated
and the climate cool. One of the wonders told of us in successive villages
was that we slept without fires. The boys having blankets did not need fire,
while the inhabitants being scantily clad, have their huts plastered inside and
out, and even use moss to make them comfortable. Our progress since has
been slow from other and less agreeable causes. Some parts have been de-
nuded of food by marauding Mazitu or Zulus; we have been fain to avoid
them, and gone zigzag. Once we nearly walked into the hands of a party,
and several times we have been detained by rumours of the enemy in front.
“* January, 1867.—I mention several causes of delay; I must add the
rainy season is more potent than all, except hunger. In passing through the
Babisa country we found that food was not to be had. 'The Babisa are great
slave-traders, and have in consequence little industry. This seems to be the
chief cause of their having no food to spare. The rains, too, are more
copious than I ever saw them anywhere in Africa; but we shall get on in
time. February 1.—I am in Bemba or Loemba, and at the chief man’s place,
which has three stockades around it, and a deep dry ditch round the inner
one. He seems a fine fellow, and gave us a cow to slaughter on our arrival
yesterday. We are going to hold a Christmas feast of it to-morrow, as I
promised the boys a blow out when we came to a place of plenty. We have
had precious hard lines; and I would not complain if it had not been for
gnawing hunger for many a day, and our bones sticking through as if they
would burst the skin. When we were ina part where game abounded, I
filled the pot with a first-rate rifle given me by Captain Warter, but else-
where we had but very short rations of a species of millet called macre, which

388 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

passes the stomach almost unchanged. ‘The sorest grief of all was the loss of
the medicine box which your friends at Apothecaries’ Hall so kindly fitted
up.” Several of his attendants acting as carriers had made off with the box,
his plates and dishes, and most of his powder and two guns. ‘‘ This loss,
with all our medicine, fell on my heart like a sentence of death by fever, as
was the case with poor Bishop Mackenzie; but I shall try native remedies,
trusting Him who has led me hitherto to lead me still. We have been mostly
on elevated land, between 3,000 and 5,000 feet above the sea. I think we
are now in the watershed for which I was to seek. We are 4,500 feet above
the sea level, and will begin to descend when we go. This may be put down
as 10° 50 2’. We found a party of black half-caste armed slaves here, and
one promised to take a letter to Zanzibar, but they give me only half a day
to write. I shall send what I can, and hope they will be as good as their
word. We have not had a single difficulty with the people, but we have been
very slow. Eight miles a day isa good march for us, loaded as the boys
are; and we have often been obliged to go zigzag, as 1 mentioned. Bless-
ings on you all.”

The next communication from Livingstone was addressed to Sir Roderick
Murchison, and was read at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on
the 29th of April, 1868. It is dated February 2nd, 1867. We give extracts
from it, cutting out parts referring to matters dealt with in the preceding
letter. From the end of July to the middle of September, Livingstone re-
mained at Mataka, about fifty miles from Nyassa on the Rovuma side. He
says, ‘‘ There are at least a thousand houses in the town, and Mataka is the
most powerful chief in the country. . . He was anxious that some of the
boys (Nassick boys) should remain with him, and I tried my best to induce
them, but in vain. He wished to be shown how to make use of his cattle in
agriculture; I promised to try and get some other boys, acquainted with
Indian agriculture, for him. This is the best point I have seen for an in-
fluential station, and Mataka showed some sense of right. When his people
went, without his knowledge, to plunder at a part of the lake, he ordered the
captives and cattle to be sent back. This was his own spontaneous act, and
it took place before our arrival; but I accidentally saw the strangers. They
consisted of fifty-four women and children, about a dozen boys, and thirty head
of cattle and calves. I gave him a trinket in memory of his good conduct,
at which he was delighted, for it had not been without opposition that he
carried out his orders, and he showed the token of my approbation in
triumph.”

Leaving the shores of the lake he endeavoured to ascend Kirk’s range;
‘but the people below were afraid of those above, and it was only after an
old friend, Katosa, had turned out with his wives to carry our extra loads,
that we got up. It is only the edge of a plateau peopled by various tribes of

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S LETTERS. 339

Manganja, who had never been engaged in slaving; in fact they had driven
away a lot of Arab slavers a short time before. We used to think them all
Maravi, but Katosa is the only Maravi chief we know. The Kanthunda, or
climbers, live on the mountains that rise out of the plateau; the Chipeta live
more on the plains there; the Echewa still further north. We went among
a very hospitable people, until we thought we were past the longitude of the
Mazitu ; we then turned north, and all but fell into the hands of a marauding
party of that people. After a rather zigzag course, we took up the point we
had left in 1863, or say 21’ west of Chimanga’s, crossed the Loangwa, in
12° 45’ south, as it flows in the bed of an ancient lake, and after emerging
out of this great hollow we ascended the plateau of Lobisa, at the southern
limit of 11° south. The hills on one part of it rise to a height of 6,600 feet
above the sea. . . We had now (on the plains) a good deal of gnawing
hunger, as day after day we trod the sloppy dripping forests, which yield
some wretched wild fruit and lots of mushrooms. A woman collected a load
of half a hundred weight ; after cooking they pound them into what they call
porridge; but woe is me! they are only good for producing dreams of the
roast beef of by-gone days. . . When we got to the Chambeze, which is
true to the character of the Zambesi, in having abundant animal life in its
waters, we soon got an antelope on its banks. We crossed it in 10° 24’; it was
flooded with clear water, but the lines of bushy trees which showed its actual
banks were not more than forty yards apart.

‘We arrived here (at Bemba) on the Ist day of January ; it is a stock-
aded village, with three lines of defence, the inner one having a deep dry
ditch round it. I think, if I am not mistaken, we are on the watershed be-
tween the Chambeze and Luapula. I have not had any time to take observa-
tions, as it is the rainy season, and almost always cloudy ; but we shall rest a
little here and get some flesh on our bones. Altitude about 4,500 feet above
the sea. The Luapula is said to be a very large river, but I hope to send
fuller information from Tanganyika. I have done all the hunting myself,
haye enjoyed good health, and no touch of fever; but we lost all our medi-
cines—the severest loss of goods I ever sustained; so I am hoping, if fever
comes, to tend it off by native remedies, and trust in the watchful care of a
Higher Power. . . The chief here seems a jolly, frank person; but unless
the country is insecure, I don’t see the use of his lines of circumvallation.
He presented a cow on our arrival, and an elephant’s tusk, because I had sat
upon it.

“‘T have had no news whatever from the coast since we left it, but hope
for letters and our second stock of goods (a small one) at Ujiji. I have been
unable to send anything either; some letters I have written in hopes of
meeting an Arab slave-trader, but they all skedaddled as soon as they heard
the English were coming.”

390 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

In a letter to Dr. Seward he gives an account of the cowardly behaviour
and desertion of the Sepoys. ‘‘ The Sepoys,” he says, ‘‘seem to have plan-
ned my compulsory return as soon as they had killed all the beasts of burden ;
one camel they beat with the butts of their guns till he expired on the spot,
and a mule was killed; certain sores were cruelly probed and lacerated when
I was not in sight, and I came upon them one day when one was mauling a
fine camel with a stick, thicker than his arm; next day he had to leave it
with inflammation of the hip-joint, the point where I saw the blow struck.
They gave or paid eight rupees into the hands of our Arab guide, to feed and
take them down to the coast when the animals were all nearly done for, so
sure were they of returning with their scheme triumphant. The Havildar
was seen paying the money by one of the Nassick boys. Then, when we
came to a part where provisions were scanty, they refused to obey orders to
come up to me, whither I had gone to secure provisions ; and they would not
rise in the morning, though called by the Havildar, but I saw reason atfter-
wards to believe that the Havildar and Naik were art and part in the plot.
A great deal of blubbering took place when I hauled them up, to send them
back as prisoners. I sentenced the Naik to disratement, and all to carry
small loads as punishment, but they were such a disgraceful-looking lot, and
by disobedience had prevented my carrying out the plan of getting pro-
visions—namely, by going forward and sending in all directions to purchase
them, that they had to suffer hunger. They sold their cartridges, gave their
muskets and belts to people to carry for them, telling them that I would pay
for carriage, lay down perpetually in the march, and went to sleep. This
was the custom all the way from the coast, and they were so filthy in their
habits—when we had plenty of food gorging themselves, then putting the
finger down the throat to relieve their stomachs, and, lastly, they threatened
to shoot the Nassick boys when away from English power in some quiet
place, because, as they supposed, the boys were informants.

“T sent them back from Mataka’s, leaving seventy yards of cloth with that
chief to give to the trader Suleiman, who was expected, and came a few days
afterwards, to convey them to the coast. This cloth was amply sufficient for
all their expenses. But I heard that the seven Mohammedans did not go
with Suleiman, but remained at Mataka’s, where food was abundant, and
where their pay would be running on. They had their belts and ammunition-
pouches, and muskets and bayonets, all complete then. The Havildar still
pretended that he wanted to go on with us; he thought I did not understand
the part he had played. ‘They won’t obey me, and what am I to do?’ was
his way of speaking. ‘Bring the first man to me who refuses a lawful order,
and I shall make him obey.’ None was ever brought. When he talked of
going to die with us I said nothing. He soon got sulky and was a useless
drag. I had to pay two yards of calico per day for carriage of his bed and

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S LETTERS. 391

cooking things, and could make no use of him. He could not divide pro-
visions even with partiality, nor measure off cloth to the natives without
cheating them. - He complained at last of unaccountable pains in his feet, ate
a whole fowl for supper, slept soundly till daylight, and then commenced
furious groaning. He carried his bed one mile the night before without
orders, then gave his belt and musket to a native, to blind me as to his having
sold and stolen the cartridges. The native carriers would not follow us
through a portion of jungle, and when I sent back for the loads, the gallant
Hayildar was found sitting by his own baggage, and looking on while the car-
riers paid themselves by opening one of the bales. He then turned back to
join his fellows at Mataka’s; the country abounded in provisions, and the
people were very liberal.”

In a letter to Sir Bartle Frere, he describes the country about Bemba as
chiefly forest and exceedingly leafy: one can see but a little way from an
elevation. The gum-copal and another tree abound, with rhododendrons
and various evergreen trees—the two first furnish the black-cloth which is the
principal clothing of the people. . . We could not for some time find out
where the Portuguese route to Cazembe lay, but it has been placed by the
map-makers too far east. There they had no mountain chains such as we
have met with.

““Mataka’s town and country (to the east of the north end of Lake
Nyassa) are the most likely for a permanent settlement to be made. It is
eleyated and cool. English pears were in full bearing, and bloom in July ;
the altitude is over 3,000 feet, and this country is mountainous and abounds
in running streams, the sources of the Rovuma. Dr. Norman Macleod pro-
mised to try and get me some German Missionaries from Harmsburgh, in
Hanover, and salaries for them, if I could indicate a locality. These same
men go without salaries, and are artificers of different kinds; but this is a
mistake: they ought to have a little, for some of them have, in sheer want,
taken to selling brandy even, but at Mataka’s they could easily raise wheat,
by sowing it at the proper time, and native products, when the rains come,
but it would require a leader of some energy, and not a fellow who would
wring his hands if he had no sugar to his tea. I have almost forgotten the
taste of sugar, and tea is made by roasting a little Joare, and calling the de-
coction either tea or coffee. I have written to the Doctor, and given some
account of the difficulties to be overcome; three hundred miles is a long way
to go, but I feel more and more convinced that Africa must be Christianised
from within.”

After the reading of Dr. Livingstone’s letters to the members of the
Royal Geographical Society at a meeting held on the 27th of April, 1868, Sir
Roderick Murchison said— That the question on which Europeans and the
British public at large were now interested, was the future course of Living-

392° LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

stone, and at what time he might be expected to return. In the journey
from the place at which he disembarked, Mikindany Bay, to the south
end of the Lake Nyassa, he occupied seven months; but for three weeks or
more of that time he remained at Mataka. The distance traversed from the
coast was only five hundred miles. During these months people often asked
in England, ‘Why does Livingstone not send us some account of his pro-
ceedings? The Sepoys have returned, but they have brought no despatches.’
He was sorry to say that the Sepoys had behaved extremely ill. We had
now, in Livingstone’s handwriting, the statement that they were the worst of
companions, inferior even to the Johanna men. He entrusted to the Sepoys
a despatch which they never delivered. The next part of Livingstone’s
journey, after crossing the Shire, was to the west and northwards, taking a
circuitous course, in order to avoid the Mazitu (called the Mavite to the east of
Lake Nyassa.) It occupied five months, the date of the despatches being the
Ist of February, when he was at Bemba. The progress made at this point
would enable us to judge of the time he was likely to take in accomplishing
the remainder of his journey. We now know that he had arrived at Ujiji, on
the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, by about the middle of October last.
The distance between Bemba and Ujiji was only 500 miles; but he was de-
lighted to hear that the traveller had been so long on this part of his route,
because it implied that he had devoted himself to examining Lake Tangan-
yika, which had never yet been explored.

“‘When Burton and Speke crossed the Lake in the northern part at Ujiji,
they knew nothing of the southern part, except from information furnished by
Arabs. If Livingstone found the waters flowing northwards from the neighbour-
hood of Bemba, whence he wrote, and into Lake Tanganyika, he would continue
his journey to the northern end. There would then be before him another great
problem, the solution of which would be the settlement of the geography of the
whole interior of Africa. If, according to the theory of Mr. Findlay, which
had been read before the Society, the waters of Lake Tanganyika flowed into
the Albert Nyanza, the geographical object of Livingstone’s expedition would
be accomplished. He would be upon the waters of the Nile, and having deter-
mined that great physical problem, he would probably turn to the eastward,
and reach the coast at Zanzibar. If, on the contrary, it proved, as shown in
the original map of Burton and Speke, that a mountain range separated Tan-
ganyika from Albert Nyanza, the outflow of the waters of Tanganyika must
be sought for on its western side; for being fresh, these waters must have a
free outlet insome direction. In this case, Livingstone might be induced to
follow that river wherever he found it. It was known that there was no outflow
to the east, because the country on that side had been explored, and no great
stream found. To follow such a western outlet would lead him far across the
great unknown western interior of Africa.

LETTERS FROM DR. KIRK. 393

“Such was Livingstone’s great vigour and audacity in meeting every diffi-
culty, that he had not the slightest doubt that he would pursue such a river, if
found, and come out on the west coast, where his first expedition terminated,
before he recrossed to the Zambesi. In this case, we must not expect to hear
from him for twelve or eighteen months. But if, under the hypothesis, which
he rather held to, Livingstone found the waters of the Tanganyika flowing
into Baker’s Lake (the Albert Nyanza), and turned back towards Zanzibar,
as most probably he would do, he might be expected in England in: the
month of September next. A third hypothesis was, that having since
arrived at the Lake of Sir Samuel Baker, he would follow its waters, and come
out by the Nile. He had dismissed that hypothesis from his own mind, in
consequence of the small force which Livingstone had at his disposal, and the
diminished store of goods for presents to give to the Equatorial Kings.
Knowing the difficulties which Speke, and Grant, and Baker, had in those
countries, he would pause before concluding that he had taken that route,
particularly after he had geographically solved the problem. Another reason
which operated in his mind against the third hypothesis was, that Livingstone
would have to go through the whole of the White Nile region, where the slave
trade was carried on to an abominable extent.”

We give Sir Roderick Murchison’s remarks in full, because in them we
haye the different theories as to the course of the waters, whose northward
flow Livingstone had struck when he had passed the hill region to the north and
west of Nyassa. We shall see, further on, that all these theories were at variance
with the conclusions which Dr. Livingstone ultimately arrived at when he
found that the main drainage of the vast central valley did not fall into the
Tanganyika at all, but passed it many miles to the west of its shores, and
flowed northward into unknown regions.

News reached England early in October that Livingstone was on his way
to the coast, and was, at the time of its transmission, within a few miles of
Zanzibar, but on the 20th and 23rd, word reached London from Dr. Kirk,
that he had letters from him dated from Marenga, a district south, and in the
vicinity of Lake Tanganyika, in latitude 7° 55’ south, and longitude 30° east,
near Ujiji, a district and an Arab station on Lake Tanganyika. This letter
was very brief, and had been written in the months of October and December,
and gaye a satisfactory account for the delay in his progress to the north. He
had been living for three months with friendly Arabs, and waiting for the
close of a native war before proceeding to Ujiji, and he told the Arab messen-
ger, that after exploring Tanganyika, he meant to return to Zanzibar. Dr.
Kirk reported, when sending this information, that provisions, medicines,
letters, etc., etc., had been sent to Ujiji to meet him, some time previous to
the receipt of his letters.

On the 9th of November, 1868, a short letter from Dr. Liven to Dr.

A 2

394 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Seward, dated ‘“‘ Town of Cazembe,” 14th December, 1867, was read. In this
letter he said—

‘One of Seyd Ben Ali’s men leaves this to-morrow to join his master in
Buira. He and Hamees have letters from me to you. One of them, in the hands
of Hamees, repeats an order for goods, which I sent by Magera Mafupi in
February last. If Magera Mafupi’s letter came to hand, then the goods would
be sent before the present letter can reach you. Ihave more fear of the want
of shoes than anything else. If you have any tracing paper, I should like
some ; I lost a good deal in fording a river; some pencils and ink powder, if
you can spare them, and an awl, and stick of sealing wax. I am going to

zibar sooner than my friends can reach it by Bagamoyo.

‘“¢Moero is one chain of lakes, connected by ariver, having different names.
When we got there, I thought it well to look at Cazembe, of which the Portu-
guese have written much; but all the geographical information is contained in
letters I have written, which I mean to send to Ujiji, and have no heart to
repeat myself.”

In the letters to Dr. Seward and Dr. Kirk, which were of a private
character, Livingstone writes in a most hopeful spirit as to the accomplishment
of the work before him, and gave a most gratifying account of the state of his
health.

On the 18th of January, 1869, a letter appeared in the Times from Horace
Waller, one of Livingstone’s old comrades during a part of the Zambesi expe-
dition, that from letters received from Dr. Kirk from Zanzibar, nothing had
been heard of Livingstone for a long time. After cautioning the public to be
in no anxiety on that account, he says, ‘‘ Dr. Kirk informs me that Moosa,
(the chief of the Johanna men who deserted him) has been handed over to him
at Zanzibar from Johanna. Finding that he had already passed eight months
in heavy irons, the authorities very humanely considered this time sufficient
for the reflective powers of the mischievous scamp to reconsider the merits of
truth and falsehood ; so Dr. Kirk set him free.”

On the 19th of April, news arrived in England that Livingstone had
reached Zanzibar, and was on his way to England. His old friend Sir
Roderick Murchison published his doubts of the truth of this, and as in many
other cases where the great traveller was concerned, the veteran geologist was
correct. A report of Dr. Livingstone having been murdered, and another of his
being in captivity, having got into circulation, were causing much anxiety in
the public mind. Sir Roderick Murchison wrote to the London Scotsman on
the 6th of September, as follows:—After explaining that a long time must
elapse, in consequence of the district into which he had entered, before we
could expect to hear from him, he says, “It is, therefore, I think, unnecessary
to have recourse to the hypothesis of his captivity. But, whatever may be the

LETTER TO LORD CLARENDON. 395

speculations entered into during his absence, I have such implicit confidence
in the tenacity of purpose, undying resolution, and Herculean power of
Livingstone, that however he may be delayed, I hold stoutly to the opinion
that he will overcome every obstacle, and will, as I have suggested, emerge
from South Africa on the same western shore on which he appeared after his
first great march across that region, and long after his life had been despaired
of.”

. Sir Roderick Murchison was partly right once more. Livingstone was
not on his way home, nor thinking of it; for on the 24th of October, 1869, a
telegram was received in this country, to the effect that Dr. Kirk had received
a letter from him, dated July 8th, 1868, from Lake Bangweolo, in which he
said, ‘‘I have found the source of the Nile between 10° and 12° south.”
The great traveller wrote in good health and spirits, and it was cheering at
the same time to be told that a caravan which had recently arrived at Zanzibar,
reported him at Ujijion Lake Tanganyika, and that the road between Zan-
zibar and Ujiji was open.

The letter was addressed to Lord Clarendon, and was dated from Near
Lake Bangweolo, South Central Africa, July, 1868. _We give the following
extracts :—‘‘When I had the honour of writing to you in February, 1867, I
had the impression that I was then on the watershed of the Zambesi, and either
the Congo or the Nile. More extended observation has since convinced me of
the essential correctness of that impression; and from what I have seen,
together with what I have learned from intelligent natives, I think that I may
safely assert that the chief sources of the Nile arise between 10° and 12°
south latitude, or nearly in the position assigned to them by Ptolemy,
whose river Raptita is probably the Rovuma. Aware that others have been
mistaken, and laying no claim to infallibility, I do not speak very positively,
particularly of the parts west and north-west of Tanganyika, because these
haye not yet come under my observation ; but if your lordship will read the
following short sketch of my discoveries, you will perceive that the springs of
the Nile have hitherto been searched for very much too far north. They rise
about 400 miles south of the most southerly portion of Victoria Nyanza, and,
indeed, south of all the lakes except Bangweolo. Leaving the valley of the
Loangwa, which enters the Zambesi at Zumbo, we climbed up what seemed to
be a great mountain mass, but it turned out to be only the southern edge of an
eleyated region, which is from 3,000 to 6,000 feet above the level of the sea.
This upland may roughly be said to cover a space south of Lake Tanganyika
of some 350 square miles. It is generally covered with dense or open forest ;
has an undulating, sometimes hilly surface; a rich soil; is well-watered by
numerous rivulets; and, for Africa, is cold. It slopes towards the north and
west; but I have found no part of it under 300 feet of altitude. The country
of Usango, situated east of the space indicated, is also an upland, and affords

396 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

pasturage for the immense herds of the cattle of the Basango, a remarkably
light-coloured race, very iriendly to strangers. Usango forms the eastern side
of a great but still elevated valley. The other or western arch is formed by
what are called the Kone mountains, beyond the copper mines of Katanga.
Still farther west, and beyond the Kone range or plateau, our old acquaintance
the Zambesi, under the name of Jambasi, is said to rise. The southern end of
the great valley between Usango and the Kone range is between 11° and
12° south. It was rarely possible then to sce a star, but accidentally awak-
ing one morning between two and three o’clock, I found one which showed
latitude 11° 56” south, and we then were fairly on the upland. Next day
we passed two rivulets, running north. As: we advanced, brooks, evidently
perennial, became numerous. Some went eastwards, to fall into the Loangwa;
others went north-west, to join the river Chambeze. Misled by a map call-
ing this river, in an off-hand manner, ‘Zambezi, eastern branch,’ I took
it to be the southern river of that name; but the Chambeze, with all its
branches, flows from the eastern side into the centre of the great upland
valley mentioned, which is probably the valley of the Nile. It is an interesting
river as helping to form these lakes, and changing its name three times in the
500 or 600 miles of its course. It was first crossed by the Portuguese, who
always inquired for ivory and slaves, and heard of nothing else. A person
who collected all, even the hearsay geography of the Portuguese, knew so
little actually of the country, that he put a large river here, running 3,000 feet
up-hill, and called it New Zambesi.

“T crossed the Chambeze in 10° 34” south latitude, and several of its
confluents, south and north, quite as large as the Isis at Oxford, but running
faster, and having hippopotami in them. I mention these animals, because
in navigating the Zambezi I could always steer the steamer boldly to where
they lay, sure of finding not less than eight feet of water.

‘“‘'The Chambeze runs into Lake Bangweolo, and in coming out of it assumes
the name Luapula, and flows north, past the town of Cazembe, and twelve
miles below it enters Lake Moero. On leaving Moero at its northern end by
a rent in the mountains of Rua, it takes the name Lualaba, and passing on
N.N.W. forms Lake Ulenge, in the country west of Tanganyika.

‘“‘T have seen it only when it leaves Moero, and where it comes out of the
crack in the mountains of Rua, but am quite satisfied that even before it re-
ceives the river Sofunso from Marunga, and the Soburi from the Baloba country,
it is quite sufficient to form Ulenge, whether that is a lake with many islands,
as some assert, or a sort of Punjaub—a division into several branches, as is
maintained by others. These branches are all gathered up by the Lufira—a large
river, which, by many confluents, drains the western side of the great valley.
I have not seen the Lufira, but pointed out west of 11° south, it is asserted,
always to require canoes. This is purely native information. Some intelligent

LETTER TO LORD CLARENDON. 397

men assert that when the Lufira takes up the water of Ulenge, it flows N.N.W
into Lake Chowambe, which I conjecture to be that discovered by Mr. Baker.
Others think that it goes into Lake Tanganyika, at Uvira, and still passes
northward into Chowambe, by ariver named Loando. These are the parts,
regarding which, I suspend my judgment. IfI am in error there, and live
through it, I shall correct myself.”

Here follow a number of surmises as to the course of the river running out
of Ulenge which were exceedingly interesting at the time, but are now fore-
stalled by information derived from personal observation, with which we will
deal further on. ‘‘My opinion at present is, if the large amount of water I
have seen going north, does not flow past Tanganyika on the west, it must
have an exit from the lake, and in all likelihood by the Loanda. . . On
the northern slope of the upland, and on the 2nd of April, 1867, I discovered
Lake Liemba. It les in a hollow with precipitous sides, 2,000 feet down.
It is extremely beautiful, sides, top, and bottom, being covered with trees and
other vegetation. Elephants, buffaloes, and antelopes, feed on the steep slopes,
while hippopotami, crocodiles, and fish, swarm in the waters. Guns being
unknown, the elephants, unless sometimes deceived into a pitfall, have it all
their own way. . . Itisas perfect a natural paradise as Xenophon could
have desired. On two rocky islands, men till the land, rear goats, and catch
fish; the villages ashore are embowered in the palm-oil palms of the west
coast of Africa. Four considerable streams flow into Liemba, and a number
of brooks, from 12 to 15 feet broad, leap down the steep bright clay schist rocks,
and form splendid cascades, that made the dullest of my attendants pause and
remark with wonder. I measured one of the streams fifty miles from its con-
fluence, and found it, at a ford, 294 feet, say 100 yards broad, . . thigh
and waist deep, and flowing fast over hardened sandstone flag, in September.
The last rain had fallen on the 12th of May. . . The Louzua drives a
large body of smooth water into Liemba; this body of water was ten fathoms
deep. Another of the four streams is said to be larger than the Lofu; but
an over-officious headman prevented me from seeing more of it and another
than three mouths. The lake is not large—from 18 to 20 miles broad, and
from 30 to 40 long ; it goes off N.N.W. in a riyer-like prolongation, two miles
wide, it is said, to Tanganyika.* . . I tried to follow the river-like por-
tion, but was prevented by a war which had broken out between the chief of
Itawa and a party of ivory traders from Zanzibar. I then set off to go 150
miles south, then west, till past the disturbed district, and explore the west of
Tanganyika; but on going 80 miles, I found the Arab party, showed them a
letter from the Sultan of Zanzibar, which I owe to the kind offices of his
Excellency, Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay, and was at once supplied

* This Dr. Livingstone afterwards found to be correct

398 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

with provisions, cloth, and beads; they showed the greatest kindness and
anxiety for my safety and success. The leader of the party readily perceived
that a continuance of hostility meant shutting up the ivory trade, but the
peace-making was a tedious process, requiring three and a-half months; I was
glad to see the mode of ivory and slave-trading of these men, it formed such
a perfect contrast to that of the ruffians from Kilwa, and to the ways of the
atrocious Portuguese from Tete, who were connived at in their murders by
the Governor, De Almeida.” ;

After peace was declared, he visited Masama, the chief of Itawa, and
examined Lake Moero, which he found to be 60 miles long, and from 20 to
50 miles broad. From thence he visited Cazembe, and was very hospitably
treated by the chief of that name, with whom he staid forty days, on account
of the rains having flooded the country and made progress impossible. Ca-
zembe’s town, which has been three times visited by Portuguese, “‘ stands on
the north-east bank of the lakelet Mofwe; this is from two to three miles
broad, and nearly four long. It has several low reedy islets, and yields plenty
of fish, a species of perch. It is not connected with either the Luapula or the
Moero. I was forty days at Cazembe, and might then have gone on to Bang-
weolo, which is larger than either of the other lakes; but the rains had set in,
and this lake was reported to be very unhealthy. Not having a grain of any
kind of medicine, and as fever without treatment produced very disagreeable
symptoms, I thought it would be unwise to venture where swelled thyroid
glands, known among us as Derbyshire neck and elephantiasis (seroli) pre-
vail.” Getting tired of his inactivity, he went northwards towards Ujiji,
‘‘ where,” he says, ‘“‘I have goods, and, I hope, letters, for I have heard
nothing from the world for more than two years; but when I got within 13
days of Tanganyika, I was brought to a standstill by the superabundance of
water in the country in front. A native party came through and described
the country as inundated so as often to be thigh and waist deep, with dry
stepping places difficult to find. This flood lasts till May or June. At last I
become so tired of my inactivity, that I doubled back on my course to Ca-
zembe.” His description of wading across swollen rivulets, flooded plains and
morasses, gives a vivid idea of the courage and resolution of the man. The
paths among the long grass were even more trying than these. He says:—
‘“‘ The plain was of black mud, with grass higher than our heads. We had to
follow the path, which in places the feet of passengers had worn into deep
ruts. Into these we every now and then plunged, and fell over the ancles in
soft mud, while hundreds of bubbles rushed up, and, bursting, emitted a fright-
ful odour. We had four hours of this wading and plunging; the last mile
was the worst, and right glad we were to get out of it, and bathe in the clear
tepid waters and sandy beach of the Moero. In going up the bank of the
lake, we first of all forded four torrents thigh deep; then a river 80 yards

A THEORETICAL GHOGRAPHER. 399

wide, with 300 yards of flood on its west bank, so deep, we had to keep to the
canoes, till within fifty yards of the higher ground, then four brooks from
five to fifteen yards broad. One of them, the Chungu, possesses a somewhat
melancholy interest, as that on which poor Dr. Lacerda died. . . He was
the only Portuguese visitor who had any scientific education, and his latitude
of Cazembe’s town on the Chungu being 50 miles wrong, probably reveals that
his mind was clouded with fever when he last observed; and any one who
knows what that implies, will look upon his error with compassion.

The Chungu went high on the chest, and we had to walk on tiptoe to oat
swimming. As I crossed all these Bone at both high and low water, I ob-
served the difference to be from fifteen to eighteen inches, and from all the per-
ennial streams, the flood is a clear water. The state of the rivers and the
country made me go in the lightest marching order. I took nothing but the
most necessary instruments, and no paper except a couple of note-books and
the Bible. On unexpectedly finding a party going to the coast, I borrowed a
piece of paper from an Arab, and the effects, unavoidable in the circumstances,
you will kindly excuse. Only four of my attendants would come here; the
others, on various pretences, absconded. ‘The fact is, they are all tired of this
everlasting tramping; and so verily am I. Were it not for an inveterate
dislike to give in to difficulties, without dog my utmost to overcome them,
I would abscond too. I comfort myself by the hope that by making the coun-
try and the people better known, I am doing good ; and by imparting a little
knowledge occasionally, I may be working in accordance with the plans of an
all-embracing Providence, which now forms part of the belief of all the more
intelligent of our race: my efforts may be appreciated in good times coming
yet.”

After speaking of the care which he had always taken to give the position
of places with the utmost accuracy, and the compliments paid to the success
with which he had done this on the Zambesi and the Shire by scientific men,
he says:—‘ Well, it is not very comforting, after all my care and risk of
health, and even of life, it is not very inspiriting to find 200 miles of lake
tacked on to the north-west end of Nyassa; and then 200 miles perched up
on the upland region, and passed over some 3,000 feet higher than the rest of
the lake! We shall probably hear that the author of this feat in fancyo-
graphy claims therefrom to be considered a theoretical discoverer of the
sources of the Nile.” After stating several instances in which his positions
had been unwarrantably changed, he says, ‘‘ The desecration my positions
have suffered, is probably unknown to the Council; but that is all the more
reason why I should adhere to my resolution to be the guardian of my own
observations until publication. I regret this, because the upsetting of a canoe,
or any accident happening to me, might lead to the entire loss of the disco-
veries. My borrowed paper is done, or I should have given a summary of

400 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the streams which, flowing into Chambeze, Luapula, Lualaba, and the lakes,
may be called sources. Thirteen, all larger than the Isis at Oxford, or the
Avon at Hamilton, run into one line of drainage, five into another, and five
into a third receptacle—twenty-three in all. Not having seen the Nile in the
north, I forbear any comparison of volume.”

In a postscript he says, ‘‘ Always something new from Africa. A large
tribe live in underground houses in Rua, Some excavations are said to be
thirty miles long, and have running rills in them—a whole district can stand
asiege in them. The ‘writings’ thereon, I have been told by some of the
people, are drawings of animals, and not letters, otherwise I should have gone
to see them. People very dark, well made, and outer angle of eyes slanting
inwards.” That Dr. Livingstone should have been able to write a communi-
cation such as this, bristling with facts carefully detailed, under the circum-
stances indicated, is as wonderful as the resolute endurance and courage
necessary to their collection.

In a letter to Sir Bartle Frere, he touches upon his anxieties as a father
completely separated from his children. He says :—‘I am often distressed
in thinking of a son whom I left at the University of Glasgow. He was to
be two years there, then spend a year in Mons in Germany, for French and
German, before trying the Civil Service examination for India. He will now
be in especial need of my counsel and assistance, and here I am at Bang-
weolo. His elder brother, after being well educated, wandered into the
American war, and we know no more of him after an engagement before
Richmond.* Possibly Sir Charles Wood (now Lord Halifax) in consideration
of my services, might do something to fix this one. . . I feel more at
liberty in telling you of my domestic anxiety, and my fears lest Tom should
go to the examination unprepared, because you have a family yourself, and
will sympathise with me. . . Agnes (his eldest daughter) is to tell Tom
not to go in for examination till he is well prepared, and he may take a year
more of education where he may have found the most benefit.”

The next information received from Dr. Livingstone was contained in
a letter sent to Dr. Kirk at Zanzibar, and was published in the Times of
December 13th, 1869. Itis dated Ujiji, May 30th, 1869, and is as follows :—
‘“‘ This note goes by Musa Kamaals, who was employed by Koaryji to drive the
buffaloes hither, but by over-driving them unmercifully in the sun, and tying
them up to save trouble in herding, they all died before he got to Unyan-
yembe. He witnessed the plundering of my goods, and got a share of them;

* He was wounded in the battle mentioned, and died in hospital. He was of a very enter-
prising disposition, and previous to his going to the United States, he had made an attempt to join
his father in Central Africa. This expedition was undertaken without the knowledge of his family
and friends, and want of funds compelled him to abandon it. Dr. Livingstone was unaware of his
fate until Mr. Stauley reached him at Ujiji ;

DIFFICULTY IN SENDING LETTERS. 401

and I have given him beads and cloth sufficient to buy provisions for himself
on the way back to Zanzibar. He has done nothing here. He neither went
near the goods here, nor tried to prevent them being stolen on the way. I
suppose that pay for four months in coming, other four of rest, and four in
going back, would be ample, but I leave this to your decision. I could not
employ him to carry my mail back, nor can I say anything to him, for he at
once goes to the Ujijians, and gives his own version of all he hears. He is
untruthful and ill-conditioned, and would hand over the mail to any one who
wished to destroy it. The people here are like the Kilwa traders, haters of
the English. Those Zanzibar men whom I met between this and Nyassa were
gentlemen, and traded with honour. Here, as in the haunts of the Kilwa
hordes, slavery is a source of forays, and they dread exposure by my letters.
No one will take charge of them. I have got Thani bin Suelim to take a mail
privately for transmission to Unyanyembe. It contains a cheque on Ritchio,
Stewart & Co., of Bombay, for 2,000 rupees, and some forty letters written
during my slow recovery. I fear it may neverreach you. A party was sent
to the coast two months ago. One man volunteered to take a letter secretly,
but his master warned them all not to do so, because I might write something
he did not like. He went out with the party, and gave orders to the headman
to destroy any letters he might detect on the way. ‘Thus, though I am good
friends outwardly with them all, I can get no assistance in procuring carriers ;
and, as you willsee, if the mail comes to hand, I sent to Zanzibar for fifteen
good boatmen to act as carriers if required, eighty pieces of meritano, forty
ditto of kinitra, twelve farasales of the beads called jasain, shoes, etc., etc. I
have written to Seyd Majid begging two of his guards to see to the safety of
the goods here into Thani bin Suelim’s hands, or into those of Mohammed bin
Sahib.

‘“‘As to the work done by me, it is only to connect the sources which I
have discovered, from 500 to 700 miles south of Speke and Baker, with their
Nile. The volume of water which flows from latitude 120° south is so
large, I suspect I have been working at the sources of the Congo as well as
those of the Nile. I have to go down the eastern line of drainage to Baker’s
turning point. Tanganyika, Ujiji, Chowambe (Bakev’s) are one water, and
the head of it is 300 miles south of this. The western and central lines of
drainage converge into an unvisited lake west or south-west of this. The out-
flow of this, whether to Congo or Nile, I have to ascertain. The people of
this district, called Manyema, are cannibals, if Arabs speak truly. I may have
to go there first, and down Tanganyika, if I come out uneaten, and find my
new squad from Zanzibar; I earnestly hope that you will do what you can to
help me with the goods and men. £400 tobe sent by Mr. Young must surely
haye come to you through Fleming Brothers. A long box pajd for to Ujiji was
left at Unyanyembe, and so with other boxes,”

B2

402 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

In this letter we have the first indications of dissatisfaction with the way
assistance was being sent to him by Dr. Kirk at Zanzibar, of which we have
heard more from Mr. Stanley and from the traveller himself. It was natural
that the lonely man who had not had any communication with the world for
so long a period, and who had been travelling in unknown regions dependent
upon chance for the necessities of living, should feel a bitterness at the want
of success in relieving him. It is to be feared that he had good reason for his
discontent. To the unsettled state of the country and the dishonesty and
carelessness of the people he employed to succour Dr. Livingstone, were due
the failure of these efforts, and, as we shall see further on, he failed to take
the most ordinary precautions to guard against such failure. Dr. Kirk men-
tions in a note published along with this letter, that stores and letters had been
sent on the 7th of October, and that no time would be lost in sending the
articles now required by the explorer.

Once more the cloud of mystery and darkness enveloped the fate of the
great traveller, and surmises and reports as to his probable fate tended towards
a general belief that in some unknown region in the far interior, the greatest
traveller and discoverer the world has ever seen, had become the most distin-
guished of that long roll of martyrs who had perished in their dauntless
endeayour to penetrate the secret recesses of a country all but impregnably
guarded by disease, pestilence, and the cruel jealousy of savage tribes. ‘The
anxiety of the public regarding the fate of the traveller was shared in by the
Government. In May, 1870, £1,000 was sent to the consul at Zanzibar, to be
expended in efforts to discover and relieve him. On the 25th of January,
1871, hope was again excited that we might soon hear tidings from himself of
a much later date than the last received, by the arrival of a letter to Sir
Roderick Murchison from Dr. Kirk giving extracts from a letter received from
an Arab chief, Sheik Said, of Unyanyembe, dated 16th of July, 1870. The chief
says, ‘Your honoured letter has reached, and your friend (Livingstone) has
understood it. ‘The people (a party with a caravan from Zanzibar) arrived in
good health, and are going on to Ujiji to our friend the Doctor. The news of
him is that he has not yet returned from Manemis (Menama, or Manyema, the
Arabie word is spelt in three different ways), but we expect him soon, and
probably he and the people with supplies will reach Ujiji at the same time.”
AsSir Roderick pointed out, this was the first indication we had received that
the explorer had made a lengthened journey to the west of Tanganyika, which
taken together with the probability that letters sent by him had been destroyed
by jealous Arabs, accounted for his long silence.

Early in May this intelligence was corroborated by the arrival of news from
Shirif Bassheikh bin Ahmed, the Arab sent from Zanzibar and Ujiji in charge
of stores for Dr. Livingstone, dated November 15th, 1870, that he had been
visited a few days previously by a messenger from the people of Menama (or

LETTER FROM MR. STANLEY. 403

Manyema), with letters from the Arabs staying there, and one from “the
Doctor,” the letters being dated October 15. The messenger had told him
that the Doctor was well, although he had been suffering, and that he was at
the town of Manakosa, with Mohammed bin Tharib, waiting for the caravans,
being himself without means, and with few followers, only eight men, so that
he could not move elsewhere, or come down to Ujiji. Shirif further stated
that he had sent twelve men, with a quantity of goods, ammunition, quinine,
ete., ete., on to him, and that he awaited the explorer’s further orders at Ujiji.

The intelligence that a war had broken out between the Arab colony in
the district of Unyanyembe and a powerful native chief between Ujiji and
Kasagne, which was being carried on with the utmost fury on both sides, and
effectually closed up the road to the coast, added to the public anxiety. For
the first time since his departure on an adventurous mission in search of Dr.
Livingstone in February, we have the mention of a young gentleman, a Mr.
Stanley, a correspondent of the New York Herald, who had been despatched
by the proprietor of that great journal from Paris, with orders to find out Dr.
Livingstone, or bring back tidings of his safety or death at whatever cost. In
a letter to Earl Granville, dated Zanzibar, 22nd September, 1871, Dr. Kirk
says i:—

. “Letters just received by special messengers, who left Unyanyembe about
a month ago, inform us of a sad disaster that has befallen the Arab settlement
there, and that will in all likelihood stop the road to Ujiji and Kasagne for
some time to come. All accounts agree as to the main facts; but, naturally,
letters written by Mr. Stanley, an American gentleman who was on the spot,
are the most circumstantial and reliable. . . A chief whose village was one
day’s journey distant on the main road to Ujiji and Kasagne, fell under the
displeasure of the Unyanyembe Arab settlers; and his place was attacked, in
due course, by a force of about 1500 muskets. Seeing that he could not hold
the blockaded village, he retired with his followers, and formed an ambush
for the return of the attacking party, when laden with ivory and other booty.
The result was disastrous to the Arabs, and a great many were killed, in-
cluding ten or twenty of the leaders, men of good family here. The Arab
retreat soon became a rout, and much property was lost.

‘Fortunately, Mr. Stanley, who was weak and ill from fever, managed
to return to Unyanyembe; but he was abandoned by the Arabs, whose con-
duct he speaks of as cowardly in the extreme.” In announcing to the mem-
bers of the Geographical Society that the Council had determined to address
the Foreign Office, asking its assistance in an effort to succour Dr. Livingstone,
Sir Roderick Murchison said: “It appeared to the Council and himself, now
that the hope which we had of communicating with Dr. Livingstone through
Mr. Stanley, the American traveller, must for the present be abandoned ; and
it had become, consequently, their duty to cast about for some other means

404 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D,

of reaching him.” The result of this determination of the Council of the
Royal Geographical Society was the getting up of a formidable expedition to
march into the interior, and find news of the great explorer, dead or alive,
As the Government refused to advance any money to assist in covering the
expenses of the expedition, it was left for the Society and the public to fur-
nish the means, and within a few weeks ample funds and an efficient party
were ready to start for Africa.

Harly in 1872 this expedition was being organized at Zanzibar, under the
guidance of Lieutenant Dawson, who was assisted by Lieutenant Henn, Mr.
New, a missionary, and Mr. Oswell Livingstone, a son of the great explorer.
As the public felt satisfied with the zeal and abilities of the English heads of
the Search and Relief Expedition, the general excitement subsided. No one
appeared to hope for any results from the expedition sent out by the proprietors
of the New York Herald, and gradually its existence came to be overlooked or
forgotten. Even Dr. Kirk, who had opportunities of seeing its leader and
his careful preparations for his journey, never dreamed that Livingstone would
ever be heard of through his exertions.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The “ New York Herald’s” Expedition in search of Dr. Livingstone—Mr. Stanley
arrives at Unyanyembe—War and other Perils—Hostility of the Natives—
Reach Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika—Stanley finds and succours Dr, Living-
stone, ete., ete.

sae expedition of Mr. Stanley now claims our attention. In October, 1869,

Mr. James Gordon Bennet, the proprietor of the New York Herald, was
in Paris, and staying at the Grand Hotel, when he determined on attempting
to succour Dr. Livingstone. Among his staff of travelling correspondents was
a Mr. Henry M. Stanley, who had represented his newspaper during the cam-
paign against King Theodore in Abyssinia, and it struck him that this was
the man who could find the lost traveller, if he was alive. He telegraphed
for him at Madrid, where he then was in the prosecution of his duties, and
Mr. Stanley started immediately for Paris, which he reached on the following
night, after Mr. Bennet had retired to his apartment. The interview which
resulted had better be detailed in Mr. Stanley’s own words :—

““T went straight to the ‘ Grand Hotel’ and knocked at the door of Mr.
Bennet’s room. ‘Come in!’ I heard a voice say. Entering, I found Mr.
Bennet in bed.

*«¢ Who are you?’ he asked. ‘My name is Stanley,’ I answered.

*“*¢ Ah, yes! sit down ; I have important business on hand for you.’

“‘ After throwing over his shoulders his robe-de-chambre, Mr. Bennet asked,
‘ Where do you think Dr. Livingstone is ?’—‘TI really do not know, sir.’

“€¢T)o you think he is alive ?’—‘ He may be, and he may not be,’ I answered.

«Well, I think he is alive, and that he can be found; and I am going to
send you to find him,’

“«¢ What!’ said I, ‘do you really think I can tind Dr. Livingstone? Do
you mean me to go to Central Africa?’

‘Yes; I mean that you shall go, and find him wherever you may hear
that he is, and to get what news you can of him, and perhaps’—delivering
himself thoughtfully and deliberately—‘ the old man may be in want: take
enough with you to help him, should he require it. Of course, you will
act according to your own plans, and do what you think best—sur Finp
LivINGsTONE,’

406 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘Said I, wondering at the cool order of sending one to Central Africa to
search for a man whom I, in common with almost all other men, believed to
be dead, ‘ Have you considered seriously the great expense you are likely to
incur on account of this little journey ?’

“¢ What will it cost?’ he asked abruptly. ‘Burton and Speke’s journey
to Central Africa cost between £3,000 and £5,000, and I fear it cannot be
done under £2,500.’

“¢Well, I will tell you what you will do. Draw a thousand pounds now;
and when you have gone through that, draw another thousand; and when
that is spent, draw another thousand ; and when you have finished that, draw
another thousand; and so on, but—F inp Livinestone.’”

After some further conversation, Mr. Stanley asked if he was to go at
once. Mr. Bennet answered, ‘‘ No; I wish you to go to the inauguration of
the Suez canal first, and then proceed up the Nile. . . Then you might
as well go to Jerusalem; I hear Captain Warner is making some interesting
discoveries there. Then next to Constantinople, and find out about that trouble
between the Khedive and the Sultan. Then—let me see—you might as well
visit the Crimea and those old battle-grounds. Then go across the Caucasus
to the Caspian Sea; I hear there is a Russian expedition bound for Khiva.
From thence you may go through Persia to India; you could write an inter-
esting letter from Perseopolis.

‘‘ Bagdad will be close on your way to India; suppose you go there, and
write up something about the Euphrates Valley Railway. Then when you
have come to India, you can go after Livingstone. Probably you will hear
by that time that Livingstone is on his way to Zanzibar; but if not, go into
the interior and find him. If alive, get what news of his discoveries you can;
and if you find he is dead, bring all possible proof of his being dead. That
is all: good-night, and God be with you.”

Mr. Stanley carried out the programme Mr. Bennet chalked out for him,
and chronicled the incidents of his journeyings in the New York Herald, and
arrived in India in the month of August, 1870. He sailed from Bombay for
the Mauritius on the 12th of October, and after touching at Mahe, an island of
the Leychelles group, he, in company with William Lawrence Farquhar, mate,
a Scotchman, and an Arab boy he had picked up to act as interpreter, sailed
in an American whaling vessel, bound for Zanzibar, which they reached on
the 6th of January, 1871. Captain Webb, the American Consul at Zanzibar,
after hearing the nature of his mission, entertained him at his house, and did
all he could to assist him in his preparations for the journey he had under-
taken. The following is Mr. Stanley’s account of the City of Zanzibar :—

‘“¢ My general impressions are of crooked, narrow lanes, white-washed
houses, mortar-plastered streetsin the clean quarter; of seeing alcoves on each
side, with deep recesses, with a foreground of red-turbaned Banyans (East

ZANZIBAR. 407

Indian traders), and a background of flaring cottons, prints, calicoes, domestics,
and what not; or of floors, crowded with ivory tusks; or of dark corners,
with a pile of ungummed and loose cottons ; or of stores of crockery, nails,
cheap Brummagem ware, tools, &c., in what I call the Banyan quarter; of
streets smelling very strong—in fact, exceedingly malodorous, with steaming
yellow and black bodies, and woolly heads, sitting at the doors of miserable
huts, chatting, laughing, bargaining, scolding, with a compound smell of
hides, tar, filth, and vegetable refuse in the negro quarter; of streets lined
with tall, solid-looking houses, flat roofed; of great carved doors, with large
brass knockers, with baabs, sitting cross-legged, watching the dark entrances
to their master’s houses; of a shallow sea inlet, with some dhows, canoes,
boats, an odd steam tub or two, leaning over on their sides, in a sea of mud,
which the tide has just left behind it, called M’nazi-Moyo, ‘ one cocoa tree,’
whither Europeans wend on evenings, with most languid steps, to inhale the
sweet air that glides over the sea, while the day is dying, and the red sun is
sinking to the westward ; of a few graves of dead sailors, who paid the forfeit
of their lives on arrival in this land; of a tall house, in which lives Dr. Tozer,
Missionary Bishop of Central Africa, and his school of little Africans; and of
many other things, which got together into such a tangle that I had to go to
sleep, lest I should never be able to separate the moving images, the Arab from
the African, the African from the Banyan, the Banyan from the Hindi, the
Hindi from the European, &c.”

In the harbour of Zanzibar are Arab dhows, engaged in the gum copal,
cloyes, pepper, and cocoa-nut oil trades, and foreign vessels, hailing from
England, Germany, France, and the United States; man-of-war ships, carrying
the flags of these four nations, come and go, or rest at anchor in the channel
between the mainland and the Island. The exports reach about a million
annually, while the value of merchandise imported is in excess of that
amount.

The Island of Zanzibar, which is distant from the mainland about forty
miles, contains a population of about 200,000 inhabitants, one-half of
whom are in the town of Zanzibar. The inhabitants consist of Arabs,
Banyans, Mahommedans, Hindis, native Africans, and a considerable sprinkling
of European merchants. The Arabs are all engaged in the ivory, gum,
copal, and slave-trade, and most of them have wandered for years in the
interior of Africa, collecting the articles in which they trade, and are perfectly
familiar with the regions which Dr. Livingstone and others have made known
tous. It is no uncommon thing for an Arab trader to cross the Continent
from Zanzibar, Khiva, or Mozambique, to the West coast. They are a most
reticent class, and although they have gone through adventures, and seen
sights which would make the reputation of a European traveller, they make
no allusion to their adventures. The Banyans are the most wealthy class;

408 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and it is with money furnished by them that two-thirds of the slave-trade is
carried on. These Banyans, as Dr. Livingstone has so frequently pointed out,
are our fellow-subjects, and have hitherto carried on their detestable traffic in
human flesh under the protection of the British flag. No wonder that Living-
stone found it difficult to get letters to and from the coast, and found it next
to impossible to get stores and articles of absolute necessity delivered in the
interior. The voice of this prophet in the wilderness of Africa was pronouncing
the death-knell of their trade, and was to be stopped at all hazards. He was
too conspicuous a man, and stood too well with the native tribes, to be slain
with safety, but he might be starved out. Weary waiting and hope deferred
might tire out the iron constitution, and break the lion heart, and to this they
and their emissaries set themselves. But they had not calculated upon the
resolute endurance and high courage of the man with whom they had to deal
and the very means they took to stop his voice made it tenfold more powerful
when, through the aid of Mr. Stanley, its story of shame and horror penetrated
to the ends of the earth.

The climate of Zanzibar is not naturally unhealthy, but the almost total
want of sanitary arrangements has made it a very pest house. A little energy,
and a small money outlay, would make Zanzibar a hundred per cent.
healthier than it is; but the climate, and the influence exercised by the Arabs,
Banyans, and Hindis, soon subdues the vitality of the most energetic Kuropean,
and the Malagash inlet, a shallow arm of the sea, which makes the site of
Zanzibar a peninsula, with aneck of only 250 yards, is the receptacle for “the
undrained filth, the garbage, offal, dead mollusks, dead pariah dogs, dead cats,
all species of carrion, and remains of men and beasts unburied. ‘Were these 250
yards cut through by a ten foot ditch, and the inlet deepened slightly, Zanzibar
would become an island of itself, and what wonders would it not effect as to
health and salubrity !” On suggesting this to Captain Noble, the American
Consul, he admitted the ease with which so great an improvement could be
carried out, and the great need for it, but pleaded his utter helplessness.

“Oh,” said he, ‘it is all very well for you to talk about energy, and that
kind of thing, but I assure you that a residence of four or five years on this
island, among such people as are here, would make you feel that it was a
hopeless task to resist the influence of the example by which the most energetic
spirits are subdued, and to which they must submit in time, sooner or later.
We were all terribly energetic when we first came here, and struggled bravely
to make things go on as we were accustomed to have them at home, but we
have found that we were knocking our heads against granite walls, to no
purpose whatever. ‘These fellows—the Arabs, the Banyans, and the Hindis—
you can’t make them go faster by ever so much scolding and praying; and in a
very short time yousee the folly of fighting against the unconquerable. Be patient,
and don’t fret; that is my advice, or you won’t live very long here.”

ZANZIBAR MARKET. 409

Captain Grant, the companion of Speke, in his famous African journey,
gives some characteristic sketches of Zanzibar at the period of his visit
(1860) :—

“Though the streets of Zanzibar,” he says, “are too narrow for a
wheeled carriage, and the supply of water deficient, everything looked clean
and neatly kept; and the shopkeepers, chiefly Indians, were respectful, even
to a painful degree, rising as we passed them. The bazaar is very abundantly
supplied with vegetables, fruit, and dried fish; little butcher meat, but liquor
shops abound, and water has to be purchased—the best quality being carried
from a hot spring, which bubbles from under a rock, and tastes unpleasantly
warm. Men in the market-place have an odd way of hawking about their
goods for sale. Goats, carved doors, beds, knives, swords, etc., are all paraded
up and down, and their prices shouted out. The market for human beings is.
a triangular space, surrounded by rickety huts, thatched with cocoa-nut leaves,
and the parties of slaves (negro men and women, brought originally from the
interior of Africa), on being exhibited, are guarded by men with swords.
Some of the unhappy groups sit calmly in the market-place, looking very
clean, well-fed, and dressed, with a depressed anxious look, saying to you
with their eyes, ‘Buy me from this yoke of slavery.’ It is a very striking,
though most humiliating sight, to observe one of the Zanzibar rakish-looking
crafts, felucca rigged (called dhows) arrive from Ibo, on the mainland, crammed
with naked slaves for the market, all as silent as death. The Arab owners,
gaily dressed, stand at the stern, and one holds the colours, in seeming.
defiance of the British Consulate, as he sails past. The price of slaves was low
in 1860, only £3 each; and many Arabs would have taken less, as Colonel.
Rigby (then H.M.’s Consul), had released upwards of 4,000, who became inde-
pendent, living in a newly-made part of the town, and gaining a livelihood by.
fetching water, and selling the produce of the island.

*« The climate of Zanzibar is very relaxing, owing to the humidity of the
air, a great amount of rain falling during the year. The rain comes down in
plunges, pelting showers, or like squalls atsea, and in the intervals any bodily
exertion is attended with profuse perspiration and lassitude. . . . . The
island has two crops of grain yearly, and four of manioc, which, with dried.
shark, is the staple food of the people. They cook it in every form, making
also flour of it. One has only to walk of a morning along the roads leading to
the town, to see the productiveness of this beautiful island. Negro men and.
women, laden with mangoes, oranges, plantain, sugar-cane, grass, cocoa-nut, .
manioc, yams, sweet potato, Indian corn, ground nut, etc., go instreams to the
market. The return of these crowds is, in contrast, utterly ludicrous. Nothing
do they then carry but a'stick over their shoulders, with a cut of stale fish
hanging from it, and one wonders at the extreme poverty of the peoples in the
midst of such inv nace.

c2

410 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“Besides the above products, cloves, cotton, bajra, sorghum, coffee,
tobacco, seesamum, nutmeg, red pepper, betel-nut, catchoo-nut, jack-fruit,
papan, almond, pomegranate, and the castor-oil plant, were all seen growing. |
To remark upon a few:—The mango tree, met with everywhere, is splendidly
umbrageous, more lofty than the variety seen in Indian topes, and not so
brittle. It yields two crops yearly of stringy fruit; but there are better sorts,
such as those from Pemba Island, to be procured. The clove tree is planted in
rows, twenty feet apart, and after it has grown to the height of thirty feet, it
seems to die, as if from the effects of ants. Cotton we rarely saw. The
cocoa-nut is the most common tree ia the country, the husk, we observed,
being used as firewood, and a capital salad is made from the crown of the
trunk. The Arabs allow their slaves to cultivate the manioc gratis, under the
cocoa-nut trees, in payment for gathering the harvests of mango, cloves, ete.
The growth of the ground-nut is very curious, creeping close to the ground,
with a yellow flower, and leaf resembling clover. On the flower withering,
the pod grews underground, when it matures. The coffee-tree grows luxuri-
antly, and the sugar-cane is very fine; pomegranate does not seem to succeed.
The boundaries of farms are often marked by the castor-oil bush.” Captain
Grant arrived at Zanzibar in time to witness and compel the execution of two
of the murderers of Dr. Roscher, a German traveller, who was murdered in the
neighbourhood of Lake Nyassa, in 1858, by natives, who coveted his scientific
instruments and his small supply of stores. The Sultan of the country in
which the offence took place sent four of the natives implicated to Zanzibar
for trial. Two of them were sentenced to be decapitated, and the remaining
two gotafree pardon. The Sultan was afraid to carry the sentence into execu-
tion; and when they were brought to suffer, on the 23rd of August, and
were squatted outside the fort wall, naked to the waist, no order had come to
proceed with the execution. After the prisoners had remained in this position
for a considerable time, ‘‘a jail official announced that the Sultan wished the
Sahib to give the order, and I informed Colonel Rigby of the circumstances.
He at once saw through the timidity of the Sultan, and said, as the sentence
had been passed weeks ago, he could give no orders aboutit. Returning to the
place of execution, where both men still sat, we found the mob had increased.
An Arab boldly asked me, ‘ Why should two men suffer for one white? On
my remarking that ‘Sooner or later the men must suffer—the sun was broiling
over the poor creature’s heads—would it not be a charity to go on with the
execution ?’ the reply was, ‘They are mere animals, and have no feeling.’
Still no one would give the order. Again the Sultan was applied to. A rush
was now rudely made upon the crowd by half-a-dozen handsomely dressed
Arabs, brandishing their shields and swords. I thought it was a rescue, but
kept my place; and it appeared they only wanted to get up to the prisoners,
around whom every one laughed heartily at the momentary panic. Here one

MR. STANLEY'S BAGGAGE. All

of the guard, with whom I had been conversing, laid hold of my arm, and
followed by a noisy drummer, the prisoners, and mob, we pushed on for a
dozen yards, and stopped in an open space, where some cows were lying. A
twig of grass pinioned each man, and they were made to sit on the ground,
speaking calmly, while the crowd, all crushing around, joked as if at a holiday _
rout. Another delay occurred ; no one had given the order. On being asked
‘Might it commence? I replied, ‘Yes, certainly; proceed.’ The execu-
tioner at once took his place, drew his sword, weighed it in his hand, threw
up his sleeves, and slipped his feet out of his shoes, while the dense mass all
seemed breathless. The executioner was a small man, respectably dressed,
looking like an Indian. The prisoners sat three yards apart, one slightly in
advance of the other. The foremost was then ordered to bend his head, when,
with one stroke, the back of his neck was cut to the vertebrze; he fell forward,
and lay breathing steadily, with his right cheek in his own blood, without a
sound or struggle. The executioner, after wiping his sword on the loin cloth
of the dying man, coolly felt its edge. The other victim had seen all, and
never moyed norspoke. The same horrible scene was again enacted, but with
a different result; the man jerked upwards from his squatting position, and fell
back on his left side, with no sound nor after struggle. Both appeared as if in
a deep sleep; two chickens hopped on the still quivering bodies, and the cows
in the open space lay undisturbed.

“‘T left the spot, hoping never to witness such another scene; but I had the
satisfaction of feeling that justice was carried out, and that had I not been
present, these murderers would have escaped punishment, owing to the
effeminancy and timidity of the Sultan of Zanzibar. Their accomplices, each
with a cleft log on his neck, were taken to witness the bodies.”

Mr. Stanley gives an interesting account of the cmpedimenta he collected
for his journey, after consulting with a grey-bearded old Sheikh, and several
Arab merchants he introduced him to. Putting the number of his party at
100, he was informed that ten doti—40 yards of cloth per day—would be
sufficient for food. About 4,000 doti of various kinds of cloth were purchased.
Next in importance to cloth was the kind and quality of beads necessary.
These were selected of various colours, as only a particular kind or colour of
bead would circulate in each of the districts through which he had to pass.
Wire was anotherimportant article. Three hundred and fifty pounds of brass
wire, nearly as thick as telegraph wire, was his stock of this important com-
modity. In addition to these he purchased a plentiful supply of provisions,
cooking utensils, rope, twine, tents, bagging, canvas, tools, ammunition, guns,
bedding, hatchets, medicines, presents for chiefs, boats, &c., &c., until his
baggage weighed in all about six tons. No wonder he asked himself, ‘“‘ How
will it ever be possible to move all this inert mass across the wilderness,
stretching between the sea and the great lakes of Africa ?”

412 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

He purchased twenty donkeys, each of which would carry a load of about
140 Ibs., and the loads for the human bearers were made up into bundles of
68lbs. each. An armed escort of twenty men, whom he designates in his
narrative as soldiers, were engaged with Bombay, an old servant of Captain
_ Speke’s, in his journey to Lake Tanganyika as chief. Mabruki and other five
of Speke’s “‘ faithfuls”” were also engaged. When his escort appeared before
him, ‘‘ they were an exceedingly fine-looking body of men—far more intelli-
gent in appearance than I could ever have believed African barbarians to be.”
John William Shaw, an Englishman, third mate of an American ship, applied
for a situation in the caravan, and was engaged. The carriers could only be
engaged at Bagamoyo, on the mainland. Before leaving he was presented to
the Sultan by Captain Webb. The Sultan’s palace ‘‘is a large, roomy, lofty,
sylvan house, close to the port, built of coral, and plastered thickly with lime
mortar. In appearance, it is half Arabic, and half Italian. The shutters are
Venetian blinds, painted a vivid green, and presenting a striking contrast to
the white-washed walls.”

The party was received at the outer door of the Palace by the Sultan,
who waived them up the steps, and into the audience chamber before him. The
room was lofty, and painted in the Arabic style; the carpet was of Persian
fabric, and the furniture consisted, in addition to the chair of state, of a dozen
gilt chairs and a chandelier.

‘¢The Sultan,” says Mr. Stanley, ‘so far as dress goes, might be duleon
for a Mongolian gentleman, excepting, indeed, for the turban, whose ample
folds, in alternate colours of red, yellow, brown, and white, encircled his head.
His long robe was of dark cloth, cinctured round the waist with his rich sword-
belt, from which was suspended a gold-hilted scimitar, encased in a scabbard
also enriched with gold. His legs and feet were bare, and had a ponderous
look about them, since he suffered from that strange curse of Zanzibar—ele-
phantiasis. His feet were slipped into a pair of slippers, with thick soles, and
a strong leathern band over the instep. His light complexion and correct
features, which are intelligent and regular, bespeak the Arab patrician. They
indicate, however, nothing except his high descent and blood; no traits of
character are visible, unless there is just a trace of amiability, and perfect
contentment with himself and all around. :

‘‘ Such is Prince, or Seyd Burghash, Sultan of Zanzibar and Pemba, and
the East coast of Africa, from Somali Land to the Mozambique, as he appeared
to me. Coffee was served in cups supported by golden finjans, also some
cocoa-nut milk and rich sweet sherbet. ‘The conversation began with the
question, addressed to the Consul—

“¢Are you well?’—‘Yes, thank you; how is His Highness?’—‘Quite
well.’ :
“‘ His Highness to me. ‘ Aro you well ?’—‘ Quite well, thanks,’

A ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION. 413

‘‘The Consul now introduces business, and questions about my travels fol-
low from His Highness.

““¢ How do you like Persia? Have you seen Kerbela, Bagdad, Masr,
Stamboul? Have the Turks many soldiers? How many has Persia? Is
Persia fertile? How do you lke Zanzibar ?’

“Having answered each question to His Highness’ satisfaction, he handed
me letters to his officers at Bagamoyo and Kaole, and a general introduc-
tory letter to all Arab merchants I might meet on the road, and concluded his
remarks to me with the expressed hope, that on whatever mission I was bound,
I might be perfectly. successful.

‘“We bowed ourselves out of his presence in much the same manner as we
had bowed ourselves in, he accompanying us to the great entrance door.”

Arrived at Bagamoyo, Mr. Stanley was hospitably entertained by the
members of a Roman Catholic mission, during the time occupied in engaging
140 pagazis (bearers), and arranging to start. While Bishop Tozer, the Pri-
mate of Central Africa—who failed in establishing a mission on the Shire, after
a few weeks’ residence on the top of a mountain, where there was scarcely any
people for miles—resided at Zanzibar, the Catholic missionaries were success-
fully carrying on their labours on the mainland. Mr. Stanley’s account of
the Fathers, their station, and their work, is worth quoting :—

““The Mission is distant from the town a good half-mile, to the north of
it; it is quite a village of itself, numbering some fifteen or sixteen houses.
There are more than ten padres engaged in the establishment, and as many
sisters, and all find plenty of occupation in educing from native crania, the
fire of intelligence. ‘Truth compels me to state that they are very successful,
haying over two hundred pupils, boys and girls, in the Mission, and, from the
oldest to the youngest, they show the impress of the useful education they
have received.

«The dinners furnished to the padres and their guest consisted of as many
plats as a first-class hotel in Paris usually supplies, and cooked with nearly as
much skill, though the surroundings were by no means equal. I feel assured,
also, that the padres, besides being tasteful in their potages and entrees, do not
stultify their ideas for lack of that element which Horace, Hafiz, and Byron,
have praised so much. ‘The Champagne—think of Champagne Cliquot in
East Africa !—Lafitte, La Rose, Burgundy, and Bordeaux, were of first-rate
quality, and the meek and lowly eyes of the fathers were not a little brightened

“by the vinous influence. Ah! these fathers understand life, and appreciate
its duration. ‘Their festive board drives the African jungle fever from their
doors, while it soothes the gloom and isolation which strikes one with awe, as
one emerges from the lighted room, and plunges into the depths of the dark-
ness of an African night, enlivened only by the weary monotone of the frogs
and crickets, and the distant ululation of the hyena. It requires somewhat

414 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

above human effort, unaided by the ruby liquid that cheers, to be always
suave and polite amid the dismals of native life in Africa. After the evening
meal, the most advanced of the pupils came forward, to the number of twenty,
with brass instruments, thus forming a full band of music. It rather aston-
ished me to hear instrumental sounds issue forth in harmony from such woolly
headed youngsters; to hear well-known French music at this isolated post;
to hear negro boys, that a few months ago knew nothing beyond the traditions
of their ignorant mothers, stand forth and chant Parisian songs about French
valour and glory, with all the sang froid of gamins from the purlieus of Saint
Antoine.”

Mr. Stanley’s expedition arrived at Bagamoyo on the 6th of February,
1871, and his first caravan started on the 16th, and the last on the 21st of
March, each being under the escort of a certain number of soldiers, with one
of Speke’s ‘ Faithfuls” at their head. The number of people forming the
expedition was 192.

In melancholy contrast with this was the fate of a caravan despatched
by Dr. Kirk for Dr. Livingstone, on the Ist November, 1870. It consisted of
thirty-five packages, which required as many bearers, and it had not left Baga-
moyo on the 10th of February. One cannot help thinking, that Dr. Kirk,
knowing the need there was for promptitude if his old friend was to be re-
lieved, should have crossed the narrow channel to the mainland, and seen it
fairly started. Mr. Stanley’s formidable expedition had been collected to-
gether, and was on the march within seventy-three days of his arrival in
Zanzibar, while the Livingstone caravan had rested more than that period
on the very threshold of its journey. The knowledge that another expedition
was being collected, should have stimulated him to see to the very needful
duty that the one under his charge had at least started on its journey. No
wonder Dr. Livingstone fretted and thought that he had been utterly forgotten,
when, sick and weary, and without the means of going forward, he went and
came to and from Ujiji, until, at last, he had perforce to remain there until
relieved.

Mr. Stanley had not proceeded far when “the plague of flies” induced
him to watch their habits, and examine them with a view to identifying the
famous ¢setse fly. In his eagerness, he submitted himself as a victim to their
thirst for blood. ‘I permitted one,” he says, “ to alight on my flannel trou-
sers, which I wore when en deshabille in camp. No sooner had he alighted,
than his posterior was raised, his head lowered, and his weapons, consisting of
four hair-like styles, unsheathed from the proboscis-like bag which concealed
them, and immediatly I felt pain, like that caused by a dexterous lancet-cut,
or the probe of a fine needle. I permitted him to gorge himself, though my
patience and naturalistic instinct was sorely tried. I saw his abdominal parts
distend with the plenitude of the repast until they had swollen to three times

AN AFRICAN WALLED TOWN. A15

their former shrunken girth, when he flew away, of his own accord, laden with
blood. On rolling up my flannels to see the fountain whence the fly had
drawn the fluid, I discovered it to be a little above the left knee, by a crimson
bead resting over the incision. After wiping the blood, the wound was simi-
lar to that caused by a deep thrust of a fine needle, but all pain had vanished
with the departure of the fly.

This fly is called mabunga by the natives. It is about a third larger than
the common honey bee, and its colour more distinctly marked ; its head is
black, with a greenish gloss to it; the after-part of the body is marked by a
white line running lengthwise from its junction with the trunk, and on each
side of this white line are two other lines, one of a crimson colour, the other
of alight brown. . . This fly, along with a score of others, attacked my
grey horse, and bit it so sorely in the legs, that they appeared as if bathed in
blood. . . This I consider to be the African horse-fly.”

The second fly examined ‘was exceedingly nimble, and it occupied
three soldiers nearly an hour to capture a specimen ; and, when it was finally
caught, it stung the hand most ravenously, and never ceased its efforts to attack
until it was pinned through. It had three or four white marks across the
after-part of its body; but the biting parts of this fly consisted of two black
antenne, and an opal coloured style, which folded away under the neck.
When about to bite the style was shot out straight, and theantennz embraced
it closely.

“The third fly, called by the natives ‘ Chufwa,’ was a third larger than
the house-fly, and had long wings. This insect certainly did the most work,
and inflicted the most injury. Horses and donkeys streamed with blood, and
roared and kicked with the pain. So determined was it not to bedriven away be-
fore it obtained its fill, that it was easily despatched ; but this dreadful enemy
to cattle constantly increased in numbers. The three species above named
are, according to natives, fatal to cattle; and this may perhaps be the reason
why such a vast expanse of first-class pasture is without domestic cattle of any
kind, a few goats only being kept by the villagers. This last fly I subse-
quently found to be the ésedse.”

About the middle of April Mr. Stanley reached the town of Simbam-
wenni, which was the largest and most important town he came across in his
wanderings. It contains a population of 3,000. ‘“‘ The houses in the town are
eminently African, but of the best type of construction. ‘The fortifications are
on an Arabic-Persian model, combining Arab neatness with Persian plan.
Through a ride of 950 miles in Persia, Inever met a town outside of the great
cities better fortified than Simbamwenni. . . Well-built towers of stone
guard each corner, iron gates, one facing each cardinal point, and set: half-way
between the several towers, permit ingress and egress for its inhabitants. The
gates are closed with solid square doors, made of African teak, and carved

416 - LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

with the infinitesimally firm and complicated devices of the Arabs, from which
I suspect that the doors were either made at Zanzibar or on the coast.

The Sultana is the eldest daughter of the famous Kizabengo, a name infamous
throughout the neighbouring districts for his kidnapping propensities. He
was another Theodore on a small scale. Sprung from humble ancestry, he
acquired distinction for his personal strength, his power of harangue, and his
amusing and versatile address, by which he gained great ascendancy over
fugitive slaves, and was chosen a leader among them. Fleeing from justice,
which awaited him at the hands of the Zanzibar Sultan, he arrived in Ukami,
which extended at that time from Ukwere to Usagara, and here he commenced
a career of conquest, the result of which was the cession by the Uakami of an
immense tract of fertile country, in the valley of the Ungerengeri. On its
desirable site, with the river flowing close under the walls, he built his capital,
and called it Simbamwenni, which means ‘the lion,’ or the strongest city.”

Two days’ journey beyond Simbamwenni, Mr. Stanley had his first
attack of fever. Many of his attendants had suffered from dysentery and other
causes. ‘The rainy season had now commenced, and for miles their course was
over swollen streams and swamps, hali-wading half-swimming in the utmost
discomfort. Thefirst of May found them struggling through the mire and water
of the Mataka river, with a caravan bodily sick, from the exertion and fatigue
of crossing so many rivers, and wading through marshes. Shaw was still
suffering from his first fever; Zaidi, a soldier, was critically ill with the small-
pox. Most of the others were either really sick or driven to despair by the ~
fatigues of the journey. ‘‘I was compelled,” says Mr Stanley, ‘“ to observe
that when mud and wet sapped the physical energy of the lazily-inclined, a
dog-whip became their backs, restoring them to asound—sometimes to an
extravagant activity.”

Once clear of the valley of Mataka, the road improved, but as population
was scant, and game scarce, the expedition stopped for want of fresh meat for
several days. Farquhar broke down completely, and had to be left ‘at a
friendly village until their return; but long before Mr. Stanley passed through
on his way to the coast he was in his grave. On the Mpwapa slopes the
party suffered from a plague of ear-wigs. “In my tent,” says Mr. Stanley,
“they might be counted by thousands; in my sling cot they were by
hundreds ; on my clothes they were by fifties; on my neck and head they
were by scores. It is true they did not bite, and they did not irritate the
cuticle, but what their presence and number suggested was something so
horrible that it drove one nearly insane to think of it. . . Second to the
ear-wig in importance were the white ants, whose powers of destructiveness
were simply awful. Mats, cloth, portmanteaus, clothes, in short every article
I possessed, seemed on the verge of destruction, and, as I witnessed their
voracity, I felt anxious lest my tent should be devoured while I slept In the

ENTRY INTO UNYANYEMESE. 417

Ugogo country the various Sultans and chiefs were clamorous for presents.
Food was plentiful, and the weather fine, but the major portion of the donkeys
died. The horses had early succumbed to the climate. The population was
very numerous, and at every village hundreds of natives crowded to see the
Masungu (white men). The Wahumba, a tribe of shepherds, evoked the
traveller's admiration.

‘‘ The men are positively handsome, tall, with small heads, the posterior
parts of which project considerably. One will look in vain for a thick lip or
a flat nose amongst them; on the contrary, the mouth is exceedingly well cut,
delicately small; the nose is that of the Greeks, and so universal was this
peculiar feature that I at once named them the Greeks of Africa. Their
necks are long and slender, on which their small heads are poised most grace-
fully. Athletes from their youth, shepherd-bred, and intermarrying among
themselves, thus keeping the race pure, any of them would form a fit subject
for the sculptor who would wish to immortalise in marble an Antinous, a
Hylas, a Daphnis, or an Apollo. The women are as beautiful as the men
are handsome. They have clear ebon skins, not coal-black, but of an inky
hue. Their ornaments consist of spiral rings of brass, pendant from the ears,
brass ring collars about the neck, and a spiral cincture of brass-wire about
their loins, for the purpose of retaining the calf and goat skins, which are
folded about their bodies, and depending from the snoueler, shade one half of
the bosom, and fall to the knees.”

In the Ugogo country Mr. Stanley’s caravan was joined by those of two
Arab traders, “Sheikhs Thani and Hamed, and he had ample opportunity of
observing how the Arabs are compelled to pay heavy black mail to every
chief who is in a position to demand it. The contrasts of travel in Africa are
very striking. Before reaching the country of Ugogo the party had to force
their way through thirty miles of swamp, and flooded streams and moors.
The last week of travel, before reaching the district of Unyanyembe, the
party suffered from hunger and thirst, and the heat of the sun was all but
unsufferable. They reached Kwikuru, two miles south of Talbor, the chief
Arab settlement of Unyanyembe, on the 21st of June, and hungry and jaded
as they were, they managed to enter it with banners flying and trumpets
blowing, and the discharge of fire-arms. Outside the town they “saw a long
line of men in clean shirts, whereat we opened our charged batteries, and fired
a volley of small arms, such as Kwikuru seldom heard before. The pagazis
(carriers) closed up, and adopted the swagger of veterans. The soldiers
blazed away uninterruptedly, while I, seeing that the Arabs were advancing
towards me, left the ranks, and held my hand, which was immediately grasped
by Sheikh Sayd-bin-Salim, one of the two chief dignitaries of Unyanyembe,
and then by about two dozen other people, and thus our entree into Unyan-

yembe was effected.”
D2

418 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

The country round Tabora is exceedingly fertile, as the Arabs irrigate
portions of it, and cultivate it with care, and the merchants live in a state of
considerable coment and even luxury :—

“The plain in which the settlement is situated is exceedingly fertile,
though naked of trees; the rich pasturage it furnishes permits them to keep
large herds of cattle and goats, from which they have an ample supply of milk,
cream, butter, and ghee. Rice is grown everywhere; sweet potatoes, yams,
maize, millet, peas, are cheap everywhere, and always procurable. Around
their ¢embes the Arabs cultivate a little wheat for their own purposes, and
have planted orange, lemon, papaw, and mangoes, which thrive here fairly
well. Onions and garlic, chilies, cucumbers, tomatoes, and brinjalls, may be
procured by the white visitor from the more important Arabs, who are un-
doubted epicureans in their way. Their slaves convey to them from the coast,
once a year at least, their stores of tea, coffee, sugar, spices, jellies, curries,
wine, brandy, biscuits, sardines, salmon, and such fine clothes and articles as
they require for their own personal use. Almost every Arab of any eminence
is able to show a wealth of Persian carpets, and most luxurious bedding, com-
plete tea and coffee services, and magnificently carved dishes of tinned copper
and brass lavers. Several of them sport gold watches and chains; mostly
all a watch and chain of some kind. And, as in Persia, Afghanistan, and
Turkey, the harems form an essential feature of every Arab household, the
sensualism of the Mohammedans is as prominent here as in the Orient.

The finest-house in Unyanyembe belongs to Amram bin Mussoud, who paid
ivory for it to the value of about £700. ‘It is one hundred feet in length,
and twenty feet high, with walls four feet thick, neatly plastered over with
mud mortar. The great door is a marvel of carving-work for Unyanyembe
artizans. Hach rafter in them is also carved with fine designs. Before the
front of the house is a young plantation of pomegranate trees, which flourish
here as if they were indigenous to the soil. A shadoof,* such as may be seen
on the Nile, serves to draw water to irrigate the gardens.”

Ten days after his arrival, when he and his party had rested, Mr. Stanley
was visited by the principal Arab settlers of Tabora, which is the principal
Arab settlement of Central Asia. It consists of over one thousand houses, and
contains over five thousand inhabitants, Arabs and natives. The intelligence
he received as to the state of the country he would have to cross on his way to
Ujiji, was anything but reassuring. Mirambo, originally the head of a gang
of robbers, had usurped the lordship of a large tract of country to the west.
He had carried war and plunder far and wide, and becoming bolder with
success had, previous to Mr. Stanley’s arrival, begun to rob Arab caravans
bound for Ujiji, and refuse them passage.

* A rude hand-crane, worked with a lever.

A DELUSIVE VICTORY. 419

A council of war was held, at which it was determined to fight Mirambo
and his followers, a decision which met with much applause from all engaged
in the trade of Central Africa. As Mr. Stanley was as much interested in
forcing a passage to the west as any of them, and a brush with a native chief
would give him anew experience, and gratify his adventurous spirit, he
agreed to join them with all his available force in men and fire-arms.

While preparations were being made for engaging in war with Mirambo,
Mr. Stanley was waited upon by the head man of the Livingstone caravan he
had seen at Bagamoyo, who showed him a packet of letters addressed to Dr.
Livingstone, Ujiji, bearing the date of leaving Zanzibar Nov. Ist, 1870, on it.
“From November Ist, 1870, to February 10th, 1871, just one hundred days
at Bagamoyo. A miserable, small caravan of thirty-three men, halting one
hundred days at Bagamoyo, only twenty-five miles by water from Zanzibar.
Poor Livingstone! Who knows but he may be suffering for want of those
very supplies that were detained so long near the sea. The caravan arrived
in Unyanyembe some time about the middle of May. About the latter part
of May the first disturbance took place. Had this caravan arrived here in
the middle of March, or even the middle of April, they might have travelled
on to Ujiji without trouble.”

On the 7th of July, Mr. Stanley was insensible from an attack of fever,
and had only recovered his usual state of health on the 21st. Mr. Stanley
and the Arabs, and their forces, numbering in all 2,225 men, 1,500 of
whom were armed with guns and muskets of various kinds, marched to the
stronghold of Mfuto on the 29th of July, and on the 8rd of August, they
marched out to do battle with Mirambo. At a village called Zimbizo they
encountered the enemy, and defeated him. On the morning of the fifth day
a small detachment went out to reconnoitre, and managed to capture a spy,
who was thrown on the ground, and his head cut off immediately. Growing
yaliant over this little feat, a body of Arabs, under Soud, son of Said-bin-
Majid, volunteered to go and capture Wilyemkuru, where Mirambo was just
then with several of his principal chiefs. They were 500 in number, and
very ardent for the fight. I had suggested to the Governor, that the leader
of the 500 volunteers should deploy his men, and fire the long dry grass
before they went, that they might rout all the forest thieves out, and have a
clear field for action. But an Arab will never take advice, and they marched
out of Zimbizo without having taken this precaution. They arrived before
Wilyemkuru, and after giving a few volleys, rushed in at the gate, and
entered the village. While they rushed in at the gate, Mirambo took 400 of
his men out by another gate, and instructed them to lie down close to the
road by which the Arabs had come, and when they should return, to get up
at a given signal, and each to stab his man.

The eas found a good deal of ivory, and captured a thee) number

420 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of slaves, and having loaded themselves with everything they thought
valuable, prepared to return by the same road they had gone. When they
had arrived opposite to where the ambush party was lying on each side the
road, Mirambo gave the signal, and the forest thieves rose as one man, and
each taking hold of his man, speared him, and cut off his head. Not an Arab
escaped, but some of the slaves managed to save themselves, and bring the
news to us at Zimbizo,” The Arab soldiers, slaves, and women and chil-
dren, fled pell-mell to Unyanyembe, and Mr. Stanley, who was suffering from
another attack of fever, found himself left to fight the enemy, or make his
way out of danger as best he could. At a meeting of the chief Arabs,
Mr. Stanley told them that he was satisfied, having seen their mode of
fighting, that they would not conquer Mirambo in a year. ‘I am a white
man,” he said, ‘‘ accustomed to wars after a different style. I know some-
thing about fighting, but I never saw people run away from an encampment
like ours at Zimbizo for such cause as you had.”

Mr. Stanley turned back three days journey to Kwihara, and determined
to await the attack of Mirambo there, if he should venture on such a course.
He determined to fight the enemy, if fight he must, on his own account, and
trust to the chapter of accidents to being able to maintain his ground, and
march on to Ujiji. ‘A fortlet was rapidly constructed, in which all our arms
and effects were placed, and a lofty bamboo was procured, and planted on
the roof of our fortlet; and the American flag was run up, where it waved
joyously and grandly, an omen to all fugitives and their hunters. Then
began the work of ditch-making and digging rifle pits all around the court
or enclosure. The strong clay walls were pierced in two rows for the
muskets; the great door was kept open, with materials ready close at hand
to barricade it when the enemy came in sight; watchmen were posted on the top
of the house; every pot in the house was filled with water; provisions were
collected sufficient to stand a siege of a month’s duration; the ammunition
boxes were unscrewed, and when I saw the three thousand bright metallic
cartridges for the American carbines, I laughed within myself at the idea that,
after all, Mirambo might be settled with American lead, and all this furore of
war be ended without much trouble.

‘‘ Before six p.M., I had one hundred and twenty-five muskets, and stout
fellows who had enlisted from the fugitives; and the house, which only looked
like a fortlet at first, became a fortlet in reality, impregnable and untakeable.
All night we stood guard; the suburbs of Tabora were in flames; all the
Wanyamwezi and Wangwana houses were destroyed; and the fine house of
Abid-bin-Sulermain had been ransacked, and then committed to the flames.
Mirambo boasted that ‘ to-morrow’ Kwihara should share the fate of Tabora,
and there was a rumour that that night the Arabs were going to start for the
coast. But the morning came, and Mirambo departed, with the ivory and

HOW TO DEAL WITH DESERTERS. 421

cattle he had captured, and the people of Kwihara and Tabora breathed freer.
Here isa sketch of a morning at Unyanyembe, in which we are introduced to a
native who was destined to excite a large amount of interest in England :—

‘In the early morning, generally about 5.30 a.m., I begin to stir the
soldiers up, sometimes with a long bamboo; for you know they are such
hard sleepers, they require a good deal of poking. Bombay has his orders
given him; and Ferajji, the cook, who has long ago been warned by
the noise I make when I rouse up, is told in unmistakable tones to bring
‘chai’ (tea). For I am like an old woman; I love tea very much, and can
take a quart and a half without any inconvenience. Kululu, a boy of seven,
all the way from Cazembe’s country, is my waiter and chief butler.
He understands my ways and mode of life exactly. Some weeks ago he
ousted Selim from the post of chief butler by skill and smartness. Selim,
the Arab boy, cannot wait at table. Kululu, young antelope, is frisky.
I have but to express a wish, and it is gratified. He is a perfect Mercury,
though a marvellously black one. Tea over, Kululu cleans the dishes, and
retires under the kitchen shed, where, if I have a curiosity to know what he
is doing, he may be seen with his tongue in the tea-cup licking up the sugar
that was left in it, and looking very much as if he would like to eat the cup
for the sake of the divine element it has so often contained.

“And now I am going to say farewell to Unyanyembe for a while.
I shall never help an Arab again. He is no fighting man; or, I should say,
does not know how to fight, but knows personally how to die. They will not
conquer Mirambo within a year, and I cannot stop to see that play out.
There is a good old man waiting for me somewhere, and that impels me on.
There is a journal far off that expects me to do my duty, and I must do it.
Good-bye. Iam off the day after to-morrow for Ujiji, then perhaps to the
Congo river.” Clearly here was a man who was not to be turned aside from
his purpose on small or even great occasions. He had been sent to find
Livingstone, and find him he had determined upon, if he was alive.

Captains Speke and Grant spent a considerable time in the neighbourhood
of Kwihara. The account of the latter forms an interesting pendant to Mr.
Stanley’s narrative :—

““The province of Unyanyembe has nearly four months of rain, commenc-
ing in the end of November, and winding up with the greatest fall in Febru-
ary. As soonas the soil of sand, or black, spongy mould, has softened, the
seed is dropped, and by the Ist of February all is green as an emerald. The
young rice has to struggle for fifteen days against the depredations of a small,
black caterpillar, green underneath. It is a precarious time for the agricultu-
rist, for if rain does not fall, the crop is lost, being eaten close by this insect.
Women walk in the fields, with small hand-picks, loosening the soil, clearing
it of weeds and worms. There is only one crop in the year, and all the cereals

429, LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

known in Zanzibar are grown here. Cotton was considered by an Indian
resident to be as fine as that grown in Kutch, but he said they had no
use for it, merely burning it as wick. The surrounding country
is devoid of game, but within a long day’s march a forest was visited, where
various antelopes, giraffes, lions, and a few elephants, might be met with along
the valley of the Wallah river. The scales of an armadillo were seen worn
as a charm, three inches across and striated or lined at one end. One man
had a superstition that the person who found a live armadillo would become a
king—meaning, I imagine, that it was so rare. However, we came upon a
pet one, at 3° N. latitude. About the cultivations, near the village, no
singing-birds are ever heard; but the plumage of those seen is often very
brilliant. Flocks of beautiful little birds, with black bodies, golden-tinted
scarlet heads and backs, pecked at the ears of corn; or in the rice-fields,
the favourite of the Cape farmers, the “locust bird,” black, and looking
like a curlew when walking, went tamely about. Crows, with a ring of
white round the neck, were seen in two’s and three’s. The matting in the
house was full of bugs, or ticks, which pestered one while seated at night,
causing considerable irritation

“Let me give the reader some idea of our life here. Moosah, an
Indian, in whose house we resided, was a fine benevolent old man, with an
establishment of three hundred natives, men and women, round him. His
abode had, three years ago, taken two months to build, and it was surrounded
by a circular wall, which enclosed his houses, fruit and vegetable gardens,
and his stock of cattle. The lady who presided over the whole, was of most
portly dimensions, and her word was law. Moosah sat from morn till night
with his ‘ Foondee,’ or chief manager, and other head servants, within sight,
receiving salutes and compliments from the rich and poor at the front, or
gentlemen's side of the house, while the lady presided over the domestic
arrangements of the interior. We had full access to both; and no house
could be conducted with greater regularity. At three o’clock in the morning,
Moosah, who had led a hard life in his day, would call out for his little pill
of opium, which he never missed for forty years. This would brighten him
up till noon. He would then transact business, chat, and give you the gossip
at any hour you might sit by him on his carpet. To us it seemed strange,
that he never stopped talking when prayers from the Koran were being read
to him by a ‘ Birkeen,’ or Madagascar man. Perhaps he had little respect
for the officiating priest, as the same reverend and learned gentleman was
accustomed to make his shirts. After a mid-day sleep, he would refresh
himself with a second and larger pill, transact business, and so end the day.
The harem department presented a more domestic scene. At dawn, women
in robes of coloured chintz, their hair neatly plaited, gave fresh milk to the
swarm of black cats, or churned butter in gourds, by rocking it to and fro in

MOOSAH’S COW-HERDS. 493

their laps. By seven o’clock the whole place was swept clean. Some of the
household fed the game fowls, or looked after the ducks and pigeons; two
women, chained by the neck, fetched firewood, or ground corn at a stone;
children would eat together without dispute, because a matron presided over
them; all were quiet, industrious beings, never idle, and as happy as the
day was long. When any of Moosah’s wives gave birth to a child there was
universal rejoicing; the infant was brought to show its sex ; and when one
died, the shrill laments of the women were heard all night long. When a
child misbehaved, our white men were pointed, BY to frighten it, as nurses at
home too often do with ghost stories.

“¢ ‘The most important functionary about this court was the head keeper, or
Foondee, who had been a slave all his life, and now possessed a village, with
a farm and cattle. His daily duty was to sit within sight of his master. On
Speke calling to see his collection of horses, and extract a bullet from the leg
of one of his slaves, the Foondee madeus heartily welcome. Stools were placed,
and in gratitude for the operation he produced some ripe plantain, and showed
us about his premises. He also took us to one of his favourite shooting-
grounds, where he certainly knew how to make himself comfortable. His
seryants had constructed for him a most luxurious waterproof hut, with broad
stripes of freshly-cut bark, and a capital bedstead of boughs. At night five
fires were kept burning round him to keep off the mosquitoes. The grate was
most original : three stout pegs of green wood, driven into the ground, forming
an equilateral triangle, answered every purpose of an iron utensil, and in it a
frying-pan, made of bark, frizzled mushrooms and meat to the chief’s satis-
faction. By his own account, he had shot many lions from trees; and during
the march to and from Zanzibar, with his master’s property, he, with a staff
of under-keepers, used to supply the porters with rations from wild animals,
which plan saved the expenditure of bead-money. He had many sporting
stories. The lion, he said, seldom killed men; but, not long ago, he had
jumped the wall of the building, and killed five cows, two of which he
dragged over the wall—the natives fearing to impede his course.

Moosah’s cow-herds were a very interesting set of people—so well
featured, tall, and generally superior to the Africans, that I took great
interest in them. They were Watusi, from Karague. There were ten men
and women, all with woolly hair—the men leaving a crescent of it unshaved.
Their gums were blackened with a preparation from the tamarind-seed,
powdered, roasted, and mixed into a paste with blue vitriol, and afterwards
heated until fit for use. Their ornaments were large, solid rings of brass
upon the wrists, and iron rings, in masses, on their ankles. In walking, they
carried a bow and arrow, a staff, and long-stemmed pipe. The women were
of a large stamp, with fine oval faces, and erect figures, clad in well-dressed
cow-skin, from above the waists to their small feet. Their huts were quite

424 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

different from any we had seen, being shaped like the half of an orange,
and only five feet high, made of boughs, and covered with grass very neatly.
There was but one door; the hut had no chimney, the smoke finding its way
through the light, grass roof. I observed a portable Indian ‘chivlah’ or
fireplace inside the hut, which was tidily floored with hay. These natives
are a curious and distinct race. Previous to milking the cows in the morning,
they wash themselves, their teeth, and their wooden milk vessels or gourds,
with the urine of the animal, as they consider there is some virtue in it,
afterwards using fresh water for cleansing. They are allowed half the milk,
and Moosah had his half milked into his own elean vessel, in the morning
at eight o’clock. It took the milk of two cows to fill one good-sized tin
tea-pot. A cow’s value was four or five dollars, though a first-class one would
cost double, or two pounds. Men milked them into a large crucible of wood
or gourd, in an open yard; the hind-legs were tied above the hocks with a
thong of leather ; one of the handsome women sat on the other side, with a
bough beating off the flies, and with a stick to keep away the calf, which
stood at its mother’s head, a boy sometimes assisting. Should the calf die,
its skin is stuffed and placed before the cow, otherwise she refuses to
milk. The Wanyamwezi look with great respect on this people. When two
of them meet, the Wezee puts both his palms together; these are gently
clasped by the Watusi, a few inaudible words are repeated, and they pass on.
The form of salutation, when a native meets one of his women senior to
himself, is gentle and pleasing; he places his hands on her arms, below her
shoulders, while her hands hang by her sides.”

The following interesting picture of African village life and industry, by
Captain Grant, refers to the country a few days’ march to the south of
Kwihara.

“The flora was new and interesting ; but we were amazed at not seeing
better crops, as grasses, with pendant panicles, grew luxuriantly ten feet high.
The surface-soil, however, was very light, merely the washings of the hill-
sides brought down in a stream of red clay grit. In this tract of country we |
came upon groups of palms, not met with since we left the coast. They were
converted into many uses—fences, thatching, firewood, and uprights for
building, ete. Toddy, also, was occasionally extracted. The fruit hung
down in rich, large, tempting clusters, at the mercy of any hungry traveller.
We observed some of these palms, with their leaf stalks still remaining in
the tree, to be the support and life of a species of ficus, growing like a
parasite, luxuriantly healthy, its roots not near the ground, but forming a
complete network round the stem of the palm. 'Tamarind-trees, so umbra-
geous and beautiful in outline, were numerous. There were also the runner,
from ten to twelve feet high; and the tree, a ficus, whose bark affords the
Waganda their clothing, was here seen for the first time. The bark is taken

NATIVE AGRICULTURE. 425

off in strips, according to the size they can get it, then damped and beaten by
heavy wooden hammers till pliant, and afterwards sewn into a shirt, the
colour of Chamois leather, but much thicker; the outer bark is thrown away.
Near the villages a few scrubby bushes of cotton were grown upon mounds
made by white ants. Looms of the rudest construction converted the pro-
duce of these into a hard, very stout, heavy cloth, about four or five feet in
size, with one-fourth of it a black border, and woven by women only.
Sessamum grew in ridges with the sorghum; its oil, and that extracted from
the ground-nut, being used by the natives for smearing themselves from head
to foot, giving their skins a handsome colour, like the gloss on polished
marble. To vary the colour some red clay is added. The sorghum is some-
times afilicted with a black blight, but the natives do not think this any dete-
rioration; all goes into the mill. They live upon Indian corn, ulezee,
sorghum, made into flour, by rubbing the grains between stones, as a house-
painter pounds colours. Their vegetables are sweet potato, and the leaves,
flowers, and fruits of pumpkins; and they brought us, daily, ground nuts,
tobacco, and fowls, for sale. On the 3rd of April, the rice-harvest was being
gathered in; but we perceived no traces of irrigation, asin Egypt. Abundant
rains gaye an ample crop. The reapers consisted of negro women and girls,
who sang pleasantly, though the scene was marred by the sight of a gang of
men-slayes, heavily ironed together by their necks, with some superintend-
ants, gleaning. ‘Those who had small knives, cut the stalk four or five inches
below the grain, and held it in their left hand till the hand was full, when it
was placed in a huge tub of bark lying in the field.

The thrashing of the rice was novel. A quantity of ears was placed upon
a cow’s hide, slaves in irons were made to work it with their toes and feet, and
winnow it in the wind; and after being thoroughly sun-dried upon a clear
space of cow-dunged ground, it was fit for the process of shelling in the large
pestle and mortar. Ifa considerable amount was to be thrashed, a bludgeon
answered the purpose of the negro’s feet. The stubble would afterwards be
turned over with powerful long-handled hoes, beds of the soil made, and the
suckers or offshots of the sweet potato planted there by bands of twenty or
thirty villagers, shouting and singing the whole time. If one Seedee (negro)
had to clean rice in the wooden mortar, a dozen hands would set about the
work of two. It could not bedone without those who worked keeping time
with their feet to the song, the lookers-on clapping hands, and stamping with
their feet. The work and song never ceased until the rice was pounded
almost into dust—such joyous, reckless creatures are these Africans. Yams
are grown upon mounds of earth, placed all over a field, the branches of the
plant trained upon a stick, or more commonly allowed to crawl over the
ground. They do not attain a great growth. Grain is buried under the eaves

of stack-shaped huts, or a clustered mass of Indian-corn may be seen suspended
E2

426 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

from the bough of a tree, as exhibited in the illustration of ‘ Unyamwezi
harvest,’ in Captain Speke’s Journal.

‘¢ Provisions were all remarkably cheap upon the route. A fat cow was
purchased for four fathoms of calico; another full-sized cow and four small
goats were got for eight fathoms ; but three small goats were a bargain at the
same price; a donkey was offered for fourteen, but he would have been dear
at half the amount. For a fowl, one native demanded a charge of gunpowder,
and would noi sell it for anything else; another native led in a goat to camp,
saying if we repaired his old flint-musket we should have the animal; he
refused to bargain for anything else. For two quarts of impure honey, ten
strings of common beads and a fathom of calico were asked, but not given.
Milk was not always to be had, the people being afraid to keep heads of cattle,
as they would attract the plundering Watuta race. Milk sometimes cost three
strings of beads per pint; twelve measures of rice, one fathom of calico;
sweet potatoes were one-tenth of the price they brought at Zanzibar; a basin-
ful of ground nuts, or a load of wood, cost but one string of ordinary beads.

‘‘The people preferred keeping a few milk-cows, being more productive
than oxen, which were rarely met with, except one or two, fattened up to a
large size, on purpose to be killed on the visit of a neighbouring Sultan, or to
celebrate some success in war. After the cattle have been brought in at night,
a quantity of rubbish is allowed to smoke and smoulder in the centre of the
fold. It was amusing to watch how each animal took up its nightly position,
never altering it, and thoroughly enjoying the smoke, which prevented them
from being annoyed by insects. ‘The sheep were very stupid-looking animals,
small, and wanting in rotundity.

“‘ We had daily visits from the women of the country, who came in parties.
They were copper-coloured, and flat featured, and wore round their necks a
profusion of pendent bead necklaces, of the colour of the mountain-ash berry;
their ankles were concealed with masses of wire rings. For hours they sat
silently before us, smoking, nursing, and shampooing the limbs and necks of
their infants; some wore the heavy cloth of the country, others had soiled
robes of calico. Young girls, many of them with pleasing faces, and plump
round figures, wore merely a diminutive cloth about their loins, and infants
had a fringe of beads. . . . We saw some decidedly handsome girls on
this route: their men attend upon cattle exclusively, while they stay at home
doing household work, cooking, coquetting, and showing off their beautiful
feet and ankles. Two, in the bloom of youth, sat by us, with their arms most
affectionately twined round each other’s necks. The arms were at once dropped,
exposing their beautiful necks and busts, quite models for a ‘Greek Slave.’
Their woolly hair was combed out, and raised up from the forehead and over
the ears by a broad band, made from the skin of a milk-white cow; this con-
trasted strikingly with their beautiful light copper skins.”

FOREST SCENERY. 497

When Mr. Stanley arrived at his next camping ground—Mkwenkwe—he
found that his attendants, who had gone before to make preparations, had deserted.
in a body, and returned to Kwihara. Tomake matters worse, he was suffering
fromfever. Theawkward position in which he found himself roused his indomit-
able pluck, and enabled him to throw off the fever which oppressed him ; and the
men who stood true to him having collected the scattered fugitives, after a couple
of days’ rest he continued his march. After reaching Kasegera, two of his
followers deserted. When brought back, he had them tied up and flogged, and
then fastened them together with a chain. This mode of treatment he found
to be quite successful in quelling insubordination. He says in regard to it:
‘“‘T was determined to try a new method, not having the fear of Exeter Hall
before my eyes; and I am happy to say to-day, for the benefit of all future
travellers, that it is the best method yet adopted, and that I will never tread
in Africa again without a good long chain.” A few days after this, Shaw the
Englishman broke down, partly from illness and partly from fear, and was sent
back to Unyanyembe.

The following extract gives a graphic picture of the country he was
marching through:—‘‘ We were about entering the immense forest that
separates Unyanyembe from the district of Ugunda. In lengthy, undulating
waves, the land stretched before us—the new land which no European knew— —
the unknown mystic land. The view which the eyes hurry to embrace as we
ascend some ridge higher than another, is one of the most disheartening which
can be conceived. Away, one beyond another, were the lengthy rectilinear
ridges clad in the same garb—woods, woods, woods; forests, leafy branches,
green and yellow, and dark-red and purple; then an undefinable ocean, bluer
than the bluest sky. The horizon all round shows the same scene—a sky
dropping into the depths of the endless forest, with but two or three tall giants
of the forest, higher than their neighbours, which are conspicuous in their out-
lines, to break the monotony of the scene. On no one point do our eyes rest
with pleasure; they have viewed the same outlines, the same forest, and the
same horizon, day after day, week after week; and again, like Noah’s dove,
from wandering over a world without a halting-place, they return wearied with
the search.”

At Ugunda Mr. Stanley had an interview with a friendly chief, Maman-
yara, ‘‘a tall, stalwart man, with a pleasing face. He carried in his hand a
couple of spears, and, with the exception of a well-worn barsati round his
loins, he was naked. Three of his principal men and himself were invited to
seat themselves on my Persian carpet. They began to admire it excessively,
and asked if it came from my country. Where was my country? Was it
large? How many days toit? Waslaking? Had I many soldiers? were
questions quickly asked, and as quickly answered; and the ice being broken,
the chief being as candid as I was myself, he grasped my forefinger and middle

428 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

fingers, and vowed we were friends. _ 'The revolvers and Winchester’s repeating
rifle were things so wonderful that to attempt to give you any idea of how
awe-struck he and his were, would task my powers. The chief roared with
laughter ; he tickled his men in the ribs with his forefinger; he clasped their
fore and middle fingers, vowed that the Masungu (white man) was a wonder,
a marvel, and no mistake. Did they ever see anything like it before? ‘No,’
as solemnly as before. Is he not a wonder? Quite a wonder—positively a
wonder.”

Pushing onwards, he made the acquaintance of the honey bird, and while
in timbered country never lacked the agreeable addition of honey to their
meals. The honey bird “is a pretty bird, not much larger than a wren.
When it sees a human being it becomes very busy all at once, hops and skips
and flies from branch to branch with marvellous celerity. The traveller lifts
up his eyes, beholds the tiny little bird hopping about, and hears its sweet call,
‘Sweet—Sweet—Sweet!’ Ifhe is a Wokonongo (anative tribe given to honey-
hunting), he follows it. Away flies the bird on to another tree; then springs
to another branch nearer to the begging man, as if to say, ‘ Shall I—must I
come and fetch you?’ Another, assured by the advance of its friend, rushes
off to another tree, coquets about, and sweets his call rapidly—sometimes more
earnest and loud, as if chiding the traveller for being soslow; and so on, until
at last the treasure is found and secured. As the honey bird is a very busy
little animal, while the man secures his treasure of honey, he holds himself
ready for another flight, and to discover another treasure.”

The following illustrates the trouble he had in maintaining discipline
among his own followers. A man of less courage and nerve must either have
laid down his life there and then, or have been compelled to abandon the
expedition for a time, if not for altogether. Three hours’ journey from the
banks of the Gombe, where they had rested for three days, his men halted, and
refused to proceed. The rapid marching was beginning to tell upon them, and
they wished to remain encamped several days, where, from the quantity of
game about, they could rest and enjoy abundance. LKver since he had left
Kwihara, Stanley had been possessed by a feverish eagerness to push forward,
and was in consequence in no mood to submit to any needless detention. We
will let him tell what happened in his own words :—

“As I was walking up to see what was the matter, I saw the guide and his
brother sitting on an ant-hill, apart from the other people, fingering their guns
in what appeared to be a most suspicious manner. Calling Selim, I took the
double-barrelled smooth-bore, and slipped in two charges of buckshot, and then
walked on to my people, keeping an eye, however, upon the guide and his
brother. I asked Bombay to give me an explanation of the stoppage. He
would not answer, though he mumbled something sullenly, which was unin-
telligible to me. I looked on the other people, and perceived that they acted

BEATING SORGO

BLACKSMITHS

VILLAGE

A MUTINY QUELLED. 429

in an irresolute manner, as if they feared to take my part, or were of the same
mood as the party on the ant-hill. I was but thirty paces from the guide, and
throwing the barrel of the gun into the hollow of my left hand, I presented it
cocked at the guide, and called out to him, if he did not come to me at once I
would shoot him, giving him and his companions to understand that I had
twenty-four small bullets in the gun, and thatI could blow them to pieces. In
a very reluctant manner they advanced towards me. When they were
sufficiently near I ordered them to halt; but the guide, as he did so, brought
his gun to the present, with his finger on the trigger, and, with a treacherous
and cunning smile, which I perfectly understood, he asked what I wanted of
him. His companion, while he was speaking, was sidling to my rear, and was
impudently engaged in filling the pan of his musket with powder; but a threat
to finish him if he did not go back to his companion, and there stand till I gave
him permission to move, compelled this villainous Thersite to execute the
‘right about’ with a promptitude which caused commendation from me. Then
facing my Ajax of a guide with my gun, I next requested him to lower his
gun if he did not wish to receive the contents of mine in his head; and I do
not know but what the terrible catastrophe, warranted by stern necessity, had
occurred then and there, if Mabruki (bull-headed Mabruki, but my faithful
porter and faithfullest soldier) had not dashed the man’s gun aside, asking him
how he dared level his gun at his master, and then throwing himself at my
feet, prayed me to forgive him. . . . When Mabruki’s prayer for forgive-
ness was seconded by that of the principal culprit that I would overlook his
offence, I was able to act as became a prudent commander, though I felt some
remorse that I had not availed myself of the opportunity to punish the guide
and his companion as they eminently deserved. . . . However,as Bombay
could not bend himself to ask forgiveness, I came to the conclusion that it were
best he should be made to feel the penalty for stirring dissensions in the
expedition, and be brought to look with a more amiable face upon the scheme
of proceeding to Ujiji through Ukonongo and Ukawendi; and I at at once
proceeded about it with such vigour, that Bombay’s back will for as long a
time bear traces of the punishment which I administered to him, as his front
teeth do of that which Speke (he had been a servant of Speke’s) rightfully
bestowed on him some eleven years ago.”

After a time the character of the scenery changed, and this, together with
rapid movement, and the almost certainty that Lake Tanganyika would be
speedily reached, had the effect of raising the spirits of every member of the
expedition. ‘This is his description of the country within fourteen days of the
great lake, on whose shore he hoped to find the object of his search :—

‘‘ Here and there were upheaved above the tree-tops sugar-loaf hills; and
darkly blue, west of us, loomed a noble ridge of hills, which formed the
boundary between Kamiramba’s territory and that of Utendi. Elephant tracks

430 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

became numerous, and buffalo met the delighted eyes everywhere. Crossing
the mountainous ridge of Mivara, with its lengthy slope slowly declining
westward, the vegetation became more varied, and the outlines of the land
before us more picturesque. We grew satiated with the varieties of novel fruit
which we saw hanging thickly on the trees. There was the Mbember, with
the taste of an over-ripe peach; the Tamarind pod and beans, with their
grateful acidity, resembling somewhat the lemon in their flavour; the
Matonga, or nux vomica, was welcome; and the luscious Singive, the plum of
Africa, was most delicious of all. There were wild plums like our own, and
grapes unpicked, long past their season, and beyond eating.

‘“‘ Guinea-fowl, the moor-hen, ptarmigan, and ducks, supplied our tables;
and often the hump of a buffalo, or an extravagant piece of venison, filled our
camp-kettles. My health was firmly re-established. The faster we prosecuted
our journey, the better I felt. I had long bidden adieu to the nauseous calomel
and rhubarb compounds, and had become quite a stranger to quinine. There
was only one drawback to it all, and that was the feeble health of the Arab
boy, Selim, who was suffering from an attack of acute dysentery, caused by
inordinate drinking of the bad water at the pools at which we had camped
between Manyara and Mvera; but judicious attendance, and Dover’s powders,
brought the boy round again. After a halt of three days at this village for
the benefit of the Arab boy, we proceeded westerly. . . Traversing a dense
forest of young trees, we came to a plain dotted with acres of ant-hills. Their
uniform height (about seven feet high above the plain) leads me to believe that
they were constructed during an unusually wet season, and when the country
was inundated for a long time in consequence. The surface of the plain also
bore the appearance of being subject toinundations. Beyond this plain about
four miles we came to a running stream of purest water—a most welcome sight,
aiter so many months spent by brackish pools.”

Pushing onwards, their proximity to the Tanganyika lake was evident
from the number of streams, all trending towards that goal of their hopes.
The neighbourhood of these streams was thickly covered with brushwood, and
the vicinity of these was dreaded by his followers, and not without cause. He
says :—‘‘ The undergrowth of bushes and tall grass, dense and impenetrable,
likely resorts of leopard, lion, and wild boar, were enough to appal the stout-
est heart. One of my donkeys, while being driven to water along a narrow
path edged by the awesome brake on either side, was attacked by a leopard,
which fastened its fangs in the poor animal’s neck; and it would have made
short work of it, had not its companions set up a braying chorus that might
well have terrified a score of leopards. And that same night, while encamped
contiguous to the limpid stream of Mtambu, with that lofty line of enormous
trees rising dark and awful above us, the lions issued from the brakes beneath,
and prowled about a well-set bush defence of our camp, venting their fearful

SCENERY OF UKAWENDI 431

clamour without intermission until morning. Towards daylight they retreated
towards their leafy caverns, for—
‘ There the lion dwells—the Monarch,

Mightiest among the brutes ;

There his right to reign supremest

Never one his claim disputes ;.

There he layeth down to slumber,

Having slain and ta’en his fill ;

There he roameth, there he coucheth,

As it suits his lordly will’
And few I believe would venture therein to dispute it. Not I, ‘i faith,’ when
searching after Livingstone.”

He has a different story to tell of the southern portion of the same region.
He says: “‘ The fairest portion of Californian scenery cannot excel, though it
may equal, such scenes as Ukawendi can boast of, and yet a land as large as
the State of New York is almost uninhabited. Days and days one may travel
through primeval forests; now ascending ridges overlooking broad, well-
watered valleys, with belts of valuable timber crowning the banks of the river;
and behold exquisite bits of scenery—wild, fantastic, picturesque, and pretty
—all within the scope of vision, whichever way one may turn. And, to crown
the glories of this lovely portion of earth, underneath the surface but a few
feet is one mass of iron ore, extending across three degrees of longitude, and
nearly four of latitude, cropping out at intervals, so that the traveller cannot
remain ignorant of the wealth lying beneath.

“Ah me! what wild and ambitious projects fill a man’s brain as he looks
over the forgotten and unpeopled country, containing in its bosom such stores
of wealth, and with such an expanse of fertile soil capable of sustaining mil-
lions! What a settlement one could have in this valley! See, it is broad
enough to support a large population. Fancy a church spire where that tree
rears its dark crown of foliage, and think how well a score or so of pretty
cottages would look, instead of those thorn clumps and gum trees!

“‘ Fancy this lovely valley teeming with herds of cattle, and fields of corn
spreading to the right and left of this stream! How much better would such
a state of things become this valley, than the present deserted and wild aspect!
But be hopeful; the day will come, and a future year will see it when happier
lands haye become crowded, and nations have become so overgrown, that
they have no room to turn about. It really wants an Abraham or a Lot, an
Alaric or an Attila, to lead their hosts to this land, which perhaps has been
wisely reserved for such a time.”

Leaving this unpeopled paradise behind them, the party had several
weary days’ march over a country as rocky and sterile as the Sierra Nevada,
which, in its rocky hills, and dry, stony watercourses, reminded Mr. Stanley
of the country round Magdala. Their provisions were all but exhausted,

432 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and they were suffering from thirst, and foot-sore and weary, when they reached
the village of ason of the chief of Uzogera, where they were hospitably enter-
tained. From this point the country improved at every step, although many
difficulties had yet to be overcome, the principal of which were the heavy
tributes exacted by warlike chiefs for leave to pass through their territory.
Mr. Stanley’s account of a natural bridge, across which the expedition passed
with safety, cannot fail to be interesting. ‘‘ Fancy,” he says, ‘a river as
broad as the Hudson at Albany, though not near so deep or swift, covered
over with water-plants and grasses, which had become so interwoven and
netted together as to form a bridge covering its entire length and breadth,
under which the river flowed calm and deep below. It was over this natural
bridge we were expected to cross. Adding to the tremor which one naturally
felt at having to cross this frail bridge was the tradition that, only a few yards
higher up, an Arab and his donkey, thirty-five slaves, and sixteen tusks of
ivory, had been suddenly sunk for ever out of sight. As one-half of our column
had already arrived at the centre, we on the shore could see the network of
grass waving on either side, and between each man; in one place like the
swell of the sea after a storm, and in another like a small lake violently ruffled
by a squall. Hundreds of yards away from them it ruffled and undulated,
one wave after another. As we all got on it, we perceived it to sink about a
foot, forcing the water on which it rested into the grassy channel formed by
our footsteps. One of my donkeys broke through, and it required the united
strength of ten men to extricate him. The aggregate weight of the donkey
and men caused that portion of the bridge on which they stood to sink about
two feet, and a circular pool of water was formed. I expected every minute
to see them sink out of sight. Fortunately we managed to cross the trea-
cherous bridge without further accident. Arrived on the other side, we struck
north, passing through a delightful country, in every way suited for agricul-
tural settlements, or happy mission stations. ‘The primitive rock began to
show itself anew in eccentric clusters, or a flat-topped rock on which the vil-
lages of the Wavinza were seen, and where the natives prided themselves on
their security, and conducted themselves accordingly in an insolent and for-
ward fashion, though I believe that with forty good rifles I could have made
the fellows desert their country en masse. But a white traveller's motto in
these lands is, do, dare, and endure; and those who have come out of Africa
alive have generally to thank themselves for their prudence rather than their
temerity.”

At last their eyes were gladdened by the sight of the broad and swift
Malagarazi, an influent of Lake Tanganyika, The goal was nearly won; a
few days’ march, and the mighty lake of Central Africa would be spread out
before their gaze. The principal Sultan of Uvinza, the country bordering on
the Malagarazi, was Kiala, the eldest son of Uzogera. The command of the

THE CROCODILES OF THE MALAGARAZI. 433

river gave him great power as a levier of black-mail from travellers passing
through his country, which he used to the uttermost. After much higeling,
Stanley had to give 92 yards of cloth for the privilege of passing through his
country. The tribute for passing the river had still to be settled, and after a
long and stormy discussion, this was arranged. ‘‘ Finally,” he says, ‘seven
doti (28 yards of cloth) and ten pounds of Sam-Sami beads were agreed upon;
aiter which we marched to the ferry, distant half a mile from the scene of so
much contention. The river at this place was not more than thirty yards
broad, sluggish, and deep. Yet I would prefer attempting to cross the Missis-
sippi by swimming, rather than the Malagarazi. Such another river for croco-
diles—erocodiles cruel as death, I cannot conceive. Their long tapering heads
dotted the river everywhere, and though I amused myself pelting them with
two ounce balls, I made no effect upon their numbers.

“Two canoes discharged their live cargo on the other side of the river,
when the story of Captain Burton’s passage across the Malagarazi higher up
was brought vividly to my mind by the extortions which now commenced.
About twenty or so of the chief’s men had collected, and backed by them he
became insolent. Ii it were worth while to commence a struggle for two or
three more doti of cloth, the mere firing of one revolver at such close quarters
would have settled the day; but I could not induce myself to believe it was
the best way of proceeding, taking in view the object of our expedition. And
accordingly, this extra demand was settled at once with as much amiability as
I could muster; but I warned him not to repeat it; and to prevent him from
doing so, ordered a man to each canoe, and to be seated there with a loaded
gun in each man’s hand. After this little episode we got on very well until
the men, excepting two, besides Bombay and myself, were safe on the other
side. . . . We then drove a donkey into the river, having first tied a
strong halter to his neck; but he had hardly reached the middle of the river
when a crocodile beneath seized him by the neck and dragged him under,
after several frantic but ineffectual endeavours todraw him ashore. A sadness
stole over all, after witnessing this scene ; and asthe shades of night had now
drawn around us, and iad tinged the riyer to a black, dismal colour, it was
with a feeling of relief that the fatal stream was crossed, and we all set foot
ashore.”

More and yet more pillage in name of tribute had the party to undergo.
After paying tribute to the chief of Kawanga, the party marched forward
cheerfully, when they were overtaken by a party, who demanded why they
attempted to pass without paying the tribute to the King of Ubha. In their
innocence they thought they had settled with him when they satisfied his
subordinate Kawanga. Mionvu, another subordinate of the King of Ubha,
came up to them to receive his master’s tribute.

“He was,” says Mr Stanley, ‘‘robed most royally, after the fashion of

F2

434 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Central Africa, in a crimson cloth, arranged toga-like over his shoulder, and
depending to his ankles; and a brand new piece of Massachusetts shirting
folded around his head He greeted us graciously; he was the prince of
politeness ; shook hands first with myself, then with my head men, and cast a
keen glance around, in order, as I thought, to measure our strength. Then
seating himself, he spoke with deliberation, something in this style:—‘ Why
does the white man stand in the road? The sun is hot, let him seek the
shelter of my village, when we can arrange this little matter between us.
Does he not know that there is a king in Ubha, and that I, Mionvu, am his
servant? It is a custom with us to make friends with great men, such as
the white man. All Arabs and Wanguana stop here, and give us cloth.
Does the white man mean to go on without paying? Why should he desire
war? I know he is stronger than we are here; his men have guns, and we
have but spears and arrows; but Ubha is large, and has plenty of people. The
children of the king are many. If he comes to be a friend to us, he will come
to our village, give us something, and then go his way.’

‘The armed warriors around applauded the speech of Miovnu, because
it spoke the feelings with which they viewed our bales. Certain am I,
though, that one portion of his speech—that which related to our being
stronger than the Ubha—was an untruth, and that he knew it, and that he
only wished we would start hostilities, in order that he might have good reason
for seizing the whole. It is not new to you, of course, if you have read this
letter through, to find that the representative of the Herald was held of small
account here, and never one did I see who would care a bead for anything
that you would ever publish against him; so the next time you want me to
enter Africa, I only hope you will think it worth while to send 100 good men
from the Herald office to punish this audacious Mionvu, who neither fears the
New York Herald nor the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’
_ “T submitted to Mionvu’s proposition, and went with him to his village,
when he fleeced me to his heart’s content. His demand, which he adhered to
like a man who knew what he was about, was one good bale of cloth,
apportioned between the king, himself, his wife, three of his chief men, and
his son, a little boy. I went to bed that night like a man on the verge of
ruin. However, Mionyu said we would have to pay no more in Ubha. Not-
withstanding this, a brother of Mionvu’s levied black mail on the traveller at a
village further to the west, and further exactions were eluded by starting in the
middle of the night, and keeping clear of the villages.”

At last they areat ‘the base of a hill, from the top of which the
Kirangozi (a native tribe) said we would obtain a view of Lake Tanganyika.

5 On arriving at the top, we beheld it at last from the spot whence

aronealty Burton and Speke looked at it, ‘the one in a half-paralyzed state,
the other almost blind.’ Indeed, I was placed at the right, and as we

UJTJI AT LAST. 435

——

descended, #4 opened more and more into view, until it was revealed at last
into a great inland sea, bounded westward by an appalling black-blue range of
mountains, and stretching north and south, without bounds, a grey expanse
of water.”

After feasting their eyes on this longed-for prospect, they hurry on with
eager footsteps. ‘‘From the western base of the hill there was a three hours’
march, though no march ever passed off so quickly—the hours seemed to have
been quarters—we had seen so much that was novel and rare to us who had
been travelling so long in the highlands. The mountains bounding the lake
on the eastward receded, and the lake advanced. We had crossed the Ruche,
or Liuche, and its thick belt of matete grass; we had plunged into a perfect
forest of them, and had entered into the cultivated fields which supply the
port of Ujiji with vegetables, etc ; and we stood at last on the summit of the
last hill of the myriads we had crossed, and the port of Ujiji, embowered in
palms, with the tiny waves of the silver waters of the Tanganyika rolling at
its feet, was directly beneath us.

‘¢ Weare now about descending. In a few minutes we shall have reached
the spot where lives, we imagine, the object of our search. Our fate will soon
be decided. No one in that town knows we are coming—least of all do they
know we are so Close to them; if any of them ever heard of the white man at
Unyanyembe, they must believe we are there yet. We shall take them all
by surprise; for no other but a white man would dare leave Unyanyembe for
Ujiji with the country in such a distracted state—no other but a crazy white
man, whom Sheikh, the son of Nasib, is going to report to Syed or Prince
Binghas, for not taking his advice.”

The supreme moment had come at last; the American flag is flung out
to the breeze; muskets are loaded and fired off in hot haste to rouse the little
tors now at its gates. “ The flags are fluttered—the banner of America is in
front, waving joyfully—the guide is in the zenith of his glory—the former
residents of Zanzibar will know it directly, and will wonder—as well they
may, as to what it means. Never were the stars and stripes so beautiful to
my mind, the breeze of the Tanganyika has such an effect on them. The
guide blows his horn, and the shrill wild clangour of it is far and wide, and
still the muskets tell the noisy seconds. . . The natives of Ujjiji,
and I know not where else, hurry up by the hundreds to ask what it all means,
this fusillading, shouting, and blowing of horns, and flag-flying.. There are
Yambos (how do you do’s) shouted out to me by the dozen, and delighted
Arabs have run up breathlessly to shake my hand and ask anxiously where I
come from. But I have no patience with them—the expedition goes far too
slow; I should like to settle the vexed question by one personal view. Where
is he? Hashe fled? Suddenly a man, a black man at my elbow, shouts in

436 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

English, ‘ How do you do, sir?’ ‘ Hallo, who the deuce are you?’ ‘Iam the
servant of Dr. Livingstone,’ he says; but before I can ask any more questions,
he is running like a madman towards the town.

“We have at last entered the town. There are hundreds of people
around me—I might say thousands, without exaggeration. It seems to me
it is a great triumphal procession. As we move, they move; all eyes are
drawn towards us. The expedition at last comes to a halt, the journey is
ended for a time, but I alone have a few more steps to take. There
is a group of the most respectable Arabs; and as I come nearer, I see the
white face of an old man among them. He has ‘a cap with a gold band
around it; his dress is a short jacket of red blanket cloth; and his pants—
well, I didn’t observe. Iam shaking hands with him. We raise our hats,
and I say, ‘ Dr. Livingstone, I presume ?’ and he says, ‘Yes.’ Finis coronat
opus.”

nie
neti

Ann EN

LIVINGSTONE

THE MEETING OF STANLEY AND

CHAPTER XIX.

Mr. Stanley and Dr. Livingstone at Ujyi—Expedition to the Rusizi—Lake Tan-
ganyika, and Tribes on tts shores—Livingstone and Stanley arrive at
Unyanyembe—Mr. Stanley bids the great Traveller farewell—Memoir of
Mr. Stanley, ete., ete,

HE following description of Dr. Livingstone, as he appeared to Mr.
Stanley at Ujjiji, has additional interest for us, now that its subject
has passed away to the land of shadows. He says:—‘‘ Upon my first in-
troduction to him, Livingstone was to me like a huge tome with a most
unpretending binding. Within, the work might contain much valuable
lore and wisdom, but its exterior gave no promise of what was within.
Thus, outside Livingstone gave no token, except of being rudely dealt with
by the wilderness, of what elements of power or talent lay within. He
is a man of unpretending appearance enough, has quiet, composed features,
from which the freshness of youth has quite departed, but which retain
the mobility of prime age, just enough to show that there yet lies much
endurance and vigour within his frame. The eyes, which are hazel, are
remarkably bright, not dimmed in the least, though the whiskers and
moustache are very gray. The hair, originally brown, is streaked here and
there with gray over the temples; otherwise it might belong to a man of
thirty. The teeth alone show indications of being worn out; the hard fare
of Louda and Manajenia have made havoc in their rows. His form
is stoutish—a little over the ordinary height, with slightly bowed shoulders. _
When walking, he has the heavy step of an overworked and fatigued man. —
On his head he wears the naval cap, with a round visor, with which he has
been identified throughout Africa. His dress shows that at times he has
had to resort to the needle to repair and replace what travel has worn. ~
Such is Livingstone externally. ‘Of the inner man, much more may be
said than of the outer. Ashe reveals himself bit by bit to the stranger, a
great many favourable points present themselves, any of which, taken singly,
might dispose a man well towards him. I had brought him a packet
of letters, and, though I urged him again and again to defer conversation
with me until he had read the news from home and children, he said he

438 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

would defer reading until night; for the moment he would enjoy the
astonishment which the European caused him, and any general world news I
could communicate.”

ss The hours of that afternoon passed most pleasantly—
few afternoons:of my life more so. It seemed to me as if I had met an old,
old friend. There was a friendly or good-natured abandon about Livingstone,
which was not lost on me. As host, welcoming one who spoke his language,
he did his duties with a spirit and style Ihave never seenelsewhere. He had
not much to offer, to be sure; but what he had was mine and his. The
wan features, which had shocked me at first meeting, the heavy step which
told of age and hard travel, the gray beard and stooping shoulders, belied
the man. Underneath that aged and well-spent exterior lay an endless
fund of high spirits, which now and then broke out in peals of hearty
laughter; the rugged frame enclosed a very young and exuberant soul.
The meal—I am not sure but what we ate three meals that afternoon—was
seasoned with innumerable jokes and pleasant anecdotes, interesting hunting
stories, of which his friends Webb, Oswell, Varden, and Gordon Cumming,
were always the chief actors. ‘You have brought me new life,’ he said
several times, so that I was not sure but there was some little hysteria in this
jovialty and abundant animal spirits; but as I found it continued during
several weeks, I am now disposed to think it natural . . . Dr. Living-
stone is a truly pious man, a man deeply imbued with real religious instincts.
The study of the man would not be complete if we did not take the religious
side of his character into consideration. His religion, any more than
his business, is not of the theoretical kind, simply contenting itself with own-
ing all other religions as wrong or weak. It is of the true, practical kind,
never losing a chance to manifest itself in a quiet, practical way—never
demonstrative or loud. It is always at work. It is not aggressive, which
sometimes is troublesome, and often impertinent. In him religion exhibits
its loveliest features. It governs his conduct towards his servants, towards
the natives, and towards the bigoted Mussulmans even—all who come in
contact with him. Without religion, Livingstone, with his ardent tempe-
rament, his enthusiastic nature, his high spirit and courage, might have been
an uncompanionable man, and a hard master. Religion has tamed all these
characteristics; nay, if he was ever possessed of them, they have been
thoroughly eradicated. Whatever was crude or wilful, religion has refined,
and has made him—to speak the earnest, sober truth—the most agreeable of
companions and indulgent of masters.

‘“‘T have been frequently ashamed of my impatience while listening to
his mild rebuke of a dishonest lazy servant; whereas had the servant been
mine, his dishonesty or laziness had surely been visited with prompt
punishment. I have ofter heard our servants discuss our respective merits.

CHAMPAGNE AT UJIJI. 439

‘Your master,’ say my servants to those of Livingstone, ‘is a good man—
a very good man; he does not beat you, for he has a kind heart; but ours—
oh! he is sharp—hot as fire.’ From being hated and thwarted in every pos-
sible way by the Arabs and half-castes upon his first arrival at Ujiji, through
his uniform kindness and mild pleasant temper, he has now won all hearts.
I perceived that unusual respect was paid to him by all. . . . Every
Sunday morning he gathers his flock around him, and he has prayers read,
not in the stereotyped tone of an English High Church clergyman, which
always sounds in my ear insincerely, but in the tone recommended by
Archbishop Whately, viz. natural, unaffected, and sincere. Following these,
he delivers a short address in the Kisawahili language about what he has been
reading from the Bible to them, which is listened to with great attention.”

Dr. Livingstone haying expressed his determination not to return to Eng-
land until he had completed his task, Mr. Stanley asked him why he had come
so far back without finishing the short task he had to do.

“Simply,” said he, ‘‘ because I was forced. My men would not budgea
step forward. They mutinied, and passed a secret resolution, if I still insisted
in going on, to raise a disturbance in the country, and after they had effected
it to abandon me ; in which case I should have been killed. It was dangerous to
goany further. I had explored six hundred miles of the watershed, had traced
all the principal streams which discharged their water into the central line of
drainage, and when about starting to explore the last hundred miles the hearts of
my people failed, and they set about frustrating me in every possible way.
Now haying returned seven hundred miles to get anew supply of stores and
another escort, I find myself destitute of even the means to live but for a
few weeks, and sick in mind and body.”

After the Arabs had left Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley together, the
latter says, ‘‘ Said bin Majid, and a curried chicken, was received from
Mohammed bin Sali, and Moeni Kheri sent a dishful of stewed goat meat and
rice; and thus presents of food came in succession; and as fast as they
were brought we set to. I had a healthy sublime digestion—the exer-
cise I had taken had put it in prime order; but Livingstone—he had been
complaining that he had no appetite, that his stomach refused everything
but a cup of tea now and then—he ate also—ate like a vigorous, hungry
man; and as he vied with me in demolishing the pancakes, he kept re-
peating, ‘You have brought me knew life. You have brought me new
life.’

©‘ Oh, by jingo!’ I said, ‘I have forgotten something. MHasten Selim,
and bring that bottle; you know which; and bring me the silver goblets.
I brought this bottle on purpose for this event, which I hoped, would come to
pass, though often it seemed useless to expect it.” Selim knew where the
bottle was, and he soon returned with it—a bottle of Sillery champagne; and

440 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

handing the Doctor a silver goblet brimful of the exhilarating wine, and
pouring a sinall quantity into my own, I said :—

““¢Dr, Livingstone, to your very good health, Sir.’ ‘ And to yours,’ he
responded, smilingly.

‘“‘ And the champagne I had treasured for this happy meeting was drunk
with hearty good wishes to each other.

“But we kept on talking and talking, and prepared food was being brought
to us all that afternoon; and we kept on eating each time it was brought,
and until I had eaten even to repletion, and the Doctor was obliged to confess
that he had eaten enough. Still, Halimah, the female cook of the Doctor’s
establishment, was in the state of the greatest excitement. . . She was
afraid the Doctor did not properly appreciate her culinary abilities; but now
she was amazed at the extraordinary quantity of food eaten, and she was in a
state of delightful excitement. We could hear the tongue rolling off a tre-
mendous volume of clatter to the wondering crowds who halted before the
kitchen to hear the current of news with which she edified them. Poor
faithful soul! While we listened to the noise of her furious gossip, the
Doctor related her faithful services; and the terrible anxiety she evinced
when the guns first announced the arrival of another white man in Ujiji;
how she had been flying about in a state of the utmost excitement, from the
kitchen into his presence, and out again into the square, asking all sorts of
questions ; how she was in despair at the scantiness of the general larder and
treasury of the strange household ; how she was anxious to make up for their
poverty by a grand appearance—to make up a sort of Barmecide feast to
welcome the white man. ‘ Why,’ said she, ‘is he not one of us? does he
not bring plenty of cloths and beads? ‘Talk about Arabs? Who are they
that they should be compared to white men? Arabs, indeed !’

‘The Doctor and I conversed upon many things, especially upon his own
immediate troubles, and his disappointments upon his arrival in Ujiji, when
told that all his goods had been sold, and he was reduced to poverty. He
had but twenty cloths or so left of the stock he had deposited with the man
called Sherif, the half caste, drunken tailor, who was sent by the consul in
charge of the goods. Besides what he had been suffering from an attack of
dysentery, his condition was most deplorable. He was but little improved
on this day, though he had eaten well, and already began to feel stronger and
better.”

Mr. Stanley stayed with Livingstone for a considerable period ; and before
they left for Unyanyembe, at which place Dr. Livingstone was to await stores
and assistance from Zanzibar, they set off for the head of the Tanganyika to .
settle the question as to whether the Rusizi is an influent or effluent of the
lake—a question which was greatly exciting the minds of Geographers at
home.

CRUISE ON TANGANYIKA. 44]

‘Tt took us,” says Mr. Stanley, ‘‘ ten days’ hard pulling to reach the head
of the lake, a distance of nearly 100 geographical miles from Ujiji; the
remaining eight we were coasting along the bold shores of Urundi, which
gradually inclined to the eastward; the western ranges, ever bold and high,
looking like a huge blue-black barrier some thirty miles west of us, to all
appearance impenetrable and impassable. If the waters of the Tanganyika
could be drained out, and we were to stand upon the summit of those great
peaks which rise abruptly out of the lake, a most wonderful scene would be
presented to us We should see an extraordinary deep chasm from 5000 to
7000 feet deep, with the large island Ubwari rising like another Magdala from
the awful depths around it, for I think that the greatest depth of that lake is
nearly 3000 feet deep. . . . Only two miles from shore I sounded, and
although I let down 620 feet of line I found nobottom. Livingstone sounded
when crossing the Tanganyika from the westward, and found no bottom with
1800 feet of lme. The mountains around the northern half of the Tanganyika
fold around so close, with no avenue whatever for the escape of waters, save
narrow valleys and ravines which admit rivers and streams into the lake, that
were it possible to force the water into a higher altitude of 500 feet above its
present level, its dimensions would not be increased considerably. The
valley of the Malagarazi would then be a narrow deep arm of the lake, and
the Rusizi would be a northern arm, crooked and tortuous, of sixty or seventy
miles in length.

“The evening before we saw the Rusizi, a freed man of Zanzibar was
asked which way the river ran—out of the lake or into it? The man swore
that he had been on the river but the day before, and that it ran out of the
lake. Here was an announcement calculated to shake the most sceptical. I
thought the news to good to be true. I should certainly have preferred that
the river ran out of the lake into either the Victoria or the Albert. The night
we heard this announcement made so earnestly, Livingstone and myself sat
up very late, speculating as to where it went. We resolved, if it flowed into
the Victoria Nyanza, to proceed with it to the lake, and then strike south to
Unyanyembe, and if it flowed into the Albert lake, to proceed into the Albert
lake and cruise all around it, in the hope of meeting Baker.

‘“‘ As there was war between the rival tribes inhabiting the banks of the
Rusizi, the King Mokamba advised us to proceed to his brother’s village in
Mugihewa by night, which was situated about 800 yards from the river, on
the right bank. Just after dark we started, and in the morning we arrived at
Mugihewa. After a cup of coffee we manned our canoe, and having prepared
our guns we started for the mouth of the river. In about fifteen minutes we
were entering a little bay about a mile wide, and saw before us to the north
a dense brake of papyrus and match cane.

‘Until we were close to this brake we could not detect the slightest

@ 2

442, LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

opening for a river such as we imagined the Rusizi to be. We followed some
canoes which were disappearing mysteriously and suspiciously through some
gaps in the dense brake. Pulling boldly up, we found ourselves in what
afterwards proved to be the central mouth of the river. All doubt as to what
the Rusizi was, vanished at once and for ever before that strong brown flood,
which tasked our exertions to the utmost as we pulled up. I once doubted,
as I seized an oar, that we should ever be able to ascend; but after a hard
quarter of an hour’s pulling, the river broadened, and a little higher up we
saw it widen into lagoons on either side.”

Several times the party were in considerable danger from the attacks of
the numerous inhabitants on the shores of the lake. Mr. Stanley had a
slight attack of fever, and during its continuance Dr. Livingstone nursed him
with great care. An amusing incident happened at Mukamba’s town.

‘‘ Susi, the Doctor’s servant, got gloriously drunk, from the chief’s liberal
and profuse gifts of pombi. Just at dawn, next morning, I was awakened by
hearing several sharp crack-like sounds. I listened, and found the noise was
in our hut. It was caused by the Doctor, who, towards midnight, had felt
some one come and lie down by his side on the same bed, and, thinking it
was me, he had kindly made room, and laid down on the edge of the bed.
But in the morning feeling rather cold, he had been thoroughly awakened,
and, on rising on his elbow to see who his bedfellow was, he discovered, to
his great astonishment, that it was no other than his black servant, Susi, who
taking possession of his blankets, and folding them about himself most
selfishly, was occupying almost the whole bed. The Doctor, with that
gentleness characteristic of him, instead of taking the rod, had contented
himself with slapping Susi on the back, saying, ‘Get up, Susi, will you ?
You are in my bed. How dare you, Susi, get drunk in this way, after I
have told you so often not to do so; get up.’ ‘Youwon’t? Take that, and
that, and that.’ Still Susi slept and grunted ; so the slapping continued,
until even Susi’s thick hide began to feel it, and he was thoroughly awakened
to the sense of his want of devotion and sympathy for his master, in the
usurping of even his master’s bed. Susi looked very much crestfallen after
this expose of his infirmity before the ‘little master,’ as I was called.”

One of the questions left for Livingstone to settle was the outlet from
Tanganyika, and whether it is or is not connected with the Nile drainage by
some other channel.

Dr Livingstone and Mr. Stanley reached Ujiji on the 13th of December,
and after making the necessary preparations, they started for Unyanyembe.

The Tanganyika Lake was first seen by European eyes in 1858, when
Captains Burton and Speke looked down upon it from the heights above
Ujyi. After a terrible journey from Unyanyembe, Captain Speke was nearly
blind, and Captain Burton was so weak from fever and paralysis that for

BURTON ON TANGANYIKA. 443

several days he had been carried in a hammock. For three hundred years
the existence of this great lake had been known, and various guesses had
been made as to the course of its effluent waters. In some maps it was laid
down as having a connection with the Nyassa lake; in others it figured as the
head-waters of the Congo or the Nile—although Livingstone, Stanley, and
Captain Grant, have visited it since the date of Captain Burton’s visit, and
the direction of its outflow is as great a mystery as ever. As its waters are
sweet it must have an outlet somewhere, and in all likelihood they find an
exit by a rent in the mountains, similar to that through which Livingstone
saw the Lualaba escaping from Lake Moero, through the mountains of Rua.
Captain Burton inclines to the belief that it has no effluent. He says:—

“A careful investigation and comparison of statements leads to the be-
lief that the Tanganyika receives and absorbs the whole river system—a
net-work of streams, nullahs, and torrents—of that portion of the Central
African depression, whose water-shed converges towards the great reservoir.
Geographers will doubt that such a mass, situated at so considerable an alti-
tude, can maintain its level without an effluent. Moreover, the freshness of the
water would, under normal circumstances, augur the escape of saline matter
washed down by the influents from the area of drainage. But may not the
Tanganyika, situated, like the Dead Sea, as a reservoir for supplying with
humidity the winds which have parted with their moisture in the barren and
arid regions of the south, maintain its level by the exact balance of supply and
eyaporation?* And may not the saline particles deposited in its waters be
wanting in some constituent which renders them evident to the taste.

“ Asin Zanzibar, thereis little variety of temperature upon the Tanganyika.
The violent easterly gales, which, pouring down from the cold heights of
Usagara, acquire impetus sufficient to carry the current over Ugogo, Unyam-
wezi, and Uvinza, are here less sharply defined. The periodical winds over the
latter—regular, but not permanent—are the south-east and the south-west,
which also bring up the foulest weather. The land and sea breezes are felt
almost as distinctly as upon the shores of the Indian Ocean. The breath of
the morning, called by the Arabs el barad, or the zephyr, sets in from the
north. During the day, are light variable breezes, which often subside, when
the weather is not stormy, into calms. In the evenings, a light afflatus comes
up from the lake. Throughout the dry season the lake becomes a wind trap,
and a heavy ground-sea rolls toward the shore. In the rains there is less
sea, but accidents occur from sudden and violent storms, which are preluded,
as about Zanzibar, by sudden gusts of cold and rainy wind. The moun-
tainous breakers of Arab and native informants were not seen; indeed, with a

* Dr Livingstone has demonstrated that there is no desert to the south nearer than the Kalahari
Desert, nearly a couple of thousand miles to the south, so that this theory falls to the ground,

444 -LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

depth of three feet from ridge to dell, a wave would swamp the largest laden
canoe. Wind currents appear common. In a few hours a stream will be
traversed setting strongly to the east, and crossed by a southerly or south-
westerly current. High gales in certain localities, when the waves set. upon
a flat, flush shore, drive the waves from fifteen to twenty feet beyond the
normal mark. This circumstance may partly explain the Arab belief in a
regular ebb and flow, which they maintain has been observed in the Tangan-
yika and Nyassa lakes, and which Mr. Anderson believes to exist in lake Ngami.
A mass of waters so large must be, to a certain extent, subject to tidal in-
fluences ; but the narrowness of the bed from west to east would render this
effect almost unobservable.

“The navigation of Tanganyika is as yet undeveloped. It has neither
quay nor jetty, except strips of sand; nor harbours, save shallow bays, or
dwarf creeks, winding through hedges of stiff rush. In former times the
Arabs built sailing vessels, bought gangs of slaves, and trained them to row
instead of paddling. In 1858, there remained but one dhow, or small quarter-
decked sailing-craft, capable of carrying about fifty men; it belonged to an
Arab merchant, Hamid bin Sulyman, who, professing willingness to let it for
a voyage, nullified his concession by removing the crew. The native boats
are long, narrow canoes, rudely hollowed with the axe—the application of
fire being unknown—in fact, mere logs of mvule, or some other large tree.
The most considerable are composed of three parts—clumsy, mis-shapen
planks, forming, when placed side by side, a keel and two gunwales, the latter
fastened to the centre-piece by cords of palm-fibre passing through lines of
holes. The want of caulking causes excessive leakage. The cry Senga!—bale
out!—rarely ceases, and the irregular hollowing of the tree-trunks makes them
lie lopsided in the water. These vessels have neither masts nor sails; an
iron ring, fixed in the stern, is intended for a rudder, which, however, seldom
appears except in the canoes of the Arabs, and a flag-staff, or a fishing-rod,
projects from the bow. Layers of palm-ribs are strewed over the interior,
to raise the cargo—which is often of salt—above the bilge-water. The crew
sit upon narrow benches, extending across the canoe, and fastened with cords
to holes in the two side-pieces; upon each bench, despite the narrowness of
the craft, two place themselves side by side. The stout, stiff mats used for
hutting and bedding, are spread for comfort upon the seats; and for conve-
nience of paddling, the sailors, when at work, incline their bodies over the
sides. In the centre there is a square place about six feet long, kept clear of
benches; here also cargo is stored, passengers, cattle, and slaves are carried,
the paddles, gourds, and other furniture of the crew, are thrown. It is
often ankle-deep in water, and affords no convenience for leaning or lying
down. ‘The most comfortable place, therefore, is near the stern or bow of
the boat. The spears are planted upright at one or two corners of the hold,

LAKE STORMS. 445

so as to be ready at a moment’s notice; each man usually has his dagger
stuck in his belt, and on long trips, all are provided with bows and arrows.
These Africans cannot row. The paddle in the Tanganyika is a stout staff,
about six feet long, and cut out at the top to admit a trefoil-shaped block
the size of aman’shand. The block is adorned with black paint, in triangular
patches. It is tied to the staff by a bit of whipcord, and it seldom lasts a day
without breaking. The paddler, placing his hand on the top, and the other
about the middle of the staff, scoops up, as it were, the water in front of him,
steadying his paddle by drawing it along the side of the canoe. It is a labo-
rious occupation, and an excessive waste of power.

‘The Lake people derive their modern practice of navigation, doubtless,
from days of old; the earliest accounts of the Portuguese mention the traffic
of this inland sea. They have three principal beats from Ujiji: the northern
abuts at the ivory and slave marts of Uvira; the western conducts to the oppo-
site shores of the lake, and the island depots on the south-west; and the
southern leads to the land of Marungu. Their canoes creep along the shores
like the hollowed elder-trees of thirty bygone centuries, and, waiting till the
weather augurs fairly, they make a desperate push for the other side. Nothing
but their extreme timidity, except when emboldened by the prospect of a
speedy return home, preserves their cranky craft from constant accidents. The
Arabs, warned by the past, prefer the certain loss incurred, by deputing, for
trading purposes, agents and slaves, to personal risk. A storm upon the lake,
especially on one of the portentous evenings of the tropics, is indeed deeply
impressive. ‘The wind is hushed, and the air feels sultry and stifling, while
low mutterings from the sable cloud-banks lying upon the horizon, cut by light
masses of mist ina long unbroken line, or from the black arch rising above the
Acroceraunian hills, at times disturb the death-like stillness. Presently, as
the shades deepen, a cold gust of wind—the invariable presage of a storm—
pours through the vast of night; lightning flashes—at first by intervals, then
incessantly, with its accompaniment of reverberating thunder; now a loud .
lumbering roll, like the booming of heavy batteries, then deepening into a
crash, which is followed after an interval by a rattling discharge, like the
sharp pattering of musketry. The waves begin to rise; the rain—descending
at first by warning drops, presently in torrents—blinds the crew; andif the
wind increases, there is little chance of the frail canoe living through the short
chopping sea. In addition to the dangers of the deep, the maritime tribes are,
or are supposed to be, ever planning ambuscades against the boats touching
at their land, and the sight of afew woolly heads in the bush causes the crew
to rise precipitately from food or sleep, to rush headlong to their canoes, with-
out caring what may be left behind, and to put out to sea beyond the reach
of a flight of arrows.

“ A voyage upon the Tanganyika begins with all the difficulties and delays

446 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of African locomotion. When the boat is hired, the crew must be collected,
and paid, rationed, and kept together. This is no easy task, as each man is
thinking solely of his own affairs, disdaining the slighest regard for the wishes,
the comfort, or the advantage of his employer. The cargo must then be
placed on board, and the canoe moyed to its original place—to a point of
known departure, otherwise no man can be persuaded toembark. The expedi-
tion sets out in a kind of procession; the captain, dressed in his best dress,
heads the sailors, who are followed by their loud-voiced wives, performing upon
the rudest musical instruments. Of these the most noisy is a kind of shawm,
(a short tube of wood, bound with palm-fibre, and opening like a clarionet): a
distressing bray is kept up through a hole pierced in the side. The most
monotonous is a pair of foolscap-shaped cones of thin iron, joined at the
’ apices, and connected at the bases by a solid cross-bar. This rude tom-tom
is performed upon with painful perseverance by a stick muffled with cloth or
skin. After embarkation, the canoe must be paddled out for a mile, to ascer-
tain the proper quantum of cargo and crew, an exertion followed by fresh
delays for victualling, taking leave, settling disputes, hard drinking, and
driving deserters. The first stage is short enough to admit of the scene being
encored. Finally, when the weather is perfectly calm, and no pretext nor
desire for further detention remains, the crew scramble into the canoes, and,
with the usual hubbub and strife—order which no man obeys, and advice
which no man takes—they pole off and paddle along the shore.

“The Wajiji, and, indeed, all these races, never work silently or regularly.
A long monotonous howl, broken occasionally by a scream of delight from the
boys, or by the bray and clang of the instruments, lasts throughout the trip,
except when extreme terror induces a general silence. They row in “spurts,”
applying vigorously to their paddling, till the perspiration pours down their
sooty persons, and splashing the water in streams over the canoe: after a few
minutes, fatigued and breathless, they either stop to quarrel, or they progress
languidly till recruited for another effort. When two boats are together they
race continuously, till a bump, and the consequent difficulty of using the
paddles, afford an opportunity for a little chatter and abuse. At times they
halt to eat, drink, or smoke; the bhang pipe is produced after every hour,
and the paddles are taken in whilst they indulge in the usual screaming whoop-
ing cough. They will not allow questions to be asked, or scraps of provisions
to be thrown overboard; moreover, it is a mortal sin to chip or to break off
the smallest bit of even a worn-out boat drawn up on the sands. They will
lose half an hour, when time is most precious, to secure a dead fish, as, en-
tangled, in its net, it floats past the canoe. They never pass a village or a
settlement without a dispute—some wishing to land, and the others objecting
because that some wish it. The captain, seated either in the fore or in the
stern, has no authority ; and if the canoe is allowed to touch the shore, half

LAKE FISHERMEN. 447

the crew spring out, without an idea of consulting anything but their own
convenience. Obeying only impulse, and being wholly deficient in order or
arrangement, they make the voyage as uncomfortable as possible. They have
no regular stages, and no fixed halting times; they will waste a fine cool
morning, and pull through the heat of the day, and doze throughout the day,
and at the cry of Pakira Baba !—(pack up, hearties!)—they will rush into their
canoes after midnight. Outward bound, they seem to seek opportunities for
delay ; homeward, they hurry with precipitous haste. Arrived at their des-
tination, there is a general concert—vocal and instrumental, while the captains
perform a solemn and bear-like dance upon the mat-covered benches—the
apology for a quarter-deck; and when touching at places where they have
friends, the crews rattle their paddles against the canoe sides, in token of
greeting; an imitation, probably, of the ceremonious address which is per-
formed by knocking the elbows against the ribs. Finally, the voyage con-
cluded, they enter their homes by daylight with much pomp and ceremony,
noise, and jollity, and are not sober for the next fortnight.

“The Lakists generally are an almost amphibious race, excellent divers,
strong swimmers, and fishermen. At times, when excited by the morning
coolness and by the prospect of a good haul, they indulge in a manner of
merriment, which resembles the gambols of sportive water-fowls: standing
upright, and balancing themselves on their hollow logs, which appear but little
longer than themselves, they strike the water furiously with their paddles,
skimming over the surface, dashing to and fro, splashing one another, urging
forward, backing and wheeling their craft, now capsizing, then regaining their
position with wonderful dexterity. They make coarse hooks, and have many
varieties of nets and creels. Conspicuous on the waters, and in the villages,
is the Dewa, or ‘otter’ of Oman, a triangle of stout reeds, which shows the
position of the net. A stronger variety, and used for the larger ground-fish,
is a cage of open basket-work, provided, like the former, with a bait and two
entrances. The fish once entangled cannot escape, and a log of wood, used
as a ‘trimmer,’ attached to a float of rushy plants, directs the fisherman. The
heaviest fish are caught by a rope-net, weighted and thrown out between two
boats. They have circular frames of lath, meshed in with a knot somewhat
different from that generally used in Europe; the smaller kind is thrown from
the boat by a single man, who follows it into the water—the larger, which
reaches six feet in diameter, is lowered from the bow by cords, and collects
the fish attracted by the glaring torch fire. The Wajiji also make big and
little drag nets, some let down in a circle by one or more canoes, the others
managed by one or two fishermen, who, swimming at each end, draw it in
when ready. They have diminutive purse-nets to catch small fry, hoops
thrust into a long stick-handle, through the reed walls that line the shore ;
and by this simple contrivance the fish are caught in considerable quantities,

448 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

The common creel resembles the Khun of Western India, and is well-known
even to the Bushmen of the South: it is a cone of open bamboo strips or
supple twigs, placed lengthways, and bound in and out by strings of grass
or tree fibre. It is closed at the top, and at the bottom there is a narrow
aperture, with a diagonally-disposed entrance like that of a wire rat-trap,
which prevents the fish escaping. It is placed upon its side with a bait, em-
banked with mud, reeds, or sand, and well answers the purpose for which it is
intended. In Uzaramo, and near the coast, the people narcotise the fish with
the juice of certain plants; about the Tanganyika the art appears unknown.”*

There are many varieties of fish in the lake, but most of them are some-
what tasteless. One of the largest, which sometimes attains a length of five or
six feet, is called the Mguhe, and isthe most palatable of the whole. Another
large fish is the Singa; it is scaleless, and has long fleshy feelers or cirri, standing
out from its snout. This fish is much prized by the natives on account of its rich
luscious fat. Two smaller varieties, known as the Mvoro and the Sanjale, are
somewhat like mackarel in shape. Minnows of several kinds, a kind of eel, and
a fresh water shrimp, are very abundant, and are largely captured and eaten.
A fresh-water oyster, called Sinani, is eaten by the natives, but it is unpala-
table to Europeans. The numerous islands on the lake are mostly all inha-
bited, although many of them are exceedingly unhealthy. The inhabitants
of the lake district are a quarrelsome and warlike people, and it is owing to
their hostility that the lake and its shores have never as yet been properly
examined by any of the travellers who have visited it.

The lake, with its continuation Lake Liemba, is about three hundred
miles in length, and its breadth at the widest part ranges from twenty-five to
thirty-five miles, and it covers an area of nearly six thousand square miles.
Captain Burton, in speaking of the water of the lake, says :—

‘“‘The waters of the Tanganyika appear deliciously sweet and pure, after
the salt and bitter, the putrid and slimy produce of the wells, pits, and pools
on the line of march. The people, however, who drink it willingly when
afloat, prefer, when on shore, the little springs which bubble from its banks.
They complain that it does not satisfy thirst, and they contrast it unfavourably
with the waters of its rival Nyanza; it appears, moreover, to corrode metal
and leather with exceptional power. The colour of the pure and transparent
mass has apparently two normal varieties: a dull sea-green—never, however
verdigris—coloured, as in the shoals of the Zanzibar seas, where the reflected
blue of the atmosphere blends with the yellow of the sandy bottom—the
other, a clear, soft azure, not deep and dark, like the ultramarine of the
Mediterranean, but resembling the light and milky tints of tropical seas.
Under a stormy wind the waves soon rise in yeasty lines, foaming up from a

* The reader will remember that Dr. Livingstone noticed the same practice on the Zambesi.

THE LAKE TRIBES. 449

turbid greenish surface, and the aspect becomes menacing in the extreme.

Judging from the eye the walls of the basin of the lake rise in an
almost continuous curtain, rarely waving and impacted, to from two to three
thousand feet above the water-level. The bay is almost due north and south,
and the form a long oval, widening in the central portions, and contracting
systematically at both extremities.”

The principal tribes in the lake region are the Wajiji, the Wavinza, the
Wakaranga, the Watuta, the Wabuha, and the Wahha. We give Captain
Burton’s account of these tribes :—

“The Wajiji are a lively race of barbarians, far sturdier than the tribes
to the eastward, with dark skins, plain features, and straight, strong limbs:
they are larger and heavier men than the Wanyamwezi, and the type, as it
approaches Central Africa, becomes rather negro thannegroid. Their feet and
hands are rather flat, their voices are harsh and strident, and their looks, as
well as their manners, are independent even to insolence. The women, who
are held in high repute, resemble, and often excel their masters in rudeness
and violence: they think little of entering a stranger’s hut in their cups and
of snatching up and carrying away any article which excites their admiration.
Many of both sexes and all ages are disfigured by the small-pox—the Arabs
have vainly taught them inoculation; and there are few who are not affected
by boils and various eruptions; there is also an inveterate pandemic itch,
which, according to their Arab visitors, results from a diet of putrid fish.

“The tribe is extensively tatooed, probably as a protection against the
humid atmosphere and the chills of the Lake Region. Some of the chiefs have
ghastly scars raised by fire, in addition to large patterns marked upon their
persons—lines, circles, and rays of little cupping-cuts drawn down the back,
the stomach and the arms, like the tatoo of the Wangindo tribe, near Kilwa.
Both sexes like to appear dripping with oil; and they manifestly do not hold
cleanliness to be a virtue. The head is sometimes shaved; rarely the hair
is allowed to grow; the most fashionable coiffure is a mixure of the two;
patches and beauty-spots of the most eccentric shapes—buttons, crescents, and
galeated lines—being allowed to sprout either in the front, the sides, or the
back of the head, from a carefully-scraped scalp. Women, as well as men, are
fond of binding a wisp of white tree-fibre round their heads, like the ribbon
which confines the European wig. There is not a trace of mustachio or
whiskers in the country ; they are removed by the tweezers, and the climate,
according to the Arabs, is unfavourable to beards. For cosmetics, both sexes
apply, when they can procure such luxuries, red earth to the face, and over
the head a thick coating of chalk or mountain meal, which makes their black-
ness appear hideously grotesque.

“The chiefs wear expensive stuffs, checks and cottons, which they extract
from passing caravans. Women of wealth affect the tobe or coast dress, and

H 2

450 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

some are seen to wear red or blue hood-cloths. The male costume of the
lower orders is confined to softened goat, sheep, deer, leopard, or monkey
skins, tied at two corners like a little apron, passed over the right or left
shoulder, with the flaps open at one side, and with tail and legs dangling in
the wind. Women who cannot afford cloth use, as a substitute, a narrow kilt
of fibre or skin, and some were seen with a tassel of fibre, or a leafy twig,
depending from a string bound round the waist, and displaying the nearest
approach to the original fig-leaf. At Ujiji people are observed, for the first
time, to make extensive use of the macerated tree-bark, which supplies the
place of cotton in Urundi, Karagwah, and the northern kingdoms. This arti-
cle, technically called ‘mbugu,’ is made from the inner bark of the various
trees. The trunk of the full-grown tree is stripped of its integument twice or
thrice, and is bound with plantain-leaves till a finer growth is judged fit for
manipulation. This bark is carefully removed, steeped in water, macerated,
kneaded, and pounded with clubs and battens to the consistency of a coarse
cotton. Palm-oil is then spurted upon it from the mouth, and it acquires the
colour of chamois-leather. The Wajiji obtain the mbugu mostly from Urundi
and Uvira. They are fond of striping it with a black, vegetable mud, so as
to resemble the spoils of leopards and wild cats, and they favour the delusion
by cutting the edge into long strips, like the tails and other extremities of
wild beasts. The price of the mbugu varies according ta size, from six to
twelve strings of beads. Though durable, it is never washed; after many
months’ wear, the superabundance of dirt is removed by butter or ghee.
‘Besides common brass girdles and bracelets,armlets and anklets, masses
of white porcelain, blue glass, and large ‘ pigeon-egg’ beads, and hundreds
of the iron-wire circlets, called sambo, worn with ponderous brass or copper
rings round the lower part of the leg, above the foot, the Wajiji are distin-
guished from tribes not on the leke by necklaces of shells—small pink
bivalves strung upon a stout fibre. Like their Lakist neighbours, they
ornament the throat with disks, crescents, and strings of six or seven cones,
fastened by the apex, and depending to the breast. Made of the whitest
ivory, or of the teeth, not the tusks, of the hippopotamus, these dazzling
ornaments effectively set off the shining, dark skin. Another peculiarity
among these people is, a pair of iron pincers, or a piece of split wood, ever
hanging round the neck ; nor isits use less remarkable than its presence.
The Lakists rarely chew, smoke, or take snuff, according to the manner of
the rest of mankind. Every man carries a little half-gourd, or a diminutive
pot of black earthenware, nearly full of tobacco; when inclined to indulge,
he fills it with water, expresses the juice, and from the palm of his hand
snuffs it up into his nostrils. The pincers serve to close the exit, otherwise
the nose must be corked by the application of finger and thumb. Without
much practice, it is difficult to articulate during the retention of the dose,

PREVALENCE OF DRUNKENNKSS. 451

which lasts a few minutes, and when ap attempt is made, the words are
scarcely intelligible. The arms of the Wajiji are small battle-axes, and
daggers, spears, and large bows, which carry unusually heavy arrows. They
fear the gun and the sabre, yet they show no unwillingness to fight. The
Arabs avoid granting their demands for muskets and gunpowder, conse-
quently, a great chief never possesses more than two or three fire-arms.

“The Wajiji are considered by the Arabs to be the most troublesome race
upon this line of road. They are taught by the example of their chiefs to be
rude, insolent, and extortionate; they demand beads even for pointing out the
road; they will deride and imitate a stranger’s speech and manner before his
face; they can do nothing without a long preliminary of the fiercest scolding ;
they are as ready with a blow as with a word; and they may often be seen
playing at ‘rough and tumble’ fighting, pushing, and tearing hair, in their
boats. The Wajiji draw dagger or use spear upon a guest with little hesita-
tion. They think twice, however, before drawing blood, which will cause a
feud. Their roughness of manner is dashed with a curious ceremoniousness.
When the Sultan appears amongst his people he stands in a circle and claps
his hands, to which all respond in the same way. Women curtsey to one
another, bending the right knee almost to the ground. When two men meet
they clasp each other’s arms with both hands, rubbing them up and down, and
ejaculating for some minutes, ‘Nama Sanga? Nama Sanga ?—Art thou well?’
They then pass the hands down to the fore-arm, exclaiming ‘ Wakhe?
Wakhe ?—How art thou?’ and, finally, they clap hands at each other—a
token of respect which appears common to these tribes of Central Africa. The
children have all the frowning and unprepossessing look of their parents ; they
reject little civilities, and seem to spend life in disputes, biting and clawing
like wild cats. There appears to be little family affection in this undemon-
strative race. The only endearment between father and son is a habit of
scratching and picking each other, caused probably by the prevalence of a
complaint before alluded to; as among the Simiads, the intervals between
pugnacity are always spent exercising the nails. Sometimes, also, at sea,
when danger is near, the Wajiji breaks the mournful silence of his fellows,
who are all thinking of home, with the exclamation, ‘Ya mguri wange—O
my wife!’ They are never sober when they can be drunk; perhaps in no part
of the world will the traveller more often see men and women staggering
about the villages with thick speech and violent gestures. The favourite
inebrient is tembo or palm-toddy ; almost every one, however, when on board
the canoe, smokes bhang, and the whooping and screaming which follows the
indulgence resemble the noise of wild beasts rather than the sounds of human
beings. Their food consists principally of holeus, manioc, and fish, which is
rarely eaten before it becomes offensive to European organs.

“The great Mwami or Sultan of Ujiji in 1858-9 was Rusimba; under him

452 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

were several mutware or minor chiefs, one to each settlement, as Kannena in
Kawele, and Lurinda in Gungu. On the arrival of a caravan, Rusimba
forwards, through his relations, a tusk or two of ivory, thus mutely intimating
that he requires his blackmail, which he prefers to receive in beads and cloth,
proportioning, however, his demands to the trader’s means. When the point
has been settled, the mutware sends his present, and expects a proportionate
return. He is, moreover, entitled to a fee for every canoe hired; on each
slave the Kiremba or excise is about half the price; from one to two cloths
are demanded upon every tusk of ivory; and he will snatch a few beads froma
man purchasing provisions for his master. The minor chiefs are fond of
making ‘sare’ or brotherhood with strangers, in order to secure them in case
of return. They depend for influence over their unruly subjects wholly upon
personal qualifications, bodily strength, and violence of temper. Kannena, the
chief of Kawele, though originally a slave, has won golden opinions by his
conduct; when in liquor, he assumes the most ferocious aspect, draws his
dagger, brandishes his spear, and, with loud screams, rushes at his subjects as
with the intention of annihilating them. The affairs of the nation are settled
by the Mwami, the great chief, in a general council of the lieges, the Wateko
(in the singular Mteko), or elders presiding. Their intellects, never of the
brightest, are invariably muddled with toddy, and, after bawling for hours
together, and coming apparently to the most satisfactory conclusion, the word
of a boy or an old woman will necessitate another lengthy palaver. The
sultans, like their subjects, brook no delay in their own affairs; they im-
patiently dun a-stranger half-a-dozen times a day for a few weeks on occasions
to him of the highest importance, whilst they are drinking pombe or taking
leave of their wives. Besides the Magubiko or preliminary presents, the
chiefs are bound, before the departure of a caravan which has given them
satisfaction, to supply it with half-a-dozen masuto or matted packages of grain,
and to present the leader with a slave, who generally manages to abscond.
The parting gifts are technically called ‘ urangozi’ or guidance.

us The Wajiji never could reconcile themselves to ‘merchants’
who had come to see and not to buy, and, under the influence of slavery, made
no progress in the science of commerce. They know nothing of bargaining
or of credit; they will not barter unless the particular medium on which they
have set their hearts is forthcoming; and they fix a price proportioned to their
wants, not to the value of the article. The market varies with the number of
caravans present at the depot, with the season, the extent of the supply, and
a variety of similar considerations. Besides the trade in ivory, slaves, cloth,
and palm-oil, they manufacture and hawk about iron sickles, shaped like the
European; small bells, and wire circlets, worn as ornaments round the ankles ;
long double-edged knives in wooden sheaths, neatly whipped with strips of
rattan; and Jembe, or hoes.

THE WAKARANGA TRIBE. 453

“ . . . The traveller in the Lake regions loses by cloth; the people,
contented with softened skins and tree-bark, prefer beads, ornaments, and
more durable articles. On the other hand, he gains upon salt, which is pur-
chased at half-price at the Parugerero pans, and upon large wires brought
from the coast. Beads are a necessary evil to those engaged in buying ivory
and slaves. . . . A serious inconvenience awaits the inexperienced, who
find a long halt at, and a return from, Ujiji necessary. The Wanyamwezi
porters, hired at Unyanyembe, bring with them the cloth and beads they have
received as hire for going to, and coming from the lake; and they lose no
time in bartering the outfit for ivory and slaves. Those who prefer the
former article, will delay for some days with extreme impatience and daily
complaints, fearing to cross Uvinza, in small bodies, when loaded with
valuables. The purchasers of slaves, however, knowing that they will
evidently lose them after a few days at Ujiji, desert at once. In all
cases, the report that a caravan is marching eastwards, causes a general
disappearance of the parties. As the Wajiji will not carry, the caravan is
reduced to a halt, which may be protracted for months—in fact, till another
body of men coming from the east will engage themselves as return-porters.
Moreover, the departure homewards almost always partakes of the nature of
a flight, so fearful are the strangers, lest their slaves should seize the oppor-
tunity to desert. The Omani Arabs obviate these inconveniences, by always
travelling with large bodies of domestics, whose interest it is not to aban-
don the master. They also wisely discourage the African’s proclivity for
‘leyanting,’ by refusing to hire parties who have run away. The coast
Arabs, and the Wasawahili, on the other hand, ignore this point of commercial
honour, and shamelessly offer a premium to deserters.

‘South of the Wajiji lie the Wakaranga, a people previously described
as almost identical in development and condition, but somewhat inferior in
energy and civilization. Little need be said ef the Warinza, who appear to
unite the bad qualities of both the Wanyamwezi and the Wajiji. They are a
dark, meagre, and ill-looking tribe; poorly clad, in skin aprons and kilts.
They keep off insects, by inserting the chauri, or fly-flap, into the waist-band
of their kilts; and at a distance present, lke the Hottentots, the appear-
ance of a race with tails. Their arms are spears, bows, and arrows; and they
use, unlike their neighbours, wicker-work shields, six feet long by two in
breadth. Their chiefs are of the Watosi race; hence, every stranger who
meets with their approbation is called, in compliment, Mtosi. They will
admit caravans into their villages, dirty clumps of bee-hive huts; but they
refuse to provide them with lodging. Merchants, with valuable outfits, prefer
the jungle, and wait patiently for provisions brought in baskets from the
settlements. They seldom muster courage to attack a caravan, but stragglers
are in imminent danger of being cut off by them. Their country is rich in

454 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

cattle and poultry, grain, and vegetables. Bhang grows everywhere near the
settlement, and they indulge themselves in it immoderately.

“The Watuta—a word of fear in these regions—are a tribe of robbers
originally settled upon the southern extremity of the Tanganyika Lake.
After plundering the lands of Marungu and Ufipa, whose cattle they almost
annihilated, the Watuta migrated northwards, rounding the eastern side of
thelake. . . Shortly afterwards they attacked Msene, andwere only repulsed
by the matchlocks of the Arabs, after a week of hard skirmishing. In the
early part of 1858, they slew Ruhembe, the Sultan of Usui, a district north of
Unyanyembe, upon the march to Karagwah. In the latter half of the same
year, they marched upon Ujiji, plundered Gungu, and proceeded to attack
Kawele. The valiant Kannena, and all his men, fled to the mountains. The
Arab merchants, however, who were then absent on a commercial visit to
Uvira, returned precipitately to defend their depots, and, with large bodies of
slave-musketeers, beat off the invader. The lands of the Watuta are now
bounded, on the north by Utumbara; on the south by Misene; eastward by
the meridian of Wilyankuru; and, westwards by the highlands of Urundi.

“The Watuta, according to the Arabs, are a pastoral tribe, despising, like
the Wamasai and the Somal, such luxuries as houses and fields; they wander
from place to place, camping under trees, over which they throw their mats,
and driving their herds and plundered cattle to the most fertile pasture-
grounds. ‘The dress is sometimes a mbugu or bark-cloth; more generally it
is confined to the humblest tribute paid to decency by the Kaffirs of the Cape,
and they have a similar objection to removing it. On their forays they move
in large bodies, women as well as men, with the children and baggage placed
on bullocks, and their wealth, in brass wire, twisted round the horns. Their
wives carry their weapons, and join it is said, in the fight. The arms are
two short spears, one in the right hand, the other in the left, concealed by a
large shield, so that they can thrust upwards unawares. Disdaining bows and
arrows, they show their superior bravery by fighting at close quarters, and
they never use the spear as a weapon to be thrown. In describing their
tactics the Arabs call them manceuverers. Their thousands march in four or
five extended lines, and attack, by attempting to envelope the enemy. There
is no shouting or war-cry, to distract the attention of the combatants: iron
whistles are used for the necessary signals. During the battle, the Sultan, or
chief, whose ensign 1s a brass stool, sits, attended by his forty or fifty elders,
in the rear; his authority is little more than nominal, the tribe priding itself
upon autonomy (self-government.) The Watuta rarely run away, and take no
thought of their killed and wounded. They do not, like the ancient Jews,
and the Gallas and Abyssinians of the present day, carry off a relic of the slain
foe; in fact, the custom seems to be ignored south of the equator. The
Watuta have still, however, a wholesome dread of fire-arms, and the red flag

LIVINGSTONE DECLINES TO LEAVE AFRICA. 455

of the carayan causes them to decamp without delay. According to the
Arabs they are not inhospitable, and though rough in manner, they have
always received guests with honour. A fanciful trait is related concerning
them. Their first question to a stranger will be—‘ Didst thou see me from
afar?’—which, being interpreted, means—‘Did you hear of my greatness
before coming here ?—and they hold an answer in the negative to be a
causus belli.

“The Wabuha form a small and insignificant tribe, bounded on the north
by Ubha, and on the south by the Malagarazi River; the total breadth is
about three marches; the length, from the Rusugi stream of the Wavinza to
the frontiers of Ujiji and Ukaranga, is a distance of four days. Their prin-
cipal settlement is Uyonwa, the district of Sultan Mariki; it is a mere clearing
in the jungle, with a few wretched huts, dotting fields of sweet potatoes. This
harmless and oppressed people will sell provisions, but, though poor, they are
particular upon the subject of beads, preferring the coral and blue to the ex-
clusion of black and white. They are a dark, curly-headed, and hard-favoured
race: they wear the shushah or top-knot of hair, dress in skin and tree-barks,
ornament themselves with brass and copper armlets, ivory disks, and beads,
and are never without their weapons, spears, daggers, and small battle-axes.
Honourable women wear tobes of red broad cloth, and fillets of grass or fibre
confining the hair.

“‘Ubha was previously a large tract of land bounded on the north by the
mountains of Urundi, southwards and eastwards by the Malagarazi River, and
on the west by the northern parts of Ujiji. As has been recorded, the Wabha,
scattered by the Watuta, have dispersed themselves over the broad lands
between Unyanyembe and the Tanganyika, and their fertile country, well
stocked with the finest cattle, has become a waste of jungle. A remnant of
the tribe, under Kanoni, their present Sultan, son of the late T’hare, took
refuge in the highlands of Urundi, not far from the principal settlement of the
mountain king Mwezi: here they find water and pasture for their herds, and
the strength of the country enables them to beat off their enemies. The
Wahha are a comparatively fair and a not uncomely race ; they are, however,
universally held to be a vile and servile people; according to the Arabs they
came originally from the southern regions, the most ancient seat of slavery in
Eastern Africa. Their Sultans or chiefs are of Wahinda or princely origin,
probably descendants from the royal race of Unyamwezi. Wahha slaves com-
mand the highest prices in the local slave markets.”

Dr. Livingstone, as we have previously stated, was to accompany Mr. Stan-
ley as far as Unyanyembe, there to await stores, etc., which he undertook to
see despatched from Zanzibar in safe and competent custody. Livingstone
declined to return. He said, ‘‘I would like very much to go home and see
my children once again; but I cannot bring my heart to abandon the task I

456 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

have undertaken when it is so nearly completed. It only requires six or
seven months more to trace the true source that I have discovered with
Petherick’s branch of the White Nile, or with the Albert Nyanza of Sir
Samuel Baker. Why should I go home before my task is ended, to have to
come back again to do what I can very well do now ?”

In order to avoid the districts through which Mr. Stanley had passed, and
in which he had been so heavily mulcted in tribute, the party went south,
along the east coast of the lake, partly on foot, and partly by boat, to
Urimba, from whence they struck across country to Unyanyembe. For several
days their route lay through unexplored country. For long distances the dense
grass and brushwood, and the want of a path, made the progress tedious and
difficult. On the 17th of January, 1872, they reached Imrera, where Mr.
Stanley and his party had previously camped, on their march to Ujiji. Both
Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley suffered from sore feet, which were cut and
bleeding from the long and trying march. The Doctor’s shoes were worn
out, and cut and slashed all over to save his blistered feet, and Mr. Stanley’s
were inno better state. They rested for a day, and on the 19th, Mr. Stanley
shot a male and female zebra. As they had had no flesh-meat for a consider-
able time, the possession of such an amount of meat had a wonderful effect
in raising the spirits of their tired-out followers. On the 21st, Mr. Stanley
shot a giraffe. This was the noblest animal which had as yet fallen to his
rifle, but he could not feel in his heart that its death was a triumph. ‘TI
was rather saddened than otherwise,” he says, ‘‘ at seeing the noble animal
stretched before me. If I could have given her her life back, I think I
should have done so. I thought it a great pity that such splendid animals,
so well adapted for the service of man in Africa, could not be converted
to some other use than that of food. Horses, mules, and donkeys, die in
these sickly regions ; but what a blessing for Africa would it be, if we could
tame the giraffes and zebras for the use of explorers and traders. Mounted
Bagamoyo; whereas it took me over seven months to travel that distance.

On the 27th the party disturbed a huge swarm of bees, which stung the
men and animals frightfully. This is no unusual incident in African travel.
A kind of bee, which makes its nest among the long grass, when disturbed
rushes out in vast numbers, and stings every animal within reach. There is
nothing for it but flight in such circumstances, and men and beasts rush from
the enraged insects with all the speed they may.

At Mwaru they met a slave of Sayd bin Habib, in charge of a caravan, for
Ujiji. He reported that Mirambo was nearly exhausted, and that Shaw, who
had been left by Mr Stanley at Unyanyembe, was dead. They also learned
that several packets of letters, papers, and goods, had arrived for Mr. Stanley
from Zanzibar. The Doctor also reminded Mr. Stanley that, ‘ according to

LIVINGSTONE’S STORES, A DELUSION. 457

his accounts, he had a stock of jellies and crackers, soups, fish, and potted ham,
besides cheese, awaiting him at Unyanyembe.” Mr. Stanley, who had suf-
fered from several attacks of fever, was longing for a change of diet, and the
prospect of such variety cheered him. ‘‘ 1 wondered,” he says, ‘‘ that people
who have access to such luxuries, should ever get sick, and become tired of
life. I thought that if a wheaten loaf, with a mere pat of fresh butter
were presented to me, I would be able, though dying, to spring up and dance
a wild fandango.”

Arrived at Unyanyembe, the two toil-worn travellers found welcome
letters and newspapers from home. Among other letters to Mr. Stanley was
one from Dr. Kirk, H.M.’s Consul at Zanzibar, requesting him to do all he
could to push on the Livingstone caravan. It will be remembered that Mr.
Stanley found it at Unyanyembe as he passed through on his way to Ujiji, and
it was still there when he returned. The man who had gone and relieved
Livingstone, and was half-way on his return journey when he received this
request in connection with a caravan which left Zanzibar two months prior
to his own expedition, has some grounds for the terms in which he speaks
throughout his book of the carelessness of Dr. Kirk. He dryly remarked
to Dr. Livingstone that the request came too late for his visit to Ujiji, but
that he had done better, he had brought him to the caravan.

When Dr. Livingstone’s boxes came to be opened, Mr. Stanley, who had
been looking forward to luxuriating on all the delicacies of ‘civilization, was
grievously disappointed. We must let him tell the result in his own words;
itis a fine commentary on commercial morality, and the watchful care of the
traveller’s friends :—

“The first box opened contained three tins of biscuits, six tins of potted
hare—tiny things, not much larger than thimbles, which, when opened, proved
to be nothing more than a table-spoontul of minced meat, plentifully sprinkled
with pepper: the Doctor’s stores fell five hundred degrees below Zero in my
estimation. Next were brought out five pots of jam, one of which was opened
—this was also a delusion. The stone jars weighed a pound, and in each was
found a little over a tea-spoonful of jam. Verily, we began to think our hopes
and expectations had been raised to too high a pitch. Three bottles of curry
were next produced—but who caresfor curry? Another box was opened, and
out tumbled a fat dumpy Dutch cheese, hard as a brick, but sound and good,
although it is bad for the liver in Unyamwezi. Then another cheese was seen,
but this was all eaten up—it was hollow, and a fraud. The third box con-
tained nothing but two sugar loaves; the fourth candles; the fiith, bottles of
salt, Harvey, Worcester, and Reading sauces, essences of anchovies, pepper and
mustard. Bless me! what food were these for the revivifying of a moribund
such as | was! The sixth box contained four sheets, two stout pair of shoes,
some stockings, and shoe-strings, which delighted the Doctor so much when he

12

458 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

tried them on that he exclaimed, ‘ Richard is himself again! ‘That man,
said I, ‘whoever he is, is a friend indeed.’ ‘Yes, that is my friend
Waller.’

‘‘' The five other boxes contained potted meat and soups; but the twelfth,
containing one dozen bottles of medicinal brandy, was gone; and a strict
cross-examination of Asmani, the head man of Livingstone’s caravan, elicited
the fact that not only was one case of brandy missing, but also two bales of
cloth, and four bags of the most valuable beads in Africa—Sami-sami—which
are as gold with the natives.

‘“‘T was grievously disappointed after the stores had been examined.
Everything proved to be deceptions in my jaundiced eyes. Out of the tins of
biscuits, when opened, there was only one sound box, the whole of which
would not make one full meal. The soups—who cared for meat soups in
Airica? Are there no bullocks, and sheep, and goats, in the land from which
far better soup can be made than any that ever was potted? Peas or any
other kind of vegetable soup would have been a luxury, but chicken and game
soups !—what nonsense.”

Asmani, the head man in charge of Dr. Livingstone’s caravan, had also
broken into Mr. Stanley’s store huts at Unyanyembe, and abstracted cloth
and other articles. It was evident that if the two travellers had been much
longer in reaching Unyanyembe the Doctor’s stores would have entirely dis-
appeared. The stolen goods found in possession of Asmani were taken from
him, and he was at once discharged. Nearly one-half of the stores Mr.
Stanley had brought from Bagamoyo were at Unyanyembe, and the greater
portion of them were handed over to Dr. Livingstone for use in his future
journey ings.

Another caravan of stores which had been prepaid from Zanzibar to
Ujyi, which had been despatched shortly after Dr. Livingstone landed in the
country in 1866, or rather the miserable remnants of it, was found in the
possession of an Arab who had been charged with their despatch to Ujiji, and
handsomely paid for the same.

On the 14th of March, 1872, Mr. Stanley departed for the coast, and left
Dr. Livingstone at Unyanyembe, who was to await there the sending of car-
riers and some further stores for his future journey. He was, thanks to Mr.
Stanley, well supplied with everything, and could rest in ease and plenty until
he was joined by the carriers who were to accompany him inhis march. The
parting of these two brave men must have been a serious task to both. The
courageous young man who had succoured the great traveller, could hardly
help thinking that possibly they who had met so opportunely in the heart of
Africa might never meet again; and the dauntless explorer, when he looked
his last upon the lithe and active figure of the young man who had come to
him in his great need, would not fail to think that this might be to him the

PARTING OF LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. | 459

last glimpse—the last visible embodiment of civilization he was destined to see.
Any feeling of this nature would be more than balanced in his enthusiastic
nature by the hope that now he had the means of completing the great work
which was dearer to him than life.

Dr. Livingstone accompanied Mr. Stanley for a part of the way, and then
the moment came when they must part. ‘Now, my dear Doctor,” said Mr.
Stanley, ‘‘the best of friends must part. You have come far enough; let me
beg of you to turn back.”

‘Well, I will say this to you: you have done what few men could do—
far better than some great travellers I know. And Iam grateful to you for
what you have done to me. God guide you safe home, and bless you, my
friend.”

“And may God bring you safe back to us all, my dear friend. Fare-
WELL!”

“We wrung each other’s hands, and I had to tear myself away before I
unmanned myself; but Susi and Chumah, and Hamoydah—the Doctor’s
faithful fellows—they must all shake and kiss my hands before I quite turn
away. I betrayed myself!

“‘ Good-bye, Doctor—dear friend!”

** Good-bye!”

“The FarewEL between Livingstone and myself had been spoken. We
were parted, he to whatever fate Destiny had in store for him, to battling
against difficulties, to many, many days of marching through wildernesses, with
little or nothing much to sustain him save his own high spirit, and enduring
faith in God, who would bring all things right at last, and I to that which
Destiny may have in store for me.”

On the march back, Mr. Stanley and his party suffered from the flooded
state of the country, as the rainy season was now on; and more than once
they had extreme difficulty in passing the swollen rivers.

On one occasion a native, in wading a stream with the box containing Dr.
Livingstone’s despatches and letters on his head, plunged into a hole up to
the neck, and Mr. Stanley for a moment was filled with an awful dread that
they might be lost. Presenting a loaded revolver at his head, he shouted :
“Look out! Drop that box, and I’ll shoot you.” The poor fellow’s terror
was extreme, but after a staggering effort he reached the shore in safety.

The rains being at their height, the difficulties were greater than any
Mr. Stanley had as yet experienced. He gives a graphic picture of the jungle
at one point of their journey. He says, “‘ What dreadful odours and indis-
cribable loathing this jungle produces! It is so dense that a tiger could not
crawl through it; it is so impenetrable that an elephant could not force his
way! Were a bottleful of concentrated miasma, such as we inhale herein,
collected, what a deadly poison, instantaneous in its action, undiscoverable in

460 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

its properties, would it be! I think it would act quicker than chloroform, be
as fatal as prussic acid.”

“Horrors upon horrors are in it. Boas above our heads, snakes and
scorpions under our feet. Land-crabs, terrapins, and iguanas, move about in
our vicinity. Malaria is in the air we breathe; the road is infested with ‘hot
water’ ants, which bite our legs until we dance and squirm about like
madmen. Yet somehow we are fortunate enough to escape annihilation, and
many another traveller might also.”

Arrived at Bagamoyo, Mr. Stanley was soon in communication with
the heads of the ‘Livingstone Relief Expedition,” Lieutenant Henn, Mr.
Charles New, a missionary, and Mr. Oswell Livingstone, the eldest surviving
son of Dr. Livingstone. Lieutenant Dawson, the head of the expedition, had
thrown up his appointment on hearing of the approach of Mr. Stanley.
Lieutenant Henn and Mr. New, on learning that Dr. Livingstone had been
relieved, decided to retire from the expedition, but Mr. Oswell Livingstone
determined to go on with the bearers and stores needed to completely equip his
father for his further journeyings. A few weeks afterwards he decided not to
go, a decision which now he must bitterly regret.

The expedition sent to Dr. Livingstone consisted of fifty-seven individuals,
many of whom had accompanied Mr. Stanley to and from Ujiji. The most of
them had accompanied Dr. Livingstoneon hisZambesijourney. Six Nassick boys
(African lads educated at the Nassick School, Bombay), who had been brought
by Dr. Livingstone from the Shire valley in 1864, and had volunteered to go
with Lieutenant Dawson’s expedition, were among the number. Their names
were Jacob Wainwright, John Wainwright, Matthew Wellington, Canas
Ferrars, Richard Rutton, and Benjamin Rutton. The first of these was
destined to accompany the remains of his great master to England, and stand
beside his grave in Westminster Abbey.

On the 29th of May, Mr. Stanley left Zanzibar for England, and within
a few days it was known all over the civilized world that Dr. Livingstone had
been found and relieved. a

In addition to the assurance of his being alive, we had news of his having
been in the far west among friendly tribes, exploring the western division of
the great watershed of Central Africa, of the extent of which he had already
informed us in his letter to Lord Clarendon of July 8, 1868.

The news of his safety did not come to us in the shape of a telegram of
a few lines by way of Bombay—tantalizing us with the scantiness of its
information, and the dread that in a few days, like many others, it would be
contradicted—but reached us in the form of a succinct narrative of the meeting
of Mr. Stanley and the explorer at Ujiji, their companionship together for
several months, a brief account of his discoveries, and an intimation that Mr.
Stanley was the bearer of letters and despatches from Dr. Livingstone for the

RECEPTION OF STANLEY’S REPORT IN ENGLAND. 461

Government, the Royal Geographical Society, and personal friends. As
many of the most sanguine believers in his ultimate safety had begun to have
grave doubts that Livingstone’s great career had ended, as that of many a
brave predecessor in African discovery had, the joy and satisfaction felt at the
certainty of his safety was of the warmest description.

When people had time to think calmly about his safety, and the startling
nature of the discoveries which he had made, while lost to our view in the
recesses of the interior, a feeling of wonder arose that he should have been
discovered and succoured by a private individual, a young man at the
threshold of his fourth decade, the correspondent of a newspaper, whose only
experience of Africa, prior to this great feat which has associated his name
for ever with that of the greatest and most successful explorer of ancient or
modern times, was gained in company with the expedition sent by the
English Government for the rescue of the English prisoners at Magdala.
Caravan after caravan, laden with stores, and accompanied by men intended
to be of service to the traveller, had been despatched by Dr. Kirk, H.M.
Consul at Zanzibar—the Government and the Royal Geographical Society
aiding him in his endeavours to discover and succour the man in whose fate
the whole eivilised world was interested—in vain.

As we have seen, an imposing expedition under the auspices of the
Geographical Society, and handsomely provided with means by subscriptions
from private individuals and corporate bodies, had left this country, and was
then popularly supposed to be far on its way towards the unknown region
where its mission could be fulfilled.

That Livingstone’s safety should be determined, and his wants supplied,
at the cost of the proprietor of a New York newspaper, and through the pluck
and daring of one of his subordinates, who went at his bidding to look for Living-
stone in Central Africa, just as he would have gone to collect news in any of
the great centres of European civilization, was a singular way of accomplishing
a great object, sadly puzzling for a time to many; and fears were entertained
that the whole was an audacious canard, which only a Yankee journalist would
dare to perpetrate. By and by, as the original intelligence came to be sup-
plemented, it became apparent that not only was his story true, but that
this young journalist was one who, in determined courage and resolute per-
severance, was in every way worthy to take his place among the heroes of
African discovery and travel. When James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor
oi the New York Herald, made up his mind that an effort should be made to
find Livingstone, and assigned the task to Mr. Stanley, it fell into the hands
of a man capable of carrying it into successful execution. No doubt, if some
Englishman or American of fortune had done this thing from a love of adven-
ture, or some higher impulse, our ideas of the fitness of things would not have
been outraged ; but there are hundreds of capable and adventurous men who

462 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

cannot afford to mdulge in heroic impulses of this nature, and it was a for-
tunate thing for Livingstone, and a matter for congratulation on the part of
civilised mankind, that Mr. Bennet had such a man on his staff, and had the
wisdom to know that he was the man who could carry out his wishes, if these
were possible.

In 1841, shortly after David Livingstone had joined Robert Moffat and
his coadjutors at Kuruman, with the view of fitting himself for the work of the
Christian Mission to the heathen tribes, to the north of the furthest missionary
outpost—in a humble cottage on the site of the old Castle of Denbigh, a son
was born to John Rowlands, son of a small farmer, and Elizabeth Parry,
daughter of a respectable butcher of Denbigh. No lives could have seemed so
far apart as that of the resolute and adventurous Scot, who was commencing
that career of lofty and ‘‘ high souled-surprise” in Africa which has rendered
his name illustrious, and that of the infant who was entering upon a childhood
and boyhood of poverty and dependence. That child, who for fifteen years
went by the name of his father and grandfather—John Rowlands—as Mr.
Henry M. Stanley, was destined to have his name associated with that of
David Livingstone, as his deliverer and preserver, when his fate was the sub-
ject of anxiety and discussion throughout the civilized world.

In any circumstances, the early life of such a man, prior to the great
achievement which has rendered him famous, could not fail to be a subject of
interest to all, but as in his case there had been crowded into his previous
thirty years of life an amount of trial, vicissitude, and daring adventure,
given to few to experience during the natural term of life, our interest in him
is redoubled. The father and maternal grandfather of John Rowlands (Rol-
lants, the Welsh have it), having died when he was about ten years of age,
the child was left all but dependent upon a humble couple, who, so long as
their means would permit, treated him as though he had been a member of
their own family. When five years of age the death of an uncle left the child
totally dependent upon strangers, and he was received into the work-house at
St. Asaph. This last refuge of the poor is in too many cases a cold foster-parent
to the orphan, but it is a pleasure to be able to record, that the work-house of
St. Asaph was not only admirably looked after by the guardians and the
officials, but the outside public, from the Bishop of the diocese and the local
county families down to the tradesmen of the district, took such an interest
in the management of the house and the well-being of its inmates, that the
incidents in the life of the orphan boy, up to the time of his leaving St. Asaph,
have been easily collected.

For ten years John Rowlands was an inmate of the work-house of St.
Asaph, where, amongst other experiences of much use to him in after life, he
received an admirable elementary education. He was notable among his
compeers in the class-room and the play-ground as a lad of more than ordinary

MEMOIR OF STANLEY. 463

parts and pluck. In the class-room there was only one lad who approached
him in diligence and success, but in the play-ground, whether in the amuse-
ments proper to his years, or in a rough stand-up fight, he was without a
rival. Notwithstanding the comfort and even indulgence he enjoyed at St.
Asaph’s, his adventurous disposition manifested itself in more than one attempt
to escape from the house. As Mr. J. Hughes, teacher, Llandudno, who knew
him after he left St. Asaph, says:—‘‘ He burst the trammels of beadledom
three times! The widow of his uncle, Mrs. Parry of Dale Street, Denbigh,
tells that, on one occasion, he presented himself at her house at an unusually
late hour, and without any companion—circumstances which, taken in con-
nection with his sheepish look, led her to suspect that something was wrong.
On asking him some questions, she found he had run away. Aiter consult-
ing with some of her friends, John got supper and went to bed.

‘“‘ Next morning he was sent to St. Asaph in the coach in charge of the
guard, who had strict orders to leave him at the school. Before he left Mrs.
Parry gave him a sixpence, which gratified him much, and reconciled him
to his return. Years afterwards, in speaking of this incident of his life, he
spoke of the feeling of being rich, which the possession of that sixpence gave
him.” * :

When John Rowlands, who was then fifteen years of age, left St. Asaph’s,
in May, 1856, he joined a cousin, Mr. David Owen, teacher of the National
School at Mold, with whom he remained for some time, acting as his assistant.
His residence with his cousin was a period of much trial and discomfort. The
young man and the boy had nothing in common, and quarrels and bickerings
were the result. Mr. John Hughes, who saw a good deal of him at this period,
gives an interesting account ofhim. He speaks of finding a copy of Johnson’s
‘‘ Rasselas” on his table, and describes him as being possessed of ‘‘ an indo-
mitable will, that really knew no impediment to its purpose. . . . His
youthful struggles, the character of his reading, and his bold, inflexible nature,
eminently fitted him for adventure. . . . I knew every ingredient in his
nature, I thought, and used to sum him up as a full-faced, stubborn, self-willed
round-head, uncompromising, deep fellow. In conversation with you, his
large black eyes would roll away from you as if he was really in deep medi-
tation about half-a-dozen things besides the subject of conversation. He
was particularly strong in trunk, but not very smart or elegant about the
legs, which were slightly disproportionately short. His temperament was unu-
sually sensitive ; he could stand no chaff, nor the least bit of humour.”

* “Henry M. Stanley, the Story of the Life.” By Cadwalader Rowlands. London, 1873. We
shall have frequent occasion to quote this work, to which we are indebted for our account of the
incidents in the early life of Mr. Stanley. The book purports to be written by a countryman, who
has had unusual facilities for collecting the materials.

464 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

This being his character, and his cousin having become jealous of his
superior abilities, he endeavoured to crush his proud spirit, by putting him to
menial occupations, and by parading his authority over him, we need not
wonder that, after a year at Mold, John Rowlands walked straight away into
the great world, with only a few pence in his pocket. He walked to Liver-
pool, and within a few hours engaged himself as extra hand on board a New
Orleans cotton ship, which carried passengers on the outward voyages.

“« Passage as an emigrant,” saysthe biographer of Stanley, ‘in an emigrant
ship, is quite bad enough, . . . but a passage in the same ship, as an
extra hand, going for the first time to sea, is an experience which few who
have ever passed through it will recall with pleasure. .However, John Row-
lands had made up his mind to bear it, and the first sharp lesson tried his
quality. The unfortunate holder of such a position on board ship is usually
the slave of all the crew, and is put to all sorts of menial tasks. The value of
his passage has to be taken out of him in work, and he is lucky if he escapes
a plentiful share of kicks and curses in addition.”

Landed at New Orleans, John Rowlands parted with his shipmates, and
went his way in search of what fortune might bring him. He was not longin
learning that a cotton broker, of the name of Stanley, was in want of a youth
to assist him in the counting house. He applied for the situation, and was for-
tunate enough to get it. Mr. Stanley was a bachelor, and was noted for an
eccentric and kindly disposition. Our hero filled the situation to the entire
satisfaction of Mr. Stanley; and the latter having induced him to tell the
story of his early years, his sympathies were excited in his favour, and within
avery few months, at his suggestion, he took the name of his friend and
benefactor, and adopted the name by which he is now so well known. Further
intimacy so deepened the affection which the old merchant bore to his friend-
less assistant, that he intimated to him that he would take charge of his future
while he lived, and provide for him by will in the event of his death.

Unfortunately, Mr. Stanley’s death took place suddenly, before he had
executed a will, and the relations, who looked with no kindly eye on the
young man who had so narrowly escaped coming between them and what they
would naturally suppose to be their rightful inheritance, turned him adrift.
He was now about nineteen years of age, and capable of looking after himself.
The next two years were spent in various commercial situations. When the
American civil war broke out, his adventurous spirit induced him to enlist in
the Southern army. ‘ During his service with the Confederates,” says Mr.
Cadwalader Rowlands, ‘“‘he took part in all the engagements fought by
General Johnstone up to, and including the battle of Pittsburg Landing.
The battle commenced on Sunday, the 6th of April, 1862. The first day’s
fighting resulted in the defeat of the Federal forces, under General Grant,
but the latter being reinforced by General Buell, renewed the engagement

MEMOIR OF STANLEY. 465

on the following day, and defeated the enemy, General Johnstone being
among the killed. Many Confederate prisoners were taken in the retreat,
among whom was Mr. Stanley.

‘While being conveyed with a number of others to prison, Stanley deter-
mined on making his escape, and in the most daring manner burst through the
armed escort, and, plunging into a river, swam across, and got clear off.
More than a dozen shots were fired at him, but he escaped without a scratch.”

He returned to England immediately after making his escape, and visited
his mother in South Wales. After a short stay he went to Liverpool, where
he filled a situation as clerk for several months, living with some of his father’s
relatives. Having some difference with his friends, he shipped again for the
United States, and landed at New York. The war was still raging, and he,
with characteristic promptness and audacity, enlisted as a common seaman
in the Federal navy. His quality rapidly asserted itself, and within four
months we find him secretary to the Admiral, on board the Tvconderoga, the
flag-ship. ‘‘ This apparently unwarlike appointment,” says his biographer,
“did not prevent him from embracing opportunities of showing the stuff that
was in him, and his next step in promotion was the most fitting reward for
a most gallant and daring exploit. In the heat of an action, he swam five
hundred yards under the fire of a fort mounting twelve guns, and fixed a
rope to a Confederate steamer, out of which the crew had been driven by
the Federal fire, thus enabling the Ticonderoga to secure her as a prize.

“‘ He was raised to the rank of ensign on the spot. He fought in several
engagements, both on sea and land, and concluded his fighting career as a
naval officer, by taking part in the second attack on Fort Fisher, on the 13th
January, 1865. Ten months after this decisive engagement, the Ticonderoga
was sent on a cruise, and arrived at Constantinople in the year 1866.”
Getting leave of absence, he visited Denbigh, and was well received by his
relatives and friends. Visiting the old castle, the scene of his birth, and
the first four years of his life, he made the following entry in the visitors’
book :—

December 14th, 1866.

John Rowlands, formerly of this Castle,* now Ensign in the United States Navy,
in North America, belonging to the U.S. Ship “ Ticonderoga,” now at Constan-
tinople, Turkey ; absent on furlough.

It is worthy of notice, that while he was known in the world as Henry
M. Stanley, and all his friends and acquaintances in and around Denbigh
knew that he had assumed that name—in the scene of his infant years he
makes use of his baptismal name—John Rowlands. He called upon all his

* The houses built within the walls of the Old Castle were, and are still, spoken of as the Castle.
K2

466 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

old friends—and visited the work-house at St. Asaph, and made a speech to
the children. The Board of Management were very much gratified at the
visit. One of the members said, in speaking of the visit—‘‘ He came gratefully,
and, I may say, gracefully, to see his former acquaintances, and to return
thanks to the Governors for the kindness he had formerly received, and to
show how well he had merited the indulgence shown to him.

Shortly after this Mr. Stanley resigned his commission, and became the
leading actor in a most extraordinary adventure. Along with two young
companions, Mr. Cook and Mr. Noe, he formed a resolution of undertaking a
journey in Asia Minor. The three adventurers landed at Smyrna, and pene-
trated into the interior, on horseback, as far as Chi-Hissar, about three hundred
miles from the coast. At that place Noe was guilty of some imprudence,
which exposed him to the ire of a formidable Turk, the chief of a gang of
brigands, who gave him a good caning. In the excitement of the moment,
Stanley drew a sword, with which he was armed, and struck him from his
horse, and would undoubtedly have slain him but for the protecting folds of
his turban. After an adventure of this nature, there was nothing for it but
flight. Unfortunately they rode right into the robber’s head quarters, and
were immediately seized, stripped, and maltreated, and all their money and
valuables taken from them. The robber who was struck hit upon an artful
expedient for hiding the outrage he and his party had been guilty of. He
took the luckless travellers before the Cadi, and charged them with assault and
robbery. When asked what they had to say to this charge, Mr Stanley, as
spokesman of the party, addressed the Cadi, who, fortunately, was acquainted
with the English tongue, and said, ‘‘ That so far from having attempted to rob
their captors, they themselves had been robbed of everything they possessed,
and if certain members of the party were searched (here he pointed with his
finger to some of the robbers), evidence of his assertion would be proved.”

On the men being searched, many of the missing articles were found upon
them, a result which the daring young fellow knew how to improve. He
threatened all and sundry with the vengeance of Brother Jonathan if they
were not at once set at liberty, and their property restored to them, and the
robbers punished. His eloquence had such an effect upon the Cadi that the
robbers were put under arrest. At Afiun-Kara-Hissar, M. Pelesa, of the Otto-
man Bank, provided them with some money and clothes to enable them to proceed
to Constantinople. Within a few days’ march of Constantinople, Mr. Stanley
sent a letter detailing the usage they had received to Mr. E. Joy Morris, the
United States Representative at the Turkish Government. Another letter
was sent for insertion to the Levant Herald, so that by the time the ragged and
worn travellers reached the “City of the Sultan,” the whole Frankish com-
munity was busy with their sufferings and their wrongs. When they arrived
at the American Consulate, ‘‘Mr. Morris and the American Consul-General

MEMOIR OF STANLEY. 467

were waiting to receive them, and notwithstanding that they had been pre-
pared for witnessing a case of suffering and destitution, the forlorn appearance
of the three youths startled them. Mr. Stanley’s clothing, if clothing it could
be called, consisted almost exclusively of a single over-covering ; he had nei-
ther shirt nor stockings, and his companions were in no better plight. Mr.
Morris would appear to have been a model minister, for he at once advanced
Mr. Stanley £150 without security of any kind.” R

So vigorously did Mr. Morris press the case of his suffering countrymen
upon the attention of the Turkish Government that the brigands were sen-
tenced to various terms of imprisonment, and the loss they had sustained in
money and property was made good—the Grand Vizier, Ali Pacha, actually
concluding the arrangements with Mr. Morris. The services of an English
Consul in Asia Minor were also pressed into the service, and he watched the trial
of the robbers on behalf of Mr. Morris, who had no official countryman within
hail. English travellers abroad must think with envy of the readiness
with which Yankee officials attend to the interests of their wandering
countrymen.

Mr. Stanley returned to the United States early in 1867, and acted for
some time as correspondent of the New York Tribune and the Missouri Demo-
crat, with General Hancock’s expedition against the Kiowa and Cheyenne
Indians. On his return from this congenial expedition he, along with a com-
panion, constructed a raft, and floated down the Platte river to its junction
with the Missouri, a distance of seven hundred miles. Mr. Stanley’s biographer
says:— This was an exploit strikingly illustrative of the enterprising character
of Stanley, for we may safely assume that it was instigated by him. Travel
by the lumbering stage down the valley of the Platte, for seven hundred miles,
would have been a dull and prosaic method of finding his way back to civiliza-
tion after several months’ raid against the Indian tribes of the far west. A
raft voyage was not without its dangers; the Indians might prove hostile; an
unexpected encounter with a snag might shiver the raft into its respective
fragments and drown the two voyagers, or a grizzly bear might pay a visit to
their night encampment on the banks of the river, and make an end of them.

‘But dangers like these would only give a zest to the adventure.”

Mr. Stanley’s letters from the far west, abounded with details of horrible
massacres by the Indians, who had been goaded into madness by the ill-usage
they received from the frontier men. No compact is kept with them; further
and further westward they are being driven from the land of their forefathers by
the advancing tide of the pale faces. The pioneers of civilization there, as else-
where, are a reckless and lawless class, and they think as little of shooting an
Indian as an Englishman would of shooting a hare. When one reads of a
terrible instance of Indian vengeance, when whole families have been put to
death after unheard-of tortures, we are apt to forget that some cruel wrong

468 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and injustice on the part of the white settlers have let loose the wild and savage
passions of the Redskins. We find room for an abbreviated account of a
desperate Indian foray reported by Mr. Stanley. A band of Sioux Indians
made a raid upon the railway, near Fort Kearney, over two hundred miles to
the west of Omaha. They met a gang of telegraph repairers, and slew and
scalped them—James Thomson, an Englishman, escaping with his life. This
is Thomson’s account of it, as reported by Mr. Stanley :—

“‘ He (the Indian) took out his knife and stabbed me in the neck, and
then, making a twirl round his fingers with my hair, he commenced sawing
and hacking away at my scalp. Though the pain was awful, and I felt dizzy
and sick, I knew enough to keep quiet. After what seemed to be half-an-
hour, he gave the last finishing touch to the scalp on my left temple, and as it
still hung a little, he gave it a jerk. I just thought then that I should have
screamed my life out. I can’t describe it to you; it just felt as if the whole
head was being taken right off. The Indian then mounted and galloped away,
but as he went he dropped my scalp within a few feet of me, which I managed
to get and hide. . . Drs. Peck and Moore, of this city (Omaha),” says Mr.
Stanley, ‘‘ will endeavour to reset the scalp on his head, and they are confident
they can do it well. As he is a strong man, it is expected that he will recover
health and strength.” There is something horrible, and yet humorously
grotesque, in the securing of his own scalp, by the half-dead Englishman!

On his return to New York, he received the appointment of travelling
correspondent to the New York Herald, at a salary of £600 a-year, and his
first important commission was to accompany the forces under Sir Robert (now
_ Lord Napier) for the relief of the English captives, detained by King Theodore

at Magdala. As Mr. Stanley has recently published his account of this brilliant
campaign, we will not allude to it further than to mention, that his energetic
character enabled him to obtain a happy superiority, not only over his fellow-
correspondents, but over the English Government itself, as he sent important
intelligence to his paper, which reached England wa New York, a few days
earlier than the official intelligence sent by the Commander-in-chief.

On his return to England from Abyssinia, he spent several weeks with
his relatives in Wales, before starting for Spain, to give an account of the
revolution which resulted in the flight of Queen Isabella. He was at Madrid,
as we have seen, when Mr Gordon Bennet sent for him to Paris, for the pur-
pose of despatching him in search of Dr. Livingstone. As Mr. Stanley himself
has informed us, he was present at the opening of the Suez canal, visited the
more important places of interest in Palestine, and marched right across Asia
Minor into India, landing in Bombay in September of 1869.

His old friend, Mr. E. Joy Morris, saw him at Constantinople, previous
to his starting on his famous journey to Bombay. Mr. Morris gave him letters
of introduction to such merchants as he knew en his route, and also recom-

MEMOIR OF STANLEY. 469

mended him to the good offices of the Russian authorities. Mr. Morris says—
‘‘ He started on the desperate enterprise some time after, and my table thereby
lost one of its most entertaining guests. When I say desperate enterprise, I
mean it—for Persia is to a European a practically unexplored country ; and
in consequence of its Weak government, and the marauders with which it
abounds, a journey from Zanzibar to Unyanyembe would be a safe trip com-
pared to it. I received a letter from him, while on the way, narrating the
hospitable manner in which he had been received by the Russian authorities,
and the way in which he had astonished them by the performances of his Henry
rifle. (This rifle was a present from Mr. Morris.) The journey over the Cau-
casus and through Georgia was a sort of triumphal march, though he was looked
upon as a lost man by all who knew anything of the East.

‘<The route he took was an entirely new one, as he went in a kind of zig-
zag way to Thibet, and he must have possessed a charmed life to have come
through so much peril in comparative safety. After this affair I returned home,
and I did not hear of Mr. Stanley again until I heard of him as the discoverer
of Livingstone. . . I should be astonished at no feat in the line of travel
that he might not accomplish. He is a clever traveller, and I used to say to
myself at my table in Constantinople, ‘ Here is a man who will yet achieve
greatness, and leave his mark behind him in the world.’ He has all the quali-
ties which the great explorers possessed—Mungo Park, Humboldt, and Living-
- stone himself—a hardy frame, unflinching courage, and inflexible perseverance.
If such a thing were possible, that I were forced to become a member of a
band to undertake some forlorn hope, some desperate enterprise—I know of
no one whom I would so readily select as the leader of such an undertaking as
Henry Stanley.”

As the Shah of Persia is an object of more interest to English readers now
than he was at the time Mr. Stanley wrote, we cannot refrain from quoting
Mr. Stanley’s account of the first use the ‘‘King of Kings” made of the Tele-
graph when Teheran was first connected with the principal places in his domi-
nions by wire. To understand it properly we may say that the khans or
governors of provinces in Persia pay the Shah for their positions, they screwing
out of the people as much more than they pay to the Shah as possible. Mr.
Stanley says :—

“ The Shah of Persia visited the Telegraph Office in person, and—cun-
ning fellow !—after examining the mode of operating, professed to be delighted
with everything he saw. He regarded the apparatus of telegraphy intently,
and then begged Mr. Pruce to explain how he manipulated the little round
knob, which flashed the mysteries. Mr. Pruce did so very readily, and as he
speaks eloquently, no doubt the Shah was much enlightened, for during the
exposition the Shah laughed heartily, and delivered many a fervid ‘ Masha-
allah!’ ‘Then the Shah wanted to telegraph ; he tried a long time, but as the

470 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

words would not march, he gave it up as a difficult job. His fingers, he said
apologetically, were dumb: they would not talk. Then he summoned one of
his own employes from the Persian office, and bade him telegraph as follows :—

‘‘TELEGRAM No 1, To Koum, FroM THE SHAH IN PERSON.

‘¢¢ How much money hast thou for the Shah, Khan ?’

‘« ANSwER.—( After a pause of about three minutes, the rascally governor
evidently considering, for all along the line the governors had been forwarned.)
‘When the Asylum of the Universe commands less than the least of his slaves,
he will give all he is worth.’

‘ TrLEcraM No. 2, To Koum.
‘¢¢ How much is that?’
‘¢ AnsweR.—‘ Ten thousand tomans.’ (£4,000.)

“TELEGRAM No. 3, To Koum.
“¢¢Send the money, the Shah commands; he is well pleased.?

‘« TeLeGRAM No. 4, To KasHan.
“¢Oh! Khan, the Shah wants money ; how much hast thou to give him ?
‘¢ AnsweR.—‘ Whatever the Light of the World commands is at his ser-
vice. I have five thousand tomans.’ (£2,000.)

‘¢ TeLecram No. 5, to KasHan.

“<< Too little; send me twenty thousand tomans (£8,000): the Shah has
said it.’

‘¢ TELEGRAM No. 6, To IsPAHAN.

“¢¢ Khan, thou knowest thy position is a treasure. What wilt thou give
the Shah to keep it? A man has offered me fifty thousand tomans (£20,000)
for thy place. Speak quickly: it is the Shah that waits.’

«« AnswEeR.—‘ Oh! King of Kings, thou knowest my faithfulness, and hast
but to speak: I have 60,000 tomans ready.’

‘<'TELEGRAM No 7, To IsPAHAN.
«6¢Ttis good. Thou art a wise Khan. Send the money.’

“TELEGRAM No. 8, To SHIRAZ.
‘¢¢ Shah-Zadeh, speak for thy place. There are evil-minded men who
desire thy position. Art thou wise, and is thy hand open ?
‘¢ Answer.— The throne is the place of wisdom. When the Shah speaks
the world trembles ; the ears of his governors are open. I have 30,000 tomans
in hand.’

MEMOIR OF STANLEY. 471

“TELEGRAM No. 9, To SHIRAZ.
“<< The Ameer-ed-Dowlah offers me 45,000 tomans. Oh! little man, thou
art mad.’
“¢ Answer.—‘ The Shah has spoken truly : I will send 50,000 tomans.’

‘‘ From his telegram to Bushire, he received answer that 10,000 tomans
would be sent immediately, which was accepted. This is the Shah and his
ways of government. The handsome sum of 150,000 tomans, or £60,000
sterling, was netted in one morning from the governors’ privy purses His
governorships are sold to the highest bidder.”

Mr. Stanley arrived in England on the 1st August, 1872. His half-brother
and cousin from Denbigh met him on Dover pier, and accompanied their
now famous relative to London. Petty jealousy on the part of professional
geographers, and certain newspapers, prompted unworthy doubts as to the truth
of the story he had to tell; and both in this country and in America it was
broadly hinted that Mr. Stanley had never seen Dr. Livingstone at all. ‘The
day after Mr. Stanley’s arrival, Lord Granville, and Dr. Livingstone’s son
and daughter, bore testimony to the authenticity of the letters and despatches
he had forwarded to them. The first public appearance made by Mr. Stanley
was at the meeting of the British Association, held at Brighton during the
third week of August. The geographers had a theory that the waters of the
region Dr. Livingstone had been exploring for five years must find their way
to the Congo, notwithstanding that Dr. Livingstone stated it as his belief
that the Lualaba was in reality the Nile. Mr. Stanley’s fiery nature was
thoroughly roused by the storm of doubts and cavils which had burst upon
him, and he indulged in an amount of hard hitting in reply to the discussion
which the reading of his paper had evoked, which was thoroughly enjoyed by
a large and enthusiastic audience. We give afew extracts from his address :-—

“‘ Gentlemen of the Geographical Society—I have been invited to deliver
an address here before you, or rather, to read a paper on the Tanganyika.
Responding to that invitation, I came here; but before entering upon that
subject, which seems to interest this scientific assemblage, permit me to say
something of your ‘ distinguished medallist’ and Associate, Dr. David Living-
stone. I found him in the manner already described, the story of which in
brief, is familiar to everybody. He was but little impaired in health, and but
a little better than the ‘ruckle of bones’ he came to Ujiji. With the story of
his sufferings, his perils, his many narrow escapes, related as they were by
himself, the man who had endured all these and still lived, I sympathised.
What he suffered far eclipses all that Ulysses suffered, and Livingstone but
needs a narrator like Homer, to make his name as immortal as the Greek

472 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

hero’s; and, to make another comparison, I can liken his detractors in
England and Germany only to the suitors who took advantage of Ulysses’s
absence to slander him, and torment his wife. The man lives not who is
more single-minded than Livingstone—who has worked harder, been more
persevering in so good a cause as Livingstone—and the man lives not who
deserves a higher reward.

“‘ Before going to Central Africa in search of Livingstone, I believed
almost everything I heard or read about him. Never was a man more
gullible than I. I believed it possible that the facetious gentleman’s story,
who said that Livingstone had married an African princess, might be correct.
I believed, or was near believing, the gentleman who told me personally that
Livingstone was a narrow-minded, crabbed soul, with whom no man could
travel in peace; that Livingstone kept no journals or notes; and that if he
died his discoveries would surely be lost to the world. I believed then with
the gentleman that Livingstone ought to have come home and let a younger
man—that same gentleman, for instance—go and finish the work that Living-
stone had begun. Also, inconsistent as it may seem—but I warn you again
that I was exceedingly gullible—I believed that this man Livingstone was
aided in a most energetic manner, that he had his letters from his children
and friends sent to him regularly, and that stores were sent to him monthly
and quarterly—in fact, that he was quite comfortably established and settled
at Ujiji. I believed also that every man, woman, and child in England
admired and loved this man exceedingly. I was deeply impressed with these
views of things when James Gordon Bennet, jun., of the Mew York Herald,
told me, in a few words, to go after Livingstone, to find him, and bring what
news I could of him. I simply replied with a few monosyllables in the
affirmative, though I thought it might form a very hard task. What, if
Livingstone refused to see me or hear me? ‘No matter,’ said I to myself in
my innocence, ‘I shall be successful if I only see him.’ You yourselves,
gentlemen, know how I would stand to-day if I had come back from the
Tanganyika without a word from him; some, but few, believed me, when
Livingstone’s own letters appeared. But how fallacious were all my beliefs!
Now that I know the virtue and uprightness of the man, I wonder how it was
possible that I could believe that Livingstone was married to an African
princess and had settled down. I feel ashamed that I entertained such
thoughts of him. Now that I know Livingstone’s excessive amiability, his
mild temper, the love he entertains for his fellow-men, white or black, his
pure Christian character, I wonder now why this man was maligned. I
wonder now whether Livingstone is the same man whom a former fellow-
traveller of his called atyrant and an unbearable companion. I wonder now
whether this is the traveller whom I believed to be decrepid and too old to
follow up his discoveries, whom a younger man ought to displace, now that I

STANLEY AT BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 473

have become acquainted with his enthusiasm, his iron constitution, his sturdy
frame, his courage and endurance.

*‘T have been made aware, through a newspaper published in London,
called the Standard, that there are hopes that some confusion will be cleared
up when the British Association meets, and Mr. Stanley’s story is subject to
the sifting snd cross-examination of the experts in African discovery. What
confusion people may have fallen into through some story I have told I cannot
at present imagine, but probably after the reading of this paper, the ‘ experts’
will rise and cross-question. If it les in my power to explain away this ‘ con-
fusion ?’ I shall be most happy to do so.

‘There are also some such questions as the following propounded :—
Why did not Dr. Livingstone return with Mr. Stanley ? Why was the great
traveller so uncommunicative to all but the New York Herald? Why did not
the relief expedition go on and relieve him? What has Dr. Kirk been doing
all the time at Zanzibar? MHere are four questions which admit of easy
solution. To the first 1 would answer, because he did not want to come with
Mr. Stanley ; and may I ask, was Mr. Stanley Dr. Livingstone’s keeper, that
as soon as he found him he should box him with the superscription, ‘ This side
up, with care?’ To the second I would answer that Dr. Livingstone was not
aware that there was another correspondent present at the interview when he
imparted his information to the correspondent of the Mew York Herald. To
the third question, I would answer that Livingstone was already relieved, and
needed no stores. To the fourth question I would reply that Dr. Kirk’s rela-
tives in England may probably know what he has been doing better than I do.
Also, in answer to that article in the Standard, and to some articles in other
newspapers, I must confess that I cannot see wherein those letters of Dr.
Livingstone to Mr. James Bennet are disturbing, grotesque, or unexpected,
unless the editors believed that Dr Livingstone was dead, and that his ghost
now haunts them and disturbs their dreams. We are also told that ‘Dr.
Livingstone’s reports are strangely incoherent ;? that Sir Henry Rawlinson’s
letter is ‘most discouraging;’ that the only theory to be gleaned from Dr.
Livingstone’s letter is simply impossible; that the Standard, echoing the opi-
nion of geographers, is more in the ‘dark than ever?’ Here ig a field for
explanation, had one only time or space in such a paper as this to explain.
Let us hope that geographers who are in the dark will come forward to demand

to be admitted into the light.
‘“‘ But leaving these tremendous questions to a subsequent moment, let us

now turn our attention to that large body of water called the Tanganyika.
England is the first and foremost country in African discoveries. Her sons
are known to ave plunged through jungles ; travelled over plains, mountains,
and valleys; to have marched through the most awful wildernesses, to resolve
the many problems which have arisen from time to time concerning Central

L2

474 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Africa. The noblest heroes of geography have been of that land. She
reckons Bruce, Clapperton, Lander, Ritchie) Mungo Park, Laing, Baikie,
Speke, Burton, Grant, Baker, and Livingstone, as her sons. Many of these
have fallen, stricken to death by the poisonous malaria of the lands through
which they travelled. Who has recorded their last words—their last sighs?
Who has related the agonies they must have suffered—their sufferings while
they lived? What monuments mark their lonely resting-places? Where is
he who can point out the exact localities where they died? Look at that
skeleton of a continent! We can only say they died in that unknown centre
of Airica—that great broad blank between the eastern and the western coasts.

“Before I brought with me producible proofs, in the shape of letters, his
journal, his broken chronometers, his useless watches, his box of curiosities,
it was believed by all, with the exception of a few, that the most glorious
name among these geographical heroes—the most glorious name among fearless
missionaries, had been added to the martyrology list; it was believed that
the illustrious Livingstone had at last succumbed to the many fatal influences
that are ever at work in that awful heart of Africa.

“Tt was in my search for this illustrious explorer, which has now ended so
happily—far more successfully than I could ever have anticipated—that I
came to the shores of the great lake, the Tanganyika. At a little port, or
bunder, called Ujiji, in the district of Ujiji, my efforts were crowned with
success. If you will glance at the south-eastern shore of the Tanganyika, you
will find it a blank; but I must now be permitted to fill it with rivers, and
streams, and marshes, and mountain ranges. I must people it with powerful
tribes—with Wafipa, Wakawendi, Wakonongo, and Wanyamwezi. More to
the south, ferocious Watuta, and predatory Warori; and to the north, Mana
Msengi, Wangondo, and Waluriba. Before coming to the Malagarazi, I had
to pass through southern Wavinza. Crossing that river, and after a day’s
march, I entered Ubha, a broad, plain country, extending from Uvinza north
to Urundi, and the lands inhabited by the northern Watuta. Three long
marches through Ubha brought me to the beautiful country of Ukaranga
and Ujiji, the Liuche valley, or Ruche, as Burton has it. Five miles further
westwards, brought me to the summit of a smooth, hilly ridge, and the town
of Ujiji, embowered in palms, lay at our feet, and beyond was the silver
lake, the Tanganyika, and beyond the broad belt of water towered the darkly
purple mountains of Ugoma and Ukaramba.

‘“‘To very many here, perhaps, African names have no interest, but to those
who have travelled in Africa, each name brings a recollection—each word has
a distinct meaning ; sometimes the recollections are pleasing, sometimes bitter.
If I mention Ujiji, that little port in the Tanganyika, almost hidden by palm
groves, with the restless plangent surf rolling over the sandy beach, is recalled
as vividly to my mind as if I stood on that hill-top looking down upon it, and

STANLEY CROSS-EX AMINED. 475

where, after a few minutes later, I met the illustrious Livingstone. If I think
of Unyanyembe, naturally I recollect the fretful, peevish, and impatient life
I led there, until I summoned courage, collected my men, and marched to the
south to see Livingstone, or to die. If I think of Ukonongo, recollections of
our rapid marches, of famine, of hot suns, of surprises from enemies, and
mutiny among my men, of feeding upon wild fruit, and of a desperate rush
into a jungle. If I think of Ukawendi, I see a glorious land of lovely valleys,
and green mountains, and forests of tall trees; the march under their twilight
shades, and the exuberant chant of my people, as we gaily tramped towards
the north. If I think of southern Uvinza, I see mountains of hematite
of iron—I see enormous masses of disintegrated rock, great chasms, deep
ravines, a bleakness and desolation as of death. If I think of the Malagarazi,
I can see the river, with its fatal reptiles, and snorting hippopotami; I ean
see the salt plains stretching on either side; and if I think of Ubha, recollee-
tions of the many trials we underwent, of the turbulent, contumacious crowds,
the stealthy march at midnight through their villages, the preparations for
battle, the alarm, and the happy escape, culminating in the happy meeting
with Livingstone. There, in that open square, surrounded by hundreds of
curious natives, stands the worn-out, pale-faced, grey-bearded, and bent form
of my great companion. There stands the sullen-eyed Arabs, in their snowy
dresses, girdled, stroking their long beards, wondering why I came. There
stands the Wajiji, children of the Tanganyika, side by side with the Wanyam-
wezi, with the fierce and turbulent Warundi, with Livingstone and myself in the
centre. Yes, I note it all, with the sun-light falling softly on the picturesque
scene. I hear the low murmur of the suri, the rustling of the palm branches.
I note the hush that has crept over the multitudes as we two clasp hands.”

After Mr Stanley had given details of the geographical discoveries Dr.
Livingstone had entrusted to him, which we will deal with further on—the
geographical experts procéeded to cross-examine him, and to propound their
individual theories as to the ultimate goal of the great river Lualaba. None
of them agreed in the belief that Livingstone held as to its being the Nile,
and Mr. Stanley was exceedingly caustic in dealing with these geographical
doubters. We make a few extracts from an account of the scene by an eye-
witness.

After Mr. Stanley’s paper was read, some extracts from Dr Livingstone’s
despatches were read, “‘ the gentleman who performed that duty skipping a good
deal; and then Mr. Francis announced a paper from Colonel Grant (Speke’s
companion), part of which had only been received by post that morning. Mr.
Stanley began to make notes for his reply directly Colonel Grant’s doubts came
to be read, and it was clear that he was prepared to stand by the theories he
had formed after his four months and four days’ close conference with Living-
stone, let who would oppose them.”

476 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“Mr. Consul Petherick, a hale-looking, portly gentleman, with white
whiskers and beard, then gave his experience as an explorer, and claimed to
have been the first traveller who had attempted to estimate the volume of
water flowing from the various African rivers.

‘Dr. Beke then had his turn, and after regretting that he should have to
eat his own words, said that, taking Dr. Livingstone’s facts as they stood, it
was impossible that his conclusions could be correct.

‘Mr. Oswell, an old fellow-traveller of Livingstone’s, who was not down
on the programme, but was called on by the chair, spoke next from the body
of the hall, and paid warm testimony to the heroic qualities of Livingstone’s
wife, who was one of the expedition in which the speaker took part.

‘Then Sir Henry Rawlinson rose at the chairman’s right, and disclaimed
with some elaboration all feeling of jealousy on the part of the Geographical
Society, and then paid warm compliments to the honourable loyalty and
gallant courage with which Mr. Stanley had performed his onerous task.

“Still Sir Henry could not assent to the proposition, as one beyond
cavil, that Livingstone had discovered the sources of the Nile; and leant
rather to the opinion, that some great lake or swamp, or system of water sheds,
would be found to be the outfall into which Livingstone’s river emptied itself.

‘“‘Mr. Stanley had before this pointed out, at the request of the President,
on the large map of Africa, drawn by Mr. Keith Johnston, the alterations
which it will, in his judgment, require before it accords with the map shown
by Livingstone. ‘This map was hung behind the platform, and was of a size
which enabled every one to follow the course of exploration as it was touched
upon by the various speakers.

“Mr. Galton spoke, when summing up the proceedings from the chair, of
the ‘somewhat impassioned appeal’ made by Mr. Stanley on behalf of Living-
stone’s conclusions, and the phrase expresses accurately the character of the
traveller’s reply. He spoke like a man who was a little indignant.

““¢Dr, Beke,’ Mr. Stanley said, ‘living in London, and never having been
within two thousand miles of the spot, declares positively that Livingstone has
not discovered the sources of the Nile; whereas Livingstone, who has devoted
thirty-five years to Africa, only says he ¢hinks he has discovered,’ was one of
the remarks which created a good deal of laughter and applause. So when
Mr. Stanley, lifting his arms aloft in amazed protest, exclaimed, ‘and Sir Henry
Rawlinson thinks that a river of from one to three miles in breadth can lose
itself in a swamp,’ and when he alluded to gentlemen ‘sitting on their easy
chairs at home, and mapping out Central Africa to their own satisfaction,
and to never having known an Englishman discover anything yet, but some
learned German declared he’d been there first,’ the laughter was long and
loud.

“ Altogether, the impression left by Mr. Stanley upon his hearers was in

MR. STANLEY AND THE QUEEN. 477

the highest degree favourable; and while it is possible that some of his
opinions may be modified by the light scientific geographers may supply, it
is certain that he carried his audience with him this morning in debate.”

On the 27th August, 1872, Mr. Stanley received the following letter from
suarl Granville; it was accompanied by a valuable gold snuff-box, set with
brilliants :—

*“‘ Foreign Office, August 27th, 1872.
“ Sir,
‘“‘T have great satisfaction in conveying to you, by command of the
Queen, her Majesty’s high appreciation of the prudence and zeal which you
have displayed in opening a communication with Dr. Livingstone, and re-
lieving her Majesty from the anxiety which, in common with her subjects, she
had felt in regard to the fate of that distinguished traveller.

“The Queen desires me to express her thanks for the service you have
thus rendered, together with her Majesty’s congratulations on your having so
successfully carried out the mission which you so fearlessly undertook. Her
Majesty also desires me to request your acceptance of the memorial which
accompanies this letter.

“T am, Sir,
“ Your most obedient humble servant,
“Henry STANLEY, Jun. “¢ GRANVILLE.”

Nothing could exceed the warmth with which the general public gave
expression to their admiration of the pluck and daring with which Mr. Stanley
had carried out his splendid achievements. At banquets, luncheons, and
public meetings, he was received with the utmost enthusiasm. The freedom of
the principal cities of the empire was conferred upon him at the unanimous
wish of their corporations, and he had a personal interview with the Queen.

He accompanied the forces under Sir Garnet Wolesley during the Ashantee
Campaign, and gave the results of his observations in the New York Herald.
His letters from thence haye since been reprinted as a volume, and we need
hardly assure our readers that it is not the least interesting account of that
brilliant campaign among the many with which the public have been
favoured.

As we write he is on his way to Zanzibar to organise the most formidable
expedition ever led by a European into the heart of Africa for mere purposes
of exploration and discovery. The relief of Livingstone, and the stirring and
adventurous life he has led since boyhood, prove him to be thoroughly fitted for
the dangerous and arduous duty he has undertaken. The proprietors of the
New York Herald and the London Daily Telegraph bear the entire charges of this
great undertaking. It must be months, and it may be years, before we hear
of him from the centre of Africa, but we may rest assured that all that skill,

478 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

resolute daring, and an iron constitution can do, will be done to unravel the
mystery of the “‘ Heart of Africa.”

As this sheet goes to press, we learn that Mr. Stanley, who had met
with a gratifying reception from the authorities at Zanzibar, has, along with
Mr. Laing, a Zanzibar merchant, ascended the Lufiji river, which flows into
the Indian Ocean, opposite the island of Monfia. He reports that boats, of
light draught, can ascend it at certain seasons, for a distance of over two
hundred and forty miles. The main stream of slave traffic from Central
Africa crosses this river at the point where it ceases to be navigable. While
this river will materially lessen the travel to Lake Tanganyika, it will also
prove of great usefulness in the final suppression of the slave trade.

CHAPTER XX.

Dr. Livingstone’s Account of his Explorations.—His theory of the connection between
the Lualaba and the Nile.—Horrors of Slave-Trade.—A Man-Eating Tribe.—
Massacre of the Manyema, ete., ete.

fj story of Dr. Livingstone’s wanderings to and fro over the vast extent

of country, the watershed of which, according to his belief, goes to form
the Nile and the Congo, cannot be better told than in his own words. Letters
to Mr. James Gordon Bennett, and to Lords Clarenden and Granville, succes-
cessively Foreign Ministers in the English Government, supply ample mate-
rials, and tell the story of his trials and difficulties, and the geographical con-
clusions he had arrived at up to the period of Mr. Stanley’s meeting with him,
in a far more graphic and telling manner than any paraphrase of ours could
pretend to. As the letters were sent to different individuals, there is consi-
derable repetition, which we have endeavoured, by excisions, to render as
little noticeable as possible. In his first letter to Mr. Gordon Bennett, he
records his thanks for the great service rendered to him by that gentleman:—

“Tt is, in general, somewhat difficult to write to one we have never seen.
It feels so much like addressing an abstract idea; but the presence of your
representative, Mr. H. M. Stanley, in this distant region, takes away the
strangeness I should otherwise have felt, and in writing to thank you for the
extreme kindness that prompted you to send him, I feel quite at home.

‘Tf I explain the forlorn condition in which he found me, you will easily
perceive that I have good reason to use very strong expressions of gratitude.
I came to Ujiji off a tramp of between four hundred and five hundred miles
beneath a blazing vertical sun, having been baffled, worried, defeated, and
forced to return, when almost in sight of the end of the geographical part
of my mission, by a number of half-caste Moslem slaves, sent to me from
Zanzibar instead of men. The sore heart, made still sorer by the truly woe-
ful sights I had seen of ‘man’s inhumanity to man,’ reacted on the bodily
frame, and depressed it beyond measure. I thought that I was dying on
my feet. It is not too much to say, that almost every step of the weary
sultry way I was in pain, and I reached Ujiji a mere ruckle of bones. Here
I found that some £500 worth of goods I had ordered from Zanzibar had
unaccountably been entrusted to a drunken half-caste Moslem tailor, who,

480 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

after squandering them for sixteen months on the way to Ujiji, finished up
by selling off all that remained for slaves and ivory for himself. He had
divined on the Koran, and found that I was dead. He had also written
to the governor of Unyanyembe that he had sent slaves after me to Manyema,
who returned and reported my decease, and begged permission to sell off
the few goods that his drunken appetite had spared. He, however, knew
perfectly well from men who had seen me, that I was alive, and waiting
for the goods and men; but as for morality, he is evidently an idiot; and
there being no law here except that of the dagger or musket, I had to sit
down in great weakness, destitute of everything save a few barter cloths
and beads I had taken the precaution to leave here in case of extreme need.
The near prospect of beggary among Ujijans made me miserable. I could
not despair, because I laughed so much at a friend who, on reaching the
mouth of the Zambesi, said ‘ that he was tempted to despair on breaking the
photograph of his wife: we could have no success after that.’ After that, the
idea of despair has to me such a strong smack of the ludicrous, it is out of
the question.

‘“‘ Well, when I had got about the lowest verge, vague rumours of an
English visitor reached me. I thought of myself as the man who went down
from Jerusalem to Jericho; but neither priest, Levite, nor Samaritan, could
possibly pass my way. Yet the good Samaritan was close at hand; and one
of my people rushed up at the top of his speed, and in great excitement gasped
out, ‘An Englishman coming! I see him!’ And off he darted to meet him.
An American flag, the first ever seen in these parts, at the head of a caravan,
told me the nationality of the stranger. I am as cold and non-demonstrative
as we islanders are usually reputed to be, but your kindness made my frame
thrill. It was indeed overwhelming, and I said in my soul, ‘ Let the richest
blessings descend from the Highest on you and yours.’

‘The news Mr. Stanley had to tell me was thrilling: the mighty politi-
cal changes on the Continent, the success of the Atlantic cables, the election of
General Grant, and many topics, riveted my attention for days together, and
had an immediate and beneficial effect on my health. I had been without
news from home for years, save what I could glean from a few Saturday
Reviews and Punch for 1868. The appetite revived, and in a week I began
to feel strong again. Mr. Stanley brought a most kind and encouraging
despatch from Lord Clarendon, whose loss I sincerely deplore—the first I
have received from the Foreign Office since 1866—and information that Her
Majesty’s Government had kindly sent £1000 to my aid. Up to his arrival
I was not aware of any pecuniary aid. I came unsalaried, but this want is
now happily repaired; and I am anxious that you and all my friends should
know that, though uncheered by letters, I have stuck to the task which my

ia?

LIVINGSTONE’S LETTERS. 431

friend Sir Roderick Murchison set me, with John-Bullish tenacity, believing
that all will come right at last.”

After giving a brief account of his geographical discoveries, he says :—
**T must go to Unyanyembe at Mr. Stanley’s and your expense, ere I can put
the natural completion to my work; and if my disclosures regarding the ter-
rible Ujijan slavery should lead to the suppression of the East Coast slave
trade, I shall regard that as a greater matter by far than the discovery of all
the Nile sources together.

*€ Now that you have done with domestic slavery for ever, lend us your
powerful aid towards this great object. This fine country is blighted as with
a curse from above, in order that the slaving privileges of the petty Sultan of
Zanzibar may not be infringed, and that the rights of the Crown of Portugal,
which are mythical, should be kept in abeyance till some future time, when
Africa will become another India to Portuguese slave dealers.”

Dr. Livingstone’s despatch, addressed to the Earl of Clarendon, gives
the best summary of his geographical conclusions up to the time of which
we are writing. No single letter from any traveller, from the scene of his
labours, ever recorded so important discoveries. We give it entire:—

“*T wrote a very hurried letter on the 28th ultimo, and sent it by a few
men who had resolved to run the risk of passing through contending parties
of Banyamwezi and mainland Arabs at Unyanyembe, which is some twenty
days east of this. I had just come off a tramp of more than four hundred
miles beneath a vertical torrid sun, and was so jaded in mind by being forced
back by faithless attendants, that I could have written little more though the
messengers had not been in such a hurry to depart as they were. I have now
the prospect of sending this safely to the coast by a friend; but so many of
my letters have disappeared at Unyanyembe, when entrusted to the care of
the Lewale or Governor, who is merely the trade agent of certain Banians,
that I shall consider that of the 28th as one of the unfortunates, and give in
this as much as I can recall.

“‘T have ascertained that the watershed of the Nile is a broad upland
between 10° and 12” south latitude, and from four thousand to five thousand
feet above the level of the sea. Mountains stand on it at various points, which,
though not apparently very high, are between six thousand and seven thou-
sand feet of actual altitude. The watershed is over seven hundred miles in
length, from east to west. The springs that rise on it are almost innumerable;
that is, it would take a large portion of a man’s life to count them. A bird’s-
eye view of some parts of the watershed would resemble the frost vegetation
on window-panes. They all begin in an ooze at the height of a slightly
depressed valley. A few hundred yards down the quantity of water from
oozing earthen sponge forms a brisk perennial purn or brook a few feet broad,
and deep enough to require a bridge. These are the ultimate or primary

M2

482 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

sources of the great rivers that flow to the north in the great Nile valley.
The primaries unite and form streams, in general larger than the Isis at
Oxford or Avon at Hamilton, and may be called secondary sources. They
never dry, but unite again into four lines of drainage, the head waters or
mains of the river of Egypt. These four are each called by the natives
Lualaba, which, if not too pedantic, may be spoken of as lacustrine rivers,
extant specimens of those which, in pre-historic times, abounded in Africa,
and which in the south are still called by Bechuanas ‘ Melapo;’ in the north,
by Arabs, ‘ Wadys;’ both words meaning the same thing—river-beds in which
no water ever now flows. Two of the four great rivers mentioned fall into
the central Lualaba or Webb’s Lake River, and then we have but two main
lines of drainage as depicted nearly by Ptolemy.

‘‘ The prevailing winds on the watershed are from the south-east. This
is easily observed by the direction of the branches; and the humidity of the
climate is apparent in the number of lichens, which make the upland forest
look like the mangrove swamps on the coast.

“‘In passing over sixty miles of latitude, I waded thirty-two primary
sources from calf to waist deep, and requiring from twenty minutes to an
hour and a quarter to cross stream and sponge; this would give about one
source to every two miles.

‘‘ A Suaheli friend, in passing along part of the Lake Bangweolo, during
six days counted twenty-two from thigh to waist deep. This lake is on the
watershed, for the village at which I observed on its north-west shore was a
few seconds into 11° south, and its southern shores and springs and rivulets
are certainly in 12° south. I tried to cross it, in order to measure the breadth
accurately. The first stage to an inhabited island was about twenty-four
miles. From the highest point here, the tops of the trees, evidently lifted by
the mirage, could be seen on the second stage and the third stage ; the main-
land was said to be as far as this beyond it. But my canoe men had stolen
the canoe, and got a hint that the real owners were in pursuit, and got into
a flurry to return home. ‘They would come back for me in a few days
truly,’ but I had only my coverlet left to hire another craft if they should
leave me in this wide expanse of water; and being four thousand feet above
the sea, it was very cold, so I returned.

“The length of this lake is, at a very moderate estimate, one hundred-
and-fifty miles. It gives forth a large body of water in the Luapala; yet
lakes are in no sort sources, for no large river begins in a lake. But this and
others serve an important purpose in the phenomena of the Nile. It is one
large lake, arid, unlike the Okara—which, according to a Suaheli, who tra-
velled long in our company, is three or four lakes run into one huge Victoria
Nyanza—gives out a large river, which, on departing out of Moero, is still
larger. ‘These men had spent many years east of Okara, and could scarcely

THE NILE FOUNTAINS. 483

be mistaken in saying that, of the three or four lakes there, only one, the
Okara, gives off its water to the north.

“The ‘ White Nile’ of Speke, less by a full half than the Shire out of
Nyassa (for it is only eighty or ninety yards broad), can scarcely be named
in comparison with the central or Webb’s Lualaba, of from two thousand to
six thousand yards, in relation to the phenomena of the Nile. The structure
and economy of the watershed answer very much the same end as the great
lacustrine rivers, but I cannot at present copy a lost despatch which explained
that. The mountains on the watershed are probably what Ptolemy, for rea-
sons now unknown, called the Mountains of the Moon. From their bases I
found that the springs of the Nile do unquestionably arise. This is just what
Ptolemy put down, and is true geography. We must accept the fountains,
and nobody but Philistines will reject the mountains, though we cannot con-
jecture the reason for the aame.

** Mounts Kenia and Kilimanjaro are said to be snow-capped; but they are
so far from the sources, and send no water to any part of the Nile, they
could never have been meant by the correct ancient explorers, from whom
Ptolemy and his predecessors gleaned their true geography, so different from
the trash that passes current in modern times.

‘‘ Before leaving the subject of the watershed, I may add that I know
about six hundred miles of it, but am not yet satisfied, for unfortunately the
seventh hundred is the most interesting of the whole. I have a very strong
impression, that in the last hundred miles the fountains of the Nile mentioned
to Herodotus by the Secretary of Minerva in the city of Sais do arise, not,
like all the rest, from oozing earthen sponges, but from an earthen mound;
and half the water flows northward to Egypt, the other half south to Inner
Ethiopia. These fountains, at no great distance off, become large rivers,
though at the mound they are not more than ten miles apart. That is, one
fountain rising on the north-east of the mound becomes Bartle Frere’s Lua-
laba, and it flows into one of the lakes proper, Kamolondo, of the central line
of drainage; Webb’s Lualaba, the second fountain, rising on the north-west,
becomes (Sir Paraffin) Young’s Lualaba, which passing through Lake Lincoln
and becoming Loeki or Lomame, and joining the central line too, goes north
to Egypt. The third fountain on the south-west, Palmerston’s, becomes the
Leeambye or Upper Zambesi; while the fourth, Oswell’s fountain, becomes
the Kafue, and falls into the Zambesi in Inner Ethiopia.*

* The following is the passage in Herodotus alluded to by Dr. Livingstone :—

‘‘ With regard to the sources of the Nile, not one of the Egyptians, or kybians, or Greeks, pro-
fessed to know anything, excepting the guardian of the precious things consecrated to Minerva in
Sais, a city of Egypt. But this individual, in my opinion at least, did but joke when he asserted he
was perfectly acquainted with them. He gave the following account :—‘ That there were two peaked

484 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘More time has been spent in the exploration than I ever anticipated.
My bare expenses were paid for two years; but had I left when the money
was expended, I could have given little more information about the country
than the Portuguese, who, in their three slave-trading expeditions to Cazembe,
asked for slaves and ivory alone, and heard of nothing else. From one of the
subordinates of their last so-called expedition, I learnt that it was believed
_ that the Luapula went to Angola!" I asked about the waters till I was
ashamed, and almost afraid of being set down as afflicted with hydrocephalus.
I had to feel my way, and every step of the way, and was generally groping
in the dark; for who cared where the rivers ran? Many a weary foot I trod
ere I got a clear idea of the drainage of the great Nile valley. The most intel-
ligent natives and traders thought that all the rivers of the upper part of that
valley flowed into Tanganyika. But the barometers told me that to do so
the water must flow up-hill. The great rivers and the great lakes all make
their waters converge into the deep trough of the valley, which is a full inch
of the barometer lower than the Upper Tanganyika. It is only a sense of
duty, which I trust your Lordship will approve, that makes me remain, and,
if possible, finish the geographical question of my mission. After being
thwarted, baffled, robbed, worried almost to death in following the central
line of drainage down, I have a sore longing for home; I have had a perfect
surfeit of seeing strange new lands and people, grand mountains, lovely val-
leys, the glorious vegetation of primeval forests, wild beasts, and an endless
succession of beautiful mankind; besides great rivers and vast lakes—the last
most interesting from their huge overflowings, which explain some of the
phenoinena of the grand old Nile.

‘‘ Let me explain, but in no boastful style, the mistakes of others who
have bravely striven to solve the ancient problem, and it will be seen that I

mountains situate between Syene and Elephantis, the names of which mountains are Krophis and
Memphis, and that accordingly the sources of the Nile, which are bottomless, come from between
these two mountains—that one-half of the water flows into Egypt, and towards the north, while the
other half flows into Ethiopia. That the sources are bottomless Bammetticus, the king of Egypt,’
he said, ‘proved, for having caused a cable to be twisted, many thousand ogya in length, he cast it
in, but could not reach the bottom.’ ”

A recent writer compares Livingstone’s story with that of Herodotus. He says :—‘‘ Herodotus
speaks of the peaked mountains, between which lie the sources of the river—Livingstone of an earthen
mound and four fountains, as the sources of the river. Herodotus writes that one-half of the water
flows north into Egypt—Livingstone, two of these run north to Egypt, Lufira and Lomame. Hero-
dotus again—the other flows into Ethiopia: Livingstone—and two run south into Inner Ethiopia, as
the Leeambye, or Upper Zambesi, and the Kafue. Again the father of history is confirmed by modern
research, and the information which the Doctor has obtained, almost in the immediate neighbourhood
of the object of his ambition, shows how carefully the curious old traveller of two or three hundred
years ago must have pursued his inquiries and recorded the results, although he puts it upon record
that he thought the man of letters, or notary, was joking with him.

THE NILE SOURCES. 485

have cogent reasons for following the painful, plodding investigation to its
conelusion. Poor Speke’s mistake was a foregone conclusion. When he dis-
covered the Victoria Nyanza, he at once leaped to the conclusion that therein
lay the sources of the river of Egypt, ‘twenty thousand square miles of
water,’ confused by sheer immensity.

“‘Ptolemy’s small lake ‘Coloc’ is a more correct representation of the
actual size of that one of three or four lakes which alone sends its outflow to
the north; its name is Okara. Lake Kavirondo is three days distant from it,
but connected by a narrow arm. Lake Naibash or Neibash is four days from
Kayirondo. Baringo is ten days distant, and discharges by a river, the Nagar-
dabash, to the north-east.

‘These three or four lakes, which have been described by several intel-
ligent Suaheli, who have lived for many years on their shores, were run into
one huge Victoria Nyanza. But no sooner did Speke and Grant turn their
faces to this lake to prove that it contained the Nile fountains, than they
turned their backs to the springs of the river of Egypt, which are between
four hundred and five hundred miles south of the most southerly portion of
the Victoria Lake. Every step of their heroic and really splendid achieve-
ment of following the river down took them farther and farther from the
sources they sought. But for devotion to the foregone conclusion, the sight
of the little ‘ White Nile,’ as unable to account for the great river, they must
have turned off to the west down into the deep trough of the great valley,
and there found lacustrine rivers amply sufficient to account for the Nile and
all its phenomena.

“The next explorer, Baker, believed as honestly as Speke and Grant,
that in the Lake River Albert he had a second source of the Nile to that of
Speke. He came farther up the Nile than any other in modern times, but
turned when between six hundred and seven hundred miles of the caput Nili.
He is now employed in a more noble work than the discovery of Nile sources;
and if, as all must earnestly wish, he succeeds in suppressing the Nile Slave
Trade, the boon he will bestow on humanity will be of far higher value than
all my sources together. .

“* When intelligent men like these and Bruce have been mistaken, I have
naturally felt anxious that no one should come after me and find such sources
south of mine, which I now think can only be possible by water running up
the southern slope of the watershed.

“But all that can in modern times, and in common modesty, be fairly
claimed, is the re-discovery of what had sunk into oblivion, like the circum-
navigation of Africa by the Phcenician admiral of one of the Pharaohs, about
B.C. 600. He was not believed, because he reported that, in passing round
Libya, he had the sun on his right hand. This, to us who have gone round
the Cape from east to west, stamps his tale as genuine.

486 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“The predecessors of Ptolemy probably gained their information from
men who visited this very region; for in the second century of our era he
gave, in substance, what we now find to be genuine geography.

“The springs of the Nile, rising in 10° to 12° south latitude, and their
water collecting into two large lacustrine rivers, and other facts, could have
been learned only from primitive travellers or traders—the true discoverers
of what emperors, kings, philosophers, all the great minds of antiquity, longed .
to know, and longed in vain.

““'The geographical results of four arduous trips in different directions in
the Manyema country are briefly as follows:—The great river, Webb’s Lua-
laba, in the centre of the Nile valley, makes a great bend to the west, soon
after leaving Lake Moero, of at least one hundred-and-eighty miles; then,
turning to the north for some distance, it makes another large sweep west, of
about one hundred-and-twenty miles, in the course of which about thirty miles
of southing are made; it then draws round to north-east, receives the Lomame,
or Loeki, a large river which flows through Lake Lincoln. After the union a
large lake is formed, with many inhabited islands in it; but this has still to
be explored. It is the fourth large lake in the central line of drainage, and
cannot be Lake Albert; for, assuming Speke’s longitude of Ujiji to be pretty
correct, and my reckoning not enormously wrong, the great central lacustrine
river is about five degrees west of Upper and Lower Tanganyika.

‘“The mean of many barometric and boiling-point observations made
Upper Tanganyika two thousand eight hundred-and-eighty-feet high. Respect
for Speke’s memory made me hazard the conjecture that he found it to be
nearly the same; but from the habit of writing the Anno Domini, a mere
slip of the pen made one thousand eight hundred-and-forty-four feet. But I
have more confidence in the barometers than in the boiling-points, and they
make Tanganyika over three thousand feet, and the lower point of Central
Lualaba one inch lower, or about the altitude ascribed to Gondokoro.

“Beyond the fourth lake the water passes, it is said, into large reedy
lakes, and is in all probability Petherick’s branch—the main stream of the
Nile—in distinction from the small eastern arm, which Speke, Grant, and
Baker, took to be the river of Egypt.

‘“‘In my attempts to penetrate farther and farther I had but little hope
of ultimate success; for the great amount of westing led to a continual effort
to suspend the judgment, lest, after all, I might be exploring the Congo in-
stead of the Nile; and it was only after the two great western drains fell into
the central main, and left but the two great lacustrine rivers of Ptolemy, that
I felt pretty sure of being on the right track.

“The great bends west probably form one side of the great rivers above
that geographical loop, the other side being Upper Tanganyika and the Lake
River Albert. A waterfall is reported to exist between Tanganyika and

MANYEMA-LAND. 487

Albert Nyanza, but I could not go to it; nor have I seen the connecting link
between the two—the upper side of the loop—though I believe it exists.

** The Manyema are certainly cannibals, but it was long ere I could get
evidence more positive than would have led a Scotch jury to give a verdict of
‘not proven.’ They eat only enemies killed in war; they seem as if insti-
gated by revenge in their man-eating orgies, and on these occasions they-do
not like a stranger to see them. I offered a large reward in vain to any one
who would call me to witness a cannibal feast. Some intelligent men have
told me that the meat is not nice, and made them dream of the dead. The
women never partake, and I am glad of it, for many of them far down Lua-
laba are very pretty; they bathe three or four times a day, and are expert
divers for oysters.

‘“‘ The terror that guns inspire generally among the Manyema, seem to
arise among the Bakuss from an idea that they are supernatural. The effect
of gun-shot on a goat was shown, in order to convince them that the traders
had power, and that the instruments they carried were not, as they imagined,
the mere insignia of chieftainship: they looked up to the skies and offered to
bring ivory to purchase the charm by which lightning was drawn down; and
afterwards, when the traders tried to force a passage, which was refused,
they darted aside on seeing Banyamwezi followers place the arrows in- the
bow-strings, but stood in mute amazement while the guns mowed them down
in great numbers. They use long spears in the thick vegetation of their
country with great dexterity; and they have told me frankly, what was
self-evident, that but for the fire-arms, not one of the Zanzibar slaves or
half-castes would leave their country.

“There is not a single great chief in all Manyema. No matter what
name the different divisions of people bear—Manyema, Balegga, Babire,
Bazire, Bakoos—there is no political cohesion—not one king or kingdom.
Each head man is independent of every other. The people are industrious,
and most of them cultivate the soil largely. We found them everywhere very
honest. When detained at Bambarre, we had to send our goats and fowls to —
the Manyema yillages, to prevent them all being stolen by the Zanzibar
slaves; the slaye-owners had to do the same.

‘“‘ Manyema-land is the only country in Central Africa I have seen where
cotton is not cultivated, spun, and woven. The clothing is that known in
Madagascar as ‘lambas’ or grass cloth, made from the leaves of the ‘ Muale’

alm.
i “They call the good spirit above ‘Ngulu,’ or the Great One; and the
spirit of evil, who resides in the deep, ‘Mulambu.’ A hot fountain near Bam-
barre is supposed to belong to this being, the author of death by drowning
and other misfortunes.

The following graphic account of travel in Manyema-land, which occurs

488 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

in a despatch to Lord Granville, gives a striking picture of the country and
the difficulties of travel :—

‘“‘'The country is extremely beautiful, but difficult to travel over. The
mountains of light grey granite stand like islands in new red sandstone, and
mountain and valley are all clad in a mantle of different shades of green.
The vegetation is indescribably rank. Through the grass—if grass it can be
called, which is over half-an-inch in diameter in the stalk, and from ten to
twelve feet high—nothing but elephants can walk. The leaves of this mega-
therium grass are armed with minute spikes, which, as we worm our way
along elephant-walks, rub disagreeably on the side of the face where the
gun is held, and the hand is made sore by fending it off the other side for
hours. The rains were fairly set in by November ; and in the mornings, or after
a shower, these leaves were loaded with moisture which wet us to the bone.
The valleys are deeply undulating, and in each innumerable dells have to be
crossed. There may be only a thread of water at the bottom; but the mud,
mire, or (scottice) ‘ glaur’ is grievous: thirty or forty yards of the path on each
side of the stream are worked by the feet of passengers into an adhesive com-
pound. By placing a foot on each side of the narrow way, one may waddle
a little distance along; but the rank crop of grasses, gingers, and bushes,
cannot spare the few inches of soil required for the side of the foot, and down
he comes into the slough. The path often runs along the bed of the rivulet
for sixty or more yards, as if he who first cut it out went that distance seek-
ing for a part of the forest less dense for his axe. In other cases, the Muale
palm, from which here, asin Madagascar, grass-cloth is woven, and called by
the same name, ‘lamba,’ has taken possession of the valley. The leaf-stalks,
as thick as a strong man’s arm, fall off and block up all passage, save by a
path made and mixed up by the feet of elephants and buffaloes; the slough
therein is groan-compelling and deep.

‘“‘ very now and then the traders, with rueful faces, stand panting;
the sweat trickles down my face; and I suppose that I look as grim as
they, though I try to cheer them with the hope that good prices will re-
ward them at the coast for ivory obtained with so much toil. In some
cases the subsoil has given way beneath the elephant’s enormous weight;
the deep hole is filled with mud; and one, taking it all to be about calf
deep, steps in to the top of the thigh, and flaps on to a seat, soft enough,
but not luxurious; a merry laugh relaxes the facial muscles, though I have
no other reason for it than that it is better to laugh than to ery.

‘Some of the numerous rivers which in this region flow into Lualaba are
covered with living vegetable bridges: a species of dark glossy-leaved grass,
with its roots and leaves, felts itself into a mat that covers the whole stream.
When stepped upon, it yields twelve or fifteen inches, and that amount of
water rises up on the leg. At every step the foot has to be raised high

THE NEST OF THE GORILLA. 489

enough to place it on the unbent mass in front. This high stepping fatigues
like walking on deep snow. Here and there holes appear, which we could
not sound with a stick six feet long; they gave the impression that anywhere
one might plump through and finish the chapter. Where the water is shallow
the lotus, or sacred lily, sends its roots to the bottom, and spreads its broad
leaves over the floating bridge, so as to make believe that the mat is its own;
but the grass referred to is the real felting and supporting agent, for it often
performs duty as a bridge where no lilies grow. The bridge is called by
the Manyema ‘kintefwetefwe,’ as if he who first coined it was grasping
for breath after plunging over a mile of it.

“ Between each district of Manyema large belts of the primeval forest still
stand. Into these the sun, though vertical, cannot penetrate, except by send-
ing down at mid-day thin pencils of rays into the gloom. The rain-water
stands for months in stagnant pools made by the feet of elephants; and the
dead leaves decay on the damp soil, and make the water of the numerous
rivulets of the colour of strong tea. The climbing plants, from the size of
whip-cord to that of a man-of-war’s hawsers, are so numerous, the ancient
path is the only passage. When one of the giant trees falls across the road,
it forms a wall breast-high to be climbed over, and the mass of tangled ropes
brought down makes cutting a path round it a work of time.

“‘ The shelter of the forest from the sun makes it pleasant, but the roots
of trees high out of the soil across the path keep the eyes, ox-like, on the
ground. The trees are so high that a good ox-gun shot does no harm to
parrots or guinea-fowls on their tops; and they are often so closely planted,
that I have heard gorillas, here called ‘ sokos,’ growling about fifty. yards off,
without getting a glimpse of them. His nest is a poor contrivance; it exhibits
no more architectural skill than the nest of our cushat dove. Here the ‘ soko’
sits in pelting rain, with his hands over his head. The natives give him a
good character, and from what I have seen he deserves it; but they call his
nest his house, and laugh at him for being such a fool as to build a house,
and not go beneath it for shelter.

“ Bad water and frequent wettings told on us all, by choleraic symptoms
and loss of flesh. Meanwhile the news of cheap ivory caused a sort of Cali-
fornian gold fever at Ujiji, and we were soon overtaken by a horde, num-
bering six hundred muskets, all eager for the precious tusks. These had been
left by the Manyema in the interminable forests, where the animals had been
slain. The natives knew where they lay, and, if treated civilly, readily
brought them, many half-rotten, or gnawed by a certain rodent to sharpen
his teeth, as London rats do on leaden pipes. I had already, on this jour-
ney, two severe lessons, that travelling in an unhealthy climate in the rainy
season is killing work. By getting drenched to the skin once too often in
Marunga I had pneumonia, the illness to which I have referred, and that was

N2

490 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

worse than ten fevers—that is, fevers treated by our medicine, and not by
the dirt supplied to Bishop Mackenzie at the Cape as the same. Besides
being unwilling to bear the new comers company, I feared that, by further
exposure in the rains, the weakness might result in something worse. . . .

‘“‘ The rains continued into July, and fifty-eight inches fell. The mud
from the clayey soil was awful; and it laid up some of the strongest men, in
spite of their intense eagerness for ivory. I lost no time, after it was fea-
sible to travel, in preparing to follow the river; but my attendants were fed
and lodged by the slave-women, whose husbands were away from the -camp
in trade, and pretended to fear going into a canoe. I consented to refrain
from buying one. ‘They then pretended to fear the people, though the
inhabitants all along the Lualaba were reported by the slaves to be remark-
ably friendly. I have heard both slaves and freemen say, ‘ No one will ever
attack people so good’ as they found them. Elsewhere I could employ the
country people as carriers, and was comparatively independent, though de-
serted by some four times even. But in Manyema no one can be induced to
go into the next district, for fear, they say, of being killed and eaten.”

In a despatch addressed to Karl Granville, dated Ujiji, Nov. 14, 1871,
Dr. Livingstone exposes the fact that the slave trade in Central Africa is
mainly carried on for the benefit of British subjects. He says:—

‘“‘In my letter dated Bambarre, November 1870, now enclosed, I stated
my grave suspicions that a packet of about forty letters—despatches, copies of
all the astronomical observations from the coast onwards, and sketch maps on
tracing paper, intended to convey a clear idea of all the discoveries up to the
time of arrival at Ujiji—would be destroyed. It was delivered to the agent
here of the Governor of Unyanyembe, and I paid him in full all he demanded
to transmit it to Syde-bin-Salem Buraschid, the so-called Governor, who is
merely a trade agent of certain Banyans of Zanzibar, and a person who is
reputed dishonest by all. As an agent, he pilfers from his employers, be they
Banyans or Arabs; as a Governor, expected to exercise the office of a magistrate,
he dispenses justice to him who pays most; and as the subject of a Sultan who
entrusted him because he had no power on the mainland to supersede him, he
robs his superior shamelessly. No Arab or native ever utters a good word for
him, but all detest him for his unjustice.

‘The following narrative requires it to be known that his brother, Ali-
bin-Salem Buraschid, is equally notorious for unblushing dishonesty. All
Arabs and Europeans who have had dealings with either speak in unmeasured
terms of their fraud and duplicity. The brothers are employed in trade,
chiefly by Ludha Damji, the richest Banyan in Zanzibar.

‘Tt is well known that the slave trade in this country is carried on
almost entirely with his money and that of other Banian British subjects.
The Banyans advance the goods required, and the Arabs proceed inland as

BANYAN SLAVE TRADERS. 491

their agents, perform the trading, or rather murdering; and when slaves and
ivory are brought to the coast, the Arabs sell the slaves. The Banyans pocket
the price, and adroitly let the odium rest on their agents. Asa rule, no tra-
velling Arab has money sufficient to undertake an inland journey. Those who
have become rich imitate the Banyans, and send their indigent countrymen
and slaves to trade for them. The Banyans could scarcely carry on their sys-
tem of trade were they not in possession of the custom-house, and had power
to seize all the goods that pass through it to pay themselves for debts. The
so-called Governors are appointed on their recommendation, and become mere
trade agents. When the Arabs in the interior are assaulted by the natives,
they never unite under a Governor as a leader; for they know that defending
them, or concerting means for their safety, is no part of his duty. The Arabs
are nearly all in debt to the Banyans, and the Banyan slaves are employed in
ferreting out every trade transaction of the debtors; and when watched by
Governors’ slaves and custom-house officers, it is scarcely possible for even
this cunning, deceitful race to escape being fleeced. To avoid this, many
surrender all the ivory to their Banyan creditors, and are allowed to keep or
sell the slaves as their share of the profits. It will readily be perceived that
the prospect of in any way coming under the power of Banyan British sub-
jects at Zanzibar is very far from reassuring.

“The packet above referred to was never more heard of, but a man called
Musa Kamaah had been employed to drive some buffaloes for me from the
coast, and on leaving Ujiji the same day the packet was delivered for trans-
mission, I gave him a short letter, dated May 1869, which he concealed on
his person, knowing that on its production his wages depended. He had
been a spectator of the plundering of my property by the Governor’s slave,
Saloom, and received a share to hold his peace. He was detained for months
at Unyanyembe by the Governor, and even sent back to Ujiji on his private
business, he being ignorant all the while that Kamaah preserved the secret
letter. It was the only document of more than forty that reached Zanzibar.
It made known, in some measure, my wants, but my cheques on Bombay for
money were in the lost packet, and Ludha, the rich Banyan, was employed
to furnish, on credit, all the goods and advances of pay for the men required
in the expedition. lLmudha is, perhaps, the best of all the Banyans at Zan-
zibar ; but he applied to Ali-bin-Salem, the brother of his agent, the Gover-
nor, to furnish two head men to conduct the goods and men to Ujiji, and
beyond it, wherever I might be then reported to be. He recommended
Shereef Bosher and Awathe as first and second conductors of the caravan.
Shereef, the Governor, and the Governor’s brother, being ‘ birds of one
feather,’ the consequences might have been foretold. No sooner did Shereef
obtain command than he went to one Muhamad Nassur, a Zanzibar-born
Banyan or Hindoo, and he advanced twenty-five boxes of soap and eight

492 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

cases of brandy for trade. He then went to Bagamoyo on the mainland,
and received from two Banyans there, whose names to me are unknown,
quantities of opium and gunpowder, which, with the soap and brandy, were
to be retailed by Shereef on the journey.

In the Bagamoyo Banyan’s house, Shereef broke the soap boxes, and
stowed the contents and the opium in my bales of calico, in order that the
carriers paid by me should carry them. Others were employed to carry the
cases of brandy and kegs of gunpowder, and paid with my cloth. Hence-
forth all the expenses of the journey were defrayed out of my property, and
while retailing the barter goods of his Banyan accomplices, he was in no
hurry to relieve my wants, but spent fourteen months between the coast and
Ujiji, a distance which could have been easily accomplished in three.

Two months at one spot, and two months at another place, and two ata
third, without reason except desire to profitably retail his brandy, etc., which
some people think Moslems never drink, but he was able to send back from
Unyanyembe over sixty pounds worth of ivory—the carriers being again
paid from my stores. He ran riot with the supplies, all the way purchasing
the most expensive food for himself, his slaves, and his women, the country
afforded. When he reached Ujiji his retail trade for the Banyans and him-
self was finished ; and, in defiance of his engagement to follow wherever I led,
when men from acamp eight days beyond Bambarrie went to Ujiji and reported
to him that I was near and waiting for him, he refused their invitation to
return with them.”

Leaders of slave parties often resort to massacre with the view of inspiring
a dread of their power, and to ensure the rapid capturing of slaves during the
confusion thus created. Dr. Livingstone gives a terrible narrative of an attack
upon the unoffending Manyema:—“ On the 13th of June, a massacre was per-
petrated which filled me with such intolerable loathing, that I resolved to
yield to the Banyan slaves, return to Ujiji, get men from the coast, and try ©
to finish the rest of my work by going outside the area of Ujijian bloodshed,
instead of vainly trying from its interior outwards.

“ Dugumbe’s* people built their huts on the right bank of Lualaba, at a
market-place called Nyangwe. On hearing that the head slave of a trader at
Ujiji had, in order to get canoes cheap, mixed blood with the head men of
the Bagenya on the left bank, [they] were disgusted with his assurance, and
resolved to punish him, and make an impression in the country in favour
of their own greatness by an assault on the market people, and on all the
Bagenya who had dared to make friendship with any but themselves.
Tagamoio, the principal under-trader of Dugumbe’s party, was the perpetrator.

* Dugumbe was an Arab tradex

MASSACRE OF MANYEMA. 493

The market was attended every fourth day by between two thousand and
three thousand people. It was held on a long slope of land, which down at
the river ended in a creck capable of containing between fifty and sixty
large canoes. The majority of the market people were women, many of them
very pretty. The people west of the river brought fish, salt, pepper, oil,
grass-cloth, iron, fowls, goats, sheep, pigs, in great numbers, to exchange
with those east of the river for cassava grain, potatoes, and other farinaceous
products. They have a strong sense of natural justice, and all unite in forcing
each other to fair dealing. At first my presence made them all afraid; but
wishing to gain their confidence, which my enemies tried to undermine or
prevent, I went among them frequently, and when they saw no harm in me,
became very gracious.

“The bargaining was the finest acting I ever saw. I understood but
few of the words that flew off the glib tongues of the women, but their gestures
spoke plainly. I took sketches of the fifteen varieties of fish brought in, to
compare them with those of the Nile farther down, and all were eager to
tell their names. But on the date referred to I had left the market only a
minute or two, when three men whom I had seen with guns, and felt inclined
to reprove them for bringing them into the market-place, but had refrained,
attributing it to ignorance in new-comers, began to fireinto the dense crowd
around them ; another party, down at the canoes, rained their balls on the
panic-struck multitude that rushed into these vessels. All threw away their
goods; the men forgot their paddles; the canoes were jammed in the creek
and could not be got out quick enough, so many men and women sprang into
the water. The women of the left bank are expert divers for oysters, and a
long line of heads showed a crowd striking out for an island a mile off; to
gain it, they had to turn the left shoulder against a current of between a
mile and a-half to two miles an hour. Had they gone diagonally with the
current, though that would have been three miles, many would have gained
the shore. It was horrible to see one head after another disappear, some
calmly, others throwing their arms high up towards the Great Father of all,
and going down. Some of the men who got vanoes out of the crowd paddled
quick, with hands and arms, to help their friends; three took people in, till
they all sank together. One man had clearly lost his head, for he paddled
a canoe which would have held fifty people straight up-stream, nowhere.
The Arabs estimated the loss at between four hundred and five hundred
souls. Dugumbe sent out some of his men in one of his thirty canoes, which
the owners in their fright could not extricate, to save the sinking. One woman
refused to be taken on board because she thought that she was to be madea
slave; but he rescued twenty-one, and of his own accord sent them, next day,
home; many escaped and came to me, and were returned to their friends.
When the firing began on the terror-stricken crowd at the canoes, Tagamoio’s

494 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

band began their assault on the people on the west of the river, and con-
tinued the fire allday. I counted seventeen villages in flames, and next day
six. Dugumbe’s power over the underlings is limited, but he ordered them
to cease shooting; those in the market were so reckless, they shot two of their
own number. 'Tagamoio’s crew came back next day in canoes, shouting and
firing off their guns as if believing that they were worthy of renown.

“Next day about twenty head men fled from the west bank and came
to my house. There was no occasion now to tell them that the English had
no desire for human blood. They begged hard that I should go over with
them and settle with them, and arrange where the new dwellings of each
should be. I was so ashamed of the bloody Moslem company in which
I found myself, that I was unable to look at the Manyema. I confessed
my grief and shame, and was entreated, if I must go, not to leave them
now. Dugumbe spoke kindly to them, and would protect them as well as
he could against his own people; but when I went to Tagamoio to ask back
the wives and daughters of some of the head men, he always ran off and
hid himself.

“This massacre was the most terrible scene I ever saw. I cannot de-
scribe my feelings, and am thankful that I did not give way to them, but
by Dugumbe’s advice avoided a blood feud with men who, for the time,
seemed turned intodemons. The whole transaction wasthe more deplorable,
inasmuch as we have always heard from the Manyema, that though the men
of the district may be engaged in actual hostilities, the women pass from one
market-place to another with their wares, and were never known to be molested.
The change has come only with these alien bloodhounds, and all the blood-
shed has taken place in order that captives might be seized where it could be
done without danger, and in order that the slaving privileges of a petty
Sultan should produce abundant fruit.

‘“‘ Heartsore, and greatly depressed in spirits, by the instances of ‘man’s
inhumanity to man’ I had unwillingly seen, I commenced the long weary
tramp to Ujiji, with the blazing sun right overhead. The mind acted on
the body, and it is no over-statement to say that almost every step of be-
tween four hundred and five hundred miles was in pain. I felt as if dying
on my feet, and I came very near to death in a more summary way. It is
within the area of bloodshed that danger alone occurs. I could not induce
my Moslem slaves to venture outside that area or sphere. They knew better
than I did. ‘Was Muhamad not the greatest of all, and their prophet ? ”

‘“‘ About midway back to Bambarre, we came to villages where I had
formerly seen the young men compelled to carry a trader’s ivory. When
I came on the scene the young men had laid down the tusks and said: ‘Now
we have helped you so far without pay, let the men of the villages do as
much.’ ‘No, no, take up the ivory ;’ and take it up they did, only to go a

A NATIVE ARISTOCRAT. 495

little way and cast it into the dense vegetation on each side of the path we
afterwards knew so well. When the trader reached the next stage he sent
back his men to demand the ‘stolen’ ivory ; and when the elders denied the
theft they were fired upon and five were killed, eleven women and children
captured, and also twenty-five goats. The surviving elders then talked the
matter over, and the young men pointed out the ivory, and carried it twenty-
two miles after the trader. He chose to say that three of the tusks were
missing, and carried away all the souls and goats he had captured. They
now turned to the only resource they knew, and when Dugumbe passed, way-
laid and killed one of his people.”

The natives to the west of Lake Tanganyika are, according to Living-
stone, a naturally intelligent and well-favoured race, and exceedingly friendly
and well-disposed towards strangers, until they have lost confidence in them
through cruelty and ill-usage. The following “ lights and shadows” of
African life are painfully interesting. He says :—

“Slaves generally—and especially those on the West Coast at Zanzibar,
and elsewhere—are extremely ugly. I have no prejudice against their colour;
indeed, any one who lives long among them forgets that they are black, and
feels that they are just fellow-men. But the low retreating forehead, prog-
nathus jaws, lark heels, and other physical peculiarities common among slaves
and West Coast Negroes, always awaken the same feelings of aversion as
those with which we view specimens of the ‘ Bill Sykes’ and ‘ Bruiser’ class
in England. I would not utter a syllable calculated to press down either class
more deeply in the mire in which they are already sunk; but I wish to point
out that these are not typical Africans any more than typical Englishmen,
and that the natives of nearly all the high lands of the interior of the conti-
nent are fair average specimens of humanity. I happened to be present
when all the head men of the great chief Insama, who lives west of the south
end of Tanganyika, had come together to make peace with certain Arabs who
had burned their chief town, and I am certain one could not see more finely-
formed, intellectual heads in any assembly in London or Paris, and the faces
and forms correspond with finely-shaped heads. Insama himself, who had
been a sort of Napoleon for fighting and conquering in his younger days, was
exactly like the ancient Assyrians sculptured on the Nineveh marbles, as
Nimrod and others; he showed himself to be one of ourselves by habitually
indulging in copious potations of beer, called pombe, and had become what
Nathaniel Hawthorne called ‘ bilbous’ below the ribs. I don’t know where
the phrase ‘ bloated aristocracy’ arose. It must be American, for I have had
glimpses of a good few English noblemen, and Insama was the only specimen
of a bloated aristocrat on whom I ever set my eyes.

“Many of the women were very pretty, and, like all ladies, would have
been much prettier if they had only let themselves alone. Fortunately, the

496 : LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

dears could not change their charming black eyes, beautiful foreheads, nicely
rounded limbs, well-shaped forms, and small hands and feet. But they must
adorn themselves; and this they do—oh, the hussies !—by filing their splendid
teeth to points like cats’ teeth. It was distressing, for it made their smile,
which has generally so much power over us great he-donkeys, rather crocodile-
like. Ornaments are scarce. What would our ladies do, if they had none,
but pout and lecture us on ‘Women’s Rights’? But these specimens of the
fair sex make shift by adorning their fine warm brown skins, tattooing them
with various pretty devices without colours, that, besides purposes of beauty,
serve the heraldic uses of our Highland tartans. They are not black, but of
a light warm brown colour; and so very sisterish—if I may use the new coin-
age—it feels an injury done to oneself to see a bit of grass stuck through the
cartilage of the nose, so as to bulge out the ale nasi (wings of the nose
of anatomists). Cazembe’s Queen—a Ngombe, Moari by name—would be
esteemed a real beauty in London, Paris, or New York, and yet she had asmall
hole through the cartilage near the top of her fine slightly aquiline nose. But
she had only filed one side of the two fronts of her superb snow-white teeth ;
and then what a laugh she had! Let those who wish to know, go and see her
carried to her farm in her pony pheton, which is a sort of throne fastened
on two very long poles, and carried by twelve stalwart citizens. If they take
Punch’s motto for Cazembe, ‘ Niggers don’t require to be shot here,’ as their
own, they may show themselves to be men; but whether they do or not,
Cazembe will show himself a man of sterling good sense. Now these people, _
so like ourselves externally, have genuine human souls. Rua, a very large
section of country north and west of Cazembe’s, but still in the same inland
region, is peopled by men very like those of Insama and Cazembe.

“An Arab, Said-bin-Habib, went to trade in Rua two years ago, and, as
the Arabs usually do when natives have no guns, Said-bin-Habib’s elder
brother carried matters with a high hand. The Rua men observed that the
elder brother slept in a white tent, and pitching their spears into it by night,
killed him. As Moslems never forgive bloodshed, the younger brother forth-
with ran at all indiscriminately in a large district. Let it not be supposed
that any of these people are, like the American Indians, insatiable bloodthirsty
savages, who will not be reclaimed, or enter into terms of lasting friendship
with fair-dealing strangers. Had the actual murderers been demanded, and
a little time been granted, I feel morally certain, from many other instances
among tribes who, like the Ro Rua, have not been spoiled by Arab traders,
they would all have been given up. The chiefs of the country would, first
of all, have specified the crime of which the elder brother was guilty, and who
had been led to avenge it. It is very likely that they would stipulate that
no other should be punished but the actual perpetrator. Domestic slaves,
acting under his orders, would be considered free from blame. I know of

THE SLAVE STICK. 497

nothing that distinguishes the untcontaminated Africans from other degraded
peoples more than their entire reasonableness and good sense. It is different
alter they have had wives, children, and relations kidnapped; but that is
more than human nature, civilised or savage, can bear. In the case in
question, indiscriminate slaughter, capture and plunder took place. A very
large number of very fine young men were captured, and secured in chains
and wooden yokes. I came near the party of Said-bin-Habib, close to the
point where a huge rent in the mountains of Rua allows the escape of the
River Lualaba out of lake Moero; and here I had for the first time an oppor-
tunity of observing the differences between slaves and freemen made captives.
When fairly across Lualaba, Said thought his captives safe, and got rid of
the trouble of attending to and watching the chained gang by taking off
both chains and yokes. All declared their joy and perfect willingness to
follow Said to the end of the world or elsewhere ; but next morning twenty-
two made clear off to the mountains. Many more, on seeing the broad Lua-
laba roll between them and the homes of their infancy, lost all heart, and in
three days eight of them died. They had no complaint but pain in the heart,
and they pointed out its seat correctly, though many believe that the heart
is situated underneath the top of the sternum or breast-bone. This to me
was the most startling death I ever saw. They evidently died of broken-
heartedness, and the Arabs wondered, seeing they had plenty to eat. I saw
others perish, particularly a very fine boy of ten or twelve years of age.
When asked where he felt ill, he put his hand correctly and exactly over the
heart. He was kindly carried, and as he breathed out his soul, was laid
gently on the side of the path, The captors were not usually cruel; they
were callous—slavery had hardened their hearts.

“When Said, who was an old friend of mine, crossed the Lualaba, he
heard that 1 was in a village where a company of slave-traders had been pre-
viously assaulted for three days by justly-incensed Babemba. I would not
fight, nor allow my people to fire, if I saw them, because the Babemba had
been especially kind to me. Said sent a party of his own people to invite me
to leave the village by night and come to him. He showed himself the oppo-
site of hard-hearted; but slavery ‘ hardens all within, and petrifies the feel-
ings.’ It is bad for the victims, and bad for the victimisers.

“J once saw a party of twelve who had been slaves in their own country—
Lunda or Londa—of which Cazembe is chief in general. They were loaded
with large heayy wooden yokes, which are forked trees about three inches
in diameter and seven or eight feet long. The neck is inserted in the fork,
and an iron bar driven in across from one end of the fork tothe other, and
riveted; the other end is tied at night to a tree, or to the ceiling of a hut,
and the neck being firm in the fork, the slave is held off from unloosing it.
It is excessively troublesome to the wearer; and when marching, two yokes

02

498 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

are tied together by their free ends, and loads put on the slaves’ heads besides.
Women having in addition to the yoke and load a child on their back, have
said to me on passing, ‘ They are killing me! If they would take off the yoke,
I could manage the load and child; but I shall die with the loads.’ One who
spoke this did die; and the poor little girl, her child, perished of starvation.
I interceded for some, but, when unyoked, off they bounded into the long
grass, and I was greatly blamed for not caring to preserve the owner’s pro-
perty. After a day’s march under a broiling vertical sun, with yokes and
heavy loads, the strongest are exhausted.

‘‘ The party of twelve above mentioned were sitting singing and laughing.
‘ Hallo!’ said I, ‘these fellows take to it kindly; this must be the class for
whom philosophers say slavery is the natural state.’ And I went and asked
the cause of their mirth. I had to ask the aid of their owner as to the mean-
ing of the word rukha, which usually means to fly or leap. They were using
it to express the idea of haunting, as a ghost, and inflicting disease and
death; and the song was, ‘Yes, we are going away to Manga (abroad in
white man’s land) with yokes on our necks; but we shall have no yokes in
death. And we shall return to haunt and kill you.’ The chorus then struck
in with the name of the man who had sold each of them, and then followed
the general laugh, in which at first I saw no bitterness. Perembe, an old
man of at least one hundred-and-four years, had been one of the sellers. In
accordance with African belief, they had no doubt of being soon able, by
ghost power, to kill even him. Their refrain might be rendered—

‘Oh, oh, oh!

Bird of freedom, oh!

You sold me, oh, oh, oh!

I shall haunt you, oh, oh, oh!’

The laughter told not of mirth, but of tears of such as were oppressed, and
they had no comforter. ‘He that is higher than the highest regardeth.’”

No slave hunters or traders had ever entered the Manyema country until
about the time of Dr. Livingstone’s visit. He was destined to see the first
horrors consequent upon their presence; and his account of what he saw was
destined to be the prime agent in rousing the Government of this country to
attempt the complete extinction of the slave trade. To the Manyema, as they
had no market for it, ‘“‘ the value of ivory was quite unknown.” As Living-
stone has already informed us, the natives readily produced the hitherto value-
less ivory, and handed the tusks over to the traders for a few brass or copper
ornaments. ‘I have seen,” he says, “‘ parties return with so much ivory,
that they carried it by three relays of hundreds of slaves. But even this
did not satisfy human greed. The Manyema were found to be terrified by
the report of guns: some, I know, believed them to be supernatural; for

MANYEMA CANNIBALS. 499

when the effect of musket-ball was shown on a goat, they looked up to the
clouds, and offered to bring ivory to buy the charm by which lightning was
drawn down. When a village was assaulted, the men fled in terror, and
women and children were captured.

‘“‘Many of the Manyema women, especially far down the Lualaba, are
very light-coloured and lovely : it was common to hear the Zanzibar slaves—
whose faces resembled the features of London door-knockers, which some
atrocious ironfounder thought were like those of lions—say to each other,
‘Oh, if we had Manyema wives, what pretty children we should get!’
Manyema men and women are vastly superior to the slaves, who evidently
felt the inferiority they had acquired through wallowing in the mire of
bondage. Many of the men were tall strapping fellows, with but little of
what we think distinctive of the negro about them. If one relied on the
teachings of phrenology, the Manyema men would take a high place in the
human family. They felt their superiority, and often said truly, ‘ Were it
not for fire-arms, not one of the strangers would ever leave our country.’ If
a comparison were instituted, and Manyema taken at random, placed oppo-
site, say, the members of the Anthropological Society of London, clad like
them in kilts of grass cloth, I should like to take my place alongside the
Manyema, on the principle of preferring the company of my betters; the
philosophers would look wofully scraggy. But though the ‘ inferior race,’ as
we compassionately call them, have finely-formed heads, and often handsome
features, they are undoubtedly cannibals.

“It was more difficult to ascertain this than may be imagined. Some
think that they can detect the gnawings of the canine teeth of our cannibal
ancestry on fossil bones, though the canine teeth of dogs are pretty much
like the human.”

Dr. Livingstone found it difficult to pick up genuine information as to
the man-eating propensities of the Manyema. “ This arose,” he says, “ partly
from the fellows being fond of a joke, and they liked to horrify any one who
seemed incredulous. They led one of my people, who believed all they said,
to see the skull of a recent human victim, and he invited me in triumph. I
found it to be the skull of the gorilla, here called soko, and for the first time
I became aware of the existence of the animal there.” Speaking of the soko,
he says :—“‘ I cannot admire him. He is sometimes seen in the forest, walk-
ing upright, with his hands on his head, as if to steady his loins; but on sight
of man, he takes to all-fours. He is not handsome: a bandy-legged, pot-
bellied, low-browed villain, without a particle of the gentleman in him; but
he has a good character from the natives.”

“The country abounds in food of all kinds, and the rich soil raises
everything in great luxuriance. A friend of mine tried rice, and in between
three and four months it yielded between one hundred-and-twenty fold.

500 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Maize is so abundant, that I have seen forty-five loads, each about
sixty Ibs., given for a single goat. The ‘ Maize-dura,’ or Sorghum, sweet
potatoes, and yams, flourished in no stinted measure, the farinaceous ingre-
dient of diet; the palm-oil, the ground nuts, and a forest tree, afford the fatty
materials of food; bananas and plantains, in great profusion, and the sugar-
cane, yield a substitute for sugar; the palm toddy, beer of bananas, tobacco,
and bange, form the luxuries of life; and the villages swarm with goats, sheep,
dogs, pigs, and fowls; while the elephants, buffaloes, zebras, ahd gorillas,
yield to the expert hunter plenty of nitrogenous ingredients of human food.
It was puzzling to me why they should be cannibals. New Zealanders, we
are told, were cannibals because they had killed all the gigantic birds, and
they were converted from the man-eating persuasion by the introduction of
pigs. But the Manyema have plenty of pigs and other domestic animals, and
yet they are cannibals. They say that human flesh is not equal to that of
goats or pigs; it is saltish, and makes them dream of the dead. Why fine-
looking men like them should be so low in the moral scale, can only be attri-
butable to the non-introduction of that religion which makes those distinc-
tions among men which phrenology and other ologies cannot explain.

“The Manyema women, especially far down the Lualaba, are very
pretty and very industrious. The market is, with them, a great institution,
and they work hard and carry far in order to have something to sell. Mar-
kets are established about ten or fifteen miles apart. There those who raise
cassava, maize, grain, and sweet potatoes, exchange them for oil, salt, pepper,
fish, and other relishes; fowls, also pigs, goats, grass cloth, mats, and other
utensils, change hands. All are dressed in their best—gaudy-coloured, many-
folded kilts, that reach from the waist to the knee.” As Livingstone already
told us, they all unite to enforce honest trading. He says that they are
such eager traders, ‘They set off in companies by night, and begin to run
as soon as they come within the hum arising from hundreds of voices. To
haggle, and joke, and laugh, and cheat, seems to be the dearest enjoyment
of their life. They confer great benefits upon each other. The Bayenza
women are expert divers for oysters, and they barter them and fish for farina-
ceous food with the women on the east of the Lualaba, who prefer cultivating
the soil to fishery. The Manyema have told us that women going to market
were never molested. When the men of two districts were engaged in actual
hostilities, the women passed through from one market to another unarmed ;
to take their goods even in war was a thing not to be done.

“But at these market women the half-castes directed their guns. Two
cases that came under my own observation were so sickening, I cannot allow
the mind to dwell upon or write about them. Many of both sexes were
killed, but the women and children chiefly were made captives. No matter
how much ivory they obtained, these ‘ Nigger Moslems’ must have slaves;

LIVINGSTONE SUSPECTED. 501

and they assaulted the markets and villages, and made captives, chiefly, as it
appeared to me, because, as the men ran off at the report of the guns, they
could do it without danger. I had no idea before how bloodthirsty men can
be when they can pour out the blood of their fellow men in safety. And all
this carnage is going on in Manyema at the very time I write. It is the
Banyans, our protected Indian fellow subjects, that indirectly do it all. We
have conceded to the sultan of Zanzibar the right, which it was not ours to
give, of a certain amount of slave-trading, and that amount has been from
twelve to twenty thousand a-year. As we have seen, these are not traded for
but murdered. They are not for slaves, but free people made captive.

“A Sultan with a sense of justice would, instead of taking head-money,
declare that all were free as soon as they reached his territory. But the .
Banyans haye the custom-house, and all the Sultan’s revenue, entirely in
their hands. He cannot trust his Mahometan subjects, even of the better
class, to farm his income, because, as they themselves say, he would get no-
thing in return but a crop of lies. The Banyans naturally work the custom-
house so as to screen their own slaving agents; and so long as they have the
power to promote it, their atrocious system of slaving will never cease. For
the sake of lawful commerce, it would be politic to insist that the Sultan’s
revenue, by the custom-house, should be placed in the hands of an English or
American merchant of known reputation and uprightness. By this arrange-
ment the Sultan would be largely benefited, legal commerce would be exalted
to a position it has never held since Banyans and Moslems emigrated into
Eastern Africa, and Christianity, to which the slave trade is an insurmount-
able barrier, would find an open door.”

Sometimes the great traveller met with a cold reception, from his sup-
posed connection with Arab slavers and robbers. ‘ In going west of Bam-
barre,” he says, ‘‘in order to embark on the Lualaba, I went down the
Luamo, a river of from one to two hundred yards broad, which rises in the
mountains opposite Ujiji, and flows across the great bend of the Lualaba.
When near its confluence I found myself among people who had been lately
maltreated by the slaves, and they naturally looked on me as of the same
tribe as their persecutors. Africans are not generally unreasonable, though
smarting under wrongs, if you can fairly make them understand your claim
to innocence, and do not appear as having your back up. The women here
were particularly outspoken in asserting our identity with the cruel strangers.
On calling to one vociferous lady, who gave me the head traitor’s name, to
look at my colour, and see if it were the same as his, she replied with a bitter
little laugh, ‘Then you must be his father? The worst the men did was to
turn out in force, armed with their large spears and wooden shields, and show

us out of their district.”
At Bambarre Dr. Livingstone was laid up with ulcers on his feet for over

502 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

six months. He says:—‘‘I found continual wading in mud grievous ; for the
first time in my life my feet failed. When torn by hard travel, instead of
healing kindly as heretofore, irritable eating ulcers fastened on each foot.
If the foot is placed on the ground, blood flows, and every night a dis-
charge of bloody ichor takes place, with pain that prevents sleep. The wail-
ing of the poor slaves with ulcers that eat through everything, even bone,
is one of the night sounds of a slave camp. They are probably allied tc
fever. The people were invariably civil, and even kind; for curiously
enough, the Zanzibar slaves propagated everywhere glowing accounts of my
goodness, and of the English generally, because they never made slaves.”
Once Livingstone had a narrow escape with his life, from being found in
company with traders who had ill used the Manyema. On his way to
Bambarre, he says, “‘ We passed another camp of Ujijian traders, and they
begged me to allow their men to join my party. These included seventeen
men of Manyema, who had volunteered to carry ivory to Ujiji. These were
the very first of the Manyema who had in modern times gone fifty miles
from their birth-place. As all the Arabs have been enjoined by Seyed Majid,
the late Sultan, to show me all the kindness in their power, I could not decline
their request. My party was increased to eighty, and a long line of men
bearing elephants’ tusks gave us all the appearance of traders. The only
cloth I had left some months before consisted of two red blankets, which
were converted into a glaring dress, unbecoming enough; but there were no
Europeans to see it. ‘The maltreated men’(Manyema who had been wronged
by the traders), now burning for revenge, remembered the dress, and very
naturally tried to kill the man who had murdered their relations. They
would hold no parley. We had to pass through five hours of forest with
vegetation so dense, that by stooping down and peering towards the sun, we
could at times only see a shadow moving, and a slight rustle in the rank
vegetation was a spear thrown from the shadow of an infuriated man. Our
people in front peered into every little opening in the dense thicket before
they would venture past it. This detained the rear, and two persons near to
me were slain. A large spear lunged past close behind; another missed me
by about a foot in front. Coming to a part of the forest of about a hundred
yards cleared for cultivation, I observed that fire had been applied to one of
the gigantic trees, made still higher by growing on an ant-hill twenty or
more feet high. Hearing the crack that told the fire had eaten through, I
felt that there was no danger, it looked so far away, till it appeared coming
right down towards me. I ran a few paces back, and it came to the ground
only one yard off, broke in several lengths, and covered me with a cloud of
dust. My attendants ran back, exclaiming, ‘ Peace, peace! you will finish
your work in spite of all these people, and in spite of everybody!’ I, too,
took it as an omen of good, that I had three narrow escapes from death in

THE BANYAN SLAVE TRADERS. 503

one day. The Manyema are expert in throwing the spear; and as I had a
glance of him whose spear missed by less than an inch behind, and he was
not ten yards off, I was saved clearly by the good hand of the Almighty
Preserver of men. I can say this devoutly now; but in running the terrible
gauntlet for five weary hours among furies, all eager to signalize themselves
by slaying one they sincerely believed to have been guilty of a horrid out-
rage, no elevated sentiment entered the mind. The excitement gave way to
overpowering weariness, and I felt as I suppose soldiers do on the field of
battle—not courageous, but perfectly indifferent whether I were killed or
not.”

The real slave dealers are thus exposed by Dr. Livingstone :—‘‘ The
Banyan subjects have long been, and are now, the chief propagators of the
Zanzibar slave trade: their money, and often their muskets, gunpowder,
balls, flints, beads, brass wire, and calico, are annually advanced to the
Arabs, at enormous interest, for the murderous work of slaving, of the
nature of which every Banyan is fully aware. Having mixed much with
the Arabs in the interior, I soon learned the whole system that is called
*‘butchee.’ Banyan trading is simply marauding and murdering by the
Arabs, at the instigation and by the aid of our Indian fellow subjects. The
cunning Indians secure nearly all the profits of the caravans they send
inland, and very adroitly let the odium of slaving rest on their Arab agents.

It is a mistake to call the system of Ujiji slave ‘trade’ at all—
the captives are not traded for, but murdered for; and the gangs that are
dragged eastwards to enrich the Banyans are usually not slaves, but captive
free people. A Sultan anxious to do justly rather than pocket head-money,
would proclaim them all free as soon as they reached his territory. :

“J cannot say that I am altogether free from chagrin in view of the worry,
thwarting, and baffling, which the Banyans and their slaves have inflicted.
Common traders procure supplies of merchandise from the coast, and send
loads of ivory down by the same pagazi or carriers we employ, without any
loss. But the Banyans and their agents are not their enemies. I have lost
more than two years in time, have been burdened with one thousand eight
hundred miles of tramping, and how much waste of money I cannot say,
through my affairs having been committed to the Banyans and slaves, who
are not men. I have adhered, in spite of losses, with a sort of John Bullish
tenacity to my task; and while bearing misfortune in as manly a way as pos-
sible, it strikes me that it is well that I have been brought face to face with the
Banyan system, that inflicts enormous evils on Centra] Africa. Gentlemen in
India, who see only the wealth brought to Bombay and Cutch, and know that
the religion of the Banyans does not allowthem to harm a fly or mosquito, would
scarcely believe that they are the worst cannibals in all Africa. The Manyema
cannibals, among whom I spent nearly two years, are innocence compared

504 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

with our protected Banyan fellow-subjects. . . . The Banyans, having
complete possession of the custom-house and revenue of Zanzibar, enjoy ample
opportunity to aid and conceal the slave trade, and all fraudulent transactions
committed by their agents. . . . Geographers will be interested to know
the plan I propose to follow. ~ 1 shall at present avoid Ujiji, and go about
south-west from this to Fipa, which is east of and near the south end of
Tanganyika ; then round the same south end, only touching it again at Sam-
betti; thence resuming the south-west course to cross Chambezi, and proceed
along the southern shores of Lake Bangweolo, which being in latitude twelve
degrees south, the course will be due west to the ancient fountains of Herodotus.
From these it is about ten days north to Katanga, the copper mines of which
have been worked for ages. . . . About ten days north-east of Katanga
very extensive underground rock excavations deserve attention as very an-
cient, the natives ascribing their formation to the Deity alone. They are
remarkable for having water laid on in running streams, and the inhabitants
of large districts can all take refuge in them in case of invasion. Return-
ing from them to Katanga, twelve days N.N.W., will take to the southern
end of Lake Lincoln. I wish to go down through it to the Lomame, aud
into Webb’s Lualaba, and home.”

How much of this programme he had successfully carried out up to
the time of his death, we are not at present in a position to state. Of the
work of exploration still to be done he spoke cheerfully and hopefully. He
says: “I know about six hundred miles of the watershed pretty fairly ; I
turn to the seventh hundred miles with pleasure and hope. I want no com-
panion now, though discovery means hard work. Some can make what they
call theoretical discoveries by dreaming. I should like to offer a prize for
an explanation of the correlation of the structure and economy of the great
lacustrine rivers in the production of the phenomena of the Nile. The prize
cannot be undervalued by competitors even who may have only dreamed of
what has given me very great trouble, though they may have hit on the
division of labour in dreaming, and each discovered one or two hundred miles.
In the actual discovery so far, I went two years and six months without once
tasting tea, coffee, or sugar; and except at Ujiji, have fed on buffaloes, rhi-
noceros, elephants, hippopotami, and cattle of that sort; and have come to
believe that English roast-beef and plum-pudding must be the real genuine
theobroma, the food of the gods, and I offer to all successful competitors a
glorious feast of beef-steaks and stout. No competition will be allowed after
I have published my own explanation, on pain of immediate execution, with-
out benefit of clergy!”

A brief outline of Dr. Livingstone’s journeyings, and their results, up to
this period, will enable the reader to understand a little more clearly what
he has been about since he entered Africa for the third time in 1866. From

AN AFRICAN QUEEN. 505

the Lake Nyassa district until he left Cazembe’s country, he was travelling
in regions to some extent known to us through his own previous explorations,
and those of Portuguese travellers. Beyond Cazembe’s country, either to the
north or the west, lay a vast extent of country totally unknown to Europeans,
and of which even the most intelligent native knew only, and that imper-
fectly, a narrow hem of from fifty to a hundred miles in extent. Cazembe
was first made known to us by Lacerda, the Portuguese traveller. Living-
stone found the present ruler of Cazembe to be a kingly savage. He describes
him as a tall, stalwart man, wearing a peculiar kind of dress made of crimson
print, and worn in many folds in the form of a prodigious kilt, the upper part
of his body being bare. The statement of the traveller, that he was going
north in search of lakes and rivers, filled him with astonishment. ‘‘ What
can you want to go there for?” he said. ‘The water is close here! There
is plenty of large water in this neighbourhood !” Cazembe had never seen an
Englishman before; and notwithstanding that he could not understand this
water-seeker, and very possibly thought him wrong in the head, or, as Living-
stone puts it, that ‘‘ he had water on the brain,” he gave orders to his chiefs
and people that the traveller was to be allowed to go wherever he had a mind,
and treated him with much consideration.

Cazembe’s queen, described as a fine tall woman, paid the traveller a visit,
and evidently intended to give him a striking idea of the honour done him.
She was decked out in all the finery her wardrobe could muster, and was
armed with a ponderous spear. Following her was a body-guard of Ama-
zons, also armed with spears. His royal visitor and her retinue, and their
dress and accoutrements, did astonish the stranger, but not in the way in-
tended. He burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, which disconcerted
the royal lady for a moment; but recovering herself, she joined heartily in
the laugh—which was re-echoed by her attendants-—and then fled from his
presence until she had recovered the dignity and gravity becoming so great
a queen. The Portuguese assertion, that the river he found running to the
north, and named the Chambezi, was one of the main branches of the Zam-
besi, cost him many a month of tedious and unprofitable wandering.
Although he was not long in forming doubts as to the truth of this con:
clusion, the similarity in name made him cautious in accepting his own
notions regarding it. Up and down and across its course he wandered
like an uneasy spirit, until at last the conclusion was forced upon him,
that it flowed to the north, and could be none other than the head waters
of the Nile.

Striking away to the north-east of Cazembe’s country, he came to a
large lake called by the natives Liemba, from the country of that name
which borders it. Following its winding shore to the northwards, he found
it to be a continuation of Lake Tanganyika. Returning to the southern end

P2

506 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the lake, he crossed the Marungu country, and reached Lake Moero; and
finding its chief influent the Luapula, he ascended its course to the point
where it flows out of Lake Bangweolo or Bemba, a lake nearly as large as
Tanganyika itself. ‘The most important feeder of this lake he found to be
the Chambezi, so that all doubts as to the course of that river were set at rest.
In the hitherto untrodden land to the north, this great and constantly in-
creasing volume of water pursued its winding course; and he braced himself
up to the effort of tracing it to a point where, under some other name, it was
already well known to geographers. From this lake, Livingstone, in the first
place, went to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, where he hoped to find stores await-
ing him, and where he could recruit himself for the accomplishment of the
arduous task he had set himself to accomplish. From his letters we already
know how sadly he was disappointed in his hopes of material help from Zan-
zibar. While waiting there among rascally Arab traders and their slaves,
and equally rascally natives, corrupted by their association with those worth-
less representatives of the civilisation he had been cut off from for nearly
three years, he longed to explore the shores of Tanganyika, and settle the
question of its effluent; but Arabs and natives alike were so bent on plunder-
ing him for every service rendered, he was compelled to abandon his design.
Although worn in body, and scantily provided with stores and followers, he
determined, in June 1869, to march across country until he should strike the
great river which he knew flowed northwards out of Lake Moero. At Bam-
barre in Manyema land, as we know, he was laid up for six weary months
with ulcerated feet. So soon as he had recovered he set off in a northerly
direction, and after several days’ journey struck the main artery of his line
of drainage—the Lualaba, a magnificent lacustrine stream, with a width of
from one to three miles. This great stream pursues so erratic a course, flow-
ing northward, westward, and even southwards, in wide loops, that he was
frequently fairly at fault as to its ultimate course. Sometimes he thought he
was working away at the Congo, but at last he was completely satisfied that
its course was northward. After following it up to its outlet from Lake Moero,
and confirming its consequent identity with the Luapula and the Chambezi,
he retraced his steps, and saw it lose itself in Lake Kamalondo. As many
of the great streams on the watershed were named Lualaba by the natives he
christened the stream which flows from Lake Moero to Lake Kamalondo
‘‘Webb’s Lualaba,” to distinguish it, and also to do honour to one of his
oldest friends, Mr. Webb of Newstead Abbey.

Several days south-west from Kamalondo, he discovered another lake
called by the natives Chebungo. This he named “Lake Lincoln,” in honour
of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United states during the war of
secession. Its principal effluent he named ‘“Young’s Lualaba,” in honour of
another fast friend, Mr. Young, of Paraffin oil celebrity; ‘‘Sir Paraffin,” as

SIR SAMUEL BAKER'S THEORY. 507

Dr. Livingstone humorously designates him. The waters of Lake Lincoln
pass into the Lualaba by the river Loeki or Lomame

The river which, issuing out of Lake Kamalonda and flowing to the
north, was, he now found, the central or main line of drainage, and he named
it the Lualaba proper. Although sick and worn, he followed its course as far
as four degrees south latitude, and found that it flowed into another large
lake. From his letters we know how the brave and dauntless traveller
was compelled to turn back when so near to the termination of the quest he
had suffered so much in following up thus far, and fell back to Ujiji, with but
little hope of succour arriving there from the coast. But help was at hand.
He had barely settled down to what he feared must be a weary waiting for
succour when Mr Stanley made his appearance, and so unexpectedly, that he
was all but face to face with his deliverer before he even knew that any tra-
veller with a white skin was in search of him.

What the result of his exploration after parting with Mr Stanley at
Unyanyembe may be, we do not at present know. At that time, the great
traveller appeared to have no doubt that the Chambezi, the Luapula, and the
Lualaba, were none other than the Nile; and that these were connected by
a series of lakes and shallow lakelets with Petherick’s White Nile, which issues
out of the Bahr-Ghazal. The great lake in four degrees south latitude into
which Dr. Livingstone found that the Lualaba flowed, Mr. Stanley conjectures
may be the lake discovered by the Italian traveller Piaggia. If Dr. Living-
stone be correct in his conclusions—and we know that he is not a rash theo-
rizer—the Nile is the second longest river in the world, and flows two thousand
six hundred miles in a straight line, or seven hundred miles farther than we
had previously supposed.

Speaking at a meeting of the Geographical Society, on 26th January,
1874, Sir Samuel Baker said “it would be quite an impossibility to say, for
certain, whether or not the Tanganyika Lake was connected with the Albert
Nyanza, but during his recent expedition he had heard accounts from native
merchants which had shaken his faith in the opinion he had formerly ex-
pressed that there was no connection between the two lakes. Two merchants
told him that they had formerly travelled from one lake to the other by
boats, but had ceased to perform the journey in that way, because the canoes
were too small to carry ivory. ‘These men had no object in telling a lie—no
interest in deceiving him. Some months after this, the envoys whom the
Sultan of Uganda sent to Fatiko, gave him a detailed explanation of the geo-
graphical features of the country. They said that the Lake Victoria Nyanza,
discovered by Speke and Grant, bore the name of Sessi. The natives had
formerly stated to Speke and Grant, that Sessi was the name of an island in
the lake; but these envoys said not that there was an island in the lake, but
that if a person wanted to inquire for the Victoria Nyanza, he must ask for

508 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Sessi. The lake,” they added, “ was divided into two parts, with a connection
between them, which a canoe required a day to pass through. Both of the
lakes bore the name Sessi, but they drew a distinction between the Victoria
Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza. This latter lake,” they said, “‘ was a con-
tinuation of the Tanganyika—the whole bearing the name of Mwootanzige.
He did not state this as his own theory, but as what he had himself heard.”

If these statements are true, Sir Samuel Baker accounted for a connection
between the lakes, even if the Tanganyika was on a lower level than the Albert
Nyanza at certain seasons :—‘‘ When it is remembered that the Tanganyika
received its rainfall at the season of the rainfall south of the Equator, while
the Albert Nyanza received its rainfall at the season of the rains north of the
Equator, it was easy to imagine, that to keep up the equilibrium between the
two lakes, there must be a constant flux and reflux. In 1869, Livingstone
addressed a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison, in which he said—‘ Baker’s
Lake and Tanganyika are all one water.’ That was what Livingstone heard
at Ujiji, and he had heard exactly the same account at the north end of the
Albert Nyanza.” Our readers will remember that, on the occasion of Living-
stone’s first visit to Lake Ngami, he imagined that the River Zouga was
the outlet of the lake which Mr. Chapman, several years afterwards, when
the lake was very low, found the Zouga flowing into. In vast districts,
where there is little difference in level for many miles, it is easy to under-
stand how the streams may flow in one direction during the rainy season,
and fill up a lake at the end of the watershed, and that, when the lower
lakes fall at the end of the rainy season, the accumulated waters will flow in
the opposite direction. If these two great lakes are connected, this would
account for the steady flow to the north of the waters of Tanganyika, which
Livingstone observed at Ujiji. As it was during the rainy season that Mr.
Stanley and Dr. Livingstone examined the Rusizi, they may have witnessed
the commencement of the influx of water from the Albert Nyanza. If this be
so the Rusizi is both an influent and an effluent of the Tanganyika, which
would account for the conflicting accounts received of it from the natives.

Even should there be a connection between the Tanganyika and the
Nile, it does not necessarily follow that Livingstone’s Lualaba is not the
head waters of the Nile. Geographers at home have not hesitated to theo-
rize, and have almost unanimously gone counter to Dr Livingstone’s declared
impression as to the further course of the Lualaba. With wonderful unani-
mity, they throw aside the belief of the man who has suffered so much in
acquiring it and insist that the Lualaba must be the Congo. We shall be
curious to hear what they will say for themselves if it should turn out, as we
believe it will, that he who had the best of means of coming to a conclusion
was right, and that they who could only theorize were wrong.

CHAPTER XX.

Sir Bartle Frere’s Expedition, and its results—Abolition of Slavery on the Gold
Coust—Expeditions sent to assist Dr. Livingstone—His Death—Some Account
of his Family, ete.

p—p* LIVINGSTONE’S letters, received through Mr. Stanley, drew such

a frightful picture of the horrors of the East African slave-trade, that
our Government determined to use its powerful influence with the Sultan of
Zanzibar for its suppression.

It will be as well that we should here give a brief account of how it
came about that the English Government recognised Stanley in any form on
the East Coast of Africa up to the date of which we are now treating.

In 1822 the attention of the British Government was called to the exten-
sive traffic in slaves then being carried on by the subjects of the Imaun of
Muscat. Instead of insisting upon the complete suppression of the traffic,
the British Government, by a treaty with the Imaun, dated September 10th,
1822, recognised slavery as a domestit institution within his dominions, but
declared that the traffic in slaves between the ports in his dominions and
foreign countries should no longer be permitted. At that time the dominions
of the Imaun of Muscat, in addition to the petty state of Muscat, comprised
that portion of the East African Coast, extending from Cape Delgado, 11°
south latitude, to the port of Jubb, about 1° south of the Equator, and in-
cluded the large islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, and Monfia. By this treaty the
Imaun was strictly prohibited from importing slaves from his African to his
Asiatic dominions. When the Imaun, who was a party to this treaty, died,
his dominions were divided between his two sons, the one succeeding to the
Persian and the old title, and the other to the African territory under the
title of the Sultan of Zanzibar. As the Airican dominions were more exten-
sive and wealthy than the Asiatic, the Sultan of Zanzibar agreed to pay to ~
the Imaun of Muscat an annual subsidy of £8,000 sterling. We now know
that this subsidy was derived from the royalty exacted from the slave-traders.

The slave-trade within the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar is carried
on by the Arabs, although the Banyans, who are British subjects, furnish the
money for it, and receive the largest share of the profits. For every slave
landed at Zanzibar the Sultan received a royalty of two dollars. Writing of

510 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the Zanzibar slave market, in June, 1866, when on his way to enter upon his
last journey, Dr. Livingstone says :—This is now almost the only spot in the
world where one hundred to three hundred slaves are daily exposed for sale
in the open market. This disgraceful scene I have several times personally
witnessed, and the purchasers were Arabians or Persians, whose dhows lay
anchored in the harbour; and these men were daily at their occupation,
examining the teeth, gait, and limbs of the slaves, as openly as horse-dealers
engage in their business in England.”

According to Mr. Churchill, Consul at Zanzibar, the number of slaves
who passed through Zanzibar during the five years preceding September,
1867, would not be less than one hundred-and-fifteen thousand. Nor do
these figures represent the full extent of the horrible traffic. Dr. Livingstone
said—‘“‘ Besides those actually captured, thousands are killed and die of their
wounds and famine, driven from the villages by the slave trade; thousands
in internicene war, waged for slaves, with their own clansmen and neigh-
bours, slain by the lust for gain, which is stimulated by the slave purchasers.
The many skeletons we have seen amongst rocks and woods, by the little
pools, and along the paths of the wilderness, attest the awful sacrifice of
human life, which must be attributed, directly or indirectly, to this trade of
hell.” Over and over again, Dr. Livingstone has told us, that more than
five times the number of human beings who reach the slave markets are sacri-
ficed. The indignant cry of Livingstone opened the eyes of our Government
to the fact that, in spite of the treaty of 1822, the great majority of the slaves
who passed through Zanzibar were sent to foreign parts.

With the view of putting a stop to this terrible state of matters, Sir
Bartle Frere was sent by the English Government to Zanzibar, with ample
powers accorded to him for bringing strong pressure to bear on the Sultan, in
enforcing and carrying out the wishes of the English Government. The
Envoy of England was well qualified for the duty entrusted to him.

At an early age he entered the Civil Service of India, in a humble posi-
tion, and at the end of thirty years he was President of Bombay. Mr. A. G.
Forster, in a recent work on Africa, says:—‘‘ His government has been most
successful; and he was a man of vigorous understanding, strong tenacity of
purpose, a kindly disposition, a genial manner, and sympathy with suffering.”
He was, as we have seen, a friend and correspondent of Dr. Livingstone, and
had heard the story of the wrongs and sufferings of the African people from
the great traveller himself.

The Sultan of Zanzibar, very soon, was at first very unwilling to come
to terms, but as the Banyan traders, saw that the English Government were
in earnest, and immediately stopped sending slaves to Zanzibar, his eyes
were opened, and he submitted to the inevitable. During the negotia-
tions an English squadron, under the command of Admiral Cummings,

DEATH OF DR. LIVINGSTONE. 511

anchored off the island. This vigorous and unmistakable support of their
Envoy, on the part of the British Government, settled the question, and a
treaty was signed, by which the slave-trade, both foreign and domestic, ceased
to be recognised or supported by any of the three contracting parties.
The Ruler of Muscat did not even contest the question, but submitted to the
proposal of Sir Bartle Frere at once. The treaty took effect on the 5th of
June, 1873. The English cruisers have succeeded in capturing several dhows
laden with slaves since that date; and there can be no doubt that the
traffic in slaves on the East Coast of Africa is for ever at an end. How
Livingstone would have rejoiced if he had lived to know of the mission of
his old friend Sir Bartle Frere and its result. But this was not to be: he
died exactly one month before the treaty took effect.

Not less important in its results—and no less gratifying would it have
been to him, who was emphatically the Friend of Africa, to have known—
was the consummation of the abolition of slavery on the Gold Coast, on
November 3, 1874. The ‘‘ Newcastle Daily Chronicle” says:—

“For a long time now the British Government has been endeavouring,
in one way or another, to suppress the crying barbarities of the African slave-
trade. Various influences have been brought to bear on African chiefs,
threats and expostulations have been used, and repeated promises of amend-
ment have been given; but the trade in human flesh has continued briskly
and to as large an extent as ever. But one, and not the least, of the advan-
tages connected with a powerful Government like that of Kngland, is that
princes, more or less barbarous, who are within reach of its imfluence, must,
sooner or later, succumb to its wishes, even when they are not more forcibly
expressed than by means of moral suasion.

“Up to the present time the abominable traffic in slaves has flourished
within the British Protectorate, in spite of the efforts which have been made
for its suppression, and the native chiefs have clung to it as one of their
dearest privileges. The recent conquest of Ashantee, however, has put a new
face upon affairs, and has established a nearer claim over the slave-dealing
African potentates.

“The necessary trouble and expense of a difficult and dangerous war,
undertaken in the interests of the natives of the British Protectorate, have
given the Government the right to ask, and even to demand, the immediate
suppression of the trade in human flesh. It is gratifying to observe that the
desired opportunity has not been lost. The Queen, through her official
representative, has spoken out her mind, and the slave trade on the Gold
Coast is practically at an end.

“In a speech distinguished for excellent common sense and for that sim-
plicity of language which was rendered necessary by the occasion, Governor
Strahan has explained to the native chiefs the trouble which the English

512 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Government has undertaken on their behalf, and has pointed out the salu-
tary fact that England is determined to put an end to the buying, selling,
and pawning of slaves.

“England, as Governor Strahan explained, has prosecuted the war
against the Ashantees at a cost ten times greater than all the gold there is in
Ashantee, Akim, or Wassaw. She had done this not because any compen-
sating advantages were to be obtained, but simply because she desired to
protect her African subjects from wrong and oppression. Of all the money
which England has expended in this war nothing is to be asked back. What
the British Government has done, it has done for its own honour, and from
its sense of duty to those tribes which it had undertaken to protect. But
whilst it may not demand any pecuniary recompense, it did demand a variety
of concessions as the price of its future protection, and the first of these is the
suppression of the slave-trade.

‘Tt was in this intelligible light that Governor Strahan placed the matter
before the African chiefs in the Hallof Palaver. ‘ All that the Queen requires
and expects from you, ‘he said, ‘is obedience to her wishes and those of her
people in England. The foremost of those wishes, and the one which re-
quired immediate and distinct expression, was that an end should be put to a
trade which English people abhor.’ Governor Strahan left the assembled
chiefs no cheice. ‘It is right that I should tell you distinctly,’ he said ‘that
if you require the Queen’s protection you must do as she wishes—as she
orders. When the Queen speaks in this way, it is not a matter for palaver,
question, hesitation, or doubt, but she expects obedience and assent.’

‘Speeches of this kind will teach the African slave-sellers how white
people govern ; and its effect was to be seen in the readiness with which the
assembled chiefs appreciated the matter as it was put before them. They
had small time allowed them for decision, but they soon arrived at the con-
clusion that the profit accruing from the slave-trade was not to be weighed
against the advantages of British protection. In future there is to be no
traffic in slaves. The slaves which are already the property of their owners
will remain in their possession as long as they are treated with humane con-
sideration, but no slave can be retained who is subjected either to hardship or
cruelty. We may congratulate ourselves that the trade has been suppressed
with so little demonstration on either side, and that the chiefs of the Gold
Coast have seen the wisdom of acquiescing without compelling a resort to
force. The circumstance will be a serious blow to the slave-trade over the
whole of Africa, and we may hope not only that before long it will become
a thing of the past, but that the mere holding of slaves will be suppressed
also.”

The following is the text of the speech delivered by His Excellency
Governor Strahan at a meeting of all the kings and chiefs of the Western

GOVERNOR STRAHAN’S SPEECH. 513

and Central positions of the Gold Coast, in the Palaver Hall, on November 3,
1874 :—

*¢ Kings AND CureFs—I am pleased to meet you. Most of you present
have been old allies of the Queen, and some were allies of his Majesty the
King of the Netherlands. In times past there were disputes between you.
If I speak of those it is to tell you that all these disputes must cease for ever
and be at an end. Now all of you are under one flag—the flag of England.
The Queen desires me to inform you of her wishes and those of her people in
England; but before doing so I will first speak of what has transpired in your
history, and which has onl about the relations at present existing be-
tween you and her Government.

‘Few of you probably can remember one your country was disturbed
by Ashantee before Sir Charles M‘Carthy’s time. King Osai Totoo Quamina
made war on you, your armies were defeated, your women and children taken
captive to Ashantee, and you had to pay much gold as tribute. You know
that then Sir Charles M‘Carthy was sent trom England, you also know how
he pitied your condition, and gave you arms and ammunition, and supported
you in every conceivable manner. Yet though he lost his life in the end the
Ashantees were defeated, and were forced to retire from your country, and
Osai Totoo Quamina was forced to make peace, and you had peace in the
remaining years of his reign. I will not say much of what occurred duriug
Quacoe Duali’s reign, though you still stood in fear of Ashantee and its might.

“ At the beginning of last year an army of forty thousand Ashantees
invaded your country under a general who was a member of the royal
family. This army defeated and scattered your forces, and devastated the
country around with fire and with sword. ‘This army attempted to attack
the English forts on the coast.. Of course it would have been easy for her
Majesty’s land and sea forces here to have driven back the enemy, but your
country would have still been at their mercy. As your forefathers were
scattered and troubled by the Ashantees, so were you by Coffee Kalcalli.

“Then the Queen sent out a general with officers, and an army composed
of some of her land and sea forces to deliver you from ruin. The general
attacked Ashantee on oneside, and another captain on the other. The Queen’s
general and army fought your battles for you. This force drove the enemy
out of your country, followed them into theirs, beat them in three large bat-
tles, took Coomassie, and burnt it, and forced the King to sign a treaty. In
this way you were relieved from defeat and misery.

“The Queen accomplished all this without your assistance. Her Majesty
sent out these men in ships from England at a cost ten times greater than
all the gold there is in Ashantee, Akim, and Wassaw. Some of these officers
and men died in battle, and others from disease. Now, why do I tell you all
this? Is it to tell you that the Queen wants you to pay back any portion

Q2

514 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the money she has expended for you? Is it to tell you that you must
pay for your freedom from Ashantee? Is it to tell you that as she has done
so much for you, you must do what you can for yourselves, as she can do
no more? Is it to tell you that as she has saved you from your late danger
you are to expect no further protection from her? No. All she requires
and expects from you is obedience to her wishes, and those of her people in
England.

“In return for those benefits the Queen requests your aid in putting an
end to a thing she and her people abhor. This thing is against a law which
no King or Queen of England can ever change. I have pointed out to some
of you that the English people buy sheep, fowls, and other live stock, but
not men, women, and children.

“The Queen is determined to put a stop at once to the buying and sell-
ing of slaves, either within or without the Protectorate, in any shape, degree,
or form; and she will allow no person to be taken as a pawn for debt. The
Queen desires to make you as happy as her own people. This buying, sell-
ing, and pawning of men and women and children, is wrong, and no country
where it exists can be happy.

“The Queen does not desire to take any of your people from you; those
of them who like to work for, and with, and to assist you, can remain with
you. If they are happy and continue to live with you on the same terms as
now no change will be forced upon you; but any person who does not desire
to live with you on those terms can leave, and will not be compelled by any
court, British or native, to return to you. The Queen hopes to make you
happy in many ways—as happy as those in her other dominions. It is right
that I should tell you distinctly that, if you desire her protection, you must
do as she wishes—do as she orders.

‘“‘ This is the Queen’s message. When the Queen speaks in this way it
is not a matter for palaver, question, hesitation, or doubt, but she expects
obedience and assent. I will only say, that without the Queen’s money and
troops you would have been slaves of a bloodthirsty people. ‘The Queen has
paid a great price for your freedom. You and those near and dear to you
would have been dragged hence to form a portion of the thousands who are
decapitated and sacrificed by this savage race for their customs. Your homes
would have been homes full of misery. I see you to-day enjoying peace,
and I call on you all to join with me in the prayer, ‘God save the Queen.’
My message is delivered.”

About November 1872, two Central African expeditions, for the relief and
assistance of Dr. Livingstone, were fitted out in this country, and sent, the
one to the East and the other to the West Coast, with orders to converge, by
way of the Congo and Zanzibar, on the scene of the traveller’s last labours.
Lieutenant Cameron, R. N., took the command of the East Coast expedition

DEATH OF DR. MOFFAT’S GRANDSON. 515

and Licutenant Grandy, R.N., took command of that of the West Coast.
Lieutenant Cameron’s expedition very unfortunately got into difficulties,
through the accidental shooting of a native by one of his followers. He was
detained at and near Unyanyembe on account of the disturbed state of the
country, and the bad health of the European members of the party. All of
them had suffered from repeated attacks of fever, and were much debilitated
in consequence. A grandson of Dr. Livingstone’s father-in-law, Dr Moffat,
the well-known missionary, a very promising young man, fell a victim to
fever at an early stage of the journey; and, recently, Lieutenant Cameron had
to report the melancholy intelligence of the suicide of Dr. Dillon—another
valued coadjutor—while in the delirium of fever.

Towards the end of January, 1874, a telegram from Zanzibar reported the
currency of a rumour there, that Dr. Livingstone had died near Lake Bang-
weolo. On the 11th of February, a despatch to the Foreign Office from H. M.
Acting Consul at Zanzibar, stated that letters received from Lieutenant Came-
ron, dated October 22, 1873, confirmed the report. ‘‘It appears,” writes the
Acting Consul, “from the information given to Lieutenant Cameron by the
Doctor’s servant, Elvant Chumah, that Livingstone proceeded from Ujiji to
the middle of the northern shore of Lake Bemba (Bangweolo), and that, being
unable to cross it, he retraced his steps, and rounded it to the southwards,
crossing, besides the Chambese, three others rivers which flowed into the
lake. He then went (so far as Lieutenant Cameron is able to make out) in
search of the ancient fountains of Herodotus, eventually turned to the east-
ward, and crossed the Luapula. After marching for some days through an
extremely marshy country, in which, sometimes for three hours at a time, the
water stood above the waists of the traveller, the Doctor succumbed to an
attack of dysentery, which carried him off after an illness of ten or fifteen days.
During this trying journey, two of his men died, and several deserted. The
remainder, seventy-nine in number, disembowelled the corpse, and embalmed
it as well as they were able with salt and brandy. On nearing Unyanyembe,
Chumah, with others, started ahead in order to procure supplies, as the party
was nearly starving, and the remainder, with the body, were reported to be
distant from ten to twenty days’ march from Unyanyembe at the date of
Lieutenant Cameron’s letter. It will be seen, on reference to Dr. Livingstone’s
last communication to your Lordships, dated 1st July, 1872, that the account
given by the Doctor’s servants of his latest movements, agrees in the main
with the route sketched out by the traveller himself before leaving Unyan-
yembe. His intention was to go southwards to Ujiji, then round the south
end of Tanganyika, and crossing the Chambese, to proceed west along the
shore of Lake Bangweolo. Being then in latitude 12 degrees south, his wish
was to go straight west to the ancient fountains reported at the end of the
watershed, then to turn north to the copper mines of Katanga, and, after

516 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

visiting the underground excavations, to proceed to the head of Lake Lincoln,
whence he would retire along Lake Kamolando towards Ujiji and home. He
distinctly stated that it was not his intention to return northward through
the Manyueme (Manyema) country; and as he estimated the duration of the
journey from Ujiji and back again at eight months, it is not unreasonable to
infer that the design had been completely carried out, and that Livingstone
was on his homeward journey when attacked by the disease to which he fell
a victim. This supposition is rendered more probable by the fact, that when
the Doctor left Unyanyembe he was well supplied with stores and provisions,
and that he is reported by his servants to have been nearly destitute at the
time of his death. . . . . Asa mark of respect to the memory of Dr.
Livingstone, the flag-staff of this agency was kept at half-mast from sunrise to
sunset on the 5th of January. This example was followed by His Highness
the Sultan, by Her Majesty’s ships of war then in harbour, the Briton and
the Daphne, and by the consular representatives of other foreign powers in
Zanzibar, from all of whom I received letters of condolence on the death of
this eminent explorer and distinguished servant of the Queen.”

Many people were unwilling to believe the story of Dr. Livingstone’s
death, even when told so circumstantially, and so implicitly credited by Lieu-
tenant Cameron and the European officials at Zanzibar. He had been so often
reported as dead, and he had turned up again, patiently and devoutly carry-
ing out his self-imposed task, that it was difficult to believe that the great
traveller and distinguished Christian missionary had perished when his work
was all but concluded, and the civilised world was waiting eagerly for the
opportunity of showing him how high was the respect and admiration which
his life of heroie self-sacrifice had evoked.

We have reason to believe that the members of his own family in Scot-
land, hoping against hope, had refused to accept the report of his death as
final. The brief letter addressed by Lieutenant Murphy to Dr. Kirk, and
dated the 20th of January, 1874, from Mpuapwa, ten days’ journey from the
coast, in which he states that he was bringing the body of Dr. Livingstone
to Zanzibar, extinguished the last ray of hope which had hitherto afforded
some comfort to those near and dear to him.

When Lieutenant Murphy left lim, Lieutenant Cameron, although suffer-
ing from long-protracted illness, and deserted by many of his followers, was
preparing to start for Ujiji for the papers left there by Dr. Livingstone.

No higher encomium on the character of Dr. Livingstone and the genuine
value of his achievements can be passed now, or in after-time, than the
devotion of his native followers. In circumstances of no common trial and
difficulty, they have borne the body of their loved leader across more than a
thousand miles of all but pathless country. No doubt Livingstone himself
would give the directions which have resulted in the preservation of his body,

an. GLADSTONE RECOMMENDS A PENSION. 517

——

with a view to satisfying his family and the world as to the fate which had
befallen him; but the carrying out of his last instructions in the face of hun-
ger and fatigue for many months, is astriking instance of love and fidelity
on the part of these ignorant men, which it is to be hoped will not be allowed
to pass without substantial reward.

To his infinite honour, Mr. Gladstone, within a couple of days of his
resigning the highest office under the Crown—in circumstances when he
might have been supposed to be thinking of nothing save the inconstancy
of the party he had so earnestly served for five years—recommended Her
Majesty to grant a pension of £2000 per annum to the family of Dr. Living-
stone. We need hardly say that the recommendation was immediately acted
upon. :

The following account of the surviving members of Dr. Livingstone’s
family will not be without interest to the reader:—

His mother died in 1865. Dr. Livingstone took frequent opportunity of
acknowledging the debt he owed to the Christian example set him by his
parents. Speaking at a banquet held in his honour in Hamilton in January
1857, he said: ‘‘A great benefit which his parents had conferred on him and
their other children was religious instruction and a pious example; and he ©
was more grateful for that than though he had been born to riches and
worldly honours.” Although a strict disciplinarian, and somewhat stern in his
manner towards his children, Dr. Livingstone’s father earned the respect and
affection of his family in no common degree. He was proud of his sons, and
the positions they attained; and more especially was he proud of his son
Dayid, as a great missionary and successful explorer of hitherto unknown
regions. The regret felt by Dr. Livingstone on his return to this country,
that his father was not alive to hear the stirring story of his adventures, was
reciprocated by the longing which filled the mind of the old man on his death-
bed to see once more his distinguished son. The ‘Hamilton Advertiser,” of
January 10th, 1857, speaking of Mr. Neil Livingstone, says:—

“‘Among his last words were, ‘O Dauvit, come awa, man, that I may see
ye before I dee.’ The old man’s favourite walk in the latter years of his life
was to the woods near the ancient Roman bridge near Bothwell, also a fre-
quent resort of the Doctor’s youth, and where he had carved his name, and the
polemical war-cry of the day, ‘No State Church,’* on the bark of a tree—
wood-cuts which it was his father’s delight to decipher. The letters ‘D. L.’

* At that time the Voluntary Controversy was agitating the Churches in Scotland, and the “Ten
Years’ Conflict,” which ended in the disruption of the Church of Scotland, was at its height. In
his manhood, no man was more tolerant as to the question of ‘‘Creed” than Dr. Livingstone. To
him all men were truly “ brethren” who honestly and uprightly followed after Christ and His com-
mandments.

518 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

have grown with the growth of the tree, and broadened by the lapse of time,
as has the fame of their owner.”

The family of Neil Livingstone erected a tombstone to the memory of
their parents in the Hamilton Cemetery. The inscription on it is one of the
most touching we remember ever to have seen. We cannot resist giving a
eopy of it :—

TO SHOW THE RESTING-PLACE
OF NEIL LIVINGSTONE
AND AGNES HUNTER;
AND TO EXPRESS
THE THANKFULNESS TO GOD
OF THEIR CHILDREN,
JOHN, DAVID, JANET, CHARLES,
AND AGNES, ’

FOR POOR AND PIOUS PARENTS.

Of this family, the best known to the general public are dead.

Dr. Livingstone’s eldest brother John is still alive. He emigrated to
North America in early life, and settled at Listowel, twenty-five miles from
Niagara falls, as a farmer and storekeeper. He is a man of energetic charac-
ter, and has done much towards the improvement of a large tract of country
all but unreclaimed when he entered it. Like all the other members of his
family, he is respected for his humble and unobtrusive piety, and for his
uprightness and worth as a man of the world. An indefatigable representa-
tive of the ‘‘New York Herald” visited and interviewed him in 1872, and
treated the readers of the ‘‘ Herald” to a graphic account of the old gentle-
man and his surroundings, when Mr. Stanley and his discovery of Livingstone
were attracting universal attention.

Charles, Dr. Livingstone’s younger brother, and his loved companion in
the brief holiday hours of his boyhood, was educated for the ministry, and
was for a good many years pastor of one of the New England Presbyterian
churches. He shared the adventurous spirit of his brother, Dr. Livingstone,
and, as we have seen, accompanied him on his second expedition to the Zam-
besi. Returning to England, he was appointed one of H. M. Consuls to the

DR. LIVINGSTONE'S FAMILY. 519

West Coast of Africa—a position which gave him much opportunity for doing
good to the heathen, which he embraced with great zeal and success. Last
year, his health having broken down, he started on his return to England,
but died on the passage home. Dr. Livingstone’s sisters, Janet and Agnes,
removed with their parents to Hamilton in 1841, where they still reside.
They are both unmarried, and are held in much respect by their neighbours
for their Christian character and genial worth.

Dr. Livingstone’s family have resided principally in Hamilton since his
departure on his last expedition in 1866. His eldest son, to use his father’s
words in a letter to Sir Bartle Frere, written in 1868, ‘‘wandered into the
American war,” and must have been killed, as he has never been heard of
since the close of one of the early battles before Richmond. His second son,
Mr. Thomas E. Livingstone, represents a large commercial house in Alexan-
dria. His third son, Mr. W. Oswell Livingstone, is at present completing his
medical education at the Glasgow University. His eldest daughter, who was
a great favourite of her father, and to whom he entrusted the custody of his
papers sent home by Mr. Stanley, resides in Hamilton, where her younger
sister is at present receiving her education.

Up to the present time, the Livingstone family have done honour to the
injunction of their progenitor recorded at page 2. At a time when the
morals of his neighbours where of a somewhat loose description, he did not
on his death-bed tell his children to strive to be distinguished, or to become
rich, but ¢o be honest, as all their forefathers had been. The generations of
his successors, with whom the achievements of Dr. Livingstone have made
us acquainted, have more than obeyed the dying counsel of their highland
ancestor. ‘To honesty they have added godliness, and from among them
has come the man of all others in this nineteenth century who will stand
highest with his countrymen for the noblest human characteristics—self-
denial, intrepidity, and love to God and his fellow-men. His life from early
manhood has been a continual sacrifice offered up for the material and spiri-
tual welfare of a vast people, of whose existence in the mysterious heart of
the African continent modern commerce and Christian missions were pre-
viously unaware.

That he should have died on his homeward journey, after nearly a
quarter of a century of successful exploration in hitherto unknown countries,
is a dispensation of Providence to which we must reverently bow. His fate
forms one more instance in the annals of heroic effort and self-sacrifice, where
the human instrument of God’s great purpose has been removed in the very
hour of success, when rest and peace, and human rewards and acknowledg-
ments, were awaiting him at the close of his stirring conflict. Though
weary, worn, and broken in body, we may readily believe that his un-
daunted spirit remained to him at the last; and he would be thankful to

520 LIF KH OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

God, that to him had been given a rare opportunity of preaching the gospel
of his Master to thousands of benighted heathens, who had never heard of
their Redeemer. This, and the certainty that, as a result of his labours, the
introduction of Christianity and peaceful commerce, and the suppression of
slavery among the millions of Central Africa, would be only a question of
time, would reconcile him to the laying down the burden of his life far from
home and kindred, among the people he had striven so nobly to serve. Of
late years, the magnitude of his contributions to our geographical knowledge
has all but made us forget that he was a Christian missionary to the heathen.
From early boyhood this was his cherished ambition, and from his own pub-
lished accounts, and through Mr. Stanley, we know that he never lost an
opportunity of going about his Master’s work.

CHAPTER XXII.

Account of the last Illness and Death of Dr. Livingstone—Funeral Procession—
Burial Service in Westminster Abbey, ete.—Letter to Mr. Gordon Bennett—
An Arab Princes Opinion of Women—Domestie Lnfe of a Central African
Harem—Polygamy and Monogamy — Tendency of Slavery—Christian Mis-
sions, ete.

HE following brief account of the last moments of Dr. Livingstone, which
reached England on the 29th March, 1874, was sent by the correspondent
of the ‘‘ New York Herald” at Suez :—

“The Malwa (Peninsular and Oriental steamer) arrived off Suez at eleven
o'clock on Saturday night, having Mr. Arthur Laing and Jacob Wainwright
on board, with the body of Livingstone.

“The great traveller had been ill with chronic dysentery for several
months past, although well supplied with stores and medicines, and he seems
to have had a presentiment that this attack would prove fatal.

“He rode on a donkey at first, but was subsequently carried, and thus
arrived at Ilala, beyond Lake Bemba (Bangweolo), in Bisa Country, when
he said to his followers, ‘ Build me a hut to die in.” The hut was built by
his men, who first of all made him a bed. It is stated that he suffered greatly,
groaning night and day, On the third day he said, ‘I am very cold; put
more grass over the hut.’

“‘ His followers did not speak to or go near him. Kitumbo, chief of Bisa,
however, sent flour and beans, and behaved well to the party. On the fourth
day Livingstone became insensible, and died about midnight. Majwara, his
servant, was present. His last entry in the diary was on April 27. He spoke
much and sadly of home and family. When first seized, he told his followers
he intended to exchange everything for ivory to give to them, and to push
on to Ujiji and Zanzibar, and try to reach England. On the day of his death
these men consulted what to do, and the Nassick boys determined to pre-
serve the remains. They were, however, afraid to inform the chief of Living-
stone’s death; and the secretary therefore removed the body to another hut,
around which he built a high fence to ensure privacy. Here they opened the
body, and removed the internals, which were placed in a tin box, and buried

R2

522 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

inside the fence under a large tree. Jacob Wainwright cut an inscription on
the tree as follows :—

‘Dr. Livinestone Diep on May 41x, 1873,’

and superscribed the name of the head man. The body was then preserved
in salt, and dried in the sun for twelve days. Kitumbo was then informed of
Livingstone’s death, upon which he beat drums, fired guns as a token of
respect, and allowed the followers to remove the body, which was placed in a
coffin formed of bark. The Nassick boys then journeyed to Unyanyembe in
about six months, sending an advance party with information addressed to
Livingstone’s son, which met Cameron. The latter sent back a few bales of
cloth and powder. The body arrived at Unyanyembe ten days after advance
party, and rested there a fortnight. Cameron, Murphy, and Dillon, were to-
gether there. The latter was very ill, blind, and his mind was affected.
He committed suicide at Kasakera, and was buried there.

“Here Livingstone’s remains were put in another bark case, smaller,
done up as a bale to deceive the natives, who objected to the passage of the
corpse, which was thus carried to Zanzibar. Livingstone’s clothing, papers,
and instruments, accompanied the body. It may be mentioned that, when
ill, Livingstone prayed much. At Ilala he said, ‘I am going home.’

‘‘Webb, the American Consul at Zanzibar, is on his way home, and has
letters handed to him by Murphy from Livingstone for Stanley, which he
will deliver personally only. Chumah remains at Zanzibar.

‘Geographical news follow. After Stanley’s departure the Doctor left
Unyanyembe, rounded the south end of Lake Tanganyika, and travelled
south of Lake Bemba, or Bangweolo, crossed it south to north, then along
the east side, returning north through marshes to Ilala. All papers are
sealed and addressed to the Secretary of State, in charge of Arthur Laing, a
British merchant from Zanzibar. Murphy and Cameron remain behind.”

Surely this is one of the most affecting stories ever told! Feeling that:
the marvellous physical power which had hitherto sustained him had at last
given way, he turned his face homeward with feverish eagerness. But the
end had come, and he knew it, and set himself to die among his followers as
became a hero and a Christian. We are indebted to a daily newspaper* for
suggesting how like a passage of Scripture the narrative of Jacob Wain-
wright, his negro follower, reads: ‘‘ He rode a donkey, but subsequently was
carried, and thus arrived at Ilala beyond Lake Bembe, in Bisa Country,
when he said, ‘Build me a hut to die in.” The melancholy order was

* “‘ Newcastle Daily Chronicle,” March 31st.

DR. DILLON COMMITS SUICIDE. "623

obeyed. ‘The hut was built by his men, who first made him a bed. He
suffered greatly, groaning day and night. On the third day he said, ‘I am
very cold; put more grass over the hut.’” And then we are told of the silent
behaviour of his followers in the face of the grim enemy of man. They “did
not speak to or go near him.”

The language of savage tribes, when speaking under strong feeling, is
frequently characterised by remarkable force and beauty; and here was a
tragedy which had so moved his humble and ignorant follower, that in nar-
rating its incidents he rises to a height of graphic simplicity.

The “Times of India” (received March 30th) publishes the following, in
despatch from its correspondent at Zanzibar, dated February 11 :—

“Dr Dillon and Lieutenant Murphy proceeded to Zanzibar with the
remains of Dr. Livingstone, but a most melancholy misfortune happened on
the way. Dr. Dillon, nearly blind and worn out with fever, commited sui-
cide on the way down. He shot himself through the head, pulling the trigger
with his toe. I reiterate my former statement, that in regard to the expedi-
tion, it is simply a march to death. They had, at the very least, a six or
seven years’ march before them. All the funds at their command were ex-
pended, and before six months they were short of supplies. The expedition
is virtually broken up, unless Lieutenant Cameron is possessed. of superhuman
endurance.”

There is little to add to what is already told of the last hours of the
great traveller. For the last few days of his life he wished to be alone,
and conversed with none but his two head men; but all his followers came
to the door of his hut every morning to greet him. More than once they
had to fight before they could pass on their way with the body. The donkey
on which he rode at the last was killed by a lion on the way to the coast.

The Peninsular and Oriental steamship Malwa, having the body, arrived
in the Solent between six and seven o’clock on the morning of Wednesday,
the 15th April. Dr. Moffat, the famous African missionary, and father-in-law
of Dr. Livingstone; W. Oswell Livingstone, the second surviving son of the
great traveller; Henry M. Stanley; the Rey. Horace Waller, an old friend
and fellow-traveller of Dr. Livingstone; Mr. A. Laing, of Zanzibar; Mr. W.
F. Webb of Newstead Abbey, and Mr. James Young, had been in South-
ampton since the preceding Saturday, for the purpose of receiving the body.
Messrs. Webb and Young are the gentlemen whose names have been so hap-
pily associated with the great river the Lualaba by Dr. Livingstone, in grati-
tude for the many friendly services they had rendered to him, and to the
great work to which he dedicated his life.

Several of the above gentlemen, accompanied by Admiral Hall, entered
a tug-boat belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and steamed
down the Solent to meet the Malwa. Getting on board, they were received

-

524 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

by the officers of the ship, and the cldest son of the late traveller, Mr.
Thomas Livingstone, who had joined the Malwa at Alexandria. Jacob Wain-
wright, a negro follower of Dr. Livingstone, a squat little fellow, barely over
five feet in height, was warmly greeted by all. He remembered Mr. Stanley,
although the change in his dress and appearance puzzled him for a moment.
He was rescued from slavery by Dr. Livingstone, in the valley of the Shire,
on the occasion of his second visit to the countries of the Zambesi and the
Shire, when a mere boy, and was left, along with several other African
natives, at the Nassick School near Bombay, where he was carefully edu-
cated. When the Livingstone Search Expedition under Lieutenant Dawson
was projected, towards the end of 1871, Jacob Wainwright offered to accom-
pany it, and was at Zanzibar when the arrival of Mr. Stanley, who had
successfully relieved the great traveller, rendered the expedition unnecessary.
Mr. Stanley engaged him and sent him on to Dr. Livingstone along with the
men and stores for which the latter was waiting at Unyanyembe. The
friends of the deceased were conducted to the room where the body had lain
during the voyage. ‘‘This apartment,” says the correspondent of a- London
paper ‘‘had been draped round with Union Jacks, and the coffin covered
with the Company’s flag. With bared heads the deputation stood round as
the chief officer unlocked the door, and then, as each peeped into what really
looked like a neat little mortuary chapel, it was impossible not to feel that
the gallant sailor could not have done better with the means at his disposal.

The short, bulky external coffin was found to be roughly made of
some native wood, stained black, with a few uncouth attempts at ornament-
ation, though, no doubt, the best that could be done at Zanzibar. There
was an inner coffin, it was said, of soldered zine.”

In the streets a procession, consisting of the Mayor and Corporation,
the friends of the deceased, the deputation of the Geographical Society, and
the various public bodies in the town, accompanied the hearse containing the
remains to the railway station, where a special train was waiting to convey
it to London. While the procession was in progress, the church bells rang a
muffled peal, and the Hants Artillery Volunteers fired minute guns from the
platform battery. At Waterloo Station a hearse and three mourning carriages
were waiting to convey the body and the friends of the deceased to the Geo-
graphical Society’s rooms in Savile Row.

In the course of the evening the body was examined by Sir William Fer-
gusson, who identified it as that of Dr. Livingstone from the ununited frac-
ture on the left arm, caused by the bite of a lion thirty years ago, an account
of which will be found at page 39.

On Saturday, the 18th of April, the remains of Dr. Livingstone found a
resting place in Westminster Abbey—in that Valhalla of the greatest and
best of England’s sons, in which there is no name more worthy of the

FUNERAL SERVICE, ETC. 525

nation’s honour than that of David Livingstone—the procession and entomb-
ment of the body being witnessed by thousands of spectators.

The ceremony within the Abbey was witnessed by a vast number of
people, many of whom are the leaders in science, literature, art, politics, ete.
Representatives from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hamilton, and many other parts
of Scotland, were present.

The grave is situated about the centre of the west part of the nave.
Through the cloisters the coffin was reverently borne at a very slow pace,

Mr. Thomas Livingstone and Mr. Oswell Livingstone bearing the fore-
most ends of the pall.

Dr. Moffat, Mr. Webb, Mr. H. M. Stanley, Mr. H. Waller, and the Rev.
Mr. Price, and Jacob Wainwright, brought up the rear.

Following behind all was Kalulu, Mr. Stanley’s boy.

The funeral service was read by Dean Stanley. The pealing of the
organ, and the beautiful rendering of the musical portion of the service by
the choir, added greatly to the beauty and solemnity of the service.

On the pall were placed wreaths and dmmortelles, one of which was sent
by Her Majesty.

When the body was lowered into the grave, those present were permitted
to see the coffin as it lay in its narrow bed. It bears the following modest
inscription :—

“DAVID LIVINGSTONE,
BORN AT BLANTYRE, LANARKSHIRE, SCOTLAND,
19TH MARCH, 1813;

DIED AT ILALA, CENTRAL AFRICA,

1ST MAY, 1873,”

On the Sunday following the funeral, the lesson of Dr. Livingstone’s
life was enforced from thousands of pulpits throughout the country,

In Westminster Abbey special services were held. In the afternoon
Dean Stanley preached to a crowded congregation, and alluded at some
length, in an eloquent and impressive manner, to the services rendered to
humanity by the great deceased.

526 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Subsequently there was laid over the grave of Dr. Livingstone a
large black marble tombstone, bearing the following inscription, in gold
letters -—

Brought by faithful hands,
Over land and sea,
Here rests
DAVID LIVINGSTONE,
Missionary, Traveller, Philanthropist,
Born March 19, 1818,
At Blantyre, Lanarkshire,
Died May 1, 1873,
At Chittambo’s Valley, Ilala.
For thirty years his life was spent in an unwearied effort to evangelise the
native races, to explore the undiscovered secrets, and abolish
the desolating slave trade
Of Central Africa,
Where, with his last words, he wrote,
‘All I can do in my solitude is, May heaven’s rich blessing come down on
every one—American, English, Turk—who will help to heal this open sore
of the world.”

On the right hand edge of the stone were the two following lines :—

“Tantus amor veri—Nihil est quod moscere malim,
Quam F'luvii causas per scecula tanta latentes.”

And on the left hand edge the following text :—

“Other sheep I have which are not of this fold,
They also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice.”

AN ARAB PRINCE'S OPINION OF WOMEN. 527

The letters received from Dr. Livingstone, and published up to the
time of his death, were all written in a cheerful spirit. As yet, no letter
written after the shadow of death had begun to fall upon him has been given
to the public. The most interesting letter is that addressed to Mr. Gordon
Bennett, giving as it does so graphic an account of the daily life of a Central
African family ; we reproduce the bulk of it :—

“‘T feel that a portion at least of the sympathy in England for what sim-
ple folks called the ‘Southern cause,’ during the American civil war, was a
lurking liking to be slaveholders themselves. One Englishman at least tried
to put his theory of getting the inferior race to work for nothing into practice.
He was brother to a member of Parliament for a large and rich constituency,
and when his mother died she left him £2000. With this he bought a wag-
gon and oxen at the Cape of Good Hope, and an outfit composed chiefly of
papier mache snuff-boxes, each of which had a looking-glass outside and ano-
ther inside the lid. These, he concluded, were the ‘sinews of war.’ He
made his way to my mission-station, more than a thousand miles inland, and
then he found that his snuff-boxes would not even buy food. On asking the
reason for investing in that trash, he replied that, in reading a book of tra-
vels, he saw that the natives were fond of peering into looking-glasses, and
liked snuff, and he thought that he might obtain ivory in abundance for these
luxuries. I gathered from his conversation that he had even speculated on
being made a chief. He said that he knew a young man who had so specu-
lated; and I took it to be himself. We supported him for about a couple of
months, but our stores were fast drawing to a close. We were then recently
married, and the young housekeeper could not bear to appear inhospitable to
a fellow-countryman. I relieved her by feeling an inward call to visit ano-
ther tribe. ‘Oh,’ said our dependant, ‘I shall go too.’ ‘You had better not,’
was the reply, and no reason assigned. He civilly left some scores of his
snuff-boxes, but I could never use them either. He frequently reiterated,
‘People think these blacks stupid and ignorant; but, by George, they would
sell any Englishman,’

“‘T may now give an idea of the state of supreme bliss, for the attain-
ment of which all the atrocities of the so-called Arabs are committed in Cen-
tral Africa. In conversing with a half-caste Arab prince, he advanced the
opinion, which I believe is general among them, that all women were utterly
and irretrievably bad. I admitted that some were no better than they should
be, but the majority were unmistakably good and trustworthy. He insisted
that the reason why we English allowed our wives so much liberty, was
because we did not know them as Arabs did. ‘No, no,’ he added, ‘no
woman can be good—no Arab woman—no English woman can be good; all
must be bad;’ and then he praised his own and countrymen’s wisdom and
cunning in keeping their wives from ever seeing other men. A rough joke

528 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Paes

as to making themselves turnkeys, or, like the inferior animals, bulls over
herds, turned the edge of his invectives, and he ended by an invitation to his
harem to show that he could be as liberal as the English. Captain S , of
H. M.S. Corvette, accepted the invitation also to be made everlasting friends
by eating bread with the prince’s imprisoned wives. The prince’s mother,
a stout lady of about forty-five, came first into the room where we sat with
her son. When young she must have been very pretty, and she still retained
many of her former good looks. She shook hands, inquired for our welfare,
and to please us sat on a chair, though it would have been more agreeable for
her to squat ona mat. She afterwards inquired of the captain if he knew
Admiral Wyvil, who formerely, as Commodore, commanded at the Cape
Station.

‘It turned out that, many years before, an English ship was wrecked at
the island on which she lived, and this good lady had received all the lady
passengers into her house, and lodged them courteously. The Admiral had
called to thank her, and gave her a written testimonial acknowledging her
kindness. She now wished to write to him for old acquaintance sake, and the
Captain promised to convey the letter. She did not seem to confirm her son’s
low opinion of women. A red cloth screen was liited from a door in front of
where we sat, and the prince’s chief wife entered in gorgeous apparel. She
came forward with a pretty, jaunty step, and with a pleasant smile held out
a neat little sweet cake, off which we each broke a morsel and ate it. She
had a fine frank address, and talked and looked just as fair as an English lady
does who wishes her husband’s friends to feel themselves perfectly at home.
Her large, beautiful jet-black eyes, riveted the attention for some time before
we could notice the adornments, on which great care had evidently been be-
stowed. Her head was crowned with a tall scarlet hat of nearly the same
shape as that of a Jewish high-priest, or that of some of the lower ranks of
Catholic clergymen. A tight-fitting red jacket, profusely decked with gold
lace, reached to the waist, and allowed about a finger’s breadth of the skin
to appear between it and the upper edge of the skirt, which was of white
Indian muslin, dotted over with tambourine spots of crimson silk. The
drawers came nearly to the ankles, on which were thick silver bangles, and
the feet were shod with greenish-yellow slippers, turned up at the toes, and
roomy enough to make it probable she had neither corns nor bunions.
Around her neck were many gold and silver chains; and she had ear-rings
not only in the lobes of her ears, but others in holes made a around the
rims. Gold and silver bracelets of pretty Indian workmanship decked the
arms, and rings of the same material, set with precious stones, graced every
finger and each thumb. A lady alone could describe the rich and rare attire,
so I leave it. ‘The only flaw in the get-up was short hair. It is so kept for
the convenience of drying soon after the bath. To our northern eyes, it had

THE LADIES OF THE HAREM. 529

a tinge too much of the masculine. While talking with this chief lady of
the harem, a second entered and performed the ceremony of breaking bread
too. She was quite as gaily dressed, about eighteen years of age, of perfect
form, and taller than the chief lady. Her short hair was oiled and smoothed
down, and a little curl cultivated in front of each. This was pleasantly
feminine. She spoke little, but her really resplendent eyes did all save talk.
They were of a brownish shade, and lustrous, like the ‘een o’ Jeanie Deans
filled wi’ tears; they glanced like lamour beads’ —‘lamour,’ Scottice for
amber. The lectures of Mr. Hancock at Charing Cross Hospital, London,
long ago, haye made me look critically on eyes ever since. A third lady
entered, and broke bread also. She was plain as compared with her sister
houris, but the child of the chief man of those parts. Their complexion was
fair brunette. The prince remarked that he had only three wives, though
his rank entitled him to twelve. :

“A dark slave-woman, dressed like, but less gaudily than her superior,
now entered with a tray and tumblers of sweet sherbet. Having drunk
thereof, flowers were presented, and then betel-nut for chewing. The head
lady wrapped up enough for a quid in a leaf, and handed it to each of us,
and to please her we chewed a little. It is slightly bitter and astringent,
and like a kola-nut of West Africa, and was probably introduced as a tonic
and preventative of fever. The lady superior mixed lime with her own and
sister’s—good large quids. ‘This made the saliva flow freely, and it being of
a brick red colour, stained their pretty teeth and lips, and by no means im-
proved their looks. It was the fashion, and to them nothing uncomely, when
they squirted the red saliva quite artistically all over the floor. On asking
the reason why the mother took no lime in her quid, and kept her teeth quite
clean, she replied that the reason was, she had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca
and was a Hajee. The whole scene of the visit was like a gorgeous picture.
The ladies had tried to please us,and were thoroughly successful. We were
delighted with a sight of the life in a harem; but whether from want of wit,
wisdom, or something else, I should still vote for the one-wife system, having
tried it for some eighteen years. I would not exchange a monogamic harem,
with some merry, laughing, noisy children, for any polygamous gathering
in Africa or the world. It scarcely belongs to the picture, which I have
attempted to draw as favourably as possible, in order to show the supreme
good for the sake of the possible attainment of which the half-caste Arabs per-
petrate all the atrocities of the slave-trade; but a short time after this visit,
the prince fled on board our steamer for protection from creditors. He was
misled by one calling himself Colonel Aboo, who went about the world saying
he was a persecuted Christian. He had no more Christianity in him than a
door nail. At a spot some eighty miles south-west of the south end of Tan-
ganyika, stands the stockaded village of the chief Chitimbwa, A war had

82

530 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

commenced between a party of Arabs numbering six hundred guns and the
chief of the district situated west of Chitimbwa, while I was at the south end
of the lake.

“The Arabs hearing that an Englishman was in the country, naturally
inquired were he was, and the natives, fearing that mischief was intended,
denied positively that they had ever seen him. They then strongly advised
me to take refuge on an inhabited island; but, not explaining their reasons, I
am sorry to think that I suspected them of a design to make me a prisoner,
which they couid easily have done by removing the canoes, the island being
a mile from the land. They afterwards told me how nicely they had cheated
the Arabs, and saved me from harm. The end of the lake is in a deep cup-
shaped cavity, with sides running sheer down at some parts two thousand
feet into the water. The rocks, of red clay schist, crop out among the sylvan
vegetation, and here and there pretty cascades leap down the precipices, form-
ing a landscape of surpassing beauty. Herds of elephants, bufialoes, and
antelopes, enliven the scene, and with the stockaded villages embowered in
palms along the shores of the peaceful water, realize the idea of Xenophon’s
Paradise. When about to leave the village of Mbette, or Pambette, down
there, and climb up the steep path by which we had descended, the wife of
the chief came forward, and said to her husband and the crowd looking at us
packing up our things, ‘Why do you allow this man to go away? He will
certainly fall into the hands of the Mazitu [here called Batuba], and you
know it, and are silent.’ On inquiry, it appeared certain these marauders
were then actually plundering the villages up above the precipices at the foot
of which we sat. We waited six days, and the villagers kept watch on an
ant-hill outside the stockade, all the time looking up for the enemy. When
we did at last ascend, we saw the well-known lines of march of the Mazitu—
straight as arrows through the country, without any regard to the native
paths; their object was simply plunder, for in this case there was no blood-
shed. We found that the really benevolent lady had possessed accurate in-
formation. On going thence round the end of the lake, we came to the village
of Karambo, at the confluence of a large river, and the head man refused us
a passage across; ‘because,’ said he, ‘the Arabs have been fighting with the
people west of us; and two of their people have since been killed, though
only in search of ivory. You wish to go round by the west of the lake, and
the people may suppose that you are Arabs; and I dare not allow you to run
the risk of being killed by mistake.’ On seeming to disbelieve, Karamba
drew his finger across his throat, and said, ‘If at any time you discover that
I have spoken falsely, I give you leave to cut my throat.’ That same after-
noon two Arab slaves came to the village in search of ivory, and confirmed
every word Karamba had spoken.

‘Having previously been much plagued by fever, and without a particle

DOMHSTIC LIFE IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 531

of medicine, it may have been the irritability produced by that disease that
made me so absurdly pig-headed in doubting the intentions of my really
kind benefactors three several times. The same cause may be in operation,
when modern travellers are unable to say a civil word about the natives; or
if it must be admitted, for instance, that savages will seldom deceive you if
placed on their honour, why must we turn up the whites of our eyes, and say
it is an instance of the anomalous character of the Africans? Being heaps of
anomalies ourselves, it would be just as easy to say that it is interesting to
find other people like us. The tone which we modern travellers use is that of
infinite superiority, and it is utterly nauseous to see at every step our great
and noble elevation cropping out in low cunning. Unable to go north-west, we
turned off to go due south one hundred and fifty miles or so; then proceeded
west till past the disturbed district, and again resumed our northing. But
on going some sixty miles we heard that the Arab camp was twenty miles
farther south, and we went to hear the news. The reception was extremely
kind, for the party consisted of gentlemen from Zanzibar, and of a very dif-
ferent stamp from the murderers we afterwards saw at Manyema. They were
afraid that the chief with whom they had been fighting might flee south-
wards, and that in going that way I might fall into his hands. Being now
recovered, I could readily believe them; and they, being eager ivory traders,
as readily believed me when I asserted that a continuance of hostilities meant
shutting up the ivory market. No one would like to sell if he stood a chance
of being shot. Peace, therefore, was to be made; but the process of ‘mixing
blood,’ forming a matrimonial alliance with the chief’s daughter, etc., required
three and a half months, and during long intervals of that time I remained
at Chitimbwa’s. The stockade was situated by a rivulet, and had a dense
yrove of high, damp-loying trees round a spring on one side, and open country,
pretty well cultivated, on the other. It was cold, and over four thousand
seven hundred feet above the sea, with a good deal of forest land and ranges
of hills in the distance. The Arabs were on the west side of the stockade,
and one of Chitimbwa’s wives at once vacated her house on the east side for
my convenience.

‘“‘Chitimbwa was an elderly man, with grey hair and beard, of quiet self-
possessed manners. He had five wives; and my hut being one of the circle
which their houses formed, I often sat reading or writing outside, and had a
good opportunity of seeing the domestic life in this Central African harem,
without appearing tobe prying. The chief wife, the mother of Chitimbwa’s
son and heir, was somewhat aged, but exercised her matronly authority
over the whole of the establishment. The rest were young, with fine
shapes, pleasant countenances, and nothing of the West Coast African about
them. Three of them had each a child, making, with the eldest son, a
family of four children to Chitimbwa. The matron seemed to reverence her

532 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

husband; for when she saw him approaching, she invariably went out of the
way, and knelt down till he had passed. It was the time of year for plant-
ing and weeding the plantations, and the regular routine work of all the fami-
lies in the town was nearly as follows:—Between three and four o’clock in
the morning, when the howling of the hyenas and growling of the lions or
leopards told that they had spent the night fasting, the human sounds heard
were those of the good wives knocking off the red coals from the ends of the
sticks in the fire, and raising up a blaze to which young and old crowded for
warmth from the cold which at this time is the most intense of the twenty-
four hours. Some Psange smoker lights his pipe and makes the place ring
with his nasty screaming, stridulous coughing. Then the cock begins to crow
(about 4 a. m.), and the women call to each other to make ready to march.
‘They go off to their gardens in companies, and keep up a brisk, loud
conversation, with a view to frighten away any lion or buffalo that may not
have retired, and for this the human voice is believed to be efficacious. The
gardens, or plantations, are usually a couple of miles from the village. This
is often for the purpose of securing safety for the crops from their own goats
or cattle, but more frequently for the sake of the black loamy soil near the
banks of rivulets. This they prefer for maize and dura (holcus sorghum), while
for a small species of millet, called mileza, they select a patch in the forest,
which they manure by burning the branches of trees. The distance which
the good wives willingly go to get the soil best adapted for different plants
makes their arrival just about dawn. Fire has been brought home, and a
little pot is set on with beans or pulse—something that requires long simmer-
ing—and the whole family begins to work at what seems to give them real
pleasure. ‘The husband, who had marched in front of each little squad with
a spear and little axe over his shoulder, at once begins to cut off all the sprouts
on the stumps left in clearing the ground. All the bushes also fall to his share,
and all the branches of tall trees too hard to be cut down are filed round the
root, to be fired when dry. He must also cut branches to make a low fence
round the plantation, for few wild beasts like to cross over anything having
the appearance of human workmanship. The wart hog having a great weak-
ness for ground-nuts, otherwise called pig-nuts (Arachis hypogea), must be cir-
cumvented by a series of pitfalls, or a deep ditch, and earthen dyke all round
the nut plot. The mother works away vigorously with her hoe, often adding
new patches of virgin land to that already under cultivation. The children
help by removing the weeds and grass which she has uprooted into heaps to
be dried and burned. They seemed to know and watch every plant in the
field. It is all their own; no one is stinted as to the land he may cultivate;
the more they plant, the more they have to eat and to spare. In some parts
of Africa the labour falls almost exclusively on the women, and the males
are represented as atrociously cruel to them. It was not so here; nor is it

PRECOCIOUSNESS OF AFRICAN CHILDREN, 533

so in Central Africa generally. Indeed, the women have often decidedly the
upper hand. The clearances by law and custom were the work of the men;
the weeding was the work of the whole family, and so was the reaping. The
little girls were nursing baby under the shade of a watch-house perched on
the tops of a number of stakes about twelve feet or fourteen feet high; and
to this the family adjourn when the dura is in ear, to scare away birds by
day, and antelopes by night.

‘About 11 a.m. the sun becomes too hot for comfortable work, and all
come under the shade of the lofty watch-tower, or a tree left for the purpose.
Mamma serves out the pottage, now thoroughly cooked, by placing a por-
tion in each pair of hands. It is bad manners here to receive any gift with
but one hand. They eat it with keen appetites, and with so much relish,
that for ever afterwards they think that to eat with the hand is far nicer than
with a spoon. Mamma takes and nurses baby while she eats her own share.
Baby seems a general favourite, and is not exhibited till he is quite a ball of
fat. Every one then takes off beads to ornament him. He is not born with
a spoon in his mouth, and one may see poor mothers who have no milk mix
a little flour and water in the palm of the hand, and the sisters look on with
intense interest to see the little stranger making a milk-bottle of the side of
the mother’s hand, the crease therein just allowing enough to pass down.
They are wide-awake little creatures, and I thought that my own little ones
imbibed a good deal of this quality. I never saw such unwearied energy as
they display the live-long day, and that, too, in the hot season. The meal over,
the wife, and perhaps daughter, goes a little way into the forest and collects
a bundle of dry wood, and with the baby slung on her back in a way that
suggests the flattening of the noses of many Africans. Placing the wood on
her head, and the boy carrying her hoe, the party wends home. Each wife
has her own granary in which the produce of the garden is stowed. It is of
the beehive shape of the huts; the walls are about twelve feet high, and it
is built on astage about eighteen inches from the ground. It is about five feet
in diameter, and roofed with wood and grass. The door is near the roof; and
a ladder, made by notches cut in a tree, enables the owner to climb into it.
The first thing the good wife does on coming home is to get the ladder,
climb up, and bring down millet or dura grain sufficient for her family.
She spreads it in the sun; and while this is drying or made crisp, occurs
the only idle time I have seen in the day’s employment. Some rested,
others dressed their husband’s or neighbouwr’s hair, others strung beads.
I should have liked to see them take life more easily, for it is as pleasant to
see the negro reclining under his palm as it is to look at the white man loll-
ing on his ottoman. But the great matter is, they enjoy their labour, and
the children enjoy life as human beings ought, and have not the sap of life
squeezed out of them by their parents, as is the case with nailers, glass-

534 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

blowers, stockingers, fustian-cutters, brick-makers, etc., in England. At
other periods of the year, when harvest is home, they enjoy more leisure
and jollification with their native beer called ‘pombe.’ But in no case of free
people, living in their own free land under their own free laws, are they like
what slaves become.

‘“‘When the grain is dry, it is pounded in a large wooden mortar. To
separate the scales from the seed, a dexterous toss of the hand drives all the
chaff to one corner of the vessel. This is lifted out, and then the dust is
tossed out by another peculiar up-and-down half-horizontal motion of the
upper millstone, to which the whole weight is applied, and at each stroke the
flour is shoved off the farther end of the nether millstone, and the flour is
finished. They have meat but seldom, and make relishes from the porridge
into which the flour is cooked, of the leaves of certain wild and cultivated
plants; or they roast some ground nuts, grind them fine, and make a curry.
They seem to know that oily matter, such as the nuts contain, is requisite to
modify their otherwise farinaceous food, and some even grind a handful of
castor-oil nuts with the grain for the same purpose. The husband having
employed himself in the afternoon in making mats for sleeping on, in pre-
paring skins for clothing, or in making new handles for hoes, or cutting out
wooden bowls, joins the family in the evening, and all partake abundantly
of the chief meal of the day before going off to sleep. They have consider-
able skill in agriculture, and great shrewdness in selecting the sorts proper
for different kinds of produce. When Bishop Mackenzie witnessed their
operations in the field, he said to me,‘When I was in England and spoke in
public meetings about our mission, I mentioned that I meant to teach them
agriculture ; but now I see that the Africans know a great deal more than I
do.’ One of his associates, desiring to benefit the people to whom he was
going, took lessons in basket-making before he left England; but the speci-
mens of native workmanship he met with everywhere led him to conclude
that he had better say nothing about his acquisition—in fact, he could ‘not
hold a candle to them.’ The foregoing is a fair example of the every-day life
of the majority of the people in Central Africa It as truly represents sur-
face life in African villages as the other case does the surface condition in
an Arab harem. In other parts the people appear to travellers in much worse
light. The tribes lying more towards the east coast, who have been much
visited by Arab slaves, are said to be in a state of chronic warfare, the men
always ready to rob and plunder, and the women scarcely ever cultivating
enough of food for the year. That is the condition to which all Arab slavery
tends. Captain Speke revealed a state of savagism and brutality in Uganda
of which I have no experience. The murdering by wholesale of the chief
Mteza, or Mtesa, would not be tolerated among the tribes I have visited.
The slaughter of headmen’s daughters would elsewhere than in Uganda

TRUSTING DISPOSITION OF THE AFRICANS. 535

ensure speedy assassination. I have no reason to suppose that Speke was
mistaken in his statements as to the numbers of women led away to execution
—two hundred Baganda. People now here assert that many were led away
to become field labourers; and one seen by Grant with her hoe on her head
seems to countenance the idea. But their statements are of small account as
compared with these of Speke and Grant, for they now all know that cold-
blooded murder, like that of Mteza, is detested by all the civilised world, and
they naturally wish to smooth the matter over.

“The remedy open to all other tribes in Central Africa is desertion.
The tyrant soon finds himself powerless. His people have quietly removed
to other chiefs, and never return. The tribes subjected by the Makololo had
hard times of it, but nothing like the butchery of Mteza. A large body went
off to the north. Another sent to Tete refused to return; and seventeen, sent
with me to the Shire for medicine for the chief, did the same thing. When
the chief died, the tribes broke up and scattered. Mteza seems to be an un-
whipped fool. We all know rich men who would have been much better
fellows if they had ever got bloody noses and sound thrashings at school The
two hundred of his people here have been detained many months, and have
become thoroughly used to the country, but none of them wish to remain.
The apparent willingness to be trampled in the dust by Mteza is surprising.
The whole of my experience in Central Africa says that the negroes not yet
spoiled by contact with the slave-trade are distinguished for friendliness and
good sound sense. Some can be guilty of great wickedness and seem to
think little about it. Others perform actions as unmistakably good with no
self-complacency; and if oue catalogued all the other good deeds or all the
bad ones he came across, he might think the men extremely good or extremely
bad, instead of calling them, like ourselves, curious compounds of good and
evil. In one point they are remarkable—they are honest, even among the
cannibal Manyema. A slave-trader at Bambarre and I had to send our goats
and fowls up to the Manyema villages, to prevent their being all stolen by
my friend’s own slaves. Another wide-spread trait of character is a trusting
_disposition. The Central African tribes are the antipodes of some of the
North American Indians, and very unlike many of their own countrymen,
who have come into contact with Mahomedans and Portuguese and Dutch
Christians. They at once perceive the superiority of the strangers in power
of mischief and readily listen to and ponder over friendly advice.

“« After the cruel massacre of Nyangwe, which I unfortunately witnessed,
the fourteen chiefs whose villages had been destroyed, and many of their peo-
ple killed, fled to my house, and begged me to make peace for them. The
Arabs then came over to their side of the great river Lualaba, dividing their
country anew, and pointing out where each should build a new village and
other plantations, ‘The peace was easily made, for the Arabs had no excuse

536 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

for their senseless murders, and each blamed the other for the guilt. Both
parties pressed me to remain at the peacemaking ceremonies; and had I not
known the African trusting disposition, I might have set down the native
appeal to great personal influence. All I had in my favour was common
decency and fairness of behaviour, and perhaps a little credit for goodness
awarded by the Zanzibar slaves. The Manyema could easily see the Arab
religion was disjoined from morality. Their immorality, in fact, has always
proved an effectual barrier to the spread of Islamism in Eastern Africa. It is
a sad pity that our good ‘Bishop of Central Africa,’ aibeit ordained in West-
minster Abbey, preferred the advice of a colonel in the army to remain at
Zanzibar, rather than proceed into his diocese and take advantage of the
friendliness of the still unspoiled interior tribes to spread our faith. The
Catholic missionaries lately sent from Kngland to Maryland to convert the
negroes might have obtained the advice of half a dozen army colonels to
remain at New York, or even at London; but the answer, if they have any
Trish blood in them, might have been, ‘Take your advice and yourselves off
to the battle of Dorking; we will fight our own fight.’ The venerable Arch.
bishop of Baltimore told these brethren that they would get ‘chills and fever;’
but he did not add, ‘When you do get the shivers, then take to your heels,
my hearties.’ When any of the missionaries at Zanzibar get ‘chills and fever,’
they have a nice pleasure trip in a man-of-war to the Seychelles Islands.
The good men deserve it of course, and no one grudges to save their precious
lives. But human nature is frail! Zanzibar is much more unhealthy than the
mainland; and the Government, by placing men-of-war at the disposal of
these brethren, though meaning to help them in their work, virtually aids
them to keep out of it.

“Some eight years have rolled on, and good Christian people have con-
tributed the money annually for Central Africa, and the ‘Central African
Diocese’ is occupied only by the lord of all evil. It is with a sore heart I say
it, but recent events have shown to those who have so long been playing at
being missionaries, and peeping across from the sickly Island to their diocese
on the mainland with telescopes, that their time might have been turned to
far better account. About 1868 there were twelve congregation of natives
Christians at the capital of Madagascar. These were the results of the
labours of independent missionaries. For some fifty years, the Malagasy
Christians showed their faith to be genuine by enduring the most bitter perse-
cutions ; and scores, if not hundreds, submitted to cruel public executions
rather than deny the blessed Saviour. The first missionaries had to leave the
island; but the converts, having the Bible in their own tongue, continued
to meet and worship and increase in secret, though certain death was the
penalty on discovery. A change in the Government allowed the return of the
missionaries, and a personal entreaty of Queen Victoria to the successor of the

MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES. 537

old persecuting Queen of Madagascar obtained freedom of worship for the
Christians, and peace and joy prevailed. ‘The Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts thereafter sent some missionaries to Tamatavye,
which may be called the chief seaport for the capital, where many heathen
lived, and the energetic Cape Bishop slyly said that they were not to interfere
with churches already formed; but the good pious man at once sent the
touching cry back to London, ‘ Let us go up to the capital.’ Sheer want of
charity makes me conjecture, that if we had twelve native churches at Unyan-
yembe, or Ujiji, or the Tanganyika, the ‘Bishop of Central Africa’ would
eight years ago have been in here like a shot, and no colonel’s advice, how-
ever foolish, would have prevented him. It is not to be supposed that the
managers of the Society named felt that they were guilty of unchristian
meanness in introducing themselves into other men’s labours, while tens of
millions of wholly untaught heathen were usually within their reach. A simi-
lar instance occurred at Honolulu a few years ago. Mr. Ellis, the venerable
apostle of the Malagasy, was working at Honolulu towards the beginning of
this century, when some American Presbyterian missionaries appeared search-
ing for a sphere of labour. Mr. Ellis at once gave up his dwelling, church,
school, and printing press to them, and went to work elsewhere. Americans
have laboured most devotedly and successfully in Owyhee, as Captain Cook
called it, and by them education and Christianity were diffused over the whole
Sandwich group; but it lately appeared that the converted islanders wanted
an Episcopalian bishop, andabishop they got, who, in sheer lack of good
breeding, went about Honolulu with a great paper cap on his head, ignoring
his American brethren, whose success showed them to be of the true apos-
tolic stamp, and declaring that he was the only true bishop.

“Of all mortal men, missionaries and missionary bishops ought mani-
festly to be true gentlemen; and it does feel uncomfortably strange to see
our dearly-beloved brethren entering into their neighbours’ folds, built up
by the toil of half a century, and being guilty of conduct through mere non-
consideration that has an affinity to sheep-stealing. It may seem harsh to
say so; but sitting up here in Unyanyembe in wearisome waiting for Mr.
Stanley to send men from the coast, two full months’ march or five hundred
miles distant, and all Central Africa behind me, the thought will rise up that
the Church of England and Universities have, in intention at least, provided
the gospel for the perishing population, and why does it not come? Then,
again, the scene rises up of undoubtedly good men descending to draw away
stray sheep from those who have borne the burden and heat of the day, at
Tananoriyo, the capital of Madagascar, rather than preach to the Bamabake
heathen, or to the thousands of Malagasy in Bembatook Bay, who, though
Sakalavas, are quite as friendly and politically one with Thovas at the seat
of Government. And then the unseemly spectacle at Honolulu. It is a pro-

T2

538 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ceeding of the same nature as that in Madagascar, but each process has
something in its favour. ‘The native Christians wanted a bishop.’ Well,
all who know natives understand exactly what that means, if we want to
eavil. ‘An intelligent Zulu’ soon comes to the front. I overheard an intel-
ligent, educated negro aver that the Bible was wrong, because an elephant
was stronger than a lion, and the Bible says, ‘What is sweeter than honey ?
what is stronger than a lion?’ But I did not wish to attack the precious old
documents, the ‘Scriptures of truth,’ and his intelligence, such as it was,
shall remain unsung. The excellent bishops of the Church of England, who
all take an interest in the ‘Central African Mission,’ will, in their kind and
gracious way, make every possible allowance for the degeneracy of the noble
effort of the Universities into a mere chaplaincy of the Zanzibar Consulate.
One of them even defended a dapsus which no one else dared to face; but
whatever in their kindheartedness they may say, every man of them would
rejoice to hear that the Central African had gone into Central Africa. If I
must address those who hold back, I should say: Come on, brethren; you
have no idea how brave you are till you try. The real brethren who are
waiting for you have many faults, but also much that you can esteem and
love. The Arabs never saw mothers selling their offspring, nor have I,
though one author made a broad statement to that effect, as a nice setting to
a nice little story about ‘A Mother Bear.’ He may have seen an infant sold
who had the misfortune to cut its upper teeth before the lower, because it
was called unlucky, and likely to bring death into the family. We have had
foundlings among us, but that does not mean that English mothers are no
better than she-bears. If you go into other men’s labours, you need not tell
at home who reared the converts you have secured; but you will feel awfully
uncomfortable, even in heaven, till you have an abject apologies to your
brethren who, like yourselves, are heavenward bound. :

‘Having now been some six years out of the world, and most of my
friends having apparently determined by their silence to impress me with
the truth of the adage, ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’ the dark scenes of the
slave-trade had a most distressing and depressing influence. The power of
the Prince of Darkness seemed enormous. It was only with a heavy heart I
said, ‘Thy kingdom come!’ In one point of view, the evils that brood over
this beautiful country are insuperable. When I dropped among the Makololo
and others in the central region, I saw a fair prospect of the regeneration of
Africa. More could have been done in the Makololo country than was done
by St. Patrick in Ireland; but I did not know that I was surrounded by the
Portuguese slave-trade, a blight like a curse from heaven, that proved a bar-
rier to all improvement. Now Iam not so hopeful. I don’t know how the
wrong will become right, but the great and loving Father of all knows, and
He will do it according to His infinite wisdom.”

INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO MADAGASCAR. 539

No better illustration of how the great and loving Father rectifies all
that is wrong, and satisfies the yearning desires of His people, as from many
a heart, and from many a home, as well as from the Church militant, there
goes forth the ery, ‘Thy kingdom come!” than that which is afforded in the
results of the Madagascar Mission, to which Dr. Livingstone refers—results
which have exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the followers of Christ
throughout the world, and given an impetus to the work of the Christian
Church, which is bearing blessed fruit, not only in the widespread revival of
religion, but more especially in the voluntary consecration of many hundreds
of the most promising young men of our Churches to the work of Christian
Missions among the heathen. A recent writer gives the following account of
the Church in Madagascar, showing very clearly that not only does God
make ‘‘ the wrath of men to praise him,” but that however intense the moral
darkness which may prevail in any land, the light of the Gospel of the grace
of God is sufficient to dispel it :—

“‘ Upwards of half a century ago Christianity was introduced into Mada-
gascar by the London Missionary Society. The missionaries found the people
sunk in idolatry, without a written language, and without a literature. They
taught the Malagasy men and women the truths of the Gospel, reduced their
language to writing, instructed some thousands of their children to read, and
gaye them the Scriptures in their own tongue. A few consistent converts to
the Christian faith were formed into little churches; and in addition to the
Word of God, they were provided with the ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress.’

“In these circumstances a frightful persecution, instigated by a fana-
tical and wolfish Queen, was directed against the poor Christian people. The
missionaries were expelled. Persecution raged from 1835 to 1857. The pro-
fession of Christianity was treated as a capital offence, and a multitude which
no man has ever yet numbered were put to death in the most cruel manner
for their adherence to the truth. The Church of Madagascar seemed to those
at a distance to disappear from the earth ; but not a few succeeded in conceal-
ing themselves and their Bibles from their cruel foes. It is now ascertained
that about seventy copies of the Scriptures were preserved; and these sacred
deposits, carefully guarded, became fountains of comfort and life to the per-
secuted but faithful remnant. In this way the Church of Madagascar not
only survived the persecution, which lasted about a quarter of a century, but,
in spite of persecution, gained in numbers and in spiritual strength.

‘The figures which represented roughly the supposed state of matters
about eighteen months ago were such as the following :—

European missionaries . . 30 | Adherents. . . . . . 28,000
Ordained native missionaries 50] Schools. . .... . 570
Christian workers . . . 3,000) Scholars .... . . 25,000
Church members . . . 67,000 | Contributions. . . . . £2,000

540 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“The Rev. Dr. Joseph Mullens has just returned from an official visit to
Madagascar. In company with the Rey. J. Pillans, he went forth in name
of the London Missionary Society, of which he is the Secretary, to explore the
island, and to return with such an account of the state of the people as his
observation would enable him to give. The deputies explored the island,
went to its capital, visited its villages, crossed some of its solitudes, sailed
down some of its rivers, penetrated where no Kuropean was residing, and
into some places where a Kuropean face has scarcely ever been seen; and every-
where they found little churches and Christian pastors, the most of whom are
natives. ‘They found Bible-reading as well as preaching; they found psalm
and hymn singing; they found children learning to read and learning to sing.
In some cases they penetrated into remote regions, where native churches,
under the pastorate of native teachers, had never been visited by an English
missionary. They visited, for example, Mojanga, a place on the coast where
Sir Bartle Frere, when passing through those seas on his noble anti-slavery
cruise, landed and found (where but a little time before only savage islanders
could have been seen) Christian society, a Christian church, and Christian
worship. He found them observing the Sabbath and public Christian worship,
and partaking of the Lord’s supper, with a decorum and propriety like what
might have been seen in an evangelical church in London or in Edinburgh.

“Mr. Pillans says: Sir Bartle Frere has told you something of the two
churches in Mojanga, and of their young pastor. He fully deserves the
honourable mention Sir Bartle makes of him. He isa true man, a diligent
teacher, and most careful of the purity of the churches. The attendance—the
ordinary attendance—in one of the churches is about three hundred, in the
other two hundred and thirty. ‘There are fifty-six members in the two.
They unite in the communion. They have six preachers and six deacons.
There are sixty children in the school, of whom thirty can read well. About
thirty adults can read. Six or seven Sakalavas attend worship: one was a
member for a time, but went astray. In receiving members they follow the
rule at the capital, of two months’ probation ; then the case comes before the
whole church. In a similar way, if a member goes astray, he is visited and
counsel given him; if unrepentant, he is dealt with by the whole church.
Rakotovao, the pastor at Mojanga, told us that he had occasion to visit all the
twelve churches in the district in 1871, and he found schvols in them alf.

‘¢ Speaking of another district, Mr. Pillans observes: We came to a line
of country near the coast, where there were large towns and some exceed-
ingly interesting churches. One of these towns, Trabonjy, is about five or
six miles from the junction of the Ikiopa and the Betsiboka rivers. We went
in the evening to the chapel—a large building, capable of holding one
thousand two hundred or one thousand five hundred persons. The people
began to flock in, and a short time afterwards the governor came in. After

REQUEST TO HEAR A MISSIONARY. 541

me ST

shaking hands with myself and Dr. Mullens, he said, ‘ Let us pray,’ and
offered thanksgiving to God for having brought us there, saying that it was
not by our guidance we came, but by God’s good guidance. Next morning
the governor, the pastor, and a great many elderly matrons, came and asked
some of us to stay, as they wanted to hear a missionary. The governor said
that every evening he had worship in his house, and the people outside were
invited to come in. Here there is no Christian missionary. All this is the
outcome of the spontaneous action of the people, who are constantly plead-
ing for some one to guide them.

““Mangasoavina is the name of a town which is situated in a district
separated from any other dense population by a desert region, which it took
two days to cross. It is situated in a thickly-peopled ‘basin,’ with a terraced
amphitheatre all around, along whose sides irrigating streams are conducted,
which render the scene populous, rich, and verdant. In this town (says
Mr. Pillans), they told us that twenty could read, and many more knew
their letters. Sixteen were baptized, and formed the church in the place.
There were two pastors. They have one service on the Sabbath, at which
about one hundred and fifty attend. ‘They have three Bibles, many testa-
ments and lessons-books, slates, ete. We wanted to learn what kind of
teaching the people received, and inquired what the pastors taught.

* ¢To do no eyil,’ they said, ‘and to love one another.’

“ «But what did they teach about Christ ?”

*< <'To observe his laws.’

“‘ «But what did they teach about Christ Himself?

*« ¢That he was a substitute for the guilty.’

*‘ Inquired what they taught about the Holy Spirit, but did not get any
answer; one said it was a difficult subject.

‘“‘They had many questions to ask about the Bible and particular texts,
some of which reminded us of questions which have largely exercised both
the learned and the unlearned at home. Who was Melchizedek? Who
wrote the Epistle of the Hebrews? Why did Christ call Himself ‘the Son of
man ?

“The wife of one of the pastors, a daughter of the governor, took a
leading part in this conversation. She seemed a very intelligent woman, and
an eager inquirer.

“These facts give a wonderful evidence that the gospel is the power of
God unto salvation to every one who believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek. It is very true that there have been very remarkable circum-
stances connected with the recent expansion of the Church in Madagascar.
The supreme power in the State, the Queen and her husband, the prime
minister, have been on the side of Christianity; but if this circumstance be
cited as largely accounting for the multitude of adherents, we have two

542 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

answers for those who put it forth, if they do so in the spirit in which Gib-
bon set in array his list of secondary causes, as if to exclude the great First
Cause. }

“Tn the first place, the Christianity of Madagascar stood the test of perse-
cution to the death, and came out of the ordeal more than a conqueror; and
having asserted its spiritual power under a Queen who was a fanatical perse-
cutor, it is the less likely to sink into weakness under a Queen that is acting
as the mother of her people, and whose personal example is tender and
womanly as well as Christian.

“But, secondly, there is no proof that any undue interference with the
freedom of the Church has been attempted by the Queen in her official or
in her private character. She attended large assemblies when the deputation
was in the island—as, for example, on the 9th of October last year, when
she appeared on the platform at a meeting, where, after a good hour’s sing-
ing of psalms and hymns, the assemblage of men on the one side and women
on the other, amounting in number to fifteen thousand, were addressed by
different native ministers.

“The Church has thus been spreading spontaneously. In the district of
Sihanaka, for example, where five years ago an English missionary had gone,
but was not able to continue, a church had been formed, and a large place
of worship was filled from Sabbath to Sabbath; the native minister had, as a
young man, learned by stealth the proscribed art of reading, by scanning the
backs and the contents of letters sent to his master, a military commander.
This lad afterwards became a Christian. By his force of character he was
promoted to be a judge, and when a church was formed, within the last five
years, he was appointed as its pastor. Since that time this church has sent
out several teachers to the neighbouring villages, and many of the grown-up
people have learned to read. The Word has thus grown mightily and pre-
vailed, in a district where it was unknown a few years ago, and where there
is a population of forty thousand souls.

“Thus over Madagascar the word of God is quickly spreading; soon it
will be said of the island, as it now can be said of the larger portion of it,
that ‘the idols are utterly abolished.’ There is a growing multitude of devout
worshippers. The people are willing to help each other in spiritual things.
Workers there are volunteers—some of the best preachers being of this class
—men in the civil and military service of the Government; the Government
itself keeping clear of the snare of mixing up things civil and sacred.

“Tt is calculated that a quarter of a million of people have already been
outwardly gathered under the Christian standard. But as Dr. Mullens, who
tells the story of Madagascar with thrilling effect, has said, reduce this num-
ber as you please, bring down the sixty thousand nominal members to twenty
or twenty-five thousand men and women who know Christ—these scattered

THH QUEEN OF MADAGASCAR’S LETTER. 543

through a thousand congregations spread over the land, present a result
unexampled in modern times, perhaps unprecedented in the history of the
Church.”

The following is the reply sent by the Queen and Prime Minister of
Madagascar to the address from the Directors of the London Missionary
Society, presented by the Revs. Dr. Mullens and J. Pillans :—

“TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

‘¢ GeNTLEMEN—Our good friends, the Rey. Dr. Mullens, Foreign Secre-
tary to the London Missionary Society, and the Rev. J. Pillans, one of the
Directors, and his lady, have reached Madagascar in safety; and whilst we
were in Menebnmeae: had an opportunity of joining with Her Majesty and
myself in public worship at the camp.

‘On our return to the capital, they had again an audience of Her Majesty
and myself in the palace, and on that occasion they presented your address,
dated London, June 380, 1878, together with the various presents sent by
your Society to Her Majesty ond inpsall

“The address has been carefully perused, and its anitionts duly noted
by Her Majesty, and I am authorised by her to answer it.

“T have to inform you that, through the blessing of the Divine Being,
Her Majesty the Queen, myself, and all the members of the Government, are
well. The kingdom enjoys peace; but more than that, Her Majesty is happy
to tell you, that, by the power of the Most High and the mercy of Jesus
Christ our Saviour, according to the saying, ‘The king’s heart is in the
hands of the Lord,’ God has shown mercy to our Sovereign, and has enlight-
ened her to know Jesus Christ, and has endowed her with strength, so that
from the time when she began to receive the Gospel, she has led and encour-
aged her subjects to serve God and pray to Him through Jesus Christ, and
to be dilligent in using all opportunities of acquiring useful knowledge. She
has also done her best to help the missionaries of your Society, so that, during
the reien of Her Majesty Ranavalomanjaka, the kingdom of Christ has made
great progress in Madagascar, and the number of believers has increased
more than during any period, notwithstanding the way in which the mission-
aries for many years contended with difficulties, and exerted themselves to
the utmost. But still the Queen continues to pray God that His kingdom
may advance until the joyful words shall be fulfilled which say, ‘ They shall
all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the
Lord.’

“‘ Her Majesty the Queen thanks you, the Directors, and all the consti-
tuents of the Society, because she knows your ardent desire to benefit her
kingdom by your sending missionaries and teachers to preach and teach the
Gospel and other useful knowledge, from the reign of His Majesty Radama I.

544 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

to the present time. Her Majesty therefore wishes me to assure you that
the missionaries and teachers sent by you to labour in Madagascar shall con-
tinue to enjoy her protection, and be allowed full liberty to preach the Gos-
pel, and to impart useful knowledge, in accordance with the laws of the
kingdom.

“Our friends, the Rey. Dr. Mullens, and the Rev. J. Pillans, have been
allowed perfect liberty to travel wherever they have pleased to visit the
churches of Madagascar; they have had full opportunities of making their own
observations, and will be able to bring you a reliable report of the state of
things here. May God protect them to reach you in safety! What they
have done here has been good, and has given us much pleasure. They are
worthy men, and well fitted to act as the representatives of you, our friends,
across the seas. We are especially pleased with their words, saying—‘ We
do not trade nor desire to gain anything for ourselves, but only that the peo-
ple may know Jesus Christ.’ These are indeed very good words, for they
show both the excellence of your views, and also what will be sought by your
good brethren the missionaries in Madagascar.

“‘ Her Majesty thanks you very much for you kind message, and the good
wishes for the prosperity of her kingdom; and she prays God that they may
be fulfilled. She also thanks you for the presents you sent her, and accepts
them as a mark of your friendly feeling towards her.

‘And I, too, thank you very much for the nice presents you sent to me.

“‘ Her Majesty also desires me to thank you for the very: kind care you
have taken of Rapenoelina, for he was sent by her Government that he might
obtain a good English education. What you have done for him has given
Her Majesty great satisfaction, as his progress is already manifest from his
letters to me. Her Majesty will be pleased if you convey to Rapenoelina’s -
teacher the thanks of herself and her Government, for his instruction and kind
care has given her very much pleasure.

‘“‘May the Almighty God bless you in your useful labours for the evange-
lising of mankind, and may He give to the people earnest hearts to help you
to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ among all nations.

‘‘That, dear friends, is the wish of Her Majesty, the Queen of Mada-
gascar, and myself for you all.

‘““T am, Gentlemen,
‘“‘In the name of Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar,
“Your Sincere Friend,
“RAINILAIARIVONY,
‘Prime Minister.

“Given at the Court of Her Majesty, the Queen of Madagascar, at

Antananarivo, this 18th day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1874.”

ORIGIN OF THE CALABAR MISSION. 545

The Rey. Hugh Goldie, in a series of interesting papers which have
appeared in the ‘‘ Missionary Record” of the United Presbyterian Church of
Scotland, very graphically describes the Calabar of the Past and the Calabar
of the Present. It is impossible to peruse the following narration of the cir-
cumstances under which a few devoted men consecrated themselves to the
work of an African mission, without being solemnly impressed with the won-
derful overruling Providence of God in making the very curse of Africa—the
slave-trade—to operate in its redemption from a worse than Egyptian bon-
dage. That the fatherland of those emancipated slaves whom the mission-
aries had gathered into their congregations, should have engaged the attention
of themselves and their people, is creditable alike to the men and to the cause
which they had espoused. The success which has attended their efforts, in
the face of almost insuperable difficulties, is full of encouragement as to the
future of the whole Continent of Africa. Mr. Goldie says :—

“In entering upon the consideration of the Calabar of the Present, my
thoughts naturally go back to Jamaica, the gem of the Caribbean Sea, where I
commenced my work in the mission field, and where memory delights to dwell
amongst the scenes and people, then all so novel to me and full of interest.
From our Jamaica mission, the most successful of our foreign enterprises, the
Calabar mission sprang, and its offshoot showed its vitality. Buxton’s book
on the African slave-trade, and the Great Niger expedition, created much inte-
rest amongst the religious community of Britian on behalf of the intertropical
negro tribes, which had for ages been the victims of this traffic. The Act of
Emancipation having by this time set free the slaves of our West Indian
colonies, the brethren who then occupied our Jamaica mission took earnest
counsel together, consulting whether something might be attempted by them
oh behalf of the fatherland of those whom they had gathered into their con-
gregations, and who might, to a considerable extent, supply an agency for
any such enterprise. All devoted themselves before God to an African
mission, should it be undertaken; and it being resolved on, Mr. H. M.
Waddell was appointed by his brethren to lead the enterprise. He set sail
for Scotland, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Edgerley, sen., and three natives
of Jamaica, to lay the cause before the Church at home, and solicit its support.
The mission was warmly taken up in Scotland, and a great interest excited
even beyond our denominational connection. All were ready to bid it God
speed.

3 “Tn seeking a location on the African coast, through the agency of the
late Dr. Fergusson, Liverpool, who, so long as he was able, freely spent
himself in its service, it was guided into the region watered by the Calabar
river. The chiefs of that part of the continent had then entered into treaty
with our Government to abandon the slave-trade, and, through the hands of
a countryman trading to their river, they sent us an invitation to go amongst

U2

546 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

them. We thus entered as friends; no such calamity as that of the late
Ashantee war opened the way for us; and, going on their own invitation,
we could ask them to give ear to the message of divine truth which we
brought to them.

‘‘The mission embarked in a small vessel, the Warrce, kindly supplied
by a Liverpool merchant, and, after a tedious and stormy voyage, entered
the Calabar river in the beginning of 1846. Mr. Jameson followed a few
months after, and Mr. Waddell, after locating Mr. Edgerley and the native
agents, having come across in the Warree to Jamaica, to give an account to
his constituents of his procedure and how he had sped, I accompanied him on
his return, to take part in the work of the African mission.

“On entering into the African wilderness, it was found necessary to
clear the bush and build houses; for though our countrymen had been trading
with the natives for centuries, the traffic had hitherto been the slave-trade,
which, so far from doing anything to elevate them, was a terrible power,
necessarily sinking them into utter barbarism. Land was given us at our
choice on which to build, to be ours so long as we occupied it, but they
declined to give us absolute property in it. They could not sell their
country, they said; nor amongst themselves do they know anything of
absolute individual property in the soil. It belongs to the community ; each
town has its part of it, and each family has its share of that which belongs
to their town, which the members of the family hold so long as they occupy
it. By this tenure all land is held.

“Tn clearing the bush off the site chosen, it was found to be a receptacle
of dead bodies, thrown out unburried, as the custom was; so that an applica-
tion had to be made to King Kyamba, who then held power, to prohibit the
practice so far as the mission ground was concerned. Ere long, houses were
erected at Duke Town and Creek Town, the principal seats of population, and,
through course of time, at Old Town, Ikunetu, and Ikorofiong, thus forming
five principal stations. With these are now associated a number of out-
stations, supplied by native agents, the two last formed of which have been
thrown into tribes beyond Calabar. From a lack of European agency, we
are still unable to proceed much into the interior from Calabar, as our base of
operations—a purpose we are anxious to carry out.

“ As a few of the natives, in trafficking with English ships, had picked
up our tongue so far, they use English words, according to their own idiom,
which seemed at first most barbarous, and hard to be understood. Meetings
were from the beginning held on Sabbath, for the preaching of the Gospel
through interpreters. The people, of course, knew not the seventh-day rest,
nor the mode of observance. They had, we found, an eight-day week, one
day of which was held in special honour by them as a sort of holiday—a
traditional remnant, no doubt, of the primeval Sabbath; and they could not

KING EYO, AS AN INTERPRETER. 547

at once get out of their own reckoning into ours, nor, when they knew the day
of divine appointment, were they ready to give it the observance required.

“‘ At Duke Town there was special difficulty in getting public meetings
for divine worship and interpreters to be our mouths to the people. King
Eyamba sometimes undertook the duty, not very willingly, and was apt to
fall asleep during the discourse, so that, on awakening when the time came
for his interpretation of what had been said, he was utterly nonplussed. His
brother Ekpenyong—Mr Young, as he was called by our countrymen—was a
much more intelligent man, and after the king’s death acted for some time as
interpreter; but he could not be implicitly trusted to render faithfully what
he heard, nor to abstain from giving his own comment, which might do away
with the effect of the declaration of divine truth. For instance, on one occa-
sion, when Mr. Anderson thought he was faithfully giving to the audience in
Efik what he had just spoken in English, he learned by subsequent informa-
tion that Mr. Young was giving directions about some work he wished the
people to set about. On another occasion, Mr. Anderson had as his subject
the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and in interpreting what was said
of the condition of the former in the present life, Mr. Young added, ‘I wish
I were like that man.’

‘* At Creek Town we had in King Eyo one who was far in advance of
his fellow-countrymen, and who was really desirous of promoting our object,
so far as instruction in the common duties and moralities of life was concerned.
He was careful to give us a meeting in his yard regularly on Sabbath, and
even proposed to call in the people of his town by tuck of Egbo drum, so as
to secure a large audience. Him we could trust faithfully to interpret what
was said, whatever his own view of the truth might be; frequently, after
doing so, propounding his own objection or difficulty with all frankness, or
putting his question for further elucidation of the statements made. One
difficulty was constantly coming up—a difficulty as obvious to the savage on
. attaining a right view of the divine character as to the sage, and as great to
the latter as to the former—the existence of evil in the universe of a God
infinite in goodness and infinite in power. But these difficulties and ques-
tions we were glad to hear, indicating, as they did, how the truth struck the
native mind, and the line of instruction to be taken in order to convey the
one to the other.

“Tt was felt, however, that the method of teaching through interpreters,
however good they might be, was unsatisfactory, and that, to get close to the
people and effectually to reach their minds, it was necessary to acquire their
tongue, the Efik. To this all the agents have addressed themselves as a first
duty, and all, male and female, have made the acquisition who have been
long enough in the country to do so, A few notes respecting the Efik may
be interesting to those who incline to the study of languages. It is a dialect

548 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the language spoken in Ibibio, a country which stretches between the
Calabar river and Ibo, on the Niger, and from which, as formerly stated, the
Calabar people have come. All the Negro tongues are divided in the gross
into two great families, though all are in idiom very much one. Our lan-
guage, and all te the north of us, form the one family; all south of our river
form the other. Very much one in idiom, as I have said, they are in this
closely allied to the Semitic tongues. Indeed, not only in the idiom of their
languages, but in manners and customs, the children of Ham are much more
closely allied to those of Shem than we of Japhet are to either. In the for-
mation of most other parts of speech from the verb as a root, our language
resembles the Hebrew and its allied tongues. The root with us is mostly
monosyllabic, and our nouns and adjectives are commonly formed by prefix-
ing a vowel. Thus, bok, to teed; whok, the hand, the feeder: no, to give;
eno, a gift: bat, to count; tbat, a reckoning: sanga, to walk; esang, a staff;
wang, a journey. A participial noun may also be formed from any verb by
prefixing ¢r?, as, nam, to do; erinam, the making or doing; and by prefixing
andi, a performative noun is formed, as, andinam, the maker or doer. Ina
similar manner adjectives and adverbs are formed from the verb. Very few
nouns undergo inflexion to indicate number or gender; case is indicated,
except in the personal pronoun, only by position. In that important part of
speech, the verb, the Efik does not form its moods and tenses exactly coinci-
dent with those of the English, and it has as a peculiarity a regular negative
form. Thus, anam, he does; inamke, he does not; edep, he buys; tdepke, he
does not buy ; and so throughout.

‘“‘Finding the Calabar people without an alphabet, we of course gave
them our own, so far as it was required. / we rejected as redundant; and
the sounds represented by J, /, v, 2, 2, are not found in their language. The
omission of / is remarkable, and a serious defect so far as euphony is con-
cerned; yet the language does not sound unpleasantly. The collection of a
stock of words was the first thing to be seen to. Mr. Waddell, with character- -
istic energy, set himself to do so while he and Mr. Edgerley were clearing the
bush and getting a house built; and by the time he left for Jamaica he had
a small vocabulary lithographed, which formed our study in our tedious voy-
age from thence to Calabar, on reaching which we found Mr. Kdgerley had
got it printed. This task of word-collecting, simple as it may appear, and
especially that of acquiring the native idiom, so different from our own, we
found to be of considerable difficulty. No books existing to help us in the
work, we were also destitute of the professional teacher, of whose aid our
brethren in Eastern missions can avail themselves. Moreover, in seeking
amongst the natives the information we wished, never having had their minds
turned to such inquiries, even when endeavouring to give what we desired,
they frequently gave erroneous responses; and possibly, after having their

THE EFIK TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. 549

attention taxed for ten or fifteen minutes, they got tired, and answered at
random, so as to get quit of the annoyance, as they deemed it, to which we
were subjecting them. However, this tedious preliminary work of acquiring
the language and giving it a written form, was eventually accomplished—a
work which is done to the hands of those who may come after us, enabling
them to attain free intercourse with the people in their own tongue at much
less expense of time and labour.

*‘ Having done this, we set ourselves to compose books, catechisms, read-
ing-books, hymns, for use in school and church; and when we had collected
the bulk of the language into a dictionary, we commenced the translation of
the Holy Scriptures. Should God spare us to accomplish this, we conceived
that we should have done that which would justify all the expense of the
mission, and would give to Calabar a gift which would secure that, whatever
became of us, divine truth would live and grow in the land. By the good
hand of God upon us, our prayers have been answered, our purpose accom-
plished, and by the kind aid of the Scottish National Bible Society, for
several years the people have been in the possession of the whole of the
Scriptures in their own tongue. The Efik translation is one of the three
complete translations of the Bible in the languages of the Negro race, and I
believe it was the first.

‘In accomplishing such work, Missionary and Bible Societies manifest
themselves to be the great literary societies of the world. No literary or
scientific society has ever given to any people an alphabet. This work, of
importance above all others, has been taken up by the former class of
societies. By them the rude speech of the savage is formed into a written
medium of communication, and made to utter those sacred oracles which
‘bring life and immortality to light, by revealing Christ and salvation
through Him. And it is well that the work is left to such agency, as thereby
the foundations of the literature of so many nations are laid in Christian
truth.

‘Thus, then, was this preparatory work accomplished—stations formed,
as we had agents to occupy them, with their regular means of instruction in
church and school; the language acquired and written, and the Scriptures
translated into it. What good can now be reported as the result of all this ?
Much, in many respects, to the whole of the tribe, by which it is raised from
that utter state of barbarism in which we found it; though but a small part
of it is yet intelligently acquainted with the gospel, and a part still smaller
has received it to the saving of the soul. In evidence of this, the following
beneficial changes, which have passed over the community as a whole, may
be named.

‘“‘ The slave-trade was abolished, as 1 have stated, before we entered the
country, but domestic slavery still prevails, as throughout Africa, with the

550 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

exception of English settlements. This, however, in Calabar, is now much
mitigated. Those entering the Church who are in the position of slaveholders
give up all claim of property in their people; but beyond these, and through-
out the territory, the condition of the slave is ameliorated. The King Eyo I
have named frequently urged this fact upon his people as a reason why they
should attend to the teaching of the mission, as they, of all people, had
derived most benefit from its location amongst them. The circumstance
that we are living in their midst and moving amongst them, that the mission-
house is recognised as a house of refuge, and the humanizing effect of the
truth even where the whole of the life is not given up to its influence, have
produced this happy result, and will eventually do away with this state of
society, which, though existing in native Africa in quite a different and far
milder form than that it assumed in our West India colonies and in the
Southern American States, is always, and necessarily, wherever present,
destructive of manhood in the individual and in the community.

‘The power of Egbo is gradually diminishing, and as it disappears will
make room for a juster system of general government. As in patriarchal
times, every man is king in his own house, and has theoretically absolute
power over his dependants, who are bound together, even the purchased
slaves, in a close clanship. Every village, moreover, has its king or head-
man, who is supposed to attend to all the interests of the town, a great part
of his time being given to the administration of justice, or, as our country-
men phrase it, settling palavers. When any matter of general concernment,
however, is to be settled, the heads of the Egbo fraternity meet, and deter-

“mine what is to be done. The society consists of several grades, admission
to each of which is got by purchase, not by right of birth. Egbo himself is -
supposed to be a supernatural being, who resides in the forest, and is brought
into the town, carefully concealed, only on great occasions. His ddems or
representatives, however, are frequently seen running about the street in
hideous disguise, and, in the higher grades, armed with a formidable whip,
which they lay mercilessly on any not free person of the grade he represents
whom he meets. He has a pretty large bell attached to his back, which as he
walks gives notice of his approach, so that all may keep out of his way.
By sending out Egbo, a tumult can be quelled speedily ; and, in fact, the in-
stitution is an exceedingly rude form of general government, and is made
the instrument of much oppression. To resist Egbo is death, and most Egbo
laws have this terrible sanction. A man of influence can at his pleasure send
Egbo to destroy the house or even village of any who may have excited his
wrath, and this spoliation must be submitted to; the only redress to be had,
moreover, being retaliation in the same way on the spoiler. Whatever Egbo
does must be unquestioned. Every member of the society can employ its
power at his pleasure, and one not free of it can, by bribe or payment to one

THE POISON ORDEAL SET ASIDE. 551

who is, get the use of this power to enforce any claim, just or unjust, or wreak
out his malice. This instrument of oppression is gradually decaying, and
the ‘reign of law’ in a more righteous form will by degrees take its place.

**TIn connection with this I may notice another step in advance, in the
abolition of substitution in the case of capital punishment. Formerly, an
individual having forfeited his life by breach of Egbo law could give one of
his own people to die in his room, or purchase a victim for execution, and
Egbo, haying drunk blood, was satisfied. This custom is now abolished;
every one must answer for his own deed—a happy change, which will tend
to make the Egbo code less bloody. A formal pledge to abolish it, I may
state, was given in writing to the representatives of the British Government,
who, it is but right to say, have always been ready to second our efforts to
induce Calabar to do away with its customs of blood.

“The heads of the country have laid aside the poison ordeal in the
administration of justice. The people, in the depth of their ignorance not
knowing God, did not recognise His hand in the visitation of sickness or
death, but ‘ living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another,’ on
such an occurrence attributed it to the malice of some one, wrought out by
the dreaded power of witchcraft or wizardy, and the individual on whom sus-
picion fixed itself, or whom the juju man on being consulted accused, was
subjected to the ordeal. The method of administering it was to pound the
esere, a kind of bean, throw it into water, and make the accused drink it. If
the stomach rejected the poisonous draught, he was acquitted ; if not rejected,
it was sure to issue in death, and the accused was held for ever guilty. Many
perished through this superstition ; but now, even the appeal to the ordeal by
individuals anxious to vindicate themselves from suspicion or charge of evil, is
discountenanced.

“‘ An effective breach is made in that most unnatural of their customs,
infanticide. They are desirous of having a numerous offspring, and in his
prayer which the patriarch of the town made on sacrificing the goat to Ekpo
before the palaver-house to provide an Egbo feast, he supplicated that chil-
dren might be given them, that their town might increase. The dark super-
stition which Satan had taught them led them in certain cases to destroy their
infants, and the strongest feeling which God has implanted in the human
breast, that of the love of the mother for her new-born babe, was turned by
it into hatred and loathing. Children, rescued from the terrible doom to
which this superstition devoted them, are now growing up amongst us; and
though the crime, I am sorry to say, is still too often committed, it no longer
has the force of a country custom, the observance of which must be observed
in its integrity.

“‘The practice of human sacrifice for the dead, which ever filled the land
with blood, has for several years been abolished. The immediate occurrence

552 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

which, by Mr. Anderson’s united action, seconded by our countrymen in the
river, secured this took place at Duke Town. On the death of an individual
of some note, a number of victims were slaughtered and buried with him, and
others were penned up for slaughter. This information Mr. Anderson got
from refugees who took shelter at the mission-house; and asking the aid of
our countrymen, which was heartily given, he charged the authorities of the
town with their deed, and demanded that those shut up should be let go.
The facts, as usual, were denied; but Mr. Anderson was sure of his informa-
tion, and proposed that the grave should be examined in order to test the
matter. They then confessed what had been done, liberated those in bonds,
and, after the heads of Duke and Creek Towns had consulted together, they
resolved to accede to our constant remonstrances, and the remonstrances of
our fellow-countrymen, official and otherwise, and with much ceremony pro-
claimed the abolition of thé custom. We rejoiced in this happy issue to our
efforts to bring to an end this custom of blood, which no longer pollutes our
land.

‘¢ Such changes, irrespective of the higher influences of the gospel, have
passed over the native community, and in themselves amply repay the Home
Church for all she has expended on Calabar. The gospel has much more to
do amongst the intertropical tribes of intertropical Africa than among the
semi-civilised Asiatic nations. Their customs of blood, for the most part a
legacy of the slave-trade, have to be extinguished; and the broken fragments
of nations left by the devastations of that terrible scourge have to be united,
their tribal antagonisms removed, and formed by the peace-making power of
the truth into civilised commonwealths. This great work the gospel will
gradually accomplish, and make a people of such as are now no people.

‘¢ To a certain extent the governmental power of Britain can aid in this
result; and holding this view, the policy which the present Ministry has
adopted on the Gold Coast has given me much satisfaction. There are wise
and good men who would have us abandon the coast, and leave the natives
to themselves, so far as our governmental influence is concerned. But for
what purpose is our great power in the world given us, if not that we may
exercise it for the benefit of such degraded portions of our race? Non-in-
tervention as regards civilised nations may be a sound political creed, but
surely it is misapplied when quoted to rule our conduct towards these negro
tribes. If we use our great wealth, to which every clime contributes, and
our great influence, which every country acknowledges, as if all owed loyalty
to the British crown, merely for our own aggrandisement, do we not act
much in the spirit which dictated the response, ‘ Am I my brother’s keeper ?”
Moreover, these tribes have a claim of justice at our hands, and that of the
strongest. Britain, in by-past times, took the lead in the slave-trade. She
was the principal criminal in perpetrating that crime which devastated Africa,

OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 553

and sunk her tribes into the state of savagism in which we now find them.
Would it be righteous in her to turn away from them, and leave them to wel-
ter as best they may out of that state of darkness and blood into which she
exerted her power formerly to sink them? Surely common justice requires
that she endeavour to undo the evil she has done, and use that power to save
which was formerly used to destroy.

“‘ Around our older stations, the Sabbath is now as well observed out-
wardly as it is in most of our British towns. Frequent meetings are held
on that day and throughout the week, as most of the instruction received by
the people is through the ear. We have therefore to give ‘line upon line,
and precept upon precept.’ To Sabbath school and church service the regular
attenders are seen wending their way, having now assumed a decent covering
of their nakedness, and many of them with their Bible and hymn-book. In
Duke and Creek towns especially, being the chief seats of population, are
there respectable congregations as to number and appearance. In the latter,
the audience ranges from one hundred and fifty in the season of farm-work,
when the people are scattered into the country, to two hundred and fifty,
when gathered into the town during the rains; in the former, the attendance
may average from three hundred to six hundred. These higher numbers
are about a tenth of the population commonly attributed to these towns
respectively.

‘‘ Of those regularly waiting on the means of instruction, a number have
come forward to profess the Christian faith, and have been received into the
Church by baptism. These have been formed into four churches at Duke
Town, Creek Town, Ikunetu, and Ikorofiong. The native converts in these
four churches may number one hundred. A falling away from profession of
the truth, or a lapse on the part of one numbered in the membership of the
Church, is so detrimental to the cause of the gospel in the midst of heathen-
ism, where Christianity is necessarily judged by the conduct of those who
profess it, that a long period of trial and preparation is, as a rule, imposed on
all offering themselves for baptism, that their sincerity may be tested so far
as may be, and that they may thoroughly understand that which they wish
to profess and the duties they desire to assume. Our congregations also
regularly contribute, as an act of divine worship, of their substance. This
we have to go about awkwardly, as we do not understand coin. The articles
of trade brought out by European ships are our money, and these are de-
posited in the somewhat capacious receptacles placed to receive the offerings.
It is not so much the amount contributed, as the inculcation of the duty, that
is our care at present; but even the former is very creditable to our native
churches.

“Of that of Creek Town, where my sphere of duty lies, I may speak
more particularly. The native members number upwards of fifty, and the

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554 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

congregation proper, including individuals of all ages who are in any way con-
nected with the church, numbers two hundred and fifty. These are regularly
organised, having their elders and deacons. One of the latter has lately
been crowned King of Creek Town and its dependencies, under the title of
Eyo VII. He long declined the dignity, fearing that, as the heathen party is
still the stronger in the community, he might be drawn into something which
would be inconsistent with his profession as a Christian; but as no one else
could occupy the position, and as much inconvenience resulted from his
declinature, he has at length yielded to the importunity of his fellow-country-
men, and accepted the honour, on the condition that he discharge the duties
of his office on Christian principles. At his coronation by the British Consul,
that there might be no misunderstanding, he announced in English and in
the native tongue that only on these principles would he administer the power
given. On the following Sabbath he was at his post in the Sabbath school as
usual; his wife also, who is likewise a member of the Church, and has been
advanced to the status of teacher. Let the prayers of the friends of missions
be offered, that he may be enabled to make good all that he has purposed
and spoken, and that his influence may be extensively for good throughout
this district and in the country at large.

‘‘ All, male and female, who are received into the membership of the
Church, are instructed that it is their duty to disseminate the knowledge of
divine truth which they have acquired amongst their heathen neighbours,
and endeavour to draw them to Christ. This duty on the whole is very well
attended to. Our young men, when going to tribes beyond us in pursuit of
their traffic, carry their books with them, and on Sabbath lay aside their
business, and read and speak to any who may be disposed to listen. But
besides this, there is a number of our young men, about sixteen, who have
given themselves, as a native agency, entirely to the work of the mission,
teaching school during the week, and holding meetings on the Sabbath.
These are located in out-stations, and have on the whole proved themselves
worthy of their office. One of these, Hsien Esien Ukpabio, was some time
ago ordained to the office of the ministry. Our first native convert, he became
our first native teacher, and is now our first native minister. For a good
many years he has commended himself as a consistent professor of the faith
and an efficient instructor of his countrymen, securing the respect of those
without as well as those within the Church. We expect that he will enter
into a new field, among a tribe where we have yet no station.

“‘'The last formed of these out-stations has been thrown into the Uwet
tribe, beyond which Mr. Edgerley has been of late penetrating. The people
of this locality were gradually disappearing from the face of the earth by the
frequent recourse they had to the poison ordeal, the whole population of a
village occasionally taking it, in order to destroy the dreadful power of Jfot

THE TRAFFIC IN STRONG DRINK. 555

amongst them. ‘Those who survived joyfully proclaimed themselves pure.
They were thus destroying themselves, and in some places mounds of clay
only remain to show where hamlets once stood. The gospel may yet be in
time to save them; but they sometimes resent the interference of our two
native agents, Efium Otu and Eyo Ekanem, to prevent the administration
of the ordeal; and having all faith in their dark superstitions, accuse us of
shielding murderers in the perpetration of their secret deeds. We trust that
ere long their eyes will be opened to see that these superstitions are their
destruction and to receive in the gospel light and life, temporal and eternal.

‘But these native superstitions are not the only means by which the
kingdom of Satan is upheld, and the evangelistic efforts of the Church
opposed. The flood of strong drink poured upon the coast by our traders
builds a wall of ‘ triple granite’ in defence of that kingdom, and a formidable
barrier in the way of the spread of the power of Christ. Now that, hap-
pily, the slave-trade is extinct on the West Coast—a great fact, which I think
has not been sufficiently recognised, so that God may have the praise which
is His due—European commerce should be only a blessing to the poor tribes.
As it is, it would be well for them that they never saw a European ship. A
great part of their industry is exchanged for that which is their destruction,
soul and body, and which our merchants, if they were wise, must see will be
a preventive to the advancement of the tribe in commercial prosperity as in
everything else which is good. This traffic in the ‘fire-water,’ while it ren-
ders missionary operations doubly necessary, doubles their difficulty, and
consequently their expense in money and life. When will Christian men lay
to heart their conduct in this matter? and when will the Church affix her
stigma to such merchandise, which, as much as the heathenism of the natives,
stands in the way of the successful accomplishment of her great work in the
world?

“The fact that the people among whom we labour are not homogeneous
as to nationality, is another circumstance which impedes the realisation of the
immediate results so much desired. Our population is made up of the repre-
sentatives of about thirteen different tribes, the Calabar people proper being
a minority in the land. These being constantly brought in from the interior,
bring with them their different tongues, their maxims, superstitions, and their
tribal antagonism, and cannot be operated on as one people. In our Creek
Town church, nine different tribes have representatives, and the tribe most
numerously represented in our little Christian community is that not of Cala-
bar, but Mburukom, the locality of which, in the heart of the continent, we
do not yet know. But this circumstance, which in the meantime delays the
much-wished-for success, will, we trust, eventually be, by the divine blessing,
made conducive to the more extensive and rapid diffusion of the gospel in the
unknown interior behind us. Such is the happy experience of the older

556 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

missions on the coast similarly cireumstanced, especially those of Sierra Leone.
There, where all the intertropical tribes are represented in those rescued from
slave-ships or their descendants, a native agency of teachers and ministers
has been raised up, not only to supply the schools and pulpits of the colony
and its dependencies, but to enter those countries whence they or their fathers
came with the light of divine truth. The Niger mission, the nearest to us
on the coast, is entirely manned by a native agency, and superintended by
Bishop Crowther, himself rescued from a slave-shipin his boyhood. At Sierra
Leone we have just learned that he lately took from there thirteen additional
native agents, to plant in the various mouths of the Niger. Such, we trust,
will eventually be the experience of the Calabar mission. The natives of dis-
tant interior tribes, brought into contact with the gospel in Calabar, receiving
it to the salvation of their souls, and instructed so as to be able to teach it to
others, will, we hope, be raised up as an agency, and that the most effective,
for evangelising the unknown regions whence they have come. May God
graciouly grant our prayer, and accomplish our hopes in this, that so His
own promise meets its fulfilment, and ‘ Ethiopia soon stretch out her hands
to God.’

‘¢ Situated on the margin of an unknown continent, where the power of
Satan has hitherto been unquestioned, our position does not resemble that
of the missionaries of the South Seas, who can stretch their influence around
their little msular communities; nor of our brethren in south Africa, where
long-established missions have planted their stations thickly throughout the
land. We stand and gaze on a vast field, into which we have recently
entered—a field which would more than absorb all denominational effort, and
which, moreover, is left entirely to ourselves. Realizing these facts, let us
redouble our efforts, and with all prayer and patience and perseverance address
ourselves to the work, until the true light shine throughout all these wide-
spread regions.”

The Rev. Dr. Robb, of the Calabar Mission, Ikorofiong, in writing home
on the subject of African Evangelisation, remarks :—‘“‘ To Christianise Africa
is one of the hardest tasks before the Church of Christ. The negroitic races
bave been allowed to sink to the lowest depth. There are greater facilities
for spreading the knowledge of God among the peoples of Asia than can
be found in Africa. ‘The former is healthier far than tropical Africa; its
greater populations can be largely reached by Christian literature at the very
outset; and a higher class of native Christian labourers is furnished even by
the first generation of its converts. We have now obtained pretty extensive
information about the negro tribes, and never yet has one been found pos-
sessed of a literature, or that could be influenced or instructed beyond the
reach of the living voice of the evangelist.

‘‘ When the Hamites entered on their inheritance—the African conti-

OBSTACLES TO AFRICAN EVANGELISATION. 557

nent—atter the flood, as they advanced into its virgin areas, what a hercu-
lean task lay before them! What a struggle had they with their surround-
ings! With miasma from its low, damp, alluvial fringe, like wet, green wood,
making the fire of life to burn low—with a prodigious vegetation, which to
this day they have never conquered, and with the other varied difficulties
which the people of such a region have to encounter!

‘There need be no doubt that much of this dispersion into the unhealthy
tracts has been due to mutual violence, and not to a healthy emigration.
Within small areas, as in the region of the Old Calabar and Cross Rivers, we
find ten or twelve different languages, showing a jumbling together of tribal
fragments, which must be due to a violent disruption and dispersion.

*‘ And to these internal conditions we must add all that the superior races
have done for so many centuries to degrade and destroy the negro tribes.
Mahommedans, spreading themselves from the Mediterranean shores, from
Egypt and from Arabia, have overrun the healthier regions of the large
northern and central sections of Africa, inserting themselves like a wedge far
to the south, preying upon the Pagan tribes, crushing them piecemeal, enslav-
ing and selling vast numbers. And the Christian nations of Europe have
come on to the scene with a busy commerce, not to bless and save, but with
the offer of conveniences, ornaments, luxuries, and intoxicants, tempting them
through their intense avarice to prey on one another, in order to supply the
materials of the slave-trade. If we take a comprehensive and a fair view of
the history and circumstances of the negro race, we shall not be surprised at
their present and their past degradation.

“‘ Now these very difficulties, these causes of negro wretchedness, are also
very serious obstacles to the evangelisation of Africa. Look at the climate.
On the extensive western fringe, and in many interior parts, and not less in
large tracts on the eastern coast, the conditions are such as to make good
working health in Europeans the rare exception, while they intensify the
effects of the moral causes which make the natives inert and sluggish, without
pluck, and without enterprise. Vast uncultivated alluvial tracts, in which
heat and moisture force a most luxuriant vegetation; extensive lagoons of
half-stagnant water; a sparse population, confining agriculture to limited
areas, while the rest of the surface is covered with dense jungle and forest;
and mud-laden streams, flowing lazily over long levels—all tend to produce an
atmosphere laden with miasma. And no improvement can take place until
the population becomes numerous enough to occupy the soil, and intelligent
enough to grapple with the difficulties of the situation.

_ “Yet commerce faces all this peril to gather wealth. Huropeans are
found willing to go for trade to every part of this region of ‘ proved pestilence.’
They have long been living at places where no missionary had ever ventured
for the kingdom of the Lord. Our commerce is gathering profit where the

558 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Church has not yet sought to gather souls. Our commerce is spreading, our
manufactures and our intoxicants, among barbarians to whom the Church has
not yet imparted the knowledge of salvation.

‘“¢ And is it to be said that missionaries cannot go where merchants go ?
And that men expose their lives for commerce, but there are not zeal and
conscience in the Church of Christ sufficient to carry the light of the gospel
into the darkness, but that the dread of contact with men so debased and
vile, and of breathing an atmosphere so pernicious to health, terrifies the sol-
diers of the cross of Christ? There are those who say that it is wrong to
send missionaries to pestilential shores, so long as there are healthy regions
that have not been fully Christianised. Christ’s commission does not except
unhealthy climates. If Christ’s servants were expected to face other dangers
—those arising from the hostility of the devil and his brood—are they to
shrink from the perils of unhealthy climates? The ‘wisdom of the serpent’
was to guide Christians in taking proper measures to cope with the former ;
and may the same wisdom and good sense which we use in directing our
others affairs in these regions, not serve to guide us in our evangelistic enter-
prises in the same ? Nothing in the life and labours of our Lord and of His
apostles warrants us to expect that we can escape every sort of peril in ad-
vancing His kingdom. And such dangers as these do not warrant Christ’s ser-
vants to refuse the knowledge of God to any people that does not drive it
away by violence.

“Our commerce instructs us. It works by relays; it studies the health
and safety of its agents; it does not overwork them; it does not doom them
to protracted service; it tries to alleviate the discomforts, and to lessen the
dangers, that must be faced on the coast of Guinea. It profits by the teach-
ings of experience, and is ready to adopt any expedient that will facili-
tate its aims. Many die in the service of commerce, but still others have
hitherto been found to take their places; and we never hear the critics of
commerce condemn men as foolish in risking their lives for profit, as some
would blame us because we risk them for the kingdom of Christ and the sal-
vation of the elect, that they may obtain the ‘ eternal glory.’

‘¢ The Church should select the fittest men and women for such a climate,
and the best means known should be used to preserve them. The laws of
health should be ascertained and obeyed; and the fact that there are those
who have laboured steadily on the coast of Africa for fifteen, twenty-five,
and even thirty years, shows that others may still do the same until the
divine blessing so prospers the work of their hands, that eventually Christian
churches shall have been formed, and native Christian teachers raised up, to
maintain and extend the enterprise.

‘“‘ There can be no doubt whatever that Africa within the tropics is most
unfavourable to European health. I would not say a word calculated to

PIONEER MISSIONARIES. 559

produce the impression that it is not pre-eminently unhealthy. Its native
people—in this region at least—are a weak and short-lived race. The ‘bush’
has conquered them. They seem helpless in the presence of the rank vege-
tation of the jungle and the forest. Too few to possess their own land, they
have not the industry, intelligence, and vigour that are necessary to subdue
the earth, and make it minister to their own uses and those of other coun-
tries beyond the merest fraction of its possibilities. xcept the palm, whose
sap is their favourite drink, and a few cocoa-nuts, our natives plant no trees.
The Eleis Guineensis—the oil palm—which is the wealth of the region, has
never been cultivated or even planted by their hands. Europeans are com-
peting with one another for the seven or eight tons of produce obtained from
this river. There are thousands of acres covered with useless vegetation,
which might be planted with palm-trees so as to increase that produce; but
the people laugh at the suggestion that they should plant them. This shows
the utter want of industry, intelligence, and docility on the part of the peo-
ple. And their region cannot be bettered in climate until a new era of
intelligence and industry dawn upon it.

‘Tf it be among the divine purposes that this most debased and grovel-
ling race shall become a Christian people, and that this land shall smile with
homes of purity, and goodness, and peace, how otherwise can the purpose
pass into fact than by our facing the present peril, and going among its
populations with that truth of the gospel by which the Spirit of God works
His miracles of mercy ? ;

“‘T look upon European and American missionaries on this coast as
pioneers. Our enterprise could not, in the nature of things, be originated by
its barbarous tribes, without this aggressive foreign agency. And the day is
not yet come when the freed Africans of America and of the West Indies may
take the work in hand, and do it as it ought to be done. Let them come—
men and means—in adequate numbers and fitness, and amount, and we will
gladly give them the vantage we have gained, and bid them God-speed. But
we must see them, and measure their promise, and gauge their fitness in
mental and moral thew and sinew for the warfare, before we can feel justi-
fied in giving over to them the conduct of an enterprise that involves such
momentous issues for God’s glory and man’s salvation. And therefore our
own Church and the other Churches into whose hands Christ has put the
commencement of this evangelisation of Africa must renew rather than relax
their efforts, and send the fittest men to the field, and use the best methods
to preserve them and make their agency effective.

“‘ The difficulties we have referred to should have no effect, except that of
making us the more docile to the teaching of experience. We who spend our
lives here, and risk them for the kingdom of Christ, are not the silly fools
that some insinuate we are. ‘The Christian Churches that send us hither with

560 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

their benediction, and follow us with their love and prayers, are not deficient
in brain and sense; and this alleged deficiency is not the cause of their send-
ing us. The true Israel must not get ashamed of the warfare with which the
great Captain has charged them, by either the irony or the banter of certain
literary or even ecclesiastical sceptics.

‘The remarkable and preternatural greed, selfishness, and jealousy of
heathen negroes on the west coast also oppose serious obstacles to our work.
These ill Haas have split them into these numerous fragments, ever ready
to prey upon and oppress one another. And knowing only the outcome of
the bad that isin man, they regard strangers with suspicion. Their greed
overmasters the consideration of what is obviously for their true advantage.
This leads the tribes near the coast, with whom Europeans come into contact,
to bar access to those beyond them. It leads them to oppose the advance of
missions. Many years ago, the heads of the Efik people declared that they
would make war on any tribe farther up the Cross River that should receive
us to settle among them. They fancy that the trader will endeavour to
follow the missionary, and they are jealous of the barter necessary for the
existence of our agents and the on-carrying of our work. Where the British
Government rules, religious liberty is secured, as far as Government influence
can secure it. But in regions like the one under consideration we must con-
ciliate the heathen; for his opposition cannot be overcome by any other
force at the command of the missionaries of Christianity. It might be ex-
pected that all officials entrusted with the power of Britain and allowed to
wield it, and those who handle her commercial might, should always stand
by the cause of the kingdom of God. But we dare not count on this; we
cannot always count on having their sympathies on our side, and therefore
the agents of Christian enterprises must be careful what position they take
up.

‘The superstitions of Africa are an enormous hindrance to the reception
of the truth. These superstitions are of the most puerile character, but they
lead to bloodshed and barbarities of a shocking character.

‘¢ Although he cares nothing about the living God, the heathen fancies
magical and supernatural power in others, or in some inanimate thing pre-
pared by the hands of a professor of the black art. He can furnish you with
a charm by which you can shoot a person without any kind of visible missile ;
or one which will destroy any person that may attempt to steal the fruit from
your tree or the produce from your field, or who may break into your house
in your absence. He can prepare what shall preserve life and health, or
destroy it. He can discover who has committed a theft, or caused sickness
and death. A man belonging to a village near this had to leave it recently
to preserve his life. He was accused, along with a man of another village,
of having caused the small-pox which recently devastated this region, by

DISTRICT GODS. 561

some evil practices of a magical kind. Superstition in this fetish form per-
vades the whole mind and being of these heathens, and it pollutes and shapes
their whole life. It is not a harmless folly this, but acts as a barrier to truth,
shuts God out of their world, and occasions shocking atrocities. If a woman
bears twins, this monstrosity will bring similar and other mischief upon the
whole neighbourhood. If they work in their farms on certain days, the
tutelary will be offended and their farms prove worthless.

“‘ Every district has its tutelary—in some cases invisible; at another, a
stone; here a large tree. These they call idem. Some preside over the
farms or jungle land, some have power over fish. Those towards the mouth
of the river, who live by fishing and shrimping, offer human beings to their
idem. The same was done this year, a few months ago, by our neighbours.
A man was purchased, and laid down, bound hand and foot, at the mouth ofa
small creek, half a mile hence, to perish by inches, in order that the fish dem
might cause their fishing to be successful. These are a few specimens of the
many superstitions with which heathens are deeply imbued, and by which
their whole social life is shaped. Itis easy to see that such superstitions are
powerful obstacles to the truth of God; and they have enslaved the whole
being of these people, and made them truly children of the devil.

“‘ Lives thus shaped, and habits so gross and vicious as these, make men
very bad, and produce a field which does not welcome the holy religion of
Christ, but repels it with imstinctive stubbornness. What changes are needed
in such a field! What slavery to evil has to be overcome among such a
people! A sensual life has irresistible attractions for men of our own country,
and how much more for them! They do not feel the galling burden, and
they desire no higher or better life.

‘* Such is a very imperfect sketch of the heathen Hamite. It is not sur-
prising that those who have no faith in the promises of God look on the
attempt to raise him into a Christian man as all but hopeless. Travellers,
hunters, expeditioners, political, military and naval officers, and traders, all
agree in picturing him as embruted, selfish, inhospitable, intensely avari-
cious, treacherous, and addicted to every vice. I consider that the picture is
true; and my own experience has often led me to paint it in colours of equal
or of deeper darkness. I do not wonder at the contempt and disgust with
which such men are regarded, or the despair of many respecting their future.
‘Can these dry bones live?’ Scepticism asks this in mockery, and piety in
sadness. JI know no strength and no hope but in the command and promise
of God. But these supply all the strength we require. These degraded
races are among the ‘all nations’ whom we are commanded to disciple; they
are of the ‘ every creature’ to whom we have to preach the gospel; they are
of the heathen whom Jehovah bids the Son ask as His inheritance. This is
enough to warrant our efforts. We dare not mock God, and we dare not

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562 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

think that God mocks us. It is well that no room is given us to debate or to
hesitate. To all our doubts and difficulties, honest or pretended, there is the
one plain answer, ‘Go thou and preach the gospel!’ It seems a hopeless
task, you say, especially among the barbarous blacks of Western Africa. No
doubt it seems so, and that so much as to try the confidence of the most
hopeful. But, as a believer in God, and in the Bible as His word to His ser-
vants and their rule of duty, I have no choice but to go on in the seemingly
hopeless enterprise. But it is the very reverse of hopeless. Unless the Bible
is intended to mislead, to conceal God’s thoughts instead of revealing them,
the enterprise that aims at the conversion of the world is the most hopeful
and the most certain of success of all enterprises to which we can put our
hands. The Ethiopian is included in the promise of blessings to our race
from the extension and universal establishment of the kingdom of God. And
past experience, while it shows that the task of evangelising Africans on their
own soil is most arduous, also assures us that there is nothing in them and
in their surroundings that will refuse to yield to the steady and persevering
zeal of Christians, and to that divine power that works by their agency.”
Perhaps there is not to be met with, in the annals of missionary enter-
prise, anything more romantic than that of a gentleman of high professional
standing and Christian worth, surrounded with all the comforts and luxuries
of a happy home, and in the enjoyment of the sympathy and society of a
wide circle of admiring friends—relinquishing them all, in order that he might
go forth into one of the most unhealthy and uninviting fields of mission-
ary labour, to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the difficulties and
dangers which beset the path of the Christian missionary in Africa, and to
consecrate his time, his talents, and his substance, to the amelioration of their
lot, and in making provision for those frequent visitations of sickness and
disease which have operated so fatally in the removal of many of our most
promising and distinguished Christian labourers in the African mission field.
Surely such an instance as the following is a sufficient answer to those who
would lay an embargo on the Christian Church from sending forth labourers
to the benighted children of Ham. Whatever may be the perils arising from
the unhealthiness of the African climate, or the barbarism of many of its most
degraded tribes, the Lord is able to devise adequate means, and to raise up
an efficient instrumentality for successfully carrying out his great purposes of
mercy to the inhabitants of the African continent. ‘ Mr. John Thomson, for
many years an architect in Glasgow, and an elder in Gordon Street and St.
Vincent Street churches there, went out to Africa nearly four years ago to do
what good he could in connection with mission work. It was especially his
desire and purpose to erect on Cameroons Mountain, which rises to the height
of twelve thousand feet, a sanatarium or health-station, similar to those which
have been found so beneficial in India at Simla and on the Neilgherries,

OBSTACLES TO GETTING INTO THE INTERIOR. 563

where missionaries and other Europeans might be able to recruit their health
without taking a long sea voyage. Besides incurring large personal expendi-
ture, which he asks and expects no one to refund, in order to promote an
enterprise on which he has set his heart, Mr. Thomson has exposed himself to
toil and trouble in countless forms, and has undergone more than usual risk
to health and life in the explorations he has undertaken with a view to the
completion of the task he has set before him.” In writing from Cameroons
Mountain, July 14, 1874, he says:—

‘Tt is now over three years since I left home, and in that interval it has
been my lot to see a good deal of the strange and, to me at least, interesting.
From an early period of my life Africa has had a strange fascination for me.
The strength of this attraction has not diminished with advancing years, nor
has actual contact dispelled its force; on the contrary, the little knowledge I
have acquired has increased the desire to know more. Although I cannot
boast of having travelled much in Africa, still, being untrammelled by any
definite line of duty, I spent the first nine or ten months of my residence in
it in visiting the various mission fields cultivated in this corner of the conti-
nent, making a longer or shorter stay at each according to circumstances, and
making several short journeys into the interior. In this way I have been
privileged to see more of the country and its people than others who have
been long resident on the coast, but whose duties confined them more to one
district.

**'Two serious obstacles present themselves to those who would pene-
trate beyond what may be called the coast-line: first, the extreme jealousy
of the native traders; and, second, the great diversity of languages. The
first-mentioned has arisen out of the system of trading which has sprung up
between the coast tribes and Europeans. The people occupying the coast
and the banks of the large rivers, a short distance from their entrance in-
to the sea, receive the goods from the ships in exchange for produce, con-
vey them to the tribes immediately beyond, who pass them on again to
tribes dwelling more towards the interior, and they again to people more
remote, each set claiming the monopoly of trade in their own range. This
system is defined, both in regard to white traders and the native tribes. At
first, when our missionaries sought to penetrate into the interior, they were
prevented, sometimes by force and sometimes by craft, the native traders
not being able to comprehend that any white man could have other motive
than that of trade; and now even, when they are somewhat better informed,
they fear that if the missionary is allowed to get in, others may in course of
time manage and ‘ spoil their trade,’ as the saying is. Besides this fear as
to trade, the feeling of jealousy operates seriously against white men getting
much beyond the seaboard, the coast tribes having come to consider it an
honour pertaining to them, to have white missionaries residing in their own

564 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

country. Hence, while in general willing to have missionaries themselves,
in order to increase their importance in the eyes of the bush people, they
wish to control their movements, in so far as to prevent them from residing
permanently among the people of the interior. Although the missionaries
may be allowed to make a journey of a few days, they cannot remain for
any length of time. Were they to attempt to settle down, means would
easily be found to compel them to return; supplies would be cut off, or the
superstitious fears of the bush people would be so cunningly wrought upon
as to make continued residence impossible; or failing these, violence would
be resorted to even by those otherwise friendly. In this way many attempts
to get beyond the unwholesome swamps of the seaboard have been frustrated.
The whole seaboard of the West Coast of Africa, with little exception, may
be said to be a region of swamps, the malaria arising from which is so deadly.
Far away, ranges of hills or mountains may occasionally be discerned, and
the poor missionary, enervated and dispirited, longs to go there, to be
refreshed by the bracing upland breeze ; but he must toil on where he is, or,
in very favourable circumstances, he may be privileged to visit the desired
region, and wander for a few days over hill and dale, every now and again
coming upon some gushing brook or stream of pure, limpid water, reminding
him of his ‘ain countrie.’ But he may not remain; he must return again to
his home among the steaming swamps.

‘“ The other obstacle to getting into the interior which I have mentioned
is the wonderful diversity of tongues which exists in this part of Africa. A
thorough knowledge of any one of the languages spoken on the coast is
available for but a limited distance on either side or towards the interior.
From my residence at Mapanja, about two thousand seven hundred feet
above the level of the sea, a pretty extensive view is obtained of the country
lying to the south and east; and I believe it is not going beyond the truth
to say, that in that visible region seven or eight different languages are
spoken, or dialects so widely different as to render oral communication very
difficult. The distance of Cameroons from this is somewhere about sixty
miles; there the Dualla is spoken. At Bimbia, about ten miles from this,
the Isubu is spoken. Another language is spoken by the fishing tribe close
by us; and here, on this side of the mountain, the Bakwelli is spoken. As
to the other side of the mountain we are ignorant, except that some other
language or languages are in use there. I have been informed of another
small tribe of fishermen, inhabiting the skirt of the mangrove swamp lying
between Bimbia and Cameroons, who have a distinct language of their own,
and are otherwise quite a distinct tribe. The seaboard and the country for
some distance inland seems to be peopled by detachments of tribes, or by
remnants of tribes that are passing away.

‘Such influences as these have hitherto prevented progress being made,

AFRICAN MISSIONS. 565

not only in extending missions inland, but in knowing anything reliable
about the interior. On one occasion I met with a very intelligent native
trader at Benita, who had travelled farther inland than most; and being
desirous of gathering information on the subject, I questioned him regarding
the tribes occupying those parts. Having not long before been travelling
myself along the valleys of the Sierra del Chrystal mountains, I knew some-
thing about the inhabitants, but wished to know what people were behind
these. He told me of several tribes occupying belts of country beyond each
other, and parallel with the coast, all which were noted down. ‘ And what
tribe beyond these? ‘The people with the two toes,’ was the answer.
‘Two toes? ‘Yes.’ ‘Like cows’ feet? ‘No, just two toes.’ Had he seen
them himself? ‘No; but had heard of them.’ The man seemed quite serious,
and did not mention the thing asa marvel, but as an unquestionable and
well-known fact. Having got thus far, however, I closed my note-book.
Africa is a strange, mysterious land! All along the coast commerce has
been carried on for centuries, and yet little is known of that wide region
within. It still remains a mystery. From my eyrie on the mountain I can
see in clear weather a long range of mountains beyond Cameroons, stretching
away towards the south; but what is beyond that mountain barrier is all un-
known to me.

““In consequence of their being thus confined to the seaboard, West
African missions are, humanly speaking, carried on at a great disadvantage,
and at much cost of life and money. Of course the work has to be done, at
whatever cost, but still economy should be aimed at. Besides loss of life,
there is much loss sustained in consequence of the interruptions caused by
the necessary absence of white agents in quest of health. During these
absences active operations are in general carried on very feebly, if not alto-
gether suspended; and as may be supposed, much of what has been done
becomes undone, and requires to be re-done, while a great deal may be irre-
coverably lost.

“‘In speaking of African missions, my remarks have reference to those
which I have visited, although they may be very probably applicable to
other misions on the West Coast as well. The missions to which I refer are
those carried on by the American Presbyterian Board at Gaboon, Corisco, and
Benita; by the Baptist Society at Cameroons and at this place, and by the
United Presbyterian Church of Scotland at Calabar. Roughly speaking, these
three missions may be said to be about the same age—a little over thirty
years. By referring to a good map or chart, you will see that Gaboon is the
farthest south, and almost on the equator. ‘The others are all to the north of
that, and may be said to be contiguous to each other, in so far that no other
missson intervenes. ‘To begin with the American mission, and at its most
southerly station. Gaboon was at one time well supplied with agents, but

566 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

has been for several years in a languishing condition from want of these.
Much good work has been done, but a great deal, too, has been lost for want
of being sustained, especially in connection with the out-stations. The prin-
cipal station, Bavaka, is occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Bushnell. It had fallen
back sadly during their last absence at home; but a very cheering revival
was experienced soon after they returned, and many members were added to
the Church. This mission has been subject to peculiar vicissitudes. The
Bible has been translated into the language of the leading tribe, the Mpongwi;
but this tribe and two others, the Skekanis and Bakellis, among whom mission
work was carried on, have been rapidly dying out, and are being supplanted
by a powerful tribe from the interior, detachments of which have been for
the last twenty years or so coming down the river and occupying its banks.
Fresh interest in this southern portion of the mission has recently been awa-
kened by the discovery of a large river, the Ogoveh, to the south of the
Gaboon, on the banks of which a considerable branch of the Mpongwi tribe
is located, and it is hoped that by this river access may be got to the interior,
which is not unlikely if immediate advantage be taken of the opening, before
the obstructive trade system becomes established. About the time of my
coming to Africa, the American Mission received a considerable accession of
agents—two married missionaries with their young wives, an unmarried male,
and an unmarried female ; of these six, not one is in the field now. All of them
have gone home, some of them, I understand, not intending to return, having
found the climate unfavourable to their health and consequent usefulness.
With a few exceptions, the operations are being carried on by agents of long
standing, some of them advanced in life and worn out with long-continued
service, and who cannot, humanly speaking, continue many years longer.
“The Baptist mission occupies the Cameroons river, where two ordained
missionaries are located. Not long since there were four married missionaries ;
at present there is only one actually on the ground, two being at home, and
one having removed to the mountain here, to begin work among the Bak-
wellis. Another agent is located here in Victoria, as pastor of the little flock
of settlers who came over from Fernando Po some fourteeen or fifteen years
since, in consequence of the persecution to which they were subjected by the
Spaniards. This mission was commenced with great spirit, but the result has
come sadly short of what might have been expected. Notonly was there a
large force of ordained missionaries, but a small vessel was employed in con-
nection with it, which brought about forty settlers from Jamaica, consisting
of mechanics and persons versed in cultivating the soil. A settlement was
formed at Bimbia, about ten miles eastward from this, where suitable build-
ings were erected and machinery for making sugar put up. Nothing was
spared to make the undertaking successful, and yet little, very little, has
resulted from that part of the scheme. Several of the missionaries and almost

THE SETTLEMENT OF VICTORIA. 567

all the settlers returned to Jamaica, the buildings fell into decay, and Bimbia
has long ceased to be the merest out-station. It has lapsed to heathendom.
Ultimately the school, which was continued under the care of a native agent,
was given up, and the few converts removed to this place.

‘“‘For many years a good work was carried on at Fernando Po—chiefly,
however, among the semi-civilised settlers, who had been drawn thither from
Sierra Leone and other parts of the coast at the time the British held posses-
sion of the place; but after it was handed over to the Spanish Government,
who had established their claim as owners, persecution broke out, the mission
was broken up, and a few of the stauncher members of the Church, much to
their credit, migrated here, and established the settlement of Victoria, in
many respects a most interesting little republic, of which I have the distin-
guished honour of being chief magistrate. We owe allegiance to no earthly
power, for Britain has disowned us, and we care not to seek the protection of
any other government; and so we must fight our own battles with such wea-
pons as we can muster, the most formidable consisting of two Martini Henry
rifles and a revolver pistol. Besides the pastoral and educational work car-
ried on here by the Rey. Mr. Pinnock, a native of Jamaica, and educated
there, a mission has recently been commenced among the Bakwellis inhabit-
ing the mountain by the Rey. Quintin W. Thomson; and higher up I have
a catechist engaged, who, besides his teaching and other mission work,
keeps my house at Mapanji open, and looks after my interests there. Although
paid by me, he is, in so far as mission work is concerned, entirely under Mr.
Thomson’s control. He is a native of Bimbia, and the most thoroughly
qualified for his position of all the native converts in this portion of the
field.

“* Cameroons has for many years been the chief seat of the Baptist mission,
and a greal deal of good work has been done; but unless more effectively
supported than it has been of late, I fear there will be a sad falling back.
Mr. Saker, the senior missionary, has finished the translation and printing of
the Scriptures in the Dualla tongue, and has, besides, done a good deal in
training some of the young men as mechanics; but there are few capable of
carrying on mission work—at least such is my impression. There is a large
population at Cameroons to work upon, but trade influences are very power-
fully antagonistic. There is only one ordained missionary at present at work
—Mr. Fuller, a native of Jamaica, who came when a youth with his father
and others to form the settlement at Bimbia, and is, I understand, the only
one of them that has remained in Africa.

** The United Presbyterian Church of Scotland mission at Old Calabar has
suffered much from such evils, but not so much as other missions. The pro-
gress made there is much wider and deeper than in those other fields. More
extensive work has been done in translating and in education; but the most

568 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

hopeful feature is the great number of native agents engaged, by whose means
the population is more thoroughly laid hold of. I am more and more con-
vinced that little real progress in evangelising Africa will be made until native
agents are employed to do the work, under the close superintendence of
European missionaries. This method is being carried out most encouragingly
at Calabar, chiefly under the oversight of Mr. Edgerley, whose taste and
ability for travelling about, with other necessary qualifications, mark him out
as thoroughly adapted for such kind of work. I need not dwell much upon
the Calabar mission; but I may state, that although from special circum-
stances I was pretty well posted up in regard to it, still actual contact with
the work and workers there tended much to strengthen any favourable
impressions that had been formed. A good solid foundation seems to have
been laid; or, to use another figure, Christianity has got rooted in the soil,
and is showing signs of vigorous life, putting forth branches, leaves, and
fruit, and gives every promise of becoming a goodly tree in due season.
Still it should be for a long time yet carefully nourished.

“From what I have seen of African missions, it is my decided opinion
that the time has come for inaugurating a new method of working, the prin-
cipal feature of which should be the employment of native agents, which
demands a more systematic mode of training them than has yet been at-
tempted, except, probably, by the Church Missionary Society’s Educational
Institution at Sierra Leone. It must not be supposed, however, that fewer
agents will be required than hitherto from home. A much larger force than
ever will be needed effectually to carry on the work, although it may be in
another way than heretofore; a much larger amount of money must be
expended, and a much greater number of lives given, in order to win Africa
for Christ. I trust that the martyr spirit is not yet extinct in the churches,
and that there will be no lack of brave hearts ready to respond to the de-
mand. Many young men have perished on this deadly coast in the pursuit
of a very questionable kind of commerce; and if the lust of gain lead so
many to risk their lives, surely the love of Christ and of the souls of fellow-
men will yet draw many more to the glorious work of proclaiming the glad
news, ‘God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.’”

The following account of a conference of native Christians in South
Africa, is full of interest. Major Malan, accompanied by Mr. Robert Radley,
has been engaged for about two years in evangelistic labours, at Mbulu, with
the most gratifying results. In writing to the ‘‘ Christian,” of 19th November,
1874, he says :—‘“‘I desire to praise the Lord for His presence and blessing
in a conference of Christians held at Mbulu, the centre of this mission field,
on Sept. 22 and 23, 1874. Very marked was the presence of the Lord in
our midst. There-is an annual Missionary Conference; but that is a busi-

CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE AT MBULU. 569

ness meeting, and not what Christians in England understand asa conference.
Like Hezekiah’s conference (2 Chron. xxix. 36), the thing was done suddenly.
But the Lord had prepared all our hearts, as he had theirs. I believe it was
His will that I should leave the Mbulu for some months to preach His word
to other tribes. I wished before leaving to gather my people jor special waiting
upon the Lord. I therefore invited them to a two days’ conference. My field,
containing seven churches, is about forty miles wide. We have neither post,
bridges, railways, nor clocks; but as I tell my people, we have the Lord!
He always arranges when His servants obey His word. He had put it into
my heart to hold a regular Tuesday mid-day service for believers, so that the
elders and members of the other six churches could join us once a week in
prayer. This weekly meeting He had greatly blessed. The members of
out-churches attended it well. Many women walked over the hills sixteen
and eighteen miles to be present. I called a special meeting for prayer on
Tuesday, Sept. 15, and invited all the churches to a conference of two days
for the following week.

“The Lord gave us lovely weather. Our first meeting was held at
one o’clock, some of our members having to come about twenty-five miles.
The subject for this meeting was ‘Come unto me, all ye that are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.’ There was no difference between this con-
ference and the Mildmay Park Conference, except in the numbers, the size of
the building, the colour of the skin of all the saints, except two, and the
tongue in which it was conducted. He who presides at conferences in Eng-
land presided at the Mbulu Conference. The subject chosen of course drew
all hearts to the Lord Jesus, to His person in glory, to Him alone, and round
Him this band of Caffre Christians were drawn by His word and Spirit.

‘We numbered about 150 or 200. I explained the command for con-
ferences (Heb. x. 25); how they are generally conducted in England; and
then I addressed the churches on ‘ the words of the Lord Jesus.’ Addresses
were alternated with prayer and praise. The selection of appropriate Caffre
hymns was wonderful. The elder who spoke after me followed on the words,
‘Come unto me.’ He is a faithful brother, an earnest labourer for the Lord.
Another faithful elder followed him, speaking on John vi. 51. I never saw
such marked attention. I would gladly have continued, but many had come
from far, and needed food. So, after about three hours’ conference, I closed
our first meeting. Many had been deeply affected. When all had gone out
but one woman, who was crying strongly, I said to her —

‘« ¢ Sister, there is crying for joy as well as for sorrow; are you crying
for joy?’

“ ¢QOh, yes,’ she said, ‘for joy, for joy! And then she told me, that
although she had known the Lord Jesus long, she had never seen Him so
clearly as to-day.

x2

570 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

*¢ After the meeting I entertained them. Two sheep of my flock, a goat,
meaties, and tea, provided for all. I made the men serve the women, a thing
quite contrary to the Caffre custom; but I told them it was according to
God’s word, giving honour to the weaker vessel, and as we do in England.
Then the younger men waited on the elder. At sun-set we met for prayer
before the evening meeting.

“The portion of the word for the second meeting of the conference was,
‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ Silent prayer opened it. Then
ahymn. I pointed out what I believe is a deep truth hidden in this whole
utterance, that the first rest offered by the Lord Jesus is rest of heart in Him
to the heayy-laden sinner. The rest of soul, the second rest, is the blessing
of humble discipleship, obedient learning of Him. Many Christians get rest
of heart in forgiveness who never find rest of soul, because they will not be-
come humble pupils of the Lord Jesus.

“Three of the elders addressed the churches; others prayed. I had
previously given out the subject, and invited those who felt led by the Spirit
to speak and pray to let me know. One of the elders spoke on John xy. 4;
another on the yoke of pupilship to the Lord Jesus; the third on His meek-
ness, and our obligation to be like Him in heart before we can enjoy rest of
soul.

“Tt was after 10 p.m. when our happy meeting ended. The members
all went to the houses of friends. I had put up my elders and two teachers
—seven on the floor of my drawing-room, three in my study, and one in the
dining-room.

“The third meeting took place at noon on the 23d of September. It
was preceded by a prayer meeting. The portion of the word was, ‘ My yoke
is easy, my burden is light.’ After silent prayer and praise, I opened the
subject. ‘My burden,’ ‘Abide ye in my love.’ Is it heavy ?—does its
weight overpower ?—this His burden? He knows that as His love abides in
our hearts and we abide in His love, we shall keep His commandments, and
not find them grievous.

‘¢ Several of the elders and members addressed the conference, or led in
prayer.

‘“‘ Asmany had long distances to return, and many were women, I was
obliged to close, after more than three hours’ delightful communion around
the person and concerning the love of our Lord.

“The last address by one of my evangelists, an elder, a poor, humble
Caffre, was most beautiful. He took John xiv. 1, and referring to the call
the Lord had given us, ‘Come unto me,’ ‘Learn of me,’ he added His com-
mand, ‘ Believe in me.’ He dwelt on the love of God, the love and power of
the Lord Jesus, the gift of God, the Holy Ghost, by whose power Satan was

MILITARY CONVERT. 571

driven out of the heart. The word of Jesus alone powerful; His word
enough; believe it. ‘It is written,’ enough for us. He spoke earnestly,
with great power.

‘T eave them some refreshment—meaties and tea—and then assembled
them in the garden for a short meeting of praise and prayer before parting.
I told them of praise meetings in Mildmay Park garden at Beckenham; and
as I looked at the glorious rocks around Mbulu, I felt there could be no fitter
place for our parting.

** One of the elders then spoke. No sooner had he finished than a Caffre
woman burst out into the most perfect praise that I ever heard issue from
human lips—‘ Eyive, Inkosi,’ ‘Yea, Lord, we praise Thee.’ In the simplest
language, so that I could understand, she blessed and praised the Lord for
the joy and peace which had come into her soul in these two days’ conference.
For quietness, melody of voice, simplicity, perfect punctuation, and fulness
of praise to the Lord Jesus, I never heard anything among Christians in
England, America, or Asia, equal to the praise-giving of this Caffre sister.
Yes; the Lord had come into our midst, according to His word. I felt the
presence and power of the Holy Ghost in this conference as I never felt it
before in my life.

‘¢ All the churches have been filled with joy and the Holy Ghost. The
change in many of the faces was most marked. All said that they had never
received such blessing to their souls as during these two days’ gathering
together round the person of the Lord Jesus. For my own part, though I
never doubted the call of the Lord to me to watch over this field, I never
expected such marvellous tokens of His presence and blessing as He has
given me here, and I praise and adore Him the more.

How full of encouragement to every one like-minded, and with the
means at his disposal, to go and do likewise. ‘‘ My prayers,” says he, ‘“ have
been most manifestly and abundantly answered; and I find, by experience,
that the more closely preachers of the gospel live, act, and speak like the
Lord Jesus in all things, strictly obeying his least commands and God’s word,
and live a life of prayer before the natives, the more they draw them to Him
and to themselves.

** And who is my fellow-labourer? On the 11th of July, 1866, I was
with three companies of my regiment at Downpatrick, in the north of Ire-
land. I invited my soldiers desirous to hear the word to come to me without
the town, to an old Roman camp there. At the appointed time one redcoat,
a private soldier, Robert Radley, came. We read the first chapter of 1 Peter
together. it began to rain. We knelt bareheaded, and prayed before part-
ing. This was the first time I ever met him. Now we are companions, fel-
low witnesses for the gospel of Christ.

“ May I ask the earnest prayers of my brethren and sisters in Great

572 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Britain? When they are reading this, I shall probably be hundreds of miles
away from Mbulu, preaching among another tribe, the Basutos. I hope to
return from the Basutos, and go to another tribe, the Galekas, about the end
of the year. I entreat your prayers, that the Lord will quicken me mightily
for His service, give me utterance by the Holy Ghost, power in prayer, and
physical strength; for my body is weak, and nothing but the manifest life of
Jesus has upheld me so far. Pray for me, my beloved friends, as I do for
you, and then I shall hope by and by to have some other news to give you
from Africa which will cause you again to praise the Lord.”

“The following additional incidents of missionary work amongst the
Caffres, furnished by the Rev. John Davidson, who has just returned from
an evangelistic tour among the natives, present a faithful portraiture of the
mode in which aggressive missionary work is carried on in South Africa. In
giving an account of his work (in which he was assisted by Ishuka and Mr.
Robert Balfour), he says :—‘“‘ In these days of refreshing from the presence
of the Lord, when so many are daily being added to the Church of such as
shall be saved, and when the tide of Christian life has risen so high as to
break every barrier down, we are fondly led to cherish the hope, that ere
long the blessed influence will extend in copious measure to the sable tribes
of Ham. The accounts of the revival which we read from time to time
are very cheering, and beget the secret wish to be in the midst of it for a
little, to receive a fresh baptism of the Spirit. In the prosecution of our mis-
sion, our visits were principally to those living in valleys and cloughs, diffi-
cult of access by waggon or on horse, and were therefore principally travel-
ling on foot. The country in this part is very similar to the Highlands of
Scotland. We lived among these barbarians six days, teaching and preach-
ing the gospel of the kingdom. During that time we visited forty kraals,
each having from twenty-five to thirty inhabitants. Everywhere we were
well received, our message respectfully listened to, and hospitality shown us
of the very best, and somewhat after the style of that shown by Abraham of
old to his visitors.

“In visiting the Caffre in his native, rude, barbarous state, one cannot
help observing oftentimes a striking resemblance in their manners and cus-
toms to those of the ancient patriarchs—such as killing a kid of the goats on
the arrival of strangers; offering of sacrifice; practising the rite of circumei-
sion; giving a dowry, like David or Jacob, for a wife; making the father
responsible for the actions of his family, and the son doing all legal actions
through the father ; settling all principal questions at the gate of the kraal.
As in the case of Job, one special institution is that of comforters, ariving
from far and near to soothe those in affliction.

‘Physically, the Caffre is a good specimen of humanity. He has a great
idea of honour and dignity about him, and is very intellectual; but rigidly

BAPTISM OF EIGHT NATIVE CONVERTS. 573

conservative, awfully lazy, trained from infancy to tell lies and to deceive,
morally corrupt to the very core, and superstitious to such a degree as to
Justify us in saying that the nation is ruled by superstition. I met with a
witch docter in my visits; I came upon him in the very act of finding out the
ubuti (poison) that had bewitched some people. On seeing me he fled into
his house. We followed and told him to proceed with his work. ‘No; do not
speak to me, I will not dispute with you. You are the servant of God.’
‘And you,’ I said, ‘are the servant of the devil, I think.’ I made him
ashamed of himself before all the people, and saved some poor innocent soul
from the rapacious grasp of the vile wretch.

“‘ When we have taken possession of our hut for the night we have plenty
of visitors, many looking for a little of the fat sheep they have just given us.
About eight o’clock all, young and old, assemble for worship. This over, we
converse with those interested to all hours in the night. The most good is
done by these conversations. One man said on leaving us, ‘I am thankful
that you have come to my kraal, and I will be very happy to entertain you
again. I do think that if I were near any preaching place I would soon be
among the professors.’ And I believe that many feel in the same way ; but
they are ignorant of the way of salvation, and are far from any regular place
of worship, and must be taught before we can expect to see them brought in
as anation. At one kraal we came on the grave of a chief who had recently
died, and two men were seized and compelled to watch that grave for at
least twelve months. The poor creatures complained that it was very hard
to be taken from their families, and never permitted to see them. I reported
the matter to the Government agent ; but when he sent, the men were fright-
ened to speak, and said that they were contented.

‘¢ At one place three persons gave themselves to the Lord—husband, wife,
and eldest son. The son has been attending school for some time, and is
doing well, and I believe that it is through him that the parents have been
moved. We joyfully gave thanks to the Lord that even these three had been
willing to say that they wished to be instructed in the way of salvation. It
seemed like a pure beam of heavenly light on the dark cloud, assuring us
that the ear of Jehovah is still open and a voice saying: I will give the hea-
then to my Son for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
His possession.’

“You will be glad to hear that a few Sabbaths ago I baptised eight
persons, admitting them to the fellowship of the Church here. One man,
recently from the ranks of the heathen, was among the number. He had two
or three little children, who were baptised at the same time. His wife, who
still holds out against the gospel, was present, and very nearly broke down
when handing her baby to her husband to be baptised. It was a solemn and
joytul sight to the whole Church; even the heathen present seemed to be im-

574, LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D,

pressed, and to feel that it was good for them to be present to see eight souls
publicly renouncing the world, and giving themselves to the service of God.
But still all this is only like a drop in the bucket; thousands and thousands
are sinking into perdition unsaved. ‘The fields are white to the harvest, but
the labourers are few. Oh, in these days of revival, surely some will be found
ready to come to Africa with their simple but effective instrumentality—their
sling and their stone from the brook, to help us to slay this Goliath of hea-
thenism !”

In the foregoing accounts of missions and missionary work, we have an
amount of interesting and valuable information, from which many important
lessons may be derived in the further prosecution of missionary labour in
Africa. Amidst many failures and discouragements, there is much to be
grateful for, and much that is fitted to stimulate and encourage all who are
engaged in the great work of African evangelisation. It is with much plea-
sure we learn from accounts just to hand, of the encouraging prospects of the
Church of England Mission at Zanzibar, in reference to which Mr. Stanley, the
correspondent of the ‘‘New York Herald” and London “ Telegraph,” says :—

‘‘As we have arrived at the English Church Mission buildings, what
shall I say about the mission except the honest, truthful facts? The Right
Rey. Bishop Tozer, ‘ Bishop of Central Africa,’ in priestly purple and fine
linen, is no more to be seen here, and it really appears as if the mission had
opened a new life, and had begun to lift its head among the useful societies
of the world. As yet I have seen no great increase of converts, but fair pro-
mise of future usefulness is visible everywhere. Asa friend to the Church
which has sent this mission out, I was formerly restrained from saying much
about it, because I knew very little good of it; and had I not seen the erudite
but, sintered prelate exhibiting himself in Bich unusual garb to the gaze of
the low rabble of Zanzibar, I would certainly have passed the Church Mission
anrl its mistaken ways of converting the heathen in silence. Now, however,
1 may speak with candour. ‘The great building at present known as the
British Residency, was, in 1871 and 1872, the Episcopal Palace and Mission
House. After its sale to the English Eoroumnen the missionaries removed
their school to their country house, a half mile or so beyond the extremity of
Malagash inlet. With the money obtained by the sale of the Mission. House
the superintendant purchased the old Slave Market—a vacant area sur-
rounded by mud-huts, close to the cattle-yards of the Banians and the ooze
and stagnant pools of the Malagash. On the site of so much extreme
wretchedness and crime the Church missionaries have commenced to erect
structures which, when completed, may well be styled superb. These build-
ings consist of a fine residence, a school, and a church, which, with another
building, just begun by Lackmidoss the Banian, will surround an irregular
square, in which palms and flowers and fruit trees will be planted.

DR. STEERE, BISHOP OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 575

** A view from one of the windows of the unfinished residence gives us
a clearer idea of the locality the missionaries have chosen, and suggests
grave doubts of the wisdom of its selection. Looking at it from a senti-
mental point of view, the locality is, no doubt, very appropriate, and a cer-
tain fitness 1s also seen init. The British Government denounced the slave
trade, and made a grand effort to crush it; and the market for the sale of
slaves in old times was purchased by the mission, on which the missionaries erect
a church wherein peace and goodwill and brotherly love will be preached
and taught. The neighbourhood also is one of the most miserable quar-
ters of Zanzibar; but the missionaries convey with them the power to im-
prove, refine, and elevate, despite its extreme poverty and misery. It is all
very well, we think; but if we look from the windows and examine the
character of the ground into which the walls of the building have been sunk,
we must see that it is a quagmire of putrid heaps of refuse and circular little
pools of sink-water, which permeate through the corrupting soil, and heave
up again in globules and bubbles, exhaling the vilest odour that ever of-
fended the civilised European’s sense. And if what we have seen below is not
enough to conjure up in the mind a dismal prospect of sickness, pain, and
sorrow, for the unhappy missionaries who may be appointed to live here, the
view of the long and broad stretch of black mud, which the shallow waters
of the Malagash leave behind them for hours night and day, will certainly
doit. It would require the treasury of a Government to redeem the ground
from its present uninhabitable state. All I can say, however, is that I can
only hope that the dismal future suggested by the scenes near the mission
buildings may never be realised, and that the worthy missionaries may be
prosperous in the new field before them.

“Dr. Steere, lately consecrated Bishop of Central Africa, is about to
arrive here, as successor of Bishop Tozer. If report speaks correctly, he
intends to establish mission buildings near Lake Nyassa, in which case he
will have the hearty sympathy and support of every good man; and, were
Livingstone yet among us, Bishop Steere would depart with his blessing and
best wishes for success. ‘The very name of Bishop Steere suggests success.
He is a practical and an indefatigably industrious man. He is devoid of
bigotry, but, while devoted to his Church, he does not neglect the great fact
that conversion of the heathen means more than the mere teaching of the
dogmas of the Church of England. In short, he is a fit leader for the new
Christian mission, because of his plain, practical good sense, his industry,
his intellectual acquirements, and religion, and I heartily congratulate the
Board of the Church Mission upon their selection of such a man. While we
are almost certain that Bishop Steere will be able to show results worthy of
him, it is absolutely necessary for the cause of religion throughout Africa
that he should be properly supported by his friends at hume.. There must

576 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

be no niggard supplies sent to him, for the establishment of such a basis as
will ensure success requires considerable resources, and the Church Mission
should this time make a supreme effort worthy of their great Church.”

There is nothing more characteristic of the great missionary traveller
than his unwearied application and utilisation of every spare moment at his
command. Nothing escaped his observation; and everything which might
prove of use was carefully noted. The following suggestions on the estab-
lishment of a mission near Zanzibar, we extract from Dr. Livingstone’s
“‘ Diary” just published :—

“No great difficulty would be encountered in establishing a Christian
mission a hundred miles or so from the East Coast. The permission of the
Sultan of Zanzibar would be necessary, because all the tribes of any intelli-
gence claim relationship, or have relations with him; the Banyamwezi even
call themselves his subjects, and so do others. His permission would be rea-
dily granted, if respectfully applied for through the English Consul. The
Suaheli, with their present apathy on religious matters, would be no obstacle.
Care to speak politely, and to show kindness to them, would not be lost
in the general effect of the mission in the country, but all discussion on the
belief.of the Moslems should be avoided; they know little about it. Emi-
grants from Muscat, Persia, and India, who at present possess neither influ-
ence nor wealth, would eagerly seize any formal or offensive denial of the
authority of their prophet to fan their own bigotry, and arouse that of the
Suaheli. A few now assume an air of superiority, and would fain take the
place of Mullams, or doctors of the law, by giving authoritative dicta as to
the times of prayer—positions to be observed—lucky and unlucky days—
using cabalistic signs—telling fortunes—finding from the Koran when an
attack may be made on any enemy, etc.; but this is done only in the field
with trading parties. At Zanzibar, the regular Mullams supersede them.

*“ No objection would be made to teaching the natives of the country to
read their own languages in the Roman characters. No Arab has ever
attempted to teach them the Arabic-Koran; they are called guma, hard, or
difficult, as to religion. This is not wonderful, since the Koran is never
translated, and a very extraordinary desire for knowledge would be required
to sustain a man in committing to memory pages and chapters of, to him,
unmeaning gibberish. One only of all the native chiefs, Monyungo, has sent
his children to Zanzibar to be taught to read and write the Koran; and he
is said to possess an unusual admiration of such civilization as he has seen
among the Arabs. To the natives, the chief attention of the mission should
be directed. It would not be desirable, or advisable, to refuse explanation
to others; but I have avoided giving offence to intelligent Arabs, who have
pressed me, asking if I believed in Mohammed, by saying, “‘ No, I do not: I
am a child of Jesus bin Miriam,” avoiding anything offensive in my tone,

MISSION STATION NEAR ZANZIBAR. 577

and often adding that Mohammed found their forefathers bowing down to
trees and stones, and did good to them by forbidding idolatry, and teaching
the worship of the only one God. This, they all know, and it pleases them
to have it recognised.

“Tt might be good policy to hire a respectable Arab to engage free
porters, and conduct the mission to the country chosen, and obtain permis-
sion from the chief to build temporary houses. If this Arab were well paid
it might pave the way for employing others to bring supplies of goods and
stores not produced in the country, as tea, coffee, sugar. The first porters
had better all go back, save a couple or so, who have behaved especially
well. Trust to the people among whom you live for general services, as
bringing wood, water, cultivation, reaping, smith’s work, carpenter’s work,
pottery, baskets, etc. Educated free blacks from a distance are to be
avoided : they are expensive, and are too much of gentlemen for your work.
You may in a few months raise natives who will teach reading to others
better than they can, and teach you also much that the liberated never know.
A cloth and some beads occasionally will satisfy them, while neither the
food, the wages, nor the work, will please those who, being brought from a
distance, naturally consider themselves missionaries. Slaves also have under-
gone a process which has spoiled them for life; though liberated young,
everything of childhood and opening life possesses an indescribable charm.
It is so with our own offspring, and nothing effaces the fairy scenes then
printed on the memory. Some of my liberados eagerly bought green cala-
bashes and tasteless squash, with fine fat beef, because this trash was their
early food; and an ounce of meat never entered their mouths. It seems
indispensable that each mission should raise its own native agency. A
couple of Europeans beginning and carrying on a mission without a staff of
foreign attendants, implies coarse country fare, it is true, but this would be
nothing to those who, at home, amuse themselves with fastings, vigils, etc.
A great deal of power is thus lost in the Church. Fastings and vigils, with-
out a special object in view, are time run to waste. They are made to
minister to a sort of self-gratification, instead of being turned to account for
the good of others. They are like groaning in sickness. Some people
amuse themselyes when ill with continuous moaning. The forty days of
Lent might be annually spent in visiting adjacent tribes, and bearing una-
voidable hunger and thirst with a good grace. Considering the greatness of
the object to be attained, men might go without sugar, coffee, tea, etc. I
went from September, 1866, to September, 1868, without either. A trader
at Cazembe’s, gave me a dish cooked with honey, and it nauseated from its
horrible sweetness, but at one hundred miles inland, supplies could be easily
obtained.

“Expenses need not be large. Intelligent Arabs inform me that, in

¥2

578 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, DL.D.

going from Zanzibar to Cazembe’s, only three thousand dollars’ worth are
required by a trader, say between £600 or £700, and he may be away three
or more years—paying his way, giving presents to the chiefs, and filling two
or three hundred mouths. He has paid for, say fifty muskets, ammunition,
flints, and may return with four thousand pounds of ivory, and a number of
slaves for sale—all at an outlay of £600 or £700. With the experience I
have gained now, I could do all I shall do in this expedition for a like sum,
or at least for £1000 less than it will actually cost me.”

The perfect unanimity which characterises the experience of all who
have been engaged in missionary labour in Africa, as to the necessity for
special attention being given to the training of native converts for the work
of the Christian ministry, is a subject of vital importance to the future wel-
fare of this great Continent; and it is to be hoped that it will receive that
attention from the Churches at home which its importance demands

CHAPTER XXIII

Dr. Livingstone’s “ Last Journals”—Enthusiastic Reception—Eulogistic Reviews
by the Secular and Religious Press—Founding of an Industrial Mission at the
southern end of Lake Nyassa, as a Memorial to Dr. Livingstone.

HILE the concluding sheets of this work were in the press, “ Dr. David
Livingstone’s Last Journals” have been published. The enthusiastic
reception which has greeted them from all grades of society throughout the
civilised world, and the eulogistic tributes which have been paid, by the
leaders of thought in all lands, to the memory of the heroic traveller, and to
the work which he has accomplished in Central Africa, attest the depth and
the sincerity of that sympathy which has been so widely felt and expressed.
At a period when Materialism is making such rapid strides, and when many
scientific minds are turning aside from the great truths of Revelation, it is
refreshing to meet, in the columns of one of our most influential leading
Journals, with such a bearty appreciation of Christian character and work
as that which is evinced in the following exhaustive review of the last
scenes in the life of the lamented Dr. David Livingstone. In noticing his
‘Last Journals,” the ‘‘ Daily Telegraph” observes :—

“These long-looked-for volumes are now placed in our hands, and a
sentiment new to the critic, the geographer, and the journalist, must pervade
the mind in opening them. Never did book of travel come before the public
under circumstances of such pathos and dignity ; never were any preserved so
strangely, and, we may surely say of David Livingstone’s work, so provi-
dentially ! We have here a wonderfully rich and full narrative of journeyings
accomplished over an enormous space of the unknown portions of Africa, page
after page disclosing to us—for the first time, be it remembered—mighty
rivers, majestic lakes, great ranges of mountains, nations of men unknown
before, with a thousand strange productions, customs, rites, objects, novelties
of the floral, the zoological, the mineral worlds—all so thickly cropping up
in the Diary of this great Explorer that the language of wonder entirely
departs from him. He has evidently lost the habit of being astonished long
ere we travel in his society a hundred miles up the Rovuma; the only things

580 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

which never fail to excite his enthusiasm are the signs of good in the poor
heathen people, and the hope perpetually renewed and expressed, that his
lifelong labours may benefit them. But it is when we reflect upon the double
chance which has preserved for us the present minute and inestimable record
of these labours that the book becomes thus almost sacred—stamped as it is
with the character of a treasure rescued from oblivion by what cannot but
appear the direct will of Heaven. These two volumes embrace the painstaking
and. faithful day-by-day register of all the immense travel from the mouths
of the Rovuma to Lake Nyassa, thence to Tanganyika, thence again to Lake
Bangweolo, after that to the labyrinth of inland waters tied together by the
Lualaba, across Tanganyika once more to Ujiji, and yet again away upon the
final journey which, commenced at Unyanyembe, terminated in the Explorer’s
death at Ilala. Merely toname the stations along this amazing route makes
a long sentence—and day by day, until his last hour, the steadfast Living-
stone noted down for us everything he saw and heard of import upon that
vast path, the result comprising two copious volumes, from which African
geographers may drink deep for many amonth to come. And all this pre-
cious treasure-house of research, from 1865 to 1873, has been saved by two
memorable incidents—the happy rescue effected in the first place by Stanley,
and the bold and loyal behaviour of the negroes, Chumah and Susi. To the
American—now pursuing under our joint Commission the task of his friend
and master—the public owes the first portion of the journals which Mr.
Waller has edited so lovingly, for it was Mr. Stanley who brought down
Letts’ Diary, containing all the story of these marches from the Rovuma to
Ujiji. The second, and if possible, more precious part, has been redeemed
from the loneliness of the wilderness wherein the traveller perished, by
nothing except the splendid fidelity of those very negroes for whose sake
Livingstone lived and died. Could he have wished a nobler testimony to his
labours ? Could there have been a more eloquent comment upon this great
pioneer’s work? It is as if Africa herself had, from her ‘darkest places, pre-
sented these precious records to us, saying, ‘ Do not forget him or me!’ It is as
if the Power whom Livingstone served had chosen this plain means of signi-
fying approval of his labours, and stamping them as far too pure and noble
to be lost—putting it into the hearts of poor, ignorant blacks to risk allin the
self-imposed task of bringing back to us in England the body and the books
of their Leader. Is it chance which has preserved for us every note of these
brave years of toil? We might say so of other strange events, but not of
the extraordinary incidents which have secured to us the possession of what
we have here—the complete narrative, namely, Livingstone’s last six years
of wanderings.

2‘ The exceptional character of the book as regards its origin extends to
the manner in which it will be read. Who will not turn at once to the latter

Denes SUAS aMalatie

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S DIARY. 581

part of the 700 pages in order to glean new and minute particulars of the
last hours of the great and good Traveller? Obeying that impulse ourselves,
we search the close of the Diary, and towards the end of the second volume
the mournful chapter duly comes, which all will be most anxious to peruse.
The entries in the note-book have gradually grown shorter—the mention of
pain and mental weakness is frequent—the narrative brings the reader finally
to lala; and then two pages present us with the fac-simile of the last—the
very last—words legibly pencilled by Livingstone. He was unable to do
more than make the shortest memoranda, and to mark on the map which he
was constructing the streams which enter the lake as he crossed them. From
the 22nd to the 27th April he had not strength to write down anything but
the several dates. Fortunately Susi and Chumah give a very clear and
circumstantial account of every incident which occurred on these days, and
Mr. Waller therefore adds what they say, after each of the Doctor’s entries :—

*€ (21st April. Tried to ride, but was forced to le down, and they carried me
back to vil. exhausted.—The men explain this entry thus: This morning the
Doctor tried if he were strong enough to ride on the donkey, but he had only
gone a short distance when he fell to the ground exhausted and faint. Susi
immediately undid his belt and pistol, and picked up his cap, which had
dropped off, while Chumah threw down his gun and ran to stop the men
on ahead. When he got back the Doctor said, ‘‘ Chumah, I have lost so
much blood, there is no more strength left in my legs; you must carry me.”
He was then assisted gently to his shoulders, and, holding the man’s head to
steady himself, was borne back to the village and placed in the hut he had so
recently left. It was necessary to let the Chief Muanazawamba know what
had happened, and for this purpose Dr. Livingstone despatched a messenger.
He was directed to ask him to supply a guide for the next day, as he trusted
then to have recovered so far as to be able to march. The answer was, ‘“ Stay
as long as you wish, and when you want guides to Kalunganjovu’s you shall
have them.”

66 6 22nd April. Carried on kitanda over Buga, S.W. 23. (Two hours and
a quarter in a south-westerly direction. )—His servants say that, instead of
rallying, they saw that his strength was becoming less and less, and in order
to carry him they made a kitanda of wood, consisting of two side pieces of
seven feet in length, crossed with rails three feet long, and about four inches
apart, the whole lashed strongly together. This framework was covered
with grass, and a blanket laid on it. Slung from a pole, and borne between
two strong men, it made a tolerable palanquin, and on this the exhausted
traveller was conveyed to the next village through a flooded grass plain. To
render the kitanda more comfortable another blanket was suspended across a
pole, so as to hang down on either side, and allow the air to pass under
whilst the sun’s rays were fended off from the sick man. The start was de-

582 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

_——=

ferred this morning until the dew was off the heads of the long grass suffi-
ciently to ensure his being kept tolerably dry. The excruciating pains of
dysenteric malady caused him the greatest exhaustion as they marched, and
they were glad enough to reach another village in two hours and a quarter,
haying travelled 8.W. from the last point. Here another hut was built. The
name of the halting-place is not remembered by the men, for the villagers
fled at their approach ; indeed the noise made by the drums sounding the
alarm had been caught by the Doctor some time before, and he exclaimed
with thankfulness on hearing it, ‘‘ Ah, now we are near!” Throughout this
day the following men acted as bearers of the kitanda: Chowpere, Songolo,
Chumah, and Adiamberi. Sowfere, too, joined in at one time.

“(23rd April. (No entry except the date.)—They advanced another
hour and a half through the same expanse of flooded treeless waste, passing
numbers of small fish-weirs set in such a manner as to catch the fish on their
way back to the lake, but seeing nothing of the owners, who had either hid-
den themselves or taken to flight on the approach of the caravan. Another
village afforded them a night’s shelter, but it seems not to be known by any
particular name.

‘¢ ¢ 24th April. (No entry except the date.)—But one hour’s march was
accomplished to-day, and again they halted amongst some huts—place un-
known. His great prostration made progress exceedingly painful, and fre-
quently when it was necessary to stop the bearers of the kitanda, Chumah
had to support the Doctor from falling.

6 ¢ 25th April. (No entry except the date.)—In an hour’s course S.W.
they arrived at a village in which they found a few people. Whilst his ser-
vapts were busy completing the hut for the night’s encampment, the Doctor,
who was lying in a shady place on the kitanda, ordered them to fetch one of
the villagers. The chief of the place had disappeared, but the rest of his peo-
ple seemed quite at their ease, and drew near to hear what was going to be
said. They were asked whether they knew of a hill on which four rivers took
their rise. The spokesman answered that they had no knowledge of it. They
themselves, said he, were not travellers, and all those who used to go on trad-
ing expeditions were now dead. In former years Malenga’s town, Kutchin-
yama, was the assembling place of the Wabisa traders, but these had been
swept off by the Mazitu. Such as survived had to exist as best they could
amongst the swamps and inundated districts around the lake. Whenever an
expedition was organised to go to the coast, or in any other direction, travel-
lers met at Malenga’s town to talk over the route to be taken; then would
have been the time, and they, to get information about every part. Dr.
Livingstone was here obliged to dismiss them, and explained that he was too
ill to continue talking, but he begged them to bring as much food as they
could for sale to Kalunganjovu’s.

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S DIARY. 583

26th April. (No entry except the date.)—They proceeded as far as
Kalunganjovu’s town, the chief himself coming to meet them on the way,
dressed in Arab costume and wearing a red fez. Whilst waiting here Susi
was instructed to count over the bags of beads, and, on reporting that twelve
still remained in stock, Dr. Livingstone told him to buy two large tusks if an
opportunity occurred as he might run short of goods by the time they got to
Ujiji, and could then exchange them with the Arabs there for cloth, to spend
on their way to Zanzibar.

“<To-day, the 27th April, 1873, he seems to have been almost dying.
No entry at all was made in his diary after that which follows, and it must
have taxed him to the utmost to write :—

““« Knocked up quite, and remain—recover—sent to buy milch goats. We areon
the banks of the Molilamo.—They are the last words that David Livingstone
wrote. From this point we have to trust entirely to the narrative of the
men. They explain the above sentence as follows: Salimane, Amisi,
Hamsani, and Laede, accompanied by a guide, were sent off to endeavour,
if possible, to buy some milch goats on the upper part of the Molilamo.
They could not, however, succeed ; it was always the same story, the Mazitu
had taken everything. The chief, nevertheless, sent a substantial present of
a kid and three baskets of ground nuts, and the people were willing enough
to exchange food for beads. Thinking he could eat some Mapira corn pounded
up with ground nuts, the Doctor gave instructions to the two women, M’sozi
and M’toweka, to prepare it for him, but he was not able to take it when
they brought it to him.

<¢ April 28. Men were now despatched in an opposite direction, that is,
to visit the villages on the right bank of the Moliamo as it flows to the lake ;
unfortunately they met with no better result, and returned empty-handed.
On April 29, Kalunganjovu and most of his people came early to the village,
The chief wished to assist his guest to the utmost, and stated that as he could
not be sure that a sufficient number of canoes would be forthcoming unless he
took charge of matters himself, he should accompany the caravan to the cross-
ing place, which was about an hour’s march from the spot. ‘‘ Everything
should be done for his friend,” he said. They were ready to set out. On
Susi’s going to the hut Dr. Livingstone told him that he was quite unable to
walk to the door to reach the kitandi, and he wished the men to break down
one side of the little house, as the entrance was too narrow to admit it, and
in this manner to bring it to him where he was. This was done, and he was
gently placed upon it and borne out of the village. Their course was in the
direction of the stream, and they followed it till they came to a reach where
the current was uninterrupted by the numerous little islands which stood
partly in the river and partly in the flood on the upper waters. Kalunganjovu
was seated on a knoll, and actively superintending the embarkation, whilst

584 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Dr. Livingstone told his bearers to take him to a tree at a little distance off,
that he might rest in the shade till most of the men were on the other side.
A good deal of care was required, for the river, by no means a large one in
ordinary times, spread its waters in all directions, so thata false step, or a
stumble in any unseen hole, would have drenched the invalid and the bed also
on which he was carried. The passage occupied some time, and then came
the difficult task of conveying the Doctor across, for the canoes were not wide
enough to allow the kitandi to be deposited in the bottom of either of them.
Hitherto, no matter how weak, Livingstone had always been able to sit in
the various canoes they had used on like occasions, but now he had no power
todo so. Taking his bed off the kitandi, they laid it in the bottom of the
strongest canoe, and tried to lift him; but he could not bear the pain of a
hand being passed under his back. Beckoning to Chumah, in a faint voice
he asked him to stoop down over him as low as possible, so that he might
clasp both his hands together behind his head, directing him at the same time
how to avoid putting any pressure on the lumbar region of the back; in this
way he was deposited in the bottom of the canoe, and quickly ferried across
the Molilamo by Chowpere, Susi, Farijala and Chumah. The same precautions
were used on the other side; the kitandi was brought close to the canoe so
as to prevent any unnecessary pain in disembarking. Susi now hurried on
ahead to reach Chitambo’s village and superintend the building of another
house. For the first mile or two they had to carry the Doctor through swamps
and plashes, glad to reach something like a dry plain at last. It would seem
that his strength was here atits very lowest ebb. Chumah, one of his bearers
on these the last weary miles the great traveller was destined to accomplish,
says that they were every now and then implored to stop and place their
burden on the ground. So great were the pangs of his disease during this
day that he could make no attempt to stand, and if lifted for a few yards a
drowsiness came over him, which alarmed them all excessively. This was
specially the case at one spot, where a tree stood in the path. Here one of
his attendants was called to him, and, on stooping down, he found him unable
to speak from faintness. They replaced him in the kitandi, and made the
best of their way on the journey. Some distance further on great thirst op-
pressed him; he asked them if they had any water, but, unfortunately for
once, not a drop was to be procured. Hastening on for fear of being too far
separated from the party in advance, to their great comfort they now saw
Farijala approaching with some, which Susi had thoughtfully sent off from
Chitambo’s village. Still wending their way on, it seemed as if they would
not complete their task, for again, at a clearing, the sick man entreated them
to place him on the ground, and to let him stay where he was. a Fortunately,
at this moment some of the outlying huts of the village came in sight, and
they tried to rally him by telling him that he would quickly be in the house

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S DIARY. 585

that the others had gone on to build, but they were obliged as it was to allow
him to remain for an hour in the native gardens outside the town. On reach-
ing their companions it was found that the work was not quite finished, and
it became necessary therefore to lay him under the broad leaves of a native
hut till things were ready. Chitambo’s village at this time was almost empty.
When the crops are growing it is the custom to erect little temporary houses
in the fields, and the inhabitants, leaving their more substantial huts, pass their
time in watching their crops, which are scarcely more safe by day than by
night; thus it was that the men found plenty of room and shelter ready to
their hand. Many of the people approached the spot where he lay whose
praises had reached them in previous years, and in silent wonder they stood
round him, resting on their bows. Slight drizzling showers were falling, and
as soon as possible his house was made ready, and banked round with
earth. Inside it the bed was raised from the floor by sticks and grass, occu-
pying a position across and near to the bay-shaped end of the hut; in the bay
itself bales and boxes were deposited, one of the latter doing duty for a table,
on which the medicine chest and sundry other things were placed. A fire
was lighted outside, nearly opposite the door, whilst the boy, Majwara, slept
just within to attend to his master’s wants in the night. On April 30, 1878,
Chitambo came early to pay a visit of courtesy, and was shown into the
Doctor’s presence, but he was obliged to send him away, telling him to come
again on the morrow, when he hoped to have more strength to talk to him,
and he was not again disturbed. In the afternoon he asked Susi to bring his
watch to the bedside, and explained to him the position in which to hold his
hand, that it might lie in the palm whilst he slowly turned the key.

**¢So the hours stole on till nightfall. The men silently took to their
huts, whilst others, whose duty it was to keep watch, sat round the fires, all
feeling that the end could not be far off. About 11 p.m. Susi, whose hut was
close by, was told to go to his master. At the time there were loud shouts in -
the distance, and, on entering, Dr. Livingstone said, ‘‘ Are our men making
that noise?” “No,” replied Susi; ‘‘ I can hear from the cries that the people
are scaring away a buffalo from their dura fields.” A few minutes afterwards
he said slowly, and evidently wandering, ‘Is this the Luapula?”’ Susi told
him they were in Chitambo’s village, near the Molilamo, when he was silent
for a while. Again, speaking to Susi, in Suaheli this time, he said, ‘ Sikun
gapi kuenda Luapula?” (How many days is it to the Luapula?) “Na zani
zikutatu, Bwana” (I think it is three days, master), replied Susi.

“** A few seconds after, as if in great pain, he half sighed, half said,
“Oh dear, dear!” and then dozed off again.

“ ‘Tt was about an hour later that Susi heard Majwara again outside the
door, ‘‘ Bwana wants you, Susi.” On reaching the bed the doctor told him
he wished him to boil some water, and for this purpose he went to the fire

“2

586 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

outside, and soon returned with the copper kettle full. Calling him close, he
asked him to bring him his medicine-chest, and to hold the candle near him,
for the man noticed he could hardly see. With great difficulty Dr. Living-
stone selected the calomel, which he told him to place by his side; then
directing him to pour a little water into a cup, and to put another empty one
by it, he said in a low, feeble voice, “‘ All right, you can go out now.” These
were the last words he was ever heard to speak. It must have been about
four a.m. when Susi heard Majwara’s step once more. ‘‘Come to Bwana,
IT am afraid; I don’t know if he is alive.” The lad’s evident alarm made
Susi run to arouse Chumah, Chowpere, Matthew, and Muanyasere, and the six
men went immediately to the hut. Passing inside they looked towards the
bed. Dr. Livingstone was not lying on it, but appeared to be engaged in
prayer, and they instinctively drew backwards for the instant. Pointing to
him Majwara said, ‘‘ When I lay down he was just as he is now, and it is
because I find that he does not move that I fear he is dead.” They asked
the lad how long he had slept. Majwara said he could not tell, but he was
sure that it was some considerable time. The men drew nearer.

““¢A candle stuck by its own wax to the top of the box, shed a light
sufficient for them to see his form. Dr. Livingstone was kneeling by the
side of his bed, his body stretched forward, his head buried in his hands upon
the pillow. For a minute they watched him; he did not stir, there was no
sign of breathing; then one of them, Matthew, advanced softly to him and
placed his hands to his cheeks. It was sufficient ; life had been extinct some
time, and the body was almost cold; Livingstone was dead.

‘¢¢His sad-hearted servants raised him tenderly up, and laid him full
length on the bed, then carefully covering him, they went out into the damp
night-air to consult together. It was not long before the cocks crew, and it
is from this circumstance—coupled with the fact that Susi spoke to him some
time shortly before midnight—that we are able to state with tolerable cer-
tainty that he expired early on the Ist of May. It hes been thought best to
give the narrative of these closing hours as nearly as possible in the words of
the two men who attended him constantly, both here and in the many
illnesses of like character which he endured in the last six years’ wanderings;
in fact from the first moment of the news arriving in England, it was felt to
be indispensable that they should come home to state what occurred. :

‘¢«The men have much to consider as they cower around the watch-fire,
and little time for deliberation. ‘They are at their furthest point from home,
and their leader has fallen at their head; we shall see presently how they
faced their difficulties. . . . Several inquiries will naturally arise on
reading this distressing history ; the foremost, perhaps, will be with regard to
the entire absence of everything like a parting word to those immediately
about him, or a farewell line to his family and friends at home. It must be

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S DIARY. 587

very evident to the reader that Livingstone entertained very grave forebod-
ings about his health during the last two years of his life, but it is not clear
that he realised the near approach of death when his malady suddenly passed
into a more dangerous stage. It may be said, ‘“‘ Why did he not take some
precautions or give some strict injunctions to his men to preserve his note-
books and maps at all hazards, in the event of his decease? Did not his
great ruling passion suggest some such precaution?” Fair questions; but,
reader, you haye all—every word written, spoken, or implied. Is there, then,
no explanation? Yes; we think past experience affords it, and it is offered
to you by one who remembers, moreover, how Livingstone himself used to
point out to him in Africa the peculiar features of death by malarial poison-
ing. In full recollection of eight deaths in the Zambesi and Shire districts,
not asingle parting word or direction in any instance can be recalled. Neither
hope nor courage gives way as death approaches. In most cases a comatose
state of exhaustion supervenes, which, if it be not quickly arrested by active
measures, passes into complete insensibility ; this is almost invariably the
closing scene. In Dr. Livingstone’s case we find some departure from the
ordinary symptoms. (The great loss of blood may have had a bearing on
the case.) He, as we have seen by the entry of the 18th April, was alive to
the conviction that malarial poison is the basis of every disorder in Tropical
Africa, and he did not doubt but that he was fully under its influence whilst
suffering so severely. As we have said, a man of less endurance in all pro-
bability would have perished in the first week of the terrible approach to the
Lake, through the country and under the continual downpour that he de-
scribes. It tried every constitution, saturated every man with fever poison,
and destroyed several, as we shall sec a little further on. The greater vitality
in his iron system very likely staved off for a few days the last state of coma
to which we refer, but there is quite sufficient to show us that only a thin
margin lay between the heavy drowsiness of the last few days before reaching
Chitambo’s, and the final and usual symptom that brings on unconsciousness
and inability to speak. On more closely questioning the men, one only elicits
that they imagine he hoped to recover, as he had so often done before ; and
if this really was the case, it will, in a measure account for the absence of
anything like a dying statement; but still they speak again and again of his
drowsiness, which in itself would take away all ability to realise vividly the
seriousness of the situation. It may be that, at the last, a flash of conviction
for a moment litup the mind. If so, what greater consolation can those have
who mourn his loss than the account that the men give of what they saw
when they entered the hut? Livingstone had not merely turned himselfi—he
had risen to pray; he still rested on his knees, his hands were clasped under
his head: when they approached him he seemed to live. He had not fallen
to right or left when he rendered up his spirit to God. Death required no

588 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

change of limb or position; there was merely the gentle settling forwards of
the frame unstrung by pain, for the Traveller’s perfect rest had come. Will
not time show that the men were scarcely wrong when they thought “‘ he yet
speaketh”—aye, perhaps far more clearly to us than he could have done by
word or pen orany other means. Is it, then, presumptuous to think that the
long-used fervent prayer of the wanderer sped forth once more—that the con-
stant supplication became more perfect in weakness, and that from his ‘“ lone-
liness” David Livingstone, with a dying effort, yet again besought Him for
whom he laboured to break down the oppression and woe of the land? .

Seas Before daylight the men were quietly told in each hut what had
happened.’

“Thus, then, amid many another touch of pathos which this complete
narrative brings, we learn that the hero died upon his knees—that he rose
from his couch of mortal anguish, like the gallant and pious soldier of God
that he was, to give up the ghost, praying to Heaven for Africa, for us, for
himself. The attitude of David Livingstone’s death-moment speaks of a faith
in Heaven unchangeable, of a joy in Heaven’s service supreme, of tenderness
of love, of trust, of hope, of prayer for all his fellow creatures, of a mission
perfected in agony and surrendered in supplication, but never so nobly
triumphant as in that last crowning minute of his lonely life. The Cesar
who proudly staggered from his bed, exclaiming that ‘an Emperor should die
standing,’ is outdone in majesty and becomingness by the attitude of this
grand Scotchman who passes away in the solitude of the African wild on his
knees. In days when the fruits of Livingstone’s labours are gathered, and
Africa, emancipated and happy, shall know all that she has owed to her friend
and martyr, this beautiful and solemn thing will not be forgotten in song and
picture; they will remember, when she has her poets and sculptors at last,
how he ‘died upon his knees,’ ‘ witnessing’ for the Africans. Notwithstand-
ing what has been said above there do occur some tender last messages in this
Diary. One is the following :—

“<My daughter Agnes says—‘ Much as I wish you to come home, I
would rather you finished your work to your own satisfaction than return
merely to gratify me.” Rightly and nobly said, my darling Nannie. Vanity
whispers pretty loudly, ‘‘ She is a chip of the old block.” My blessing on
her and all the rest.’

‘“« After a passage of such transcendant human interest as this, which we
have not hesitated to quote at length, geographical disquisitions would come
like something out of tune. We prefer to confine our remarks to some of the
personal traits and memorials which occur in these volumes—all of them
agreeing with that impressive final scene, in portraying to us the perfect
Explorer; dauntless, indomitable, sagacious, patient, gentle, intelligent, keen-
eyed, full of confidence in his mission and himself. We have spoken already

DK. LIVINGSTONE'S DIARY. 589

of the absence of all extravagance or expressions of surprise in these Journals.
It is a consistent feature in them. There is plenty of warm appreciation of
natural beauty, of vivid description, and lively interest displayed in the
strange spectacles and curious people visited. But the narrative goes calm
and stately as a great river, which sparkles and winds indeed about every
little and large thing in its course, yet without fret or turmoil. He loved
travel. At setting forth upon the Rovuma he says :—

“*“ Now that I am on the point of starting on another trip into Africa I
feel quite exhilarated: when one travels with the specific object in view of
ameliorating the condition of the natives every act becomes ennobled.

‘“¢¢ Whether exchanging the customary civilities on arriving at a village,
accepting a night’s lodging, purchasing food for the party, asking for infor-
mation, or answering polite African inquiries as to our objects in travelling,
we begin to spread a knowledge of that people by whose agency their land
will yet, become enlightened and freed from the slave-trade.

“«¢ The mere animal pleasure of travelling ina wild, unexplored country
is very great. When on lands of a couple of thousand feet elevation, brisk
exercise imparts elasticity to the muscles, fresh and healthy blood circulates
through the brain, the mind works well, the eye is clear, the step is firm,
and a day’s exertion always makes the evening’s repose thoroughly enjoy-
able.

*** We have usually the stimulus of remote chances of danger, either from
man or beast.’

* But of this danger he always makes pretty light either in expectation
or arrival; and he knew, with that same quiet courage, how to impress and
govern his followers far better than all the brow-beating and violent sorts
of travellers. On one occasion, when the bad conduct of a sepoy, Perim,
tempted him to strike the man with a cane, he enters the incident in his
Diary with a ‘black mark’ against himself, says that it ‘is degrading,’
and scores up the resolution, ‘I am not to do the punishment myself again.’
At every other page his passion for African scenery comes out quietly but
strongly ; as when he reaches the Nyassa, and writes, ‘ It is like coming home;
it is so pleasant to bathe in the delicious waters again, to hear the roar of the
lake and dash in the rollers. I feel quite exhilarated.” But Nyassa saddened
him too. He says :—

*“¢ Many hopes have been disappointed here. Far down on the right
bank of the Zambesi lies the dust of her whose death changed all my future
prospects; and now, instead of a check being given to the slave-trade by law-
ful commerce on the lake slave dhows prosper! An Arab slave-party fled on
hearing of us yesterday. It is impossible not to regret the loss of Bishop
Mackenzie, who sleeps far down the Shire, and with him all hope of the Gos-
pel being introduced into Central Africa. The silly abandonment of all the

590 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

—_

advantages of the Shire route by the Bishop’s successor I shall ever bitterly
deplore, but all will come right some day, though I may not live to partici-
pate in the joy, or even the commencement of better times.’

“‘ He notices with kindly appreciation everywhere the good traits of the
negroes at Mokomba :—

““é'The population is very great and very ceremonious. When we meet
any one he turns aside and sits down ; we clap the hand on the chest and say,
“Re peta—re peta,” that is, ‘‘ we pass,” or, ‘‘let-us pass.” This is re-
sponded to at once by the clapping of hands together. When a person is
called at a distance he gives two loud claps of assent; or if he rises from
near a superior he does the same thing, which is a sort of leave-taking.’

“And again at Mapuio’s village :—

‘¢¢ Clapping the hand in various ways is the polite way of saying, ‘‘ Allow
me,” “ I beg pardon,” ‘ Permit me to pass,” “ Thanks ;” it is resorted to in
respectful introduction and leave-taking, and also is equivalent to ‘ Hear,
hear.” When inferiors are called they respond by two brisk claps of the hands,
meaning, ‘‘I am coming.”

“<< They are very punctilious. A large ivory bracelet marks the head

man of a village ; there is nothing else to show differences of rank.
The morning was lovely, the whole country bathed in bright sunlight, nel
not a breath of air disturbed the smoke as it slowly curled up from the heaps
of burning weeds, which the native agriculturist wisely destroys. The peo-
ple generally were busy hoeing in the cool of the day. One old man ina
village where we rested had trained the little hair he had left into a tail,
which, well plastered with fat, he had bent on itself and laid flat on his crown ;
another was carefully paring a stick for stirring the porridge, and others were
enjoying the shade of the wild fig-trees which are always planted at villages.
It isa sacred tree all over Africa and India, and the tender roots which drop
down towards the ground are used as medicine—a universal remedy. I like
to see the men weaving or spinning, or reclining under these glorious cano-
pies, as much as I love to see our more civilised people lolling on their sofas
or ottomans.’

‘‘He laughs pleasantly at Zeore’s people, who pity England so much
because there are no chilobe-peas in that benighted land; and who but
Livingstone, after the hardships and provocations of the year 1866, would
close his journal and begin a new one with words so gentle and child-like in
their faith and purpose as these ?—

‘¢¢ We now end 1866. It has not been so fruitful or useful as I intended.
Will try to do better in 1867, and be better—more gentle and loving; and
may the Amighty, to whom I commit my way, bring my desires to pass and
prosper me! Let all the sins of ’66 be blotted out in Jesus’ sake.

“(1st January, 1867.—May He who was full of grace and truth impress

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S DIARY. 591

His character on mine. Grace—eagerness to show favour; truth—truthful-
ness, sincerity, honour—for His mercy’s sake.’

‘¢ And when he loses his medicine-chest in the forest near Lake Liemba,
by the desertion of two of his men—a tremendous disaster—we find the
incident—which, as he says, was almost like sentence of death to an African
traveller—lightly and bravely disposed of by the remark that nothing happens
except by God’s permission, and, ‘perhaps this, too, may turn out for the
best by taking away a source of suspicion among more superstitious, charm-
fearing people further south.’ And then he adds with a sigh, which is as
naive as it is touching, ‘I meant it as a source of benefit to my party and
to the heathen.’ When he is very ill indeed, as at the southern end of Lake
Tanganyika, he hardly mentions his sickness in his daily jottings, or does so
with some gracious word for the attention of his followers. These qualities,
it is true, were well known of him, and equally well known is that righteous
indignation against the cruelties which he was obliged to witness, travelling
so constantly amid the horror of the slave traffic. On the Luongo he describes
an incident in words which show what was his foremost purpose in all his
African wanderings :—

*¢¢Six men slaves were singing as if they did not feel the weight and
degradation of the slave sticks. I asked the cause of their mirth, and was
told that they rejoiced at the idea “‘ of coming back after death and haunting
and killing those who had sold them.” Some of the words I had to inquire
about ; for instance, the meaning of the words “to haunt and kill by spirit
power.” Then it was, “Oh, you sent me off to Manga (sea-coast), but the
yoke is off when I die, and back I shall come to haunt and to kill you.” Then
all joined in the chorus, which was the name of each vendor. It told not of
fun, but of the bitterness and tears of such as were oppressed, and if on the
side of the oppressors there was a power, there be higher than they ’

“A little further on we encounter an entry of strange interest; it is
where Livingstone speculates on his last resting-place. He writes :—

«We came to a grave in the forest; it was a little rounded mound, as
if the occupant sat in it in the usual native way; it was strewed over with
flour, and a number of the large blue beads put on it; a little path showed
that it had visitors. This is the sort of grave I should prefer—to lie in the
still, stall forest, and no hand ever disturb my bones. The graves at home
always seemed to me to be so miserable, especially those in the cold damp
clay, and without elbow room; butI have nothing to do but wait till He who
is over all decides where I have to lay me down and die.’

“And to this he adds, ‘Poor Mary sleeps in Shupanga brae, and beeks
fornent the sun.’ Strange, and sad, and glad at once must appear the way
in which the wish of the good Livingstone has been half granted by Heaven,
half refused. His bones repose at home with the noblest of his native land

592 _ LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

in the shadow of the Royal Abbey; and yet Africa, which holds the dust of
his beloved wife, possesses his heart! That the negroes buried at Iala; and
it is quiet enough, ‘after life’s fitful fever,’ in the gloom of the ‘still, still
wood,’ near the great lake. Africa had his heart always; we scarcely pos-
sessed the right to take that from her. Subjoined is a specimen of the
traveller’s tender quickness of gratitude, even to an outcast and in the bad
Manyema country :—

‘¢¢ A woman (he says) with leprous hands gave me her hut—a nice clean
one—and very heavy rain came on. Of her own accord she prepared dump-
lings of green maize, pounded and boiled, which are sweet, for she said that
she saw I was hungry. It was excessive weakness from purging she mistook,
but seeing that I did not eat for fear of the leprosy, she kindly pressed me:
“‘ Kat, you are weak from hunger; this will strengthen you.” I put it out of
her sight, and blessed her motherly heart.’

‘“‘ Further on, when Livingstone has suffered for eighty days from ulcers
in the foot, his medicines gone, his force failing, and, one would think, even
his great heart breaking—as the hearts of the slaves do when they see the
last of their native hills—we have him extracting humorous solace from a
review. He copies a favourable notice of his last book from the ‘ British
Quarterly Review,’ and labels it ‘A drop of comfort.’ It is a little bit of
well-deserved praise which the traveller has found quoted on the fly-leaf of
one of his travelling-volumes, and he turns it gallantly into a moral tonic.
The reviewer is happy, indeed, whose pen can thus boast that it has reinforced
David Livingstone in one of his sorest straits. Yet what straits are sore for
aman whose one thought and hope are thus expressed in the beginning of
his Diary for 1871: ‘O Father! help me to finish this work to Thy honour’ ?
Such natures may suffer, but they cannot despair, and cannot be defeated.

‘With one citation more we close our present notice. It describes, from
Livingstone’s own hand, that thrilling and happy hour of glad surprise when,
illness, poverty, and depression, which probably would soon have put an
earlier end to his journeying than that fixed by natural decay. It was the
24th October, 1871, and, while Livingstone was as near to despair as such a
man could go, Mr. Stanley was already within a morning’s march of his hut.
The Doctor writes :—

““¢My property has been sold to Shereef’s friends at merely nominal
prices. Syed bin Majid, a good man, proposed that they should be returned,
and the ivory be taken from Shereef; but they would not restore stolen pro-
perty, though they knew it to be stolen. Christians would have acted dif-
ferently, even those of the lowest classes. I felt in my destitution as if I
were the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among
thieves ; but I could not hope for priest, Levite, or good Samaritan to come

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S DIARY. 593

by on either side; but one morning Syed bin Majid said to me, “ Now, this
is the first time we have been alone together; I have no goods, but I have
ivory; let me, I pray you, sell some ivory, and give the goods to you.”
This was encouraging; but I said, “‘ Not yet, but by-and-by.” I had still a
few barter goods left, which I had taken the precaution to deposit with
Mohamad bin Saleh before going to Manyuema, in case of returning in
extreme need. But when my spirits were at their lowest ebb the good Samari-
tan was close at hand, for one morning Susi came running at the top of his
speed and gasped out, ‘‘ An Englishman! I see him!” and off he darted to
meet him. The American flag at the head of a caravan told of the nation-
ality of the stranger. Bales of goods, baths of tin, huge kettles, cooking pots,
tents, ete., made me think, ‘‘ This must be a luxurious traveller, and not one
at his wit’s end like me.” The visitor was no other than Henry M. Stanley,
the travelling correspondent of the New York Herald, sent by James Gordon
Bennett, jun., at an expense of more than £4,000, to obtain accurate inform-
ation about Dr. Livingstone if living, and if dead, bring home my bones.
The news he had to tell to one who had been two full years without any tid-
ings from Europe made my whole frame thrill. The terrible fate that had
befallen France, the telegraphic cables successfully laid on the Atlantic, the
election of General Grant, the death of good Lord Clarendon, my constant
friend, the proof that Her Majesty’s Government had not forgotten me in
voting £1,000 for supplies, and many other points of interest, revived emo-
tions that had lain dormant in Manyuema. Appetite returned, and, instead
of the spare, tasteless two meals a day, I ate four times daily, and in a week
began to feel strong. Iam not of a demonstrative turn—as cold, indeed, as
we islanders are usually reputed to be; but this disinterested kindness of Mr.
Bennett, so nobly carried into effect by Mr. Stanley, was simply overwhelm-
ing. I really do feel grateful, and at the same time I am a little ashamed at
not being more worthy of the generosity. Mr. Stanley has done his part
with untiring energy ; good judgment in the teeth of very serious obstacles.’

“¢ After this there is a happy silence of many days in the journals, and we
all know that the rescue gave Livingstone means to renew his strength,
while we owe to it the larger portion of these valuable memorials. Yet one
little record more, inscribed just when Mr. Stanley has taken his departure,
for it possesses an almost prophetic character. It runs :—

“15th March.—Birthday. My Jesus, my king, my life, my all; I again
dedicate my whole self to Thee. Accept me, and grant, O gracious Father,
that ere this year is goneI may finish my task. In Jesus’ name I ask it.
Amen, so let it be.—Davip LivinesTone.’

‘‘ With this solemn and affecting passage we close our present notice of
these yolumes. Of David Livingstone it may, indeed, be truly said, ‘ being
dead, he speaketh,’ and the real significance of this notable publication—which

Ad

594 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

in itself is a monument of honour to the country from which the traveller
drew his blood—is in the reflection that it is the last appeal of Livingstone to
the British people, and the legacy to them, as his heirs, of undying hostility
to slavery, of love and pity for the African continent, and its suffering, un-
friended, desolate children.”

The following appreciative notice of ‘‘ Livingstone’s Last Journals” by
the ‘‘ Christian World” affords another specimen of the manner in which the
religious as well as the secular press delighted to do honour to the memory
and to the work of the great Philanthropist :—‘‘ There was perhaps no man
in whom so large a proportion of the English-speaking race took such an
affectionate interest as in the heroic traveller, and to whose researches men
of so many different classes and characters looked for the information which
specially concerned and moved them. The trader listened eagerly to hear
from him of new staples for manufacture—of new openings for commerce ;
the statesman watched to see whether he might discover lands suited to
receive the surplus population of old and densely-crowded countries; the
man of science scanned his account of new plants, new fish, new apes, new
mountains, lakes, and rivers; and that portion of the community—a portion
which cannot be called small—which desires beyond all else that the good
tidings that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners should be car-
ried to the utmost corners of the earth, expected from him full and trust-
worthy information upon that matter which, to them as to him, was the im-
pelling motive and grand object of African exploration. . . . . Nota
single entry in Dr. Livingstone’s journals has been lost from the time of his
leaving Zanzibar in 1866 until ‘his note-book dropped from his hand in the
village of lala, at the end of April, 1873.’ He had always been careful and
diligent, and it was his custom to post up at moments of leisure in the large
Diary the daily jottings entered in metallic note-books which it was his cus-
tom to carry with him. But in the last three or four years of his life he had
been unable, through toil, exhaustion, and distressing illness, to carry out
this rule. His note-books, besides, as well as his ink and pencils, ran out,
and he had to resort to various shifts to supply the deficiency. At last ‘ old
newspapers, yellow with African damp, were sewn together, and his notes
were written across the type with a substitute for ink made from the juice
of a tree.’

‘‘ The faithfulness and courage of Chumah and Susi, the native attend-
ants upon Livingstone in his last moments, entitle them to a place in one
group with the master whom they so devotedly served. Africans have an
intense horror of dead bodies, and it is often difficult to get them to carry
corpses to the grave. But Chumah and Susi, and about half-a-dozen other
followers of Livingstone, including two native girls, Ntoaeka and Halima,
not only overcame this horror, but carried his remains from ‘the banks of

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S DIARY 595

the Molilamo,’ in the centre of Africa, to Zanzibar. They were under no
small temptation to bury the corpse where Dr. Livingstone had died, for the
superstitious terror of the tribes on their way to the coast, all of which look
upon the dead as haunting and injuring the living, would, they knew,
increase their difficulties in the journey. They never wavered, however,
and no company of Europeans could have conducted the matter better than
those unsophisticated creatures. Chumah and Susi were appointed leaders
by consent of all, and were not only appointed, but obeyed.

‘“‘ David Livingstone died like a soldier in battle, ‘falling on the foe-
man’s ground.’ His constitution was naturally so strong, and he had so often
rallied when death seemed to have got hold upon him, that, after he was un-
able to stand or to sit upon a donkey, he still pressed on, carried in a litter.
Through flooded country, under a continual downpour,’ which ‘ saturated
every man with fever-poison,’ on he went, clinging to the hope that he
might yet reach Luapula, and solve the problem of the sources of the Nile.”
How touching is the following entry in his Diary:—‘‘In this journey I
have endeavoured to follow, with unswerving fidelity, the line of duty. My
course has been an even one, turning neither to the right hand nor to the
left, though my route has been tortuous enough. All the hardship, hunger,
and toil, were met with the full conviction that I was right in persevering to
make a complete work of the exploration of the sources of the Nile. Mine
has been a calm, hopeful endeavour to do the work that has been given me
to do, whether I succeed or whether I fail. The prospect of death in pur-
suing what I knew to be right did not make me veer to one side or the other.
I had a strong presentiment, during the first three years, that I should never
live through the enterprise, but it weakened as I came near to the end of the
journey, and an eager desire to discover any evidence of the great Moses
haying visited these parts bound me—spell-bound me, I may say; for, if I
could bring to light anything to confirm the Sacred Oracles, I should not
srudge one whit all the labour expended. I have to go down the Central
Lualaba or Webb’s Lake River, then up the Western, or young’s Lake River,
to Katanga head waters and then retire. I pray that it may be to my native
home.”

‘“‘ Among the last words he uttered was a question to Susi, ‘How many
days to the Luapula? ‘I think it is three days, master.’ ‘O dear, dear!
said Livingstone, fearing that after all he would be too late. He then dosed
off, his comatose condition being a presage of death, and at the same time
obscuring his consciousness of its approach. Next morning before cock-crow
he was found dead.

“The specific problem on which, perhaps, more than on any other,
Livingstone set his heart in his last days was not solved. The sources of the
Nile have not been indisputably ascertained, or rather it has not been settled

596 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

whether and in what manner the waters of the Nile are connected with that
system of lakes which Livingstone explored. A passage in Herodotus is
believed to have exerted an undue influence upon his mind, sending him in
search of a mountain from which flowed four streams, when mere myth and
legend had suggested the existence of such a scene. But that his life was well
and gloriously spent—that a rich harvest has been the result of his exertions
—admits of no question. The civilised and Christian world knows now, as it
never did before, what manner of land the great African continent is, with
its broad plateaus of wood and swamp, its entangled rivers, its systems of
lakes, its singing birds, its musical frogs, its fevers, its leprosies, its eaten
ulcers, its insects, whose mysterious nature prompts them to bury themselves
in horse, camel, ox, or ass, and to kill the thing they fix on, its animal races
which seem to border on humanity, going about erect in companies of ten,
male and female accurately matched, and its human races, strangely near the
brute, living on roots and bulbs. There are, indeed, African races which
stand high in the scale among savages, stalwart men and comely women, who
would not, said Dr. Livingstone, be physically unworthy of England; but
one of the most remarkable facts connected with those mysterious regions is
that the human and the animal tribes approach so near each other. The
native African modestly pronounces the Soko—something between a gorilla
and a chimpanzee—a man without the badness that is in man.”

One on occasion, Dr. Livingstone received the present of a very inte-
resting young Soko, which he describes as follows:—‘‘ Katambo presented me
with a young Soko or gorilla that had been caught while its mother was
killed; she sits eighteen inches high, has fine long black hair all over, which
was pretty so long as it was kept in order by her dam. She is the least mis-
chievous of all the monkey tribe I have seen, and seems to know that in me
she has a friend, and sits quietly on the mat beside me. In walking, the first
thing observed is that she does not tread on the palms of her hands, but on
the backs of the second line of bones of the hands; in doing this the nails
do not touch the ground, nor do the knuckles; she uses the arms thus sup-
ported crutch fashion, and hitches herself along between them; occasionally
one hand is put down before the other, and alternates with the feet, or she
walks upright and holds up a hand to any one to carry her. If refused, she
turns her face down, and makes grimaces of the most bitter human weeping,
wringing her hands, and sometimes adding a fourth hand or foot to make the
appeal more touching. Grass or leaves she draws round her to make a nest,
and resents any one meddling with her property. She is a most friendly little
beast, and came up to me at once, making her chirrup of welcome, smelled my
clothes, and held out her hand to be shaken. I slapped her palm without
offence, though she winced. She began to untie the cord with which she was
aite:xwards bound, with fingers and thumbs, in quite a systematic way, and on

VZNVAN VWIHOLOIA JNVI

DR. LI VINGSTONE’S DIARY. 597

being interfered with by a man looked daggers, and screaming tried to beat
him with her hands: she was afraid of his stick, and faced him, putting her
back to me as a friend. She holds out her hand for people to lift her up and
carry her, quite like a spoiled child; then bursts into a passionate cry, some-
what like that of a kite, wrings her hands quite naturally, as if in despair.
She eats everything, covers herself with a mat to sleep, and makes a nest of
grass or leaves, and wipes her face with a leaf.”

“On behalf of mankind, however, Dr. Livingstone finally attests that, if
one is but civil, he can traverse Africa unhurt from shore to shore. The simple
African races would, to all appearance, be reasonably happy were it not for
the unmitigated and poisonous curse of slavery,” of which the following charm-
ing picture of the simplicity of African village life by Dr. Livingstone affords
abundant proof :—‘‘ We came to some villages among beautiful tree-covered
hills, called Basilange or Mobasilange. The villages are very pretty, standing
on slopes. The main street generally lies east and west, to allow the bright
sun to stream his clear hot rays from one end to the other, and lick up quickly
the moisture from the frequent showers which is not drained off by the slopes.
A little verandah is often made in front of the door, and here at dawn the
family gathers round a fire, and, while enjoying the heat needed in the cold
that always accompanies the first darting of the light or sun’s rays across the
atmosphere, inhale the delicious air, and talk over their little domestic affairs.
The various shaped leaves of the forest all around their village and near their
nestlings are bespangled with myriads of dewdrops. The cocks crow vigor-
ously, and strut and ogle: the kids gambol and leap on the backs of their
dams quietly chewing the cud; other goats make believe fighting. Thrifty
wives oiten bake their new clay pots in a fire, made by lighting a heap of
grass roots: the next morning they extract salt from the ashes, and so two
birds are killed with one stone. The beauty of this morning scene of peaceful
enjoyment isindescribable. Infancy gilds the fairy picture with its own lines,
and it is probably never forgotten, for the young, taken up from slavers, and
treated with all philanthropic missionary care and kindness, still revert to the
period of infancy as the finest and fairest they have known They would go
back to freedom and enjoyment as fast as would our own sons of the soil, and
be heedless to the charms of hard work and no play which we think so much
better for them if not for us.” How sad the contrast :—

“Tn some cases we found all the villages deserted; the people had fled
at our approach, in dread of repetitions of the outrages of Arab slaves. The
doors were all shut: a bunch of the leaves of reeds or of green reeds placed
across them, means ‘no entrance here.’ A few stray chickens wander about
wailing, having hid themselves while the rest were caught and carried off into
the deep forest, and the still smoking fires tell the same tale of recent flight
from the slave-traders.”

598 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“ To the last the great heart of Livingstone was fired with inextinguish-
able, immeasurable wrath against this diabolical system. He gives the lie to
much thoughtless talk by declaring that slavery is no¢ good, no¢ natural, in
any state of society. The man who finds himself a slave often loses his hold
on life, and dies with his hand on his heart where the death pain struck him.
Is it not pathetic that Homer should have said something very like this
nearly three thousand years ago ? We have advanced, however; for it never
occurred to Pagan Homer to denounce slavery, or to plead for the slave,
whereas Christian Livingstone was glad to give his life to break his fetters.

Of all the tributes which have been paid to the memory of Dr. Living-
stone there is none which reflects greater lustre on his Christian heroism and
self-sacrificing labours, and which is more likely to produce important results
in the regeneration of Africa, than the founding of an Industrial Mission
Station at the southern end of Lake Nyassa, in connection with the Free and
Reformed Churches of Scotland, as a Memorial to Dr. Livingstone! The project
has not only been definitely adopted, but an expedition will shortly be equipped
to proceed by the Zambesi under the command of Mr. Young, the successful
leader of the Search Party to the same region in 1867, who will make the com-
mencement of a town to be called ‘“ Livingstonia,” with the view of encouraging
trade, suppressing slavery, disseminating the arts of industrial civilisation, and
opening the southern interior of the Lake country to commerce. At a meet-
ing recently held in Glasgow, liberal subscriptions were made towards this
good purpose, including the following:—Mr. James Young, of Kelly,
£1,000; Mr. Jas. Stevenson, Glasgow, £1,000; Mr. W. Mackinnon, of Balma-
kill, £500; Mr. P. Mackinnon, £500; Mr. Geo. Martin, of Auchendennan,
£500; Mr. Jas. White, of Overtoun, £500; Dr. Joshua Paterson, £100;
and Dr. Hugh Miller, £100. Five thousand pounds of the ten thousand re-
quired have already been collected ; and it is to be hoped that all the Christian
Churches and the British public generally will gladly take part in furthering
so promising a work, for which purpose we give the following interesting
particulars.

The locality of the proposed settlement will be at the southern end of
Lake Nyassa. Probably on the promontory known as Cape Maclear. At. this
point the Shire River leaves Nyassa at a distance of about sixty miles above
the Murchison Cataracts. The distance to the sea is about three hundred
miles; there is also water communication for flat-bottomed vessels, drawing
from two to three feet, all the way, with the exception of these cataracts,
which extend over a distance of between thirty and forty miles.

With regard to the nature of the proposed Mission-—In addition to the
ordinary evangelistic or preaching work directly connected with the formation
of such a project, it is intended to establish an industrial institution similar
to that already existing at Lovedale, in which the arts of civilised life as well

FOUNDING OF AN INDUSTRIAL MISSION. 599

as the truths of the Gospel would be taught to the people of the region. It
is believed also that such a place would speedily grow into a native town,
and would become a centre towards which the native population would steadily
gravitate. Wherever there is protection and security the African tribes take
advantage of it.

As to the method of carrying out the work.—At first there will be little
demand, doubtless, for either educational or industrial teaching. After a time
this will arise. The first work to be done by those who go there is to gain a
footing in the country, to obtain the confidence of the natives, to become ac-
quainted with the surrounding district, to establish communication on the
river, and to acquire a knowledge of the native language. This would be
work enough for a year or two. But whileit is going on, if there can be
secured one or two native interpreters from Cape Town or elsewhere, the
teaching of the truths of the Gospel can be commenced at once from day to
day as well as on Sundays.

After a little alsoa small school will be opened, and the work of education
would be begun. Slowly the influence of this teaching, of various kinds, will
begin to spread, and though no converts might be seen for some consider-
able time, yet afterwards, if God blesses the undertaking and no serious
disaster occurs to the mission, these would make their appearance. The work
would then have taken root. But it should always be remembered that pro-
gress at first in such directions must be extremely slow.

With reference to route.—The party will proceed to the Luabo mouth
of the Zambesi, either by the Red Sea or via the Cape by steamer. They
would carry with them two boats, one the size of a ship’s cutter. It would
be formed of iron, made in sections to take to pieces by screws, and similar
in construction to that used by Mr. Young in 1867. The boats and goods
haying been landed at the Luabo mouth, they will proceed to put together
the iron boat and load their goods. They would then hire fifty or more
natives from a village about a mile south from the river mouth, and with
their assistance as paddlers or otherwise would proceed up the river. At the
lower end of the Murchison Cataracts they would leave one boat, and unscrew
the sections of the iron boat, and carry it and the goods by means of porters
over the cataracts, then put the boat together again and sail upwards to
Lake Nyassa, and commence their work by selecting a suitable spot, either
side by side with a native chief or headman who might be willing to receive
them, or in any other suitable place. They will then proceed as above described.
At first, and for some time to come, no other building will be wanted than
huts, square or round. The latter can be built by the natives, and the former
by them under the direction of Europeans.

As to the number of Europeans.—Four at least or, better, five will go—
two of them being artisan and one a doctor, who will act as a medical

600 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

missionary. The latter (Mr. Black) has been already secured and although
he will not be ready for a year, his place could be temporarily supplied.

As to dangers and obstacles.—It is probable that those difficulties which
are most anticipated will not occur, and that others not expected may possibly
arise. Amongst the chief are those which will probably spring from the
natural obstacles of the country and the climate.

Communication will at first be irregular. If all goes well, it will become
easy and regular after a while. In regard of climate, fever undoubtedly pre-
vails on the coast, and on the valleys it is deadly; on the highlands it will
occur to some extent, but in much less degree. "

As to natives, except from accident or mistake, all along the route indi-
cated little danger need be apprehended on this account. The necessary
transport of goods for the settlement will year by year be gradually lessening.
Sugar, flour, and coffee, are three of the articles most constantly wanted. In
three years they should be able to grow all their wheat; in five or six they
might grow as much sugar and coffee as would serve for their own use, and
all they would want of the former might be manufactured in a rude way by
themselves, though they had nothing better than wooden rollers and a few
pots.

If, by God’s blessing on this undertaking, and the exercise of every care,
success is obtained, the results will be of a most momentous kind. It would
be difficult to calculate the effects of such a settlement in a country where at
present so little moral or social influence of a healthy nature exists. The
amount of this better influence depends, of course, on the wisdom, energy,
and caution, with which the scheme is developed, and also on the material sup-
port which it can reckon on at home.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Lieutenant Cameron’s Expedition to Lake Tanganyika—Discovery of the Lukuga,
the long-looked for Outlet to the waters of the Lake—Lireutenant Grandy’s Expe-
dition to the Congo District—fecull on the Death of Livingstone.

O* E of the most interesting problems which remained to be solved in con-
nection with African geography was the system to which Lake Tanganyika
belongs. Since the discovery of this lake by Burton and Speke on the 13th
February, 1858, the solution of this question has exercised the ingenuity of
geographers, and has given rise to various conflicting theories. Captain Burton
deseribes the lake as occupying a position on the western extremity of the
eastern third of the breadth of Africa, and as lying parallel to the Inner
African line of yoleanic action. The general formation suggested to him the
idea of a volcano of depression, not of a reservoir formed by the drainage of
mountains. Judging from the eye, the walls of this Tanganyika basin rise
in an almost continuous curtain to two thousand or three thousand feet, and
its length is over three hundred miles, with a mean breadth of twenty miles.
Burton found the water of the Tanganyika to be deliciously sweet; yet
a careful investigation and comparison of statements, led him to the belief
that the lake receives and absorbs the whole river system of that portion
of the Central African depression whose watershed converges towards the
great reservoir. Burton ascertained that the Rusizi flowed into the lake
at the northern, and the Marungu at the southern extremity, while on the
eastern side he had himself descended the incline for two hundred and forty
miles, until he came to the shores of the lake, and had seen that the
Malagarazi and other rivers flowed into it. He, therefore, conjectured
that Tanganyika had no outlet, suggesting that it maintains its level by an
exact balance of supply and evaporation, and that the freshness of its waters
is accounted for by the saline particles deposited in them being wanting in
some constituent which renders the salt evident to the taste. But the uncer-
tainty gave rise to endless discussion, and the solution of the question was
certainly one of the most important achievements which remained for future
African explorers. Some geographers maintained that the Rusizi flowed out
BS

602 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the north end of the lake, and that consequently Tanganyika was the main
source of the Nile. Others suggested that the outlet was from the eastern
side, and that the Ruaha or Lufiji carried the waters of Lake Tanganyika
to the Indian Ocean; while a third school contended that the lake had no
outlet.

Dr. Livingstone added to the knowledge on the subject which we derive
from Captain Burton’s admirable work. But the health of the great Explorer
was completely worn out when he reached the southern extremity of
Tanganyika in April, 1867, and little reliance can be placed on his observa-
tions, as he says that his head was out of order at the time. He was then
suffering from a severe attack of fever, and in November, 1871, he had lost ail
count of time. In March, 1869, he passed along the west coast of the lake, at
a time when he was again suffering from illness; and during the fourteen
hours of March the 7th, making the voyage against a head wind, and most of
the time in darkness, he appears to have passed that part of the coast where
the outlet actually is. In November, 1871, he made a voyage to the northern
end of the lake, and found that the mouth of the Rusizi is formed of three
branches about twelve to fifteen yards broad, and six feet deep, with a strong
current of two miles an hour. He ascertained that all the rivers round
the northern end flowed into the lake, and thus confirmed Burton’s original
conclusions. Dr. Livingstone himself does not appear to have formed any
definite opinion on the subject of Tanganyika hydrography. At Ujiji
he observed that a current flowed northwards at the rate of nearly a mile an
hour from February to November. Then evaporation is at its strongest, and
the water begins to go gently south, until arrested by the flood from the great
rains in February; so that there is a flow and reflow caused by rains and
evaporation on the surface of a lake three hundred miles in length. At one
time he seems to have thought there was no outlet, for he accounts for the sweet-
ness of the water by the existence of this current flowing ‘‘ through the middle
of the lake lengthways.” At another time he says that he has not the smallest
doubt that the Tanganyika discharges somewhere, though he may not be able
to find the outlet. The question was thus left in a complete state of un-
certainty, and the larger portion of the lake was unsurveyed and unvisited,
when Lieutenant Cameron reached its shores on the 21st February 1874,
exactly sixteen years after their discovery by Captain Burton.

After a careful survey of the southern and unknown portion of the lake,
the young Lieutenant proceeded to explore the western side, and at a dis-
tance of twenty-five miles to the south of the Kasenge Islands, visited by
Speke and Livingstone, he discovered the river which forms the outlet to
Lake Tanganyika on the 3d of May, 1874. This outlet, it appears, is called
Lukugu, and had actually been passed by Livingstone, though in the night-
time, which might account for his having somewhat hastily concluded that

SURVEY OF LAKE TANGANYIKA. 603

the waters flowed into, instead of out of, the lake. Lieutenant Cameron pro-
ceeded for about four or five miles along the stream, the current of which
runs from one to two knots per hour, but further navigation was impeded by
floating grass and large rushes. In a letter to Lord Derby, from Kawele,
Ujiji, May 14, 1874, Lieutenant Cameron says:—‘‘I think, from what I have
heard from the Arabs here, that the Lualaba is the Congo. One important
fact mentioned by my Arab informant requires looking into. He said he
met no English merchants, although he heard of them and of our men-of-war,
as all the white merchants he met traded in slaves. This, if true,would point
to the Spanish and Portuguese merchants on the Congo. Of the vast import-
ance to the trading community of England of the Congo and Lualaba proving
one there is little for me to say, but I will glance over the principal articles
of export. The Guinea palm extends, I believe, from the West Coast to here;
india-rubber is abundant in Manyema; sem sem (from which much so-called
oliye-oil is extracted) grows well wherever cultivated; the castor-oil plant
grows almost wild; ground nuts the same; copper and gold are found in Ka-
tanga ; cotton grows well, and of to or three kinds; coffee is reported to grow
wild; ivory, it is well known, mostly comes from this portion of Africa; there
are many sorts of fibrous substances which might be exported with advantage,
and the various millets and maize grow in such abundance that they would
form a profitable export; rice also grows most luxuriantly wherever culti-
vated. The only obstacles to a free water communication of which I know
are the Yellala Falls and the rapids on the Lualaba, a short way above the
Nyangwe. The Lukuga is at present obstructed with grass, but a way might
easily be cut through that. The trade at present is about here entirely in
the hands of Arabs who, when in Manyema, live nearly entirely by plunder,
and who take the wretched inhabitants as slaves to carry their ivory and
other goods. The efforts of England will, I trust, be successful in putting
down the slave-trade by sea; but at present they leave untouched an equally
crying eyil, the internal trade, which is rapidly depopulating vast districts.
In going round the lake I was constantly shown places where villages had
been, and when I asked where the former inhabitants were, invariably
received the same, ‘ Killed, or carried off for slaves... The price of a slave
is only 5 dotis (20 yards) of calico, while the hire of a passage is 54 from
Unyanyembe here, so that it is far cheaper to buy slaves than to hire porters,
besides which no porters are obtainable in Manyema, and the whole trade
there is carried on by means of slaves. The Arabs take with them a horde of
Wagwana or free men, armed with muskets, and carry a few stores by means
of domestic slaves, and the ivory, of which they obtain large quantities, is all
brought by fresh-caught slaves to Ujiji. The numbers of Arabs settling in
the country is constantly increasing, and they all have large numbers of
slayes for domestic purposes, for cultivating their gardens, and for porters,

604 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Many of those employed as porters only receive rations whilst on journeys,
and when not travelling have to live by plunder. Of the relations between
the various tribes there is little to be said; the agricultural people seldom
make war on each other, unless they get mixed up with the quarrels of the
Arabs, to any great extent; predatory tribes prey on all others indiscrimin-
ately, carrying off slaves, and murdering all who attempt to resist; the cattle
they slaughter at once, and find a ready market for their slaves among the
Arab traders and tribes with whom they are not actually warring. I am
afraid that stopping the export of slaves, although it will diminish the evil in
the districts around the Nyassa, from whence Kilwa draws its principal sup-
lies, will only exacerbate it elsewhere by causing many now engaged in that
trade to settle in the interior, where they will become slaveholders and
traders afresh. In conclusion, let me add that, in my belief, this internal slave-
trade will continue to increase until proper means of communication are
opened up, and the country brought under the influence of civilisation and
legitimate commerce.”

Lieutenant Cameron has thus achieved the honour of solving one of the
great African problems, which previous explorers had failed to solve, by his
discovery of the long-looked for outlet, which all physical geographers had
agreed must exist, as in no other way could the sweetness of the water be
accounted for.

The further discovery of the course of the Coago will be the greatest
achievement that remains to be done on that continent; for the difficulties
are so serious that they can scarcely be exaggerated, and it will call forth
qualities of no ordinary kind to surmount them. Cameron’s first idea was to
have obtained some light canoes, and to have followed down the outlet from
its commencement. He subsequently appears to have determined to make
direct for Nyangwe, across the Manyuema country, and to descend the great
river from that point. He started from Ujiji on his lonely and chivalrous
expedition, on the 20th of last May, and surely he will take the hearty good
wishes of all true Englishmen with him. The undertaking will necessarily
involve great expense, towards which the Council of the Royal Geographical
Society has headed the Cameron Expedition Fund by a subscription of £500.
Many other sympathisers have also come forward, and the amount already
subscribed is £994, or, including the grant of the Council, £21,494.

Lieutenant Grandy, who, by the munificence of Mr. Young, of Kelly,
was sent to try and meet Livingstone on the Congo, by penetrating from the
West Coast by way of Ambriz and Bembe, has found greater difficulty of
penetrating into the interior of the country by that route, and from his com-
paratively early recall on account of the death of Livingstone, he has been
unable, apparently, to achieve any great geographical discovery. His opi-
nion of the Congo is, that there are two main branches, the southern one

EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUTENANT GRANDY. 605

draining Angola, and the northern one being apparently identical with the
Lualaba.

The expedition under Lieutenant Grandy left Liverpool on the 3rd of
November, 1872, arriving at Ambriz in February 1873, where considerable
difficulty was experienced in securing the requisite number of carriers. On
the 23rd of March after a journey of eleven days, they reached Bembe,
where they were very kindly received by the chief, who gave up a portion
of the barracks for the accommodation of the men, as well as a lock-up store
for stowing away their cargoes. Bembe is the most advanced port of the
Portuguese, and from its command of the roads to and from the interior, is
of considerable importance. The fort is in a very dilapidated state, and a
rumour prevailed that the Portuguese intended abandoning it. While at
Bembe Lieutenant Grandy paid a visit to the copper mines, where there
seems still to be a considerable amount of ore. In his published Journal, he
says :—“ Formerly they had an English manager here, and every requisite
machinery, but the manager died, and the Company got into difficulties, and
the whole plant was eventually destroyed by fire. There isa chief at Encoge,
three days south of this place, through whom communication is kept up with
Loanda. The place produces large quantities of good quality coffee, and
fine sheep may also be obtained ; but the climate, from the greater quantity
of rain that falls, is much more unhealthy. . . Paid a visit to the caves,
which are in the same yalley as the mines, but a mile further to the south-
eastward : they are very interesting, and the rocks from which they have been
scooped form a strange feature amongst the surrounding soil of slate and
shale, being composed entirely of limestone. The entrance to the first cave
is by a low, narrow passage, and having arrived at the end, you enter a
circular vaulted chamber about thirty-five feet in diameter and forty feet
high. Beyond this again is another chamber, nearly sixty feet in height,
and also circular. In these caves, it is said, the natives deposited the copper
ore they collected at the mines before the Portuguese took possession. Pass-
ing round to the right, after emerging from the first two chambers, you enter
a second cave of greater extent, but not so singular in shape, the roof gradu-
ally sloping to the ground. We found some few specimens of malachite in
the caves.”

On Wednesday, the 8th March, Lieutenant Grandy left Bembe, and bade
farewell to the chief, of whom he says:—‘‘ I was exceedingly sorrow at part-
ing with the chief, who, in his kindness to our men and selves, has been
almost as a brother. He pressed on me from his small store some rice, wine,
bread, etc., and accompanied me to the first village, where he embraced me,
and wished me Godspeed and good fortune. Our men, I am glad to state,
fell in of their own free will, and one of them, acting as spokesman for the
rest, thanked the chief for his great kindness to them. The chief seemed

606 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

much moved at their gratitude, and said he had never known black men
thankful before.”

On the 15th of April, Lieutenant Grandy reached Congo, where he had
an audience of the king, by whom he was received in great state, the old
king sitting on a chair, under a huge state umbrella, habited in the uniform
of a Portuguese lieutenant, and surrounded by his sons and principal chiefs.
He expressed himself as being very much gratified at being visited by Eng-
lishmen—hoped that many more would follow, and ended with a cordial
invitation to the party to make their home in his town, which Lieutenant
Grandy describes as follows:—‘‘ Congo, or San Salvador of the Portuguese,
is situated on an elevated plateau fifteen thousand feet above the sea level.
It has formerly been an extensive fortified city, surrounded by a loopholed
wall, averaging fifteen feet in height and three feet in thickness, portions of
which are still standing. There are also the ruins of an old church or
cathedral at the north-west portion of the town. The Portuguese held mili-
tary occupation for some years, but abandoned it in 1870, and their forts
and barracks are now ruins, completely overgrown with rank grass and
shrubs. The town is supplied with water from a beautiful spring, which
issues in three small streams from the clay soil half way down the plateau on
the east side of the town. There are very few trees near the town ; bananas,
plantains, and fowls are plentiful and cheap, and the farms of beans, cassava,
and ground-nuts are well kept. There are three markets weekly held near
the town. The Congoese are great snuff-takers, are well clothed, and a
great many speak Portuguese. They are dark coloured and of average
height, but not muscular; indifferently armed with flint muskets and knives,
and very fond of hunting. They make free use of the knife in their quarrels,
not using it as a dagger, but giving long sweeping cuts across the back,
breast, and stomach. They are habitually lazy. The women are decently
clothed, modest and virtuous, and exceedingly industrious. They tend the
farms, look after the house, and cook the meals, whilst the man sits quietly
down and smokes his pipe. Polygamy is general in the country, and a man
is accounted rich according to the number of his wives, who, as soon as
married, select a piece of ground which they industriously farm, the produce
being sold at the markets for beads, cloth, ete. The King of Congo has two
nephews, and, by the laws of the country, one of them, who shall be the
choice of the people, succeeds to the throne. Failing a nephew, the people
elect a king themselves. The sons of the king do not in any way participate,
nor are they entitled to any of his property; but during his lifetime he can
appoint them to chiefships of towns in his kingdom as vacancies occur. The
King of Congo commands the roads from the interior to the coast, and levies
contributions on all ‘chiboukas’ of ivory. He was once a very powerful
chief, and, being supported by the Portuguese, was much respected; but

THE RIVER CONGO. 607

—

since they withdrew from Congo he has been gradually sinking to the level
of other chiefs, and, although he keeps up an outward show of authority, he
has very little power.” Of the River Congo, Lieutenant Grandy observes :—
‘‘ The Congo, which is one of the grandest rivers of the universe, and still
awaits exploration, is navigable for steamers to a distance of one hundred and
ten miles from its mouth, even in the dry season ; it floods twice annually, the
first and great rise taking place from 10th of September to the 23rd of Decem-
ber, the second from first week in March till nearly the end of June. In 1873
it only rose nine feet six inches with the first flooding, and two feet with the
second. A very low run was expected at the end of August of this year,
owing to the small quantity of rain which fell. There are hundreds of canoes
on this river, some of them capable of carrying three tons of cargo. A very
large trade in nuts and oil is carried on with them between Boma and the
towns and markets above the factories. ‘The natives are very skilful in the
handling of their canoes, yet a great number of lives are lost annually through
the swamping of their frail craft by whirlpools. They stand to paddle, sing-
ing the while. The large canoes have two men to steer, and six to paddle;
they chose the early morning for descending the river when there is no wind.
The fishermen use nets shaped like a spoon, and choose dark nights for their
work, one man holding a lighted brand over the water, whilst the other dips
up the fish attracted by the glare with the net.”

Notwithstanding the professions of friendship by the King of Congo, he
proved utterly powerless to secure a sufficient number of carriers to enable
the party to prosecute their journey. Lieutenant Grandy says:—‘“‘ I began to
fear we never should get out of Congo; the disaffected people were constantly
bringing in reports that chiefs whose towns we had to pass had sent word
that they intended to fire upon and exterminate the whole party, and there-
fore carriers had better not come with us. These, and like stories, which it
would be tedious to repeat, lost us a whole month of the best season of the
year.” After innumerable delays, and vexations enough to try the spirit of
any Job, Lievtenant Grandy succeeded in collecting together a sufficient
number of carriers, and, on the 21st June, he left Congo. Proceeding in a
northerly direction, he passed through several inconsiderable towns and vil-
lages; and haying crossed the Quilo and Luanga rivers, the party at length
reached Tungwa, which Lieutenant Grandy declares to be by far the most
populous and best-built town he had seen. ‘‘ The streets are regularly laid
out and cleanly; the people are ivory traders, and the whole place has an
appearance of prosperity. Our interpreter said the chief had in his house
chairs, tables, and every article of Kuropean manufacture that is traded with,
and lives in comparative luxury. He looked upon our presents as being very
insignificant. The estimated population is about one thousand six hundred.
The river, which rises from a fountain about eight miles eastward of the town,

608 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

flows round three sides of it, the fourth having a background of hills, the
slopes of which are cultivated. Since crossing the Quilo River, we have
noticed that the natives are smaller in stature and of a lighter colour, this
being especially remarkable with the Tungwa people. Banza Macoota, the resi-
dence of the king, is a large manufacturing town lying in the valley to the
northward of the Tungwa; itis noted for pottery, pipes, mats, and grass
cloths. The surrounding country is very fertile and well-cultivated, pro-
ducing sugar-cane, corn, ground-nuts, mandioca, yams, beans, etc; poultry,
sheep, and goats, are also plentiful.

The marriage customs of the inhabitants of some of the villages beyond
Congo are rather peculiar :—‘‘ As soon as a young man has built himself
a house, and can assure the parents of the girl that he has sufficient
money to keep a wife, he can marry. Girls are betrothed at their birth, and
the intended husband continues to make presents to the parents, and give
cloths to the girl, until she arrives at the age of puberty, when she is handed
over to him. In the event of a married man dying, if he has a younger
brother, his estate and wives are handed over to him. If there is no brother,
the wives go back to their parents, and the children are supported by the
deceased man’s family, and his property sold. They keep no account of the
children’s ages after they are two years old. A man is not allowed by ‘ fetish’
to cohabit with his wife after the birth of a child until it can walk alone. In
many villages there is what is called a young man’s house. When a boy is
about eleven or twelve years old, he leaves his parents’ house for this place
(only returning for his meals), where he lives with the other young men until
he marries.”

Baffled by the opposition of the native chiefs in carrying out his mission,
Lieutenant Grandy was waiting on the Congo River for the recurrence of
the proper season for a renewed attempt, for which his arrangements were
completed, when he was informed of Dr. Livingstone’s death; and having
received a letter of recall from the Royal Geographical Society, he at once
made preparations for returning to England, very much regretting the idea of
leaving his work when all seemed so full of promise.

CHAPTER XXV.

Description of Zanzibar—Its Commercial Advantages and Prospects—Mr. Stanley's
Interview with the Sultan of Zanzibar—Capture of an Arab Slave Dhow—
Organisation of a New Exploring Expedition, under Mr. Stanley—Proposed
foute, etc.

| in a previous portion of this work we gave an account of Sir Bartle

Frere’s Mission from the English Government to Zanzibar, and of the
successful conclusion of a treaty, by which the slave-trade, both foreign and
domestic, ceased to be recognised or supported by the Sultan of Zanzibar
and his brothers on the East Coast of Africa. The conversation which is
recorded in the following letter from Mr. Stanley, the joint commissioner of
the ‘‘New York Herald” and “The Daily Telegraph,” as having taken
place between him and the Sultan of Zanzibar, is full of interest, and is
well worthy of careful perusal and consideration. It would be well for the
Sultan of Zanzibar, instead of mourning over the loss of the gains which he
formerly derived from the traffic in slaves, to devote his attention to the
development of legitimate traffic, by utilising those rivers debouching along
the coast spoken of by Mr. Stanley. That there isan immense future opening
for Zanzibar cannot be doubted, but it depends, as does the salvation of
Africa, upon the relentless, the uncompromising, the final extirpation of
slavery, external and internal. To Mr. Stanley also we are indebted for a
most interesting word-picture of this great African Kmporium, which bids fair
to become the Alexandria of the Eastern Coast. In the first of two long
letters, published in *‘ The Daily Telegraph,” dated Zanzibar, Nov. 15, 1874,
Mr. Stanley says :-—

‘For the last four or five years the island and town called Zanzibar
have been very prominently before the public. The rigorous measures pur-
sued by the British Government for the suppression of the slave-trade on this
coast, and the appeals of Livingstone on behalf of the aboriginal African,
have made Zanzibar a well-known name. Previous to this time it was com-
paratively unknown—as little known, indeed, as the polysyllabic name by
which it is described in the Periplus of Arrian. ‘The mention of Zanguebar,
Zanji-bar—or, as it is now called, Zanzibar—produced very little interest.
Some few people there were who remembered there was such a name in very
big characters on the map of the world, occupying a large strip on the east
side of Africa, seen during their school-boy days, but what that name indi-
cated or comprehended very few knew or cared. They thought that it might
be a very wild land, peopled with cannibals and the like, no doubt; for I

c3

610 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

remember well, when I first returned from Africa, that a great number of
those gentlemen who frequent clubs and fashionable societies often asked me,
‘Where the deuce is Zanzibar? There were people, however, who prospered
and grew rich on the ignorance of their white brothers, so woefully deficient
in elementary geographical knowledge. These were the staid old merchants
of London, New York, Salem, and Hamburg, who had agents living at Zan-
zibar, unobtrusively collecting precious cargoes of African productions, and
shipping them home to their employers, who sold them again quietly and
unobtrusively to manufacturers at enormous profits. Great sums of money
were made for many years by these old merchants until the slave-trade ques-
tion began to be agitated and Livingstone’s fate became a subject of inquiry.
At this date a Committee of the House of Commons held a protracted sitting,
sifting every item of information relating to the island and its prospects, its
productions, commerce, ete., and the ‘New York Herald’ despatched a special
commissioner in search of Livingstone, one result of whose mission was the
publication of the name of Zanzibar far and wide. Captain Burton has also
written two large volumes, which bear the conspicuous title of ‘ Zanzibar,’
in large gold letters, on their backs; but very few copies of this work, I ima-
gine, have found their way among the popular classes. I mean to try in
the present letter to convey a description of the island, its Prince, and such
subjects in relation to them, as will suit any mind likely to take an interest
in reading it. De Horsey’s ‘ African Pilot’ describes Zanzibar as being an
island forty-six miles in length by eighteen miles in width at its greatest
breadth, though its average breadth is not more than from nine to twelve
miles. The ‘ African Pilot’ and None’s ‘ Epitome’ place tie island in south
latitude 6° 27 42’, and in east longitude 39° 32’ 57’, but the combined navi-
gating talent on board her Majesty’s surveying ship Nassau locates Zanzi-
bar in south latitude 6° 9’ 36’, and east longitude 39° 14’ 43". Between the
island and the mainland runs a channel from twenty to thirty miles in width,
well studded with coral islands, sandbars, sandbanks, and coral reefs.

‘“‘ The first view the stranger obtains of Zanzibar is of low land covered
with verdure. If he has been much informed concerning the fevers which
trouble the white traveller in equatorial Africa, he is very likely to be im-
pressed in his own mind that the low land is very suggestive of it; but a
nearer view is more pleasing, and serves to dispel much of the vague fear or
uneasiness with which he has approached the dreaded region of ill-health and
sorrow. The wind is gentle and steady which fills the vessel’s sails; the
temperature of the air is moderate, perhaps at 70° or 75° Fahrenheit ; the sky
is of one cerulean tint; the sea is not troubled and scarcely rocks the ship;
the shore is a mass or vivid green; the feathery fronds of palm trees, and
the mango’s towering globes of foliage relieve the monotony; while the
gleaming white houses of the rich Arabs heighten the growing pleasure with

DESCRIPTION OF ZANZIBAR. 611

the thought that the ‘fever may not be so bad as people say it is.’ Proceed-
ing southward through the channel that separates Zanzibar from the continent,
and hugging the shore of the island, you will many times be gratified by
most pleasant tropical scenes, and by a strange fragrance which is borne from
the leaf-clad island—a fragrance which may remind you of ‘ Ceylon’s spicy
isle.’ With a good glass you will be able to make out first the cocoa palm and
the deep dark green orb of foliage which the mango raises above when the tree
is in its prime, the graceful bombax, and the tall taramind, while numbers of
gigantic trees of some kind loom over masses of mabe eos shrubbery. Bits
of cultivated land, clusters of huts, solitary ¢embes, gardens, and large square
white houses, succeed each other quickly, until your attention is attracted by
the sight of shipping in the distance ; and near by, growing larger and larger
every moment, is the city of Zanzibar, the greatest commercial mart on the
East Coast of Africa. Arrived in the harbour, you will find the vessel anchors
about four hundred yards from the town, close to a few more European ships,
and perhaps a British man-of-war or two; while a number of queer-looking
eraft, which you will style ‘native,’ lie huddled between your own vessel
and the shore. ‘These native boats are of various tonnage and size, from the
unwieldy Arab trading dhow, with two masts leaning inelegantly and un-
trimly towards the bows, while the towering after-part reminds you of the
pictures of ships in the Spanish Armada, to the lengthy, low, and swift-look-
ing mpete, which when seen going before the wind, seems to be skimming the
sea like a huge white seagull.

“Beyond the native fleet of trading Muscat dhows, Kilwa slavers,
Pangani wood-carriers, and those vessels which carry passengers to the main-
land, the town of Zanzibar rises from the beach in a nearly crescent form, white,
glaring and unsymmetrical. The narrow, tall, white-washed house of the
reigning Prince, Burghash binSaid, towers almost in the centre of the first line
of buildings; close to it on the right, as you stand looking at the town from
shipboard, is the saluting battery, which numbers some thirty guns or there-
abouts; and behind rises a mere shell of a dingy old Portuguese fort, which
might almost be knocked into pieces by a few rounds from Snider muskets.
Hard by the water battery is the German Consul’s house, as neat as clean
white-wash can make an Arab building, and next to this edifice rises the
double residence and offices of her Britannic Majesty’s Assistant Political
Resident, surmounted by the most ambitious of flagstaffs. Next comes an
English merchant’s house, and then the buildings occupied by Mr. Augustus
Sparhawk, the agent of the great house of John Bertram and Co., of Salem,
Massachusetts ; while between the English merchant’s house and the Bertram
agency, in neighbourly proximity, is seen the snow-white house of Mr.
Frederick M. Cheney, agent of Arnold, Hines, & Co., of New York; and
beyond all, at the extreme right, on the far end of the crescent, at Shangani

612 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Point, appears in isolated vastness the English Residency, which was formerly
the house of Bishop Tozer and his scanty flock of youthful converts. If you
start again from that central and prominent point, the Palace of his Highness,
and intend to take a searching view of the salient objects of observation along
the sea front of the town, you will observe that to the left of the water battery
are a number of sheds roofed with palm fronds, and that in front of these is
about the only thing resembling a wharf visible on the beach. This, you will
be told, is the Zanzibar Custom House. There may be a native dhow dis-
charging her cargo, and lines of burly strong labourers come and go—go and
come—continually bearing to the Custom House bales, packages, ivory tusks,
and what not, and returning for fresh burdens; while on the wharf turbaned
Arabs and long-shirted half-castes either superintend the work, or, from idle
curiosity, stand by to look on. Moving the eye leftward of the Custom House
to a building of noble dimensions, you will see that mixture of richness of
woodwork with unkempt slovenliness and general untidiness or semi-decay,
which attracts the traveller in almost all large Turkish and Arab houses,
whether in Turkey, Egypt, or Arabia. » This is the new Palace of Prince
Burghash. The dark-brown verandah, with its open lattice work, interlaced
bars of wood, and infinitesimal carving—the best work of an Arab artisan—
strikes one as peculiarly adapted for a glowing climate like this of Zanzibar.
But if the eye surmounts that woodwork it will find itself shocked at observ-
ing the half-finished roof and the seams of light which fall through it, and
the dingy whitewash and the semi-ruinous state of the upper part of the struc-
ture. A little left of this, stand two palatial buildings, which for size dwarf
even the British Residency. One is the house of Nassur bin Said, the Prime
Minister of his Highness; the other is inhabited by the Sultan’s harem. Be-
yond these large buildings are not many more. The compact line of solid
buildings becomes broken by unsightly sheds with thatched roofs. This is the
Melinde quarter, a place devoted to the sale of fish, fruit, etc., to which new
European arrivals are banished to seek residences among the few stone houses
to be found there. Past Melinde is the shallow Malagash inlet—the cause, I
may say the main, perhaps the only cause of the unhealthiness of the town
of Zanzibar—and beyond the Malagash inlet extends the country, like a rich,
prolific garden, teeming with tropical plants and trees, sloping gently upward
as far as the purpling ridges of Elaysu.

‘“‘Such is Zanzibar and its suburbs to the new arrival, as he attempts to
note down his observations from shipboard. Descending the side ladder, he
is rowed ashore, and if he has a letter of introduction is welcomed by some
‘noble specimen of a British merchant,’ or an ‘ American merchant of thirty-
five or forty years’ standing,’ or a British official, or by one of those indescrib-
ables who have found their way into Zanzibar, and who patiently bide for the
good time that is reported and believed to be coming ; for I find that Zanzibar,

DESCRIPTION OF ZANZIBAR. 613

instead of attracting the real merchant, has, since my last visit, but changed
its European inutiles. When I was here before I meta living specimen of the
happy and sanguine Micawber class. He is gone, but another fills his place.
One can scarcely dare say anything good of Zanzibar, or of any other place,
without attracting the wrong class of persons; and, as I am on this topic, I
may as well specify what class can be benefited pecuniarily by immigration
to Zanzibar. To an enterprising man of capital Zanzibar, and the entire sea-
line of the Sultan’s dominions, offer special advantages. A person with a
capital of £5,000 might soon make his £20,000 out of it, but not by bringing
his money and his time and health to compete with great rich mercantile
houses of many years’ standing and experience, and settling at Zanzibar,
vainly attempting to obtain the custom of the natives, who are perfectly con-
tent with their time-honoured white friends, when the entire coast-line of the
mainland invites his attention, his capital, his shrewdness, and his industry.
The new arrival must do precisely what the old merchants did when they com-
menced business. He must go where there is no rivalry, no competition, if
he expects to have a large business and quick returns for his money. He must
bring his river steamer of light draught, and penetrate the interior by the
Rufiji, the Pangani, the Mtwana, or the Jub, and purchase the native produce
at first cost, and re-sell to the large mercantile houses of Zanzibar, or ship
home. The copal of the Rufiji plain, accessible, as I know by experience, to
a light-draught steamer, is now carried on the shoulders of natives to Dar
Salaam and Mbuamaju, to be sold to the Banyans, who re-ship it to Zanzibar,
and there re-sell to the European merchant. The ivory trade of Unyamwezi is
brought down close to Mbumi Usagara, which is accessible in a light-draught
steamer by the Wami. The ivory trade of Masai, and the regions north, is
carried down through a portion of the Pangani Valley, and the Pangani for
a short distance is also navigable, and furnishes a means of enabling the white
merchant to overreach his more settled white brothers at Zanzibar. The Jub
river, next to the Zambesi, is the largest river on the East Coast of Africa,
while it is comparatively unknown. Arab caravans penetrate the regions
south of it, and obtain large quantities of ivory and hides. Why should not
the white merchant attempt to open legitimate trade in the same articles by
means of the river? When John Bertram, of Salem, Massachusetts, came to
Zanzibar, some forty years ago, there was not a single European house here.
He was an officer of a whaling vessel when he saw this large town, with its
splendid opportunities for commencing a mercantile business. On arriving
home, he invested the results of his venture in chartering a small vessel with
goods, such as would meet a ready sale in Zanzibar. The speculation turned
out to be a fine one; he repeated it, and then established an agency at
Zanzibar, while he himself resided at Salem to conduct the business at home,
to receive the cargoes from Zanzibar, and ship cloth and other goods to his

614 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

agency out here. The business which the young whaler started continued to
thrive. Agent succeeded agent as each man went home, after a few years’
stay in Zanzibar, to enjoy the fruit of his labours. Boys sent out to learn the
business become responsible clerks, then head agents, and subsequently opulent
merchants, and so on from year to year, until John Bertram can point with
just pride to his own millions and the long list of men whom he taught, en-
couraged, sustained by his advice, and enriched. The moral of all this is,
that what John Bertram, of Salem, did at Zanzibar can be done by any large-
minded, enterprising Englishman or American on the mainland of Africa.
Nay ; as there is a larger field on the mainland, and as he can profit by the
example of Bertram, he can do more.

‘Men experienced in the ways of Oriental life need not to be told in de-
tail how people live in Zanzibar, or how the town appears within, or what the
Arabs and half-castes and Wanguana know of sanitary laws. Zanzibar is
not the best, the cleanliest, or the prettiest town I have ever seen; nor, on the
other hand, is it the worst, the filthiest, or the ugliest town. While there is
but little to praise or glorify in it, there is a good deal to condemn, and while
you censure it, you are very likely to feel that the cause for condemnation is
irremediable and hopeless. But the Kuropean merchants find much that is
endurable at Zanzibar. It is not nearly the intolerable place that the smelted
rocks of Aden have made Steamer Point, nor has it the parboiling atmosphere
of Bushire or Busrah, nor is it cursed by the merciless heat of Ismailia or Port
Said. If you expose yourself to the direct rays of the sun of Zanzibar for a
considerable time, it would be as fatal for you as though you did an unwise
thing on the Aden isthmus. Within doors, however, life is tolerable—nay, it
is luxuriously comfortable. _We—I mean Europeans—have numbers of ser-
vants to wait on us to do our smallest bidding. If we need a light for our
cigars, or our walking-cane, or our hats when we go out, we never think of
getting these things for ourselves, or of doing anything which another could
do for us. We have only the trouble of telling our servants what to do, and
even of this trouble we would gladly be relieved. One great comfort to us
out here is that there is no society to compel us to imprison our necks within
linen collars, or half-strangle ourselves with a silken tie, or to be anxious
about any part of our dress. The most indolent never think of shifting their
night pyjamas until nearly midday. Indeed, we could find it in our hearts
to live in them altogether, except that we fear a little chaff from our neigh-
bours. Another luxury we enjoy out here which may not always be obtained
in Europe without expense. What think you of a salt-water bath morning,
noon, and evening, just before dinner? Our servants fill our tubs for us, for
our residences stand close to the sea, and it is neither trouble nor expense, if
we care at all for the luxury, to undress in the cool room, and take a few
minutes’ cooling in the tub. Though we are but a very small colony of

DESCRIPTION OF ZANZIBAR. 615

whites, we resemble, miscroscopically, society at home. We have our good
men, and true, and sociable men; we have large-hearted hospitable men, our
peg-giving friends, our hail-fellows-well-met, and perambulating gossips. Our
houses are large, roomy, and cool; we have plenty of servants ; we have good
fruit on the island; we enjoy health while we have it; and with our tastes,
education, and natural love of refinement, we have contrived to surround our-
selves with such luxuries as serve to prolong good health, peace of mind, and
life, and Inshallah! shall continue to do so while we stay in Zanzibar. The
above is but the frank, outspoken description of himself, that might be given
by a dignified and worthy Zanzibar merchant of long standing, and of Euro-
pean extraction. And your Commisioner will declare that it is as near truth
as though the Zanzibar merchant of long standing and experience had written
it himself.

‘“‘ Now we have had the Europeans of Zanzibar, their houses, and mode
and law of life described, let us get into the street and endeavour to see for
ourselves the nature of the native and the Semitic resident, and ascertain
how far they differ from the Anglo-American sublimities. As we move away
towards the Seyyid’s Palace, we gradually become conscious that we have
left the plastered streets with their small narrow gutters, which re-echoed our
footsteps so noisily. The tall houses where the Europeans live, separated by
but a narrow passage ten feet wide, shut out the heat and dazzling glare
which otherwise the clean whitewashed walls would have reflected. When
we leave these behind we come across the hateful blinding sunlight, and our
nostrils become irritated by an amber-coloured dust, from the ‘ garbling’ of
copal and orchilla weed, and we are sensible of two separate smells which
affect the senses. One is the sweet fragrance of cloves, the other is the odour
which a crowd of slaves bearing clove bags exhale from their perspiring bodies.
Shortly we come across an irregular square blank in the buildings which had
hemmed us in from the sunlight. A fetid garbage heap, debris of mud houses,
sugar-cane leavings, orange and banana peelings, make piles which, festering
and rotting in the sun, are unsightly to the eye and offensive to the nostrils.
And just by we see the semi-ruinous Portuguese fort, a most feeble and dila-
pidated structure. Several rusty and antique cannon lie strewn along the
base of its front wall, and a dozen or so of dusky and beggarly-looking half-
castes, armed with long straight swords and antique Muscat matchlocks, affect
to be soldiers and guardians of the gate. Fortunately, however, for the peace
of the town and the reigning Prince, the prisoners whom the soldiers guard are
mild mannered and gentle enough, few of them having committed a worse
crime than participating in a bloodless street brawl, or being found intoxi-
cated in the street. Passing the noisy and dusty Custom House, with its
hives of singing porters at work, and herds of jabbering busybodies, nobodies,
and somebodies, we shortly arrive at the Palace, where we might as well

616 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

enter, and see how it fares with his Highness Burghash bin Said, the Prince
of Zanzibar and Pemba. As we may have merely made an appointment
with him, as private citizens of a free and independent foreign Court, and are
escorted only by a brother citizen of the same rank, etiquette forbids that the
Seyyid should come down into the street to receive his visitor. Were we her
Britannic Majesty’s Consul or Political Resident, his-Highness would deem it
but due to our official rank to descend into the street and meet us exactly
twenty-four steps from the palace door. Were we an Envoy Extraordinary,
the Prince would meet us some fifty or seventy-five paces from his gate. We
are but private citizens, however, and the only honour we get is an exhibition
of the guards—Beloochis, Persians, and half-castes—drawn up on each side of
the door, their uniforms consisting of lengthy, butternut-coloured dishdashehs,
or shirts, which reach from the nape of the neck to the ancles of each.

““ We have ascended a flight of steep wooden steps when we discover the
Prince, ready to receive us with his usual cordial and frank smile and pleasant
greeting ; and during a shower of good-natured queries respecting our health
we are escorted to the other end of the barely furnished room, where we are
invited to be seated. I have had (adopting the first person singular again) a
long conversation with the Prince of Zanzibar; but, omitting all extraneous
matter, I shall only touch upon such portion of our conversation as relates to
a subject in which we are all interested, viz., the slave-trade, and the diplo-
matic mission of Sir Bartle Frere. We have all read the dispatches of Sir
Bartle, relating his intercourse officially with the Sultan of Zanzibar; we have
also heard from his own lips his views upon Kast African slavery ; but none
of your readers have heard the story of the Sultan himself, with his views of
slavery and of the mission of Sir Bartle Frere. Without pretence of literal
and exact record of what the Sultan said, I yet declare that the spirit of what
he said will be found embodied in the following :—‘ During Majid, my
brother’s time, Speke came here, and travelled into Africa, and what he said
about us Arabs caused us a little trouble. The Consuls too have given us
great trouble. Some have written home much that is not quite true; but
some time ago my brother Majid died, and by the grace of God I succeeded
him. The trouble which my brother Majid endured was as nothing compared
to that which has been the result of Doctor Livingstone’s letters. I maintain
that those letters you brought from him and carried to England were the
cause of all this great trouble. Indeed, I have had a troublous time of it
ever since I came to the throne. First, there was the hurricane of two years
ago (April, 1872), which destroyed my entire fleet and all the ships of my
people, and devastated the island and the coast. We were well off before
that time, and we became suddenly poor. I had seven ships and steamers of
war lost, and my people lost about two hundred ships; and if you doubt my
word respecting the devastation on the land, take one of my horses and ride

DESCRIPTION OF ZANZIBAR. 617

out into the country that you may see for yourself. In the midst of the
desolation and ruin which had overtaken us we heard that the former Gover-
nor of Bombay, Sir Bartle Frere, was coming out to talk to us about the
slavye-trade. Now, you white people must understand that all Arabs trade in
slayes—that they have done so from the beginning. Our Koran does not say
it is a sin; our priests say nothing against it; the wise men of Mecca say
nothing against it; our forefathers traded in slaves, and we followed their
footsteps and did likewise. But my father, Said Said, and my brothers,
Thouweynee, Majid, and Toorkee, were friends with the English, and the
English gave them advice and got them to sign treaties not to trade in slaves
any more. To the treaty that my brothers signed I gave my consent freely
when I came to the throne, for I have always been a friend to the English
and to Englishmen. When Sir Bartle Frere came here we were in sore dis-
tress, and very poor. He asked me tosign a treaty that no slave-trade should
be permitted in my country. When I consulted my chiefs, they held their
hands out to me, and said, ‘ We have nothing, we are poor; but if the English
will give us time—say a year or so—we are quite willing to sign that which
they ask us.’ [repeated to Sir Bartle what my chiefs were willing to do, and
I asked him to give us time, such as they gave the Portuguese; but Sir Bartle,
in his hurry to get us to sign the treaty, overlooked the distress we were in
from the hurricane. Time and time again I asked that he would give us but
a few months to consider and prepare for this final stroke of misfortune ; but
he would not listen; he was deaf to me. Continually he said to me, ‘Sign
this treaty.’ I was quite willing to sign it, though by signing it I was losing
about £4,000 a year revenue; but my people could not understand this haste
of Sir Bartle Frere to get the treaty signed without giving us time to think
of it. We all knew that the English could do what they wanted to do in
Zanzibar; if they took the island, we were too poor and weak to resist; if
they destroyed us all, we could not help it. All we could have done would
have been to consign our cause to God, and submit. Sir Bartle Frere went
away angry. I cannot help it; but I grieve that he should be angry with me
for what I could not help. One of the things he asked me to give my con-
sent to was that I should assist the English in putting down the slave-trade.
How can I assist the English? I have no ships asI had formerly, or I would
willingly do so. Soon after Sir Bartle Frere went away an English fleet
came toourharbour. ‘The English Admiral (Rear-Admiral Arthur Cumming)
and Dr. Kirk came to see me about the orders they had received from the
Foreign Office to stop the slave-trade. They both advised me, as friends, to
sign his treaty. I got my people’s consent to do so and I signed it—not
because I was afraid of the English ships, for if the English came to Zanzibar,
and said, ‘We want thisisland,’ I would not resist them, for I know that
they are strong and I am weak—but because the English Admiral and Dr.
D3

618 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

_ =

Kirk advised me as friends, for they knew my poverty and understood my
case better than I could have told them.’

‘Such is the story of the Sultan without embellishment, and I dare say
that Sir Bartle Frere will endorse most of it, if not all. Now, however, that
the treaty has been signed, and England’s indignation at the Seyyid’s first
refusal to concede to her demands, has been appeased, strict justice requires,
in his opinion, that the Prince shall in some measure be requited for the con-
cession he made. This is not merely his opinion, nor is it only my definition
of what justice demands, in this case; but it is the outspoken and frank declar-
ation of several eminent English gentlemen with whom I have conversed. They
say that the Prince should be indemnified, for this concession on his part, with
some grant of money or aid, in some form or another, for sacrificing to Eng-
land’s views of what is right and wrong an eighth portion of his revenue.
That the plea that England may use, that she guaranteed Prince Burghash’s
release from the annual subsidy of 40,000 crowns to his brother at Muscat,
cannot be employed at all, as England herself had imposed this sum on the
Zanzibar Sultan in order that her commerce might not be endangered in the
fratricidal war which might ensue on Prince Burghash’s refusal to pay this
heavy subsidy ; and that it is doubtful whether Prince Toorkee could ever
summon sufficient force to compel Prince Burghash to pay him a single coin.
With which views just men will not failto agree. The presents which Sir Bartle
Frere and his suite brought to Zanzibar for presentation to the Sultan were,
again, hardly worthy of the nation, which, no doubt, intended to act gene-
rously, or of the representative of her Britannic Majesty which conveyed them,
and of the Prince for whom they were purchased. Well enough, no doubt, for
the petty potentate of Jobama, who ultimately received them, but not for the
Sovereign of Zanzibar and Pemba, anda thousand miles of coast, with whom
a British envoy was charged to negotiate. It is not common sense to suppose
that any private citizen would look indulgently upon any proposition which
required of him to sacrifice £4,000 a year of his income in consideration of a
few petty gifts which did not exceed over a few hundred pounds in value at
the most, any more than that Prince Burghash should. Yet this is precisely
what Sir Bartle Frere was charged to propose by the Foreign Office in his
late mission to Zanzibar. Owing to the losses incurred by him and his people
during the hurricane of 1872, and the sacrifice of a large portion of his reve-
nue by the demands of England, the Prince of Zanzibar suffers from strait-
ness of income and ready money. He has leased the customs to Jewram
Sujee, a Banyan, during a term of years, for a very insufficient sum. He is
sorely troubled with the native war in Unyamwezi, which prevents the ivory
from arriving at the sea. His private estates a1e mere wrecks of what they
once were, and the real pecuniary condition of Prince Burghash may be
summed upas truly deplorable. Now, a present of two condemned gunboats,

DESCRIPTION OF ZANZIBAR. 619

or any two vessels of war, such as the Admiralty has almost always on hand for
sale cheap for cash, would be a god-send to the Sultan of Zanzibar, and a round
sum of a few thousands of pounds, given to him as a sign of friendship and
good-will, might obyiate in some measure the necessity of the large expense
which England incurs annually in her laudable endeavours to suppress the
slaye-trade. There are several ways of regarding such a proposition, but it
will not appear outrageous to the candid reader if he reads the above facts
dispassionately, and without prejudice. It is a good adage which advises
that we should choose the lesser of two evils, and every body will admit that
if England could purchase the hearty co-operation of the Zanzibar Sultan
with a timely and needful present, in the philanthropic scheme which England
has so long attempted to enforce on the East African Coast, it would be less
expensive than supporting a large squadron at an expense of several thousand
of pounds per annum. And now that the slave-trade is carried on inland, it
is more necessary than ever that Seyyid Burghash’s good-will should be
seeured. Without the aid that England could give the Prince, I doubt much
whether, however friendly disposed he may be, he can do anything to assist
in suppressing the trade for the reasons already given.

‘‘ Durning again to other topics, I may as well sketch the Prince before
bowing him my adieu. He is now in the prime of life, probably about forty-
two years old, of vigorous and manly frame, and about five feet nine inches
in height. He is a irank, cordial, and good-natured gentleman, with a
friendly brusqueness in his manner to all whom he has no reason to regard
with suspicion. He wears the usual linen dress of the Arabs, with his waist
cinctured by a rich belt of plaited gold, which supports the crooked dagger
generally borne by an Arab gentlemen. Over his linen dress he wears a
long black cloth coat, the edges of which are trimmed with narrow gold braid.
His head-dress is the usual ample turban of the Arab, and completing in his
person a somewhat picturesque figure. It would be difficult to choose a Prince
with whom diplomatic relations could be carried on so easily, provided
always that the diplomat remembered that the Prince was an Arab and a
Moslem gentlemen. Politeness will always effect more than rudeness with a
well-bred Arab. In whatever school of deportment these old British Admirals
who, over a steely firmness wear such urbanity, are brought up, it might be
recommended that diplomats charged with delicate negotiations should be
sent there too, to learn lessons of true politeness. There is, however, one
phase in Prince Burghash’s character which presents a difficulty in dealing
with him, and that is his fanaticism. Ever since he undertook the journey to
Mecca, he has shown himself an extremely fervid Moslem, indisposed to do
anything or attempt anything not recommended in the Koran. A prince of
more liberal religious views might have had an opportunity during the late
diplomatic negotiation of permanently bettering himself and his people; but

620 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Burghash was restrained by his extreme religious scruples from asking any
aid of England.

‘‘ Before closing this letter, I should like to ask the reader to accompany
me as far as the ridges of Elaysu. The path which we choose lies through
cultivated tracts and groves of fruit trees that stretch on either side of it,
thickening as they recede, and growing intensely deep and umbrageous, even
to the depth and intensity of a forest. We note the sad effects of the hurri-
cane in the prostrate and fast-rotting trunks of the cocoa-nut palm, and the
vast number of trees which lean from the perpendicular, and threaten before
long to fall. We observe these things with a good deal of pity for the
country, the people, and the poor unfortunate Prince; and we also think what
a beautiful and happy place this Isle of Zanzibar might be made under a wise
and cultivated ruler. If such a change as now visible in Mauritius, with all
its peaks and mountains, and miles of rugged ground, can be effected, what
might not be done with Zanzibar, where there are no mountains nor peaks
nor rugged ground, but gentle undulations and low ridges eternally clothed
in summer green verdure! At every point, at every spot, you see something
improvable, something that might be made very much better than it now is.
And so we ride on with such reflections, which are somewhat assisted, no
doubt, by the ever-crooked path that darts towards all points of the compass
in sudden and abrupt windings. But the land and the trees are always
beautiful and always tropical. Palms and orange groves are everywhere,
with a large number of plantains, mangoes, and fruit trees; the sugar cane,
the Indian corn, the cassava, are side by side with the holcus sorghum, and
there is a profusion of verdure and fruit and grain wherever we turn our eyes.
Shortly we arrive at the most picturesque spot on the Island of Zanzibar—
Elaysu, or Ulayzu, as some call it, every inch of which, if the island were in
the possession of the white man, would be worth a hundred times more than
it is now, for its commanding elevation, for the charming views of sea and
land and town its summit presents, for its healthiness, and its neighbourhood
to town, whence it is five or six miles distant. What cosy, lovable, pretty
cottages, might be built on the ridge of Klaysu, amid palms and never-sere
foliage, among flowers and carol of birds, deep in shade of orange and mango
trees! How white men and white women would love to dream on verandahs,
with open eyes, of their far-away homes, made far pleasanter by distance
and memory, while palms waved and rustled to gentle evening breezes, and
the sun descended to the west amid clouds of aJl colours! Yes, Elaysu is
beautiful, and the receding ridges, with their precipitous ravines fringed
with trees and vegetation, are extremely picturesque—nay, some short bits
of scenery which we view across the white glaring bars of sunlight are per-
fectly idyllic in their modest beauty.”

How painful to turn away from this beautiful scene, which the writer

CAPTURE OF AN ARAB SLAVE DHOW. 621

depicts with such graphic power, to another, the horrors of which the Sul-
tan of Zanzibar would willingly prolong, for the sake of the accursed gains
which he and his chiefs have so long derived from the traffic in slaves, although
it is the very root of the evil which is gnawing at the vitals of the prosperity
of his kingdom, and paralysing, by its seductive and benumbing influence, all
the effort and enterprise of his subjects, in developing the natural resources
of Central Africa, and in bringing down to the seaboard the commercial
wealth of the interior. The Special Correspondent of the ‘‘ Daily Telegraph,”
in a communication from Mahe, Seychelles, December 16, 1874, gives the
following harrowing details, in connection with the capture of an Arab slave
dhow :—

“« The last batch of slaves rescued from Arab clutches arrived at Seychelles
on Sunday, the 23rd August, 1874. They were re-captured by H.M.S. Vul-
ture—the same ship, by the way, that so recently conveyed the remains of
Livingstone from the continent to Zanzibar. The Vulture was steaming into
Majungel, a post on the east coast of Madagascar, when a large dhow was
made out inshore of the ship. When the Vulture was near enough, a boat,
in charge of a young officer, was sent on board the Arab, whose true character,
and the nature of his cargo, were soon made known. On going below the
men found a framework of bamboo constructed on each side of the hold,
ranging fore and aft, in which two hundred and thirty-eight human beings
were packed, tier upon tier, like bottles in a rack. The occupants of each
tier were placed in the closest personal contact with each other—so much so,
in fact, that, to use the men’s homely phrase, they really ‘were stowed away
like herrings in a cask.’ When taken out and placed upon the deck, their
limbs were useless ; they were seized with vertigo, and fell from sheer inability
to stand. Some were found ina truly shocking condition. One or two young
children were found crushed to death. The lower tier had been laid upon
the sand ballast and was half buried. One poor woman really was buried,
with the exception of her face; her mouth was full of sand, and when taken
out was on the point of suffocation. The mortality among a batch of negroes
must be sometimes frightful, not only on board the dhows, but also during
the journey down from the interior. There wasa woman among this lot who,
if her statement is to be credited, was the only survivor of a numerous band.
Six months since she roamed as free as air in her native village in the middle
of Africa. The Arabs went with fire and sword; the village was burnt, and
the greater number of the women and children were made prisoners. Then
commenced a weary march of four months’ duration. Fresh accessions of
slaves were made as they passed along on their way to the coast. Manacled
women fell by the way side, and being unable to travel, were left to die in
the jungle. Young children withered like plucked leaves, and the Arabs, to
these more merciful, struck off their heads and threw them aside. The woman

622 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

has survived them all, but she is alone. Of all the band captured with her,
she states that she only has escaped alive to tell the sickening tale.”

It is very gratifying to learn from Colonel Gordon, who is engaged in
active measures for the suppression of the slave-trade at Gondokoro, that one
tribe had already sided with bim, and, through their instrumentality, one
thousand six hundred slaves had been captured, which had proved the death-
blow to the slave-trade in that particular district.

In the following letter, written from Zanzibar, Nov. 16, 1874, Mr. Stanley
gives some very important information respecting the organisation, prospects
and intentions of the expedition sent out by the proprietors of the ‘‘ Daily
Telegraph” and ‘‘ New York Herald,” and which was about to commence its
long journey into the heart of unexplored Africa. After a humorous portrai-
ture of the numerous applicants, of all nationalities, who tendered him their
assistance and advice, he says :—

“T never knew how many kind friends I could number until I was about
to sail from England. The White Star Line treated me in the most princely
fashion ; gave me free passages to America and back. The Peninsular and
Oriental Company and the British India, through their obliging agents,
showered courtesy after courtesy on me. Testimonials from hundreds of
gentlemen were thrust on me, and invitations to dinner and dances, and to
‘spend a month or more in the country,’ were so numerous, that if I could
have availed myself of them in succession years must elapse before any hotel
need charge a penny to my account. But though my preparations for the
journey monopolised my time and compelled me to ‘decline with thanks’
these manifold kindnesses, my numerous friends must believe that I am none
the less grateful. 1 departed from England on August 15, loaded with good
wishes, keepsakes, photographs, favours of all kinds. At Aden I met my
white assistants, whom I had despatched from England, va Southampton, in
charge of the boats, ete. My young English assistants had quite got over all
melancholy feelings and were in capital spirits, though they entertained a
doubt whether, if Central Africa were as hot as Aden, they should enjoy it
very much. On my assuring them that they need fear nothing on the score
of heat in Africa after Arabia, they expressed themselves relieved from their
greatest fear. On the British Indian Steamer Euphrates, I was delighted to
find that the Pocock brothers possessed several qualifications beyond those of
sobriety, civility, and industry. I discovered that they were capital singers
and musicians, having belonged to some choir in their native town, where
they were justly much esteemed. The delightful weather we experienced
between Aden and Zanzibar was most grateful after the intense heat of
Steamer Point, and we consequently arrived at Zanzibar on the 22nd of Sep-
tember, almost as fresh and robust as when we left England.

‘“‘'The next morning after I landed, some of my old friends of the furmer

DISTRIBUTION OF PRESENTS. 623

expedition heard of my arrival, and I was much gratified by the good-will they
manifested towards one who had been so stern to them on certain occasions
when naught but sternness of the most extreme kind would have sufficed to
overmaster a disposition they sometimes betrayed to be sullenly disobedient
and mutinous. But they remembered, as well asI did, that, though I was
merciless when they were disposed to be stubborn, I was kind enough to
them when all went fair and well; and they knew that, when the rewards
were distributed, those who had behaved themselves like true men were not
forgotten. The report that I had come was soon bruited through the length
and breadth of the island, and Livingstone’s and my own old dusky comrades
gathered quickly about my good host Mr. Sparhawk’s house, to pay their
respects to me, and, of course, to receive heshimeh, or presents, with which,
fortunately, I had provided myself before leaving England. Here was
Ulimengo, the incorrigible joker and hunter of the Search Expedition, with
his mouth expanding gratefully on this day at the sight of a gold ring which
soon encircled one of his thick black fingers, and a silver chain which held
an ornament, and hung down his broad and muscular chest; here too, was
Rojab, who narrowly escaped destruction for immersing Livingstone’s six
years’ journal in the muddy waters of the Mukondokwa, his ebony face
lighted up with the most extreme good-will towards myself for my munificent
gift; and Manwas Sera also, the redoubtable ambassador of Speke and my
most faithful messenger, who had once braved a march of six hundred miles
with his companion, Sarmine, in my service, and Livingstone’s most devoted
captain on his last journey ; he was speechless with gratitude, because I had
hung a splendid jet necklace round his neck and encircled one of his fingers
with a huge seal ring, which to his mind was a sight to see and enjoy. Nor
was the now historical Mabruki Speke—styled by Captain Burton ‘ Mabruki,
the Bull-headed’—who has each time distinguished himself with white men
as a hawk-eyed guardian of their property and interests—less enraptured
with his presents than his fellows; while the comely, valiant, faithful Chow-
pereh—the man of manifold virtues, the indomitable and sturdy Chowpereh
—was pleased as any with the silver dagger and gold bracelet and ear-rings
which fell to his share. His wife, whom I had purchased from the eternally
wandering slaye-gang, and released from the harsh cold iron collar which
chafed her neck, and whom I had bestowed upon Chowpereh, as a free
woman for wife, was, I discovered the happy mother of a fine little boy, a
tiny Chowpereh, who I hope will grow up to lead future expeditions in Africa
and be as loyal to white men as his good father has proved himself. After
I had bestowed presents on his wife and child, Chowpereh, having heard
that I had brought a wondrous store of medicine, entreated me that I should
secure his son during his absence with me in Africa against any visitation of
the small-pox, and this I hope I have done by vaccination.

624 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“Two or three days after my arrival a deputation of the ‘ Faithfuls’
came to me to learn my intentions and purposes. I informed them that I
was about to make a much longer journey into Africa than before, and into
very different countries from any that I had ever been into as yet, and I pro-
ceeded to sketch out to the astonished men an outline of the prospective
journey. They were all seated on the ground before me, tailor-fashion, eyes
and ears interested, and keen to see and hear every word of my broken Kisa-
wahili. As country after country was mentioned, of which they had hitherto
but dimly heard, and river after river, lake after lake, named, all of which J
hoped, with their aid, to explore carefully and thoroughly, various ejacula-
tions, expressive of emotions of wonder, joy, and a little alarm, broke from
their lips; but when I concluded each man drew a long breath, and, almost
simultaneously, they uttered, in their own language, ‘ Ah, fellows, this is a
journey worthy to be called a journey!’

““< But, master,’ said they, with some anxiety, ‘this long journey will
take years to travel—six, nine, or ten years ?”

“‘ Nonsense,’ said I. ‘Six, nine or ten years! What can you be think-
ing of ? It takes the Arabs nearly three years to go to Ujiji, it is true; but
I was only sixteen months from Zanzibar to Ujiji, and back to the sea. Is it
not true ?”

‘«¢ Ay, true,’ answered they.

“<Very well. And I tell you further, that there is not enough money
in this world to pay me for stopping in Africa ten, nine, or even six years.
I have not come here to live in Africa. I have come here simply to see these
rivers and lakes, and after I have seen them to return home.’

«Ah, but you know the big master (Livingstone) said he was only
going for two years, and you know that he was gone, altogether, nine years.’

““<¢That is true enough. Nevertheless you know what I did before, and
what I am likely to do again, if all goes well.’

“«¢ Yes, we remember that you are very hot, and you did drive us until
our feet were sore, and we were ready to drop from fatigue. Wallahi! but
there never was such a journey from Unyanyembe home! No Arab or white
man came from Unyanyembe in so short a time as you did. It was nothing
but throw away this thing and that, and go on, go on, all the time. Ay,
master, that is true.’

“¢¢ Well, is it likely, then, when I marched so quick before, that I am
likely to be slow now? Am I much older now than I was then? Am I less
strong? Do I not know what a journey isnow? When I first started from
Zanzibar to Ujiji I allowed the guide to show me the way; but when we
came back who showed you the way? Was it not I, by means of that little
compass, which could not lie like the guide ?”

““¢ Ay, true, master; true, every word.’

ENLISTMENT OF ESCORT AND SERVANTS. 625

“Very well, then, finish these foolish words of yours, and go and get
me three hundred good men like yourselves, and when we get away from
Bagamoyo I will show you whether I have forgotten how to travel.’

““* Ay, Wallah, my master ;? and ‘ they forthwith arose, and did as they
were commanded.’ :

“The result of our polite ‘talk’ or ‘ palaver’ was witnessed shortly,
when the doors and gates of the Bertram Agency and former Consulate were
thronged by volunteers, who were of all shades of blackness, and who hailed
from almost every African town known. Wahiyon, Wabera, Wagnido, Wan-
yanmezi, Wagogo, Wasegubba, Wasagara, Wabehe, Somali, Wagalla, Wan-
yassa, Wadirigo, and a score of other tribes, had their representatives, while
each day added to the number, until I had barely time to do anything more
than strive with calmness and well practised patience, to elicit from them
information as to who they were, what they had been doing, and whom they
had served. The brave fellows who had accompanied Livingstone on his last
journey, or myself, of course had the preference, because they knew me, and
fewer words were wanted to strike a bargain with them. Forty-seven of those
who marched with Livingstone on his last journey answered to their names,
along with two hundred strangers, on whose fidelity I was willing to risk my
reputation as a traveller, and nearly £1,000 sterling in advanced wages.
These were finally enlisted and sworn as escort and servants. Many of them
will naturally prove recreants and malcontents, braggarts, cowards, and run-
aways; but it cannot be helped—I have done all that I am able to do in
providing against desertion and treachery. Where there is such a large
number of wild people it would be absurd to hope that they will all be faith-
ful and loyal to the trust and confidence reposed in them, or that a large
expedition can be conducted thousands of miles without great loss. After
the men, the armed escort, and the porters, had been secured, I devoted my-
self to examine the barter goods which were necessary in order to procure
sustenance in the far interior. I discovered, contrary to my expectations (for
it had been stated that these goods had risen in price since my departure
from Zanzibar), that the barter goods were one per cent., and in some in-
stances two per cent. cheaper than the rate at which they were purchasable
formerly. Bales of American sheeting, that cost me 93dol. 75c. in 1871, I
was now enabled to buy for 87dol. 5c. per bale; while the sami-sami beads,
that were formerly worth 13dol. the frasilah, could now be got for 9dol. 75c.
This was very much in my favour; and after iong consultation with the lately
returned leaders of caravans upon the present prevailing fashion of beads and
cloth among the distant tribes, I ordered the necessary stock of both, which,
when piled up in portable bales and sacks, present quite an imposing and
indeed somewhat formidable mass. Ii, however, cloth and beads, and wire,
are cheaper than they were two years ago, the hire of pagazis, or porters, is

Ed

626 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

double. In 1871, and in 1872, I employed Wanyanmezi and Wanguana at
the rate of 2dol. 50c. per month each man; the same class of persons now
obtain 5dol. per month, and with some people I have had great difficulty in
procuring them at this pay, for they hold out bravely for a week for 7dol.
and 8dol. per month.

“Tt has grown to be a custom now for servants, porters, and escort, to
receive at least four months’ pay in advance. Before starting from Bagamoyo
I expect that my expedition will number four hundred men. Each of these
men, previous to his marching, will have received £4 pay on account, either
in money or in cloth. The most prudent ask that their advance be given
them in cloth. Those who take money require three days to spend it in de-
bauchery and rioting, or in purchasing wives; while a few of the staid mar-
ried men who have children will provide stores for their families. On the
morning of the fourth day, when the bugle sounds for the march, I need not
be surprised if I find it a difficult task to muster my people together, or if
hours will be employed in hunting up the laggards and driving them on to
our first camp, when very probably I shall learn that at least fifteen or so
have absented themselves altogether. This, of course, will be annoying; but
it is well that I know it is a probable thing, and that I am in a measure pre-
pared for such desertion. On the second day of the march I shall probably
find myself minus ten more, which will also be vexatious, and exceedingly try-
ing to the stock of patience I have in reserve for the emergency. For several
days longer there will be constant desertions by twos and threes, and fours ;
but the losses will have to be borne and remedied somehow. Finally, disease
will break out, the result of a mad three days’ debauchery, to be succeeded
by small-pox, ulcerous sores, dysentery, fever, and other maladies. And about
this time, too, the white men will begin to suffer strange languor of body and
feverish pulse, and these, despite the rapidly-diminishing force of carriers,
will have to be transported on the shoulders of men or on the backs of such
asses as may be strong enough for that work. The future of the expedition
depends upon the way in which we shall be able to weather this stormy period ;
for the outlook about this time will be sad indeed. The magnificent cara-
van which started from the sea four hundred strong, armed to the teeth, com-
fortable, well laden, and rich, each man vigorous, healthy, well chosen, his
skin shining like brown satin, eyes all aglow with pride and excitement,
strong in his Snider rifle and twenty rounds of cartridges, his axe, and knives—
twelve stately, tall guides, tricked out in crimson jodo and long plumes, head-
ing the procession, which is nearly a mile long, while brazen trumpets blow
and blare through the forest, awakening the deep woods with the sounds, and
animating every soul to the highest pitch of hope—this was a scene worth
seeing. But three weeks from that how different will be the greatly diminished
caravan; scores will have deserted, the strong will have become weak, the

CONSTRUCTION OF A LARGE PONTOON. 627

robust sick, the leader will be half ready to despair, and to wish that he had
never ventured a second time into the sea of mishaps and troubles which
beset the traveller in Africa! These are my anticipations, which are none of
the brightest, you will allow. However, when the soldier has donned his
helmet, it is too late to deplore the feelings that induced him to enlist.

*¢ Among many other things which I convey with me on this expedition
to make our work as thorough as possible is a large pontoon, named the
‘Livingstone.’ A traveller having experience of the difficulties which pre-
vent efficient exploration is not likely to enter Africa without being provided
with almost every requisite likely to remove the great obstacles which lack
of means of ferryage presents. After I had accepted the command of this
expedition I began to devise and invent the most portable kind of floating
expedient or vehicle to transport baggage and men across streams and lakes,
so as to render me independent of the native chiefs. I thought of everything
I had seen likely to suit my purpose. Zinc tubes, such as the Engineer
Department conveyed to the Prah in the late Ashantee War—canvas boats
such as Marcy, in his ‘ Prairie Traveller,’ recommends, the devices and con-
trivances suggested in ‘ Art of Travel,’ india-rupber boats, Irish wicker boats,
and so forth; but all the things I thought of that previous travellers had
experimented with seemed to me objectionable on account of their weight and
insufficient floating power. It is one of the most interesting things in African
travel, among chains of lakes and numerous large rivers, to resolve the pro-
blem of navigating these waters safely and expeditiously without subjecting
an expedition to the caprice and extortion of an ignorant savage chief, or
entailing upon yourself heavy expense for porterage. As no carts or wagons
can be employed in conveying boats or zine pontoons through the one-foot-
wide paths which are the channels of overland trade in Central Africa, zinc
pontoons were not to be thought of. A metal tube eighteen inches in diameter
and eight feet long would form a good load for the strongest porter; but fancy
the number of tubes of this size required to convey across a lake fifty miles
wide a force of three hundred men and about nine tons of the baggage and
material of my expedition. And what kind of boat could transport such a
number and weight across such a stormy lake—such a boat, I mean, as we
could carry with us, at a moderate rapid rate of travel, a distance of from
one thousand to two thousand miles? After long and anxious deliberation and
sacrifice of much paper, I sketched out a series of inflatable pontoon tubes to
be two feet in diameter, and eight feet long, to be laid transversely, resting
on three separate keels, and securely lashed to them, with two separate tri-
angular compartments of the same depth, eight feet at the base, which should
form the bow and stern of the inflatable craft. Over these several sections
three lengthy poles were to be laid which should be lashed between each
transverse tube to the three keels underneath. Above these upper poles,

628 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

laid lengthwise, were to be bamboo poles, laid transversely, upon which the
passengers and baggage might rest, without danger of foundering. The design
being fully matured the next thing to do was to find a manufacturer intelli-
gent enough to comprehend what was required, and as Mr. Cording, of Picca-
dilly, had a good reputation among travellers, I tried him, and after a few
moments’ conversation with the foreman ofthe shop, I was delighted to find
that he perfectly understood what unusually strong material was requisite,
and every part and portion of the plan. I need only add that within a month
I had in my possession the several fittings and sections of this peculiar float-
ing craft, beautifully and strongly made, in as complete and efficient order as
would please the most fastidious traveller. All these several sections, when
put in the scales, weighed three hundred pounds, which, divided into portable
loads of sixty pounds each, require but five men to carry the entire construc-
tion. No material can possibly equal this caoutchouc. If the strong thick
indiarubber cloth is punctured or rent, Mr. Cording has supplied me with the
material to repair it, and if all turns out as well with it as I strongly antici-
pate and hope, it must of course prove invaluable to me.

“‘But an explorer needs something else—some other form of floatable
structure, to be able to produce results worthy of a supreme effort at penetrat-
ing the unknown regions of Africa. He must have a boat with him in which
he may be enabled to circumnavigate lakes, and go long distances up and
down rivers with a small but efficient body of men, while the main corps is
encamped at some suitable and healthy site. And what kind of boat can be
invented for the traveller such as he can carry thousands of miles, through
bush and jungle, and heat, damp, and rain, without impairing its usefulness,
or causing him to regard it as an incumbrance? After having considered
various plans and designs, I could think of nothing better than a light cedar
vessel, something after the manner and style of the Okonagan (Canada) cedar
boat, but larger and of greater capacity. These Canadian boats are generally
thirty feet in length, and from five to six feet in width. They are extremely
light and portable, and when near rapids are taken ashore, and, being easily
hoisted on the shonlders of six men, are carried to smooth waters again. But
a craft of this kind, though available for short distances in Canada, would
have to be constructed differently to be carried along the crooked narrow
paths of the African jungle ; it would require to be built in water-tight sec-
tions, each section light enough to be borne by two men without distressing
the bearers. Mr. James Messenger, of Teddington, near London, has a well-
deserved reputation for building superb river boats, and while enjoying a
Sunday, near Hampton, I examined the various specimens of his skill and
workmanship, and came to the conclusion that he would be able to suit me. I
had an interview with this gentleman, and I laid my plans before him. I soon
discovered that I was in the presence of a master workman, by the intelligent

CONSTRUCTION OF A LIGHT BOAT. 629

way in which he followed my explanations, though it was evident that he had
not the slightest idea of what an African jungle path was like. He under-
stood what I meant by ‘portability,’ but his ideas of that quality naturally
suggested a broad highway, an English turnpike-road, or at the utmost a path
over treeless fields or commons. I doubt if even now the gentleman under-
stands the horrors of a jungle path, with its intricate and never-ending crooked
curves, beset on each side by a depth and intensity of vegetation through
which we must struggle, and twist, and contort our bodies in order that we
may pass along with our burdens, while almost blinded by perspiration, we
grope, and stumble, and halt in the sickly, dull twilight which reigns there.
To conyey anything yery large, or wide, or high, or long, through such a
tangle, is out of the question under such circumstances; and I endeavoured
to describe such a locality to the boat-builder as vividly as my powers would
enable me. Mr. Messenger accepted the contract to build a boat of light,
well-seasoned cedar, forty feet in length, and six feet in width, in five sec-
tions, each of which was not to exceed more than 120lbs. in weight. I saw
the boat after it was constructed, and before it was sawn up into sections, and
her beautiful lines and the skilled workmanship lavished on her elicited at
once from me unqualified approbation. Before departing from his yard I
suggested to Mr. Messenger that he should weigh her as she stood, and divide
her, if he found her of greater solidity than he or I anticipated, into sections
not exceeding the weight named above. This boat, completed and packed
with care, followed me to Zanzibar by the next mail. When I opened the
packages a perfect marvel of river architecture was revealed ; every bolt and
nut worked close and free, and all who saw the sections admired them. Ina
transport of joy, I ordered the scales to be rigged up, and each section
weighed carefully. Four of the sections weighed 280lbs. each, and one
310lbs.! The utter impossibility of rectifying this mistake in a place like
Zanzibar made me despair at first, and I thought the best thing to do was to
ship the boat back to England ; but, upon enquiring for a carpenter, a young
shipwright, named Ferris, was introduced to me, and recommended for his
intelligence. I exhibited the beautiful but totally unmanageable boat, and
told him that in her present state she was useless to me and to everybody else,
because she was too heavy and cumbersome—that I could not possibly carry
her, and that time was short with me. I desired him to cut her down six
inches, and subdivide each section, and to complete the work in two weeks,
for that was the utmost time I could givehim, To effect these improvements,
the two after sections had to be condemned, which would curtail her length
considerably, and, of course, mar her beauty. I can now congratulate my-
self (good Mr. Ferris having completed his work to my entire satisfaction) on
possessing a boat which I can carry any distance without distressing the port-
ers, competent to hold twelve men, rowing ten oars and two short paddles,

630 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and able to sail over any lake in Central Africa. I ought to state here that I
do not blame Mr. Messenger for sending me such unmanageable sections, so
much as I blame myself for not stopping over another month in England, to
watch the construction of so great a novelty as this kind of boat must neces-
sarily be to a Thames boat-builder. As this expedition is for a different
purpose from the former one in which I discovered Livingstone, I am well
provided with the usual instruments which travellers who intend to bring
home results that will gratify scientific societies, take with them. I have
chronometers, sextants, artificial horizons, compasses, beam and prismatic ;
pedometers, aneroid barometers, and thermometers; Nautical Almanacs for
three years, hand leads, and one thousand fathoms sounding line, with a very
complete little reel, mathematical instruments, a planisphere, and a complete
and most excellent photographic apparatus, and a large stock of dry plates.
I have also half-a-dozen good time-pieces, silver and gold, blank charts, and
all the paraphernalia and apparatus necessary to obtain satisfactory geographic
observations. .

‘The East Coast of Africa, from the mouth of the Juba River to that
of the Rovuma, possesses hundreds of good starting-points for the unexplored
interior ; but the best, for many reasons, is Bagamoyo. The present expedi-
tion is a large and costly one, and promises so far to be the best organised
and best equipped of any that ever left the sea-coast of East Africa for the
purpose of exploration; therefore it would be a great pity if it were wrecked
or ruined just as it began to set out to fulfil its mission. To guard against
the possibility of such a sad collapse, I have, after much deliberation, decided
to start from Bagamoyo, and to proceed some distance along the well-known
caravan path, so as to give confidence to my men, and withdraw them as
much as possible from the temptation to desert, and afterwards to plunge
northward into the Masai Land—a country as yet untrodden by white men,
and of the state of which the best-informed among us are totally ignorant.
It will be a risky undertaking, but not half so dangerous as starting for that
region from some unknown seaport My present intention is then tomake my
way westward to the Victoria Nyanza, and ascertain whether Speke’s or
Livingstone’s hypothesis is the correct one—whether the Victoria Nyanza
consists of one lake or five. All the most important localities will be fixed by
astronomical observations; and whether the Victoria Lake consists of one or
many pieces of water, we shall discover it by complete circumnavigation.
When this work is finished, I intend to visit Mtesa or Rumanika, and then
cross over to the Lake Albert Nyanza, and endeavour to settle how far Baker
is correct in his bold hypothesis concerning its length and breadth. On this
lake I expect to meet Gordon and his party, by whom I hope to be able to
send the first reports of my travels and discoveries since leaving the
Unyanyembe caravan road. Beyond this point the whole future appears to

VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS ON FOOT. 631

me so vague and vast that it is impossible to state at this period what I shall
try to do next.”

Mr. Stanley has, no doubt, plunged, with his four hundred followers,
into that abyss of silence and peril which the African wilderness really is;
he has already surmounted, we hope, those difficult first three weeks of
marching which he paints so graphically; and we trust that, with forces
not greatly diminished, and resolution not lessened at all, he has entered
upon that vast blank space upon the map which lies between the Kilima
Mnjaro and the Victoria Nyanza. No one has yet visited this region, wherein
the dubious Lake Manyara is said to lie, and where the Masai, reputed fierce
and inhospitable, reside; but Stanley has a strong and well-equipped band,
and knows how to push his way past difficulties. The original plan of the
journey has been so far modified by circumstances, that, instead of attacking
the great African problem from the south and cast Mr. Stanley approaches it
from the west and north. In doing this, he at once penetrates a country of
extreme interest to geographers, and can hardly fail, while making his way
towards the Victoria Nyanza, to light upon revelations of much moment.
Arrived at the Victoria Lake, about which Colonel Long’s recent visit has
still left an immense deal to be learned, he will, we trust, be able to complete
our knowledge of tle discoveries of Speke and Grant; and while he contem-
plates far more than this large task, it is certainly enough for the present to
fill all who love adventure and exploration with excited anticipations.

In addition to the expedition under Mr. Stanley, the Viceroy of Egypt,
having annexed the important kingdom of Darfur, has just commissioned two
parties under European command to proceed to Kobbo and El Obeid—trac-
ing the paths, clearing the wells, and pioneering generally towards the mouth
of the Sobat, and the country to the westward of the Albert Nyanza. This,
together with the work already done by Nachtigall and Schweinfurth, will
soon leave little that is unknown on the left banks of the White Nile. Colonel
Gordon will, in all probablity, shortly be able to have his steamer afloat on
Baker’s Lake, where the first voyages of that little craft will enable us to map
the shores of that great inland sea. To the southward upon Tanganyika,
Lieutenant Cameron is at work, whether the Lualaba leads him northwards
or westwards. Another expedition to Equatorial Africa, under the command
of Captain von Homeyer, has left Lisbon for the Loanda Coast ; while there
are also three Missionary enterprises on foot, and three parties of men will
shortly wend their way to Lake Nyassa, to the head waters of the Shire,
which communicate with the Zambesi, the great highway of that part of
Africa.

From these various efforts it is all but certain that before the year 1875
closes, immense results will have been obtained for science and civilisation.
We may hope to know at last where Tanganyika drains, whither the Luapula

632 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and Lualaba run, what is the southern connection of the Albert Nyanza ; and
all the important revelations—which Mr. Stanley means to make, if they are
not made before he reaches the spot—will have been augmented by his ac-
counts of that vast blank chasm in the map westward of Kilima Mnjaro, and
by a final declaration as to the geography of the Victoria Lake or Lakes.

There are some, perhaps, who ignorantly say, ‘‘ Well, and what then ?
Who will be a jot the better for knowing where these distant waters flow, and
whether Livingstone died beside the fountains of the Nile or the Congo ?”
It matters very much to the future of commerce, and to the destiny of the
Africans, which way these lakes empty, and whither those mighty channels
flow. Ifthe Albert Nyanza and the Tanganyika waters are united, a rail-
way of one hundred and fifty miles is alone required to open the continent
from Alexandria to the parallel of south latitude, If, again, the Lualaba
comes into the Albert Lake, there is a water road from Ilala, where Living-
stone died, into Egypt, opening up three more degrees of south latitude ;
while, if it run westward as the Congo, the Nile must yield its ancient honour
to so wonderful a stream, but commerce will find a magnificent gateway at
Loanda. Upon the decision of these and the cognate problems rests the question
of the course which trade will take, and upon trade depends the gradual
extinction of that dreadful slave-traffic which Livingstone called “ the open
sore of the world,” an ulcer eating away the life and loveliness of this won-
derful continent. Lovely it is in all its wealth of splendid scenery, its majestic
rivers, mighty inland seas, flowery forests, and sunny mountains; nor can
any large-minded man doubt that, when justice is done to its vast and patient
populations, the entire region will not contribute richer gifts to humanity
than will these industrious, glad-hearted, artistic Africans.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Lieutenant Cameron Starts from Ujyi—At Kasenge—Between the Rugumba and
the Iukuga—Dress of the Wabudjwa—Joins Trading Caravans—The Bam
barre Mountains—Crosses the Luama—Troubles at Karungu—Leaves for
Kwakasongo—Reaches Nyangwe.

cr May, 1874, as we noted in a previous chapter, Lieutenant Cameron

started from Ujjiji, to proceed as directly as he could across the Manyema
country for Nyangwe, with a view of descending the Congo from that point
to the West Coast. Having discharged such of his men as were afraid or
unwilling to proceed, and after packing up a map of the Tanganyika, and a
map of Dr. Livingstone’s, which he had found at Ujiji, and some other small
things, and despatching them to the coast, he set out for Kasenge, on the
west shore of the lake, in company with a half-caste Arab, called Syde Mezrui,
whom he had engaged to show him the road to Nyangwe. His journey to
Kasenge was uneventful, except that the night during which they crossed
from the east to the west it blew a fierce gale. They left the shore of the
lake on the 31st of May, and the same day reached Ruanda, the chief town
of Uguhha, which was very populous. The people formed a regular lane all
the way through the town, in the midst of which they had to march. At
Ruanda the traveller got extra porters to carry some of his loads, as the men
of the caravan were all out of condition, on account of having been so long
without marching; he also bought some goats here, as they were cheap and
plentiful. The chief at Ruanda pretended to be a man of considerable influ-
ence, and independent of any control, though Cameron afterwards found that
he was feudatory to Kasongo, the great chief of Urua.

The day after leaving Ruanda, they crossed the Rugumba, a stream of
considerable size, flowing swiftly into the Tanganyika, and with many small
particles of quartz glittering in the sunshine, brought down from the moun-
tains of Ugoma, which ended abruptly on their right. On this march, one of
the men, in crossing a small water-course, fell down, and one of the sticks,
forming the cradle for his load, ran into his eye, thus completely destroy-
ing it. Owing to this, and the illness of the other men, fresh helpers had to
beengaged. They then madea march of four or five days along the watershed,
between the Rugumba and the Lukuga, passing many streams going towards

EF 3

634 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

both, and arrived at Meketo, a fertile vale, and a scene of almost perfect rural
beauty.

Whilst at Meketo, a wretch of a slave dealer brought a small boy of seven
or eight years old into the camp for sale. The poor child was crying bitterly,
and his master had him confined in a slave fork, one end of which he held in
his hand, and twisted and shoved the poor boy about cruelly. Cameron felt
inclined to thrash the master and set the slave free, but he knew that directly
afterwards he would be worse treated, and therefore contented himself with
turning the dealer in human chattels out of the camp. Leaving Meketo,
they passed through a moderately hilly country, crossing a number of tangled
streams, which it was very hard to sort into their right basins; and just as
they left Uguhha and came into Ubudjwa they came upon the Rubumba, a
stream which, rising close to the Rugumba, is often confounded with it, though
the Rubumba falls into the Luama, and the Rugumba into the Tanganyika.

The people of Ubudjwa are tributary to Kasongo. One of the most
striking peculiarities of the women is the custom they have of piercing the
upper lip, and inserting in the hole an oval stone, or piece of wood, or bone,
which they keep on increasing in size to a diameter of one or two inches.
This sticks out in front, and gives the wearer the appearance of having a bill
like a duck when seen in profile, and prevents her from speaking plainly.
Another peculiar habit is that of wearing leather bolsters, tapering from
centre to end like buffalo’s horns, round the waist. Sometimes a dandy
lady will wear two or three of the peculiar vestments, though it cannot be
for decency, as the barest requisites of what is considered indispensable with
most people are scarcely complied with. Some wear, instead of these bustles,
belts split in the rear into two or three parts, where they serve to keepup a small
piece of leather about twelve inches by eight, which, with the belt and a small
patch in front, constitutes the whole of a lady’s dress, with the exception of
a few indespensable articles, such as anklets, bracelets, and necklaces. The
largest chief in Ubudjwa was Pakwanywa, close to whose village Cameron
stopped a couple of days. This chief and his -wife came to visit the traveller,
and although her clothing was scanty in quantity, she was very dressy in her
get up, her apron being ornamented with beads and cowries. She also wore
gaiters, and bracelets from wrist to elbow, tassels justin front of her ears,
and several necklaces, all of good beads. Her hair was done up in a pretty
fashion, and ornamented with bright steel or copper ornaments; and across
her forehead, just below the roots of her hair, stripes of red and yellow were
carefully painted. Altogether she had a very effective appearance, and
seemed fully conscious of it, though at the same time she was a ladylike,
merry body.

Two days after leaving Pakwanywa’s they overtook a large body of
Wamerima and slaves of Syde idn Habib, who were in front of them, and

THE DISTRICT OF ROHOMBO. 635

were waiting for them to come up in order to make a formidable body to
cross Manyema; and though our traveller would, for various reasons, have
much preferred journeying alone, he was obliged to unite himself to the
party. The next country after Ubudjwa was Uhiya, where the people wore,
on the back of their heads, enormous leather chignons, with a piece like a
tongue sticking out behind, and indulged in tattooing in irregular and diver-
sified patterns. On leaving Uhiya they began to get into a hilly country,
the commencement of the offshoots of the mountains of Bambarre. Here
they came upon a people having other methods of personal decoration—they
pierced the centre cartilage of the nose, and ran straws through; and worked
their hair into ridges or tufts, with small plaits along the top of them. Wood
carving was here carried to great perfection; and clay idols were common
outside the village. For some reason or other, which was not very obvious,
many of the villages had been lately deserted.

A very hilly road now took the travellers to Rohombo, according to the
natives, the first district in Manyema; though geographically and ethnolo-
gically Manyema proper can only be said to commence on the northern side
of the Bambarre mountains. The population here was very dense, and the
roads were lined by black crowds, who had turned out to look at the strangers,
and especially at the white man. In this district oil palms were very nume-
rous, from which the natives made a wine which, when new, is very good
and refreshing, somewhat in its taste and exhilarating influence like ginger-
beer. The people climb the trees with a belt made to go round the tree and
themselves, something like the Tamils in Ceylon. Salt was in very great
demand here—all that the people get being brought from Ujiji by the traders,
as, since the Arabs have come here, the Warua, who used to do the trading,
have deserted the country. A man would cut and bring into camp a large
load of firewood for a pinch of salt, the size one usually puts on one’s plate.

Leaving Rohombo, they went over a rolling and fertile country, inter-
sected by many streams, all draining to the south-west, till they reach the
ascent of the Bambarre Mountains. These mountains stood up like a narrow
spire, with very declivitous sides, which gave the travellers a steep climb ;
and then, before they could reach the top, they had to camp in a deserted
village. The next morning they had another climb before surmounting the
crest; and then, plunging into a mass of forest, they suddenly commenced
their descent amongst numbers of ravines and gullies, all crowded with enor-
mous trees. Some of the gorges were over a hundred and fifty feet deep,
and trees growing in their bottoms towered to an equal height above the head
of a person standing on the brink. It was truly a primeval forest, that had
never been desecrated by the hand of man. No sun or breeze reached the
dark, damp depths, and every tree seemed to try and force itself aloft into the
blue heaven, to get a sight of the life-giving sun.

636 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

When they emerged from the forest at the foot of the mountains, they
came upon a cultivated country, studded over with many villages. The huts
in these villages were arranged in long broad streets, the walls and ends of
bright red clay, with sloping roofs thatched with yellow grass. ‘The scene
was altogether unlike anything Cameron had yet seen in Africa. The people
also presented a change as striking as that of the houses. The women dressed
their hair into the shape of an old-fashioned bonnet in front, with long ringlets,
daubed with mud and grease, hanging down their backs. The edge of the
bonnet-like part in front was trimmed with beads, cowries, or seeds of the
wild banana. Round their waists they wore a string of the same materials,
which served to support two small aprons, constituting all their clothing, and
which, when going to work in the field, or fishing, they replaced by small
bunches of leaves. The men, in their way, were equally peculiar, plastering
their hair thickly with mud, and forming it into cones, lumps, and flat plaits,
into which they inserted cowries and bits of copper as ornaments. Between
the different patches the scalp was shaved perfectly bare. Some wore a cone
on the top of their heads, and the side and back hair formed into long flat
flakes with mud, with round holes in them, to which iron and copper rings
were hung. The remainder of their dress consisted of leather aprons about
six or eight inches wide, reaching to their knees.

After travelling for some time, they encamped at the village of Moene
Bugga, son of Moene Kussu. Livingstone made this village his head-quar-
ters for some months; and many of the people inquired after the ‘ old white
man,” and seemed very sorry to hear of his death. The chiefs wore large
kilts of fringed grass cloth, and the peculiar Manyema knife or sword slung
over his shoulder by a belt of otter skin. ‘They were attended by people
carrying rattles, who proclaimed their names and ti‘les; two, Moene Gohe
and Moene Boote, had dwarfs for their rattlers, and Moene Boote had also a
man playing on an instrument made of different sized gourds fastened in a
frame, and over them were keys of hard wood, which, when struck, gavera
clear metallic sound, varying in pitch according to the size of the gourd under
each key. This instrument is called the ‘ marimba,” and is known close to
the west coast, from whence it reaches to Manyema. The name is the same
everywhere. J

From Moena Bugga’s village they passed through another forest of enor-
mous trees, coming at last to the Luama. Cameron found this river a fine
stream, two hundred yards wide, and varying from twelve to fourteen feet in
depth, with a moderate current. Its banks are mostly covered with fine tim-
ber, and its winding course was often visible from some of the small hills over
which the path of the travellers led, forming an agreeable feature in the land-
scape. After crossing the Luama, they came to a flat country, intersected by
many streams and water-courses, which had grooved out for themselves deep

TROUBLES AT KARUNGU. 637

e

beds in the sand and shingle of which the strata are composed. Strips of green
trees mark the position of these water-courses, and the rest of the country is
covered with the Manyema grass, interspersed with trees stunted by the grass
fires. Until this grass is burnt down it is impossible to proceed, as it is often
twelve and fourteen feet high, with stalks as thick as the thumb of a man’s
hand, and growing in such a dense mass that a person may throw himself against
it and make scarcely any impression. Even after it is burnt down, the thicker
stalks remain, and sadly impede progress.

Soon after leaving the Luama, they passed.a few hills on their left, and
many streams, some flowing to the Luama, and some direct to the Lualaba.
Their road took them through many villages, in several of which the men
belonging to the Wamerima traders stole food from the natives. At Kar-
ungu, a large village, matters came to a crisis, and a row between the traders
and natives occurred. The people of the caravans rushed for their guns, and
the natives threw their spears at the people nearest them. One fellow’s spear
fell only a couple of feet from where Cameron was sitting quietly writing.
For a couple of days things were in a state of semi-warfare, the traders’ people
going out in bodies whenever they saw a chance, and the natives gathering
together in a jungle with their spears and shields, shouting and yelling. In
their numerous sorties, the traders’ people caught a lot of women, children,
and goats; and the natives soon found that spears, their only offensive wea-
pons, were no match for the guns of their opponents. After several abortive
attempts to settle the quarrel, peace was at length concluded. It was after-
wards ascertained that people from several of the places through which the
caravans had passed had joined with those of Karungu; and if there had
been any equality in the way in which the two sides were armed, the traders
and their party would have been in great peril.

Two days after leaving Karungu they arrived at a village called Man-
garah, the chief of which was friendly with the Arabs. His son had come out to
Karungu to welcome the strangers; and, on their arrival at his father’s, he intro-
duced Cameron to him in the most gentlemanly manner possible. Mangarah
is one of several villages in which there are many iron foundries; a beautiful
black speculum ore being obtained close to the surface throughout the district.
At Mangarah they were met by an Arab partner of Syde Mezrui, who re-
sided at Kwakasongo, and several chiefs who accompanied him. Instigated
by Syde Mezrui, these men endeavoured to dissuade Cameron from pursuing
his contemplated journey, by telling him the most unwarrantable tales of dan-
ger as to the road in front.

They started the next day for Kwakasongo, and after taking a couple of
marches to get there, instead of one which they should have taken, reached
the place. Here Cameron found no fewer than fourteen or fifteen Arabs,
Wasuahali and Wamerima, settled; they had about two thousand Wanyamwesi

638 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and slaves all armed with guns, so that they had command over the whole sur-
rounding country. One man alone had over six hundred armed Wanyamwes1
Aiter a week’s detention at Kwakasongo, our traveller proceeded on his jour-
ney, and in three days reached Kumbwi, on the Lualaba. The first view of
the river exceeded all his previous expectations concerning it. It varied
from a thousand to three thousand yards in width, with a swiitly-flowing
current, and many well-wooded and inhabited islands. At Kumbwi he got
canoes for himself and some of his men, and went down to Nyangwe by
water in one day, leaving the others to follow by land. At Nyangwe he was
warmly welcomed by an old Arab, Habib ibn Salim, with whom Livingstone
had stayed when he was there. Two days after his arrival, the men whom
he had left at Kwmbwi came by land; and then began preparations for fol-
lowing the great river down to the coast.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Cameron leaves Nyangwe—Suffers from Fever—Russuna’s Village—Tipo-tipo’s
Camp—Kasongo—Crosses the Lukanei—Halis at Munza—Arrives at Kilemba
—The Villages of Lake Mohrya—Camp burnt down—Continues his Journey
towards the Coase

peers Cameron’s stay at Nyangwe, he received considerable kindness

from Habib ibn Salim, but most of the traders regarded him with sus-
picion and were very half-hearted in their welcome. His great object
now was to obtain canoes to convey him and his party down the Congo to
the Falls of Yellalla. He was told at first that he could get them at the mar-
kets, which are held every fourth day at Nyangwe; but he soon found that
the Wagenya (a tribe inhabiting a narrow strip on the left bank of the river,
to whom all the canoes belonged) would not sell any for such stores as he
had to offer, although their unwillingness might have been overcome if he
had consented to buy slaves from the Arabs, and to purchase the canoes with
them. He was next advised to send men through the country belonging to
tne Wagenya, to get boats from the people who made them, and who lived
in the jungle, about ten miles from the river. He was unable to go himself,
and this effort therefore failed. At the end of three weeks he found himself
with only one canoe, which had been given to him by Habid ibn Salim, and
which would hold only four or five men and their loads.

Just at this time a party of Arabs and others, who had been away to
the south of the river, making war and fomenting disturbances amongst the
natives, principally with the view of obtaining slaves, returned and brought
news that Tipo-tipo, a trader, was coming to Nyangwe to arrange peace
between Russuna, chief of Marera, and the traders settled at Nyangwe.
When Tipo-tipo arrived, he advised Cameron to give up the idea of going
down the river in canoes, or of attempting to march along its banks direct
from Nyangwe. He told him that if he would go with him to his camp,
which was about ten days’ march south by west of Nyangwe, guides could
be obtained to show him the way to a great lake about fifteen marches west
of it, where men came in large canoes, holding from eighty to one hundred
people, and the crews of which wore hats and trousers. Cameron had al-
ready heard many reports concerning this lake at Nyangwe, and among

640 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

other things that the Lualaba fell into it; but now, in addition, two men,
belonging to the distvict in which Tipo-tipo’s camp was situated, assured
him that they had been there, and gave the name as Sankorra; and also
mentioned a small lake called Iki, situated on the River Luwembi, just to the
west of the Lomami.

After some consideration, our traveller determined to go with Tipo-tipo
to his camp, and thence march to Sankorra, and trust to getting boats from
the trouser-wearing traders who, he hoped, would prove to be half-caste
Portuguese from Cassanci, or thereabouts. They therefore left Nyangwe,
and camped in a village of Wagenya, on the left bank of the Lualaba. The
left bank of the Lualaba is low and swampy, with many semi-stagnant back-
waters, which render it a very hotbed of fever, whilst the right bank is raised
and healthy. When the traveller had got his men and stores together, and
ready for the road, he found himself suffering from a heavy attack of fever,
the effect of one night’s exposure to the malaria. He managed, however,
to struggle on for a long march, which, including an hour’s halt, lasted from
half-past twelve at noon to between seven and eight in the evening, although,
for the greater part of the time, he was reeling about like a drunken man,
from fever and weakness. For the last hour or so the path led through tracts
covered with gigantic pyramidal ant-hills, which, in the partial delirium of
fever, he kept on mistaking for his tent. When at last they encamped, he _
was so exhausted, that he was obliged to turn in at once without being able
to eat a morsel of food.

Feeling somewhat better the next morning he was able to proceed on
the journey, and every succeeding day he grew stronger. When they were
about half-way to Tipo-tipo’s camp, they halted for a couple of days at Rus-
suna’s village; but just as they came near to it, a quarrel took place between
some of the Wamerima from Nyangwe and the natives, which resulted in
the death of two natives. The consequences of this might have been most
serious, had not Tipo-tipo possessed influence enough to restore peace as
soon as he heard of the affair, and compelled the Nyangwe people to pay
something to the chief. During the two days our traveller stayed at Russuna’s
he was an object of the most intense interest to that chief’s wives, who would
scarcely let him have one moment to himself, and kept on turning up the
legs of his pyjamas, to see if he were really white all over; in fact, he had to
use a certain amount of restraint to prevent them from undressing him alto-
gether. All these wives of Russuna, about forty or fifty in number, live to-
gether in a small village, formed of two rows of huts, with one hut in the
middle for himself and his mother, on whom devolves the task of keeping
the harem. Many of the wives were really very good-looking, and, like
many other ladies, seemed quite sensible of their charms.

After two days’ rest at Russana’s, they resumed their journey to Tipo-

TIPO TIPO’S CAMP. 641

tipo’s camp. The country through which they travelled was exceedingly
beautiful and fertile, and was filled with groves of nutmeg-trees, and large
quantities of oil-palms. Everywhere they saw numerous tracks of elephants;
and sometimes they heard them trumpeting in the jungles.

Cameron found, on his arrival at Tipo-tipo’s camp, not so-much a camp
as a neatly-built and well-arranged town. Besides the principal trader, Tipo-
tipo himself, there were four or five smaller ones. Tipo-tipo, and the armed
followers from Zanzibar and Unyanyembe, amounted to nearly a thousand;
in addition to these, slaves and native hangers on raised the sum total to up-
wards of two thousand five hundred. Arrived at this place, our traveller at
once sent some of his men, with guides belonging to the district, to ask per-
mission from the chief of the country to the west of the Lomami to pass
through his territory, as none of the Arabs had been allowed to pass that
way, though native traders were constantly going to and returning from
Lake Sankorra, which they reported as being fifteen marches distant. Cloth
and beads, obtained from traders who came there from the west, were shown
in confirmation of this report. The cloth and beads were of a different sort
altogether from any that were brought from Zanzibar. Cowries, too, which
were greatly in demand at Nyangwe, were here a perfect drug in the mar-
ket, owing to the large quantities that came from the West Coast.

The traveller had not been at Tipo-tipo’s camp more than two days
before he received a visit from Kasongo, the chief of the district. It was a
visit characterised by much parade and pomp. The first to arrive were
drummers and marimba players belonging to several petty chiefs; then there
came a sort of master of the ceremonies, with a huge carved stick, that looked
like the sign of his office, followed by the small chiefs, each of whom he
announced in due form; and at last came Kasongo himself, and two of his
daughters, with a retinue of men, armed with spears and bows and arrows.
A clear space having been formed, Kasongo and his daughters executed a
sort of dance, accompanied by the musicians, and some singers, who chanted
a monotonous recitative. A large open hut, which was the general rendez-
yous of the traders, and where they usually passed the day, was now spread
with carpets and mats in honour of the chief’s arrival; when he had finished
his dance, he entered this hut. Here he and Cameron had a long palaver;
at first, he said he would go himself to the chief on the opposite side of the
Lomami, and try to make terms with him about the stranger’s passing through
to the westward; but afterwards he drew away from this promise, saying
that he was too old to travel and that he could not go himself, but he would
send some of his head men instead to carry on the negotiations.

Cameron waited for a day or two, and then, accompanied by Tipo-tipo,
and most of the principal Arab people, he returned Kasongo’s visit. He
found the chief seated in a clear, open grassy plot, in the centre of his village,

G3

642 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

looking clean and tidy, in a dress of grass cloth. He presented a striking
contrast to his appearance when he had called on the white man, when he
was decked out in tawdry and dirty clothes which had been made up for him
by the Arabs, and when he had produced an unfavourable impression on the
white man’s mind. Whilst Cameron remained at the village, both the chief’s
men and his own who had been to the west of the Lomami, returned with
the answer of the chief resident there, and which was to the effect, that no
people armed with guns had ever passed through his territory, and that if
any came he would resist them, and, if possible, destroy them. At the same
time the traveller saw many men who declared that they had been both to
Lake Sankorra and Lake Iki; and there was every reason for believing that
their statement was true.

On his return, therefore, to the Arab settlement, he racked his brains to
find out what was best to be done; and when Tipo-tipo told him of Portu-
guese traders coming to a place about two hundred or two hundred and fifty
miles south-south-west from the settlement, he made up his mind to go there,
and then to try to work his way back to Sankorra, thus avoiding the chief
who had refused to give him permission to pass. No sooner did Tipo-tipo
hear of his determination to push on in this direction than he gave him three
guides, natives of Urua, under charge of Mona Kasanga, son of the chief of
Kowamba (a lake on the Lualaba), to show him the road. His men now
threw every obstacle they could in his way, as they were thoroughly afraid
of going on through a country where no caravan had passed; some half-a-
dozen deserted the day he started, and although he sent back from the place
he halted at, he could get no news about them.

In addition to giving Cameron the native guides, Tipo-tipo also sent a
free man of Zanzibar to accompany him for ten days on the road; but this,
although intended to be a help, proved rather a hindrance, as he said every
day, after about two hours’ marching, that the next place at which they could
possibly halt was about six or seven hours further on, and therefore they had
better camp where they were.. He seemed to share an opinion common
among the Arabs, that a European was unable to march far or fast in Africa:
he soon had this opinion, however, practically disproved.

The road along which they travelled led them close to the right bank of
the Lomami, of which they caught glimpses from time totime. They cross-
ed numerous affluents, all of which they had to ford. The country was on
the whole level; here and there hollows were grooved out through the sand
and pebbles, which formed the upper strata. These small valleys were always
well-wooded, and many very beautiful ferns and mosses grew in them, some
of the club-mosses being above twelve inches high. After journeying some
days, the guides became very doubtful about the road; and as most of the
villages through which they passed had been deserted by the inhabitants

THE LUKANZI, 643

from an absurd rumour that the strangers were in search of slaves, they were
unable to get any directions from them. Filled with fear, the guides kept on
trying to work away tothe eastward, towards the village of Mona, Kasanga’s
father. Cameron’s patience was at length exhausted, and one day, after hay-
ing lost the track three times-he took the bull by the horns, and walked on
by himself, leaving the guides and caravan to follow him or not as they liked ;
of course he was pretty sure that they would not leave him altogether, but
they straggled and wandered all over the country.

That night they camped ina deserted village, near a large branch of the
Lomami, called the Lukanzi, the guides persisting that there were no means
of crossing it. On asking where the natives of the village were gone to, he
was told that they had crossed the river; he was therefore sure that there
must be some way to get over to the other side, and sent the guides along a
path to iind if it led toa bridge. After having been absent some time, they
returned and reported that the path came to an end near the river, leading
only to a watering-place. He did not believe this, so went down the path
himself, and, four or five hundred yards from the camp, he found a large fish-
ing-weir bridge. The next morning, after a great deal of trouble, he got the
men across; they were all in a terrible fright, as the guides had been alarm-
ing them all night with hobgoblin stories about the natives beyond the river.
As soon as the whole party had crossed, Cameron took the lead again, and
about a mile from the river, whilst he was passing through a strip of jungle,
a native lurking near shot at him; but the arrow glanced off a leathern coat
he was wearing at the time without penetrating it. He saw the fellow run-
ning off, and, dropping his rifle, he ran him down, and gave him a regular
good thrashing.

In a short time a company of natives appeared on the path in front of
them, and wanted to prevent them proceeding any further; but after half an
hour’s palaver, which ended in the traveller giving them a few beads, they
became very good friends, and went on to the village of a chief four miles
off, escorted by an excited mob, shouting, yelling, and playing on large
wooden horns, out of which they managed to get the most hideous noises.
It was said here that Kwarumba, a chief whose village lay directly on the
road, was only one march distant. In the expectation of getting some in-
formation from him about the Portuguese, Cameron was anxious to proceed
to meet him at once; but this somehow offended the pride of Mona Kasanga,
who succeeded in causing a whole day’s delay. Next morning, however,
they went on their road, and after again crossing the Lukanzi by another
fishing-weir bridge, arrived in the afternoon at Kwarumba’s first village,
which they found to be very large, and well populated. Here they halted,
and immediately large crowds gathered to look at the white man. The sight
was one they had never witnessed before, and it seemed to fill them with the

644 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

greatest wonder. On the following day they marched a short distance, and
camped close to the village in which Kwarumba lived. In the afternoon the
chief came to see his visitors; and he said that a short time before, strangers,
who were not Arabs, and who wore hats and carried umbrellas, had come to
the neighbourhood. Our traveller welcomed this as good news, concluding
that these strangers were the Portuguese of whom he was ia search.

After leaving Kwarumba’s village, the guides again began to give him
trouble, but he held on to his own course as well as he could, until he reached
Kamwawi. Here, at first, he was well received, but circumstances afterwards
proved that this reception was deceptive. He engaged guides to take him
down to the chief with whom the strange caravan was stopping, and paid
them in advance; and during the whole afternoon women were in the camp,
selling flour, beans, and other provisions. The next morning, however, he
found that his pet goat Dinah was missing, and therefore went up to the vil-
lage to inquire about her. So little did he suspect that anything was wrong,
that he did not even take his pistol or gun with him. He could get no an-
swer concerning the goat, and the people began throwing spears and shoot-
ing arrows at himself and the men who were with him, so that he had to send
and get all his party together in the village, and show a bold front. For
some time he would not allow his men to fire in return, as he wanted to try
every means to make all straight without resorting to force. However, as
he found that the natives grew bolder and bolder, he at last allowed some
three or four of his men to return their fire, and a native was shot through
the leg. Almost immediately a party of about five hundred men came up
from the road by which they had intended to go, and where they had been
posted in ambush.

When the natives saw the traveller and his party begin to defend them-
selves they consented to a parley, although they were in such immense force.
Aiter a few preliminaries, it was decided that the chief of the village and
Cameron should exchange presents, and that one of Cameron’s men should
make brothers with the chief, after which the caravan should go on its way
in peace. But before this could be carried out, another chief, with a large
body of men, came up and said to the chief of Kamwawi, “ Don’t be such a
fool; they are a small party, and we shall be able to kill or make slaves of
them all, and divide their beads and cloth amongst us.” In consequence of
his advice the negotiations were broken off; Cameron therefore set fire to a
hut, by way of terrifying them, and threatened that, unless he was allowed
to go in peace, he would burn the whole village. On this he was told that
he could go unmolested to a village where his guide said the party would be
received as friends, and he therefore gave orders to march for it. The na-
tives, however, hung about them all the march, which lasted from ten in the
morning till nearly six at night; and whenever the caravan passed through

FORT DINAH. 645

a strip of jungle, they closed in and began shooting at the travellers with
their long arrows.

Just before sunset they arrived close to Mkatete, the village which they
had been led to expect would prove to them a haven of rest, but they were
destined to be disappointed. When the guides asked as to whether the
party would be received as friends or not, the only answer which the vil-
lagers condescended to give was a volley cf arrows. Cameron sung out for
his men to follow him, and three or four responding to the call, they made a
dash through a strip of jungle and across a stream into the village. As soon
as the natives saw the strangers taking the offensive they fled; and the re-
mainder of the caravan coming up, they burnt down all the village, except
four huts, which were utilised as the corners of a species of fortification. By
dint of working all night, the morning saw them fairly protected. In this
place, which Cameron named Fort Dinah, in memory of his pet goat, they
remained five days, when the natives, finding themselves thoroughly worsted,
volunteered to make peace. On leaving Fort Dinah the travellers found the
people apparently very friendly—all the little children running after them
and saluting them; but, at the same time, a large number of temporary huts
in the villages through which they passed showed that men had come from
far and wide to join in the attack on them. The chief of the village now
offered to pay them an indemnity. This was refused, but presents were
exchanged to show that no ill-will was borne on either side.

Leaving the valley of the Lomami, and crossing many streams flowing
directly into the Lualaba itself, they pursued their way with varying for-
tunes. Ata place called Mangwa Sanza, Cameron heard that the village of
Kasongo (the head chief of Urua) was only two or three days distant, and
that two caravans were settled there. He was anxious to find a guide and
go there direct, but Mona Kasanga said that the man who had professed to
indicate the direction in which the place lay had pointed in the wrong quar-
ter, and that, if they took that road, they would get into trouble, and he
persisted that their course lay to the east-south-east. Following this road for
three days, they came to a village called Mukalombo, and there our traveller
found out the reason why Mona Kasanga and the other guides had been de-
ceiving him. Mona Kasanga had heard that, having neglected to pay his
tribute, his father, together with some of his sons, had been killed, and his
village destroyed by Kasongo. Dreading the same fate, Mona Kasanga was
afraid to trust himself in Kasongo’s clutches. Mukalombo was also the home
of the second guide, and on this account he had joined with Mona Kasanga
in trying to lead the white man astray. Mona Kasanga now refused to go
any further, and they had to trust to the second man, Kongwe, to show the
road,

Four days’ marching west by south brought them to Munza, a large dis-

646 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

trict, where a good deal of iron is worked, and where they found a party of
men belonging to a traveller called Jumah ibn Salim, and they promised to
send a man to show the way to Kasongo’s village. They also said that the
second caravan, of which Cameron had been told, was commanded by a Por-
tuguese from the West Coast. After a day’s halt at Munza, they went with
Ngoori, a man detailed by Kasongo to act as a sort of dragoman to Jumah
ibn Salim ; and after three days they arrived at Kilemba, where. our traveller
was most warmly and hospitably welcomed by Jumah ibn Salim. He found
that Kasongo was away on an excursion to collect tribute, and punish those
who had neglected to pay it. In this work he was assisted by numerous
persons, both from the Arab and Portuguese caravans, who were rewarded
by being allowed to make slaves of all captives they could obtain.

The day after their arrival, Kendele, as the Portuguese trader was called
by the natives, came over from his camp, about a mile distant, to pay a visit
to the Englishman. He said that he was soon going west, but that he must
first collect his various detached parties, which would occupy about a month,
and that directly that was done he should bid farewell to Kasongo, and start.
On Cameron asking him if he would require any payment for allowing him
to travel in his company, he said that, although he was black, he was all the
same as a white man, and never told lies, and would trust to his generosity.
His proper name turned out to be Jose Antonio Alviz, and he was a native
of Dondo on the Kwanza. He eventually proved to be trading from Bihe,
though at first he said he came from Cassange, owing to his having heard
that Cameron wanted to go there.

As Senhor Alviz said he was not going to start for a month, Cameron
determined to employ the time in visiting Lake Mohrya, on which he had
heard there were regular lake dwellings. He found it difficult to make up
his party, and in consequence of his wanting to take only half-a-dozen men
with him, all tried to shirk going. At last he made his start on the 30th of
October, 1874, and after marching through a pretty, but half-deserted coun-
try, he arrived at the lake. It was a mere pond compared to the giant lakes
of Africa, and its visible surface was much diminished by floating vegetation;
but in the clear waters were the regular lake dwellings. They were clustered
together in villages; each house stood alone, though in many cases only
separated a few yards from its neighbour ; the intermediate space being filled
up by ruined piles of former houses. He tried in vain to obtain canoes to
visit these curious dwellings. One of the chief causes of his failure was the
presence of a guide furnished by Fume a Kenna (the wife of Kasongo), who,
exercising his prerogative as one of the royal household, used to rob all the
country folks he came across. He often remonstrated with the man on this
practice, and tried to bribe him to refrain; but he said it was his right granted
to him by his king, and that nothing should prevent his exercising it.

THK LAKE VILLAGES. 647

The inhabitants of these lake villages were afraid to let our traveller
approach them in this man’s company, for fear of similar outrage; at the
same time he would not have been able to see the lake at all unless he had
been accompanied by a court guide. He contented himself reluctantly with
getting as near as he could to one of the villages, by walking on the floating
vegetation, which was quite strong enough in growth to support a man, and
taking a good look at the houses, and their inhabitants, through his opera
glass. The inhabitants of these lake dwellings somewhat defy the power of
their suzerain, and consider themselves free from the danger of the punish-
ments inflicted by him on his other subjects.

Cameron returned to Kilemba in two days, the second march being over
five hours through drenching rain, without a check or halt of any kind. He
learnt that Kasongo was still absent; and no one appeared to know exactly
where he was, or when he was likely to return. Kendele, the Portuguese
trader, still said he should stay a month before returning. Our traveller,
therefore, endeavoured to obtain guides from Fume a Kenna, to show him
the way to Lake Kassali or Ki Konja, through which the Lualaba was said to
flow. Her Highness kept on promising to give him men to take him to the
lake, and two or three times sent one, only, however, to be re-called an hour
or two after he had made his appearance. At last, tired of waiting, and
determined not to be thus befooled any longer, he set out with four or five
of Jumah ibn Salim’s men who had been there, and so knew the way. They
arrived at Kowedi, a village about eight miles from the lake; but here diffi-
culties arose. The river Lovoi flowed between them and the lake, and the
chief of Kowedi said he had received orders from Kasongo to prevent their
crossing. Hearing that Kasongo was only two marches off, Cameron sent
men to find him, and obtain if possible his permission to cross the Loyoi.
Unfortunately, before they could reach his camp, he had set off no one knew
where, and they returned without having seen him. Notwithstanding these
obstacles, he managed to get a distant view of the lake. After waiting for
over three weeks, he determined to return to Kilemba, more especially as he
had been very ill with dysentery, and thought that milk, with which he used
to be liberally supplied by Jumah ibn Salim, who kept a large flock of goats,
would do him more good than any medicine.

The day that he arrived at Kilemba, he met guides coming from Fumea
Kenna, who appeared to wish to help him, whilst in reality she, in consequence
of orders from Kasongo, was doing her best to thwart him. On his arrival
he found that during his absence Kasongo had returned and again started
off, leaving orders that the white man was on no account to be allowed
to depart without seeing him, and also desiring that notice of his arrival
should be sent to him at once. Kendele had all his ivory lashed and packed,
and said that when Kasongo came back he would require a few days to say

648 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

good-bye to him, and that after that there was nothing more to detain them,
and that they should get to Benguela, the place of his destination, in about
seventy days. Six weeks elapsed (a dreary time) before Kasongo turned up,
though Cameron sent many messengers to say he was waiting at Kilemba,
and wanted to get away. ‘The only thing that happened to divert his atten-
tion during this time of waiting, was the discovery that his people had stolen
nearly all his beads, in the vain hope of forcing him to retrace his steps.
Jumah ibn Salim, however, stood his friend, and supplied him with stores,
which he expected would be sufficient to last to Benguela, or at all events
to Bihe, where he would be able to get enough to reach the coast. Kasongo’s
advent was, however, by no means the signal for their immediate departure,
for he had to swagger and talk largely about his greatness, and hold many
meetings, suitably to impress the stranger with a sense of his influence and
importance. One day he held a very large levee, at which all the neigh-
bouring chiefs were assembled to do him homage, and where he made a very
long speech, in which he asserted that he was the greatest man in the world,
and that the only one that could at all compare with him was Mata Yafa, his
friend and relation, the chief of Ulunda.

It seemed to our traveller as if they should now soon start, but Kendele
first wanted an agreement made out as to what he was to receive for the work
he was to do; and when this was arranged he began to give himself airs, and
to find excuses for delaying their start. He said he had to build a house for
-Kasongo, but that it would not detain them more than a few days, as it was”
to be precisely similar to that in which he was living, and which he declared
was finished in four days. They left Kilemba for Totela, where the house
was to be built, on the 25th of February, 1875, and made a very dilatory
march of four days, besides halting two or three in order to give Kendele an
opportunity of stealing provisions, as he issued no rations whatever to any
one. In fact, even he himself and his women lived on a portion of the plunder
brought in by his people, and which he used to extort from them as leader of
the caravan. Besides his own carriers, there were also independent bands of
people of Bihe and Lovale, who ravaged the country in all directions, and were
under no restraint whatever. Kasongo, instead of checking these ruffians,
gave them liberty to do as they liked; he even encouraged them in their
atrocities, if in return they would go with him when he went to punish any
of his villages, either for not paying tribute at all, or whose tribute he thought
insufficient. On these occasions all the males who could not escape were
shot down like dogs, and the women and children were seized as slaves.

Kasongo’s house was, after a time, finished; but it was built almost
entirely by Cameron’s men, and under his superintendence, or it would
never have been finished at all. Even when the house was completed there
were still more delays. A party of Kendele’s men had gone to Kanyoka, a

CAMERON’S CAMP BURNT DOWN. 649

place on the boundary between Kasongo’s and Mata Yafa’s kingdoms, some
time before Cameron’s arrival at Kilemba, and as nothing had been heard of
them since, Kendele refused to start without them; so there was no leaving
till men had gone and brought them back. :They did not return until the
27th of May, and in the meanwhile Coimbra (Kendele’s second man) was off
on a slaye-hunting expedition. On the 28th Cameron’s camp was burnt down
by the carelessness of one of his men, and he very nearly lost his journals
and all he possessed. Owing, however, to the pluck and coolness of his ser-
vant Jumah, though the tent itself was burnt, everything of importance in-
side was saved.

Two or three days after this, they started for Lunga Mandis, ten days
(short marches) south by west of Totela. Here they were detained nearly
three weeks, waiting for Coimbra. When he arrived, he came in driving a
string of fifty or sixty wretched women tied together with knotted cords, and
all heavily laden with plunder, and several with babies in their arms. These
poor creatures represented twenty or thirty villages burnt down, and a popula-
tion of two hundred and fifty to three hundred people utterly destroyed.
About three or four hundred more may have escaped to other villages.
There were now in the caravan upwards of fifteen hundred slaves, all of
them obtained by plunder and murder from a country which has only been
recently tapped to supply slaves for export.

** This testimony of Cameron’s as to the hardships and sufferings asso-
ciated with the slave trade is borne out by some remarks of Bishop Steere,
in his paper, entitled, ‘‘ A Walk to the Nyassa Country.” Speaking of his ar-
rival at the River Luatize, he says:—

** When we got to the ford we found it a scene of the wildest confusion.
A place had been chosen where the stream is cut up by six or seven islets, with
narrow channels between. ‘The water in some of these was nearly up to the
armpits, and ran so strongly that, except for the trees laid across to hold on
by, it would have been impossible to cross. Over and through these they
were bringing some two hundred slaves, many of them women and children,
and yery many with forked sticks fastened to their necks. The noise and
tumult were beyond description.

** Another day we met an oldish woman, with a slave stick still on her
neck, carrying a bag of cassava root, on her way to Mataka’s, having escaped
from a caravan which had just turned out of our road to buy provisions, to which
she had been sold by Makanjila. One of our men cut off the slave stick, and
we gave her the best advice we could to avoid the caravan behind us. We
also met the sick man we had seen in the hut as we went up; he said he had
found that his caravan had got on so far that he had better go back than try
to follow it. We offered him some food, but he said he did not want it.

‘Tn all we met nine caravans, five belonging to Yao chiefs, and four to

HO

650 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

coast Arabs, most of them having been two or three months on the way, and
all exclaiming at the scarcity and dearness of provisions. We found afterwards
at Makochero’s—where we had bought most of our provisions in going up,
and amongst us we had eaten some hundred fowls—that nothing was now to
be had, and everything about the place looked hungry. These nine caravans
would represent from one thousand five hundred to two thousand slaves, and
possibly some ten thousand for the whole year.

‘¢ Here we saw some of the horrors of the slave trade, as we were close
behind a caravan which had left in each day’s journey one or more of its
number cruelly murdered by the road side, and the very last day before
reaching the villages we came upon a man lying in the path in the very act
of dying of hunger and fatigue. He was far beyond all help, and we could
only watch his last sighs. Surely if there can be a holy war it would be one
against a traffic which bears such fruits as these. If we had the means to
hire and feed some hundred or two of men to clear, and plant, and build, and
defend themselves if necessary, I think this line of trade at least might be
finally closed, but it would be madness to attempt force unless one had ample
means, and at least the passive support of the English Government. The
true cure must be the abolition of slavery itself on the coast, and I think the
English Government could easily procure it. * Let all present slaves be held
indebted to their masters in a sum equal to their market value, to be paid in
labour or in money as the two may agree, and all further comers to be dpso
facto free. There would then be no great hardship on the owners, a fitting
gift might be found, which would save the Sultan’s honour in yielding to our
wishes, and the presence of the Admiral for a few weeks would satisfy his
people that he was only submitting to the inevitable. I heard good news at
Kilwa on my return, which was that the land route northwards was stopped
by war near the Lufiji. We have got beyond half measures, and no native
would be surprised at fresh action. If we need a pretext, the fact that Pemba
has notoriously imported large numbers of slaves under the eye of the Sultan’s
officials, and in direct violation of the treaty, is more than a pretext, it is
substantial justification. None can find pleasure in detailing horrors, but
the actual sight of such cruelties as abound on the slave routes moves one
strangely.”

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Ussambi—The Country of the Walunda—Lovale and its People—Kibokwe—King
Antonio Kagnombe—Settlement of Senhor Guilherme Goncalves—Other Settle-
ments—Bailunda—Arrives at Benguela—Reports himself at Loanda—Reaches
Liverpool— Welcome Reception Everywhere.

(OEMBEA having arrived, Cameron was able to pursue his journey. The

caravan crossed the Lovoi on a fishing-weir bridge, and entered the
country of Ussambi. Ussambi is a sort of debateable ground between Urua
and Ulunda. The people say that they are properly under the rule of
Kasongo, but that they are forced to pay tribute to Mata Yafa also, as his
territory is so close, especially on the north-west, that if they refuse to ac-
knowledge his claims, he can easily enter their country and desolate it. In
addition to the extortions they are subjected to by these two chiefs, they also
suffer from the raids of one Msiri, who has established himself at Katanga by
force of arms, and now sends armed parties in all directions in search of
slaves and other plunder. He sends the slaves he thus obtains to Unyan-
yembe and the West Coast, and receives in exchange, cloth, guns, and pow-
der. The guns and powder enable him to retain his position, and he is also
greatly assisted by large armed caravans from Bihe, commanded by confiden-
tial slaves of Portuguese, who use his territory as a safe basis from whence
to start their numerous expeditions. These Portuguese are generally accom-
panied by a few of Msiri’s own people, in order that they may be considered
as acting under his commands, and thereby spreading the terror of his name
far and wide; besides this advantage, he receives a large proportion of the
slaves captured in these raids.

Growing wise by experience, the people of Ussambi are now congregat-
ing in large villages, well protected by wide and deep ditches and embank-
ments, and are rapidly subdividing into a number of small and independent
tribes, only bound together by the necessity of defence against the common
enemy, the slave trader. The country of Ussambi is one pleasant to the eye,
and well watered; woods, meadows, streams, and cultivated grounds, suc-
ceeding each other in agreeable diversity. Whilst passing through Ussambi,
Cameron heard that Mata Yafa was only a few miles distant from his camp,
being then on his way to Kasongo, in order to seek his protection and assist-

652 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ance. In consequence of some unheard-of cruelty he had committed on
women, an elder sister, whose rank was nearly equal to his own, had formed
a conspiracy, and had driven him out of the country. He only just managed
to escape with his life, accompanied by a few followers, who still remained
faithful to him; and he was skulking along through the jungle, afraid to
enter any village.

After Ussambi, the party came into Ulunda. The huts of the people of
Ulunda are of exceedingly small dimensions, and are as a rule scattered
about the country in clusters of three or four, situated in the middle of small
clearings, each of which just suffices to support the one family who inhabit
it. Whilst passing through this country, they crossed many important afilu-
ents of the Lualaba or Congo; and at one place the source of the Zambesi
was only ten or twelve miles to the south of them.

Leaving Ulunda, they first passed through a country which is consi-
dered at present as neutral ground, but which is rapidly being colonised by
the people of Lovale. Lovale is a country of considerable extent; the eastern
portions are very similar to Ulunda, but, as they proceeded westward, they
came upon large plains, which, in the rainy season, are nearly covered with
water, and are then well-nigh impassable. From these inundations the inha-
bitants derive the greater portion of their wealth. When the waters are out,
innumerable fishes, principally siluri (or mud fish), swarm forth from the
rivers, and spread themselves all over the country. The inhabitants take
advantage of the slight inequalities of level to form small dams, by which,
when the floods subside, the fishes are confined, and are then easily cap-
tured by the natives, who dry them, and barter them with passing caravans,
and with their neighbours. So eager are the tribes on either side for these
fish, that they refuse all other articles of barter from caravans who have
passed through these piscatorial districts. In order to gratify this peculiar
taste of the people they were to meet on their road, Cameron and his com-
panions were obliged to lay in a large stock of this half-rotten fish; and the
effluvia arising from it made their camp nearly pestilential.

The place where they halted to buy in their fish cargo was very near
the point at which Dr. Livingstone’s original route from Sekeletu’s to Loanda
crossed Cameron’s; and the chief Livingstone met there was the same that
Cameron saw. He remembered Livingstone well, and remembered the fact
of his riding an ox. In Lovale they had a good many annoying, though
not serious, troubles with the natives. These people had innumerable fet-
ishes, and every time any fetish was offended a fine was levied, and as a
stranger had no means of finding out what was fetish and what was not, these
fines were very numerous and vexatious. Certain trees might not be cut down
to build a camp; against others no one might rest a gun; some paths might
not be traversed by a stranger; and so on ad infinitum. As nearly every man

KIBOKWE AND ITS PRODUCE. 653

in Loyvale was armed with a gun, they considered themselves powerful enough
to insist on all these regulations.

After Lovale, they came to Kibokwe, where the country began to get
more broken and hilly; and they began to ascend towards the western edge
of the basins of the Congo and the Zambesi. Here the fish which they had
bought in Lovale were in demand, and Cameron soon exhausted all his stock ;
and if he had not been able to purchase a little cloth at a most exorbitant
price, from some people of Bihe, who were out collecting bees-wax, he and his
men would have starved. The only product of Kibokwe which is exported
is this bees-wax. From the honey the natives make a sort of mead, which in
taste is very like strong ale. At one village where the caravan halted, the
chief offered the white man some in a china pint mug, which, as he was very
thirsty, he emptied at once. The chief held him in great admiration, when
he saw that this potent draught took no effect on his head, and followed him
to the two next camps to give him some more drink before starting in the
mornings. He brought a little pot with him, in which he warmed the mead,
and as the mornings were then raw and cold, the beverage proved most accept-
able. i

Leaving Kibokwe, they passed out of the basins of the Congo and the
Zambesi (the affluents of which are so interlaced with each other that it was
almost impossible to determine the actual watershed), and came into that of
the Kwanza. After crossing the Kwanza (which here, some distance above
the falls, was a fine navigable stream) they arrived at Komanante, in Bihe,
where Kendele (or Alviz) had his settlement. Although he said he was a
civilised man, his establishment was little better than that of the natives, and
a disgrace to the name of civilisation. Cameron was delayed a week at Kom-
anante before he could procure a guide from Kendele to show him the road
to the coast. Kendele himself remained up in Bihe, in order to dispose of
some of his slaves for bees-wax and ivory; the others he retained to sell at
the coast. When our traveller left Komanante, he had first to go to the town
of Kagnombe, the chief of Bihe, as his guide would have been afraid to
return if it had been known he had guided a white man through Bihe, with-
out taking him to see Kagnombe. Kagnombe’s town proved to be the largest
he had ever seen in Africa, but Kagnombe (or, as he called himself, King
Antonio Kagnombe) was a most despicable specimen of a negro. He said
he had been to Loanda, but the only result of his travels seemed to be a
grafting of the worst European vices on those already engrained on his
nature.

The day Cameron left Kagnombe’s he arrived at the settlement of
Senhor Guilherme Goncalves, where he was most kindly and hospitably
received, and felt as if he were once more getting into civilisation, The
owner of this settlement has lived at Bihe for upwards of thirty-three years,

é
654 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and his entire establishment is in a state of wonderful order and prosperity.
He has planted orange-trees, vines, roses, etc., which all grow to perfection ;
there are great hedges of roses, thirty feet high, covered with blossoms. He
is an old officer of the Portuguese navy, and a very gentlemanlike man;
but he has become so completely habituated to African life, that, though he
had just visited Portugal, he felt he could not live there, and was obliged to
return to Bihe. From this settlement Cameron proceeded to that of Senhor
Goao Baptista Ferreira, where he was also kindly received. Senhor Ferreira
has travelled far into the interior (on one occasion nearly up to Kasongo’s
country), but being utterly uneducated, and almost solely dependent on the
slave trade for his profits, he cannot fail to lower the prestige of the white
man among the natives. Close to his settlement is that of Silva Porto,
famous for his journey with Syde ibn Habib half across Africa. His place
is now in the charge of slaves, who make frequent trips to Katanga for cop-
per, slaves, and ivory, whilst he himself lives in comfort at Benguela.

After one day’s halt at Ferreira’s Cameron started for Benguela; but
after only four days’ marching, he was delayed by the illness of the wife of
his chief native guide, and, after all, had to leave him with her, and to go on
with one of his brothers. Besides the natives, he had also a black Portuguese,
called Manoel, from Dondo, supplied to him by Kendele, who formed a very
favourable contrast to that individual, as he endeavoured to assist the traveller
in every way in his power. They now came into the lovely and fertile country
of Bailunda, the chief of which Cameron visited in his village, situated on a
rocky hill, standing by itself in the middle of the plain. To reach the royal
hut, which was perched on the very summit of the hill, he had to pass
through no fewer than seven stockades ; besides this, the path was so steep in
some places, that he had a regular scramble to get up. Two or three days
after leaving this chief he got into a very mountainous country, and as the
rainy season had set in in full force, his men began to break down; four or
five of them had to be carried, and one poor fellow died. The day after his
death, Cameron found that, in bringing up the rear of the caravan, he was
about nine hours doing what might easily be done in three under ordinary
circumstances, owing to the number of men who were unable to march, and
who kept halting. On his arrival in camp, he therefore made up his mind
to throw away everything he could possibly spare, and pressing on to the
coast, now one hundred and twenty six miles distant, with a few of the best
men, to send back assistance to the others. He accordingly threw away his
boat, the remains of his tent bed, and everything but a blanket and a change
of clothes.

The next morning he went on with Manoel and six other men; and
after five days’ stiff marching across a very rough and mountainous country,
he arrived at Katombela, a suburb of Benguela. Here he was most warmly

ARRIVAL AT LIVERPOOL. 655

welcomed by Monsieur Charles Cauchoix, an ex-lieutenant of the French
navy, who rendered him every assistance in his power. The very day he
reached Katombela, scurvy broke out on him with great violence, and by the
evening he found he could neither speak nor swallow. Monsieur Cauchoix
started off with him in a hammock for Benguela at two o’clock in the morn-
ing, to place him at once under the care of Dr. Cavacho, in charge of the
military hospital there, to whose kind and scientific treatment the traveller
in a great measure owes his life, The Portuguese governor, Major Brito,
was also most kind, giving lodgings and rations to the men; and from him,
and all the inhabitants of Benguela, our traveller received every sort of hos-
pitality.

After staying about a fortnight at Benguela, a passage was given to
himself and his men to Loanda on board the Portuguese mail steamer,
“ Bengo.” When he arrived at Loanda, he landed as quickly as possible,
and got up to the consul’s before that official heard of his arrival. He was
not a very prepossessing-looking individual at the time, but when, on the
consul’s coming out to him, he said—‘‘ Come to report myself from Zanzibar
—overland,” he caught hold of him by both shoulders and said, ‘‘ Cameron,
by God!” The consul (Captain Hopkins) did everything he possibly could
for him; and all the other English at Loanda received him most warmly. As
soon as he was able to despatch his men for Zanzibar, he started himself for
England by the next homeward-bound English steamer; and, after a tedious
and uneventful voyage of fifty-four days, he arrived at Liverpool on the 2nd
of April, 1876, and met with a very warm reception from a large crowd on
landing.

The next day he was presented with an address by the Town Council
and Burgesses of that important borough. The presentation was made in
the Town Hall; and the large and influential company which assembled to
welcome the distinguished traveller bore ample testimony to the high esteem
in which he was held. On his arrival at the Hall, he was received with loud
and prolonged cheering, and every mark of respect. The Mayor, having
read the address, presented it to the brave guest, who, on rising, was greeted
with loud applause. He said—‘‘I thank you, Mr. Mayor, Members of the
Corporation, and Inhabitants of Liverpool, for this address, which I shall
cherish as long as I live, as a mark of appreciation of the work I have been
doing. I esteem myself especially fortunate that my arrival in England
should be at Liverpool, one of the most important commercial communities
of the world, and one more intimately connected with the continent I have
been exploring than any other commercial emporium. I shall always
remember yesterday and to-day as two of the proudest and happiest days of
my life. The thought that the work I was doing would be appreciated
by those who understand its importance has sustained me through many a

656 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

weary march and trying hour when I had no European nor friend to speak
to. On my arrival in England, what I had trusted to has been nobly fulfilled.
I thank you again, Mr. Mayor, Members of the Corporation, and Inhabitants of
Liverpool, for the cordial, kind, and noble way in which you have received me.”

Shortly afterwards the traveller was entertained at a banquet presided
over by the Mayor, and attended by upwards of a hundred distinguished
guests. After proposing the toast of ‘‘The Queen,” which was duly honoured,
the Mayor next said—‘‘ I have great pleasure in proposing the health of our
gallant guest, Lieutenant Cameron. I esteem it a great privilege to have the
honour of first welcoming him on his return to his native land. For nearly
four years he has been exploring a country in which danger and difficulties
ever attend the traveller. He went out in command of the Livingstone Kast
Coast Expedition at a time when that distinguished traveller had not been
heard of for several years, and on finding that Dr. Livingstone was dead, he
determined, though in no wise bound to do so, to pursue the discoveries of that
eminent man and traveller. Since then he has with great intrepidity and
courage crossed South Africa from east to west; made important astronomical
and geological observations; prepared a careful survey of his route ; and thus
achieved, under many trials, privations, and sickness, one of the great events
in the history of Geographical explorations. This town cannot fail to be
deeply interested with African exploration, its early history as a commercial
port being closely identified with that country. Everything that tends to de-
velop the resources of Africa is sure to be watched with interest by the mer-
chants of this port. Such labours as those of Lieutenant Cameron must be of
great commercial advantage to this country, as the more such countries as
Africa are opened up, and civilisation allowed to reach the people, the better
it must be for trade and commerce. But we congratulate and welcome our
esteemed guest on other grounds than these. Much as we are interested in
trade and its increase, we are more interested in the progress of civilisation
and the spread of Christianity. Dr. Livingstone was a pioneer in promoting
these blessings in Africa, and Lieutenant Cameron has been nobly following
in his footsteps, and so we delight to do him honour. Englishmen are always
proud to recognise courage, bravery, and self-denial, and when shown, to the
honour of their country, they specially rejoice to do so. Lieutenant Cameron’s
acts have become histcry, and have added fame to his country’s name. On
behalf of this great commercial town, and of those present to day, I tender
to our gallant guest our heartiest congratulations and a cordial welcome to
his native land. Lieutenant Cameron was sustained and encouraged in his
travels by the thought which he expressed in one of his letters, ‘ that the Bri-
tish public and the Geographical Society would never desert any one who
tried to do his best;’ and the greeting we offer to-day, and the one that awaits
him in the metropolis, will prove to him that his confidence was not misplaced.”

CAMERON’S WORK AT LIVERPOOL. 657

————

LiruTENANT CAMERON, who was received with enthusiastic applause,
said—‘ Mr. Mayor, Mr. High Sheriff, Ladies and Gentlemen—I thank you
from the bottom of my heart for the kind and cordial way in which you have
drunk my health. It is most cheering when one comes back to one’s native
land, to be welcomed as I have been welcomed here. I am proud to say
that I have been welcomed in a way that has surpassed anything that I could
ever have expected. I thank you all most heartily. Iam glad that I came
to this port of Liverpool on my arrival in England, because I believe that
Liverpool has more to do with Africa than any other port in the world.
Nearly all the trade of the West Coast of Africa comes to Liverpool. In my
journeys, as the Mayor has said, I was sustained by a belief that the English
public would never desert me; and I am glad to say that I have found that
my belief was true.

‘“<T left England on the 30th November, 1872. I went out to Zanzibar
with Sir Bartle Frere. I had a good many difficulties in getting men together.
There were at first four of us. I left two behind—Murphy and Moffat—to
rejoin us later; one of them, Moffat, a nephew of Dr. Livingstone and a grand-
son of the Rev. Dr. Moffat. He died before he could rejoin us; he was too
young to stand the journey. Mr. Murphy rejoined Mr. Dillon and myself
at Rhenneko. We then marched over country which is known, and which
has been travelled by Stanley, Burton, and Speke, who have described it
better than I could. We arrived at Unyanyembe; and there I found some
opposition on the part of people belonging to the coast—not, however, the
well-bred Arabs, who are gentlemen in the best sense of the word—but ped-
lars, who injured us in many ways and took away our men. The Arabs of
Omau and the Arabs of Zanzibar, who are friends and countrymen of Seyyid
Burghash, are in the highest sense of the word, gentlemen. There poor Dillon,
one of my dearest friends, left me; he had to go home, and his sad death
occurred directly afterwards. Mr. Murphy had to go back with the corpse
of Dr. Livingstone to the coast. I then went on a road between that of
Stanley and Burton to Ujiji, and there I met Arabs who were kind and
hospitable. I remained at Tanganyika two months, going round the south
end, and I am happy to say that at the end I found there was an outlet to
the Tanganyika, which I always believed there must be, called the Lukuga.
Iam certain, from my levels and position, that the waters of the Lualaba and
the Congo are the same. I saw Hamed ben Hamed, who bargained to take
me down to his settlement, and to try to get me across the Loami, the lake
into which the Lualaba flows. The chief on the other side, however, refused
to give me a passage. I then walked away south to where there were Portu-
guese traders, and there I found another kind and hospitable Arab, and a
subject of Portugal, named Alviz, who said he was going down the coast,
In sundry ways he delayed me for upwards of six months, and during that

13

658 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

time I was able to go to Lake Kassoli, although I was not allowed to cross
the river Lovoi, one of the affluents of the Congo. Then I followed from
there the watershed of the Zambesi and the affluent of the Congo down to
Bihe, till I came to the basin Quanza. ‘There, there is one of the most mag-
nificent natural systems of water communication in the world ; and the Congo
and the Zambesi could be joined by a canal of thirty miles. The richness of
the country is unspeakable, and I cannot describe it; and I am sure that,
hereafter, the centre of Africa, especially at this side of the Tanganyika,
will be a centre of civilisation, and productive of trade. There will be new
granaries for the world, new mines, new coalfields, which will be carried on
when the mines in other parts of the world have been worked out. If my
journey has done any good towards opening up this country, I am amply
repaid.”

The Mayor next proposed the toast of ‘‘ The Royal Geographical So-
ciety,” who had promoted the Expedition, and Mr. Tinne responded on be-
half of the Society. ‘It has been deputed to me,” he said, ‘‘as one of the
oldest members of the Royal Geographical Society, to welcome the gallant
Lieutenant on his landing here; and in their name, and that of my brother
associates, I beg to thank you, Mr. Mayor, and my townsmen, on the hearty
reception you have given the plucky traveller and explorer. Mr. Cameron
has walked, as you are aware, from east to west, some three thousand miles
of ground, one thousand two hundred of which are entirely new to geo-
graphers, having made most valuable observations, which will correct pre-
vious ones, and having laid down other new positions. We used to consider
the interior of Africa a sandy desert; but now we find there magnificent
watercourses and lakes, leading to extensive districts of great commercial
value.”

Lieutenant Cameron afterwards proceeded to the Exchange Newsroom,
where he was received with cheering and clapping of hands, and to the Lite-
rary and Philosophical Society, where he was cordially welcomed.

Referring to Cameron’s work as an explorer, and to his Liverpool recep-
tion on his return, the “‘ Liverpool Daily Post,” the day after the banquet, thus
wrote—“ The fascinations of African adventure have added another name to
the roll of heroic explorers of whom England, more than any other country,
has reason to be proud. At the early age of thirty, Lieutenant Cameron finds
himself famous as a traveller and discoverer, and it was fitting that Liverpool
should accord to him the hearty welcome which he formally received yes-
terday on his return, after so eventful an absence, to his native land. More
than three years ago, the Lieutenant started for Central Africa at the head of
an Expedition for the relief of the illustrious Livingstone, between whom
and the civilised world all communication had been cut off. But the mission
arrived at its destination too late to fulfil the purpose for which it was organ-

JOURNALISTIC CRITICISM. 659

ised. The veteran traveller had at last succumbed to the fatigues which his
vigorous frame and indomitable spirit so long enabled him to endure, and all
that remained to be done was to arrange for the transport to the coast of the
dead body which the natives had reverently guarded. Fortunately, also, the
Doctor’s papers were found, and these Lieutenant Cameron took charge of,
and provided for their safe conveyance to England. The complete story of
the Lieutenant’s subsequent proceedings has yet to be given to the world.
The first instalment will be submitted to an early meeting of the Royal Geo-
graphical Society, which has already by anticipation expressed its sense of
the value of Mr. Cameron’s discoveries ; and it is to be hoped that before
long the whole of the interesting details will be published in a permanent
form.

** What may be described as the most sensational feature of the Lieuten-
ant’s explorations relates to the Congo, the great western river whose sources
have hitherto been shrouded in as much mystery as those of the more famous
Nile were for so many centuries. Mr. Cameron discovered the outlet, on the
west side of Lake Tanganyika, of a magnificent stream, which he identified
as the head waters of the Lualaba, and the Lualaba he believes to be identi-
eal with the Congo. Unfortunately, he was unable to verify this conjecture
by following the entire course of the river, but his hypothesis is accepted by
the most eminent geographers as a probable one, and at least as trustworthy
as that which assigns the equatorial chain of lakes as the source of the Nile.
The problem will, no doubt, engage further attention, and, in these days of
adventure and research, it is almost certain that the steps which are wanting
to give Lieutenant Cameron’s assumed solution the character of a demonstra-
tion will be followed up under conditions more favourable to perfect success.
In the meantime, the Lieutenant’s countrymen have substantial grounds for
hailing him as a genuine hero of travel; and Liverpool especially would have
failed in its duty had it been backward in recognising the services which he.
has indirectly rendered to civilisation and commerce on the side of the Brea
continent with which so many of our merchants maintain intimate relations.”

On the 5th of April, the following iHaudatory article appeared in ‘‘ The
Daily Telegraph :”—

“‘ Lieutenant Cameron arrived yesterday in London—with his African
honours not exactly blushing, but brown and sun-stamped upon him—and
received from a circle of intimate friends and well-known geographers the
hearty welcome which public appreciation will confirm. The gallant young
traveller is in excellent health, and has left behind him in Loanda all ill
results of his journey. What that journey has been he will himself explain
at length in presence of the meeting to be held on Tuesday next in St
James’s Hall; but when we add to that which is already known of it from
published sources—the further details soon to be heard from his own lips—it

660 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

will be found that he well deserves the cordial greetings which have hailed
his return from the silences of the mysterious continent. We may claim,
perhaps, an especial right to criticise the young officer’s achievement, because
in an honourable and friendly sense he has performed his task in a sort of
necessary rivalry with Mr. Stanley, to whom we haye hastened to despatch
all the particulars of the discoveries and travels of Mr. Cameron, with the
certainty that no one would rejoice more in his safety than the indomitable
explorer who is at this moment perhaps completing the map of Central
Africa where it still remains blank. It was among the instructions of Mr
Stanley to turn aside and aid Lieutenant Cameron, if any intelligence should
be brought of his proximity ; and, during the long lapse of time when no
news arrived, the letters of ‘The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘ New York Herald’
Commissioner were eagerly scanned for any word of tidings which might
reassure the friends of the missing officer.

“The paths of the two travellers, however, lay far apart; for, while
Stanley was pushing northward for the Victoria Nyanza, which he has since
all but completely laid down and navigated, Cameron, having finished his
survey of the southern end of Tanganyika, was making across the country to
the westward of that remarkable water, aiming to reach Nyangwe, Living-
stone’s furthest point. Had it been possible for him to follow the Lualaba
from that town down towards the coast, or even so far as to the watershed
he afterwards reached by land, the last secret but one of the vast continent
would have been yielded up; and the traveller whose melancholy honour it
was to have received and transmitted the body of Livingstone, would have
figured for ever as the executor and legatee of the Doctor’s scientific fame.
Unfortunately, Lieutenant Cameron was obliged to quit the sure clue of that
prodigious stream which Livingstone revealed to us, and to strike southwards
wide of the Lualaba. He traversed, nevertheless, twelve hundred miles of
a district absolutely unknown before to geography, and, crossing the water-
parting of the Zambesi and the Congo, saw the streams which drain into the
latter river. Finally he emerged, after a weary transit on foot in company
with a trade caravan, into the western regions and the Benguela coast-line,
thereby accomplishing a feat which has no equal except in the great record
of Livingstone, and the adventurous journey of the Pombeiros. It is a new
tribute to British pluck and patience that the young officer thus tramped
nearly three thousand miles from coast to coast, and that he brought his
Expedition through with but one unfortunate collision with the natives,
although, of course, the latter part of his progress was materially aided in
the way of passage, and sadly hampered in the geographical sense, by the
Portuguese trader with whom he was obliged to link his fortunes.

‘The scientific results of his bold journey are such as well deserve the
first great honour which can hardly fail to await them—namely, the gold

JOURNALISTIC CRITICISM. 661

medal of the Royal Geographical Society. We ourselves attach the chief im-
portance to the observations made over that four hundred leagues of new
region which no European foot has trodden except that of the Lieutenant.
These observations, which are, like all taken by the gallant officer, extremely
careful, must, together with his descriptions of the people and the face of
the country, open up to us fresh scenes and perfectly novel tribes; and were
it for this alone we should pay the homage of a sincere admiration to the
explorer. But the most debated portions of his work are the supposed disco-
very of an outlet to the Lake Tanganyika, and also the identification of the
Lualaba with the Upper Congo. We hope, and are inclined to expect, that
one or perhaps both of these announced discoveries will turn out to be accu-
rate, although at present a haze of uncertainty hangs over them, which cannot
be dispelled by the generous and patriotic feeling shared by all alike to see
our countryman’s triumph rendered as perfect as possible. The Lukuga
may well be the outlet of Tanganyika, but there are still two points at least
to clear up about it—the first, how an effluent from such a body of water,
with such a slope to descend to Nyangwe, could have so slow acurrent? and
the next, why Livingstone’s path through the Bambarre district never crossed it?
So, again, if the Lualaba at Nyangwe be, as Lieutenant Cameron says, only one
thousand four hundred feet above the sea, there is an end to any idea that it
can find its way into the Nile, and the odds are overwhelming in favour of
the theory that it runs to feed the Congo. This gives a fall of thirteen hun-
dred feet from Tanganyika to Nyangwe, which is possible enough, but does
not leave too much elevation for the further course of the Congo-Lualaba ;
while, if we hesitate at the immense volume of water which comes from Bemba,
Moera, Kamolondo, and Tanganyika, we cannot forget that the ‘ Moeinzi-
Enzaddi’ is, in its lower course, one of the deepest of known rivers.

“On the highly probable supposition—which Cameron’s journey has
greatly strengthened, though not positively affirmed—that all those vast
sweet-water seas empty into the Congo channel, the approximate certainty
which the traveller has obtained well deserves the recognition which the Pre-
sident of the Royal Geographical Society is prepared to give, and the mighty
Nile itself must look forward to being content with the divided glory of a
sister stream. The Congo in this case will prove one of the noblest water-
ways on the globe; and flowing as it does through one of the fairest countries
ever beheld, an immense and splendid future for civilisation and commerce
seems opened up by Lieutenant Cameron’s journey. We must, however, ask
for special verifications of the altitudes taken at Nyangwe, and for careful
comparisons of them with the levels obtained elsewhere, nor is it necessary
to the correctness of this part of the Lieutenant’s discoveries that the Lukuga
should be the outlet of Tanganyika. We must not forget the reiterated re-
ports conveyed to Sir Samuel Baker of a connection by water between the

662 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Albert Nyanza and the Tanganyika, though here, indeed, Cameron has Stan-
ley on his side. At any moment we may receive from our Commisioner news
respecting the exploration of Baker’s Lake—the last and greatest secret yet
surviving in Africa, if we except the unseen portion of the course of the
Congo—and it would be curious if it arrived in time to give confirmation to
the view that the Nile henceforth must rest satisfied with the two magnificent
Nyanzas as its ‘nursing mothers!’

“‘ Ardently hoping, then, that subsequent researches may endorse and
fulfil the considerable additions made to our knowledge by this young officer,
we yield to none in our welcome to him, and publicly add our warm recog-
nition of the fresh lustre which his courage and perseverance have cast upon
the record of British work in Africa. We trust that the Government will not
be behind the representatives of geographical science in marking their sense
of the good service performed by Lieutenant Cameron. When it is remem-
bered that he was out of reach of all help and knowledge for nineteen months ;
that wherever he has gone the people have had reason by his conduct to think
well of Englishmen; and that, whether fully confirmed or not, his discoveries
are certainly among the most remarkable of the generation, public opinion
will not be satisfied unless he receives, at least, his promotion from the Ad-
miralty, with such other proofs of favour as precedents allow. His services
on the East Coast of Africa already gave him a clear title to the C. 8. I., for
which his African tramp has newly recommended him; less than these official
signs of approval would be too little. Meanwhile, the interest of his passage
across the wonderful continent will turn public attention with fresh fascina-
tion to Africa, destined so surely to play a splendid part in the history of the
earth’s development. It will make thoughtful men more and more anxious
to rescue the beautiful paradise which Lieutenant Cameron will describe on
Tuesday next from the slave-drivers, and to bring into the music of humanity
those ‘black notes’ on the world’s key-board which have been too long and
too mournfully silent.”

A special meeting of the Royal Geographical Society was held in St.
James’s Hall on April 12th, 1876, to hear from Lieutenant Cameron an account
of his Explorations in Africa. The Hall was crowded in every part, and the
platform was occupied by a large company of distinguished visitors, including
Sir John Hay, M. P.; Sir. G. Campbell, M. P.; Mr. Shaw Lefevre, M. P.;
Mr. Clements Markham, etc. A number of maps, diagrams, flags, and relies,
illustrative of Lieutenant Cameron’s narrative, were arranged about the plat-
form. On His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and Sir Henry Raw-
linson entering the Hall, accompanied by Lieutenant Cameron and some of
the leading members of the Society, the audience rose en masse and cheered
heartily.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who was received with great cheers, said—‘ I

CAMERON BEFORE THE ROYAL GHOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 668

have great pleasure on this occasion—the first occasion on which I have had
the honour of occupying the chair since I became President of this Society—
of presenting to you so distinguished a member of a profession to which I
have the honour to belong, and a gentleman who has distinguished himself
so much by the journey which he has accomplished—a journey from sea to
sea through the centre of Africa. I feel that it requires very little preface on
my part to introduce him to you. The remarks upon this interesting journey
are to come from him, and any words that I might make would only take
away from the interest with which I am sure you will listen to him in his
account of his interesting exploits. At the same time I must congratulate the
Navy that it should fall to the lot of a member of that profession to show that
pluck which distinguishes all Englishmen, but which, in my opinion, more
particularly distinguishes naval officers—to accomplish so great a feat as
the journey across that vast continent—a journey which occupied two years
and eight months, and which, though the original object was to search for
our late lamented explorer, Dr. Livingstone, eventually became a separate
and independent exploration on Lieutenant Cameron’s own part. I have
great pleasure in introducing to you Lieutenant Cameron, and I do so in the
confidence that we shall all be deeply interested by the account he will give
us of his interesting journey.”

Lieutenant Cameron then rose, and was received with loud cheers. In
the course of his address he said—‘“‘ In consequence of the shortness of the
time I can do no more than give a very brief resume of my journey this
evening. The first portion of the journey may be considered as that from the
East Coast to Ujiji. The Expedition consisted originally of Dr. Dillon and
myself; at Aden, Mr. Murphy, of the R.A., volunteered, and joined us after-
wards at Zanzibar, and a day or two before leaving Bagamoyo, Mr. Moffat,
of Natal, a nephew of Dr. Livingstone, also joined. My first great difficulty
was to provide porters to carry our stores, and after nearly a month at Baga-
moyo I formed a camp at Shamba Gonera to try and make them keep together,
but with no good results. In the middle of March, 1873, Dillon started to
form a camp at Kikoka, the farthest Balooch outpost of H.H. Syed Burghash,
and a little beyond the Kingani. A few days afterwards Sir Bartle Frere
came over to Bagamoyo, bringing Moffat with him. Two days afterwards I
joined Dillon at Kikoka, leaving Murphy ill with fever under charge of the
French missionaries at Bagamoyo. The French missionaries were most kind
and hospitable during our stay, and they are doing a very good and import-
ant work in the country ‘They have a large number of pupils, who, besides
being Christianised and taught to read and write, are also instructed in the
ways and means of earning their livelihood in after life.

“There was a great deal of opposition amongst the Wamerima, owing to
an idea (which pursued us to Unyanyembe) that we were personally engaged

664 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

in putting down the slave trade, though the higher class Arabs were friendly
tous. Moffat accompanied me to Kikoka, and then returned to Bagamoyo
to assist Murphy. On March 28, 1873, Dillon and I started from Kikoka,
but had to leave many loads behind, owing to the porters having got back into
Bagamoyo, nothwithstanding my having paid the guard at the Kingani to
prevent their crossing. From Kikoka, Dillon and I marched to Msuwah,
across an almost uninhabited country, with park-like stretches of open grass,
clumps of fine trees, and strips of jungle, and here and there intersected by
nullahs, which, after heavy showers of rain, became considerable streams.
We were detained in one place some days trying to get food, which was very
scarce, and the villages lay some way from the road. I went out once to look
for it, but, owing to trusting to Bombay, lost the track, and had to sleep in a
swamp, amid pouring rain, in consequence of which I was laid up with fever
until our arrival at Msuwah. At Msuwah the country began to rise more
decidedly than it had hitherto done. ‘There was a good deal of cultivation
about, but the villages were in dense clumps of jungle, and very few strangers
are allowed to enter them. We formed our camp close to the village of the
chief, and were initiated into paying tribute, having to give thirty dotis to a
smiling old villain. From Msuwah we travelled on with an Arab caravan,
till past Simbaweui, crossing the Lugereugeri on our third march, and going
through a pass in the Duthumi hills, and then through a well cultivated fer-
tile valley full of small conical knolls, and by another pass on to Simbaweui,
and then across the Lugereugeri a second time. From here we followed the
same route as Stanley to Rehenneko, on the other side of the Makata.

“At Rehenneko, Dillon and I halted for a month, to wait for Moffat and
Murphy, at the end of which time Murphy came up alone, bringing the sad
news that Moffat had died before crossing the Makata. Poor young fellow!
His whole heart was in the Expedition; he had sold his all, a sugar plantation
in Natal, and was willing to expend his last farthing in the cause of African
exploration. Murphy himself was very ill when he arrived. After a few
days’ halt to enable him to recover his strength somewhat, we started across
the Usagara mountains, and then passed Miunyi Useghara, up the valley of
the Mukoudokwa, by the same route as Stanley to Lake Ugombo, and then
across a rough waterless country to Mpwapwa. At Mpwapwa were three or
four caravans of different sizes, and one of the Wanyamwezi would have been
robbed if I had not interfered to prevent it. From Mpwapwa we went on
across the Marenga Mkali, and to obviate the inconvenience of being without
water for two days I filled four air pillows with water, which held three gal-
lons each. After the Marenga Mkali we arrived at Moume, the first station
in Ugogo, and came into the full swing of tribute paying, and were detained
three or four days before it could be settled. The first day the chief and all
hands were drunk, and next day the chief would only receive the tribute through

CAMERON'S JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR. 665

his prime minister, and he was too drunk to transact any business, and so on
from day to day. There is no passing through Ugogo without paying tribute,
for, although the people do not as a rule fight, if the demand is resisted they
earry off all they can of their provisions and stores, destroy their houses and
all they leave behind, fill up their water-holes, and retreat into the jungles,
leaying the strangers to die of thirst and starvation, assured of being repaid
by the stores, which are certain to be abandoned, for any losses they may
themselves have incurred. This occurred two or three times when Arab cara-
vans have attempted to avoid paying mhongo. Soon after Moume we struck
Burton’s route at Kanyenye, or Great Ugogo, where the same chief (Magomba)
reigns as was there in his time. ;

“From Kanyenye we went on rising, at the end of the plain, which leads
up a steep wall-like range of hills to another plateau. On this plateau we
went through a range of hills formed of blocks and boulders of granite piled
about in the wildest confusion, and came to Usekhe, where we camped close
to the largest boulder of granite that, up to that time, I had ever seen.
Here again tribute, drunkenness, and delays, and then on our march to
Khoko, where some Wamerima are settled, and where we camped under one
of three enormous trees—our own carayan and others accompanying it—in
all, amounting to about five hundred men, camping under one tree. From
here was one march to Mdabaree, the last district of Ugogo, and where we
finished with mhongo for the time being. As we were a short way from
where white men had passed before, the chief’s head man said we had to stop
till all the people had seen us; in fact, he made a raree show of us. We now
entered on what used to be dreaded as Mgunda Mkali, or fiery field, but
which now is far easier to traverse than it was in the days of Burton and
Speke. After a few days we came to Jiwe la Singa, where there were almost
as many fantastic boulders as near Usekhe, the name of the place meaning
the rock of soft grass. From here we marched through a wild and uninha-
bited country, with much game, but very wild and scared, making longish
marches on account of the scarceness and badness of the water. On July 31,
1874, we reached the village of the chief of Urgu. Here we stopped one
day to buy food, as our provisions were exhausted, and for the first time,
camped in a village. Our tents were crowded all day long by the natives,
and at night we found that they had left many small but disagreeable inha-
bitants behind them.

‘‘ From here to the outlying villages of Unyanyembe, was four long
marches through uninhabited country. At the end of the second we camped
at a place called Marwa, where water is only to be obtained by digging at
the base of a boulder, and no one is allowed to say maji—the common word
for water—to fire a gun? or walk by with sandals or boots, for fear of offend-
ing the fiend in charge of the spring, and causing him to stop the supply of

KO *

666 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

water. The next morning, as Dillon and I were out on one side of the track
looking for game, we saw a couple of lions six hundred or seven hundred
yards off, trotting quietly home after a night out. The same afternoon we
heard an alarm of ‘ Ruga, Ruga,’ or robbers, and, going to the front, found
that a small party had been robbed of some ivory and two women slaves, and
had had a man wounded. Our men were in a great funk, but we managed
to get them along; and about five p.M. we arrived at a large pond, camped,
and fenced ourselves in. In the early part of the night a few arrows were
shot into the camp, but we kept watch ourselves, and made our men do like-
wise, and so the rest of the night passed without further alarm. -The next
day we arrived at the outlying villages of Unyanyembe; and on the 5th of
August we marched into Kwikuruh, its capital, and were entertained at
breakfast by Said ibn Salim ibn Raschid el Lamki, the Arab governor, and
thoroughly did we enjoy our good breakfast after the scanty fare on which
we had been living. After breakfast he and many other Arabs escorted us
to the house where Stanley had lived, and which was now lent to us by Said
ibn Salim. After a couple of days we had to pay a round of visits to all the
principal Arabs, and eat with all. This was a very formidable undertaking,
as we had to eat something with each to avoid giving offence, and this lasted
from 10 a.m. till4 p.m. A day or two afterwards I was knocked over by fever,
and Dillon and Murphy soon followed suit. About the 21st of August 1874,
a letter from Sir Samuel Baker arrived in charge of some of King Mtesa’s
men, and I sent a letter back by them. We were delayed by fever, blindness,
and other illnesses till the end of October—and also by desertion of men—when
Chuma and another man arrived bringing the news of Dr. Livingstone’s
death, and saying that his caravan was near. I instantly sent off a large bale
of cloth to assist them. When the body of Dr. Livingstone arrived, all the
principal Arabs assembled at our house to show respect to his memory. A
few days after Murphy resigned, and when I was on the point of starting
westward, having fitted out Livingstone’s men with stores for the coast, Dil-
lon was so ill as to be unable to proceed. After he had decided to return,
Murphy volunteered to rejoin the Expedition, but, owing to difficulties about
stores and porters, I thought it best to go onalone. Dillon and Murphy, with
Dr. Livingstone’s corpse, left for the coast on the 9th of November, 1873, and
the same day I started for Ujui. I tried to steer straight for Ujiji, but, owing
to the fear all my men were in of the ubiquitous Mirambo, and the lemon
caused by it, I had to make a considerable detour to the south.

ih ur days after I parted from my two companions, I received the sad
news of Dillon’s death. I reached Uganda in the beginning of December,
and there found Murphy, who had lost some of his cloth, and had to send back
to the Arab governor for more. After one day at the capital of Uganda, I
went on west, but two marches out was met by a chief who said we could not

HEAD-DRESSES OF THE NATIVES. 667

pass that road until he had settled some row with the Arabs at Unyanyembe.
This delayed us till the beginning of January. On Jan. 5, we reached the
boundaries of Unyamwezi proper, and then across a large plain and the 8.
Ngombe, and came to Ugara, in all three districts of which I had to pay tri-
bute. Aiter Ugara I came to a mountainous country—Kawendi—and run-
ning water, the first which I had seen since leaving Mpwapwa. ‘The moun-
tains extend to the borders of the Tanganyika; but at Ugaga we came on Bur-
ton’s route, and thence, passing just to the north of the Malagarazi Valley,
we arrived at the Tanganyika by a comparatively easy route. Before reach-
ing Ugaga, however, we had a good deal of trouble, as the guides did not
know the road. I was utterly lame from a large abscess on my leg, and
therefore unable to take the head of the caravan and direct its course. On
my first view of the Tanganyika I could scarcely comprehend it. Such was
the immensity of the view that I fancied the grey lake to be sky, and the
mountains of Ugoma in the distance to be clouds. However, it dawned on
me by degrees that this was the lake, and nothing else. At Kawele, the
capital of Ujiji, I was well received by the Arabs; and after securing the
books and other things left here by Dr. Livingstone, I immediately made
preparations, and got away for a cruise round the lake. In my cruise I
found ninety-six rivers, besides torrents and springs coming in to the lake in
the portion I went round, and one—the Lukuga—going out. This river
flows to the Lurwa, and joins it at a short distance below Lake Moero.

“As soon as I could get a few stores I returned to Kasenge, the place
where Speke landed on the western bank of the Tanganyika. The next
portion of the journey will be from Kasenge by Nyangwe down to the capi-
tal of Urna. After leaving Kasenge we first crossed the southern end of
the mountains of Ugoma (although nominally in Uguhha), and many streams
flowing S. and 8.W. towards the Lukuga. ‘The first country we passed was
Uguhha. The people there are distinguished by the peculiar and tasteful
manner in which they dress their hair, and the elaborate tattooing on the
women’s stomachs. Their clothing then appeared to me to be remarkably
scanty, but, compared with what I saw further on, was very ample. From
Uguhha we crossed the mountains of Bambarre, and on arriving at their
foot came into a completely new style of country. The huts were all built
in long low streets, and rows of oil-palms were planted down the centre.
The women did up their hair in the most extraordinary manner. Many of
their head-dresses looked like an old-fashioned bonnet with the back out,
and long ringlets hanging down their necks. The men plastered their hair
with clay into cones and patches, so that they looked as if they had some
sort of helmet on their heads. Between the patches of clay their heads were
shaved, leaving the scalp bare. After having been detained at Nyangwe
about three weeks, a party of Arabs came in from the south side of the river,

668 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

where they had been fighting with the natives, bringing news that Tipo
Tipo was coming. ‘Tipo Tipo, on his arrival, told me that if I would come
down with him to his camp, some eight marches south of the Nyangwe, I
should from there be able to find my way to a great lake into which the
Lualaba fell. When I reached his camp I found that the chief on the oppo-
site side of the Lomami refused to let me pass, saying that no caravan had
ever been through his country, and if anybody tried to pass he would fight
them. When at Tipo Tipo’s camp I heard of a lake called Iki, which I be-
lieve is the Lake Chebungo, or Lincoln, of Livingstone, which is a little to
the west of the Lomami and on the Lawembi. Leaving Tipo Tipo’s, we
went nearly south, going close along the right bank of the Lomami.

‘* At many places the people were very friendly, but in others, so many
reports had come that no caravans came near there for any other purpose
than getting slaves, that the villages were deserted, and we were often in
difficulties about food. As we were passing through a strip of jungle, some
people commenced shooting at us, and an arrow glanced off my leather coat.
I ran this man down and gave him a thrashing, but would not allow any one
to fire in return, and walked straight up to some people who were in front of
us. We tried to make a palaver, in which, after a time, we were successful, -
and we went on with the natives as the best of friends. In the afternoon,
women were about our camp selling food, and everybody seemed most
friendly. Next morning, as we were packing up for the road, I missed my
pet goat Dinah, and, asking where she was, I was told that she slept outside
the camp.’ I went to look for her, and walked up into the village to ask
about her; and so little did I suspect any harm, that I had no gun or pistol
with me, and the man who accompanied me was also unarmed. When we
made inquiries about the goat the natives began shooting at us. Some of
my men ran up and brought me my rifle and pistol, and the remainder
packed up all our stores and came into the village. For a long time I would
not allow my people to fire. At last, as the natives were closing in, anda
large body of from four hundred to five hundred men came up from the road
which we had intended to go, I at length allowed two or three shots to be fired
and I believe one of the natives was then shot through the leg. After this
we commenced a parley, and it was proposed that my goat should be re-
turned, and that one of my men should make brothers with the chief, and
that we should exchange presents, and be good friends. While that was
going on another large party came in, headed by a chief, who told the peo-
_ ple of the village that they should not be such fools as to make peace with
us, aS we were a very small caravan, and they would be able to kill or make
slaves of the whole of us, and share our beads and stores amongst them.
When they arrived the people again began shooting at us. I would not
allow my men to fire for fear of breaking off the negotiation, until the men

JOURNEY FROM KASONGO TO BENGUELA. 669

closed in, throwing their spears at us. I then fired two or three shots close
to some of the natives, set fire to one of the huts in the place, and told the
chief that if he did not take his men off I would burn the village down.
They had already burned our camp. On this he said that, if we went away
from the village, we should go unmolested.

“‘ At every slip of jungle the natives closed in upon us, shooting, and
we had two or three men wounded; but it was next to useless returning the
fire, as we could not see them, and, being short of ammunition, I was afraid
of wasting it. At sunset we arrived close to a village called Kamatete (which
I afterwards re-named Fort Dinah, in memory of the goat), and I told the
guide to say that we wanted to be friends and to camp there. Their only
answer was a volley of arrows. As we were unable to stop out in the night
in the jungle with all these fellows round us, I called out to my men to fol-
low me and storm the village. Four men followed me; the rest, except one
or two men with Bombay, who was told to look after the stores, ran away.
Luckily the natives ran the other way. When we got into the village I
burned all the huts down but four, and my men, coming up, set to work to
make a fortification. Here we remained five days. We were being con-
stantly shot at, and some men wounded. We were fortunately close to water
and plantations of cassava, so that we were well supplied with food and drink.
The guide told me we must shoot some of the natives before we could get
out of our prison, and at last I was forced to use my gun. The report of my
heavy rifle they soon learned to respect. At the end of five days we made
peace, they having been frightened by some of their people being killed and
wounded. The natives, after the fight was over, offered an indemnity, which,
however, I did not accept; but we exchanged presents as a token of friend-
ship. The result of these various interruptions was, that I had to content
myself with a distant view of the lake.

‘The fourth section of the journey was from Kasongo capital to the west
Coast at Benguela. We passed nearly along the watershed between the Zam-
besi and the Congo until we arrived at the basin of the Kwanga. I arrived
at Benguela on the 4th of November. At the first camp we were delayed by
people going to look for their runaway slaves. The next morning, when I
was ready to start, a message came, ‘No march. Kwarumba is coming up
with his slaves.’ Kwarumba arrived that afternoon with a string of fifty or
sixty wretched women, carrying heavy loads of plunder, and some of them
with babies in their arms; these women represented as many as forty or fifty
villages destroyed and ruined, most of the male inhabitants having been killed,
and the rest driven away into the jungle, to find what subsistence they could,
or die of starvation. I have no doubt these fifty or sixty slaves represented
upwards of five hundred people, either killed in defending their homes, or who
had died of starvation afterwards, besides a large number rendered homeless.

670 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

All these women were tied together round their waists with thick-knotted ropes,
and if they lagged on the march were unmercifully beaten. ‘The Portuguese
half-castes and black traders are most brutal in the treatment of their slaves ;
the Arabs, on the contrary, as a rule, treat them kindly. Slaves taken from
the centre of Africa like these do not, as a rule, reach the coast; on the con-
trary, they are taken down to Sekilitu’s country—where, owing to several
causes, the population is scanty, and slaves are in demand—and are sold for
ivory, which is afterwards brought to the coast, a caravan usually making a
journey towards the centre and then on to Sekilitu’s country, and so on
alternately.

‘All this country was very beautiful, with hills and woods, and marvel-
lously fertile. Here we were beginning to rise out of the broad valley of the
Lualaba; and as we came to a height of about two thousand six hundred feet
above the sea, the oil-palm ceased to flourish. From this place we went on
through Ulunda, which name Mr. Cooley says means wilds or forests. After
Ulunda, we came into Lovate, and passed close to the sources of the Lubea and
the Zambesi; beyond these we came to enormous plains, which, in the rainy
seasons, are covered with water about knee-deep, and this extends across
between the affluents of the Congo and the Zambesi. I passed across Dr.
Livingstone’s original route from Sekilitu’s to Loanda, and found that the
people still remembered him from the fact of his having had ariding-ox. We
arrived late at Kagnombe’s, the chief of all Bihe. This town was the largest
I had seen in Africa, being four or five miles in circumference, but a large
portion of the interior was taken up by pens for pigs and cattle, and tobacco
grounds. ‘There were also three gullies, in which were sources of streams
flowing to the Kokema. I had to present King Antonio, as he called himself,
with a gun, and a leopard skin which I had had spread out in the hut that
was given to me to sleep in. When the secretary, who could not write, called
to see me, I was told I must give him something, or else there would be trou-
ble. The next morning I went to see King Antonio, and first of all went into
a small outer court, the doors of which were guarded by men wearing red
waistcoats with white backs, whom he called his soldiers. Some were armed
with bows, and others with spears, and a few of them with old flint-lock mus-
kets. They only put down a stool for me to sit on, and brought in a large
leather chair studded with brass nails for Kagnombe. On this I sent up to
my own hut to get my own chair to sit on. After a time King Antonio ar-
rived, dressed in a suit of black clothes and an old wide-awake hat, but with-
out any boots, and a Scotch plaid over his shoulders, and held up by a small
boy, and looking very drunk indeed. He first informed me that he was a
very great man, but that as he had heard I had been so long on the road he
did not want a great present, but I must remember him if ever I came back
there again’ He also informed me that he was not the same as any of the

THE SLAVE TRADE AFRICA’S BLOT. 671

other chiefs in Africa, because his name was Antonio Antonio Kagnombe, and
that his likeness had gone to Lisbon, and I must not think he had not finer
clothes, with gold lace and other fine things. After a while he went into an
inner enclosure, and there the stools and chairs were arranged in a circle, and
he went to one of his houses and brought out a bottle of aguardiente and
wanted everybody to have a drink round, but he took care to have the largest
sip for himself, after which there was a little palaver, and I went away to my
hut, and the next morning I got away and marched over to the house of Senor
Gonsalves. Here I wasastonished at finding myself in civilisation once more.
Remaining there one night I marched through an open prairie country, with
a few bushes and trees, and intersected by many streams, to the settlement
of Joa B. Ferreira, who enjoys the position of a district judge on account of
his having travelled a good deal.

‘‘Kisanji was the first place where we found that milk was to be got,
although the first where we saw cattle was in Lovali. From Kisanji to the
coast there are no inhabitants, the whole being a desolate tract of mountains,
the marching lying through passes and over granite rocks, skeletons lying by
the side, showing the severity of the march, signs of the slave trade still re-
maining in slave-forks and clogs lying by the roadside. After leaving the
pass we went across a barren sete till we came close to the coast, and then
we came upon what appeared sea cliffs facing the land, as if a continent had
sunk in what is now the Atlantic, and Africa had eon upheayved afterwards.
At forty-five miles from the coast we sighted the sea, and our feelings were
even more thankful than those expressed by Xenophon’s 10,000. The main
point of the discoveries I made I believe to be the connection of the Tangan-
yika with the Congo system. The Lukuga runs out of the Tanganyika, and
there is no place to which it can run but to the Lurwa, which it joins at a
short distance below Lake Moero. The levels I have taken prove conclusively
that it can have nothing whatever to do with the Nile.

‘The blot upon this fair country is the continuance of the slave trade,
which is carried on to a great extent to supply those countries which have
already had their population depleted by the old coast trade. The chiefs
like Kasongo and Meta Yafa are utterly and entirely irresponsible, and would
give a man leave, for the present of two or three guns, to go and destroy as
many villages and catch as many people as he could for slaves. The Warna
especially, although holders of slaves, would rather die than be slaves them-
selves. I have heard instances of their being taken even as far as the island
of Zanzibar, and then making their way back single-handed to their own
country. ‘The Portuguese are the principal agents in this trade, as they are
able to dispose of them advantageously for ivory and other products in many
countries. The Arabs, as a rule, only buy enough slaves to act as their por-
ters and servants for cultivating the ground round the permanent camps.

672 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

The people of Bihe, who work under Portuguese, are most cruel and brutal
in their treatment of these unfortunate wretches. I would have interfered far
oftener if I had not found that my interference brought a heavier punishment
on the unhappy beings when my back was turned. The only thing that will do
away with slavery is opening up Africa to legitimate commerce, and this can
best be done by utilising the magnificent water systems of the rivers of the
interior.”

Sir Henry Rawtinson, speaking on behalf of the Council of the Royal
Geographical Society, rose to express the high opinion which they entertained
of the services rendered to geography by Lieutenant Cameron. ‘‘ They con-
sidered these services not only important geographically, but equally inter-
esting to the politician, the merchant, and the philanthropist. Although
Lieutenant Cameron made rather light of his journey, it was to be borne in
mind that it extended over three thousand miles, and that the gallant young
officer had been continually, or with very short intervals, on the tramp for
two years and eight months, exposed to all vicissitudes of climate, and to all
kinds of hardship and danger, and yet his courage never gave way. The
services he had rendered to geography were very important. He had not
been one of those explorers who carried their eyes in their pocket. He had
always kept his eyes well about him, and the observations he had made of the
country were of extraordinary value. The observations he had taken, and
which were now being computed at Greenwich, numbered five thousand, and
were not only numerous, but elaborate and accurate. He had every expecta-
tion that the result would be that they would have a definite line laid down
from sea to sea, which would serve as a basis for all further exploration of
equatorial Africa.

‘‘ Among the minor objects—if he might so call them, where everything
was so important—he had to notice Lieutenant Cameron’s circumnavigation
of the Tanganyika and discovery of the outlet by which it discharged itself
into the Lualaba. Another important matter had been his identification as
nearly as possible, though it was not absolutely proved by mathematical de-
monstration, of the Lualaba with the Congo, and one of his main objects had
been to follow the course of the former river, so as to prove or disprove this
identity. He had not been able to carry out that scheme in its entirety, but
he had collected fresh information to render it a matter, not perhaps of posi-
tive certainty, but at all events of the very highest degree of probability, that
the two rivers were one and the same. In regard to the political results of
the Expedition, it was to be noticed that he had discovered a new political
power, of which they had hitherto known nothing. He referred to the great
chief Kasongo, who appeared to be the most powerful potentate in all equa-
torial Africa; and this discovery was most important in regard to the future
of that country—for whatever negotiations were carried on, or whatever

: THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S SPEECII. 673

measures were adopted for the suppression of the slave trade, would mainly
have to be conducted through his instrumentality. He had tracked the atro-
cious traffic in slaves to its fountain-head, and therefore his services might be
said to be not only of great importance to geography, but to philanthropy
and civilisation. In making these remarks, he desired it to be understood
that the Council of the Society paid all possible honour to the old pioneers of
African discovery; in fact, Lieutenant Cameron was to be regarded, not as the
rival of Livingstone and other explorers, but as having enlarged and followed
up their discoveries.” In conclusion, Sir Henry stated that, at the meeting of
the Council on the previous day—haviug weighed the claims of the most
eminent geographers of the time—they had decided unanimously that Lieuten-
ant Cameron was entitled to the first place, and accordingly they had pre-
sented him with the principal gold medal for the year.

Dr. Badeer remarked that, when he had an interview with Lieutenant
Cameron in 1872, before he started on his Expedition, it struck him that he
had not the necessary physique for his journey, and that he was too quiet
and gentle in his disposition to have to do with the roughs and savages he
was likely to meet with in Central Africa. He was delighted to find, how-
ever, that in those respects and in all others Lieutenant Cameron had proved
himself equal to the task he had undertaken. He had acted throughout in
the spirit of a philanthropist as well as a traveller, and he was sure that his
work would be appreciated.

Str Atexanper Minne remarked that Lieutenant Cameron had done credit
to the service to which he belonged.

The Douxe or Epiysurca—‘‘ When I first entered the room I asked the
Secretary to give me an agenda of the proceedings for this evening, and I have
had placed before me a very long list of those gentlemen whom it was thought
desirable should address you upon the subject of this interesting paper, but
the evening is far advanced, and I find that the questions which gentlemen
are set down to speak upon are liable to be changed. For instance, I may
mention that Dr. Badgey’s speech is described in the agenda as ‘Remarks on
the Herbs of Central Africa,’ whereas he has entertained us for some time
with remarks upon the personal temper of Lieutenant Cameron. I think,
under those circumstances, it would be dangerous for me to go through the
full and extended list Ihave beforeme. I must, however, thoroughly endorse
every word which has been said by Sir Alexander Milne, and I believe the
resolution I now wish to propose to you will be unanimously accepted. Once
more congratulating the naval service on the additional lustre he has cast on
the profession, I beg to move that a cordial vote of thanks be given to Lieu-
tenant Cameron for the very interesting paper of which he is the author in
deed as well as in name.”

The vote of thanks was carried by acclamation, and a similar compliment

L¢

674 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

was, on the motion of Sir Henry Rawttnson, paid to His Royal Highness for
his conduct in the chair.

The proceedings then terminated.

Two days after this meeting, the following article—just and wise in its
criticism and its counsel—appeared in ‘The Daily Telegraph:’—“ Lieutenant
Cameron—we hope, after the speech of Sir Alexander Milne on Tuesday even-
ing, that we may soon know him as ‘Captain’ Cameron—richly merits the
honours which he has received at St James’s Hall. He owns no English rival
save Livingstone in the feat which he has accomplished of tramping across
the African continent from sea to sea, and his discoveries in the Lualaba Valley
throw an entirely new light upon the head-waters of that wonderful lacustrine
system which Livingstone was the first to reveal. On the two great points,
however, of the identity of the Lualaba with the Congo, and of the drainage
of Lake Tanganyika by the Luvubu or Lukuga, we must frankly say that
the fuller details supplied by the young traveller’s narrative leave a great
deal still to be discovered. Entirely sympathising with the pride felt by the
Royal Geographical Society in the explorer—with whom they allowed them-
selves to break off contact and suecour only too long—we must indicate the
necessity for remembering the laws of geographical logic even in the generous
flush of a first re-union. As to Tanganyika, it is a lasting pity that Cameron
did not follow his Lukuga down from the lake instead of taking Livingstone’s
path to Nyangwe. ‘The consequence is, that we have still nothing but the
fact that the Lieutenant saw water slowly effluent just below Kasenge, and
heard a chief’s report to the effect that it drained the lake into Lualaba or
Lurwa. The chief may have lied in order to please. The effluent may be
one of the many grassy backwaters into which the Tanganyika throws an
eddy; and an inspection of Livingstone’s map will show that he twice crossed
the track of this hypothetical outlet, which, leaving an enormous basin of
water, fed, in its lower part alone, by ninety-six rivers, has yet only a knot,
or a knot and a half, of current. No lake can have two active outlets, and
this one certainly appears at present unequal to the task assigned to it, espe-
cially with so immense a fall in the surface between Tanganyika and
Nyangwe. Again, as to the identification of the Lualaba with the Congo,
it must be borne in mind that the Lieutenant has not seen with his own eyes
more than a league or two of the river beyond what Livingstone beheld.

“ All is still conjecture past that point where the great channel which
the Doctor saw going north, was witnessed turning westward—possibly for a
short bend only—by Cameron. The position of the Lake Sankorra—the
nationality of the ‘ trousered’ traders—the reported westing of the river—
even the destination of the Kassabe—are matters resting entirely on native
stories at present, and all know how absurdly these mislead. We must, of
course, allow that the weight of probability is strong on the side of the theory

CAMERON RECEIVES THE FREEDOM OF THE TURNER'S COMPANY 675

adopted by the young traveller. If his instruments did not deceive him
about the elevations at Nyangwe—which Livingstone took at two thousand
feet, and Cameron sets at one thousand four hundred—no water from the
Lualaba can run into the Nile south of Gondokoro, which is at the same level,
or even a little higher. But Schweinfurth has not so absolutely settled the
Nile Basin about the Bahr-el-Ghazal that we can be sure that no great
volume of water glides into the Nile amid that great wilderness of reedy
swamp, where all the lakes of Africa might lose themselves. As to the mass
of the element upon which so much is founded, it must be borne in mind
that the Nile has no tributaries at all north of the Atbara, and loses by irri-
gation and evaporation vast proportions of its contents, while the Congo runs
in a deep and walled channel, with so many feeders, that it is called ‘ the
swallower-up of waters.’

“* Avain, deep as the Congo is, its current is commonly slow, and at the
farthest point known it was found coming from the north-east, while the
highly imaginative map displayed on Tuesday night at St. James’s Hall
represents it as running almost all the way due west between the third and
fourth parallel of south latitude. Still more puzzling is the existence of that
large river, the Lowa, which the Lieutenant heard of as ‘ joining the Congo’
a little below Nyangwe. If this be, as Cameron believes, the Buri or Uelle,
it is the same which Schweinfurth thought ran into the Shari and Lake
Tchad, while Nachtigal holds that it is a head-water of the Benuwe or
Tshadda, which flows out at Cape Nun after mingling with the Niger. We
cannot help agreeing with Mr. Monteiro—who knows the Congo so well—
that the geography of Mid-Airica is far from being cleared up yet. The
Mayumba and Quillo are among many streams still without fountains, and
the elevation ascribed to the Lualaba at Nyangwe leaves, be it remembered,
not nearly a foot in the mile of fall, counting windings, for the Zaire’s cur-
rent, which has to pass besides over the great cataracts, or Yellalas. Our
geographers must at least take care that, while disallowing the kingly claim
of the Nile by figures, they leave the precipitous Congo slope enough for an
outflow. The placid Nile falls more than a foot per mile between Gondo-
koro and the sea! These are but some of the considerations which warn us
to be careful until the Albert Nyanza and the Lake Sankorra country have
been investigated. ‘The chances are certainly strong in favour of the Congo-
Lualaba hypothesis, but not so strong that they should be regarded as ren-
dered overwhelming by the gallant and meritorious journey performed on a
line five hundred miles south of this supposed rival of the Nile.”

Other honours have been conferred on our traveller. On the 22nd of
April, 1876, he was presented with the freedom and livery of the Turners’
Company. ‘The proceedings took place at the Guildhall, London, under the
presidency of Mr. Tapping, President of the Company.

676 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

An address having been delivered by Past Master Jones,

LIEUTENANT CAMERON rose, and met with a warm reception. He said—
“ T beg to return you my most sincere and hearty thanks for the honour
which you have done me this day. In all my journeys, when alone for up-
wards of two years, without seeing any Englishman, I was sustained by the
thought that, when I returned to England, the work I was about would be
appreciated by my countrymen. I am proud to think that my hope and
thought has been verified as it has been to-day by the honour which has
been done me. The eloquent speech which you have heard leaves me little
to say. A sailor’s trade is not to talk, but to try to do what he is directed
to do. The country of Africa which I have traversed, and especially to the
west of the Tanganyika, is one of the richest portions of the world; and
if one was only in a position to give the climate a fair chance, it would be
found to be far more healthy than that noble dependency of the British
Empire, India. Ivory, which has been mentioned as one of the materials of
the Turners’ art and mystery, is there found in greater abundance than any-
where else. At Nyangwe, the Arabs, trading amongst themselves, give
thirty-five pounds of ivory for seven and a half pounds of beads, or five and
a half pounds of cowries, and very often they are able to buy a tusk, irre-
spective of size, which may weigh from one hundred to one hundred and
fifty pounds, by the present of an old copper bracelet, or any worn-out use-
less thing, which may take the fancy of the natives.

‘This country of Nyangwe, I firmly believe—in fact, I am sure, may
be reached by the Congo; and hereafter I hope that, where my steps have
been, we shall see a system of English trading-stations for the purchase, not
only of ivory, but for other merchandise, for the richness of the vegetable
products of the country is something beyond description. I have walked
along for fifty or sixty yards under a grove of nutmeg trees, with the whole
ground covered with nutmegs, and no one knew what they were worth.
Besides that, there are many other valuable products in abundance, many
different species of cotton and oil-producing palms. Up the valley of the
Congo, to a height of two thousand six hundred feet above the level of the
sea, the country is crowded with oil-palm, and hereafter that trade alone—
leaving the question of ivory altogether on one side—will well be sufficient
to repay any enterprising merchants of England who embark in it. The
people, in many of the countries I passed through, are very clever smiths.
They have not yet advanced to the art and mystery of turning, but some of
their work, executed simply with a rough hand hammer without a handle,
and with no file to finish off with, might favourably compare with a great
deal which is shown in this advanced country of England, where we have
all the appliances of modern machinery and workmanship to help us. Now,
the land which furnishes all the articles I have mentioned, is also opened

THE CONGO AND ZAMBESI SYSTEMS. 677

up by two of the most magnificent systems of water-communication in the
world.

** The River Congo has rapids at Ilalla, about one hundred and sixty miles
above its mouth; and beyond them the only other rapids that I know of are
small ones, a short way below Nyangwe, near where my route quits the
’ Congo. But I think that river ought to be hereafter called the Livingstone,
for after all it was he who really discovered its sources. In the Zambesi
country there is a system of lacustrine rivers, extending for a distance which
makes the Congo one of the largest rivers in the world. Perhaps the Amazon
and the Yang-T'se-Kiang may, in volume, be larger, but certainly the Congo
is entitled to take third place among the rivers of the world. It has navi-
gable affluents that reach north within two hundred miles of Lake Nyassa,
where at present a colony in memory of Livingstone is being formed, which
has been reached from the Zambesi. Where my route passes near the sources
of the Zambesi, and where you see so many rivers dotted on the map, there
is a sandy plain, through which, if a canal were cut for twenty or thirty miles
across an easy country, the two systems of the Congo and Zambesi might be
joined, and a water communication formed between the east and west coasts
of Africa, with numerous navigable offsets on either side. Of course, these
rivers will be broken at times by rapids, but portages may be formed for the
present, and hereafter—though in days far in the future, I am afraid—locks
will be formed, so that there may be uninterrupted steam communication
from the east to the west of tropical Africa, by the Congo and Zambesi sys-
tems, and we shall then tap the ivory trade completely.

“By large rivers which flow into the Congo from the north, a short way
in front of Nyangwe, we can get back into the country of Ulega, to which
traders come three thousand miles down the Nile to trade, and from which
they draw their principal supplies of ivory. Now, ascending the Congo a
thousand miles, will take us into this marvellously rich country. Again, the
offsets of the Tanganyika would also tap a great portion of the ivory trade
which is now carried on by the Arabs trading from Zanzibar. The Zambesi,
again, would form the means of obtaining ivory, if the communication were
made by joining it to the Congo, and so giving access to its northern affluents.
I passed numerous affluents of the Zambesi, some of which take their rise on
the West Coast, and these would act as offsets tothe main system. By that
river, which you see marked on the map as falling into the Congo from the
north, we should get close up to the sources of the Nile and the Congo systems
by a very short route instead of by the long one from Alexandria up a river
which is far from healthy, and is choked with grass; while the country through
which I have gone may be considered as fairly healthy. Let me, in con-
clusion, thank you again for the great honour which you have done me.”

Referring, a day or two after, to the above proceedings, one of our lead-

678 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ing journals made the following observations :—‘‘ On Saturday afternoon the
freedom of the City of London was presented to Lieutenant Cameron by the
Ancient and Honourable Guild of Turners. The occasion was one of more
than usual interest. The Turners are among the City Companies what Baliol
was for many years among the Oxford Colleges. They boast no gorgeous
hall or colossal rent-roll; they do not confine themselves to the giving of
banquets; they actually contrive to spend a reasonable portion of their slen-
der corporate income upon the encouragement of technical education; and,
lastly, they exercise discrimination in the selection of candidates for the roll
of their Livery. Lieutenant Cameron is emphatically one of those men to
whom honour of some kind is pre-eminently due. He who has tramped across
Central Africa from sea to sea deserves well of the State, even though his
labours may not have added greatly to our existing stock of geographical
knowledge.

“Tt is an oversight little short of a national misfortune that we have in
England no adequate honorary rewards for any achievements save those of
statesmanship, diplomacy, and war. The want, which undoubtedly exists,
of some national ‘ Legion of Honour,’ for admission to which high merit of
any kind shall be sufficient passport, is at present vicariously supplied, partly
by the honorary degrees conferred by the two sister Universities, and partly
by the liberal, and, it we may say so, cosmopolitan spirit in which the City
Companies, or the best-managed amongst them, have distributed their fran-
chise. In the present instance, Mr. Past Master Jones, who fulfilled the post
alloted at Oxford to that eminent functionary, the Public Orator, introduced
Lieutenant Cameron to the Turners in conclave assembled, not, perhaps, as
‘ Qui unus optime de Republica meritus, terram adhuc incognitam penitus
perlustravit’—which is about the style of Patavinity in which the Public
Orator for the time being is apt to indulge upon such occasions—but, more
simply, as ‘a gallant gentleman who had done a good work.’ What this good
work is, the public already knows, and it is only fair to say that Past Master
Jones, in dwelling upon the results of Lieutenant Cameron’s exploits, showed
himself fully sensible of their real value and importance.

‘The gallant officer has not, it is true, exactly solved for us the vexed
problem of the sources of the great African rivers, and of their connection
with the grand system of inland seas in which they take their rise. Neither
has he much that is new to tell us of the mysterious land which he has tra-
versed—ot its inhabitants and their customs, of its fauna and flora, and of its
mineral products. The true importance of his achievement lies in the fact
that he has shown it to be possible for an Englishman, single-handed, and to
all intents and purposes unarmed, to explore this vast and wonderful conti-
nent in comparative safety; and by doing this, he has set an example which
cannot but give a most powerful impulse to future discovery and research. It

THE IVORY TRAFFIC OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 679

is usual for a newly-elected Turner to express his sense of the honour and
dignity conferred upon him by a few appropriate remarks, and accordingly
Lieutenant Cameron stood forward, and with all that simple unaffected frank-
ness, which is the chief charm of great travellers, told his story about the
vast Continent which he has traversed.

“‘ What he had to say was, as is the custom of sailors, brief and to the
point. Africa is, he assured the Turners, the richest country in the world,
while—if it be only allowed a fair trial—its climate will be found more healthy
than that of even India itself. Its wealth, animal, vegetable, and mineral, is
practically inexhaustible. It is, in short, an El Dorado, which, if only pro-
perly worked, would in a few years, and in virtue of its own inherent resources,
develope into a vastand mighty Empire. He had seen, the newly-elected
Turner assured his brethren of the guild, whole districts abounding in ivory
and vegetable products, which only needed to be opened to commerce. He
had seen nutmegs lying about as unheeded as acorns, because the natives did
not know their value. He had seen gold, cotton, and oil-producing plants of all
kinds. He had even known of a case in which a quantity of gold dust and
small nuggets had been found in a water-hole; but the natives had not thought
it worth their while to collect it, because it was in such small pieces. But, as
became the occasion and the interests of his audience, the gallant explorer
dwelt chiefly upon the ivory traffic, and pointed out at some length that, by
availing herself of the system of large rivers connected with the Congo, Eng-
land would be able ‘to tap the ivory country,’ and that a new impetus would
thus be given to the ancient craft of ‘turning.’ Ivory, in short, is what
Lieutenant Cameron evidently regards as the great export of Central Africa,
ranking in value far above evenits spices or its gold. Itis, perhaps, only
natural that an African traveller should take this view, knowing, as he does,
the high price which good ivory commands in civilised countries, he will ine-
vitably be struck by its abundance in that vast terra incognita where the ele-
phant still roams at large. He will see huge tusks used as doorposts or props,
or even lying idle, or rotting under the vertical sun, and will think with re-
gret of the profits which could be made, if only a shipload of beads, pocket-
knives, tin kettles, and the like, could be bartered against its bulk of this
scarce and precious product of nature.

“There are, however, two sides to every question, and when Lieutenant
Cameron invited the Turners to look at the grand prospect of ‘tapping the
ivory country,’ it may be doubted whether he fully considered that the pro-
bable consequence of realising that anticipation would be a war of extermina-
tion against the elephant. Ivory is not, like iron or coal, a necessary of life.
It issimply an oljet de luxe, and almost the only manufactures for which it is
absolutely indispensable are those of artificial teeth, plates for miniature-
painters, and billiard balls. Ivory paper-knives, brush handles, napkin rings,

680 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

chessmen, fans, caskets, dice and dice-boxes, statuettes, and knick-knacks
made of the same material generally, are allin their way very pretty objects;
but the demand which exists for them is not a sufficient justification for hunt-
ing the African elephant from off the face of the earth. There are some
animals, it is true, which would seem to be altogether proof against persecu-
tion. The merry little rabbit, the Hanoverian rat, and the common sparrow,
defy all efforts to keep down their numbers, short of an absolute and pre-
concerted massacre. It is otherwise, however, with the larger creatures of
the earth.

‘¢ Within historical times the bear and the wolf have disappeared from our
English forests, and the seal from our shores. The otter and the marten cat
become rarer and rarer every year, and the fox and the red deer are artificially
preserved. In India, it has already been found necessary to protect the
elephant; nor has this wise precaution been taken too early. Docile and
tractable as the great creature is, all attempts to breed it in captivity have
hitherto failed, and we have still, ike the Carthaginians in the time of Hanni-
bal, to catch our elephants as we want them. In this respect, the history of
the elephant contrasts strangely with that of the camel. The last-named
animal has been bred in captivity from a time to which no records reach, and
the wild camel had ceased to exist probably for many centuries before Hero-
dotus, the first great traveller, wrote his ‘ History.’ The elephant, on the
other hand, although from time immemorial he has been tamed and made to
labour for man’s service, still remains in his natural condition, and it is to be
hoped that for centuries to come that extinction with which Lieutenant Came-
ron threatens him may be averted. The huge brute, apart altogether from
the interest which he owes to his size, his marvellous sagacity, and the fact
that he is one of the few surviving relics of the pre-Adamite fawna, can also
claim our consideration and forbearance on the ground of his use and value.
He is the natural railway of the countries in which he is found, and in Africa
more especially, where the venomous tsetze fly renders whole regions impass-
able for cattle and horses, his services will for many centuries remain indis-
pensable to the cause of progress and civilisation. The elephant is, indeed,
to that great and unknown land what her coal-fields are to England, and it
would be a barbarous and short-sighted act to wage such a war against him
for the sake of his ivory as would deprive the world of his many other and
more valuable uses.”

A more distinguished honour awaited the gallant explorer, and was con-
ferred upon him, when, on the 29th of April, the Queen held a council at
Windsor, after which he was presented to her Majesty by the Duke of Rich-
mond and Gordon, and received the insignia of a Companion of the Bath
(Civil Division), in recognition of his distinguished services in Africa.

On the 3d of May, our traveller was a guest at the eighty-seventh anni-

CAMERON RECEIVES THE ROYAL SOCIETY’S MEDAL. 681

versary dinner of the Royal Literary Fund. In the course of the evening,
Sir Henry Rawlinson proposed the ‘“ Travellers,” and briefly recapitulated
the results of Lieutenant Cameron’s African Expedition. Cameron, who was
much cheered, returned thanks, dwelling on some of the more remarkable
incidents of his travels, and expressing confident hopes as to the future of
Africa. ‘Two days afterwards, there was a large and enthusiastic gathering
of the principal inhabitants of the district of Shoreham—the district of his
home—for the purpose of presenting to him a valuable silver inkstand and a
sword. Returning thanks for the presentation, the gallant officer remarked
that the sword, which they had done him the honour to give him, should
never be drawn without cause, or sheathed without honour. He then read
a short sketch of the resources of Africa, which country, he said, was the
richest in the world, with no one to develope its riches.

The anniversary meeting of the Royal Geographical Society was held
on May 22nd, 1876, at Burlington House, for the purpose of transacting the
business of the Society, and to award the medals. The chair was taken by
Major-General Sir Henry Rawlinson, K.C.B., who, in presenting the founder’s
medal for the year 1876 to Lieutenant V. L. Cameron, R.N., for his journey
across Africa from Zanzibar to Benguela, and his survey of the southern half
of Lake Tanganyika, said—‘‘ I have been requested by my colleagues of the
Geographical Council to present you with ‘the founder’s medal of this year for
the encouragement of geographical science and discovery, which has been
awarded to you for your journey across Africa from Zanzibar to Benguela,
and for your survey of the southern half of Lake Tanganyika;’ and I fulfil
this duty with all the more pleasure and satisfaction that I was in the chair
when we sent you forth on your honourable and important mission, and have
thus had the opportunity of watching your progress, step by step, through
the many trials and triumphs of your memorable journey. As Englishmen,
we are proud that the great feat of traversing Equatorial Africa, from sea to
sea, should have been accomplished for the first time by an officer in the Naval
service of the Queen; but we wish it to be understood that it is not your suc-"
cess in this particular exploit, it is not your remarkable exhibition of manly
courage and perseverance—though these qualities, which you possess in an
eminent degree, will always secure you the well-merited admiration of your
countrymen—which have on this occasion exclusively, or even in an espe-
cial degree, recommended you to the favourable notice of the Council.

** We have selected you to be our medallist, above all other reasons, because
you have, amidst difficulties and dangers, in failing health, under privation
and fatigue, steadily kept in view the paramount claim on your attention of
scientific geography, and have thus brought back with you from the interior
of Africa a register of observations for latitude, longitude, and elevation,
which, for extent and variety—and we are authorised by the report of the

M3

682 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Greenwich authorities to add, for judicious selection and accuracy of result—
may favourably compare with the finished work of a professional survey.
We feel, therefore, that we may fairly hold you up as a model to future tra-
vellers, trusting, indeed, that geographical science may as largely profit by
the example which you have set to others as by the results which you have
yourself contributed. You have already received at the hands of your Sove-
reign, as a reward for your brilliant achievement, the distinction of Companion-
ship of the Bath—which I believe was never bestowed on so young an officer
in Her Majesty’s naval service. You are also daily receiving proofs of the
interest that your discoveries have excited among the public at large, owing
to the practical benefits which the nation may expect to derive from them,
both in regard to its commerce, and especially in regard to that object it has
so much at heart—the suppression of the African slave trade; and I am now
to offer you, in the name of geographical science, the highest honour we can
confer—the founder’s medal of the year. And in congratulating you on thus
taking your place on the golden roll of the Geographical Society’s medallists,
may I be permitted to add, that having presided on five occasions at the dis-
tribution of our annual awards, it has never been my fortune to present the
medal to one who, by his services, has more thoroughly earned it.”

LIEUTENANT CAMERON, in reply, said—‘‘ Sir Henry Rawlinson, I beg to
thank you most heartily for the medal. It has been the one great hope that
has sustained me throughout my travels, of aiding, in some degree, the ob-
jects of the Royal Geographical Society. I knew very well that I was not
in Africa to play, but to take observations; and the training that I received
in the service to which I am proud to belong taught me how to accomplish
this. Iam glad to find my observations have been appreciated, and that
they are considered accurate and good. I beg to thank you for the honour
that you have done me.”

In the course of his annual address, Str Henry said—“ In Africa—and
especially in Equatorial Africa—has been centred the chief geographical
interest of the year. When I delivered my last anniversary address to you
in this hall, I drew your attention to the grave—not to say perilous position
of the two adventurous travellers, Mr. Stanley and Lieutenant Cameron, of
whom nothing had been heard for many months, but who were believed to be
pushing their way into regions of the most inaccessible and inhospitable cha-
racter. With regard to Lieutenant Cameron, I may now confess that I felt
more anxiety than I cared to express, knowing, as I did, that he was trying
to force a passage through the savage tribes who line the lower course of the
Congo, and feeling assured that he would persist in his attempt to reach the
western sea-coast, appalled by no dangers, recoiling before no difficulties.
Mr. Stanley’s temporary disappearance did not excite the same amount of
uneasiness, since his track lay in a less remote portion of the continent, and

SIR HENRY RAWLINSON’S ADDRESS. 683

he was better equipped for the emergencies of travel; but still, the absence
of all intelligence regarding him was becoming painful, when, in the autumn
of last year, intelligence was received almost simultaneously from Egypt
and Zanzibar that the gallant explorer had reached the coast of M’tesa at
Uganda, on the north-western shore of the Victoria Nyanza. As a full report
of his travels after leaving the sea-coast has been already published in the
‘Proceedings’ of this Society, I need not at present follow his footsteps in
any detail, but, in the interests of geography, and in recognition of his emi-
nent personal services, it is only just and proper that I should briefly notice
the main features of his journey.

‘Mr. Stanley then, by taking a new line to the lake, considerably to
the east of the track pursued by former travellers, discovered a large river
flowing in a north-western direction, which he followed down to the lake
along a course which he approximately estimated at three hundred and fifty
miles. This river is named the Shimeyu, and, as far as our present means
of information extend, it must be considered the true source of the Nile—
that is, it is the most southerly feeder of the great reservoir of Victoria
Nyanza, from which the White Nile issues. After reaching the southern
shore of the lake, not far from the Jordan’s Nullah of Speke, Mr. Stanley put
together the Thames boat which he had broughé in pieces from Zanzibar,
and to which he gave the name of ‘ Lady Alice,’ and proceeded to circum-
navigate this great inland sea. He passed along the eastern and northern
shores of the lake to M’tesa’s capital in Uganda, taking a series of observa-
tions for latitude and longitude as he went along, and also obtaining mea-
surements both of the depth of the lake and of its elevation above the sea-
level.

“On the whole, Stanley’s surveys may be held to confirm, in a remark-
able manner, not only the accuracy of Speke’s own work, but the correctness
of the information which he obtained from the natives. The lake was found
to consist of one great and continuous body of water, instead of being bro-
ken into a series of lagoons, as had been surmised by other travellers. Its
general contour, indeed, as delineated by Speke, and the area which it was
estimated to cover, very nearly corresponded with the shape and dimensions
given in Stanley’s map; and even in regard to the so-called subsidiary lake,
named the Bahr-ingo, at the north-eastern corner, which Speke was held to
have introduced into his map on insufficient authority, Stanley was able to
identify the title in the same locality, and, indeed, he explained the original
report, by showing that there really were large land-locked bays in that
quarter, almost claiming to be ‘ndependent lakes. The only serious discre-
pancy between the two aceounts was a uniform difference of latitude, amount-
ing to fourteen miles, which was due, no doubt, to some constant error either
of instrument or observation. The elevation of this great reservoir above the

684 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

sea may now be definitely taken at about three thousand eight hundred feet,
and the depth was ascertained by Mr. Stanley at a point near the eastern
shore to be two hundred and seventy-five feet.

‘“‘ Mr Stanley sent three letters to England—two wa Zanzibar, and one
by the hand of M. Linant de Bellefonds, who was afterwards killed by the
Baris near Gondokoro; but we are still without his description of the south-
western shores of the lake—between the Kitangule River and Jordan’s Nul-
lah of Speke—which he proposed to examine on a second excursion from his
camp at Kagehyi, to which he had returned from M’tesa’s capital. With re-
gard to Mr. Stanley’s subsequent movements, we are entirely in the dark. It
may be assumed from some of his letters that his first object, after complet-
ing his survey of the Victoria Nyanza, would be to cross over to the other
great Nile reservoir, named by Baker the Albert Nyanza, where an equally
large extent of virgin territory awaited his exploration; but it is also to be
inferred from the important statement with which his last letter of May 15,
concludes, of his being about to enter on a tramp of three thousand miles,
that he must contemplate the further prodigious feat of striking south-west
from the Nile basin and opening a way to the western sea-coast between the
lines of the Congo and Ogowe.

“In the case of any ordinary traveller, to attempt a march of such extra-
ordinary difficulty through an entirely unknown country, and without any
previous arrangement for relief and support, would be pronounced to be
an act of almost culpable temerity, but Mr. Stanley possesses such very ex-
ceptional qualifications in his fertility of resource, his vigour both of mind
and body, and the unlimited command of funds which he derives from his
munificent patrons in London and New York, that his success hardly seems
beyond the reach of reasonable expectation. At any rate, as a twelvemonth
has now elapsed since Mr. Stanley quitted the shores of the Victoria Nyanza,
intelligence must very shortly reach us, either through Colonel Gordon or by
Zanzibar, of the further course of his African travels; and his friends may
rest assured that, if success should attend his steps, nowhere will that success
be hailed with greater satisfaction than in this country and in this Society,
where his discovery and relief of Livingstone are still remembered with min-
gled feelings of admiration and gratitude.” .

Reverting to Lieutenant Cameron’s journey across Central Africa—of
which he gave a graphic sketch—Sr1r Henry observed that probably the most
useful information brought by Lieutenant Cameron refers to the slave trade
of the interior of the continent, the inference to be drawn from his experience
being, that until superior inducements for the employment of capital are held
out by the introduction of legitimate commerce, it will be in vain to expect
that this odious traffic can be suppressed, or even seriously checked, by mere
repressive measures on the sea-board. The geographical result of his jour-

MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 685

ney had been the construction of a section of elevation across the entire Con-
tinent of Africa from sea to sea, laid down upon a line between the fourth
and twelfth degrees of south latitude, of which the protraction has been veri-
fied throughout by a careful and repeated astronomical observation. He need
hardly say that Lieutenant Cameron had received congratulations from almost
every country in Europe on the splendid success of his African journey ; and
that Society, as the patron and supporter of his work, was proud to be able
to participate in his triumphs. With regard to Colonel Gordon’s survey of
the Upper Nile not much information had been gained, and the contour and
extent of the Albert Nyanza, and even the possible discharge of its waters to
the south-west, remained among the unsolved problems of the African Con-
tinent.

In the evening, at the anniversary dinner, Str Henry referred to the
intention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask Parliament to vote
£3,000 towards the expenses of Lieutenant Cameron’s recent Expedition. He
also proposed ‘‘ The Medallists of the year.” Lizurenant CAMERON, in re-
plying, was received with cheers. ‘‘He had travelled,” he said, ‘‘through a
country of untold richness, where the means of its being utilised lay ready
to their hands, the vegetable and mineral products there to be found being
beyond the imagination of any one living. Unfortunately this charming coun-
try was desolated by the slave trade, which was the great blot upon it at the
present moment, and the only way the traffic in slaves could be abolished was
by the establishment of legitimate commerce. He felt certain that a wise
and liberal expenditure of capital, under proper auspices, would prove profit-
able, and, at the same time, would be the means of regenerating the natives,
- and lead to the abolition of the slave trade. They must not look for this to
be brought about in a few days, for the idea of the slave trade was engrained
in the hearts of the African race, and had been for many years, so that any
amelioration of the present condition of things would be proportionately
slow. He had been twitted with lowering the cause of Christianity by stat-
ing that the regeneration of Africa was only to be brought about by the exten-
sion of commerce. He had not referred to the work of the missionaries, but
it should be remembered that they went to Africa, not as a means of showing
the races how to get a living, but to teach them a religion which they were
not sufficiently educated to understand. It was by means only of opening up
the country to commerce that good would follow.”

In September, 1876, the British Association for the Advancement of
Science held its Forty-Sixth Annual Meeting in Glasgow; and Commander
Cameron was the hero of the occasion. He appeared before the public
several times, and on every appearance was received in a most enthusiastic
manner. His first appearance was in the City Hall, under the auspices of
the Glasgow Athenzeum, when he delivered a lecture on his African travels.

686 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

There was a very large and fashionable attendance. ‘The Hon. the Lord
Provost presided, who, after reading several letters of apology for non-attend-
ance from distinguished persons, went on to say, that he felt very highly
honoured indeed in having been asked to preside that night and introduce to
them Commander Cameron of the Royal Navy, the great African explorer.
He was a gentleman of a good old Scotch family, and was a worthy successor
of those great Scottish travellers, Mungo Park and Dr. Livingstone. Like
these men, Commander Cameron made his message through Africa a message
of peace, and he very often turned aside and took circuitous routes rather than
push onward by force of arms, for he very well knew if blood were shed the
anger of the natives would be aroused, and the path would be made difficult
and dangerous for his successors. Now that Commander Cameron had come
among them, after wandering two and a half years over that vast continent,
and had brought with him much knowledge, he would give an account of his
discoveries ; and his lordship felt sure they would listen to him with attention
and give him a very hearty welcome. He had very much pleasure in introduc-
ing Commander Cameron.

CoMMANDER CaMERON, who on rising was received with prolonged cheers,
said—‘ Four years ago, when he was in Her Majesty’s service, he was on the
East Coast of Africa as lieutenant of the ship ‘Star.’ Whilst there he felt there
was a great deal more to be done in the way of African discovery, and acquir-
ing a knowledge of the working of the slave trade, than had ever yet been
done. He heard that people had gone from Zanzibar far into the interior,
and felt that what they had done a subject of Her Majesty coulddo. Hecame
home and heard a report that there was to be a Livingstone Search Expedition.
He did not know his countryman, and there was no use of talking of him here,
for his name was a household word in this part of the empire. Unfortunately,
he did not get the command of that expedition. It was entrusted to Lieutenant
Dawson, and unfortunately, just as they were starting with every element of
success, they met Mr. Stanley, who had just relieved Dr. Livingstone. Owing
to his reports, and some misunderstanding, they turned back, and the expe-
dition was fruitless. Towards the end of 1872 there was a talk, owing to
what Dr. Livingstone had written home, of sending out a mission to Zanzibar
for the suppression of the slave trade. He was selected by the Geographical
Society to go to Zanzibar and take command of an expedition to join Living-
stone, render him assistance, and also place themselves unreservedly under
his orders. Dr. Dillon of the Royal Navy was to accompany him. They left
in December, 1872, and after an eventful passage, they arrived at Zanzibar
in January, 1878, having been joined by a volunteer, Lieutenant Murphy,
of the Royal Artillery. Their first duty at Zanzibar was to see if they could
pick up men for their escort, every single thing in Africa having to be carried
on men’s shoulders. The necessities of the expedition required three hundred

CAMERON IN THE CITY HALL OF GLASGOW. 687

porters. These had to be got in a bad season of the year, because it was in
the height of the rainy season. The expedition had also to engage a certain
number of men as the guard for this large body of porters. He thought, in
getting Bombay to be the chief of his soldiers, he would be all right, but unfor-
tunately he found that the days of Bombay had gone by. However, he would
not talk of his men, but rather of the country through which he had to
travel.

‘Well, they took two months to get their stores together; and just before
starting they were joined by Robert Moffat, grandson of the Rev. Dr Moffat,
and nephew of Dr. Livingstone. He was buta mere boy, but he had a man’s
courage, and a great interest in the work in which they were engaged. As
an evidence of this, it should be mentioned that young Moffat sold the plan-
tation which belonged to him in order to risk his all in the path of African
exploration in which at that time, though he did not know it, his great uncle
had nobly fallen. Well, he went on with the advance part of the caravan,
and passed the Kingoni River on the 20th March, 1873, leaving Lieutenant
Murphy and young Moffat to bring on more of the porters, with the re-
mainder of the stores. He and Dr. Dillon marched till they came to Rehen-
neko. Notwithstanding the configuration of the country was well known,
they saw a good many curious things about the people. A short way from
the coast one was just as thoroughly amongst savage tribes as he was in the
heart of Africa. ‘The natives carried spears shod with bone, and wore kilts
made of the fibres of grass, pretty like those worn in the interior. Then the
advanced caravan came to the swamp of which they had heard the most ter-
rible accounts. Indeed, they had been told that there was scarcely any get-
ting across it. But he had found that when difficulties were boldly faced
they always became easier. ‘They did set their face to the obstacle, and
they got over this swamp without injury. But in order to pass through the
mud and water they took five hours and a half to make three miles. For in-
stance, they had to drag their donkeys out of holes, and were continually
fighting and striving to get along these few miles. There were in all twenty
or thirty miles of this sort of country to work across.

“ On the 1st of May, 1878, Dr. Dillon and he arrived at Rehenneko, which
was just past the swamp in question, on the eastern slopes of the mountains.
There they formed their camp on the top of a small hill rising from the lower
level, and waited for a whole month before the rest of the caravan joined
them. The natives were civil to them, because they considered the travellers
as very powerful, though, as a rule, the people did not bear the best of cha-
racters, having repeatedly robbed smaller parties. There was nothing pecu-
liar about their clothes, except they wore necklaces of brass wire standing
out horizontally, and long bracelets coiled round their wrists up to the elbow,
these being of thick brass wire. ‘Towards the end of May he heard that the

688 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

caravan was approaching, having got a note from Murphy saying that they
were coming, and that young Moffat was ill. By and by he was told that a
white man’s caravan was coming in. He was very ill at the time, but he
managed to hobble out in order to go and see who was coming. He saw
only one man, who appeared to be Murphy. He asked him, ‘‘ Where is
Moffat?” and received the answer that he died on the other side of the swamp.
There the large-hearted youth lay under the shade of a solitary palm tree,
another martyr to the cause of travelling in Africa.

“Murphy having joined them their next work was to get on again as soon
as possible, time meaning money in Africa just as much as it meant money at
home. They went across the Usegara Mountains. It was very slippery, and
at night they had to camp on the side of a hill sloping like the top of a house,
the consequence being that frequently their things ran down the side of the
hill. There was not the slightest sign of a human habitation, the only thing
visible being faint indications of the footpath. Indeed, so wild was the place
that one morning he saw all the men and lads starting. He heard a noise,
and looking round there he saw rolling down the hill a leopard with a monkey
in its mouth, which the ferocious beast had just caught. They crossed these
mountains and came to a fertile valley. Here they were told by the chief
they would have to buy their food. He, therefore, sent off a party of men
to a place three or four hours distant to buy provisions. The day after they
had gone one of them came rushing into the camp, and reported evil tidings
—that all the men had been killed. He asked what was the matter, and the
reply was that all the men had run away, and had lost everything. At
length he ascertained that one of his men had by accident shot one of the
natives. In short, they were detained here four or five days, and had to pay
over £50 of cloth and a couple of guns to the natives of that country, besides
having lost all the food which they had been sent to buy. After arriving at
and passing Lake Ugombo he had a long march without water, and one of
his men died of thirst on the way.

‘On coming to Upwapwa caravans were met from Unyanyembe, and on
asking news of Livingstone he was simply told that he had received the stores
sent by Stanley, and had again started for the west. At Upwapwa there was
a highland robber tribe called the Waderigo, a fine manly race of men, averag-
ing about six feet in height, and the only tribe of people he had ever met in
Africa perfectly naked. This tribe came down on the more peaceful inhabit-
ants and drove off their cattle, which they sold to others living at a distance.
None of the settled tribes ever resisted the Waderigos, for they got the name
of being so brave that they did not care for death. * They, however, never
attacked the caravans, finding it rather to their advantage to sell them their
cattle. The next place come to was Ugogo, a large district with numerous
chiefs, every day’s march almost bringing his party into the territory of a

LECTURE IN GLASGOW CITY HALL. 689

new chief, each of whom extorted from him blackmail. To one he had to
pay perhaps a hundred yards of white cloth, to another fifty yards of blue cloth,
to a third twenty yards of red woollen cloth, and so on in proportion, some of
the chiefs being greater extortionists than others, and nothing did they ever
give in return.

‘“‘At Ugogo they were a noisy, boisterous, and thieving race; they were
famous amongst the surrounding tribes for their overbearing manners, but, like
all bumptious bullies when put to the push, they were about the veriest cowards
that ever existed. One of the principal distinctive marks of the tribe was the
extraordinary way in which they enlarged the lobes of their ears. The men
were often to be seen with their ears hanging down upon their shoulders.
The orifices in the lobes of the ears were used for the same purposes as pockets
were by more civilised people, and in them a man would carry his snuff-box
or his knife. Another peculiar feature was the manner in which they did up
their hair. There was no uniformity; and the more hideous a man could
render himself the greater dandy he was. Past Ugogo he met a branch of a
great family, the tribes of which were called Wahumbi. This tribe did not
cultivate ground or live in regular standing huts. The places in which they
lived were like the framework of a gipsy’s tent, and were covered with a sort
of blanket when they were sleeping by the roadside. On the road he met
many caravans bringing ivory to the frontier, and one caravan carried over
thirty tons. Some pieces of ivory were so large that it took two men to
carry them—one tusk weighing 170Ibs. When on the march one day, he saw
a small party of Indians running towards his camp. ‘This party informed
him that a large number of robbers were in front and intended to attack him.
He was told by this party that they had lost a couple of slaves in an encounter
in which their opponents wished to take a tusk of ivory from them. He saw
marks on the ground of a struggle having taking place. During the night
the robbers fired a few arrows into his camp, but in the morning he saw no
more of them.

‘In the beginning of August he reached Unyanyembe, and he was most
heartily welcomed by the governor of the place, Sayid Burghash. By the
higher classes he was most heartily welcomed, and they did everything in
their power to assist him; but by the lower orders, who perpetuated the slave
trade, he was interrupted and hindered. His men were induced to desert ;
some were taken from him and marched out of the place; others were laid
down with fever; and being unable to look after his men, the natives used
regularly to steal them. At Unyanyembe the time passed very slowly.
Everything was creating despondency—his men were taken with lameness,
blindness, and some were deserting. Towards the end of October, his friend
Dillon was so ill, that he tried to persuade him ‘to go back to the coast, but
he would not go.

Nod

690 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘Towards the end of October, Dr. Livingstone’s servant came in, bringing
_a letter from Jacob Wainwright, announcing the death of Dr. Livingstone in
the month of February. A few days afterwards the whole of Dr. Livingstone’s
party came in, bringing the corpse of their master with them. All the Arabs
assembled at their house to do reverence to his memory, as, like all true and
honest men, he had been thoroughly honoured and liked by all the com-
munity of respectable Arabs they had met in Africa. When Livingstone’s
corpse arrived Murphy resigned. Murphy and Dillon started with Living-
stone’s party on the 9th November to go to the coast, and on the same day he
started by himself, bound for the west. A few days afterwards he heard of
his poor friend Dillon’s death. Dillon had been an old messmate, and one of
his greatest friends, who had been with him for several years, and it was a
great blow to lose him. There was nothing for it, and he had to go on. He
heard that Livingstone had left a desk containing his travelling papers, and
that box had to be rescued. For over two months he was kept close to Unyan-
yembe by his men deserting. He wished to start with one hundred and
twenty men, but he had engaged between five hundred and six hundred before
he could get away with the requisite number, which was about the beginning
of January.

“After crossing Unyanyembe, he arrived in the eastern division of Ugara.
Here he had again to pay tribute to the chiefs, although not so large an
amount as he paid in Ugogo. The only sign of civilisation the natives at
this place seemed to possess was a very great pride in carrying an umbrella.
At the next division of Ugara, the chief said he would make him pay so much,
but one of the other chief’s sons, who came in, said he had given his father
more, and he had then to pay the same as he had done at first. After leaving
Ugara he got into the mountains, where the guides lost themselves. They
were ten days wandering about the jungle and crossing rivers, and during
this time they had very little to eat. Passing the River Sindy they came
into Uvinza, which was famous for its production of salt.

‘At length he sighted the great lake of Tanganyika. At Ujiji there
was now a considerable settlement of Arabs, who assisted him to a certain
extent. Safe in their hands he found the precious papers of Livingstone.
He could not at that time send them to the coast, as there was no caravan,
and he could not press west to the lake to follow up Livingstone’s dis-
coveries, because at that season of the year travelling was impracticable,
owing to the rains. He, however, could not remain quiet. Having had a
couple of boats fitted up with sails he went across to the southern end of
the lake, where he kept close at work mapping. He found ninety-eight
rivers, besides torrents and small temporary rivulets, running into the lake,
and at last, in the begining of May, he came to a large river having a current
running out of it. He found it impossible to follow up this river, for after

LECTURE IN GLASGOW CITY HALL. 691

going four or five miles his course was stopped with vegetation. The depth
of the river was three fathoms, and the width nine hundred yards; and the
current was running at the rate of one and a half to two knots an hour. Pass-
ing round the lake he came across two or three trading stations of Arabs.
They talked about the ivory being pretty cheap, but slaves were very dear,
a slave actually costing about ten yards of calico.

“Going back to Ujiji he found a caravan about to proceed to the coast,
and with it he sent four trusty men with Dr. Livingstone’s journals and map,
which he sent to the Consul, who received them safely. Passing Lukuga, he
came to Ugubha, where the natives were chiefly remarkable for the elaborate
way in which they dressed their hair, and the elaborate way in which the
women were tattooed. The process of tatooing the females began when they
were about eight years of age, and was finished when they were sixteen or
seventeen. It took eight years or more to complete a lady’s toilette, but once
done, it lasted for life. Leaving Uguhha, he passed a very remarkable hot
spring. In this country the upper orders were dressed similarly to those he
had last seen, but the women of the lower orders were in the habit of perfor-
ating their upper lip, by inserting in it a small piece of stone or wood, which
they gradually increased in size till sometimes the lip projected a couple of
inches from the face. Their tattooing was of a remarkable description, and
looked very much as if their faces had been scratched by a cat and then the
black rubbed in.

“Crossing the Bambarre Mountains he arrived at Manyema, and at that
place he was struck with the remarkable ingenuity displayed by the inha-
bitants in the working of the iron that was to be found in abundance in the
district. He next visited Kwakasongo, where there was a large settlement of
Arabs, one or two of whom were very large traders, as was proved by the
fact that in the storehouse of one of the Arabs there were no less than twenty-
five tons of ivory. He explained that at Nyangwe he wished to get canoes to
enable him to trace the river to the West Coast, but he found that no canoes
could be got. On the invitation of the Arab trader, Tipo Tipo, he marched
with him to his camp, in the expectation of getting boats. On the road he
passed through a remarkably rich and well watered country, where palm oil
trees grew as commonly as grass—a country which simply required energy
and capital to open it up. He lost considerable time through having been
taken off his route by a treacherous guide, and through his having been pre-
vented by a chief from passing through his country. This necessitated a
weary tramp of one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles out of his
road,

“ The gallant Commander then proceeded to state that in one of the vil-
Jages which they were about to enter the villagers fired upon his party, and
refused to allow him to encamp. He summoned his men around him, and

692 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ordered them to fire, and one of the men was shot through the leg. Some
of his men ran out of the village the one way, and the villagers out the other.
According to his orders a hut was set on fire, and he threatened to burn the
whole village unless his party was allowed to pass. On this threat he was
permitted to pass without further molestation. He then referred to a levee
held by a chief named Kasongo, and stated that one hundred and fifty chiefs
met to pay respect to Kasongo. After the ceremony, Kasongo gave a great
speech, congratulating himself upon being not only the greatest, but the big-
gest sovereign in the world. The scenery of Bailunda was about the most
beautiful in existence; the variations of mountain and vale, and of river and
wood, being such as required the rich imagination and brilliant descrip-
tive power of the poet and the artist in order to give something like an im-
pression of its beauties. Here, to his regret, he found that his men were
beginning to break down, and with only three men he had to undertake the
task of marching to the coast—a distance of one hundred and fifty miles,
which he accomplished in four days. He reached Benguela on the 4th Sep-
tember, 1875, just two years and eight months after leaving the East Coast.
When he arrived at that place, he was knocked down with scurvy, and was
told that had he been two days longer in going down to the coast, he would
not have been alive.”

Str JAMES Watson proposed a vote of thanks to Commander Cameron
for his interesting lecture.

Mr. Grorce Anperson, M.P., seconded the motion. He thought they
must express the hope that Captain Cameron would live to distinguish him-
self by further excellent services in African exploration. If, for instance, he
could succeed in assisting this country to open up those magnificent regions
through that grand river, the Congo, he certainly would confer such a boon
upon this country and upon Africa, as never had been conferred by any tra-
veller before.

Commanprr Cameron having returned thanks, Dr. AnpErson Kirkwoop
proposed a vote of thanks to the Lord Provost for presiding, and the proceed-
ings terminated.

Two or three days after, the gallant traveller read a paper on his Afri-
can Explorations, before the Geographical Section of the British Association ;
Captain Evans, the president, in the chair. There was a large attendance.

Caprain Cameron said “‘ that soon after entering the country from the
east coast he came to a large plateau, four thousand feet in height, encircling
Lake Tanganyika, and forming the watershed between the Congo and the
streams flowing into Lake Sangora. Another table land to the south rose to
the height of three thousand feet. The watershed between the two basins
of the Lualaba and the Congo at that part isa large, nearly level country, and
during the rainy season the floods cover the ground between the two rivers, and

CAMERON'S PAPER AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 693

a great portion of it might easily be made navigable. One thing he noticed
in Africa was this system of watersheds, dividing the country into portions,
each having its own peculiarity ; and also that in each there was a difference
in the habits of the natives. Within twenty days he crossed the Usagara
Mountains and came upon a level open country, where a great quantity of
African corn was grown, the stalks of which rose to the height of from twenty
to twenty-four feet. In this country no animal could live except the goat,
the tsetse fly being destructive to all others. The principal geological for-
mation was sandstone. A few marches brought him to Ugogo, an extensive
plain broken by two ranges of hills, composed of loose masses of granite piled
together in the wildest confusion. The soil was sandy and sterile. The
inhabitants of Ugogo, like their country, are rugged; but owing to having to
work hard for their living, they are more industrious than those of most of
the other countries in Africa. The people of Ugogo also possess large herds
of cattle.

“* Coming to the country of the Ugari he found a tribe almost identical
with Unyamwesi. The principal streams of this district fall into the Mul-
garazi. With regard to the etymology of the names Nyassa, Nyanaza, Nyara,
Nykow, ete., Captain Cameron explained that the word ‘‘ Nya” was virtually
the verb rain. ‘‘ Tanga” was the verb to mix, from which came Tanganyika,
the mixing place of waters, and the appropriateness of this appellation was
exemplified by the number of rivers which ran into the lake. Unyamwesi
was the commencement of the basin of the Congo. He believed that the
natives of Unyamwesi were of the Malay race. They had crossed a great
deal with negroes, and had lost the distinctive colour and distinctive marks
of the race, but their features were much the same as the dominant races in
Madagascar, who wear their long hair hanging down the back. In conse-
quence of the intermixture of negro blood the people of Unyamwesi were
unable to wear their hair in this fashion, but they imitated it by twisting the
fibres of trees in their woolly hair, and so making ringlets. Some who did not
care for that style of adornment made themselves wigs, which they wore on
high days and holidays.

*“‘ Ugaro is a large plain nearly as flat as a billiard table. The people
here were different from the Unyamwesians ; they had not got the same fea-
tures or the same tribal marks. After passing over the mountains of Komendi,
which are an offshoot of the mountains round the south end of Tanganyika, -
they came to a fertile land, much of it laid waste by the ravages of a neigh-
bouring tribe. All the mountains in that district were of granite. There was
there a large quantity of salt; and what was remarkable was, that the rivers
ran perfectly fresh through soil which, when the natives dug wells, gave water

the same day of the year as it was first sighted by Burton. At Ujiji the peo-

694 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ple are of a different race from those already described, as they shave their _
hair differently, and have not the same features. They are all expert boatmen,
on account of living on the banks of the lake. Many of their canoes are fifty
or sixty feet long, four or five feet across, and are hollowed out of a single
trunk. From Ujiji he travelled down along Lake Tanganyika. In some
places there were enormous cliffs and hollows of rugged granite lying in loose
boulders; in other places the cliffs were of red sandstone, and in others a sort
of limestone and dolamite. At one place he saw exposed on the shores of the
lake large masses of coal, but, owing to the precipitous nature of the cliff, he
was unable to get any specimens of it.

‘‘Proceeding onward he came to the country of Ufipa, where he found
that the people manufacture a heavy cloth, which they much prefer to trashy
European calico. Passing down to the south end of the lake, he found it
regularly embedded in cliffs five hundred to six hundred feet high, with
water-falls discharging themselves down the face. Having rounded the
south end he reached Miriro, where the chief is of a strikingly European
appearance. ‘There was a legend that this chief had come from the country
of Wariri Wabina, the chiefs of which are said to have come from Mada-
gascar. ‘Travelling along the side of the lake, he came to the Lukuga, a
large river more than a mile wide, but partly closed by a sort of sill, on
which a floating vegetation was growing, a clear passage, however, being
left of about eight hundred yards. After proceeding some four miles up the
river, Captain Cameron’s boat got jammed amongst the floating vegetation,
which grows to the thickness of two or three feet, and it was with difficulty
the boat was extricated.

‘The Kasongo country was next reached, the principal characteristic of
which were the extraordinary trees, of which boats a fathom wide are some-
times made. Besides these there are trees of smaller dimensions, which offer
very good timber, some being white hardwood and others a sort of teak.
Here he first made the acquaintance of a large forest tree, with fruit like the
olive, and under the bark of which the natives obtain a gum in which they
fumigate themselves. Crossing the mountains of Bambarre he arrived at
Manyema, where there are numerous gorges, some being over one hundred
and fifty feet deep, and from the bottom of them trees were growing, and
looking up were seen towering an equal distance overhead. Turning into
Manyema he found the race entirely different from anything he had yet seen.
The houses were differently built, the people were differently armed, dressed
their head differently, and there was no tatooing to speak of. The villages
were built in long streets, thirty or forty yards wide, two or three streets
being alongside each other, and a space left between the houses, which were
of reddish clay, with sloping thatched roof—the only houses of that description
he saw in the interior of the country. The people were armed with spears

CAMERON'S ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH ASSOCIA TION. 695

and shields. The natives of Manyema are a remarkably prolific race, but
the country is not so populous as it might be, because nearly every village is
ruled by an independent chieftain, and constant wars are going on for the
purpose of obtaining slaves, or killing those of the opposing party, in order to
eat them, all the Manyema being cannibals.

Journeying northwards, but still in Manyema, a district was reached
where iron was very plenty, and where large forges were at work. Many of
the spears and knives which they turned out looked as if finished off by a file,
or polished by some means, although all done by hand forging and patient
labour. Just before passing the Bambarre mountains, Captain Cameron saw
palms for the first time in great numbers. They were planted in rows in the
centre of a street, and there were plantations adjoining the villages. The
oil produced is much exported to Tanganyika and there exchanged for other
articles. The Lualaba River was next reached, which is about one thousand
eight hundred yards in breadth. The southern shore is occupied by a tribe
called the Wagenga, who do the whole carrying business of the river, being
the only canoe proprietors who take for pay the products of the country to the
different markets. The young women make immense quantities of pottery
in the mud and back water, which they exchange for fish.

After referring to a country between Nyangwi and Loami, where a palm
oil grows in great profusion, Captain Cameron passed through Kilemba and
reached Lake Kigongo. This lake is covered with floating vegetation, on
which the people build their houses, cut a space round about them, and so
transform their habitations into floating islands, so that when desirable they
change the locality from one place to another. The principal trades were in
ivory and slaves, but in many places there were coffee, mineral products,
copper mines, coal, ete. Coming to the coast he passed through one of the
most magnificent countries in the world to look at, possessing a climate in
which any European might live. The Portuguese had been settled in this
neighbourhood for a period of thirty years. He saw a beautiful grove of
orange trees round one of their houses, and roses thirty feet high, while
the proprietor assured him that European plants throve well. The whole
of the country was one vast slave field, and the various products he had re-
ferred to were just waiting for one to come and take them. In conclud-
ing, Captain Cameron said that the way to stop the slave trade was to open
up the Congo and Zambesi. Twenty-five miles of civilisation would join
these two rivers, and they could then get right across the continent by water
navigation. By means of other rivers we would be able to get up and tap
the country where the Egyptian traders got the most of their ivory. In the
country there was a vast mineral wealth, and an ordinary population, that,
with education, might be rendered very industrious, instead of carrying on
a continual warfare against each other for the purpose of obtaining slaves.

696 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

By a comprehensive scheme for utilising this large water communication,
Africa might be opened up in two or three years, but of course much money
would be wanted.

THE Presipent said that he had been asked to put a question to Captain
Cameron, which he was sure, although it was one of a personal nature, was
one of much pertinence, and bore very highly upon Captain Cameron’s
wanderings—namely, How by gentle means he was enabled to pass through
Africa without coming in contact with the natives hostile to him? He
thought that in the whole of the gallant Captain’s wanderings, only on one
occasion had he had to use force, and then it was not of a serious character.

Captain Cameron said that the answer was exceedingly simple. You
must remember that a man, although a black, was as much a man as a white.
The proper way for a person to get on with the natives is to behave like a
gentleman himself towards them, as they can perfectly understand one being
like a gentleman. He also very well knew that any force he might use unne-
cessarily or wantonly would retard and most likely endanger any of his suc-
cessors in African travels.

Caprain VerNEY, R.N., speaking as a naval man, expressed the pride
that the Navy felt in the credit that Captain Cameron had brought upon the
profession. We were accustomed to see gentlemen come home from foreign
travel with wonderful stories of what they had seen and heard—stories which
were come to be called travellers’ stories—and which were always understood
to be taken with a grain of salt. Those gentlemen who had had an opor-
tunity of studying the surveys and observations made by Captain Cameron
were convinced that more truthful and accurate observations had never been
made by any explorer. Having served for a short time on the West Coast
of Africa, and knowing its dreadful climate, he was aware of the great credit
that this accuracy and truthfulness brought with it. There might be many who
might have made such a journey as Captain Cameron, whose physique would
allow them to travel through the country, but he did not think there were
many gentlemen who could have travelled over such a large range of country,
and at the same time carry on the same system of observation for scientific
purposes of levels, etc., of the products of the country, and the habits of the
people. He was very much struck with the tact that must have been re-
quired in dealing with these natives. Every little chief thought himself the
greatest king on the earth, but, when you had made their acquaintanceship,
for a bottle of rum he would think you a greater man than himself. On one
occasion when a native—Ja-Ja—had been dining with him, he asked him
whether it really was the case that they occasionally ate one another. The
chief replied that they must confess it was; and on being asked why they
did so, he answered, ‘‘ Habit, and because it is such a delicacy. Nothing is
really so delicate and good as a little boy’s ankle.”

ADDRESSES BY GENERAL ALEXANDER & MR. STEPHENSON. 697

Masor-GENERAL Sir JAMES Atexanper, K.C.B., referred to the manner
in which Colonel Gordon, commonly Chinese Gordon, travelled safely with-
out arms, or any army to back him, among the natives. The natives ran away
when he approached a village for supplies, and he was allowed to help him-
self, but he invariably left three times the value of what he took in the huts
of the people. The news spreading about in advance of Captain Gordon, he
was enabled to go through the country with perhaps only one attendant. There
was no occasion to shoot or molest the natives. As a general rule they will
treat those well who treat them well, while, if their feelings are hurt or their
property interfered with, they will do the same.

Mr. STrPHENSON was very much interested in the development of Africa
at its present stage in connection with the Scottish missions. The persons
forming the mission they had sent out, or assisted to send out, would make
us perfectly acquainted with the Nyassa district. In connection with that
a very great and important question arose. The slave trade is carried over
all that district which Captain Cameron has been describing, and a great
part of it was already depopulated. Quite recently the Sey of Tanganyika
had made regulations throughout his dominions which would prevent the
slave trade being carried on, provided he had the power to see them enforced.
In connection with that matter, some gentlemen were considering that, see-
ing there is a lake which, with its river connection, extended to four hun-
dred and fifty miles long from the north end of Nyassa, which could be com-
manded by a gunboat or steamer—that on the Tanganyika there is nearly an
equal extent of lake communication, which could also be commanded by a
small gunboat, and as there was only two hundred and fifty miles between
the two points, whether in some way means should not be taken to co-ope-
rate with the Sey of Tanganyika, by making stations across these two hun-
dred and fifty miles. He did not know whether it was practicable to carry it
further. He was afraid that Stanley’s proceedings had caused considerable
difficulty in making stations about that district, but he should like to have
Captain Cameron’s opinion on such a scheme.

Caprain Cameron said that he believed such a scheme could be carried
out. When the deviation of compasses was taken into account the distance
between the two points indicated would be even less than two hundred and
fifty miles. The country between was a healthy upland, and there would be
no great difficulty in carrying a steamer from Nyassa if they had a large party
and funds at command. From Tanganyika they might force their way to
the Congo system, and from the Zambesi they might get another steamer to
take up that large section of lake and river in the very heart of the slave
trade. Such a scheme could only be thoroughly undertaken by Government.
Steamers might be established to cross Africa, protect the trader, and put a
stop to the slave trade. By a properly considered system of river steamers,

03

698 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

we certainly should be able to attack the slave trade at its heart, but whether
any Government would spend so much money on a purely philanthropic
pursuit was doubtful. Perhaps a great Company might be started with a
charter, such as the East India Company, and be only allowed to exercise their
powers on condition of their putting a stop to the slave trade. It might
be said that the day for charters was past; but such was not the case with
Africa, which was three or four thousand years behind the time. The Com-
pany might work the whole of Africa in the way of trade for a number of
years, but on condition of their putting a stop to the slave trade.

After some further discussion, the President moved a vote of thanks
to Captain Cameron, which was enthusiastically accorded.

The meeting for working men, which annually forms one of the features
of the British Association, was held the next evening in the City Hall, and
Captain Cameron was the lecturer selected for the occasion; and notwith-
standing that he had appeared in the same place only a few days before, a
large and sympathetic audience assembled, from whom he received a right
hearty welcome. Professor Allen Thomson presided.

THE CuarrMAn introduced Captain Cameron as a man whose reputation
was now world wide, and who had done a great work in the cause of science,
commerce, and philanthropy.

Captain Cameron then rose, and was received with loud cheers, which
were again and again renewed. On the applause subsiding, he said—In
November, 1872, he left England in command of an expedition sent out for
the purpose of helping Dr. Livingstone in those labours in which for thirty
years he had been engaged, and in which at the time of his death he had been
unremittingly employed for seven years. He arrived at Zanzibar on the 3rd
January, 1873, and in March the expedition left the dominions of the Sultan
of that country, which lay in latitude 5° 6’ south, longitude 36° east. The
first portion of the journey was to Unyanyembe, in latitude 5° south, longitude
33° east. The next stage was to Ujiji, in latitude 5° south, 30° east. Thence
he went round the end of Tanganyika, latitude 8° 9’ south, 38° east, and back
to Ujiji by the other side of the lake. From Ujiji he went to Nyangwi,
latitude 4° 14’ south, longitude 26° 30’ east, then on to Kilemba, at that time
the capital of Urua, latitude 7° south, longitude 25° 30’ east, and reached the
coast at Benguela, between 12° and 18° south latitude, and 13° 30’ east longi-
tude. On leaving the coast he first passed through an open, well-cultivated
country, which was situated outside the range of mountains which began with
the Drakensberg range in Cape Colony, and stretched right along the centre
of Africa, finishing in the mountains of Abyssinia. In these mountains rose,
on the one hand, the rivers which flow into the Indian Ocean, and on the
other, the rivers which ran into the interior of the country. The portion of
the range which he crossed was known as Usagara Mountains. The country

CAMERON'S ADDRESS TO WORKING MEN 699

to the eastward was one of remarkable fertility. In some places he saw
enormous plantations of Caffre corn; and Mr. Moffat, Dr. Livingstone’s
nephew, who accompanied the expedition, and who, alas, was destined soon
to succumb to the climate, said that the sugar produced beat anything he
had seen in Natal, where he had been for some years as a sugar planter.

Crossing the mountains of Usagara he came to the country of the Ugogo,
where it was necessary for travellers to conduct themselves most carefully.
The people were most extortionate, and, like the majority of Africans, were
thieves and liars. Every small village had its independent chief, and to each
of these he had to pay tribute, representing about £40 or £50. The language
of the Ugogi was very much like to the snapping and snarling of a pack of
hounds; and when they got excited and angry, it was impcssible to describe
the manner in which they barked and snarled at each other. The greatest
luxury and happiness they enjoyed was to get as perfectly drunk as they
could. This they were not often able to do, as it was only after their harvest
that they had the means of indulging this appetite. « For three months after
harvest, however, it was hard to finda man in Ugogo who was not three parts
“fou.” Leaving Ugogo they passed through Mgunda Karli, a hot field where
fifteen or twenty years ago there were scarcely any inhabitants and little or
no water. Now it was occupied by the Wakimbu, who had been forced from
their homes by one of the constantly-recurring wars among the natives; and
they had built villages and cultivated fields in what was formerly an im-
penetrable forest.

After a few more marches he came to Unyamwesi country, and entered
the basin cf the Nile. The Unyamwesi had been famous for many years.
The Arabs formed a settlement there some thirty years ago, but before that
time the Unyamwesi used to come down to the coast with ivory. At Taborah
he was delayed for some months by fever and other illness—he was blind for
six weeks—and it was here that he heard of Livingstone’s death, and received
his body and saw it sent off to the coast. He told next how his companion,
Murphy, on the ground that the object of the expedition was finished, sent in
his resignation. On finding that he meant to prosecute his journey, he volun-
teered again to accompany him. But seeing the difficulty of getting men,
and that if the two went they would require double the amount of stores and
double the number of carriers, he resolved to go on alone. On his way to
Ujiji, which was the next stage of importance, he crossed the river Sindi on
one of those grass bridges which were among the greatest natural curiosities
of Africa. They were composed of grass, which floated on the surface of the
water, and were sometimes upwards of half a mile long. Reeds and a kind of
fern, and occasionally flowers, grew on them, and they were about three feet
thick. A person could walk across these bridges at the season when they
were strongest and not know that he was not on solid land; but that they

700 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

were afloat was proved by the fact that the hippopotami could be heard pass-
ing underneath.

After crossing the Malagarazi he came into the salt-producing district of
Uvinza. The peculiarity of this country was that the soil was so strongly
charged with salt that it was collected and yielded a large supply of that use-
ful article. Water was first poured on it and strained through a cloth, and
afterwards on this water being evaporated very good salt was got. And the
curious thing was, that running through this soil were large streams of per-
fectly fresh water. In February, 1874, he got his first sight of the great Lake
Tanganyika, fourteen years to a day from the time it was first seen by Euro-
peans—by Burton and Speke on the journey on which they discovered that
lake, as also the Lake Victoria Nyanza. The people of Ujiji, which was his next
halting place, had a bad character for drunkenness, but he could not say that
they were worse than their neighbours; indeed, he very often saw a sober man
there. They were equally gifted, however, with those around them in the art
of fleecing the stranger. Going on to describe his voyage on the lake, he
said the cliffs which bordered it to the south of Ras Kungwe were as grand as
those of any sea-coast in the world, but at other places the hills ran back a long
way, showing beautiful valleys, covered with the palm tree and the feathery
wild date; but nearly the whole of this lovely country had been depopulated
by the slave traders. On the west side of the lake were mountain ranges, and
in some parts of the mountain s he saw people working on terraces on the
sides of the hills, just like the natives of Switzerland, and looking from the
lake like flies on the side of a wall. As he approached the north end of Tan-
ganyika the mountains began to end; and here he put into a bay, where he
found a hot spring, the waters of which where slightly charged with carbonic
acid gas.

On his return to Ujiji he found letters from home—the only letters he
got during his journey. These letters had a curious history. They were
sent on from Unyanyembe by an Arab caravan. This caravan was attacked
and dispersed by Miramba’s people and those who escaped abandoned every-
thing, his letters included. A short time after the same men attacked a larger
caravan, but they were beaten off, and on the body of one of them who was
shot his letters were found, and brought on to him at Ujiji. To the same
powerful caravan, on their return journey, he entrusted Livingstone’s jour-
nal and a small botanical collection of his own. Then he started to work his
way westward. The manifold difficulties he encountered were briefly touched
on, and accounts given of the peculiarities of the tribes with whom he came
in contact in his journey to the coast. In addition to others spoken of in
former addresses, he told of a race he found in a second country of Uvinza,
who carried wood carving to higher perfection than any other tribe he saw
in Africa. On the walking sticks they carried were representations of the

CAMERON'S ADDRESS TO WORKING MEN. 701

heads of animals, some of them very close tonature. In other cases the heads
were those of devils, which they carved with the view of saving themselves
from the evil spirits.

He told next of his journey through Manyema, and of his entrance
into an iron-producing district beyond. The people here were expert smiths,
and worked up speculum ore into a variety of weapons and utensils. Not
only was the work they turned out with the hand so fine that one would ima-
gine that they had all the appliances of the forge, but the spears and knives
were often ornamented with open iron and copper work. Having failed to
get boats to enable him to follow the River Lualaba down to the west he struck
southward, and after parting from Tipo Tipo he met with a chief settled on
the Lomami who refused to allow him to pass, as he said no caravan with guns
had ever been in his country, and if he could prevent it they never should.
He said he must pass through, and eventually the chief consented to grant a
passage. He told afterwards of a black fellow who knew the white traders,
and who promised to speak the truth “like an Englishman,” but who never
spoke the truth at all. He also gave a brief account of a visit he paid to Lake
Mohyra, where were lake dwellings similar to those described by Sir Arthur
Helps in “‘Realmah.” These were modern examples of those old lake dwell-
ings, and the reason why they were erected was to protect the inhabitants
from the ravages of their chief Kasonga.

At Kilemba he was long delayed, but at length, on the 4th June, 1875,
he started in company with a caravan belonging to certain Portuguese traders
for the coast. On the way down he had full oportunity of seeing the horrid
cruelties perpetrated by the caravans belonging to the Portuguese, whose chief
business in the interior was to purchase and capture slaves. In the course of
his journey he passed across the watershed of the Zambesi and the Kwanza.
The latter river fell into the sea at St Paul de Loanda. It was ascended for
a considerable distance by vessels belonging to a Scotch firm settled at Loanda.
They were only able to go up as far as the rapids; but were a steamboat put
on above those rapids, there would be no difficulty in going a considerable
way into the interior.

In concluding his lecture, Captain Cameron said that the country
through which he travelled was one of the richest in the world. Amongst
its minerals were several varieties of iron, cinnabar, silver, gold, copper, and
tin; and last, though not least, coal was also to be found. Cotton grew wild
in some places, in others it was cultivated admirably. On the east coast
there was the best supply of copal gum in the world, and in the interior
there were deposits of the same material. The great staple trade be-
tween this country and the west coast of Africa was palm oil. Now, the
palm tree grew the whole distance up the Congo and the Lualaba, and was
found two thousand six hundred, in some cases three thousand feet above

702 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the level of the sea. The sugar cane, rice, and wheat, all grew without culti-
vation. But all that country was at present in the hands of men who,
although they went there nominally for ivory, went really for slaves. What
Africa wanted was labour to develop her resources, and in the meantime her
labour power was being exhausted by the slave trade. Africa, by means of a
wise and enlightened policy, could be opened up and civilised; and why,
when everybody was complaining of the stagnation of our trade, did we not
go away and open up another market on that vast continent ?

The Chairman having proposed a vote of thanks, it was accorded with
great applause. Captain Cameron acknowledged the compliment, and said he
regarded it as a great honour to be received in so kind a manner in the city
where David Livingstone had lived and wrought, and received his education.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Stanley marches from Bagamoyo to Mpwapwa—Through Northern Ugogo —Coun-
try of Urimi—Death of Edward Pocock—Conflict with the Waturu—Iramba
—Arrival at Lake Victoria Nyanza—Exploration of the Lake—Visit to
Miesa, King of Uganda—Mtesa’s Conversion to Islamism—Desire for Chris-
tian Teachers—Interview between Colonel de Bellefond and Stanley—Stanley’s
Departure from Uganda—Lake Victoria Nyanza an Inland Sea—Meetings of
the Royal Geographical Society.

Ww. left Mr. Stanley about to plunge into the African wilderness, full of

heart and hope. Since then he has been heard from again and again.
From the district Mpwapwa, in the country of Usagaru, he wrote under date,
December 13th, 1874, saying that he had had an unprecedentedly successful
march from the Indian Ocean, and that surprisingly favourable influences had
attended the Expedition ever since their departure from Zanzibar. They had
suffered less sickness, less trouble, and altogether had had more good fortune
than any Expedition which had ever come into Africa. The march from
Bagamoyo to the place from which he was writing had only taken him twenty-
five days, although, on his previous Expedition in search of Livingstone, the
same march took him fifty-seven days ; and it occupied Lieutenant Cameron’s
party four months. The outset of the Expedition was not very favourable,
as nearly all the attendants were overcome by intoxication at Zanzibar; and,
after disembarking at Bagamoyo, matters were not mended much. The men
had not as yet expended all their advance, and the consequence was, that
they betook themselves into the liquor shops of the Goanese at the port, and,
after brutalising themselves with the fire-water retailed there, they took to
swaggering through the streets, proclaiming that they were white men’s
soldiers, maltreating women, breaking into shops and smashing crockery, some
even drawing knives on the peaceable citizens, and in other ways indulging
their worst passions.

The march was resumed, however, on the fifth day; and, on arriving at
the Kingani River, Stanley screwed together the sections of the ‘ Lady
Alice,” and tested her powers of transportation and efficiency. He ascertained
that the utmost she could bear in ferrying across the river was thirty men
and thirty bales of cloth, or a weight of three tons, which was perfectly satisfac-
tory to him. The “ Livingstone” pontoon was not uncovered, as the ‘‘ Lady
Alice” proved expeditious enough in transporting the force across the river.
When the ferriage was completed they resumed the journey, and long before

704 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

sunset encamped at Kikoka. The intense heat of the Kingani plains lying
on either side told severely on those men who were unaccustomed to travel-
ling in Africa, and on the natives also who had indulged their vicious pro-
pensities at Zanzibar and Bagamoyo before departure. This compelled them
to remain a day at Kikoka.

“During the afternoon of this day,” Mr. Stanley says, ‘‘ as I was pre-
paring my last letters, I was rather surprised by a visit paid me in my camp
from a party of the Sultan’s soldiers, the chief of whom bore a letter from
the Governor of Bagamoyo, wherein he complained that my people had in-
duced about fifteen women to abandon their masters. On mustering the
people and inquiring into their domestic affairs, it was discovered that a
large number of women had indeed joined the expedition during the night.
Most of them, however, bore free papers, accorded to them by the political
agent at Zanzibar; but eleven were, by their own confession, runaway slaves.
After being hospitably received by the Sultan of Zanzibar and the Arabs, it
was no part of a stranger’s duty—unless authorised by some Government
likely to abide by its agent’s actions—to countenance such a novel mode of
liberating the slaves. The order was therefore given, that the women should
return with the Sultan’s soldiers; but as this did not agree with either the
views of the women themselves, or their abductors, the females set up a de-
termined defiance to the order, and the males seized their Snider rifles, vow-
ing that they should not return. As such a disposition, and demonstration of
hostility, was not polite, nor calculated to deserve my esteem, or to win for
me the Arabs’ good-will, the manifestation was summarily suppressed, and
the women returned to their masters.” The noble mastiff, Castor, which had
been presented to the traveller by the Baroness Burdett Coutts, died on the
journey, of apoplexy brought on by the heat.

The next intelligence of the intrepid traveller is conveyed in a letter
written by him from the Lake Victoria Nyanza, which was published in
‘The Daily Telegraph,” Oct. 15, 1875. On account of its intense interest,
we give it here entire :—

“Village of Kagehyi, District of Uchambi, Usukuma,
on the Victoria Nyanza, March 1.

“The second part of the programme laid before me as Commander of
the Anglo-American Expedition ended successfully at noon on the 27th Feb-
ruary, 1875. The great lake first discovered by Captain Speke—the Victoria
Nyanza—was sighted and reached by us on that day; and it is with feelings
of most devout gratitude to Almighty God for preserving us, amid manifold
perils, that I write these lines.

‘“‘Tt seems an age since we started from ame of Usagara, whence
I despatched my last letter to you. We have experienced so much, seen and

THROUGH UGOGO. 705

suffered so much, that I have carefully to recapitulate in my mind, and turn
to my note-book besides, to refresh my recollection of even the principal events
of this most long, arduous, and eventful march to the Victorian Lake. I pro-
mised you in my last letter that I would depart as soon as practicable from
the old route to Unyanyembe, now so well known, and would, like the patri-
arch Livingstone, strike out a new line tounknown lands. Ididso. In our
adventurous journey north I imperilled the Expedition, and almost brought
it to an untimely end, which, however, happily for me, for you, and for geo-
graphers, a kindly Providence averted.

“On leaving Mpwapwa we edged northward across the Desert of the
Megunda Mkali, or the Forest region, leaving the vain chief of Mbumi far to
the south, and traversed Northern Ugogo with the usual experiences attend-
ing travellers in Southern Ugogo. The chiefs practised the regular arts;
fleeced us of property, and black-mailed us at every opportunity. But oc-
casionally we met tribes more amiably disposed towards strangers, although
at times we had to pay heavier tribute in other chiefs’ lands. We crossed
broad and bleak plains, where food was scarce, and cloth vanished fast, to
enter hilly districts where provisions were abundant, the people civil, and the
chiefs kind. We traversed troublesome districts where wars and rumours of
wars were rife, the people treacherous and hostile, to enter countries lying at
the merey of the ferocious Wahumba on the north, and the Wahebu to the
south. Thus good and evil fortune alternated during our travels through
Ugogo—an epitome in brief of our after-experiences. Furious rainy tem-
pests accompanied us constantly, and some days Nature and man alike warred
against us, while on others both seemed combined to bless us. Under our
generally adverse fates my command seemed to melt away; men died from
fatigue and famine, many were left behind ill, while many, again, deserted.
Promises of reward, kindness, threats, punishments, had no effect. The Ex-
pedition seemed doomed. The white men, though elected out of the ordinary
class of Englishmen, did their work bravely—nay, I may say heroically.
Though suffering from fever and dysentery, insulted by natives, marching
under the heat and equatorial rain-storms, they at all times proved themselves
of noble, manly natures, stout-hearted, brave, and—better than all—true
Christians. Unrepining they bore their hard fate and worse fare; resignedly
they endured arduous troubles, cheerfully performed their allotted duties, and
at all times commended themselves to my good opinion.

““We reached the western frontier of Ugogo on the last day of 1874,
After a rest of two days we thence struck direct north, along an almost level
plain, which some said extended as far as Nyanza. We found, by question-
ing the natives, that we were also travelling along the western extremity of
Wahumba, which we were glad to hear, as we fondly hoped that our march
would be less molested. Two days’ progress north brought us to the con-

P3

706 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

__

fines of Usandawi, a country famous for elephants ; but here our route inclined
north-west, and we entered Ukimbu, or Uyanzi, at its north-eastern extremity.
We had hired guides in Ugogo to take us as far as Iramba, but at Muhalala,
in Ukimbu, they deserted. Fresh guides were engaged at Muhalala, who
took us one day’s march farther north-west, but at night they also disappeared,
and in the morning we were left on the edge of a wide wilderness without a
single pioneer. On the roads the previous day the guides had informed us
that three days’ march would bring us to Urimi, and, relying on the truth of
the report, I had purchased two days’ provisions, so that this second deser-
tion did not much disconcert us, nor raise any suspicion, though it elicited
many unpleasant remarks about the treachery of the Wagogo. We there-
fore continued our journey, but on the morning of the second day, the narrow,
ill-defined track which we had followed became lost in a labyrinth of ele-
phant and rhinoceros trails. The best men were despatched in all directions
to seek the vanished road, but they were all unsuccessful, and we had no
resource left but the compass. The next day brought us into a dense jungle
of acacia and euphorbia, through which we had literally to push our way by
scrambling and crawling along the ground under natural tunnels of embrac-
ing shrubbery, cutting the convolvuli and creepers, thrusting aside stout,
thorny bushes, and by various detours taking advantage of every slight open-
ing the jungle afforded. This naturally lengthened our journey and pro-
tracted our stay in the wilderness. On the evening of the third day the first
death in this dismal waste occurred.

‘“‘'The fourth day we made but fourteen miles, and the march was three-
fold more arduous than the preceding tramp. Not a drop of water was dis-
covered, and the weaker people, labouring beneath their loads, and under-
going besides hunger and thirst, lagged behind the vanguard many miles,
which caused the rearguard under two of the white men much suffering. As
the last files advanced, they shouldered the loads of the weaker men, and
endeavoured to encourage them to resume the march. Some of these poor
fellows were enabled to reach camp, where their necessities were relieved by
medicine and restoratives. But five strayed from the path which the passing
Expedition had made, and were never seen alive again. Scouts sent out to
explore the woods found one dead about a mile from our road, the others
must have hopelessly wandered on until they also fell down and died.

“On the filth day we arrived at a small village, lately erected, called
Uveriveri, the population of which consisted of four negroes, their wives, and
little ones. ‘These people had not a grain of food to spare. Most of our
Expedition were unable to move for hunger and fatigue. In this dire extre-
mity I ordered a halt, and selected twenty of the strongest to proceed to
Suna, twenty-nine miles north-west from Uveriveri, to purchase food. In the
interval I explored the woods in search of game, but the quest was iruitless,

HUNGER SATISFIED. 707

though one of my men discovered a lion’s den, and brought me two young
hons, which I killed and skinned. Returning to camp from the fruitless
hunt, I was so struck with the pinched faces of my poor people that I could
have almost wept if I might have done so without exciting fear of our fate in
their minds; but I resolved to do something towards relieving the pressing
needs of fierce hunger. To effect this, a sheet-iron trunk was emptied of its
contents, and, being filled with water, was placed on the fire. I then broke
open our medical stores, and took five pounds of Scotch oatmeal, and three
tins of Revalenta Arabica, with which I made gruel to feed over two hundred
and twenty men. It was a rare sight to see these poor famine-stricken peo-
ple hasten to that Torquay dress-trunk, and assist me to cook the huge pot
of gruel; to watch them fan the fire to a fiercer heat, and with their gourds
full of water stand by to cool the foaming liquid when it threatened to over-
flow; and-it was a still better sight to witness the pleasure steal over their
faces as they ate the welcome food. The sick and weaker received a larger
portion near my tent, and another tin of oatmeal was opened for their sup-
per and breakfast. But a long time must elapse before I shall have the cou-
rage to express my feelings whilst I waited for the return of my people from
Suna with food, and fruitless would be the attempt to describe the anxiety
with which I listened for the musketry announcing their success. After
forty-eight hours’ suspense, we heard the joyful sounds, which woke us all
into new life and vigour. The grain was most greedily seized by the hungry
people, and so animating was the report of the purveyors that the soldiers,
one and all, clamoured to be led away that afternoon. Nowise loath myself
to march from this fatal jungle, I assented; but two more poor fellows breathed
their last before we left camp.

“We pitched that night at the base of a rocky hill overlooking a broad
plain, which, after the intense gloom and confined atmosphere of the jungle,
was a great pleasure to us; and next day, striking north along this plain,
after a long march of twenty miles under a fervid sun, we reached the dis-
trict of Suna, in Urimi. At this place, we discovered a people remarkable
for their manly beauty, noble proportions, and utter nakedness. Neither
man nor boy wore either cloth or skins; the women bearing children alone
boasted of goat-skins. With all their physical comeliness and fine propor-
tions, they were the most suspicious people we had yet seen. It required
great tact and patience to induce them to part with food for our cloth and
beads. They owned no chief, but respected the injunctions of their elders,
with whom I treated for leave to pass through their land. The permission
was reluctantly given, and food was grudgingly sold; but we bore with all
this silent hostility patiently, and I took great care that no overt act on the
part of the Expedition should change their suspicion into hatred. Our people
were so worn out with fatigue that six more poor fellows died here, and the

708 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. .

sick list numbered thirty. Here also, Edward Pocock fell seriously ill of
typhoid fever. For his sake, as well as for the other sufferers, I halted in
Suna four days; but it was evident that the longer we stayed in their country
the less we were liked by the natives, and it was incumbent on us to move,
though much against my inclination, There were many grave reasons why
we should have halted several days longer, for Edward Pocock was daily
getting worse, and the sick-list increased alarmingly; dysentery, diarrhcea,
chest diseases, sore feet, tasked my medical knowledge to the utmost; but
prudence forbade a stay. The rear-cuard and captains of the Expedition were
therefore compelled to do the work of carriers, and every soldier for the time
being was converted into a pagazi, or porter. Pocock was put into a hammock,
the sick and weakly were encouraged to do their utmost to move on with the
Expedition to more promising lands, where the natives were less suspicious,
where food was more abundant, and where cattle were numerous. Imbued
with this hope, the entire camp resumed its march across the clear, open, and
well-cultivated country of Urimi.

‘“‘Chiwyu was reached about ten o'clock, after a short walk, and here the
young Knglishman, Edward Pocock, breathed his last, to the great grief of
us all. According to two rated pedometers, we had finished the four hun-
dredth mile of our march from the sea, and had reached the base of the water-
shed whence the trickling streams and infant waters begin to flow Nileward,
when this noble young fellow died. We buried him at night, and a cross,
cut deep into a tree, marks his last resting-place at Chiwyu. As we travelled
north we became still more assured that we had arrived in the dewy land
whence the extreme southern springs, rivulets, and streams, discharge their
waters into the Nile. From a high ridge overlooking a vast extent of country,
the story of their course was plainly written in the deep depressions and hol-
lows trending northward and north-westward; and as we noticed these signs
of the incipient Nile, we cherished the growing hope, that before long, we
should gaze with gladdened eyes on the mighty reservoir which collected
these waters that purled and rippled at our feet, into its broad bosom, to dis-
charge them in one vast body into the White Nile. From Chiwyu we
journeyed two days through Urimi to Mangara, where Kaif Halleck—the
carrier of Kirk’s letter-bag to Livingstone, whom I compelled to accompany

was waylaid by the natives and hacked to pieces. ‘This was the first overt
act of hostility on the part of the Warimi. Unable to fix the crime on any
particular village, we resumed our journey, and entered Ituru, a district in
Northern Urimi, on the 21st of January.
“The village near which we camped was called Vinyata, and was situ-

SIGNS OF WAR. 709

ated in a broad and populous valley containing, probably, some two or three
thousand souls. Here we discovered the river which received all the streams
that flowed between Vinyata and Chiwyu. It is called Leewumbu, and its
flow from this valley is west. Even in the dry season it is a considerable
stream, some twenty feet in width and about two feet in depth, but in the
rainy season it becomes a deep and formidable river. The natives received
us coldly, but, as we were only two days’ journey from Iramba, I redoubled
my exertions to conciliate the surly, suspicious people, and that evening
my effort seemed crowned with success, for they brought milk, eggs, and chick-
ens, for sale, for which I parted freely with cloth. The fame of my liberality
reached the ears of the great man of the valley, the magic doctor, who, in
the absence of a recognised king, is treated by the natives with the deference
and respect due to royalty. This important personage brought me a fat ox
the second day of my arrival at Vinyata, and in exchange received double its
value in cloth and beads, while a rich present was bestowed upon his brother
and son. The great man begged for the heart of the slaughtered ox, which
was also given him, and other requests were likewise honoured by prompt
compliance.

“* We had been compelled to take advantage of the fine sun which shone
this day to dry the bales and goods, and I noticed, though without misgiving,
that the natives eyed them greedily. On the morning of the third day, the
magic doctor returned again to camp to beg for some more beads, to ‘make
brotherhood with him.’ To this, after some slight show of reluctance to
give too much, I assented, and he departed apparently pieased. Half an
hour afterwards the war-cry of the Waturu was heard resounding through
each of the two hundred villages of the Leewumbu valley. This war-cry
was similar to that of the Wagogo, and phonetically it might be spelt ‘ Hehu,
A Hehu,’ the latter syllables drawn out in a prolonged cry—thrillmg and
loud. As we had heard the Wagogo sound such war notes upon every slight
apparition of strangers, we imagined that the warriors of Ituru were sum-
moned to contend against some marauders like the warlike Waramba or other
malcontent neighbours, and nothing disturbed by it, we pursued our various
ayocations, like peaceful beings, fresh from our new brotherhood with the
elders of Ituru. Some of our men were gone out to the neighbouring pool
to draw water for their respective messes; others, again, were about starting
to purchase food, when suddenly we saw the outskirts of the camp darkened
by about a hundred natives in full war costume. Feathers of the bustard,
the eagle, and the kite, waved above some of their heads; the mane of the
zebra and the giraffe encircled other swarthy brows; in their left hands they
held bows and arrows, while in their right they bore spears.

“This hostile gathering naturally alarmed us, for what had we done to
occasion disturbance or war? Remembering the pacific bearing of Living-

710 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

stone when he and I were menaced by the cannibal Wabembe, I gave orders
that none should leave camp until we could ascertain what this hostile pro-
ceeding meant, and that none should by any demonstration provoke the
natives. While we waited to see what the Waturu intended to do, their
numbers increased tenfold, and every bush and tree hid a warrior. Our
camp was situated on the edge of a broad wilderness that extended westward
many days’ march; but to the north, east, and south, nothing was seen save
villages and cultivated ground, which, with the careless mode of agriculture
in vogue amongst savages, contained acres of dwarf shrubbery. I doubt,
however, whether throughout this valley a better locality for a camp could
have been selected than the one we had chosen. Fifty or sixty yards around us
was open ground, so that we had the advantage of clear space to prevent the
approach of an enemy unseen. A slight fence of bush served to screen our
numbers from those without the camp, but having had no occasion to suspect
hostilities, it was but ill adapted to shield us from attack.

‘““When the Waturu had become so numerous in our vicinity that we no
longer doubted they were summoned to fight us, I despatched a young man
who knew their language to ascertain their intention. As he advanced to-
wards them six or seven warriors drew near to talk with him. When he
returned he informed us that one of our men had stolen some milk and butter
from a small village, and that we must pay for it in cloth. ‘The messenger
was sent back to tell them that white men did not come to their country to
rob or quarrel; that they had but to name the price of what was stolen to be
paid at once, and that not one grain of corn or millet-seed should be appro-
priated by us wrongfully. Upon this the principal warriors drew nearer, until
we could hear their voices plainly, though we did not understand the nature
of the conversation. The messenger informed us that the elders demanded
four yards of sheeting, which was about six times the value of the stolen
articles; but at such a moment it was useless to haggle over so trifling a
demand, and the cloth was paid. When it was given to them the elders said
they were satisfied and withdrew.

“Tt soon became evident, however, though the elders were content, the
warriors were not, as they could be seen hurrying by scores from all parts of
the valley, and gesticulating violently in crowds. Still we waited patiently,
hoping that if the old men and principal warriors were really well disposed
towards us their voices would prevail, and that they would be able to assuage
the wild passions which now seemed to animate the others. As we watched
them we noted that about two hundred detached themselves from the gesticu-
lating crowds east of the camp, and disappeared, hurrying to the thick bush
west of us. Soon afterwards one of my men returned from that direction
bleeding profusely from the face and arm, and reported that he and a youth
named Sulieman were out collecting firewood when they were attacked by a

CONFLICT WITH THE NATIVES. 711

large crowd of savages, who were hidden in the bush. A knobstick had
crushed the man’s nose, and a spear had severely wounded him in the arm,
but he had managed to escape, while Sulieman was killed, a dozen spears
having been plunged into his back.

‘“‘ This report, and the appearance of their bleeding comrade, so excited
the soldiers of the Expedition, that they were only with the utmost difficulty
restrained from beginning a battle at once. Even yet, I hoped that war
might be prevented by a little diplomacy, while I did not forget to open the
ammunition-boxes and prepare for the worst. But much was meanwhile to
be done. ‘The enclosure of the camp required to be built up, and something
of a fortification was necessary to repel the attack of such a large force.
While we were thus preparing without ostentation to defend ourselves from
what I conceived an imminent onslaught, the Waturu, now our declared .
enemies, advanced upon the camp, and a shower of arrows fell all round us.
Sixty soldiers, held in readiness, were at once ordered to deploy in front of
the camp, fifty yards off; the Wanguana, or freemen of Zanzibar, obedient
to the command, rushed out of the camp, and the battle commenced. Im-
mediately after, these sixty men, with axes, were ordered to cut bushes and
raise a high fence of thorn around the camp, while twenty more were em-
ployed to throw up lofty platforms like towers within, for sharp-shooters. We
busied ourselves in bringing the sections of the ‘Lady Alice’ inside to make
a central refuge fora last resistance, and in otherwise strengthening the
defences. Every one worked with a will, and while the firing of the skir-
mishers, growing more distant, announced that the enemy was withdraw-
ing, we were left to complete our task unmolested. When the camp was pre-
pared I ordered the bugler to sound the retreat, in order that the savages
might haye an opportunity to consider whether it was politic for them to
renew the fight.

‘The skirmishers now returned, and announced that fifteen of the enemy
were killed, while a great many more were wounded and borne off by their
friends. All my men had distinguished themselves—even ‘ Bull,’ my British
bull-dog, had seized one of the Waturu by the leg, and had given him a taste
of the power of the sharp canines of his breed before the poor savage was
mercifully despatched by a Snider bullet. We rested that day from further
trouble, and the next morning we waited events until nine o’clock, when the
enemy appeared in greater force than ever, having summoned their neigh-
bours all round to assist them, as I now felt assured, in our ruin. Though we
were reluctant to make war upon people whom I the previous day thought
might still be converted into friends, we were not slow to continue fighting
if the natives were determined on hostilities. Accordingly I selected four
experienced men to lead four several detachments, and gave orders that they
should march in different directions through the valley, and meet at some

712 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

high rocks distant five miles off; that they should seize upon all cattle, and
burn every village as soon as taken. Obedient to the command they sallied
forth from the camp, and thus began the second day’s fight.

‘“¢ They were soon vigorously engaged with the enemy, who fled fast and
clamorous before them to an open plain on the banks of the Leewumbu. The
detachment under Farjalla Christie became too excited, and because the enemy
ran imagined that they had only to show themselves to cause every native to
fly ; but once on the plain—having drawn them away into isolation some miles
from any succour—the negroes turned upon them and slaughtered the detach-
ment to a man, except the messenger, who had been detailed to accompany
the party in order to report success or failure. I had taken the precaution to
send one swift-footed man along with each detachment for this purpose. The
messenger came from Farjalla to procure assistance, which was at once de-
spatched, though, indeed, too late to aid the unfortunate men, but not too late
to save a second detachment from a like fate, for the victorious enemy, after
slaughtering the first division, had turned upon the second with the evident
intention to cut up in detail. the entire force opposed to them. When the
support arrived they found the second detachment all but lost. Two soldiers
had been killed: the captain, Ferahan, had a deep spear-wound in his side;
the others were hemmed in. A volley was poured into the rear of the aston-
ished enemy, and the party was saved. With their combined forces our
people discharged a second volley, and then continued their march almost un-
opposed to the northern and eastern extremity of the valley. Meanwhile
smoke was seen issuing from the south and south-east, informing us that the
third and fourth detachments were pursuing their way victoriously; and soon
a score or more villages were enwrapped in dense volumes of smoke. Even
at a distance of eight miles we beheld burning villages, and shortly the blaz-
ing settlements to the north and east announced our triumph on all sides.
Towards evening the soldiers returned, bringing cattle and an abundance of
grain to the camp; but when the muster-roll was called, I found I had lost
twenty one men who had been killed, while thirty five deaths of the enemy
were reported.

“The third day we renewed the battle with sixty good men, who received
instructions to proceed to the extreme length of the valley, and destroy what
had been left on the previous day. These came to a strong and large village
on the north-east, which, after a short resistance, they iter loading them-
selves there with grain, and afterwards setting the village on fire. Long
before noon it was clearly seen that the savages ‘had had enough of war, and
were quite demoralised, so that our people returned through “the now silent
and blackened valley raion molestation. Just before daybreak, on the
fourth day, we quitted our camp and continued our journey north-west, with
provisions suflicient to last us six days, leaving the people of Ituru to ponder

SERIOUS LOSS OF MEN. 713

on the harsh fate they had drawn on themselves by their greed, treachery,
and wanton murderous attack on peaceful strangers.

*‘ We were still a formidable force, strong in numbers, guns, and pro-
perty, though, for an Expedition destined to explore so many thousand miles
of new countries, we had suffered severely. I had started from the coast with
over three hundred men; but when I reviewed the Expedition at Mgongo
Tembo, in Iramba, which we reached three days after departing from the
scene of our conflict, I found that I had but one hundred and ninety-four
men left. In less than three months, I had already lost by dysentery, famine,
heart disease, desertion, and war, over one hundred and twenty men, natives
of Africa, and one European. I have not now the time—for my work is but
beginning—to relate a tithe of our adventures, or how we suffered. Youcan
better imagine our perils, our novel and strange fortunes, if you reflect on the
loss of one hundred and twenty men out of a force so limited. Such a reduc-.
tion even in a strong regiment would be deemed almost a catastrophe. What
name will you give it when you cannot recruit your numbers, when every
man that dies is a loss that cannot be repaired ; when your work, which is to
last years, is but commencing—when each morning you say to yourself, ‘This
day may be your last ?

** On entering Iramba we came upon a land where, to all strangers that
appeared, the natives called out ‘ Mirambo and his robbers are coming.’ But
a vast amount of patience and suave language saved us from the doom that
everywhere threatens this now famous chieftain. Despite, however, the count-
less medicines and magic arts that have been made and practised against him,
Mirambo yet lives. He seems to make war on all mankind in this portion of
the African interior, and appears to be possessed of ubiquitous powers. We
heard of him advancing upon the natives in Northern Ugogo; Ukimbu was
terror-stricken at his name; the people of Unyanyembe were still fighting
him, and here, in Iramba, he had been met and fought, and was again daily
expected. As we journeyed on through Iramba and entered Usukuma his
fame increased, for we were now drawing near some of the scenes of his wild-
est exploits. When we approached the Victoria Nyanza he was actually
fighting but a day’s march from us with the people of Usanda and Masari,
and a score of times we came near being plunged into conflicts, because the
natives mistook our Expedition for Mirambo’s force. Our colour, however,
saved us, before we became actually engaged in the struggle.

‘Various were our fortunes in our travels between Mgongo Tembo, in
Tramba, and the Nyanza. We traversed the whole length of Usukuma, through
the districts of Mombiti, Usiha, Mondo, Sengerema, and Marya, and, passing
through Usmaow, re-entered Usukuma by Uchambi, and arrived at the lake
after a march of seven hundred and twenty miles. As far as Western Ugogo
I may pass over the country without any attempt at description, since the

9
Q09

714 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

public may obtain a detailed account of it in my work, ‘ How I Found Living-
stone.” Thence north is a new country to all, and a brief description may
be interesting to students of African geography.

‘North of Muanza a level plain extends as far as the frontier of Usan-
dawi, a distance of thirty-five English miles. At Mukondoku the altitude, as
indicated by two first-rate aneroids, was 2,800 feet. At Mtiwi, twenty miles
north, the altitude was 2,825 feet. Diverging west and north-west, we as-
cended the slope of what was apparently a lengthy mountain wall, but upon
arriving at the summit we ascertained this to be a wide plateau, covered with
forest. ‘The plateau has an altitude of 3,800 feet at its eastern extremity ;
but as it extends westward it rises to a height of 4,500 feet. It embraces all
Uyanzi, Unyanyembe, Usukuma, Urimi, and Iramba—in short, all that part
of Central Africa lying between the valley of the Rufiji south and the Vic-
toria Nyanza north; and the mean altitude of this broad upland cannot
exceed 3,500 feet. From Muanza to the Nyanza is a distance of nearly 300
geographical miles, yet at no part of this long journey did the aneroids indi-
cate a higher altitude than 5,100 feet above the sea.

‘As far as Urimi from the eastern edge of the plateau the land is cover-
ed witha thick jungle of acacias, which by its density strangles other species
of vegetation. Here and there only in the cleft of a rock a giant euphorbia
may be seen, sole lord of its sterile domain. The soil is shallow, and con-
sists of vegetable mould mixed largely with sand and detritus of the bare rocks
which crown each knoll and ridge, and which testify too plainly to the vio-
lence of the periodical rains. In the basin of Matongo, in Southern Urimi,
we were informed by the ruins of hills and ridges, relics of a loftier upland,
of what has been effected by Nature in the course of long ages. No savant
need ever expound to the traveller who views those rocky ruins the geolo-
gical history of this country. From a distance we viewed the glistening,
naked, and riven rocks, as a most singular scene; but when we stood
among them, and noted the appearance of the fragments of granite, gneiss,
and porphyry, peeled, as it were rind after rind, like an onion, or leaf
after leaf, like an artichoke, until the rock was wasted away, it seemed
as if Dame Nature had left these stony anatomies, these hilly skeletons,
to demonstrate her laws and career. It appeared to me as if she said,
‘Behold my broad basin of Matongo, with its teeming villages, and herds
of cattle, and fields of corn, surrounded by these bare rocks—in primeval
time this upland was covered with water, it was the bed of a vast sea.
The waters were dried, leaving a wide expanse of level land, upon which I
caused heavy rains to fall five months out of each year during all the ages
that have elapsed since first the hot sunshine fell upon the soil. These rains
washed away the loose sand, and made deep furrows in course of time, until
at certain places the rocky kernel under the soil began to appear. The fur-

CENTRAL URIMI. 715

rows became enlarged, the water fritted away their banks, and conveyed the
earth to lower levels, through which it wore away a channel first through the
soil, and lastly through the rock itself, which you may see if you but descend
to the bottom of that basin. You will there behold, worn through the solid
rock, a fissure some fifty feet in depth; and, as you look on that, you will
have an idea of the power and force of tropical rains. It is through that
channel that the soil, robbed from these rocks, has been carried away towards
the Nyanza to fill its depths, and in time make dry land of it.’ You may
ask how came these once solid. rocks, which are now but skeletons of hills and
stony heaps, to be thus split into so many fragments. Have you never seen
the effect of water thrown upon lime? ‘These solid rocks have been broken
and peeled in an almost similar manner. The tropical sun heated the surface
of these rocks to an intense degree, and the cold rain then falling caused the
rocks to split and peel as we now see them.

“Such is really the geological history of this country. Ridge after
ridge, basin after basin, from Western Ugogo to the Nyanza, tell the same
tale; but it is not until we enter Central Urimi that we begin to marvel at
the violence of the process by which Nature has thus transformed the face
of the land. For here the perennial springs and rivulets first unite and form
rivers, after collecting and absorbing the moisture from the watershed, and
these rivers, though but gentle streams during the dry season, become for-
midable during the rains. It is in Central Urimi that the Nile levies its ear-
liest tribute upon Equatorial Africa; and if you look upon the map and draw
a line east from the altitude of Ujiji to longitude 35° east, you will strike
upon the sources of the Leewumbu, the extreme southern feeder of the Vic-
toria Nyanza. In Iramba, between Mgongo 'Tembo and Mombiti, we came
upon what must have been in former times an arm of the Victoria Nyanza.
It is called the Lumamberri Plain, after a river of that name, and is about
forty miles in width. Its altitude is about 3,775 feet above the sea, and but
a few feet above the Victoria Nyanza. We were fortunate in crossing the
broad shallow stream in the dry season, for during the masika, or rainy sea-
son, the plain is converted into a wide lake.

“The Leewumbu River, after a course of one hundred and seventy
miles, becomes known in Usukuma as the Monangah River. After another
run of one hundred miles, it is converted into the Shimeeyu, under which
name it enters the Victoria east of this port of Kagehyi. Roughly, the Shi-
meeyu may be said to have a length of three hundred and fifty miles. After
penetrating the forest and jungle west of the Lumamberri, we enter Usu-
kuma—a country thickly-peopled, and rich in cattle. It is a series of rolling
plains, with here and there, far apart, a chain of jagged hills. The descent
to the lake is so gradual that I expect to find upon sounding it, as I intend
to do, that though it covers a vast area, it is very shallow.

716 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘Now, after our long journey, the Expedition is halted a hundred yards
from the lake; and as I look upon its dancing waters, I long to launch the
‘Lady Alice,’ and venture out to explore its mysteries. Though on its shore,
I am still as ignorant of its configuration and extent as any man in England
or America. I have questioned natives of Uchambi closcly upon the subject
at issue, but no one can satisfy me—though they speak positively—whether
the lake is one piece of water or more. I hear a multitude of strange names,
but whether they are of countries or lakes it is impossible to divine, for the
people’s knowledge of geography is very superficial. My impression, how-
ever, is that Speke, in his bold sketch and imagined outline, is nearer the
truth than Livingstone, who reported upon hearsay at a great distance from
its shores. As soon as I can finish my letters the sections of the ‘Lady Alice’
shall be screwed together; the first English boat that ever sailed on the Afri-
can lakes shall venture upon her mission; and I shall not rest until I have
thoroughly explored every nook and cranny of the shores of the Victoria. It
is with great pride and pleasure I think of our success in conveying such a
large craft safely through the hundreds of miles of jungle which we have tra-
versed ; and just now I feel as though the entire wealth of the universe could
not bribe me to turn back from my work. Indeed, it is with the utmost im-
patience that I contemplate the task of writing my letters before starting
upon the more agreeable work of exploring ; but I remember the precept,
‘ Duty before pleasure.’

‘“‘T hear strange tales about the countries on the shores of this lake,
which make me still more eager to start. One man talks about a territory
peopled with dwarfs, and another with giants; while a third is said to pos-
sess such a breed of large dogs that even my mastiffs are quite small com-
pared to them. All these may be idle romances, and I lay no stress on any-
thing reported to me, as I hope to be enabled to see with my own eyes all
the wonders of those unknown countries.

‘Tt is unfortunate that I have not Speke’s book with me; but a map of
Central Africa which I carried here contains the statement in brackets that
the Victoria Nyanza has an altitude of only 3,308 feet above the ocean. If
this statement is on Speke’s authority, either he is wrong, or I am, for my
two aneroids, almost fresh from England, make it much higher. One ranges
from 3,550 to 3,650; the other from 3,575 to 3,675. I have not boiled my
thermometers yet, but intend doing so before starting on the work of exploring
the lake. I have no reason to suspect that the aneroids are at fault, as they
are both first-class instruments, and have been carefully carried with the
chronometers. With regard to Speke’s position of Muanza, I incline to think
that he is right; but, as I have not visited Muanza, I cannot tell. The
natives point it out westward of Kagehyi, and but a short distance off. ‘The
position of the port of Kagehyi is south latitude 2° 31’., east longitude 33° 13’,

a

STANLEY IN UGANDA. 717

‘“‘T mustered the men of the Expedition yesterday, and ascertained it to
consist of three white men and one hundred and sixty-six Wanguana soldiers
and carriers, twenty-eight having died since leaving Ituru, thirty days ago.
Over one-half of our force has thus been lost by desertion and deaths. This
is a terrible fact, but I hope that their long rest here will revive the weak and
strengthen the strong. The dreadful scourge of the Expedition has been
dysentery, and I can boast of but few patients cured of it by medicine, though
it was freely given, as we were possessed of abundance of medical stores. A
great drawback to their cure has been the necessity of moving on, whereas a
few days’ rest, in a country blessed with good water and food, would have
restored many of them to health; but good water and good food combined
could not be procured anywhere but here. The Arabs would have taken
nine months or a year to march this long distance, while we have performed
it in only one hundred and three days, including halts. As I vaccinated
every member of the Expedition on the coast, I am happy to say that not
not one has fallen a victim to small-pox.

‘“‘T leave this letter in the hands of Sungoro, a Msawabili ‘nadler, who
resides here, in the hope that he will be enabled shortly to forward it to
Unyanyembe, as he frequently sends caravans with ivory; but a copy of it I
shall take with me to Uganda, and deliver to Mtesa, the king, to be con-
veyed, if possible, to Colonel Gordon. Since leaving Mpwapwa I have not
met one carayan bound for Zanzibar; and after leaving Ugogo it was impos-
sible to meet one, or to despatch couriers through such dangerous countries
as we have traversed. The letters containing the account of our exploration
of the Victoria Nyanza and our subsequent march to the Albert Nyanza I hope
to be able to deliver personally into the hands of Colonel Gordon, and in
this expectation I remain, yours obediently, Henry M. Sranuey.”

“March 5.—The boiling point observed by one of Negretti and Zambra’s
apparatus this day was 205° 6’; temperature of air, 82° Fahrenheit. The
boiling point observed by another instrument by a different maker was 205°
5’; temperature of air, 81°. Fahrenheit. The barometer at the same time
indicated 26.90 inches. The mean of the barometrical observations at Zan-
zibar was 30.048. The mean of the barometrical observations during seven
days’ residence here has been 26.138.”

Stanley’s next letters are written from the capital of King Mtesa, in
Uganda. They were entrusted to the care of Colonel Linant de Bellefonds,
whom he met at Mtesa’s capital on a mission from Colonel Gordon, the object
being to make a treaty of commerce between Mtesa and the HKgyptian
Government. Subsequently, on his return, De Bellefonds’ company were
attacked by the Bari tribe, and out of forty-one all but four were massacred.
Whether one of the survivors kept possession of the documents, or whether

718 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

they were flung aside in the forest by the Bari and afterwards found by the
detachment sent on by Gordon, is not known; but their tattered, soiled, blood-
stained condition when they semened England, indicated that she lacs been
thrown away by the ignorant and supemitied: savages, and had lain for
some time in the African jungle. The particulars given regarding the King
of Uganda and his people cannot fail to inspire all friends of Africa with
the liveliest interest. Our traveller thus writes :—

“ Ulagalla, Mtesa’s Capital, Uganda, E. long. 32° 49’ 45”,
N. Lat. 0° 82’, April 12, 1875.

“T write this letter in haste, as it is the record of a work begun, and
not ended—I mean the exploration of the Victoria Nyanza. But brief as it
necessarily must be, Iam sure it will interest thousands of your readers, for
it solves the great question, ‘Is the Victoria Nyanza one lake, or does
it consist of a group of lakes, such as Livingstone reported it ?

‘“ Tn answer to the query, I will begin by stating that I have explored,
by means of the ‘ Lady Alice,’ nearly the whole of the southern, eastern, and
north-eastern shores of the Victoria Nyanza; have penetrated into every bay,
inlet, and creek, that indent its shores, and have taken thirty-seven observa-
tions, so that I feel competent to decide upon the question at issue, with-
out bias or prejudice to any hypothesis. I have a mass of notes relating to
the countries visited, and ample means of making a proper chart at my camp
at Usukuma, but I have with me at present neither paper, parallel rules, or
any instrument whatever to lay down the positions I have taken. I only
brought hither an artificial horizon, sextant chronometer, two aneroids, boil-
ing-point apparatus, sounding line, a few guns, ammunition, and some provi-
sions, as I wished to keep the boat as light as possible, that she might work
easily in the storms of the Nyanza. But when I reach camp I propose to
draw acorrect chart of the Nyanza, and to write such notes upon the several
countries I have visited as will repay perusal and study.

‘‘T have already informed you that our camp at Kagehyi, in Usukuma,
is situated E. long. 33° 13’, and S. lat. 2° 31’. Before starting on the explor-
ations of the lake, I ascertained that Muanza was situated a few miles west,
almost on the same parallel of latitude as Kagehyi. Now, Muanza is the
point whence Speke observed the Victoria Nyanza, and where he drew his
imaginary sketch of the lake from information given to him by the natives.
If you will look at Speke’s map you will find that it contains two islands—
Ukerewe and Maziti. Looking at the same objects from Kagehyi I should
have concluded that they were islands myself; but a faithful exploration
of the lake has proved that the latter is not insulated, but a lengthy
promontory of land extending from E. long. 34° 45%’ to KE. long. 32° 40’ 15”,
That part of the lake which Speke observed from Muanza, is really an

CUASTING VICLORIA NYANZA 719

enormous gulf about twenty-five miles wide by sixty-five miles long. To
the noble Nyanza, discovered by him, Speke loyally gave the name of Victo-
ria, as a tribute to his Sovereign, which let no man take away; but in order
to connect for ever Speke’s name with the lake which he then found I have
thought it but simple justice to the gallant explorer to call the immense inlet
Speke Gulf.

‘Tf you look again on Speke’s map you will observe how boldly he has
sketched the Nyanza stretching eastward and north-eastward. Considering
that he drew it from mere native report, which never yet was exact or clear,
I must say that I do not think that any other man could have arrived so near
the truth. I must confess that I could not have done it myself, for I could
make little of the vague and mythical reports of the natives of Kagehyi.

** Proceeding eastward towards the unknown and fabulous distance in
the ‘ Lady Alice,’ with a picked crew of eleven men and a guide, I coasted
along the southern shore of the lake round many a noble bay, until we
came to the mouth of the Shimeeyu, in E. long. 33°. 33’, 8. lat. 2° 35’—by
far the noblest river discharging into the lake which we have yet seen.
Shimeeyu has a length of three hundred and seventy miles, and is the ex-
treme southern source of the Nile. Before emptying into the lake it unites
with the Luamberri River, along with which it issues in a majestic flood to
the Victoria Nyanza. Atits mouth itis a mile wide, but contracts as we pro-
ceed up the channel to four hundred yards, Even by itself it would make
no insignificant White Nile. By accident our route through Ituru took us
from its birthplace, a month’s march from the lake, and along many a mile
of its crooked course, until, by means of the ‘Lady Alice,’ we were enabled to
see it enter the Nyanza, a river of considerable magnitude. Between the
mouth of the Shimeeyu and Kagehyi were two districts—Sima and Magu—
of the same nature as Usukuma, and inhabited by peoples speaking the same
dialect. On the eastern side of the river is Mazanza, and beyond Manasa.

** Coasting still along the southern shore of the lake, beyond Manasa, we
come to Ututwa, inhabited by a people speaking a different language, namely,
that of the Wajika—as the Wamanasa are called here—a people slender and
tall, carrying formidable long knives, and terrible portentous spears. In K.
long. 33° 45’ 45” we sailed to the extreme end of Speke Gulf, and then turned
northward as far as S. lat. 2° 5’, whence we proceeded westward almost in a
straight line along Shashi and Iranbu, in Ukerewe. In E. long. 33° 26’
we came to a strait—the Rugeji Strait—which separates one half of Uke-
rewe from the other half, and by which there is a direct means of communi-
cation from Speke Gulf with the countries lying north of Ukerewe. We did
not pass through, but proceeded still westward, hugging the bold shores of
that part of Ukerewe, which is an island, as far as E. long. 32° 40’ 15”,
whence, following the land, we turned north-west, thence north, until in

720 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

S. lat. 1° 53’ we turned east again, coasting along the northern shores of Uke-
rewe Island until we came to the tabular-topped bluff of Majita (Speke mis-
called this Mazita, or Maziti, and termed it an island) in E. long. 33° 9’ 45”, and
S. lat 1° 50’, whence the land starts by trending northward of east. North of
Shizu, in Ukerewe, lies the large island of Ukara, which gives its name with
some natives to that part of the lake lying between it and Ukerewe. It is
about eighteen miles long by twelve wide, and is inhabited by a people strong
in charms and magic medicine.

‘‘From Majita we pass on again to the north shore of Shashi, whose
south coast is bounded by Speke Gulf, and beyond Shashi we come to the
first district in Ururi. Ururi extends from Shashi in S. lat. 1° 50’ to 0° 40’ 0”
S., and embraces the districts of Wye, Ivieni, Urieri, Igengi, Kutiri, Shirati,
and Moluru. Its coast is indented most remarkably with bays and creeks,
which extend far inland. Last of the immediate coast-line the country is a
level plain, which is drained by an important river called Shirati. All other
streams that issue into the lake along the coast of Ururi are insignificant.

“* North of Shirati, the most northern district of Ururi, begins the coun-
try of Ugeyeya, whose bold and mountainous shores form a strong contrast to
the flats of Shirati and Moluru. Here are mountains rising abruptly from
the lake to a height of 3,000 feet and more. ‘This coast is also very crooked
and irregular, requiring patient and laborious rowing to investigate its many
bends and curves. The people are a timid and suspicious race, much vexed by
their neighbours, the Waruri, south, and Wamasui, east; and are loth to
talk to strangers, as the Arab slave-dealers of Pangani have not taught them
to love people carrying guns. The Wageyeya, having been troubled by the
Waruti, have left many miles of wilderness uninhabited between their country
and that of their fierce neighbours. But Sungoro, the agent of Mse Saba—
who has prompted the Waruri to many a devilish act, and purchased their
human spoils—is constructing in Ukerewe a dhow of twenty or thirty tons
burden, with which he intends to prosecute more actively his nefarious trade.
Nothing would have pleased me better than to have been commissioned by
some government to hang all such wretches wherever found; and if ever a
pirate deserves death for inhuman crimes, Sungoro, the slave-trader, deserves
death. Kagehyi, in Usukuma, has become the seat of that inhuman slave-
trade. To that part they are collected from Sima, Magu, Ukerewe, Ururi,
and Ugeyeya; and when Sungoro has floated his dhow and hoisted his blood-
stained ensign, the great sin will increase tenfold, and the caravan road to
Unyanyembe will become hell’s highway.

“On the coast of Ugeyeya I expected to discover a channel to another
lake, as there might be a grain of truth in what the Wanguana reported to
Livingstone; but I found nothing of the sort except unusually deep bends
in the shore, which led nowhere. The streams were insignificant and unde-

COUNTRIES AROUND NYANZA. 721

serving the name of rivers. A few miles from the equator I came upon two
islands formed of basaltic rock, and overgrown with a dense growth of tropi-
cal vegetation. One had a natural bridge of rock thirty feet long and fifteen
feet wide—the other showed a small cave.

“In E. longitude 34° 49’, at Nakidimo of Ugeyeya, we came to the

furthest point east of the Victoria Nyanza. North of Ugeyeya begins Ba-
ringo, a limited country, extending over about fifteen miles of latitude. Its
coast is also remarkable for deep indentations and noble bays, some of which
are almost entirely closed by land, and might well be called lakes by uncul-
tivated or vague Wanguana. Large islands also are numerous, some of
which lie so close to the shore-line that if we had not hugged its edge closely
we should have mistaken them for portions of the mainland. North of Ba-
ringo the land is again distinguished by lofty hills, cones, and plateaus,
which sink eastward into plains, and here a new country commences—
Unyara—the language of whose people is totally distinct from that of Usu-
kuma, and approaches to that of Uganda and Usoga. Unyara occupies the
north-eastern coast of the Victoria Nyanza, and by observation the extreme
north-eastern point of the Nyanza ends in E. long. 34° 35’ and N. lat. 33’ 43”.
As I intend to send you a chart of the Nyanza, it is needless here to enter
into minor details, but I may as well mention that a large portion of the
north-eastern end of the lake is almost entirely closed in by the shores of
Ugana and of two islands, Chaga and Usuguru, the latter of which is one of
the largest in the Nyanza. While Unyara occupies the north-eastern coast
of the Victorian Sea, Ugana commences the northern coast of the lake from
the east, and running south-west a few miles forms here a large bay. It then
trends westward, and the island of Chaga runs directly north and south for
eight miles at a distance of twelve miles from the opposite coast of Unyara.
With but a narrow channel between, Usuguru Island runs from the southern
extremity of Chaga, in a south-south-easterly direction, to within six miles
from the eastern shore of the mainland. Thus hereabouts almost a lake is
formed separate from the Nyanza.

“‘ North of Chaga Island, Usoga begins with the large district of Usowa,
where we met with the first hostile demonstration—though not actual deed,
as the act was checked by show of superior weapons—on the part of the
natives. ‘Thence, as we proceed westward, the districts of Ugamba, Uvira,
Usamu, and Utamba, line the coast of Usoga. Where Utamba begins, large
islands again become frequent, the principal of which is Uvuma, an inde-
pendent country, and the largest in the Victoria Nyanza. At Uvuma, we
experienced treachery and hostility on the part of the natives. By show of
friendship on their part, we were induced to pass within a few yards of the
shore, where a mass of natives were hid in ambush behind the trees. While
sailing quietly by, exchanging friendly greetings with them, we were sud-

2
Ro

722, LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

denly attacked with a shower of large rocks, several of which struck the
boat; but the helm being quickly put ‘hard up,’ we steered from shore to a
safer distance, but not before the foremost of the rascals had to be laid dead
by a shot from one of my revolvers.

‘“‘ After proceeding some miles we entered a channel between the islands
of Uvuma and Bugeyeya, but close to the shore of Uvuma. Here we dis-
covered a fleet of large canoes—thirteen in number—carrying over a hundred
warriors, armed with shields, spears, and slings. The foremost canoe con-
tained baskets of sweet potatoes, which the people held up, as if they were de-
sirous to trade. I ordered my party to cease rowing, and as there was but .
a slight breeze, we still held on with the-sail, and permitted the canoe to
approach. While we were bargaining for potatoes with this party, the canoes
came up and blocked the boat, while the people began to lay surreptitious
hands on everything; but we found their purpose out, and I warned the
robbers away with my gun. They jeered at this, and immediately seized
their spears and shields, while one canoe hastened away with some beads its
crew had stolen, and which a man insolently held up to my view, mockingly
inviting us to catch him. At the dangerous example of this I fired, and the ©
man fell dead in his place. ‘The others prepared to launch their spears, but
the repeating rifle was too much for the crowd of so-called warriors, who had
hastened like pirates to pillage us. Three were shot dead, and as they
retreated my elephant rifle smashed their canoes, the results of which we saw
in the confusion attending eachdischarge. After afew rounds from the big
gun we continued on our way, still hugging the shore of Uvuma, for it was
unnecessary to fly after such an exhibition of inglorious conduct on the part of
thirteen canoes, containing in the aggregate over one hundred men.

‘“‘In the evening we anchored in the channel between Uvumaand Usoga,
in E. long. 383° 40’ 15” and N. lat. 0° 30’ 9”. Next morning the current per-
ceptibly growing stronger as we advanced north, we entered the Napoleon
Channel, which separates Usoga from Uganda, and then sailed across to the
Uganda shore. Having arrived close to the land, we took in all sail and
rowed towards the Ripon Falls, the noise of whose rushing waters sounded
loud and clear in our ears. The lake shoaled rapidly, and we halted to sur-
vey the scene at a spot half a mile from the first mass of foam caused by the
escaping waters. Speke has been most accurate in his description of the out-
flowing river, and his pencil has done fair justice to it. The scenery around,
on the Usoga and the Uganda side, has nothing indeed of the sublime about
it, but it is picturesque and well worth a visit. A few small islets dot the
channel and lie close ashore; while at the entrance of the main channel, look-
ing south, the large islands of Uziri and Wanzi stretch obliquely, or south-
west towards Uvuma. But the eye of the observer is more fascinated by the
ranks of swelling foam and leaping waters than by the uneven contour of the

MESSENGERS FROM MTESA. 723

land; and the ear is attracted by the rough music of the river’s fierce play,
despite the terrors which the imagination paints, so that it absorbs all our
attention to watch the smooth, flowing surface of the lake, suddenly broken
into fury by the rocks of gneiss and hematite which protrude, white and
ruddy, above the water, and which threaten instant doom to the unlucky
navigator who should be drifted among them. There is a charm, too, in the
scene which can belong to few such, for this outflowing river that the Great
Victoria Nyanza discharges from its bosom, becomes known to the world as
the White Nile. Though born amid the mountains of Ituru, Kargue, and
Ugeyeya, it emerges from the womb of the Nyanza, the perfect and veritable
Nile which annually resuscitates parched Egypt.

** From the Ripon Falls we proceeded along the coast of Ikira south-west,
until, gaining the shore opposite Uziri, we coasted westerly along the irregu-
lar shore of Uganda. Arriving at the isle of Kriva, we secured guides, who
voluntarily offered to conduct us as far as Mtesa’s capital. Halting a short
time at the island of Kibibi, we proceeded to Ukafu, where a snug horse-shoe-
shaped- bay was discovered. From Ukafu we despatched messengers to
Mtesa to announce the arrival of a white visitor in Uganda, after being most
hospitably received with fair words, but with empty hands, along the coast
of Uganda. I was anxious to discover the entrance of the ‘ Luajerri,’ and
questioned the natives long and frequently about it, until, securing an inter-
preter who understood the Kisawahili, we ascertained that there was no such
river at all as the Luajerri, that ‘Luaserri,’ however, meant still water, appli-
cable to any of the many lengthy creeks, or narrow inlets which indent the
coasts of Uganda and Usugo. From this I conclude that Speke was misin-
formed, and that his ‘ Luajerri’ is Luaserri, or a still water. At least we
discovered no such river, either sluggish or quick, flowing northwards; while
in the neighbourhood of ‘ Murchison Creek’ I did, indeed, find a long and
crooked inlet, called Mwaru-Luaserri, or the Quiet-water—which penetrated
several miles inland, and the termination of which we saw. I noticed a posi-
tive tide here, I should mention, during the morning. For two hours the
water of this creek flowed north, and subsequently, for two hours, it flowed
south ; while, on asking the people if this were a usual sight, they said it was,
and was visible in all the inlets on the coast of Uganda.

“‘ Arriving at Beyal we were welcomed by a fleet of canoes sent by
Mtesa to conduct us to ‘ Murchison Creek,’ and on the 4th of April I landed
amid a concourse of two thousand people, who saluted me with a deafening
volley of musketry and waving of flags. Katakiro, the chief Mukungu, or
officer, in Uganda, then conducted me to comfortable quarters, to which shortly
afterwards were brought sixteen goats, ten oxen, an immense quantity of
bananas, plantains, sweet potatoes, besides eggs, chickens, milk, rice, ghee,
and butter. Aiter such a royal and bountiful gift I felt more curiosity than

724 LIFH OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ever to see the generous monarch; and in the afternoon, Mtesa, having
prepared beforehand for my reception, sent to say that he was ready to wel-
come me. Issuing out of my quarters I found myself in a broad street eighty
feet wide and half a mile long, which was lined by his personal guards and
attendants, his captains and their respective retinues, to the number of about
three thousand. At the extreme end of this street, and fronting it, was the
king’s audience house, in whose shadow I saw dimly the figure of the king
sitting in a chair. As I advanced towards him the soldiers continued to fire
their guns. The drums, sixteen in number, beat out a fearful tempest of
sound, and the flags waved, until I became conscious that all this display was
far beyond my merits, and consequently felt greatly embarrassed by so flat-
tering a reception. Arrived before the audience house, the king rose—a tall
and slender figure, dressed in Arab costume—approached me a few paces,
held out his hand mutely, while the drums continued their terrible noise, and
we stood silently gazing at each other during a few minutes, I indeed more
embarrassed than ever. But soon relieved from the oppressive noise of the
huge drums and the hospitable violence of the many screaming discordant
fifes, I was invited to sit, Mtesa first showing the example, followed by his
great captains, about one hundred in number.

‘More at ease, I now surveyed the figure and features of this powertul
monarch. Mtesa is about thirty-four years old, and tall and slender in build,
as I have already stated, but with broad shoulders. His face is very agree-
able and pleasant, and indicates intelligence and mildness. His eyes are
large, his nose and mouth are a great improvement upon those of the com-
mon type of negro, and approach to the same features in the Muscat Arab,
when slightly tainted with negro blood. His teeth are splendid, and gleam-
ing white. As soon as Mtesa began to speak, I became captivated by his
manner, for there was much of the polish of a true gentleman about it—it
was at once amiable, graceful, and friendly. It tended to assure me that in
this potentate I had found a friend, a generous king, and an intelligent
ruler. He is not personally inferior to Seyd Burghash, the Arab Sultan of
Zanzibar, and indeed appears to me quite like a coloured gentleman who has
visited European Courts, and caught a certain ease and refinement of man-
ner, with a large amount of information. If you will recollect, however,
that Mtesa is a native of Central Africa, and that he had seen but three
white men until I came, you will, perhaps, be as much astonished at all this
as I was. And if you will but think of the enormous extent of country he
rules, extending from E. long. 34° to E. long. 31°, and from N. lat. 1° to S.
lat. 3° 80’, you will further perceive the immense influence he could wield
towards the civilisation of Africa. Indeed, I could not regard this king, or
look at him in any other light than as the possible Ethelbert by whose means
the light of the Gospel may be brought to benighted Middle Africa. Un-

AT THE CAMP OF MTESA. 725

doubtedly the Mtesa of to-day is vastly superior to the vain youth whom
Speke and Grant saw. There is now no daily butchery of men or women;
seldom one suffers the extreme punishment. Speke and Grant left him a raw,
vain youth, and a heathen. He is now a gentleman, and, professing Islam-
ism, submits to other laws than his own erratic will, which we are told led to
such severe and fatal consequences. All his captains and chief officers ob-
serve the same creed, dress in Arab costume, and in other ways affect Arab
customs. He has a guard of two hundred men—renegadoes from Baker’s
Expedition, Zanzibar defaleators, a few Omani, and the elect of Uganda.
Behind his throne, an arm-chair of native manufacture, the royal shield-
bearers, lance-bearers, and gun-bearers, stand erect and staid. On either
side of him are his grand chiefs and courtiers, sons of governors of his pro-
vinees, chiefs of districts, ete. Outside the audience house, the lengthy
lines of warriors begin with the chief drummer and the noisy goma-beaters ;
next come the screaming fifers, the flac and banner bearers, the fusiliers, and
so on seemingly ad infinitum, with spearmen and attendants.

“* Mtesa asked a number of questions about various things, thereby
showing a vast amount of curiosity, and great intelligence. The king had
arrived at this camp—Usavara—fourteen days before my arrival, with all
that immense army of followers, for the purpose of shooting birds. He now
proposed to return, after two or three days’ rest, to his capital at Ulagalla,
or Uragara. Each day of my stay at Usavara was a scene of gaiety and
rejoicing. On the first day after my arrival, we held a grand naval review;
eighty-four canoes being under way, each manned by from thirty to forty
men, containing, in the aggregate, a force of about two thousand five hun-
dred men. We had excellent races, and witnessed various manceuvres by
water. Each admiral vied with the others in extolling aloud the glory of
their monarch, or in exciting admiration from the hundreds of spectators on
shore. ‘The king’s three hundred wives were present en grande tenue, and
were not the least important of those on shore. The second day the king
led his fleet in person, to show me his prowess in shooting birds. We rowed,
or were rather paddled, up ‘ Murchison Creek,’ visiting en route a dhow he is
building for the navigation of the lake, as well as his place of residence dur-
ing Ramadan, and his former capital, ‘Banda,’ where Speke and Grant
found him.

“« En passant, 1 may remark that Speke could not possibly have seen the
whole of the immense bay he has denominated ‘ Creek.’ It is true that from
a short distance west of Dwaga, the king’s Ramadan Palace, up to Mngono,
the extremity of the water, a distance of about eight miles, it might be termed
a creek, but this distance does not approach to one-half of the true bay. In-
deed, I respectfully request geographers—Messrs Keith Johnston and Stan-
ford especially—to change the name of Murchison Creek to Murchison Bay,

726 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

as one more worthy the large area of water now known by the former in-
appreciative title. Murchison Bay extends from N. lat. 0° 15’ to N. lat. 0° 27’,
and from E. long. 32° 53’ to 32° 38’ in extreme length. At the mouth the bay
contracts to a width of four miles, but within its greatest breadth is twelve
miles. Surely such a body of water—as terms go—deserves the more ap-
propriate name of ‘ bay,’ but I leave it to fair-judging geographers to decide.
For the position of Mtesa’s capital I have taken three observations, on three
different days. My longitude agrees pretty closely with that of Speke’s,
while there is but four miles’ difference of latitude.

“The third day the troops of Mtesa were exercised at target practice,
and on the fourth we all marched for the Grand Capital, the Kibuga of
Uganda, Ulagalla or Uragara. Mtesa is a great king. He is a monarch who
would delight the soul of any intelligent European, as he would see in his
black Majesty the Hope of Central Africa. He is king of Karagwe, Uganda,
Unyoro, Usoga, and Usui. Each day I found something which increased my
esteem and respect for him. He is fond of imitating Europeans and what he
has heard of their great personages, which trait, with a little tuition, would
prove of immense benefit to his country. He has prepared broad highways
in the neighbourhood of his capital for the good time that is coming when
some charitable European will send him any kind of a wheeled vehicle. As
we approached the capital, the main road from Usavara increased in width
from twenty feet to one hundred and fifty feet. When we arrived at this
magnificent breadth we viewed the capital crowning an eminence command -
ing a most extensive view of a picturesque and rich country, all teeming with
gardens of plantations and bananas, and beautiful pasture land. Of course,
huts, however large, lend but little attraction to a scene, but a tall flagstaff
and an immense flag proved a decided feature in the landscape. Arrived at
the capital, I found that the vast collection of buildings crowning the emi-
nence were the royal quarters, round which ran five several palisades and
circular courts, between which and the city was a circular road, ranging from
one hundred to two hundred feet in width, and from this radiated six or
seven imposing avenues, lined with gardens and huts. The next day after
arrival I was introduced to the Royal Palace in great state. None of the
primitive scenes visible in Speke’s book was now visible there. The guards,
clothed in white cotton dresses, were by no means comical as then. The chiefs
were very respectable-looking people, dressed richly in the Arab costume. The
palace was a huge and lofty structure, well built of grass and cane, while tall
trunks of trees upheld the roof, which was covered with cloth sheeting inside.

‘$On the fourth day after my arrival news came that another white man
was approaching the capital from the direction of Unyoro, and on the fifth
day I had the extreme pleasure of greeting Colonel Linant de Bellefonds, of
the Egyptian service, who had been despatched by Colonel Gordon to Mtesa,

ARRIVAL OF COLONEL DE BELLEFONDS 727

to make a treaty of commerce between him and the Egyptian Government.
The rencontre, though not so exciting as my former meeting with the
to be singular and fortunate for all concerned. In Colonel de Bellefonds 1
met a gentleman extremely well-informed, energetic, and a great traveller.
His knowledge of the countries between Uganda and Khartoum was most m1-
nute and accurate, from which I conclude that but little of the geography of
Central Africa between the cataracts of the Nile and Uganda is now unknown.
To that store of valuable geographical acquisitions must now be added my
exploration of the Nile sources, which pour into the Nyanza; and also the
new countries I have visited between the Nyanza and the Unyanyembe
road. In Colonel de Bellefonds’ arrival I also perceived my great good for-
tune, for I now had the means to despatch some reports of my geographical
discoveries, and the long-delayed letters. ‘The day after to-morrow I intend
to return to Usukuma, prosecuting my geographical researches along the
western shore of the Victoria Nyanza. After this I propose to march the
Expedition to the Katonga valley, and thence, having paid another visit to
Mtesa, I trust to march directly west for Lake Albert Nyanza, where I hope
to meet with some more of the gallant subordinates of Colonel Gordon, by
whom I shall be able, through their assured courtesy, to send several more
letters descriptive of discoveries and adventures.

‘TI might protract this letter indefinitely by dwelling upon the value of
the service rendered to science and the world by Ismael Pasha, but time will
not allow me, nor, indeed, is it necessary, as I dare say, by this time, you
have had ample proofs of what has been done by Gordon. Sir Samuel Baker,
unfortunately, appears to be in bad odour with all I meet. His severity and
other acts receive universal condemnation; but far be it from me to add to
the ill report, and so I leave what I have heard untold. Then, briefly, thus
much remains to be said. Livingstone, in his report of the Nyanza consist-
ing of five lakes, was wrong. Speke, in his statement that the Nyanza was
but one lake, was quite correct. ButI believe that east of the Nyanza, or
rather north-east of its coasts, there are other lakes, though they have no
connection whatever with the Nyanza; nor do I suppose they can be of any
great magnitude, or extend south of the equator. If you ask me why, I can
only answer that in my opinion the rivers entering the Victorian Sea on the
north-eastern shore do not sufficiently drain the vast area of country lying
between the Great Lake and the western versant of the East-African moun-
tain range. From the volume of the Nyanza feeders on the north-eastern
side I cannot think that they extend farther than E. long. 36°, which leaves a
large tract of country eastward to be drained by other means than the Nyanza.
But this means may very probably be the Jub, which empties its waters into
the Indian Ocean. The Sobat cannot possibly approach near the equator ; this,

728 IIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

however, will be decided definitely by Gordon’s officers. Colonel de Belle-
fonds informs me that the Assua, or Asha, is a mere torrent.

‘‘ When you see my chart, which will trace the course of the Luamberri
and the Shimeeyu, the rivers which drain the whole of the south and south-
east countries of the Nyanza, you will be better able to judge of their import-
ance and magnitude as sources of the Nile. I expect to come upon a con-
siderable river south-west; but all of this will be best told in my next
letter. . Henry M. Sranuey.”

‘¢P.S.—I had almost forgotten to state, that the greatest depth of the
Nyanza as yet ascertained by me is two hundred and seventy-five feet. Ihave
not yet sounded the centre of the lake; this I intend to do on my return to
Usukuma south.”

‘““ Mtesa’s Capital, Uganda, April 14th, 1875.

‘‘T must not forget to inform you and your readers of one very interest-
ing subject connected with Mtesa, which will gratify many a philanthropic
European and American.

‘“‘T have already told you that Mtesa and the whole of his court profess
Islamism. A long time ago—some four or five years—Khamis Bin Abdul-
lah (the only Arab who remained with me three years ago, as a rearguard,
when the Arabs disgracefully fled from Mirambo) came to Uganda. He was
wealthy, of noble descent, and a fine, magnificent personal appearance, and
brought with him many a rich present for Mtesa, such as few Arabs could
afford. The king became immediately fascinated with him, and really few
white men could be long with the son of Abdullah without being charmed by
his presence, his handsome proud features, his rich olive complexion, and his
liberality. I confess I never saw an Arab or Mussulman who attracted me so
much as Khamis Bin Abdullah, and it is no wonder that Mtesa, meeting a
kindred spirit in the noble youth of Muscat, amazed at his handsome bearing,
the splendour of his apparel, the display of his wealth, and the number of his
slaves, fell in love with him. Khamis stayed with Mtesa a full year, during
which time the king became a convert to the creed of his visitor—namely,
Mohammedanism. The Arab clothed Mtesa in the best that his wardrobe
offered; he gave him gold embroidered jackets, fine white shirts, crimson
slippers, swords, silk sashes, daggers, and a revolving rifle, so that Speke and
Grant’s presents seemed of necessity insignificant.

Now, until I arrived at Mtesa’s Court, the king delighted in the idea
that he was a follower of Islam; but by one conversation I flatter myself that
I have tumbled the newly-raised religious fabric to the ground, and, if it
were only followed by the arrival of a Christian mission here, the conversion of

CHRISTIANITY IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 729

Mtesa and his Court to Christianity would, I think be compelete. I have,
indeed, undermined Islamism so much here, that Mtesa has determined hence-
forth, until he is better informed, to observe the Christian Sabbath as well as
the Moslem Sabbath, and the great captains have unanimously consented to
this. He has further caused the ten commandments of Moses to be written
on a board for his daily perusal—for Mtesa can read Arabic—as well as the
Lord’s Prayer and the golden commandment of Our Saviour, ‘ Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself.’ This is great progress for the few days that
I have remained with him, and, though I am no missionary, I shall begin to
think that I might become one if such success is feasible. But, oh that some
pious, practical missionary, would come here! What a field and a harvest
ripe for the sickle of civilisation! Mtesa would give him anything he de-
sired—houses, lands, cattle, ivory, ete. ; he might call a province his own in
one day. It is not the mere preacher, however, that is wanted here. The
Bishops of Great Britain collected, with all the classic youth of Oxford and
Cambridge, would effect nothing by mere talk with the intelligent people of
Uganda. Itis the practical Christian tutor, who can teach people how to be-
come Christians, cure their diseases, construct dwellings, understand and ex-
emplify agriculture, and turn his hand to anything, like a sailor—this is the
man who is wanted. Such an one, if he can be found, would become the
saviour of Africa. He must be tied to no Church or sect, but profess God and
His Son and the moral law, and live a blameless Christian, inspired by liberal
principles, charity to all men, and devout faith in heaven. He must belong
to no nation in particular, but the entire White race. Such a man, or men,
Mtesa, King of Uganda, Usoga, Umgoro and Karagwe—a kingdom three
hundred and sixty geographical miles in length by fifty in breadth—invites
to repair to him. He has begged me to tell the white men that if they will
only come to him he will give them all they want. Now, where is there in
all the Pagan world a more promising field for a mission than Uganda?
Colonel Linant de Bellefonds is my witness that I speak the truth, and I know
he will corroborate all I say. The colonel, though a Frenchman, is a Cal-
vinist, and has become as ardent a well-wisher for the Waganda as I am.
Then why further spend needlessly vast sums upon black Pagans of Africa
who have no example of their own people becoming Christians before them ?
I speak to the Universities’ Mission at Zanzibar, and to the Free Methodists
at Mombasa, to the leading philanthropists, and the pious people of England.
Here, gentlemen, is your opportunity—embrace it! The people on the shores
of the Nyanza call upon you. Obey your own generous instincts, and listen
to them; and I assure you that in one year you will have more converts to
Christianity than all other missionaries united can number. ‘The population
of Mtesa’s kingdom is very dense; I estimate the number of his subjects at
two millions. You need not fear to spend money upon such a mission, as

9
So

730 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D,

Mtesa is sole ruler, and will repay its cost tenfold with ivory, coffee, otter
skins of a very fine quality, or even in cattle, for the wealth of this country
in all these products is immense. ‘The road here is by the Nile, or wa Zan-
zibar, Ugogo, and Unyanyembe. The former route, so long as Colonel Gor-
don governs the countries of the Upper Nile, seems the most feasible.

‘‘ With all deference I would suggest that the mission should bring to
Mtesa as presents three or four suits of military clothes, decorated freely with
gold embroidery ; together with half-a-dozen French sepis, a sabre, a brace of
pistols, and suitable ammunition; a good fowling-piece and rifle of good
quality, for the king is not a barbarian; a cheap dinner-service of Britannia
ware, an iron bedstead and counterpanes, a few pieces of cotton print, boots,
etc. For trade it should also bring fine blue, black, and grey woollen cloths,
a quantity of military buttons, gold braid and cord, silk cord of different
colours, as well as binding ; linen and sheeting for shirts, fine red blankets,
and a quantity of red cloth, with a few chairs and tables. The profit arising
from the sale of these things would be enormous.

“For the mission’s use it should bring with it a supply of hammers, saws,
augers, chisels, axes, hatchets, adzes, carpenters’ and blacksmiths’ tools, since
the Waganda are apt pupils; iron drills and powder for blasting purposes,
trowels, a couple of good-sized anvils, a forge and bellows, an assortment of
nails and tacks, a plough, spades, shovels, pickaxes, and a couple of light
buggies as specimens, with such other small things as their own common sense
would suggest to the men whom I invite. Most desirable would be an assort- -
ment of garden seed and grain; also white-lead, linseed oil, brushes, a few
volumes of illustrated journals, gaudy prints, a magic lantern, rockets, and a
photographic apparatus. The total cost of the whole equipment need not
exceed five thousand pounds sterling. Henry W. Stan ey.”

Stanley refers in the foregoing letter to his interview with Colonel de
Bellefonds at Mtesa’s capital. The following interesting report was made
officially to the Ministry of War at Cairo, and has reference to the same inter-
view. It appears in the form of an “Extract from Notes made by M. Linant
de Bellefonds, of the staff of General Gordon, Governor-General of the
Egyptian Provinces of the Equator, respecting his visit to Mtesa, King of
Uganda, and his meeting of Mr. Stanley.”

“Sunday, April 11, 1875.
‘“‘ We are camped at Mtesa’s capital. His residence is scarcely more than
a kilométre from the house which he has placed at my disposal. But let me
not anticipate events.
‘This morning a constant rain, which had fallen all the night, prevented
as from setting out. At eight o’clock the rain ceased, but the wind arose,

COLONEL DE BELLEFOND’S REPORT 731

making the trees shake their leaves and branches, so that we should have
been wet through at the end of a walk of ten minutes, especially under the
plantain trees, the huge arms of which are perfect reservoirs of water, which
discharge themselves all at once with every blast of wind, and make perfect
shower-baths for the unfortunate people who have to walk beneath. The
natives of the Soudan are very much afraid of rain, and suffer greatly from
it. At nine o’clock, therefore, we set forth on the march. We had to traverse
many ravines where the rain water had gathered, rendering the passage
somewhat difficult. We waded through muddy water above our knees. At
the end of an hour of this experience we came up with the estates of the
mother of king Mtesa; but the rain obliged us to seek a shelter. Besides
that, we wished to make our toilette before entering the metropolis of Uganda.
We therefore took possession, without any scruple, of some huts upon the side
of the road.

“Tt was noon. The rain had ceased. An emissary from Mtesa came
to bring me messages of welcome on the part of the king. Our toilette was
complete. My Soudan soldiers produced the finest possible effect with their
red tunics, their cartridge-cases made of leopard-skin, and their white trousers.
We passed in column along the high road, the trumpets and the drums beat-
ing a lively movement. In front of us the Mtongalis echoed this with their
nogaras, and waved their flags. A population of more than ten thousand
people surrounded us, running hither and thither, singing, shouting, and
dancing about. The effect produced was one of the most extraordinary I
had ever seen. We went forward along an avenue with a breadth of from
thirty to forty metres, the population still accompanying us, cross low hills
and gardens. By and bye we arrived at an immense square, where a com-
pact crowd, some sitting, others standing, waited our approach in solemn
silence. Upon our arrival the nogaras, in incalculable number, united in a
deafening peal. We were in the residence of the Queen Mother, and mes-
sengers succeeded each other every five minutes to bring me the salaams of
Her Majesty. My own trumpets welcomed them, and it was an uproar, an
inconceivable charivari, which did not want the charm of originality. One
could see the whole country was en fete.

“The crowd which attended our footsteps increased more and more, but
offered us no inconvenience upon our road; they left the way quite free,
while dancing on either side of us, or flowing in tumultuous waves of huma-
nity across the hillocks and cultivated places. It was one of the gayest and
most festive spectacles to see this crowd, in the most curious and varied cos-
tumes, swarm all over the uplands, and then precipitate themselves like a
living torrent into the streets below. Along the road a multitude of women
were ranged in front of the houses, evidently admiring our cortege. A
sorcerer, covered with a thousand odd charms, came up and harangued me;

732 LIFH OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

and every now and then a courier would arrive completely out of breath,
from King Mtesa. He brought me the royal salaam, which, being delivered,
he would hurry back again like an arrow, not daring to stop till he laid my
response at the feet of the king. At last the palace of Mtesa came in sight,
built upon the north face of a hill, from which it commands a grand land-
scape. They told me that Mtesa was following our course with a telescope.
We traversed for a quarter of an hour the avenue which led up to the royal
residence, and presently arrived at the houses that were set apart for our use.
All these habitations have a common fence. They contain many interior
courts. My abode, specially raised for me, was exceedingly comfortable.
Mtesa quite fatigued me with his salutations. Happily he now began to
accompany them with something more substantial, for he sent me eggs,
bananas, rice, onions, sugar-cane, and two kids—materials for a repast which
outdid the best dinners of Auric at Cairo.
“Monday, April 12.

‘¢ My reception by King Mtesa was fixed for this morning, but the rain,
which never ceased to fall up to noon, delayed the ceremony. At two o’clock,
the weather having grown favourable, Mtesa sent mea messenger to let me
know that he was ready to give me audience. Having warned my camp,
every one proceeded to put on his freshest dress. When we were ready my
private Soudan soldiers appeared quite superb in their red jackets and their
white pantaloons. I placed myself at their head, the trumpets and drums
resounding. We followed an avenue from eighty to one hundred metres
broad, which led directly from north to south, and ended at the palace-gate
of Mtesa. This palace now appeared in front of us, built upon an eminence
which overtopped those around. On either side of the avenue were gardens
surrounded by enclosures, within which were the habitations of the great
captains and high functionaries. At the end of twenty-five minutes’ walking
we came to the true gate of the palace. We passed, one after the other, five
courts, full of an endless crowd of Mtongalis, soldiers, and others. The last
court serves as the habitation of the Royal executioners, whose badge of
office consists of a cord of banana fibres exquisitely plaited. Upon entering
this last court, a perfectly frightful hubbub of music received us; a thousand
instruments, each more barbarous than the others, brayed out in our ears the
most discordant and deafening sounds. The body-guard of Mtesa, equipped
with guns, presented arms to me.

“The king was standing at the entrance of his reception hall. I ap-
proached him, and made the Turkish salutation. He stretched out his hand,
which I took; and then I saw to the left hand of the king a European
countenance tanned brown. It was a traveller, and I concluded that it must be
Cameron. We observed each other without at present exchanging a word.
King Mtesa now rose and walked into an inner apartment, where we followed

MEETING OF STANLEY AND DE BELLEFONDS. 733

him. It was a corridor twelve metres in length, and four metres broad, the
floor of which sloped from the entrance, the roof being supported by a series
of columns of palm-wood in a central row dividing it into three aisles. The
central part was occupied by the king’s throne. The two side aisles were
filled by the great dignitaries and the chief officers. Against each, column
leaned one of the king’s guards, wearing a great red cloak and white turban
adorned with monkey skin, white breeches, and black blouse with red bands,
and all alike carrying muskets. Mtesa took his place upon the throne, which
was made of wood, in the form of an office sofa. His feet rested upon a stool,
which again stood upon a leopard’s skin, underneath which was spread a
Smyrna carpet. In front of the king an elephant’s tusk, brilliantly polished,
served as a royal sign, while at his feet were deposited two boxes containing
fetiches. On each side of the throne was placed a lance, one made of copper
and one of iron. These are the attributes of Uganda; the dog, of which _
Speke makes mention, appears to have been suppressed. The Grand Vizier
and two scribes squatted at the feet of the king.

‘‘Mtesa possesses much dignity, and was not without a real personal dis-
tinction. His costume was elegant. He wore a white caftan fringed with
red; he had stockings, slippers, a vest of black cloth embroidered with gold,
and a tarboosh with a silver plate on its top. He carried a sabre with an
ivory handle encrusted with silver—a Zanzibar-made weapon—and a wand.
I proceeded to exhibit my presents, which Mtesa pretended scarcely to glance
at, his dignity not permitting him to appear inquisitive. I addressed myself
then to the strange Kuropean who was sitting in front of me at the left of the
king :—‘ Have I the honour to speak to Mr. Cameron? ‘No, sir; I am
Stanley.’ ‘Permit me to introduce myself as M. Linant de Bellefonds, a
member of Colonel Gordon’s Expedition.’ We saluted each other with a low
bow, as if we had met in a salon and not in the heart of Africa. This meet-
ing with Mr. Stanley profoundly surprised me. He was far from my thoughts.
Indeed, I was completely unacquainted with the plan of his journey.

“‘T took farewell of the king, who had been amusing himself with putting
my soldiers through their exercise and hearing my bugles blow. I shook
hands warmly with Mr. Stanley, and begged him to do me the honour of
sharing my dinner. A few moments after reaching my house, Mr. Stanley
arrived there. After haying mutually expressed the pleasure caused us by
this rencontre, Mr. Stanley informed me that Cameron had written from Ujiji
that he had quitted that place for the Congo. Mr. Cameron, he said, had
been very much troubled by the question of supplies, having exceeded the
credit allowed him by the Royal Geographical Society. At Ujiji he must
have left behind all his companions, and have been quite alone. Mr. Stanley
spoke in the highest possible terms of Lieutenant Cameron, and earnestly
hoped to see him succeed in his undertaking.

734 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“As for Mr. Stanley, he was travelling as the representative of ‘The
Daily Telegraph’ and ‘New York Herald.’ He had left Zanzibar four months
before I met him, to explore the Victorian Lake. He had penetrated through
the country of the Masai, and had certified the existence of a great watershed
discharging into the lake from the eastern slope. Leaving at Usuvuma his
camp and followers, he had embarked with ten men in alittle vessel which
he had conveyed along with him upon the Victoria Nyanza. He had followed
and explored all the eastern side of the lake, penetrating every bay, gulf, and
creek, and surveying the islands and the capes. I have studied the results
of Mr. Stanley’s explorations, which are very considerable. He has shown
me his sketches of some extremely curious islands that he discovered. There
are a bridge island, a cave island, and an island of the Sphynx. ‘The first
presents a natural bridge of granite, with all the appearance of a work con-
structed by the hand of man. The second contains an enchanted grotto, like
Calypso’s. The third offers the aspect of the Sphynx of Egypt. We talked
together until eleven o’clock at night. Stanley is a first-rate traveller—a
brave, light-hearted gentleman, a good comrade, a patient explorer, taking
everything as itcomes. I derived the truest pleasure from his instructive and
varied conversation. He has travelled far and wide, and seen a great deal.
He knows the whole world. It was four months since I had heard a single
French word pronounced. It was a great pleasure, therefore, to hear Stanley
talking, for, without, expressing himself with perfect accuracy, he yet talked
French sufficiently well to enable us readily to converse. This meeting of
two white men in the heart of Africa, was well nigh as delightful as to meet
a compatriot there, and the pleasure was quite inexpressible in discovering,
in my unexpected friend, a man so well known and so entirely agreeable.
According to what Mr. Stanley told me, Mtesa is extremely proud of finding
his capital thus visited by white men, nor does he think that the event can be
accidental.”

A second part of this report was afterwards forwarded to the Egyptian
Minister of War; and by his authority it was transmitted to this country,
and published, like all the rest of these documents, in ‘The Daily Tele-
graph.” It gives a graphic and touching description of the parting scene
between the two travellers :—

“ Uganda, Thursday, April 15, 1875.

‘“‘ Mr. Stanley is leaving usin order to accomplish the work of exploring
the western side of the lake, thereafter intending to return to Usuvuma, to
pick up his followers and the goods left at Kagehyi. I had arranged to
accompany him as far as Usovara, the point of embarkation in Murchison
Bay. We start together, therefore, this morning, I having lent one of my
mules to my friend, and ordered ten of my soldiers to escort us.

““ We commence the journey by rounding the hill upon which His Majesty

STANLEY LEAVES TO KXPLORE THE LAKE,

~J
(Jv)
Ou

resides, and then bend our steps southward with a slight easterly inclination.
All the way along our route we see gardens luxuriant with the banana and
sweet potato. We have to cross a canal, into which all the mud of the coun-
try appears to have gathered; it has a breadth of forty metres at the point
where we cross, and there is a bridge of rough-cut logs and branches thrown
over it; but, though people on foot may find the passage rendered easier by
this construction, it is badly adapted to our mules, which lose their balance on
the smooth and shifting trunks, with the result of pitching into the mud and
water. However, we managed to haul them out and to get ourselves over,
and then, after two hours’ march, we climb a hill with a steep incline. The
road is bordered on both sides by impenetrable thickets, the hiding-place of
leopards and hyenas, where certainly no one is likely to interfere much
with the digestion of their prey. Arrived at the top of this eminence, the
beautiful view makes us quickly forget all the fatigues of the ascent. Under
our feet the magnificent lake stretches out, sparkling like a cloth of silver;
numerous green islands, softly rounded and indented, shut in the bay with
a girdle as of emeralds; while along the shore are masses of darker green
dotted about, these being groves of huge timber trees, which bathe their
roots and branches in the fresh and limpid wavelets of the Victoria. Last-
wards a silvery riband hurries to lose itself in the lake; that is the canal
which we have lately crossed. The scene is enchanting, absorbing! The
heart must swell with pleasure within the breast of any admirer of natural
beauty who gazes upon it. We feel a keen desire to descend and approach
nearer to this lovely coast whose charms ravish us, and after a quick advance
of less than an hour the ripples of the quiet Nyanza are breaking at our feet.
Everybody stoops to drink of the clear water, and Mr. Stanley and I toast
our respective countries in the refreshing liquid.

““ We are here at Usovara, a hunting station of King Mtesa, who fre-
quently repairs to the spot in order to exercise his shooting-powers upon the
crocodiles. Numberless huts and gardens appear around us, and among them
His Majesty has a ‘shooting-box’ which covers an area of several kilometres.
There is a broad approach, which Mr. Stanley christens the ‘ Avenue des
Champs Elysees,’ lined on each side by the dwellings of the royal guards,
and it leads to the king’s abode. This approach is more than a kilometre
in length, Mtesa’s lodge turning out to be a collection of huts, each encircled
by a fence, while all around are scattered the lodgings for his escort. Cer-
tainly, to judge by the precautions here displayed for the royal security,
His Majesty must sleep rather uneasily. We examine the king’s premises
minutely, for there is nobody about, not even a watchman; and we take pos-
session for a time of the best of the huts reserved for the royal suite when
Mtesa comes to Usovara. Mr. Stanley hag been promised by the king the
use of thirty canoes to accompany him to Usuvuma and to bring back to

736 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Usovara his expedition and equipments. The High-Admiral of Uganda in
person is to accompany them, but it is already four o’clock, and we sec no-
thing either of the fleet or the official. News presently arrives that the delay
is caused by a sad domestic calamity which has befallen the chief of the
Uganda Navy, and it turns out that, having arrived overnight near Usovara
with all his female establishment, the admiral has had all his wives fetched
back by order of the king, His Majesty declaring that it was highly irregular
to make a pleasure-party of that which was intended as a matter of important
service. ‘To-morrow, they say, all will be in readiness.

‘“‘My. Stanley and I devote ourselves accordingly to a promenade along
the lake, in the course of which we behold with admiration enormous trees, that
might afford cover with their thick shade to five hundred people at once. Pari-
sitical plants climb over the trunks and branches of these Titans of the forest,
and if you make an incision into the bark or roots there exudes a resinous
gum, which appears very similar to the ‘mastic’ that the Cairo women chew.
The soil at the edge of the lake is a mineral detritus, rich in oxide of iron,
and upon it grows closely a thick and soft moss, of yellowish green, com-
posing a carpet as agreeable to the eye as to the foot.

“Friday, April 16.

“ My bed last night left much to desire. It was made of dry grass, with
a bag of potatoes for the pillow. Such was my simple couch, for, as I had
intended to return before nightfall, I did not take with me the least thing in
the way of coverlet. Mr. Stanley most kindly pressed upon me his ‘ engareb’
and railway rug, but I could not think it right to rob him of them. Imper-
fect, however, as my sleeping arrangements were, I reposed soundly, and
that in spite of mosquitees and fleas, of which there were a few of the former,
but perfect hordes of the latter.

“‘ At four in the morning, the squadron which was to escort my friend
down the lake made its appearance; and assuredly the vessels of King Mtesa
are curious, if not imposing. Each canoe is about ten to twelve metres in
length, with a beam of one or one and a half. It is made up of many lengths
of hewn plank, fastened by withes of osier, the seams being caulked with
bark and mud. As a consequence of this very defective method of construc-
tion, the Wagandas have never been able to make themselves masters of the
island of Uvuma. As soon as any war-canoe approaches that place, the
islanders rush forth into the water, armed with knives, swim to the vessel,
dive under it, and cut the withes which hold the affair together. The canoe
thus falls apart, and its crew perish, either by drowning, or by the weapons
of the Wavumas. ‘The shape of these Waganda canoes resembles that of the
Venetian gondola. The stern has a high sheer, and forms the seat of the
helmsman who steers with a paddle, sweeping it now to the right, now to
the left, according to the course which he desires to take. The stem-piece is

ON LAKH NYANZA. 737

rounded and gracefully bent into the form of a swan’s neck, two antelope
horns being fixed upon it, so that, what with the long curved neck and the
horns, a very strange effect is produced, especially when the boat is coming
on; almost, in fact, as if some antediluvian creature were gliding towards
you over the waters, and raising its head watchfully on high to follow some
prey upon which it means to dart. None of these craft carries sails, and,
indeed, the use of the latter is unknown among the Waganda. The boats
are propelled by paddles, the crew sitting two by two, and varying in number
from fourteen to twenty-four, in accordance with the size of the boat.

** A considerable division of the promised fleet having now arrived, we
resolved to make a preliminary excursion upon the bay. Mr Stanley ordered
his vessel, the ‘ Lady Alice,’ tobe got in readiness. She is a beautiful little
craft, built of cedar, and constructed in water-tight sections, so as to be readily
taken to pieces and put together again. I went on board with my companion,
and all the canoes started at the same time, vying with each other to be ahead.
They soon outstripped us, and then set to work paddling round the ‘Lady
Alice,’ like so many tritons. On board one of them was the admiral, and
the official drum of that magnate kept noisily beating, at one time command-
ing the fleet to gather about the ‘flag-canoe,’ at another sending them off,
helter-skelter, in all directions. On one side stretched the boundless surface
of the Nyanza, on the other extended the shore which we had just left, pre-
senting together the gayest and most charming spectacle imaginable. The
knolls and hillocks round the lake, each covered with a robe of tender green,
and bathing its base in the shining waves, suggested so many water-god-
desses reclining on the sunlit grass, and dabbling their feet in the cool and
limpid ripples. I, indeed, was off and away in fancy, a thousand leagues
from life’s realities; and both Stanley and myself sat wrapped ina long
silence, trying to satiate our eyes and mjnds—without succeeding— upon those
prodigal glories of Nature which stretched far and wide about us.

“‘ Unhappily, after returning to camp, I was seized with a frightful
attack of neuralgia, and am sadly afraid that I must have proved a far from
agreeable associate for my good friend during the remainder of that day.
Mr. Stanley and the Admiral of the Uganda fleet had fixed upon the follow-
ing morning for their start, but that naval worthy was meanwhile in despair,
not haying heard a word about his confiscated wives. It was too much
to be feared, indeed that his Majesty had added them pell-mell to that divi-
sion of his forces in which the effective list perpetually exceeds the esti-
mates,”

He pNjopadl 7/

“‘T have passed a horrible night. A most pitiless headache prevented
me from snatching a moment of repose until daybreak. From the time when

I lay down to three in the morning I tried to get sleep, reclining upon the
T3 \

738 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

moss by the side of the lake, and breathing the cool air from the water. The
night was glorious, and my soldiers spent most of it in chatting and joking
by the shore, or taking dips in the calm surface in spite of the crocodiles;
they had, in truth, a lively interest in a certain hind-quarter of mutton which
they were roasting whole over a fire upon a sharpened stake. At three in the
morning their banquet was about ready, and just then I rose and went back
to the huts, where Stanley was sleeping soundly; shortly afterwards, fatigue
overpowering my headache, I too managed to close my eyes, and slumbered
till five o’clock.

‘CAt that hour the drums woke me, striking up on board the Waganda
fleet, which was assembling to convoy my friend. He and I very soon made
our toilettes; the ‘Lady Alice’ was got ready, the luggage, sheep, kids, chick-
ens, and everything placed on board. It only remained to hoist the Anglo-
American flag, and turn the vessel’s head to the far South. I went down with
him to the side of his craft, and then we pressed hands together and mutually
commended each other to the protection of Heaven. Stanley stepped on
board and took the helm ; the ‘ Lady Alice’ curveted and danced like a highbred
steed, and then darted away, with the Victorian wavelets foaming white un-
der her bows. The flag over my friend’s head flew proudly out in the African
breeze, and I saluted it with all my guns. If not an imposing salvo, let me
say that it never was saluted with more hearty good-will. Farther and far-
ther flew the pretty ‘Lady Alice.’ We waved our hands and handkerchiefs in
token of last adieu, and—I confess it—my heart was full. I felt as one that
has parted with a brother, for I had already grown fond of Stanley as a fine-
hearted fellow, a frank, excellent comrade, and a first-rate traveller. In his
society I had forgotten my fatigues; and then, too, till I met him, I had not
spoken one single word of French for four months. Our encounter had thus
produced for me almost the effect of a return to my native land. His conver-
sation—amusing, pleasant, and instructive—made the hours of our friendship
pass like minutes. I do hope to see him again, and to spend many a happy
day with him.

‘We turned aside from the waters which had just borne him far away,
and nobody seemed in the mood for chatter, so that we all followed in silence
the road to Ulagala. I arrived at Dubaga at eleven o’clock, and there heard
that the greater part of my soldiers were down with fever—that no provisions
had been sent during my absence, and that four of our cows had been lost by
the herdsmen. The chief offender received a hundred blows of the stick, as
he was suspected of havang sold the animals, and I wrote to Mtesa that my
people were suffering of hunger. I demanded at the same time an authoriza-
tion to return to Foweira ; an answer to which soon came in the form of twelve
cows and a quantity of eggs. My headache returning, I went directly to
bed.”

VISIT TO MTESA. 739

‘ April 18.

“This morning I visited Mtesa. Audience was given me in private
within one of the side huts of the royal enceinte. Ihad brought with me a
pair of shoes, for which the king had particularly begged; it was the only
spare pair I possessed, and I presented them with concealed regret. A distin-
guished deputation arrived while I was there. It was composed of Wagan-
das, whohad been brought up along with His Majesty, in number about two hun-
dred. These personages drew themselves together in line before the king’s
hut, each bearing a bundle of dry reeds, which he rattled while uttering noisy
compliments. Their leader, armed with two spears and a shield, ran up and
down the line meantime; capering and flying hither and thither amid the
most grotesque gambadoes. This exercise lasted a quarter of an hour, after
which the entire company prostrated themselves flat on their bellies, and vio-
lently ‘nyanzigged.’ Then the chief performer, trailing himself along upon
his abdomen like a reptile, humbly entered the hut, and approached to kiss
the feet of the king; after which he made a dumb-show of devoted valour by
wildly advancing and retiring, attacking and defending, as if in deadly com-
bat. These signs of loyalty, it is true, looked wonderfully like an impending
assault upon His Majesty, but such is the fashion; and when the troop had
gone through the same movements, it withdrew precipitately.

*« A man was next introduced into the presence, who led a magnificent
leopard, a cord being attached to the neck of the creature. He halted in
front of Mtesa, and went through various exercises common to beast-tamers.
The leopard was, in truth, wonderfully trained; but I told the king that our
lion-tamers go boldly into the dens containing wild beasts, quite loose, and
then and there put them through all kinds of tricks. This seemed greatly to
astonish him, for he had counted apparently upon quite surprising me by
the sight of this tamed leopard. In the course of the audience the sister of
Mtesa made her appearance. She had arranged for a special interview, in
order to study at leisure the white man, and for this purpose took up a re-
cumbent position at the feet of His Majesty. Mtesa asked me, among other
things, if he could have a house of stone built for his use in Uganda. Now,
the Uganda stone will not do for building, as I replied; but I explained to
him the nature of mason’s work, and all about lime and mortar. I told him
that lime might be had from the innumerable shells which cover the soil, and
that he could have a brick palace built. Upon that the dialogue thus con-
tinued :—‘ How long would it take to make me such a residence ?)—‘ Ten or
twelve months.’ ‘ But, if I give you plenty of people, could you not build
me one in a single month ?—‘ No, king! You can make a boat in a month,
yet, if you were to set going ever so many workmen, could you finish it off
in one hour ?—‘ No! I could not.’ ‘It is the same, then, with a house.’ I
then claimed from Mtesa the ‘ Khotarias’ of Abou Bekr, who ran away; for

740 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

I could not leave about the king such rebels as would cheat him to-morrow,
as they deserted their leaders yesterday. His Majesty promised to send them
to my camp, whither in the afternoon he forwarded a good supply of ban-
anas, eggs, and flour.”

Stanley’s next communication was written in May, 1875, after he had
circumnavigated Lake Victoria Nyanza, and proved it to be what Speke, the
first of modern travellers who sighted it, considered it to be, but what Living-
stone doubted, one yast inland sea. The little ‘Lady Alice,’ dancing joy-
ously over those pale-blue waves, after her long and unnatural journey through
the thick forest, has at length settled the question for ever; and science knows
now, that Speke’s discovery was one of the grandest ever made in Africa.
Stanley’s chart of the lake, based on his voyage, presents a sea of rhomboidal
outline, about two hundred and thirty miles long by some one hundred and
eighty broad, the coasts of which, going eastward from the extreme south at
Kagehyi, right round to 8.8.W., are perfectly defined, and thickly filled in
with names of districts, villages, and rivers. ‘The result of this notable voy-
age is, as we have said, that the Victoria Nyanza stands displayed as one
large and splendid inland sea, receiving from the mouth of the Shimeeyu,
and from the west by the Kitangule, the drainage of an enormous watershed;
and that the gallant Speke obtains, by the present revelation, that posthum-
ous honour which he so well deserved. Brave as a lion, patient as a lamb,
gentle and modest as he was true and good, he is now placed for ever in the
first rank of the pioneers of civilisation. Stanley’s letter will be read with
the deepest interest :—

‘Village of Kagehyi, District of Uchambi,
Country of Usukuma, May 15, 1875.

*“‘ By the aid of the enclosed map, you will be able to understand the
positions and places of the countries mentioned in my last, and of some
which I shall be obliged to describe in this letter. It is needless to go over
the same ground I described in my letter from Uganda; but since I send you
a map, it will be no labour lost again to sketch briefly the characteristics of
the countries lying east between Usukuma and Uganda.

“‘ Between the district of Uchambi, which is in Usukuma, and the Shi-
meeyu River, the principal affluent of the Nyanza, lie the pretty districts of
Sima and Magu, governed by independent chiefs. On the eastern side of
the Shimeeyu is Maganza, a rugged and hilly country, thinly populated, and
the resort of the elephant hunters. Beyond Maganza the coast is formed by
Manasu, a country similar in feature to Maganza, abounding in elephants.
This extends to the eastern extremity of Speke Gulf, when we behold a com-
plete change in the landscape. The land suddenly sinks down into a flat
marshy country, as if Speke Gulf formerly had extended many miles inland,
and I have little doubt, but rather feel convinced, it did. This country is

STANLEY COASTING NYANZA. 741

called Wiregedi, peopled by savages who have little or no intercourse with
Usukuma, but are mostly morosely exclusive, and disposed to take advantage
of their strength to rob strangers who visit them. Wiregedi is drained by
the Ruana, which discharges itself into Speke Gulf by two mouths. It is a
powerful stream, conveying a vast quantity of water to the Gulf, but in
importance not to be mentioned in the same category as the Shimeeyu and
the Kagera, the two principal affluents of Lake Victoria. Speke Gulf at its
eastern extremity is about twelve miles in width. Opposed to the hilly ranges
of Manasu and Maganza are the sterile naked mountains and plains of Shah-
shi, Uramba, and Ururi. The plains which separate each from the other are
as devoid of vegetation as the Isthmus of Suez; a thin line only, bordering
the lake, is green with bush and cane. The gulf, as we proceed west from
Ururi, is shored by the great island of Ukerewe, a country blessed with verdure
and plenty, and rich in herds of cattle and ivory. A narrow strait, called the
Rugeshi, separates Ukerewe from Ururi. The Wakereweh are an enterpris-
ing and commercial people, and the king, Lukongeh, is a most amiable man.
The Wakereweh possess numerous islands—Nifuah, Wezi, Irangara, Kamassi,
ete., are all inhabited by them. Their canoes are seen along Ugeyeya, Uson-
gora, and Uzuiza; and to the tribes in the far interior they have given, by
their activity and commercial fellowship, a name to the entire Victoria
Nyanza.

“ Rounding Ukerewe, we pass on our left the island of Ukara, and sail-
ing past Shizu and Kiveru, come to the northern end of Rugeshi Strait, from
which we see the towering table mountain of Majita, or Mazita, a little north-
east of us, the mountains of Ururi and Iramba rising in our front. I men-
tioned to you in one of my letters that Speke described Majita as an island,
and that I, standing on the same spot, would do so likewise, if I had no other
proof than my own conjecture. As we approached Majita we saw the reason
of this delusion. The table mountain of Majita is about three thousand feet
in altitude above the lake, while on all sides of it, except the lake side at the
base, are low brown plains, which rise but a few feet above the water. It is
the same case with Ururi, Uramba, and Shashi. At a distance I thought them
islands, until I arrived close upon them. On the northern side of this emi-
nence the brown plain extends far inland, and I do believe a great plain or a
series of plains bounds the lake countries east, for we have similar landscapes
distant or near, everywhere. In endeavouring to measure the extent of this
plain I am compelled to think of Ugogo, for as we traversed its northern fron-
tier we saw each day, stretching north, the barren thorn-covered plain of
Uhumba. On leaving Iramba we came again in view of a portion of it, more
recently covered with water, under the name of the Luwamberri Plain. As
we journeyed through Usmaow we saw from many a ridge the plain extend-
ing north. That part of the plain lying between Ururi and the lake is, of

742 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

course, drained by the Luwamberri, the Monunguh, and the Duma rivers,
and discharged into the Nyanza under the name of the Shimeeyu. But north-
east of the Shimeeyu’s mouth imagine the land heaved into a low, broad, and
lengthy ridge, forming another basin drained by the Ruana, and still another
drained by the Mara, and again another by the Mori, ete. If we ask the natives
what lies beyond the immediate lake lands, we are assured, unhesitatingly,
‘ Mbuiga tu,’ ‘ Only a plain.’

“From Majita north we sail along the coast of Ururi, a country remark-
able for its wealth of cattle and fine pastoral lands. It is divided into several
districts, whose names you will find marked on the map. Molunu and Shirati,
low, flat, and wooded districts of Ururi, separate this country from Ugeyeya,
the land of so many fables and wonders, the Eldorado of ivory seekers, and
the source of wealth for slave hunters. Our first view of it, while we cross the
Bay of Kavirondo, is of a series of tall mountains, and of a mountainous pro-
jection, which latter from a distance we take to be a promontory, but which
on a nearer view turns out to be an island, bearing a tall mountain on its
back. At the north-eastern extremity of this bay is Gori River, which rises
north-east, near Kavi—no important stream, but one that grows during the
rainy season to large breadth and depth. Far east beyond the Nyanza, for
twenty-five days’ march the country is here said to be one continuous plain,
low hills rising now and again dotting the surface, a scrubby land, though
well adapted for pasture and cattle, of which the natives possess vast herds.
About fifteen days’ march east, the people report a region wherein low hills
spout smoke, and sometimes fire. This wonderful district is called Susa, and
is situated in the Masai Land. All combine in saying that no stream runs
north, but that all waters come into the Nyanza—for at least twenty days’
march. Beyond this distance the natives report a small lake, from which
issues a stream flowing towards the (?) Pangain.

‘“‘ Continuing on our way north we pass between the Island Ugingo and
the gigantic mountains of Ugeyeya, at whose base the ‘ Lady Alice’ seems to
crawl like a tiny insect, while we on board admire the stupendous summits,
and wonder at the deathly silence which prevails in this solitude, where the
boisterous winds are hushed, and the turbulent waves are as tranquil as a
summer’s dream. The natives as they pass regard this spot with superstition,
as well they may, for the silent majesty of those dumb tall mountains awes
the very storms to peace. Let the tempests bluster as they may on the spa-
cious main, beyond this cape, in this nook, sheltered by tall Ugingo Isle and
lofty Goshi on the mainland, they inspire no fear. It is this pleasant refuge
which Goshi promises the distressed canoe-men, that causes them to sing
praises of the bold headland, and to cheer one another, when wearied and
benighted, with the cry, that ‘ Goshi is near to protect them.’

‘‘ Sailing between and out from among the clustering islands, we leave

UNDER THE EQUATOR. 743

Wategi behind, and steer towards two low isolated islands not far from the
mainland, for a quiet night’s rest; and there, under the overspreading branches
of a mangrove tree, we dream of unquiet waters and angry surfs and threat-
ening rocks, to find ourselves next morning tied to an islet which, from its
peculiarity, I have named Bridge Island, though its native name is Kihwa.
While seeking a road to ascend the island to take bearings, I discovered there
a natural bridge of basalt, about twenty feet in length by twelve in breadth,
under which the traveller might repose comfortably, and from one side see
the waves lashed to fury, and spending their strength on the stubborn rocks
that form the foundation of the arch, while from the other he could behold
his boat secure under the lee of the land, resting on a serene and placid sur-
face, and shaded by mangrove branches from the hot sun of the Equator. Its
neighbour is remarkable only for a small cave, the haunt of fishermen. From
the summit of Bridge Island the view eastward takes in all Masavi as far as
Nakidimo, and discovers only a flat and slightly-wooded district, varied at
intervals by isolated cones; while northward, at the distance of twenty miles
or more, we remark that the land makes a bold and long stretch eastward.
Knowing now, however, by experience, that the appearance of the coast is
deceptive, we hoist our sail, and scud merrily before a freshening! breeze, by-
and-by hugging the coast again, lest it should rob us of some rarity or won-
der. At noon I found myself under the Equator, and four miles north I came
to discoloured water and a slight current flowing south of west. Seeing a small
bay of sufficient breadth to make a great river, and no land at its eastern extre-
mity, I made sure I had discovered a river which would rival the Shimeeyu ;
but within an hour land all round revealed the limit and extent of the Bay of
Nakidimo. We anchored close to a village, and began to court the attention
of some wild-looking fishermen, but the nude barbarians merely stared at us
from under penthouses of hair, and hastily stole away to tell their wives and
relatives of how suddenly an apparition in the shape of a boat with white
wings had come before them, bearing strange men with red caps on their
heads, except one—a pale skinned man, clad in white, whose face was as red
as blood—and he, jabbering something unintelligible, so frightened them that
they ran away. ‘This will become a pleasant tradition, one added to the
many marvels now told in Ugeyeya, which, with the art of embellishment in-
herent in the tongue of the wondering awe-struck savage, may grow in time
to be the most wonderful of all wonders.

*« Perceiving that our proffered courtesies were thus rudely rejected, we
also stole out of the snug bay, and passed round to another much larger and
more important. At its extremity a river issued into the bight, which, by
long and, patient talk with the timid natives, we ascertained to be the
Ugoweh. In this the hippos were as bold as the human savages were timid,
and to a couple of the amphibious monsters we had to induce the ‘ Lady

744 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Alice’ to show lighter heels in retreat than even the savages of Nakidimo
had shown to us. These hippopotami would afford rare sport in a boat spe-
cially built for killing them; then they might splinter her sides with their
tusks, and bellow and kick to their utmost; but the ‘Lady Alice,’ if I can
help it, with her delicate skin of cedar and ribs of slender hickory, shall
never come in close contact with the iron-hard ivory of the rude hippopo-
tamus; for she would be splintered into matches, and crushed up like an ege
before one could say a word, and then the hungry crocodiles would leisurely
digest us. The explorer’s task, to my mind, is a far nobler one than hunting
sea-horses; and our gallant cedar boat has many a thousand miles to travel
yet before she has performed her task. The still unknown expanse of the
Victoria Nyanza, northward and westward, and again south-westward, still
invited us and her to view its delights and wonders of Nature. The stormy
Lake Albert, and the stormier Tanganyika, though yet distant, woo us to
ride on their waves; and far Bangweolo, Moero, and Kamolondo, with the
Lincoln Lakes, promise us fair prospects, and as rich rewards, if we can only
bide the buffets of the tempests, the fevers of the swamp and forest, and the
brunt of savage hostility and ignorance till then. Shall we forego the van-
tage of all this rich harvest and acquisition of knowledge for an houv’s fierce
pleasure with the ugly but formidable hippopotamus? Not by my election
or consent. Let the admirers of ‘ sport at any price’ call it faint-heartedness,
or even a harsher name, if they will—I call it prudence. Yet I have for them
an adventure with a river-horse—a cowardly, dull-witted, fat-brained hippo.
I can abuse him savagely in your columns—for his brothers in Europe,
thank Fortune, do not read ‘ The Telegraph’ or the ‘ Herald ’—without fear
of a civil or criminal suit for libel. I say I have a story of one to tell some
day, when I have no higher things to write of, which will warm all your
young bloods; and I have had another interview with a lion, or I might put
it, a herd of lions, just as exciting.* But these must remain untold, until I
camp under the palms of Ujiji again, with half my work done, and my other
half still beckoning me forward. Let us pass on, therefore, to our subject,
and the place where I left off—namely, cowardlike running away from a
pair of bull hippos. Iam not certain they were bulls either, though they
were big ones, sure enough.

‘“‘ We flew away with a bellying sail along the coast of Mahata, where
we saw such a dense population, and clusters of large villages, as we had not
beheld elsewhere. We thought we would make one more effort to learn of
the natives the names of some of these villages, and for that purpose steered
for a cove on the western shore of Mahata. We anchored within fifty yards
of the shore, and so paid out our cable that but a few feet of deep water sepa-
rated us from the beach. Some half-a-dozen men, wearing small land-shells
above their elbows, and a circle of them round their heads, came to the brink.

NORTH-EASTERN HXTREMITY OF NYANZA, 745

=

With these we opened a friendly conversation, during which they disclosed
the name of the country as ‘ Mahata’ or ‘Mabeta’ in Ugeyeya; more they
would not communicate until we should land. We prepared to do this, but
the numbers on the shore increased so fast that we were compelled to pull off
again until they should moderate their excitement and make room. They
seemed to think we were about to pull off altogether, for suddenly appeared
out of the bush, on each side of the spot where we had intended to land, such
a host of spears that we hoisted our sail, and left them to try their treachery
. On some other boat or canoe more imprudent than ours. ‘The discomfited
people were seen to consult together on a small ridge behind the bush lining
the lake, and no doubt they thought we were about to pass close to a small
point at the north end of the cove, for they shouted glecfully at the prospect
of a prize; but, lowering the sail, we pulled to windward, far out of the reach
of bow or sling, and at dusk made for a small island, to which we moored
our boat, and there camped in security.

** Next day we continued on our course, coasted along Nidura and Wan-
gano, and sailed into the bay which forms the north-eastern extremity of
Lake Victoria Nyanza. Manyara, on the eastern side of the bay, is.a land of
bold hills and ridges, while the very north-eastern end, through which issues
the Ygama River into the Nyanaa, is flat. The opposite coast to Munyara is
that of Muwanda and the promontory of Chaga, while the great slug-like
island of Usuguru, standing from west to east across the mouth of the bay,
shuts the bay almost entirely in. At Muwanda we again trusted our fortunes
with the natives, and were this time not deceived, so that we were enabled
to lay in quite a stock of vegetables and provisions ata cheap rate. . They
gave us all the information we desired. Baringo, they said, is the name ap-
plied by the people of Ugana to Nduru, a district of Ugeyeya, and the bay
on which our boat rode, the extreme end of the lake; nor did they know,
nor had they heard of any lake, large or small, other than the Nyanza. I
have described the coast from Muwanda to Uganda, and my visit to Mtesa,
together with my happy encounter with Colonel Linant de Bellefonds, of
Gordon’s staff, at some length, so need not go over the same ground. The
day after my last letter was written I made arrangements with the king of
Uganda, by which he agreed to lend me thirty canoes, and some five hun-
dred men, to conyey the Expedition from Usukuma to the Katonga River,
With this promise, and ten large canoes as an earnest of it, I started from
Murchison Bay on April 17. We kept company as far as the Katonga River,
but here the chief captain of the Waganda said that he should have to cross
over to Sasse, distant twelve miles from the mainland, and the largest island
in the Lake Nyanza, to procure the remaining twenty canoes promised by
Mtesa. ‘The chief gave me two canoes to accompany me, promising that I
should be overtaken by the entire fleet before many days. I was impatient

v3

“746 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘to continue my survey of the lake, and to reach Usukuma, having been so
long absent from the Expedition, during which time many things contrary
to my success and peace of mind might have occurred.

‘* T took my observations twice a day, with a sea horizon—one at noon for
latitude, and one in the afternoon for longitude—and I am sorry to say that if I
am right, Speke is about fourteen miles wrong in his latitude along the whole
coast of Uganda. ‘The mouth of the Katongo River, for instance, according
to his map, is a little south of the Equator. I have made it by meridian alti-
tude, observed April 20, to be in N. latitude 0° 16’ 0”. Thus it is nearly with
all his latitudes. His longitudes and mine vary but little; but this is easily ac-
counted for. The longitude of any position can be taken with a chronometer,
sextant, and artificial horizon, with the same accuracy on land as on sea. If
there is any difference it is very likely to exist in the error of the chronometers.
What instruments Speke possessed to obtain his latitudes I know not, but if
he found the altitude of the sun ascending above 65° he could never obtain it
with an ordinary sextant except by double altitude, and that method is not
so exact as taking a simple meridian on a quiet lake, with an ample horizon of
water. But there are various methods of determining one’s latitude, and
Speke was familiar with many. My positions all round the lake have been
determined with a sea horizon. When near noon my plan was, if the lake
was rough, to seek the nearest island or a quiet cape at the extremity ofa bay,
and there take my observations as deliberately as though my life depended
on their accuracy. But this task was, indeed, a work of pleasure for me, and
I have found a rich reward for most of my pains and stormy life on this lake
in looking at the fair extent of chart-work on the blank space of my map,
with all its bends, curves, inlets, creeks, bays, capes, debouchures of rivers,
now surely known by the name of Victoria Nyanza. Any errors which may
have crept into my calculations will be determined by competent authorities
on my return from Africa, or on the arrival of my papers in EKurope. Mean-
time I send my map as I have made it.

“The Katonga is nota large river, and has but one mouth. The Amionzi
River empties itself into the Nyanza, about eight miles W.S.W. of the Ka-
tonga. Ugunga stretches to the Kagerah, situated in S. lat. 0° 40’. On the
south side of the river begins Usongora, extending to S. lat. 1°. South of
1° is Kamiru, extending to S. lat. 1° 15’... Thence is Uwya, with a country
folk similar in enterprise to Ukerewe’s people. Beyond Uwya is Uzinja, or
Uzinza, called by the Wanyamwezi, Mweri. Uzinja continues as far south as
Jordan’s Nullah, and east of it is Usukuma again, while one day’s sail from
Jordan’s Nullah we pass Muanza, which Speke reached in 1858, and this
brings us home to Kagehyi, and to our camp, where we are greeted joyfully by
such as live, having, however, to mourn the poor fellows who, in our absence,
haye been hurried by disease to untimely graves. I must be brief in what I

DEATH OF FREDERICK BARKER. 747

have to say now. I did think to make this a long letter, but Singoro’s slave,
who carries it, is in a hurry to go, as his caravan has already started. My
next letter must continue this from the Kagera River, called in Karagwe the
Kitangule, and it shall describe some foul adventures that we went through,
which caused us to appear in a wretched condition to our Expedition. Though
our condition was so wretched, it was not half so bad, nevertheless, as it
would have been had we returned two days later, for I doubt much whether
I should have had an Expedition to command at all. I had been absent too
long, and our fight with the Wavuma had been magnified and enlarged by
native rumour to such a pitch that Wolseley’s victory at Ardahsu was as no-
thing to ours, for it had been said that we had destroyed a whole fleet of
canoes, not one of which had escaped, and that some other tribe or tribes
had collected a force, overtaken us, and destroyed us in like manner—an incre-
dible story, which had, however, so won upon a faction of my soldiers, that
they had determined to return to Unyanyembe, and thence to Zanzibar. But
God has been with us here, and on the lake, and, though we have suffered
some misfortunes, he has protected us from greater ones.

“‘ We had been absent from camp fifty-eight days, during which we had
surveyed in our brave little boat over one thousand miles of lake shores; but
a part of the south-west coast has yet to be explored. We shall not leave the
Nyanza, however, until we have thoroughly done our work. I returned to
find also that one of my two remaining white companions, Frederick Barker,
of the Langham Hotel, London, had died on the 23rd April, twelve days be-
fore I reappeared at Kagehyi. His disease was, as near as I can make it out
from Frank Pocock’s description, a congestive chill—that at least is the term
applied to it in the United States. Pocock calls it ‘ cold fits’—a term every
whit, I believe, asappropriate. I have known several die of these ‘ cold fits,’ or
aguish attacks—the preliminary symptoms of very severe attacks of intermit-
tent fever. ‘These aguish attacks, however, sometimes kill the patient before
the fever arrives which generally follows the warning. The lips grow blue,
the face bears the appearance of one who is frozen, the blood becomes as it
were congealed, the pulse stops, and death ensues. There are various methods
of quickening the blood and reviving the patient, however ; an excellent one
is to plunge him into a vapour or hot water and mustard bath, and apply re-
storatives—brandy, hot tea, etc. ; but Pocock was not experienced in this case,
though he gave Barker some brandy when first he lay down, after feeling a
slight nausea and chill. It appears by his comrade’s report that he did not
afterwards live an hour. Frederick Barker suffered from one of these severe
aguish attacks in Ururi, but brandy and hot tea quickly given to him soon
brought him to that state which promises recovery. ‘Thus two out of my
four white men are dead. I wonder, who next? Death cries, Who next? and
perhaps our several friends will sadly and kindly ask, Who next? No matter

748 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

who it is. We could not better ourselves by attempting to fly from this fatal
land; for between us and the sea are seven hundred miles of as sickly a coun-
try as any in Africa. The prospect is fairer in front, though there are in that
direction some three thousand miles more to tramp. We have, however, new
and wonderful unknown tracts before us, whose marvels and mysteries shall
be a medicine which will make us laugh at feyer and death.

“Henry M. Sranzey.”

The following communication from Captain George, the Curator of Maps
and Instruments to the Royal Geographical Society, concerning the height of
Lake Victoria Nyanza, as determined by Mr. Stanley, agrees so closely with
Captain Speke’s result, that it must create a favourable impression on scientific
geographers :— Height of Lake Victoria Nyanza—The great pleasure every
geographer will naturally take in the new discoveries of Mr. H. Stanley has
induced me at once to look into his observations for the height of the lake.
The readings of his instruments, though few, are very satisfactory. The
aneroids appear to have rather a large index error, but as it is not pre-
cisely given, they must stand over for the present. The boiling-point
observations, by two instruments of different makers, are tobe preferred.
From the fact of Captain Speke and Mr. Stanley observing near the same
spot, and with the same class of instruments, their observations can fairly be
compared. ‘The same method and tables have therefore been used for both
observers—viz., the Meteorological Tables by A. Guyot—with the following
results :-—

Captain Speke, on his map, QIVES.......s.00eceecee ees ...0,740 feet.
Mr. Stanley’s observations GIVE... 00. ...1.. 000000000216 0.-8,808 4
Miflexrence. cassie tecnicos GS

And this difference may be greatly reduced when the Kew verification has
been ascertained.
C. Grorce, Staff Commander, R.N., Curator of Maps and
Instruments to the Royal Geographical Society.”

Referring to Stanley and his work, as it is recorded in the letters he has
sent home, the ‘ Christian World” says :—‘ Mr. Stanley, the newspaper cor-
respondent who was at one time treated with such supreme contempt by a
section of learned society here in England, had, doubtless, certain features
pertaining to his character, as well as to his culture, which exposed him some-
what to the barbed shafts of scientific scorn. But the meeting with the
greatest of African travellers seems to have excited in his bosom a generous
ambition; and we suspect that the jealousy provoked among the savants by

————

STANLEY'S HEROISN. 749

his discovery of Dr. Livingstone did not a little to spur him on in his new-
born purpose to become himself a great African explorer. Be this as it may,
he would appear to be in the fair way, should his life be spared, of doing
much good work, and of rising to a position of such real eminence as few of
his former detractors are ever likely to attain. When he set out on his pre-
sent Expedition, Mr. Stanley had for his earliest object the exploration of
the Victoria Nyanza, which still remains but very partially known. We now
learn that he has reached that great reservoir of the Nile, and the account of
his remarkable journey thither, across the uplands of Central Africa, has an
interest not only for the general public, but also for geographers and other
students of science. From Mpapwa, on the Unyanyembe road to Kagehyi,
the village in Northern Usukuma where he encamped beside the Great Lake,
the route chosen by him, lying far eastward of the path pursued by Speke,
was until to-day a blank upon our maps. He has the merit of bringing into
the light a great tract of country previously unknown to science; and this
feat he has not achieved without forcing his way through fearful obstacles.
We knew from the first that he must be a brave and enterprising man, not
easily daunted by difficulty; but we now learn that he is the possessor of
still higher qualities, uniting an organising and ruling faculty of a high order
with raré magnanimity. Through deadly jungles, and still deadlier tribes of
jealous and covetous natives, he had to storm his way, every mile almost
costing a life. Dysentery, famine, fevers, and fighting, laid low one hun-
dred and fifty-four men out of a force of about three hundred; and we regret
to learn that among those who succumbed was the young Kentish sailor,
Edward Pocock, one of two brothers who went with Mr. Stanley, and whose
uncle perished with Sir John Franklin in the Arctic regions, being at the
time the great explorer’s coxswain. 3

“ Tf the Expedition had not been led with remarkable dexterity, it seems
probable that not one of the three hundred would ever have reached the Vic-
torian Sea; and when we read of all the dangers that beset them on the way,
we marvel to learn that the stores and equipments were still ample, and that
they had carried the little steamship, the ‘Lady Alice,’ in safety, through the
seven hundred and twenty miles of African wilderness. That swift and
adventurous march across the Forest Plateau, is one of the heroic deeds that
will live in history. It was achieved, including all haltings and fightings, in
one hundred and three days, being, for one thing, the swiftest bit of work of
the kind that was ever done. Leaving his camp at Kagehyi, under Francis
Pocock, Mr. Stanley explored all the eastern and northern coasts of the great
lake around to Mtesa’s city, at the mouth of the Victoria Nile. Returning by
the west shore, he found that another of his white companions, Frederick
Barker, had died. His observations, taken with great care, showed that the
Victoria Nyanza lies at an altitude even exceeding that estimated by Speke—

750 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

a correction which strengthens the likelihood that it is one of the great foun-
tains of the Nile, and makes it certain that Speke’s discovery was one of the
grandest ever made in Africa. Mr. Stanley calculates that the sea is two
hundred and thirty miles long by one hundred and eighty broad ; and in the
map which he has constructed and sent home the coast-line is studded with
names of districts, villages, and rivers. ‘This map will be exhibited and dis-
cussed at the first meeting of the Royal Geographical Society. After ‘ set-
tling’ the south-western corner of the great inland sea, it was Mr. Stanley’s
purpose to transport his men and stores to the Kagera or Katongo River, on
its western shore, and thence, crossing the Unyoro country, to address him-
self to the fresh task of solving the great problem of the Albert Nyanza, of
which only a mere fragment has been mapped. At his latest writing, on the
15th of May last, he reports himself as well equipped for at least two years
more. His next letter, if we are ever to hear from Stanley again, will be
looked for with anxious expectancy by the people, both of England and
America.” :

The Royal Geographical Society has again and again noticed in a very
marked and flattering manner the labours of the distinguished traveller. At
the opening of the forty-sixth session, the chairman, Sir H. C. Rawlinson, said,
in the course of his address, which was received with great enthusiasm, ‘ In
my anniversary address of last May, I ventured to anticipate, from Mr. Stan-
ley’s well-known intrepidity and determination, that being once launched into
the interior of Africa, with means and appliances of the most extensive and
efficient character, it would not be long before he had resolved the doubts
which have existed since the first discovery of the Victoria Nyanza as to the
true nature of that great Nile reservoir—that is, as to whether it was one —
large sea studded with islands, as maintained by the first discoverers, Captain
Speke and Colonel Grant, or whether it was a mere collection of lagoons, as
suggested by Captain Burton and Dr. Livingstone, on the strength of native
information. ‘This anticipation has now been realised, and I am enabled,
through the kindness of the proprietors of ‘The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘New
York Herald,’ to exhibit to this evening’s meeting a complete chart of the
lake, as delineated by Mr. Stanley, who for the first time has almost cir-
cumnavigated its shores. The narrative of Mr. Stanley’s cruise round
the northern and western shores of the lakes, which was entrusted to M.
Linant de Bellefonds, whom he met at Mtesa’s capital on a mission from Co-
lonel Gordon, has been published in the columns of ‘ The Daily Telegraph’
only this morning. The other letters, however, despatched aa Zanzibar, and
published some weeks ago, have acquainted us with all the main features of
this most remarkable journey, which I proceed accordingly to recapitulate.
Mr. Stanley, it appears, did not follow the high road from the coast to Unyan-
yembe, but struck a track further to the east, probably the same by which — -

CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF VICTORIA NYANZA. 751

Mtesa’s messengers had previously travelled from Uganda to Zanzibar, and
thus reached in one hundred and three days, including halts, the southern
shore of the lake, distance seven hundred and thirty miles from Bagamoyo,
having fought a severe battle with the natives on the way, and having also
discovered and followed to the lake a new river, the Shimecyu, which rises
some three hundred miles beyond the Victoria Nyanza, and is thus, as far as
our present information extends, the true southern source of the White Nile.
‘Embarking at a short distance to the east of the Jordan’s Nullah of Speke
in a portable boat, called the ‘Lady Alice,’ which accompanied the Expedition
from England, Mr. Stanley, with a portion of his followers, succeeded in trac-
ing the sinuous shores of the lake along its southern, eastern, and northern
sides to Mtesa’s capital at Uganda. His description of this very considerable
extent of new country—for we knew nothing of it before except from native
information—is full of interest to the geographer, and would have entitled
Mr. Stauley to avery high place among African discoverers if his explorations
had been confined to this single voyage. From Mtesa’s capital at Uganda
Mr. Stanley followed the western shores of the lake to the River Kagera, the
Kitangule of Speke, and then seems to have struck across direct to his station
on the shore of Usukuma, leaving the south-western corner of the sea for sub-
sequent explorations. His circumnayigation of the Victoria Nyanza covered
about one thousand miles, and seems to have been verified throughout by a care-
ful series of observations for latitude and longitude. Pending the examination
of the register of these observations we cannot affirm that the positions, as
laid down on the map, and which differ slightly from Speke’s positions, are
rigidly correct; but, for all practical purposes, Stanley’s delineation of the
lake may be accepted as sufficiently accurate, and as a great boon to African
geography. With regard also to his hypsometrical observations, it is inte-
resting to note that whereas there was a difference of more than four hun-
dred feet in Speke’s calculations of height for the northern and southern por-
tions of the lake respectively—a difference which first led geographers to sus-
pect that the lake might be composed of separate basins of varying elevation
—Mr. Stanley’s measurement by boiling water at his station, east of Jordan’s
Nullah, gave a result within seventy feet of Speke’s observation near the same
spot; so that the height of the Victoria Nyanza may now be considered to be
determined at about three thousand eight hundred feet above the sea. Mr.
Stanley intended, after completing his survey of the Victoria Nyanza, to cross
the intervening country to the Albert Nyanza, where he hoped, by means of
the ‘ Lady Alice,’ to make a second yoyage of discovery round this hitherto
almost unvisited lake; but more recent intelligence from the Upper Nile leads
us to expect that he will have been anticipated in this second achievement by
Colonel Gordon, or by some officers of the Upper Nile command, as it appears
that a steamer has at length forced its way to a point above the principal

7752 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

rapids, from whenee the passage to the Albert Nyanza is tolerably free from
impediment. ;

‘Before I close this brief account of Mr. Stanley’s exploration of the
Victoria Nyanza—an exploration which does infinite credit to his energy and
skill, and which will be explained to you more in detail by the veteran tra-
veller, Colonel Grant, at our next meeting—I am desirous of drawing atten-
tion to the extraordinary munificence of the proprietors of the London ‘ Daily
Telegraph’ and the ‘New York Herald, in fitting out this Expedition en-
tirely at their own expense. Such munificence far transcends the efforts of
private individuals in the cause of science, and even puts to shame our public
institutions, enabling, as it did, the undaunted Mr. Stanley to take the field
with four Europeans and three hundred natives, amply provided with arms,
instruments, and supplies, and assured of continued support, until he had
fairly accomplished his work. And I may add, that the courtesy which has
placed at my disposal Mr. Stanley’s map of the Victoria Nyanza for the gra-
tification of the fellows of the Geographical Society, and for the general in-
struction of the public, is a graceful sequel to the liberality of Mr. Stanley’s
Inglish and American patrons in preparing the original Expedition. I feel
assured, then, that I only express the feelings of the fellows of the Society
in recording our warmest thanks to the proprietors and staff of ‘The Daily
Telegraph’ and ‘ New York Herald’ for the service they have rendered to
the cause of geography, and in wishing the most complete success to Mr.
Stanley’s further operations.”

Not many days after that of the above meeting, a special mecting of the
Society was held for the consideration of African questions, Major-General
Sir H. C. Rawlinson, the President, again in the chair. A paper was read
by Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. Grant, C.B., on ‘Mr. H. M. Stanley’s Explora-
tion of Lake Victoria Nyanza.’ The theatre of the University of London
was crowded by ladies and gentlemen, amongst them being the Baroness
Burdett-Coutts, Sir T. Fowell Buxton, Bart., Sir Samuel Baker, Captain Bur-
ton, Rey. Dr. Moffatt, Rev. Horace Waller, ete. etc. On the table, in front
of the president’s chair, was, under a glass shade, the map of Victoria Nyanza
district executed by Mr. Stanley in Africa.

The PRresIDENT, in opening the proceedings, said they had met to discuss
the question of Central or Equatorial Africa. At the last meeting he had the
honour of representing to the Society how much it was indebted to Mr. Stan-
ley for his recent circumnayvigation of the Victoria Nyanza. On the present
occasion the meeting would have the advantage of hearing Mr. Stanley’s dis-
coveries illustrated by his great predecessor, Colonel Grant. As they were
also honoured by the presence of Sir Samuel Baker and of Captain Burton,
they had all the great authorities on the question present, and he therefore
hoped they would have an interesting discussion on this most important sub-

COLONEL GRANT ON STANLEY. 753

ject. He should only notify to the meeting that there were two subjects for
discussion that evening—one relating to the Victoria Nyanza, the other to
the Albert Nyanza—but the two subjects would be kept as distinct as pos-
sible. After the first discussion he should read a few extracts of letters from
Colonel Gordon relative to his survey of the Nile, and his labours in the vici-
nity of the Albert Nyanza.

Cononzn Grant, who was loudly cheered, then read his paper. He said—
“The journey recently made by Mr. H. M. Stanley, the commissioner of
‘The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘ New York Herald,’ is one of the most import-
ant and brilliant that has ever been made in Central Africa, or, indeed in
any other country ; for, when we consider that he accomplished it so quickly,
taking only sixteen months from the period he left England, it appears at
first as incredible as was his famous discovery of the late Dr. Livingstone. It
is not alone the short time, but the great geographical question which he has
finally settled—namely, he has confirmed Speke’s discovery, that the Victo-
ria Nyanza was one vast inland fresh water; he has navigated its shores for
a thousand miles, thereby proving that its waters are continuous. In 1860,
Speke and I started from Zanzibar with two hundred followers. It will give
some idea of the fickle African race when I tell you that we had only forty
men of the two hundred when we reached Kazeh, four hundred and thirty
miles west of the sea-coast. Three-fourths had deserted us. We need not,
therefore, be alarmed by the report of Mr. Stanley, that one-half of his men
were non-effective. He will enlist others, or do with fewer. Months of
weary delay again took place on the way between Kazeh and the hilly
region of Karagweh, on account of the difficulties thrown in the way by the
inhabitants. We wished to get on quickly, and tried to march near the lake,
but were told that the ordinary route via Usui must be kept. We accordingly
went that way, and crossed the watershed at two and a-half degrees S. lat.
From this position we descended the northern incline of Equatorial Africa,
and neyer left Nile-land till we reached the Mediterranean. ‘The route may
be likened to the teeth of a saw, the points being plains and the depressions
swamps. We had extensive views of the lakes from these plains. ‘The bays
and long inlets of water or friths seen by us on the western and northern
shores were M’werooka, Katonga, Murchison, etc. Some were completely
land-locked, and twenty miles in length. I allude to the one seen near our
camp at Uganda capital. It is here, probably, that Colonel Long, of the
Khedive’s service, found himself the other day, when he reported that Speke’s
Victoria Nyanza was merely a small affair of thirty miles in extent.

“The greatest river on the route between the most southern point of the
lake, round its western and northern shores, is the Kitangule Kagcera, in the
district of Karagweh. In appearance it has a slow, majestic, winding course,
which is nayigable for thirty to forty miles from its mouth; vessels drawing

v3

754 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

twenty-five feet of water could, I believe, float at the ferry where we crossed.
Speke and I had to conjecture this depth at the ferry, because we were for-
cibly prevented from dropping our lead-lines into it; the king would not be
pleased ; it was not ‘canny’ to take soundings. I should not be the least
surprised to hear that Mr. Stanley selects this noble river as a point for ex-
ploration. With the ‘Lady Alice’ he can ascend this stream for the lake up
almost to King Rumanika’s door; or he can cross over the mountains of Ruanda
and Urundi and descend to the spot on Lake Tanganyika where Livingstone
and he had such a pleasant pic-nic; or he may select the Albert Nyanza as his
field for exploration. All will be new to us; either route would interest geo-
graphers intensely, for the country, its people, and its animals, are all unknown.
The area of the lake, according to Speke, is six hundred and forty-five geo-
graphical miles in circumference; and if we add to this the circumference of
Lake Bahr-ingo, we have nine hundred and ten geographical miles. Many
will remember the enthusiastic reception given in old Burlington House where
Speke and I were received after telegraphing that the ‘ Nile was settled,’ that
‘the Victoria Nyanza was the source of the Nile.’ Such a reception certainly
awaits Mr. Stanley when he appears here; and if he should make more dis-
coveries—which he undoubtedly will, if God spares him—there is no honour
which this Society can bestow that he will not have earned over and over
again. He, as an observer, a traveller in its real sense, a provider of true and
pleasant pictures from unknown lands, has confirmed the discoveries made by
Speke, and to him the merit is due of having sailed on the broad waters of
the lake, and sent home a map, and descriptions so vivid and truthful that
the most sceptical cannot fail to be satisfied. Here it may be as well to ex-
plain that some geographers never accepted Speke’s lake as one great ocean,
although the geographical world did. 'The foremost of unbelievers, and the
one who appeared first in the field, was Captain Burton, the companion at
one time of Speke. He did not seem to have any reason for his argument.
He said there must be several lakes, lagoons—anything, in fact, except the
lake. yen the late Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley made out there must
be several lakes. Livingstone wrote in a very patronising tone, ‘ Poor Speke
had turned his back upon the real sources of the Nile’—‘his river at Ripon
Falls was not large enough for the Nile’—and was disparaging to Speke’s
discoveries. The work of Dr. Schweinfurth, ‘the Heart of Africa,’ has fallen
into the greatest blunder. About three years ago a map, constructed without
authority in our map-room, was suspended from these walls, but on my pro-
test the President, Sir Henry Rawlinson, ordered that it be altered to the de-
lineation of the lake by Speke. This was done. Numbers of other writers
and map-makers, Continental and English, have gone on disintegrating the
lake from book to book, map to map, and from year to year; but I think the
public will now perceive how unjust the above critics have been, how firmly

COLONEL GRANT ON STANLEY. 755

the fame of Speke has been established, and will not fail to accord him that
place in their opinions which he may have lost for a time. (The Colonel here
enumerated a series of maps, in which the Nyanza is divided into two or
more lakes, and resumed.) It is now my place to make some comments on
Mr. Stanley’s journey. Starting from Zanzibar, in 1874, with three hundred
followers, he made a rapid journey of seven hundred and twenty miles to the
south-east corner of Victoria Nyanza, performing this distance in one hundred
and three days, inclusive of halts. Through forests, across deserts and rivers,
he conveyed the boat, ‘ Lady Alice,’ in sections, and launched her on the lake.
The forethought and energy required to convey this boat must command the
fullest admiration, for in doing so he has navigated the inland ocean, and
given us a thrilling account of its extent, its rivers and shores, and its beauti-
fulislands. He experienced almost stunning losses and privations in his.land
journey. Having to travel through sterile, unhealthy regions, the want of
food and water was felt severely ; his men suffered from sickness—death was
rife amongst them—and he had to contend against the Waturu race, who
sounded their war drums, and killed twenty-one of his men. After contesting
with them for three days, and clearing a way for his advance, he continued
his march towards the lake. On the 27th of February last he obtained his
first view of the great sea, and it can be imagined how impatient he must
have been, and how hard he and his men must have worked to put the ‘ Lady
Alice’ together, to have a short trial on the lake before taking to sea in her.
*‘ There are many questions which we should like to ask Mr. Stanley here
—namely, what crew had he? who were they? how did they all manage
for food ? and was it ever rough weather? But we must be content with his
map now before us, with its rivers, islands, and broad expanse. It seems as
if the great brown plains, which Mr. Stanley speaks of as bounding the lake
to the east, drank up all the rain that falls upon them, for there are no rivers
on that side. Everywhere he heard of plains to the east. The mountains of
Ugeyeya, are called gigantic, for Mr. Stanley says, ‘We pass between the
island of Ugingo and the gigantic mountains of Ugeyeya, at whose base the
‘Lady Alice’ seems to crawl like a tiny insect, while we on board admire
the stupendous summits.’ There is nothing as to size or summit on the other
side of the lake to compare with this description of the equatorial mountains of
Ugeyeya. Having abstracted all the notes on the mountains of the east coast,
we can say that there are no mountains, no volcanic cones, to be compared
with them as to their height and proximity to the lake on the west coast.
I therefore cannot but conclude that the fairway of the lake will be found on
the east coast, and that the miles of swamps and shallow water in the west
do not exist to the same extent on the other shore. But this interesting ques-
tion will, I trust, soon be settled when we receive Mr. Stanley’s observations
on depths. No fewer than sixty islands may be counted upon Mr. Stanley’s

756 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

map, dotted generally in clusters all round the shores, at distances of two and
three miles from the mainland. The largest in the whole lake is Sesseh,
which we made forty miles in length. Sesseh—or, as Mr. Stanley calls it,
Sasse—has an area of about seven hundred English square miles; the dimen-
sions of this one island will give some idea of the importance of this inland
sea, which is probably the largest body of fresh water—at this altitude—in
the known world. Regarding the altitudes taken by Mr. Stanley, we find
that, in leaving the desert plain of Ugogo, he ascended to another plateau,
three thousand eight hundred feet; again, as he proceeded north-west, he
came on a still higher one of four thousand five hundred feet, and his great-
est altitude was five thousand one hundred feet, which is the watershed be-
tween the lake and the sea-coast. This last height corresponds with the
highest inhabited country Speke and I traversed in our journey—namely,
the capital of Karagweh, which approaches to within fifty miles of the
W.S.W. end of the lake. The height of the Nyanza above the sea was
three thousand five hundred and fifty to three thousand six hundred and
fifty feet by one aneroid, and three thousand five hundred and seventy-
five to three thousand six hundred and seventy-five by another. A further
observation by Mr. Stanley, with two boiling thermometers, made the alti-
tude, subject to correction, similar to Speke’s—namely, three thousand eight
hundred and one, or sixty-eight feet in excess of Speke’s observations. The
difference is insignificant, and we may accept them as the established alti-
tude of Victoria Nyanza. ‘The area of Victoria Nyanza, as made known to
us by Mr. Stanley, proves that Speke far underrated its extent. I have care-
fully measured the maps of both travellers with compass to ascertain their
existing difference, measuring every ten miles, and the result by this rather
rough means obtained is as follows :—Circumference of Speke’s lake, six hun-
dred and forty-five geographical miles; circumference of Stanley’s lake, eight
hundred and ninety geographical miles. If we add two hundred and sixty-
five geographical miles, the circumference of the Bahr-ingo Lake in Speke’s
map, we get nine hundred and ten miles as one body of water—a curious
similarity, in circumference, to Stanley’s single lake—only twenty miles of
difference. Mr. Stanley thinks the mode of spelling Nyanza is objectionable,
because, he says, the natives do not pronounce it in this way. Let me first
explain that, in using the expression, Lake Victoria Nyanza, we actually say
Lake Victoria Lake—Nyanza signifying ‘lake.’ All that is necessary when
using the word is to call it the Victoria Nyanza, or Victoria Lake. As to the
spelling and pronunciation of the word, we find that it is sounded differently
in different localities.” In conclusion, Col. Grant said—‘‘ These few remarks
on Mr. Stanley’s journey, I may state, are made on my own authority, by
request of the President of the Geographical Society, for I felt that it was
not for me to come forward as the champion of Speke. He required no such

AFRICAN TRAVELLER ATTACKED BY A LION

SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 707

bolstering. In fact, I should have preferred that some other and more com-
petent hand wrote a comment on Mr. Stanley’s journey. However, I have
great pleasure in complying, for it has opened up to me an old love, and
given me this opportunity of congratulating the Society on the great achieve-
ment before them. Who amongst us would have had his energy? Who
would undertake a cruise in an open boat, and absent himself from his camp
for fifty-eight days? _ Who would risk such danger to life, and exposure to
an African sun in the month of April? Who of us are able to guide, provide
for, lead, and attend to a little army successfully, and, in the midst of all
this, take their observations for latitude and longitude? I think hima worthy
representative of the energy which sent out such an Expedition.”

Sir Samvet Baxer, who was cheered, said ‘‘ that, even when old African
travellers were placed upon the retired list, there was a pleasure which re-
mained to them still, and that was to watch the efforts and endeavours, and
to praise the energies, of those younger travellers who were filling up the
paths the older ones had cut out. He had come that evening from the south
of England, at some personal inconvenience, personally to render all the
praise an old African traveller could to the energy displayed by their friend,
Mr. Stanley. At the same time it was such a pleasure to add his testimony
to the indomitable perseverance Mr. Stanley had shown, and it was so grati-
fying to meet old African travellers—and they had in Captain Burton the
oldest living African discoverer—that he should have been sorry not to have
been present at that meeting. He had always advocated ‘ Fair play and no
favour,’ among African travellers, and although, unfortunately, there had
been some little rivalry amongst them, he was perfectly certain every tra-
yeller who started from this country started with one great aim—to carry out
his duty to the Society, and to represent the integrity and determination of
England. Captain Burton started with Speke, when he (Sir 8. Baker) was
comparatively a young man, and Speke a very young man, and he had owed
most of his success to the map Speke had given him. The original map was
among the records of the Society, and it was not only recognised, but proved
almost to the letter by Mr. Stanley. In these days of geographical triumph,
they all grieved that Speke was no more; and he was sure his fellow-travel-
ler, Colonel Grant, was only too happy to feel that this day would add to his
dead friend’s undying reputation. Speaking of Mr. Stanley’s letters, he (Sir
S. Baker) must say that everybody must be struck with the candour of his
descriptions. There were people in England fond of sitting down to criti-
cise, who said Mr. Stanley need not have fought or occasioned bloodshed.
But it was most unfair for any person who had no knowledge of the state of
the case or of the country, in which there was no law but the law of force,
to speak or write in this way. He felt certain no person travelling for the
Society would commit an act of force, except through necessity; but still

758 IIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

there were many people who, for the sake of cavilling, ignored the state of
the country, and the difficulties travellers had to endure. When natives
would not sell food it must be got, or travellers starved. If the travellers
tried to take the food the natives would try to kill them, and to prevent this
travellers had to use force. Mr. Stanley did so, and got his food. With re-
spect to the difficulties as to carrying the boat surrounding Mr. Stanley, the
feat was to be admired more, perhaps, than any other. He (Sir 8. Baker)
and his party took out boats, but they never had any one to carry them, and
never got one of them near the lake. ven when Mr. Stanley was navigat-
ing the lake in the ‘Lady Alice,’ he encountered much hostility from the
natives.” After an exhaustive address upon certain geographical points in
the district referred to in the paper, Sir Samuen Baxer concluded amid cheers.

Carrain Burton, who was very warmly received, said he had already
complimented Mr. Stanley for his undaunted perseverance; and he quoted
former statements of his own in that room with respect to the Victoria Nyanza,
which had now been actually proved by Mr. Stanley to have been correct.
The existence of lakes to the north, north-east, and possibly to the east
of the Victoria Nyanza, was still, he thought, extremely possible.

THE Presipent—‘‘ The meeting is aware that it is to the proprietors of
‘The Daily Telegraph’ and the ‘ New York Herald,’ we are indebted for the
highly important and interesting particulars upon which the paper of to-night
and the discussion are founded. Mr. Arnold, who is a friend of Mr. Stanley, is
amongst us to-night, and I shall call upon him to acknowledge the hearty enco-
miums passed upon his friend.”

Mr. Epwin Arnoup said—“ It is because the President does not desire to
leave any blank in the records of an evening so important to geographical
science as this is, that I rise to detain you a moment after hearing orators so
illustrious. Since the whole discussion this evening has constituted one mag-
nificent encomium upon the labours of my friend Mr. Stanley, it may seem
good that I should tender a brief form of thanks, which I trust he may one
day fill up in this hall. I thank you very earnestly in his name, and, as far
as I may speak at all for those two allied journals which have been so happy
as to commission Mr, Stanley, I thank you also most sincerely.

CHAPTER XXX.

Stanley Leaves the Kagera Ricer—Encamps ai Matongo—Danger from the
Natives—Arrical at Alice Island—Encounier with Naiives at Bambireh—
Storm on the Lake—Compleie Exploration of the Victoria Nyanza—LEmbassy
Jrom King Ltwoma—Ukerewe—Camp at Usukuma—Chastisement of the
Lambireh People—March across Uganda—The Gambaragara Mountain and
us White People—Journey to ihe Albert Nyanza— Visit to King Rumaniiah
—The Kagera Ricer—Hoi Springs of Mlagaia—Arrical in Western Unyam-
wezi—Leiters from Francis John Pocock.

J eloaeey a long silence, which was occasioning some anxiety to his friends

and such persons as are interested in African exploration, tidings were
again heard from Stanley, in August, 1876. A series of letters arrived from
him, and were published in the ‘‘ Daily Telegraph.” They were introduced
by the following leader, which appeared in the issue of that paper for August
7th :—

‘This morning we are enabled to submit to public perusal the first por-
tion of the despatches received from the leader of the New African Expedition;
and, although it is his later communications which contain the principal dis-
coyeries made by Mr. Stanley, these will not fail to be read with the liveliest
interest. Few travellers have united the gift of animated narrative with such
courage, resource, and self-reliance, as our joint Commisioner has shown at
every stage of his remarkable journey ; and we think it may be safely said
that letters more picturesque, stirring, and absorbing, were never sent home
by an explorer. In point of date, the despatch this morning published goes
back beyond the latest intelligence heretofore received from Mr. Stanley.
We printed last November the highly interesting account of his sojourn at
King Mtesa’s capital, and heard of him as- starting thence to complete the
survey of the Victoria Nyanza, which he had been the first to navigate. A
letter sent from Kagehyi in June of 1875 showed that he had arrived at his
southern camp, after great dangers, but he had then no time to relate them,
and the brief despatch thus forwarded was the last and only tidings we had
received during the whole past year. A generous solicitude was expressed
about this long silence by Sir Henry Rawlinson in his recent address at the
Royal Geographical Society, and we ourselves were becoming somewhat anxi-

760 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

ous, well as we knew Mr. Stanley’s unfailing resources. But suddenly, as
is the way with African posts, the welcome pages come in copiously again
from the heart of the wilderness, and we have not only a year’s good news
now in one large packet, but assurance that our explorer was safe, sound and
ready for new deeds of daring no longer ago than the beginning of last
June.

‘The present despatches recount the adventures of Mr. Stanley on his
return journey from King Mtesa’s, and also incidentally complete the circum-
navigation of the Victorian Lake. Those which are to come will tell of his
third voyage across the great Nyanza to Uganda; of his extraordinary march
at the head of a force lent by the king through Kabba Rega’s country to the
Albert, together with all the remarkable discoveries made upon that journey ;
while the concluding letters bring the Expedition safely down through Ka-
ragwe to within a fortnight’s march of Ujiji, which well-known spot we doubt
not Mr. Stanley reached in excellent order, early in June of this present year.
We shall speak at a future time of the course which he is likely to take after
resting and refitting upon Tanganyika, and of the fruits of these extra-
ordinary marches which he has made, since striking into the unknown con-
tinent from the Unyanyembe road. The present instalment of his narrative
is full enough of incident, everybody will admit, to occupy attention for a
day, before we come to the pale-faced tribes, the mighty mountain peaks of
Kishakka, the Albert Nyanza, and the mystery of the Land of lakes. Those
who love adventure will find it here—fresh, marvellous, and exciting—for
fiction itself never conceived situations of deeper danger, or told of narrower
escapes, than Mr. Stanley experienced upon this inland sea which he had
mapped; and every one of these letters comes to us through perils and risks
innumerable, the gift of a brave and faithful traveller, who has faced death in
every form in order to discharge his duty to those who have commissioned
him and to his generation.

“Tt will be seen that after quitting the northern shores of the Nyanza
to rejoin his camp—left in charge of Frank Pocock—Mr. Stanley was deserted
by the ‘ Admiral’ of Uganda, and sailed alone in the ‘ Lady Alice’ down the
south-western coasts, of which we to-day present his map, completing the
chart of this wonderful freshwater sea. The narrative is taken up at the
mouth of the Kagera River, about which hereafter our explorer has curious
things to announce. The rude reception which the Lady ‘ Alice’ met at Ma-
kungo was but a warning of the treacherous hostility which she was to experi-
ence further down at the hands of the natives of Bambireh Island, and which
might well have resulted in a massacre of Mr. Stanley and his eleven negroes.
At Kajuri, a populous village of this large island, happened the ugly adven-
ture which so nearly put an end to the New African Expedition. The escape
of the explorer reads like a book of the ‘ Odyssey,’ both for the extremity of

STRUGGLE WITH THE BAMBIREH PEOPLE. 761

his sudden danger and for the skill and courage he displayed in evading it.
We may leave the public to read with the absorbing interest which such a
narrative will command, how the savages of Bambireh beguiled the. crew of
the ‘Lady Alice’ into their power, and then, seizing the boat, dragged it by
main force high and dry on their beach, where, after exacting a payment as
the price of safety, they laughed the credulity of their captives to scorn, and
having seized their oars, and thus, as they thought, rendered them helpless,
prepared to murder them.

“‘ For many hours Stanley and his men preserved their calm vigilance in
the midst of a crowd of bloodthirsty wretches, whose intentions could not be
doubtful, since, besides the most violent threats and actions, they actually
notified their purpose of butchering the crew. ‘These facts must be borne in
mind when the public come to read of the punishment which the traveller
afterwards felt obliged to inflict upon that false people of Bambireh. They
had stripped the boat of everything but the arms, and the crisis was immi-
nent, when Stanley by a sudden order saved his boat, his men, and himself,
eluding the savage people by the narrowest of opportunities. No one will
fail to think with sympathy and admiration of the lonely white man as, in
the face of hundreds of furious enemies, he is seen to accomplish that dex-
terous stratagem; and few will consider the bullets misapplied which were
rained upon the savages to prevent them from manning their canoes and
recapturing the little ‘ Lady Alice.’

“The instant and excited chase which the Bambireh people gave shows
how disappointed they were not to shed the blood of the strangers, and a
quieter temper than Stanley’s might well be exasperated by the bitter ery
sent after the fugitives, ‘Go and die in the Nyanza.’ It will be seen how
nearly the gallant little craft, with her exhausted crew, did indeed founder in
the very lake which she had been the first to circumnavigate ; but Fate had
great things yet in store for her indomitable commander, and he arrives at
last safe through hostile tribes, stormy waters, tempests of thunder and hail,
and imminent danger of famine, at his camp of Kagehyi. Here we see
him joyously coming to land after an absence of fifty-seven days ; to be wel-
comed with boundless pleasure and loyalty by his followers, who chaired their
leader round the camp, in true African delight to see his face again. Barker
had died during the interval, together with six natives, but some of the
soldiers and porters had been on the eve of marching back to Unyanyembe ;
but Pocock was well and the camp was still unraised, and after such triumph-
ant adventures everybody would naturally be ready to go anywhere with a
chief like the ‘ Bana Mkuka.’

‘‘ Here, for the present, we have to leave our dauntless explorer, but
the narrative of his strange adventures is not nearly at an end. The inci-
dent of Bambireh had a sequel as remarkable and exciting as the original

ws

762 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

event itself; but of this we refrain from speaking until Stanley’s account of
it is before the public. Meanwhile, we may dwell with pride and unlimited
satisfaction upon his completed survey of the great inland sea. The ‘ Lady
Alice’ sailed over nearly a thousand miles of water during fifty-seven days;
and it proves the skilful economy of Stanley—which is one of the secrets of
success in African travel—that he accomplished these voyages at the cost of
a single bale of cloth. Never wasteful, and never submitting to plunder or
dishonesty, like some of his predecessors, he has been-able to make this
wonderful journey as well as those which will be afterwards described, and
to arrive in good order and with ample means back at Unyanyembe, a feat
which could not have been achieved except by the strong hand. Geographical
science, which has now received from our Commissioner the finished chart
of the Victoria Nyanza, will find ample interest in his overland journey to
the Albert Nyanza, and in the subsequent narratives; while we shall give
reasons for hoping that greater fruits than even these may yet result from
Mr. Stanley’s fearless courage and devotion and his extraordinary capacity as
@ pioneer.”

The first of this series of letters from the fearless traveller is as
follows :—

‘¢ Mahyiga Island, three miles from Bambireh Island,
Lake Victoria Nyanza, July 29, 1875.

‘This Expedition which you have entrusted to me seems destined to
meet with adventures more than enough. When a boy, I loved to read books
of incident and travel, especially of the Mayne Reid type, and followed their
several heros with breathless interest through all their varied fortunes; but
since I have been compelled lately to act the hero myself oftener than is
consistent with peace of mind and a comfortable night’s rest—however glori-
ous a thing it may appear on paper—you may take my word for it, I would
much rather read of the affair than take an actual share in it. As I compare
my former trip to Ujiji with this journey, I am forced to admit that the
former was mere child’s play. The incidents we have gone through already, if
faithfully related, would fill a good-sized volume, while, I may say, we have
but begun our enterprise as yet.

“Continuing my narrative of our journey from Uganda to Usukuma by
the western shore of Lake Nyanza, I resume it from the point where I left
off in my last letter—the Kagera River, or the Kitangule.

‘We had two canoes belonging to Mtesa, accompanying our boat as
escort, until the dilatory Grand Admiral Magassa should overtake us with his
fleet of thirty more; and the day we left the Kagera River we rested at night
on a smooth sandy beach by the foot of the Usongoro plateau, at the point
called Kagya. The natives were friendly and disposed to be hospitable, so
that we augured well for our reception during our travels along the coast of

THREATENED DANGER. 763

Usongoro. The next afternoon we camped at Makongo, and received an
apparent welcome from the natives, each of whom was engaged as we landed
in the grave occupation of imbibing pombe or beer by means of long straw
pipes, exactly as people take a sherry cobbler or a mint julep in the United
States. The chief slightly reeled as he came forward to salute me, and his
eyes had that uncertain gaze which seemed to hint that he saw two white
men when there was only one. However, he and his people were good-natured,
and well-contented with our arrival.

** About ten P.M. we were all wakened from sleep by a furious drum-
ming, accompanied now and then by shrill yells. The Waganda said that
this was in honour of the white stranger. I did not believe them, and there-
fore put my people on their guard, ordered them to load their guns, place
them under their sleeping mats, and arranged all my own in a handy and
safe position. Except the continued uproar nothing, however, occurred dur-
ing the night, but at daybreak we found ourselves in presence of about five
hundred warriors, with bow, shield, and spear, who had crept quietly near
the camp, and then had stood up in a semicircle, preventing all escape save
by water. I was so astonished by this sudden apparition of such a large
body of armed men, that I could barely believe that we were still in Mtesa’s
territory. There was also something very curious in their demeanour, for
there was no shouting, yelling, or frantic behaviour, as we had several times
witnessed on the part of savages, when about to commit themselves by a
desperate deed. They all wore a composed, though a stern and determined
aspect. It was a terrible moment to us. We knew not what to make of
these hundreds of savages, who persisted in being silent, and gave us no hint
as to their intentions, unless the forest of spears might be taken as a clear,
unmistakable, and explicit hint that their object was a bloody one. We feared
to make a movement lest it should precipitate a catastrophe which might
possibly be averted; so we remained a few minutes surveying each other.

‘* The silence was soon broken, however, by the appearance of the chief
who had welcomed us—though he was then inebriated—the evening before.
He had a long stick in his hands, which he flourished in the face of the say-
ages, and by this means drove them several paces backwards. He then came
forward, and, striking the boat, ordered us to get off, he himself lending a
hand to shove the little craft into the lake. As it glided into the water an-
other chief came forward and asked us what we meant by drawing our boat
up so far on their beach. We replied that we had done it to protect it from
the surf, and were about to add more reasons, when the first chief cut the
matter short by ordering us to shove off and go and camp on Musira Island,
distant four miles, whither he would follow us with food,. We were nothing
loth to obey such good counsel, and soon put a distance of one hundred yards
between ourselves and the hostile shore. As the Waganda were not yet out

764 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of danger, we prepared our guns to sweep the beach. So dense was the crowd
of armed men near the water line that we might have taken a fearful revenge
had we been vengefully disposed, or had the necessity of aiding the Waganda
compelled us to fire. Happily, however, our friends, not without loud remon-
strance and much wordy altercation, embarked in safety, and followed us to
Musira Island. Here the chief came, and learning our wants and our objects,
sent for three bunches of bananas, which he presented to us, and then left us
to our fate.

“In the afternoon we sighted our Grand Admiral Magassa, with a large
fleet of canoes, paddling slowly to a neighbouring island, where he camped
for the night. Desirous of quickening his movements, I sailed from Musira
for Alice Island, distant thirty-five miles. The two chiefs of our escorting
canoes accompanied us a mile or two, and then, alarmed by the aspect of the
weather, turned back, shouting to us at the same time that as soon as the
wind moderated they would follow us. It was near midnight when we
arrived at Alice Island, and by steering for a light on shore we fortunately
found a snug, well-sheltered cove. The light we discovered was that of a fire
made by some Bambireh fishermen curing fish. Our men were so hungry -
that they proposed to seize this food, to the great alarm and terror of its owners.
I restrained my people, and quieted the fears of the fishermen, by paying a
double price for a quantity of fish sufficient for a day’s provisions for the
boat’s crew.

‘““When daylight came we found ourselves at the foot of a huge beet-
ling cliff, and discovered that we had taken shelter near a kind of penthouse
formed by overhanging rocks, which were now blackened with the smoke of
many fires. The natives of the island came down to visit us, holding out
wisps of green grass as a sign of peace and good-will But though they were
amicable enough, they were so extortionate in their demands that we gained
nothing by their friendship, and were compelled to depart at noon, with
every prospect of starvation before us, unless Bambireh (a large and popu-
lous island, south-west of Alice Island about twenty-five miles), to which I
determined to sail, should furnish us with food.

“Amidst rain, thunder, lightning, and a sounding surf on all sides, we
dropped anchor under the lee of Barker’s Island about midnight. It rained
and thundered throughout the night, and we had much trouble to keep our
boat afloat by constant baling.

‘At daybreak we hurried away from our dangerous anchorage before a
steady strong breeze from the north-east, and within three hours drew near
the comfortable little cove near the village of Kajuri, at the south-eastern
extremity of Bambireh Island. As we looked on the plenty which green
slopes, garnished with large groves of plantains and dotted with herds of fat
cattle, promised, we anticipated an abundance of good food, ripe bananas, a

PERILS AT BAMBIREH. 765

fat goat, a large supply of milk, and other things good for famishing men.
But we were disappointed to hear the large number of people on the plateau
above the village shouting their war-cry. Still we pressed nearer the beach;
hunger gave us much confidence, and a rich tribute, we were sure, would
pacify the most belligerent chief. Perceiving that we persisted in approach-
ing their shore the people rushed down the slope of the plateau towards us-
Prudence whispered to me to at least get ready our guns, which I accordingly
did, and then rowed slowly towards the beach, certain that, if hostilities began,
indications of such would appear in time to enable us to withdraw.

“* We halted at the distance of twenty yards from land, and I observed
that the wild behaviour of the natives changed, as they approached nearer, to
affability. We exchanged the usual friendly greetings, and were invited to
come ashore in such tones as dissipated the least suspicion from our minds.
No sooner, however, had the keel of the boat grounded than the natives
rushed on us in a body, seized it, and dragged it up high and dry, with all
on board. The reader may imagine the number of natives required to per-
form this feat when I state that the boat, baggage, and crew, weighed nearly
4,000lbs. TwiceI raised my revolvers to kill and be killed; but the crew
restrained me, saying it was premature to fight, as these people were friends,
and all would be right. Accordingly I sat down in the stern sheets, and waited
patiently for the decisive moment. The savages fast increased in numbers,
and the hubbub grew greater. Angry language and violent action we received
without comment or word on our part. Spears were held in their hands as
if on the launch, arrows were drawn to the head and pointed at each of us with
frenzied looks and eyes almost bursting out of their sockets. The apparently
peaceful people seemed to be now personified furies. Throughout all the
scenes of civilised and wild life which I have witnessed, I never saw mad
rage or cruel fury painted so truly before on human features. It led them
to the verge of absurdity even. They struck the ground and the boat,
stamped, foamed at the mouth, gnashed their teeth, slashed the air with their
spears, but they shed no blood. ‘The chief Shekka prevented this, reserving
that pleasure, I presume, for a more opportune time, when a new excitement
would be required.

‘ Our interpreters, in the meanwhile, were by no means idle; they em-
ployed to the utmost whatever gifts of persuasion nature had endowed them
with, or fear had created, without, however, exhibiting any servility or mean-
ness. Indeed, I was struck to admiration by the manly way in which they
stated our objects and purposes in travelling on the Nyanza, and by the com-
posure of their bearing. The savages themselves observed this, and com-
mented on it with surprise. The calm behaviour of the crew and interpreters
acted as a sedative on the turbulence and ranting violence of the savages,
though it broke out again now and then, sputtering fitfully with the wildest

766 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of gestures and most murderous demonstrations. For three hours I sat in the
stern sheets of the boat, observing all these preliminaries of a tragedy which
I felt sure was about to be enacted, silent, except now and then communicat-
ing a suggestion to the interpreters, and seemingly an unconcerned spectator.
But I was not so. I only wished to impose on the savages, and I was busily
planning a resistance and an escape. As we were in their power, it only
remained for us to be quiet until they proceeded to acts of violence, and in
the meantime endeavour to purchase peace, or at least to postpone the strife.
Conformably with these ideas the interpreters were instructed to offer cloths
and beads to the chief Shekka, who appeared to have despotic authority over
all, judging from the reverential and ready obedience paid to his commands.
Shekka demanded four cloths and ten necklaces of large beads as his price
for permitting us to depart in peace. They were paid tohim. Having secured
them, he instantly ordered his people to seize our oars, which was done before
we understood what they were about. This was the second time that Shekka
had acted cunningly and treacherously, and a loud jeering laugh from his
people showed him how much they appreciated his wit.

“‘ After seizing the oars, Shekka and his people slowly went to their vil-
lage for their noon-day meal, and to discuss what other measures should be
adopted towards the strangers. A woman came near us, and told us to eat
honey with Shekka, that being the only way to save our lives, as he and his
people had determined to kill us and take everything we had. The coxswain
of the boat was sent to proffer terms of brotherhood to the king, but he was
told to be at ease, no harm was intended us, and on the next day Shekka
promised he and his people should eat honey, and make lasting and sure
brotherhood with us. The coxswain returned to us with triumphant looks,
and speedily communicated his own assurance to the crew. But I checked
this over-confidence and trustfulness in such cunning and treacherous people,
telling them to look to nothing save our own wit, and by no means to leave
the neighbourhood of the boat, for Shekka’s next act would be to seize the
guns in the same manner as he had the oars. Immediately the crew saw the
truth of this suggestion, and I had no reason to complain that they paid no
heed to my words.

‘‘ At three p.M. the natives began to assemble on the ridge of a low hill
about one hundred yards from the boat; and presently drums were heard
beating the call to war, until within half an hour about five hundred warriors
had gathered around Shekka, who was sitting down addressing his people.
When he had done, about fifty rushed down, took our drum, and kindly told
us to get our guns ready for fight, as they were coming presently to cut our
throats. As soon as I saw the savages had arrived in the presence of Shekka
with our drum, I shouted to my men to push the boat into the water. With
one desperate effort my crew of eleven hands lifted and shot it far into the

~

EHSCAPE FROM BAMBIREH. 767

lake, the impetus they had given it causing it to drag them all into deep
water. In the meantime the savages, uttering a furious howl of disappoint-
ment and bafiled rage, came rushing like a whirlwind towards their canoes
at the water’s edge. I discharged my elephant rifle, with its two large conical
balls, into their midst; and then assisting one of the crew into the boat, told
him to help his fellows in while I continued to fight. My double-barrelled
shot gun, loaded with buckshot, was next discharged with terrible effect, for,
without drawing a single bow or launching a single spear, they fell back up the
slope of the hill, leaving us to exert our wits to get ourselves out of the cove
before the enemy should decide to man their canoes. My crew was composed
of picked men, and in this dire emergency they did ample justice to my choice.
Though we were without oars, they were at no loss for a substitute. As soon
as they found themselves in the boat they tore up the seats and footboards,
and began to paddle, while I was left to single out with my rifles the most
prominent and boldest of the enemy.

“Twice in succession I succeeded in dropping men determined on
launching the canoes, and seeing the sub-chief, who had commanded the
party that took the drum, I took deliberate aim with my rifle at him. That
bullet, as I have been told, killed the chief and two others who happened to
be standing a few paces behind him; and the extraordinary result had more
effect, I think, on the susperstitious minds of the natives than all previous or
subsequent shots. On getting out of the cove we saw two canoes loaded
with men coming out in pursuit from another small inlet. I permitted them
to approach within one hundred yards of us, and this time I used the ele-
phant rifle with explosive balls. Four shots killed five men and sank the
canoes. ‘This decisive affair disheartened the enemy, and we were left to
pursue our way unmolested, not however, without hearing a ringing voice
shouting out to us, ‘Go, and die in the Nyanza.’ When the savages counted
their losses, they found fourteen dead and wounded with ball and buckshot,
which, although I should consider to be very dear payment for the robbery
of eight ash oars and a drum, was barely equivalent, in fair estimation, to
the intended massacre of ourselves. Favoured by a slight breeze from the
land, we hoisted our sail, and by night were eight miles south-east of Bam-
bireh. A little after dusk a calm came on, and we continued on our course
paddling. All night I kept the men hard at work, making, however, but
little progress through the water.

“ At sunrise we were about twenty miles south-east of Bambireh, and
by noon were about twenty-five miles off. At this time we got a strong wind
from the north-west, and sped before it at the rate of five knots an hour. At
sunset we were about twelve miles north-east of Sosua or Gosua Island; and
if the breeze continued favourable, we hoped to be able to make a haven
some time before midnight. But about eight p.m. it rose to a fierce gale, and,

768 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

owing to the loss of our oars, we could not keep the boat before the wind.
As we were swept past the island we made frantic attempts to get to leeward,
but it was to no purpose; we therefore resigned ourselves to the waves, the
furious rain, and the horror of the tempest. Many of your readers, no doubt,
have experienced a storm at sea; few, however, can have witnessed it in a
small boat. But our situation was more dangerous even than the latter. We
had rocks and unknown islands in our neighbourhood, and a few miles fur-
ther a mainland peopled by savages, who would have no scruple in putting
us all to death, or enslaving us. If our boat capsized, the crocodiles of the
lake would make short work of us; if we were driven on an uninhabited
island, death by starvation awaited us there. Yet despite these terrors we
were so worn out with hunger, fatigue, and anxiety, that excepting the watch-
man, we all fell asleep, though awakened now and then by his voice calling
upon the men to bale the boat out.

At daybreak the tempest and high waves subsided, and we perceived
we had drifted eight miles westward of Sosua, and to within six of the large
island of Mysomeh. We had not a morsel of food in the boat; I possessed
but a little ground coffee, and we had tasted nothing else for forty-eight
hours, yet the crew, when called to resume their rough paddles, cheerfully
responded to the cry, and did their duty manfully. A gentle breeze now set
in from the westward, which bore us quickly east of Sosua, and carried us
by two p.M. to an island which I have distinguished by the name of Refuge
Island. On exploring this place, we saw it to be about two miles in circum-
ference, to have been formerly inhabited and cultivated, and, to our great
joy, we found an abundance of green bananas, and of a small ripe fruit re-
sembling cherries in appearance and size, but having the taste of dates. To
add to this bounty, I succeeded in shooting two brace of large fat ducks, and
when darkness closed in on us, in our snug and secure camp close by a strip
of sandy beach, few people that night blessed God more fervently than we
did. We rested a day on Refuge Island, during which time we made amends
for the scarcity we had suffered; then, feeling on the second day somewhat
recovered, we set sail for Singo Island. We imagined that we were near
enough to Usukuma to venture to visit Ito Island, situated a mile south of
Singo, the slopes of which were verdant with the frondage of plantain, but,
on attempting to land, we were met by a force of natives, who rudely re-
pulsed us with stones shot from slings. Our cartridges being all spoiled by
the late rainy weather, we were unable to do more than hoist sail and speed
away to more kindly shores.

“‘ Two days afterwards our boat rounded the south-western extremity of
Wiro, a peninsula of Ukerewe, and rode on the grey waters of Speke Gulf,
the distant shore line of Usukuma bounding the south view about twenty-
two miles off. A strong headwind rising, we turned into a small bay in

RETURN TO KAGEEHI. 769

Wiro Peninsula, where we purchased meat, potatoes, milk, honey, bananas,
ripe and green, eggs, and poultry, and, while at anchor, cooked these deli-
cacies on board with such relish and appetite as only starving men can pro-
perly appreciate, grateful to Providence, and kindly disposed to all men. At
midnight, taking advantage of a favourable breeze, we set sail for Usukuma.
About three 4.m. we were nearly in mid-gulf, and here the fickle wind failed
us; after which, as if resolved we should taste to the utmost all its power, it
met us with a tempest of hailstones as large as filberts from the north-north-
east. The sky was robed in inky blackness; not a star was visible; vivid
lightnings, accompanied by loud thunder-crashes, and waves which tossed us
up and down, as though we were imprisoned in a gourd, lent their terrors to
this fearful night. Again we let the boat drift whither it might, as all our
efforts to keep on our course were useless and vain. Indeed, we began to
think that the curse of the people of Bambireh, ‘Go, and die in the Nyanza,’
might be realised after all, though I had much faith in the staunch craft
which Messenger, of Teddington, so conscientiously built.

‘*A grey, cheerless raw morning dawned at last, and we discovered
ourselyes to be ten miles north of Rwoma, and twenty miles north-west of
Kagehyi, at which latter place my camp was situated. We put forth our
best efforts, hoisted sail, and, though the wind was but little in our favour at
first, it soon rewarded our perseverance, and, merrily brushing the tall waves,
came booming astern of us, so that we sailed in triumph along the well-known
shores of Usukuma straight to camp. Shouts of welcome greeted us from
shore, when even many miles away; but, as we drew near, the shouts changed
to volleys of musketry and waving of flags, and the land seemed alive with
leaping forms of glad-hearted men, for we had been fifty-seven days away
from our people, and many a false rumour of our deaths, strengthened each
day as our absence grew longer, was now dissipated by the appearance of
the ‘ Lady Alice’ skimming joyously to her port of Kagehyi. As the keel
grounded, over fifty men bounded to the water, dragged me from the boat,
and danced me round camp on their shoulders, amid much laughter, clapping
of hands, grotesque wriggling of human forms, and Saxon hurrahing. Hay-
ing vented their gladness, they set me down, and all formed a circle, many
deep, to hear the news, which was given with less detail than I have had the
honour to write to you. So ended our exploration of Lake Victoria Nyanza.”

The second portion of Mr. Stanley’s despatches appeared in the ‘ Daily
Telegraph” a few days after the appearance of the preceding. ‘ The se-
cond portion of Mr. Stanley’s despatches,” they say, “‘ which we publish this
morning, gives very interesting particulars of his visit to, and reception
by the King of Ukerewe, and afterwards of his punishment of the natives of
Bambireh, who had behaved so treacherously towards him, as described in
the letter which we printed on Monday. Subsequently, escorted by two

xX 3

770 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

thousand spearmen provided by King Mtesa, he reached the Albert Nyanza,
on January 12th, 1876, but was prevented from navigating it, and returned
by the same route, having in his journey passed the great mountain Gambara-
gara, and seen some of the strange white race living on its summit. Further
description of this interesting tribe will be eagerly awaited. They cannot
be Albinos, for there is a whole tribe of them. Mr. Stanley says they are
not the light-hued Warundi, nor Arabs; and if they are Wahuma, the descend-
ants of Abyssinians, they would not show their singular capacity for with-
standing cold. As we have before remarked, Signor Gessi, from Colonel
Gordon’s camp, effected his exploration of the Albert three months after
Stanley’s visit, but, being always in his boat, heard nothing of our Joint
Commissioner’s excursion.

“The Geographical details of this journey are important. What Speke
and Grant named Lake Windermere now appears to be one of many deep
lakelets, composing the lacustrine River Kayera, which, in Mr. Stanley’s judg-
ment, rivals the Shimeeyu as the parent-feeder of the Victoria Nile and its
reservoirs. The thermal springs were heard of, and volcanic cones were seen
by Speke and Grant, but are now for the first time described. Our Joint
Commissioner was, however, obliged to abandon the investigation of the east-
ern side of the Albert, and diverted his course to Ujiji, which was only fif-
teen days’ journey distant when he despatched the last of these communica-
tions, which will be published on Monday next. It is dated April 24th, 1876,
and was brought by an Arab trader, passing to Unyanyembe. It may be
reasonably believed that, about the middle of last June, Mr. Stanley was safely
arrived at Ujiji, when he would find letters and newspapers, giving him intel-
ligence from Europe, the first received since the copies of ‘‘'The Daily Tele-
graph,” conveyed by the kindness of Colonel Gordon. By those papers, our
Commissioner had heard of Cameron’s voyage on the Tanganyika, and of the
supposed discovery of its outlet; but it appears that Stanley intended to
examine the matter more closely, and visit the unexplored part of the lake.
Thence it was his purpose to attack the Albert Nyanza by its western coasts,
where the country is quite unknown. But we have long ago forwarded to
Ujiji the full details and maps of Lieutenant Cameron’s journey to Nyangwe,
and across the continent, and if these reach Mr. Stanley before he sets forth
northward, it is probable that he will adjourn everything to the all-important
task of following the Lualaba down from Nyangwe, which Cameron failed to
do, and thus, in the only certain way, settling the chief of the grand prob-
lems still remaining in African geography.”

“Port of Dumo, South-Western Uganda,
August 15, 1875.
‘che Anglo-American Expedition has arrived at last in Uganda, but it

DEATH OF FREDERICK BARKER. 71

remains to inform you how we came here, and this, I think, will make a letter
second in interest to none I have yet despatched from Africa. I closed my
last budget with a description of our reception at camp by the soldiers and
porters of the Expedition. When I had given briefly the news of our adven-
turous exploration, I demanded a report of Frank Pocock of what had occur-
red during my long absence. The principal item of this report was a rumour
that had obtained considerable credence among them of the boat having been
forcibly seized by the natives of Magu two days after we had left Kagehyi,
upon which fifty soldiers had been despatched to effect our release, peace-
ably if possible, forcibly if necessary. This report was, of course, false, no-
thing of the kind having transpired anywhere near any part of the coast
washed by the waters of Speke Gulf.

“The second item was an account of our fight with the Wavuma, con-
siderably exaggerated, and in the main false, because it described the manner
of our deaths and the force that attacked us. The third was the discovery of
a conspiracy to attack our camp and capture the goods of the Expedition.
The conspirators were Kipingiri, Prince of Lutari, Kurrereh, Prince of Kay-
enzi, and the chief of Igusa. The plot, however, was discovered to the captains
of the camp by Kaduma, the prince in whose village of Kagehyi the Expe-
dition was encamped. The captains took immediate measures to defeat this
treachery, distributed ammunition to the soldiers, and sent out spies. ‘The
device, however, was nipped in the bud by the death of the chief of Igusa
and the contumacy of Korrereh. The fourth item wasa meeting held by the
soldiers and porters of the Expedition, at which it was determined that, if the
‘Bana Mkuka’ (the Great Master) did not return within fifteen days from that
date, or the beginning of the new moon, they would strike camp and march
for Unyanyembe. I arrived at camp the last day of the old moon, within
one day of the intended departure. i

“The fifth item was the death of Frederick Barker, ten days before my
arrival. Besides him, six stout fellows had died of dysentery and fever.
Young Barker’s death saddened me very much, as he was a very promising
young man, with sufficient intelligence to appreciate the work of exploration,
and likely to continue in it out of mere love for the work. I left him enjoy-
ing excellent health, and to all appearance happy. On my return, I found
a mound of stones, which his companion, Pocock, pointed out as Barker’s
grave.

“JT could not help contrasting the colour of my features with those of
my European attendant, Pocock. ‘The latter’s complexion, from living much
indoors, was of the colour of milk, while mine might be compared to a Red
Indian’s; the equatorial sun of Africa had painted my face of an intense
fiery hue, while my nose was four times peeled, and my eyes were as blood-
shot as those of the most savage Andalusian éoro that ever matodor killed.

772 LIF OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

* Sweet is the Sabbath-day to the toil-worn labourer, happy is the long
sea-tossed mariner after his arrival in port, and gladsome were the days of
calm we enjoyed after our troublous exploration of the Nyanza. The brusque
storms, and continued rain, the cheerless grey clouds, the wild waves, the
loneliness of the islands, and the inhospitality of the natives, were like mere
phases of a dream, faint phantasmagoria of the memory—so little did we
heed what was past while enjoying the luxury of this rest from our toils.
Still it added to our pleasure to be able to conjure up in the mind the varied
incidents of the long lake journey ; and they served to enliven and employ
the mind while the body enjoyed repose, like condiments quickening diges-
tion. It was a satisfaction to be able to map at will in the mind so many
countries newly discovered—such a noble extent of fresh water traversed for
the first time. As the memory flew over the lengthy track of exploration,
how fondly it gazed upon the many picturesque bays, margined by water
lilies and lotus plants, or by green walls of the slender reed-like papyrus!
With what kindly recognition it roved over those little green islands, in the
snug havens of which our boat had lain securely at anchor, when the rude
tempest without churned the face of the Nyanza into a foamy sheet! With
what curious delight it loved to recall the massive gneiss rocks towering one
above another in huge fragments, perpendicular and horizontal, as they had
been disintegrated from the parent mass by the elements!

‘¢ At one place they reminded us of the neighbourhood of Avila and the
Escurial, at another of Stonehenge; in another spot they appeared as if a
race of Titans had collected these huge blocks together, and piled them up in
their present irregular state with a view to building a regular structure, which
should defy time and the forces of nature. The memory also cherished a
kindly recollection of the rich grain-bearing plains of Ugeyeya, the soft out-
lined hills of Manyara, the tall dark woods and low shores opposite N amunji
Island, as well as of the pastoral plateaux and slopes of Uvuma and Bugeyeya.
But most of all it clung to Uganda, that beautiful land, with its intelligent
king, and no less remarkable people. Here our minds received the deepest
impressions, and therefore retained the fondest recollections. For in Uganda,
imagination, that had hitherto been hushed to somnolence by the irredeem-
able state of wildness and savagery witnessed between Zanzibar and Usu-
kuma, glowed into warm life, and from the present Uganda painted a future
dressed in the robe of civilisation; it saw each gentle hill crowned by a happy
village and spired church, from which the bells sounded the call to a Gospel
service ; it saw the hill slopes prolific with the fruits of horticulture, and the
valleys waving fields of grain; it saw the land smiling in affluence and plenty,
its bays crowded with the dark hulls of trading vessels; it heard the sounds
of craitsmen at their work, the roar of manufactories and foundries, and the
ever-buzzing noise of enterprising industry.

MESSAGE FROM KING RWOMA. 173

‘“‘ What wonder, then, if intercourse with the King of Uganda and his
people induced imagination to paint this possible—nay, probable, picture—
that memory should have had engraven deep on it the features of the land
and the friendliness and hospitality of its people? As we follow these flights
of fancy, we are reminded also almost too vividly of the scenes of terror and
misfortune we have lately gone through—of our adventure with a flotilla of
canoes manned by drunken natives, who persisted in following us and enter-
taining us at sea with their beer and intrusive hospitality; of our escape from
an ambuscade of Wageyeya; of our fight with the Wavuma and battle of
Kajuri; of the miserable churlishness of many a tribe, of days of starvation,
tempestuous nights, and stormy days. ‘These, and a hundred others, now
happily past, treasured only in the recollection and my journal, served but to
heighten the enjoyment of our rest and to inspire in my heart and in those of
my semi-barbarous co-mates in peril a feeling of devout thankfulness to Divine
Providence for our protection.

‘“‘T deemed it not only necessary, but politic, to remain inactive for some
days, for I hoped that the dilatory Grand Admiral Magassa would appear
with his canoes. Indeed, I could suggest no reason, despite our experience
at Bambireh, why he should not arrive. He had been to Usukuma on a visit
some months previous to my advent in the country, and he was accompanied
by two of my best men, who of course would do their utmost to stimulate
him to make renewed efforts to reach our camp. But when nine days had
passed, and Magassa had not made his appearance, it became obvious to us
all that he would not come. Preparations were therefore made to march
overland to Uganda along the lake shore.

‘As we were almost ready to start there came an embassy to camp from
Rwoma, King of Southern Uzinza or Miveri, bearing a message from him to
me. ‘This ran according to the interpreter, as follows :—‘ Rwoma sends sa-
laams to the white man. He does not want the white man’s cloth, beads or
wire, and the white man must not pass through his country. Rwoma does
not want to see him, or any other man with long red hair down to his shoulders,
white face, and big red eyes. Rwoma is not afraid of him, but if the white
man will come near his country Rwoma and Mirambo will fight him.’ Here
indeed, was a dilemma. The lake journey to Uganda was denied us, because
Magassa proved recreant to the trust reposed in him by Mtesa; the land route
now became impossible, because Rwoma forbad it. We knew enough of the
latter to be aware that he was able to repulse two such Expeditions as ours.
He possessed one hundred and fifty muskets of his own, and had several
thousand spearmen and bowmen. Besides, Mirambo was but a day’s march
from Urima, and only three days from our camp.

“To force a passage through Rwoma’s country was therefore out of the
question. Even if the feat were possible, it would be bad policy, because the

774 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, L.L.D.

party would lose too many valuable lives, without which the Expedition would
become a wreck. What was to be done then ? Turn away from the Albert
Nyanza, and direct our course for the Tanganyika, leaving the former lake
to be explored by Gordon’s officers? Who, then, would explore the debat-
able land lying between the Albert Nyanza and the Tanganyika? If canoes
could be obtained anywhere else than Uganda, the lake route would at once
resolve the problem. But what country or king could supply me with thirty
or forty large craft on demand other than Uganda? I instituted inquiries
respecting the maritime power of each tribe and nation bordering on Speke
Gulf, by which I obtained some curious statistics; but the most valuable
result of my inquiries was the information that Lukongeh, king of Ukerewe,
would be the most likely person to do me the necessary service.

‘“‘ Falling seriously ill, the result of exposure on the lake, by weakness
added to the present anxiety, I was obliged to send Frank Pocock and Prince
Kaduma to the King of Ukerewe with a suitable gift to request the loan of
forty canoes to convey the Expedition to Uganda along the Uzinza coast.
After an absence of twelve days Frank and Kaduma returned with fifty
canoes and some three hundred Wakerewe, but they came according to the
king’s instructions to convey the Expedition to Ukerewe. The king’s brother,
who had charge of the canoes, was told by me that if Lukongeh gave me all
his land, and slaves and cattle, the Expedition should never go to Ukerewe,
that Lukongeh must lend me canoes to go by my road, and no other, and
that I was going myself to see Lukongeh, and he (the king’s brother) might
return to Ukerewe as soon as he pleased. Being sufficiently restored to
health I set sail for Ukerewe, and on the second day from Kagehyi landed
near Lukongeh’s capital. Not ignorant of the importance of first impressions,
I was furnished this time with proper gifts and the choicest apparel my ward-
robe afforded, as well as being equipped with the best arms the Expedition
possessed.

““The second day after our arrival was fixed for audience day. When
the hour had come, the crew of the ‘Lady Alice’ were mustered, dressed in
their smartest, and the bugle sounded the order to march. Ten minutes
brought us to a plain, on a knoll in which Lukongeh was seated in state, sur-
rounded by hundreds of bowmen and spearmen. The king, an amiable,
light-coloured young man, was conspicuous by his robes of red and yellow
silk, and damask cloth, and though he did nothing at first but good-naturedly
stare at me, I perceived that he was a man well disposed to assist me. A
private message beforehand had informed him of the object of my visit, but
my interpreter requested that I should be permitted to state it in person to
himself and a few select chiefs. Assenting to this request, he stepped for-
ward to a pile of stones a short distance off, whither he invited his most select
courtiers and my party. Here the object was stated clearly, with everything

HOSPITALITY OF KING LUKONGEH. 775

that concerned it, the number of canoes required, the distance we had to
travel, and the presents that were to be given by me to the king should
he assist me. The king listened attentively, was very affable and kind,
depreciated the value of his canoes, said that they were rotten, unfit for a
long voyage; he feared that if he gave them to me I should lose a great
many things, and then I would certainly blame him and say, ‘Ah! Lukongeh
is bad; he gave me rotten canoes that I might lose my people and property.
I replied, that if I lost people and property I might blame the canoes, but
I should certainly not think of blaming him. At the end of the conference
he said that he would give me as many canoes as I wanted, but in the mean-
time the white man’s party must rest a few days and taste of Lukongeh’s
cheer.

“Tt were well, perhaps to enter here into a description of Ukerewe, its
king and people, and into its annals, which are very curious and instructive,
and well explain the history of all the black races of Africa from Kaffraria to
Nubia; but I have no time nor space to do them justice. On a future occa-
sion, if nothing between happens, I promise to attempt the subject.

“Tukongeh, the very amiable King of Ukerewe, was no niggard in his
hospitality. Beeves, goats, chickens, milk, eggs, bananas and plantains, ripe
and green, came in abundance to our camp; neither were large supplies of
native beer wanting to cheer the crew during our stayin the land. Finally, on
the fifteenth day, Lukongeh came to my tent with his chief councillor, and im-
parted to me his secret instructions and advice. He said he had ordered fifty
canoes to depart with me to Usukuma, but he doubted much whether that
number would leave his country, as his people had heard it reported that I
was going to Uganda, which land no one was willing to visit. As he desired
to assist me to the utmost of his power, he had been obliged to have recourse
to a little strategy. He had caused it to be reported that he had prevailed
on me to come and live in his country; it was therefore necessary for me to
second his diplomacy. On reaching Usukuma, as soon as all the canoes had
been drawn on shore I was to seize them and secure the paddles, and, having
rendered the Wakerewe unable to return, I was to explain to them what I
wanted. Having promised that I would implicitly obey him, he sent his
Prime Minister and two favourites to assist me in the project; and after an
earnest of what I had promised was given to him, we were permitted to
depart.

“Qn arriving at our camp in Usukuma, I found only twenty-three
canoes had come ashore; but though these were quite inadequate to convey
the Expedition at one time, I resolved to make the best I could of even this
small number, and accordingly whispered orders to the captains of the Expedi-
tion to muster up their men and seize the canoes and paddles. This was
done, and the native craft drawn far on land; but the Wakerewe, on being

776 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

told why we had so acted, declared war against us, and, being as strong in
numbers as we were, besides being armed with bows and sheaves of arrows,
were very likely to do some damage if I did not take energetic measures to
prevent them. Accordingly every soldier of the Expedition was summoned
by bugle sound to prepare for battle, and having seen each one properly
equipped, I drew the men in line, and quietly charging on the Wakerewe
with the muzzles of our guns, forcibly ejected them out of camp and the
vicinity of the port. A few harmless shots were fired, but the people of
Lukongeh suffered no other injuries than a few sore ribs from our gun-muz-
zles. On the third day after this affair I embarked two-thirds of the Expedi-
tion and property in the canoes, and five days afterwards arrived safely at
Refuge Island, two days’ sail from Bambireh, and half way to Uganda.

“The mainland was about six miles off; and as, on my solitary journey
in the boat, the natives of the mainland had been so badly disposed, I built a
strong camp on the rocks, taking advantage of each high point as positions
for sharpshooters, so that the post, during my absence, would be impregnable.
I then returned to Usukuma, leaving fifty soldiers to defend my island, and
after an absence of fifteen days saw Kagehyi once more. I now prepared
myself to defeat the projects of Kaduma, Prince of Kagehyi, who was more
than half inclined to second his brother Kipingiri in seizing on me and hold-
‘ ing me as his prisoner until I should pay a heavy ransom, probably half of
our entire property. I spoke Kaduma fair each day, made small presents to
his favourite wife uptil the day came for departing, as I sincerely hoped for
ever, from Kagehyi and Usukuma. On that day Kaduma and Kipingiri
came to the water’s edge with a strong force, but, pretending to see nothing
of their evil intentions, we made merry and laughed while we loaded the
canoes and embarked the men. When the work was nearly concluded, I
proceeded leisurely to the boat, and shoved off from shore with my guns and
those of the boat’s crew ready. Kaduma, seeing that I was safe, went away,
leaving Kipingiri to act as he pleased; and this treacherous man, perceiving
himself covered with our guns, permitted the last canoe to depart without
molesting it. Having seen that all was as it should be, I waved the baffled
chiefs a last farewell, and followed our miniature fleet. The rotten canoes,
buffeted by storms and waves, fast gave out, so that, on arriving again at
Refuge Island, we had only fifteen left. Nothing had occurred on the island
to mar my joy at seeing my people all safe, but much had happened to
improve it.

“The King of Itawagumba, and Kijaju, his father, Sultan of all the
islands from Ukereweh to Ihangiro, perceiving our islet too well garrisoned
and too strong for invasion, made friends with us, and provided the soldiers
with abundance of food at little cost. At my request also they furnished us
with a guide from Ihangiro, who was to accompany us to Uganda; they also

MESSAGE TO BAMBIREH. 777

sold to us three canoes. After a few days’ rest on Refuge Island, we pro-
ceeded once again on our voyage, and halted at Mahyiga Island, five miles
south of Bambireh, and one mile south of Iroba, which lies between Mahyiga
and Bambireh. Remembering the bitter injuries I had received from the
savages of Bambireh, and the death by violence and starvation we had so
narrowly escaped, I resolved, unless the natives made amends for their cruelty
and treachery, to make war on them, and for this purpose I camped on Mah-
yiga Island, sending the canoes back for the remainder of the Expedition,
which in a few days safely arrived.

*“‘ T then despatched a message to the natives of Bambireh, to the effect
that, if they delivered their king, and the two principals under him, to my
hands, I would make peace with them. At the same time, not trusting quite
the success of this, I sent a party to summon the King of Iroba, who very
willingly came, with three of his chiefs, to save his people from the horrors
of war. Upon their arrival I put them in chains, and told the canoemen that
the price of their freedom was the capture of the King of Bambireh and his
two principal chiefs. The natives of Bambireh treated my message with con-
tempt, but the next morning the men of Iroba brought the King of Bam-
bireh to me, who was at once chained heavily, while the King of Ivoba and
his people were released, with a promise that neither his island nor people
would be touched by us.

*¢ A message was also sent to Antari, King of Ahingiro, on the mainland,
to whom Bambireh was tributary, requesting him to redeem his island from
war. Antari sent his son and two chiefs to treat with us, who told us many
falsehoods, and had treachery written on their faces. They brought a few
bunches of bananas, as an earnest of what the king intended to give; but I
thought that a bird in my hand would be worth a thousand false promises,
and accordingly his son and his two companions were detained as hostages
for the appearance of the two chiefs of Bambireh. In the meantime seven
large canoes from Mtesa, King of Uganda, en route to Usukuma, to convey an
Arab and his goods to Uganda, appeared at Iroba. The chief of the party
was asked not to proceed to Usukuma until we had taken our Expedition te
Uganda. This man, Sabadu, informed me that Magassa, the dilatory Grand
Admiral, had returned with the boat’s oars to Mtesa, and the news that I and
my crew were dead, for which he had been chained, but subsequently released
and sent by land, with a large party, to hunt up certain news of me. Sabadu
was induced, after a little persuasion, to accede to my request.

“Two days after his arrival Sabadu sent his Wagaida to Bambireh, to
procure food. The savages would not give them any, but attacked them,
wounding eight and killing a chief of Kattawas, a neighbour of Antari, which
gaye me another strong reason why Bambireh should be punished. Accord-
ingly, next morning I prepared a force of two hundred and eighty men, fifty

¥3

778 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

muskets, with two hundred and thirty spearmen, and placed them in eighteen
canoes. About noon we set off, and, as Bambireh was eight miles distant,
we did not reach the island until two p.m. The natives of the place seemed
to know by instinct that this was to be a day of trouble, for every height
had its look-out ready, and when they saw the force I had brought with me,
no doubt many of them regretted that they had been so prone to attack
peaceable strangers. Through my field-glass I observed messengers running
fast to a plantain grove that stood on a low hill commanding a clear open
view of a little port at the southern end of the island, from which I concluded
that the main force of the savages was hidden behind the trees. Calling
the canoes together, I told the chiefs to follow my boat and steer exactly
as I did, and by no means to attempt to land, as I did not intend that a
single soul with me should be hurt.

‘“‘Y wished to punish Bambireh, not to weaken myself; besides, if a sub-
ject of Mtesa was lost, how should I present myself to him? Accordingly, I
rowed straight to the port, the canoes keeping up closely; and we became
hidden from the view of those in the plantain grove and of all the look-outs;
then, turning west, we skirted close to the land for a mile until we came to
a cape, after rounding which we arrived in view of a noble bay, into which
we steered. By this manceuvre I managed to get behind the enemy, who
stood revealed in all his strength. Perceiving that the savages of Bambireh
were too strong for me to attack in the plantain grove, I made for the
opposite shore of the bay, where there were bare slopes, covered with short
green grass. The enemy, perceiving my intention to disembark, rose from
their coverts, and ran along the hills to meet us, which was precisely what I
wished they would do, and accordingly I ordered my force to paddle slowly,
so as to give them time. In half an hour the savages were all assembled in
knots and groups; and after approaching within one hundred yards of the
beach I formed my line of battle, the American and English flags waving as
our ensigns. Having anchored each canoe so as to turn its broadside to the
shore, I ordered a volley to be fired at one group, which numbered about
fifty, and the result was several killed and many wounded. The savages,
perceiving our aim, and the danger of standing together, separated them-
selves, and advanced to the water’s edge, slinging stones and shooting arrows.
I then ordered the canoes to advance within fifty yards of the shore, and to
fire at close quarters.

‘‘ After an hour the savages saw that they could not defend themselves,
and retreated up the slope, where they continued still exposed to our bullets.
I then caused the canoes to come together, and told them to advance in a
bedy to the beach, as if about to disembark. This caused the enemy to
make an effort to repulse our landing, and, accordingly, hundreds came down
with their spears on the launch. When they were close enough, the bugle

DEPARTURE FROM MAHYIGA ISLAND. 779

sounded a halt, and another volley was fired into the spearmen, which had
such a disastrous effect that they retired far away, and our work of chastise-
ment was consummated. Not many cartridges were fired, but as the savages
were so exposed, on a slope covered with only short grass, and as the sun in
the afternoon was directly behind us, and in their faces, their loss was great.
Forty-two were counted on the field, lying dead, and over a hundred were
seen to retire wounded, while on our side only two men suffered contusions
from stones slung at us. I had now not only the king and one chief of Bam-
bireh in my power, but I had the son of Antari, and an important chief of
his also, besides having punished the Bambireh natives most severely. When
our force saw that the savages were defeated, the chiefs begged earnestly
that I would permit them to land, and destroy the people altogether; but I
refused, saying that I had not come to do that, but to punish them for their
treachery and attempted murder of myself and the boat’s crew, when we
had put faith in their professed friendship. It was dark when we arrived at
our camp, but at the sound of our bugle lights flew all over Island-camp,
where we presently arrived, and were received with shouts and songs of
triumph.

“The next morning, more canoes haying arrived from Uganda, I
embarked the entire Expedition, and sailed from MahyigaIsland. Our fleet
of canoes now numbered thirty-two, and, as we steered close to Bambireh, I
had an opportunity of observing the effect of the punishment on the natives,
and I was gratified to see that their boldness and audacity were completely
crushed, for one bullet put to flight over a hundred of them, whereas the day
before they had bravely stood before a volley. Others who came down to
the shore begged us to go away, and not to hurt them any more, which gave
me an opportunity to preach to them that they had brought the punishment

‘on their own heads for attempting the murder of peaceful strangers. In the
evening we camped on the mainland, in the territory of King Kattawa, who
treated us most royally for avenging the murder of his chief by the people of
Bambireh. After stopping with him a day we camped on Musira Island,
where the Waganda, under the Grand Admiral Magassa, so shamefully
deserted me. This island is nearly opposite Makongo, where the natives had
thought to attack us on our first journey. But the fame of what I had done
at Bambireh induced them on this occasion to bring me five head of cattle,
four goats, and one hundred bunches of bananas, besides honey, milk, and
eggs, as a propitiatory offering. Kayozza, the King of Uzongora, also sent
word to me that he had given his people orders to give me whatever I
desired, even to one hundred cattle. I told him I needed none of his beasts,
but if he would lend me ten canoes to carry my people to Uganda I would
consider him as a friend. Ten canoes were accordingly brought the next
day to me, with their crews.

780 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘“‘Sabadu, the Waganda chief, earnestly requested that I would fight
Kayozza, as he had committed several murderous acts on the Waganda; but
I refused, saying that attacking black people when they kept the peace was
not the custom with white people, and that I would not have fired upon the
Bambireh folk had they shown that they were sorry for what they had done
to me, with which Sabadu was satisfied. Five days after leaving Bambireh
the Expedition landed and camped at Dumo Uganda, which is two days’
march north of the Kagera River, and two south of the Katonga. This camp
I selected for the Expedition, because it was in an intermediate situation,
whence I could start on a north-west, west, or south-west course for the
Albert Nyanza, after ascertaining from Mtesa which was best. For between
the Victoria Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza are very powerful tribes, the
Wasagara, Wa Ruanda, and Wasangora especially, who are continually at
war with Mtesa.

‘Our loss on the lake during our travel by water from Usukuma to
Dumo Uganda, a distance of nearly three hundred and twenty miles, was six
men drowned, five guns, and one case of ammunition. Three of the riding
asses also died from being bound in the canoes, which leaves me now but
one. Ten of our canoes became wrecks also. The time occupied by the
lake journey was fifty-six days; but as two hundred miles of it had been
traversed three times, it will be seen that we travelled in those days a great
distance over water. During fifty-one days the corn I had brought from Usu-
kuma in the canoes was almost entirely the means of sustaining the Expe-
dition; for though we received food from Itawaguemba and Kijaju of Romeh,
we had it because it was their good-will that gave it us. Excepting twenty
doti of cloth presented to these two kings, no more was used, so that we
lived nearly two months on the bale which purchased the corn in Usukuma.
Ihave every reason to feel gratified at the result of this long journey by
water, though the loss of my men and guns gives me serious regret, and the
death of all but one of the riding asses is a calamity. On the other hand,
had I tried to force my way overland through Mirambo and Rwoma, I should
have been either killed or a ruined fugitive.

‘¢ After arranging the camp I intend to visit Mtesa once more, who may
be able to give me guides to the Albert Nyanza, for doubtless he has several
men who have traded with the natives bordering that lake. My Huropean
attendant, Frank Pocock, enjoys his health amazingly, and seems to have
become quite acclimatized to Africa.”

“‘Kawanga, l'rontier Village between Unyoro and Uganda,

Central Africa, Jan. 18, 1876.
‘Six days ago the Anglo-American Expedition under my command,
with two thousand choice spearmen of Uganda under ‘General’ Samboozi, were

AT KAWANGA. 781

encamped at Unyampaka Unyoro, on the shore of the Albert Nyanza. Mtesa,
Emperor of Uganda, faithfully fulfilled his promise by furnishing me with
force sufficient to pierce the hostile country of Kabba Rega, and to pene-
trate to the Albert Nyanza, near which we were encamped three days.

“But though we were successful so far as to reach the lake, drink of its
waters, take a couple of astronomical observations, and procure much inform-
ation respecting the contiguous countries, I soon perceived that exploration
of the Albert was out of the question, unless I then and there resolved to
terminate my journey. For having penetrated by force through Kabba
Rega’s country it would have been folly to expect that two thousand two
hundred men could long occupy Unyampaka in the face of the thousands
which Kabba Rega, King of Unyoro, and Mtambuko, King of Ankori, would
array against them. ver since Sir Samuel Baker and his Egyptian force
provoked the hostility of the successor to Kamrasi, Unyoro is a closed country
to any man of a pale complexion, be he Arab, Turk, or European. Besides,
Gordon’s officers in the north frequently engage the Wangoro wherever they
are met, and thus the hate which Kabba Rega bears to Europeans is not
diminishing. South of Unyoro extends the country of Ankori, inhabited by
a powertul tribe, whose numbers have generally been found sufficient to give
Mtesa measure for measure and blow for blow, and whose ferocity and sin-
gular aversion to strangers have compelled all trading caravans to keep clear
of them.

‘Upon considering then the chances of success along the various routes
to Lake Albert, it became too evident to me that, unaided by a force of Wa-
ganda, I could not so much as reach it, and that even with the Waganda,
unless the emperor assisted me with fifty thousand or sixty thousand, it would
be almost hopeless to expect that we could hold our ground long enough to
enable me to set out on a two months’ voyage of exploration, and find on my
return the Expedition still intact and safe. On representing these ideas to
the emperor, he and his chicfs assured me that two thousand men were amply
sufficient, as Kabba Rega would not dare lift a spear against Waganda,
because it was he (Mtesa), who had seated Kabba Rega on the throne of
Kamrasi. Though not quite convinced by the assurances Mtesa gave me
that there would be no trouble, I entreated him no further, but accepted
thankfully General Samboozi and two thousand men as an escort.

“Our march across Uganda W. and N. W. was uninterrupted by any
event to mar the secret joy I felt in being once more on the move to new
fields of exploration. We made a brave show of spears and guns while mov-
ing across the easy swells of pastoral Western Uganda. Game was also
abundant, and twenty-seven harte-beests fell victims to my love of hunting
and our necessities.

“Haying arrived at the frontier of Unyoro, we made all warlike pre-

LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Sul
(oe)
bo

parations, and on January 5th entered Kabba Rega’s territory. The people
fled before us, leaving their provisions in their haste behind them, of which
we made use. On the 9th we camped at the base of the tremendous moun-
tain called Kabuga, at an altitude of five thousand five hundred feet above
the sea. Hast of the low ridge on which we pitched our tents the Kalonga
River was rounding from the north to the east on its course towards Lake
Victoria; and west of the camp the Rusango River boomed hoarse thunder
from its many cataracts and rapids as it rushed westward to Lake Albert.
From one of the many spurs of Kabuga we obtained a passing glimpse of the
king of mountains, Gambaragara, which attains an altitude of between thir-
teen thousand and fifteen thousand feet above the ocean. Snow is fre-
quently seen on it, though not perpetual.

“Upon its summit dwell the chief medicine men of Kabba Rega, a peo-
ple of European complexion. Some half dozen of them I have seen, and
was reminded of what Mukamba, King of Uzige, told Livingstone and my-
self respecting white people who lived far north of his country. They are a
handsome race, and some of the women are singularly beautiful, Their hair
is kinky, and inclined to brown in colour. Their features are regular, lips
thin, but their noses, though well-shaped, are somewhat thick at the point.
Several of their descendants are scattered throughout Unyoro, Ankori, and
Ruanda, and the royal family of the latter powerful country are distin-
guished, I am told, by their pale complexions. The Queen of the Sosua
Islands in the Victoria Nyanza is a descendant of this tribe. Whence came
this singular people I have had no means of ascertaining, except from the
Waganda, who say that the first King of Unyoro gave them the land around
the base of Gambaragara Mountain, wherein through many vicissitudes they
have continued to reside for centuries. On the approach of an invading host
they retreat to the summit of the mountain, the intense cold of which defies
the most determined of their enemies. ‘Two years ago the Kmperor Mtesa
despatched his Prime Minister with about one hundred thousand men to
Gambaragara and Usongoro; but though the great General of Uganda occu-
pied the slopes and ascended a long way in pursuit, he was compelled by the
inclement climate to descend without having captured more than a few black
slaves, the pale-faced tribe having retreated to their impregnable fortress at
the summit.

‘“‘'The mountain, it appears, is an extinct volcano, for on the top of it is
a crystal clear lake, about five hundred yards in length, from the centre of
which rises a column-like rock to a great height. A rim of stone, like a
wall, surrounds the summit, within which are several villages, where the
principal medicine man and his people reside. Two men of this tribe, who
might be taken at first glance for Greeks in white shirts, accompanied Seka-
jugu, a sub-chief under Samboozi, and our Expedition, to Lake Albert and

THE WHITE MEN OF GAMBARAGARA, 783

back to Uganda; but they were extremely incommunicative, and nothing of
the history of their nation could I obtain from them. Their diet consists of
milk and bananas, and they were the only men of rank in the entire force
under Samboozi who possessed more than two milch cows to supply them
with milk while on the march. Sekajugu, to whom they were friendly, and
under whom they had enrolled themselves, states that they rebelled against
Kabba Rega, and to avoid his vengeance sought refuge with himself. Ano-
ther specimen of these white-complexioned people I saw at the Court of
Mtesa in the person of Prince Namionju, the. brother of the reigning King
Nyika of Gambaragara. When I first met this man I took him for a young
Arab of Cairo who had chosen to reside in Uganda for some unknown rea-
son, and it was not until I had seen several specimens of the same pale colour
that I could believe that there existed a large and numerous tribe of such a
singular hue in the heart of Africa, remote from the track of all travellers and
trading caravans.

‘¢ Africa is certainly the ‘haunt of light-headed fable,’ romance, and
superstition, but I shall believe ever hence that there exists some slight mo-
dicum of truth in all the statements and revelations of these simple folk. On
the shores of the Victoria in Usukuma, I heard of a people far north possess-
ing very large dogs of such fierce nature that they were often taken to war
against the enemies of their masters. These people I subsequently ascer-
tained to be the Wakedi, a tribe living north of Usoga. The same tribe also,
in their various wars with Uganda, have frequently been found wearing iron
armour! Again, about four years ago, when exploring the Tanganyika with
Livingstone, I heard there existed a white race north of Uzige. At that time
Livingstone and myself laughed at the absurdity of a white people living in
the heart of Africa, and ascribed the report to the light-brown colour of the
Warundi. Now, i have not only seen the country of these white people, but
several specimens of themselves at various periods and in different places.
Were it not for the negroid hair, I should say they were Europeans or some
light-coloured Asiatics, such as Syrians or Armenians. Apropos of these
singular creatures, I have heard that the first King of Kisbacca, a country
south-west of Karagwe, was an Arab, whose scimitar is still preserved with
great reverence by the present reigning family.

“Our further passage to Lake Albert was along the southern bank of the
Rusango River, which winds in and out among deep mountain folds, and
rushes headlong on its course in roaring cataracts and brawling rapids. Ten
hours’ swift marching enabled us to cross an uninhabited tract of Ankori and
emerge again in Unyoro, in the district of Kitagwenda, which is well popu-
lated and cultivated. Our sudden appearance on the scene, with drums beat-
ing, colours flying, and bugles blowing, drove the natives in a panic from
their fields and their houses, in such hot haste that many of our people found

784 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the family porridge still cooking, and great pots full of milk standing ready
for the evening meal.

‘Tt had been previously agreed upon between ‘ General’ Samboozi and
myself that if the inhabitants chose to permit our peaceful passage through
Unyoro, no violence was to be done to any person. But at Kitagwenda we
found ourselves in possession of a populous and thriving district, with not a
single soul near us to give any information. Lake Albert, on the evening of
January 9th, was about three miles due west, and it behoved us, that we
might not be surprised, to obtain information as to the feelings of the country
towards us. Samboozi was clever enough to perceive the position, and he
consented to send out two hundred men next morning as scouts, to capture a
few men, through whom we could communicate with the Chief of Kitagwenda,
and satisfy him that, if unmolested, we had no hostile intention, but that, if
permitted to reside two months, we would pay him in cloth, beads, or wire, for
whatever we consumed.

‘The next day was a halt, and the scouts brought in five natives, who
were sent with a peaceful message to the chief. This individual did not deign
to answer us, though’ we knew he resided on the summit of a mountain close
by. On the 11th we moved our army to within one mile of the edge of the
plateau, a thousand feet below which was the Albert Nyanza. Here we con-
structed our camp on the morning of the 11th, and, receiving no word from
the chief of the Kitagwenda or of Unyampaka, sent five hundred Waganda
and fifty of the Anglo-American Expedition to seek out a locality for a fenced
post, and to borrow the use of all canoes along the coast at the base of the
plateau on which we were camped. In about three hours the reconnoitring
party returned, bringing information that they had only succeeded in securing
five small canoes, too small to be of any service to us, and that the alarm had
already spread far along the shores that a large force of strangers had arrived
at the lake for war purposes.

“The 12th was spent by me in endeavouring to induce Samboozi to
move to the lake, that we might build a fortified place and put the boat ‘ Lady
Alice’ together, but it was in vain. The natives had by this recovered their
wits, and, strongly reinforced from the neighbouring districts, they were
preparing themselves for an effort to punish us for our temerity. Once we
sallied out ofour camp for a battle; but they, while withdrawing, told us
mockingly to keep our strength for the next day. Unable to persuade Sam-
boozi to move his camp or stay longer than the next day, there remained for
us only to return to Uganda, and accordingly, on the night of the 12th, it
was resolved to return and try and discover some other country where the
Expedition could camp in safety, while I explored the lake in the ‘Lady
Alice.” On the morning of the 13th we set out on our return from the Albert
in order of battle; five hundred spearmen in front, five hundred for the rear-

RE-ENTRANCEH OF UGANDA. 785

guard, and one thousand spearmen and the Expedition in the centre. Whether
it was our compact column that prevented an attack or not I cannot say;
we were, however, permitted to leave unmolested, the natives merely closing
in on our rear to snatch stragglers. On the 14th, as we entered Benga in
Unyoro, they rushed out from some woods to attack us, but a few rounds
of ball cartridge dispersed them. On the 18th we re-entered Uganda.

** However slightingly your readers may think of our trip to the Albert,
honestly I do not suppose I have ever been guilty of such a hare-brained
attempt as this before. I sometimes think, though it would have been entirely
contrary to orders, that it would have been better to have launched the boat
and to have explored the lake, leaving the Expedition to take care of itself,
to perish, or survive my absence. ButI felt it would be too great a pity,
and that if one road was closed there might probably be others open; so that
after much deliberation with myself I resolved to return, and endeavour to
discover a part of the shore more amenable to reason and open to friendly
gifts than hostile Unyoro or Ankori.

“Though we made strict inquiries, we could glean no news of Gordon
or his steamers; the natives of Unyampaka had never heard of a ship or any
vessel larger than a canoe; and it is impossible that a vessel so singular as a
steamer could approach near Usongora without the news of such an apparition
becoming notorious.

“The geographical knowledge we have been able to acquire by our for-
cible push to the Albert Nyanza is considerable. The contour of the plateau
separating the great reservoirs of the Nile, the Victoria and Albert Nyanzas,
the structure of the mountains and ridges, the course of the watersheds, and
that of the rivers Katongo and Rusango, have been revealed. The great
mountain Gambaragara, and its singular people, have been discovered, besides
a portion of a deep gulf of the Albert, which I have taken the liberty to call,
in honour of her Royal Highness the Princess, Beatrice Gulf. This, almost
a lake of itself, is formed by the promontory of Usongora, which runs south-
west some thirty miles from a point ten geographical miles north of Unyam-
paka.

“The eastern shore of the gulf is formed by the countries of Irangara,
Unyampaka, Buhuju, and Mpororo, which coast line runs a nearly 8.8.W.
course. Between Mpororo and Usongora extend the islands of the maritime
State of Utumbi. West of Usongorais Ukonju, on the western coast of Lake
Albert, reputed to be peopled by cannibals. North of Ukonju is the great
country of Ulegga. Coming to the eastern shore of Lake Albert, we have
Ruanda running from Mpororo on the east to Ukonju on the west, occupy-
ing the whole of the south and south-east coast of Lake Albert. North of
Unyampaka, on the east side, is Irangara, and north of Irangara the district of
Toro. Unyoro occupies the whole of the east side from the Murchison Falls

ZO

786 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the Victoria Nile to Mpororo, for Unyampaka, Toro, Bubuju, and Irangara,
are merely districts of Unyuro. The great promontory of Usongora, which
half shuts in Beatrice Gulf, is tributary to Kabba Rega, though governed by
Nyika, King of Gambaragara.

“‘Usongoro is the great salt-field whence all the surrounding countries
obtain their salt. It is, from all accounts, a.very land of wonders, but the
traveller desirous of exploring it should have a thousand Sniders to protect
him, for the natives, like those of Ankori, care for nothing but milk and
goatskins. Among the wonders credited to it are a mountain emitting ‘fire
and stones,’ a salt lake of considerable extent, several hills of rock salt, a
large plain encrusted thickly with salt and alkali, a breed of very large dogs
of extraordinary ferocity, and a race of such long-legged natives that ordinary
mortals regard them with surprise and awe. The Waganda, who have
invaded their country for the sake of booty, ascribe a cool courage to these
people against which all their numbers and well-known expertness with
shield and spear were of little avail. They are, besides, extremely clannish,
and allow none of their tribe to intermarry with strangers. Their diet con-
sists solely of milk. Their sole occupation consists in watching their cows,
of which they have an immense number; and it was to capture some of their
herds that the Emperor of Uganda sent one hundred thousand men, under
his Prime Minister, to Usongora. The expedition was successful, for by all
accounts the Waganda returned to their country with about twenty thousand
head; but so dearly were they purchased by the loss of human life that it is
doubtful whether such a raid will again be attempted to Usongora.

‘T propose to rest here a couple of days, and then proceed to Karagwe
to discover another road to Lake Albert.

““P.S.—Our camp on Lake Albert in Unyampaka was situated in E,
longitude 31° 24’ 30” by observation, and N. latitude 0° 25’ 0” by account.
The promontory of Usongora, due west, was about 15 miles.”

The last instalment of Stanley’s despatches at this time appeared in
the Telegraph” of August 14th, 1876. He thus writes: — :

‘* Kafurro, Arab Depot, near Rumanika’s Capital, Karagwe,
Central Africa, March 26th, 1876.

“ Before parting with ‘General’ Samboozi, I received some fresh unkind-
ness from him, which made another cause of complaint to add to that of his
refusal to assist in building a fenced camp on Lake Albert. The ‘ General,’
no doubt perceiving that his hopes of reward from me were very slim, under-
took to pay himself, and accordingly refused to return three porters’ loads ot
beads given him for carriage, appropriating them for his own benefit. By
such a proceeding he became guilty of theft, and, what is worse in Uganda,
of disrespect and misbehavior to the emperor’s guest, thus laying himself

ARRIVAL IN KARAGWE. 787

open to the severest penalties. My letter of complaint was no sooner received
by the emperor, than a force of musketeers were despatched under Saruti,
its chief, who despoiled ‘General’ Samboozi of cattle, wives, children, slaves,
and every article he possessed ; and the ‘General’ himself was seized, bound,
and carried in chains to the emperor. Mtesa also sent a series of messages
after me, imploring me to return, and promising me Sekibobo with fifty thou-
sand men, and Mquenda with forty thousand more, to escort me back again
to Lake Albert, giving me at the same time a solemn assurance that these
chiefs should defend the camp until I returned from my voyage of explor-
ation. But, though I almost wept from sheer vexation, and was extremely
sorry to refuse such a generous offer, I respectfully declined relying upon the
Waganda any more; and wrote back to that effect as fast as each message
came in. Besides, I was too far south, being encamped on the north banks
of the Kagera River, when I first learned Mtesa’s intentions; and to return
from the Kagera to the Katonga, and then march back again to Lake Albert,
would have occupied three months, while, should Sekibobo and Mquenda
prove as faithless as Samboozi, I might find, on my return to Unyampaka
from the Lake, that the Waganda and the Expedition had flown. I had
many other strong reasons for persisting in my refusal; and though I pro-
secuted my march to Karagwe, it was with a sad heart I bade farewell to my
hopes of exploring Lake Albert from the east side.

“Until I arrived in Karagwe I was daily encouraged with the reports of
simple natives that a country lay behind Mpororo, where we would be received
as friends; but on inquiry of the gentle, sweet-tempered Rumanika, I was
informed that the friendly country was Utumbi, which was quite inaccessible,
owing to the people of Mpororo, who would not even let his own people enter
their territory. On asking if Ruanda was accessible to travellers, I was in-
formed that at five different times Arabs had endeavoured to open intercourse
with them, but each time had been repulsed, and some had been murdered
by the treacherous people. I then inquired if there were no road between
Ruandi and Urundi by which I could reach Uzige. The old king smiled at
the question, and said that the Warandi were worse than the natives of
Ruanda. Not quite satisfied with his replies, I questioned Hamed Ibrahim,
an Arab gentleman, who has done business in Karagwe twelve years, as to
the possibility of penetrating anywhere westward from any point near Kar-
agwe. His replies, though more definite and explicit, swept away almost all
hope of ever again reaching Lake Albert from the east side. To test Ruman-
ika’s friendship, I then requested he would permit me to explore the frontier
of Karagwe as far north as Mpororo, and south to Ugufu, a distance of eighty
geographical miles, and that he would lend me guides and a native escort.
To my surprise, the gentle old king not only gave me guides and escort, but
canoes and the freedom of Karagwe, or, in other words, he promised that so

788 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

long as I explored, I and my people should have subsistence gratis! Thus
was I assisted a second time by African monarchs in the cause of geo-
graphy.

‘“‘T lost no time, you may rest assured, in getting ready. The boat
‘Lady Alice’ was conveyed to Speke’s Lake Windermere, and the sections
screwed together, so that the next day, convoyed by six of Rumanika’s
canoes manned by Wanyambu (natives of Karagwe), we set out for another
trip. After circumnavigating Lake Windermere we entered the Kagera
River, and almost immediately it flashed on my mind that I had made ano-
ther momentous discovery—that I had found, in fact, the true parent of the
Victoria Nile. If you glance at Speke’s map you will perceive that he calls
this river the Kitangule, and that he has two tributaries running to it—the
Luchuro and the Ingezi. Speke, so wonderfully correct, with a mind which
grasped geographical facts with great acuteness, and arranged the details
with clever precision and accuracy, is, however, seriously in error in calling
this noble river the Kitangule. Neither Waganda nor Wanyamba are ac-
quainted with it by that name, but they all know the Kagera River, which
Jlows near Kitangule. From its mouth to Urundi it is spoken of by the
natives on both banks as the Kagera River. The Luchuro, or rather Lukaro,
means ‘ higher up,’ but is no name of any stream. Of the Ingezi I shall have
occasion to speak further on.

‘‘ While exploring the Victoria Lake I ascended a few miles up the
Kagera, and was then struck with its great volume and depth—so much so
as to rank it as the principal affluent of the Victoria Lake. In coming south,
and crossing it at Kitangule, I sounded it and found fourteen fathoms of
water, or eighty-four feet deep, and one hundred and twenty yards wide.
This fact, added to the determined opinion of the natives, that the Kagera
was an arm of the Albert Nyanza, caused me to think the river worth explor-
ing. I knew, as all do who understand anything of African geography, that
the Kagera could not be an effluent of Lake Albert, but their repeated state-
ments to that effect caused me to suspect that such a great body of water
could not be created by the drainage of Ruanda and Karagwe, and that it
ought to have its source much further, or from some lake situate between
Lakes Albert and Tanganyika. When I explored Lake Windermere I dis-
covered, by sounding, that it had an average depth of forty feet, and that it
was fed and drained by the Kagera.

‘On entering the Kagera, I stated that it flashed.on my mind that it was
the real parent of the Victoria Nile; by sounding I found fifty-two feet of
water in a river fifty yards wide. I proceeded on my voyage three days up
the river, and came to another lake about nine miles long and a mile in
width, situate on the right hand of the stream. At the southern end of this
lake, and after working onr way through two miles of papyrus, we came to

THE RIVER KAGERA. 789

the island of Unyamubi, a mile and a half in length. Ascending the highest
point on the island, the secret of the Ingezi or Kagera was revealed. Stand-
ing in the middle of the island I perceived it was about three miles from the
coast of Karagwe, and three miles from the coast of Kishakka west, so that
the width of the Ingezi at this point was about six miles, and north it
stretched it away broader, till beyond the horizon green papyri mixed with
broad grey gleams of water. I discovered, after further exploration, that the
expanses of papyri floated over a depth of from nine to fourteen feet of
water; that this vegetation, in fact, covered a large portion of a long shallow
lake; that the river, though apparently a mere swift-flowing body of water,
confined seemingly within proper banks by dense, tall fields of papyri, was
a current only, and that underneath the papyri it supplied a lake varying
from five to fourteen miles in width, and about eighty geographical miles in
length. Descending the Kagera again, some five miles from Unyamubi,
the boat entered a large lake on the left side, which, when explored, proved
to be thirteen geographical miles in length by eight in breadth. From its
extreme western side to the mainland of Karagwe east was fourteen miles,
eight of which was clear open water; the other six were covered by floating
fields of papyri, large masses or islands of which drift to and fro daily.

By following this lake to its southern extremity, I penetrated between
Ruanda and Kishakka. I attempted to land in Ruanda, but was driven back
to the boat by war-cries, which the natives sounded shrill and loud. Through-
out the entire length (eighty miles) the Kagera maintains almost the same
volume and nearly the same width, discharging its surplus waters to the
right and to the left as it flows on, feeding, by means of the underground
channels, what might be called by an observer on land seventeen separate
lakes, but which are in reality one, connected together underneath the fields
of papyri, and by lagoon-like channels meandering tortuously enough be-
tween detached fields of this most prolific reed. The open expanses of water
are called by the natives so many ‘rwerus’ or lakes; the lagoons connect-
ing them and the reed-covered water are known by the name of ‘ Ingezi.’

““ What Speke has styled Lake Windermere is one of these ‘rwerus,’ and
is nine miles in extreme length, and from one to three miles in width. By
boiling point I ascertained it to be at an altitude of three thousand seven
hundred and sixty feet above the ocean, and about three hundred and twenty
feet above Lake Victoria. The extreme north point of this singular lake is
north by east from Uhimba, its extreme southern point. Karagwe occupies
the whole of its eastern side. South-west it is bounded by Kishakka, west
by Muvari, in Ruanda, north-west by Mpororo, north-east by Ankori. At
the point where Ankori faces Karagwe the lake contracts, becomes a tumul-
tuous noisy river, creates whirlpools, and dashes itself madly into foam and
spray against opposing rocks, till it finally rolls over a wall of rock ten or

790 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

twelve feet deep with a tremendous uproar—on which account the natives
eall it Morongo, or the Noisy Falls.

“On returning from my voyage of exploration—during which time I
was most hospitably entertained, so powerful was the name of the gentle
Rumanika—I requested guides to take me overland to the hot springs of
Mlagata, which have obtained such renown throughout all the neighbouring
countries for their healing properties. ‘Two days’ severe marching towards
the north brought us to a deep wooded gorge wherein they are situated. I
discovered a most astonishing variety of plants, herbs, trees, and bushes; for
here Nature was in her most prolific mood. She shot forth her products with
such vigour that each plant seemed to strangle the others for lack of room.
They so clambered over one another that small hills of vegetation were
formed, the lowest portion of the mass stifled by the uppermost, and through
the heaps thus formed tall trees shot upward an arrow’s flight into the upper
air with globes of radiant green foliage like crowns surmounting their stems.

‘<The springs were visited at this time by numbers of diseased persons,
and males and females were seen lying promiscuously in the hot pools half
asleep. The hottest waters issued in streams from the base of a rocky hill,
and when Fahrenheit’s thermometer was placed in these springs the mercury
rose to 129°. Four bubbled upward from the ground through a depth of
dark muddy sediment, and had a temperature of 110°. ‘These were the most
favoured by the natives, and the curative reputation of the locality was based
on the properties of this particular water. I camped here three days, and
made free use of a reserved outflow; but, excepting its unusual cleanliness,
I cannot say I enjoyed any benefit. I drank about a gallon of the potent
liquid, and can report this much, that it has no laxative effect on the system.
A bottleful of the purest water I took away with me, in the hope that some
day it may be analysed by professional men in Europe.

“Tt is but yesterday that I returned from the Hot Springs, and, having
seen all worth seeing in Karagwe, without as yet discovering any road west-
ward, I propose the day after to-morrow to march along the eastern shore of
the lake, south or south-west, as far as practicable, with the view to follow
up the interesting discoveries I have made.”

‘““Ubagwe, Western Unyamwezi, Central Africa,
April, 24, 1876.

““We departed from the capital of Karagwe with very brave intentions
and high aspirations. We had discovered that the Kagera formed a great
lake about eighty miles in length and from five to fourteen miles in breath,
and that at Kishakka it was still a powerful, deep-flowing stream, while
reports from natives and Arabs had created curious ideas within our minds
as to the fountain-head of this noble river. Imbued with the thought that

ARRIVAL AT UBIMBA., 791

by journeying a sufficient distance along its right bank we might discover
this source, we made ample preparations for crossing a wide wilderness,
packed ten days’ provisions of grain on the shoulders of each man of the
Expedition, and on the 27th of March set out for the uninhabited land. On the
second day of our departure from the Karagwe capital we came to the east
side of a lake, a long, narrow, winding body of water. We marched along its
eastern shore for three days, a distance of thirty-six miles; on the fourth and
fifth day an obstructing ridge shut it from our view while marching, but by
occasionally surmounting the obstacle I managed to obtain views of its stream-
like water, still extending south and worth wea

** On the sixth day we came to Ubimba, the frontier of Karagwe, where,
behind a ridge, which extends between Ubimba and the lake, we saw the
extreme south end of the lake we had so long followed. From a point of
observation near Ubimba we saw also a decided change in the formation of
the broad valley of the Kagera. The mountainous ridges bounding the west-
ern shore of the Kagera, which, extending from Mpororo south, continue on
a south by west course, became broken and confused in Southern Kishakka,
and were penetrated from the north-west by a wide valley, through which
issued into the Kagera a lake-like river called Akanyaru. South-west was
seen the course of the Kagera, which, above the confluence of the Akanyaru
with it was only a swift-flowing stream of no very considerable depth or
breadth. Such a river I thought might well be created by the drainage of
Eastern Urundi and Western Ubba. My attention was drawn from the
Kagera to the |ixe-like stream of Akanyaru, and several natives. stated to me,
while looking towards it, that it was an effluent of the Kagera, and that it
emptied into the Albert Nyanza. Such an extraordinary statement as this
should not be received and transmitted from me to you as a fact without my
being able to corroborate it on personal authority.

“e Exploration of the mouth of the Akanyaru proves that the Akanyaru
is not an effluent, but is an affluent of the Kagera. Beyond the mouth of
the Akanyaru I forall not go, as the natives of Kishakka on the left bank,
and Ugufu on the right bank, are a great deal too wild. I find that the
long-legged race inhabiting the countries west of Uganda, Karagwe, and Uni,
haye a deadly aversion to strangers. The sight even of a strange dog seems
sufficient to send them into a mad rage, and paroxysms of spear-shaking and
bow-bending. They are all kin to the long-legged mortals of Bambireh, who
sounded the war-cry at the mere sight of our inoffensive exploring boat float-
ing on the Victoria Lake. They are so dreadfully afraid of losing their
cattle, that if one cow dies from sickness the whole country is searched to
discover the stranger who has bewitched the animal to death, and, if such a
person be found, his life is forfeited to the purblind, small-brained natives.
Human beings frequently astonish one another in all countries with their

792 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

hobbies, and by showing excessive fondness for gold, horses, dogs, cats,
clothes, birds, etc., but the love which the Wasongora, Wanyankori, Wa-
Ruanda, Wa-Kishakka, Wagafu, Wanyamba, and Watusi, exhibit for their
cattle is an extreme, eccentric, and miser-like affection. A stranger might
die in any of those countries for lack of one drop of milk. Generous and
sweet-tempered as Rumanika proved himself, he never offered me even one
teaspooninl during the time I was with him, and, had he given me a can,
his people would have torn him limb from limb. From this excessive love
for their cattle springs their hostility to strangers, which arises from a dread
of evil or fear of danger to the kine. By maintaining a strict quarantine,
and a system of exclusiveness, they hope to ward off all evil and sudden
disaster.

“‘ By comparing the information derived from natives of Ubimba, Ugufu,
Kishakka, Urundi, and Ruanda, I am able to give you additional details of
the source and course of the Kagera River, and I hold out to myself some
small hope that in a few months from the present date I may be able to
explore from another quarter a tract of country which, hypothetically, I
believe contains the fountain-head of this river. Until that period let the
following stand for the utmost of our knowledge of it. From a ridge near
Mlagata Hot Springs, having an altitude of six thousand five hundred feet
above the ocean, I obtained a view of the Ufumbiro mountains, which have
a height of about twelve thousand feet. This group consists of two sugar-
loaf cones and a ridge-like mass, and is situated about forty geographical
miles W.N.W. from Mlagata, forming a barrier at that spot b.iween Mpororo
and Ruanda.

‘The course of all the main ridges and valleys from Ruanda to the Vic-
toria Nyanza appears to be south by west. Nay, you may say that from
Alexandria to the Nyassa Lake, the central portion of Africa seems to be formed
into ridges, deep troughs, basins, or valleys, the length of which is from north-
east to south-west. Regard the course of the Nile from Lake Albert to Alex-
andria, the positions of Lakes Albert, Tanganyika, and Nyassa, as well as
the Victoria Lake. Follow the course of the Mokattam range of mountains
through Nubia, Abyssinia, Galla, Masai, and Usagara; trace the plateaux of
Masai, Unyamwezi, Urori, Ubisa, south to the Bechuana country, and you
will perceive that the general trend of almost all the rivers, lakes, mountains,
basins, and plateaux, is from north-easterly to south-westerly. On a reduced
scale it is even so with all the mountain ridges and valleys between the Lakes
Victoria and Albert. ~

‘Tt seems as if the throes which Africa suffered—during that grand con-
vulsion which tore her asunder, heaved up these stupendous ridges, and sunk
those capacious basins now filled with lengthy and broad expanses of erystal-
clear water—were keenest and severest about these lake regions; for here the

IN WESTERN UNYAMWEZI. 793

mountains are higher, and the valleys deeper and narrower. We have no
longer the wide, billowy plateau, the successive swells of which make travel
and exploration tedious, but lines of mountains of enormous frame, separated
from each other by deep narrow valleys, with a hundred geological wonders
presented to the view at a glance. From Mlagata mountain, while looking
towards the Ufumbiro cones, there were visible three lofty ridges separated
by as many broad valleys. First was the Ishango and Muvari ridge, west of
the Kagera Lake and valley, and west of this were two ridges, with the valley
of Muyari between the two eastermost, and the valley of Ruanda between the
two westernmost. The two latter appear to run parallel with each other from
east and west of the Ufumbiro mountains, and shut in the valley of the Ni
Nawarango or Nawarongo River, which, rising in the Ufumbiro mountains,
flows south by west between Muvari and Ruanda, and enters the Akanyaru
Lake, which is thirty by twenty miles in extent. From the Akanyaru Lake
issues the Akanyaru River, between Ugufu and Kishakka, into the Kagera.
The Kagera proper, coming from the south-west, also enters the Akanyaru
Lake, but leaves it south of Ugufu and takes a curve north-easterly between
Ugufu and Western Usui. West of Akanyaru I could obtain no certain intel-
ligernce. I have heard of another large lake lying west, but what connection
it has with the Kagera, or whether it has any, I cannot learn definitely. One
says that it is an arm of Luta Nzige or Lake Albert, another declares it to be
a separate water. Whatever it be I trust I shall be able to discover at a later
period.

“* With the best intentions to prosecute my explorations along the Kagera
I was paralysed by famine in Usui and the hostility of the Warundi, and was
therefore obliged to abandon exploration from this side of the Tanganyika.
Summing up all the chances remaining for me to do good work without ex-
pending vainly my goods and the health and energy left in me, I saw it was
useless to sit down and launch invectives against the intractable natives, and
that it was far better and more manly to hurry on to other regions and try
Lake Albert by another route from the opposite quarter. You will perceive
by this letter that I am now in Western Unyamwezi, about fifteen days’ jour-
ney from Ujiji. WhatI propose doing now is to proceed quickly to Ujiji,
then explore the Tanganyika in my boat, and from Uzige strike north to the
Albert, and, if that road be not open, to cross the Tanganyika and travel
north by a circuitous course to effect the exploration of the Albert.

“Tt may not be actually necessary to explore that lake, for Gordon or some
of his officers may have accomplished the work, but I have no means of know-
ing whether they have done so or not; it therefore remains for me, if the feat
be possible, to circumnavigate it. If it is not, I shall strike out for other
regions, and continue exploration elsewhere, until my poverty of goods warns
me to return. By the same bearer which conveys this letter to the coast I

A4

794 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

send four others, which have been kept by me until I had an opportunity to
send them. Three at least I expected to put in person into the hands of one
of Gordon’s officers ; but it was not fated to be so. From Ujjiji I shall send
the duplicates of these letters to the coast; and, before I quite leave that port,
I expect to possess other geographical items to transmit to you.

“Gordon Pasha was kind enough to send me a ‘Daily Telegraph’ of
December 24th, 1874, and a ‘ Pall-Mall Gazette’ of the same month, which I
received in Uganda just before starting for the Albert Nyanza. In the ‘Daily
Telegraph’ I sawa short letter from Cameron, dated May 8rd, 1873, wherein
he says he has discovered the outlet of the Tanganyika to be the Lukuga.
Cameron has been fortunate and energetic, and deserves credit for the dis-
covery. But he says he has not quite circumnavigated the Tanganyika,
because he did not think it worth while, after discovering the Lukuga. It
may be, Cameron, by this omission, has left me something to discover in this
quarter; but whether or not, the ‘ Lady Alice’ shall not quit the waters of
that lake until I have finished the two-thirds left unvisited by me on my first
expedition. In the ‘ Pall Mall Gazette’ I read a more startling statement,
which deserves from me as flat a contradiction as no doubt it has received
from Colonel Grant. The article stated that Colonel Long, of the Egyptian
service, had declared that he had just returned from a visit to the King of
Uganda, and had discovered, to his surprise, that Lake Victoria was a ‘Sotly
of water about twelve miles in width!

‘“ Now, I do know it as a fact that Colonel Long, or leone Bey, was in
Uganda July, 1873; but if he states that the Victoria Nyanza is only twelve
miles in width, he states what every snub-nosed urchin in Uganda would de-
clare to be astounding nonsense. ‘The width of twelve miles is what I would
give to Murchison Bay—a portion of which is visible from Kibuga, one of
the Emperor’s capitals. If Monsieur Linant de Bellefonds, of the Egyptian
service, who discovered me in Uganda, is now in Kurope, he is requested to
publish his opinion of Lake Victoria, even from what he saw of it from Usa-
vara. The ‘Pall Mall Gazette’ adds that it was always the opinion of Cap-
tain Burton that Speke had exaggerated the extent of Lake Victoria. Last
year I sent you a map of the southern, eastern, northern, and north-west
coasts of Lake Victoria. Enclosed in this packet you will find a sketch map
of the south-west coast, with which you may compare Speke’s hypothetical
outline of the Victoria Lake, and judge for yourselves whether Speke has been
guilty of much exaggeration. “¢ Henry M. STANLey.”

The subjoined letters were received by the same mail which brought Mr.
Stanley’s despatches, by the parents of his Huropean attendant :—

‘Lake Victoria Nyanza.
‘My Dear Parents—I daresay you will think it strange not hearing

LETTER FROM FRANCIS JOHN POCOCK. | 795

anything of me. Iam afraid you will hear too soon of my dear brother. I
will not enter upon that, as you will know all about it. We received your
letters the day after we left the coast, and were very glad to hear such news.
Since then I have seen some changes, I can tell you. Sometimes without food,
sometimes plenty, sometimes wet weather, at other times dry; it isa feast or
a famine with everything. I have had the fever about twelve times, but
thank God I have got over it. Ihave not had it for two months. I am now
more used to the country. I have good health now to what I did. We had
rough times of it after poor Ted’s death. What with fighting and long march-
ing, it almost turned me up. We arrived here on February 27th, after a
journey of one hundred and three days from the coast. When I saw the lake
my heart leapt within me at the sight of the water. We were coming over a
large hill, and one of the natives ran back to me and said, ‘Bana! Bana!’
which is, ‘Sir,’ ‘margey (water)! margey!’? The master was behind, so that
I saw it before him. I am the third white man that ever saw the inland sea;
it is one thousand and twenty-six miles around it, plenty of fish and crocodiles,
hippopotami, and birds on the shores. Plenty of islands. Me and Ted had
one each, Barker one, and there are many others, which will be on the map
when issued,

‘Mr. Stanley was fifty-seven days gone in the boat to find the source of
the Nile. He has been successful in his undertaking. Where Ted died was
the very spot where the Nile flows from. It was strange that he should say
what he did. In about fifteen days after that we crossed the south arm of
the Nile in the boat—the first English boat ever there. When the natives at
the lake saw the boat and three white men they were surprised. They are
quite wild ; they are naked, but civil. We travelled one hundred and seventy
miles where no other white man ever was; that was where we had to fight.
You will hear of it from the papers. Dear parents, after we leave here we
go to a beautiful country called Uganda. Mr. Stanley stayed fifteen days
with the king while going round the lake. In fact, all the countries are
healthy that we are going to. We have a steamer waiting for us, with Mr.
Gordon, at Lake Albert Nyanza. Our work is more than one-third done;
the worst is over; all the countries we go to now have plenty of food, and
cheap. I have plenty to tell you when I come home, if God spares me, which
I hope He will. Frederick Barker died on April 25th. I was left with one
hundred and sixty-six men. Iwas in charge all the time Mr. Stanley was
away, but when he was gone I had no one to talk to or ask advice. When Mr.
Stanley came back he was very much pleased with the way I had discharged
my duty. He told me all about the trip in the boat, and many other things.
He says we shall be home in about eighteen months. All the letters you or
any one else has sent will be forwarded on to Ujiji, so that I shall get them
there, but that will not be before December.

796 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“Dear parents, wait with patience, and you will see me come home with
honour. I expect it seems a long time to you, but it seems like yesterday
to me. Jam in good health and happy. My thoughts are ever on you all,
and my prayers are for you. I have had trouble, but I have borne up against
it. Mr. Stanley says, ‘Frank, you are the coolest man and the happiest I
ever saw.’ I don’t know the exact time we shall leave here, but the King of
Uganda has sent eighty canoes and five hundred men to take us to his coun-
try. Heisa Christian. Mr. Stanley said he was sorry to leave him; he is
so fond of a white man. ‘There is a French officer at his place; and Colonel
Gordon farther on, with several white men with him. My dear parents, were
you to see the hut I am now sitting in writing this you would say, How can
you live there ? but to-morrow we shall leave here, perhaps for no house at
all. Ihave just had my evening meal of tea, boiled beef and banana. In
my hut there are no less than nine black boys around me, asking me ques-
tions about England, and the boy that held Dr. Livingstone’s hand is my
servant, and is as faithful as any Christian. One little boy was a slave, but
now free. As soon as he came with me I set him free. I saw him pulled
from his mother. He is about nine years old, quick and honest. His name
is Benjamin. My dear parents, keep my dog, Sailor, and I will pay for him
when I come home. I should like to have him here to keep the natives
away. They are afraid of the white man’s dogs, but all ours are dead. I
daresay you think it unkind of me not to say anything about my dear brother;
but God’s will be done, and I hope he is at rest. What can I say or think ?
All I can think, I wish he was with me now. I cannot explain to you all just
now; but I hope to tell you in person some day. Mr. Stanley has made
some great discoveries. I can tell you it is not all pleasure in Africa, but I
hope it will soon be over, and we shall return. Remember me to everybody,
and look for me in May, 1877.

“*P.S.—My Dear Parents—I thought when I wrote the other sheets they
would be on their way by this time, but the letters only go when there is a cara-
van going to Unyanyembe with ivory, so I can’t say when this letter will reach
you. Since I wrote the other I have had a trip of twelve days in the boat
with ten men, to get canoes to convey our caravan by water to Uganda,
which is only five days, and by land twenty. I went to an island called
Ukereweway, about one hundred and twenty miles round it. The king is
very great. I went to him. When I went near the natives were surprised
to see a boat. There were thousands who never saw a white man or a boat.
I was the first white man ever there. I was followed everywhere by hun-
dreds of them. They were around the boat all day, and if I wanted them to
moye away I only had to get out of her. Men, women, and children, are very
near all naked. They are a fine race of people; the king as fine-looking a
man as I have seen in Africa. When I went to him he sat on a large stone

POCOCE’S SHCOND LETTER. 797

with, I should say, two thousand people around him, all armed with some-
thing. I went with nothing in my hands nor in those of my men, so that he
should think we were friends. He had me to sit down beside him and my
boy to speak at our feet. He looked at me and smiled; he touched my hair,
and wanted me to show it all. When I took off my hat the people all laughed,
but I did not mind that, as it would not do to get out of temper. Then he
looked at my shoes, which surprised him very much. He laughed and talked
about my dress. He had about twenty fathoms of light brass wire round his
legs and large rings on his arms, beads on his neck, and a fine cloth—nothing
on his head—that is the custom. A fine-made man; he stands six feet or more.
His name is Lukongu. He and his people are very kind. As soon as I
asked him about the canoes he said I should have fifty the next day, but I
had to stop six days for them to be repaired. He gave me two fine bullocks,
and sent me milk night and morning (it was fine milk), eggs, and bananas,
which are very plentiful; for miles there is nothing but banana trees. The
women brought me flour, but not like that at home, sweet potatoes, and
tobacco. I gave him presents—a gold ring and an Albert chain, a black
necklace and some cloth. I gave him a rug—one colour one side and another
the other. That surprised him more than all. When I returned I had forty-
seven canoes, but they went back the next day and the master with them.
Dear parents, I have no more to say about the king.

“Uganda, Lake Victoria Nyanza, Central Africa,
August 14, 1875.

“My Dear Parenrs—I dare say you think the time long since we left
home. ‘Twelve months yesterday we left our native land. I wrote a letter
two months ago, but I cannot say which will be home first. We have crossed
the great lake in canoes to escape a savage country. We arrived at the lake
on February 27th, 1875, and did not leave until June 19th. We then con-
veyed some goods and men toan uninhabited island in the sea, where I was
left in charge again until the remainder of the men came. We then worked
from one island to another until we fell in with some Uganda canoes that
were sent to find the white man during the time Mr. Stanley was surveying
the lake, and he went to an island to buy food. They took the oars out of
the boat and told him to perish in the Nyanza. With our canoes and the
Uganda we went there to fight, and killed about forty or more, and not one
of us got a scratch. We returned to camp on a small island near it, with joy.
Our comrades had made ready with songs and shouts. The next day we
went to the mainland, where food was abundant, Bananas is the main food
of the natives. They keep cattle, but seldom kill one, because they are their
riches. They brought the white men milk, eggs, coffee, etc. As soon as we
landed the natives allran away. ‘The King of Ugandaisa fine man. Mr.

798 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

S., and Robert, his boy, brought up in the mission at Zanzibar, almost made
him a Christian. Mr. S. leaves me here to-morrow to visit him—five days’
journey. I have lent Robert my Bible to read to him.

‘My dear parents, you would like to see our camp. It is built like
a street through the forest of banana trees. There is hardly anything else
here but them and tobacco, which serves for grass. If Africa was all like
this I could live in it for years. Our food—that is for the white men—comes
from the king. Some parts of the country grow sweet potatoes and other

things, which are very nice. I never eat fruit in England so nice as ban- .

anas. Hat as many as you like, they never hurt any one. All our men live
on them. I weigh nearly twelve stone; my health is good; I am strong and
fat. Ifyou were to see me now you would say I was a negro. I have not
had fever since April, and then very slight. I can speak a little of the lingo,
and I have better health than Mr. Stanley. There is not one man in the
caravan but will do anything for me, through not beating them, and not
playing with them, but keeping them in their place. If a man steals, I
punish him accordingly—that is, when I am in charge; but when the great
master, as he is called, is in camp, he does as he likes.

‘As soon as Mr. S, returns from the king, we shall travel across to the
other lake—Albert Nyanza—eight days’ journey; and if steamers belonging
to Colonel Gordon have not finished their work, and been taken to pieces,
we shall make good way on our journey. I long to get to Ujiji to hear from
you; and if the Almighty spares me to come home, I can tell you plenty I
have seen—men of all colours, some savage, other more quiet. The people
of Uganda go on their knees to us. They bring food for nothing. Dear
parents, you must tell all the people the news. Tell Harry and all that are
not married, if they get spliced while I am away, to save me a piece of cake,
and to find me a wife. ‘Tell the people all round that I send my respects.
I cannot write, as I have no more paper or envelopes. I hope to spend a
better Christmas than last, for I never saw it rain so hard as it did on the
Eve. We lay in camp on Christmas Day, but that made no difference. All
day we were drying clothes. Plain rice—we had no meat for six days—for
dinner.

“That was in the country of Ugogo. Don’t forget to make some wine,
if possible. We expect to be home about Christmas, 1876. My thoughts
are ever on you all. Brothers and sisters, remember me always, as I do you
all. Pray for me that Imay come home and reap the harvest of hard marches,
lonely nights, and hot days, savage tribes, and hard beds. Dear parents, I
thought of sending some money, but I find it will not pay. If you could
find a friend to lend you a few pounds, my money shall pay it back. If I
do not come, you will have the money that is due tome. George sent mea
beautiful letter. You must tell him to give my respects to all friends.—I
remain your loving and affectionate son, ‘‘ FRANCIS JOHN Pocock.”

POCOCK’S ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTRY. 799

“¢ Dear Parents—I told you I think it will be December before we reach
Ujiji, because Colonel Gordon is going to lend us a steamer as far as she is
any use, and some men as far as Ujiji. The weather on the road was very
changeable, which is the cause of so much illness. You think it thunders
- very heavy in England, but itis nothing to this. It shakes everything fear-
fully, and when it rains it is a complete deluge. It is now the wet season.
Between the showers the sun is enough to burn the hair off your head; but
we don’t have to be out. I have had three months’ rest, with the best of food;
but it is not like the food in England. Rice is a great luxury. There is
plenty of meat—goats, sheep, and bullocks—but it does not do to eat too much
meat. You can buy two sheep for a piece of cloth six feet by three. The
cloth is sheeting. Money is of no use—beads, cloth, and shells. For one
strand of beads, which cost one farthing at home, you will get about one gallon
of sweet potatoes. Bananas not very plentiful here. We get plenty of good
fish.

“The natives of this part do nothing but lie and walk about all day.
The women till the ground. The men wear strings of shells around their
arms and a goatskin slung across their shoulders. That is a fine dress;
but most of them are quite naked, but none without a weapon of defence.
They dance and sing, and get drunk on their beer, called pombe. This
village belongs to the Sultan of Zanzibar, and there is one man, a slave of
his, called Songoria. During the time Mr. §. was away I had several pre-
sents, such as rice and sheep. I took food with him, and it is a great honour
to a black man to feed with the Mosonga, or white man. Can’t get on with
the language much. Mr. S. can speakit as well as he can speak English;
but there is fresh lingo about every twenty miles, which all our men cannot
understand. ‘The captain of our people can talk all of them. He is such
a nice man: he is like a father. When we were in a desert, he went twelve
miles among wild beasts for water for the white men, a turn I shall never
forget. I dreamed the other night I was at home eating fine things, but I
awoke and found myself in Central Africa. We have been four thousand
nine hundred and seventy-five feet above the sea. We are now one thou-
sand three hundred and eight. That is the position of the lake, It is splen-
did water here, which is very healthy.

“This is an awful country to forget; you lose all understanding. If
you want to remember anything you must write it down. Iam sure poor
Ted’s death was not in my mind one hour. It is the way with everybody.
Of course a thought crossed my mind very often, but not to think of it. The
Lord gave me strength to bear with it. There are so many changes that you
can’t think of everything. My dear parents, I am not certain of this letter
reaching you from here, so that I will not write to any one else until we get
to Uganda. If this should get home first, you must send it round the family.
If I write to one and not the other, it will not be right; but I will write again

800 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D,

when there is better conveyance. The letters that go from Uganda go
down the Nile and through Egypt, so that I shall be sure of them going
home. When you write send long letters, for only a few words would come
very acceptable. I have not seen or heard a white man since I left the
coast. That was on the lst of November. Give my love to all. Kiss all
the children for me. I will write more next time. Tell Harry to save me a
piece of cake. I have no more to say just now, so I must conclude with love
to all.—I am, your affectionate and loving son, Francis Joun Pocock,
*‘Secomia, May 15, 1875.”

‘We reached Lake Albert, but, as we could find no place that was
peaceable to camp where we could stop while Mr. S. explored the lake, as he
did Lake Victoria, we were obliged to return and make ourselves content
with seeing the lake, and drinking of its waters.”

“¢ Anglo-American Expedition, Central Africa,
April 18, 1876.

*¢ My Dear Parents—My heart yearns to you and home. It is now one
year and five months since I heard a single word from you. I received your
letters the day we left the coast. Since then Mr. S. received some papers
from Colonel Gordon at Gondokorro in Egypt; and that is all we know
about our homes. God only knows what has happened. ‘There is no one
knows the Pococks here, or Cookham Woods. I wrote a letter to you and
Bill when we arrived in Uganda. Mr. 8. was gone to the sultan. Three
months I was left alone with the goods. We were in Uganda five months—
a land flowing with milk and honey. We then went to the Albert Nyanza,
through Unyoro, escorted by two thousand Waganda sent by the sultan. We
thought of seeing some white men at the Albert Nyanza; we reached there,
and saw the lake, but had to retreat in great haste. We marched for sixteen
days from two o’clock in the morning until sunset—hungry and thirsty,
weary, and footsore; and when we halted we had no bed, but lay on the
ground. I became very sick from fever, which I thought would have car-
ried me off. But my time was not come. On the road we passed a fine
mountain crowned with snow, and many beautiful streams feeding the Ny-
anza. I cannot say anything about the people. All I know, they are bad.
They train large dogs to fight like tigers,

‘“‘ We left Uganda on January 1, 1876, and returned to Uganda on the
17th. When we reached Uganda the Waganda left us, and we travelled on
to Karagwe. We crossed the Kagera River, the main source of the Nile, and
drank of its waters. When we reached Karagwe we fell in with some Arabs

CONTINUATION OF POCOCK’S ACCOUNT. 801

—a lucky hit. We discovered a lake here eighty miles by thirty. There
are also hot-water springs near the fall of the Kagera River, the springs, six
in number, boiling. We leit Karagwe in March for the Wilderness of Nine
Days. While we were at Karagwe I visited the king, to show him the boat.
He asked me, wasI English? I said ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Speke was English,
and he was a good man, so you must be good also.’ Speke travelled here
fifteen years ago; his name is all the rage in Uganda and Karagwe. We are
now in the country of Usamberon—good people, and plenty of food. We
have been nearly a month in the Wilderness, with but little food.

*¢ An Arab has travelled with us to here; he leaves us here for Unyan-
yembe, and we go to Ujiji—about one month’s march. The Arab will bring
our letters to the coast. I hope when we reach Ujiji to find some papers and
letters from home. Iam sometimes lonely. I have no one to talk to but
black people. Although I can talk Swahili nearly as well as English, I
can’t find anything in their company to amuse me. ‘There is no comfort in
this part of the globe—hot sun and cold nights. We have crossed rivers and
swamps, up to our waists in mud and water, for days and days. Then, when
we reach camp, there is no kind sister to make your bed; but a nigger will
throw down a lump of grass as you would to a pig. Then our food is like
cattle food in England. It consists of dried beans and peas, and Matama
corn, such as donkeys eat. What would I give now for an old crust such as
you give to sailors, orsome pudding properly cooked. But no one knows
about that here. If you cannot eat, go without.

“‘ But, thank God, I enjoy good health. It is now three months since I
had fever. I am strong and fat. In some places white men are thought
cattle, in another they are great. There are many tribes of fine men, dressed
in embogu bark cloth. Many are naked; many are dressed in skins put
about their shoulders. Many have long hair, others plait it in a thousand
plaits, with beads sewn on; while the people of Uganda shave all off, and
carry two spears and one shield, and the people of Karagwe use bows and
arrows, and the people of Usui use one spear, with which they spear a man
or an ox—they don’t throw it—while the people here use guns.

“* My dear parents, I have no doubt you think me lost; but no; Iam
still alive, and hope to see you all. I cannot write to all, and you are at the
head, so you must cuppa salaam ymugo—that is, give my love to all the
family. Kiss the children, and give them my blessing. Names are too
numerous to mention.

‘My dear parents, be comforted, and fret not for me, for I have a good
Providence overhead, in which I put my whole trust. No one knows of
going to church here—every day is alike. The natives lay about all day,
and at night sit by a great fire. Some houses are grass, some are mud with
sticks. JI often think are all well? Yes, they can’t get ill in such a coun-

B4

£02 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

try. There is plenty of food, plenty of doctors and medicine. Here there is
nothing but wild people, bad food, and an unhealthy country, hard march-
ing through mud and water or hot sand, Are all well in grain at Ashford?”

CHAPTER XXXII.

Missionary Response to Mtesa’s Invitation—The Victoria Nyanea Mission—The
Livingstonia Mission on Lake Nyassa—The Mission at Ujiyji on Lake Tangan-
yika—Mr. Cotterill’s Expedition to Livingstonia.

i. would have been strange, indeed, if an appeal to the friends of Christian

Missions and the friends of Africa—an appeal so much like the Mace-
donian ery of old, ‘‘ Come over into Macedonia and help us,” had found no
quick and glad response. Only a few days after the appearance of Mr.
Stanley’s communication respecting the desire of King Mtesa, in the columns
of the “ Daily Telegraph,” the following letter was written by a Christian
gentleman to the Church Missionary Society :—

“Dear Mr. Hutcuinson—My eyes have often been strained wistfully
towards the interior of Africa, west of Mombasa, and I have longed and prayed
for the time when the Lord would by his Providence open there a door of en-
trance to the heralds of the Gospel. __

** The appeal of the energetic explorer Stanley to the Christian Church
from Mtesa’s capital, Uganda, taken in connection with Colonel Gordon’s
oceupation of the upper territories of the Nile, seem to me to indicate that
the time has come for the soldiers of the cross to make an advance into that
region.

“Tf the Committee of the Church Missionary Society are prepared at
once, and with energy to organise a mission to the Victoria Nyanza, I shall
account it a high privilege to place £5,000 at their disposal as a nucleus for
the expenses of the undertaking.

‘7 am not so sanguine as to look for the rapidity of success contemplated
by Mr. Stanley; but ifthe mission be undertaken in simple and trustful depend-
ence upon the Lord of the Harvest, surely no insurmountable difficulty need
be anticipated, but His presence and blessing be confidently expected, as we
go forward in obedience to the indications of His Providence and the com-
mands of His Word.

**T only desire to be known in this matter as

‘An UNPROFITABLE SERVANT.
(Luke xvii. 10).
“Edward Hutchinson, Esq.”

804 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

As the result of this generous offer a Special General Committee of the
Society was convened to consider the subject. The Secretaries read the letter
and then laid before the Committee the information furnished by the travels
of Speke, Grant, Colonel Long, Mr. Stanley, and the Rev. J. Wakefield, with
regard to the circumstances of the tribes adjoining Lake Nyanza; and full
discussion haying ensued, the following resolutions were passed:—“1. That
this Committee, bearing in mind that the Church Missionary Society is prim-
arily commissioned to Africa and the East, and recognising a combination of
providential circumstances in the present opening in Equatorial Africa, thank-
fully accepts the offer of the anonymous donor of £5,000, and undertakes, in
dependence upon God, to take steps for the establishment of a mission to the
vicinity of the Victoria Nyanza, in the prayerful hope that it may prove a
centre of light and blessing to the tribes in the heart of Africa. 2. Thata
sub-committee be appointed to consider and report to the Committee on the
best mode of carrying this resolution into effect. 3. That a special fund be
opened for meeting the expenditure connected with the proposed mission.”

Referring to this matter shortly after, at a meeting of the Royal Geo-
graphical Society, the Rev. Mr. Hurcutysoy, Secretary to the Church Mission-
ary Society, remarked that it might be expected he would say something
respecting the noble call—the Christian appeal made by Mr. Stanley. The
subject had long occupied the attention of the Society, and it was due to the
Church Missionary Society that geographical expeditions were started in Hast-
ern Africa. There were, of course, great difficulties in the way of carrying
out the proposal, but every possible precaution would be taken; and in accept-
ing King Mtesa’s invitation, which they expected was sincere, they did not
anticipate any of the dangers which some people spoke of. The Society
thought and believed that half the energy, fortitude, and indomitable per-
severance which had been displayed by Geographical explorers would suffice
to bring the Gospel to the shores of the Nyanza. What the Society was now
considering was, what was the best route? They knew that a combination
of circumstances should direct them in what they were about to undertake.
From one friend they had already got £5,000, and another friend had that
morning promised to give them £3,000. Surely that showed there was a
feeling in this country which would bring to the poor wretches of Africa that
Gospel which made the people of this land what they were. In conclusion he
should, for the attainment of this object, bespeak sympathy of all lovers of
geographical science.

It was not long before a Mission party was organised, consisting, among
others, of Lieut. G. Shergold Smith, who was to be the leader of the expedi-
tion till it reached its destination; Rev. C. T. Wilson, M.A., and Dr. J.
Smith. Altogether, the party, which included engineers and artizans, num-
bered seven persons. Half of them were to be stationed in Uganda, and

LETTER TO KING MTESA. 805

half in Karague. In this latter arrangement they had the counsel of Colonel
Grant, who in a letter to the Committee, said—‘‘I quite approve of working
on Mtesa from the base of Karague. This has many advantages, and only two
drawbacks that I can think of. The advantages are climate and food; Rumanika
is gentle, sober-minded, and would gladly receive a party who would improve
him and his people. Boat or ship-builders at Karague could launch a large
boat, drawing three or four feet of water, in the lake there within one mile
of Rumanika’s residence, and descend with the stream by the river Kitanguleh
into the Victoria Lake. The disadvantages are the extortionate chiefs on the
way between Kazeh and Karague. They cannot be avoided, but they
can be influenced to some degree by Rumanika ordering his men to escort
the party from Kazeh to Karague. The other and only other disadvantage
to be thought of is—What will Mtesa say? for as soon as he hears of the
party he will send them an invitation, and if it is not accepted he will be
jealous of Rumanika. All that we can advise is that the party going will
haye to please and keep friends with both kings. The party must be guided
by the events which may occur between Egypt and Mtesa. To me it would
seem that the party should be prepared to split in two at Karague. If all be
quiet between Egypt and Mtesa, let one half go to Uganda. Once there I
do not think Mtesa would feel jealous of Rumanika haying the other

party.”

The following letters were forwarded by the hands of the Expedition
to Kings Mtesa and Rumanika:—

“TO HIS MAJESTY KING MTESA, RULER OF UGANDA, &c.

‘‘ PROM THE VICE-PATRON, PRESIDENT, VICE-PRESIDENTS, TREASURER, AND COMMITTEE
OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

“‘ StrE—We have heard with pleasure, through our friend Mr. Stanley, of
your earnest inyitation to English teachers to come and settle in your king-
dom, promising them your favour and protection. Your royal kindness to
other Englishmen who have visited your dominions has made us the more
anxious to respond to your invitation. The greatness of England, of which
you haye heard, is due to the Word of God, which we possess; her laws are
framed in accordance with it; her throne is established upon it; her people
are made happy byit. Our desire is that your throne should be made secure,
your country be made great, and your people made happy by the same
means.

““ We have resolved, therefore by the help of God, to send to you two

806 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

or three of our friends, who will be prepared to settle among your people,
and to teach them the Word of God, and other knowledge which will be use-
ful. The journey is a long one, and the way difficult; but our friends do
not mind this if they can be the means of conveying to you the blessings
which we enjoy ourselves. It would have been more easy for them to come
by the Nile, but we are sorry to hear that there is not yet a safe passage by
that way. We hope you will do what you can to open the way and make
it safe, so that a larger trade may be opened with your country, and much
wealth and prosperity flow into it, together with all the blessings which the
religion of Jesus Christ imparts to any people that embraces it.

‘But as this way is not yet safe, our friends will come (God helping
them) by way of Zanzibar and Unyanyembe. They hope to arrive at Unyan-
yembe about October (1876). They will bring with them tools and imple-
ments, and many other things which will beuseful to your people. Thiswillmake
it more difficult for them to come to you quickly. We have learnt that much
delay is likely to be caused by the difficulty of getting porters, and of satis-
fying the demands for hongo, especially between Unyanyembe and Karague.
If, therefore, your Majesty could send down some of your people to Unyan-
yembe to conduct our friends to Uganda, they would sooner have the pleasure
of seeing your face. It seems to us also that it would save much time and
trouble to our friends if you could send some of your ships to meet them at
Karague, and to convey them forward to your capital; but you will know
what is best in this matter.

‘From what Mr. Stanley has told us, we are sure you will give them a
warm welcome when they arrive, and treat them kindly, and take care that
they want for nothing. And we hope that the Almighty and All-merciful
God will give you and your princes and your people grace to listen to the
message that they bring you from Him. We are sorry that we are not able
to write to you in the language of Uganda, but we send this letter in Arabic,
in Kisuaheli, and in English, in proof of our sincerity and good wishes. We
hope that very soon the Word of God, which, as we have said, is the found-
ation of Hngland’s throne and of England’s greatness, will be translated into
the language of Uganda, and that it will be the means of establishing a last-
ing friendship between the kingdoms of Uganda and England, though so far
distant one from another. In this we hope the kingdom of Karague will be
joined, as we are sending some teachers to stay with King Rumanika and
teach his people. We feel that he also has a claim upon us for this, on account
of his kindness to the English travellers who have visited him; and that you
will cordially unite with Rumanika in furthering the welfare of your subjects
is our earnest hope. :

““We are sending a copy of this letter by the Nile, as well as by Zanzi-
bar, in order to try and make sure of its reaching you. Commending you to

LETTER TO KING RUMANIKA, 807

the grace and blessing of the Most High God, who is King of kings and
Lord of lords, and whose servants we are,
‘We desire to subscribe ourselves,
** Your Majesty’s friends and well wishers,
“A, C. Cantuar,
‘¢ CHICHESTER,”
&e., &e.

“TO HIS MAJESTY KING RUMANIKA, RULER OF KARAGUE.

‘FROM THE VICE-PATRON, PRESIDENT, VICE-PRESIDENTS, TREASURER, AND COM-
MITTEE OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

‘“‘SrreE—At the warm invitation of King Mtesa, of Uganda, communicated
to us by our friend, Mr. Stanley, we are sending to his country teachers to
instruct his people in the Word of God, which we possess; Kngland’s laws are
framed in accordance with it; her throne is established upon it; her people
are made happy by it. Our desire is that your throne should be made
secure, your country be made great, and your people made happy by the
same means.

Our friend Colonel Grant has told us of your royal kindness to him
and to his brother, Captain Speke, and of your desire that teachers should
come to you from this country. This has determined us, by the help of God,
to send two or three of our friends along with those who are going to Uganda,
who will be prepared to settle in Karague, and teach you and your sons and
your people the Word of God, and other knowledge which will be useful.
The journey is a long one, and the way difficult ; but our friends do not mind
this if they can be the means of conveying to you the blessings which we
enjoy ourselves.

“Our friends (God helping them) will come by way of Zanzibar and
Unyanyembe, and hope to arrive at Unyanyembe about October. They will
bring with them tools and implements, and many other things which will be use-
ful to your people. This will make it more difficult for them to come to you
quickly. We have learnt that much delay is likely to be caused by the diffi-
culty of getting porters, and of satisfying the demands for hongo, especially
between Unyanyembe and Karague. We have asked King Mtesa to send
down some of his people to Unyanyembe to conduct our friends to Uganda;
and if you could kindly do the same for those intending to stay, by your
royal permission, in Karague, they will sooner have the pleasure of seeing
your face.

“From what our friend Colonel Grant has told of your kindness to him

808 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

when he was sick in your country, we feel sure you will gladly welcome our
friends when they arrive, and treat them kindly, and take care that they
want for nothing. And we hope that the Almighty and All-merciful God
will give you and your princes and your people grace to listen to the mes-
sage that they may bring you from him. We are sorry that we are not able
to write to you in the language of Karague, but we send this letter in Arabic,
in Kisuaheli (which you understand), and in English, in proof of our sincerity
and good wishes.

“We hope that very soon the Word of God, which, as we have said, is
the foundation of England’s throne and of England’s greatness, will be trars-
lated into the language of Karague, and that it will be the means of estab-
lishing a lasting friendship between the kingdoms of Karague and England,
though so far distant from one another. Commending you to the grace and
blessing of the Most High God, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, and
whose servants we are,

‘‘ We desire to subscribe ourselves,
“Your Majesty’s friends and well-wishers,
“© A. C. Canruar,
‘‘ CHICHESTER,”

&e., &e.

The following account of the missionary expedition has recently arrived
from Zanzibar; sent by Lieutenant G. Shergold Smith, who has it in
charge :— :

“ Zanzibar, June 26th, 1876.

‘Dear Mr. Wrtcat—The ‘ Highland Lassie’ arrived here on the 20th
inst., all well, having experienced fine, favourable weather throughout. The
providence of God has truly watched over her course. I was lying sick with
fever at Saadani, when, to my great surprise and joy, in walked the old mate.
I soon picked up strength after that, and am now nearly all right.

“‘ Mackay and I left Zanzibar in the ‘Daisy’ on the 12th, taking with us
Bombay and a crew of fourteen men. Anchoring at Saadani for the night,
and taking in a supply of coal previously sent across, we started in the morn-
ing for the Wami, which lies about four miles to the southward. Entering
the river we found plenty of water—six to seven feet—and had a current of
two and a half miles to contend against, which, in the narrows and bends,
increased to three and three and a half.

‘“‘ The river is very tortuous, doubling oftentimes back on itself, so that
you find the hills, which were in your front one minute, are over the stern in
the next. This tortuous character attaches to the rivers as far up as we went,
about sixty miles, and renders the navigation difficult, owing to the sharp
bends and curves which are met with at every hundred yards. Snags. and

LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT G. SHERGOLD SMITH. 809

large trees obstructed the channel here and there; but we suffered less incon-
venience from without than from within. Our own steam power was at fault,
and we had constantly to stop and anchor in order to raise sufficient steam
to go on with. Mackay attributes it in some measure to the muddy water
and in part to the coal. With wood only we could scarcely keep 15 lbs. of
steam. With 60 lbs. of steam we attained a speed of 6—61 miles an hour;
screws fully immersed.

‘As we ascended the river the country became more open and hilly,
and apparently better populated, although no village of any size was seen
on its banks. Fowls, goats, and sheep, were not plentiful, and high prices
were charged accordingly. Indian corn and sugar-cane were cultivated. As
far as we could learn from the aged natives, no trade by boats had ever been
carried on. They all pointed to its tortuous course as a reason for preferring
the road to the river. We found that after toiling all day and covering per-
haps twenty miles of water, we had only advanced two hours of actual dis-
tance from point to point. The river, which during the freshets had been a
rapid torrent, twenty feet deep in places and over one hundred and twenty
yards wide, was now about seven to eight feet deep, and fifty to sixty yards
wide, falling, by our measurement taken on entering and leaving, at the
rate of one foot per week. In six weeks’ time it would be fordable; and
even the ‘ Daisy’ would scarcely float in the pools which would mark the
river’s bed

‘* At the last village near which we stopped, Bomauni, the chief, Gulu-
liausi by name, became very exacting, and wanted a hongo of the value
of three slaves—forty dollars. We gave him two cloths, receiving in re-
turn a goat and some corn. We learned from the men whom the chief sent
to negotiate—for he would not appear in person, nor allow us to enter his
village—that some time ago a rebellion took place in their country—Udol—
and that the Western tribes seceded from this chief’s rule and set up a sepa-
rate kingdom, into which no townsmen, as the Zanzibar people are called,
were to be allowed to enter. ‘These people have a bad name on the river,
and the guide who had come with us from Saadani refused to go any farther.

“ We stopped off Bomauni part of Saturday and all Sunday. I was glad
of the rest, for the fever, which had attacked me on the Wednesday, was now
at its worst, and I was a trouble to all. -On Monday I decided to return, as
I saw no prospect of our being able to utilize the river. 1. The current is
too rapid for our rate of speed. 2. The river is so tortuous that a land jour-
ney could be performed in half the time. 3. It was falling so rapidly that,
had we succeeded in getting up, it would have been doubtful whether we
should have sufficient water to return. The river, in my judgment is useless
for purposes of trade, and I very much question if it has ever been used
as a means of conveying goods to the coast,

4¢

810 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

“‘On returning to Saadani, I allowed the boat to be anchored too close to
the shore; consequently, when the tide fell, we found ourselves among the
breakers, and at 9 p.m. the boat was swamped and all our instruments, etc.,
got wet. The watches I put in my pocket, and, as I was only fit to lie down,
the chief kindly had me conveyed to his house, and made me comfortable
until the arrival of the ‘ Highland Lassie.’ Mackay, after seeing the principal
part of the gear landed, had it put on board a dhow, and started the same
night for Zanzibar. The next day he and Robertson started in the ‘ High-
land Lassie ;’ but, owing to the darkness, anchored off the Wami instead of at ~
Saadani; Mackay, Robertson, and the steward, spending avery unpleasant
night on the mud at the entrance of that river in their benevolent attempt to
reach Saadani. On the following day we left Saadani with the ‘ Daisy’ in tow,
and arrived at Zanzibar the next morning (23rd).

‘The ‘ Daisy’ suffered some damage to her planking, and had a few
loose things, such as bottom-boards, washed away. That I am now having
repaired. Captain Sullivan, of the ‘London’ has kindly allowed the chief
engineer to excute some repairs, which Mackay has suggested, to the boiler.
The ‘ Highland Lassie’ is also getting a new set of fire-bars, and her sails are
being repaired on board the ‘London.’ The mate and steward will be paid
off, and black men shipped in their places. Messrs. Clark, Robertson, and
Harris, arrived at Mombasa on the 9th, and have been put up here. Itisa
sort of camping-out arrangement, as there are only three rooms; but, as each
man carries his own bed, there is no difficulty about that. Clark has been
suffering from fever and sore feet, but is now convalescent. O’Neil has also
Deen an invalid for some days, but is now recovered.

‘‘T purpose (D.V.) starting on Monday or Tuesday next for the Kingani,
taking with me Clark and O’Neill. Dr. Kirk has also kindly permitted Mr.
Holmwood, the Vice-Consul, to accompany us as interpreter. We shall do
all in our power to get as near Mpapwa by water as possible, and from the
nearest point O’Neill and Clark will start for their mountain residence. W.
M. Robertson will be ready with the first instalment of stores to start either
by land or water, as we find most practicable, on our return to Bagamoyo.
The mail has arrived (28th), and with it the remainder of our party, all well.
How sincerely I reciprocate the desires contained in the Instructions that we
may all abound in brotherly love! May the love we each professs for our
Lord and Master enable us to be a servant to His servants! Mackay will be
left behind to purchase the necessary stores for the way, whilst we are ex-
ploring the Kingani. (Signed) ‘G, SHERGOLD SmirH.”

In connection with the Victoria Nyanza Mission, we here give a sketch
of the Mission of the Free Church of Scotland in course of establishment
on Cape Maclear, Lake Nyassa. When Dr. Livingstone was in Bombay

MISSION STATION ON LAKH NYASSA. 811

in October, 1865, he had many conversations with the Rey. Dr. Wilson on
the importance of establishing a Christian Mission in Eastern Africa. On one
occasion, Dr. Wilson said to him, ‘‘ Now, supposing the Free Church of Scot-
land were to think of founding a Mission, where would you recommend it to
begin?” Livingstone replied, ‘“‘ I would recommend the Free Church to com-
mence operations on the healthy heights near the Lake Nyassa.”

After Livingstone’s death, when tributes to his memory were being paid
in all parts of the country, a number of Christian gentlemen in Glasgow and
other parts of Scotland rightly judged that no fitter memorial could be raised
in his honour than an Industrial Mission Station at the southern end of Lake
Nyassa. This they considered would be in most complete harmony with the
life and labours of the Christian hero who had so nobly fallen on the field.
In addition to the ordinary evangelistic or preaching work directly connected
with the formation of such a project, it was intended to establish an industrial
institution, in which the arts of civilised life, as well as the truths of the gos-
pel, would be taught to the people of the region. It was believed also that
such a place would speedily grow into a native town, and would become a
centre towards which the native population would steadily gravitate; for
wherever there is protection and security, the African tribes take advantage
of it. The immense population on Lake Nyassa was one powerful reason
why the mission should be established there. Dr. Livingstone’s opinion was
—‘‘ Never before in Africa had we seen anything like the dense population
on the shores of the Lake Nyassa. In the southern part there was almost an
unbroken chain of villages. On the beach of well-nigh every bay, dark crowds
were standing gazing at the novel sight of a boat under sail; and wherever we
landed we were in a few seconds surrounded by hundreds of men, women,
and children.”

It was intended that the little mission colony of Lovedale, on the bor-
ders of Kaffraria, one of the most remarkable triumphs of missionary civilis-
ation, should be the model of this new settlement. In Lovedale there are
half-a-dozen white educated teachers, and half-a-dozen white artizans. They
take in two hundred and forty-one native boy boarders—students, pupils and
apprentices, and sixty-three native girls. The education is so good as to
attract thirty-two European boarders besides, and there are forty-seven day
scholars. The industrial training includes carpentering, waggon-making,
and blacksmith work, bookbinding, and printing, telegraph work, and farm
work. ‘There are thirteen native apprentice blacksmiths and waggon men,
and seventeen as carpenters and others, and all the rest spend a couple of
hours daily at farm work. The Caffres are so eager to get into the institu-
tion that they pay £5 a head for their education, and the working depart-
ments nearly sustain themselves. Besides £800 paid by the Caffres for their
own education, £1500 has been contributed by them to establish a similar

812 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

branch institution. The amount of civilising work done by such an institu-
tion is incalculable; and there is every reason to hope that what has been
done in Lovedale may, in part at least, be done in Livingstonia—the name
of the new settlement.

What has been done may be learned from the following article in one
of our provincial newspapers, and the correspondence from those who have
gone out to establish the settlement :—“ Edinburgh is about to erect a bronze
statue in memory of Dr. Livingstone; but those who have resolved to honour
the name of the illustrious traveller by founding in East Central Africa a
missionary settlement, which shall be at once evangelistic, educational, and
industrial, have undoubtedly chosen ‘a more excellent way.’ No one who
understands aright the character of him who has been called ‘ The Apostle
of Africa,’ will for a moment imagine that his life-work among the degraded
inhabitants of that great continent was prompted or sustained by any mere
desire for human applause. Livingstone was not the man to waste his time
in running about the highways of the world in search of an answer to the
question,

6 What shall I do to be for ever known,
And make the age to come mine own ?

Therefore we cannot believe that he would approve of any proposal to per-
petuate his name by what Milton calls ‘ the labour of an age in piled stones.’
Rather should we expect him to say, with the author of ‘ Night Thoughts’—

6 Hach man makes his own stature, builds himself:
Virtue alone outbuilds the Pyramids ;
Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall.’

If it be true that the departed spirits of the mighty dead take cognisance of
what is going on in this sublunary sphere, we can well imagine Dr. Living-
stone regarding with unqualified approval and profoundest interest a move-
ment which is now being prosecuted to perpetuate his honoured name, by
carrying the blessings of civilisation and Christianity into the heart of savage,
heathen Africa.

‘“‘We refer to the effort which, at the present moment, is being vigorously
and hopefully prosecuted, to found a missionary settlement on the southern
or south-western shores of Lake Nyassa, and to give it the name of Living-
stonia. The originator of this movement, which has been heartily entered
into by the Free Church of Scotland, is the Rev. James Stewart, M.D., of
Lovedale, South Africa. As he has told the world some time ago, through
the pages of the ‘Sunday Magazine,’ Dr. Stewart was with Livingstone on
the Zambesi in 1862, and stood beside the missionary traveller when he laid

THE SITH OF LIVINGSTONIA. 813

the remains of his beloved wife under the lonely baobab tree at Shupanga.
Few knew better than Dr. Stewart how keenly Livingstone felt the failure
of the English Universities Mission on the banks of the Shire in Central
Africa, through the death of Bishop M‘Kenzie and the Rey. Mr. Burrup;
and how much he longed for the re-establishment of a mission settlement in
that part of Africa in which it is proposed to found Livingstonia. In an entry
in his ‘ Last Journals,’ made in the neighbourhood of Lake Nyassa on the
15th September, 1866, we find Livingstone, after expressing his keen regret
that the mission was abandoned by the Bishop’s suecessor, adding hopefully
(may we not almost say prophetically ?), ‘ But all will come right some day,
though I may not live to participate in the joy, or even see the commence-
ment of better times.’ When in Bombay, in October, 1865, Livingstone was
asked by the late Rey. Dr. Wilson, in what part of Africa he would recom-
mend the commencement of a mission, supposing the Free Church resolved
to found one? The explorer at once replied, ‘I would recommend the Free
Church to commence operations on the healthy heights near the Lake Nyassa.’
It is thus quite clear that such a scheme as that originated by Dr. Stewart
would have had Livingstone’s sanction. Nay, may we not go further, and
say that it was really suggested by the great traveller himself?

“The site fixed on for the settlement is at the southern end of Lake
Nyassa, a magnificent inland sea, nearly three hundred miles long, and at
some points sixty miles in breadth. Near the point where the River Shire
leayes Nyassa (about fourteen degrees south of the equator), a promontory
known as Cape Maclear, cleaves the south end of the lake like a wedge; and
there it is proposed to found Livingstonia. About nine months ago, the
little band—some half-a-dozen in number—who were chosen to carry out
this great work, left Scotland under the leadership of Captain E. D. Young,
R. N. (the leader of the Livingstone Search Expedition in 1867), and already
they are busily engaged in founding the infant colony on Cape Maclear.
The difficulties they have, up to this date, encountered, have not been very
serious. The distance from Lake Nyassa to the sea is almost four hundred
miles. Flat-bottomed boats, drawing from two to three feet, can sail down
the Shire for sixty miles—

‘ By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.’

There the navigation is interrupted for between fifty and sixty miles by the
Murchison Cataracts, but beyond these, down to where the Shire joins the
Zambesi, and along the latter river to the sea, the navigation is unbroken.
The mission party—three of them artizans, and one a medical missionary
sent out by the United Presbyterian Church—proceeded by steamer to the

814 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

mouth of the Zambesi, carrying with them a small steam launch, named the
‘ Tlala,’ built in sections, and screwed together, so as to be easily taken to
pieces. Having reached the African coast, the party, with the assistance of
the natives, who make excellent paddlers, proceeded in boats up the Zambesi
and Shire until the Murchison Cataracts were reached, when eight hundred.
carriers were employed to convey the steam launch and goods past the unna-
vigable parts of the river. Happily this great task, involving the porterage
of an iron ship and smaller craft, as well as materials for huts and enormous
loads of stores—was accomplished without any accident. On the 6th of
October last, the ‘ Ilala’ was successfully re-launched, and the voyage con-
tinued up the Shire to Lake Nyassa, which was reached on the 12th of that
month. Before entering the lake, Captain Young waited upon a powerful
African chief, M‘Punda by name, who readily gave permission to settle on
any part of Cape Maclear. There, in some ‘ carefully selected and command-
ing spot,’ to quote Dr. Stewart’s words, ‘ where, from its position and capa-
bilities, it may grow into a town, and afterwards into a city, and become a
great centre of commerce, civilisation, and Christianity,’ will be founded
Livingstonia.

‘“¢ The sum required to start this important enterprise successfully is esti-
mated at £10,000; while, to secure its permanence, £2,000 a year for five
years will be needed. ‘The money has been already provided by the libe-
rality of the Free Church, and it would seem as if the mission were destined
to be a great success. But the experiment is so unique in the annals of mis-
sionary enterprise, that we may safely assume that the difficulties which are
anticipated in connection with the founding of Livingstonia will probably
not occur, while others now unforeseen are likely to arise. Progress is cer-
tain to be slow. A suitable spot having been selected, huts will require to
be built. The confidence of the natives will need to be secured, and their
language acquired, before much solid work can be done. The district, as
shown by Livingstone in his ‘ Journals,’ abounds in wooded mountains and
well-watered valleys, in fertile and densely-peopled plains. The field is
therefore an excellent one. The climate is much healthier than on the coast,
and on this ground not much danger is apprehended. The teachings of the
truths of the Gospel will go hand in hand with educational and industrial
training. By-and-bye, a small school will be opened; and if the first two or
three years can be got over without serious losses, it is anticipated that the
success of the mission is certain. Its influence on the surrounding district
cannot be over-estimated. It will, from the first, prove a serious check to
the infamous slave trade which is carried on so actively in the neighbourhood
of Lake Nyassa. There are five slave dhows on the lake, and Captain Young
only waits the word of command to put an end to the whole accursed traffic.
The very sight of the British flag on Lake Nyassa, as has been remarked by

LETTER FROM REV. DR, LAWS, 815

Captain Wilson, R.N., will be more effectual in suppressing the slave-trade
than a squadron of cruisers on the coast. Livingstonia, we cannot but be-
lieve, has a glorious history before it, as the first spot in Central Africa from
which there will emanate the light and love of that Gospel of Peace, under
whose benign influence the moral deserts of that degraded region shall yet
rejoice and blossom as the rose.”

The various letters which have been received from the members of the
mission report its progress so far. A selection of these letters will prove
interesting to our readers. The Rev. Dr. Laws writes to the Secretary of
the Foreign Missions of the Free Church of Scotland:—

‘German Schooner Harah, Kongoni, Mouth of the
Zambesi, 9th August, 1875.

“Mr, Young is busy getting things packed up, and asks me to report
our progress since he last wrote to you. Leaving Algoa Bay at 6.30 a.M.,
6th July, after a safe though somewhat lengthy voyage, we crossed the bar
of the Kongoni on the afternoon of 23rd July. During the voyage the
weather was rather variable; at times quite calm, on other occasions squally.
On the 13th we were caught by a tornado, but as, providentially, it came
astern, we sustained no further damage than the snapping of the chain which
supported our square sail.

“For three days before landing, contrary to all expectation, the rain
poured in torrents, and squalls came from every quarter. On the morning of
the 23rd we weighed anchor, hoping to be able to cross the bar; but a fog roll-
ing across the mouth of the river, we had to wait till the rising tide gave us
nine feet of water, and then with a slight bump we sailed to a good anchorage
by the river’s bank. There is no native village at the mouth of the river now;
but in the evening three men appeared. Pulling ashore, we received from
them a warm welcome, expressed by clapping their hands. Next day, several
others appeared, and one of the Portuguese who lived in the neighbourhood
came to pay us a visit, attended by three or four slaves. A miserable bare-
footed creature he appeared, but ready at any moment to bully his slaves, as
if they were not human beings as well as himself.

The Portuguese. official here is very civil and obliging; he has just
been on board to ask me to go and shoot a lion that has carried off four
natives. Ihave told him that I had not time to go so far. I told him to
send his soldiers. He says they are all afraid; still he wishes me to go single-
handed. So much for the warriors out here. If I have time I will oblige
him to-night, if he comes near. Please excuse my writing much now, as
I have so much to do and arrange before starting in the morning. We have
a good name here, so there is no difficulty in getting natives for a crew.
Several who knew me years ago are going with me, so I am not discouraged

816 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D,

—_—

in the least of ultimately succeeding. Our boats will not carry a quarter of
our stores, so I have been obliged to hire canoes, but the expense will not be
very great; at all events, I have done the best I could under the circum-
stances. I will send the boats down from the Cataracts here for stores, when
I will report further progress,”

ee

LETTER FROM MR. E. D. YOUNG, R.N,

‘* Upper Shire, above Murchison Cataracts,
22nd September, 1875.

‘It is with very great pleasure that I advise you, for the information of
the Committee, that I arrived here to-day with the last of six hundred and
fifty carriers, conveying the whole of the steamers, engines and boiler, and
all the stores we shall require for some time. After writing you from Mas-
aro, on the Zambesi, we were very much delayed, owing to the rivers being
so low. Several times we had to clear the ‘Ilala’ to the mere shell to get
her over and through the sandbanks. Day and night often we were at work.
The Morambala marsh is now a vast lake, owing to the Zambesi altering its
course, and we had great difficulty in finding a passage through. On near-
ing the Makololo villages on the Lower Shire, we were met by canoes bring-
ing us presents of food and fuel for the steamer; and on our arrival at the
small villages, nothing could exceed the joy of the natives when they knew
who we were. Thousands lined the banks, clapping their hands, dancing
and singing, saying their fathers, the English, had come back to them. I at
once assembled the chiefs, who are all Makololo, and informed them of the
object of our mission. They all appeared very grateful, and promised to -
assist us; and so they have; for without their help we could not, in so short
a time, have got together so many carriers, and transported everything here.

‘“ We arrived at the head of the Lower Shire on the 6th inst., and com-
menced. to take the boat to pieces, pack goods, and employ carriers, and
arrived to-day with the last of the goods, after a sixteen miles’ walk. The
journey was very fatiguing, and the heat oppressive; and even to me, who.
have done the journey before, it appears wonderful how the poor natives
carried their heavy loads across the mountains of rock and sand, and through
thick bush. Some of them came a distance of forty miles to be employed,
then to walk with a load of steel not less than sixty pounds, find themselves
in provisions, and now to return the same distance, for doing which I paid
each six yards of calico! So I hope your Committee will not think I have
overpaid them! I myself am pretty well, but at present am nearly done up with
the journey, and attending to the carriers. ‘Till our arrival here, the whole

LETTER FROM DR. LAWS. 817

of the party enjoyed good health. Nov three have a slight touch of fever,
but no doubt they will soon get overit. Under God’s blessing we shall, I
trust, steam into Nyassa in about fourteen days. Hitherto your mission has
met with great success, considering the many difficulties we had to contend
with.

“‘The Zambesi men whom I brought with me are now eager to return
to-night, so I am obliged to send this hurried report. There are no natives
hereabouts, but the Lower Shire is now thickly inhabited for forty miles,
and all eager to be taught. They love and reverence the very name of the
English. We have received no letters or news from England since leaving
Algoa Bay, but are endeavouring to get natives from the Zambesi to bring
up despatches as soon as they arrive. ‘The expense will be trifling. There
is no war, or even a rumour of war, in the country, as far as we have been
able to learn. Everything appears peaceful and quiet. Unfortunately we
have no natives here to assist us up, so must get on as quickly as possible
ourselves. As I have walked over a difficult part to-day, I am sure you will
excuse my writing more this time, I will endeavour to report again as
quickly as possible. The native carriers cannot be persuaded to stop any
longer.”

LETTER FROM REY. DR. LAWS.

**Cape Maclear, Lake Nyassa, 19th October, 1875.

‘¢ Another stage of our journey has been reached, and for the time being,
I suppose I may say Livingstonia is begun, though at present a piece of can-
yass stretched between two trees, forming a sort of tent, is all that stands for
the future city of that name. I do not say that it will be on this particular
spot, or any other within thirty miles of it, but, till this rainy season is over,
this is fixed on as our place of abode. I am glad to say that only one more of
our party had fever—Baker, our seaman. And since the recovery of the
others, good health has been the order of the day. Several days I felt feeble
enough, and my companions said I looked pale enough, as also did Mr. Young
and Mr. Johnstone; but the work had to be done, and we stuck to it. We
did not get all the rivetting done that was intended, because it would have
taken so much time, and kept us so long amid the horrid marsh; but the
keel we rivetted from stem to stern, and the plates below the engine-
room.

“On Wednesday, 6th October, the ‘Ilala’ was launched once more, after
her name had been well painted on her bows. ‘God speed you! said Mr.

Young, and a hearty Amen was echoed by the whole of us. On the morning
D4

818 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the 8th, we were all on board, and began our journey up the river. That
day we were apprehensive our boiler would prove a failure, but stopping early
we got some alterations made on the draught of the furnace, and now, not
having a current of great strength to contend with, we can go as fast as we
require with one.

‘On our way up we passed through some of the grandest scenery I have
ever beheld. Hills towering, some of them two to three thousand feet above
sea level, while the river wound its way through a level plain, now quite dry,
but in the rainy season covered with water. At some places we found villages
of from twenty to two hundred inhabitants; and again we might steam along
for thirty or forty miles without seeing a human face. Along these unten-
anted plains, game is very abundant. A herd of thirty or forty bucks, the
size of young calves, was by no means rare, and I have seen one herd num-
bering at least five hundred. When fired at, they will sometimes stand and
stare till two or three shots have been sent among them, and then take to
their heels fast enough. I saw three groups of elephants, four, six, and eight
in number; while a little farther on we passed an enormous ‘rogue’ with
tusks like a man’s leg.

“On 11th October, we steamed through Lake Pamolombi, the northern
and western sides of which are studded with villages, but having usually
marshy reeds around them. Entering the Shire again at the northern end of
Lake Pamolombi, we passed three or four villages, and then anchored for the
day opposite the village of M‘Ponda or Chimponda, as the natives call him.
He was very kind to Dr. Livingstone, and, as his territory extended up to
the lake, it was quite necessary that we should be on friendly terms with him.
Here we found two slave-trading Arabs, who, I suspect, were far from relish-
ing our arrival; and, as Mr. Young wore his uniform cap on going ashore,
they noticed it, and evidently knew the badge very well. The old chief ap-
peared quite friendly, but could not be persuaded to come on board. He
spread a mat for us to sit on, but our legs not being quite so flexible as theirs,
we were supplied with greasy pillows as stools. We sat under the protected
eaves of his large house, surrounded by scores of his people, while a house in
front of us was occupied by his wives, at least thirty or forty in number, who,
on their knees, were looking across at the white strangers; while the Arabs,
by and by, came along to bid us good morning, one carrying a large broad-
bladed spear, the other a sword, which he evidently wished us to take notice
of, and which we certainly were not afraid of.

‘We told M‘Ponda our errand, that we wished to settle on the lake, and
asked him how far his territory extended. We find it goes all round Cape
Maclear, right over to the western side, on which he has two villages. At
his villages we found Wakotani, a boy who had been servant to Bishop
Mackenzie, then educated at Bombay, and had gone back with Dr. Living-

CAPH MACLEAR. 819

—

stone to M‘Ponda’s, where he has now, I am sorry to say, got two wives,
though baptised as a Christian. M‘Ponda was presented by us with a
coloured blanket and quilt, two or three shirts, some cloth, beads, and a gun.
He gave us liberty to settle on his land and sent Wakotani (his brother-in-
law) and another man to help us in choosing a spot. Two of our interpreters
were ashore all night, and it was evident the Arabs wished to checkmate us,
and had been telling stories, that we were come to take M‘Ponda’s land, ete.
These stories were partly, at least, counteracted by our boys, but still they
will be a great annoyance to us. Some eight or ten of these Arabs are making
a circuit round a large territory at present to procure slaves, and will carry
them across the lake in their dhows. As we left next morning we showed
them a little what our steamer could do in the way of speed, and, with the
British ensign flying at her peak, she looked well indeed. Passing the north-
ern end of the village, which may contain say three thousand or four thou-
sand people, we saw two slaves standing with the yoke on their neck, and
their hands tied behind them. It was a sight which made my blood boil
within me.

‘On the eastern coast of Cape Maclear we examined several little bays
and apparent harbours, but none were quite satisfactory. ‘Towards evening
we rounded the cape, a huge rocky hill, and anchored in a bay opposite the
western of the two islands you see on the map. In the evening we had a
walk ashore. There is a large plain some four miles long, and a valley run-
ning southwards between the hills, while we have a beautiful view of the
lake. Next five days, after having got wood we went round the western side
of the lake as far north as Benje Island, then across the lake, and reached
the east coast at a more northerly point than had been previously seen
by any white man; then down its eastern side till opposite the lake, and
across to Cape Maclear. When we reached a point on the east coast nearly
opposite where it is, we passed the sites where three large villages formerly
stood, and another where the Arabs at one time had a settlement, and where
Mr. Young saw several large sheds full of slaves when he was here last
time. ‘They and the inhabitants of the next village had been driven out by
war.

“We are in a commanding position to begin with, because, with our
steamer at hand, we occupy the centre of a circle of some thirty to forty
miles radius, with six or eight large villages from which we can obtain sup-
plies, and to whom I hope we shall yet be able to communicate the blessings
of the Gospel of Peace. I suppose I shall have to learn two languages here, _
as both Menganja and Ajawa are spoken within range of our steamer; but I
should like to know more of the coast and its people before I can say which
is of most importance.”

On the 24th of October, Mr. Young wrote two letters home—one to the

820 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Secretary of the Mission, and one to his friend, Captain Wilson. To the
former he writes thus :—‘‘I have the honour to report, for the information of
the Committee, that the steamer ‘Ilala’ was successfully launched on the 6th
inst. and started for Nyassa on the 8th, which was reached on the 12th. The
steamer is quite a success—sails well, and steams seven knots with the one
boiler. Our party are all quite well and in good spirits. Before entering
Lake Nyassa, I called on the powerful chief M‘Ponda, and informed him of
the object of our mission. He appeared very pleased, and at once gave us
permission to settle on any part of his land. He is owner of the whole of the
Cape Maclear peninsula.

“We took a running survey of the whole coast with very fine weather,
and although there are many delightful spots fit for a settlement, none offers
sufficient protection to the steamer except a beautiful bay at Cape Maclear,
where we have decided to settle for the time; and I have left Dr. Laws with
three of our party and some negroes to build houses, while I have come down
here (River Shire, Upper) to fetch the remainder of our stores. I have now
all on board, and start again for Nyassa to-morrow. I called on M‘Ponda on
our way down, and he promised to send a party of negroes up to build houses.
He is the most powerful chief in the Nyassa district, and very favourably dis-
posed towards the English, and wishes me to take him home with me. At
his place there were several Arabs with a great number of slaves bound to
the coast. I saw them viewing me through the crowd of negroes when I
landed, and called them. They were very much frightened, and were aston-
ished beyond measure to see a steamer up there, and no doubt think their
slaving days are ended. I took a cruise round the lower end of the lake to
look out for a good harbour, when I observed a slave dhow. We soon came
up with her, and as soon as I hoisted the English flag they lowered their
sail, and said, when I went on board, they had noslaves in; neither had they,
but she was bound for a cargo. The owner was on board. He was from
Zanzibar, and could speak a little English. He talks of getting rid of his
dhow, no doubt thinking if the English are come she will be of no further
use. There are five of them sailing on the lake carrying slaves across. To
stop the slave-trade there is a very easy matter. M‘Ponda, for a few pieces
of calico, will not permit slaves to pass the south end of the lake and the
river. The Mizitu are in possession of the northern coast. As far as I can
gather, twenty thousand slaves are conveyed across annually.

“We have received no news from England since leaving the Cape. I
must now confess to the Committee that, as faras I can judge, the mission
thus far is quite a success. God be praised, for he has wonderfully prospered
us. Iam myself quite well, and up to work, but worn down to a mere part
of my former self with overwork; but it has kept the fever away, and I shall
now no doubt soon gain flesh. On Nyassa the climate is delightful; the

LETTER FROM MR. LE. YOUNG. 821
beautiful sea-breeze quite braces youup. We have everything we need
out here in the shape of provisions and stores for the present, but shall require
oil for engines soon. I don’t know of a single complaint or hitch of any sort
with any of the party. Whether or not, I have done my best for the party
and the Mission in general; and I trust the Committee will approve of what
has been done. But under God’s blessing, I look for greater things yet; that
is, to see the desire of my heart accomplished—the ending of the cursed
slaye-trade in thisregion. I write this letter in great haste, and send it down
by a faithful negro who was formerly in my service, and who has promised
to take it four hundred miles even on foot to Masaro, on the Zambesi, for
me. Let not the people of Scotland call them savages. No; they are good,
kind, honest people, loving the very name of the English, and only desirous
of being taught.

“Surely this is the country for missions. Here we are on a great and
fine inland sea, with seven hundred miles of coast, which you can get to from
the sea-coast in three weeks, now that communication is established. On
the Lower Shire there are thousands and thousands of natives imploring the
English to come to them, so there is no risk of hostilities from them. With
the two boilers on board the vessel was top heavy but, fitted with one, as my
very great friend Mr. Young of Kelly suggested, she is a fine sea-boat as I
proved her to be on Nyassa in a gale of wind. Please inform the Committee
that I am still full of zeal for the cause of the mission, and I am still their
most humble and obedient servant.”

The information briefly given above is in part supplied in the following
interesting letter from Mr. E. Young, R. N., the gallant leader of the Living-
stonia Mission party :—

*‘ Upper Shire, Oct. 24, 1875.

“ Dear Caprary Witson—We launched the steamer successfully on the 6th,
sailed on the 8th, and arrived on Lake Nyassa on the 12th inst. We employed
eight hundred carriers to convey our goods and ship across the cataracts, and
nothing was lost or injured. Ihave tried the steamer in a stiff breeze on the
lake, and she is a good sea-boat, and will steam seven knots with the one
boiler. I have left the greater part of the party to build houses near Cape
Maclear, while I have come down to take up the remainder of our luggage. .
Thus far I think the whole affair a great success. It’s true I have worn down
a great deal, but have some mettle left in me yet. I start for Nyassa again
to-morrow. On Nyassa I came up with one of the slave dhows, but she had
no slayes on board, being bound for a cargo. Before we got near her they low-
ered their sail, and the master, coming from Zanzibar, at once said in broken
English, ‘Me no got slaves in.’ We are a wonder and astonishment to all
Arabs and natives; the former shake their heads, no doubt thinking that their
game isup. ‘There are five dhows on the lake. Before entering Nyassa, I

822 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

called on the powerful chief, M‘Ponda, through whose dominions all the
slaves for the coast pass. He was very civil, and made us presents, and gave
us permission to settle on any part of his land. He owns the whole of the
Cape Maclear peninsula, and for a few pieces of calico, I have reason to be-
lieve, would stop slaves passing through his dominions. If you can do anything
to bring it about, it would prove a great blessing to thousands of poor crea-
tures. Please write me and give me your advice.

“‘ Dr, Stewart has not arrived yet, and if he does not soon I intend
going round the lake. The whole of the party are very well indeed, and
have been so; in fact, we have had no sickness, and the climate of Nyassa is
delightful. We sleep with two blankets over us, and during the day we have
a beautiful breeze off the lake. There is not a single native we have met
with but is rejoiced to seeus. I will have a look round, and tell you what
the country produces. Had no news from England since leaving the Cape,
and am sending this by a negro, in hopes that it may reach you some day.

“There has not been, as far as I am aware, the least hitch with any of
the party, and they are all becoming daily more used to their work, especially
Dr. Laws and the carpenter, who are particularly well suited to this kind of
life, and have most ably assisted me. More next time.—I am, dear Sir, your
faithful servant, “Hi. Youne.”

On the 18th February, 1876, Mr. Young writes again to the Foreign Mis-
sion Committee. He says—‘‘I have the honour and very great pleasure of
reporting favourably of our mission for the information of the committee.

‘‘ Tf [remember right, [informed you of our safe arrival here, and of the
place where we have settled, near Cape Maclear. Since then nothing has
happened to mar the progress of the mission. We have made enemies of no
one, and friends of all. But I must begin by telling you that we succeeded
in getting safely housed before the rains began, and the whole party are
in good health. Some have had slight attacks of fever, but soon got over it.
I myself suffered rather severely after the excitement of the journey was over,
and I thought I should have been obliged to return home at once; but our
Heavenly Father thought fit to restore me to health again, and to work on,
I trust, for His glory and for the good of these poor down-trodden people.

*¢ After the goods were stored here and we were housed, and everything
was in perfect safety, I took four of our party in December, and went round
the lake to let the people know of our arrival, and to see what the country,
etc., was like. We found that our arrival was known far and wide, and that
the Arabs were so terrified, that no slaves were conveyed across for a whole
month. The common people are rejoiced that we are come; but the poor,
miserable, blood-thirsty slave-drivers tremble at our very presence. We found
the lake to be much larger than Dr. Livingstone thought. The north end
extends to 9° 20’ south latitude, and the lake has a coast of about eight lun-

THE SLAVE TRADE ON NYASSA. 828

dred miles. There are many delightful spots and several nice islands; at
the north-east end there is a range of mountains extending for one hundred
miles, and ranging from ten thousand to twelve thousand feet above the lake,
The water is very deep ; at several places we could not get bottom with one
hundred fathoms of line within the same distance from the land. There is
not the same dense population along the shores as formerly, vast numbers
being carried off by the slavers. For many miles along the north-east end
we saw the sites of many villages and the ground strewed with thousands of
skeletons. The remnant that escaped are living in villages built on piles in
the lake or on rocks. We went to some of them and inquired the reason.
It was the same old story. War was made, and those that were captured
were taken as slaves to the coast. The lower half of the lake is in posses-
sion of powerful chiefs, with their people centred round them, who combine
with the Arabs and capture slaves to the west inland from the lake. There
are five dhows which carry slaves across—not less, from all I can gather, than
fifteen or twenty thousand a year. When we were at one beautiful spot,
walking over bleached skeletons with Dr. Laws, I could not help thinking
and exclaiming, ‘Surely the devil has had possession of this land long
enough.’

‘* Kota Kota is the principal place for Arabs and slaves. I went there,
and although there were more than one hundred Arabs and three dhows, yet
they were so terrified at the sight of a steamer there that they quickly asked
Dr. Laws what I intended doing with their vessels; so you will see that they
are quite aware that we can command the lake. I have strictly complied
with your instructions, and have not interfered with the slave trade, but I
hope to do so some day, and don’t think there is one of the gentlemen on the
Committee, or in Scotland I may say, if he had seen the heart-rending and
revolting scenes that I have, but would like to do the same. At the nearest
village to us, about two miles off, it was the practice before our arrival for the
chief, M‘Ponda, when the Arabs came to him, to send an armed band, and
take as many of the women and children as he required, and sell them as
slaves, for twelve yards of calico each. It is not so now. The Arabs are
afraid to come near, and the poor natives feel secure, and worship the very
name of an Englishman; and I firmly believe that even our very presence
here is doing much good. God grant that it may continue so!

*‘ T have inquired of every chief we have met why he sells people. It is
always the same tale. ‘We must, or we cannot get calico to wear.’ Now, my
dear Sir, just fancy that a dozen Englishmen, with a few bales of calico,
could prevent thousands of poor creatures being slaughtered every year. If
any one says, ‘Who is to do it? tell them that I will, and am only now wait-
ing for the word of command to clear this beautiful country of these mur-
derers. It is only this week that some Ajana chiefs, living near Magomero,

824 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

where the Universities’ Mission was, sent messengers to me to ask me to
meet them, as they wished to tell me how Portuguese agents from Killimane
are sent to make war with them to capture slaves, which are sold there for
twenty yards of calico each, or a little powder, or guns. I am going to meet
them next week to see what can be done, although it is a long way to travel.
My principal reason for going is, that some of the chiefs are blaming the
English instead of the Portuguese for supplying guns and powder to slavers,
and, as they are living in the line of our communication with the coast, I
wish to show myself and put matters right.

“Tell the good people of Scotland who have given their money for this
mission that it has not been thrown away, as up to the present it has been
the means indirectly of saving many poor creatures from slavery and death.
You will, perhaps, say I am too full of the slave trade, but I say nay; also,
that to bring about a better state of things, it must be put down, and one
great thing towards bringing that about would be to introduce lawful trade.
Only buy up the ivory, and it would not pay the Arabs to come for slaves
alone. But I will tell you more of this when I return to England. We have
succeeded in getting plenty of fowls and a number of goats; we have planted
gardens, and are getting a number of people around us. Dr. Laws, Mr.
Johnston, and others, are studying the language; and the former has already
begun to try and teach the natives through our interpreter, and I must say
they are most anxious to listen to all we get to tell them. I forget if I have
already told you that our little vessel is a splendid sea-boat, and just adapted
for the lake. While at the north end we got caught in a tremendous gale of
wind on a lee-shore while short of fuel. We had to ride all night with beth
anchors down and steaming at the same time, the sea breaking over us. I
thought every minute we should be dashed ashore, but the anchors and ca-
bles held on well, and the little craft rode it out splendidly, and when the
wind went down the next morning she steamed out to sea nothing the worse.
She is quite tight and sound, and has not touched the ground since she was
launched. We are now making a carriage and slipway to haul her up to
paint her bottom, and I hope she will plough this lake for a very long time.
The engines are all right also, and, as far as I am aware, there has been no
quarrel or misunderstanding with any of our party.

“‘T have just received letters dating to the Ist of September. There
has been some delay, owing to the country being flooded. I am now arrane-
ing for a regular mail service, the work to be done by trustworthy natives,
and rest assured I will do all I possibly can while I remain.

‘“‘ We have plenty of stores and provisions for the present. Dr. Stewart,
no doubt, when he arrives, will send for all that will be required for the
future. I don’t anticipate any difficulty in getting stores up, as we have the
goodwill of every one, except the slave dealers, and all are only too willing

LETTER T0 THE “DAILY TELEGRAPH.” 825

to work for us. Even theslavers think we are humane, for just after we came
here a gang of about five hundred slaves were on their way to the coast and
passed within fifty miles of us. One poor creature could not travel further,
so, instead of killing him, which it is their practice to do, they let him go,
at the same time telling him there was a people called the English living at
such a place, and if he could only reach them they were sure to take care of
him. After great hardships he arrived here very bad with diseased spine,
and here the poor fellow is now. He was frightened when he saw people
with white skins and straight hair.

** Hitherto we have been successful in everything we have taken in hand,
and I earnestly pray that our Heavenly Father will still guide, guard, and
protect us.”

The following day, Mr. Young thus writes to the ‘ Daily Telegraph ’—
*€T know you will be pleased to hear of the success of our mission hitherto.
No doubt you know that we succeeded in conveying our steamer and a
wooden boat past the Murchison Cataracts, and that it took eight hundred
natives to convey everything across. We built the steamer and launched her
tight and sound, and steamed into the lake on the 12th October, since when
we have been successful in every way. We obtained a good site for our set-
tlement, with a good anchorage for our little craft ; we then set to and built
houses and store, and got all finished before the rains began, after which I
took a cruise round the lake. It is truly a wonderful and beautiful sea, and
extends north to 9° 20’ south latitude, having a coast of not less than eight
hundred miles. Bottom could seldom be got with one hundred fathoms of
line, in some places, even at the same distance from the shore. At the N.E.
end there is a range of mountains extending one hundred miles along the
lake, with almost perpendicular sides to them, and ranging in height from
ten thousand to twelve thousand feet. There are many islands and nume-
rous rivers, but none of the latter are navigable for any great distance.
Many delightful parts are depopulated by the slave trade, and hundreds of
skeletons were seen in many places. In some spots, principally at the north-
ern end, those that have escaped are living in villages built on piles in the
lake, others are lingering out a miserable existence on barren rocks. Some
of the scenes are indeed quite heart-rending. There are five dhows, which
all convey slaves across from the west side; and by what I can gather, I
should think not less than from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand are
transported annually.

“The Arabs are combined with the chiefs on the south and west fighting
and capturing slaves further inland. Is not this a frightful state of things,
and why should it continue, when a small vessel similar to mine, with a
dozen resolute Englishmen, could paralyse the whole trade? All that would
be required would be a few bales of calico and beads to buy up the ivory,

Z a :

826 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Then it would not pay the Arabs to march all round the lake for slaves alone.
Of course the dhows would have to be taken; but that could be done with
the greatest ease. ‘The common people worship the very name of the Eng-
lish. It is only the wretched slavers who don’t want us here. I believe our
very presence has already been the means of doing much good. The Arabs
dread the sight of the steamer, and no doubt wish her at the bottom, but
long may her keel plough this beautiful sea, and ere long may slavery cease
in these parts. I am glad to say we have made enemies of none, and friends
of nearly all, and in a very short time we shall have a goodly number of
well-disposed natives around us. The news of our being here has spread far
and wide, and some of those natives who were with the Mackenzie Mission
have travelled a month to get to us; so I trust this is the beginning of better
times for this dark region.”

The following interesting letter, written home at the same time, by Mr.
Allan Simpson, who went out with Mr. Young, may appropriately be added
to those already inserted :—

“¢ Lake Nyassa, Central Africa, 21st Feb., 1876.

‘¢ As opportunity affords, I take the privilege to acquaint you of our
success in settling the Free Church Mission on Lake Nyassa, Central Africa.
We have received no opposition from the people as yet. From the time we
entered the Zambesi until now the natives have treated us with all due re-
spect. All along the banks of the river there exist boundless masses of
reeds, and among them the natives build their huts. They are quite covered
from sight. This is done purposely, as a cover from their enemies, for they
are continually fighting over trifling affairs. Hvery village has its chief, and
they are always coveting one another’s property. Hach chief aspires to be
greater than his neighbour. ‘They are very much scattered by the slave
trade, which is carried on by the Portuguese and the Arabs. The poor
natives get no warning when these diabolical scoundrels are to make their
ravages. They come like devouring lions, and steal away as many people
as they can, and kill those who offer any resistance. Until this nefarious
work be put an end to, the elevation of the African races cannot be advanta-
geously undertaken. ‘The Zambesi district has been held by the Portuguese
for more than three hundred years, and lies a perfect waste, not the smallest
part of it in cultivation.

‘‘ Our mission house is built, but it is very uncomfortable in time of
rain, as the material we have here cannot keep out the wet. The walls are
formed of reeds, and plastered over with mud, and the windows are just open
courses to admit the light. All the doors we have formed of palm leaves,
with a wooden framework, and the floor is made of mud. The whole of the
party stay in this house, and it serves as a dispensary, store-house, dining-

MISSION TO LAKE TANGANYIKA. 827

room, and sleeping compartment. Before we were able to accomplish our
object—that is, the placing of this mission on the shores of this lake—the trouble
in taking the steamer over the Murchison Cataracts was very painful. No road
was visible, there being nothing but a mingled mass ofjungle, and through this
we had to wend our way the best we could, tearing our clothes, scratching our
skin, and enduring many other discomforts and inconveniences. We were all the
time exposed to a burning tropical sun; however, the work is done, and that is
sufficient reward for the trials we have borne.”

As one result of the recent visits paid by travellers to Central Africa, and
of the deep interest now felt by Christian Englishmen in the welfare of its
people, Mr. Robert Arthington, of Leeds, generously offered, in the Spring of
1876, the sum of £5,000 to the Directors of the London Missionary Society,
towards the establishment of a mission on Lake Tanganyika. In his letter,
making the offer, Mr. Arthington thus wrote :—

“Tt is much in my heart to take with you a courageous and faithful step
in the moral conquest of Africa; whilst we shall, if God be with us, be instru-
mental in His hand in gathering out to Christ’s glory and our joy many of
His elect people in that continent.

“You know that the Presbyterians of Scotland have taken in hand the
Nyassa, and that the Church Missionary Society is likely to take in hand the
Victoria Nyanza, that is the inhabitants of their shores, for evangelisation. I
propose we should take in hand Lake Tanganyika.

‘*T have the happiness, therefore, of offering £5,000 towards the pur-
chase of a suitable steamer, and the establishment of a missionary station
at some eligible place on one of the shores of that lake. I learn on good
authority that the way is quite open in a direct line (which is very direct),
from Zanzibar to Ujiji on Tanganyika; that the Sultan’s pass is available and
yalid all the way, and is recognised and held in respect at Ujiji. Ujiji belongs
to the Arabs, and the Sultan’s influence is considerable and great. He would
doubtless give his countenance, and we shall have the sheltering wing of Great
Britain. Ere long, in all probability, a British Consul would be appointed
to Uji. Ihave no doubt that the Christian church, in sufficient strength of
its members every way, would at once support the mission, and that it would
grow and prosper.”

The London Missionary Society has long had an efficient mission in South
Africa; and the victories which it has won, both within and beyond the Cape
Colony and Kaffirland, in defending the liberties of the native races, are
amongst its proudest trophies. A long line of able and faithful men have
rendered the Society great service there; have maintained numerous stations;
haye founded churches ; and have stamped the impress of the word and work
of the Gospel deep upon the life and public opinion of the Colony. Many
Missionary Societies have joined them in this work ; and so effectively has it

828 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

been done by their joint efforts, that in recent years the Directors of this
Society, in the belief that its special work has been completed in the Colony
and in Kaffirland, have resolved steadily to close their labours in those pro-
vinces, and confine their efforts entirely to the Bechuana and Matabele tribes,
north of the Orange River, who stand in much greater need of Christian teach-
ing. For the past seven years they have maintained a staff of twelve mis-
sionaries in Bechuana-land for service south of the Zambesi; and these bre-
thren occupy aline of stations running northward from the Kuruman into the
heart of the Matabele country.

Now, that the providence of God was opening another door for them in
Africa, they were glad to embrace the opportunity of extending their opera-
tions on that continent. There was something peculiarly suitable in the se-
lection of Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika. It seemed already to belong to the
London Missionary Society, inasmuch as Livingstone, who was himself for
fifteen years a missionary of the London Missionary Society, made Ujiji his
resting-place, and was there found by Mr. Stanley when distress and necessi-
ties were pressing heavily upon him. The Directors of that Society therefore
unanimously accepted the noble offer made them, and resolved to start the
mission as speedily as possible. Much information, however, was needed re-
specting the means of transit into the interior; and it was thought desirable
that a properly qualified and experienced man should be sent to the Hast Coast
to make every inquiry. But who could be found for this purpose. The ques-
tion was soon answered. Just about the time that Mr. Arthington sent his
offer of £5,000 to the Society, the Rev. Roger Price returned for his furlough,
after about seventeen years’ faithful and successful service in South Africa.
The directors conferred with Mr. Price on the subject of African travelling,
when it was found that he would not be unwilling to forego his rest among
his kindred and friends in order to make the inquiries alluded to above. He
was elected to this responsible post, and sailed on March 18th for that pur-
pose. After an absence of six months, he returned; and, at a meeting of the
Directors, gave a deeply interesting statement of what he had seen and heard
and discovered.

Mr. Price is a Welshman. He was educated for the mission work at
the Western College, Plymouth, and, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Helmore,
left England for South Africa in 1858. There the early part of his career
was one of disappointment and bitter grief. He lost his dear wife, and both
Mr. and Mrs. Helmore. He buried them all, and was left alone in a strange
country and among a strange people. But he was not to be shaken from his
purpose. Though cast down, he was not destroyed. He set himself to the
work of his life, and God rewarded him. Ultimately he was blessed with
another companion in the person of a daughter of the venerable Dr. Moffat,
who, partaking of the spirit of her father, is in hearty sympathy with the

MR. PRICE'S VISIT TO THE INTERIOR. 829

enterprise of her husband. The Rev. Roger Price reached Zanzibar on May
2nd. He had resolved on attempting two things untried by any of the expe-
ditions of which we have any record—viz., to travel by bullock-waggons,
and to try a route from Saadani on the north of the River Wami.

To accomplish these purposes he had first to construct his waggon, and
then catch and train his oxen. By the aid of the Zanzibar carpenters the
former was quickly done, but the latter was a severer task. The four oxen
when caught were named respectively England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
England and Scotland were at first stubborn. Ireland refused to work, and
lay down in the road with a determination not to stir. He was at last given
his hberty, and another ox caught to fill his place. But Wales ‘took kindly
to the yoke.” After several days’ training the team became more manage-
able, and Mr. Price started for Saadani. Having visited the chief, he set
out on the expedition of inquiry. For a considerable distance after leaving
the coast he had to pass through thick grass, which grows to the height of six
to nine feet. Then he entered a jungle which, with the aid of his men, he
cut a passage through for the waggon, leaving a solid hedge on each side,
The waggon not being strongly put together soon came to grief, and Mr,
Price had to accomplish the rest of his journey on donkey-back, or on foot.

He found the country high and dry. The tsetse fly, infesting the lower
jungles and swamps, was not seen, and he thinks sickness is little to be feared
by this route. About eighty miles from the coast he came upon the valley of
the Wami, and ultimately joined the route taken by other European tra-
vellers. Mr. Price’s visit to the East Coast of Africa shows most satisfactorily
that it is better for our missionaries to go to the interior of Africa from Saa-
dani instead of from Bagamoyo. From the latter place, from which all tra-
vellers have hitherto started, there are one hundred and twenty miles marshy,
low-lying, malarious country, whilst from Saadani, the way Mr. Price has
opened up, the traveller rises at once to high, dry, and healthy ground.

An important problem in regard to travelling in Central Africa has thus
been solved ; and it is found by actual experience that it is perfectly feasible
to take a bullock waggon from the eastern sea-coast up to the central plateau,
and that there is neither jungle or swamp, hill, nor tsetse fly to hinder them.
Dr. Kirk at Zanzibar is delighted with Mr. Price’s success; and so are the
Zanzibar merchants, who have been longing for some solution of the difficulty.
Dr. Kirk has written a warm letter to Lord Derby on the subject. He thinks
that the employment of waggons and oxen secures a development of trade
which was utterly out of the question so long as anything depended on strings
of pagazis and slaves.

Referring to Mr. Price’s successful experiment, the editor of one of our
leading provincial newspapers thus writes :—‘ A good deal of abuse has been
showered at various times upon the heads of our missionaries in Africa for

830 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the zeal, untempered with discretion, with which they sometimes pursue
their objects, to the hindrance of commercial and geographical explorers; but
the London Missionary Society, at all events, may claim to have rendered
valuable assistance to the cause of African exploration by the successful issue
of a great recent experiment. For six months past they have been arranging
to establish a mission on Lake Tanganyika, in the very heart of the newly-
explored territory, with a view to the evangelisation of the central tribes of
whom Livingstone has spoken of favourably, and, like others who have had to
confront the long journey thither from the nearest point on the East Coast,
they have been greatly troubled by the immense difficulties connected with
the carriage of goods, the large numbers and unmanageableness of the bearers
or porters required, their high pay, the heavy tribute demanded on the road,
the huge quantities of cloth, beads, wire, and other stores, which have to
be carried, and which are always subject to be stolen or thrown away in criti-
cal emergencies. They have now succeeded, however, with the aid of resolute
and experienced agents, in overcoming these grave difficulties in a manner
which promises to be productive of important consequences to the cause of Afri-
can exploration. Their long experience in South Africa, and among the Bech-
uana tribes, had led them to believe that the troubles and losses incidental to
African travel in the east and centre were not a necessary element of the
problem, and it struck them that if the South African wagon, with its three
thousand pounds weight of stores and its long string of oxen, could be trans-
ported into Central Africa, many of those trials and troubles would dis-
appear.

“In order to test the feasibility of this scheme, they dispatched the Rev.
Roger Price to Zanzibar in the month of May last, and, as a result of that
gentleman’s inquiries and experiments, they have found that it is perfectly
feasible to take a bullock waggon trom the Eastern sea-coast up to the central
plateau, and that there is neither jungle or swamp, hill nor tsetse fly, to
prevent them if they take the proper road. Mr. Price having had a length-
ened experience of African modes of conveyance, as a member of the Bech-
uana Mission, and being warmly encouraged by Dr. Kirk and others at Zan-
zibar, went in the first instance to Saadani, a little town on the north bank,
at the mouth of the Wami River. He was assured that there was no fly on
the route to Mpwapwa, that bullocks were sometimes brought down to the
coast, and that the road itself was passable. Chief and people all begged him
to try it. Returning to Zanzibar, he found a pair of wheels, knocked up a
cart, and proceeded to train bullocks. On the 5th of June he crossed with
his team to Saadani taking with him thirty bearers, with supplies of cloth and
beads, both systems of carriage being necessary, as the bullocks were an
experiment. His effort was a complete success. In twenty-six days he reached
Mpwapwa on the plateau, bullocks and all; rested four days, and in sixteen

MR. COTTERILE’S EXPEDITION, 831

days more was at Saadani, on the coast, again safe and well. He soon leit
Zanzibar, and gave an account of his expedition to the directors in London,
at their meeting last Monday week.

“Thus a mid-African station, which was formerly reached only with extreme
difficulty and peril, and at a great cost, by means of large expeditions, and
after months of travel, is now brought within sixteen days’ waggon journey of
the coast. Much of the time occupied in going was consumed in cutting a
road through wood and jungle; but this labour, of course, will serve once for
all. In all other respects the road was a far better one than any hitherto at-
tempted. The streams gave little trouble There was no tsetse all the way.
The people throughout were kind and hospitable, and food was obtainable
at ordinary prices. Indeed, the entire cost of the expedition to Mpwapwa
and back was but little over two hundred pounds. Wagons and oxen are
evidently the right knife for opening the African oyster in its present virgin
state. By-and-bye, we may hear of stage coaches on the route, and the Cook
of the future may not improbably advertise excursions to the sources of the
Nile from London Bridge to Lake Tanganyika and back, via the Central and
East Coast Railway, at inclusive rates to cover hotel expenses at Mpwapwa.

In the spring of 1876, another Expedition to Livingstonia, in the hope of
counteracting the evils of the slave trade and advancing civilisation, was
organised by Mr. H. B. Cotterill, ason of Bishop Cotterill of Edinburgh, and
formerly Principal of Brighton College. On the 16th of May, a large meet-
ing of between two and three thousand persons was held, in furtherance of
the object, in the Dome at Brighton. The Mayor presided, and addresses
were delivered by Mr. Cotterill, Lieutenant Cameron, and other gentlemen.

The Mayor, who was received with applause, said ‘‘ they were assembled
that evening to hear addresses on the subject of the African Slave Trade, and
the best means to be adopted for its suppression. ‘The addresses would be
delivered by Mr. H. B. Cotterill, and by Lieutenant Cameron of the Royal
Nayy, whom they now knew as a very famous explorer in Africa. Mr. Cotterill
had been, and now was, intimately associated with Brighton. It was in this
town he spent his early days, and it was at the Brighton College that he was
educated, where his father, the present Bishop of Edinburgh, was then the
Principal. He had since spent much of his time in Brighton, and his brother,
the Rey. G. Cotterill, was still one of the respected masters at the Brighton
College. Mr. Cotterill, who was now before them, had been assistant-master
at Harrow, he had realised the highest honours of the Universities, and had
already attained a position such as many spent half a lifetime to achieve.
But all these advantages he was prepared to relinquish, in order to conduct
an Expedition into the centre of Africa, with the well-grounded belief that the
introduction of legitimate trade and commerce will strike a heavy blow at,
and ultimately suppress, the detested slave trade. Dr, Livingstone, one ot

882 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the best of authorities on questions connected with Africa, had recommended
this course above all others, as that by which the land might be redeemed
from the slavery in which it is submerged. This scheme was supported, too,
by Lieutenant Cameron, who had traversed Africa from one end to the other,
and made himself practically acquainted with its fertile resources—fertile
beyond imagination. The Royal Geographical Society also endorsed the
recommendation for the regeneration of Africa, by means of commerce.

“Tt was well known that England had expended millions of money and
thousands of lives in attempts at coercion to restrain this diabolical trafic,
but in vain, for that traffic still existed, and defied the might and power of
our country up to the present moment. But was it right that a private gentle-
man, who came forward in an undertaking of this nature, should encounter the
dangers and privations natural to such an enterprise, and should in addition
have thrust upon him its heavy pecuniary responsibilities ? Several influen-
tial gentlemen had suggested to him (the Mayor) that Mr. Cotterill should be
presented with a souvenir of Brighton, as a lasting remembrance of this his
latest visit to his native town. Such a course would enable Brighton to take
and maintain its stand as the first amongst all the towns of England to identify
themselves in this national project. He had therefore taken upon himself,
without the knowledge of Mr. Cotterill, to prepare books and to open accounts
at the banks for the reception and collection of subscriptions, and he trusted
that those present would subscribe in any way they pleased at the conclusion
of the present meeting.” The Mayor when called upon Mr. H. B. Cotterill to
address the meeting.

Mr. H. B. Cotrerity, who rose abet considerable applause, said—‘ It
has given me the greatest pleasure to accept the invitation given by the
Mayor to revisit the town with which many of my earliest recollections are
associated. On many previous occasions I have spoken on the subject of
Africa and the slave trade, in which I have taken a deep interest during the
last two years. I have generally found it necessary to begin with a brief
general enumeration of the features of the continent, such as the relation
between the Lakes Nyassa and Nyanza, which are generally confounded the
one with the other. In the present case much of the responsibility is taken
off my shoulders, because you have present one better able to describe the
natural features of Africa, seeing he has himself traversed the whole of the
central parts of the continent, and is able to give us the latest intelligence
on the subject. I will therefore limit myself, after a brief consideration of
the outlines of the country, to these two points:—First, The question of the
slave traffic, the facts of which are but very little known, or if known, not
realised in proportion to their enormity. Secondly, I will speak of the spe-
cial method for its extirpation, with which I am at present identified.

“By means of this large map, for which I am indebted to the Anti-Sla-

MR. COTTERILL’S ADDRESS AT BRIGHTON. 833

very Society, I will endeavour to point out a few of the main features. You
will notice that all the great discoveries in Africa are more or less connected
with the three great arterial river systems of that continent. What great
mystery enshrouded the Nile in ancient times many of you know. This you
can discover by applying to your encyclopedias and classical dictionaries,
and this I shall not deal with. But of more interest is the story how the Nile
was recently discovered, or re-discovered—for two thousand years B. c. the
two great basins of the Nile were laid down in maps. You know how these
were discovered by Speke, and Grant, and Burton. You know also how one
of the great rivers—the Zambesi—is essentially the river of Dr. Livingstone,
who, in coming from the south, struck that vast stream in the midst of the
continent; and how, proceeding still further northwards, he ‘found another
huge river—the Lualaba—which he identified with the Nile, but which within
the last few months we have learned—and solely from the explorations of
one now present, to be the River Congo, the third of these great rivers.
Will you therefore keep in mind the fact, that the three great basins I have
mentioned are the Nyanzas—the Albert to the west, and the Victoria to the
east—and that with the Zambesi, the river running from west to east, there
is no large lake connected except the Nyassa, which is distinct from Nyanza,
although the word, I believe, is essentially the same, meaning a marshy place
or lake; that with the Congo there is a vast system of interlacing lakes, the
source of which, probably, is this river discovered by Livingstone—the Zam-
besi. I shall not, however, take up your time with this; the part of the
country to which I especially wish to direct your attention is that of Lake
Nyassa, the one solitary lake with which the Zambesi is connected, and
which is the part for which I leave England.

‘* Now, as regards the slave trade, I shall make a few broad statements,
and try to corroborate them afterwards. I put very little faith in mere sta-
tistics, but I think it must astonish us when we find that, in our Parliament-
ary blue books, stated by Sir Bartle Frere, the number of lives annually lost
in connection with the slave traffic is one million. Then, again, it is esti-
mated that, for every slave arriving safely in Madagascar, Egypt, or where-
ever it may be, ten lives are sacrificed. You may be incredulous when you
hear this; so was I, but, if you read the facts, you will not be so. Consider
the vast area; half-an-hour ago Lieutenant Cameron said to me, ‘ Consider
the whole of Central Africa as one vast region of slave trade.’ It extends
from the Zambesi almost the whole length of the continent, and from the
east coast almost to the west. Now, as regards the way in which it is car-
ried on. The slavers start from some place, such as Zanzibar, taking with
them European goods. They make friends in the centre of Africa with a
powertul chief. They foment old hostilities, open up old sores, incite one
tribe against another, and lending their fire-arms to one side, naturally secure

F 4

834 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the victory, and take slaves from the prisoners. It is needless to say that in
such intestine wars as these, many lives are lost; also in the famine that fol-
lows. Loaded with chains, these poor slaves have to walk hundreds or thou-
sands of miles; and if any of them show any signs of lagging, in order to
prevent their falling into other hands, the drivers either cleave their heads
open with a hatchet, shoot them, stab them, or, more generally, strangle
them, by tying them to a tree.

“‘T cannot tell what may have been the experience of Lieutenant Cameron,
but Livingstone says that, in one of his journeys, ‘I found that day after day,
in certain regions, I met on the road such sights as these continually.’ And
within the past few weeks all this has been corroborated by Bishop Steere, who
has made a most adventurous trip across from the east coast northward to Lake
Nyassa by himself. In a pamphlet he published on his return, he says—
‘Scarcely a day passed that I did not witness such sights as these.’ There-
fore you will cease to wonder at the statistics presented to us. Even the
slavers themselves calculate on losing four out of every five slaves before they
reach the coast, but, of course, the profit they make out of the remaining one
of the five is enormous. According to Bishop Steere, the price of a slave in
the interior is two yards of calico, or 9d.; at the coast he is worth £5, and
when he gets to Arabia his value has increased to £50. The blue books I
mentioned are not books with which we should look for exaggeration or
poetry, but you will find stated in one of them that the route from Nyassa to
the shore is literally lined with skeletons. I think none of us, if we endeavour
to realise those facts, can help recognising the great enormity of this evil, and
perhaps be actuated by a desire to see Kngland putting forth her hand to
strike down the tyrant.

“Tt isnot so plain, perhaps, how we are todo so. There are many modes.
Some advise the making of treaties with the Oriental potentates—to root out
slavery out of the countries where it still exists. I do not depreciate such a
course. Let all means be tried. There are difficulties, I think ; for to uproot
this custom would be like uprooting the ceremony of marriage in this country,
so closely is it entwined around the institutions of the country. And this
difficulty presents itself, We cannot enforce—neither can these potentates—
any treaties we can make. We may put cruisers on the coast; we do do so,
and we catch about one per cent. of the dhows. During the past week, how-
ever, a competent authority told me that we do not catch more than one in a
thousand. However, let us put them there, and catch one in a thousand.
But we must try other things as well, and there is one proposition to which
I wish especially to call attention. I will not call it mine, but Living-
stone’s—it is that of going to the fountain-head of the evil—go to the coun-
try, out-bid the dealers, and you will see that the natives are eager enough
in many parts to receive you, to take your part against the Arab slavers.

MR. COTTERILL’S ADDRESS. 835

Then, I do not say the thing would be done, but at least a great stride is made
towards the doing of it.

** You will ask, how it is to be accomplished ? Those of you who have read
‘Livingstone’s Life’ will remember that the first great journey that he made—
one that has only been, I will not say out-rivalled, but rivalled by Lieutenant
Cameron—crossing the continent from side to side, was undertaken almost
entirely with the motive of introducing some legitimate trade amongst the
Makololo, and he says he believes that any permanent elevation of such a
nation as that must be effected by the introduction of an honest trade. Those,
too, who have read his other books of the Zambesian territory, will remember
how he has devoted a large space to describing the products of the country
and to the way of opening up commerce. [Ever since his one great line of
policy was to endeavour to use the Zambesi and other large rivers as water-
ways by which to open up the central country. Now, you will ask, perhaps,
what are the products of the country that will repay trade in these parts. I
have before, on other occasions, enumerated these, and given various autho-
rities; being bold enough to use the words I found printed in a newspaper
copied from the letters of Lieutenant Cameron. He, therefore, being at pre-
sent the best authority, having been on the spot, I will leave that point to
him, merely saying that in the part I am going to at present there is plenty
of ivory stored up in the country, and that will hold out for some years, ena-
bling us to secure our influence with the natives; and after that I have no
doubt that the country will yield many rich products, cotton especially.

‘‘ Tt was in honour of Livingstone that not long ago—a year or two—a
movement was started in Scotland, to do something in Africa worthy of their
countryman, and I think it was rightly decided that the best memorial of him
would be to found a station in that part of the country in connection with
the great water-way of the Zambesi; the opening up of which was always
strongly advocated. ‘They therefore sent forth a party, conducted by Mr.
Young, who had before reached Nyassa in search of Livingstone. From the
last accounts received, they, in October, had successfully navigated the Zam-
besi and the Shieri, a tributary of it. In doing this they experienced consider-
able difficulty, because there are cataracts extending some miles. They had
to take a small steamer in sections; taking it to pieces when they reached
the cataracts, conveying it by road, and launching it again higher up. When
they were on the upper river the natives came flocking from hundreds of
miles, lining the banks of the river, and clapping their hands with joy at their
return, for ever since the time of the sainted Bishop Mackenzie they had
looked on the English as fathers. That is everything. With the natives
against us we are one to millions, but with the natives on our side, I feel cer-
tain that we should out-rival the Arabs. This was proved by the fact that
when they arrived on the lake, the chief who owned much of the land in that

836 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

part at once gave them a settlement, and virtually promised to give up the
slave trade.

“Those who have read Livingstone’s books will remember that the same
thing has occurred in the case of other chiefs, who promised to have nothing
to do with the Arabs, and to side with the Scotch and English in any quarrel
that might arise. These were missionaries. They said to the people ,‘ Now,
don’t have anything to do with the Arabs.’ Well, it was good advice; but
those natives are but human beings, very covetous of European goods, of
which those missionaries had none or very little to offer them. Therefore it
is not surprising to find those missionaries writing home to say, ‘We must
have trade here, we must be able to out-bid the Arabs, or we shall be ejected
from the country.’ For some years perhaps those natives might be staunch
and true, but in course of time these Arabs come with their beads and calico
- and say, ‘ What do these foreigners want? They give you very good advice,
but they have no beads and calico.’ That is a great temptation, and should
not be allowed to exist when England has it in her power with little trouble
to take it out of their way. Surely it is not hard to see that some good
honest trade in conjunction with the missionary efforts might be carried on.
As soon as the basis is once formed in the centre, it will be of the greatest im-
portance in keeping our hold on the country, and securing the confidence
and friendship of the natives,

“It was when Lieutenant Cameron was still in the heart of Africa that
this idea first struck me, after reading some of Livingstone’s books, and I was
rejoiced when his first letters came home to find it was exactly the same thing
he wished—that he believed the introduction of trade into Central Africa
was the surest, if not the only way of eradicating the slave trade. And it is
not only laymen like ourselves that hold this opinion. In that pamphlet by
Bishop Steere, to which I have alluded, he says—‘I find the surest way to
exterminate this traffic in man is to introduce some honest trade.’ I have
thought for some time of going out to Africa, being determined to do what I
can either there or here. And this idea was a newlight to me. For the past
year I have been working steadily at it—writing, and, what I most prefer,
speaking, for I find that when one can speak to a great number of people, it
is far easier than writing. I began by going to merchants, and asking them
if they did not think the time had come for the opening up of Africa, looking
at it as a business matter. They said they did not see their way to do it; it
was too hazardous. I said, ‘ Well, don’t you think now that Livingstonia is
founded, that at all events some pioneering expedition might be sent to see if
there is anything worth getting in the country, and whether there are any
accessible routes by which to transport it? Some of the larger-hearted
of them saw it, and from philanthropic as well as other motives, they have put
it in my power to get together a certain amount of goods. Now, the question

LIEUTENANT CAMERON’S ADDRESS. 837

came, how to transport them? I went about and spoke in public in various
places ; my friends too have helped me; and at last I find myself justified in
making a start.

‘One of the most encouraging of the facts connected with it—and I
have received from all sides the very greatest sympathy and promises of sup-
port—was, that when I went down to Harrow, the school with which I have
been connected, and talked to the boys, they quite spontaneously came for-
ward, and at once, with the masters, subscribed a sum of £300 towards buy-
ing me a boat in which to navigate the rivers. One other support I had at
Harrow, and I cannot help mentioning it, although it may be a little out of
place. Three little children, the eldest of them nine years old, came to me
one day, and said they had heard me say that, in Africa, a slave could be
bought for one shilling and liberated. They brought eight shillings, and
wanted eight slaves liberated, to be named after themselves. I promise you
that item in my account book shall be most faithfully kept.

““T may also mention the fact, that officially I have had the warmest
assurance of approval. Lord Derby himself has been kind enough to give
me introductions to the authorities out there, and to promise me all the sup-
port he can give me. I mention this chiefly because I think the people should
know that this scheme of mine is not merely a chimerical scheme, but one
that is looked on as feasible and practicable, not only by merchants, but by
Her Majesty’s Government itself. I hope, therefore, to start next Monday,
having shipped my little boat in sections on board one of the Donald Currie
steamers bound for Algoa Bay. There we—I am accompanying a contingent
of Scotch missionaries—will charter a vessel, and make our way as well as we
can to the mouth of the Zambesi, and there put our boats together, navigat-
ing the rivers as well as we can till we get to Shieri. In conclusion, as this
is a kind of farewell, I will not say, as is usual, ‘ May we all live to see one
another again,’ but ‘ May we live to see the day when this iniquitous slave
traffic, to which a million lives a year are sacrificed, is exterminated, and
exterminated by England.’ ”

Lizvrenant Cameron, who was received with enthusiastic applause, then
rose and said—‘ Mr. Cotterill has already told us much of the history of
Africa, what there is and what there is not, and what is being done there.
It has been my lot to traverse that continent from east to west. I have passed
through countries of various descriptions—countries, many of them of un-
speakable richness. If I were to tell the true story of these countries, I
should be accused of imitating the story of Sinbad the Sailor, or some others
of the thousand and one nights’ entertainments. Passing through these coun-
tries, one seems to be going through a catalogue of the beauties of the whole
world, therefore I think I had better leave them. If you go to a grocer’s
shop you see some of the products of the soil; in the turner’s shop, you will

838 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

see others. There are coal mines, iron mines, copper mines, and gold mines,
and all these lying there ready to be utilised. The vegetable products are
unrivalled in the whole world.

‘But this fair and vast region is rendered hideous by the continuance
and increase of the most infernal traffic that has ever existed in the world.
The slave trade I know well. I served for four years as Lieutenant on board
a man-of-war on the East Coast engaged in the suppression of the slave trade,
and during that: time I have been three weeks at a time with an open boat
without being out of it except on board the dhows. I know the work well,
and I think we captured more than one per cent., because I know that the
ship I was in took twenty-five dhows in ten days; so that, supposing the
number of slaves imported from Zanzibar to be twenty thousand, the number
we took would give a considerably larger proportion. But this coast traflic,
of which we hear so much, and which England is doing her utmost to put
down, is nothing in comparison with that in the interior, and which, until
commerce is properly carried out, must still exist until either every man is a
slave, or there are no people left to make slaves of. The way this trade is
carried on in the interior is tending to the entire extermination of the popula-
tion. Mr. Cotterill has spoken only of the Arabs—the Arabs are the smallest
offenders. I know them right well. What are commonly called Arabs have
a great deal to do withit; they are properly called Wonerima, or lower orders,
and the Wasuahili. These are very cruel in theirslave trade, and obtain vast
numbers of slaves simply for the sake of the trade. But the better class of
Arabs are driven to obtain slaves in order to carry the enormous amounts of
ivory they obtain in the interior.

‘‘ But when we come to other portions of the continent we find that a large
portion of the coast line is held under a merely nominal power by Portuguese,
who claim that they only wish to improve their position and do what is right.
But their power only extends along the coast line, and is then interrupted.
At Mozambique the Portuguese have to pay the natives for the farms they
occupy on the mainland—which they say is having the natives in their pay.
They block up a large portion of both coasts of Africa to all legitimate traffic ;
and people who call themselves Portuguese, but are not owned by the Portu-
guese foreign minister, or by the representative of that country in England,
spread far into the interior. These are not men—they are brutes. Taking
with them hordes of savages, whom they arm with guns, they march into
regions where not an ounce of powder is to be found, and make slaves of the
wretched inhabitants. Giving some big chief half a dozen guns they obtain
the assistance of some two hundred or three hundred men, and they easily
find some pretext for attacking some unfortunate village, probably that it has
not paid tribute. At night, when they are least expected, they attack it and
burn it down, shooting all the male population, or driving them into the jun-

LIEUTENANT CAMERON'S ADDRESS. 839

gles to die of starvation, and carrying off the women and children. Loaded
with plunder, they drive them towards the west, where a fresh caravan is
found, which takes them to the Makololo country. Here they are exchanged
for ivory, which is afterwards exchanged from the Portuguese ports of the
west.

“Whilst Africa is unopened to legitimate commerce, these evils will go on
and increase day by day. There can be no doubt of this. The only way to coun-
teract them is to establish legitimate trade. Mr. Cotterill’s project is worthy
of the warmest esteem and assistance of every lover of England and every
man of honour. It is a scheme in a small way, and it only touches a part of
the evil; but it attacks one of the roots of the slave trade, the greater portion
of which is carried on with the greatest barbarity. It has, however, the ad-
vantage of a pied-aterre, as Livingstonia has already been formed. A tenta-
tive expedition like this will prove what I know, and what those who have
thought of it know—that commerce can be carried on in Africa to pay and
repay amply the capital invested in a legitimate manner; and that by the
establishment of such commerce the slave trade will in process of time be done
away with.

«But Nyassa is only a small part of that continent. As Mr. Cotterill has
said, there is Egypt far away in the north, and Khartoum, which is simply a
vast slave depot ; and the slave districts run to the south nearly up to our own
colonies. ‘There is an express determination on the part of the slave-owners
of Transvaal that if England presses upon them they will move further into
the main country, where every man may do as he likes with his own slaves.
From fifteen north latitude to twenty south latitude the cause of the slave
trade extends from coast to coast of the Continent of Africa. To establish
commerce means of communication must be opened up. The water systems
of the Congo and Zambesi are two of the finest, if not the finest, in the world ;
and a short canal of twenty or thirty miles wide, as I can say from personal
experience, would unite the two. From the Zambesi, one of the heads of the
Congo, to Nyassa would be a land journey of about one hundred and fifty or
two hundred miles, and I see no reason why tramways should not be laid
between the two places. There would be no difficulty about this, for there
would be no necessity to lay down a railway like Brunel laid between Lon-
don and Reading. All that would be wanted would be a line of rails to run loads
upon without employing slaves. It could be done cheaply and easily, and I
hope that the time is not far distant when English capital and English mer-
chants will be represented in every corner of the vast continent, and that the
name of Englishmen will be loved and honoured. In the meantime let us do
all honour to Mr. Cotterill, who is throwing up everything here in England
for this cause.

‘It is a noble undertaking, though perhaps it lacks some of the romance

840 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

which attends that of the explorer and traveller who pushes into entirely new
country. However, Lake Nyassa has not been thoroughly explored, but will
afford a rich field for new sights, rounds, and views. The people on Lake
Nyassa I know well. I have heard not only from Englishmen, but also Arabs,
that the name of England, thanks to Bishop Mackenzie, is loved and revered.
The Arabs whose slave trade he interfered with respect and honour him.
They talk about the slave trade; they are brought up to it by the Koran,
but at the same time they can understand the idea of Englishmen in stopping
it. I was talking to a white Arab one day, and mentioned the circumstance
of having burnt a dhow in a certain place at a certain time. He mentioned
some things, and asked some things, which I answered, and then he said it
was his dhow. I thought I had made a mess of it, but he said, ‘ We are here,
and we are both civilised (they call themselves civilised), and it is our duty to
stand by each other. Whatever you do you do by the orders of your Govern-
ment; and we are just as good friends as ever.’ And that man is one of my
best friends.

‘The ivory trade is the principal one of Africa, and must continue for
some years to be the principal export, but as we begin to open up that coun-
try, especially factories and trading stations, so shall we find new and valuable
products, and also find a market for our overglut of manufactures, which
causes the mills in Manchester and Lancashire to be working half time. Africa
is the new EH] Dorado—far more than British India was to us. It is a new coun-
try open for our trade and commerce, and in which our population can find
employment without very many of the dangers which are inherent to our
position in India, where we have to struggle with the remains of a debased
and decaying civilisation. Africa must be approached on a larger scale. The
effect of Mr. Cotterill’s work will be to do a great good, and to show how
that large scale can best be worked out; but the time must come when the
whole extent of Africa must be taken in hand on a broad and complete basis.
I will now conclude, and I hope every one will join with me in wishing Mr.
Cotterill success in his excellent undertaking.”

The Mayor having asked if any gentleman wished to address the meet-
ing—The Rev. R. Cocxine said he would take the liberty of saying a few
words upon the subject, because the early part of his own life, and the associa-
tions of his family, had been very largely mixed up with the welfare and well-
being of the African race. It had not been his lot to walk in the footsteps
of the great and good men who had preceded Mr. Cotterill in his noble work
in Africa, but it had been his lot to live in countries where the population
were almost exclusively African. He bore witness to the fact, that where the
Afriean had fair and full opportunity of knowing what was good, and having
the example of higher and better things before him, that he had invariably
risen, if not to the level of the higher races, yet sufficiently high to justify

NEW SCHEME FOR EXPLORING AFRICA. 841

them in the hope, to justify them in the assurance, that the sons and daugh-
ters of Africa would yet be amongst those who would not only be honest
traders and honest people, but true followers of that dear Lord who lived
and died for Africans as well as other sections of the human race. The intro-
duction to Africa of the civilising Gospel would do that country good, and
the labours of Bishop Mackenzie and Bishop Steere would yet result in a far
different report from the interior of Africa, than the truthful and pathetic one
they had heard that night. He would not ask three hearty cheers for those
noble men, Lieutenant Cameron and Mr. Cotterill, who were going out upon
a noble work, but those present, when on their knees before God that night,
would ask that He would protect them, make them the means of great bless-
ing to many millions, and would bring them back to the bosom of their fami-
lies—great, not only because they had aided in opening up a new country for
commerce, but great because they have assisted in opening up a great con-
tinent for the introduction of the Gospel; that Africa, already rich in
her gifts of nature, might become yet richer far in her endowments of
grace.”

Other gentlemen addressed the meeting, speaking of the grandeur of the
object contemplated, and calling for sympathy and substantial aid. The
Vicar oF BricHtTon said, it had sometimes been reproachfully stated that they
were a mere nation of shopkeepers, and it might be that English traders had
not left on the pages of colonial history the best mark; but they would thank
God that a better view was passing over the face of the English trade; that
they were recognising it as one of those Divine gifts which was becoming an
instrument of religion—he said not civilisation, for they cared not for that,
unless it carried religion in its train, and the deep sympathy of man for man
—the great boast of Christianity, and the death-knell of slavery. The meet-
ing closed with the announcement of various subscriptions towards the ex-
penses of the Expedition.

There cannot be a doubt as to the wisdom of these philanthropic under-
takings; and every true lover of Africa—indeed, every one who desires to
see the social and moral elevation of mankind, must rejoice in them and
wish them success. Let such enterprises be multiplied a thousand-fold, till
slavery be utterly banished, and commerce, sanctified by Christianity, spread
throughout the vast African Continent. Already a vast scheme has been pro-
jected under distinguished patronage for exploring the country, with a view
to the promotion of commerce and science. Representatives of several coun-
tries have united in carrying it out; and in some quarters great and beneficial
results are anticipated from it. But for ourselves, we place more confidence
in the labours of wise Christian philanthropists than in all other forms of
effort. The true successors of Livingstone will be the men who, with the gos-
pel in one hand, and commerce and education in the other, will visit the African

a4

842 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

in a spirit of divine love, and recognising his manhood, treat him as a brother.
To such men Africa will at last owe her redemption, not only from the curse of
slavery, but from the enthralment of ignorance, superstition, and sin.

On Tuesday, May 23rd, Mr. Cotterill, and a Mr. Parry, embarked on
board the ‘Windsor Castle,” with their boat and a quantity of goods,
for the establishment of their trading station on Lake Nyassa, and sailed
the same day from Dartmouth for the Cape. The same vessel took
out a mission party, representing the Livingstone East African Mission
of the Established Church of Scotland, and several members of the Free
Church of Scotland, on their way to the Zambesi. They also had with them
a boat for the station on Lake Nyassa.

A long and interesting report has been furnished by Bishop Steere of a
journey taken by him in 1875, in consequence of the favourable reception
which Dr. Livingstone met with from the chiefs of the Yao or Waiyou tribe in
East Africa. The Bishop’s Expedition left Zanzibar at the end of August,
and landed the morning but one after their departure, at Lindi, a place which
he had selected as the nearest point to the Lake Nyassa, and at the same time
possessing one of the best and most accessible harbours on that part of the
coast. The Bishop had with him the Rey. C. A. James, Mr. A. Bellville,
and Mr. Beardall, with about twenty Zanzibar porters under Chumi and Susi,
Livingstone’s men. In consequence of hindrances from the people on the
coast, it was November before they fairly started for the interior.

The Report goes on to say—‘ The coast settlements end at Ching’ong’o,
some ten or twelve miles from Lindi. Thence we plunged into a thickly-
grown forest, and after a long morning reached Lake Lutamba, a fine sheet
of water, about five miles long, and two or three wide, with high wooded
hills all round. We were now fairly in the Mwera country, and stopped at
a village close by the lake. We were nine days of slow travelling in passing
through the Mwera villages, which lie along a fine range of high hills, with
many spurs and sub-ridges, in general direction north and south. Thence
we passed to our first stretch of uninhabited forest, and were six days before
we emerged upon the belt of villages near the Rovuma.

‘This Mwera forest is very level, and most part of it very wet at the
wet season, and very scant of water at the dry. We were passing just at the
driest time, and had to arrange our marches so as each night to encamp near
water. There is something very solemn in these huge silent forests. The
men have a superstition against shouting and singing, as they do at other
times, and the bare feet make no tramp, so that the only sounds one hears
are when they pass the word to avoid a stump or a stone in the path, or an
elephant’s footmark, which means a round hole a foot or so across and deep
as may happen, or, most to be shunned of all, a line of ants across the path.

“The ants are the true kings of the forest. The coast men have a legend

KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS. 843

that when King Solomon reigned, and all the beasts acknowledged his autho-
rity, the ants came to complain that the elephants trod upon them and killed
them by hundreds. The elephants made light of it, and said that, as they
were the strongest of all beasts, the ants should get out of their way. The
ants denied their strength, and offered to fight them. The bystanders laughed,
but King Solomon appointed place and time; so the elephants sent ten or twelve
of their biggest, and the ants came in myriads. At the first onset the ants were
crushed by thousands, but almost immediately the foremost elephants, knock-
ing over everything in their way, rushed to the nearest water, for their trunks
and ears, and eyes, and lips, and every part tender enough for an ant to nip
was full of them, cutting their way in deeper and deeper. The other elephants
thereupon said that it was beneath their dignity to fight with creatures so
insignificant, but Solomon gave it for the ants; and from that day forward,
Jet lions and elephants boast as they may, they tread carefully when they see
ants before them, and no one since has ever ventured to offer to fight them.
We had ourselves experience of their power, and on one occasion nearly set
our encampment on fire in trying to turn their course by strewing live embers
about, fire being the only thing they fear.

‘“¢ The approach to the Rovuma is marked by the sudden rising of great
mountainous masses of granite rock, often of grotesque shapes, and seem-
ingly strewed about by sagan. The country we had passed had not always
been so bare of people; it forms part of the great waste made by the raids of
the Mavitis and Gwangwaras. We found the first village we came to inha-
bited by Gindo fugitives from near Kilwa, who, being timid folks, are ter-
ribly bullied by an otherwise insignificant Yao chief, named Golilo. They
begged us to make him a present, lest he should revenge our not doing so
on them. As we passed on, we heard that a coast caravan had kidnapped
one of the villagers—the first trace of the slave trade. By the roadside I
saw an iron furnace, hollowed out of an ant-hill. It was not at work, but
there was some ore close by prepared for smelting, of which I got specimens.
The smelters are Makuas, but the Mweras are the best smiths.

“We had just crossed a broad dry river-bed, when we met what we
took at first for a caravan; but it turned out to be a fugitive chief and his
followers, fled from the other side of the river. They told us that the Gwang-
waras were out on a raid before us; that some hunters, in searching for game,
had seen them and given the alan, so they were fleeing they could not tell
whither.

“We went to a village of some three hundred houses, under a Makua
chief. Livingstone had seen the same people on the other side of the Ro-
vuma; their chief Makochero had moved to this place. At the time of our
visit the old man had lately died, and his son was not yet formally installed.
Here we met another band of fugitives, who said that the Gwangwaras were

844 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

out behind us, and Makochero’s people only stayed in their houses because
our presence gave them confidence. They would otherwise have taken
refuge on the tops of the granite rocks by which their village is skirted. As
we heard here of a large Yao caravan having crossed the Rovuma on its way
down, we began to think that there had been some mistake, and perhaps
there were no Gwangwaras after all.

* From Makochero’s we came to the Rovuma. It was then at its lowest,
and at that spot without much current, the whole bed studded with rocks
and sandbanks and reedy islands. It was fordable in many places, and no-
where deep. A more unpromising stream for navigation could hardly be;
for some distance, a little higher up, no water was visible, only a waste of
rocks, and the sound of water rushing along between them. We were three
days more passing up the north bank, and crossed two large rivers, still
flowing but very low, which drain respectively the forest wastes which were
once the Gindo and the Donde territories.

‘¢ All along the Rovuma we were gathering provisions as we could for
the Yao forest on the other side. We crossed at a place where the river was
broad and still, but covering its whole bed, and looking more like the great
river it really is. 'The water was nowhere more than about three feet deep,
and mostly but little above the knee. The men walked straight across, and
I was cleverly ferried over a little higher, where there was more current, in
a very small canoe.

‘‘ On the other side we found a Yao village, just forming itself, having
fled in a body from near the Lujenda (or Loendi), where the Gwangwaras
had certainly been. The Yaos reported that there was another war some-
where before us, and we waited while they sent on to the next village for
more certain information. The messengers reported the war as being far
off; so we went on, and early in the afternoon came to a village where we
met with the only chief who made himself really disagreeable. He was a
Donde, one of those who had learnt the trade of thieving from their Maviti
spoilers. He was a sort of lieutenant to a bigger man, a Gindo named
Mpingawandu, on the other side of the river. He insisted on a much larger
present than the other small chiefs were contented with, and threatened to
throw all sorts of obstacles in our way if we did not stay all the next day in
his village; his people, too, stole by wholesale from our porters.

“The next chief, as if to complete the chaos of tribes, was a Nyassa;
he, too, would gladly have detained us, but, being weaker than his neighbour
in every way, we went on to the next, a Yao village, whence we got some
men to help carry our provisions, and struck off from the river for Mataka’s,
hoping to find a chief, named Liuli, about half-way. On the second day of
our forest march we met a deformed man, who stood aside to let us pass.
The more superstitious of our men took him for a wood-demon, and said

TRAVELLING OW: A Water

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SETTLEMENTS OF KANG-NINDA. 845

that, if it had appeared as a woman, our deaths would have been certain. It
was not a demon, however, but a man; he told our people behind that he
was fleeing for his life from Liuli’s, which had just been destroyed by a party
of Dondes from near the Lujenda—that he had seen three men IGS, and
the plundering begun.

“‘ Here, then, was a serious difficulty; some advised waiting, some re-
turning to the Rovuma, and working up its bank till near the mountains;
but the real question was, where were the Dondes going next ?—they would
not probably stay long at Liuli’s. I thought it was just as safe to go on as
to go back, and, besides, my patience had been quite exhausted by our de-
lays upon the Rovuma, and I was eager to get forward at any cost. Ullti-
mately we sent three men to go onward cautiously, and see whether the road
was clear, while we followed.

*‘ The first night they returned and reported all safe for some distance
ahead. The second night they did not return. We found that day a sign
of what might be done if the coast men really desired to benefit the people.
We found a fine cashew nut tree in a deserted village, the only coast fruit
tree we had seen. The cashew apples were just ripe, and though not the
best fruit by any means, we rushed upon them, and soon cleared the tree.
A little further on we came to some marks which seemed to show that our
men had halted there, or had left the path we were following. Our Yao
helpers were clear that the right road was forward, and so we went on with
them to another deserted village, where they left us, and we encamped.

** These settlements belonged to a chief named Kang’-ninda, and had
been abandoned in the May preceding. They were very finely placed on
broad swells of high land commanding grand views all round, with a large
river near, and little brooks running among granite rocks. One longed to be
able to re-occupy them. The next morning we were anxious about our people,
and sent men forward to see if they could discover any traces of them, and
back to mark the roads from the cashew nut tree onward to show which way
we had gone. Both returned without tidings. Some thought our men had
been surprised and killed, some that they had been scared and run back.
Meanwhile our provisions were running out; so we had nothing for it but
to go forward.

“This afternoon, still among ruined villages, we met a small caravan
going down. They had a few small tusks of ivory, some loads of tobacco,
and about thirty slaves. They reported the road clear ahead, and we gave
them instructions for our men, if they met with them. Next day we came
to a fork in the road, when one of the men luckily recollected the spot, and
that the right-hand road was the one for Mataka’s. The path seemed so
overgrown and little used that Ihad begun to doubt about it, when we met a
large caravan, or rather three straggled into one; they had only tobacco and

846 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

slaves. They told us that they were five days from Mataka’s, and that the
road was clear, but we should meet with no more houses.

“This was bad news for us who had nearly eaten all our stock. About
nine the next morning, word was passed to stop, as a gun had been heard
behind, and soon our three men rejoined us; they had misread the marks near
the cashew nut tree, and thought we had gone back; they did not meet the
first caravan, but slept the night before with the second, who had given them
some food, all they had. We cooked for them at once, and immediately after
sent on two men with cloth to get to Mataka’s as quickly as possible, and
bring back food.

‘‘The ground was now losing something of its level character, and ris-
ing first into long swells, as at Kangninda’s, and afterwards into sharper
ridges. The trees, too, were very unlike those in the Mwera forests. There
the average diameter may be taken as from one foot to two, with a tall trunk
before branching. Here the average diameter would run between six and
twelve inches, with far less height of trunk and spread of branches. African
trees are, as a rule, disappointing; there are some really fine ones near the
rivers and in hollows, but generally they are ill grown, and their foliage
scanty, besides being out of leaf for a great part of the year. The baobab,
which have enormous trunks, only grow tall when surrounded by other large
trees, and are bare for nearly nine months of the year. The Yao forests
have, however, one tree which we found very useful. It bears a round fruit,
with russet rind, and three large grooved stones, surrounded by a small
quantity of very sweet pulp, with something of a pear-like flavour. They
were just coming ripe, and we ate them by hundreds. The Yaos call them
Masuku.

“‘ As we went on that day, I saw a woman coming towards us; our lead-
ing guide spoke to her, and made her turn to follow him. I went up, and
he told me she had run away from yesterday’s caravan, and he purposed to
take her to Mataka’s. I made him leave her alone, and she went on in the
other direction.

“November had now run out, and the rain had begun to trouble us.
We found a ford in front impassable, and had to fell some trees to make a
temporary bridge for the purpose of crossing over. We thought this river
was the Luatize, which Chuma remembered crossing with Dr. Livingstone;
but the next day we came to a still larger river, which turned out to be the
true Luatize.

“‘ We passed this morning several cairns, on which it was customary for
passers-by to throw each his stone. A little further on, we passed a newly-
made Arab grave, and all along were remains of old encampments, ominous
signs of having had to wait there till the river fell sufficiently to be fordable.
Soon after mid-day, however, we met a caravan, the foremost men carrying

A CARAVAN ENCAMPMENT. 847

some very fine ivory, several of the tusks being borne between two. Then
came tobacco and slaves, and some of the leaders were recognised as Mataka’s
men. They told us that the caravan belonged to Mataka himself, that our
men had slept in their camp very near the villages the night before, and that
it was possible we might reach their. encampment that night, and find our
men there on their way back.

‘‘ When we got to the ford, we found it a scene of the wildest confusion.
A place has been chosen where the stream is cut up by six or seven islets,
with narrow channels between ; the water in some of these was nearly up to
the arm-pits, and ran so strongly that, except for trees laid across to hold on
by, it would have been impossible to cross. Over and through these they
were bringing some two hundred slaves, many of them women and child-
ren, and very many with forked sticks fastened to their necks. The noise
and tumult were beyond description. We had to wait a while for them, and
utilised the time by persuading the leaders of the caravan to sell us a bag
of grain.

“ Just as we crossed, a heavy Scotch mist came on, which changed into
a drizzling rain, through which we trudged drearily, in hope of reaching the
encampment. The dull light and chill rain, the bare trees and the dead
leaves beneath them, were all as like a December afternoon in England as
possible. At last, wet and weary, we turned aside and encamped for the
night. A regular caravan encampment is made by cutting pairs of stout
stakes, six or seven feet long, with forked ends, and setting them up so as
to form two sides of an equilateral triangle; a ridge piece is then laid in the
forks which locks them together. Pair after pair are set up till a rough circle
is formed according to the size of the caravan. Straight sticks are laid from
the ridge pole on each side on the lines of the pairs of stakes, to form rafters,
and then sticks tied horizontally to support the grass with which the whole
is thatched over; small holes are left on the inner side for the men to creep
in at, and these are furnished with grass doors, or rather shutters. This great
circle of roof without walls is generally divided by partitions into huts for
one or two men; a bed is made by laying down two stout logs for the sides
and filling in between them with grass or leaves, over which the sleeping mat
is laid. The man then lights a fire close beside him, and all is snug for a week
if need be. Sometimes a regular bedstead is made by setting four short forks
to support the side pieces, across which short sticks are laid and grass on them.
Separate huts are built within the enclosure for the leaders of the caravan,
and often a miniature hut for the fai. LEvery caravan ought to have a flag,
inseribed and blessed by a man of learning on the coast, which no porter is
allowed to pass before on pain of a fine to the flag-bearer, and a tail, it may
be, of an ox or a hyzna, which watches over thefts and misdoings. Neither
flag nor tail ought to rest at night among the men, and one caravan which

848 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

we met had at each encampment set up a little roof over a bit of the path
some distance in advance, where their tail passed the night by itself. Ido not
know whether our men had a proper tail; there was one with us, seemingly
used as a fly-flap, but it was stolen at the Donde’s village on the Rovuma.
The circle of the encampment is generally completed all round, so as to shut
out thieves and keep in runaways. Where bamboos and long grass are plen-
tiful, a very neat and useful camp may be built very quickly.

“The night after crossing the Luatize, we soon got good fires and a
plentiful supper, and woke the next day on a good specimen of a May morn-
ing, bright and fresh and sparkling. This beginning of the rains is the spring
of the tropical year; the trees are coming into fresh leaf, flowers are every-
where showing themselves. Among the brightest at this time were the gladi-
olus, scarlet, white, lilac, puce, lemon, and orange. No one in Yao land need
fear to want flowers about Christmas. It was past mid-day when we came to
the Yao encampment, and soon after met our men returning. We were then
close to Mataka’s villages, and slept in one of them on the night of the 8th of
December, having made twenty-seven full days of travelling, the remaining
eleven being days and half-days of rest and provision seeking.

‘We were not destined to make a dignified entrance into Mataka’s cho-
sen residence, Mwembe, for a drizzling rain came on, and as we had to cross
several spurs of the main ridge, with steep descents and ascents, ending by
the ascent into the town itself, the rain made the clay path so slippery that
we slid and staggered on as we best could in sad disorder. However, we
blazed away a good deal of powder, and the town turned out in force to look
at us. It was a new thing to me to see a genuine town crowd in Africa.
Livingstone reckoned about a thousand houses in Mwembe, and it has not
since diminished. I could not count the houses myself, but I think there were
probably quite asmany as Livingstone saw. The people have made a curi-
ous compromise with their old custom of moving away from the place where
any one dies. ‘They build a new house clese to the old one, and ridge up the
clay and rubbish of the old walls into a small plantation of Indian or Kafir
corn. Every spare plot is planted, so that after the rains the town must look
like a sea of green, with house roofs floating upon it.

““A steep road led us through the thickest part of the town to where a
very large high roof, surmounted by a ridge board, with a head at one end,
a tail at the other, and something like a man astride near the head, marked
Mataka’s own dwelling. There is a large yard surrounded by trees in front
of it, and in the broad space under the eaves, a sort of earthen throne, three
steps high, on one side of the door for the chief himself, and a lower bench
on the other for his visitors. There I was placed, and the yard soon filled
with townsfolk. Mataka came out directly , and sat down on his throne;
he understood my Swahili, but would not talk it, preferring to use Chuma,

MATAKA’S COUNTRY. 849

himself a Yao, as an interpreter. He made me very welcome as the second
white man he had seen, and asked me to turn up my sleeve and let them see
my arm, as hands and face had got burnt Arab colour. He offered us the
choice of two houses, and the men went to get one ready. I sat to be looked
at and talked over till they returned and conducted me, not without firing
of guns, to the house which they had chosen. Thither the town followed, and
Mataka sent us presents of food and pombe, or ukana, the native beer; perhaps
barley water slightly fermented would best represent it to an English mind.
I like it in moderation, and Chuma made me with it and some flour I had
brought capital little loaves, which were very acceptable as a relief from the
endless rice and fowls, which are the staple food, and the weariness of every
European in tropical Africa. One man actually asked me whether we had
any fowls in England, for he had observed that all Englishmen ate so many
of them when in Africa. As though we any of us would if we could get any-
thing else! However, at Mwembe we were in a land of plenty; we bought a
large goat, and an Arab settled in the town gave us another, and Mataka gave
us an ox, and we feasted on an abundance of peas, which grow here, but not
nearer to the coast, so that, if the truth be told, we all rather over-ate our-
selves and suffered for it.

“Qn the day following our arrival, we made up a valuable present
for Mataka, and sent him my letters from Zanzibar from the Regent and
English Consul-General. He seemed very well satisfied, and said we might
go anywhere we pleased, and make ourselves at home in his country. He
was anxious we should not then go on to the lake, as in so doing we should
probably make friends with his enemy Makanjila. At first he offered us a
place in the town, but afterwards got frightened and preferred we should set-
tle nearer the lake at Losewa. He gets much of his wealth from what he knew
we should hate and speak against, the sale of slaves, though Mponda, at the
outlet of the Shire, and Makanjila, are the chief slave sellers. As Mataka
represented it, he sold criminals, but of course he sells Makanjila’s people
when he can get them, and his own born slaves, and a very small offence
suffices if the chief is in want of money.

“JT stayed in Mataka’s country about a fortnight, when the continual
rains and the memory of the rivers behind us made me think it was high time
to return. I hoped to have gone down to the coast very light and very
quickly, but our men, finding that I had few burdens for them, bought such
a quantity of tobacco for themselves that they were more heavily loaded than
before. The Yaos use their tobacco almost exclusively in the form of snuff,
but Yao tobacco is specially valued in Zanzibar for chewing, and commands
a higher price there than any other sort. There seems to be no legitimate
commerce now between the Yaos and the coast except in tobacco and bhang,
and a very little ivory, the elephants being nearly all killed off. Caravans

H 4

850 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

are, however, sent across the lake by Mataka and the other chiefs to buy ivory,
which is afterwards sent down to Kilwa, or indirectly through the Makuas,
to Ibo. This want of other trade is of course the chief reason why the Yao
chiefs cling so firmly to their slave traffic; the opening of some new com-
merce would be the surest way of destroying the trade in men.

““We made our final start from Mataka’s villages on December 22, taking
with us abundant provisions, and some Yaos who were skilled in making bark
canoes, in case we found the rivers unfordable. In going up we had met few
caravans, partly because they avoided us when possible, and I think our guide
avoided them. One caravan near Makochero’s made a night march to pass
us unseen, and two slaves escaped from them that night ; when they got down
to Kilwa they spread a report that we had been dispersed by the Gwangwaras
and many of us killed, and they were believed till Mataka’s caravan arrived,
and reported meeting us at the Luatize. Now we were in the midst of a rush
of caravans, trying like ourselves to escape the worst of the rains.

‘We were very fortunate in finding both the great rivers bridged by
previous caravans; indeed, we met one in the act of crossing the second. We
made a slightly quicker march down through the Yao forest than we had made
going up. Now we found all the low land full of Rovuma water. We were
told that the river was unusually high, and it rose two feet while we stayed
on its banks for a day to buy food.

‘‘T had thus an opportunity of seeing under a different aspect a district
of high land near the river which I had thought in going up would make an
admirable site for a city of refuge, or for an intermediate station and rest-
ing place. It looked even more promising now. Just by it we met a large
caravan, the largest I think which we saw; it consisted of one hundred and
thirty-four people carrying sixty-one bales of cloths. The number of these is
always the standard by which the importance of a caravan is measured. A
few days before we had met another with thirty-five people and seventeen
bales, which was, I think, the smallest. In all we met nine, five belonging to
Yao chiefs and four to coast Arabs, most of them having been from two to
three months on the way, and all exclaiming at the scarcity and dearness
of provisions. We found afterwards at Makochero’s, where we had bought
most of our provisions in going up, and amongst us had eaten some hundreds
of fowls, that nothing was now to be had, and everything about the place
looked hungry; the caravans seen would represent from one thousand
five hundred to two thousand slaves, and possibly some ten thousand for the
whole year.

“The Rovuma was crossed on January 7%, at a place where the river
flows in one channel, reminding one in breadth and current of the Thames
at Westminster when the tide has begun to run out strongly. I think, how-
ever, that it is wider, and the water, instead of being black, was a muddy

COMMERCE AMONG THE MWERAS. 851

red. We were ferried over in four small canoes, which made seven journeys
each. Two days more brought us to the Mwera forest, and just as we left
the river, we met a man who said he was six days from Lindi, which makes
one believe that it is possible for a native going express to get to Mataka’s in
from ten to fifteen days, as all the coast people say that it is.

“On the 16th of January we were again among the Mweras, for whom
I confess a strong liking. They have no slave trade, but drive a brisk busi-
ness with the coast in Kafir corn, rice, semsem seed, tobacco, and copal, to
which they have just added india-rubber, and may add bees-wax, for honey
is so abundant that we may almost say their standard food is porridge and
honey. The copal lies close to the surface in quite uncertain patches. The
Mweras have a tool like a broad spud, with which they sound where they
fancy likely places, and by use can recognise at once if they strike copal.
The finder is then entitled to all he can stretch over, say six feet each way,
beyond which any one else may dig. Sometimes a lucky find will fill his bag
at once, but more commonly the loads taken down to the coast are many
days in gathering. I offered te teach any lads that would go down with me,
but some did not care to learn, and more were afraid they might never come
back. However, a beginning is made, and in time they will know and trust
us. Itis sad to think that, unless we can do something, their end must be
to be swept into hopeless foreign slavery, as at any time by a Gwangwara
raid they might be, for they have no principle of unity, and Seyed Barg-
hash’s policy makes it impossible for them to get powder, without which
their guns are useless.

“We made no stay among them, for food was scarce, and rain was plen-
tiful; and one night, through the obstinacy of our guide, who would not stop
at a village when the storm threatened, I got for the first time thoroughly
wet through. So on January 21st we walked again into Lindi in very good
general condition; indeed, that one night’s rain was the only serious damage
we had encountered, our bell tent having preserved the goods, and my water-
proof sheets myself, from all the previous downpours. We were thus thirty-
one days from Mataka’s country, of which twenty-five were full days of
marching, and the remaining six days of resting and food buying.

“The line I traversed has been the scene of terrible destruction since the
time that our mission was first started, and whole nations have practically
disappeared. The Yaos are now in every sense the strongest in mind and
body, as well as in numbers. None of the tribes have a common head, but
Mataka, Makanjila, and Mponda, are really great chiefs.

“The Mweras are even less united; every little group of huts is inde-
pendent. ‘There is a story current of a Mwera who had thirteen daughters,
and determined to be a chief. So he cleared a new spot in the forest, and
every one who wished to marry one of his daughters he made it a condition

852 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

that he should come and live under him. Thus he soon had thirteen huts
beside his own, which in Mwera land is a respectable village. The Matam-
bwes, on the lower or middle Rovuma, are almost overwhelmed by refugees
—Gindos, Dondes, Yaos, and Makuas, but their language asserts itself as the
common medium of communication. Near the mouth of the Rovuma lie the
Makondes, pressed upon by the Makuas from the south, with Machemba, like
a cancer, in their midst.

‘Old traders say that the road from Kilwa to the Nyassa used to lie
entirely through an inhabited country, where food of all sorts was fabulously
abundant. East of Kilwa lay the Gindos, and south of them the Mweras;
east of both these the Dondes, and then on the lower Rovuma Matambwes;
and on the upper, and along the lake, Yaos; south and east of the lake,
Nyassas, and east of them again the Bisas, who were ardent traders, and used
to send down caravans of their own to Kilwa. The great disturbers of this
state of things were the Maviti, or Mazitu, a Zulu army sent on an unsuccess-
ful expedition, which instead of returning to be decimated, went north and
found a new home round the north end of the Nyassa, whence they plundered
and burnt in all directions, even sending an army against Kilwa itself, and
for the time stopping all trade.

‘“‘ The coast trade itself in anything like its present dimensions seems to
be scarcely twenty years old, corresponding in fact to the growth of Zanzibar
as a centre of commerce. Yet it must have been once of great extent, or Kilwa
could not have been the important city which the Portuguese found it. In the
Yao language there are a few words which point to old commercial relations
with the coast, especially the name for coast people, which is merely the
Arab name for Christians; this seems to show that at the coming of the Portu-
guese there was Arab influence enough among the Yaos to give them an Arab
name. The trade died in their hands, and only in our own days is returning
to its former importance. The same conclusion may be drawn from the vague
acknowledgment of one God by all the nations between the great lakes and
the sea. This is just the remnant of Mohammedan teaching, which might be
expected to survive, when that teaching was first forcibly suppressed at the
fountain head by a professed Christianity, and then allowed to wither away
into forgetfulness, nothing really remaining except a distaste for visible idols.
It is only on the young men of the present generation that Mohammedanism
is beginning to exert a powerful influence, and this just in proportion as they
are struggling into some kind of civilisation. It is therefore much more felt
by the principal Yao chiefs than by the smaller, or, by the less advanced
Mweras.

‘‘ The harvest is ripe, where are the reapers ?

‘‘ EpwarRD STEERE, Missionary Bishop.

“ ZanziBar, Lent, 1876.”

BISHOP STEERE ON THE SLAVE TRADE. 853

Referring to Bishop Steere’s plan for arresting the slave trade, the car-
rying out of which was the object of his journey into the interior, the Rev.
Horace Waller, who speaks from knowledge, says :—‘“‘ There can be no doubt
that Bishop Steere’s plan is the correct one. Forty men, carefully selected
under a competent leader, might not only establish themselves within a few
months upon some favourable spot near Lake Nyassa, but, if properly con-
stituted, the little detachment should hold its own against any possible dis-
turbance, and induce every village within two days’ march, under offer of
good reward, to report the presence of any slave caravans in the country.
The party should certainly contain, say, ten sappers, one blacksmith, two car-
penters, one mason, two bricklayers, taught to make bricks, one sergeant, two
seamen, one cook, two agriculturists, and a medical man. It would be hard
if the remaining hands could not be gathered from the ranks that have already
sent such men to Africa as those which make up the ‘Livingstonia’ party.
The prospect of an intensely interesting and adventurous life and a deter-
mination to put an end to the slave trade would attract many, whilst the
bold and unsparing eye of the leader would sift out such as could not furnish
unmistakable evidence that their previous life and reputation would stand
the test of severe discipline and thorough obedience.

*¢ That some one or two men would beg to be allowed to join-as mission-
aries and teachers from the outset, we may be certain, and with the proba-
bility of a large population quickly springing up around the City of Refuge,
their presence, from all points of view, would be indispensable. The outlay
on such an undertaking would not reach that needed for the maintenance of
a guard-ship on the coast. With Lindi as a first-rate harbour, and Zanzibar
frequented by ships of all nations within easy reach, stores could be landed
on the coast at any season, and at each trip the cost of porterage and time
expended on the road would be worked down. ‘Trading should be vigorously
carried on in all directions, in order that the natives might find the same
goods procurable in exchange for the products of their lands and forests that
they have hitherto alone been able to secure by the sale of their fellow crea-
tures. The home Government might well afford to be answerable for the
military and naval element in the undertaking, as it would form part of the
suppressive policy at work on the coast, whilst private enterprise might sup-
port the remaining cost. The news would spread with incredible speed that
any fraction of a tribe could settle down in the vicinity of the settlement safe
from attack, and with equal speed it would become known, as of old at Mago-
mero, that no slaver would be tolerated in the land. Indeed, the writer of
these observations can ill conceal that he is jotting them down in full recol-
lection of what five or six men once proved to be possible in this way, and
within one hundred and fifty miles of this same chief Mataka; and he ven-
tures to state that every one who has had actual experience of the native

854 LIFE OF DAVID LI VINGSTONE, LL.D.

tribes as at present constituted, the ramifications of the slave trade as at pre-
sent carried on, the deep longing on the part of the natives for the presence
of the English, and the extreme fear of the Arabs when brought into contact
with them, will bear him out in saying that twelve Englishmen on Lake
Nyassa, and forty more stationed as Bishop Steere proposes, would in three
years make the slave trade a thing of the past, over an enormous tract, and
save some hundred thousand lives per annum.

‘“‘Nor, whilst we are on this branch of the subject, can we help speaking
freely of the treaties which we have recently made with the Sultan of Zan-
zibar, the apprehensions concerning the integrity of territory threatened by
the Egyptians, and his supposed powers to interfere with the slave trade
throughout his so-called dominions. His ready acquiescence with our sug-
gestions for a very good guid pro quo irresistibly recalls the old story of the
farmer leaning over the gate by the roadside and allowing the cockney to
fire away into the ducks swimming about in the pond on the common af so
much a shot. It was only when the slaughterer of ducks found out that he
had been putting crown after crown into the hand of a man who had really
nothing to do with them that he could properly understand the easy terms
agreed upon.

‘‘So with ourselves: after reading such accounts as Livingstone wrote
from Nyangwe, after reading that which Dr. Steere relates on the path to the
lake, and Young from the shores of Nyassa itself, to say nothing of the
additional testimony of Stanley and Cameron, it is clear that from southern
Shire to northern Nile, from the Comoro Islands on the east to the waters of
the supposed Congo on the west, the Zanzibar image and superscription ts inde-
libly stamped on every deed of Arab infamy and bloodshed. It becomes, I say, an
anxious question what value we ought to attach to the leave we have obtained
from this bland Sultan to interfere in his dominions; and when we reflect
that every musket, every pound of powder, every bale of goods—in short,
every Arab caravan which is fitted out for the interior is identified with Zan-
zibar to begin with, it is not altogether beside that question to ask also whe-
ther we should not now try our hand in a different direction, and not content
ourselves with stopping a mere percentage of the slaves that are exported,
after the slave raids organised at Zanzibar have had time to work their bane-
ful effect amongst the tribes.

‘“‘In this country the police would far rather break in upon a gang of
coiners than detect a poor wretch passing a bad shilling over a counter. In
the East our policy is to encourage the coiner, and congratulate ourselves in
Parliament and on platforms that we have something to show when we even-
tually pick up a bad coin. Mr Young states that twenty thousand slaves
were carried across Lake Nyassa last year by Zanzibar Arabs, one of whom
had the audacity to appear at the capital a few months after, representing

CHURCH CONGRESS AT PLYMOUTH. 855

that the English, under Mr Young, were ruining the slave trade there! In
singular confirmation of this we find Bishop Steere stating that he believes,
from what he saw, as many as ten thousand slaves per annum passed along the
particular path (one of two leading to the coast) that he happened to be tra-
yelling upon.

“‘ But we must now leave them to speak for themselves. That the slaver
has altered his plans, we cannot doubt; that he has dropped his lucrative
trade, it is absurd to imagine; but we are equally sure that in contrast to
this unsatisfactory state of things the right measures for real suppression
have been ably propounded.

“Tt is with extreme delight that we now see an extraordinary impetus
given to an old scheme, formed many years ago, for dealing a most effectual
blow at the very heart of this dreadful state of things. Originating first of
all in the practical mind of Dr Livingstone, it has stood the test of many
years’ criticism, and has never seemed otherwise than precisely the one thing
wanted when regarded by those who have personally watched the slave trader
at his work in the country.”

In October, 1876, the annual meetings of the Church Congress were held
at Plymouth; and one of the subjects discussed was, ‘Central Africa in re-
lation to Mission Work, Slave Trade, and Commerce.” <A paper which had
been prepared by Sir Bartle Frere was read, in which he said he proposed
to lay before the Congress a short account of the recent development of Chris-
tian Missions on the East Coast of Africa, and to indicate the mode in which
they were likely to be affected by the plan for an international association for
the exploration and civilisation of Central Africa which the King of the Bel-
gians had lately placed before a Conference of geographers and others at
Brussels in September last. Central Africa had for ages been almost closed
or lost to the rest of the world, except as a nursery or hunting ground for
slaves. Admirably adapted by nature for producing and exporting almost
every kind of tropical or sub-tropical raw produce, and for consuming in
large quantities the products and manufactures of the rest of the world, Cen-
tral Africa had for three centuries exported little except slaves, every one of
whom had been proved in the clearest manner to be procured at the cost of
many other human lives, while the process of hunting for them kept the
whole country in a state of perpetual insecurity and barbarism. The annual
loss of life had been repeatedly proved to be some hundred times greater than
the slaughter in Bulgaria, which had so recently shocked the whole civilised
world. No one who had any instinct of humanity could refuse to aid in put-
ting a stop to such a horrible waste of human life, and of the good gifts of
the Almighty ; but how was this to be effected ?

Governments and diplomatists had done, and were doing, their part,
but they could achieve little without the aid of explorers and enterprising

856 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

travellers to penetrate regions where mistrust of every man’s neighbour had
hitherto barred the road to all but the armed bands of slave-hunting men-
stealers. Naturalists and men of science must follow the explorers to ascer-
tain and report the natural riches of the country; missionaries must follow
to teach and civilise, and men of commerce to trade and assist the develop-
ment of lawful industry. At present those interested in behalf of Central
Africa for opening roads and forming stations which should be centres of
security and civilisation, were working separately and losing time, energy,
and money.

The idea of the King of the Belgians was by means of an international
association to unite all these efforts, as far as they had common objects in
view; to make known to all interested in the work the scattered items of in-
formation which now escaped notice in separate transactions and reports;
to concert united action where united action was necessary or practicable ;
and to aid in laying before the Governments and communities of the civilised
world such requisites of their great task as could only be supplied by national
or diplomatic effort. One of the first wants was, of course, to open roads,
and to establish stations which might serve as points of refuge for the weak
and needy, as bases of further operations for the explorer and man of science ;
as resting places for the traveller and missionary, and as centres of commerce.
All experience showed that the establishment of such stations was not only
practicable, but that it was the only way in which the objects he had enume-
rated could be effectually promoted. Among those who attended the King’s
Congress were their own countrymen, Grant and Cameron, who were among
the few living travellers who had succeeded in passing from sea to sea—
Cameron from east to west, Grant from south-east to north, across the great
continent. The explorers present gave vivid descriptions of the obstacles
which had barred their progress and the mode in which such obstacles might
be overcome, and there was a general concurrence of opinion that few things
would conduce more to open out Central Africa than the careful selection of
routes to be traversed, and the establishment of stations well chosen on such
routes, as bases of further exploration. Forty years ago there was not a soli-
tary Christian congregation, or minister of the Christian religion, to be found
between Socotra and Cape Delgado—the present northern frontier of Portu-
guese possessions. Along this coast, extending for 1,500 miles in a direct line,
such Christianity as might have once existed had entirely disappeared, and
the only notable foreign commerce which existed was that in slaves.

The Church Missionary Society were the first to establish an active mis-
sion on this coast—at Mombasa, a position wisely selected. For years the
mission continued here and at Kissoluduut, sixteen miles inland, with little
external increase or development, but it was far from being inoperative, for
Dr. Rebmann accumulated vast stores of philological research, which would

"

THE UNIVERSITIES’ MISSION. 857

be invaluable to all future missionaries and promoters of civilisation in that
region. During the last three years the mission had been greatly strengthened
and extended by the Church Missionary Society. The Rev. W. Price, who
at the Church Missionary Society’s Mission at Nassick, near Bombay, trained
the “‘Nassick Boys” who so nobly brought home Livingstone’s body, had lately
transplanted to Mombasa a considerable colony of liberated slaves found in
slave dhows captured by English cruisers, and made over to his care for edu-
cation at Nassick. Their children had been carefully trained by him, in the
Christian religion as well as in various educational arts, and the establishment
at Mombasa promised to become a most valuable base of operations.

At Mombasa in the last two years £7,060 had been spent, and the staff
of the mission consisted of two ordained missionaries, one layman, Com-
mander Bussell, R.N., one medical man, and a schoolmaster, all Europeans,
beside several native Christians educated at Nassick. If the establishment
prospered as it promised to do, it might prove a great centre of civilisation
and Christianity, which missions might radiate into the interior. One such
branch had been already projected by the Church Missionary Society (who
. proposed to establish a mission in the country of Uganda and Karague, be-
tween the Lakes Victoria and Albert). In answer to a special appeal
for the purpose, £13,000 had been collected. The Universities’ Mission,
under Bishop Steere, was one result of the effect produced on the Church by
Liyingstone’s great journey. Now at Zauzibar, Bishop Steere had collected,
and, in part, printed by the hands of the educated negro Christians who were
once slaves, a most valuable series of elementary educational and devotional
works in the native dialects of East Africa, translations of portions of the
Scripture and liturgy, grammars, vocabularies, school books, &e., all of the
utmost practical value to missionaries, travellers, and educated natives.
Bishop Steere was building a church on the site of the former slave market,
and had, four miles from Zanzibar, an agricultural settlement of adult free
slayes, and a school for girls and infants. A mile and a half from Zanzibar
he had a boys’ school and printing press, and a station at Magila, on thie
mainland to the north-west of Zanzibar, and about forty miles in a direct
line from the coast. The European staff of the Universities’ Mission con-
sisted of Bishop Steere, four ordained missionaries, two schoolmasters, a mas-
ter printer and master carpenter, and two ladies, who superintended the
schools. Bishop Steere proposed to establish another station on the main-
land to the north or north-east of lake Nyassa, and the plan, suggested by his
journey of exploration was, in fact, a realisation of one of Livingstone’s
great ideas.

Next in order of date and establishment on this coast, was the French
Roman Catholic Mission, a large and a well-organised institution. There

was a large farm of several hundred acres, schools for girls and boys,
14

858 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

an hospital, and accommodation for travellers, who were always most kindly
and liberally entertained by the brethren. They proposed, when he (Sir
Bartle Frere) visited them in 1873, to establish a station some miles inland,
clear of the coast of swamps, and about a stage or two on the great road to
the interior, but he had not yet heard whether their intention had been car-
ried out.

Livingstonia, at the south end of the Lake Nyassa, had been esta-
blished within the last two years by the Free Church of Scotland, which
raised more than £10,000 for the purpose. It was under the superintend-
ence of the Rev. Dr. Stewart and Mr. Young, R.N., both friends and
former companions of Livingstone, and possessing great African experience.
They had two ordained missionaries and eight lay assistants, agriculturists,
engineers, weavers, carpenters, and a seaman who assisted Mr. Young in the
management of the small steamer which they brought up the rivers Zambesi
and Shire, carried in pieces round the falls of the latter river, and with which
they had circumnavigated Lake Nyassa. They found that it extended a
hundred miles further north than was supposed, and that it fully answered in
every respect Livingstone’s description as capable of becoming either a great
facility for carrying on the slave trade, or an important means of checking
it. The mere presence of the English steamer in its waters was stated to
have already produced a great effect. The Established Church of Scotland
had already taken steps for placing a mission on the shores of the Lake
Nyassa in close proximity to their brethren of the Free Church. They had
raised £5,000, and despatched Mr. Henderson in company with the Free
Church Expedition to choose a site for the future settlement. An ordained
missionary and five or six assistants were about to follow.

The London Missionary Society, which originally sent out Drs. Living-
stone and Moffat, had determined to establish a mission, and had collected
a fund of nearly £8,000 for the purpose. They had deputed the Rey. Mr.
Price, grandson of Dr. Moffat, and possessed of considerable missionary ex-
perience on the Cape frontier, to visit the Zanzibar coast and prepare for
receiving a party of six or eight members of the mission, who will leave
England early in the spring to join him. The party was to consist of Lieut.
S. G. Smith, R.N., two ordained missionaries, one of them educated as a
medical man, two engineers, a carpenter, and a blacksmith. It was impos-
sible to exaggerate the value of wheeled carriages in such a country as
Africa. It would go far to obviate the necessity for porters carrying loads
on their heads and shoulders, which was one incitement to slave hunting, as
such porters at present afforded the only means for carrying the ivory to the
coast. There could be but little doubt that if carts or waggons could be in-
troduced, and tracks cleared to afford them passage, the civilising effect on the
country between the ocean and the lake districts would be great and im-

MR. PRICE'S JOURNEY TO THH INTERIOR. 859

mediate. The Tsetse fly had hitherto been one great obstacle to the use of
wheeled carriages or even pack cattle in Eastern Africa, but Dr Kirk, the
Consul-General of Zanzibar, had since showed that this fly was extremely
local, and that vast tracts were to be found which were generally free from
it; that the places most infected by it could often be avoided by experienced
guides; that the fly disappeared when the country was cleared and forsaken
by the great game, and that altogether the Tsetse was not such a formidable
hindrance to the use of pack or draught cattle as was once supposed. Mr.
Price had already trained cattle to draw a rough cart, with which he had
made an experimental journey of nearly one hundred miles on the main-
land. Bishop Steere, an experienced authority, had expressed an opinion
that Mr. Price had already achieved an important success.

The Free Wesleyan Church had for several years had a mission esta-
blished at Ribe, sixteen miles north-west of Mombassa, and the mission was
well placed for extension to the lake region. It would be seen from these
details, first, that in the past three years a great impulse had been given
to the missionary effort on this coast, and there was evidently in many
branches of Christ’s Church a warm and apparently abiding interest in the
work of evangelising those long-neglected regions. Secondly, that all socie-
ties at work recognised more or less the importance of industrial, civilising,
as well as pure missionary influences. Thirdly, it was clear that every one
of those societies might derive most important aid from such a plan as the
King of the Belgians had recently devised for an international organisation
for exploring and civilising Central Africa. Indeed, some of the societies
had in part anticipated the king’s plan, and more than one traveller had
already found a base for his explorations at the hospitable missionary esta-
blishments on the coast.

Such travellers, as well as the missionaries, might benefit enormously
by the establishment of international stations at intervals of two or three
days’ journey inland from the coast. From the speech of Mr. Stevenson
at the meeting of the British Association held in Glasgow some time pre-
viously there was every hope that a part at least of the scheme indicated by
Mr. Mackinnon at the Brussels Conference might be executed by the enter-
prising countrymen and townsmen of Livingstone. The scheme comprised
a chain of posts from some port south of Kilwa to the northern end of Lake
Nyassa, and thence to the southern extremity of Lake Tanganyika. A se-
cond would connect Ujiji with Bagamoyo or some neighbouring port. These
lines would be most valuable and helpful to four of the six missions already
established on the coast, and at the same time they were among the most
important routes for commerce with the lake country. ‘They would be sup-
ported by Dr. Kirk as important checks on the land-borne slave trade, and
they were selected by Commander Cameron as most promising for aiding

860 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

to complete the unfinished work of himself and Dr. Livingstone by enabling
future travellers to solve the great geographical problems regarding the lake
country west of Tanganyika and the vast basin of the Congo.

The work was one in which commercial men, seeking new routes and
objects of traffic, scientific men, and geographers exploring unvisited regions;
philanthropists desiring to civilise Africa by abolishing slavery and the sla-
very trade; and, above, all, missionaries bearing the gospel of peace to the
barbarous millions of Central Africa, were all deeply interested, and there
was no branch of the Church on which the work had greater oils than
on their own National Church. Other Churches were actively entering on
that vast and almost untouched field of labour. It behoved the English
Church not to be behind. The want of men which, until lately, had been so
keenly felt had, he was told, been supplied at least in part by the personal
exertions of Bishop Steere and the Church Missionary Society, but there was
still a very serious want of funds, especially for the Universities’ Mission,
which, organised on sound Church principles and directed by one of the most
self-denying, able, and successful missionaries he had ever met with, he ear-
nestly commended to his fellow-churchmen in the Congress. At the same
time they should not neglect the great work of the Church Missionary So-
ciety at Mombassa, under the Rev. William Price. 'The Church might, he
believed, safely trust to the guidance of such men in the great work of convey-
ing to the uncivilised millions of Central Africa the truths of the gospel as
they had been taught in the English Church, since a similar work was first com-
menced under very similar difficulties on our own then barbarous shores by the
missionaries who had learnt the glad tidings of salvation at the feet of the
apostles.

The Rev. W. S. Price read a paper on the same subject. He said that
scarcely three years ago the eyes of England, and of the whole civilised
world were opened to the fact that the interior of the vast continent of
Africa was not a boundless expanse or sandy desert, or dreary swamps; but
on the contrary, a country of mountains and valleys, and embracing
some of the best scenery in the world—enriched with all the products of
nature, enjoying every gradation of climate, and with teeming millions of
human beings, made by God and endowed by him with the same feelings
and capacities as themselves, and, excluded from the brotherhood of nations,
were left to die and perish, no man caring for their souls—a people answer-
ing more than any other he knew the description of the prophet Isaiah, when
he spoke of a neglected people.

No doubt the story of personal adventure, and the graphic descrip-
tion of countries before unnoticed and unknown, and the exposure of the evils
caused by the slave trade, brought to light by Burton, Speke and Grant,
drew attention to the matter; and when the news reached England that David

CHRISTIAN WORK IN AFRICA. 861

Livingstone was dead, and when this was followed by the touching story as
to how his little band of followers had gathered up the bones of their late
master from the plains of Africa at the risk of their lives, and had conveyed
them through a nine months’ weary journey to the coast in order that they
might find a resting place among the great and good in his own land—when
all this came to be known, it was as if an electric shock had passed from one
end of England to the other, and every man and woman in city, town, and
hamlet, began to feel that somehow or other he or she was identified with
the country to which Livingstone had consecrated his powers and sacrificed
his life. And now, what did they see? Men of the highest talent, and ani-
“mated by the best motives, were concerning themselves in the affairs of Africa
and the welfare of her people. The traffic in slaves was a lasting curse to the
country and a standing reproach and disgrace to the civilised world. It
must be confessed that the present state of things constituted a very solemn
call to the Church to be up and doing the work of God in the name of Christ,
and he rejoiced that the call to the Church had met with a noble response.

The Churches had already started on a good work, and, with as little
delay as possible, had organised a mission on the southern shores of the Lake
Nyassa. The London Missionary Society was also doing a good work, and
he wished God speed to every effort made by honest men in the dark places
of Central Africa. God’s was the only Gospel for a lost human world—Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified. But to the Church of England justly belonged
the honour of taking the lead, not only in missionary enterprise, but in geo-
graphical discovery in Central Africa. Thirty years ago Dr. Croft and Dr.
Redmund had established the first mission in that region, and, moreover, dis-
covered a mountain, where there was perpetual snow, almost on the equator.
Every subsequent discovery from then till now acknowledged these discove-
ries as the starting point of their explorations. Two years ago the Church
Society sent a mission, in which he took a part, to establish and recognise a
colony where slaves liberated by the Government and made free by the
Consul at Zanzibar might find a home and Christian teaching and discipline.
This had scarcely been done when another expedition was equipped and sent
forth to carry the Gospel into the very heart of Africa, to the people living
on the northern and western shores of Lake Nyassa. That expedition was
now on its way; it was composed of brave Christian men, but its members
had a task of great danger and difficulty, and he earnestly commended them
and their undertaking to the sympathies and prayers of God’s people.

It was satisfactory to know that of all the movements at work for the
benefit of Africa the Christian missionary held the foremost place. But they
were only now at the beginning of their great work, and those who had any
suggestions should not fail to make them known. The three subjects men-
tioned in the title of the discussion were so closely linked that they could not

862 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

speak of one apart from the other. By the efforts of Sir Bartle Frere great
restrictions had been placed upon the conveyance of slaves, and only a few
months ago the Sultan of Zanzibar issued a proclamation which far exceeded
the most sanguine expectations, for it made the conveyance of a slave caravan
a criminal act, and destroyed the traffic by the land route. They owed this
mainly to the untiring efforts of Dr. Kirk, the Consul-General at Zanzibar.
Would this proclamation be carried out? So far as the Sultan was concerned,
there was no reason to doubt that he was prepared to carry this out, but at
the same time it was a very unpopular measure with his subjects, who saw in
it a warning that their trade was coming to an end. It rested with the Go-
vernment and the people of England to see that the proclamation did not
become a dead letter.

There were several things wanted in order to ensure proper travelling
through the country—steam, and the construction of roads in the interior
among them. The bad roads were a very great obstacle, and he believed
that waggon transports would be of little good except with practicable roads.
An important movement had been lately set on foot by the King of the Bel-
gians to open up the continent of Africa, and he trusted in some way or other
to confer upon the people the blessing of Christian life and civilisation. He
did not know that the measure decided upon would secure this, but he learned
that mission stations were to be established along the main lines of route for
the benefit of European travellers. He advised them to be very careful as to
the men they sent out on this great work. They should not send out any
men who had an antipathy to their fellow-creatures to whom it had pleased
God to give black skin and woolly hair; men who knew how to keep their
temper, combining firmness with gentleness; men who would speak the truth,
and men ef Christian character who would have honesty of feeling and unsul-
edness of life; men who would maintain the good name of Englishmen, and
make it possible for other Englishmen to follow in their path. He believed
in the possibility of regenerating Africa. Though her children had sunk very
low, and were in an evil case, she was not so low that God’s arm of mercy
could not reach them and the blood of Christ save them. He believed a good
day was dawning for Africa, and when he saw so many agencies at work he
regarded them not with distrust or jealousy, but with unmixed pleasure, be-
cause he believed that God’s time for rescuing Africa had come—yea, that the
set time had arrived.

Sir J. Kennaway, Bart., M.P., thought they might consider themselves
fortunate, in having heard two able papers representing the views of men so
well qualified to tell them what had been done in the past, what was doing in
the present, and the road they ought to travel for the future. He had no claim
to their attention as the administrator of a province, the maker of treaties,
the traveller, or the missionary; the only reason he could give for asking

ENGLAND’S POLICY TOWARDS AFRICA. 863

their indulgence was his earnest sympathy with this great work, and his
great desire that the influence, the power, and the energy of England, should
be put forth, as far as in them lay, to make some preparation, feeble though
it might be, for the wrong that Africa had suffered at their hands in times
gone by.

In approaching the subject, they might well ask themselves what it was
in that vast Continent—over which so many centuries had rolled without
leaving any historic trace—what it was that exercised so wondrous a fascin-
ation for the energy and philanthropy of England? Various reasons might be
alleged. There was the wondrous phenomena of that mysterious river, the Nile,
flowing thousands of miles through arid deserts without a tributary and without
a rainfall, and yet, by the beneficent order of providence, still affording suf-
ficient streams to cover with fertility the land of Egypt. There was the fascin-
ation of a blank map for the geographer, though that map which had been kindly
lent them by the Geographical Society, and which was hung in the hall, had
almost become obsolete by the discoveries made during the past year. There
were also attractions to the man of science, the desire for new avenues of know-
ledge, new sources of information and power; and, besides that, the mer-
chant was thinking of new outlets for his wares, and there were new races
on which the missionary might expend all the self-sacrificing energy which
belonged to the nation which had colonised America and Australia, and which
was ever seeking new outlets and new worlds to conquer. All these con-
siderations had acted, and were acting with a force which was hardly possible
to exaggerate; but though they were proud of this colonising power, they
held it, he hoped, a still greater boast that they had endeavoured to grapple
with the evil which had before been referred to that evening—the slave trade.

When England awoke to the sense of the awful enormities of that trat-
fic, when she by her seli-sacrifice—a self-sacrifice at which the world stood
amazed—purified herself of all complication in it, she did not stop there, but
went on still further, and expended her blood and treasure, until the traffic was
entirely put down on the West Coast of Africa. No matter what the character
of her Government, the policy of England in this respect had never changed ;
and now, as the traffic which was in full swing on the Eastern Coast, to which
their eyes were now directed, there were being brought to bear the same
means and efforts. By subsidies, by treaties, and by squadrons, they had
worked, in spite of disheartening influences, until the result had been attained
so far as they could attain it. They had heard of the recent proclamation
of the Sultan of Zanzibar, and they had been told that other influences must
be brought to bear upon that country in order that it might be carried out.
There were two ways of doing away with the slave trade. One was by in-
fluencing public opinion in slave-holding countries—an extremely difficult
thing to do, They had reason to believe that the Khedive of Exyypt was

864 ~ LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

really honest in his endeavours to put the slave trade down in his domi-
nion, but he could not trust those under him to faithfully carry out his
directions.

The other way to which he referred was the dealing with the traffic in
countries from which the slaves came, and by the introduction of Christianity,
and civilisation alongside Christianity, to cut off the supply of slaves, and so
put an end to the thing altogether. As they had heard, it was necessary
for them to look at this question from a comprehensive point of view, and he
might tell them that what they heard of the necessity of the slave trade being
grappled with before missionary work could be hoped to be successful was
confirmed by Sir Samuel Baker, and was the conviction of David Livingstone,
who left one work and set himself to grapple with the other, which he felt to
be the open sore of the world, and in the cause of which he nobly laid down
his life. Yes, they must prepare the way for the missionary and the colonist,
by teaching slave-holding nations that they were really going against their
own interests, and destroying themselves. When they had done this the na-
tives would soon learn to be no longer satisfied with the merest natural re-
quirements, but would begin to covet things of which they knew not the want
before. This desire would also stimulate the native to production, so that he
might have something to give in return, and thus the merchant would find a
new outlet for his ware, and take a new product in exchange. Thus the
change would be effected, but time alone could show its accomplishment.

They had heard of the beginning of the work with many noble efforts,
and they were encouraged to believe what had been told them by Mr. Price
that there was hope for the regeneration of Africa, for had they not proof of
its practicability in the Christian settlements which had been rising up on the
West Coast of Africa since the slave trade had been abolished? There was,
too, the evidence of Bishop Crowther, a native African, a bishop of their own
Church—who had recently made a journey of twenty days, travelling fifteen
or twenty miles a day, and every day had found five or six rising villages in
the very country through which he was brought to the coast asa slave, and
which was then utterly depopulated waste. They might look for reports of
governors of those districts, and they would find that they agreed in saying
that the civilisation of these West Coast settlements penetrated into the very
heart of Africa. They found, too, confirmation of the possibility of the re-
generation of Africa in the native churches as they existed in Sierra Leone
—native churches which were so strong that they declined any longer to re-
ceive help, and were paying back £300 a year to the society to which they
owed their existence. Who would say, then, that they ought to be discou-
raged? The Government, he was convinced, would not be slow to recognise
what the country expected of them. They had had in the House of Commons
a most satisfactory assurance by the Secretary of State for War, whose heart

THE KING OF THE BELGIANS’ CONFERENCE. 865

was in this work, and who, speaking on behalf of the Government, said he
knew England meant to back up her old policy, and he promised that every
support should be given to the Sultan of Zanzibar. On the authority of Sir
Fowell Buxton, Mr. Kennaway stated that some £40,000 or £50,000 had
already been expended in making settlements, and in carrying them on, and
this he considered some little contribution from England towards the debt she
owed Africa for past neglect.

They, as Englishmen, boasted that this was a subject peculiarly their
own, and there was no doubt that while recognising the travellers of other
nations, they might still claim for themselves a foremost place. But they
must remember that the King of the Belgians was the first to recognise the
fact that this subject was so large and important that it ought not to be the
work of one nation, but of all Europe—and every country of Europe should
step in, and, as far as possible, take a share in the work. Whether the notion
of the proposed trade route was possible or not remained to be seen; but, at
all events, he felt sure the greatest good would have been done by public
attention being called to this subject, and no one who had the honour of
attending the Conference on the subject, called by the King of the Belgians,
could forget the earnest interest which his Majesty showed, nor fail to be
acted upon by the stimulus which must have been felt by all who obeyed his
Majesty’s summons. He must not, however, trespass further upon their
time, but as the noble President had sounded the death-knell of many a
speaker there that day, and they expected him soon to sound his, so he
called upon that assembly, as representing the Church of England, and
through the Church of England the people of England, to do their best
towards sounding the death-knell of this accursed institution.

Then it might be, if England carried on the work as she had begun it,
that, with God’s help, they might look forward to a glorious success, when
would be fulfilled the prophecy of Mr. Phipp, who half a century ago said :
‘The time will come when some of us will look upon the reverse of that
picture, from which we now turn with shame and regret. We may live to
see the natives of Africa engaged in the calm occupation of productive
industry, and in prosecuting an advantageous and legitimate commerce.
We may see the bright beams of science and philosophy breaking in upon
the land, and joining their influence to that of pure religion, illuminating
and radiating the most distant colonies of the vast continent.”

The Rey. H. Rowxey was announced as the next speaker. He said he
quite agreed with those who thought that something more than the mere
promulgation of Gospel truths was needed in Africa. He by no means
wished to adyocate civilisation as apart from or superseding Christianity.
Christianity was the parent, or the sanetifier of all civilisation worthy the
name, but mission work in Central Africa must be comprehensive and

K4

866 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

adapted tothe wants of the nation. The sending of one or two missionaries
unassisted by secular aid who could expect to do no more than make one or two
individual conversions, would, he ventured to think, do very little to advance
the Kingdom of God in that part of the world. The formation of establish-
ments on the coast for the reception of freed slaves was a good and blessed
work, and he had no doubt such a work would be as blessed in East Africa
as it had been in the West. But more than this was required of them, and
if they would make their mission work productive in wide-spread and pro-
minent results, they must deal with it in a comprehensive manner, and they
must have thoroughly organised missions at the head-quarters of some power-
ful tribe, where they might be cities of refuge for the distressed and centres
of civilisation and evangelisation for the district around. They must teach
Christianity, not only as a religion of doctrine and precept, but as a religion
of life-work. They must lay the foundation not only of Christian Churches,
but of Christian nations.

ComManDER Cameron, C.B., D.C.L., was received with enthusiastic cheer-
ing on taking his place at the rostrum. He observed that the part of Central
Africa through which he travelled was at present entirely virgin field for
missionary labour. ‘The races there were in great measure ignorant of the
outside world, and abandoned to barbarous and cruel customs. The chief of
one of the largest territories—as large as the whole of Germany, Austria and
Hungary—indulged in the greatest atrocities, mutilating and torturing the
people, and plundering the villages subject to him on the most frivolous pre-
texts. These people were very different from the natives of the West Coast.
They were the pure, unadulterated negro, with no false graft of civilisation
on them. The negro on the West Coast had been contaminated by the influ-
ence of the slave trade ever since the days of Queen Elizabeth; but the origin
of the slave trade on the East Coast was lost in obscurity, though it was
known that Arabs went down there in search of slaves as early as the com-
mencement of the Christian era. The question arose, how was the centre of
Africa to be approached for the work of the missionary ?

There were several routes open from the East Coast, but owing to the
policy of annexation pursued by the Khedive the country could not be ap-
proached from the north except by a very large armed force. The road was
also open from the south. How were these different routes to be utilised *
It was no use placing missions where they would be cut off from the outside
world. The only feasible plan was to begin by establishing a station, say
one hundred or two hundred miles from the coast. This would become a
basis of operations from which another might be established two hundred
miles further on. Working from both sides of the continent in this way four
or five stations from each coast would complete a line of communication right
across. Offshoots could then be made north and south, and by degrees they

TRUE METHOD OF MISSIONARY WORK. 867

would be able to construct an enormous network of stations all over Africa.
These stations should be made centres for the instruction of the natives in
all the useful arts. The country abounded in minerals; the natives had
learnt to work iron and copper, and were, in fact, expert smiths, but with in-
struction from civilised artisans they would no doubt become very much better
workmen than at present. They should try from these stations to teach
them what civilised life in its highest form was.

The civilisation of the African, it should be remembered, need never be
the same as that of the European. There were different sorts of civilisation,
fitted for different races of men, and different climes. At present the great
fault of our contact with the African was that we forced a false veneer of civi-
lisation upon him, with many vices of a spurious civilisation. In working these
places, then, they must remember that the African had his peculiarities of
temper, of mind, of thought, all very different from those of people at home.
They had had no education, no literature, or history. With the African they
had had, as it were, to begin life. They had to think of him in many things
as being lower than the Briton at the time of the Roman invasion. But in
all this they must remember that the African was a man just the same as any
white man. He had his feelings, his love of family; he was not to be domi-
neered over and bullied—for he felt these things as acutely as any white
man. But the African must be taught what was for his own good; that it
was not proper to rule people by indiscriminate murder and burning of vil-
lages. The missionary had to go to him as the living exponent of a higher
and better life. He had to teach him that his greatest happiness did not con-
sist in drinking the whole day long until he was drunk, and if he could get
enough stuff to keep drunk fora month. He had to teach the negro that it
was not the highest happiness of mankind to indulge in drinking and in
smoking ‘‘ bang” until, as was the case with the chiefs of some tribes, they
came perfectly irresponsible for days and weeks together; and under these
influences the chiefs often committed the most frightful cruelties on the peo-
ple under their control.

The missionary who went to Africa needed to go there having taken in
thoroughly what the magnitude of the work was, and prepared to devote
himself entirely to that one work. It was no good for a man to go there
thinking of turning back; he must stick at it either until forced to return by
circumstances over which he had no control, or until he died at his post—and
there was no more noble post for a man to die at. It was necessary to exer-
cise very great care in the selection of men as missionaries. These men had
to go among wild untutored savages like the heaven-descended prophets of
old, prepared to challenge the closet comparison of every act of their lives
with the standard of their own teaching and that of the Bible. They must
also be men of great linguistic ability. A missionary to Africa must be able

868 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

to attain the language of the natives in order to teach them properly. The
African language was so entirely different in construction, inflections, and
grammar, from the English language, that the latter was extremely difficult for
them. Although they might learn to talk English, it was difficult for them
to get a true appreciation of ideas from it. Fortunately, with regard to this
matter, from Zanzibar on the east coast to the strip of coast south of the
Congo on the west, the languages spoken by the natives belonged to one
great family, called by a great geographer the Kisuabili, the language of
Zanzibar. Any one having a competent knowledge of this language would
find it comparatively easy to acquire any of the languages of the part of
Africa to which he was referring. For his own part, the Kisuabili had car-
ried him from one coast to the other. These languages were so engrained
into the ways of thought of the Africans of that part, that it was imperative
they should labour to teach them in their own, and not in a foreign tongue.

One great result they hoped to attain from the construction of highways
into the interior of Africa was the wiping out of that great blot on the human
race, the slave trade. At the same time the work of doing away with slavery
in Central Africa was not one to be done in five or ten years, or in a gene-
ration. Let it be sufficient for them that they commenced the work—even if
it was reserved for their grandchildren or great grandchildren to see its ac-
complishment. But if they did not see immediate results, let them not be dis-
heartened. Such an enormous revolution in the whole African manner of
thought was not to be accomplished in a short time. It was only to be
accomplished by the patient, unremitting toil of generations. The idea of
slavery was so thoroughly engrained in the African nature, that if it could be
swept away to-morrow, the slaves set free would be complaining because
they could not own slaves themselves. They had to be educated out of the
idea that human beings of whom they got possession by war or robbery were
mere chattels, to be bought and sold. Of course, a great deal of the actual
traffic in slaves arose from the way in which the trade with the interior was
carried on. The Arabs went there for ivory; in some parts, it was true, they
went simply for slaves, but the great trade was in ivory, and if there were
proper roads and proper means of transport the Arabs would gladly enough
relieve themselves of the trouble of buying slaves.

Sometimes the slaves ran away; and, of course, they were disinclined
to work. All this was so much loss of capital, and many of the merchants
had assured him that if they could possibly do without them they would buy
no more slaves except for domestic service. As to this domestic slave ques-
tion, they had an idea that many men could afford to buy a slave who could
not afford to hire a servant. They failed to see the force of the argument
that one servant would do the work of half a dozen slaves. Wherever slave
labour was employed there was always an enormous waste of labour, and it

PORTUGUESE RULE IN AFRICA. 869

would be far better for the country if the energies of its people were utilised
in some profitable form instead of being wasted in that way. In some places
the natives themselves trafficked in slaves and the price of everything was
regulated by the number of slaves it would fetch. In Nyangue, for instance,
a town on the Lualaba, a slave was worth four goats, and a canoe was worth
five slaves; a slave was supposed to be equal to a sovereign, a goat to five
shillings, and so on. Slaves, in fact, were the standard of currency among
the natives, and this fact alone showed how deeply it was engrained in the
African nature. The products of Central Africa were of inexhaustible rich-
ness, and varied in character; there were both vegetable and mineral products
that would well repay the trader. In his opinion, no stations could be formed
to open up Africa without the commercial element instantly taking advantage
of them. It was, therefore, to be hoped that missionary enterprise would not
look upon the commercial element as something in the way. Wherever large
bodies of men went, there must be a certain amount of evil: their task was
to render the evil as little as possible.

Trade must be opened in Central Africa; it would be opened sooner or
later, and people who went there as missionaries must make use of that trade,
instead of setting themselves in antagonism to it. When a few stations had
been opened up they might have commercial and mission stations working
side by side. Ii they were properly organised the commercial element might
do no harm; but if that element was ignored or set aside it would be sure to
put itself in antagonism to mission labours, and do incalculable harm. On
the other hand, it would be to the interest of the commercial element to work
in harmony with the missionary. The more civilised the natives became,
the greater consumers of European produce they would also become; there-
fore the commercial world should do all in its power to assist the missionary
in civilising Africa. The two must work together, and not in antagonism to
each other.

Great portions of the coast of Africa were at present closed by the Portu-
guese rule. The Portuguese had their stations by which they maintained
nominal possession of large lines of coast, and they even claimed large tracts
of the interior. Mozambique had been in their hands since the days of Vasco
di Gama, but though they never found out the Nyanza they now wanted to
say it was theirs. By a suicidal system of differential duties on foreign goods
they had contrived to drive away trade from their territories. Zanzibar,
which, under the Portuguese, had scarcely any trade with the interior, now
absorbed all that used to go through Mozambique. Arabian ideas of custom
and trade were certainly not up to those of the nineteenth century ; and yet the
Mahometan rulers of Zanzibar were in advance of the Christian governors
of Mozambique. If they could open. the country to Benguela in the interior,
and get a road one hundred miles further, they would reach a high plateau

870 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

varying from five thousand feet to six thousand feet above the level of the sea,
perfectly healthy, where any European might live, and cultivate all the pro-
ductions of Southern Europe. But instead of this beautiful country being a
centre from which to spread Christianity and civilisation, it was now one of
the strongholds of the slave trade. Slaves could not be exported to the
East Coast in such numbers as they used to be; yet they were still exported
to the West Coast. People did not know exactly where they were sent to,
but he had no doubt that many of them found their way to the Brazils. He
saw recently in the “Times” that there had been a row about the Royal
mails taking slaves from port to port; and as he had said, he had no doubt
that many were carried at the present day from the West Coast of Africa to
the Brazils. A Portuguese caravan, in which he came down from the interior,
collected in eighteen months about fifteen hundred slaves, and these he sup-
posed, did not represent more than twenty per cent. of the population de-
stroyed.

The slave trade was, therefore, going on now as it was when slaves were
carried over across the Atlantic—still carried on in the interior of Africa,
chiefly in the Portuguese capital. England had put herself in the forefront
in relation to this great question, and she must not be satisfied until the time
had arrived when a slave was not to be sold in any part of the world. They
should stop the slave trade by sea and by land. A scheme had been mooted
for forming stations between Lake Nyassa (on which there were steamers
already running) and the south end of an adjoining lake and other parts. By
this means a great cordon could be formed across the lake, so that slaves
should not be taken to the east coast. In the interior of the Portuguese
territory the traffic was still carried on, and it was not easy to see how to
stop it, but he thought that if steamers were set running upon the upper
waters of the Zambesi, with stations on the different rapids, it might act as
a means of preventing the further carrying on of the traftic.

On the Congo river they might place steamers which could carry cargoes,
and also act as a water police, and might possibly cut off all the country to
the north of the Congo from communication with the trade districts, and they
might also reach other lakes by the construction of a canal of thirty miles to
the head of the Zambesi. In fact, with complete water communication, the
means of getting from one lake to another, and with an active river police and
steam launches, they might stop the whole of the trade there. But if they
opened a country to traders there must be some consular authority, to check
and govern them. ‘These river steamers would afford the consuls the power
of enforcing their authority, and would also aid in furthering the purely
philanthropic efforts made by individuals. Africa in its heart had a system
of water communication, which if utilised would be little, if at all, inferior to
the system of water communication with North America, which at one time

COMMUNICATION ACROSS AFRICA. 871

was supposed to be nothing but a great desert, but which had since proved
to be full of rivers. By means of this water communication they could pene-
trate the furthest point reached by Dr. Schweinfurth, who travelled down
from the north, and they would come across the people who had been carrying
desolation into the dominions lately annexed by the officers of the Khedive.
He thought that the time had come when something should be done as re-
garded this matter, and the only question was as to how it should be done.

Whatever they did they should make up their minds to stick to it, and
not to give it up because of any temporary rebuffs they might experience,
whatever they might be. In the first place they should establish their trunk
line stations across Africa, and from them they should carry out a network
of stations across the whole country. In Africa there were elephants without
number, but they were never utilised for carriage, although, if they were, the
present difficulties that existed regarding porterage would go for nothing.
Elephants were now wantonly shot in order to procure their ivory, or else for
the sake of their flesh. He considered that, with the use of the elephants,
the introduction of the water system, and a line of light railways across the
country, Africa would be opened up. The climate was not half so bad as it
was represented to be. If they gave it a fair chance it was all right, but it
should be understood that people travelling in Africa had not with them such
appliances as organised expeditions had. When one got wet, and had to travel
without food, and to go on marching when ill with fever without halting, then
one did not give the climate a fair chance; but with proper medicine, food,
and shelter, such as they would have in a well organised expedition, the
climate of Central Africa would be found to be far better than that of British
India, and although it could not be seen at once, yet if fair and honest work
were done in Africa, places now unknown would in a few years become the
centres of the future civilisation of the negroes.

The Rey. R. C. Brxine believed that that great meeting had met together
not for the desire only of doing honour to the great traveller, but to evince
their purpose to carry out the order of the Master, ‘Go ye into all the world
and preach the Gospel.” But they should not forget that they must realise
Christ’s idea of missionary effort; and he was decidedly of opinion that the
Church of England had so far done its duty in this matter, although the diffi-
culties were stupendous. It was a great thing to know that they had already
translated the word of God into the native tongue, and it was a matter for
rejoicing to know that so much in the way of civilisation had been performed.
It was their object, not only to show the natives a Christian community main-
tained by its own industry, but also to train up a native agency which should
do material and good work among their fellows in the future. The speaker
referred to the new expedition going out under the command of Lieutenant
Smithy whose father served on board the vessel which captured the slaver

872 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

that was carrying Samuel Crowder into slavery. It might be asked why
Colonel Gordon was not followed up. In spite of Colonel Gordon’s pacific
intentions, it was known to be the plan of Egypt to annex those provinces
at the south of her kingdom, and it would not be the place of the mission-
aries to follow in the rear of the conqueror’s chariot. The great aim of those
men now going forward was to secure the conversion of individual souls.
The men they sent forth should go with a faith that nothing would stagger,
assured of the help of God and with a hope that could not be made ashamed,
to preach the gospel to every creature. If they did this God would give them
His blessing.

Mr. ArtHur Mitts, M.P., said there was a great deal of truth in the re-
mark made by the Sultan of Zanzibar, that Parliament had a great deal to do.
Parliament certainly had a great deal to do, and not only in reference to this
question of slavery. When his friend, Sir John Kennaway, brought forward
his motion in the House of Commons regarding the slave traffic, there was,
he regretted, less interest felt in the question than had been exhibited by the
meeting that evening. Instead of a crowded hall they had scarcely got
together more than two dozen members, and their deliberations were nearly
brought toa conclusion by the summary process of a count out. Parliament
might have done better by displaying more sympathy with the movement, but
the fact of the question being taken up by the Congress and other bodies would
show Parliament the great interest the country felt in the matter, and its
desire for the abolition of slavery in Africa. It was said they should testify
their interest in the cause of missions and commerce.

There was one way in which they could show sympathy, and that was
with the Sultan of Zanzibar. They had a commercial treaty with him, but
there were in it certain provisions not sufficiently favourable to him which he
hoped, with the consent of the other Powers, might be repealed. He referred
to this, not because he undervalued those motives by which they had been
called together that evening, but because he believed that by doing what he
had spoken of they would benefit the Sultan and advance the cause they had
in view. The treaty he referred to gave the Sultan power to levy certain
dues upon shipping, but in other countries other dues were levied that the
Sultan had not the power to demand. _ This was a point of some importance,
because when they had in Africa a potentate like the Sultan of Zanzibar, who
was so favourably disposed towards their mission, they should do what they
could to promote his interests, and thereby promote the cause they had in
hand. He was aware that tley were not there that evening to promote the
cause of commerce, nor to extend an empire founded on the shifting sands of
commercial enterprise, but he : that this country should be the herald
of love and happiness to the miserable people of Central Africa.

Cotonen Sir Percy Dovexas said he hoped the day would comé when

ENGLAND'S DUTY TO AFRICA. 873

Christianity would spread through the land, and that from the north to the
south of the continent they would have Christian missions, as the great
Livingstone had prophesied they would. They owed a debt of gratitude to
the great traveller who had spoken that evening, and who had done such
wonders with such little suffering. To England was committed the duty of
civilising the land, and if she did not do it, to other hands would be entrusted
the privilege of performing the great work. He quite agreed that their object
was to Christianise the country, but from the centrifugal forces of society
they could not fail to carry civilisation with them also, and wherever a coun-
try like this had been opened up English people would be sure to follow and
occupy it in part. What was the Church going to do in this matter? He
appealed to the clergy to do all they could to advance the work. He trusted
the little nation of England, which had fulfilled such great destinies in this
world, might rise to the occasion, and add to her former achievements the
great work of civilising Central Africa.

The Rey. D. Exspaze said it was to be hoped that those present would aid
the movement in every way, some of them even by going to Africa and taking
part in the great work. The Divine omnipresence was among the natives
of Africa; and he hoped that, when the priests and laymen who had been
doing missionary work there came back impaired in body and mind, that
they would not be taunted with being from the missionary cause ; but, on the
contrary, he hoped some offices might be found for them where they might
employ themselves in new spheres of usefulness.

The Ven. ArcHDEACON BapNaLt said that he knew Southern Africa when
there were but thirteen priests working in it. Now there were half as many
bishops, and he fully believed that any missionaries who might be sent out
would wisely, faithfully, and conscientiously discharge their duties.

This closed the meeting, which was throughout crowded and enthusiastic.

L4

CHAPTER XXXII.

Description of Angola by Mr. J. J. Monteiro—Changes in Vegetation and Climate
—River Congo— Voyage up the River—The Bay of Muserra—Ambriz—Qui-
balla and Quilumbo—Bembe—From Ambriz to Loanda—Porte Domingos—
Districts of Cazengo and Golungo Alio—River Quanza—Benouela—District
of Dombe Grande—Mossamedes—The Muquices—Climate of Angola—Treat-
ment of Diseases—Habits and Cusioms of the Natives—Insects and Reptiles—
Fruits—Safety of Travellers.

AX excellent account of Angola and the River Congo has been furnished by

Mr. Joachim John Monteiro, the result of many years’ travel in that pro-
vince. The Portuguese possessions of Angola on the south-west coast of
Africa extend from Ambriz in 70° 49’ South Lat. to Cape Frio in 18° 20’
South Lat. This long extent of coast comprises considerable variety in geo-
logical formation, physical configuration, climate, vegetation, and natural
productions, tribes of natives, and different languages, habits, and customs.
The recent explorations of Congo, and the neighbouring district, by Com-
mander Cameron, give double interest to all information concerning that part
of the African continent.

‘¢ The coast line is nowhere very bold, level sandy bays, fringed with a
belt of the evergreen mangrove, alternate with long stretches of cliffs, seldom
attaining any great height or grandeur, and covered with a coarse branching
grass, small patches of shrubby scrub, a tall cactus-like tree Euphorbia, and the
gigantic towering Baobab, with its fantastic long gourd-like fruit.

‘The Calema, or surf-wave, with its ceaseless roar, breaks heavily in
long white lines on the smooth beach, and pulverises the hardest rock, and
every particle of shell and animal structure. It dashes against the base of
the cliffs, resounding loudly in its mad fury, as it has done, wave after wave,
and hour after hour, for unknown ages; and the singular absence of gulls or
any moving living objects, or noises, to divert the eye or ear from the dread-
ful monotony of constantly recurring sounds, and line after line of dazzling
white foam, gives a distinctive and excessively depressing character to the
coast, in harmony, as it were, with the enervating influence of the cli-
mate.” ;

Nowhere on the coast is seen more than an indication of the wonderful
vegetation, or varied beauty and fertility, which generally begins at a distance

SCENERY OF ANGOLA. 875

of from thirty to sixty miles inland. At this distance, a ridge or hilly range
runs along the whole length of Angola, forming the first elevation ; a second
elevation succeeds it at about an equal distance; and a third, at perhaps twice
the distance again, lands us on the central high plateau of Africa. These
successive elevations inland are accompanied by very remarkable changes in
the character of the vegetation covering the surface of the country. For
about twenty-five miles from Ambriz, for example, the vegetation is princi-
pally composed of enormous Baobabs, Euphorbias, slender creepers, and short
tufty grasses. At Matuta the scene suddenly and magically changes; the
Baobabs become fewer in number, the Euphorbias almost completely disap-
pear, and most of the creeping plants; and a set of larger, shadier trees and
shrubs take their place, the grass becomes tall and broad-leaved, and one
seems to be travelling in an entirely new country. This character is pre-
served for another stretch of road till Quiballa is reached, about sixty miles
from the coast, where the rise in level is more marked ; and again the vegeta-
tion changes. Creepers of all kinds, attaining a gigantic size, almost mono-
polise the vegetation, clasping round immense trees, and covering them with
a mass of foliage and flower. “

The change of vegetation is accompanied by difference of climate. The
rains are much more plentiful and constant towards the interior of the coun-
try, where the vegetation is densest; on the coast the rains are generally de-
ficient, and some seasons entirely fail—this is especially the case south of 12°
Lat., several successive rainy seasons passing without a single drop of rain
falling. The total absence of horned cattle among the natives on the coast,
from the River Congo to south of the River Quanza, is a singular circumstance};
due as much to some influence of the climate, or irritant nature of the vegeta-
tion, as to the neglect of the natives to breedthem. The natives south of the
Quanza beyond the Quissama country, as far as Mossamedes, breed large num-
bers of cattle—their principal wealth, in fact, consisting of their herds.

No strikingly high mountain exists in Angola. The second and third
elevations contain some fine hill ranges, as at Bembe, Pungo Andongo, Caz-
engo, Mucellis, and Capangombe. ‘To the south of Benguela, as far as Mos-
samedes flat-topped, or table hills, perfectly bare of vegetation, are a very
prominent feature, seen from the sea; they are of basalt, and are about two
or three hundred feet in height, and are in many places the only remains left
of a higher level. In others, this higher level still exists for a considerable
extent, deeply cut by narrow gorges and ravines leading towards the sea,
with nearly perpendicular sides.

The River Congo is a striking and well-marked line of division, in re-
spect of climate, fauna, natives, and customs, between Angola and the rest of
the West Coast. The Congo is very deep, and the current is always strong ;
even above Boma, about ninety miles distant from the sea, the river is a vast

876 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

body of water and the current still very swift. From the mouth to beyond
this place, the banks are deeply cut in innumerable creeks and rivers, and
form many large islands. For many years, and up to the year 1868, the
Congo was the principal shipping place for slaves on the South-West Coast,
the large number of creeks in it affording safe hiding-places for loading the
ships engaged in the traffic, and the swift current enabling them to go out
quickly a long way to sea, and clear the cruisers. Boma was the centre or
point for the caravans of slaves coming from different parts of the interior, and
there was little or no trade in produce.

At the mouth of the Congo, and on its north bank, a long spot of sand
separates the sea from a small creek or branch of the river. On this narrow
strip, called Banana, are established several factories, belonging to Dutch,
French, and English houses, and serving principally as depots for their other
factories higher up the river and on the coast. Mr. Monteiro ascended the
river in a steamer belonging to the Dutch house, in February, 1873. The first
place he touched at was Porto da Leuha, about forty or forty-five miles from
Banana. Porto da Leuha consists of half-a-dozen trading factories, built on
ground enclosed from the river by piles, forming quays in front, where large
vessels can discharge and load close alongside. From this place he proceeded
to Boma, also situated on the north bank of the river, about ninety-five miles
from Banana. Here he spent a fortnight.

‘‘ All the lovely coloured finches,” he says, ‘‘ and other birds of the grassy
regions, were here most conspicuous in number and brilliancy, and it was
really beautiful to see the tall grass alive with the brightest scarlet, yellow,
orange, and velvet black of the many different species, at that season in their
full plumage. We were very much amused at a pretty habit of the males of
the tiny sky-blue birds (Estrelda cyanogastra) that, with other small birds
such as the Spermestes, Estreldas, Pytelias, etc., used to come down in flocks
to feed in the open space round the house. The greatest mites would take a
grass flower in their beaks, and perform quite a happy dance on any little
stick or bush, bobbing their feathery heads up and down, whilst their tiny
throat swelled with the sweetest little song-notes and trills imaginable. This
was their song to the females feeding about on the ground below them. The
long-tailed whydah birds (Vidua principalis) have a somewhat similar habit
of showing off whilst the hens are feeding on the ground: they keep hover-
ing in the air about three or four feet above them, twit-twitting all the time,
their long tails rising and falling most gracefully to the up-and-down motion
of their little bodies.”

The natives of the Congo, from its mouth to a little above Porto da Leuha,
belong to the Mussuyongo tribe. They are fond of wearing ankle-rings,
which, when of brass, are made in Birmingham; but in many cases they are
made by the natives of iron forged by their smiths, and cast-tin or pewter,

PALM WINE. 877

which they obtain in the form of little bars. These rings are seldom above
a few ounces in weight, and are worn by men and women alike, very different
from the natives of Cabinda, on the north of the Congo, whose women wear
them as large and heavy as they can be made. The Congo teems with ani-
mal life; above Porto da Leuha hippopotami are very abundant; alligators
swarm, and are very dangerous. At Boma the Koodoo antelope is abundant.

The oil-palm is abundant, and the finest palm-wine is obtained. The

natives ascend the trees by the aid of a ring formed by a stout piece of the
stem of a creeper which is excessively strong and supple; one end is tied into a
loop, and the other end thrown round the tree is passed through the loop and
bent back ; the end being secured forms a ready and perfectly safe ring, which
the operator passes over his waist. The stumps of the fallen leaves form projec-
tions which very much assist him in getting up the tree. This is done by
taking hold of the ring with each hand, and by a succession of jerks, the
climber is soon up at the top, with his empty gourds hung round his neck.
With a pointed instrument he taps the tree at the crown, and attaches the
gourd to the aperture, or he takes advantage of the grooved stem of a leaf cut
off short to use as a channel for the sap to flow into the gourd suspended be-
low. This operation is performed in the evening, and in the early morning
the gourds are brought down with the sap or juice that has collected in them
during the night. The palm wine is now a slightly milky fluid, in appearance
as nearly as possible like the milk in the ordinary cocoa-nut, having very
much the same flavour, only sweeter and more luscious.
When cool in the morning, as brought down fresh from the tree, it is
perfectly delicious, without the slightest trace of fermentation, and not in
the least intoxicating; in a few hours, or very shortly, if collected or kept in
old gourds in which wine has previously fermented, it begins to ferment
rapidly, becoming acid and intoxicating; not so much from the quantity of
alcohol produced, as from its being contained in a strongly effervescent medium,
and being drunk by the natives in the hot time of the day. Even in the
morning the wine has sometimes a slightly acid flavour, if it has been collected
in an old calabash. The smell of the palm wine, as it dries on the tree tops
where they have being punctured, is very attractive to butterflies, bees, wasps,
and other insects, and these in their turn attract the many species of insecti-
vorous birds. This is more particularly the case with the beautiful little sun-
birds (Nectariniz), always seen in numbers busily employed in capturing
their insect prey.

The southern point, at the entrance of the Congo, is called Point Padrao,
from the marble Padrao, or monument raised by the Portuguese to commemorate
the discovery of the river, by Diogo Cam, in 1485. Ata short distance from
it there formerly existed a monastery dedicated to Saint Antonio, and the
place still bears that name. Monteiro made a journey from Saint Antonio

878 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

overland to Cabeca da Cobra, or “‘Snake’s Head.” The coast line from Cabeca
to Ambriz is principally composed of red bluffs and cliffs, and the road or
path is generally near the edge of the cliffs, affording fine views of the sea
and surf-beaten beach below. The country is arid and thinly wooded, and
is covered with hard, wiry, branched grass, and the curious Mateba palm grows
in great abundance in the country from the Congo to Moculla, where it is
replaced by the Cashew tree as far as Ambrizzette.

A lowly plant, but perhaps the most important in native tropical African
agriculture, the ground-nut (Arachis hypogcea), deserves description. Many
thousand tons of this small nut are grown on the whole of the West Coast of
Africa, large quantities being exported to Europe, principally to France, to be
expressed into oil. The native name for it is ‘‘mpinda” or ‘“ ginguba,” and
it is cultivated in the greatest abundance at a few miles inland from the coast,
where the comparatively arid country is succeeded by better ground and
climate. ‘It requires a rich soil for its cultivation, and it is chiefly grown,
therefore, in the bottoms of valleys, or in the vicinity of rivers and marshes. The
plant grows from one to two feet high, with a leaf and habit very much like
a finely-grown clover. The bright-yellow pea-like flowers are borne on long
slender stalks; these, after flowering, curl down, and force the pod into the
ground, where it ripens beneath the soil. Its cultivation is a very simple affair.
The ground being cleared, the weeds and grass are allowed to dry, and then
burnt; the ground is then lightly dug a few inches deep by the women with
their small hoes, their only implement of agriculture, and the seeds dropped
into the ground and covered up. The sowing takes place in October and
November, at the beginning of the rainy season, and the first crop of nuts for
eating green is ready about April; but they are not ripe for nine months after
sowing, or about July or August, when first brought down to the coast for trade.

‘‘ A large plantation of ground-nuts is a very beautiful sight; a rich ex-
panse of the most luxuriant foliage of the brightest green, every leaf studded
with diamond-like drops glittering in the early sun. The ground-nut is an
important part of the food of the natives, and more so in the country from
Ambriz to the Congo than south at Loanda and Benguela. It is seldom eaten
raw, but roasted, and when young and green, and roasted in the husks, is
really delicious eating. It is excessively oily when fully ripe, and the natives
then generally eat it with bananas, and either the raw mandioca root, or some
preparation of it, experience showing them the necessity of the admixture of
a farinaceous substance with an excessively oily food. The nuts are also
ground on a stone to a paste, with which to thicken their stews and messes.
This paste, mixed with ground Chili pepper, is also made into long rolls, en-
veloped in leaves of the Phrynium ramosissimum, and is eaten principally in
the morning to stay the stomach in travelling till they reach the proper camp-
ing-places, for their breakfast or first meal and rest, generally about noon.

THE AFRICAN INDIA-RUBBER TREE. 879

‘“‘ The trade in coffee is almost entirely restricted to Ambriz, and it comes
principally from the district of Encoge, a considerable quantity also being
brought from the Dembos country and from Cozengo, to the interior of
Loanda. Very little of the coffee produced in the provinces of Encoge and
Dembos is cultivated; it is the product of coffee-trees growing spontaneously
in the virgin forests of the second elevation.”

Among the other products, are the sesamum seed (Sesamum indicum),
which the natives grind to a paste on a stone in the same manner as the
ground-nut, to add to their other food in cooking; the red gum copal, called
*‘ maquata” by the natives, which is found chiefly in the Mossulo country, at
a depth of from a few inches to a couple of feet below the surface of a highly
ferruginous hard clay; the white Angola gum, the product of a tree growing
near rivers and streams of water, and ivory. One of the most curious pro-
ductions of this country is india-rubber, called by the natives ‘‘ Tangandando.”
“The plant,” says Monteiro, ‘that produces it is the giant tree-creeper
(Landolphia florida), covering the highest trees, and growing principally on
those near rivers or streams. Its stem is sometimes as thick as a man’s thigh,
and in the dense woods at Quiballa I have seen a considerable extent of forest
festooned down to the ground, from tree to tree, in all directions, with its
thick stems, like great hawsers; above, the trees were nearly hidden by its
large, bright, dark-green leaves, and studded with beautiful bunches of pure
white star-like flowers, most sweetly scented. Its fruit is the size of a large
orange, of a yellow colour when ripe, and perfectly round, with a hard brittle
shell; inside, it is full of a soft reddish pulp, in which the seeds are contained.
This pulp is of a very agreeable acid flavour, and is much liked by the natives.
The ripe fruit, when cleaned out, is employed by them to contain small quan-
tities of oil.

“Tt is not always easy to obtain ripe seed, as this creeper is the favour-
ite resort of a villainous, semitransparent, long-legged red ant, with a sting-
ing bite like a red-hot needle, which is very fond of the pulp and seeds.
Every part of this creeper exudes a milky juice when cut or wounded, but,
unlike the india-rubber tree of America, this milky sap will not run into a
vessel placed to receive it, as it dries so quickly as to form a ridge on the
wound or cut, which stops its further flow. The natives collect it, there-
fore, by making long cuts in the bark witha knife, and as the milky juice
gushes out, it is wiped off continually with their fingers, and smeared on their
arms, shoulders, and breast, until a thick covering is formed; this is peeled
off their bodies and cut into small squares, which are then said to be boiled
in water.~ From Ambriz the trade in this india-rubber has spread to the River
Quanza, from which large quantities are exported.”

The Bay of Mussena is a noted place for large captures of a fine fish, called
the ‘‘pungo.” It is a very firm-fleshed fish; and cut up, salted, and dried in

880 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the sun, is a great article of trade. The canoes on this part of the coast,
and as far north as Cabinda, are very curious. They are composed of two
rounded canoes lashed or sewn together below, and open at the top. This
aperture is narrow, and each canoe forms, as it were, a long pocket. The
natives stand or sit on them with their legs in the canoe, or astride, as most
convenient according to the state of the surf, on which these canoes ride beau-
tifully. A very singular disease prevalent among the natives is what is called
the ‘‘ sleep disease.” Itis said to be an affection of the cerebellum. The
subjects attacked by it suffer no pain whatever, but fall into a continual heavy
drowsiness or sleep, having to be awakened to be fed, and at last become un-
able to eat at all, or stand, and die fast asleep as it were. There is no cure
known for it, and the patients are said to die generally in about twenty to
forty days after being first attacked.

‘A considerable quantity of salt is made by the natives, from Quissembo to
Ambrizzette, particularly at the latter place, in the small salt marshes near
the sea, and with which they carry on a trade with the natives of the in-
terior. At the end of the dry season the women and children divide the
surface of these marshes into little square portions or pans, by raising mud
walls a few inches high, so as to enclose in each about two or three gallons
of the water, saturated with salt from the already nearly evaporated marsh.
As the salt crystallises in the bottom of these little pans it is taken out, and
more water added, and so the process is continued until the marsh is quite dry.
In many cases a small channel is cut from the marsh to the sea to admit fresh
sea-water at high tide.

‘‘Tt is an amusing sight to see numbers of women and children, all stark
naked, standing sometimes above their knees in the water, baling it into
the pans, with small open baskets or quindas, and singing loudly a monotonous
song; others are engaged in filling large quindas with dirty salt from the muddy
pans, whilst others again are busily washing the crystallised salt by pouring
sea-water over it till all the mud is washed away, and the basketful of salt
shines in the sun like driven snow. Towards evening long lines of women and
children will be seen carrying to their towns, on their heads, the harvest of salt,
and great is the fun and chaff for them if they meet a white man travelling in a
hammock—all laughing and shouting, and wanting to shake hands, and run-
ning to keep pace with the hammock-bearers.”

Ambriz, seen from the sea, consists of a high rocky cliff or promontory,
with a fine bay sweeping with a level beach northward nearly to the next
promontory, on which stand the trading factories forming the place called
Quissembo. In the bay the little River Loge has its mouth, and marks
the northern limit of the Portuguese possession of Angola. The town of
Ambriz consists principally of one long, broad street or road, on the ridge
that ends at the cliff or promontory forming the southern point of the bay.

TRAVELLING BY HAMMOCK. 881

It boasts of the only iron pier in Angola. Ambriz is an open roadstead, and
vessels have to anchor at a considerable distance from the beach; they are,
however, always safe, such things as storms or heavy seas being unknown.

The ‘‘tipoia,” or hammock, is the universal travelling apparatus in
Angola, and is of two forms, the simple hammock strung to a palm pole,
which is strong and light, or the same with a light-painted water-proof cover,
and curtains, very comfortable to travel in, and always used by the Portuguese
to the interior of Loanda, where the country is more open, and better paths
or roads exist, but they would quickly be torn to pieces north, and on the
road to Bembe, from the dense bush, and, in the wet season, the high grass;
consequently only the plain hammock and pole are generally employed, the
traveller shading himself from the sun by a movable cover held in position
by two cords, or by using a white umbrella. When travelling long distances
six or eight bearers are necessary; the two hammock-carriers generally run
at a trot for about two hours at a stretch, when another couple take their
places. The motion is disagreeable at first, from the strong up and down
jerking experienced, but one soon becomes used to it, and falls asleep whilst
going at full trot. The pole is carried on the shoulder, and rests on a small
cushion generally made of fine grass-cloth stuffed with wild cotton, the silky
fibre in the seed-pod of the Mafumcira, or cotton-wood tree (Kriodendron
anfractuosum), or “‘isca,” a brown, woolly-like down covering the stems of
palm-trees. Each bearer carries a forked stick on which to rest the pole
when changing shoulders, and also to ease the load by sticking the end of it
under the pole behind their backs and stretching out their arm on it.

Quiballa is a large town, containing several hundred huts, most pictur-
esquely situated on a low, flat-topped hill, surrounded on all sides by other
higher hills, and separated from them by a deep ravine filled with magnificent
forest vegetation, and in the bottom of which a shallow stream of the clearest
water runs swiltly over its fantastic rocky bed—all little waterfalls and
shady transparent pools. A great change takes place in vegetation from the
coast to Quiballa; and several species of birds abundant on the coast disap-
pear about here, especially the common crow (Corvus scapulatus), the bril-
liantly-coloured starlings (Lamprocolius), and the several rollers.

Leaving Quiballa, after you ascend the hill called Tuco, a magnificent
view is obtained. As far as the eye can reach is seen a succession of forest-
covered mountains brightly lit in the cloudless sun to the distant horizon,
shaded off into a haze of lovely blue. After this hill is passed, the country
continues comparatively level for some miles, and is very beautiful, being
covered with dense vegetation, in which are seen abundance of dark feathery
palms, relieved by the bright green patches of the banana groves, planted
round the little towns. The soil is very fertile, and many ground-nut and
mandioca plantations are seen everywhere. Ngungungo isa large and pictur-

M4

882 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

esque town, where there is a considerable trade carried on in mandioca root
and its different preparations, as well as in beans and ground-nuts. After
passing this town the road becomes exceedingly rocky and stony, until the
small town of Quioanquilla is reached. A large quantity of wild pine-apples
grow around this town, but the natives make no use of its fine fibre, contenting
themselves with eating the unripe fruit.

The largest and most important town on the road to Bembe is Quilumbo,
beautifully situated in a forest, and with a great number of oil-palm trees.
It contains several hundred huts and quite a swarm of inhabitants. Proceed-
ing thence, and passing through pretty undulating country covered principally
with high grass, you at last reach Bembe, a distance of not less than a hundred
and thirty miles from Ambriz.

‘“‘ Bembe is the third great elevation, and it stands boldly and cliff-like out
of the broad plain, and at its base runs the little River Luguria. Approaching
it from the westward, we see a high mountain to the right of the plateau of
Bembe, separated from it by a narrow gorge thickly wooded, that drains the
valley, separating in its turn the table-land of Bembe from the high flat coun-
try beyond, in a north and easterly direction. This valley, in which a great
deposit of malachite exists, is about a mile long in a straight line, and runs
N.N.W. by 8.8.E.

‘‘The malachite is often found in large solid blocks. One, resting on
two smaller ones, weighed together a little over three tons, but it occurs mostly
in flat veins without any definite dip or order, swelling sometimes to upwards
of two feet in thickness, and much fissured in character from admixture with
dark oxide of iron, with which it is often cemented to the clay in which it is
contained. Two kinds of clay are found, a ferruginous red, and an unctuous
black variety. The malachite occurs almost entirely in the former. A large
proportion is obtained in the form of a small irregularly-shaped shot, by wash-
ing the clay in suitable apparatus. Large quantities had been raised by the
natives from this valley before the country was taken possession of by the
Portuguese.”

At the end of the valley, where it joins the narrow gorge that drains it,
an enormous mass of very hard metamorphic limestone, destitute of fossil re-
mains, rises from the bottom to a height of about thirty feet, and in it are
contained two caverns or large chambers. This mass of rock is imbedded in
a dense forest, and is overgrown by trees and enormous creepers, the stems
of which, like great twisted cables, hang down through the crevices and open-
ings to the ground below. ‘‘Great numbers of bats,” says Mr. Monteiro,
‘inhabit the roof of the darkest of these caverns, and some that I once shot
were greatly infested with a large, and very active, nearly white species of
she curious spider-looking parasite Nyctirbia, that lives on this class of ani-
mals. In the thick damp shade of the trees surrounding this mass of rock,

CUSTOMS OF NATIVE TRIBES. 883

we collected the rose-coloured flowers of that extremely curious root parasite,
the Thonningea sanguinea.”

The soil about Bembe is magnificent, and will produce almost anything.
Sugar-cane grows to a huge size, and vegetables flourish in a remarkable
manner. A handsome creeper (Mucuna pruriens), with leaves like those of a
scarlet-runner, and bearing large, long bunches of dark maroon bean-like
flewers, grows very abundantly. The flowers are succeeded by crooked
pods covered with fine hairs, which cause dreadful itching when rubbed on
the skin. ‘The first time,” says Monteiro, ‘“‘I pulled off a bunch of the
pods I shook some of the hairs over my hands and face, and the sensation
was alarming, like being suddenly stung all over with a nettle. I have seen
blacks, when clearing bush for plantations, shake these hairs on their hot,
naked bodies, and jump about like mad, untill they were rubbed with hand-
fuls of moist earth.”

The Mussurongo, Ambriz, and Mushicongo negroes have hardly any
industrial or mechanical occupation; they weave no cloths of cotton or other
fibre; their only manufactures being the few implements, baskets, and pots,
required in their agriculture and household operations. Building huts is
man’s work, and as no nails of any kind are employed in their construction,
the sticks only being notched and tied together with baobab fibre, a few days,
with but little trouble, suffice to build one. Women’s work is entirely re-
stricted to cultivating the ground and preparing the food. Their simple agri-
cultural operations are all performed with one implement, a single-handed hoe.

The mandioca-root, and a species of small harricot bean, constitute the
principal food of the natives. Chili pepper is the universal condiment of the
country. The banana is eaten raw, except by the Portuguese, who both
roast and boilit. The Ambriz and Mushicongo natives make but little use
of animal food; the latter, however, are very fond of frogs and grasshoppers.
The common drink manufactured in the country is a sort of beer, prepared
from Indian corn and dry mandioca-root. It is slightly milky in appearance,
and when freshly made is sweet, but afterwards becomes acid and intoxicating.

The distance from Ambriz, to Loando is about sixty miles, and the greater
part of the country is called Mossulo, from being inhabited by a tribe of that
name. ‘They have not yet been subdued, and they dispute the passage of the
white man through their territory. About half-way between Ambriz and
Loando is Libongo, celebrated for its mineral pitch. The soil around here is
very fertile, and the mandioca, the sugar-cane, and the tamarind tree, grow
in perfection. The rivers Bengo and Dande are greatly infested by alligators ;
and a curious idea prevails amongst all the natives of Angola, that the liver
of the alligator is a deadly poison, and that it is employed as such by the
fetish-men. The manatee is not uncommon in these rivers. The Portuguese
call this curious mammal the woman-fish, from the supposed resemblance be-

884 LIFE OF DAVID LIVIN GSTONE, LL.D.

tween its breasts and those of a woman. The flesh is good eating, though of
no particular flavour, and is greatly liked by the natives. The marshes and
lagoons are full of wild duck and other water-fowl. The country from the
Bengo to Loanda rises suddenly, and the coast line is high and bold, but the
soil is very arid and sandy, the rocks being arenaceous, evidently. of recent
formation, and full of casts of shells. There is much admixture of oxide of
iron; and some of the sandy cliffs and dunes close to Loanda are of a beauti-
ful red from it. Doves of various kinds are abundant, and splendidly coloured
starlings; kingfishers too are common, and two or three species of bustards.

The city of St. Paul de Loanda is situated in a beautiful bay, backed by
a kind of low, sandy cliff. In front of the bay a long, low, and very narrow
spit of pure sand stretches like a natural breakwater, and protects the harbour
of Loanda perfectly from the waves and surf of the ocean. The cocoa-nut-
palm tree thrives well on this narrow spit. Loanda contains about twelve
thousand inhabitants, of whom about one-third are whites. The houses are
generally commodious, built of stone, and roofed with red tiles. The window-
sills and door-posts are generally painted blue, which gives the place a pretty
appearance. Most of the houses have large yards, and the streets are wide,
so that there is no overcrowding. The principal street runs through the
whole length of the town, and for some distance a row of banyan trees goes
through the centre, under the shade of which a daily market or fair is held
of cloth and dry goods. The vendors are chiefly women.

‘“A square at the back of the custom-house is the general market of
Loanda, and presents a curious scene, from the great variety of articles sold,
and the great excitement of buyers and sellers crying out their wares, and
making their purchases at the top of their voices. The vendors here, again,
are mostly women; and as no booths are allowed to be put up, they wear
straw hats with wide brims, almost as huge as an ordinary umbrella, to shade
themselves. Every kind of delicacy to captivate the negro palate and fancy
is to be had here; wooden dishes full of lean, measly-looking pork; earthen
pots full of beans and palm-oil, retailed out in small platters, at so much a
large wooden spoonful, and eaten on the spot; horrible-looking messes of
fish, cakes, and pastry, etc., everything thickly covered with flies and large
blue-bottles; large earthen jars, called sanzas, and gourds full of garapa, or
indian-corn beer; live fowls and ducks, eggs, milk, Chili peppers, small white
tomatoes, bananas, and in the season, oranges, mangoes, sour-sop, and other
fruits, quiavos, a few cabbage-leaves and vegetables, firewood, tobacco pipes
and stems, wild hemp, mats, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, palm and ground-nut
oil and dried salt fish. The women squat on their heels, with their wares in
front, all round and over the square, while hundreds of natives are jabbering
and hageling over their bargains, as if their existence depended on their
noisy exertioiis.”

A RHINOCERUS HUNT

THE GOVERNMENT OF ANGOLA. 885

Loanda is abundantly supplied with fish of many kinds. A small shark
is often caught, which is much esteemed by the natives, and is dried in the
sun; also the pungo, which attains to as much as a hundred pounds weight.
The pungo produces a loud and extraordinary noise, by pressing its snout
against the side of a ship. The sound is like a deep tremolo note on a har-
monium, and is quite asloud, but as if played under water. This low, sus-
tained note has a very strange effect when first heard so unexpectedly in the
still water.

The vegetation about Loanda is scanty, but a milky-juiced, thin-stemmed
euphorbia, called cazoneira, and the cashew-tree, grow very abundantly on
the clifis, and inland; and sparingly in the sandy, arid soil, mandioca and
beans. Oxen thrive, but very little attention is given to rearing them,
Loanda being supplied from the interior with cattle for the beef consumed by
the population. The police of Loanda are all blacks, but officered by Portu-
guese. The city is lighted by oil lamps. The military band plays twice a
week.

The province of Angola is divided by the Portuguese into four govern-
ments—Ambriz, Loanda, Benguela, and Mossamedes. These are again
divided into districts, each ruled by a military “ chefe,” or chief subordinate
to the governors of each division, and those in their turn to the Governor-
General of the province at Loanda. Of the wretched character of the govern-
ment Mr. Monteiro speaks in strong terms. ‘In the fifteen years,” he says,
“that I have principally lived in, and travelled over a great part of Angola,
and passed in intimate intercourse with the natives and Portuguese, I have
had abundant opportunities of witnessing the miserable state to which that
fine country has been reduced by the wretched and corrupt system of govern-
ment. This state is not unknown to Portugal, and she has several times sent
good and honest men as governors to Loanda to try to put a stop to the
excesses committed by their subordinates, but they have been obliged to
return in despair, as without good and well-paid officials it was no use either
to change, or to make an example of one or two, where all were equally bad
or guilty. There is, of course, but little chance of any change until Portugal
sees that it is to her own advantage that this immensely rich possession should
be governed by enlightened and well-paid officials. Let her send to Angola
independent and intelligent men, and let them report faithfully on the causes
that have depopulated vast districts, that have destroyed all industry, and
that continually provoke the wars and wide dissatisfaction among tribes natu-
rally so peaceable and submissive, and amenable to a great extent to instruc-
tion and advancement.”

Porto Domingos, on the River Lucala, a tributary of the Quanza, is one
of the most lovely places in Africa. The vegetation of palm-trees, baobabs,
cotton-wood trees, and creepers of various kinds, is most luxuriant. The rock

886 ; LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

of the district is a kind of conglomerate, with a matrix containing much ox-
ide of iron. At the River Mucozo this formation is succeeded by a very hard
white quartz rock, containing but little mica or feldspar; the scenery is hilly,
broken, and extremely beautiful. Three days’ journey from Mucozo, over a
wild and rocky country, brings you to the once populous kingdom of the
‘‘ Soba” Dumbo, once a powerful king; only a handful of subjects, however,
now remain.

The greater part of Cambambe is rocky, and destitute of forest or large
trees; large tracts are covered with grass and shrubs. Birds of many species,
and of beautiful colouring, are abundant. The most extraordinary bird in
appearance and habits is a large black hornbill (Bucorax Abyssinicus) called
by the natives Engungoashito. It is about the size of a large turkey, but
longer in the body and tail. They are found sparingly nearly everywhere
in Angola, becoming abundant, however, only towards the interior. The
males raise up and open and close their tails exactly in the manner of a tur-
key, and filling out the bright cocks-comb-red, bladder-like wattle on their
necks, and with wings dropping on the ground, make quite a grand appear-
ance. ‘They do not present a less extraordinary appearance as they walk
slowly with an awkward gait, and peer from side to side with their great eyes
in quest of food in the short grass, poking their large bills at any frog, snake
or other reptile that may come in their way. Their flight is feeble, and not
long sustained. The note or cry of the male is like the hoarse blast of a horn
repeated short three times, and answered by the female ina lower note. It
is very loud, and can be heard at a considerable distance, particularly at
night.

The lovely “ plaintain-eaters,” principally the Corythaix Paulina, are
very abundant all over Angola—where thick forests are found. They are
common in the country about Pungo Andongo, and also near the River
Quanza. They have a very loud, hoarse ery, quite unlike that which a bird
might be imagined to produce, which has a very singular and startling effect
when heard in a forest. It is its unearthly cry that makes this bird an object
of superstition to the natives of the whole of Angola. If one of these birds
should perch on a hut or on a tree within the enclosure of a town, and sing,
it is thought such a bad omen that the inhabitants vacate it and remove to an-
other place. One most singular circumstance connected with this bird is the
fact that the gorgeous blood-red colour of its wing feathers is soluble, espe-
cially in weak solution of ammonia, and that this soluble colouring matter
contains a considerable quantity of copper, to which its colour may very pro-
perly be due.

It is impossible to describe the beauty of the districts of Cazengo and
Golungo Alto, and the country about the River Lombige, a small tributary of
the River Zeuza, as the River Bengo is called inland. ‘‘ Mountains and deep

THE DISTRICT OF CAZENGO. 887

-valleys,” says Monteiro, filled with magnificent virgin forests, cover thecountry.

Streams and springs of the clearest water abound, and the valleys are full of
monkeys and beautifully coloured birds and butterflies. Most wonderful and
varied effects of rolling mists, sunrise and sunset are to be seen in this earthly
paradise, and the clearness and lightness of the atmosphere are most exhilar-
ating and agreeable after the dull oppressiveness of the air on the coast. At
Cazengo I saw the largest trees I have ever seen, and conspicuous amongst
these the cotton-wood tree (Enodendron anfractuosum), towering to an
immense height straight as an arrow, without the slightest break, to the
small branches at the very top covered with feathery-looking foliage, and
studded with puffy balls like white silk, from the burst seed-pods. The stems
and branches are thickly studded with hard, short, conical, sharp-pointed
spikes, and at the base of the stem vast flattened buttresses project, which
give a wonderful idea of strength and stability. In these grand forests the
splendid giant touraco (Turacus cristatus), the largest of the tropical African
plaintain-eaters, finds a fitting habitat, and from its great size compared with
the other much smaller species, is evidence of the magnificence of the forests
and scenery of Cazengo and Golungo Alto.” |

From Golungo Alto to the south the geological formation is a hard,
compact, quartzose granite rock. At Cazengo gneiss is found, and granite,
and a hard quartzose slaty rock, with in places a curious rock seemingly
composed of disintegrated granite and clay slate. The great forests on the
slopes of the chains of mountains and valleys of the country about Golungo
Alto and the Dembos are full of coffee-trees growing wild, and they are gra-
dually being cleared of bush or underwood by the natives so as to enable them
to collect the berry.

Cazengo has been celebrated from time immemorial for its iron, smelted
by the natives, and the bellows employed in the process appears to date from
the earliest times, being in fact identical with that used by the ancient
Egyptians. For ordinary blacksmith’s work the forge is simply a small
cavity scooped out in the ground, the fuel being charcoal; and in this, with
one bellows, a welding heat is obtained, and they are enabled to make hoes
and other implements out of ordinary iron hooping or other scrap-iron. Iron
smelting from the ore is but little practised now in Angola, as the iron hoop-
ing from bales obtained from the traders nearly suffices for the few purposes
for which this useful metal is required.

The natives of the interior comprised between the River Dande and
Quanza speak the Bunda language. The natives beyond the River Dande
speak the Congo language, and its dialects of Ambriz and Mossulo. There
is a singular custom common to the Bunda-speaking race, and to the natives
of Nayo Redondo farther south. ‘‘ When a relative or other person visits
them, a dish of ‘infundi’ or ‘ piras’ is prepared, and should there not be a

888 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

bit of meat or fish in the larder, they send out to a neighbour for the ‘lent
rat,’ as it iscalled. This isa field rat roasted on a skewer, and it is presented
to the guest, who, holding the skewer in his left hand, dabs bits of the
‘infundi’ on the rat before he swallows them, as if to give them a flavour;
but he is very careful not to eat the rat, or even the smallest particle of it,
as this would be considered a great crime or offence, and would be severely
punished by their laws. It is supposed that the host has duly preserved the
dignity of his house and position, and has performed the rites of hospitality,
in presenting his guest with meat and ‘infundi,’ though he has not tasted a
morsel of the former, which is returned intact to the owner from whom it was
borrowed.”

The River Quanza is the gem of the Portuguese possession of Angola,
south of the Congo; it is about fifty miles south of Loanda, and is the only
river navigable for any distance, and the natural highway to the most fertile
and. healthy countries of the interior. From the mouth of the river to Ca-
lumbo there are large mangrove marshes; but when it reaches that place the
banks are mostly bare, or lined with sedges and papyrus. At Calumbo there
is a considerable assemblage of huts and mud-plastered houses, belonging to
the native population. A few miles higher up is Bruto, where the cultivation
of the sugar-cane is largely carried on. At Bruto there is a fine lagoon, in
which abundance of fish is netted, and there are some lovely woods and
valleys near, which abound with birds and monkeys. Beyond this the river
scenery is much finer, cliffs and hills on either side covered with the baobab,
and the valleys filled with a luxuriant green forest of trees and creepers, with
here and there brilliant patches of colour from the abundant flowers of the
latter; the banks of the river forming a foreground of papyrus and sedges of
unfading green.

About fifty or sixty miles from the coast, on the southern bank of the
river, is the town of Muxima, built on a bare, white limestone rock, on which
the hot sun seems to have baked the mud huts with their straw roofs to a
dark brown. Beyond Muxima, the appearance of the banks becomes really
charming. Mile after mile a continuous panorama of magnificent dark forest
of high feathery-topped oil-palms stretches on both sides, but principally on
the north bank. Under these palms is seen a succession of picturesque huts,
The forest resounds with the cooing of innumerable doves, and the chatter
of noisy weaver-birds.

Passing Massangano, the voyager reaches twenty miles higher up the
town of Dondo—a growing and prosperous place. Thousands of tons of
ground-nuts, coffee, wax, palm-oil, and ivory, are shipped yearly at Dondo for
Loanda by the steamers. There is a fine large square in the middle of the
town, where a market is held every day, and to this the natives resort from
all parts around with produce and provisions. ‘ About six or eight miles

AFRICAN BEE-KEEPERS. 889

from Dondo up the river are the first cataracts of Cambambe. Immediately on
leaving Dondo the river is enclosed by high hills or cliffs on both sides, and
winds a good deal, so that a succession of fresh and seemingly more beauti-
ful pictures is constantly presented to the traveller’s admiration as he ascends
the river in a boat. The river is wide and deep, and the slopes and perpen-
dicular sides of the hilly walls on either side are of endless variety of colour,
both of rock, moss and lichen, plant, and tree. Deep red iron-stained
sandstone, conglomerate, blue clay slate, huge white-stemmed baobabs, dark
masses of palm-trees, plots of large-leaved plantains, masses of trees overgrown
with creepers, meet the eye in ever-varying combination; and gradually
the wide valley worn by the water becomes narrower and narrower, until
at last it is a deep gorge with almost upright walls of clay slate, and the pas-
sage for the great body of water is barred right across by vast rocky ledges
and peaks, over which, in the rainy season, it rushes and dashes with a deafen-
ing wild roar and mad flinging up into the air of showers of water and foam.”

The southern bank of the Quanza, from its mouth to opposite Dondo, is
called the Quissama country, and is inhabited by the peculiar race or tribe of
negroes of the same name. They are very black, undersized, exceedingly
dirty, and have a remarkably ugly cast of countenance. The greater part
of the Quissama country is very barren, and perfectly destitute of water, ex-
cept on the banks of the river itself; the natives use baobab trees, hollowed
out for the purpose, as reservoirs for rain-water falling in the wet season.
The Libollos, or natives of the Libollo country, are a very much finer and
cleaner race than their neighbours the Quissamas, and their country is beauti-
ful and fertile, and covered in great part with palm-trees. The Quinbundos
are a warlike people to the south of the Libollo and Quissama countries, and
are tall, well-formed, and very handsome. They come in caravans to Dondo,
principally laden with bees-wax, singing on the march. They plait their
hair in thin strings all round their heads, and in each plait they put several
beads, mostly made of red paste, in imitation of coral.

The tribes on both banks of the Quanza are great bee-keepers. The
hives are to be seen on almost every baobab, this being the tree chosen in
preference to any other, and as many as four or five hives may be seen on
one tree. They are made by splitting a piece of wood, generally a branch
of a tree with the bark on, about five feet long and ten or twelve inches in
diameter; the centre is scooped out, leaving the ends entire; the two halves
are securely tied together, and three holes large enough to admit the little
finger are bored at each end. An aperture is cut in the middle of the hollow
cylinder, where the two halves are joined together, large enough to admit the
hand. ‘This aperture is closed with a piece of wood, and clayed over, to
thoroughly prevent any rain from gettingin. The hive is securely placed in the

branches of the tree, and a quantity of dry grass put over it asa roof, or thatch.
n4

890 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Once a year the owner climbs the tree and draws up a basket for the
wax and honey with a cord, and also some dry grass and fire. He opens the
aperture, and, lighting wisps of grass, smokes the bees as they issue out.
Most of them drop half suffocated to the ground and the comb is extracted,
a small quantity being left behind to induce the bees to work again in the
same hive. If no comb be left the natives affirm that they will not return
again to the hive. In some places they are careful not to kill any of the
bees, and are said to extract the comb as often as three times a year. Bee-
hives are their principal wealth, and some families possess as many as three
and four hundred.

Scorpions are very abundant in the whole of the district of Benguela,
and cases are constantly occurring of persons being stung by them. In some
places, hardly a stone or piece of wood can be lifted from the ground with-
out finding one or more scorpions under it. They are of all sizes, up to six
and seven inches long. ‘Their sting is rarely fatal, except to old people or
persons in a bad state of health. The effects of the sting are, however, very
extraordinary ; in severe cases it appears to paralyse all the muscles of the
body, sometimes with much pain, in others with little or none.

Catumbella is an important place, about nine miles to the north of Ben-
guela. The Portuguese have a fort here, and a detachment of soldiers.
There are many traders established in the place; and a large trade is carried
on with the natives of the interior in wax, ivory, gum copal, white gum, and
other productions. It is on the high road to Bailundo and Bihe. The scenery
is exquisite, from the hilly and rocky character of the country and the luxu-
riance of the vegetation, both wild and cultivated. A small river, so shallow
that it can always be forded, except during the heavy rains, runs by the town.
It is a pretty stream, but full of alligators, through whom many natives lose
their lives while crossing. From the top of a mountain near the town, which,
with one opposite, forms the deep gorge through which the river passes, there
is a view of surpassing loveliness.

The town of Benguela is situated on a level plain near the sea, with a
line of hills about six miles distant at the back. It is a large picturesque
town, consisting of good houses and stores, distributed in an irregular manner
over several squares and roads, which in the wet season are covered with a
luxuriant growth of grass and weeds in flower giving the town the appearance
of a wild garden. The soil is fertile, and all kinds of fruit and vegetables
grow in abundance and perfection. The trade, especially in bees-wax, of
which a great quantity is exported, increases every year. To the north of
the town there isa green belt of forest marking the course of the River
Cavaco. Not far from the beach is a large fort, garrisoned with a force of
soldiers that supplies detachments to the adjoining districts.

“‘The natives of Benguela belong to a tribe called the Mundombes, who

THE MUNDOMBES. 891

are of a wild, roving disposition, and very unlike the rest of the tribes inha-
biting Angola. Their clothing is principally skins and hides of sheep or wild
animals, and they rub their bodies and heads with rancid cow’s butter, or oil,
with which they are fond of mixing charcoal-dust; and they are the only na-
tives in Angola who wear sandals (made of raw hide) on their feet. They
are very dirty, never making use of water for washing; are generally about
the middle height, and ugly in face. The women especially are rarely comely
either in face or figure, and they will not live with or intermarry with blacks
of.other tribes. Their huts are mostly round-roofed and low. They are very
independent, and will not hire themselves to any kind of work. The women
cultivate the ground for the indispensable mandioca and beans; the men hunt,
and tend large herds of cattle that thrive remarkably well in the country, and
also flocks of sheep, which they rear for food.

“Cattle are their principal riches, and are seldom killed for food, except
when the owner dies, when, if he be a ‘ soba’ or chief, as many as three hun-
dred oxen have been known to be killed and eaten at one sitting, lasting for
several days. On these occasions the whole tribe and friends are assembled,
heaps of firewood collected, fires lit, and oxen killed one after the other till
the herd is eaten up, not a native moving away from the feast or gorge till the
last scrap is consumed. The flesh is cut into long thick strips and wound
round long skewers—these are stuck upright round the fires, and the meat
only allowed to cook slightly. The meat is eaten alone, without any other
food whatever, and without salt, as that would make them drink, which they
do not do, as they affirm it would prevent them from eating much meat; the
blood, entrails, and the hide, toasted to make it eatable, are consumed, a big
feast lasting from ten to fifteen days, or sometimes more. They are fond of
dividing their cattle into herds of a hundred head each, and are wonderfully
clever at tracing strayed cattle, and also in recognising any they may have
once seen.

‘A most singular custom of these natives is that of the women and girls,
with their heads covered with green leaves and carrying branches of trees in
their hands, and singing in chorus, taking round to all their friends and ac-
quaintance any young woman of their tribe who is about to be married ; but
the most curious part of the ceremony is the manner in which the interesting
young bride is prepared. Sheis stripped perfectly naked, and white washed from
head to foot with a thick mixture of a kind of pipe-clay and water, which dries
perfectly white, and in this manner she is taken in procession to visit and re-
ceive the congratulation of herfriends. It appearsthat this extraordinary custom
is also common to some hill tribes in India and in the Andes of South America.

«The richer Mundombes have an odd manner of making their beds. A
layer of clay about six or nine inches thick, and about two feet wide, is made
in the huts, and when dry coustitutes their sleeping place; this they rub over

892 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

with rancid butter to make it smooth, and they lie on it without any skin or
cloth under them. The Mundombes generally wear their hair in a large
woolly bush, but the young men and women cut it into a variety of strange
forms and patterns. Their arms are knobbed sticks, often fancifully carved,
small axes, bows and arrows, and spears, generally much ornamented with
beads. They are expert hunters, and the abundance of large game supplies
them with more animal food than other tribes of Angola. They are a hard,
wiry race, capable of undergoing great fatigue and hunger, and a very good
trait in their character is that they are good-natured and merry. They are
not a bad race, but are wild, roving and intractable to teaching or civilisation.
Not one of them can be induced to work beyond carrying loads or a hammock,
which latter they have also a unique way of doing. Supposing eight to be
carrying a white man in a hammock, three will range themselves and run
along on each side; at a loud clap of their hands, one Mundombe from the
right will shove his shoulders under the pole behind the carrier in front, who
passes to the left. Another on the left does the same with the carrier behind,
who passes to the right, and so they go changing round and round every few
yards, and running along all the time without stopping a moment.”

Among the plants growing around Benguela, one of the principal is the
shrubby jasmine, which grows in large clumps, covered with white blossoms;
and early in the morning, the air is so impregnated with the scent as to give
those who pass through the bush for any distance a headache. Jackals and
hyenas abound in the locality; on dark nights especially the hyenas perambu-
late all over the town in search of bones and offal of every description, fight-
ing and making a terrible noise. Zebras are abundant in the rocky districts of
the country about Benguela and Mossambes; and their bray is peculiar, being
like that of the donkey, without the long drawn notes made during inspiration.

A large dog-faced monkey inhabits these rocky districts, going about in
troops of from twelve to twenty. When feeding, they have always two or
more of their number perched on the high rocks as sentinels, and on the least
sign of danger, they utter a hoarse grunt, and all take to flight, the young
ones tightly clasping their mother’s backs. If a sentinel fail in his duty, the
others set upon him, and worry him asa punishment. They live on the roots
and fruits of trees, and on several species of large onion-looking bulbs.

The natives on this part of the coast make a kind of boat or raft, out of
the bimba tree, which it is impossible to sink. The wood is soft, and as light
as pith; the peeled stems are skewered together in two or three layers, with
sides about a foot and a half to two feet high, and the ends finished off in a
point, the whole looking like a punt built of three logs. The water rushes
in and out everywhere, people get washed over and wetted through by the
surf; but the boat never upsets or sinks, and floats like a dry cork.

The district of Dombe Grande is situated about twenty-four miles to the

BIRDS OF THE COUNTRY. 893

south of Benguela. The road to it passes over slightly undulating ground,
but very arid in character, alternately sandy, and of gypsum rock. It isa
wonderful relief from the desert road to arrive at the River San Francisco,
and see stretched for miles the beautiful green expanse of Dombe Grande.
There is a large quantity of pure sulphur in the gypsum hills on the northern
bank of this river; and it is possible sometimes to obtain a solid block of it
of thirty pounds in weight. Nine miles south of Dombe Grande is the little
bay of Cuio, not far from which copper ore is found. Some portions of this
ore contain silver, from a mere trace to over one hundred ounces in the ton.
The road from Dombe Grande to Cuio passes through some deep ravines cut
in solid gypsum rock by the action of the waters. It requires no kiln for
burning; it is sufficient to make a pile of small pieces of the rock with any
kind of fuel or brushwood at hand to burn it into proper plaster of Paris.

There are several birds in the country, the colour of whose plumage so
closely agrees with that of the ground as to be hardly distinguishable at a
little distance. Such as the sand-grouse, and three species of bustards.
These bustards are very abundant, and are found in pairs; they havea
curious, clucking cry, which can be heard at a considerable distance ; they run
along the ground with great rapidity, and when alarmed fly off in a straight
line. ‘Their flesh is excellent. In the woods there are several species of
small hornbills. Their food consists of grubs, grasshoppers, hornets’ nests,
and hard seeds. When sitting on a tree, they frequently raise and depress
their crest feathers, and utter loud cries, like the squall of a sick baby. The
natives say that it is the male bird who sits on the nest, and that the female
shuts him up in the nest so that he cannot get out, and feeds him till he has
hatched the eggs, when she tears down the nest and lets him out. The impri-
soned bird is then very lean and in ragged plumage. In Benguela, when a
man looks very thin and miserable, they always say that he looks like the
hornbill when he has been let out of the nest. The wattled crane is common
in the interior, and is often brought for sale to the coast by the caravans.
They get very tame and playful, and it is amusing to see them rush in fun
at the women and children, with their wings and beak wide open. The ox-
bird is yery commonly seen on the cattle at Benguela. It appears to feed
entirely on ticks. It is curious to watch the manner in which they crawl all
over the body of an ox or large animal, which they are enabled to do by
their strong claws tipped with exceedingly sharp, hooked nails. They will
accompany a herd of cattle only for a certain distance, when they will return
to their usual locality, and others immediately make their appearance and
take charge of the herd.

From Benguela to Mossamedes almost all the numerous bays on the coast
are inhabited by Portuguese. ‘he fishery of the coast is mostly carried on
by deep lines, and the fish caught are opened flat, and salted and dried in the

cA LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

sun. Large quantities are thus prepared and shipped to Loanda and elsewhere.
Great numbers of a kind of dog-fish are caught, the livers of which are thrown
into large iron pots and melted into a strong smelling oil, which is shipped
to Europe, and employed to adulterate whale and other fish oils. The lines
and nets of the fishermen are prepared or tanned by steeping them in the
juice of an exceedingly curious plant growing in the sand. Besides its use for
tanning lines and nets, it is also employed by the natives as a valuable as-
tringent in cases of diarrhoea. Speaking of the quantity of fish on this coast,
Monteiro says—“ At the little Bay of Baba, I saw a very extraordinary sight,
and one that shows the great quantity of fish in the sea of that coast. I had
started on foot early in the morning, from the house of a Portuguese who was
engaged in the fishing trade, on my way to Mossamedes, and as I walked
along the beach for more than a mile, I saw for the whole distance, in the calm
water, a small species of fish, about a foot long, in countless numbers packed
side by side so closely as almost to touch one another, and their snouts touch-
ing the sand. Farther south, fish are said to be even more plentiful. At
Port Pinda, a three-masted fishing vessel arrived with a crew of fishermen
from Algarve, and they caught such quantities that they found the work of
curing too hard, and they gradually gave up fishing, and employed their
vessel in carrying freights up and down the coast. I was told by the captain
of a British man-of-war that at Walwish Bay he had seen eight tons of fish
taken at one haul of the sieve net.”

At Mossamedes oxen are trained for riding; the cartilage of the nose is
perforated, and through the opening a thin, short piece of round iron is passed,
at the ends of which are attached the reins, and the animal is guided by them
in the same manner asa horse. A good bullock will trot well, and even
gallop for a distance, and is very comfortable to ride. The saddle is made
of leather, and is only a well-padded cushion with stirrups. About twenty or
thirty miles from Mossamedes granite abounds, and the form of the country
is peculiar. Insome places huge single rocks rise out of the nearly level
plain; in others hills of rocks, in several of which deposits of rain-water are
found at the very top.

The country about Mossamedes is exposed to periodical eruptions of the
Monanos, or natives from the Nano country, which is inland and north of
Mossamedes. They come down in large expeditions, laying waste the country
by driving off the cattle and sheep. The few native inhabitants about
Mossamedes are Mundombes, like those of Benguela, but between the two
places there is a district peopled by a curious tribe called Mucoandos. This
district lies to the interior. These Mucoandos are a roving, migratory tribe,
rearing flocks of sheep, which are their only wealth; it is said that they hardly
ever cultivate the ground, and only build temporary huts or shelters. They
go about nearly naked, only wearing a-small piece of sheepskin round their

THE MUQUICES. 895

loins, and are a quiet and inoffensive tribe. They are said to be gradually
dying out.

A still more curious tribe are the Muquices, of whom only a few remain.
They are found near the sea, between Mossamedes and Carumjamba. They
do not keep sheep or cattle, or any live-stock whatever, and never cultivate
the ground or build huts to live in. Their food is principally fish, which
they catch with hook and line, and shell-fish, particularly mussels, which
are very abundant and fine on the rocks, and oysters. They cook their food
by roasting it at a fire, and at night they each make a small half circle of
stones about a foot high, against which they curl up like dogs as a shelter
from the wind, very often on the bare tops of the cliffs overhanging the sea.
. They also take advantage of the ledges of rock and open caves or holes to
sleep in; but they are always on the move, never remaining more than a few
days at each place.

*“‘T often saw these encampments, ‘says Monteiro, “ with the usual ac-
companiments of heaps of mussel-shells and ashes, the remains of their food
and fires on the cliffs. I once saw a party of eight of these Muquices at Point
Giraul, the northern end of Mossamedes Bay, where I had gone with some
friends for a day’s pic-nic of fish, oysters, and mussels off the rocks. This
was the largest number I had ever seen together. They were living ina
large hole in the soft rock, and were very pleased to have a talk, and get a
drink and a few small presents. They are rather light-coloured, with very de-
cided obliquely-set eyes, which gives them a singular expression—a Chinese ex-
pression of face. They are slow and gentle in their manner, and are said
to be what their appearance indicates, very quiet and inoffensive. The
Portuguese often employ them as letter-carriers up and down that part of the
coast. Their constantly roving habits do not allow them to have old or infirm
people. When these cannot walk or keep up with the rest, they are killed by
being knocked on the head from behind with a stick, The eldest son, or
nearest male relative, does the deed, and the victim is not apprised beforehand
of his fate.”

That most singular plant, the Welwitschia mirabilis, grows about Mossa-
medes. Monteiro sent some specimens to the Kew Museum, and Dr. Hooker
thus describes the plant :—‘‘ The Welwitschia is a woody plant, said to attain
a century in duration, with an obconic trunk, about. two feet long, of which
a few inches rise above the soil, presenting the appearance of a flat, two-lobed,
depressed mass, sometimes (according to Dr. Welwitsch) attaining fourteen
feet in circumference, and looking like a round table. When full grown it is
dark-brown, hard, and cracked over the whole surface, much like the burnt
crust of a loaf of bread; the lower portion forms a stout top-root, buried in
the soil, and branching downwards at the end. From deep grooves in the
circumference of the depressed mass two enormous leaves are given off, each

896 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

six feet long when full grown, one corresponding to each lobe: these are
quite flat, linear, very leathery, and split to the base into innumerable thongs
that lie curling upon the face of the soil. Its discoverer describes these same
two leaves as being present from the earliest condition of the plant, and
assures me that they are in fact developed from the two cotyledons of the
seed, and are persistent, being replaced by no others.

‘From the circumference of the tabular mass above, but close to the in-
sertion of the leaves, spring stout dichotomously-branched cymes, nearly a
foot high, bearing small, erect scarlet cones, which eventually become oblong,
and attain the size of those of the common spruce-fir. The scales of the cones
are very closely imbricated, and contain, when young and still very small,
solitary flowers, which in some cones are hermaphrodite (structurally but not
functionally), in others female. The hermaphrodite flower consists of a peri-
anth of four pieces, six monadelphous stamens, with globose three-locular
anthers, surrounding a central ovule, the integument of which is produced
into a styliform sigmoid tube, terminated by a discoid apex. The female
flower consists of a solitary erect ovule, contained in a compressed utricular
perianth. The mature cone is tetragonous, and contains a broadly-winged
fruit in each scale.”

The climate of Angola is not so hot as might be expected from its lati-
tude. The thermometer in the hot season is seldom more than 80° to 86°
Fahrenheit in the shade during the day; 90° and over is not often attained.
In the cool season the usual temperature is 70° to 75° Fahrenheit, and at
night as low as 60° to 65°. The sea-breeze, which sets in about nine or ten
o'clock in the morning, and lasts till sunset or an hour later, cools the burn-
ing rays of the sun; and the nights are always cool. In the interior, away
from the sea-breeze, the temperature is higher. Rain only falls in the hot
season, or from the end of October to the beginning or end of May, when
violent storms with but little wind deluge the country. During the cool
season the sun is often not visible for days together, a thick uniform white
sky preventing its position being seen at any time of the day. A thick white
mist covers the ground at night, and in the morning valleys and low places are
completely enshrouded in it. As the wind and sun dissipate these rolling
vapours, very beautiful effects are seen, particularly among the valleys and
mountains in the interior.

The remedies of the natives for disease in Angola are numerous. In
fever and ague their treatment often consists in lying quiet until nature works
her own cure; but they sometimes use a strong infusion of the leaves of an
excessively bitter plant, which they call Malulo. Another method of curing
fever is to squat over an earthen pot, in which the plants Herva Santa Maria
and Sangue-sangue have been boiled. The patient is well covered over, and
the aromatic vapour-bath soon produces copious perspiration, and often a

REMEDIES FOR DISEASE. 897

speedy cure. The Herva Santa Maria (Chenopodium ambrosioides) is a small
annual plant, generally about a foot and a half high, very green and bushy,
and every part of it hotly and strongly aromatic. Sangue-sangue is the name
given to the large seed-heads of a strong, tall grass (a species of Cymbopogon),
which exhales a very powerful aromatic odour when crushed. The principal
remedy for ulcers is powdered malachite, with or without lime-juice. When
they rise in the misty mornings in the cold season, they smoke the flowers of
the wild hemp, which they say wakes them up and warms their bodies, so
that they are ready to take up their loads, and trot off quickly.

They have no efficient remedies or treatment for bronchitis, pleurisy,
and pneumonia, from which they suffer so much and so fatally in the cold
season, ‘Their purgatives are the castor-oil seeds ground and mixed witha
little water, and the juice of the plant bearing the physic-nut (Jatropha curcas).
This is collected on a leaf from a cut made in the stem of the plant, and at once
swallowed: from five to ten drops appear to be a dose. Bleeding seems to
suit the negro constitution, and the Bunda-speaking natives are very skilful
in the use of the lancet, often with dreadfully blunt instruments. For inflam-
mation of the bowels, colic, or other violent pains, great use is made of the
fresh leaves of the tobacco plant, applied, as gathered, to the abdomen, or
better still, after dipping in boiling water. Another remedy for stomach and
liver complaints is the root of a creeper bearing very pretty small white
flowers (Beerhaavia sp.), and growing most abundantly everywhere in Angola.
Leeches are extremely abundant in the fresh-water lagoons, and are much
used by the Portuguese.

There are several peculiar habits and customs common to the natives of
Angola. ‘One of the most striking and most pleasing is their regard for
their parents and old people. These are always consulted before they under-
take a journey, or hire themselves as carriers or for other service, and they
always bid them good-bye, and leave them some little present of beads or rum.
On returning to their own towns they immediately see their fathers and
mothers and the old people, and squat down and beat hands to them, and
give an account of their doings. A little food is then eaten together, and
they consider that they have done their duty. Neither the men nor women
will smoke whilst speaking to their old people, but always take their pipes
out of their mouths, or, if their hands are engaged, hold the pipe stem across
their teeth. Other marks of respect always practised to their old men, to
their kings, and to white men, are, when passing between or close to them, to
bend their bodies slightly and snap their fingers; if they meet them on the
road, they will stand aside without moving, till they have passed, and if
carrying a load on their head, always remove it to the shoulder, or lift it
above the head on both hands.”

Smoking is universal. Snuff-taking is also very general. The ordinary

o4

898 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

way of taking a pinch of snuff between the forefinger and thumb, is unknown
to the blacks, and would be considered a very unsatisfactory method. They
pour about a teaspoonful of snuff into the palm of the hand, and burying their
wide and capacious nostrils in the peppery mixture (for they add cayenne
pepper to the tobacco dust), snort it up loudly, aided by a rotary motion of
the half-closed hand. Many allow a scrubby, woolly moustache to grow for
the sole purpose of plastering it thickly with snuff, so that when on a journey
and carrying a load, they take it by simply curling up the upper lip and
sniffing up strongly, without stopping or laying down the load to open the
box and take it in the ordinary way.

The common way to assert the truth of a statement, is to go on their
knees and rub the forefinger of each hand on the ground, and then touch
their tongues and forehead with the dusty tips; this is equivalent to an oath.
About Loanda they make the sign of the cross on the ground with a finger
for the same purpose, and this is evidently derived from some old custom
introduced by the former missionaries. The ordinary burial places of Angola,
are merely mounds of earth or stones, with a stick to mark the grave of a
man, and a basket that of a woman; and sometimes a slab of rock is stuck
upright in the ground to indicate the head of a grave.

White ants, wasps, centipedes, land-tortoises, snakes, porcupines, are to
be found in the country. On the stems of the high grass may often be seen
little round nests about the size of a hen’s egg having the appearance of a
rough glazed paper, and made by the mantis. These nests are applied by
the women to an odd use; they rub the soles of their children’s feet with
them in the belief that it will make them good walkers when they grow up.
Many of the caterpillars are very gorgeously coloured and fancifully orna-
mented with tufts of hair; though the moths and butterflies are not so bril-
liant as might be expected. The natives are fond of the flesh of the porcu-
pine, and stick the quills in their woolly hair as an ornament. A long yellow-
spotted water-lizard, with a handsome bead-like pattern on its back and legs,
is common in the rivers, and is said to be very destructive to poultry. The
boa-constrictor inhabits the marshy places near rivers. 'Thereis a dangerous
snake not uncommon, which is small in size, but remarkable from its habit of
spitting to a considerable distance, and its saliva is said to blind a person if
it touches the eyes.

Mr. Monteiro narrates an amusing adventure with one of the harmless
snakes found under the flooring of houses and stores, and which are very use-
ful in ridding them of rats and mice. ‘‘ One of these snakes,” he says, ‘‘ once
gave me considerable trouble at Loanda. My bedroom was on the ground-
floor under an office, and outside my door was the staircase leading to it.
Every morning, just a little before daybreak, I used to be awakened by hear-
ing @ loud crack on the table as if made by a blow from a thick whip. This

FRUITS IN ANGOLA. 899

excited my curiosity greatly, as I could find no possible explanation for the
noise. At last I determined to be on the watch. I had lucifers and a candle
ready, and was luckily awake when I heard the noise repeated on my table.
I instantly struck a light, and saw a snake about six feet long glide off the
table on to the ground and quickly disappear in a hole in a corner of the room.
I then ascertained that Mr. Snake went up the staircase every night to the
office above, where he hunted about for rats, and towards morning returned
through a hole in the flooring immediately above my table, dropping a height
of about ten feet, and producing the whip-like sound that had so perplexed
me for many nights. A bung in a hole in the floor above stopped his return
that way for the future, but I could not help being thankful that my bed
had not been placed where the table stood, for, notwithstanding that I
believed it was simply a harmless and inoffensive rat-catcher, still six feet of
cold snake wriggling over my face and body might not have been quite plea-
sant in the dark.”

A large scarabeus beetle is very abundant wherever cow-dung is found;
and it is amusing to see them at work, making it up into balls nearly the size
of a billiard-ball, an egg having been deposited in each. ‘Two or three may
be often seen pushing the ball along backwards—the universal custom. A
very beautiful lemur is found in some districts. It is of a light, chinchilla-
grey colour, with black nose and ears, and dark-brown feet and toes. This
animal can turn back and crumple up its rather large and long ears at will.
Its tail is long, and, like the rest of the body, very fussy. It is very quiet
and gentle, nocturnal in its habits, and sleeps much during the day. The
natives use its long, fine fur to stanch bleeding from cuts and wounds.

Fruits are not so abundant in Angola as they might be. Most of the
European fruit-trees grow remarkably well. Oranges are of delicious quality.
Mulberries bear abundantly. Limes grow wild in places. Mangoes are
splendid; butin some places the natives have a prejudice against planting the
tree, as they believe it would be unlucky. The guava grows wild in abund-
ance in many parts. Pine-apples are generally very fine, and might be grown
to any extent. Grapes and figs are sparingly cultivated, but bear well. The
natives on the coast eat the fruit of the Chrysobolamus Icaca ; itis like a round
black-purple plum, tasteless and astrigent. The Jambosa vulgaris is found
growing wild, and although rather insipid, it has a delicious scent of attar of
roses. ‘There is another tree bearing bunches of yellow, plum-like fruit of a very
delicious flavour and scent, and its pulp mixed with water and sugar makes
one of the nicest drinks one can taste. The only plants employed by the
natives as scents are the seeds of the Hibiscus Abelmoschus, smelling strongly
of musk, and a very sweet-smelling wood. These they rub over the head and
body, and keep with their clothes. They use the skin of the musk or civet-
cat, which is common in the interior, to scent their clothes and bodies. The

900 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

natives from the interior also rub themselves over with a stinking nut some-
thing like an acorn, with a powerful smell like rotten onions. Angola is poor
in dyes, and the natives use only few. For red they use the fresh pulp envelop-
ing the seeds of the annatto; for yellow they employ yellow ginger. Cloths
are made black by rubbing them with charred ground-nuts reduced to a fine
paste.

There is no danger, Mr. Monteiro says, in travelling over almost any part
of Angola, especially in those parts in the occupation of the Portuguese. The
natives are everywhere civil, if well treated. A knowledge of Portuguese is
almost essential, as, with the exception of some places on the Congo, and as far
south of it as Ambriz, where some of the natives speak English, a great num-
ber speak only Portuguese besides their own language.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Despaiches from Mr. Stanley—Circumnavigation of Lake Tanganyika—Legends as
to its Origin—Meaning of the Name—Geological Changes—The Alexandra
Nile—The Warundi and Waruanda—Small-Poz at Ujyi—Frank Pocock’s
Letters—Comment of ‘‘ The Daily Telegraph” on the Despatches.

ie March, 1877, after a long silence, copious and deeply interesting de-

spatches reached this country from Mr. Stanley, under date Ujiji, August
7th to 13th, 1876. From these it appeared that the brave traveller had made
a complete survey of Lake Tanganyika, and settled the question of the Lukuga,
which Captain Cameron supposed to be its outlet. He proposed to cross the
country to Nyangwe, and there to determine his final course. The first of
these despatches is from Ujjiji, Aug. 7, 1876 :— ;

“Lake Tanganyika, despite its extreme length, is to be subject no more
to doubts and fanciful hypotheses, for it has been circumnavigated and mea-
sured by me, and its enormous coast line laid down and fixed as accurately
as a pretty good chronometer and solar observations will admit. Captain
Burton’s discovery is now a completed whole, with no corner indefinite, no
indentation unknown. You must banish from your charts Mr. Cooley’s grand
United Tanganyika and Nyassa, and Sir Samuel Baker’s no less fanciful idea
of Upper and Lower Tanganyika, as also Livingstone’s United Lake Liemba
and Lake Tanganyika. A finished circumnavigation dispels all erratic ideas
and illusions respecting its length and breadth, and furnishes us with a complete
knowledge, as far as present necessities require, of its affluents and effluents.

“] write this letter to explain the problem of the Tanganyika, which has
puzzled Livingstone and so many explorers, and induced so many able carto-
graphers to publish wild conjectures instead of solid facts and truths; and I
take for my texts once more certain items from Lieutenant Verney Cameron’s
letter to the Gecgraphical Society, dated May 9, 1874. That gallant explorer
says :—

‘I have been fortunate enough to discover the outlet of the Tanganyika.
The current is small (1.2 knots), as might be expected from the levels. It is
believed to flow into the Lualaba, between the Lakes Moero and Kamarondo.
I went four or five miles down it, when my further progress was stopped by

902 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

the floating grass and enormous rushes. The river, the Lukuga, is about
twenty five miles south of the group of islands Captain Speke explored.’

“Tt is not fair to criticise such a brief letter as this, evidently written
hastily after the discoverer’s arrival in Ujiji, nor have I any such intention;
but the observations serve as a preface to what I am about to say, and in a
measure mark the boundaries of difference between Lieutenant Cameron and
myself. I send you a chart of the Lukuga Creek, to enable your readers to
understand clearly one of Nature’s secrets in Central Africa. I shall now
briefly remark upon the above statements.

‘“‘ Lieutenant Cameron says he has been ‘fortunate enough to discover
the outlet of Lake 'l'anganyika.’ He certainly has discovered Lukuga Creek,
and, entertaining the friendliest feelings towards the gallant gentleman, I am
happy to admit that, though he has found what has never been and is not the
outlet, yet he has none the less pointed out what will be within a few years
the outlet of the Tanganyika, for at present there is none, as we understand
the term; no outflowing river or effluent. ‘The current is small (1:2 knots),
as might be expected from the levels.’ Having differed with the first I must
oppose this second statement, though reluctantly ; but I impute the error to
the traveller’s over-hurry and imperfect levels. The chief who accompanied
Cameron says that he stayed but a short time, and such a current as he men-
tions might well be caused by the monsoon wind blowing up the creek, but
for further details and experiments testing this current I must refer you below.

““¢Tt is believed to flow into the Lualaba, between Lakes Moero and
Kamarondo.’ More about the flow below, but Moero is pronounced ‘ Merwu’
by all men, natives or Arabs, and of Kamarondo ‘ Lake’ I can hear nothing,
except a distinct and emphatic denial of there being such a lake; but all who
know anything ofit say there is a river called the Kamalondo, or Kamarondo,
a large tributary of the Lualaba or Ugarowa. ‘I went four or five miles
down it, when my further progress was stopped by the floating grass and
enormous rushes.’ Lieutentant Cameron proceeded about three miles, I think,
and made his experiments at Lumba. His progress was stopped by the pa-
pyrus, which perhaps may come under his description; but all specimens of
ordinary grass seen in the Lukuga Creek at present may be eaten by a
healthy ass in fifteen minutes. ‘The river, the Lukuga, is about twenty-five
miles south of the group of islands Captain Speke explored.’ The entrance
of the Lukuga Creek is situate in 8. lat. 5° 49’ 30”, while Kasenge Island is in
S. lat 5° 35’ 30”—making the Lukuga just fourteen geographical miles south
of Kasenge, discovered by Speke.

‘‘ Beyond these few points I have no cause to differ with Lieutentant Came-
ron. ‘To him alone belongs the credit and honour of the discovery of the
Lukuga Creek, the future outlet of Lake Tanganika. I followed his course
inch by inch, marked each of his camps, and employed the same guides.

ERRORS OF EXPLORERS, 903

Where he cut across deep bays and finally traversed Tanganyika Lake with-
out reaching the south end by nineteen geographical miles, I diverged from his
track, and completed what he had left undone, in the hope, since I was on the
lake, and captain of my own boat, to correct or confirm him; but after all my
trouble I only came to the Lukuga Creek to find that he is entitled to the
honour of the discovery of the future outlet of the Tanganyika, because
there is not at present what can be called an outflowing river at Lukuga
Creek. I followed Cameron as far as Kasenge, whence he returned to Ujiji,
leaving the northern half explored, but then I continued the exploration along
the coasts of Ugubba, Goma, Kavunvweh, Karamba, Ubwari, Masansi—all
new ground unvisited by any white man. Thus I came to the point where
Livingstone and myself left off in 1871; thence to Ujiji, after having ex-
plored every corner and river mouth, bay, and creek, in search of the real
outlet, or, if the Lukuga can be called one, in search of another. A distance
of over eight hundred geographical miles was so traversed by me; but though
I have made several interesting discoveries during the long voyage, none of
them-deserves our attention like the Lukuga Creek.

‘‘T hope none of Lieutenant Cameron’s friends will take offence because
I have found errors in his statements. Differences do not always imply dis-
sensions. In this case his mistakes have arisen from haste and an imperfect
examination of the Lukuga Creek. He is not deprived of the glory of the
discovery of the Lukuga, nor of the credit of having gone through much trou-
ble and hardship in his Tanganyika voyage. It is difficult for any man to be
periectly exact. One explorer loses a date, and having no means to right
his calendar or to take lunars, is corrected by the next; one traveller regards
an object this way, another in quite an opposite aspect; one man hears a
statement and obtains a version of a thing directly the reverse of what is re-
ported to his successor; one person contents himself with merely hearing of
a fact, another is not content until he has realised it for himself, which makes
a vast difference. There are more errors in the English Admiralty chart of
the East African Coast than in all the maps of the Central African travellers’
routes. I have found no such absurd mistake in Burton’s, Speke’s, Grant’s,
or Livingstone’s maps, as I found in the Admiralty chart, where Kissomang
Point stands for Kisima Mafia (or Mafia’s well). Let Cameron’s friends,
then, rest content, for in this letter I shall have to correct myself, Livingstone,
and Burton.

“T begin, after this lengthy preamble, with tradition, the mother of
history. The Wajiji, a tribe now occupying a small country near the centre
of the eastern coast of the Tanganyika—immigrants long since from Urimdi
—have two interesting legends respecting the origin of Lake 'Tanganyika.

“The first relates that the portion of this continent now occupied by the
Great Lake was a plain ‘years and years ago;’ that on this plain was a large

904 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

town, the site of which is not known. In this town lived a man and his wife,
with an enclosure round their dwelling, which contained a remarkably deep
well or fountain, whence an abundant supply of fresh fish was obtained for
their wants. The existence of the fountain and its treasure was kept a profound
secret from all their neighbours, as the revelation of its existence had been
strictly prohibited by father to son for many generations within this particular
family, lest some heavy calamity, dimly foretold, would happen; and, remem-
bering this injunction, the owners of the fountain lived long and happily,
fresh fish being their main food each day. The wife, however, was not very
virtuous, for she permitted another man in secret to share the love which should
have been solely bestowed on her proper husband, and, among other favours,
she frequently gave to her lover some of the fresh fish, a kind of delicious
meat he had never before tasted, which roused his utmost curiosity to ascertain
whence she obtained it. For a long time he ceased not to ask, while the
woman steadily refused to tell.

“One day the husband was compelled to begin a journey to Uvinza, but
before departure he strictly enjoined his wife to look after his house closely,
to admit no gossips within his doors, and above all, not to show the fountain.
This African Eve solemnly promised to comply with his instructions, though
secretly she rejoiced at the prospect of his absence. A few hours after her
husband’s departure she left her house to seek her lover, and when she found
him she said, ‘ You have for a long time demanded to know whence I obtained
that delicious meat you have so often praised. Come with me and I will show
you.’ ‘The African Eve then took him to her house, in opposition to her hus-
band’s commands, where, with a view to enhance the glories of the fountain,
and the pleasure of viewing the fish sportfully displaying their silver sides in
the water, she first entertained her lover with dishes cooked in various ways,
nor was she neglectful to satisfy his thirst with wine of her own manufacture,
Then, when the black Lothario began to be impatient at the delay, having no
cause to postpone the exhibition, she invited him to follow her. A fence of
water-cane plastered over with mud enclosed the wondrous fountain, within
whose crystal depths he saw the fish. For some time he gazed on the bril-
liant creatures with admiration, then seized with a desire to handle one of
them and regard it more closely, he put his hand within the water to catch
one, when suddenly the well burst forth, the earth opened her womb, and
soon an enormous lake replaced the plain. Within a few days the husband,
returning from Uvinza, approached Ujiji, and saw to his astonishment a large
lake where once a plain and many towns stood. He knew then that his wife
had revealed the secret of the mysterious fountain, and that punishment had
fallen upon her and her neighbours because of her sin.

‘“‘The other tradition imparted to me by the ancients of Ujiji relates
that many years ago—how long no one can tell—the Luwegeri, a river near

TRADITIONS AND HYPOTHESES. 905

Urimba, flowing westward into a valley, was met by the Lukuga flowing
eastward, and its waters, driven backwards by the easterly flowing river,
spread over the valley, and formed the Tanganyika. Hence the Luwegeri
is termed the mother of the Lukuga, The Wagubba have also their tale,
which is that a long time ago, near Urungu, there was a small hill, hollow
within and very deep, full of water. This hill one day burst, and the water
spread over the land, becoming a lake.

‘“‘The chief at the mouth of the Lukuga says that formerly that opening
was a small river flowing into the Tanganyika, receiving many others as it
descended towards the lake, but that the Tanganyika, filling up, ‘swallowed’
the Lukuga and made it a small lake or feeder of the Tanganyika, which
until two years ago, during the rainy season, discharged its surplus water
into the basin. During the last two years, however, the Tanganyika has
risen so high that the neutral ground visible last rainy season between the
creek-mouth and the Lukuga proper flowing to Rua has been inundated, so
that the two Lukugas have become one.

‘“‘ From traditions we may proceed to hypotheses, which, as will be seen,
have been as wild as the native tales). Mr. Cooley, a member of the Royal
Geographical Society, on the strength of an acquaintance with a half-caste
Arab who had traded to certain parts in Central Africa, wrote the results of
what he had gathered in his ‘Inner Africa Laid Open,’ wherein those who
run may read and find much unwisdom, as has since been conclusively proved.
The Tanganyika, according to Mr. Cooley, is connected with Nyassa.
Livingstone also, the first of African explorers, was greatly misled and greatly
in error about the Tanganyika. He said he tested a current during three
months by means of water plants, which kept continually drifting northward.
Misled by these, he constantly wrote and spoke about Upper and Lower
Tanganyika. The Upper was supposed to be the Albert-Nyanza, the Lower,
Burton’s Tanganyika. So certain was he of this, that when he and I proceeded
to explore North Tanganyika he spoke to me about continuing down the river
as far as the Albert-Nyanza. Since this last cireumnavigating voyage of mine
I do not wonder at all that Livingstone was so firm in his belief, for at the
extreme south end, and far up the west coast, I find he had made diligent search
for the outlet. On foot he trudged from Cazembe’s country to the frontier of
Ugubba, and only took boat then to proceed by water to Ujiji. On his last
march I also find that he made his direct way to the Tanganyika, I have not
seen his journals, though no doubt they have been published by this. From
Ponda’s village, as far as Ukituta, I find he has coasted along the lake.
Camp after camp was shown to me, and it appears that he only desisted from
search when he had united his last route to his former one. From all this it
is apparent that he made strenuous efforts to discover the lake’s outlet, though

unfortunately—the more’s the pity after such courageous striving—without
Pp 4

906 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

success. I never looked at the grim heights of Fipa, asI sat in my boat, with-
out wondering how the aged traveller was able to hold out so long after such
severe climbing. My men also stimulated my admiration by pointing out
some tremendous mountain which had occupied them an entire day to scale.

“‘T recollect also attending the Geographical Soiree of 1874, which was
held at Willis’s Rooms, and seeing pendant from top to bottom of the wall an
enormous map, illustrating broadly enough the ‘Hypothesis of Sir Samuel
Baker,’ which was an imaginary marriage of the Albert-Nyanza with the Tan-
ganyika. Heedless of the stern obstacles that hinder the actual explorer in
Africa, with one dab of a paint brush the gallant theorist had annihilated
Ruanda, Mkinyaga, Unyambenya, Chamali, Nashi, and Uzige; while a broad,
winding, river-like lake, nearly eight hundred geographical miles in length,
astonished the scientific and unscientific worlds.

“¢ But to the point. On reading over the duplicates of my late letters,
sent some months ago to the coast, I proudly perceive that I have cause to
congratulate myself upon having approached pretty near the truth; but it
must be admitted that my conjectures were not broached until I had paid a
second visit to Lake Tanganyika, and had viewed with surprise the great
rise of the lake which had taken place during an interval of five years.:
In my letters I ask, ‘Can it be possible that Lake Tanganyika is filling up,
and that the Lukuga is but an intermittent affluent ?’? Now that traditions,
hypotheses, and conjectures must give way before the light thrown upon the
subject by careful and exact exploration, it will be seen that my conjectures
were not unfounded. I forgot who it was who said that the word Tangan-
yika was derived from the Kiswahili words Kuchanganya or Kuchanganika,
which means in English, to ‘mix.’ Whether it was Mr. Cooley,or Captain
Burton, the suggestion must be admitted to have been most ingenious; but
the word has the objection of having been borrowed from a foreign language,
because it shows an accidental similarity with a Wajiji term. Whether Kiswa-
hili or some other northern speech must be taken for the mother tongue can-
not be settled for some time yet; and until this is definitely ascertained by a
comparison of languages and dialects, and a knowledge of the course of
ancient immigrations, it is greatly to be doubted whether the interpretation
should be admitted as the correct one.

*“¢ Among the inquiries made by me around this lake has been one about
the signification of the word Tanganyika, which I discover to be only adopted
by the Wajiji, Warundi, Wazige, Wavira, and Wagoma, who united inhabit
about a third of the shores. The Wawendi, Wafipa, Warungu, and Wawem-
ba, who people the southern third, call it Jemba, Riemba, or Liemba—The
Lake. It will be remembered that, among some of the discoveries Living-
stone said he had made was that of Lake Liemba, which is really ‘ Lake-Lake.’
No doubt Livingstone asked often enough of the natives of Uumya, probably

SIGNIFICATION OF “TANGANYIKA.” 907

in Kibisa or Kibisa-Kisawahili, the name of the water, and was so often told
it was Jemba or Liemba. Hence Livingstone wrote that he had ‘ discovered
another lake, not very large, with two islands in it. Four rivers discharged
into the lake. The shores very pretty, romantic, &c.’ And in a subsequent
letter he said, ‘I find that this Lake Liemba is joined to Lake Tanganyika.’
Imperfect investigation also, it seems, did not, therefore, exempt Livingstone
from ever committing mistakes. Exploration of this part of Lake Tanganyika
(the south end) discovers it as tallying with the above description of Liemba.
Sakarabwe village, where the good Doctor was brought to by one of the chiefs
of Kitumkuru as he came from Kabwire, and where he halted some time, was
shown to me. The ‘two islands’ are Ntondwe and Murikwa; the four rivers
are the Wizi, the Kitoke, Kapata, and Mtombwa.

“The natives of Marungu and Ugubba occupy the western third, called
Tanganyika-Kimana, from which it is evident that had Burton and Speke,
the discoverers of this lake, happened to have first marched to Fipa, instead
of being informed about the ‘ Tanganyika,’ we should probably have heard of
this lake as Lake Liemba, or Riemba. Had they journeyed from westward
to the lake, it is to be doubted much whether we should have heard of it as
Tanganyika at all; undoubtedly, they would have enlarged upon the vast
length, sea-like expanse, and romantic shores of Lake Kimana. In the same
manner as all large bodies of water are spoken of by the Waganda as Ny-
anzas, so the Wajiji speak of them as Tanganyikas.

“In my endeavours to ascertain the signification of the term Tanganyika,
and in the attempts of the Wajiji to explain, I learned that they really did
not know themselves, unless it might be because the sea was so large, and its
surf always made a noise, while a canoe could make a long journey on it.
From all which I came to suppose that its signification was Large, Great, or
Long Lake; Stormy Lake; Sounding Waters, or High Wave Lake, &c. Ialso
learned that there was an electric fish called Nika in the lake, but then Tanga
stood in the way of it being called after the fish; neither was the creature
itself so very remarkable an object as to give its name to such a vast body of
water. Questioning in this manner only worried the natives, and I did not
obtain a satisfactory solution of the difficulty until happening, as is my custom,
to write down as many native names for objects as I can gather from all dia-
lects for the purpose of comparing them, I came to ‘ Kitanga,’ a small lake,
pool, or pond; a lake on which no canoes travel, and ‘ Nika,’ a plain. It ap-
peared to me that the meaning of the word was now obtained; that Tanga-
nika signifies The plain-like Lake, especially from the fact that a plain is
universally taken in Inner Africa as a standard object for comparing or illus-
trating level bodies of earth or water of considerable extent, in the same man-
ner as the word Bahr, or Sea, is used by the sea-coast people.

‘‘ On the voyage to the Lukuga, Cameron’s chief guide, Para, whom I also

908 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

employed, pointed out several instances of changes that had occurred since
that explorer had been on the lake. Sand beaches, which in many instances
had served their canoes as a shelter from the waves, had become flooded to a
depth of from three to four feet; low points of land had become totally insu-
lated, islands had been formed, and others had been submerged ; in the words
of the guide, ‘The Tanganyika truly was swallowing the land very fast.’
But the best known change was at the mouth of the Lukuga. Two years
ago—if Para and the chief at the entrance are to be believed—there stood
there a long beach of white sand extending from Mkampemba on one side to
Kara Point on the opposite side, cut by a channel four hundred or five hun-
dred yards wide, much nearer Mkampemba than Kara Point. Several Arabs,
surprised at the change, confirmed Para’s statement, but I found, instead of
this beach, a line of breakers, with a depth of from two to five feet, from
Mkampemba to Kara Point; and as Cameron’s halting place was no longer a
shelter for canoes, we word compelled to proceed further on, about three-
quarters of a mile.

“‘The chief, Kawe-Nyange, who took Cameron in his canoe up the creek,
was very affable, remembered the white manofthe well, and explained some
wonderful things that had been shown him, finally er paces a doubt as to
whether he should permit me to ascend the Lukuga, since he feared that the
other white man had thrown some medicine into the water, which had caused
the Tanganyika to overflow much country. The beach between his village
and Kara was covered with angry white waves, a fishing village on the beach
was destroyed, and the Mitwansi was covered with water. If one white man
could make so many changes in the country, what might not twodo? Kawe-
Nyange, however, was, after a little while, laugbed out of his fears, and was
encouraged with ample gifts to take men with him to show me the land and
water round about.

‘“‘ All I could hear about the Lukuga, whether at Ujiji or from the chief
at its mouth, only added to the difficulty of comprehending the real state of
things. Lieutenant Cameron stated that he had discovered the outlet of the
Tanganyika, with a current of about 1:2 knots an hour! Arabs who had
crossed the Lukuga scores of times said that it was not an outflowing river,
but an inflowing river. Wagubba from Monyis asserted that there were two
Lukugas, one flowing east and one coming west, and a bank or ridge of dry
land separated the two. Ruango, one of my guides, declared that he had
crossed it five times; that it was a small river flowing into the Tanganyika ;
that if I found it flowed in any other direction except into the Tanganyika
he would return his hire to me. Para, Cameron’s chief guide, remarked that
the white man could not have seen the water flow towards Rua, simply be-
cause it did not flow there.

‘“‘ A native at Tembwe reported that last year there were two Lukugas,

ARRIVAL AT LUMBA. 909

one flowing to Tanganyika, another to Rua; but this year’s rain had joined
the two rivers and made them one, flowing west. Kawe-Nyange, the chief
at the entrance to the Lukuga, said that he would show me a river flowing
to the Tanganyika, and a little way above another running towards Rua.

“« A sub-chief of his stated that formerly there were two Lukugas, one
flowing to the lake, another running in towards Rua; but these last two
years’ rains had swelled the Tanganyika so much that the lake had ‘ swallowed’
the Lukuga stream flowing into it, and had become joined to the Lukuga,
flowing to Rua; but that this union with the Rua-Lukuga was not continual,
lasting only during the hours of the south-east monsoon (Manda); that each
afternoon, after the wind had calmed, the river returned as usual to the lake.

“ Lastly, I may mention that Mr. J. F. de Bourgh, C. E. and F. R.G.S.,
a gentleman engaged by me to construct me a blank chart of Central Africa,
has drawn, near the position occupied by the Lukuga in question, a small
lake with a river flowing out of it towards the Tanganyika. I must say that,
wherever the gentleman obtained his information, he has illustrated the sub-
ject exactly as it stood a few years ago. As the case stands to-day, no one is
exactly right, or quite wrong. Exploration and close investigation of this
geographical phenomenon reconcile all these contrary statements; but with-
out the chart, illustrating my survey, I should despair of making my mean-
ing very clear.

“In company with Kawe-Nyange and some of his neoplores we sailed up a
fine open stream-like body of water, ranging in width from ninety to four hun-
dred and fifty yards of open water. From “ynall to bank there was a uniform
width of from four hundred to six hundred yards, but the sheltered bends, un-
disturbed by the monsoon winds, nourished dense growths of papyrus. After
sailing three miles before the south-east wind we halted at the place which
Kawe-Nyange pointed out as the utmost limit of theascent made by Cameron,
a small bend among the papyrus plants, a few hundred yards north-west from
Lumba. Asa first proof of what Kawe-Nyange had said about a Lukuga
flowing into the lake, and another flowing out of the lake, he pointed out the
returning water-bubbles, which ‘fought,’ he said, against the small waves
by the south-east wind, for which intelligent remark he received an encourag-
ing word.

‘¢ After landing at Lumba all who were not required by me in the deli-
berate investigation I was about to make with the aid of my boat, I hada
proper camp pitched and a quiet cove cleared, where boat and canoe could
lie close to the bank. I then proceeded further up the Lukuga. When
about one hundred yards higher we arrived at the limit of open water, and
an apparently impenetrable mass of papyrus grew from bank to bank. Here
we stopped for a short time, and with a portable level tried to detect a current.
The level indicated none. We then pushed our way through about twenty

910 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

_ yards of the papyrus plants, until we were stopped by mud-banks, black as
pitch, enclosing slime and puddles seething with animal life. I caused four
men to stand in the boat, and climbing on their shoulders, with an oar for
support I tried to obtain a general view of what lay ahead and around us. I
saw the bed of the creek or river choked from bank to bank with the papyrus
plants, except where they enclosed small pools of still water, while about a
mile or so higher up I saw trees which seemed to me to stand exactly in
the bed. Descending from my uneasy perch, I caused two of my men to
proceed in opposite ways on the mud towards the banks. Perceiving, after
watching them a short time, that the muddy ooze was not firm enough to sus-
tain a man’s weight I recalled them, and returned to open water again.

‘“‘T now began another experiment to test the existence of a current. I
took a piece of board, with which I had provided myself beforehand, and cut
out a disc a foot in diameter. Into this disc I bored four holes, through
which I rove a stout cord and suspended to it at the distance of five feet an
earthenware pot, which, filled with water and held in suspension by the
board, would unmistakably mark the existence of a current. Into one side
of the board I drove a long spike with a small ball of cotton tied round the
head. This done I measured along a straight reach of water one thousand
feet with a tape line, both ends of the track distinctly marked by a riband of
sheeting tied to the papyrus. When these preparations had been completed
I proceeded to the south-easternmost end, and in the centre of the creek
dropped the disc and the attached pot in the water, noting the time by
chronometer, while we roweda way fromit. ‘The monsoon wind blew very
strongly at the time. The distance which the disc floated between 23h. 22m.
20s. and 24h, 22m. was 822ft. from S.E.to N.W. Second attempt, afternoon,
wind having dropped, disc floated from N.W. to S.E.—that is, lakewards—
159ft. in 19m. 80s.

‘“‘ This closed our experiment for the first day. The second day, with
fifteen of the expedition, accompanied by the chief and ten of his people, we
started afoot north-westwards. Keeping as closely as the nature of the bushes
and the watercourses would permit to the Lukuga, I observed that the trend
of the watercourses and streams was irom north-west to south and §.S.-
Easterly. After a march of a couple of hours we came to Elwani Village,
where the road from Monyis to Unguvwa and Luwelezi crossed the Lukuga.
At Elwani we augmented our party by two of the villagers, and then de-
scended by a gentle slope to the Mitwansi. At the base of the slope we came
to the bed occupied by the Kibamiba and Lukuga. The former was a small
sluggish stream with atrend south-easterly. Crossing this we came to the
dried bed of a periodical river; whether it should be called the Lukuga or-
the Kibamiba it would be difficult to say. Prostrate and withered water-
cane showed that the flow of the water in the season was lakewards. <A few

RESULT OF FOUR DAYS’ EXPERIMENTS. 911

yards further on we reached a point where this bed first became moist, with
a dense growth of water cane flourishing and checking all progress, except
by the well-trodden path, which ran through tunnels caused by the water
canesembracing above our heads. Our road lay now through what might be
called a swamp, now over a firm path of dark brown clayey mud, then
through shallow hollows, with water up to the ankles, which sometimes
deepened to the knees. Finally we arrived in the middle of the Mitwansi,
and Kawe-Nyange halted to point out triumphantly the water flowing indis-
putably westward. The stream was up to the knees and felt cold, and on
putting a thermometer into it I found it to be only 68° Fah., about 7° cooler
than the Lukuga Creek. By pressing the cane down with our feet to allow
a free passage for the water, the flow perceptibly quickened. Borne by two
men, I crossed over until I stood on the other bank, and observed that this
cane-choked bed was very uneven. Sometimes the water was so deep that
the men sank to their hips, but the average depth was about eighteen inches.
Trees, now dead, were seen in the centre of the bed, which proved the state-
ment of the natives true, that not long ago the Mitwansi tract was dry
enough to nourish tamarind groves.

*‘ This last rainy season has changed it now, for since its termination the
tract has become inundated, and a continual waterflow has been observable.
The name Lukuga clings to this bed until it passes the Kiyanja ridge, when
the channel becomes known as the Luindi (some call it the Luimbi), which,
flowing by Miketo’s Land, passes through Kalumbi’s in Rua, and empties into
the Kamalondo, a tributary of the Lualaba. This road or ford, as it must now
be called, is daily traversed by men, women, and children, who require to
cross from one bank to the other, and is about three miles north-west from
Lumba, or six miles from Mkampemba.

“The result of four days’ experiments, investigations and inquiries, proved
that, as far as the south-east end of the Mitwansi tract—which may be called
a marsh or an ooze, receiving and absorbing a large quantity of water pressed
against it by the daily south-east wind—there is no current, but that, on the
contrary, the surplus waters which cannot be absorbed by the already repleted
ooze, on the wind subsiding, return to the lake. That for the space of two
miles from the south-east end of the Mitwansi, the entire bed from bank to
bank is choked by immovable mudbanks enclosing stagnant pools and stream-
like expanses of water, edged round with impenetrable growths of papyrus .
plants. That at the third mile, where the ancient lacustrine deposit is of a
firmer quality, and water cane replaces the papyrus, there first becomes dis-
cernible an ooze, a trickle, and a flow westward, which, proceeding in that
direction at the base of the Kiyanja ridge, is attracted to one proper channel
and presently approaches the dignity of a river, when it becomes known as
the Luindi.

912 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D

‘This Mitwansi is a tract of alluvial deposit, and is the result of the united
action of the lake winds (which from the end of April to the middle of Novem-
ber prevail from the south-east) and the feeble current of the former affluent
Lukuga. The current, as may be expected from the very limited area it
drained, was met daily during nearly seven months of the year by the waves
of the lake, which encroached yearly nearer and nearer to its source, and the
detrital matter which would have been borne into the lake by a stream of
greater force was deposited amid the papyrus. This plant flourishes in still
and sweet-water lagoons or in quiet bends of rivers, and once it has thoroughly
obtained root it becomes almost as immovable as a forest. As the waters of
the lake advanced with its annual rise they destroyed with each year some
small portion of the force of the Lukuga current; and the water plants and
other organic debris floating down the stream no sooner felt the influence of
the lake wind than they were heaped up amid these papyri; other matter
borne direct from the lake, such as floating canewood, and earthy washings
from the banks and the bar, were pressed against them, sometimes thrown
amongst them. Soil, sand, decomposing vegetation, sunk on the surface, bore
it down with their weight, and thus the process of entombing the earlier
debris created finally a tract of clayey mud and ooze, out of which a luxuriant
growth of papyrus shot its brush-like heads as dense as a field of corn.

“While the Lukuga was a river it will be seen that there was a constant
precipitation of detrital matter, and as steady an accumulation of it in one
locality, until the river became annihilated, and only its bed, now filled by
the creek, and the small tributary streams, mark its former course.

‘‘Since the Tanganyika has risen to the level of the Mitwansi—whether
this year, last year, or two years ago, matters not much which—a change
must be looked for, and with the advance of time it will become more decided
and remarkable. ‘The mud and ooze, with all the papyrus of the Mitwansi,
furnishes too feeble an obstacle to resist the increasing volume received each
year by the Tanganyika, while there is a steep slope at the western side of
it ready to pour away the surplus water. The consequence will be that five
years hence, perhaps a little later, an effluent willbe formed ofgreat magnitude
and real force, for the fiat of Nature has gone forth to the Tanganyika, ‘ Thus
high shalt thou rise, and no higher.’

‘““In these results, patiently and impartially attained, I see no opposition
to Lieutenant Cameron’s claiming the full honour of the discovery, but rather
a simple reconciliation of apparently opposing statements. The whole was a
perplexing riddle to me, which the more I thought of the more complicated
it grew, and only a personal examination of the scene would ever have enabled
me to understand the matter.

“Tn the absence of a scientific geologist I must take upon myself to sug-
gest a few thoughts to those of your readers who may become interested in this

INTERESTING PHENOMENON, 913

subject of the Lukuga, and are better able than myself to deal withit. I can-
not satisfactorily account for the existence of this interesting phenomenon
otherwise than by supposing the formation of the extraordinary deep depres-
sion in the bosom of the broad plateau filled by the waters of the Tanganyika
to be post-diluvain. If the ideas of one accustomed to read geological history,
and to speculate on past ages from existing traces in the hard rock or moun-
tain contour, may be permitted to see the light, I would say that subsequent
to the retreat of the ocean to its present bed, the Malagarazi and the Luwegeri
rivers have flowed over this present enormous gulf, and channelled their way
for their exit westward, first severing the Kiyanja from the Kilunga ridge.
This great depression was in these days an apparently firm plateau with the
same rolling surface as Unyamwezi and Ubha now present; and the two rivers,
joined by others of less magnitude, flowed on undisturbedly to the Lualaba
for centuries, perhaps ages. For in what other manner could this deep break
in what must evidently have been long ago one firm, unbroken, compact ridge,
have become so smoothly worn down, a thousand feet and more, so low as to per-
mit the gently flowing Luindi to sweep by its base from the east. It required
a mightier volume of water than the Luindi, with no other source of supply
than the ooze of the Mitwansi, three miles east of Kiyanja, and until the
present year such supply must have been scanty in the extreme.

“Tf it be granted that such was, or might have been, the condition of
this region at that time, the subsequent changes which took place ure easy
enough to arrive at. We may imagine voleanic agency, then, as heaving up
this plateau, rending the solid earth, and heaping along the edges of the deep
chasm it created long lines of mountain ranges, so changing its former smooth
rolling surface into its present rugged and uneven aspect. The great stream
which formerly drained all this section and rolled between the Kihinga and
Kiyanja ridges, having its ancient bed disrupted, fell abruptly into the im-
mense gulf in several and separate courses, till a stream of short length and
little volume is created, flowing from the eastern slopes of the above-named
ridges south-eastward, to be in due time knownas the Lukuga; since which tre-
mendous wrack of nature half of the waters with inverted courses have as-
sisted the other half to fill up the chasm, appearing to be now on the eve of
fulfilling their task.

“The visible effects of this great geological change are not the same at
the southern end as they are further north, and about the centre. At the
southern end, the plateau, with its folds upon folds and layers upon layers
of firm rock, drops abruptly down to the blue-green depths of the lake, and
voyagers coasting along those shores appear to be gazing at the zenith,
as they look up at the few shrubs and trees growing upon the edge of the
tawny plateau. But at the centre, especially about Tongive on the east side

and iia on the west side, we appear to be in the vicinity of the origin
Q

914 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D,

of this convulsion, and the section whence the earth first began to feel her
throes. At Tongive we see an aggregation of aspiring peaks and semi-cir-
cular cones, which would perhaps, with more exact knowledge, be called
closed vomitories or craters. South of Tembive we see a ridge inclining to
the north-east, lofty and irregular, with much of the same structure as the
rocks of Tongive exhibit. North of Tembive, on the same side, is to be
observed a considerable depression in the land. From a height of four thou-
sand feet above the surface of the lake, the soil has suddenly subsided into a
low, rolling surface, the highest point of which is scarcely one thousand five
hundred feet above the water, with isolated domes and cones. The rock
also changes in character from the basalt and trap to a decomposed felspathic
kind, followed by a conglomerate and a calcareous tufa, strongly impregnated
with iron, which is the character of the banks on each side of the Lukuga.

“Tn no other part of the lake coast have I found rock of such soft character
as at the Lukuga. This depressed country continues as far as Goma, where
we see the land upheaved highest, but with slopes less abrupt and rugged
than at the south end, and clothed with a tropical luxuriance of vegetation,
mammoth trees, and numberless varieties of shrubs and plants. The high
altitude which marks the verge of the Goma tract compared to that of the
plateau lying immediately west of it inclines one to think that the volcanic
explosion tilted the whole of this north-western coast, merely raising higher
and loosening the edges of the chasm, which has since by action of weather
and water become worn and decomposed, presenting for a breadth of from
four to five miles all those various effects in mountain scenery which most
approach the sublime in character. Once out of view of the chasm filled by
the Tanganyika, the plateau is seen clearly in its original form, and has a
gradual westward slope.

‘“‘ Between North Goma and the high mountains of Uvira there is another
remarkable depression in the land, similar to that of Uguhha. It appears as
if there had been a sudden subsidence of this part, and a flow of the subter-
ranean rock N.N.E., which afterwards was ejected bodily upward, and now
forms the peninsula of Ubwari, over thirty miles in length. Burton and Speke,
on their voyage from Ujiji to Uvira, sketched Ubwari as an island, probably
from the fact that the Wajiji carelessly called it ‘ Kirira,’ or ‘island.’ Liv-
ingstone and myself, in 1871, also heard of what our predecessors had called
Ubwari Island as the island of Muzimu. Here is an instance of four travel-
lers mistaken about one small section of Lake Tanganyika. The truth is, we
were all wrong. My recent exploration has proved that the countries of
Karamba and Ubwari form a long, narrow peninsula, joined firmly enough
to the mainland by an isthmus seven miles in width, with an altitude in its
centre of about two hundred feet above the lake. So it will be seen that, before
any of our former statements can become correct, the Tanganyika must have a

“DISCHARGE OF LIGHTNING.” 915

further rise of two hundred feet, which the ‘ waste-pipe’ of the Lukuga will
presently render impossible.

‘The fact that this is not an island, but a peninsula, makes a deep gulf
penetrate 8.S.W. between Masansi and Ubwari. I have taken the liberty
of calling this great arm of the lake ‘ Burton Gulf,’ in honour of the discoverer
of the Tanganyika, as Speke Gulf distinguishes a somewhat similar forma-
tion in the south-east section of the Victoria Nyanza. From the top of one of
the Ubwari bills I gazed westward—the first white man who has ever enjoyed
this privilege, for there is always some trouble in Ubwari. It being a clear
day, by mears of a field-glass I obtained an extensive view—at some distance,
it is true—of the impenetrably savage countries west of Burton Gulf. The land
lies in lengthy mountain waves, with deep valleys between, for twenty or thirty
miles, when, finally, the great table-land of this part of Central Africa again
presents itself, and is seen to join at a cloudy distance, after a deep curve
south-west, the plateau of Goma. These valleys between the mountain
waves give rise to many small rivers, all of which have their exit into the
lake on the west side of Burton Gulf.

‘‘ Such are some of the most remarkable effects of that grand convulsion
which disparted the table-land of Central Africa, and formed this enormous
chasm of the Tanganyika in its bosom. Nor has this convulsion occurred so
very remotely but that it might, in my humble opinion, be measured in lapse
of years by competent scientific men. It appears, also, that the agencies
which produced this extraordinay change are not quite dead in this part of
Central Africa, for about eighteen months ago, I hear, a mountain in Urundi
was precipitated from its position and toppled over, burying several villages,
with all their inhabitants. This disaster occurred near Mukungu, in
Urundi.

‘About three years ago the surface of the Tanganyika Lake, in the
neighbourhood of Ujiji, was observed to be blackened with large lumps and
masses of some strange, dark substance, which, as they were swept upon the
shore of Ujiji, were picked up, examined, and wondered at. The Wajiji
called it, and still continue firmly in their belief, the ‘ discharge of lightning.’
The Arabs called it pitch, and collected large quantities of it. Requiring
some substance to caulk my boat before setting out on the voyage of ex-
ploration, I was presented with some of this ‘discharge of lightning,’ or
pitch, and found it was asphaltum, which most probably escaped through
some yent in the bed of the Tanganyika, since on no part of the shores
could I obtain, after diligent inquiry, the slightest information of its
source. ‘Henry M. Sranuey.”

Referring to the foregoing letter, on the day of its publication, the
“Daily Telegraph” says :—

“Once again we are enabled, with a great and natural satisfaction, to

916 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

continue, from Mr. Stanley’s own communications, the story of his remark-
able discoveries. Our last despatches, dated in May of 1876, had brought
him into the vicinity of Ujiji on Tanganyika, after the thorough navigation
of the Victoria Nyanza, the stay at King Mtesa’s Court, and the interesting
explorations of the country lying between the Victoria and Albert Lakes.
In June of 1876 the joint Commissioner of ‘ The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘ New
York Herald’ reached the well-known Arab town of Ujiji, the resting-place
of so many travellers; and, while there recruiting the strength of his expedi-
tion, which had traversed such immense distances, he himself prepared to
circumnavigate the great inland sea discovered by Speke and Burton. He
still had with him, apparently, that wonderful little vessel the Lady Alice,
which, built upon the Thames and transported by steamer to Zanzibar, has
since been carried over almost as many miles of dry land as she has traversed
by water. He also appears to have received so much of the intelligence
which we had forwarded as to aquaint him with Cameron’s researches and
his march across Africa.

‘Rightly conceiving therefore that it was his duty to employ the leisure
officer about the outlet of the Tanganyika, and having in his excellent little
vessel a command of the water which no native canoe could give, Mr. Stanley
lost no time in launching for the voyage, and spent part of June and all
July of last summer in thoroughly exploring the coasts of the lake. It has
now at last, and now only, been completely circumnavigated; for the traveller
started southwards from Ujiji, and not only searched every bay and sailed to
the very end of the basin—instead of, as Cameron did, crossing the bights
and missing the Liemba termination of nineteen miles—but, sailing north-
wards along Uguha and Ugoma, he visited and settled the question of the
Lukuga, and finally came round at the northern extremity to the point which
he had reached in 1871 with Dr. Livingstone, in the voyage from Ujiji, thus
securing for himself the indisputable distinction of having been the first to
coast the entire body of water.

‘¢ Among many other interesting discoveries, Mr. Stanley has found that
Ubwari in the north is no island, but a peninsula enclosing a deep and splen-
did bay, which, with great propriety, he has named after the distinguished
explorer who with Speke first saw and reported this African fresh-water sea.
Our Commissioner had already given the name of ‘Speke Gulf’ to the very
similar inlet of the Victoria Nyanza which runs under the island of Ukerewe.
It is creditable to him, and a great pleasure to ourselves, thus to have the
names of famous Englishmen imperishably connected with the results of
their labours; and in the second despatch, which we shall have the satisfac-
tion of publishing on Thursday next, it will be found that our Commissioner
lays in a like spirit at the feet of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales

“THE RIDDLE OF TANGANYIKA.” 917

a discovery effected in the hitherto unknown land south of the Nyanzas,
which even so illustrious a lady may be proud to accept. In that subsequent
communication he mentions some extraordinary particulars connected with
the coasts of Lake Tanganyika; its copper mines, underground dwellings,
strange tribes, wild and magnificent scenery, abundant fishes and aquatic crea-
tures, including some novel amphibia, which he calls ‘ water hyznas.’ Even
in the present despatch every line and word tends to increase our interest in
this glorious African Michigan, which, rolling its bright waves for five whole
degrees of latitude, seems destined, according to the discoveries of Stanley,
to a yet more important function in African geography than it has yet ful-
filled.

“We say this, because the absorbing portion of the letter which we
print this morning is incontestably that dealing with the Lukuga, declared
by Captain Cameron to be the outlet of the lake. No geographer needs to
be reminded of the announcement made by this explorer’s letter of May,
1874, to the effect that the Tanganyika discharged at this point into the
Lualaba. The difficulty of believing the theory was prodigious, in the first
place because of the very slight flow reported, and the consequent insufficient
relief of so immense a, lake receiving a hundred mountain streams and two or
three considerable rivers; moreover, the Tanganyika is full of reed-choked
inlets or éingi-tingt like the Lukuga—which Cameron had merely entered and
not explored—and, lastly, with all these uncomfortable doubts existing, there
remained a full third of the lake-coast yet to be searched for a more compre-
hensible outlet. Such considerations threw a cold shadow upon the belief
which Captain Cameron proclaimed; and we ourselves, while yielding to
none in admiration of that explorer’s labours, could not but point out how
unsatisfactory the statements appeared.

“With all the more gratification, we now find ourselves the means of
conveying Mr. Stanley’s generous recognition that, in lighting upon the
Lukuga, Cameron really made a greater discovery than he knew of; for, while
to find an existing outlet is much, to hit upon one which is not an outlet yet,
but will be in a short time, must seem still more lucky and clever. Our
Commissioner warmly hails his predecessor on this spot as the decipherer of
the riddle of Tanganyika, but in a sense never imagined. According to Mr.
Stanley, there was until lately a ‘ Lukuga’ river, which ran with a feeble vo-
lume from the Uguha hills into the lake. This river brought down clay and
slit, which, meeting the-debris washed in from the lake, piled up a Mitwansi,
or barrier of dry land, covered with trees, and admitting a slight soak of
water when the south-west wind blew, causing a current. Behind the Mit-
wansi, on the other side of the narrow water-shed, a real stream, the Luindi
or Luimbi, ran to the westward.

If our Commissioner’s view is correct, that neck of land was never

918 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

passed by water from Tanganyika until a very short time ago. The lake
drainage does but trickle slowly even now through the papyrus and dead
groves of the Miiwansi ; but in about five years from the present date Mr.
Stanley believes Tanganyika will for the first time be full to its brim since
it was excavated by the volcanic disruption of the great table land. Then
and not until then the mighty tarn will begin to pour its surplus waters
down the Luimbi into the valley of the Lualaba; and what Cameron saw
was not the actual but the destined outlet of that vast inland sea, which,
when it once commences to overflow, will create an effluent worthy of its
volume. The ‘ waste-pipe’ of Tanganyika has been laid ready by nature
—Mr. Stanley says—in the depression between the Kikinga and Kiyanja
hills, which gap he believes marks the original course of an ancient river,
displaced by the telluric convulsion that formed the basin of the lake. The
outlet has never yet come into use, because, with all its tributaries, this vast
chasm has taken all these many years to fill. But Tanganyika has, season
by season, ‘ swallowed up more land,’ until the beaches which Cameron saw
are covered, and surf rolls where he pitched his tent. The huge lake has
now at length—and for the first time—begun to cover the Mitwansz, and to
make its way into the Luimbi bed, which will thus soon discharge an im-
mense yearly tribute into the Kamolondo River—not lake—and finally add
largely to the already magnificent volume of the Lualaba.

‘‘ Of course, we foresee and are well prepared for the vivacious discussion
to which this declaration will lead. Before it is commenced, however, geo-
graphers will do well to study the extremely careful observations of our
Commissioner, who evidently spared no pains to establish the correctness
of his researches, questioning the currents with ingenious contrivances, and
exhausting every inquiry and examination. It will appear strange, no doubt,
that any traveller can have surprised this vast lake in the act, as it were, of
reaching its watery majority: and many will say ‘ Tanganyika in the rainy
seasons must have flowed over this Mctwansd from time immemorial.’ But
the well-grown tamarind trees on the neck of land; the unanimous assertions
of the natives; the gradual rising of the lake—which the Chief of Kara at-
tributed to the white men’s visits—and the fact that the Luimbi alone could
never have excavated the depression in the hills—all these points tell strongly
the other way. And if it be asked what has become of the endless wealth of
water poured into the lake all round its shores every rainy season, the im-
mense evaporation must be borne in mind.

‘“¢ We witness in the Dead Sea the phenomenon of a large basin into which
the considerable stream of Jordan runs perpetually with a flood that—as
those know who have visited the scene—marks the surface for a long dis-
tance; and yet the sun’s heat sucks up so much of the fresh water as to keep
the lake always ata level, and always salt and bituminous. Tanganyika,

“SHTTLING TANGANYIKA.” 919

according to Stanley’s investigations, would be similarly a lacus asphaltites,
but that the contributions from its coasts have always surpassed the loss by
evaporation, and have always been steadfastly though slowly engaged in
brimming up the voleanic chasm. It has now at last just reached its natural
and long-prepared brink ; and, if these researches be accurate, the floods of
forthcoming years will precipitate themselves—not by a feeble trickle such as
Cameron thought he saw—but in a foaming burst of white and sparkling
wave through the Luimbi channel into the Lualaba’s bed. If that be so, and
if, again, the Lualaba at Nyangwe is indeed the Upper Congo—which problem
at this very moment is under solution by our indomitable Commissioner—then
who can tell whether Tanganyika may not, with her opulent waves, efface or
diminish the Yellalas or cataracts of the ‘ Mother of Waters,’ and perhaps so
create a navigable channel from Guinea to Nyangwe and the African high-
lands ?

** Of such a fascinating nature are the thoughts inspired by these dis-
coyeries, which, dull only to the narrow-minded, are to all enlightened and
hopeful intelligences of extreme interest and importance. Whatever the
judgment of accomplished geographers may prove upon the facts and con-
clusions embodied in the present despatch of our Commissioner, we rejoice in
the fair and willing tribute which he pays to his British predecessor at the
Lukuga. Cameron to-day receives fresh laurels from the hand of him who
has thus completed the task, of ‘Settling Tanganyika;’ and when the public
has perused Mr. Stanley’s second despatch, with its remarkable revelations
on the Nile sources, and has seen him—in fancy—start away for Nyangwe
from pest-stricken Ujiji, the liveliest anxiety must be felt to know what our
traveller will make of the other and almost the last great problem of Africa
—the true course and issue of Livingstone’s river, the prodigious Lualaba.”

A few days after the appearance of Mr. Stanley’s first letter from Ujiji,
the ‘‘ Telegraph” published the following, also written from Ujiji, and dated
August 10, 1876 :—

*“‘ Tsmail, Khedive of Egypt, is reported to have said that all travellers
up the Nile generally returned with the statement that a new source of that
river had been found. The publisher of the jest, no doubt, thought that his
Highness was poking good fun at the discoverers. Whether it were the case
or not, I must inform his Highness, through the columns of ‘The Daily
Telegraph’ and ‘ New York Herald,’ that he can pride himself upon being a
sovereign of a stream the several sources of which still task the best abilities
and qualities of explorers to discover them; that his grand river hasnot one
but several origins; that one main feeder was discovered by James Bruce, and
called the Blue Nile, that another was found by Speke and Grant, and chris-
tened the Victoria, and that a third was made known by Sir Samuel Baker
and named by him the Albert Nyanza, but that these gentlemen did
not exhaust the list of the sources of the Nile. Perhaps the enclosed map

920 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

which I send you of a new fountain will compel his Highness to exclaim,
‘What doI see now? Another source? Can it be possible that the problem
has not yet been exhausted?’ Could ancient Nilus reply to him, I could
fancy the stream saying, ‘How many of my sources did thy grim grandsire,
Mohammed Ali, or his sons, Ibrahim and Ismail, discover, and how far hast
thou investigated me, with all thy power, who shouldst have had the greatest
interest in knowing whence I came, and what waters I brought so far to irri-
gate thy gardens and fields, and sustain thee and thy people? Ingrates of
Egypt! which of ye all have thought it worth while to find out whence I
came, that ye might honour me as I deserve? If by special favour I whisper
a few of my secrets to strangers from afar, and permit them to view my
wondrous and sweet fountains and flowery beds, what is the credit to thee ?
If thou art envious of like distinction, then seek me at my many homes under
the Equator.’

“If his Highness will accept my answer I respectfully beg him to glance
over the accompanying chart, and to read the few remarks I have now the
honour to make respecting the river known as the Kagera, Ingezi, Kitangule,
or Nawarango, which, according to the natives of Karagwe and Uganda, is
called the Daughter of the River at Jinja, the Victoria Nile.

‘‘ People differ, it appears, as to the exact signification of the ‘source’ of
a river, and travellers jealous of their fame for discovery have sometimes as-
sisted to make the meaning more uncertain. Stay-at-homes, on whom de-
volves the duty of toning down the exuberant gratulations of travellers, are
generally agreed that it is the main head, origin, or extremity, whence the
initial supply is obtained in a spring, fountain, marsh, lake, or it may be that
the river is created by a series of these; but generally one main tributary is
followed to its extreme end, and that, whatever it be, is called the source of
the river. Speke, if I remember rightly, asks somewhat impatiently in one
of his books, ‘ What should be called the source of the river—a lake which
receives the insignificant stream flowing into it, and discharges ail by one
great outlet, or the tributaries which the lake collects, or the clouds which
supply these tributaries with water? In my opinion, if we go on at this
rate, we might proceed stall further, and ask, ‘Or the moisture and vapours
which the clouds absorb, or the ocean which supplies these vapours and
moisture ? If these questions are permitted, why should explorers go to such
trouble to discover sources of rivers when every child is perfectly well ac-
quainted with the origin of all of them? If we remember the true significa-
tion of ‘source’ it is easy to understand why Bruce, Speke, and Baker, all
returned home each with a new source of the Nile, and why I now send you
the survey of another. Speke and Baker both write about ‘ Reservoirs of the
Nile’ in theis bocks. Speke, while accompanied by Grant, discovered the
Victoria Lake and the Victoria Nile,

“THE ALEXANDRA NILE.” 921

“The Victoria Lake is a magnificent extent of water. I sent you some
time ago a chart of it, the result of our circumnavigation. It is the recipient of
many fine streams, two of which are very important. TheShimeeyu is two
hundred and ninety miles in length from its source to its exit into the lake, and
my * Alexandra Nile’ has (as yet discovered) a length of three hundred and ten
miles, but perhaps as many more. The Shimeeyu might be compared to the
Thames, and drains off the water which falls into it from extensive plains, fo-
rests, and slopes of plateaus; but the Alexandra Nile exceeds in volume even
in its dry season the Thames and Severn united, and the colour and clearness
of its depths prove that it must either take its rise far to the westward of the
Tanganyika, or that its course is intercepted by some lake where its waves
are purified. Investigating the cause, I have discovered there is indeed such
a lake, of considerable extent, and known by different names.

*« Speke, after visiting the outlet of the Victoria Lake and travelling some
distance down its shores northerly and westerly, returned home; and soon
after, afatal accident deprived the Royal Geographical Society of one of its
most indefatigable explorers. Sir Samuel Baker, hearing from Speke and
Grant of the existence of a lake west of Unyoro, proceeded to that field, and
fortunately discovered another magnificent lake, called by the Wanyoro,
Iuta N’zige; by the Waganda, Muta Mzige; by the Wasagara, Nyanja
Unyoro; by the Wanyambu, sometimes all three; to which Baker, however,
very loyally gave the name Albert Nyanza. In a native canoe he explored
about sixty miles along the north-east coast, and found the Victoria Nile, de-
scending from the Lake Victoria, to form one of the feeders of the Albert Lake.
A little farther north the Albert Nyanza discharges all its collected affluents
—the Victoria Nile being one of them—ainto the White Nile, which in its de-
scent towards Ecypt receives other streams more or less important. Near
Khartoum, the White Nile obtains an accession to its volume from the Blue
Nile (discovered by James Bruce), which rises in Abyssinia. If it be asked,
‘Why enter into these trite details? I reply that I write for the readers of
‘The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘ New York Herald,’ who amount to about half a
million; that amongst this vast number some are perhaps a little confused
about the geography of the Nile, knowing little of how much has been accom-
plished, or of what remains to be discovered; and I believe it desirable for a
comprehension of the subject that these few remarks should be made.

“ After lighting upon a great gulf in the Albert Nyanza, I travelled south
from 0° 30’ N. lat. in search of the tributaries of these two vast lakes—the
Albert and Victoria—and perceived that the slope of the section was more to
the east, towards the Victoria, and that no rivers worthy of the name, except
the Rusango or Mpanga, fall into the Albert Lake from the east side. Nor
can any stream of importance supply the Albert from the south, because the
Alexandra Nyanza to be described occupies too large a bed, and must be fed

R4

922 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

from the section separating the Tanganyika and Albert, as the Albert is from
the Victoria. If any important affluents supply the Albert other than the
Victoria Nile, they must be searched for on the south-west and west side of
Lake Albert, by means of a vessel launched on its waters, or by a journey
overland. Ifa feeder be found on that side so large as to exercise an import-
ant influence on the lake, or such as would add greatly to the White Nile it-
self did not Lake Albert intercept its course, it is obvious that such a river
also should be taken into consideration when speaking of ‘ the sources of the
Nile.’

‘¢ Lake Albert, receiving so grand an affluent as the Victoria Nile, has
been called by Baker a reservoir of the Nile; but, in my opinion, this noble
lake deserves a yet higher title, as I shall presently show. It is proved by
my explorations that Lake Victoria is also a reservoir of the Nile, but I shall
demonstrate that Lake Victoria deserves a prouder name, distinct and sepa-
rate from that given to Lake Albert. Permit me to place in order a few ques-
tions and answers. What supplies the White Nile with water? Lake Albert
of course principally. What supplies Lake Albert? The Victoria Nile prin-
cipally (so far as is yet known). Whence proceeds the Victoria Nile? From
the Victoria Lake. What supplies the Victoria Lake? The ‘ Alexandra
Nile’ principally. Whence proceeds the Alexandra Nile? From the Alex-
andra Lake. What supplies the Alexandra Lake? ‘The Upper Alexandra
Nile and other streams not yct known. It is clear, then, that the Egyptian
Nile is the issue of the united Blue and White Niles—that the White Nile is
the issue of Lake Albert—that the Victoria Nile is the issue of Lake Vic-
toria, and I have found that the Lower Alexandra Nile is the issue of Lake
Alexandra.

‘Thus it will be seen that I have given higher titles to these lakes than
mere reservoirs, for, without the source of supply, what would the reservoir
become? Indeed, in strict and sober fact, these several lakes are accidents of
Nature, intercepting the course of the river from the Alexandra Nile down-
wards, disparting the river into several streams, the White Nile, Victoria Nile,
and Alexandra Nile. A parallel case is presented by the Lualaba, discovered
by Livingstone, which may be described in like manner as the above. The
Chambezi feeds Lake Bemba; Lake Bemba creates the Luapula; the Luapula
supplies Lake Mweru; Mweru creates Webb’s Lualaba; Webb’s Lualaba,
supplied by other tributaries, supplies the Lower Lualaba. Or, in other
words, the Lower Lualaba is the issue of Webb’s Lualaba; Webb’s Lualaba is
the issue of Lake Mweru; the Luapula is the issue of Bemba. These lakes are
accidents of Nature, as also the Nile Nyanzas, and present so many intercep-
tions or basins in the course of the river. I send you a survey of the above,
and request its publication, not only to illustrate the course of the Alexandra
Nile, but because (if natives are to be believed) the Alexandra Lake serves a

THE ‘DAUGHTER OF THE VICTORIA NILE, 923

double purpose. It is a basin for the reception of many tributaries, and has
three outlets, one north of Uguvu by the Ruvuvu into the lower Alexandra
Nile; the second south of Uguvu into the same river by the Kagera; the
third by means of a marsh or an ooze into the Kivu Lake, whence the Rusizi
takes its rise, which Rusizi empties into Lake Tanganyika.

** Perhaps it will be asked by the curious why I have distinguished the
discoveries illustrated above by the name of Alexandra. I shall forestall this
question with the following candid explanation. Captain John Hanning
Speke and Captain James Grant, both British officers, while on their way to
Uganda to search for the outlet of the Victoria Lake, crossed this very river,
the Alexandra Nile. What they thought about it I do not know. I have
not their books at hand; but it appears that, seeing this river flow in a con-
tracted channel (one hundred and fifty yards width of open, swift, deep
water), being perhaps ignorant of its depth, and holding another grand object
in view, their actions being governed at the time by the sole hope of discover-
ing the Victoria Nile, they did not pay that attention to it which they would
have devoted had their mission been of a more general character. It cannot
be disputed, then, that those two distinguished British officers were the first
who saw this river.

“Had Speke lived I believe he would have returned to this interesting
region, for I hear from King Rumanika he had such an intention. Had he
been permitted to come back—to round off as it were and to unite the frag-
ments of discovery he had made—the natives and his amiable friend Ru-
manika would have pointed out to him the ‘ Daughter of the Victoria Nile.’
On casting his thoughts around for a name to dignify these new discoveries,
what one more graceful, more ennobled by gentle virtues, illustrious descent,
and proud position, could he have found to immortalise them than that of her
Royal Highness Alexandra, Princess of Wales? British officers first saw the
river. ‘The Daily Telegraph,’ an English journal, contributed one-half of
the funds by means of which these latest discoveries have been made. I,
therefore, in the name of the English and American interests I represent
here, venture to request through your columns that the name of her Royal
Highness, the Princess of Wales, be allowed to designate my discoveries of
the new lake and river, which link what has preceded, and are, I trust,
worthy to stand with such honoured achievements as those which the names of
Albert and Victoria now commemorate for ever.

“‘T have been very deliberate, you will admit, in making up and send-
ing you this letter, but I had strong reasons for it. Iam too far from the
telegraphic wire to correct an error, and I have no ambition to be charged
with having made arash statement, though I covered my offence with the
excuse that ‘the natives told me.’ I value native and Arab information
only as being a suggestive guide to the traveller, not to be understood, by

924 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

any means, as conveying accurate and exact knowledge. Even the most
intelligent of Arabs, Wanguana, Wasawhili, and Central Africa natives, as if
originally they were taken out of the same matrix, have a terrible passion
for exaggeration. If the explorer is unable to visit the scene personally, he
may perhaps be excused—after sifting evidence, comparing information ac-
quired in different localities, and weighing with judgment and a sense of
distrust every particle of intelligence—for publishing geographical news on
native authority. It was not until after marching from the confluence of the
Ruvuvu and the Kagera to Ujiji, cireumnavigating the Tanganyika, and hear-
ing Wazige and Warundi bear witness to the same facts, that I found courage
to publish what I had not personally exhausted. I will give you, in brief,
three instances of black people’s mendacity, which will prove to you that
the best weapon an explorer can arm himself with is distrust.

‘‘Manwa Sera, Captain in the Anglo-American Expedition, during a
casual talk with me, related: ‘ Master, when I was in Karagwe, some five or
six years ago, I went to the top of a high mountain near Rumanika’s, and I
saw an enormous lake to the west of me. I should say it would take three
days to reach it. I could not see the other side of this lake.’ All was related
slowly, as if he weighed well each word, with great gravity, and a certain
dignity as of truth, but these were the facts as viewed by the Explorer: A
lake existed six or seven hours’ march from Rumanika’s; length of lake, thir-
teen miles; greatest breadth, eight miles; name of lake, Jnema Rweru.

“Next, Baraka, a smart young fellow, a soldier in the Anglo-American
Expedition, reported as follows: ‘Speak of Ruanda! DoI not know Ruanda,
and all the countries round about! Who is he that has gone further than I
have? Havel not been to Ankori? Yes; I have carried things to the
King of Ankori. Ruanda is yellow and flat. It is like a plain—extends away,
away westward—a plain, in truth! Again, however, these are the facts as
ascertained by your Explorer: Ruanda is exactly the opposite of what Baraka
said. The view of Ruanda from Karagwe is of a succession of lofty moun-
tain ridges, separated by deep broad valleys. Your Explorer pointed out the
strong contrast between fiction and fact to Baraka. Baraka laughed, and im-
pudently showed his ivories.

‘Next: A Mgwana, a long time resident within a few hundred yards of
the mouth of the Rusizi, spoke as follows to Livingstone and myself in 1871:
‘White men, you want to know all about the Rusizi. I know all about it.
I came from Mukamba’s yesterday. This river Rusizi goes out of the lake.
I tell you true, quite true.’ Meantime facts were as follow: The Rusizi flows
into the Lake Tanganyika, and not out; and the light-hearted Mgwana told
an unnecessary untruth.

“A native of Central Africa rarely, however, wilfully lies about a matter
that does not concern his interests. Ignorance in most cases is the cause of

CONVERSATION WITH A NATIVE. 925

wrong information from him, and lack of acquaintance with details gives a
vagueness and uncertainty to what is told. But if half-a-dozen of them can
be examined upon a subject the traveller can generally pick out much reliable
information. The Waganda, Warundi, and Wazige are very intelligent, espe-
cially the first named. A young Waganda, who had travelled in Karagwe,
and went with me to the Albert Nyanza, has oftentimes astonished me by
his remarks upon the Alexandra Nile, which he called the Kagera. I fancy
if the Geographical Society had heard him, they would have voted him a
silver medal for his intelligent observations. As my conversation with him
was very interesting, I will give you in his own words, as nearly asI can
remember, what he volunteered about the Kagera. He said one morning:
‘ Master, Sambuzi, my chief, has sent me to you with his salaams, and he
says that the best way for you to go to Muta Nzige (Albert Nyanza) is by the
Kagera. ‘ Why,’ I asked, ‘is Kagera the best way? ‘ Because,’ replied he,
‘ Kagera comes from Muta Nzige.’ ‘Nonsense,’ I rejoined; ‘ Muta Nzige is
far below the Nyanza of Uganda; and howcanariver ascend a hill? ‘ Mas-
ter, you white people know a great deal; but will you tell me where the Kagera
comes from? ‘J cannot tell you because I have not seen it yet, andI don’t
know anything of the river except what I have seen of it at the mouth,
Master, there is no river like the Kagera. We Waganda call it the Mother of
Waters. Where can the Kagera come from if it does not come from Muta
Nzige? Look atitswater. It is water of a Nyanza, and so much water as is
in it cannot come from any mountain. Everybody says itcomes from the
Muta Nzige.’

“* When I turned my back upon the Albert Nyanza I felt possessed some-
- what by this young man’s remarks upon the Kagera. From a score of persons
on the way to Kagera, I heard enough to create in me a keen desire to view
and examine this river. I have already told you I obtained soundings of
seventy, eighty, up to one hundred and twenty feet of water in its bed; that
it had a swift current, and a width of from one hundred and fifty to two hun-
dred yards. From Rumanika—that gentle and most pleasant pagan, whom,
however, I found more easy to convert to a geographer than to a Christian—
I obtained every assistance, and was thus enabled to explore thoroughly the
singular body of water called Ingezi, which is a shallow lake five to ten, and
even fourteen miles wide, through which the Alexandra Nile continues its
resistless course with a depth of from forty to sixty feet.

“You can see on my map, by the position of the Mount of Observation,
that I was enabled, after continuing my journey from Rumanika’s, to obtain
a pretty clear view of a good deal of the unexplored course of the Alexandra
Nile. What I could not see, because of the mountains of Ugufu, was Akan-
yaru, or Nyanza Cha-Ngoma; but my guides assisted me to understand tole-
rably well the position of the lake. The Akanyaru was a large lake, and

926 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

very wide. It required two days to crossit. A mountainous island was situ-
ated in the middle of it, where voyagers to Ruanda from Ugufu generally
rested one night, arriving the next day in Ruanda. But though Ugufu is
really a large island and very mountainous, no native speaks of it as an island.
It is separated on the north side from Kishakka by the Ruvuvu outlet, from
Uhha and Urundi on the south by the Kagera, and from Ruanda on the west
side by the Alexandra Nyanza. The course of each affluent from the lake
was taken by compass-bearings both at the Mount of Observation and at Keza,
where I obtained confirmation of what my guides had told me. The natives
much confused me when speaking of Kivu Lake, sometimes pointing it out
in the direction of the Alexandra Nyanza, and again using the name of Ny-
anza Cha-Ngoma; others called it by the name of Mkinyaga. They sometimes
represented it as very large, and occasionally attempted to give an idea of its
extent by stating that it required so much time to cross it in a canoe. Coun-
tries situated along its shores were also named, which, being noted down,
have assisted me to compare the information of natives of Kishakka with
that furnished by Wazige and Warundi.

‘‘Warundi on the Tanganyika say that Kivu Lake is connected with
Akanyaru by a marsh; that it would require a day’s march along this marsh
(ten or fifteen miles) to proceed from Kivu to Akanyaru, and that the Rusizi
flows from the south-west corner of Kivu to Tanganyika. Moreover, the
Wazige who live on the Rusizi are very accurate in describing the names of
the streams flowing into it, and unanimously agree with the Warundi that it
is an issue of Kivu or Kovoe Lake. They also confirm the Warundi, that
Unyambungu is on the south-west side of Kivu. Having ascertained so much
with precision, it became easy then to connect together the fragmentary in-
formation obtained from North Uhha, West Usui, and Kishakka, where the
name Kivu is not generally known, and the locality of Unyambungu renders
the solution of the difficuly conceivable. Mkinyaga is north-west of Unyam-
bungu, and, to a person in North Uhha, with his face turned north, Mkin-
yaga is said to be left of Kivu, being therefore situated west of that lake.
Mkinyaga is a large country extending to south-west Ruanda until a three
days’ march would take a person to Albert Nyanza, When hearing of
Mkinyaga Lake, we must understand it to be Akanyaru or the Alexandra
Nyanza, which last comprehends and replaces all the native titles of the
lake.

“‘ Yet here, within two degrees of longitude, where seven countries meet,
representatives of these nations are unable to give a clear and connected ac-
count of this most interesting region. The cause of this ignorance arises
from the peculiar character of the Northern Warundi and Wa-Ruanda, who
are a jealous, treacherous, and vindictive people. If an explorer could cross
the country of Urundi, and enter Mkinyaga, he would meet with a different

“TS THE LUALABA THE NILE OR THE CONGO 2” 927

race with whom it would not be difficult to establish amicable relations; but
unless he had balloons at his disposal I am unable to see how he could reach
Mkinyaga from the east or the south. Were the Warundi or the Wa-Ruanda
anything in disposition like the natives we have come in contact with be-
tween here and Zanzibar, the task were easy to push one’s way direct to the
utmost regions of the Nile! We have met tribes who sternly exacted tribute,
and we have paid it and passed on our way, and we have encountered others
who compelled us to fight our road through them; but here are two nations
(not tribes) of one peculiar distinct breed, who are neither subject to the
power of sweet persuasion with gifts of sugar-candy, knick-knacks, and gaudy
cloths; nor to be forced from the disagreeable position they assume with a
few dozen Sniders. Heaven knows the original progenitors of these fierce
men.

**T had half a mind once to make an alliance with the bandit Mirambo,
and, with the addition of a thousand Brown Besses, drag the secrets of the
Nile by force to the light of day. But I could not seriously entertain such
an idea. Besides, the name of the amiable Princess of Wales could never be
taken to cover such a slur as this would have been on my search for the
sources of the Nile. No. I live in the hope that our Expedition will yet
visit this section without violence, from the fact, if true, that Mkinyaga can
be reached from North Manyema—that the people of Mkinyaga are traders,
and convey articles of trade from Manyema to Ruanda. All this, however,
ean only be settled at Nyangwe, whither I propose going now. I have two
reasons for passing round about this way, since the direct road is closed.
First, it has become firmly impressed on my mind that the principal river
supplying the Alexandra Nyanza rises in North Manyema, north-westward of
Lake Tanganyika. Secondly, I do not forget that the purpose of this enter-
prise of ‘ The Daily Telegraph’ and ‘New York Herald’ was to unite the
fragmentary discoveries of Speke into one complete whole, to finish Baker’s
and Burton’s exploration, and finally to take up the work left incomplete by
the lamented death of Dr. Livingstone.

*‘Tieutenant Camcron, animated by his honest ambition to traverse
Africa rather than to complete the work of his predecessors, has crossed the
Lualaba, and proceeded to Lake Lincoln, thence he went, I am told, in a
south-westerly direction with a company of Portuguese traders, probably to
Ambriz or St. Paul de Loanda, by which he has left the question of the Lua-
laba much where Livingstone placed it. For the problem in dispute was,
‘Is the Lualaba the Nile or the Congo? Livingstone thought it to be the
Nile, the Geographical Council thought it to be the Congo. The only pos-
sible way to resolve the doubt is to travel down the Lualaba along the right
bank to a known point.

‘You will thus perceive I have two brilliant fields before me, and the

928 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

prospect of entering either one of them causes me to thrill with delight,
though merely anticipating what lies ahead. ‘Shall I search for the head of
the Alexandra Nile, or shall I continue along the right bank of the Lualaba ?”
such is the alternative which agitates the silent hours of night with me. Shall
I, after arriving at Nyangwe, strike north-easterly, and take this coy and
maiden Nile-fountain by surprise where she first issues from her oozy bed in
the angle of some dewy valley, and trace her thence through all her sportive
career, amid flower-decked lakelets or the breadths of ever-vernal papyrus ;
or where she rushes with fresh-born vigour and youthful ardour by fragrant
meads and forest-clad slopes to the three blue Nyanzas, to meet her kindred
gathered from all points of the compass as tribute-bearers to King Nilus, the
Lord of Floods? Or shall I worship at the shrine of the majestic Lualaba;
view with awe and reverence his broad glassy bosom; watch him unfold his
strength, and launch himself against rocks with angry roar until the woods
and valleys resound with the name of this terrible monarch; witness him
receiving his homage from other potentates of less renown, and follow his
waves through the dark unknown land to where he finally discharges his
flood to the ocean? Both courses are equally enticing, both present splendid
openings for geographical research; but which I shall adopt will be best known
after I reach Nyangwe.

‘In the meantime, I lay at the feet of the good and exalted Princess of
Wales an explorer’s tribute—all that he has discovered, measured, and surveyed
of the Alexandra Nile—for ever to be associated with the Victoria Nile.

‘“¢ Henry M. Sranwey.”

“Ujiji, August 13th, 1876.

“‘T must leave off writing letters, and must hurry away, for times are
sad, very sad, in Ujiji. A malignant epidemic is raging here, devouring the
population at the rate of from forty to seventy-five persons daily. It is a
small-pox of the most fatal kind. Few attacked by it have escaped. The
same evil influences which nourish this pest cause other ailments to prevail—
namely, dysentery, chest diseases, and typhoid fevers. You may perceive by
the dates of my letters to you how many days I have required to write off a
couple of letters, and make two surveys. I returned from my circumnavigat-
ing voyage on Tanganyika August Ist; this is now the 13th. Thirteen days
to write two letters! It is true; but the time has been mostly spent fretting
in bed, from repeated attacks of fevers.

‘When I landed from my boat I received a budget of bad news only.
Five deaths had already occurred in the Expedition during my absence of .

THE RAVAGES OF SMALLI-POX. 929

fifty-one days; six more men were down with small-pox; the fearful disease
was running like wildfire through the houses of Ujiji, Arab as well as native.
Frank Pocock had suffered severe illness three times while I had been ab-
sent; an influential Arab trader died the day of my return; the Governor of
Ujiji and Livingstone’s old friend, Mohammed bin Gharib, had lost several
children, and were losing slaves each day, though their bills of mortality had
been already severe. Slaves and pagazis, or porters, were fast deserting their
masters for fear of this scourge; finally, my messengers, five in number, had
not yet appeared from Unyanyembe, and as they have not yet returned to
this day I have given up all hope of them. You may imagine, then, the feel-
ing which prevails in all minds at the present time in Ujiji—it is that of dis-
may and terror; and, as the inhabitants look forward to two months more of
the fatal experience they are now undergoing, those who are able to quit the
horrible spot should pack up at once.

** When I first heard these depressing particulars I was impressed with
the necessity of immediate departure if I valued the welfare of the Expedition,
but I had also my duty to do towards you. The two letters I have herewith writ-
ten may, perhaps, be considered, if you have any inclination to be very exacte
ing, as mere sops, but they are the best and the utmost that can be done under
such aggravating circumstances. The condition of my people is really deplor-
able; besides being thinned in numbers, many favourite and faithful attend-
ants among those still living are in a bad state, and some no doubt will be
taken off. The only thing it appears to me that has saved the Expedition
from total wreck is vaccination. But I find when too late that many of the
people lost the benefit of this precaution from sheer laziness—when summoned
they would not appear. My vaccine matter is all dried away now, and not
a particle of it can be scraped up to be of use.

“‘ Frank Pocock has done his best for his Arab neighbours and friends,
and it was very gratifying to me to hear how excellently and nobly he had
behaved. He is certainly the best attendant a traveller ever had. I would
not part with him for a hundred Shaws and Farquhars. He has become a
most ardent geographer, too; and, having no other companion with me, I
frequently exchange my inmost views and hopes with him. He did not look
very promising at first ; 1 thought himrather slow. He has, however, a host
of virtues and not the shadow of avice. He isa brave, honest, manly, patient
young Englishman.

“Thad a great many more things to write about my journey round the
Tanganyika, it has been so very interesting. I may say it has been replete
with rich discoveries of magnificent waterfalls, unrivalled scenery, ‘ water
hyenas ;’ exquisitely fragrant berries; caverns, and subterranean dwellings ;
not to mention the copper mines of Katata and the mode of working them. I
have heard much about the famous underground houses of Rua, and have found

s4

930 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

what may be called a new religion among the tribes round the Tanganyika,
any of which discoveries, with abundant leisure, would furnish matter for a
graphic letter. But the necessity of immediate departure is too urgent, since
if I delayed it would entail the sacrifice of many valuable lives in this Expe-
dition. It willtake some days to prepare, to assort, and re-arrange the goods
after such a long stay here, and various minor matters must be attended to.
I may be able, nevertheless, to write you a small note on the day of depart-
ure in order to acquaint you with our position and prospects.

‘6 Henry M. STAntey.”

The subjoined letters from Frank Pocock, addressed to members of his
family, will complete Mr. Stanley’s narratives, and be read with all the more
interest on account of the well-deserved praise which Mr. Stanley bestows on
this excellent young Englishman :—

“Ujiji, Lake Tanganyika, Central Africa,
July 21, 1876.

“My Drar Unctz—I should like to have seen you before leaving home,
but there were so many to see that I hardly know who I did see. But I hope
to see you on my return, and I hope that will not be long. We have expended
nearly all our goods; also ourselves are getting rather worn out from hard
marching under the burning sun, and fever and other sickness. We have made
a good round. We struck off from Ugogo, and marched north-west of the road
of all former travellers to the Victoria Nyanza, and reached it in a journey of
one hundred and three days from the coast. You would like to have seen the
caravan when it came to the top of a hill, and we caught sight of the lake.
I thought the black veterans would go mad with joy, running, shouting, roll-
ing on the ground, beating their bullock-hide drums, dancing, singing, firing
guns, ete. We had a rest for a few days, then put the sections of the boat to-
gether, and in eight days Mr. Stanley left us to explore the lake. Me and
the other white man, Fred. Barker, was left in charge of the goods and men.
But before Mr. Stanley returned poor Barker died from chills. Then I was
left alone, I may say—for then I knew nothing of the language—and during
the absence of Mr. Stanley three chiefs combined together to drive us away,
and steal our goods. But said I, they shan’t drive us away for nothing, so
I served ammunitition to the people with guns, and spears to them without
guns, and they came close to the boma of our camp. But I would not allow
aman inside. We were just about to fire on them when we saw a man com-
ing to speak. He came to make friends. We made friends with him, and all
went off quiet. But the reason they did not fight was because they would have

FRANK POCOCK’S LETTER TO HIS PARENTS. 931

killed some of their brothers, for the people of our village all held our way,
therefore we got off well.

** We stayed at Usukuma four months, and I was sent to Ukerewe to get
canoes to take the caravan to Uganda. Ukerewe is an island about thirty
miles from the mainland or from our camp, the largest island in the lake. I
got fifty-two canoes from the Sultan Lukongie, and returned to camp. I
was the first white man ever on the island. It is thickly peopled with naked
people. Elephants and leopards are abundant. The people brought food for
sale to our camp. Beads was the money; cloth was but very little value. We
crossed from there to Uganda, and from there to the Albert Nyanza through
Unyoro, but had no place to build our camp, while Mr. Stanley explored the
lake, as we had at the Victoria Nyanza, therefore we returned to Uganda,
and from there to Karagwe, and from there to Ujiji. We left Karagwe on
March 25, and arrived here on May 27. Mr. Stanley left on June 11 to ex-
plore Tanganyika. I have not heard of him yet, so I cannot say where we |
shall go from here. But I will write again before leaving Ujiji, so for the
present I must say good bye. Hoping soon to see you, and wishing this may
find you well and living in Cookham woods with father, I remain your affec-
tionate nephew, ‘¢ Francis Pocock.

“Mr. William Pocock, Chatham, Kent.”

“‘ Ujiji, Lake Tanganyika, Central Africa,
Aug. 23, 1876.

‘My Dear Parents—It is now nearly two years since we left the coast.

I did not expect to see or hear anything before we reached Ujiji, but here we
saw no letters or papers from Europe; not a word of consolement did we find
on our arrival. We found the whole village infected with small-pox and fever,
and many other diseases. This was not very good news for us after march-
ing for two months through mud and water, and no news from home. We
fully expected some letters, but if they were sent from the coast they must
have been lost or stolen. ‘Then, again, they may have passed here and fol-
lowed Cameron, because the Arabs know nothing of our writing; all they
know, it is white man’s writing (Kuzungu), therefore they may have passed
here. We arrived on the 27th May, 1876. On the road I wrote one letter.
It was sent to Unyanyembe, only ten days from where I sent it. We had
come within two months of the Coast. Then we struck off west to Ujiji.
After reaching here I wrote to mother. That was sent to Unyanyembe with
Mr. S.’s letters by five men. It is now three months since they left here, and
they have not returned. Their mission was to take our letters and to return
to Ujiji with home news; but we have heard nothing of them, and itis feared

932 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

that they are lost. Mr. Stanley was fifty-one days on the Tanganyika to ex-
plore it. It is very large, fish abundant, and the natives are more of a friend-
ly nature than the savages of the Victoria Nyanza. They make trade with
corn, palm oil, ete., and the Arabs trade with ivory and slaves, which are
brought chiefly to Ujiji.

“My Dear Parents—We have made a good round, but have not yet fin-
ished. We have discovered the sources of the Nile and now are on the way
to finish Dr. Livingstone’s great task. We leave Ujiji to-morrow to cross
Tanganyika, to solve the mystery concerning the Nile and the Congo. When
we reach Nyangwe we shall hear more about it. We have three ways to go,
but which one to take we cannot say. Any way, if we can get to the West
Coast from there we shall be home in good time. But if we have to return
by Zanzibar it will be a long journey; but that will be best known there.
We only hear of the road §.W. of us, but the route we want to follow we
hear but little about. I hope that by the time this reaches you we shall be
done our work and on our road home.

‘‘ There has been much sickness here, but things look brighter. I have
had three severe attacks of fever, but, thank God, I am in good health now,
and if all go well I hope to see you again next summer. I often wonder if
you are all well, and that is all I can do; for I seem to be always marching
under a burning sun, with thirsty lips and tongue; but it is a life I like, there
are so many changes, and so many tribes, so many countries, nearly all dif-
ferent. The slave trade is carried on here in a dreadful manner. It would
surprise you to see the whips and chains and the way the slaves are treated
by their masters, the Arabs.

“My Dear Parents—Excuse this short note, for I have much to do to-
day, and to-morrow morning we shall go from here five days’ journey to
Uguha; from there to Nyangwe, forty days; then along the great river,
about filty or sixty days; but I cannot tell you all. Give my love to all and
everybody. JI cannot mention names. You will forward the notes enclosed.
I dare say you think me lost, but I am still in good health and happy, for
such a climate. Our goods are getting short, but we have enough to find
out the river. Our road ahead by all accounts is good, food plentiful, and
nice people.

“If we can get aroad to the West Coast we shall go, and the Wan-
guana will return to Zanzibar. I can assure youl am longing to see you all,
to get some English food and more clothes and shoes and other comforts that
cannot be got here. Perhaps Jem or Harry will say, ‘Why don’t he write
to me?’ but I cannot write to all. I only wish I had one word from home;
I would not care who it came from. I have written to George and William,
and you must send my news to all the others. But the neighbours, I should
think, have quite forgotten me by this time. I am ina hurry, therefore I

SOURCES OF THE NILE. 933

must say good-bye for the present. Give my love to all, kiss all the children
for me, and believe me to be your affectionate and loving son,
“B,J. Pocock.”

The ‘‘ Daily Telegraph” accompanied these most interesting letters by
the following able comment:—

‘In the second despatch from Mr. Stanley, which we have the pleasure
of laying before the public and the scientific world to-day, the interest turns
chiefly on that wonderful and still unexhausted river, the Nile. From the
time when Bruce discovered the Abyssinian branch—the Bahr-el-Azrek—of
this mysterious stream, a long succession of travellers have added ever new
fountains to its upper tributaries, until the majesty of the river became
crowned by the announcement of the Victoria and Albert Nyanzas—inland
seas worthy indeed to figure as the twin birth-places of such a water Deity.
For some time the lake of Speke and Grant, and that of Baker, were looked
upon as the ultimate sources of the Nile; and though for a while it seemed
possible that Livingstone’s great channel of the Lualaba, with its string of lacus-
trine basins, might also contribute to the Egyptian stream—perhaps even T'an-
ganyika itself—more careful surveys have since shown this to be altogether
improbable. The River of Egypt was traced, therefore, to the southern shore
of the Victoria Nyanza in about 2° 35’ S. when our Joint Commissioner
began his adventurous journey to explore this great unmapped water. Before
reaching it, however, he struck and followed from its water-shed in Urimi a
new stream, the Shimeeyu, which, as a feeder of the Victoria two hundred
and ninety miles in length, and of volume equal to that of the Thames, at
once became the highest and truest ‘source of the Nile.’ This took the course
of the noble Egyptian river up to 5° S. or farther, and secured the palm of
merit to Stanley as the discoverer of what appeared the real cradle of the
Nile.

“But in the present despatch our Joint Commissioner gives reason
to believe that he has made a still more important revelation; and that,
although the Shimeeyu may, perhaps, yet retain the distinction of being the
most southerly feeder of the Nile, the Kagera, Kitangule, or Ruvuvu—for
by all these names has the channel been known since it was crossed by Speke
and Grant in 1863—will really prove the largest and longest of the upper
tributaries of that vast Nyanza which, by creating the Victoria Nile, does
most to supply the Egyptian river. Speke and Grant crossed the stream
spoken of near its outflow into the Victoria Nyanza, and saw the long and
narrow lake or marsh which it makes by Rumanika’s capital, to which they
gave the name of Windermere. Nevertheless, either not knowing its remark-
able depth, or bent too warmly on the attractive discovery of the Victoria
Nile, they failed to attach to the Kagera or Kitangule the dignity which it

934 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

merits as a principal, if not the chief fountain-stream of that mighty river
whose secrets they were engaged in unveiling.

‘“‘ The task thus pretermitted has now been to a great extent discharged
by Stanley, during his journey last summer from King Mtesa’s country to
Ujiji; and in the present communication he gives particulars of this very im-
portant new tributary of the Nile, which go far to alter our ideas of the region
between the Victoria and Albert Nyanzas and Lake Tanganyika, while they
add a large though yet undefined body of water to the marvellous system of in-
land seas which fill Equatorial Africa, and leave it still eminently possible
that the Nile takes its ultimate rise in tracts as far off as Manyema, or evena
yet more distant spot.

‘“‘Henceforward, however, we must not call this interesting stream by
any one of its native appellations. The ‘ Kagera,’ or ‘ Kitangule,’ which flows
into the Victoria Nyanza at Usogoro, has received from our Explorer—who
has traced its course through three hundred and ten miles, and found it still
wearing the appearance of coming from at least an equal distance—the name
of the ‘Alexandra Nile.’ By that illustrious title Mr. Stanley begs that the
river, with its reservoir, may be hereafter known; and the details of it which
he forwards constitute, it will be allowed, a fair claim to so proud a distinc-
tion. With the guidance of the map which we reproduce this morning from
that transmitted in our Joint Commissioner’s despatch, the course of the
Alexandra Nile may be tracked upwards along the Explorer’s line of march
from the point where the Kavare enters it, to the Morongo Falls, where the
lagoon-like ‘ Windermere’ empties itself into the narrower channel; and so
past the hot springs of Mtagata, the town of King Rumanika, and the many
lakelets which are formed on the way from Kishakka to the spot below the
‘Mount of Observation,’ where it comes down on either side of a large island
that fills up the eastern extremity of a Nyanza to which Mr. Stanley’s map
gives a length of about sixty miles, and a breadth of about thirty. Our
Joint Commissioner could not explore this large water, which has been
hitherto only hinted at upon the maps by a small lake marked ‘ Akanyara.’
His furthest point westward appears to have been the ‘ Mount of Observation,’
from which the high hills of Ugufu shut out the Nyanza behind it; but he
had found the Alexandra Nile maintaining a remarkable depth and swift cur-
rent, while his guides assured him of the remaining particulars. If they be
correct the Alexandra Nyanza is half as large as the Albert itself; and the
Alexandra Nile runs through it, entering at the western extremity, in Ruanda,
from a country as yet unknown.

“The fierce nature of the tribes intervening between Mr. Stanley’s
furthest point and Mkinyaga seems to have made it impracticable for him
to complete this momentous discovery without such sanguinary collisions as
he has always shown himself anxious, if possible, to avoid. We must there-

REMARKABLE PHENOMENON, 935

fore take on conjecture for the present the precise form and the origin of
this Nyanza, which may conceivably be the lake heard of by Dr. Living-
stone to the north-east of Nyangwe. Mr. Stanley gives such cogent reasons
for receiving with suspicion all native statements upon geography that we
may be sure he has investigated the evidences well before delineating his
Alexandra Nyanza and Nile beyond the extreme point of view. What he
has marked to the southwards appears, it must be candidly confessed, very
extraordinary. Below the Alexandra Nyanza comes, according to this map,
& swampy country, Urundi—a day’s march in breadth—and then a smaller
lake, Kivu, or Kivoe, connected with the Nyanza by this marsh.

“Out of the south-west corner of Kivu runs the Rusizi, which, as Stanley
himself first discovered, flows into Tanganyika; so that if this be indeed the
case we are confrcnted with the puzzle of a body of water in Kivu which
drains by a marsh one way into the Alexandra Nyanza, and thus onward
to the Victoria, while it flows the other way by the Rusizi into Tanganyika.
Now, a lake with two outlets is hardly known to geographical science. It is
said that in Norway, and also, perhaps, in Sutherland, there exists such a
phenomenon as a double outlet from the same reservoir; but under certain
conditions of flood in neither casc could the effluents be permanent. If we
possessed the elevations of this region the problem would be clearer. Tan-
ganyika, at all events, is lower than the Victoria Nyanza, so that it is impos-
sible for Kivu—if, indeed, it furnishes the Rusizi—to be also connected with the
Alexandra Nyanza, which supplies the Alexandra Nile to the Victorian Sea.
We should not deem it candid to pass over these obvious dfficulties, but they
do not diminish the importance of the discovery that a considerable body of
water exists upon the spot occupied in previous maps by the petty ‘ Akanyara,’
and that the stream which fills it must henceforward be regarded as the prin-
cipal feeder of the Nile, should no great river be found entering the Albert
from the westward. an

“ Meanwhile all this new volume of lake and stream added perennially
to the Nile increases the mystery, as well as the bulk, of that majestic river ;
and we do not wonder that the fascination of his fresh discoveries divided
Mr. Stanley’s mind between completing them by an expedition from Nyangwe
and following the Lualaba from that place down to its mouth. It will be seen
that on returning from his voyage of fifty-one days round Tanganyika our
Commissioner found that a malignant epidemic was devastating Ujiji, and
had already cost his own followers some lives. Thus within three weeks of
his second arrival at Ujiji Mr. Stanley would probably be obliged to be on
the march again through Uguha and Manyema to Nyangwe. The road
thither is not difficult, and would occupy, as we learn from Frank Pocock’s
interesting letters, about two months. Our Joint Commisioner would thus
arrive upon the Lualaba at the end of November last, and if in anything like

936 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

sufficient force and equipment he will not have been easily deterred from
grappling with the important question which Captain Cameron was unhappily
obliged to leave undecided. He knows what remains to be achieved; and
though he may possibly make a temporary excursion in the direction of his
new Alexandra Nile, to visit perchance the fountains of this remarkable tri-
butary, we believe and hope that the intrepid explorer will devote what is
left of his forces to the all-absorbing matter of the course of the Lualaba from
Nyangwe. ;

“ Even if he should not be able thus to attack that last great problem of
Central Africa, the work which Mr. Stanley has accomplished must stand, in
the judgment of all generous and competent men, one of surprising extent
and value. He has pierced by a new route from the coast to the Victorian
Sea; thoroughly explored and mapped out that splendid water; carried his
line of march across to the Albert, where he has marked an extensive gulf
and previously unknown shores; after which he has tracked upward this not-
able branch, the Alexandra Nile, to its reservoir, and then, descending by
Unyanyembe, has thoroughly explored and ‘settled’ the Tanganyika. We
feel that in presence of labours like these there is no need to bespeak on his
behalf the friendly wishes and interpretations of the public. Ifany calumnies
and jealousies strike or have struck at this courageous traveller in his absence,
they have been and are estimated by honest people at their proper worth ;
and perhaps would never be risked at all except in the thought that he may
not return. But a vast part of this arduous journey is now triumphantly
accomplished, and we cherish the earnest hope of shortly welcoming back
the indefatigable explorer and his deserving attendant, Frank Pocock, possibly
too with fresh and precious fruit of all the hardships and dangers which they
have so long endured.”

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Return of Lieutenant Young from Lake Nyassa—His voyage round the Lake—
Mountainous Scenery—The Lake of Siorms—The Settlement of Cape Maclear
Colony—The Ujiji Mission—Mission to Lake Nyanza—Conclusion.

IEUTENANT YOUNG, R.N., has recently returned in good health to this

country, after having successfully planted the Livingstonia Expedition,

of which he undertook the leadership, in Central Africa. He left Lake

Nyassa on the 2nd of November, 1876, and reports all well at that date. The

following details, taken from the ‘ Cape Standard and Mail,” of the 6th of
February, 1877, may prove interesting :—

“The party arrived safely at Point Maclear, in Lake Nyassa, and set to
work, Ina short time the steamer was put together, which is now plying on
the lakes, and is the pride of the mission. With a view to ascertain the ex-
tent of the lake, and search for places of settlement, to discover which would
best suit the operations of the mission, Lieutenant Young circumnavigated
Nyassa, and found that it ran to the north upwards of one hundred miles
further than Dr. Livingstone had thought. The shores of the lake are de-
scribed as the finest he had ever seen. Magnificent woods abound everywhere.
On the north-eastern shores a range of very high mountains runs parallel to
the lake for upwards of one hundred miles. The height is from ten thousand
to twelve thousand feet, and they slope very ‘steeply to the very margin, the
flanks rising often at an angle of 45° from the lake. The circumnavigation
took a month, and Lieutenant Young has prepared a careful map of Nyassa,
which, published with his journal, will not fail to be received with great
interest as a most valuable contribution to our geographical knowledge of
that hitherto unknown country. The Lake Nyassa is two hundred and
fifty miles long, and on an average of sixty miles broad, and is, in fact, an
inland sea of no mean extent. It teems with fish. The attempt to sound one
spot of it with one hundred and forty fathoms of line failed to get bottom
at that depth. Sailing on it, as Lieutenant Young remarks, is like sailing
on the Atlantic. During his voyage of circumnavigation they experienced
a fearful gale of wind, which compelled him to lay-to for two days. ‘The

(se

938 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

height of the Nyassa above the sea is one thousand eight hundred and thirty-
four feet.

‘¢ Before the arrival of the second party, headed by the Rev. Dr. Stewart,
of Lovedale, himself, and consisting of the Rev. Dr Black, Dr Macklin, Mr.
Thelwell, Mr. Cotterill, and others whom, it will be remembered, we had in
Cape Town on their way some five months ago, the village of Livingstonia
had commenced to rise into existence. Houses, workshops, etc., had been
constructed. Lieutenant Young and his party, it may be well understood,
were not idle. When this second party arrived they were cheered to find
that the noble undertaking was well begun. It certainly is not to the credit
of the Portuguese authorities at Killimane that they should have thrown
obstacles in the way of Dr. Stewart’s party, which was detained there for
fourteen days. We are aware of the fact that Sir Henry Barkly gave special
letters of commendation to the Portuguese Governor. If ever an expedition
was to be commended as in the cause of civilisation and progress the Living-
stonia one was. They were charged twenty-six per cent. custom dues—an
undoubtedly exorbitant tariff—and obstacles thrown in their way besides.
It was the idea of the Rev, Dr. Black that a postal route might be opened up —
at once between the lake and Nyassa, but as far as we can understand from
what Lieutenant Young tells us, the Portuguese at Killimane have their in-
terests otherwise than with progress and the spread of civilisation in Africa.
How easily such a postal route could be organised is apparent, when we state
that Lieutenant Young has succeeded in making a treaty with two of the
most important tribes in the route via Killimane, the Cataracts of the Shire,
and Nyassa. ‘These tribes are the Maviti, near the lake, and the Makololo,
one hundred and fifty miles off, at the Cataracts. They know the name of
England, and trust it. As Lieutenant Young says, now an Englishman may
go through the whole country with a walking-stick; but a Portuguese requires
armed force. It is to be hoped that something will be done by the English
authorities which will compel the Portuguese to give way to the progress of
events in that part of the continent of Africa. No doubt Lieutenant Young
will have something to say to Sir Bartle Frere on this subject, and possibly
to the King of the Belgians as well as to his own Government.

‘‘'The second party were met by Lieutenant Young at the Lower Shire.
He had brought with him one thousand natives to carry the goods and effects
of the party across the Cataract country. He started to the steamer, which
was lying under the Cataracts, with five hundred of these, each loaded with
from fifty to sixty pounds of goods. The journey to the steamer was seventy-
five miles, and the work was done for six yards of calico to each man. He
went to Livingstonia with these goods, returned again to the Cataracts, went
back, and returned once more, and had at length the satisfaction of finding
his party safe at Livingstonia with all their baggage and material. It will

THE LIVINGSTONIA MISSION. 939

doubtless be recorded in the history of Livingstonia what Lieutenant Young
has done for it, and, as its projection was the outcome of Dr. Stewart’s far-
seeing missionary enthusiasm, its successful planting has been the result of
the energy and philanthropic zeal of Lieutenant Young.

‘Tt will be of special interest to say something of the various parties as
they were situated when Lieutenant Young left the country. The Free
Church party have been all down with fever, but are all right again. It is
understood that Dr. Stewart will not remain there. He is especially subject
to attacks of fever. Dr. Black is entering into the spirit of the enterprise
with rare devotion and enthusiasm. Dr. Laws is also with them. As yet
Mr. Simons, the naturalist, has been unable to move about, the country being
a very difficult one. Mr. Cotterill is also at Livingstonia, and we regret to
learn that his boats have not been found suitable for the lake. As yet, there-
fore, he is, too, a fixture at the head-quarters of the Free Church party. We
are sorry to learn that the Established Church party under Dr. Macklin and
Mr. Henderson has suffered much from fever. They were all down with it
when Lieutenant Young left. Their station is on the highlands of the Cata-
racts of the Shire. Barring this, it must be gratifying to know that success
has attended the Livingstonia missions from the first. There has not been a
single mishap of any importance. The mission is already making itself felt.
The natives are all thoroughly friendly. The slave trade has already greatly
suffered. Formerly not fewer than ten thousand slaves passed the southerly
end of the lake per annum; last year, only thirty-eight were known to have
succeeded in getting to the coast by that route.”

On the twenty-sixth of February, Mr. Young delivered, before the
Royal Geographical Society, an interesting address, in which he gave an
account of what he had done and seen on Lake Nyassa. At the Kongone
mouth of the Zambesi he screwed the sections of the little steamer Ilala
together; and although an extraordinary flood had altered the course of the
rivers, nothing materially impeded her passage to the foot of the Shire cata-
racts. ‘These cataracts or falls extend for some seventy-five miles, and consti-
tute a very formidable obstacle to navigation. In the course of these seventy-
five miles, the waters of Lake Nyassa leap down a staircase of rocks and
boulders for some eighteen hundred feet; and before the traveller can reach
the higher ground, he has to traverse a most rugged and difficult road. As
a tule, the most grievous obstacle to be overcome, is the want of porters ;
but thanks to the kindly recollection existing among the natives of previous
missionaries, Mr. Young experienced no difficulty on this score. A sufficient
supply of efficient men readily offered themselves, and in ten days the [lala
was taken to pieces, and her sections, boilers, machinery, and stoves, were
conveyed to the upper end of the cataracts. The labour involved in this
was very great. Mr. Young says that the carriage of the steel plates, and

940 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

other portions of the little steamer necessitated some of the most tremendous
exertion he ever witnessed, which was much aggravated by the intense heat,
in some places reaching one hundred and twenty degrees in the shade. The
men who thus wrought for four days for six yards of calico each (worth say
one shilling and sixpence), finding their own food too, without a grumble,
are not to be despised. The work of reconstruction was soon accomplished,
and steam was up in a fortnight.

After examining several beautiful bays and inlets, which did not afford
the necessary shelter for the vessel, Mr. Young’s party resolved to settle, as
we have seen, at Cape Maclear, whither, accordingly, they transported all their
stores. Mr. Young then set off on a voyage round the lake, in the course of
which he discovered a large extension of its waters, hitherto unknown.
Making his way northwards, he came in sight of the grand range which tow-
ers over Chiloweela; in places the mountains run sheer down into the lake,
and no bottom would be reached at one hundred fathoms. After weathering
a furious gale, which raged for thirteen hours, the Iala pursued her northward
voyage, passing the islands of Likomo and Chusamoolo.

Mr. Young reports that on his right an iron-bound coast stretched
everywhere, excepting when some ravine came down to the shore. In one spot
there were evident signs of a dreadful massacre having taken place—the
result of a slave-raid. Hardly any wood was to be procured there, in conse-
quence of the forests having been cleared, and the only remnant of a large
population was now to be found on rocky patches jutting up from the water
of the lake, and on singular-looking pile villages. It was found that the poor
creatures had conveyed earth in their canoes to these rocks and wherever a
crevice afforded a hold, there a little patch of cassava or corn appeared, grown
with infinite labour

The platform villages reached by Mr. Young were exceedingly interest-
ing. For the most part they are built three or four hundred yards from the
shore, and in from eight to twelve feet of water. Poles are driven down in
rows, and on the top of them a wooden platform is constructed forming the
foundation or floor of the village. To give some idea of the extent of these
villages, it may be mentioned that one of them consisted of about one hundred
huts. With an abundant supply of fish around them, the islanders were able
to hold their own against starvation.

Shortly after leaving these strange villages, Mr. Young met with some
scenery, the grandeur of which he thus describes:—“ We were now abreast
of some mountains that amongst the parallel ranges which virtually make a
mountain-basin of Lake Nyassa exceed them all in stupendous grandeur. In
no part of the world have I seen anything to equal their peculiar magnificence.
With peaks apparently from ten to twelve thousand feet high, they run per-
pendicularly down into the lake. The rain was pouring upon them, and

LAKE TANGANYIKA. 941

numberless waterfalls hung like threads of white floss-silk from crevices which
ran out upon their sides far up among the clouds. Baffled by the raids of
the Maviti in 1866, Livingstone could not induce his men to go with him to
the north end of Nyassa, and thus he missed seeing that which would have
struck him as the most beautiful feature of his old home, as he called the
lake. There was but one name to give to these mountains. At its north-
ern end they stand like portals to the lake, faced by the opposite mountains ;
and as future travellers look upon the Livingstone range, it may aid them to
remember the man who during his life, more than any other, added to our
knowledge of the hitherto unknown beauties of the earth.”

A violent storm, more like what might be expected on the broad Atlantic
than on an inland sea, prevented Mr. Young from doing much in the way of
exploring the unknown region at the end of the lake: nevertheless he saw
there what he believed to be the mouth of a wide river; and this opinion
was confirmed by what he learned from the natives the next time he landed
there. They stated that a river Rovuma or Rooma flows out at the extreme
north; and, for the following reasons, he inclines to believe their statement :
—lIn the first place, Dr. Livingstone heard the same story twenty years ago
when he discovered the lake and in quite a different quarter. It will be re-
membered by many how sanguine he was that the Rovuma River, which de-
bouches on the east coast, was identical with the Nyassa River, and that it
would prove to be a second outlet. It may yet prove to be so; but the dis-
covery can be of little use, for the Rovuma ceases to be navigable a short
distance from the coast. The second reason for believing the native report
is, that in the stormy time, when Mr Young was there, it was very easy to -
see where rivers ran into the lake. A long current of muddy water would
trail out on the dark-blue surface ; in this case, however, there was nothing
of the kind; and it is consequently tolerably clear that no inflow exists.

Crossing southwards along the western shore of the lake Mr. Young ob-
served, instead of the iron-bound coast on the opposite side, exquisite park-like
glades between the mountains and the water’s edge; the herds of game merely
looked up as the steamer passed, just as sheep raise their heads to gaze at a
train, and then went on browsing. In one place a remarkable, detached per-
pendicular rock stands four thousand feet high. The top is flat, and the sides
give it the appearance of a pyramid from which a large slice of the top has
been removed in order to place in position a perfectly square block of a green-
ish colour. Beneath this singular summit there is a deep horizontal band of
white stone or quartz succeeded by another of clay apparently; and then comes
one of intense black, possibly coal, for this mineral is known to all the
natives.

Mr. Young’s story of his cruise on Lake Nyassa furnishes undeniable evi-
dence of the justness of the name Dr Livingstone gave to this expanse of waters,

942 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, L.LD.

when he styled it the Lake of Storms; for he has constantly to record meet-
ing with storms, one more terrible than the other in succession. The last he
mentions must have been in its wildness fearfully and awfully grand. ‘ At
one time,” he says, ‘in the middle of a thunder storm of great fury no fewer
than twelve waterspouts appeared around us and we had literally to steer
hither and thither to avoid them, for had one overtaken us it would have sent
us to the bottom without a doubt.”

Such are the salient features in Mr. Young’s brief account of the first trip
made by a steamer on the stormy bosom of Lake Nyassa. It did not come
within the scope of his paper to describe the daily life of the missionary
party at Cape Maclear, the insight they got into the native life, the intrigues
of the slave-traders, nor the marvellous effect which the presence of HKurope-
ans produced on all sides, more especially in attracting to them from the four
winds the scattered remnants of villages swept away by slave-raids. He hopes
to preserve these details for the public in another form, which we feel sure
will meet with the welcome it cannot fail to deserve, as the record of the estab-
lishment of the first British Colony on Lake Nyassa.

We have alread referred to the establishment of a mission by the London
Missionary Society on Lake Tanganyika. The Rev. Roger Price, who was
employed by the Society to visit the spot, and make preparations for the
mission, returned to this country in September, 1876, having accomplished
his work. The main point to which Mr. Price’s inquiries were to be directed
was the means of transit between the coast and the interior. It has now been
found by actual experiment that it is perfectly feasible to take a bullock wa-
gon from the eastern sea-coast up to the Central Plateau, and that there is
neither jungle nor swamp, hill, nor tsetse fly to hinder such a course. On the
5th of June, Mr. Price crossed with his train of four oxen to Saadani. He
also took with him thirty bearers, with supplies of cloth and beads; both sys-
tems of carriage being necessary, since the bullocks were an experiment.
This effort was a complete success. In twenty-six days, he reached Mpwap-
wa on the Plateau, bullocks and all; rested four days, and in sixteen days
more was at Saadani, on the coast, again safe and well.

The following is a brief account of his journey. After leaving Saadani,
he came at once upon high land, a spur of the Usagara hills, which here
reaches right down to the coast; he had no swampy plain such as the Baga-
moyo route presents. The jungle is rather thick at an early point of the
route, but it was cut down with ease. A little later he had to pass through
a thicker wood, and the cutting a road open cost rather severe labour.. The
cart proceeded a long way on, but at last was caught on a hidden stump in
the grass and was broken in two. Leaving the cart, Mr. Price took the bul-
locks on in order to make sure about the tsetse fly. The ascents were not
difficult, and the inner valleys were not deep. He found the Nguru mountains

MR. PRICE’S JOURNEY. | 943

nearer the coast than he expected, and having pushed along them for a time,
he suddenly turned into a gap of the hills thirty miles long, and went through
on comparatively level ground, with high hills on each side. The streams
in the valleys were little trouble; on his return, near the end of July, they
were quite easy to pass. On going, one stream was deep; two others were
crossed by bridges. Near the upper part of the course he found a large popu-
lation and herds of cattle. There was no tsetse all the way. The people
everywhere were hospitable and kind; there were no gangs of slaves. Food
was sold at ordinary rates. The entire cost of the journey from Zanzibar to
Mpwapwa and back was a little over £200.

Dr. Kirk, her Majesty’s Agent and Consul-General at Zanzibar, in a de-
spatch to Lord Derby, dated July 27th, 1876, thus refers to Mr. Price’s jour-
ney :—‘‘ Mr. Price’s journey has been in every way successful, and he returns
prepared to give a most favourable report of the road, the country, and the
temper of the people among whom he passed. On Mr. Price’s arrival, seeing
that he was a man of experience in African travel, and had in view a scheme
which, if successful, would do more than anything yet attempted to open up
the lake regions to legitimate trade, I obtained an interview, and strongly
recommended him to the Sultan of Zanzibar, and it was after careful consider-
ation the line of route was selected.

“* Abandoning the Bagamoyo route, the one almost universally followed
at present, but known to lead through a district infested by the tsetse fly, so
deadly to cattle, it was determined to land at Saadani, and passing through
Uzugua and Nguru, reach Mpwapwa on the borders of Ugogo, where the or-
dinary caravan route is joined, and beyond which all travellers describe the
country as possessing cattle and not difficult to pass through. ‘The dangers
were, first, from the tsetse fly, and, secondly, from the nature of the ground,
for in many parts of the coast the grapes and woody jungles are practically
impenetrable for wagons, unless the road were first cut at great expense, and
again it remained to be seen whether the formidable slopes of the Usagara
hills that wall in this part of East Africa could be passed on suitable gradi-
ents.

“Mr. Price has now determined that on this line of road there is no fly
country, and this he has done, not by personal observation alone—for he is
too experienced an African traveller to depend upon the eye in so essential a
matter, but he has taken with him cattle from the island of Zanzibar, and
safely returned to the coast with the same, passing part of the way through
country where cattle are now kept by the people. Again, as to the nature
of the road, he tells me that on the whole way there is not a place to compare
for difficulty with those which the colonists daily pass, and that the ordinary
road between Graham’s Town and Algoa Bay is more difficult than that he
travelled in going to Ugogo.

944 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘‘ After leaving Saadani there are a few days’ journey over ground
covered with long grass, heavy in the wet season for cattle, also one or two
belts of jungle, which, however, he was able to cut his way through without
difficulty, taking a wagon drawn by cattle with him so far. On reaching
the higher ground, where the grass became shorter, he left the wagon, but
took on the cattle, for the purpose I have already stated. Reaching the
passes in the mountain he found the path leading between the two hill
masses of Nguru on the north and Usagara on the south. There he must have
attained a considerable elevation, for the thermometer fell at night to 45°,
although the days were hot; but he had no means of measuring heights,
what he was there engaged on being rather to view the roads, and he tells
me that he could pass these ridges with a bullock wagon without any extra-
ordinary difficulty.

‘Many parts of the country he traversed possess a dense population,
and the hills are cultivated to the summits. Sugar-cane he describes as grown
in large quantities and most luxuriant, the difficulty being to understand how
so much can be consumed, where sugar is not extracted, and the cane simply
chewed.

‘“¢ Although Mr. Price will, on his arrival, submit a full report of all he
has seen, I have thought the above sketch of his proceedings may not be un-
interesting to your Lordship, as indicating a practicable means of developing
at once the resources of the interior in a way that, so long as every article
sold or bought had to be carried by porters, could never have been done, and
I have urged his Highness to take advantage of the opportunity offered for
increasing the commerce of the interior, and retaining the trade his people
now possess with the lake regions in his own hands.”

On Mr. Price’s arrival in this country, he presented a full report of his
proceedings, accompanied by statistics and suggestions for the guidance of
future travellers, to the Directors of the London Missionary Society. From
that report we take the following extracts. Speaking of the main ranges of
Nguru and Kaguru-Usagara, Mr. Price says—‘*I could scarcely believe my
eyes, as I gazed upon the mountain sides, in the evening, and saw the smoke
ascending from a score of peaceful villages. I unexpectedly found myself
in the centre of a large population. The slopes of the great Nguru, which
during the day appeared still and lifeless, were now seen to be dotted over
with villages to a great height. From Mkiropa our course still lay through
the Nguru valley for about seven or eight miles, when, having rounded the
southern end of Nguru, we made a good deal of northing till we came to the
Mkundi River. The Mkundi is about thirty yards wide, shallow and swift,
with sandy bottom, It rises on the western side of Nguru. The Mkundi is
the boundary between the Nguru and Kguru districts, so far as any boundary
is recoguised.

IMPORTANCE OF THE NGURU DISTRICT. 945

‘**The opinion which I had formed of the Nguru district as an interesting
and important field for missfonary effort was greatly strengthened as I passed
through the valley. The whole valley and mountain sides are dotted over
with little villages, many of them within gun-shot of one another. Judging
from the number of villages which were visible, and the corn and sugar cane
fields, through the depths of which our path lay for the most part, the
Wanguru must be very numerous. And yet the great valley is capable of
sustaining five times the number. Its fertility is something marvellous:
much of the corn was sixteen and eighteen feet high. As to the sugar-cane
it was apparently almost uncontrollable—a perfect forest. The valley itself
is too rank in its vegetation to be suitable for live stock; but on the moun-
tain sides flocks of sheep and goats are kept, and on the northern side of the
range horned cattle also.

‘The Nguru district is one which could not fail always to be a centre
of population. In addition to the wonderful fertility of the valley itself the
mountains are very strong, affording protection from enemies, while water is
abundant. With a clear road to the coast, and it iseasily made, the N guru
valley might become very important as a source of supply of cereals and
other products. The Wanguru are eminently an agricultural people and
seem to trouble themselves very little either about trade or hunting, much
less about marauding expeditions against their neighbours. They arg cer-
tainly about the most friendly and tractable people that I have ever come across
in Africa. It is a rare thing in Africa to find so many people within a some-
what small area, and yet comparatively independent of one another. We
cannot pass by these quiet, peace-loving, industrious tribes, who do not hap-
pen to be so well known in the world as those of Mosilikatse, or Sebituane, or
Mtesa. The quiet stay-at-home people are generally the tribes which repay
missionary labour most, embrace the advantages of civilisation, and stand
the test of its many concomitant evils. Apart from the fact that there is
here already an immense population in a district capable of sustaining five
times the number, the position itself would be important in view of further
operations in the interior.”

In the tracts of uninhabited and rocky country which had now to be
traversed, the only break in an available wagon road was encountered. Soon,
however, the scene changed ; the two mountain ranges, the distance between
which had been gradually lessening, again separated, and the landscape be-
came wider and more level.

‘“‘Kmerging from the pass, we gradually rose for about four miles, when
they opened out to us the most cheering prospect I had yet seen in Hast
Africa. To the southward lay the great Kaguru-Usagara range, with a long
gorge leading up into the very heart of the great mountains, which seemed
piled up one behind another as far as the eye could reach. Through this

u 4

946 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

gorge comes out the beautiful stream which gives its name (Kitangule) to the
district, and which forms its principal water supply, although there are several
other smaller streams. To the northward, and round to the west and south-
west, are high ridges and detached hills, the whole enclosing a basin about ten
miles wide. ‘The whole of this was covered with a fine and comparatively
short grass, such as I had often seen in the great pasture lands of the south.
There was but little bush, except along the course of the ravines. The large
spreading mimosa, growing in its usual fashion, here a solitary tree, there
a clump of half-a-dozen, gave to the open parts of the basin quite a park-like
appearance. As this lovely scene was viewed from the height which we had
attained, I could not help saying to my South African servant, ‘Oh that
I had a wagon and a span of oxen now, and a proper African whip.’

“‘As might be expected, when we descended into the Kitange basin,
considerable flocks and herds began to appear. But what was most interest-
ing to me, from a missionary point of view (although to men with empty
stomachs and good appetites the appearance of flocks and herds was by no
means uninteresting), was the sight of the villages with which the whole of
this great basin was dotted over. Look wherever I would, I could not fail
to discover several of these, often within rifle-shot of one another. Up the
sides of the great mountain, on both sides of the Kitange gorge, as far as the
eye could reach—east, west, north, and south—they were to be seen. The
villages are mostly of the Tembe kind. This mode of building seems neces-
sary in this part of the country, where they have none of the protection
afforded by the thickets nearer the coast. One of the saddest features of
the state of things in East Africa is the constant fear which the people
have of being attacked. It is arare thing to see a male above the age of
twelve to fifteen, by day or by night—in the town or out of it, without arms
of some kind.

“Tneed not say that this is another very important and inviting missionary
sphere. If there is anywhere a country so near the Equator where Europeans
could live and enjoy health, Kitange is such. Kitange combines pastoral and
agricultural advantages, although, in the latter respect, it is not equal to the
Nguru district. The population of Kitange consists principally of Wakaguru,
although there are a few people from other tribes there. Even the Masai
are represented there. The people of Kitange get much iron ore in the Ka-
euru-Usagara mountains.” 5

Of the twenty-six days from Saadani to Mpwapwa, nineteen were march-
ing days, and included stages of varying duration. ‘“ Mpwapwa,” says Mr.
Price, “‘is decidedly dry, high and dry, and therefore healthy; and this is saying
a good deal of a place in Equatorial Africa. There is nothing like a swamp,
or anything that would generate malaria any where near, so far asI could see
or hear. In fact, I could not conceive the place to be otherwise than healthy for

MPWAPWA AS A TRADING STATION. 947

Europeans. The district seems to be productive enough of everything that
can afford to wait for the rain, which I am told never fails to come in the
proper time. Native food is abundant.

‘There is a considerable population at Mpwapwa, but it is of a very
mixed and nondescript character. The most numerously represented peo-
ple are, I think, the Wasagara. Then come the Wakaguru. There are also
villages of the Wagogo. The all-pervading Wanyamwezi are there too in
considerable numbers. There are also numbers of coast Arabs there, or peo-
ple who call themselves Arabs, but whose pedigree is probably as uncertain
as well can be.

** Like Shoshong in South Africa, Mpwapwa is not just the place one
would choose to live at. But like Shoshong, Mpwapwa is a kind of gate-
way to vast regions beyond. At Mpwapwa meet all the roads from the coast
to the lake regions, from Dare Salaam, from Bagamoyo, from Whinde, and
from Saadani; and it forms a fresh starting-point for caravans after all their
trouble and hard labour in the maritime and mountainous regions. Like
Shoshong, again, itis a most important position to occupy, both as a mission
and trading station. The population of Mpwapwa itself is sufficiently large
to justify the establishment of a mission there. Then there is Tubugwe, with
a considerable population. It, too, might be visited from Mpwapwa. But
the occupation of Mpwapwa is all important in view of the establishment of
inissions in the far interior, and should not be deferred.

‘‘ As a trading station, the importance of Mpwapwa cannot be overrated.
All the produce of Tanganyika, and a great deal from the direction of Nyanza,
and, of course, of all the countries this side, comes through Mpwapwa; trom
there it branches off to the different ports on the coast. A few men, or a
company, with a moderate amount of capital, and who would not be afraid
to lay it out in the first instance upon the establishment of a thorough com-
munication, by bullock wagon, or any better mode, between the coast and
Mpwapwa, could not fail in a short time to intercept a great proportion of the
produce of the interior, which now goes to the coast.”

On the return journey to the coast, and when about to enter upon the
uninhabited prairie, the travellers were on the move at a very early hour.
While breakfasting at Brack River Port they were visited by a number of
Wakamba—a nomadic, flesh-eating people, inhabiting the northern parts of
the Kaguru mountains. They are a portion of the ubiquitous Masai, who
are the dread of the whole country—a feeling which the following incident
serves to illustrate. Mr. Price writes :—

“We had been joined in our morning’s march by two natives from
Tubugwe. They wanted to go to Kitange, and joined us for protection in
crossing the prairie. I hired the one to carry water for me, and the other to
carry my Zulu cook’s bundle, as I feared he would knock up on the long

948 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

tramp, and the donkey was already engaged. All the vessels being filled
with water, we made a fair start, I leading the caravan according to promise.
When we had gone about two miles we came upon a fine lot of ostriches feed-
ing not far from the road. The temptation was too great. I left the road and
went to try and get a shot at them. They quietly moved off in their fashion,
always managing to keep out of range, yet tempting me on. I did not, how-
ever, lose sight of the caravan. When I had followed these birds for some
time, and was about to give them up, I happened to cast my eye forward
across the hollow of the Brack River which now lay before me, and I saw in
the distance a long black line of natives coming in our direction.

“TY could see at a glance that they were not an ordinary caravan by the
absence of the usual white bundles of up caravans. What could they be? I
bent my course towards the path, still watching them and wondering what
they could be. Then I looked round to see whether my own men were ob-
serving the black line in front of us..* At that moment they halted, and the
next thing I saw was the two men I had just hired putting their loads down
and bolting as hard as they could back along the road. I then went up to
the caravan and found the men in a state of considerable consternation.
That black line coming towards us were the Masai, and no mistake about it.
What was to be done? We decided to cross the ravine and halt on a bit of
a knoll on the other side until they should get nearer, for they were still a
good way off. ‘The loads were put down and the animals driven into the
midst of us, and there we stood to see what was to come next.

‘That they were not ordinary caravan natives was becoming more and
more evident as they approached. But what else should bring such a large
number of them (about seventy) to that place? I breathed a prayer that all
danger might be averted, and that there might not be the necessity for us to
act even on the defensive. I thought, however, it would be prudent to follow
still further the spirit of the advice which it is said Cromwell was wont to
give to his soldiers. I had not hitherto been in the habit of carrying the
powder-flask and balls, as the two loaded barrels were generally all I found
use for at a time. Now, however, I thought I might as well put a few spare
balls in my pocket, and take over the powder flask from Hassan. I can scarcely
venture to describe my feelings as I stood on that little knoll in the midst of
my comparatively unarmed little army, except that I had no inclination to
follow the example of the two Washensi and bolt. But afterwards, when the
supposed danger was past, and we exchanged jambos (good morning) with the
long line of swarthy, naked, savage-looking fellows, each one of whom was
armed to the teeth with ugly bows and arrows and spears, I remember dis-
tinctly feeling particularly brave and jocose.

‘They were the veritable Wakamba Masai. But as they drew nearer,
the practised eye of Zaidi, the carrier of my medicine chest, and an old

THH NYANZA MISSION PARTY. 949

caravan goer, discovered that they were all laden with meat. So to do away
with the appearance of our having been frightened, he shouted out nyama,
nyama (meat, meat—or they are carrying meat). Hava (go a-head), and all said
hata ; and so like brave men we moved on to meet our phantom ofa foe. The
Wakamba crossed the ravine, and followed its course down to join their friends
who had visited us at breakfast time. They were all heavily laden with
the meat and skins of game which they had killed with their bows and
arrows.

“Thus peacefully ended the battle of Brack River Port. And possibly
many an East African battle, which ends in cruel bloodshed, might end
equally peacefully, if people would but have the patience and humanity to
wait and see whether the supposed foe carried meat or not.”

The second stage in the arrangements on behalf of this new mission on
Lake Tanganyika has been reached, and the whole of the party forming the
first contingent of the expedition are on their way to the Hast Coast of Africa
—the starting-point to the interior. The names of the gentlemen are Revs.
Roger Price, J. B. Thomson, E. 8. Clarke, A. W. Dodgshun, and Messrs. E.
C. Hore, and W. Hutley. Mr. Hore is the scientific member of the party,
and has been engaged specially in view of the employment of a steamer on
the lake. Mr. Hutley is a practical builder.

For the service of the mission, in addition to personal outfits, the mis-
sionaries carry with them household stores sufficient for two years, together
with tools and building materials, medicines and medical works. Fittings
for a good-sized boat on the lake and survey instruments have also been sup-
plied to the party. This valuable store of goods will be transported into the
interior by means of a wagon-train drawn by bullocks under the guidance of
Zulu and Kafir leaders. It is hoped that by July 1st everything will be
ready for the commencement of the land journey, and that, all being well,
the entire party will reach the lake about the month of November next.

In the summer of 1876, the Nyanza Mission party, sent out by the
Church Missionary Society, in response to the invitation of King Mtesa,
sent to this country through Mr. Stanley, reached Zanzibar. Shortly after,
one of the number, Mr. James Robertson, fell a victim to dysentery ; and his
remains were interred at French Island. Lieutenant Smith, who had charge
of the mission, writing from Zanzibar, says—

“*T purchased the presents for kings Rumanika and Mtesa. For the former,
sets of brass salvers, and cooking pots, and a cloak, such as the Arabs here
wear—an Affghan one not procurable. For the latter a Turkey rug and a
scarlet johi, a cloak richly embroidered. Small zine tallies have been made
for the Pagaazi, and are hung round their necks by a brass chain. The
numbers run from one to five hundred, but I hope we shall not have to use
all. It is amusing to watch the pleasure with which they receive them,

950 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

reminding one of the pinning on of decorations to the breasts of gallant
men.

“The sultan has given me letters of recommendation to kings Mtesa and
Rumanika, also a general one for the way. The substance of them is, that I
am ‘a friend of his, and he hopes every one will treat me as they would him
(I cannot help thinking that may be a questionable advantage), and for so
doing he will pray that God may bless them.’ Dr. Kirk has also given a
letter to be used near the coast, where his name is known ; I am indebted to
him for much valuable advice, and he has given great assistance by, in some
measure, identifying himself with the expedition. To Mr. Holmwood the
Society are indebted for a most painstaking piece of work, the mapping out of
the Kingani River and its neighbourhood. He has also made us a present
of a quantity of metal sheathing and nails, which may ultimately prove very
useful, though at present I cannot afford means to transport it. Bishop Steere
kindly presented us with some of his printed handbooks, and wished us God
speed. Dr. Robb has been unceasing in his attentions, and we are deeply
indebted to him. Mr Archibald Smith, our agent, has helped us greatly.’

Having crossed from Zanzibar to the continent, the expedition attempt-
ed, in the first instance, to reach the interior by the River Wami; this proved
impracticable, as also the attempt to ascend the River Kingani. Ultimately,
therefore, the land route was adopted. The course pursued, though begin-
ning at Bagamoyo, the place where Speke and Grant, Stanley, and Came-
ron started, very soon took a more northerly direction, and struck the Wami,
which was crossed ; then the route of Mr. Roger Price, of the London Mission-
ary Society, was taken, and followed to Mpwapwa. The expedition travelled _
in four divisions; the first under Mr. T. O’Neill and Mr. G. J. Clark; the
second, under the Rev. C. T. Wilson and Mr. W. Robertson; the third, under
Mr. Mackay and Mr. H. Hartnell; and the fourth, under Lieut. Smith and
Dr. J. Smith.

The following extract from a despatch by Dr. Kirk to the Karl of Derby,
points out the impossibility of ascending the Wami:—‘‘Soon after arrival
Lieutenant Shergold Smith, formerly of the Royal Navy, in charge of the
mission, proposed making use of one or other of these rivers as a means
of getting beyond the coast region to the foot of the Usagara mountains,
ascended the river Wami, which had been spoken of in such high terms by
Mr. Stanley as navigable, and leading far inland, but abandoned the attempt
after gaining about thirty miles, a distance that on foot we could have done
in less than three days, but which, owing to the windings, the sudden bends,
and the force of the current, occupied more than twice that time to accomplish
in the steam-launch.

“Tn addition, the channel was found encumbered with snags, and the
natives said that shortly the river would iall, so that in many places it can

THE RUFU, OK KINGANI RIVER. 951

be forded on foot. ‘Thus, in the rainy season, the River Wami is a torrent,
overflowing its banks, full of snags and difficult to navigate, from the very
sharp bendings, and in the dry season it is too shallow to be of practical use,
Lieutenant Smith, therefore, abandoned the River Wami, not without having
contracted a fever that seriously delayed his further proceedings and prevented
him from going in person to the Kingani, which he had orders to explore
should the Wami fail. Under these circumstances, as it was most important
we should at present obtain reliable information as to the land slave route,
and how far inland the slayes were now passing to avoid the sultan’s officials
on the coast, I directed Mr. Holmwood to proceed in the steam-launch up the
River Kingani, and give his best assistance to the missionary party.”

In a letter to Lieutenant Smith, Mr. Vice-Consul Holmwood, who at-
tempted the navigation of the Kingani with Mr. Mackay, presents the follow-
ing report of that river :—

“The Rufu, or Kingani, is, as a navigable river, at present simply worth-
less. Its course is so tortuous that, in ascending forty-eight geographical
miles from point to point, one hundred and fifteen miles of water are traversed,
the distance by road to the same position not being more than seventy miles.
Beyond the tidal limit the stream is everywhere rendered dangerous by sunk-
en snags and fallen trees. The river though deep, soon narrows to about
twenty or twenty-five yards in most places, making it very difficult for any
but a short boat, and one having high steam-power, to get round the numerous
sharp bends, where the current often increases toarapid. Still more hazard-
ous is the descent; indeed, with six oars and both screws working, the ‘ Daisy’
was more than once taken out of all control by the current, and dashed
against the banks or on some obstacle in mid-channel, in one instance the
huge limb of a tree going through her sides and the water filling the engine
compartment instantly.

“ By such accidents, which would always be incidental to navigation in
this river, we were delayed several days, and greater inconvenience and loss
of time were occasioned thereby than would be incurred in the ordinary acci-
dents of land travel. The river, moreover, is only open for navigation from
about 1st of June till the end of August; for though in most years it might
be ascended in December or January—the rains in Usagara coming on about
that time—yet to be caught in a flood would be most dangerous, as not only
is the body of water irresistible, but large trees are swept down before it,
and in many places the bed is subject to be suddenly shifted. At the begin-
ning of September the river subsides to a fordable stream, except where deep
still holes have formed, or when an occasional freshet comes down during the
lesser rains. {

‘Phe Jungerengere is a deep but narrow feeder of the Kingani. Confined
by steep banks, it is a torreut during the rains, but rapidly subsides, and

952 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

when we reached it the stream was from twelve to twenty feet broad, with a
depth of about two feet. This influent, however, is unnavigable at all times,
even by canoes. Its chief interest lies in the great extent of its course and
violence of its floods. It dries up in September. Above the junction the
Kingani is called by the natives ‘‘ Mpezi.” It still continues to bear the same
character; the general depth of water, however, becomes diminished, and
the deep channel narrower.

‘‘We did not reach Kidunda, but saw it about fifteen miles to the south-
west. I had conversations with the most intelligent natives, and their de-
scription of the river and its banks from Kidunda to the junction of the Mgeta
was unvarying. The substance of the information thus obtained may here
be summarised. The country at and above Kidunda, though hilly in com-
parison with Ugaramo, is very unhealthy, and fever is as prevalent on the
high grounds as in the marshes adjacent; yet the hills appear to be composed
of stone, for the river here becomes choked with rocks and boulders. Speci-
mens of the latter, washed down by the floods, were seen in many of the
villages. The stone appeared hard, but brittle, and is used by the Waga-
ramo to sharpen their arrow heads and knives.

‘““Tt was considered just possible that, with good luck among the rocks,
your boat might reach the Mgeta in the months of June and July ; but, from
the description of the rapids and divided channels met with in this part of
the river, I am inclined to doubt the practicability of ascending beyond
Kidunda in an ordinary steam-launch ; indeed, I was told canoes were often
lost in attempting it. The Mgeta River, though a larger stream than the
_ Jungerengere, is equally unnavigable under any conditions. The Wakutu,
who inhabit this district, have become more reduced by the late Maviti in-
cursion than even their neighbours. Ukutu, the country through which the
upper portion of the Kingani, from the junction of the Mgeta to its source,
passes, is not only denuded of population, but by all accounts possessed of as
deadly a climate as is to be found in Africa. Such is the general description
of the Kingani and Jungerengere rivers. That of the adjacent country and
its inhabitants will best be illustrated by a brief sketch of our trip, and par-
ticularly of the people we came in contact with.

“On the 6th of July last, Mr. Mackay and myself left Zanzibar in the
Society’s yacht ‘ Highland Lassie,’ having your steam-launch ‘Daisy’ in tow.
We reached Bagamoyo on the 7th, and entered the Kingani the next after-
noon, aiter engaging a native pilot and guide. Our party had been augmented
by the addition of Mr. H. Hartnell, mate of the steam-yacht, whom Captain
Cannan had considerately placed at our disposal when we found all hopes of your
being able to join were at anend. His services were most valuable, and he had
little reprieve from duty at the helm, except when superintending the wood-cut-
ting, or, working hardest of all, in getting things in order after an accident.

WAGARAMO VILLAGES. 953

‘Beyond a general idea of the situation of the mouth, our pilot knew no-
thing of the river, while the guide’s want of knowledge respecting the higher
portion of the stream was only exceeded by his ignorance of Kizaramo, in
which language he professed to be a proficient. No one else in Bagamoyo,
however, professed even to know anything of the river, and after all the guide
was very useful, having travelled through Uzaramo before, and being able to
point out the different places situated on the main roads to Tungomero and
Mpwapwa. As, moreover, the majority of the people spoke Swahili fluently,
it turned out that an interpreter was not needed.

“Up to the ferry of Meituwambiji, on the Ukami road, the people dwell-
ing on both banks are Swahili, or slaves cultivating the plantations of pro-
prietors resident at Bagamoyo, and mostly professing Mohammedanism.
Shortly beyond this, Wagaramo villages commence. The first signs of these
were small groups of women and children on the banks, attended by a few more
than half-naked savages, each carrying a bow and two poisoned arrows ready
in hand, with a leathern quiver of the same at his back. These warriors
generally knelt in the tall grass or behind a bush, until the women reported
there was no danger. They have the head hideously thatched with a mixture
of black clay and oil, with beads or drops of the same at the ends of the rat-
tail-shaped points of hair which fringe it; their legs and arms are encircled
with heavy brass and copper rings, a few ornaments of beads or white shells
adorning their ears and necks. Both bows and arrows are most workman-
like in make and finish; the poison extends for about four inches below the
barb; when fresh, it is of a bright-red colour. They told me it is prepared
from the giant euphorbia, and that their medicine-men provide them with a
perfect antidote for it, but 1 failed to learn the nature or to procure a speci-
men of this compound. Many of the children are got up in the same way as
the men, carrying, however, miniature bows and arrows, the latter tipped
with hardwood points, and the shaft stained red where the poison should
be.

“¢ But this warlike appearance seems only a keeping up of the customs of a
generation now rapidly passing away. On closer acquaintance, these fierce-
looking persons were found to be generally of a timid disposition, and by no
means prone to an indiscriminate use of their weapons. Whenever a herd of
hippopotami in the channel rendered it necessary to sound the steam-whistle,
or the donkey-engine was turned on, they instantly fled for the nearest cover,
or carefully got the women andchildren between themselves and the supposed
danger, and rarely showed again unless the boat stayed a time for wood or
provisions, when they were the last to draw near.

“The women were, as a rule, much less timid; they are mostly fairer
than the Swahili, and their faces have few traces of the negro type. They
are, however, more sadly in want of clothing than even the men, and wear

v4

954 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

fewer ornaments. A little higher up the character of the people changes so far
that they are all busily engaged in profitable agriculture, and few find time
to get themselves up in war-paint. They more generally wear a little ridge
of muddy hair down the centre of their heads, as being less trouble to manage
than the thatch.

““From Kisabi to Mafizi the river winds and bends in an extraordinary
manner, irrigating the country, which is always very low on one side, some-
times on both, for miles, and, the soil being suitable, an almost unlimited sup-
ply of the finest rice might here be grown. There is, indeed, more pains taken
with the land in this district, and the quality of the grain, some of which I
had cleaned, is very superior. Mafizi was the place that most struck me, and,
staying here two days, I was able to mix with the natives, and many hours
were spent in the different hamlets quite alone among the people, whilst our
men were cutting fuel. I may here mention that it is right to go well armed
among unknown natives, and, when opening a conversation, it is prudent to
explain the action of a repeating rifle, or show the powers of a revolver, which
always duly impresses them.

‘“‘ This is the last of the five grain districts; it consists of four hamlets and
a few outlying huts on slightly rising ground, backed by the low hills of Dun-
danguru, a large district, of whom one Sahale is chief. I sent for him, and,
from his remarks, the appearance of his followers, and general report, am led
to believe that he and his people are a good sample of the nation, and that a
description of the Wagaramo, though applying, as far as my actual experience
goes, more especially to the districts from Kisabi to Mafizi and Dundanguru,
would be equally applicable to most of the country at the present time. Mafizi
is one of the few places on the banks of the river from which the inhabitants
do not remove during the rains; it is well above the river, and without swamp
in the immediate neighbourhood ; it has also good communication with all the
high roads, which may be taken to mean all such as are more than ten inches
wide. The elders told me that they would be delighted if white people
would settle amongst them and teach them, and stated that none would ever
be molested unless the Maviti again invaded the country.

‘‘ Beyond Mafizi there are few people, except at the junction of the
Jungerengere, near which are many villages. Here the population becomes
mixed in race, as also in their language. In each village there were Wakutu,
Wakami, and Wagaramo. This country is full of game; everywhere, a few
miles from the villages, are to been seen giraffe, brindled ’gnu, water-buck,
hartebuste, ete. Ona fine park-like plain, on the banks of the Jungeren-
gere, we saw four or five herds of giraffe feeding within a few hundred
yards of us, besides water-buck and other game, and in the evening a
large herd of ’gnu going to drink at the river. We were also told of an ele-
phant forest one day distant, and among the low hills, afew miles beyond the

BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT. 955

giraffe plain, rhinoceros and buffalo are said to be plentiful. This country was
populous and thriving a few years since before the incursion of the Maviti;
now the only traces we found of former prosperity were the charred remains of
numerous villages, strewn with fragments of household utensils, and indi-
cations of large plantations now rapidly lapsing to jungle. The fish of the
Kingani are very numerous and of fine quality ; wherever the banks are low,
they are lined with weirs and fish-traps of most skilful construction.

*‘ During our journey we happily had no trouble with the natives. There
were a few requests to know who we were who, .in defiance of all custom,
passed without stopping to see the chief, or get permission to enter the
country, and a mild hint sometimes was given about hongo, but was not
noticed. We were, however, well provisioned, and to a great extent inde-
pendent of the country, otherwise we should have been compelled to pay
prices that would have been equivalent to giving hongo.

‘*T am by no means able to confirm all that is said against the Waga-
ramo; on the contrary, I am led to think that, for Africans, these people are
unusually industrious and domestic in their habits, and in regard to morality,
far in advance of what is generally found in Africa. The women, though
made to do out-door work, are treated, as well as spoken of, in a becoming
manner, and every one is perfectly clean, the huts being beautifully kept in-
side, and the open space in the centre of each hamlet well swept, and often
having a bench for the elders, around whom it was customary for the young
men to congregate during leisure hours. Of course polygamy is customary,
but it is only the rule amongst chiefs and persons well to do. Marriage takes
place at any age; it is a matter of bargain with the father of the girl here as
elsewhere in Africa’ Ifa child, she works for her husband, living with his
mother or another wife till she becomes adult, after which she has a hut of
her own.

“The Wagaramo appear to have no religion, unless a lively faith in evil
spirits and witchcraft can be so termed. Miniature huts, containing charms
against the secret dangers of the seen and unseen world guard the entrances
to every village, and incantations for securing success are performed before
every important undertaking. A specific from the medicine-man also pro-
tects every hut and patch of cultivation, and there is no doubt of its efficacy
against thieves among themselves, when all believe in its power. The peo-
ple, however, are practical agriculturalists. Against the depredations of the
hippopotamus and pig they erect strong barriers and dig deep pits; and in
one of the latter we temporarily lost Mr. Mackay, who, stepping on shore
for the purpose of choosing a tree for fuel, suddenly disappeared. Fortu-
nately, the pitfall was only about six feet deep, and no spikes at the bottom,
so he escaped with nothing worse than a severe shock; but many of these
traps are as dangerous as they are deceptive in appearance.

956 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘‘ The only artificial marks I noticed among these people were upon the
professional hunters; they consist of numerous lines across the wrist and
fore-arm, which are supposed to give the power of shooting straight. The
worst superstition noticed by us is one very common in Africa—that of de-
stroying any child born with upper teeth. We passed one of these unlucky
infants just thrown into the river, and the people seemed to pity our ignor-
ance in remarking on the circumstance, and asking for an explanation.

‘‘ Mohammedanism has begun to make way among these people, and,
should the country become opened up, is certain to spread rapidly. Already,
in most villages, there are a few idle fellows who strut about with shaven
heads and make use of Arabic salutations, trying, with poor success, to imi-
tate the grave bearing of some true believer whom they may have been
associated with during a journey, or have met at a coast-town. They are,
however, looked upon as something superior by their fellow-villagers, whom
they behold with pity and contempt, although quite unable to teach the new
doctrine. If, however, this part of Africa should be visited by coast traders,
the arrival of educated Arabs would soon bring about the conversion to Mo-
hammedanism of this hitherto exclusive country.

“Strictly speaking, there is no form of government in Uzaramo. ‘The
head of each village has the mildest of feudal rights, and is supposed to render
equally light feudal service at the call of the Pazi, or chief of the district.
Good proof was afforded of the slight authority of the Pazi of the present day,
for the chief of Sagasera district, although, as he said, most anxious to cement
eternal friendship by presenting me with a sheep, was unfortunately prevent-
ed from doing so by our inability to wait whilst he sent to his town, about
four miles distant. If this old gentleman’s power had been in the smallest
degree of the despotic order, it might have occurred to him to get over the
difficulty which so distressed him by accepting the loan of one of the nume-
rous fatlings belonging to his sub-chief, which were peacefully grazing around.
After the Maviti invasion, however, the few chiefs left seem to have lost all
their influence in the country.

‘Slavery in Uzaramo is only known in its least objectionable form;
captives in war, runaways from foreigu masters, and even strangers permitted
to reside, and cultivate land, are called slaves; but, except for committing a
crime, are not subject to be sold, and their status in no way differs from
that of freemen, except that they are for the first year or two on trial, and
generally cultivate land assigned to them by the chief, somewhat stronger
feudal liabilities being probably entailed thereby. If, after probation, they
are approved by the inhabitants, and considered by the elders as an addition
to the tribe, they readily obtain wives, and their children become free Waga-
ramo.

“The Wagaramo have always been pre-emineat as expert thieves; it

PROGRESS OF THE MISSION PARTY. 957

was owing to their reputation in this respect that the route from the coast
to Unyanyembe by the old Kutu road was abandoned. Previous to the Ma-
viti invasion, small caravans were constantly robbed of almost everything ;
and even camps, guarded by large bodies of armed men, feared to retaliate,
though their lines were entered and robbed nightly, because the narrow paths
so often pass between impenetrable jungles, from which their necessarily ex-
tended formation, when on the march, could be attacked at so great an ad-
vantage.

‘“The people freely acknowledged that they are still adepts at night-
stealing, but they are also well aware of their decline in power, and would not
now, I believe, attempt to molest properly-armed travellers, who let it be
known that strict watch would always be maintained over their property.

“Tn the above sketch of the Wagaramo, the demoralised inhabitants of
the villages still skirting the old caravan road are only, as in the last para-
graph, incidentally referred to. They are in constant communication with
an idle class in the coast towns who scorn regular work, but are always ready
to engage in or abet any scheme for raising a little money. Doubtless many
kidnapping raids and small slave caravans have been organised between
them, and they would always combine to fleece, by every possible means,
a party of respectable people as long as they could do so without incurring
much personal danger.”

The progress of the mission party up to the time of their arrival at
Nyanza, will be learnt from the following communications, received from
different persons at different stages of the march. Lieut. Smith, writing from
Bagamoyo, in September, says:—‘‘ Small-pox is, I am thankful to say, less
prevalent. Dr. Smith has vaccinated as many Zanzibar men as have not yet
had it, but in no instance has it taken. One of our stokers and one Pagaazi
are down with the disease. We found the people yesterday morning nearly
roasting the sick stoker. A fire was lit under his bed, another smoky one
was burning in the corner of the room, and he was about to undergo the pro-
cess of picking. The doctor, however, prevailed on them to forego such a
useless and cruel practice, and content themselves with a wipe over with
warm water instead. The patient was passive, but his doctor-friends were sure
he would die if the custom of ages was neglected. The smoky room is con-
sidered part of the cure, and there may be something in that. It certainly
fumigates the chamber, and an English eye weeps where the native seems to
enjoy it. They cover the face with yellow turmeric to prevent scratching.
Nearly every man has well-marked indents of small-pox. Children are often
put with a small-pox patient in order to take the contagion. It is painful to
think of the annual mortality from this cause.

“Last Friday I went down to Whindi, a village about fourteen miles
from here. The groups of houses are perched on elevations which, at a cer-

958 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

tain time of tide, are surrounded by water. The main part of the place
stands near the sea, and is a straggling collection of mud and straw huts, with
one room set apart for the reception of strangers. It was raining on the day
I was there, and walking across the muddy wastes was like walking on ice
which had been ploughed. A friendly man invited me first under his um-
brella, then into his house, and, whilst waiting, sent one of his slave-boys to
pick some green cocoa-nuts for the juice. ‘The way these boys climb a tree
is by tying their feet about four inches apart, and by fingers and toes dexter-
ously used they quickly reach the fruit.

‘<'There is a peculiar relationship here called ‘little mother.’ It is aunt,
the mother’s sister. One day we were asked to give some money to purchase
medicine for the ‘little mother ;’ and rather to the young man’s discomfiture,
we asked to see her. On arriving, we found her lying on one of the country
beds, wooden frame, with cocoa-nut fibre rope forming the net between, and
the doctor examining could not discover anything wrong. She was offered
medicine, but said her only cure lay in adollar. As we met that disease so
often, we were obliged to leave the cure to nature.

‘On our return, we passed through the French Mission property, a well
cultivated estate of about seventy acres. It stands out as a silent witness to
the native population of what labour well directed can achieve. Hight years
ago all was jungle and forest; to-day it yields more than sufficient to supply
its two hundred or more boys and girls; also, I believe the vegetable and.
animal wants of the European staff, but of that Iam not quite sure. Since
my stay at Bagamoyo the maximum temperature has been 82°, and minimum
67°, with a regular sea-breeze, making the air cool and work pleasant.”

Writing from Mpwapwa, under date October 14th, 1876, Lieut. Smith
gives an outline of the journey to that place. He and Dr. Smith reached Phuni
on the 23rd of September; and, having on the march received a letter from
Mr. Mackay, saying he was very ill, Lieut. Smith hurried forward to render
what assistance he could. On the 26th he crossed the Wami by a capital
_bridge for Africa, part suspension, part tressle, the suspenders being formed
of lianes and stout creepers. As they approached Mpwapwa the country be-
came hilly, and sheep villages were scattered along the route. Cattle also
became plentiful, and the people appeared more independent and bold in
manner, ‘The last two days were saddened, as they found themselves in the
track of an inhuman leader, the men of whose caravan, dying of small-pox
and dysentery, were left on the road. They removed the dead and stayed
by the dying, but they were past human aid.

Three weeks later, under date Nov. 7th, Lieut. Smith writes from Un-
yambwa: “TI have been obliged,” he says, ‘‘to send our sick brother Mackay
back to Mpwapwa, or, if he feels strong enough, to Zanzibar. I am afraid to
trust him to the long marches. During the afternoon, the heat from the

WAGGOGO CURIOSITY. 959

parched ground is as trying as the blazing sun overhead. The doctor and
I have, by God’s blessing, enjoyed the best health. After Ugogo it will
be a treat to enjoy solitude. Waggogo curiosity is well described by Stanley,
as indeed is the whole country. Here itis excessive. We have to place
guards at the tent door to keep them from drawing the canvas aside and
peeping in. They have brought the art of robbery to perfection. Yet
they are a fine, bold race, and some day I hope will be brought to look on
honesty as more commendable than robbery. Our route diverges from
Stanley’s at Mukondoku, and making to the northward passes Simbo. It is
more direct, and, allowing for African roads, we are, I think about three hun-
dred and fifty miles from the lake.”

The following journal, kept by the Rev. C. T. Wilson, gives the fullest
account that has yet been received of the first half of the route to the lake,
viz., from the coast to Mpwapwa. The account of the route forward from
Mpwapwa to Nguru is comparatively meagre, having no doubt been sent off
in haste.

“ July 28th, 1876.—We were employed all the morning in getting the
pagaazi together, and getting their loads out. Some of them had been work-
ing at the French Mission on previous days, and had not got their cloth
packed, and we had a good deal of trouble with them about it; but by three
o'clock we had got most of them off for Gunira, the first halt, distant, according
to my pedometer, two miles and three-quarters. About three o’clock Lieut.
Smith and I started for Gunira with three pack-donkeys carrying loads; and
my servant Baraka, and Mabruki, the tall cooper and guide, who is the finest
specimen of a negro I have seen—tall, well made, about twenty-three years
of age, possessing all the good temper of his race, and as strong as a horse.
The donkeys were tied one behind the other, and gave us a great deal of
trouble at first, constantly flying off at a tangent and breaking their ropes ;
and on coming to the only tree on the whole way, which grew in the middle
of the path, two of them at once made up their minds to go on opposite sides
of it, and one was nearly strangled in the attempt. We got on with them
better for a time, till we came to the swamp just before Gunira, when the
donkey which was carrying the ammunition-cases wanted to lie down in the
water, but Mabruki had him up, and made him keep his feet. This swamp
was beautiful, being full of splendid ferns, and a very pretty pink convol-
vulus, and at night was perfectly alive with fire-flies—a sight worth coming
hundreds of miles to see. Arrived at Gunira, we unloaded the donkeys,
pitched the tent, and got things straight. Then we drew up our men in a
circle, and the kilangozi, or guide and head-man, went round with us while
we paid each man two days’ postho or money allowance for food, and gave
each man a zine tally, with a number on it, to distinguish them. These
tailies delighted them, and many of them went off with them, skipping and

960 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

dancing like children with a new toy. Ihad intended to remain at Gunira;
but as my bed had not arrived, and there was nothing for me to eat, I went
back to Bagamoyo with Smith. Our interpreter and cook were to have come
today from Zanzibar, but did not turn up.

“29th. After getting a few more loads off, I set off for Gunira, taking a
quantity of pice with me for postho. Arrived at Gunira, I got the tent to rights,
A man came with some wild ducks for sale, Robertson arrived with his servant
William, and we put up our beds and made things comfortable, and then had
dinner. After prayers, and writing up my diary, we turned in, as both of us
were tired.

‘* Aug. 1st. Mohammed came up early in the morning, and said the inter-
preter had come, so I decided at once to go on to Kekoko. When two-thirds
of the men were off, the four pack-donkeys were started, and I followed them,
leaving Robertson to see the rest of the men off, and follow on the riding-
donkey. About a mile from Gunira we came to a mud-hole, which had to
be crossed, and here my troubles began. The two smaller donkeys, includ-
ing the one carrying the precious ammunition, got through the mud fairly
well, but the other two lay down in it, and refused to stir. We had to take
their loads off, and haul them out by main force. I was toiling away with
coat off, shirt-sleeves rolled up, and up to my knees in a sticky compound of
black mud and water under a scorching sun for three quarters of an hour.

At last, however, we were off again, and, crossing a wooded ridge, en-
tered the broad, flat valley of the Kingani, covered with a dense growth of
high grass in which autelope and hippopotamus are found. But here again we
had terrible work with the donkeys. ‘There was a deep muddy ditch, down
which a slow stream of water was flowing, to be crossed. A single narrow
plank had been placed as a bridge, and over this we had to get the donkeys,
but they refused to go, and began to plunge, so we had to unload them all,
and haul them across. In the midst of my troubles, Robertson came up and
gave a helping hand, and, after an hour’s hard work, we were off again, and
plodded on over the plain. There were immense quantities of a lovely little
pink here, varying in colour from pale crimson to deep scarlet. About half
a mile from the river we came to another ditch, narrow but deeper, and with
more water in it than the former. I made a bridge of logs, and bundles of
grass laid over, but the donkeys would not cross it; so we cut some planks,
nailed them to posts driven into the mud, and forced the animals over a
plank bridge. We soon reached the river, and, having crossed it, encamped
for the night. The distance from Gunira to the river by my pedometer was
six miles and three-quarters. The day was bright and very hot.

‘2nd. Got up early and went out to shoot some provisions. I deter-
mined to go on to Kekoko without delay. ‘The road lay by the river for a
mile, and then entered a dense grass jungle, which gradually gave place to

FATAL CASH OF SMALL-POX, 961

— = >

beautiful park-like country, with giant cactuses and euphorbias growing in
the thickets. Shortly before this I passed the body of a boy by the road; he
had died apparently of small-pox. About four o’clock I reached Kekoko,
which consists of a few huts here and there, among maize and mahogo fields.
An Arab sent us a present of a fowl, and lent us a grass mat to use as a car-
pet, and told us to keep a good watch, as there were thieves about. Distance
from the Kingani to ‘\ekoko five miles and three-quarters by pedometer. Hot,
but cloudy. A shower about three o’clock.

“8rd. Got up early, and began to prepare for a start, but the kilan-
gozi refused, saying the men waited rest, and would desert if we attempted
to go on against their will; so there was nothing for it but to wait till to-
morrow, as desertion is a thing to be especially avoided if possible. So, as all
our meat was done, Robertson and I went out to see if we could find any ante-
lope, or anything in the shape of meat, but we only gota few pigeons. About
three o’clock Mabruki came with two cooks, one of whom, to our delight, was
able to bake bread, for we have had none for a week; they also brought us
a note from Smith and some oranges. The flowers and insects were most
lovely ; among the former is a handsome purple water-lily very similar to the
English white one, a fine crimson hibiscus, and a shrub something like a
myrtle, but with crimson flowers. There are quantities of palms, mimosas, and
ebony-trees, these last being used for firewood. There arelarge numbers of beau-
tiful butterflies. The birds too are very varied and pretty. To-day I saw four
large vultures, and yesterday I shot a lovely little green and yellow parrot.

“4th. By daybreak the camp was astir, and at 6.30 the first of the cara-
van started. After going about a mile, the donkeys were in difficulties
again. The road lay through most lovely, open forest—clear spaces covered
only with high grass, alternated with clumps of large trees surrounded by
dense jungle, among which the path wound. The air was loaded with the
scent of various aromatic plants, as jessamine and syringa, of which there was
a species with a large white blossom. The road ascended gradually for six
miles, till we were two hundred feet above the Kekoko. At this point we got
the first approach to a distant view we have yet had, and on all sides was the
same interminable forest, reaching even to the tops of some blue hills before
us, distant some thirty miles. ‘The path then descended into a grassy valley,
where we encamped, having gone seven miles by my.pedometer. There was
no village near, and nothing, consequently, to be bought; and as our stock of
meat consisted of two or three pigeons, Robertson and I took our rifles and went
out to look for antelopes, which were said to be near ; but after a weary tramp of
some miles, we returned without having seen anything. We got some tama-
rinds here, which were a zreat boon, as we made a most refreshing drink
from the acid pulp which surrounds the seeds, mixed with sugar and water.

After dinner we went to bed thoroughly tired.
w 4

962 _ LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

‘‘ 5th. There was nothing for breakfast but coffee and a few small bis-
cuits, so after making the most of these, we started about seven o’clock. The
road lay through the same park-like forest as before; indeed, so like an Eng-
lish park was some of it, that I should scarcely have been surprised if, on
turning a corner, I had seen a large house and well kept- garden. After a
two and a half hours’ march we arrived at Rosako, distant eight miles from
our last camp. Here we encamped, and the news soon spread that a Musungu
caravan had arrived; and the chief of the village sent a sheep to know if we
would buy it, which we did for two dollars. Soon after, this official appeared
in person, bringing us a present of bananas, half of which, however, turned
out tobe bad. He then said that there were plenty of giraffes and deer not
far off, and that he would send a guide to show us where to find them. Then
he told us that he must have sixteen pice more for the sheep, which were
given him. When the guide came we set off to look for the promised game,
but, after wading four miles through tall grass, we returned without having
seen anything bigger than a rat. Not feeling well—the result, I think, of
the march on an empty stomach—I took a good dose of quinine and went to
bed early, and this set me to rights. During the evening we had rain.

“« Sunday, 6th. To-day we rested. ‘The men would have gone on, but
we explained to them what the day was. Soon after breakfast the chief of
the village came down, bringing us a present of a yam, telling us he had a
bag of Matama (millet) to sell, so, as we had found we had not food enough
for the men, we said we would go and see it. The village was a mile from
our camp, and was clean and very pretty; the little children ran screaming
away as soon as we appeared. ‘The matama was brought, and we agreed
to buy it, and also a bag of rice. The matama we brought with us; the
rice was not quite ready, so we left a man to bring it. In conse-
quence of a dispute about the bargain, the chief at first refused to send
it; but having despatched thirty of our men to bring it down, in half an
hour they returned with it in triumph. During the morning an ivory cara-
van passed on its way to the coast.

“7th. About half past six we were off again. The road was still
through forest, with much denser jungle, the path often being only a foot
wide, with a thick wall of vegetation on both sides. Stanley speaks of hay-
ing had considerable trouble here with his donkey cart; but the wonder is
how he ever got it through at all, if the jungle was then in the least like what
it was when we passed. Here we encountered the first rock I have seen
since leaving the coast—a yellow sandy limestone. The Udoe hills appeared
to-day to the westward of us. I caught a glimpse of them through the trees
on the top of the highest ridge we crossed. After a march of four hours we
encamped at a place called Pasakwanani, ten miles from Rosako—the long-
est march we have yet made. A little way before it we passed some fields,

A TROPICAL RAINFALL. 963

in which millet was growing to a height of sixteen or eighteen feet, and
abounding in a beautiful lilac convolvulus and a pretty little scarlet mallow.
Soon after we arrived we had the villagers round us bringing provisions to
sell. We bought a sheep, a bag of millet, and a quantity of sweet potatoes.
To-day I found some ferns, almost the first I have seen on the mainland.

‘8h, We started at seven o’clock. Almost immediately we came out
op a sort of down, and then descended into a valley, with a stream of brack-
ish water flowing through it, and containing fields of millet, mahogo, and
tobacco. We encamped at a village called Brahim, near the stream, having
gone six miles. We had heavy rain in the afternoon.

“‘10¢h. Started at a quarter after seven. The road still lay through for-
estpand we had also four streams to cross, all in gullies, which gave us some
trouble with the donkeys, and delayed usa good deal. After a five hours’
march we reached the village of Mezizi, having gone nine miles and a half.
Soon after we had pitched our tent, down came the rain, like a heavy Eng-
lish thunder storm, and the water came pouring into our tent; so Robertson
and I turned out, and spent half an hour or more in making a ditch round
it, and draining off the water. I sent a message to the king of the place to
say I should be glad to see him, and before long he came. He told us that
the Makata valley was only six days distant, so we may get over it before
it becomes very swampy. He laughed very-much at an air-pillow we showed
him. As rain continued to fall, and as our tent was very damp, we tried a
fire in the evening, but were nearly smoked out at first, owing to the damp-
ness of the wood.

‘117k. The men said they were too tired with yesterday’s march to go
on, so we had to stop. The king told us there were plenty of wild cows
(buffaloes, I suppose), but we saw none of them. It rained more or less all
day ; our tent and the ground got thoroughly sodden; all my sleeping-suits
got wet, with the exception of one blanket, so [had to sleepin my clothes on
my cork mattress.

“12zh. We started to-day at 7.20. It was a lovely morning, with a thin
- mist hanging on the ground, which, however, soon disappeared when the sun
got up. The ground was exceedingly muddy and slippery for a mile or so,
but then we got on a hard, red sandy clay, which was much better. Before
we had gone very far, the man who was carrying the oil-cans managed
to run his spear through the only can of paraffin oil we had for our lamp;
fortunately we have cocoa-nut oil and candles enough to last for some time.
Soon after this the Pongwa hills appeared a few miles in front of us to
the north-west. The road still lay through forest, with long grass instead of
jungle, in which were quantities of grouse and guinea-fowl. After going
nine miles, we reached the foot of the first peak of the Pongwa hills—a fine,
bold hill, with large masses of rock near the summit, its sides being nearly

964 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

covered with forest ; the top is bare of trees. We skirted its base, passing
through ficlds of tobacco and matama, till we reach the village of Pufuma, a
distance of ten miles and three-quarters—our longest march. It took four
hours and three-quarters to accomplish. The day was very fine; the heavy
clouds, which in the morning had threatened rain, gradually cleared away,
and left a cloudless sky at evening. ‘The couxtry here has a curious appear-
ance, asnearly everything is red. The soil is a bright, red, tenacious clay,
of which the houses are made, a framework of sticks being thickly plaster-
ed with it. The bark of the trees has the same colour and gives a curious
appearance to the forests. I should think, when Africa is opened up, there
will be large quantities of iron found here. I was struck by the immense
number of castor-oil trees here, whole acres being covered with them,»and
they grew thickly in the matama fields.

** Sunday, 13th. After breakfast we made inquiries as to the possibility cf
getting to the top of either of the mountains, but we found that the one
was infested with large snakes, and the cther with lions, so we did not
make the attempt.

“14th. By daylight the camp was astir, and at 7.15 we started, I as
usual going with the donkeys, as we nearly always have some difficulty with
them. ‘To-day was no exception, as we had several steep gullies to cross.
After we came to the rest of the caravan, which had halted to allow the don-
keys, which had got far behind, to come up, I found Robertson suffering trom
the beginning of an attack of fever, and hardly able to sit on the donkey he
was riding. I at once sent some men on with tho tent to the village where
we were to encamp, which was about two miles further on, with orders to set
it up ready for us. After crossing the river or brook Funi, which flows into
the Wami, we entered the village, and, on going to see if the tent was up,
I found nothing whatever done to it; so, getting the men together, I had it
up in a few minutes, and Robertson was soonin bed. I gave him a dose of
Livingstone’s mixture, and then quinine. The march lasted four hours and
a quarter, and we went about ten miles. The first part of the road lay close
under the larger of the Pongwa hills. We saw a prominent hill to the N.N.W.
called Panga, and to the N.W. the Nguru hills were visible in the dim
distance.

‘615th. Robertson was too ill to move. In the morning, though far from
well, I walked down the Fumi for some way to determineits course ; it flows
about due north, thus, as the natives say, flowing to the Wami.

**16¢h. Robertson a good deal better. Decided to go on, and sent for
the kilangozi to tell him so, when I found the men had a lazy fit; they said
some were sick, and one had broken his leg. I went to see the broken leg,
and found it perfectly sound; so I told the men I should give them no food
that day; if they would not work, I should not feed them.

THE WAMI VALLEY. 965

“*18¢h. The men were willing to march. Robertson was nearly well,
and decided to ride the saddle-donkey. We tried to get men to carry me in
a hammock, but none could be got, as just before there had been a fight be-
tween the village we were at and the one to which we were going. Soa pack
donkey was cleared for me, and a blanket folded and tied on the pack for a
saddle. When we got to the gate of the village at which we stopped, I was
lifted off the donkey quite exhausted. I had a very bad night.

“21st. We set off early this morning—I on the pack donkey again. I
was much better and stronger. The road was over several hilly ridges run-
ning down to the Wami, and covered with forest. After a march of about ten
miles we reached the village of Wedigumba, in the valley of the Wami, and
about a quarter of a mile from the river. The Wami here looks like a river
that would be navigable to a steam-launch; it was about sixty yards wide,
flowing with a strong muddy current about two miles and a half an hour;
its course was due east. The banks of the river are very pretty ; tall trees,
covered with enormous creepers, overhang the stream, dipping their boughs
in its water; the pretty jesamine grows plentifully, filling the air with its
scent. Here and there are little islands covered with a tall, graceful grass,
and a little bright-green palm. One tree I have especially noticed here; it
has bark something like the plane-tree, only whiter, and has a spreading head
of dark foliage. It grows perfectly straight, without a branch till near the
top. One I saw must have been eighty or ninety feet to the first branch,
and as straight as an arrow.

(22nd. We started about half past-seven and proceeded up the Wami
valley. The character of the country was completely changed, being a broad,
flat, open valley, with very few trees except on the river bank, and these few
mimosas and acacias. The valley is evidently a swamp during the rainy
season, but now it was dry enough. After three and a half hours’ march we
stopped at a miserable village, called Mbuni, consisting of three or four huts.
I was quite well again.

“24th. We started this morning at seven, and soon left the valley of the
Wami, passing through hilly forest, with here and there huge masses of syen-
ite cropping up. At one place I saw a beautiful crimson azalea in full flower
growing by the road side. We encamped in the forest, having gone about
eleven miles and a half—our longest march. There was no water anywhere
near the camp, so the natives made holes in the ground in a hollow near, and
these were soon filled with a liquid very much resembling soapsuds, and with
this we had to be contented. The Nguru hills, which were abreast of us at
the last village, were now behind us: these hills are wrongly placed in Speke’s
map, being put much too near the coast. We had rain at night.

25th. The road lay for some way through forest, and we passed a fine
bold mass of rock, two hundred or three hundred feet high, apparently of a

966 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

coarse conglomerate sandstone, with trees growing on it. After a time we
left the forest and entered the valley of the Wami again, along which we
proceeded for a couple of miles, and then encamped at a village one hundred
yards from the river called Kwediebago. At a village we passed on the edge
of the valley, I noticed a large tree like a sycamore without a single leaf,
but completely covered with little green figs. I think this must be the syca-
more of the Bible, or a tree closely allied to it. In the evening the king of
the village sent to receive the toll which it seems it is customary to charge
caravans for crossing the Wami, which we are to do to-morrow; I suppose it
is for keeping the bridge in repair. He wanted to charge ten doti, but, as I
found that three was the usual toll, I refused to pay any more.

‘26th. The men did not want to go, but the king of the village sent a
message to say he wanted us gone. So I told him that I could not get them
to move, but if he liked to try I should be very glad. He did so, and, his
majesty’s logic succeeding, we were off by a few minutes past eight. Our
road lay through the forest which covers the banks of the Wami, and which
must be almost primeval. Enormous trees, covered with creepers as thick asa
man’s leg, and often twisted like huge ropes, form the forest, as there is little
underwood. It was deliciously cool here, as the trees quite kept out the sun.
We soon came to the bridge, and such a bridge it was! It was made of two
stout creepers stretched from one bank to the other, and supported at inter-
vals by stakes driven into the bed of the river. Here and there stout pieces
of wood were tied across from one creeper to the other, and on these were
lashed long poles, with occasional cross-pieces to keep them in their places.
Two rude sort of hand-rails were made of creepers fastened to sticks. The
bridge was also further secured by creepers tied to trees on each bank; but
the whole shook and trembled most ominously when you walked on it. The
sticks, too, had got worn smooth, and were quite polished from frequent use;
there were also great gaps, which told you plainly if you slipped you must
go into the river below. The men got over very well, and, with a little trou-
ble, the donkeys were got across also. We encamped in a grassy plain, hav-
ing gone three miles, and taken four hours to do it.

“ Sunday, 27th. We rested to-day as usual. The Usagara Mountains are
right in front of us, and look very grand. We were very much troubled by
large black ants, which got into everything, and crawled all over us; they
did not sting, but were very annoying.

“287k. At 6.45 we started. The road lay for some miles through an
almost treeless plain, in which were large herds of different kinds of ante-
lopes, which stood and stared at us as we passed. The road was rather
swampy at first, which made walking unpleasant. After a time we entered
a number of groves of palmyra palm, and, after this, forest again. The path
led gradually up towards the mountains. We encamped at the foot of a

THE WARLIKE MASAI. 967

small hill in the forest, having gone nine miles and a half in four hours.
One of the men found a quantity of wild honey, which we bought from him;
it was dark-coloured, but very nice. The water here was horrible.

*€ 29th. We started at 6.35, and soon left the forest and entered fields of
matama. Afvier leaving these we entered jungle with grass about eight feet
in height, and the road lay through this for some way. Then we got into
cultivated Jand again with fields of Indian corn, matama, pumpkins, and
tobacco. After going some miles, we came to a running stream of beautiful
water, at which we filled our water-bottles. Soon after crossing it, we en-
camped in a matama field from which the grain had been reaped, having gone
seven miles and a half.

* 30¢h. We halted here to-day. One of the men died during the night
of small-pox, and another is ill of it. I fear it is getting a hold in the cara-
van. lintended going out after the antelopes which abound amongst the
hills, but it was such a blazing hot day that I did not attempt it.

“Sept. 4th. We started at seven. The road lay along mountain-ridges
covered with forest; wherever the trees were thinner, we got glimpses of high
mountains all around us, north, south, and west. We kept along the ridges,
crossing once a gully, which rather delayed the donkeys. Then the forest
got thinner, and gradually gave way to cultivated land, large numbers of
bananas and matama fields, from which latter the grain had been reaped.
Aiter passing three or four villages we crossed a stream of water, sweet but
not clear, and encamped on a hill near the village of Magubika, having gone
eleven miles. Close by our camp was that of a party going down to the
coast with cattle they had brought from Unyamwezi.

“6th. We started at seven. The road lay at first for some distance
through a forest of young ebony trees. We then crossed a steep ridge, bare
of trees, but with quite a little grove of sage-bushes growing on one part, the
plants being often eight or nine feet high, and sometimes eleven or twelve.
We encamped in a matama stubble-field, having gone only six miles. ‘The
forest is getting much thinner. Some Arabs here told us that at a village
which they passed, and which we must pass, the people were fighting with
a band of the warlike Masai; but there cannot have been any real fighting,
as the Arabs are such arrant cowards that they would never have gone near
the place; subsequent inquiries proved it to be so.

“7th. To-day we met with the bamboo growing in the forest—the first
time we have seen it on the mainland. We had several ravines to cross,
generally with streams flowing down them, and in some of them were quan-
tities of beautiful ferns. We encamped on a hill, having gone six miles.
This was a very hard march, and I was thoroughly tired.

“8th. We started at seven, and entered the forest again, which, how-
ever, was generally thin. At one part we had a splendid view of a wooded

968 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

plain, dotted here and there with red-walled villages, and looking very rich
and fertile. We encamped on the bavk of a dry stream. The number and
size of the dry gullies we have passed shows what an enormous quantity of
water must pour down here in the rainy season. We got some sour milk
here, but not at all like milk when it turns sour in England, being purposely
made so—it is not at all bad. Our march to-day was about seven miles and
a half.

On the 18¢2 the party reached Mpwapwa; and there found Messrs.
Clark and O’Neill who had gone on before. On the 87rd October, Lieut.
Smith and his party arrived, bringing the September mails, having come
most of the way from the coast by forced marches. Mr. Wilson’s journal thus
continues :-—

““7ch. O'Neill and I bade farewell to Mpwapwa. We passed close under
the mountains, and reached Chunyo soon after sunset, the distance being
twelve miles, and the latter part of the road very rough. We were now to
begin the crossing of the terrible Marenga Mkali, a plain where for forty
miles not a drop of water nor a human habitation is to be found.

‘9th. We walked on, expecting every minute to come to open ground;
but no, there was the same interminable jungle. At last we suddenly emerged
on to open ground, dotted with huge baobab trees (a peculiar feature of the
country), and I knew that I was in Ugogo, and that the terrible Marenga
Mkali was passed.

‘13th. The hongo or tribute was to be paid to-day, so we did not go on.
The king took as hongo twenty-seven doti of cloth, one zinge or bundle of
brass wire, and some yellow beads. We wanted to leave a letter here for
Lieut. Smith, but an Arab belonging to another caravan told the king that it
was poisoned, so he would not take charge of it.

‘“ Sunday, 15th. Last night we encamped near the dry bed of the river
which runs at times by the set of villages called Matamburu. We stopped
here to-day. The king paid us a visit in the morning; his name is Kirema-
ganda. He remembered Stanley.

“17th. The path led us between two hills, through forest and jungle for
twelve miles, to the village of Bihawani, where we encamped, as hongo had
to be paid here. Mohammed told me the king wished to see me. I found
him a simple, childish old man, who was delighted to see me, and said I was
the first white man he had seen. He was particularly struck with my beard
and shoes. He asked my name, and told me his own, Minyitangaru, and
said we must exchange names. He would call himself Wilson, and I must
take his name.

“©18th. The road led through a narrow plain, dotted over with baobab
trees, to the village of Kiddidimo, four miles and a half distant. Here we en-
camped, as hongo had to be paid. This part of Ugogo is far more like what

ENCAMP IN A GROVE OF PALMS. 969

I had expected from Stanley’s book. It seems, for the most part, hilly, and
to have far more jungle and forest and waste land than cultivated.

‘¢197h. We ought to have gone on to-day, but Maganga wanted to wait
for Terekeza, a negro, who is taking a large caravan to Usukuma to trade for
ivory. He is one of those unscrupulous characters not uncommon in the East.
His caravan, and one Mackay was bringing to Mpwapwa, travelled together
some time; and because Mackay’s cloths were better than his, he told the
people that Mackay’s were poisoned, so nobody would sell Mackay anything,
and he had to take another road.

‘‘ 20th. The road lay through jungle so dense that we had to keep a sharp
look-out to prevent our helmets being knocked off. Soon after six we reached
our camp under some remarkable rocks.

“21st. Before daylight the camp was astir, and at 5.25 we were off. Mo-
hammed told us it was only four or five miles to the village, but it turned out
to be eleven. We encamped in a grove of palms, the first we have seen for
two hundred miles. The name of the village is Kitararu. We have now left
the Unyanyembe road, and are on a track not much frequented by caravans,
and O’Neill and I are probably the first white men who have been along it.
The water here is brackish, as the village is just on the edge of the great salt
plain from which the Wagogo get their salt. The name of the king here
is Simami.

“< Sunday, 22nd. We stopped here to-day. The king came to see us seve-
ral times, bringing on one occasion a calabash of fresh butter; he also gave
us a quantity of very good fresh milk, which was particularly acceptable. In-
deed he is by far the most liberal king we have come across yet. The Wa-
gogo were very troublesome, crowding round the tent to stare at us, blocking
out all the little air there was, and walking into the tent in the caolest
manner.

23rd. As we passsed the king’s tembe, he sent us out some new milk,
and gave usa goat. We crossed the eastern corner of the salt plain, and reached
our camp at the village of Mbuki, a distance of six miles and a half. Our
camp is again in a grove of palms. The king, whose name is Kisanza, was
away, and so the hongo could not be settled.

24th. The king returned last night, but said he could not settle the hongo
to-day, so we must wait till to-morrow. The Wagogo here are even more
troublesome than at Kitararu. The water here is good, and we got some
mud-fish to-day. O’Neill likes them, but I think them very nasty.

“25th. The heat of this plain is very intense, and the glare from the
sand excessively trying. The hongo was settled to-day. The king came
to see us in the evening. On his return, he sent us a cow as a present.

26th. Kept due north some way, and then turned west, passing through
a grove of palms of considerable size. This plain on which we now are

4x

970 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

has, no doubt, been once a lake. Among other evidences, I saw on the march
to-day clear traces of an old beach in one or two places. We reached our
camp at 10.5—distance about eleven miles.

“27th. The hongo was settled to-day—fifteen doti of coloured cloth.
The name of the place is Puna, and of the king Marangoga.

‘28th. The road passed alternately across bare open plain, and dina
jungle much more interesting than former ones, as all the trees and bushes
were in full leaf. Away on our left stretched the bare plain, eas as dismal
and dreary as the desert.

‘“Nguru, Usukuma, Dec. 11th.

‘“‘We are now at last only a few days’ march from the lake, but I fear we
shall be detained here some time. This place is a sort of rendezvous for the
caravans to and from this part of the country; and to this place our pagaazis,
or porters, engaged to come, a few only agreeing to go on to the lake. So
when we arrived here, which we did yesterday, most of our men left us; conse-
quently, we shall to have to engage a number of fresh men to carry our things
on to the Nyanza. This would have been an easy matter if we had reached
this place five or six weeks ago; but we have arrived at an unfortunate time,
for the rainy season is just setting in, and all the people are busily engaged
in sowing the matama, or millet, and Indian corn, so that we shall have little
chance of getting men for three weeks or a month, when the sowing time will
be over. Soon after leaving Mpwapwa, we left the beaten road to Unyan-
yembe, and passed through new country, which was very largely jungle of
forest. Thus, on one occasion, we marched for eight consecutive days through
unbroken jungle; and the last four marches before reaching this place were
through another unbroken jungle, so a great deal of our time has been spent
in the forest. ‘The people we passed through were the Wagogo or people of
Ugogo—the Wataturu, a warlike scattered tribe, who live in the first big
jungle we passed through, and Wasukuma, or people of Usukuma, among
whom we now are. The men here, when in holiday costume, smear their
bodies with red clay and dress up their hair with a paste of red clay and
rancid butter, and the odour of a crowd of Wagogo is most overpowering.
They seem to have no religion, and little or no idea of a God, though they
are superstitious and afraid of evil spirits. They also have great faith in
their ‘magangas,’ or medicine-men, who profess to make rain, etc., and
stand in great awe of them. At one village I wasset down as a ‘ maganga,’
because they saw me get a light with my burning-glass. I have indeed been
literally the medicine-man of our caravan, aud have sent many a negro away
happy by giving him some ‘dawa,’ or medicine. I have generally, too,
managed to cure them. The Wagogo are not a bad-looking race, but the
men disfigure themselves by boring a hole in the lobe of their ears when
quite young, which they gradually enlarge to an enormous extent. They are

PAYMENT OF HONGO TO HIGHT KINGS. 971

all great thieves, and at the same time great cowards, not daring to go out
after dark. The Wasukuma formed the bulk of our pagaazis. They are,
like all those negroes, thinking only of the moment’s gratification, without any
regard to the future. They have, what I think Col. Grant has remarked, a
wonderiul knowledge of edible plants. and roots, and in the jungle were al-
ways bringing in some root or plant which they boiled and ate.”

The latest communication from the Nyanza Mission party is the letter
which we here insert from Mr. O’Neill. It is dated, at least the latter part
of it, from Kagei or Kagehyi, the point at the southern end of the Victoria
Nyanza struck by Mr. Stanley.

“ Neuru, or Gula, in Usukuma, -
“Dec. 29th, 1876.

‘€ We (Mr. Wilson and himself) left Mpwapwa on October 7th and reached
Chunyo the same evening. The following day and night and part of the
second day we marched continuously across the Marenga Mkali and into
Ugogo (forty-one miles without stopping). In Ugogo we commenced paying
hongo, and before we left it we had to pay to eight kings, each of whom de-
layed us two or three days before we could arrange what was to be given.
They are a most grasping set, and the people generally idle and vain. After
a few marches I got a fresh attack of fever, and had them constantly during
our continuance in this country until we reached Ushore, having to be fre-
quently carried, or ride on a donkey; so that my mind is rather confused
about many parts through which we passed. After marching for eight days
through a dense jungle—the same in which Stanley had his fight—we reached
the important village of Ushore. Here we were detained for more than two
weeks, while the jungle in our front was being examined, as the Rugu-Rugu
—a band of robbers (part of the celebrated Mirambo’s followers)—infested it,
and had attacked another caravan, which they followed, cutting off stragglers.
Here we had a note from Lieut. Smith, informing us that he was within a few
days’ march of us, but short of provisions. I sent off Wilson to his relief
with three hundred rations, and marched myself the following morning, pass-
ing through the jungle by forced marches of twelve to fourteen hours a day,
and reaching Nguru on 3rd December, and discharged all the pagaazi, as this
was the place to which they had engaged -to come.

‘“‘T now endeavoured to engage a fresh batch to take me on to the lake,
one hundred and twenty-five miles, but without success. The rains had com-
menced, and every man was fully occupied in hoeing up ground and getting
in their crops. I was told that for at least one month I could not get men;
and I found this near the truth. In a week after my arrival Lieut. Smith
came in with his carayan, and discharged all his men except those who were
natives of the coast. Wilson and the doctor accompanied him. The follow-
ing day Smith left us for Unyanyembe to purchase cloth, of which we were

972 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

short, and to secure, if possible, men to go on to the lake. Up to the present
he has not returned. ;

‘Since leaving Mpwapwa we have had two deaths, and three ran away.
The incidents of the whole journey, I am happy to say, have been few. At
Bugari, some six days’ march to the east of Mpwapwa, we were threatened
by an attack from the Masai, who were in its neighbourhood plundering cara-
vans and carrying off cattle. The villagers went out to meet them, but no
encounter took place, and they retired from that part of the country after a
few days, and we proceeded safely. Next we had the unfortunate affair at
Mpwapwa. On the march we had a fight between our men and those of another
caravan travelling with us, the dispute being about the dead body of an ele-
phant, which both claimed as having being the first to discover it. Fire-arms
were freely used on both sides, but I am happy to say with no fatal results.
Then we had the Rugu-Rugu in the great jungle. These we avoided by
waiting until they had taken a different course in pursuit of another caravan.
The same banditti made an attack on the village of Nguru, coming in and
attempting to carry off corn. They were repulsed and the corn recovered
by the villagers, aided by our men. Any one of these events might have
proved serious affairs to us, had they taken a different course from what they
did. We have to thank God for the protection he has been pleased to extend °
to us, and for bringing us thus far on our journey in safety.”

““Semia, Jan 3rd, 1877.

‘*¢T am happy to say we are once more on our march towards the lake,
after a delay of four weeks at Nguru, with a small caravan. Wilson and I
are now thirty-one miles on the road. We have passed through the only
jungle we expect to meet, have crossed a large river, the Munungu, and are
now passing through a well-cultivated and thickly-peopled country, which
would be an admirable field for a missionary station. The people are a mild
and industrious race.” :
**Kagei, Jan, 29th, 1877

‘“¢ T am now able to announce our arrival at the Victoria Nyanza, after a
rather tedious journey of thirty-one days from Nguru, the distance being
about one hundred and twenty-five miles. We had expected to have accom-
plished this stage in fourteen or sixteen days, but, owing to the many delays
which we experienced from our pagaazi, stopping at villages from various
causes, sometimes sickness, but more frequently whim, we could not get on;
and were obliged to submit, or they would leave us in a worse plight by run-
ning away from us. The whole distance travelled over is studded with vil-
lages, nicely situated and surrounded by green hedgerows of euphorbia; alto-
gether, the country is a fine open one, with much cattle and well cultivated,
every village having a considerable breadth of land sown with Indian corn or

WANT OF A RECOGNISED RULER. 973

millet, and everywhere water is abundant. I should say it would by proper
management become a very rich country; but the great drawback is the
absence of any king or ruler recognised over the entire country. Kings there
are in abundance, for every village we passed had one, but there is no central
authority.

‘¢ We are now at the place where Stanley had his camp, and where one
of his men died and is buried—the grave marked by a stone, inscribed ‘ F.B.,
1875, Stanley's Ex. As yet I cannot say if it will suit our purposes of hoat-
building, etc., because we, having arrived only this day, have not as yet
examined the country about us as regards the timber. From what I have
been able to see, there does not appear to be very much in this neighbour-
hood, and the king of this place, in conjunction with Songoro, the slave-trader,
is building a dhow on the island of Uxerewe, opposite to us. This has been
in progress for the last three years, and is not yet finished: this is the same
vessel referred to by Stanley last year. The sight of the deep blue waters of
Nyanza was to us most cheering this day, after our long land journey. Wilson
has been unwell for the latter portion of the march with fever, but I am
thankful to, say that my health has never been better. I have walked the
whole distance, and I believe I have now got completely rid of the fever at-
tacks to which I had been previously subject.”

With the record of the establishment of these three missions—one on
Lake Nyassa—one on Lake Tanganyika—and one on Lake Nyanza, we close
our work, These constitute a triple crown to complete and adorn the heroic
labours of David Livingstone. The spirit of that noble man watches, no
doubt, with lively interest the carrying out of objects that were so dear to
him while here. His broad, catholic nature must rejoice in the fact that
they are prosecuted by various sections of the Church of Christ. Through
their influence, and that of kindred efforts, Africa shall be redeemed from
the bondage of ignorance and degradation; and all her peoples, from the
Nile to the Zambesi, from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean, be brought in-
to the family of Christ.

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