THE |Eif(, pliauw, g^rilous i^ilitntuwis^ AND DISOOTERIES OF Dr. Livingstone, NEARLY THIRTY YEARS A MISSIONARY EXPLORER IN THE WILDS OF AFRICA, WITH A THRILtiNG ACCOUNT OF HIS RESURRECTION BY H. M. STANLEY. TORONTO : M ACL EAR & CO, ^873. Ln4'±S STACK OCT 21 V:i48 TO CLERGYMEN LOVERS OF MISSIONARY ENTERPRIZE, SUNDAY, AND DAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS, PARENTS AND GUARDIANS OF YOUTH, AS WELL AS CHRISTL\NS GENERALLY. As an acknowledgment of the eminent services which they are rendering to the cause of CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION, THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. PEEFACE, The extraordinary interest which is felt by the reading public of this country, as well as of the whole civilized world, in the adventures and discoveries of Dr. Livingstone, renders any apology for the appearance of the present vol- ume altogether unnecessary. If needful to apologize at all, it is for the appearance of anything like a full and satisfac- tory account of his explorations in that part of Central South Africa, which has hitherto been a iefra incognita in geographical science, — a region about which the most strange and contradictory reports have been published and believed, and whose fertility and capabilities of improve- ment, whether as regards climate, soil, or the people wlio inhabit it, were altogether undreamt-of What Dr. Livingstone saw in this great central net-work of broad lakes and mighty rivers : the important discoveries which he made, the difficulties which he overcame ; the toils and sufferings he endured in his wanderings over many thousand miles of strange ground, much of it never before iv PREFACE. trodden by the foot of the white man- it is the object ot this book to relate, in as clear and graphic a manner as the materials at the writer's disposal permitted. 'J'he publica- tion of the work has been delayed longer than the many thousands who are anxiously looking for such a narrative might think necessary or desirable, in order that the letters of Dr. Livingstone and Mr' Stanley, which come down to a very recent date, might be included in it. These letters will be read with the greatest interest, filling as they do the long period in the eventful life and travels of the world- renowned Livingstone. While expressing a hope that it will prove satisfactory to the admirers of Dr. Livingstone, and especially to those who are warm advocates of Missionary operations, and friends of the African race, we would also ask for a kindly and can- did judgment of our difficult labours. In many instances, it was not easy to realize the scenes and circumstances of Dr. Livingstone's adventurous journeys, with the slight assistance which was afibrded by the documents which had been made public, or to which access could be had with sufficient facility : and we have had, therefore, to draw somewhat upon other and independent sources, to give the narrative proper coherency, and to convey to the mind of the reader a clear impression of our traveller's labours and perils in the cause of Christian civilization, and present to them a true picture of the wild regions he explored, and of their savage, yet, in many instances, friendly, generous, and hospitable people. I'KKFACE. V We have thought it would add completeness to our work to give a sketch of the youth and early missionary labours of Dr. T.ivingstone, botli in Africa and elsewhere ; to such labours we would on all occasions direct the public interest and attention. That he should have overcome the difhcul- ties, and escaped the many perils wliich beset his way in his extensive explorations, is a subject of great thankfulness to all who look with admiration upon the noble disinter- estedness of the man, and wlio estimate aright the devoted •efforts of the Christian philanthropist. THE WEAVER BOY WHO BECAME A MISSIONARY I. EARLY DAYS. Among the " factory hands " at the Bl an tyre Cotton Works, situated on the beautiful river Clyde, a little above Glasgow, was a lad who entered as a "piecer" when about ten years old, and at the age of nineteen was still there, having advanced through the intermedi- ate stages to the full dignity of a cotton-spinner ! Davie, as his companions called him, was silent and thoughtful even when a boy, and as he grew up to manhood he be- came more so, yet was he not sullen nor morose ; ever ready to do a good turn for any one, civil and obliging, he was generally liked, although he shared but little in the sports and pastimes of the lads with whom he worked at first, nor in the amusements of the weavers, male and female, in whose societv ho afterwards had to pass his hours of labor, which were from six in the morn- ing till eight at -ight, with short intervals for breakfast and dinner. This, with most young people, would have given little time for mental improvement ; but the thirst for knowledge was strong in Diivie, and ho managed to lay in a good store of information by stealing hours from the night, and letting no odd moments pass by unim- proved. There is an immense deal to be done by hus- banding these odd moments ; to many a poor lad they 10 THE WEAVER BOY. have been as staves of the ladder by which he has r\^en to fame and fortune, and in Scotland especially has this been the case. Our young ''piecer" at the cotton works understood their value. With his first week's wages he purchased " Euddiman's Rudiments of Latin," which language he studied for several years at an even- ing school which met between the hours of eight and ten. The school-master was partly paid by the company that owned the mill, so that he could give his instruction at a very low rate to his pupils. This was a plan adopt- ed with great advantage by many Scottish employers, whose people are more ready to avail themselves of the means of improvement offered than are those of the southern manufacturing districts. Thus Davie was en- abled to read many of the classical authors, and by the time he was sixteen knew Virgil and Horace as well as most youths educated in an English grammar school. But he did not confine himself to these authors, nor to the dead languages ; he read everything he could lay his hands on, except novels, for which he had no inclina- tion, even if they had not been forbidden by his parents, who were strictly religious people, and looked upon all fiction as trash, or something worse, as in that day (about thirty years since) did most of the piously edu- cated Scottish peasantry, and as many of them do still. Scientific works and books of travel were Davie's especial delight, and often at twelve o'clock at night had his mother to snatch the book out of his hands, and send him oiF to bed, from which he was to rise soon after five and hurry to the mill ; and even there, amidst the cease- less whirr of spindles, the thump, thump, thump, and other noises of machinery, and the clack of busy tongues, he was able sufl&ciently to abstract his mind to pursue his studies. Placing his book en a portion of the " spin- ning-jenny," and casting his eye on it as he passed to and fro, he caught sentence after sentence, and linked them together in his memory, so as to imprint them there, and fix the lessons taught, or carry out the train of reasoning they were meant to illustrate and enforce. EARLY DAYS. 11 Davie grew up to be a tall, slim young man. not over- Bti'ong in appearance, but his face indicated great firm- ness and decision of character. The labor of cotton- spinning to which he was now promoted was excessively severe ; but then the pay was good, therefore he bore it gladly, for he was enabled by working through the sum- mer, to support himself while attending medical, Greek, and 'divinity classes at the Glasgow University in the winter. He had, by this time, quite determined to de- vote his life to the alleviation of human misery. Great pains had been taken by his parents to instil the doc- trines of Christianity into his mind at an early age; and his religious convictions became stronger and deeper as he grew older, till, in the glow ot love that Christi- anity inspires, he had come to this resolution, and it was to China that he turned as a field of missionary labor, in which he would find ample scope for the exercise of his energies and philanthropic desires. To minister to the temporal and spiritual wants of the benighted mil- lions in that far land; to heal the sick, as far as human means could do so, and, at the same time, to direct them to the Great Physician, who alone could cleanse them from the leprosy of sin, — this was a work which he had set before him, and to qualify him for which he was now pursuing the study of medicine and divinity. With a noble independence of spirit, he had resolved that he would himself earn the means for the acquisition of this knowledge; and he records afterwards that, '* Looking back now on that period of toil, I cannot but feel thank* ful that it formed such a material part of m.y early education, and, were 1 to begin life over again, I should like to pass through the same hardy training.'* This was the kind of a man who was likely to accom- plish great things ; of such stuff are true heroes made. Wo hope that those who read this book will admire such a character, and resolve to work, as he did, for some good and noble object, not looking to others for help, but, as far as God has given them strength and ability, to help themselves; for, by so doing, they will be best prejiaring to help their fellow-creatures. 12 THE WEAVER BOY. Our hero, Davie, had never received a farthing from any one but what he earned, and he would doubtless have accomplished his project of going to China as a medical missionary, by his own efforts, had not Provi- dence ruled it otherwise. Some friends advised him to offer his services to the London Missionary Society, "which sends neither Episcopacy, nor Presbyterianism, nor Independency, but the Gospel of Christ to the hea- then," and which therefore exactly agreed with his ideas of what a missionary society ought to do; but he hesitated to make this offer, because, as he said, it was not agree- able to one accustomed to work his own way, to be in a manner dependent on others. This feeling, however, was got over, and, in accordance with a summons to that effect, he presented himself iu September, 1838, before the directors of the society, to undergo the ne- cessary examination, which, being satisfactory, he and another candidate for admission into the noble army of soldiers of the cross were sent to the Society's Training College, at Chipping Ongar, in Essex. There, in com- pany with Drummond, Hay, Taylor, and others, who have since sounded the Gospel trumpet loudly in various parts of the heathen world, he remained for two years, completing the education for which he had laid so good a foundation in the Scottish village. There dwelt his poor, honest, God-fearing parents ; there he worked and studied early and late, with that one great object before him, and an earnest devotion that sanctified his every act and deed, and made his life sublime. His ancestors were small farmers in Ulva, one of the group of islands called the Hebrides, and one of them on his death-bed had called his children around him, and said: "I have searched carefully through all the traditions of our fam- ily, and I never could discover that there was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If therefore any of you should take to dishonest ways, it will not be because it was in our blood. I leave this precept with you, — be honest." This was something like an heirloom to value and cherish, to hand down from father to son bright and un- spotted, — an honest name. Bettor than costly jewels. EARLY DAYS. 13 and massive plate, and great possessions, to be honest in word and deed, truthful and independent ; honest in the fulfilment of all high duties which devolve upon a Christian ; serving God faithfully, and, like a true brother, helping fellow-men lovingly, tenderly. When the poet said, — " An honest man's the noblest work of God." he meant all this. " A prince can make a belted knight.*' but God only can make an honest man ; like him who, clad in homely garb, worked for ten years and more in the Blantyre Cotton Factory, and made an early dedi- cation of his whole mind and strength to the service of humanity; who lived frugally, indulged in no enervating excesses, did thoroughly whatever he undertook to do, and went straight on his way, led by the light of a high resolve. Did this young student, when he sat up in the still night hours, in his humble lodgings at Glasgow, studying Greek or divinity, — when he climbed with will- ing feet the academic stair of Anderson's College, or mingled with his class-fellows, — ever think of the trials and dangers that awaited him ; of the conquests he was to achieve over difficulties almost insurmountable ; of the wild, wide regions, peopled only by savage beasts or by barbarous tribes as fierce and implacable, among whom the foot of civilized man had never trodden, to whom the glad tidings of salvation had never been pro- claimed ? Doubtless he did, and his spirit rose to the conflict with death and sin ; his bowels of compassion yearned towards these poor benighted ones, and his mis- sionar}' zeal was kindled to a brighter flame, as he mused upon these things; therefore he wrought while young to fit himself for the contest he was about to enter; and there can be no doubt that but for the frugal and tem- perate habits which he acquired, and the severe discip- line to which he subjected both mind and body, he never could have accomplished the terrible work which 14 THE WEAVER BOY. he afterwards^ had to do, and from which he shrunk not. . Who would compare with the heroism of this man that of the warrior who, amid the heat and excitement of the battle, loses all sense of danger, all care for personal safety ? Well has Dr. Beattie said of missionaries, — " Theirs are the triumphs war can never bring ; Theirs are the paeans guardian angels sing ; Their noblest banner is the Book of truth ; Their trophies, — age, and infancy, and youth ; 'Tis theirs to free, exalt, and not debase The painted brothers of our common race ; Nor strife, nor tribute, nor oppressive sway Degrade their labours, nor obstruct their way ; Their watchword still, — let war and sorrow cease; The noblest epithet, — the men ofpeaceP Such then is the missionary devoted to the salvation of men, and such was David Livingstone ; for it is he of whom we have been writing, and whom we now find at the training establishment in Essex, pursuing his studies. He is described by his fellow-students as a pale, thin, modest, retiring young man, with a broad Scotch accent. If you broke through the crust of his natural reserve, you found him open, frank, and most kind-hearted, ever ready for any good and useful work, not even excepting grinding the corn necessary to make the brown bread in the establishment, chopping wood, and such like labo- rious, though healthful, occupations. He was fond of long vv^alks, and he and a friend used to traverse the Essex flats together, sometimes extending their peregrinations into the more romantic neighbor- ing counties. Twelve or sixteen miles were often thus traversed, and the friends, as they passed along, enjoying the beauties of nature, indulged, we may be sure, in profitable conversation, anticipating, no doubt, the glories and triumphs of the spread of the Eedeemer's kingdom, and strengthening and encouraging each other to pursue the path of Christian duty with faith and earnestness of purpose. Even during these long walks' the friends pursued their studies, assisting each other to acquire a more perfect knowledge of the Greek and EARLY DAYS. 15 Latin tongues. Livingstone exhibited considerable aptitude in the acquisition of languages; but his chief characteristic then, as it proved to be all through his career, was indomitable resolution and perseverance. An incident which occurred at this period may serve to illustrate this, and show what naight be expected of him, when he had to contend with dangers and diflSculties. On one of the coldest and most foggy mornings in 1838, he got up at three o'clock to walk to London, in the western suburb of which he had some business to transact for his father; as he was returning, his energy, humanity, and the medical knowledge he had acquired at Glasgow, were called in play. A lady was thrown out of a gig, and Livingstone, without regard to the etiquette of the thing, at once offered his services, and instituted an examination, which resulted in the satisfac- tory assurance that there were no bones broken. He ought, of course, to have rendered what assistance he could in stopping the horse, picked up the lady, con- veyed her to a place of shelter, and so forth, leaving the rest to *' the regular doctor." It was very improper to go beyond this ; but still it was very comforting to the poor lady, who warmly expressed her gratitude ; and it was very like Livingstone. Having performed this good office for a fellow-creature in distress, our traveller trudged on his homeward way. Long ere he reached Stamford, about two miles from Ongar, it had become quite dark; he was sadly wearied, and faint with hunger, having scarcely eaten any food all day; but he determined to push on, and did so. Presently, however, he found himself on strange ground, having evidently taken a wrong turning somewhere. Here was a new perplexity ; his knees trembled under him, and he seemed almost constrained to lie down under the hedge, and make his bed there. But, no; that would not do for Livingstone, whose motto was " Never give up 1 " So he braced up his energies for an effort, climbed a guide-post, and, by the light of the stars, which were now shining clearly above, made out his whereabouts, and again pushed on for home, where he arrived, pale as 16 THE WEAVER BOY. a ghost, and sank into a seat, so exhausted that for a while he could not utter a word. After taking a little food, moistened with milk-and-water, he went to bed, and hlept soundly till the middle of the next day, when he awoke perfectly refreshed, and ready for another journey. He had walked upwards of fifty miles. Liv- ingtetone was a strong advocate for teetotalism; when at Ongar, he and some other of the students drew up a pledge, which they severally signed. He did not, in his student days, shine as a speaker ; his oral delivery was slow and hesitating. It is recollected that once he bestowed great pains on the composition of a sermon, which he intended to deliver from memory ; but when he mounted the pulpit and attempted to do so, the whole had escaped him. These reminiscences of the early life of a great man are most interesting, especially now, when there is reason to fear that his useful caceer is suddenly ended. In the chapters which follow are related the most remarkable of his adventures in South Africa, the scene of his extraordinary missionary labors and discoveries. II. MAREIED, AND NEARLY KILLED. About seven hundred miles from Cape Town, in the country of the Bechuanas, is the missionary station called Kuruman, or Latakoo, and it was here that Livingstone commenced his missionary work. He left England in 1840, landed at Cape Town, after a three months's voyage, proceeded from thence to Algoa Bay, and then passed inland to the station above named. China, as we have already said, was the land towards which his desires pointed; but the opium war had for a while closed that vast empire to missionary enterprise, MARRIED, AND NEARLY KILLED. 17 which had for a long time past been directed to South Africa, where many good men of various creeds and countries had devoted their lives to the service of Christ, doing their best to civilize and enh'ghten the barbarous tribes of that benighted quarter of the globe. The station at Kuruman bad been founded about thirty years, by Messrs. Hamilton and Moffat, when Livingstone arrived there, and found in the shapely- mission house, and church built of stone, the well irri- gated gardens stocked with fruits and vegetables, and the general air of order and comfort which prevailed, a pleasing contrast to the wild and rugged scenes through which he had lately passed, and which were totally differ- ent from anything he had before been accustomed to. The rocky ravine, with its dried-up water-course, the tangled forest, and the desolate, arid waste, following shortly after a long sea-voyage, could but have a depressing effect upon the thoughtful and sensitive mind of the young man, who, with a deep sense of the responsibility of his holy calling, had left home and friends to go forth into the desolate places of the earth, for the salvation of souls. Moffat received with joy his more youthful coad- jutor, and with him and his family he spent a short time, preparing, in accordance with his instructions, to proceed beyond this, which was then the farthest inland station from the Cape. So. in company with another missionary, he proceeded northward to the Bakuena, or Backwains, a tribe or section of the great Bechuana nation. These are, on the whole, a harmless, inoffen- sive people, very different from the Zulu Kaffirs, and some other of the South Africans. They are divided into numerous tribes, such as the Bakatla, which means " they of the monkey," Bakuena, " they of the alli- gator," Batlapi, " they of the fi«h." This naming after certain living creatures would seem to indicate that they had been at one time animal-worshippers, like the ancient Egyptians, although the only trace of such a custom which is now to be found among them is a super- stitious dread, entertained by each tribe, of the animal after which they are named, which j)re vents their ever 18 THE WEAVER BOY. eating it, and in reference to killing it they use the term, " ila," hate or dread. It appears likely that dancing was among their ancient religious rites, for if it is desired to ascertain what particular tribe an indivi- dual belongs to, the common question asked is, " What do you dance ?" At Kuruman, Livingstone found a printing-press, worked by the original founders of the mission and those who had since entered into their labors ; and through means of it, and the eiforts of the teachers, the light of Christianity was being gradually diffused around. And here, too, he found that greatest of all earthly blessings, a good wife, who shared his labors and anxieties, and entered heart and soul into all his plans for the amelio- ration of the condition of the natives. But it was not immediately that he obtained this great treasure. Four years of African life he passed as a bachelor, before he ventured to put a very serious question to Moffat's eldest daughter, Mary, beneath one of the fruit-trees in the garden. In 1844, his marriage took place, and ever after until she was smitten down by fever, and he buried her beneath the baobab-tree, on the banks of the Zam- bezi, at Shupanga, she was to him a true helpmeet. Born in the country, and therefore to some extent accli- matized, inured to the privations and dangers of a mis- sionary lif*% acquainted with the peculiarities of the people around, expert in household matters, she was, to use his own expression, '' the best spoke in his wheel at home, and a great comfort and assistance to him in his travels abroad, when it was possible for her to bear him company." Livingstone's first visit to the Bakwains was not of long duration ; he returned to Kuruman, where he remained for three months, and then went to a spot called Lepelole, from a cavern of that name : here he secluded himself from ail European society, in order to study the native tongue, and obtain an insight into the habits, modes of thinking, and laws and manners of the Bechuanas. This course of study he found of inesti- mable advantage to him in his after intercourse with MARRIED, AND NEARLY KILLED. 19 the wild tribes of South Africa, among all of whom there prevails a certain similarity, in most respects, so that a knowledge of the peculiarities of one people or tribe aflfords a key for the comprehension of all. While at this place, which is now called Lituruba, he began to make preparations for a settlement, and when the work was well advanced, he went northward to the Cakaa mountains, the only European visitor to which, who was a trader, had, with all his people died of fever. Here dwelt the Bakaa, Bamangwato, and Makalaka tribes. The greater part of this journey had to be per- formed on foot, the draft oxen being sick, and the natives laughed at the idea of his being able to accom- plish it in chat way. " See," said some of them, who did not know that he understood their language " he is not strong, he is quite thin, and only appears stout because he puts himself into those bags (meaning his trousers) ; he will soon knock up." They, however, changed their opinion when they found that he kept them at the top of their speed for days together. Returning from this expedition to Kuruman, the news reached him that the friendly Bakwains, among whom he intended to settle, had been driven from Lepelole by the Barolongs, another tribe, who sought to deprive them of their cattle, the great staple of wealth, and the con- stant cause of wars between the South African tribes. Setting out, then, in search of some other suitable spot for a settlement, he beheld a blazing comet, which awoke the superstitious fears of his followers and the people on his route. The last appearance of such a portent, in 1816, had been followed by an irruption of the Mata- bele, a tribe of Kaffirs, who had proved the most cruel enemies the Bechuanas had ever known ; there was a general dread that this, also, might be a messenger of wrath. Having to restore some of the Bamang^vato people to their chief, Sekomi, Livingstone again travelled northward some hundred miles, this time on ox-back. Returning toward Kuruman, he selected a beautiful val- ley called Mabtoso as the site of a missionary station, and thither he finally removed in 1843, the year before 20 THE WEAVER BOY. he took to wife Maiy Moftat, and at this time and phice it was that his earthly career was nearly terminated. In no part of the world is that king of beasts, the lion, so strong, and tierce, and daring, and plentiful, as in South Africa. .In the thick jungle, or rocky glen, he generally crouches during the day, but at night comes forth in search of food, and then all the wild creatures fly in terror at the sound of his roar, reverber- ating like thunder over the wild karroo and the stony desert. Then, too, is heard the shrill cry of the jackals, that follow him to feast on the carcasses of the animals he kills and only designs to take a portion of; the mock- ing laugh of the hyena, and the bark of the dingoes, or wild dogs, that pursue the zebras and antelopes across the desert, and seldom fail to run them down. Though safe in their airy homes amid the brenches, or far-up clefts of the rocks, the large apes and smaller monkeys chatter and scream with affright when that hungry roar goes rolling over the waste, or swells up through the gorges of the mountains. The camelopard stretches its slender neck forward, and strides along in a swift though awkward gallop; the quagga utters its shrill neigh, snilYs the tainted air, and with flying mane and tail bounds off with a speed only equalled by that of the ostrich, that with short wings fluttering, and long legs stretched out to their utmost extent, seems to outstrip the wind. Even the rhinocerous, in its impervious hide and armed with a horn that would rip up, in a moment, any assailant, trembles to hear that roar; and the mighty elephants, that have gone to slake their thirst at the sedgy pool, although not fearing an attack, stand aside to let their acknowledged monarch pass down, and drink before them ; while the hippopotamus retires farther into the reeds and river mud, and lies with only his enormous snout projecting from the water. But the cattle in the kraals, as the native villages are called, are perhaps the most terrified of all at the approach of this their deadly enemy. The Hottentot herdsman, awaken- ed by their lowings of fear, feels his flesh creep, as he thinks of friends and comrades borne off from beside the MARRIED, AND NEARLY KILLED. . 21 very watch-fires, to be found in the morning a few crunched bones and mangled remains in the blood-stained thicket. The Dutch Boer, as well as the Kaffir chief, trembles for his most valuable possessions, his cattle, when he knows that a lion has approached the settlement, or station ; there must be no peace, no rest, until the unwelcome intruder bo either killed or driven away far into the desert. Livingstone's friends, the Bakatla, were troubled by lions, which leaped into their cattle-pens by night, and had grown so bold that they even sometimes attacked the herds by day. In their superstitious ignorance, they believed that a neighboring tribe had, by some spell of witchcraft, given them into the power of these fierce brutes; hence it was, perhaps, that their attacks upon the animals were faint and half-hearted, and there- fore unsuccessful. It was only necessary to kill one of the troop that infested their village to induce the others to quit that part of the country, in accordance with the well-known habit of these creatures. But this they had not been able to accomplish ; therefore it was that Livingstone went out with them, in one of their hunts to assist and give them couraga. They discovered their game on a small tree-covered hill. The circle of hunters at first loosely formed around the spot, gradually closed up, and became compact as they advanced towards it. Mebalwe, a native school- master who was with Livingsione, seeing one of the lions sitting on a piece of rock within the ring, fired but missed him, the ball striking the rock by the feet of the animal, which, biting first at the spot struck, bounded away, broke through the circle, and escaped, the natives not having courage enough to spear him in the attempt, as they should have done. The circle re-formed, having yet within it two other lions, at which the guns could not be tired, lest some of the men on the opposite side should be hit. Again there was a bound and a roar, and yet again, the natives scattered and fled, while the liona went forth free to continue their devastations. But they did not seem to have retreated far ; for as the party was 22 THE WEAVER BOY. going round the end of a hill, on their way home to the village, there wa8 one of the lordly brutes, sitting upon a piece of rock, as though he had purposely planted him- self their to enjoy their defeat, and wish them '' good- day." It was about thirty yards from Livingstone, who, raising his gun, fired both barrels into the litilo hush, behind which the creature stood. '' He is shot I He is shot!" is the joyful cry, and the people are about to rush in; but their friend warns them, for he sees the tail raised in anger. He is just in the act of running down his bullets for another fire, when he hears a shout of ter- ror, and sees the lion in the act of springing on him. He is conscious only of a blow that makes him reel and fall to the ground ; of two glaring eyes, and hot breath upon his face ; a momentary anguish, as he is siezed by the shoulder, and shaken as a rat by a terrier, then comes a stupor, which was afterwards described as a sort of drowsiness, in which there was no sense of pain, nor feeling of terror, although there was a perfect concious- ness of all that was happening. This condition is com- pared to that of patients under the influence of chloro- form; they see the operation, but do not feel the knite; and Livingstone thinks that this is probably the state of all animals when being killed by the carnivora, which he opines is a merciful provision of the Creator for lessening the pain of death. We are glad to hope that it may bo so; if not, we may bo sure that God does not inflict pain upon any of his creatures without some wise and good object. Being thus conscious, as one in a trance might be, Livingstone knew that the lion had one paw on the back of his head, and, turning round to relieve himself of the pressure, he saw the creature's eyes directed to Mebalwe, who, at a distance of ten or fifteen ^ards, was aiming his gun at him. It missed fire in both barrels, and immediately the native teacher was attacked by the brute, and bitten in the thigh ; another man, also, who attempted to spear the lion, was seized by the sh(>ul- der; but then the bullets which he had received took effect, and, with a quiver through all his hugh frame, AT CHONUANE AND KOLOBENQ. 23 the cattlo-lifter rolled over on Lis side, dead. All this occurred in a few moments ; the death-blow had been in- flicted by Livingstone before the lion sprang upon him, in the blind fury of his dying efforts. No less than eleven of his teeth had penetrated the flesh of his assail- ant's arm, and crushed the bone ; it was long ere the wound was healed, and all through life the intrepid missionary bore the marks of this deadly encounter, and felt its effects in the injured limb. The tartan jacket which he had on wiped, as he believed, the virus from the lion's teeth, and so preserved him from much after- suffering, such as was experienced by the others who were bitten, and had not this protectiou. III. AT CHONUANE AND KOLOBENG. After his marriage, which took place, as we have said in 1844, Livingstone was carrying on his missionary operations at Chonuane, a station which he established among the Bakuena, or Bakwains, to which tribe he had especially attached himself, and whose chief, Sechele, was a man of great intelligence. He embraced Christi- anity, and expounded its doctrines to his people. He . was very desirious of conforming to its practices, but found it most difficult to do so, as they were so different from those to which he and those around him had been accustomed. " Would," he exclaimed to the missionary, " you had come to our country before I was entangled in the meshes of our customs I " Being extremely anxious that his subjects should become converts, he proposed calling his head men together, and making them, with whips of rhinoceros hide, assist him to beat them into a new state of belief; but of this plan the white teacher did not approve. How could an African chief, a great warrior, the owner of herds of cattle, and a number of wives, for each of whom he had given so many horned 24 THE WEAVER BOT. heads, condescend to argue with his people ? They must be whipped, and made to believe these new truths which he had embraced. More enlightened potentates than he have made the mistake that religion might be propagated by force, and tried the method ; but it has always signally failed. However, Sechele, really set his subjects a good example, and this was the best kind of teaching. He put away his superfluous wives, al- though he lost much worldly wealth, and made many enemies by doing so. He learned to read, in order that he might study the Scriptures, and did all he could to help on the missionary work. Complaining of the paucity of those who attended family worship, which he established in his own house, he said : " In former times, when a chief was fond of hunting, all his people got dogs, and became fond of hunting too ; if he was fond of dancing or music, all showed a liking for these amuse-, ments too ; if the chief loved beer, they all rejoiced in strong drink. But in this case it is different : I love the word of God, but not one of my brethren will join me." How many good men in enlightened Christian communi- ties might say the same ! There are plenty ready to follow a leader into the pleasant paths of self- indulgence, but few into those of self-denial. When this chief was baptized, with his children, a great number of his people came to see the ceremony. They were astonished to find that only water was used, having been told, by ene- mies to Christianity, that the Converts would be made to drink dead men's brains. Old men cried, to see their father, as they called the chief, so far given up to the power of the white man, who they considered had be- witched, and so made a slave of him. All the friends of the divorced wives became enemies to the new religion, and very few beside the family of Sechele continued to attend the mission church and school ; yet did they con- tinue to treat the missionary with respectful kindness. Whatever they might think of his religion, they could not doubt that he was their friend, for he had shown this in many ways. Over the people he never attempted to exercise any control, but by argument and gentle per- AT CHONUANE AND KOLOBENG. 25 suasion, to lead them in the right way. In several in- starices, by his appeals to their reason, and that sense of right and wrong wb^ch he had endeavored to awaken in their benighted hearts, war was averted. By pur- chasing of them the land required for a station, which w^as a proceeding altogether new and strange to them, and explaining that this was due as a payment for some- thing taken which had been theirs, and to avoid future disputes, he convinced them of his desire to deal justly by them. Rude and uneducated as they were, deeply sunk in superstition and moral debasement, so that they were slow to comprehend and realize the great truths of Christianity, yet were they shrewd in all matters affect- ing their worldly interest and the wants of every-day life. Well acquainted with the habits of the wild creatures around ; expert hunters ; good judges of cattle and other animals on which they depended for existence, — of modes of culture, and of soil required for different kinds of grain, and other vegetables ; with their bodily powers well trained, and their senses exercised in that peculiar keenness of observation which distinguishes the savage ; they were by no means stupid, although their generally apathetic and listless manner, and slowness of comprehension of new facts and ideas presented to their minds, would lead one to suppose they were. A living faith in his divine mission they could not at once have ; but they could see and acknowledge the beauty and goodness of the doctrine taught and lived by the mission- ary, even when, in practice, departing most widely from it themselves. Hence it was that Livingstone could command their love and respect, and, to a considerable extent, their obedience. To his advice and exhortations they would listen, well knowing that it was a faithful friend who spoke to them, and who prayed to the Great Spirit above on their behalf. One of the most prevalent and deeply rooted supersti- tions of all the South African tribes is the belief in the power of " rainmaking," said to be possessed by certain favored individuals. In the not unusual prevalence of long droughts, when the land is parched and arid, and THE WEAVER BOY. the cattle and human beings suffer greatly, if they do not perish, for want of waier ; when all vegetation becomes shrivelled up and ceases to aflford nutriment, and the sun glares down, like an avenging demon, out of a brazen Bky, — then it is that the rain doctor, as he is called, be- comes a person of greater importance than the most powerful chief. By the exercise of certain incantations and magic spells, he can call down from the skies the longed-for shower, invigorate the fainting powers of man and beast, and restore freshness and fertility to the land. Such is the popular belief; and cunning pretenders lo this divine power trade often upon the credulity of the people tp their own great profit. By a long and careful observance of the signs in the heavens, they can gener- ally tell when rain is likely to come, and only consent to call it down at propitious times, pretending, when solicit ed to do so at others, that the anger of the Great Spirit or some other obstacle, prevents their success. The chief, Sechele, was himself a celebrated rain-doctor, and proba- bly believed, as many did, that he had the power ascribed to him. He confessed to Livingstone that the giving up of this superstition was the most difficult of all the re- quirements of the new faith into which he was baptized. But he did give it up, and when his people were sufter- ing from a severe drought of long continuance, and im- portuned him, as their chief and father, to relieve their distress by the exercise of his magic power, he refused. Believing him to be under tlie influence of a spell laid on him by the missionary,they sent to him a deputation of old councillors, entreating that the chief might be permitted to make only a few showers : and their prayer took a form something like this: — " VVe faint beneath tlie burning sky ; We see uo signs of coming rain ; • • ■ If jou refuse, the corn will die; Let not our prayer be in vain. i For water, bark, the cattle low ; With udders shrunk and dry they staiid ; The children wail ; our heads w^e bow •■ Down to the hot and thirsty land. - . AT CHONUANE AND K0L9BENG. 27 Only this once ! a little shower! We know your heart is good and kind ; Revive, refresh the withered flower ; Oh, let our sorrows pity find ! Then shall we all — man, woman, child — Come to the school, and sing and pray ; Long since it is that we have smiled ; Oh, turn our night of grief today I " The rain-doctors will often enter into subtle arguments to prove that they really have the powor of opening the clouds; and if told that only God can do this, they will probably reply : " Truly : but God who has been so boun- tiful to the white man has given to us this little thing of which you know nothing ; that is, the knowledge of cer- tain medicines with which we can make rain ; and these medicines we gather from every country,becau8e in every country is rain wanted. The black men, whom God made first, he did not love ; so he only gave to them the ass- egai (spear), and the power of rain-making. You, he made beautiful, and gave you clothing, and guns, and gunpowder, and horses, and waggons, and many other things about which we know nothing ; we have not hearts like yours ; we never love each other. Other tribes place medicines about our country to prevent the rain, so that we may be dispersed, and go to them to increase their power. By our medicines we must overcome their charms. Of our knowledge you are ignorant ; do not, therefore, despise it, for we do not despise the things that you know, although we know them not." This is their mode of reasoning, tind its plausibility convinces the uninstructed minds of their countrymen that it is correct. *' What is the use of your everlasting preaching and praying," said the rain-makers to the mis- sionary, " if it brings not rain ? Other tribes who do not pray get rain in abundance, and it is plain that our charms have more power than your prayers." And very extraordinary are the medicines or charms which they employ to obtain the so much desired bless- ing, reminding one of the prescriptions of the herbalists, quack doctors, and professors of witchcraft in our own 28 THE WEAVER BOY. country some centuries ago. The following ingredients might have added potency to the witch-broth thrown by the hags |of Macbeth into their seething cauldron, — jack- als' livers, baboons' and lions' hearts, hairy calculi from the bowels of old cows, serpents' skins and vertebrae, and every kind of tuber, root, and plant to be found,the more poisonous the better. One particular bulb is dried and powdered, and given to a sheep, which dies in convul- sions ; a portion of it is burned, and converted into smoke, which ascends into the sky; in a shorter or longer time rain falls, and, of course, this has produced it, just as much as the wonderful cures of the credulous and igno- rant nearer home are effected by the quack nostrums which have the credit of them. It was during a season of great and long continued drought that Livingstone pointed out to Sechele, that the only way to guard against the misery and suffering of its occurrence was to provide for the irrigation of the land and gardens; to select as a dwelling-place the neighbor- hood of some never-failing river, and dig canals for the water to flow into, so that it might be easily conveyed over the cultivated grounds. His advice was taken, and the whole tribe moved to the Kolobeng, a stream about forty miles off. Our missionary had learned to make himself useful at most mechanical employments. In ad- dition to being a physician and preacher, he could, when required, be a smith, carpenter, gardener, — in short, a Jack-of-all-trades out of doors, while his wife was maid-of- all-work within. So, at this new station, called after the river, Kolobeng, he set to work, and assisted the natives to build a square house for Sechels, and they in turn helped him to erect his own house, school, and other buildings, dig canals, and mako a dam for irrigating pur- poses. Here, with his wife and children, he took up his abode, and continued until 1849, doing what he could to civilize and Christianize the friendly Bakwains, assisted only by Mrs. Livingstone and two native teachers. From Kuru- man they not unfrequently received kindly greetings, and fruits, and other valuable additions to their necessaries AT OHONUANE AND KOLOBENGTf 29 or comforts. Mary, the industrious wife, could make candles, and soap, and clothes, and almost everything else that was needed ; so they had become" tolerably inde- pendent of the outer world. We have spoken of a square house ; now this is what a native architect would never dream of constructing. All the dwellings of the South African, and, indeed, we believe of most savage tribes, are round ; they work in circles. This is the form of the single hut; and the collection of huts, forming a kraal or village, is also placed in a ring, with a circular cattle-pen in the centre, and outer boundary of tree-trunks planted in the ground. A missionary must not be very particular as to what sort of labor he puts his hand to, and the more generally useful he can make himself the greater will be his influ- ence among the wild people with whom, for a time, he casts in his lot. His great mission is, undoubtedly, to teach the divine truths of Christianity ; but he must in a manner prepare the soil for the reception of these by min- istering to the bodily wants and necessities of his people, — by teaching them better modes of doing things, and by working himself to help them. He must civilize while he attempts to Christianize. The best worker will in this way be everthe most successful teacher; his know- ledge and ability to do things which the blind and igno- rant heathen can understand will lead them to believe that he is right when he speaks of those which they can- not. Livingstone understood this part of a missionary's duty, and performed it thoroughly ; his early training well fitted him for the performance of much manual labor and endurance of fatigue, and ho had lost no oppor- tunity of acquiringa knowledge of the useful arts. When a house was wanted, brickmaking and laying, plank- sawing, squaring, putting together, all must be done off- hand and on the spot, and a thousand contrivances ex- temporized to make the whole compact and comfortable. So with the reclamation of landfrom the wilderness, and all matters of domestic economy. The tailor, the butcher, the grocer are not within reach, and most of the neces- saries of life must be prepared, or obtained direct from 30 THE WEAVER BOY. that part of tho great storehouse of nature which is close at hand. The followinc: picture of one day of mission- ary life lit Kolobcnjr will give some idea of the various duticH and labors involved in it. We take the sketch from Livingstone's own account of his " Travels and Re- searches in South Africa;" to which, and his later work, <'The Zambesi and its Tributaries," we are indebted for most of the facts contained in this volume. " We rose early, because, however hot the day, tho cveninjL^ was dcliciously refreshing. You can sit out till midnight, with no fear of coughs or rheumatism. After family worship and breakfast, between six and seven, we kept school — men, women, and children being all invited. This lasted till eleven o'clock. The missionary's wife then betook herself to her domestic affairs, and the mis- sionary engaged in some manual labor, as that of a smith, carpenter, or gardener. If he did jobs for the people, they worked for him in turn, and exchanged their un- skilled labor for his skilled. Dinner and an hour's rest, succeeded, when the wife attended her infant schools which the young liked amazingly. :ind generally mus- tered a hundered strong ; or she varied it with sewing- classes for the girls, which was equally well relished. After sunset the husband went into the town to converse either on general subjects or on religion. We had a public service on three nights in the week, and on another, instruction in secular subjects, aided by pictures and specimens. In addition to these duties we pre- scribed for the sick, and furnished food for the poor. The smallest acts of friendship, even an obliging word and civil look, are, as St. Xavier thought, no despicable part of the missionary armor. Nor ought the good opinion of the most abject to be neglected, when polite- ness may secure it. Their good word, in the aggregate, forms a reputation which procures favor for the Gospel. Show kindness to the reckless opponents of Christianity on the bed of sickness, and they never can become your personal enemies. Here, if anywhere, '' love begets love." ACROSS THE KALAHARI DESERT. 31 HI. ACROSS THE KALAHARI DESERT. The Boera, as the Dutch settlers in Africa are called, had for some time past looked with jealous eyes on the spread of missions among the natives, foreseeing that with knowledge and enlightment would come an end to their exactions and arbitrary rule. Their possessions extended inland from beyond the Cape Colony to the north east, and they were gradually encroaching upon the tribes in the interior of the continent, — keeping from them as much as possible a knowledge of the mercantile value of the ivory and other products of the country which they obtained from them in exchange for articles of trifling cost. They were especially desirous of keep- ing closed to white missionaries and traders those regions from which the chief supply could be obtained, and were annoyed at Livingstone's elforts to enlighten and civilize the Bochuanas, the more especially when they found that he was making enquires as to the means of crossing the great Kalahari desert, with the view of determining the exact position of a lake, called Ngami, which he had heard spoken of by the natives, although it was not laid down on any map of the country; most of the interior of South Africa, being, indeed, at that time, a perfectly unexplored region, and thought to con- sist of desert lands unlit for human sustenance or habita- tion. Livingstone had formed other conclusions, which he was desirous of verifying. English traders, who had penetrated to the Bakwains, bad sold them arms and ammunition, which, above all things, the Boers wished to keep out of their hands, and they planned an expedi- tion against Sechele, at Kolobeng, to seize these weapons, but this, on the representation of Livingstone that the Bakwains would fly to t'^e desert, where they would be safe from the pursuit of white men, rather than give them up, was deferred for several years, although no winter passed without a foray of some sort by the whites 32 THE WEAVER BOY. upon one or other of the Bechuana tribes, in which the latter suffered great losses, in cattle or children, tho burning of their kraals, and slaughter of themselves. A cooking-pot lent by Livingstone to his friends, and taken by them on an expedition against a refactory under chief, which Sechele made, contrary to the mis- sionary's advice, was magnified into a cannon; the five guns which he possessed became five hundred, and the Boers professed to be seriously alarmed. They wanted Livingstone to act as a spy upon his friends; which ho refused to do, explaining that it was contrary to his {)rinciples, and, if it were not, this would be quite use- ess, for the Bakwains would take their own course, as they had with regard to the expedition above named. His possession of a sextant, for taking observations, was looked upon as a sure sign of his immediate connection with the English government, from whom, it was con- tended, this supply of five hundred muskets must have come; and the setting up of Lord Ross's telescope at the Cape, about which the Boers had heard exaggerated reports, was somehow associated with these supposed hostile proceedings. " The government had set up that glass to see what they were about behind the Cash an mountains," they said; and the consciousness of their evil doings rendered them very jealous of being over- looked. Notwithstanding the feeling of hostility which existed on the part of the Boers, some of them were glad to avail themselves of Livingstone's medical knowledge, and came to Kolobeng for the purpose of doing so; others, in defiance of their own laws, came to trade with the natives in muskets and powder; and both these parties were ready to act as spies, and to bear false wit- ness, if it suited their purpose, about what they saw and heard. The questions which they put to his people were reported to Sechele, such a course being considered a point of duty, — every man in a tribe feeling himself bound to tell the chief all that comes to his knowledge. Sechele consults his white friend as to how these queries are to be answered. *'Tell the truth ! " is the emphatic and natural reply. " We have no cannon, very few ACROSS THE KALAHARI DESERT. 33 muskets, and but little ammunition for hunting pur- poses." So used to dissimulation themselves, the Boers expect it from others, and these truthful replies were read the wrong way upwards. When Livingstone attempted to benefit the Bechuanas, at a distance from his station, by placing native teachers, who had been instructed in religious truth among them, he was told by the Dutch commandant that the bracks must be taught their inferiority to the whites ; — ihe doctrine that all men are equal in the sight of God would not do there. Sechele had letters sent to him ordering him to surrender to the Dutch, and acknowledge himself their vassal, and also to .'•top English traders proceeding through the country. One can but admire his reply: "I am an inde- pendent chief, placed here by God, not by you. Other tribes you have conquered, but not me. The English are my friends. I get everything I wish from them. I cannot hinder them from going where they like." Among the conditions on which the independence of the Dutch Boers was guaranteed by the colonial governor was the abolition of slavery among them, and a free pas- sage for the English through their dominions to the countries beyond; but when the commissioner with whom they treated was asked by them, " Whht about the missionaries?" he is said to have replied, "You may do as you please with them ; " an answer probably uttered in joke. It was, however, taken seriously, and the destruction of several stations speedily followed ; that of Livingstone escaped lor a time, but afterwards, when he was away on his journey across the desert, an attack was made upon Sechele by four hundred Boers, who slaughtered a considerable number of adults, and carried off no less than two hundred of the children into slavery. The Bakwains defended their homes until nightfall, when they fled, under cover of the darkness, into the mountains. They slew eight of their enemies; and this was the first occasion on which the Bechuanas had ever killed any of the settlers. Under the pretext that Livingstone had taught them how to do this, his house was plundered, his books, the solace of his solitude, 34 THE WEAVER BOY. and his stock of medicines ruthlessly destroyed ; large quantities of stores left in the keeping of the natives by English gentlemen, who had passed on to hunt in the country beyond, with his furniture and clothing,, were carried off, and sold to defray the expenses of the foray. These were the deeds of men calling themselves Chris- tians ! What could the natives think ot a religion which allowed them to act thus? These valiant Boers seldom or never engaged in conflict with the warlike Caffres ; they confined their operations to the more peaceable Bechuanas. Their plan of attack was to place in front some of the natives whom they had conquered and enslaved, and under cover of them to fire away upon the defenceless people. Livingstone had spoken to Sechele about crossing the desert which stretched out to the north of them, and penetrating that unknown land beyond. IS^o white men had ever attempted the journey, which to the natives was one of great fear and peril. Now he had deter- mined to make the attempt; and two African travellers, to whom he communicated his intention, resolved to accompany him. These were Colonel Steele and Mr. Oswell, the latter of whom undertook to defray the expense of the guides. To go straight across the desert was out of the question; it must be skirted for a consid- erable distance, and struck into at a narrow part. So, on the 1st June, 1849, he and his company sot out, a train consisting of some eighty oxen, twenty horses, and as many men. The friendly chief, Sechele, could not go with them ; but he gave Livingstone two of his best men to be, as he said, "his arms to serve him." A long and tiresome journey they had before them, full of hardships and unknown dangers. Sekorai, chief of the Bamangwato, through whose lands they had to pass, and who had been propitiated with the present of an ox, would not assist the party, because, he said, in the direction of the lake lived the Makololo, mortal enemies of the Bechuanas, who would kill the white men, and so he would incur the blame of all his nation. But the secret, however, was, that the lake-country ^ ACROSS THE KALAHARI DESERT. 35 abounded in ivory, a good deal of which passed through Sekorai's hands, and he was desirous of keeping this traffic to himself as much as possible. It was said that he was acquainted with the best route to this region of elephants ; but he kept it carefully concealed. With him, as with the Dutch Boers, self-interest was the guid- ing principle. After travelling several days through a flat, sandy country, interspersed with open forest, bush, and grass lands, which did not put much stress upon their powers of endurance, the party left the road and struck away northward into the desert. They soon came to a soil of soft white sand, into which the wheels sunk over the felloes, so that the oxen had great difficulty in drawing the wagons. On they go, laboring and panting, with open mouths and lolling tongues, while the drivers smack their long whips, and with loud shouts encourage or threaten them ; at times lifting the clumsy wheels, that have sunk deeper than usual, or making an united eft'ort to push the heavy wagon on. Livingstone and his friends, with the native guides, walk ahead, and send eager glances on every side in search of water, which has now become very scarce. The sun pours down its hot rays, and the sand beneath burns the feet if they rest on it too long in one place. Soon the wide, wild, path- less desert extends on every side of them, bounded only by the horizon, without a sign or sound of life, except those of their own party. Man and beast alike are possessed by a burning thirst, — an intense desire for water, or any kind of fluid ; the feet sink into the soft, yielding sand above the instep, and to lift them and drag along the wearied frame is an exertion almost too much for the fainting powers. No shade of green to relieve the eye, no freshness in the air, no moisture anywhere. Even the conversation has become irksome, and they walk as men in a dream, or, unable to do this, sit on the oxen, swaying to and fro, and scarcely knowing of, or caring for, anything in life, except it be that which will cool the parched tongue, and quench the burning thirst. So on they go, wearily, drearily, until the day's journey 36 THE WEAVER BOY. * is done, and the halt called, and the stored are brought out for the repast. They have found some hollows, like those made by the buffalo and the rhinoceros when they roll themselves in the mud. In the corner of one of these is a little water which would be lapped up in a min- ute by the dogs had they been permitted to approach it. Stay! softly! dig away the loose sand, and clear out the holes to the depth of six feet, also taking care not to break the hard substratum at the bottom, on reaching which, the water flows into the line where the soft sand comes in contact with it. And now there's enough for all; they drink and are refreshed. Wonderfully changed is the aspect of the whole party : eyes brighten, tongues begin to wag; the step becomes firm and elastic again; the dogs are frolicking round them, or ranging out far in search of game ; the cattle, relieved of their burdens, are eating the food provided for them, cropping the scanty herbage which is to be found here and there around, or crouching, with looks of perfect content, beside the wagons, while the Bechuanas are laughing and chatting away beside the watch-fire which has been lighted, as happy as if they were in their native kraals. Some of them are out ranging the desert with the dogs in search of ostrich eggs. They may, perhaps, light upon a patch of " leroshua," — a small plant with long, narrow leaves, and a stock not thicker than a crow's quill ; following this down into the soil, from twelve to eighteen inches, they come upon a tuber as large as the head of an infant; the rind of this is filled with a pulpy mass of cellular tissue, containing a sweet fluid, deliciously cool. If they are very fortunate, they may find the "kengwe," or watermelon ; especially if it should happen to have been a rainy season will they be likely to do this. Then, in many parts of the desert, whole tracts are literally covered with them, and animals of every kind, as well as man, rejoice in the fresh supply. The lordly elephant, and his foe the sharp- horned rhinoceros, revel alike in their jucy richness. Even the flesh-eating animals, such as lions, hyenas, jackals, seem to take to these watermelons kindly, as a ACROSS THE KALAHARI DESERT. 37 pleasant change of diet; and the many kinds of ante- lopes, that in vast herds wander on the grassy plains, and traverse the arid tracts in search of fresh pasturage, or to escape from their enemies, feed on them with avidity. See ! that Bechuana has found one of these succulent gourds; he holds it up with a shrill cry of joy, while his white teeth gleam out from between the parted lips; he strikes it with his hatchet, and applies his tongue to the gash. Bah! it is a bitter one; the smile passes from his face, and we are reminded of the apples of the Dead Sea, — fair to the eye, but bitter to the taste. This, however, is not the case with all the water- melons; most of them are deliciously sweet; and it is curious that these all grow together, and aiford no out- ward indications to distinguish one from the other. On these melons, and the tubers above described, with some bulbs, which are buried deep in the sand, not only the creatures already named, and especially the antelopes, which have pointed hoofs well adapted for digging, and which are able to go without water for months, in a great measure subsist, when they leave their pasturage grounds, and retire into the more inaccessible wilder- ness. There, too, one finds the little, fussy porcupine, which is forever running to and fro, and setting its quills on end, whether in play or anger one cannot tell. Ser- pents abound in this inhospitable desert, many of them very poisonous ; and venomous insects are more plen- tiful than pleasant. Sometimes a hyena comes prowling about the halting-place, which is always near to water, and frightens the cattle ; sometimes an eland, the noblest of African deer may be seen cropping the herbage that grows in patches here and there ; and now and again the beautiful zebras, and their near relatives the quaggas, those wild asses of the desert, with flying manes and tails, go bounding by ; the brindled gnu, with ox-like head and deer-like legs and body, comes, with red eyes fiercely glaring, to look upon the intruders on its deso- late domain, but turns and flies before the presented gun and the yelping dog. Day after day, day after day, the wearied party toiled 38 THE WEAVER BOY. on ! A month or more had passed, and still the wild waste lay before and around them. Far down beneath the arid soil were reservoirs of water and succulent vegetables, which sufficed to quench their intolerable thirst, when they could be discovered, which they could only be by experienced guides, and not always even b}' them. In some parts of the desert they found a profuse growth of vegetation, — tall grasses rising in tufts, with bare spaces between, or intervals covered with creeping- plants, on whose roots the scorching sun had no effect, so deeply buried were they in the soil ; and between these stalked the ostriches, or awkwardly galloped, with legs wide apart, the tall, ungainly giraifes. Ants here have made their tortuous galleries in the sand, in which also, the ant-lion has hollowed its circular pitfall, and lies patiently at the bottom, until an incautious insect, coming too near the edge, slips over and is instantly devoured. There is also another curious insect, an inch and a quarter long, and about as thick as a crow's quill, covered with black hair, which puts its head into a hole in the ground, and quivers its tail rapidly ; attracted by the movement the ants approach to examine it, and the moment they get within reach of the animated forceps, arc snapped up. Nor is this desert altogether without human inhabitants. The Bosjemon, or Bushmen, the smallest in stature, and most degraded of all the African tribes, have here their habitation, — if the mere hollows in the sand, holes in the rocks, or rude structures formed of such grasses and vegetable fibres as come to hand, can be so called. Living upon the carcasses, often putrid, of the animals which die, or are slain,— on roots, or insects, or anything that can be eaten ; uttering -uncouth sounds, which can scarcely be called a language ; the teiLi human beings seem almost misapplied to these straogo, wild people, who are found only in the most desoiatd and inaccessible parts of the country. Some- times hunting or war parties of the Bakalahari, as the people who live on the confines of the great desert are called, were met with. These were well acquainted with the situation of all the spots where water might ACROSS THE KALAHARI DESERT. 39 be obtained, and were enabled to give the travellers valuable information ; but they were somewhat deterred Irom doing this by Sekomi, who had sent on two of his people to drive them and the Bushmen away, and prevent their acting as guides to the party. Another month had passed, and they were yet in the trackless waste, although evidently approaching its boundaries ; the face of the country assumed a different appearance, the patches of verdure became more fre- quent and extensive, and the scrub thicker ; the old river courses which they crossed began to exhibit signs of moisture, and at length they came to a pool of rain- water, nearly full, into which the cattle rushed, lowing with pleasure, until the delicious fluid was nearly on a level with their throats, and drank till their sides were ; distended as if they would burst. Mingled with the grass, they now came upon clumps of the *' wait-a-bit thorn," so called, because its sharp, strong sj^ines pierce the traveller's legs, and arrest his progress. Presently, a group of graceful palmyra-trees rise upon the view, and beneath their shade is a delightfully fresh spring;. And now it seems that there lies spread before them, beneath the beams of the setting sun, a broad sheet of water, glistening and flashing. Is this the long looked- for lake ? Na}^, it is only ihe deceitful mirage, caused by the blue haze floating over extensive salt-pans. And now they come to a large and beautiful river, running to the north-east, and the people of the village on its farther bank tell them that it is the Zouga, and that it comes out of the great lake. Following its course, they at length reach the object of their search, and on the 1st of August, exactly two months after they set out, . they look with delight and thankfulness upon Lake Ngami. 40 -HE WEAVER BOY. 4 V. FROM LAKE NGAm TO THE GLOBE. We can understand something of the feeling of delight with which Livingstone, as he stood by Lake Ngami, gazed on its broad expanse of unbroken water, to which DO boundary could be seen. In all probability, no Euro- pean had ever before beheld it; the natives had no record of a white man having been seen in its neighbor- hood, or beyond the great desert at all. He had come upon it at the north-east end, and the people who lived about the lake, and called themselves Bayeiye, that is, men, told him that they could go round in three days, which, at the common rate of travelling, would make it about seventy-five miles in circumference. Several large rivers had been observed flowing into it. From whence did they come? was the natural question. *'0h," was the reply, " from a country full of rivers ; so many, no one can tell their number, and full of large trees." Here was an explosion of the theory that the interior of South Africa was a sandy plateau, and barren. It must be, as Livingstone had concluded, a well-watered and wooded, and most likely a populous region, which only required opening to civilizing influences to make it rich and productive, a glory and a blessing to mankind. Here were souls to be saved, and bodies to be benefited, nations unknown and peoples uncounted, to be lifted out of the depths of superstition and ignorance ; here was a virgin soil, of vast extent, in which to cast the seeds of the Gospel. Compared with this discovery, that of Lake Ngami sank into insignificance, and Livingstone felt himself irresistibly impelled to press forward, and be- come the pioneer of Christianity into this terra incognita. The Bayeiye were a tribe of the great Bechuana nation, by some branches of which they were looked upon with scorn, and called Bakoba, or slaves, because they would not fight. Their forefathers, they say, in ■■ L r first essays at war, made bows of the pal ma crista, FROM LAKE NGAMI TO THE CHOBE. 41 that is, the kind of oil from which castor-oil is obtained, which has brittle wood; these broke, so they gave up fighting. They are the Quakers of Africa, refusing to use arms, and submitting to the rule of every sable con- queror who may choose to take possession of their terri- tory. Yet we do not learn that they suffered more ia their persons and possessions than the most warlike tribes ; nay, it seems likely that they did so far less than most. They took not the sword, and,'*as a rule, did not perish by it. They lived very much on the lake, or the rivers running in or out of it, rather sleeping in their canoes, where they were safer from the attacks of wild beasts, than on land. Although Sekomi's messengers had circulated the report that the object of the expedition was plunder and spolia- tion, yet was the part}'' received kindly by these "friends" indeed. The people, ordered by their chief to assist them all they could, readily obeyed, and gave as much information as they possessed of the regions beyond the lake. There lived the Makololo, a nation distinct from the Bechuanas, whose great chief, Sebi- tuane, resided about two hundred miles farther on. Livingstone wanted to push on, and visit hira at once. Why make this weary and perilous journey back across the desert, leaving unfulfilled one great desire of his heart? The Bayeiye could not furnish guides, but there was nearer the lake a half tribe of the Bamangwato, called Batauana, who perhaps might. Their chief was applied to; at first he objected, fearing'^that where Liv- ingstone led, other white men might follow, and supply the Makololo with fire-arms, and so frustrate his object of obtaining a conquest over them, he being a young man, ambitious of increasing his power. On being pressed, however, he consented, or appeared to do so, but sent men to the Bayeiye, ordering them to refuse a passage over the river Zouga, which they must cross, before commencing their journey. Determined to accomplish his object, if possible, Livingstone attempted to make a raft, working himself many hours in the water, in great danger from the alligators which abounded there. But 3 42 THE WEAVER BOY. the only dry-wood he could procure was so rotten and worm-eaten as to be quite unfit for the purpose, so his desij^n was frustrated. The season being now far advanced, and Mr. Osweli having volunteered to go to the Cape and bring up a boat it was thought best for the party to turn their steps norlhward, which they accordingly did, returning to Kolobeng, where Livingstone remained until April, 1850, when he again set out, this time with Mrs. Livingstone, and his three children, hoping to be able to establish a mission among the Makololo. Sechelo also accompanied him, with the intention of visiting Lechulatebe, the Bamangwato chief, by Lake Ngami, over whom he claimed a kind of headship, he being the eldest of the three chiefs who ruled over the three sections of the Bakwains. Sekomi had ordered all the wells made by the party on their first .passage to be filled; they there- fore kept more to the eastward, and crossed the Zouga at its lowest extremity, travelling up the northern bank. After going some distance, however, they were obliged to retrace their steps and recross the river. Many oxen were lost by falling into pitfalls made to catch the wild animals ; and then came information that, higher up, the dreaded tsetse abounded. This is a poisonous fly which Btings the cattle, so that they lose all power of exertion, become emaciated, and soon die. It abounds chiefly on the banks of rivers, and in most marshy places, through which it often renders the advance of travellers impos- sible, by destroying all their oxen. Although apparently an insignificant insect, it is more dreaded than wild beasts or unfriendly natives. Livingstone feared that it might bring his wagons to a standstill in the wilderness, where no supplies for his wife and children could be obtained. Being now told by the Bayeiye that some white men, who had come to the lake for ivory, had been stricken with fever, he made a hasty journey of sixty miles to succor them. One of the party, an artist, had died; the rest, by the aid of medicines and such nursing as Mrs. Livingstone could give them, recovered. And now the same motherly care was called into requisition FROM LAKE NGAMI TO THE CHOBE. 43 by her own children, two of whom were prostrated by that scourge of hot and malarious districts, which also seized upon the servants, so that the prosecution of the journey that year had to be given up. Back once more to the missionary station they went, leaving Mr. Oswell on the Zouga to hunt elephants, which abounded in the lake district, and were destroyed by hunters chiefly on account of the value of their tusks, a pair of those of an old male being worth as much as twenty-five pounds. No wonder that the native chiefs ■were jealous of encroachments on their hunting-grounds, and that the Dutch Boers endeavored to keep the traffic in their own hands. In no country are elephants so large and abundant as in Africa, where the height of the full-grown male is from ten to eleven feet and sometimes more. It is dis- tinguished from the Asiatic variety by having large ears, and a more convex forehead, and some other particulars not so obvious. In Asia all the females and many males are without tusks ; in Africa both sexes have them, and in certain districts their numbers are prodigious. In Nyanja, Mukulu, or elephant marsh, on the river Shire, Livingstone has seen as many as eight hundred of these enormous beasts. This is the game most eagerly sought by Gordon Gumming and other Europeans who choose Africa for their sporting ground. From his success in killing elephants, the natives estimated Mr. Oswell's prowess very highly. When they wished to compliment Livingstone, they would say, " If you were not a mission- ary, you could be like Oswell." While Livingstone was at Kuruman — for thither did he go to recruit the health of his children, and rest after his fatigues— messengers came to Kolobeng, from Sebi- tuane, chief of the Makololo, who had heard of tha missionary's attempt to reach him, bringing thirteen black cow^s for Sechele, with a request that he would do ail lie could to facilitate the passage of the white men through his country. He also sent the like number of white cows to Sekomi, and of brown cows to Lechula- tebe, with similar requests. These messengers were 44 THE WEAVER BOY. allowed to return before Livingstone got back to Kolo- beng; the monopolizing spirit being too strong in each of those chiefs, to allow of their cordially carrying out the object desired, although they took the presents. As agents, in the exchange of Sebituane's ivory for the goods he required, they obtained considerable profits, which they were fearful of losing if white traders pene- trated to his country. Had Livingstone seen the messen- gers of the Makololo chief, he would have obtained valuable information as to the best and safest route, if ' he did not secure their services as guides. Encouraged by the desire of the chief to receive him, und nothing daunted by his former failures, Livingstone set out on his third journey, again taking his wife and children. Sekomi, on this occasion was unusually gen- erous ; he even furnished a guide for the party, who, however, only knew the route up to a certain point, be- yond which the greatest difficulties commenced, so that one might well suspect his sincerity. Fortunately at about this point, it happened that one who was well acquainted with the Bushmen who peopled much of the territory thereabout, and who were familiar with the in- tricate ways which led into Sebituane's country, had broken the mainspring of his gun, and Livingstone un- dertook to mend it, on Rendition that the owner would put him in direct communication with these children of the desert. So, after passing quickly over a hard, flat country, covered with short, sweet grass, withmopane andboabab trees scattered about, and extensive salt-pans, having a gentle slope towards the Zouga, they reached a place called Matlomagan-yana,'or *' The Links," where they fonnd many families of JBushmen, one of whom, named Shobo, consented to guide the party across the waste between the springs, which were here very plentiful, to the Makololo country. These Bushmen were different from those of the Kalahari desert, being taller and of darker complexion. *^ To produce complete blackness of skin requires moisture as well as heat," says Livingstone. " Here we have plenty of moisture ; in the desert, where FROM LAKE NGAMI TO THE CHOBE. 45' there is none in the air, the Bushmen havej'ellow skins.'* The way now lay over a dreary tract of level sand, en- livened only by a low growtii of scrub. No bird or other living creature was to be seen ; although there were traces of elephants, which had been there in the rainy season, following which, the guide lost his way, and after wandering to all parts of the country, and making fruit- less efforts to find it again, he sat down in despair, say- ing, "No water — all country only — Shobo sleeps — coun- try only." Accordingly ho curled himself up, and went to sleep, leaving the travellers to get on as best they could. The fourth day had now arrived, and there were yet no signs of getting out of this dreary wilderness. Shobo had disappeared, after professing utter ignorance of his whereabouts ; the supply of water was exhausted ;. the children were crying with thirst, and the tearful eyes of the mother told how she sympathized in their sufferings, although she uttered no word of complaint. Somewhere in the west of them must flow the river Ma- babe ; here is the trail of a rhinoceros going in that di- rection; some birds are also seen flying that way; some of the cattle are unyoked, and rush off' in that directiott too. And now, when near the end of the fourth day^ the men who had gone in search of water returned with the longed-for fluid ; and now the river itself is reached, and there, by its banks, stands Shobo, with a party of Bayeiye, whom he had fallen in with, and whom he wished to impress wnth a sense of his importance. He therefore assumed an air of great consequence, and spoke as if he had command of the party. Next day they travel on, and rea'ih a village of the Banajoa, who live on the borders of the marsh, in which the Mababe loses- itself They live i i huts built on poles, and make a fire in them at night to smoke away the mosquitoes, which are more abundant on this river and the Tamunakle, out of which it flows, than in any other part of the country. They have lost their corn-crop, and are subsisting on a root called '' tsitla," which contains a quantity of sweet starch. The women of this tribe shave the hair off their heads ; they are of darker complexion than the Bechu- 46 THE WEAVER BOY. nas. Their head-man seemed a simpleton ; but a younger relative, who acted for him, was intelligent enough. Under his direction the travellers pursued their journey, and, crossing the river, soon reached the banks of the Chobe, in the country of the Makololo, some of whom met them there, and expressed great delight at seeing them ; but Sobituane was twenty miles ott; down the river, and Livingstone and Oswell at once proceeded in canoes to his temporary residence, to which he had come from a distance of more than one hundred miles to meet the white men, whom he understood wore in search of him. YI. IN THE MAKOLOLO COUNTEY. ^ The redoubtable chief, Sebituane, was a tall, wiry man, with an olive complexion, not over-clear, and a head slightly bald ; his age was about forty -five ; his manner cool and collected ; his answers to questions frank and free ; very different in this respect from most Other African chieftains, who seemed to think, with the French philosopher, that "words were given them to hide their thoughts. He was a great warrior, alwa3\s leading bis rueu to battle himself, and so fleet a runner that no skulking coward who fled from the fight could escape him. Sometimes he would let such a fugitive go ; but, on his return home, he was summoned into the chiefs presence, and told that as he preferi*ed dying at home to •aying in the field, he might do so ; and he was immedi- ately executed. Like many other great conquerors, his only right to the possessions he held was that of the strong arm. He came from the North, and was now eight or nine hundred miles from his birthplace. He -was not even the son of a chief among his own people, though nearly related to the reigning family. He com- IN THE MAKALOLO COUNTRY. 47 menced his career with an insignificant party of men and cattle, with whom he fled to the North, when driven by the Griquas from Kuruman, in 1824. The Bakwains, and other of the Bechuanas, collected and threatened to ''eat him up." Nothing daunted by their superior numbers, he placed his men in front, his women behind the cattle, attacked and defeated them, following up his victory by taking possession of the town and goods of Makabe, chief of the Bangwaketse. After experiencing a variety of fortunes, — sometimes losing all his cattle, and being put to great shifts, but always keeping his men together, and taking more than he lost, — he crossed the desert by nearly the same route as Livingstone ; he fought his way into the densely populated Makololo country, and eventually conquered all the black tribes, which inhabited an immense region ; although often op- posed, and sometimes defeated for a time by the Mata- bele, a most warlike people of the Kaffir nation, under Mosilikatse, almost as great a warrior as himself. To recount all the deeds of daring, the shifts and strata- gems of this sable Napoleon, who was as wiloy as he was bravo, would fill a volume. In peace, he was bene- volent, kind, and hospitable, so that he gained the afifec- tions of his own j^eople, and the gratitude of strangers whom he succored and entertained. Meal, and milk, and honey were sot before those who came to his town, whether for traflSc, or other purposes. Poor and r\ch, he treated all alike, and, delighted with his affability, all were ready to impart to him any information they pos- sessed. In this wa}' he became acquainted with the movements of his enemies and other matters which it was important for him to know, and his praises wore sounded far and wide in such terms as these : " He has a heart ! He is wise 1" i ' . = This chief had long wished to establish direct relations with the white men ; hence his invitation to Livingstone, with whose mark of confidence in bringing his wife and children he was much pleased. He was found upon an island, with all his principal men around him, engaged in singing what was probably a song of welcome to th^ 48 THE WEAVER BOY. travellers, to whom he behaved most friendly He pro- mised them cattle to replace those bitten by the tsetse, which would surely die, and said he would take them to see his country, that they might select a suitable place whereon to settle. An ox, and a jar of honey, as food, were at once handed over to Mahala, who had headed the messengers whom he sent to Kolobeng, for their use, and prepared ox-skins, as soft as cloth, for them to lie upon. Next morning, before daybreak, he came and sat by their fire to talk with them, and show how much he valued their friendship. But, alas ! the great monarch, the mighty warrior, the astute statesman, must die, just as this desire of his heart, that he might have the white men in his country to teach and to civilize his people, and ♦-o make him yet more wise f»nd powerful, was accomplished. Sebituane fell sick with inflammation of the lungs, originating in an old wound got in one of his many battles. This was the second attack in two years, and it proved fatal. The na- tive doctors were unable to save him, and Livingstone, seeing that death was likely to ensue, was afraid to use such remedial means as his skill suggested, lest the fatal result should be attributed to him. " Come near," said the dying chief to the missionary, *'and see if I am any longer a man. I am done." Alas I he knew nothing of a hope after death ; and of this Livingstone ventured to speak. " Sebituane cannot die ; speak not of death to him," said the doctors present, confident, or pretending to be so, in the power of their enchantments. With a silent commendation of that departing soul to God, the pitying white man stood looking on. His little boy, Bobert, was with him, and the chief, who had been pleased with the child, fixed his eyes, over which the film of death was spreading, upon him, and faintly said : " Take Robert to Maunka (one of his wives), and tell her to give him some milk." These were his last words. " Never," sa3's Livingstone, " was I so much grieved by the loss of a black man before ; and it was impossible not to follow him in thought into the other world, and to realize somewhat of the feelings of those who pray for IN THE MAKALOLO COUNTRY. 49 the dead. The dark question of * What is to become of such as he ?' must, however, be left where we find it. * The Judge of all the earth will do risjht.' " They buried him in the cattle-pen, according to custom, and over and around the spot the cattle were driven for an hour or two, that all marks of it might be obliterated. Hereafter no one could tell where the great chief re- posed. Why was this done? Perhaps that his remains might not be subjected to indignities by enemies ; per- haps as a rebuke to the pride of man, or the superstition of thosfc who would worship the relics of departed great- ness. And yet these poor benighted Africans had never learned to realize the sublime truth embodisd in the words which follow that mournful declaration of '' ashes to ashes, dust to dust," — " I know that my Eedeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and although after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not an- other." Sebituane's chieftainship devolved on a daughter, named Ma-mochisane. Yery rarely is this mode of suc- cession permitted, as a female hand is not strong enough to hold together a wild and unstable people, and keep in subjection the often discordant elements of a scattered and uncivilized community ; and wo shall presently see that this chieftainess did not long remain in power. At the time of her father's death she was twelve days' jonrney to the north, at a place called Naliele. She gave Livingstone and his companion perfect liberty to visit any part of the country they chose, and they explored it as far as Sesheke, which was about one hundred and thirty miles to the north-cast. At the end of June, 1851, they discovered that noble river, the Zambesi, in the very centre of the continent. This must eventually become the great highway of traffic into the interior of a land, be3^ond most others rich, fertile, and populous. Although known by name, it had been very erroneously placed, in the Portuguese maps, far to the east of its real posi- tion. It is a magnificent body of water, a main artery 50 THE WEAVER BOY. of a great river sj'stem, a complete network of rivers, many of them of great size and volume. In the dry season, -when Livingstone first saw it, there was a breadth of from three to sixhundred yards of deep flowing water. It rises annually thirty feet of perpendicular height, and floods fifteen or twenty miles of lands adjacent to its banks. At such times the whole basin through which it :flows has the appearance of a vast lake, the towns and villages which are built on the spots which rise here and there above the surrounding level standing out like islands. On these little hills, and amid the swampy tracts between them, live the Makololo, secured by the nature of the ground from the attacks of enemies, against whom, in the higher and more healthy districts, there is no such defence. . ^ ■ So, here among the reedy rivers and swamps and woods, wherein grow the naimosa and mobano trees, the wild dates and feathery or fan like palms, and a profuse under-vegetation, live the Makololo, rearing their cattle, which often have to be sent to the higher grounds to escape the dreaded tsetse; cultivating their plots of maize and cotton, their yams and pumpldns, and other esculent vegetables. There is little trouble in this, as the heat and moisture so stimulate the growth of vege- tation, that the husbandmen, or rather husbandwomen, lir the females mostly do this, may leave the work pretty much to nature; they have only to sow, and gather when ripe. Their lords, wh< not engaged in war, hunt the hippopotamus or elephant, fish, or shoot the birds with which the woods and swamps abound. Sometimes they paddle their long canoes up and down the great rivers, or engage in combat with the scaly crocodile or the deadly snake, and at night they gather round the fires, whose smoke protects them from the mosquitoes and other venomous insects, and engage in noisy chatter. All the Africans are great talkers and boasters, and in recounting their deeds of daring and adventure they do not always keep strictly to the truth. They are great eaters as well as talkers, and not over-nice in the kind of food they take. There is an enormous frog, about five IN THE MAKALOLO COUNTRY. 51 and a half inches long, called matlermetlo, which they €steem a great delicacy, and several kinds of caterpillars, which are eaten by them. The loud croaking of the for- mer kind of game leads to its easy detection and capture. T?he natives say that it falls from the clouds, because after a heavy rainfall it becomes exceedingly plentiful, although just previously none were to be found, and the croaking chorus is heard where but a few minutes before all was silence. Fever was very prevalent in these marshy districts, where Livingstone could find no suit-' able place for a settlement ; and on the hills it would be altogether unsafe to dwell. He did not so much heed the danger to himself, but he feared for his family, and, not liking to relinquish this opening into what appeared a good field of missionary operation, resolved to take Mrs. Livingstone and the children to the Cape, from whence they could embark ifor England, sxnd thei»i return and fiilly explore the country, in search of a healthy district, which might prove a centre of civilization. At Kolobeng he felt that there was little chance of his affecting much good, in consequence of the open and covert opposition of the Boers; and here it seemed that Providence had pointed out a way of largely benefiting his fellow-crea- tures. The Makololo appeared to be a teachable people, their country was wonderfuly fertile and productive, and the countenance of its chief ruler would be of advantage. The opportunities, too, of communication with people farther north, as well as east and west to the coast, by •means of the large rivers, were additional incentives to -operations in this direction. So once again the mission- ary and his family journeyed southward, and after a short visit to Cape Town, — the first which he had paid to any seat of civilization during some years, — he bade adieu to those nearest and dearest to him, and turned his face once more towards the wilderness, into which he plunged, and was lost to the world as completely, for a long time, as if he had been swallowed up by the waves, or gone down quick into the grave. Year after year passed by, and still no tidings of him came to relieve the anxiety of his sorrowing friends. 52 THE WEAVER BOY. From time to time vague rumors reached them of a white man, who had been seen by one who drove his coffle of slaves from the interior to the Portuguese settlements, on the eastern or western coast ; or by an ivory trader, or hunter, who had passed near to, or through, the Makololo country; but no letters, no authentic information of any kind was received, and it was feared that one more earnest and devoted soldier of the cross had fallen a vic- ^tim to the pestilential climate, or the ravening beast, or the sable savage whom he sought to bring to a kno-wledge of Christ and his salvation. AMID THE GREAT WATERS. Pleasant is the town of Linyante, — Linyante, queen of the swamps and mobane woods; whose reedy empire stretches far away to the hills which encircle the fruitful basin in which she sits, throned in state, crowned with the feathery palmyra, gemmed and jewelled with the rich blossoms and the bright plumage of her tropical plants and birds and insects, that spring up luxuriantly, and flutter and sing and hum and buzz around her. The rainbow sheen of her magnificent waterfall, Mosioatun- ya, ** smoke resounding," is ever around her, and its thunder in her ears, coming from miles and miles away, sounds like a song in praise of her greatness. Great is Linyante ! the capital of the mighty Makololo people, who have come in like a flood, and subdued the Basutos and other tribes which formerly inhabited these rich and fertile regions. The Zambese, with its vast volume of waters, winds about and protects her, and sends its tribu- tary, the Chobe, to lay its offerings at her feet. Rich in ivory is Linyante; countless are its elephant-herds, and its cattle who shall number ? The honey-bird calls from every tree for the bee-hunter to come and take of the sweet store. The eland, noblest of deer, and antelopes AMID THE GREAT WATERS. 53 of many kinds and sizes, crowd the forests and iiumid plains and hill-sides, and ask to be killed, that she may have venison enough and to spare. Where is the croak of the frogs so loud and musical as at Liny ante ? Where is their flesh so delicate and savory? All around her the slopes are golden with the ripening maize ; the little fihe needs for clothing is furnished by the skins of the wild animals and the pods of the cotton-plant; the marupa pours out its sweet juices that she may drink and be merry ; and the serpent casts its speckled skin, beset with gems, for her adornment. Amongst her sub- jects are monstrous crocodiles and mighty river-horses, — behemoths of the flood ; and all kinds of fish abound in her teeming waters, the roar of the lion is her nightly music, as l^e goes^fprth. to hunt with hS train of scream- ing jackals and laughing hyenas ; the zebra and the quagga, twin brothers of the desert, are slain for her pleasure by the Bushmen and the Bakalahari; their skins are soft and glossy, and beautiful to look upon, and their flesh is good for food ; and the straddling giraffe, that lifts its long neck, and curls its lithe tongue around the tender twigs of the date palm, yields up its life as a tribute to Linyante ; and the eggs and beautiful plumes of the ostrich are hers, to eat and to deck herself withal. The fiery-eyed buffalo wallows in her marshes, where the witch-lights dance in the sultry nights, and the mosqui- toes come out in swarms, and over which hovers, night and day, the dreaded tsetse, that kills the horse and the ass and the dog, and all creatures that are under the pro- tection of man, but spares the wild animals and man himself. But not for these things alone is Linyante great and glorious. She is the capital, the seat of em- pire, of the Makalolo people. There dwelt the mighty chief, Sebituane, who led his warriors across the desert, and ate up his foes before him. At the sound of his war- drums, even the warlike Matabele trembled; Mosilikatse, their renowned chief, that lion that scattered other tribes like frightened oxen, stood still and listened with anxious face, then crept like a snake into the morass, and tried to gain by stratagem the victory he could not win by force. il THE WEAVER BOY. Far away from the south country, by the sources of thfr Likwa and Namagari rivers, came Sebituane, with a. handful of men and cattle. Lo ! now, all the Barotse, — the black men, — the people of the water are his subjects* Great was Sebituane, and great is Sekeletu, friend of the white men ; and glorious is Linyante, his palace amid the great rivers, that shall one day come to be the broad highways of commerce. • • - ' Thus might the " senoga, " or native bard — one who holds intercourse with the gods — have celebrated the praises of the Makololo capital, and of its first and pre- sent royal residents, the latter of whom was waiting in a state of anxious expectancy the arrival of a guest, whose coming had been announced by some of his people in terms like these : — " Up the Chobe comes the stranger, Through tht' reeds he sails along ; What cares he for toil and danger? Give him welcome with a song. Fiiend of the poor Makololo, He has dropped down from the sky ; Fill the bowl with sweet boyalo ; Let the fatted oxen die. - " With the stars he holds communion, Talks with spirits just and good ; He is king of all the waters ; See ! he rides upon the flood ! All the river-horses fear liim. Alligators from him fly ; J Water-snakes will not come near him ; Would you know the reason why ? " He has medicines to charm them. — '' Medicines of wondrous power, — Not a living thing can harm him ; Happy is the day and hour , That has brought him o'er the river, ' With the words of love and peace ; May he dwell with us forever, — ■ ■ i: Make our wars and troubles cease." It was the time of the annual overflow of the river, AMID THE GREAT WATERS. 55 which had lasted longer, and been more extensive than usual. The mid-channel of the Chobe could only be de- tected by the open spaces left between the rushes and tall papyrus plants, which were closely bound together by creeping convolvuli. Between these, here and there, were lanes and openings which led into what seemed a broad lake, but which, in the dry season, was marshy land. Finding it impossible to bring his waggons on through this watery wilderness, Livingstone — many of whose men had been struck down with fever, and his ozen bitten by the tsetse, and whose Bushem guides had left him for their drier and more congenial homes — em- barked with one of the strongest of his weak companions, with the hope of striking upon the main channel of the river, and making his way to the residen<^e of the Mak- ololo chief After surmounting great difficulties, and escaping many dangers, being often up to the neck ia water, having the body and limbs torn with brambles, and the flesh lacerated, and clothing quite destroj^ed by a serrated kind of grass whoso edges cut like a razor, he came to the village of Moremi, where the traveller was recognized by one of the natives, who had seen him on his former visit. On learning who he was, the chief sent some of his head-men with a party of Makololo to con- duct him to Linyante. The wagons were taken to pieces and lashed to canoes, and the oxen were made to swim, the natives diving under and about them like so many alligators. Linyante has some six thousand or seven thousand in- habitants, and the whole population turned out to witness the arrival ; they had never seen wagons in motion be- fore, and the phenomenon astonished them very much. Sekeletu, who was the son of Sebituane, now reigned in his father's place, his sister having declined the power and station offered to her. This chief had the same olive, or, as it is called, coffee-and-milk complexion as his father, than whom he was a much less able man ; he was about twenty-eight years of age, and had a rival candi- date for the chieftainship in Mpepe, who favored tho slave-traders, and was by them supported. Ho hoped by Si THE WEAVER BOT. means of their fire-arms to destroy or overcome Seke- letu, and to become lord paramount over the Makololo. A large party of the Mambari, who, in conjunction with the half-caste Portugese, are the chief slave-dealers of that part of Africa, had come into the neighborhood of Linyante, while Livingstone was making his way there. They were supplied with food, and made a compact with Mpepe to kill Sekeletu the first opportunity. Luckily for the chief, the attempt was made while he was in the company of Livingstone, on a journey up the Zambesi, in search of a healthy locality for a settlement, and frus- trated by the interposition of the missionary. Mpepe was killed, and his adherents fled, and the party returned to Linyante, where the white teacher remained awhile, and endeavored to instruct the natives ; but he made little progress in this work. Sekeletu himself, although he professed great regard for the missionary, and wished him to stay in his country, declined to be taught to read the Bible, lest it should change his heart, and make him content with only one wife ; he must always have five at least. Like all chieftains, he had a head wife, pr queen, whose hut is called "the great house," and whose child- ren inherit the chieftainship. If she dies, one of ttie other wives is raised to this dignity. Our traveller found that but few of the people among whom he now sojourned were the true Makololo, who came from the North with Sebituane — the wars and the fever had cut off most of these ; but they were the dominant race, to whom the conquered people had to render sub- jection. These last were proud to be called by their master's name, and often were so called ; but really they were Makalaka, that is, servants. Their servitude, how- ever, was not very galling ; they cultivated their own land, and lived as nearly independent as might be. Were they not well treated, it would be easy for them to escape to other tribes, who would gladly receive them ; so it was necessary for their masters to secure their aflFections, or they would probably find themselves with- out servants. ^ The^true Makololo ladies seldom labor, except on such AMID THE GREAT WATERS. 57 home matters as the proper adornment and regulation of their own huts. They are generally plump from drink- ing large quantities of boyaloa, which is made from a gum called holcus sorghum and is very nutritious. Their- wooly hair is short and crisp, and their bodies, which they anoint with butter, shine like polished ebony. They wear a kilt of soft ox-hide, which reaches to the knees, and when unemployed a skin mantle is thrown grace- fully over the shoulders. They have brass anklets as thick as the little finger, and ai'mlets of the same metal or of ivory. So heavy are the former, that they some- times blister the ankles ; and this is one of the penalties paid to fashion by her votaries oven in savage Africa. A trader might get almost anything for beads to hang round the necks of these sable beauties, especially if they are of the fashionable colors, — light-green and pink. Traders make enormous profits out of these beads, for which the}' get in exchange ivory and other valuable products of the country. Livingstone was allowed to hold his religious services in the kotla, or hut of the chief, and the people were summoned to attend them by a very important person- age, the court-herald, who proclaims the sovereign's will to his people, calls all assemblies for councils, feastinir, or other purposes ; by him is the royal palace kept clean, and the lire burning, and by him, when a public execu- ^ tion takes place, is the body dragged away, and put out [ of sight. What would our royal heralds, or even our town-criers think of some of these duties? Fancy this remarkable functionary, who had, among other things, to welcome distinguished visitors, rising up from his crouching attitude before the kotia of his chief; leaping and gesticulating, as if he were a lunatic, and shouting at the top of his voice in a kind of measured chant, — ' "Don't I see the white man? Don't I see the comrade of Sebituane? Don't I see the father of Seketelu ? We want sleep . Give your son sleep, my lord." .'gS THE WEAVER BOY. Sebituano had heard that the white man had a pot, that is, a cannon, which would destroy any party attack- ifig it8 possessor, and being desirous of ending his days in peace, which he thought this would enable him to do, he greatly wished to obtain it. The herald, who was an old man, and had filled the office when he died, was cog- nizant of this wish, and embodied it in his song of wel* come. The congregations who attended at the summons of the herald were sometimes very numerous, — from five to seven hundred They were not kept long at their devotions: there was just a reading of the Bible, fol- lowed by a short explanatory address and a prayer, in 'kneeling down to which manj^ of the mothers who had brought their children, bent over and hurt, or frightened them, which caused a simultaneous squawl. This pro- voked a suppressed titter from those wlio had not child- ren, which burst into a hearty laugh, as soon as the ■*' Amen " was said; and in half an hour the whole party *wouUl be dancing like mad, where so shortly before they liad been devoutly kneeling. So that the associations of the place where sadly against any religious impressions •which the good missionary labored to make. Lest the native doctors, a powerful class much given to enchant- ments, should look upon him with suspicion and thwart his ministrations, Livingstone, as a rule, declined to attend the sick, unless at their request, or when the cases were given over by them. In the severe forms of disease they were glad to avail thomselves of his skill. Feeling that the missionary ought to be above suspicion of mercenary motives, he also declined to enter into any trading transactions, or to receive valuable gifts of ivory from the chiefs, to whom presents were invariably made. He had too high a sense of his holy mission for that. *'The religious instructor," he said, "degrades himself by accepting gifts from those whose spiritual welfare he professes to seek." Out of his modest salary of one hundred pounds a year he contrived to support his wife and family, before he sent them to England, and to pay the extra expense of his long journeys, undertaken for AMID THE GREAT WATERS. S9 the wider diffusion of the Gospel, including the presents to chiefs. Of course the produce of the lands which ho cultivated greatly assisted him. It was only by barter that he could make his way at all among the natives, as they were unacquainted with the use of coin. Put down before a Makololo a sovereign and a bright button for choice, ho would take the button, and give more in meat or fowls or some other of his own produce for it, because it had an eye. But though the trader and the missionary should never be united in the same person, yet legitimate com- merce can greatly assist evangelizing efforts, as these at least can aid in opening up new and rich fields for com- mercial enterprise. No one had a stronger sense of this than Livingstone, who, while doing all he could to dis- courage the shamefully demoralizing slave-trade, which he found prevalent on the east and west coasts and all through Central South Africa; winked at, if not openly encouraged, by the Portuguese government, endeavored to establish commercial relations between diiferent tribes and peoples wherever he went, and to open for them fresh channels of communication. For this object it wag that he permitted a trader to accompany him when he went in search of Lake Ngami, which trader, by the way, afterward claimed to have been the discover of the lake. From Sebituane, when he first visited the Makololo country, he received several t'lsks; but this was for the purchase of some useful articles, which, on his second -^isit, he delivered to his son Sekeletu, who, when the missionary expressed a desire to prosecute his journey up the river, desired him to name anything he would like to posse 5S. A canoe was the only requisition ; but the chief wo \\d insist on his taking five elephants' tusks, as the roost valuable articles he had to offer. Fearful of offending him, Livingstone took them, but afterwards gave them to some of his subjects to sell on their own account. Thus with singleness of purpose, and a holy aim, did he ])rosecute his researches, face dangers, and 60 THE WEAVER BOY. endure hardships, such as few met have ever met and overcoiue. With singleness of purpose, and high aim, That never earthly recompense would claim. Till. UP AND DOWN THE ZAMBESI. After remaining awhile at Linyante, and recovering from the fever, of which he had here his first experience, our missionary took his departure for his exploratory ' journey up the great river, which has at ditferent parts of its course various names, such as the Leeambye, Luam- beji, Luambesi, Ojimbesi, Zambezi, according to the ditferent dialects spoken; all the terms having the same ' meaning, namely, the large river — the river, in fact, — 'this magnificent stream being the main drain of the country. Sekeletu and many of his underchiefs were of "the party; they passed at first through a flat country, ' varied only by slight natural elevations, and artificial mounds of enormous size, thrown up by the termites, or * white ants ; these were mostl}' covered by the wild date-trees^ which the Makololo cut down, as soon as the fruit is ripe, rather than take the trouble of climbing for it. Camel-thorns, mimosa, and baobab trees grew upon the other elevated spots, with here and there a tall palmyra, light and graceful ; coarse grass spread a thick mat over the damp level grounds. On the right of the path, which winds around the swamps and marshes and gentle hills, is the river Chobe, with its broad fringe of 'rfe^ds, which frame the picture in that direction. Or went the long cavalcade, slowly and painfully, on account of the nature of the ground,— a varied and picturesque group, winding in and out amid the rank vegetation and green hillocks. Most of the chiefs bore small clubs of UP AND DOWN THE ZAMBESI. rhinoceros-horn, and with each was his shield-bearer, with shield and bundle of assegais, or spears. Sekeletu, riding on Livingstone's horse, was surrounded by his well-armed body-guard of young men, the finest that could be selected, of about his own age; these are called "mopato." The attendants, many of whom act as porters, and are heavily laden, are not much encumbered with clothing; but some have caps made of lions' manes on their heads, and some bunches of black ostrich feathers, waving as they move. The eflfect is heightened by the rod tunics, and gayly colored prints, which some of them had been fortunate enough to obtain, and of course wear on all great occasions. The "machaka," or battle-axe men, carry their arms only, and are ready to make or repel an attack, or to run oif on an errand, — it may be a hundred miles away. There is a great chatter and laughter all along the line; for the irrepressible savage, especially the African, will make a noise, and the chief is commonly ''Hail-fellow- well-met" with his subjects. Livingstone, and some of the party have guns for shooting game ; but not many of the natives can be trusted with these, as they blaze away at random, and waste an immense deal of ammunition. Some of the young men, seeing the chief mounted, get ujDon the oxen ; but having neither saddle nor bridle, and being unused to equitation, generally fall off, to the great delight of their companions, who expedite their descent by pelting the awkward riders, or goading the beasts to the performance of certain angry and grotesque move- ments. The missionary, grave and thoughtful, walks along, hearing and seeing much which he will note down and put into his books for the information of his countrymen at homo i;nd future travellers and explorei*s. He is thinking how he can lift these poor savages into a higher state of civilization, and prevent the slave-hunters and those of their own color and country from preying on and plundering them. His keen eye takes in every object, and he hesitates not to ask for an explanation, of 62 THE WKAVEB BOY. tbat which he understands not, of the humblest of that motley train who may bo near him. Sometimes he enters into animated conversation with Sekeletu, or one of the minor chiefs, and always he has a smile and a kind word for every one who does him a service, however slight. Heedlessly feed the leches or lechwis, those pretty and graceful antelopes, with long, ribbed horns, something like those of the ibex, over the grassy flats. When the lowlands are flooded, they congregate on the mounds; then the Makololo, in small, light canoes, cautiously approach them, increasing their speed as they near the islets ; but before they can reach them, they are off with prodigious bounds, as it almost seems, over the surround- ing shallow water, so swiftly do their feet strike the bottom, and rise again. But the arm of the Makololo is strong, his aim true, and his spear swift; many of them fell, and there is a venison feast in the village. Closely concealed amid the reeds and rushes lies the nakong, or water-antelope; he has twisted horns, like those of the koodoo, but they are smaller, and have a double ridge curling round them. Disturb him in his oozy bed, and he will probably make for the deeper part of the stream, and, immersing his whole body, leave but the point of his nose and ends of his horns visible; these he will sometimes allow to be touched by the flames, when the hunters set fire to the reeds around him, before he comes forth to be killed. Pity, it seems, that the slaughter of these beautiful and harmless creatures should be neces- sary; but they are given to man as food, and if they wore suffered to breed and multiply unchecked, would in time make earth a grassless and herblcss wilderness. Too often, alas! they are killed in mere wantonness and amidst protracted agon3^ Africa, which teems with animal life of all kinds, is in nothing perhaps so wonder- fully productive as in the creation of the deer and ante- lope species ; everywhere are vast herds of them seen, of all sizes, in numbers defying computation, from the stately eland to the nimble little springbok. Hence it in the paradise of the carnivorous or flesh-eating animals, UP AND DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 63r whose moniirch, the lion, is here more numerous and daring and powerful than in any other land. He would not, however, venture to attack such a party as this, nor even man at all, unless rendered desperate by hunger, or the necessity for doing so in defence of his own life; or unless he could take his foe at a disadvantage, and spring upon him unawares, like a great cat, as he is, stealthily and treacherous, cat-like in all his ways and motions. Soon they pass, with great shouting and laughter at times, and much harmless merriment; and by and by they come to a village, the whole female population of which turn out to *'lulliloo" their chief ; that is, greet him with shrill cries, to which they impart a tremulous sound by a quick motion of the tongue. " Great lion f mighty chief! sleep, my lord!" are the words of weU dome uttered by both men and women, and received by Sekeletu with the most lordly indifference. Then comes a confabulation; the news is told, and the head-man of tiie village brings forth some large pots of beer, one of which is given to each chief of the party, who distri- butes it among the followers as he pleases; so many black hands are thrust out to grasp the ca'abashes, that there is great danger of their being broken and their contents spilled. Bowls of thick milk, each holding six or eight gallons, are produced, and into this the black hands are thrust, and then conveyed to the mouth, the- creamy fluid encaping between the fingers, and running down the breasts and other parts of the eager drinkers. Livingstone has presented to some of his friends irar> spoons ; but it is long before he can teach them to use- these articles properly; they will persist in putting tho^ milk into them with their hands first, and thonco trans- ferring it to the mouth, instead of conveying it direct there with the bowl of the spoon. Of course, all are highly delighted with this refreshment, and laugh and chatter louder than ever. Everywhere on the route is this hospitality exhibited. In the present case, it was an exhibition of loyalty to the chief; but all through Livingstone's truveis, he found it customary for the hoiid- man of the town or village at which travellers might 64 THE WEAVER BOY. arrive, to offer refreshment in this manner, and before the custom of payment had been introduced, they did not look for presents in return, as they now generally do, and look pretty sharply lo get what they consider to be value for their outlay. On a state of journey like this, the chief is expected to feed all who accompany him, and he selects .xv or this purpose from his cattle-stations, which are scat- tered through the country, or calls upon the heads of the villages to supply theui. When an ox has to be slaugh- tered, a thrust of a javelin near the heart kills it very quickly, without letting out the blood, which, with the -entrails, etc., are claimed by the slaughterman ; when the carcass is cut up, the joints are placed before the chief, who apportions them among the party. The meat is cut into long strips, and thrown upon fires, which they almost cover and put out. When half broiled, and burn- ing hot, they are snatched off and handed round, each tearing off a mouthfull, and boulting it as quick as he can, to be icady for another chance. Mastication is out of the question ; so the man who swallows the quickest, gets the most, and " the noble savage " dines like a ravenous beast. It is not an edifying spectacle, neither ai*e some of the feasts of more civilized communities, where glutton}^ prevail. At night a level spot is selected, :a8free from vegetation as can be found, or perhaps a space has to be cleared of reeds and thorn-bushes ; the £res are lighted, the tents, in which Sekeletu and some of his chief men sleep, are pitched, and the missionary, lifter commending his soul to God, finds repose, on his ■mat of rushes, as calm as if it had been the softest feather- bed. Not at once, however, can he do this, for the noisy Makololo, if they do not get up a dance, will sit around the watch-fires far into the night, and tell stories of wonderfuiP adventures, or sing songs with rousing cho- ruses, and interspersed with screams and whistles, and all sorts of discordant noises, in imitation of the wild birds and animals, which frequently answer them from swamp and brake, marsh and wood, to their great de- light and amusement. Sometimes their mirth grows so UP AND DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 65 obstreperous, that Sekeletu sends two or three of his minor chiefs, with whips of rhinoceros hide, to beat them into silence, just as an angry parent might have his children whipped and put to bed. And did never angel- faces come in the dreams of the good missionary, and look upon him out of kind and compassionate eyes, as he Jay there far from home and kindred? Did never well- known voices whisper words of comfort and encourage- ment in his ears, closed then to all earthly sounds ? Oh, yes, be sure they did, and he arose refreshed and strength- ened for the work that was yet before him, arduous and painful as that work might be. After several days' journeying in this way, the party came to a place called Kotonga where there is the village of a chief named Sekhosi, a tributary of Sekeletu, who demanded canoes to ferry them across the river, which is here six hundred yards wide. ''The elders of a host always lead the attack," said some, who had been comrades of Sebiluane, and precedence was given to them in crossing. It took a long while to get the whole part}^ to the other side, and then several days were spent in collecting canoes from the villages about for the pro- secution of the journey by water. Here they found the country covered with groups of beautiful trees, with open glades between, stretching away in every direction. It was bounded by a ridge, be- yond which the over-flow of the river, in the rainy sea- son, did not reach ; but the rainfall gave sufficient mois- ture for the cultivation of maize, ground-nuts, etc. In these grassy meadows, and on the open plains beyond, were found buffaloes, zebras, elands, and several other kinds of deer, so that the party had plenty of food ; here, too, they found great numbers of the small antelope, named Tinanyane, unknown in the South. Its upper parts are of a brownish-red color; its lower, white; it is very timid and graceful in its movements, and has a cry of alarm something like that of the domestic fowl ; by a soft pat of its foot on the withers it puts its fawn to rest in a safe place, and, with a plaintive bleat, alarms it .should danger be nigh. . •,:• d 66 THE WEAVER BOY. Everything being prepared, the travellers again start, this time on the breast of the broad Leoambye, with a fleet of thirty-three canoes, and about one hundred and axtymen. Livingstone had choice of all the vessels, and selected one which was thirty-four feet long, and manned by sixpaddlei-s, who stood upright and kepi the stroke with great precision, although they had to change from side to side, according to the exigencies of the cur- rent. The canoes were flat- bottomed, so that they could go in shallow water; and when the paddles, which were eight feet long, reached the bottom, they were used as poles to push the boat along. Inferior to the Makololo on land, on the water the Makalaka, or conquered race, beat the others hollow. Bending their lithe forms to the stroke, with every sinewy tense, and with looks of joyous exultation, they dash along at the top of their speed, and only slacken when some bend in the river, or obstacle to their coui-se, renders it uecessary for them to do so. They are good swimmers, which the Makololo are not, and seem to enjoj- a capsize and plunge into what appears almost like their native element. One of those large waves which the east wind raises in the Leeambye filled the canoe of an old doctor, who went down like a ston« ; the men saved themselves b}" swimming, but he was drowned. Had he been a man of much consequence, they would certainly have been executed for this; as it was, they escaped, somewhat to their own surprise, with a reprimand. We may presume that the chief happened to be in a gracious humor, or that the poor doctor had no friends. Up the Barotse valley goes the cavalcade, surrounded by magnificent scenery that no European had ever looked on before. Hi chl}'^- wooded islands, some of great extent, studded the river, which was more than a mile in breadth; like great masses of verdure, adorned with blossoms of the most brilliant hues, they rested upon the flashing waters-. The date-palms and lofty palmyras rose above the rest, and painted their graceful outlines on a background, of doudless sky. Down to the shores, on either side, came creeping all the glorious forms of a tropical vegetation,. UP AND DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 6T and stooped over the banks to look in the clear mirror below. Innumerable water-fowl swam and fluttered along the shore and around those isles of light and beaut3^ Some of the trees sent down their thirsty root* into the water, where they appeared like winding water- snakes. The ground was rocky, with a covering of rich, fertile soil, of a reddish color, in which the Banyeti, a poor and industrious people, raised large crops of maize. They are expert hunters and fishers, and skilful in handi- craft work, making many useful articles of wood and iron. Their great enemy is the tsetse, which prevents their rearing domestic animals. Of wild ones, they have about them plenty of elephants, and other large game ; but the leches and nakongs, and oiher small antelopes, which are very plentiful farther to the south, appear to shun this stony ground. The Banyeti, or Manyeti, are a peaceful people, as are most of the tribes in the centre of the continent where the slave-trade has not reached. Their only quarrels are about cattle, which some of them refuse to keep, because it tempts others to come and steal, and so leads to war» Higher up, the rocks become more obtrusive, pressing upon the bed of the river, narrowing the channel, and lorming a succession of rapids. At high-water the rocks are covered, and the stream flows pretty smoothly, but at low, the current is broken and accelerated, so as to be dangerous to navigation. "Katima-molelo," ''quenched fire," is the native name of this part of the river, allud- ing, no doubt, to the igneous origin of the roolvs. At one part it was necessary to run the canoes on shore, and carry them more than a mile by land. As they passed on up the river, the Banyeti turned out from their villages to present Sekcletu with food and skins as tribute. Even in the middle of the stream the tsetse lighted on the travellers ; but they passed out of its range when they got 16° 16' south latitude, where the lofty rocks, crowned with trees, left the river, and stretched away over ridges two or three hundred feet high, until they get to be thirty miles apart, forming the true Barotse valley, through which the Leeambye THE WEAVER BOY. flows. The people build their villages on mounds, to escape the inundations which are the cause of the great fertility of the land: Two crops of grain are frequently produced in one year. There are grasses which some- times reach the height of twelve feet, with a stem as thick as a man's thumb. Sekeletu had never before visited these parts since he had succeeded to the chieftainship, and, as the people about here had taken part with Mpepe, they were in great terror, especially the father of this aspirant to royalty, and another chief conspirator. These two mea were seized and drowned in the river, notwithstanding Livingstone's remonstrances. Naliele, the capital, like most others of the Barotse towns, was built upon an arti- ficial mound. When the lands are flooded, the water, comes up to the wall of reeds which surrounds the huts. Santuru, a former chief, had here his storehouse for grain ; the rWer now flows where his ancient capital and another Im; - rtant town once stood. He was a great hunter, "svo' Santuru, fond of taming wild animals. Amo'^g his pets were two hippopotami, which were brought to him when young. After gambolling in the river all day, they would go to him at night for their sup- per of milk and meal. Most pets come to untimely ends ; so did one of these ; although it was not eaten up by the cat, it w^as speared by a stranger, under the idea that it was wild. In the like happy state of ignorance did a native once kill a cat, which Livingstone gave to Sekel- etu. He brought the trophy to his chief, thinking to be rewarded for destroying a new kind of animal. This was one of a pair, and its death cut short the breed of mice-destroyers, whose services were much wanted at ' Linyante. In these northern districts, more regard is shown to the female sex than in the south. Sebituane's daughter as we have seen, was named to succeed him as chief, and only at her own request was the authority transferred to Sekeletu. When Mpepe was conspiring against him, an effort was made to induce the chiefs wife, Ma-Mochisane, to put him to death, and marry the conspirator, — a proof UP AND DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 69 that female influence was considered important. And even in the Barotse country, the town or mound of San- turu's mother was shown to Livingstone ; this was pre- served as a sort of monument to her memory, as in his more recent capital, Lilonda, were the proves of trees planted by the late chief, with the various instruments of iron made by him, just as he left them. Some of these were wrought in ornamental designs, and to them he was accustomed to present offerings, when he desired to prosper in war or agriculture, as the case might be. Certain people, who had charge of these articles, were supported by presents from the chief and others who fol- lowed his example. This was the nearest approach to a priesthood that had been met with. That these men be- lieved in a future state of existence was shown by their reply to the request made for some of these relics ; ^'Ob, no, San turn refuses." According to a native custom, which seems prevalent all through South Africa, of giving to a woman the name of her iirst-boru child, with the addition of Ma, Mother, the Bechuanas used to call Livingstone's wife Ma-Ko- bert. This name had gone with her to the Makololo country, when she, with her husband and children, visited it in 1851, and now the missionary found that it had taken root there, and extended far up to the north, having been given to several of the children. Little black pickaninnies were shown to him as Ma-Roberts. Some also bore the inappropriate names of Grun, Horse,^ Wagon, Jesus, etc. The date of this visit was known as " the year when the white man came ; '' showing the im- portance attached to this event, although ih^y could little understand how important it was to them and their children. No traces, traditional or otherwise, of an earlier visit of Europeans to this country could be dis- covered, although close inquiry was made. The Mambari, who are of the Ambonda race, which inhabits the country south-east of Angola, having direct communication with the Portugese, some of them indeed, being half-caste, had penetrated here in their slave hun- ting expeditions. They visited Santuru, who with his 70 THE WEAVEB BOY. head-men i-efused them permission to buj^any of his peo- ple. Some of the Makololo had given them children in exchange for guns, cloth, or even beads. Sometimes a tribe at war with another would sell them their captives. With this end in view they promoted quarrels between the different tribes. They encouraged drunkenness, knowing that it led to strife and poverty, which would induce a man to part with wife, children, everything he possessed, and commit any crime which they or his evil passions might suggest. Coming in the guise of peaceful traders in ivory and other native products, they carried out their nefarious plans secretly, or openly, as opportunity served, and did the devil's work, to which they were pledged, most thoroughly, — not unfrequently themselves destroying villages, and killing many of their inhabi- tants, and conveying the rest captive to the Portugese settlements on the east or west coast, where they sold them for shipment to the American or other markets for slave labor. Livingstone had, on several occasions, frus- trated the designs of these traffickers in human flesh and blood, and they hated and feared him accordingl3\ They saw that the introduction of Christian civilization among the people on whom they preyed would be fatal to them; therefore the missionary and the honest trader must be kept out if possible. The profits of legitimate commerce were not large enough to satisfy them. But the time is fast approaching when they, and such as they, will be driven farther back into the dark places of the earth. The struggle between light and darkness in those regions, which they have so long ruined and devastated, commenced when Livingstone had overcome the difficul- ties of his desert journey, and the eye of the white man of God first gazed upon Lake Xgami ; and the issue can- not long be doubtiul. The Gospel trumpet has sounded through those thickly peopled valleys, and on the sur- rounding hills the banner of the cross is now planted. Livingstone on his way fully examined the Barotse country, but he could find no eligible site for a mission- ary station. He had left Sekeletu at Nalicle to ascend the river farther. The chief had furnished him with men UP AND DOWN THE ZAMBESI. 71 and a herald, that he might go in proper state. " Here monies my lord, the great lion," shouted this functionary, as soon as he approached a village; but he pronounced the tau e tona, great lion, so much lilie sau e tona, great sow, that it was thought best to dispense with his intro- duction, and bid him be silent. Everywhere the party received a hearty welcome as messengers of sleep, or peace ; so that it might almost have been thought that the people had in their minds the voice of inspiration, " How beautiful upon the mountains, are the feet of him that bringcth good tidings, that publisheth peace !" A party of hippopotamus hunters from the Lobale region are scared at the sight of the Makololo, and run off, leaving their canoes, utensils, and clothing. On these the attendants seize as fair game ; but, at the bidding of the missionary, they lay down their plunder upon a sandbank, and leave it for its rightful owners. In Libonta, twenty miles farther, the woods come down to the water's edge, and wherever this occurs the tsetse abounds. Up, tstill up, to the confluence of the river of Londaor Lunda, named Leeba, after which the Leeambye is called the Kabompo. Then comes the Loeti from the W. N. W. through a level, grassy plain, named Mango, mingling its stream of one hundred yards wide, and of a light color, with the dark greenish waters of the greater river. Here the larger game are in prodigious numbers, and remarkably tame ; herds of stately elands stand by day, without fear, at a distance of two hundred yards, and in the evening the buffaloes go tramping within gunshot, as they sit by the fire. Every night the thunder of the lion's roar smote on the ear and seemed to shake the ground, close to which, on the opposite side of the river, they could see the named king of the forest stand, and place his mouth close to the ground to make the sound rever- berate. Back, down the Marile, another branch of the Leeambye, they come, and rejoin the chief, at a town called Ma-Sekeletu, where they are feasted and well entertained. It is a time of great rejoicing, for the peo- 72 THE WEAVER BOY. pie have never before seen their chief, and there is more ox-flesh, milk, and beer served out than his followers can possibly consume; so they stuff to repletion, and then, to assist digestion, get up a dance in this wise: A circle is formed by the men, who are nearly naked, and have clubs or battle-axes in their hands ; then all commence roaring at the top of their voices, while they simultaneously stamp heavily twice with one foot, then once with the other ; and so they keep on, with their arms and heads thrown about in every direction, until the perspiration streams off their bodies. The air is tilled with discordant noises, and they are enveloped in a cloud of dust, out of which they emerge in every con- ceivable posture, looking like excited and angry demons \ every now and then one advances into the middle of the circle, which is, perhaps, composed of one hundred per- sons, makes a few grotesque motions, and then retires to be succeeded by another. Meanwhile, the women stand by. clapping their hands, and occasionally adding their shrill voices to the horrid din. " What do you think of it?" says head-man Motibo to the missionary who wit- nesses these strange antics. " It is very hard work, and brings but small profit," is the grave reply. '' It is," rejoins Motibo ; "but it is very nice, and Sekeletu gives an ox for dancing for him." This was all-sufficient; the savages would do anything for an oz; eating and drink- ing constitutes pretty nearly all they know of earthly felicity. Sixty geographical miles in one day is quick work in canoes on an African river; and at that rate down stream with the current they went, tirst to Sesheke, and then back to Linyante. AWAY TO LOANDA. 73 IX. AWAY TO LOANDA. Livingstone found much to excito his interest and compassion in these poor, benighted Makololo folk. They were decidedly the ino.st intelMirent of the African tribes he had yet come in cor. tact with, and they seemed truly desirous of having the white man to settle among them. On all occasions they had treated him with the greatest kindness and respect. lie was therefore most anxious to establish a missionary station among them, and to afford them the means of commercial intercourse with other nations. The fever which prevailed, more or less, all through the alluvial districts in which they dwelt, and the presepce, in most parts, of the tsetse, rendered a settlement there out of the question at present. On some of the higii lands which surrounded the basin of the Zambezi healthy spots might be found. At all events, the country to the west might be explored for available routes to the coast; and this he determined on attempt- ing. He might have eifected his object by attaching himself to one of the parties of Mambari, who passed to and fro occasionally ; but he was anxious to discover another line of march than that trodden by the slave- traders. The Portugese town of Loanda, on the western coast, was the destined end of the journey, on which it was re- solved to set out in November, when the rains, which generally begin to fall then, had tempered the heat, and rendered travelling less difficult. To accomplish an ob- ject so much desired by chief and people alike, a band of twenty uniiired natives were deputed to accompany the missionary. Two only of these were true Makololo ; the rest consisted of Barotse, Batoka, Bushubia, and others of the conquered tribes, generally included under the term Makalaka. A public assembly, termed a '' picho," was called to deliberate on this expedition, and, as is customary, great liberty of speech was allowed, of which 74 THE WEAVER BOY. one of the old diviners availed himself, saying, " Where is he taking you to ? This white man is throwing you away. Your garments smell of blood ! " His croakings, however, were of no avail, and all was bustle and ac- tivity, preparing for this adventure. Ml At this time, fever, which had quite disabled the three servants he brought with him from the south, had also very much prostrated the strength of Livingstone ; if he looked up, or even turned suddenly, he was seized with a strange giddiness, which caused him to fall heavily to the earth, if he did notcatch hold of something for support. His friends were anxious about him, and asked, " Suppose you should die on the road, how shall we excuse ourselves for letting you go away into a strange countr}^ of enemies? " He assured them by promising to leave a book with Sekeletu, which would explain all that had happened up to the dale of his departure. This he did ; but the book was afterwards lost. Finding that he did not return, and fearing the worst, Sekeletu entrusted it to a trader, from whose hands it was never recovered. Weak as he was, and just about to set forth on a journey beset with peril, Livingstone could not help thinking at times how near he was to death ; but he flinched not from his determination to open up this part of Africa, or perish in the attempt. The prospect of passing away from this fair and beautiful earth, and en- tering on an untried state of existence, did not frighten him ; his only solicitude was for the dear ones far away, about whom he wrote to his brother, commending them to his care. The Boers, by destroying his property at Kolober g, had saved him the trouble of making a will, and now he was prepared, as heretofore, to do God's ser- vice in a manly way. His wagon, and all that remained to him of wordly goods, he committed to the care of the Makololo, and then, encumbered with but little spare clothing, pro- visions, ammunition, and a few beads, to propitiate such savages as he might meet with, he and his party set forth. A characteiistic ceremony took place before the AWAY TO LOANDA. 75 start ; two sable warriors, by name Ponuane and Mahale, brought forward each a fine heifer calf, and, after per- forming a number of warlike evolutions, asked the chief to witness the agreement between them, that whoever of the two should first kill a Matabele, in defence of the wagon, should, on his return, have both the calves. A small gypsy tent, just large enough to sleep in, a horse- rug for a bed, and a sheep-skin mantle for a blanket, composed the missionary's whole sleeping outfit. He had his sextant and other instruments for " talking with the stars," — as the natives called taking observations, — and a magic lantern, which he had found of great use to frighten or propitiate foes, or amuse friendly heathens, whose dancing, roaring, singing, and oft-times obscene jesting filled him with disgust and abhorrence at paganism even while ho entertained the greatest pity for the pagans, and an earnest desire to rescue them from their grovelling condition. It was on the 11th of I^ovember, 1853, that the party left the town of Linyante, amid general expressions of good-will and regret from the whole of its inhabitants. The friendly chief left Livingstone his own canoe ; and accompanied him to ttie main stream of the Chobe, to reach which several branches must be crossed. This river is much infested with hippopotami, which are only dangerous if attacked or approached too near. They swim about lazily, with their enormous snouts just above the water, or lie sunning themselves on the sandy flats, or in the reed-beds by the shore. By day they are com- monly found in the mid-stream, where they keep floating; then, if a canoe passes amid the herd, it is very likely to be struck by one or more of them in their efforts to escape, and perhaps swamped. Tow^ards night this is the safest place, for they are mostly roaming about on shore, or on the islands, feeding upon the rank herbage and grasses. At this time the gardens and corn-patches of the natives are sometimes visited by them. Certain old males, which hive been expelled by the community, swim or wander about by themselves. It is dangerous to come upon these, for they rush, open-mouthed, at everything 76 THE WEAVER BOY. and body. They will, sometimes, with their enormous jaws, rend a canoe completely to pieces, and send the people in it swimming for their lives. On such occasions it is best to dive at once to the bottom, as the enraged animal always wreaks its vengeance on whatever may be on the surface, and moves off if he finds nothing there. Sometimes one of these surly "bachelors*' will dive under a canoe, and then rise, so as to lift it clean out of the water with his broad back ; then he goes to work with savage fury: feet and tusks and jaws are used with terrible ett'ect, and all is havoc and confusion. Hunting hippopotami, however, is not such dangerous sport as that of many other animals of the larger kind. They can generally be speared, or shot from safe positions, especially from trees that overhang the water. On land they are awkward and ungainly, and are easily outrun by the hunter, who can go round and round them, de- livering his lire, or spear-thrusts. They always make for the water if they can, and to intercept them is dangerous, if only for the immense force which the im- petus of running gives to such ponderous bodies. A horse could rjOt stand against it, much less a man. If a shot is tired into a sleeping herd of hippopotami, they all start up and stare about them in a stupid manner, wait- ing for a second shot, before they seem to understand what it means; then they make off in all directions. But the mother will not leave her young ; rather will she die with it; althougli, if she has twins, she is said to destroy one of them. xV while hippopotamus is some- times seen in a herd, contrasting strongly with the dark slaty hue of the rest. It is not, however, quite white, but a dirt}' pink. Elephants of the same tint are about as common, and these are also called white. If this albino should be a male, some of his progeny will proba- bly be marked with light patches, if the traveller ob- serves an old surly male by himself in the water, biting at it in a frantic manner, and shaking his large head from side to side, and asks the natives what ho is doing. "Oh" will bo the reply, " he is slamming the door; " the meaning of which is not very clear, unless by the door is AWAY TO LOANDA. 7*7 meant his mouth. Hippopotamus flesh, like that of nearly all animals, is eaten by the Africans. Travellers say- that it is coarse and hard, unless very young, when it is not unlike pork. Being altogether a vegetable feeder, this animal never attacks others, and is not often attacked by them. They seem to respect its enormous strength as they do that of the rhinoceros and elephant. About nine or ten feet long, and four high, is the ordinary size of this river-horse, which is supposed to be the Behemoth of Scripture. Antelopes, wild hogs, zebras, buffaloes, and elephants abound among the mas^nificent trees and reeds and grasses which clothe the high banks of the Chobo, which has a very torturous course, winding and turning upon itself frequently to as to make rowing upon it ver}' tedious. Among the trees which the travel- ler observed on its banks were some species of the Indian fig ; acacias, with their light-green foliage ; the lofty motsintsela ; of whose wood good canoes are made, and whose fruit is very nutritious ; the motsouri^ with its beautiful pink plums chiefly used to form a pleasant acid drink. At one part of the river, called Zabesa, or Zabea- za, it spreads out into a small lake, surrounded on all sides by dense ma^seS of tall reeds. The stream which issues froyi this is one hundred and fifty yards wide. At certain points f^long the hank villages of observation have been placed, from which a lookout can be kept for the Matebele, whose attacks might be expected from that quarter. All through the route Livingstone found that orders had been sent on, hy the chief, that the N'ake^ meaning the doctor, should not be suffered to become hungry. After passing out of the Chobe into the Zambesi, the travellers came upon two largo islands on which a piece of treachery had been enacted, which illustrates vividly the savage and lawless state of these regions. A Maka- laka chief had there lured a number of fugitive Bamang- wato, after separating them from their wives, whom they had appropriated, and left them to perish. The town of Sesheke is next reached, with its white sandbanks, which is the meaning of the term. Here dwelt Moriant- IS THE WEAVER BOY. Bane, brother-in-law to Sebituane, and here again another characteristic incident occurs. A Makalaka having Btabbed an ox, and being unable to extricate his spear, was by its evidence convicted of the offence, bound hand and foot, and placed in the burning sun until he should pay a fine. He denied his guilt, and his mother believ- ing him, comes with her hoe, and threatens to cut down any one who interferes, loosens the cords, and takey. him home. Thus set openly at defiance, the chief refers the case to Sekeletu, who acts upon a suggestion made by Livingstone, and condemns the offender to give the amount of the fine in labor. According to the Makalaka custom, the culprit ought to have been drowned in the river. This would not restore the lost property ; but here was a more excellent way, punishing and affording compensation at the same time. Henceforward this was the plan adopted. The day after the new moon is observed as a partial day of rest in this part of the country. It is the only Sabbath of which any traces can be found. This lumi- nary seems to be an object of worship with the people, who watch eagerly for the appearance of the new moon, and, as soon as the first faint outline shows above the horizon, they utter a loud cry of kua, and shout prayers to it. Those who accompanied Livingstone observed this custom, saying to the object of their worship: "Let our journey with the white man be prosperous ; let our enemies perish, and the children of Nake become rich ; may he have plenty of meat on his journey," etc., etc. This is the Makalaka idea of true felicity, — plenty of meat ! Under the spreading cariel-thorn that shaded the kotla of Moriantsane, the missionary addressed five or six hundred of the people, who were assembled to hear him. They were all very attentive, except some young men, who continued their work of preparing a skin, and at whom, in the middle of the discourse, the chief hurled Ms staff as a gentle reprimand. Different effects are produced upon different hearers, just as of old the seed scattered by the sower sprang up, or withered, or was k.^. — .. t u AWAY TO LOANDA. 79 choked, as the case might be. Some prayed to Jesus without knowing what they were doing; some, after hearing solemn truths, talked frirolous nonsense, as even instructed Christians are apt to do; others had their rest disturbed at night by thoughts of a future world, and re- golved not to listen to such preaching again ; many were determined not to believe, and these we may compare to certain villagers of the South, who put all their cocks to death, because they crowed, " Tlang lo rapeleng^^^ " Come along to prayers." They now began to ascend towards the high lands, and Livingstone partially recovered from his attack of fever. The rainy season begins to set in, but it does not yet in- crease the volume of the river, which is never less than three hundred yards wide. Opposite the villages, they wait for supplies of food, and the head-man of the Mak- ololo takes care to exact the full quantity, in accordance with his chiefs orders. Here, among the Banyeti, they got a bright-red bean, which grows upon a large tree called mosibe, with honey to make it palatable ; also a fruit resembling a large orange, with a hard rind, the pips and bark of which contain the deadly poison strych- nia, while the juicy pulp, which is eaten, is wholesome and pleasant to the taste. A sweet fruit, called mobola, which has the flavor of strawberries ; and another fruit, about the size of a walnut, and called mam-9s/io, " Mother of morning," and most delicious of all, were likewise presented to them. As they ascend into higher lati- tudes, they come to other forms of vegetation. There contrasting beautifully with the fresh leaves of light- green, which many trees are putting forth, is the dark motsourij or moyela, covered with .pink plums as large as cherries. The bed of the river now becomes rocky, and the shallowing waters flow swiftly over the craggy bottom, forming rapids, which it is dangerous to navigate. There are islets, covered with trees and cataracts, and it re- quires all the skill of the Makololo to prevent the flat- bottomed canoes being swamped or overturned. The cooing turtle-doves make their nests above the roaring 80 "HE WEAVER BOY. torrent; the ibis perched on the end of a stump, utters her loud, harsh scream ; a kind of plover flies before them, with plaintive crie<, which sound like warnings of danger; and the pipinir nt the fish-hawk is heard above the mot.iliic ring ot tiio alarm-note '^ tinc-tinc-tinc '' of another plover, called setula-tsipi, or " hammering-iron." This is the bird fumed for its friendship with the croco- dile, for which it is sent to perform the part of tooth- picker. Here it is frequently seen, in company with this animal, and, as some say, perched on its shoulder, and chases the white-necked raven, a much larger bird, amid the rocks, and makes it call out for fear. Here the turtles ascend the steep banlcs to lay their eg^s, and sometimes, toppling on their backs, fall a helpless prey to man or beast. Among the forest trees that fringe the rocky banks are birds with pleasant songs ; one with dark-blue and cho- colate-colored plumage, with two long features project- ing from the tail ; another parti-colored, white an;hich lay on the nape of the neck. The funeral of one of his people was just over, and the drum was beating the Barimo, or spirits, to sleep. One of the funeral drums is kept in every village, and it is heard going; at all hours of the day, — this being the mode of propitiating the souls of the de- parted, who are looked upon as vindictive beings. A custom here came to Livingstone's knowledge, which seemed to be prevalent among the Makololo and other tribes. Each man of a party of travellers who might come to a village and receive food, without hav- ing the means of paying for it, would adopt one of his entertainers as a comrade, and be bound to treat him with equal kindness, should occasion arise. Here is a lesson for Christians. We may learn much even from the heathen. Messengers arrive at the village to announce the death of a chief, named Matiamvo, who was insane, and sometimes took a fancy to kill his people, because he Baid they were too numerous, and wanted thinning. When asked if human sacrifices were common with STILL WESTWARD HO I lOi them, as had been reported, they replied that th«y some- times took place, when certain charms were needed by the chief. They were astonished at the liberty allowed to the Makololo, especially that they should have oxen of their own ; only their chief kept cattle. They knew that there was direot water communication between their country and Sekelutu's, for one of them asked," if he were to make a canoe and take it down, could he get a cow for it ? The messengers told a good many queer stories of the dead chief, who, if he took a fancy to any particular article of great value, would order a whole vil- lage to be brought up, and exchange them for it. He would seize the entire stock of a slave-trader who visited him, then send out a party to some considerable village to kill the head-hand, and sell the rest of the inhabitants to the trader for his goods. As with the Barotso, it is a custom of this people, when a chief dies, to slaughter a number of his servants to bear him company ; and yet, though they thus acknowledge the continued existence of the soul, they have no notion of another world, but imagine th^t it always remained near the place of sepul- ture ; hence their dread of burial places. When spoken to of a judgment by God, who is no respecter of persons, they replied : " We do not go up to God as you do ; we are put into the ground." Our travellers now cross the river Lotembwa, and come to the chief town of Katema, who is a tall man about forty years of age, in a snuff-colored coat, with a broad band of tinsel down the arms; he has a helmet of brass and feathers, and carries a large fan made of the tails of gnus, — those curious animals with shaggy heads, almost like bisons, and bodies which in some respects resemble both the horse and the antelope, to which family, indeed, they belong. Swift as the zebras and the wild asses, they bcour the desert, and are very difficult to capture or kill. So Katema, with his fan of gnus' tails, which had charms attached to it, kept himself as cool as he could, and talked to the white man, to whom and his party he had generously given meat and fowls and eggs. "I am the great Lord Katema, the fellow of Matiamvo ; 102 THE WEAVER BOY. there is no one in this country equal to us two. I and my forefathers have always lived here, and there is the house in which my father lived. You found no human skulls neftr the place in which you are encamped. I never killed any of the traders ; they all come to me. I am the great Moene (or Lord) Katema, of whom you must have heard." There was a tipsy kind of dignity about this exalted personage, which was very amusing to see. He was not a bad sort of a fellow though, for, besides feeding the travellers well, he gave them good advice as to the route they should pursue, which was more northerly than that trodden by the slave-traders ; and, better still, he sent guides to direct them on their way. He wanted a coat, as his own was growing old, and Livingstone promised to bring him one on his return from Loanda. He was a laughing philosopher, extremely fond of giving and re- ceiving compliments, and altogether a good specimen of an African chief; but he would not listen to anything serious. He had quite a number of beautiful cows, which he had bred from a couple, brought when young, from the Balobale; but he did not know how to milk them, and they were so wild that when one was wanted to eat, it had to be shot. He would not see Livingstone's magic lantern exhibited, because he thought he might be bewitched by it. His authority was not very absolute, for some of his people, whom he offered to Livingstone as carriers, refused to go. To be sure they were only fugitives, who had come to him from other tribes, and, as African chiefs always encourage this kind of immigra- tion, as it gives them more men, he did not punish them for their disobedience. The people here are fond of singing-birds, and have canaries, wild and tame, about them. They have also very beautiful domestic pigeons. There was not much game here, nor many troublesome flies nor mosquitoes ; but they had a charming collec- tion of spiders, some of them an inch long, and venomous. Here the leader and several of the party are down with fever, and here they have that rarity in Africa, a cold wind from the north. Usually from this quarter the STILL WESTWARD HO I 103 winds are hottest, and cooler from the south ; but they seldom blow directly from either of these points. Notwithstanding the fever, they leave the friendly chief, and get on their way, and reach a lake called Dilolo, whioh is about three miles' across at its broadest part and abounds in fish and hippopotami. Livingstone was too ill to explore it, or determine its exact position by astronomical observation ; so they push on, over a large inundated flat, across which they have to feel their way, as it were, wading where there is no footpath, or one to be avoided rather, because it is trodden deeper than the rest of the earth. Here they notice that the sagacious ants build their houses of soft clay upon the stalks of grass, at a point above high-water mark. This they must do before the waters begin to rise, as they could not get the material to the desired spots after they have risen. Their habitations are ab^ut as large as a bean, or a man's thumb. After leaving this inundated plain, which appears to be the water-shed between the southern and western rivers, the travellers enter a district in which they have to cross a succession of valleys, each with one or more deep streams running through it, over which some rude bridges have been thrown ; others have to be swam, or forded. But even where there are bridges, they are often submerged to such a depth that those who ride on ox- back get wet to the middle. Now, too, an unpleasant custom of demanding toll, at all difficult passages of water courses or curves of roads, begins to prevail, and endless are the disputes into which they are led; many times they are denied the liberty or means of passing a certain point until they have complied with some exor- bitant demand upon their fast-decreasing property. It is no uncommon thing for a chief to say that he must have a man, a gun, or an ox as toll. The first is out of the question; the second equally so, for it would be arming enemies against themselves ; and for the third, it is like parting with life, for meat has got extremely scarce, and they arc much reduced from having to live chiefly on manioc and other vegetable diet. They are 104 THE WEAVER BOY. in a tract of country where there are no wild animals to be seen, but where the people eagerly hunt for mice and moles, and esteem such food a delicacy. They breed no oxen here, and the Makololo are astonished that the people make so little use of the fertility with which God has abundantly blessed these rich slopes and well-watered valleys. The curse of the slave-trade is upon them. They are mercenary and extortionate, lying and deceitful, demanding far more than they ought to ask, and promising in return gifts which they have no intention of giving. And so poor Livingstone, smitten down by fever, weak and wasted to a mere skele- ton, with scarce strength to sit upon the wet blanket, and clinging to the bands which secures it on his ox, — an ill-tempered creature, which ever}' now and then makes an unexpected plunge into a water-course, or darts into an opening of the forest, where the thick creepers entwining the trees are pretty sure to catch and bring him to the ground, — is obliged to argue and nego- tiate, temporize and threaten, and yield up, one by one, oxen and cotton and beads, — even his own scanty stock of wearing apparel, and almost every article of value he possesses, — to buy his way through the obstacles set up by these inhospitable tribes, whose contact with Europeans has taken away all their simplicity of character, and rendered yet more repulsive and inhuman their native savagery. If a river has to be crossed, so wide and deep that it cannot be swam, or forded even, negotiations must be entered into for the use of the canoes. *' A shirt, or a blanket? bah I what are they? A strip of cotton? won't do I we want a man to sell to the Mambari; we want an ox to eat ; we want a gun to go slave-hunting with. Give us one of these, or you can't pass." Yes, but if the reward is given first, the service will not be rendered. Or, at the further end of the bridge, deeply submerged, perhaps, is a band of savages, ready to dispute the pas- sage unless toll is paid. And the good missionary, weak and ill as he is, almost sinking with exhaustion, rouses himself to make the necessary effort ; talks to them, reasons with them, gives them all he possibly can to STILL WESTWARD HO ! 105 avoid bloodshed, which, on several occasions, seems imminent. He has to pacify his own followers, too, who, of course, are greatly enraged at this treatment, so different from what they have experienced in their own country, where hospitality to travellers is the rule, and where little is asked or expected beyond, perhaps, a few beads, a strip of cloth, or a bit of common metal, for the most sumptuous feast which the head-man of the village can produce. Not unfrequentiy the valleys were so deeply flooded that the men were up to their chins in crossing them, and sometimes on the bridges the water was breast-high. Holding on by the tails of the oxen, the travellers would make their way across as best they could. On one occa- sion, Livingstone lost hi^ hold of the belt by which his blanket was fastened to the ox which he rode, and had to strike out for the opposite bank. The Makololo, who did not know he could swim, were greatly alarmed for his safety, and about twenty of them dashed in to the rescue, leaving their loose articles of apparel to float down the stream. Their joy at his escape from this danger was unmistakable, and the missionary was grati- fied and cheered by this proof of their devotion. After this, when the natives had tried to frighten them by telling them of the depth of the rivers they had to cross, they would laugh and say, "We can all swim: who car- ried the white man across but himself?" Day by day, week by week, month by month, the dis- heartened party plod on, wearily, drearily, through the morass and the river-bed and the tangled forest, often- times with the tall grasses two feet above the heads of those who ride the oxen, on whom the moisture with which these grasses are laden falls as from a shower-bath. Now hot and parched with the burning fever, with the blood flowing like liquid fire through the veins ; now faint and trembling, with the dreadful chill which pre- cedes it; with the clammy perspiration breaking out all oyer the frame, and a weight, as of tons, upon the throb- bing brow and aching limbs And then there is gnawing hunger to add to all these miseries, and the inhumanity 106 THE WEAVER BOY. of fellow-men. No wonder, then, that the Makololo grow mutinous, and declare they will go back. They cannot face these dangers and dreadful privations, inured as they are to the difficulties and hardships of life in a wild country. The wonder is that the cry of this brave man should- be ^ still, "Onward! onward to the sea, althoufijh it be yet hundreds of miles off. We must open a way for the missionary and the trader, to those fruitful lands and those broad rivers, which will become the highways of traffic; and above all, to those benighted souls that wait for the glad tidings of salvation." XII. AT LOANDA. On the 31st of May, 1854, Livingstone, with his faith- ful followers, came in sight of the Portuguese settlement called Loanda, or St. Paul de Loanda, the place taking its name from the island on which the town is partly built, and which, stretching out at some distance into the Atlantic, forms a safe and commodious harbor. This is the capital of the Portuguese settlement of Angola, once a great African kingdom called Abonda, and was a place of much importance in the early days of mari- time adventure and discovery. Sailing up the river Congo, or Zaire, the above-named people had, by treaty or conquest obtained vast tracts of land, in which they planted crops, and established trading stations, — the chief commodities obtained beini> ivory and slaves. Pleasant was it to the white man, as he came down the declivity that led into the town, and saw the waters of the great, wide sea sparkling in the sunshine before him, and felt the fresh breezes play about his temples, to think that he should once more enjoy communion with educated Christian men, and the comforts of civilization. Since he parted from his family at Cape Town, and turned his face once more to the North, in June, 1852, AT LOA^DA. lot he had been a eojourner in the fotest and the wilderness, either in solitude, or with strange facep around him, and strange dialects in his ears. Hungry and weary and sick, longing for rest and refreshment, he now came to the sea once more, with a great purpose partly accom- plished, and a strong, unquenchable desire to complete t^e object of his journey, although with strength so reduced by fever and dysentery that even thought was a trouble to him, and motion inexpressibly painful. Since he had left behind the Chiboque and the Bengala and other savage tribes, who had threatened his life and demanded his property, he had been treated at the out- lying stations of the half-caste Portuguese ofl&cials and traders with the greatest kindness and attention. By the bishop of this province, who is also governor of Loanda, he was now received in a most friendly and generous manner. The services of the government physician were placed at the disposal of the invalid, and everything done that could be to exhibit the respect and solicitude that was felt for him. Oh, the luxury of find- ing himself once more upon a good English couch, after sleeping so long on the ground, and of feeling secure from the attacks of unseen enemies! Oh, the enjoyment of fresh, clean clothing, and of good food, properly cooked, and decently served; of intellectual converse, and the habits and conveniences of civilized life ! In the house of Mr. Gabriel, British Commissioner for the suppression of the slave-trade, Livingstone rested, and recruited his strength. On the 14th of June he was able to pay a visit to the friendly bishop, and as this was a state occasion, his Makololo attendants accompanied him, arrayed in new dresses of striped cotton, with red caps on their heads, of which they were as proud as pea- cocks. Many questions did the great man ask them of their native country, and he invited them to visit Loanda as often as they pleased. "Loanda, that wonderful place with stone houses, — not huts, but mountains, with many caves in them," as they afterwards said, when describ- ing these wonders; *' and ships as big as houses, nay, towns, into which you must climb by a rope. These are 108 THE WEAVER BOY. not canoes: bah! we thought ourselves sailors. Only the white men are sailors, that come up out of the sea, where there is no more earth; but earth says: "lam clean gone, dead, swallowed up, and there's nothing but water left." And the ships have masts like forest-trees, and white sails like smoke, or the form of the great Falls; and they carry big guns, full of thunder and light- ning, to put down the slave trade with. Wonderful ! Wonderful ! ! " Everything they saw was wonderful to these simple people. They were afraid at first to go on board the British cruisers, lest they should be taken away as slaves, or eaten, as they had been told on the way they would be if they ventured into Loanda. But Livingstone reassured them by telling them that the sailors were his countrymen, So they went, and soon were on very friendly terms with the Jack tars, who slapped them on the back, patting their woolly locks, called them "hearties;" gave them junk and biscuits, tobacco and grog, and got up no end of fun for their amuse- ment. So they called the deck the kotia, and made themselves quite at home. During their stay at Loanda they were not idle altogether ; they cut firewood in the outskirts, and sold it in the town, and were engaged to unship a cargo of coals. But after working at it for a month they left off, declaring that there was no end to the stones which burn contained in the ship. With the result of their labors they were able to make consider- able purchases of cloth, beads, and other articles, to take back to their own country. The copper and iron rings, and almost everything they possessed of ornament or ^ utility, had been parted with, to the exacting savages who barred their way to the coast, and they were glad of this opportunity of obtaining a fresh stock of valuables. Livingstone was strongly pressed by the captain of a British cruiser to recruit his health by a sea-voyage to . St. Helena ; but although the offer tempted him strongly, for home and all that was dear to him lay in that direc- tion, y^t he refused. He could not leave his faithful Makololo; he must take them safely back again, if God ' 80 willed, and he must prosecute his design of establish- AT LOANDA. 109 ing missions, and opening ways for lawful commerce into the interior ; yet greatly did he require a change of climate, and a long period of repose. The strong man of iron will and nerve was yet weak as a child. In August he had a return of the fever, which had for some time left him, and was again reduced to a mere skeleton, but from this he soon recovered, and was glad to find that the lassitude which had hitherto prostrated his energies had left him. On looking about Loanda, he found it to be nothing more or less than a great convict establishment, that is, as far as the European inhabitants are concerned ; most of them had been sent into exile for some political or other offence against the laws; they are, however, greatly outnumbered by the blacks and half-castes; there are 9,000 of the former, of whom 5,000 are slaves. But little religious instruction among the natives seems to be attempted; the convents of the Jesuits, who were formerly zealous teachers here, are now waste and tenantless. Sugar and rice and cotton, and most other tropical products might be cultivated with great success ; but the curse of slavery seems to rest like a blight upon every useful branch of commercial enterprise. The wild excitement and horrible greed, fostered by this lawless traffic in human beings, seems to possess every mind, so that there are few who will engage in the calmcj* pur- suits of agriculture, or manufacturing industry. Liv- ingstone noted that the cotton-plant was growing wild all about, and wasting its silky filaments; that indigo and coffee, and other valuable products might be had almost for the gathering; and that several sugar and other manufactories which he visiced were not so suc- cessful as they might be, if more spirit and capital wore thrown into their management; and he sighed over the folly and inhumanity of man, in neglecting the boun- teous gifts of God, and exercising cruelty and oppression on his fellow^s. Gathering up his strength for another effort, he left Loanda on the 20th of Septeiabcr, 1851, passing round by sea to the mouth of the river Bengo, and so up that 110 THE WEAVER BOY. river through a district well adapted for the growth of the sugar-cane. Mosquitoes abound on the Bengo, or Senza, as it is sometimes called, more than elsewhere, and they are glad to get away from it. Advancing eastward, they reach higher ground, and enter upon a fine level road adorned with a plant named bolcamaria, which has a beautiful red blossom. The markets or public sleep- ing-places hero are well supjilied with provisions, and the native women are mostly engaged in spinning with a spindle and .l-sttuf precisely like those used by the ancient Egyptians. In the market-place, good cotton is sold at one penny per pound, and very good table-knives, made of country iron, for twopence each. Labor is cheap; handicraftsmen may be hired for fourpence a day, and agriculturists lor twopence. What need then of hIuvcs? Livingstone now turns aside through CazcDzo, a district famous for the abundance and excel- lence of its coffee, the produce of real Mocha seed, first planted here by the Jesuits. Then, accompanied by the Commandant <•! Cazenzo, he proceeds down the river Lucalla to Massangano, situated on a very fertile tongue of land, between the Lucaila and the Coanza, the latter being a noble stream, about 150 yards wide. Here are theruinsof a large iron foundry, established in 1768, as a private enterprise, now partly worked by the gov- ernment, whieh pays its native workmen, not in coin, but a kind of tish called caciisu. Along the banks of the Lucalla, maize, manioc, and tobacco are cultivated,, — the la Iter sometimes growing to the height of eight feet, and having thirty-six leaves on a single plant. Fires are frequent here; if one should consume a whole town no record of it would be left, there being not a single inscribed stone in it, although it has two churches, and the ruins of two convents, aud a hospital. On the north side of the Coanza are lands belonging to a tribe called Quisamas, or Misamas, which the Portuguese have never been able to subdue, owing to the scarcity of water in their country; the reservoirs of this are formed in the trunks of the baobab-trees, and when the natives retreat before an enemy the supply is let out. This country AT LOANDA. Ill produces much salt, which is a considerable article of commerce with its people. There is another independent tribe, living amid the mountain ranges not far from Massangano, called LiboUo. Fowls, with the feathers curled upward, were observed here, this being a provision of nature to protect them from the intense heat of the sun; the natives call them kisafu; the Portuguese, arripiada, or "shivering." Keturning to Golungo Alto, where ho had left some of his men, Livingstone finds several of them laid up with fever ; but they are cheerful and courageous yet, or their words belie them, for they say, " It is well you came with Makololo, for no tribe could have done what we have, in coming to the white man's country ; we are the true ancients, who can tell wonderful things." There were three very obstinate cases, and one of these, when delirious, said to his companions, "Farewell ! I am called away by the gods." and he set off at the top of his speed ; but he was caught before he had run a mile, and gently bound, to confine him and prevent mischief. Instances of this kind had been noticed by the mission- ary before. Waiting for his sick followers at Golungo Alto, Liv- ingstone visits a deserted convent at Bango, a few miles to the west of this place. He learns that the Jesuits, and other Catholic missionaries, as the Capuchins, had, while there, diligently attended to the instruction of the people, but had produced no permanent effect, because they had not given them the Scriptures. They had been supplanted by other teachers, whose political opinions were more in accordance with the Portuguese govern- ment, and these had been allowed to die out, so that there were now no Christian ministrations in the place. The Sova, or chief Banga, received him in considerable state, having his councillors, etc., although he is sub- ordinate to the dominant European power. The people are very much divided into classes, the highest being the councillors of the chief, who levies fines, and inflicts penalties, pretty much as he likes ; and the lowest class, that is of the free men, for the slaves have no recognized 112 THE WEAVER BOY. position. There are gentlemen, and little gentlemen in this complex society, and the former, although black as ebony, speak of themselves as white men, and the others, who may not wear shoes, as ''blacks," and look upon them with contempt, although they themselves, for this privilege which they enjoy of wearing shoes, have to pay a fine to the chief. There is here a fraternity of Freemasons, into which none are admitted who cannot shoot well ; their outward distinction is a fillet of buffalo hide round the head. Being trustworthy and active, they are much employed as messengers, and are the most valuable soldiers in time of war, when the militia are of little use. These last are idle and intemperate ; they are chiefly supported by their wives, and they spend much of their time in drink- in ma?ot?a, a kind of palm- toddy. They act as police, and guard the residences of commandants, stores, etc. The chief recreations of these people of the Bango country appear to be mamages and funerals, both of which they celebrate with much pomp, noise, and de- bauchery. To pay the expense of these celebrations they frequently impoverish themselves for years. Ask a man to sell you a pig, he will tell you he must keep it in case any of his friends should die. Ask another why he is drunk, he will perhaps give what would generally be considered a valid reason, ''Why, my mother is dead." Very litigous are these Bango folk ; if one can but say of an enemy, "I took him before the court," he is delighted. These and many other things did our traveller observe during his enforced sojourn in the place, which Livingstone was glad to leave on the 14th of December, being anxious to take back his Makololo, and to prosecute his researches. He had sold the ivory with which Sekeletu entrusted him to great advantage, and the produce of this, and the presents sent to the chief by the governor and merchants of Loanda, such as a horse, colonel's uniform, two donkeys, and specimens of articles of trade, added greatly to the responsibility of his charge ; so he pushed on as fast as he could, which was not very fast, owing to the weakness of his invalids, on AT LOANDA. 113 whom the sudden changes of temperature had produced a bad effect. Crossing two small rivers, the Caloi and the Quango, they reach Ambaca. They then and there pass over the Lucalla, and make i. detour to the south for the purpose of visiting the famous rocks of Pungo Andongo ; they rise in columnar masses to the height of 300 feet or more, and in their midst stands the village, approached only by narrow defiles, which a small body of troops might defend against an army. This was the stronghold of the Jinga tribe, who originally possessed the country. The Portuguese consider it a very unhealthy spot, so that banishment to its black rocks is a worse sentence than transportation to any other country. It is, how- ever, in reality, one of the most healthy parts of Angola; it has pure water, a light soil, an open and undulating country, generally sloping down towards the river Coanza, which, thirty leagues below Pungo Andongo, reaches Cambamhe. There is a king of Congo, to whom the Jinga formerly paid an annual tribute in cowries, and who, on their re- fusing to continue this, gave over their island to the Portuguese, who thus commenced their dominion in this part of Africa. This prince, who is professedly a Christian, still retains the nominal title of Lord of Angola, the European governor of which province he addresses as a vassal when writing to him. On the death of one who holds this high office, the body is kept wrapped up in cloth cerements until a priest can come from Loanda to consecrate his successor. There are twelve churches in the kingdom of Congo, the fruits of a mission established long since at St. Salvador; they are kept in jjartial repair by the people, but are not the centres of christian civilization which they ought to be. 114 THE WEAVER BOY. . • ' r " 'It • ' ■ « . . . XTII. ' BACK TO LINY ANTE. On New Year's Day, 1855, the party is again in motion ; leaving the black rocks behind, and shaping its course to Cassange along the right bank of the Coanza, through a rich pastoral country. At the confluence of this river with the Lorn be they leave it, and proceed, in the north country direction, to the village of Malange, where the path of the former journey is struck, keeping to which they come to Sanza and Tala Mungongo. Here they meet long lines of carriers, bringing from the interior beeswax and elephants' tusks for the merchants of Angolo, and of the natives they purchase fowls at the low price of a penny each. On the 15th they descend from the heights of Tala Mungongo to the valley of Cassange, whose rivulets are now dry ; but there is plenty of brackish water in the Lui and the Luare, and the fast-ripening fruit of the palms and the wild dates and the guavas quench the thirst with their acid juices. The edible muscle, whose shells exist in all the alluvial beds of the old rivers, as far as Kuruman, is here too ; and a black lark, with yel- low shoulders and a long tail, whose feathers are eagerly sought by the natives as plumes, floats over in the grasses, with its tail in a perpendicular position ; while the lehuttutu, a large bird resembling a turkey, utters the curious cry from which its name is derived^ and goes on with its work of insect-killing. At Cassange, which is next reached, they find the people a prey to the most degrading superstitions, not- withstanding their partial intercourse with white men. To cure a sick child a diviner is called in, who throws his dice, and works himself into a state of ecstasy, in which he pretends to communicate with the Barimo, or Great Spirit, — a dim notion of a supreme being, which all people, the most benighted, seem to have. His fee for this divination is a slave, but he receives instead a BACK TO LINYANTE. 115 brisk application of a couple of sticks to his back by the father of the child, who has no faith in his incantations. The mother rushes away, and commences the doleful wail of one who sorrows without hope, while, as an ac- companiment, her female companions elicit screeching sounds from an instrument constructed of caoutchouc. A woman is accused by her brother-in-law of being the cause of his sickness, and, to prove her innocence, offers to take the ordeal, that is, drink the infusion of a poi- sonous tree. If the stomach refuses it, she is considered innocent, if not, she dies, and that is proof of guilt. If an accusation of witchcraft is made, this is the mode of trial. Ilundreds thus perish yearly in this valley of Cassange. The same superstitious ideas prevail all through the tribes who live north of the Zambesi, and seem to indicate a community of origin. That the souls of the departed still miugle with the living, and partake of their food; that these spirits desire to take the living away from earth and all its enjoyments ; and that in sickness it is necessary to appease them with sacrifices of fowls and goats, and -even sometimes of human beings; that in case of murder or manslaughter a sacrifice must be made to quiet the spirit of the victim ; that charms must be employed to avert the dangers which encom- pass them, — these are common articles of belief, — sha- dows, which nothing but the pure light of the gospel will dissipate. How did the heart of the missionary yearn towards these poor benighted heathens, whom he would fain teach better things ! " How fearful," he says, " is the contrast between this inward gloom, and the brightness of the outer world, between the undefin- ed terrors of the spirit, and the peace and beauty that pervade the scenes around me ! I have often thought, in travelling through this land, that it presents pictures of beauty which angels might enjoy. How often have I beheld, in still mornings, scenes the very essence of beauty, and all bathed in an atmosphere of delicious warmth, to which the soft breeze imparts a pleasing sens'ition of coolness, as if from a fan I Green, grassy meadows, the cattle feeding, the goats browsing, the 116 THE WEAVER BOY. kids skipping, the groups of herdsboj's, with miniature bows, arrows, and spears ; the women winding their way to the river, with watering-pots poised jauntily on their heads; men sewing under the shaddy bananas; and the old, gray-headed fathers sitting on the ground, with staif in hand, listening to the morning gossip, while others carry branches to repair their hedges. Such scenes, flooded with the bright African sun, and enliven- ed by the songs, of the birds before the heat of the day becomes intense, form pictures which can never be for- gotten." But no long pause must be made to indulge in humane reflections, and to look upon pictures of peace and quietude. On the 20th the party leave Cassange, with a westerly wind blowing strongly, which observations made by travellers show, in this district, to be the sure forerunner of fever, with which several of their number are prostrated, and a halt has to be made for a while. Then they move on towards the Quango, meeting sev- eral trading parties. Among the articles they bring from the interior is a tusk weighing one hundred and twenty-six pounds ; the fellow to it weighed one hun- dred and thirty pounds; and these were borne by a small elephant. It is here remarked that the ivory which comes from the east and north-east of Cassange, is larger than that from the south, a single tusk some- times weighing as much as one hundred and fifty-eight pounds. What must be the strength of the neck which can carry such an enormous burden ? With every now and again enforced halts on account of sickness, they reach at length the Quango, near which is the village of the chief, Cypriano, who has just lost his step-father, and spent more than his patrimony in funeral orgies. Thirty yards of calico are demanded by the ferryman, who, however, takes six. The Ambakistas, with whom the travellers came in contact on the eastern side of the Quango, are sometimes called the Jews of Angola, although they have nothing of the Jew about them except his subtlety and intelli- gence. They are shrewd men of business, and are much BACK TO LINTANTE. 117 g employed as clerks and writers, their penmanship bein characterized by a feminine delicacy which is much esteemed among the Portuguese. They are the beauclerks of the African tribes, having generally a pretty good knowledge of the history and laws of Portu- gal, that being, however, the only European country of which they do know anything. The deleterious effect of the traffic in an inferior kind of spirit was painfully manifest among the people who had been brought most closely into contact with the so-called civilized race. Casks of this liquor were con- stantly passing to the independent chiefs beyond the Quango, out of which the bearers helped themselves, by means of straws, and made good the deficiency with water. Sometimes it was conv^eyed in demijohns with padlocks on the corks, and these were carried olf bodily, which, apart from its being an act of robbery, was not a circumstance to be regretted. Now the rain comes down again; in truth, "it raineth every day," and to meet the drenched travellers, out from his village comes the chief, Sansawe. He asks if they have seen the Moene Put, — "King of the white men, or Portuguese," and graciously intimates that he will come again in the evening to receive his dues, which he does in great state, mounted on the shoulders of his spokesman, which excites much laughter among the Makololo. He presents a couple of cocks to Livingstone, and expects a far more valuable present in return ; but he gets only, as a token of friendship, a pannakin of coarse powder, two iron spoons, and two yards of printed calico, with a lecture on the impolicy of levying black mail upon travellers through his dominions. The Portuguese traders, who now accompanied Living- stone, had to watch their native bearers rery closely, to see that they did not make off with the goods. Salt was one of the articles they carried, and this became lighter as they went along, being, as they said, very liable to melt, — a self-evident truth. Having to be so much in the water, often, indeed, sleeping in it, brought on Livingstone an attack of rheumatic fever, which forced 118 THE WEAVER BOY. him to lie by for eigbt days, tossing on a sleepless bed, made up like a grave in a country church-yard, with grass on the top. Here, covered with his little tent, with nothing but drip and drizzle around him, with aching head, and racked limbs, he tossed and turned about, scarcely conscious of what was going on, until, by the gentle remedy of a dozen leeches to the nape of the neck and loins, applied by a kindly Portuguese, he ob- tained partial relief; but he was much too weak to move on. and now arose another difficulty. The head-man of the village near by had received a blow on the mouth from one of the missionary's followers, and this insult must be paid for. Five pieces of cloth and a gun were gfven as an atonement; but this would not do. Help from all the surrounding villages was called in to avenge the affront, and the matter really began to look serious. The more concessions the travellers made, the more the natives clamored and demanded, until Livingstone re- solved that he would yield no more, and, ill and weak as he was, led his party forth, grim and ghastly, with hi& six-barrelled revolver in his hand. His appearance frightened his opponents, who had already made an attack upon the party, and the chief exclaimed, *' Oh, I have only come to speak to you, and wish peace !" When told to go away to his village, he expressed a fear of being shot in the back. So the doctor mounted his ox, and lefl him to carry out his peaceable intentions with his friends. Their progress for a while was very slow, seven miles being about the extent travelled on each day, when they moved on, which was not above one-third of the time, two-thirds being consumed in stoppages occasioned by sickness or the necessity for seeking food. The Portuguese, who bore the party company, were the bearers of large presents for Matiamo, whom their countrymen desired to propitiate, and one of them had eight good-looking womeu chained together. When Livingstone was talking to the chief, they appeared to feel deeply their degraded position, and the missionary's heart bled for them, but he could not interfere then. BACK TO LINYANTE. 119 They crossed the Loange, and several other rivers, which were observed to flow in deeper valleys than they did at the parts crossed in the former passage. At length the rain ceased, and there was a fall in the temperature. The people amid whom they now were had a more slender form, and were of a lighter olive color, than those they had lately been accustomed to see. They had singular modes of dressing the hair. Some ladies had a hoop, which encircled the head, from which the hair radiated like the rays of a star, or spokes of a wheel, so as to form a kind of nimbus, or glory, such as we see in old paintings of saints and the Yirgin Mary. Others wear a kind of helmet of woven hair and hide, with a long fringe of buffaloes' tails hanging down behind. Others weave their own hair on pieces of hide, into the form of a pair of buffalo- horns, which stick out on either side of the head; while yet others have but a single horn projecting in front ; all of them no doubt consider- ing this to be in exquisite taste. But in the matter of head-dresses, civilized Europe can hardly afford to laugh at uncivilized Africa. The latter is yet innocent of the monstrous chignon. The travellers now made a detour to the southward, for the same reasons which impel people with us to go to Wales, or the Channel Islands, namely, to get cheaper provisions ; they are now more out of the track of the slave-traders, and they find the natives more timid and civil. Some of the young men are great dandies here ; they are covered vyith ornaments, and the oil with which their hair is soaked drops upon their shoulders; some are constantly strumming a musical instrument, and some never go out without a gun, or bows and arrows. Tho one wishes to appear musical, the other warlike, — neither of which they really are. Well, we must not blame them too harshly, as people nearer home do the like. These warlike gentlemen wear a piece of hide for every enemy they have killed, or say they have. And they have bird-fanciers there, too, who carry canaries about in pretty cages ; and ladies with lap-dogs, which they will by-and-by eat. Our ladies do not exhibit their 120 THE WEAVER BOY. affection for canine pets in that way, at all events ; nor do they eat moles and mice, as, in the absence of other animal food, these people do. The traps set for " such small deer " may be seen everywhere in the woods, with which the villages are generally surrounded. Up on the roofs of the huis fly the cackling hens, to lay their eggs in the baskets provided for them there, and when any travellers arrive, there is much noisy offering of these and other articles of food, and chattering and haggling by men, women, and children, but all with the greatest civility and good temper. Now on through the zigzag forest paths, beset with climbing-plants, through which a way has often to be cut, and sometimes bitten, — for the carriers, after tug- ging at the lithe, yet tough stems that bar their progress, apply their teeth to them, and so break through the ob- struction. Thus, slowly toiling on, they reach another river, abounding in crocodiles and hyppopotami. Then they get among bogs, surrounded by clumps of straight evergreen trees, — bogs, on whose slimy surfaces the pris- matic tints are exhibited, telling of their ferruginous origin. The river glens are green and shady, a few feathered songsters enliven the solitude, and there is a chittering and humming all about, which tell of insect life ; but the level plateaux between the rivers are bare and dreary enough, presenting scarcely any signs of ani- mated existence. More streams, and yet more ; the Kanesi and the Fombeji are crossed, and thej reach Cabango, on the banks of the Chihombo. They are coming into a more densely populated part of the country, where provisions are cheap and plentiful ; four persons can be well fed upon vegecable and animal food at the rate of about a penny a day, paid in cloth or beads. Hear this, O miser- able starvelings of St. Giles ! Hear this, famished opera- tives, working half-time, or no time at all ; and Dorset- shire laborers, who manage to feed and clothe and house a wife and seven children upon ten or twelve shillings a •^vreek ! .-.-^,.. ^., >,-.,. Cabango is a considerable town, of some two hundred BACK TO LINYAUTE. 121 native huts, and several real square houses, constructed of poles, with grass woven between; in these dwell the half-caste Portuguese, who act as agents for the Cassange traders. One of Matiamvo's subordinate chiefs is ruler here; he rejoices in the name of Muanzanza. No busi- ness could be transacted in the village for four days, because a person had died there, and the funeral obse- quies would occupy that time. So Livingstone, who is now much better, employs the time in writing up his journal. In Matiamvo's well-peopled country there is little or trade ; what there is consists of an exchange of calico, salt, gunpowder, coarse earthenware, and beads, for ivory and slaves. There are no cattle, except a herd kept by the chief, to supply him with meat; he is mild in his government, and more just than African chiefs generally are. We are now among the Balonda, who are better- looking than the people nearer the coast; they are a sprightly, vivacious people, spending their time chiefly in gossip, and marriagtj^ and funeral ceremonies, at the latter of which they are most merry and uproarious, probably to conceal their grief, which they manage to do most effectually. The women do not file or discolor their teeth, and many of them would be really pretty, if they did not greatly expand the nostrils by inserting pieces of wood into the cartilages of the nose. The ti*avellers wish to strike out to the south-east to visit an old friend, Katema, and Muanzanza lets them hire a guide, who insists upon receiving pay for himself and his father, too, beforehaod ; he goes with thorn one day's journey, and then coolly leaves them to get on as they can, with his unearned wages on his back in the shape of cotton ; they manage pretty well without bim, meeting with much kindness from the southern Balonda people, who are out of the track of the slavers, and con- sequently less sophisticated and mercenary. At the village of a chief named Bango they kill a cow, and offer him a leg ; but bo informs them that neither he nor his Eeople eat meat of that kind, for they look upon cattle as uman, living as they do at home anu)ng them. Oatde, 8 122 THE WEAVER BOY. too, they say, briog enemies and cause war; then why have cattle ? The rivers here do not flow in deep channels, as they do more to the north, and oftentimes to the south, nor are the grasses so tall and luxuriant; . the country is flat, suitable for cultivation, and game be- gins again to be plentiful, so that to refuse ox-flesh is no great privation, although Livingstone says there is no flesh like it, either for flavor or nutriment. Bango, how- ever, did not object to buff'alo flesh, when it was brought to him, with other fruits of the chase, by tributary chiefs. Bango is now left behind, and the river Loembwe reached and passed ; then came bogs and gloomy forests, where the frequent idols, and little sheds with pots of medicine in them, attest the superstition of the people, who are generally mild and inolfensive, although Living- stone here saw the only instance of unarmed men strik- ing each other he had ever known. They will quarrel and swear with frightful volubility, and, having in this way let off the steam, will generally finish with a hearty laugh, whether at themselves or their opponents cannot be told. Clothing is here eagerly sought for by the women, who are mostly naked. They are delighted to get for a fowl and twenty pounds of meal a piece of cloth about two feet long. " See," they say, holding up their babies to excite compassion, 'Hhe fire is their only clothing by night." But at first sight of the white man they run away screaming with fear, or cautiously peer at him from behind walls and round corners, snatch- ing up their babes, and making off when he approaches, as do the dogs, with their tails between their legs, as though they had seen a lion. They make of him a hobgoblin to frighten naughty children, just as ignorant people among us would a black man, simply because he is far removed from their standard of beauty. It is now the second of June, and our party have reached the village of Kawawa, consisting of about fifty huts. A great hullabaloo was going on over the body of a dead man. Drums were beating, and women were making a clamorous wail at the door of the hut where BACK TO LINY ANTE. 123- the dead man lay, and addressing him as if he were alive. Early in the morning a person fantastically dressed, with a great number of feathers, had gone away into the forest, and he, who represented one of the Barimo, or gods, would return in the evening to take part in the jollifica- tion. It was all very much like an Irish wake, only more picturesque and less quarrelsome. Strangely familiar to Livingstone must have looked a jug of English ware, which the chief Kawawa showed him as the greatest curiosity he could produce. It must have carried his thoughts back to the old country, with its myriad forms and forces of manufacturing industry, exhibiting scenes so different from those he was now wit- nessing. Thinking that the pictures of his magic-lantern might amuse, if they did not instruct, the people in some of the ways and works of civilization, he had an exhi- bition, at which all were greatly delighted, except the chief, who was frightened, and several times started up to run away, but he being in the front rank could not for the press behind him. Kawawa heard that to the Chiboque had been given an ox, as the price of a passage through their country ; so he thought he might as well try his hand at a similar exaction. So when the party were ready to start he demanded not only an ox, but a gun with some powder, and a black robe that had taken his fancy. If this were refused he must have a man and a book which would tell him if his paramount lord^ Matiamvo, ever resolved to cut oif his head. He told Livingstone very coolly that he had seen all his goods, and if his demands were not complied with, he would prevent the party from passing the Kasai river. "Never," replied the missionary, ''will I have it said that a white man paid tribute to a black; I will cross the Kasai in spite of you." Kawawa had gathered his fol- lowers all around, and matters looked very threatening; but Livingstone presented a bold front, reassured his panic stricken attendants, and with his goods moved on to the river. But the ferrymen had been ordered to refuse a passage, and took away their canoes, leaving thera helpless on the banks. However, the quick eye of 124 THE WEAVER BOY. a Makololo had noted where the canoes were hidden, safe, as it was supposed, amid the reeds, and when it be- came dark, he and some more of his countrymen, swam to the spot, quietly abstracted the boats, and before dawn the whole party were safely aci*08s, to the great astonish- ment of Kawawa's j>eople who shouted out, " Ah, ye are bad !" To which the Makololo replied, " Ah ye are good ! and we thank you for the loan of your canoes 1" We must not pass over the incidents of the rest of the journey back to Linyante, where they arrived at the end of the winter season, that is, in August, and were wel- comed with every demonstration of joy. Livingstone found that the goods which he had left at Sekeletu's were perfectly safe, as were a quantity of things sent by Moffat for his son-in-law. A party of Matabele had brought the packages to the south bank of the river, and as the Makololo would not touch them for fear they might contain witchcraft medicine, they had left them there; but after a while the Makololo had so far over- come their superstitious terror as to convey them to an island in the middle of the stream, and b\iild a but over to protect them from the weather. And gladly, we may be sure, did the good missionary peruse the letters and papers they contained, although the dates were older than they should have been, and the public news was, somewhat stale. It was probably new to him, cut off fbr so long a time from communication with Europe and hmie. .AT THE GREAT FALLS. The next step to be taken was tlie subject of long and anxious deliberations between Livingstone, Sekeletu, and his people. It seemed likely that an availiable road could be opened to the west coast, and the thoughts of the traveller turned naturally to the east, — towards Tette^ AT THE GIt«AT f ALLS. 125 the iTiost inland station of the Portuguese ; or Zanzibar, on the Mozambique channel. If the former course were decided on, the river Zambesi miirht be rendered avail- able for water carriage a great part of the way. A "picho," or national council, was called, to discuj^s tho advisabilitj^of a removal from Linyante to tho Barotse valle}', 60 that they might be nearer to the market, now rendered accessible to them, and which the presents from Loanda, and goods procured by the sale of their ivory, made them eager to have within reach. It is true the hor.«e presented to the Makololo chief by the gov- ernor of Loanda had died on the way, and a pair of 'don- keys, int-ended also for him, had to be left in an exhausted state at Naliele, where their music startled the inhabi-^ tants more than if they had been lions. But the colonel's uniform came safely to hand, and excited the unbounded admiration of the chief and his people; and many other articles of use or ornament. There was a very animated- discussion of this question of removal; some were very unwilling to abandon the line of defence against tho dreaded Matabele, formed by the rivers Chobe and Zam* besi; then, in the Barotse valley there is much fever- when the annual inundation subsides. It is a good cattle station, for there is no tsetse there, where the oxen breed faster than elsewhere. " But the jjrass is so long, say the 3'oung men, " we cannot run fast, and it never grows cool in that valley.'' Then the chief stood up, and said, "I am quite satisfied that we ought to go there to be nearer to Loanda. But with whom shall I live? You," addressing Livingstooe, ''are going away to the white man's country, to bring Ma-Eobert. Come back with her, and wherever you wish to dwell, there you will find me ; " and Sekeletu no doubt spoke from his heart. Ho had a real liking for the good missionary, and he saw the advantage of having him always at hand as a friend and counsellor, and, if need be, a protector against enemies. The wonderful stories which the people related of what they had seen on the way, and at Loanda; how, sick and weak as Livingstone was, he had made friends, or frightened or outwitted enemies ;. 126 THE WEAVER BOY. and how the white men, '* at the end of the world, where there was no more land," respected and loved him, — all these reports had greatly raised Livingstone in the chiet's estimation, and especially his disposal of his ivory at so much greater advantage than he expected. Then he could teach him how to extract the sweet juices from the sugar-cane, and make it an article of profit, and a number of other things, calculated to make the Mako- iolo rich and prosperous. His medical knowledge, too, how useful that was, and all sorts of knowledge which he possessed ! "Oh, he must go, but not yet; not until the rainy season commence*=', and the air becomes cooler. He must go, and come back again, with a sugar-mill, all kinds of handsome clothing, especially a mohair coat, a good rifle, beads, brass wire, and any other beautiful things that he may find in his own country." So said the chief, anxious for his departure, that he might be the sooner back, yet not willing that he should risk travelling in this terrible heat, with the temperature up to 138° in the sun, and in the shade but thirteen -degrees less. So he supplied all his wants abundantly, ^nd made much of him, and carefully selected two of his best men for guides, when he should set forth, and did everything in his power to make his stay pleasant, and his journey safe and successful. Pleasant, however, it could hardly be. Much as Livingstone pitied these poor people, and desired to do them good, he could not help feeling a sad sinking of heart, and an utter loathing •of their heathenish ways and manners. At this season, during the day, they kept very much in their huts, which were cool compared witri the temperature without. But towards evening, when the glare of the sun was not so intolerable, they came forth, many of them half-mad- •dened with the beer, or boyaloa, which they had been -drinking, and then ensued such a cross-fire of banter and raillery, with shouts of laughter and yells and shrieks and antic-dancing, as made the scene a pandemonium, and sleep out of the question. The women applauded all this with clapping of hands, and the men, who were too old to take an active p&rt in the mad revelry, pro- nounced it "very fine." AT THE GREAT FALLS. 127 Here, however, in this central region of South Africa, Livingstone sees before him a promising field of mis- sionar}'' operation. There are no actual impediments OiTered to instruction, as there are among the tribes nearer the coast, whom it is for the interest of the slave- trader to keep in a state of ignorance, and to incite to war among themselves or upon tribes farther in the interior. The chiefs and head-men of these alluvial plains and valleys are pleased to have an European visi- tor, or better still, resident, in their territory. By them his property is respected, and his life is an object of great solicitude. Any missionary station planted among them would be cared for, and protected to the extent of their power; and they would listen to instructors who could teach so many useful arts, while imparting religious knowledge. No doubt the prevalence of fever, caused by the malarious exhalations, drawn by the heat of the sun from the decay of the exuberant growth of vegeta- tion produced by the rich, moist soil, is a sad drawback; but this may be avoided by choosing a site somewhat elevated; and even in the low grounds there is a whole or partial absence of other diseases, such as consumption, scrofula, small-pox, measles, hydrocephalus, epilepsy, cholera, or cancer, etc. These are counter-balancing advantages, which should be taken into account, and which were seen and acknowledged by Livingstone, whose sufferings from fever are scarcely to be taken as a fair criterion of what other Europeans might expect. He was constantly travelling, most usually in the rainy season, sleeping on the damp ground month after month, exposed to drenching showers, and having his lower extremities thoroughly wetted two or three times a day in crossing rivers or wading through bogs ; often living on manioc roots and meal only, and exposed to the direct rays of the burning sun. The wonder is that he lived through it ail, and made such journeys and discoveries. And now he is about to set forth again, this time in an easterly direction, to follow, as closely as he may, the course of the Zambesi, and see what facilities that great river aftbrds for opening up the heart of South Africa to Christianity and commerce. 128 THE WEAVER BOY. It is the 27tli of October, 1855, when the first contin- uons rain of the season begins to fall; then he and his Savty make ready for their departure, and on the 3rd of fovember they set out, accompanied by Sekeletu and two hundred of his Makololo. The mother of the chief had prepared for Livingstone a bag of ground-nuts fried in cream, with a little salt, which is considered a great delicacy; and Mamire, her second husband, made a fare- well speech, expressive of hope for his safety, and quick return with his wife, Ma-Robert, whose coming to dwell among them they all seemed greatly to desire. So the cavalcade set out, as it had done before, with Livingstone for a leader, and the friendly chief bearing him com- pany on the way with a numerous escort. Towards sight they have a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning, and drenching rain, which wets the mission- ary to the skin ; his clothes have gone forward, so he cannot change them, and Sekeletu gives him his own blanket to sleep on, going without himself, — an act of kindness of which few savages would be capable. After- wards he presents him with twelve oxen, and hoes and beads, etc., sufficient to purchase a canoe when they reach the Zambesi, beyond the celebrated Mosi-oa-lunya, or "Smoke-resounding," Falls, which, after travelling for about a fortnight, they were now approaching. These falls, which are described as large and more mag- nificent than Niagara, are caused by a deep fissure in the hard, black basaltic rock, which forms the bed of the river, into which the mighty volume of water suddenly leaps, down a sheer descent of unknown depth, with tre- meadous sound, and a shaking of the earth, which can be heard and felt many miles away. The river is here about 1,860 yards wide, flowing from north to south, and the crack in its bed, caused by some great convulsion of nature, lies right across it, being about as long as the stream is wide. The width of the crack, at its narrowest part, is about eighty yards. So into this tremendous chasm, which has been plumbed to twice the depth of the Niagara Falls, plunges that mile-wide sheet of water,— a spectacle the most sublime, perhaps, that this AT THE GREAT FALLS. 129 I ' earth affords. On the verge of this awful precipice, and in the midst of the water, dividing it into two nearly equal streams, stands Garden Island, a little spot of ground which, by skilful paddling, may be approached in a canoe, and, looking from thence down the sheer descent of that crystal wall, one may see nearly half a mile of water, collected Ir a channel from twenty to thirty yards wide, flowing to the left, at exactly right angles to its previous course, while the other portion of the fall flows to the right. These two streams meet midway in a boiling whirlpool, and dash off, foaming and seething, through another rocky fissure, at right angles to the crackdown which they first were precipitated, and from the eastern end of which this outlet is about 1,170 yards, but not more than 600 from its western end. Through this narrow escape channel, which does not appear to be more than twenty or thirty yards wide, the 2iambesi rushes southward, for about the distance of 130 yards, when it enters a second chasm, somewhat deeper and nearly parallel with the first. The eastern half of this great chasm is left dry, and has large trees growing in it, while the volume of water goes steadily off to the west, forming a promontory which has at its point the second escape channel, about 1,170 yards long, and 416 broad at the base; after reaching which, the river turns abruptly round the head of another promontory, flowing away to the east, through a third chasm; it then glides round a third promontory, and away back to the west by a fourth chasm; and in the distance it seems to round yet another promontory, and bond once more back to the east in a fifth chasm. There has been no wearing away of the rocks by the long-continued action of waters hero, as at the great American falls. They are right throughout the course of this gigantic zigzag so sharply cut and angular that it can at once be seen that the hard basalt has been broken by a force acting from beneath into their present form, how many ages since, no one can tell ; but, as Livingstorvo conjectures, it was probably done when the ancient inland seas were let off by similar fiaaures nearer the ocean. 130 THE WEAVER BOY. ^ From the difierent proraontories views ma}^ be obtained of the falls under varying aspects, all agreeing in the one element of sublime grandeur; but perhaps there is no finer than from Garden Island, where the whole body of water runs clean over, quite unbroken, but after a descent of ten or more feet the whole mass suddenly assumes the appearance of a mighty snow-drift ; por- tions of it, like comets with streaming tails, leaping off in every direction, twisting and whirling in a mad dance that dazzles the eye and makes the brain giddy to look upon. Clouds of these aqueous comets invested in finer spray, rush up in columns, as it were of steam, to the height of 200 or 300 feet ; they may be seen at the Batoka village, Moachemba, about twenty miles off, and it is from these, and the sounds like thunder which may be heard as far as they can be seen, that the name Mosi- oa-tunya, or "smoke-resounding," has been applied to the falls. This vapor, becoming condensed, falls in con- stant showers upon the evergreen trees upon the island and banks, from whose leaves the heavy drops roll like globules of quicksilver, and form rivulets, which, running down the face of the rock, are licked off their perpen- dicular beds by the uprising column, and sent again into the air, to be again returned in showers upon the trees, and again thwarted in their efforts to find the level of the main stream, that goes rushing and roaring in the nar- row escape channels, or gliding, with a smoothness that indicates the vast depths of the hollows w hich receive it round the tree-covered promontories, on which one can stand and view the amazing spectacle. When the morn- ing sun gilds these smoke-like columns, double and treble rainbows flash and corruscate about them. In the evening there is a yellow sulphurous haze, as if from the mouth of the bottomless pit. "Have you any smoke- soundings in your country?" was one of the first ques- tions put by Sebituane to the first whi e man he ever saw; and he again asked, "What causes the smoke to rise so far out of the water?" This was in 1851, when Livingstone, with Oswell, approached the falls, within two days' journey ; but it was not until now, in 1855, AT THE GREAT FALLS. 131 that he beheld them, and he was obliged to confess, that of all the wonders of the lands he had visited, he had seen no such stupendous spectacle as this, and there is no doubt that he was the first European who had e^er gazed on it. He did not, on this occasion, make a length- ened examination of the falls, for Sekeletu and his two hundred followers were with him, and these could not be detained the necessary time; besides, he wanted to explore this eastern route as closely as possible. In 1860 he again visited the spot, and made a careful exam- ination of the falls. This was at the end of a drought, and the river was then at its lowest, but his brother, Charles Livingstone, who was with him, and had seen !Niagara, gave the palm to Mosi-oa-tunya. At flood, the volume of waters here must greatly exceed that of the American fall ; and the tortuous course of the channel, the many deep chasms into which the current leaps, the numerous points of view from which it may be seen, and the effects produced, are so strange and startling, that it must ever be an object of wonder and reverential awe. One is not surprised to learn that the ancient Batoka chieftains considered Garden Island and Boaruka, anotlier small island farther west, and also on the verge of the descent, as sacred spots for worshipping the deity, of whose existence they had some misty and con- fused consciousness. Under these cloudy columns, lighted up with brilliant rainbows, upon ground that seemed to rock and tremble, and with this ceaseless rush and roar in their ears, they might surely here, if any- where, realize the presence of an Omnipotent Being, and tremble at his majesty and power. -^ Short as was his first visit to the place, Livingstone endeavored to turn to account the moisture that fell from the columns of watery vapor, by planting some fruit- trees, which he hoped might here obtain nourishment and thrive, and which he charged his Makololo friends to hedge about, and protect from the hippopotami, which it was plain sometimes came to the spot. On his second visit he found that the trees had been destroyed, as he feared they would be, by the great river-horses that ven- 132 THB WEAVER BOY. ture so near the edge of the falls tliat the wonder is they are not carried over, as it is likely they sometimes are, although the current above is very calm and smooth, giving no indication of the tremendous leap it is about tdtake into the abyss that has so strangely opened across its way, and on the other side of which there is the pro- montory or tonscue of land, which forces it into a zigeag^ course, on the same level as the banks of the river, and beyond that another, another, and yet another promon- tory, all with herbage and trees, as if we had taken a piece of forest land, and divided it into triangles, the base of one corresponding with the apex of another, so that there should be a continuous channel between, through which the water poured into it from above should flow, alternately from east to west, and from west to east, until it finally escaped below. But what kind of power was it that cut those channels, or rather, broke them up from beneath in the hard basalt which formed the bed of the river? The same power, no doubt, which cleft the edges of that rocky basin, and let the waters escape, which once made a vast inland sea of the whole of central South Africa, compared with which Ngami, Nyassa, Tanganyki, and the other lakes recently discov- ered are but as the pools and puddles left when the tide flows out and leaves the lately submerged marshy lands firm and dry for a time; and like the little ditches and water channels, which are then seen going in every direction and often crossing each other and communicat- ing with these pools, are the great rivers, which form a network through the central basin, rich with alluvial soil, rank with vegetation, thickly inhabited, and annually overfixowed with an abundant rainfall; and this geogra- phers once thought to be a howling waste of burning sand, wherein no human being could long exist. This i« en'^ of the geographical illusions that Livingstone has dispellsd, and to him belongs the honor of a great dis- cover}-, fraught with consequences of the utmost import- ance to mankifld at large, and especially to the tribes inhabiting those hitherto inaccessible regions. First was he of all Europeans to cross the inhospitable Kala- AT THE GREAT PALLS. 133 hari desert ; first to stand by Lake Ngami ; first to view the bread expanse of Lake Nyassa; first to make his "way through obstacles and difficulties which scarcely another mao woald have braved, and could have over- come, from the central country to the western coast, then back again, a fever-etrickeo, fanaished man, yet with an indomitable spirit, and with a firm dependence upon ^d's helping and sustaining hand, that nothing could daunt or toTn from his course. He has explored rivew of great length and volume, whose names even were unfiiowo to geographers; made observations which will be of the greatest use to travellers ; and opened to com- merce and Christianity realms of exhaustless fertility, ridi in animal, mineral, and vegetable productions, and tribes of men, numerous beyond calculation, gentle and teachable, who only need the quickening and enlighten-^ ing influence of the Gospel of Christ to lift them from their state of degradation, and make them useful mem- bers of the great family of man. He haa marked and exposed the evils of that cruel system of slavery which is eating its way like a cancer farther and farther into ihe heart of South Africa, corroding and corrupting all whom it touches, and now he stands by the wonderful fells of that great river, Zambesi, whose course and cap- abilities he was the first to determine, and of which he hopes to make a broad highway for the merchant and the teaoher. Now, bidding adieu to Sekeletu, who here Itoves with him ooe hundred and fourteen men, he turns his face northward, and 8et& forth again on his toilsome tpfcvelft. ii, '•» - • . ! It :' V 134 THE WEAVEB BOY. XV. ■ • '•"; -•■ 'H \:. AWAY TO THE EAST COAST. Leaving the valley in which the Lekone flows at the village of Moyara, and directing their course more to north-east, over a rough and rocky soil composed chiefly of red sand, they pass through a tract of country which was formerly thickly populated, but is now bare and des- olate. The Batoka tribes, among whom they now travel, have some peculiar customs, such as knocking out the front teeth of both sexes when they arrive at the age of puberty, causing the upper lip to fall in so that the under one protrudes in a very unsightly way ; this gives an old appearance to the face, and makes the smile hid- eous. No Batoka belle would like to show herself abroad with her upper incisors in. This, like the elongation of the lip caused by wearing a metal ring in it, practised by so many of the South African tribes, is one of their peculiar notions of beauty, of which we can only say, there is no accounting for tastes. The Batokas give as a reason for this practice that they wish to appear like oxen, and not like zebras, for which latter animals they have an abhorence. The great chief, Sebituane, strove to abolish this per- nicious practice; he gave orders that none of the child- ren living under him should be subjected to it; but still it went on. The power of fashion was too strong for him, as it has proved for most potentates who have set themselves against it. Such a shaft of ridicule as <' Look at his great teeth," aimed at one unfortunate individual, was sufficient to make him ashamed of him- self, and very soon his ofl'ence against propriety would be expiated. Yery dark in color are these Batoka of the Zambesi, and very degraded in their appearance and manners; much given to a kind of intoxication caused by smoking the mutokwane, a kind of hemp, which causes a species of frenzy. Its use is common to most of the interior AWAY TO THE EAST COAST. 135 tribes. Its effect upon some is to magnify every object they see, so that they lift their feet as high in passing over a straw as if it were the trunk of a tree. Livingstone's party consisted of nine of these Batoka, with some of the Bushubia, and Barotse, the latter being chiefly useful on account of their ability to swim, and navigate canoes. They carry their paddles with them, Sekeletu's tusks were borne by the Batoka; these were to be sold, or exchanged for ot^er articles on the east coast, towards which they began to descend after passing the Unguesi, a tributary of the Zambesi, which falls into it a little above the rapids. They now meet with the baobab and other trees, simi- lar to those which are found in the descent to the west coast, notably one called moshuka^ yielding a fruit which looks like an apple, and tastes like a pear^ of which there were great quantities. It grows to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and has leaves as large as a man's hand, hard and glossy. There was also the maneho, a hairy- rinded fruit, about as large as a walnut, full of a sweet, gummy water, and the beans called n/w, contained in a large square pod; these are freely eaten by the men, and the pulp from between the seeds of the nux vomicay which yields the deadly poison called strychnine. That magnificent evergreen tree, the motsihin^ bears up its masses of dark foliage, contrasting with the light-leaved acacias, which, like the mopanej fold their leaves to- gether, presenting the least possible surface to the action of the hot sun. There are palms in the surrounding country, but they are not of the oil-bearing kind, and through the parched soil many bulbous and other plants are pushing up their emer£.ld spikes, and putting out their leaves to clothe the ground with verdure and beauty. Conspicuous among all stands the molay with its spreading, oak-like form, covered with brownish- green leaves, looking as if ihaj were bronzed. It is now the 30th of November; another river, the Kalome, about fifty yards broad, with a rapid current, which falls into the Zambesi below the falls, is crossed, and before them, to the eastward, is a treeless, undulat- 136 THE WEAVER BOY. iDg plain, covered with short grass. They are on the elevated ridge which encloses the great central basin on the east and west, and on which the climate is by no means unhealthy, so that missionary stations might be established here, from whence operations might be car- ried on among the natives on both sides of them. Here they meet with that rare sight in Africa, a tuskless ele- phant, and see herds of buffaloes feeding in all directions dui'ing the day,^a sure sign that they have not been much disturbed, as, where this is the case, they retire into the densest forests, and only come out to feed by night. Inexpressibly refreshing and invigorating it is to look out upon a wide expanse of country, after having travelled for a long time in thick forest lands, where the air is hot and close, and danger may be lurking within a foot or two. Here, upon this elevated ridge, there are no obstructions to the view ; no pitfalls and morasses to entrap the feet ; the step becomes more firm and elastic; the lately sluggish pulsations more quick and distinctly marked ; despondency is banished from the mind, and hope and cheerfulness resume their sway. So the party went on rejoicing in the altered circumstances of their route. The peculiar whistle of the honey-guide was fre- quent in their ears. " Come and see ! come and see !** he said ; and the men answered him by a peculiar re- sponse, in their own language, which might be inter- preted, *' All right ! go ahead ! we'll follow !" and some of them would go after the bird which flew off slowly, so that they could keep it well in view, and it would not be long before it settled upon some tree, in the hollow of which the wild bees have stored up their honey, which was borne off in the dripping combs by the natives, for A feast, while the bird made a meal of the detatched tortious which fell around. This probably is the in- ucement for the invitation which it gives to all and sundry to come and rifle tlie sweet treasure. Over the Mozuma, or river of Dila, now they pass, leaving the Taba Cheu, or "White Mountain," to the fiOTjith-east. Between the banks of the river, in which no water flows at present^ Livingstone observes, witk AWAY TO THE EAST COAST. 137 much satisfaction, pieces of lignite, probably indicating the existence of coal, everywhere a great adjunct to civ- ilization. Here were ruins of large towns which had been depopulated by war, most likely caused by the atrocious slave-trade. Millstones, with the balls of quartz with which the grinding was effected, were left behind, showing that death had overtaken the inhabi- tants, or that they had made a hurried retreat. Here it was, that Sebituane had lived before he removed finally into the conquered Makololo country. From thence he mads his forays into the surrounding districts, and here collected great herds of cattle, with which the country was then exceedingly rich. The advantages of this position for a missionary settlement was pointed out by Sekwebu, who was the head-man of the party of natives, he having received his chiefs orders to do so; and to Livingstone the only want seemed that of popula- tion, — the Batoka having fled into the hills. Being now in the country of those who were considered rebels against Sekeletn, some apprehensions were entertained of their friendly reception, and some furious manifesta- tions were made against them, which all ended in angry words and gesticulations ; but when they got beyond this fringe of malcontents, the found the Batoka or Batonga people quite friendly. They hailed with great joy the appearance of the first white man, and offered presents of maize and masuka. They have a singular mode of salutation, — throwing themselves on their backs, rolling in the dust, and slapping their thighs, exclaiming '' Una homhay As they advanced, the population became more dense, villages crowded upon villages, and the people came forth in multitudes with ground-nuts, and maize and corn, for the good missionary, who spoke to them of Him who had sent forth the proclamation, "Peace on earth, good-will to men." And this scattered and war-scourged people, who had been driven fronk place to place, and never allowed to remain long in quiet without understanding the full import of the message,, gladly seized upon the central idea of peace. "Give us peace," they said j "give us rest and sleep. We are 9 138 THE WEAVER BOY. tired of flight and warfare. Oh, give us rest! " And well might they say this ; well might they long for rest and quietude, over whom the tide of conquest had so often swept. First from the south-west, the country of the Zulus, came a chief named Pingola, who devastated their whole territory, sweeping away oxen, cows, and calves, leaving them scarce a single head. They were just beginning to recover from this blow, and get up their stock again, when Sebituane came in upon them like a flood, and carried off what was left of tneir cattle. And after him the Matabele, under Mosilikatse, made inroads into their territory, and stripped them, so that they became a truly scattered and peeled nation. Sunday, the 10th of December, was spent in the vil- lage of Monze, who was the principal chief of the Batoka. On the hill, called by the pleasant name of JCisekise, lived Monze, and from thence the eye had a Tange of thirty miles over Open, undulating country, •covered with short grass, with but few trees. Formerly, the people lived much in large towns, but since the ■devastating wars to which they had been subjected, they had adopted a more wide-spread mode of habitation, the better to see and give warning at the approach of an •enemy. On Monday, comes Monze to roll in the dust and scream ^-kina homha,'" while his wife, armed with a small battle-axe, screamed in concert, but did not roll. A few goats and fowls were all the live stock Monze and his people now possessed, and he gave one of each to the missionary, and was highly delighted to have in exchange some printed cotton handkerchiefs, with one of which he proposed to decorate his child, a!id then send for all the people to dance round it. No white man had ever visited Monze before, and the black traders who came to him had from him ivory, not slaves. On the whole, he seemed a very good sort of » fellow, as African chiefs go. But we must not tarry with him longer ; the east coast is before us, and we must push on to reach it. But first, who are these men, with tall extinguishers on their heads ? These, like the Bashu Kulompo, have the AWAY TO THE BAST COAST. 139 hair plaited into a cone. Sometimes they eke out their own hair with that of animals, as ladies in civilized Europe are said to do. Of course, we don't believe it. The operation by which this is eflfected is a painful one, but what is pain to fashion ? The scalp is drawn tightly up, so that it is difficult to close the eyes. The cone is often eight inches round, and from eight to ten high. Sometimes it is bent forward, so that it resembles a hel- met. The head-man of the party who visited Living- stone, had in his a wand, which projected full a yard from the head. Making a detour a little to the north to visit an influential chief named Semalembue, they slept at the village of Monze's sister, who conducted them some distance on the road the next day, and sent forward orders for their entertainment at the place where they would again rest. At parting she said, "Hov7 pleasant it would be to sleep without dreaming of any one pursuing with a spear! " Crossing the rivulet Nakachinta, which flows eastward into the Zambesi, with the range of tree-covered hills, called Chamai, before them, they now proceed to a lower level, where the ground is fertile, but the vegetation no- where rank. The Masuka and other trees, with which they had lately been familiar, had been left behind, and the orchilla weed, with lichens on the trees, and mosses on the ground, begin to appear. As they pass along, the people supply them with food in abundance. They had somehow found out that Livingstone had medicine, and they brought their children and sick folk to be cured by him, much to the disgust of his followers, who wished to monopolize his skill and remedies. Here, for the first time was heard the curious cry " Pula, pula,^ signify- ing, " rain, rain," uttered by a bird, probably a kind of cuckoo. The natives call it Mokwa reza^ — " Son-in-law of God," and say that its cry predicts heavy falls of rain. This is a bird of good repute; not so the crow, whose nests are destroyed in times of drought, to break the charm, which it is said seals up the windows of heaven. More and more beautiful does the country now become, being furrowed by deep valleys, which abound 140 THE WEAVER BOY. in large game, such as buffaloes and elephants; three of the latter are shot, and a plentiful supply of meat obtained, in which the natives are glad to share. Leav- ing the elephant valley they cross the rivulet, Losito, and reach the residence of the chief, Semalembue, situated at the bottom of the rocky ranges, through which the Kafue finds a passage; this is on about the same level as Linj^ante. The river is here about two hundred yards wide, and abounds in Hippopotami. The chief was very friendly, giving them large supplies of food, and mak- ing at the same time, many apologies for being obliged to keep them hungry, as a gentleman, in more civilized countries, might apologize to his guests for setting before them so poor a repast, which probably consists of all the delicacies of the season. Semalembue was a consid- erable merchant, receiving large quantities of ivory from the surrounding tribes, and transmitting it to other chiefs on the Zambesi, who sent in exchange Eng- lish cotton goods, brought from Mozambique by Babisa traders. His attendants were mostly large men, with fine crops of wool on their heads, which were drawn up together in a tapering bunch at the crown, or twisted in little strings like a fringe on one side, and allowed to hang down on the other, so that it looked like a little cap cocked jauntily on one side. A present of a shirt to the chief, who accompanied Livingstone partly on his way, highly delighted him. The country about here is well cultivated, the people industrious and keen traders; maize, ground-nuts, and sweet potatoes, are the chief produce; the sugar-cane is also cultivated to some extent. On they march like a triumphal procession, with much clapping of hands by the men, and luUibalooing by the women, out of the dominions of the friendly chief, and across the hills towards the confluence of the Zambesi with the Kafue. The precipitous nature of the ground makes their progress slow here, so that they are three days before they reach the top of the outer range of hills, and look upon a glorious prospect. At a short distance below was the Kafue, winding its way to its AWAY TO THE EAST COAST. 141 confluence with the Zambesi, which was hastening over a forest-elad plain to join it; a long range of dark hills at its farther end, with a line of fleecy clouds at their base, marking the course of the great river. The plain below was crowded with large game. In the open spaces grazed bufi'aloes and zebras; beneath the trees fed majestic elephants, in numbers quite astonishing. As they descended amongst them, they found these ani- mals remarkably tame, not having been much disturbed by the natives, who live chiefly on the hills and have no guns. As they approached the Zambesi, the cover became thicker, and they had frequently to shout to elephants to make them get out of the way, and even to shoot one of a herd of buffaloes which wanted to become too friendly with the oxen. Water-fowls begin to abound, as they get to the banks of the river, of which the Barotse say that " its fish and fowls are always fat." On an island in the Zambesi, about a mile and a half long and a quarter broad, a herd of sixty buffaloes have their feeding-ground, and are always ready to fight for its possession. In a valley between ranges of hills, through which the Zambesi flows, they find on the north side the Batonga, and on the south the Banyai. They have two ways of killing the elephants ; one is to erect stages on trees over the paths they frequent, ^nd, as an animal passes beneath, it is struck in the back by a spear with a blade twenty inches long oy two broad, and a handle four or five feet long and as thick as a man's wrist. The wounded elephant rushes off, and the handle of the embedded weapon, striking against the trees, makes frightful gashes, which cause death. The other plan is to insert a spear in a heavy beam of wood, and suspend it by a cord, that passes over the branch of a tree, and is attached by its other extremity to a latch, placed in the path ; this being struck by the animal's foot, flies back, and releases the cord, so that the beam falls, and the spear, which enters the back being poisoned, death quickly iensues. They have now rains and flooded lands again, and 142 THE WEAVER BOY. have to make their way through damp and rank vegeta- tation, by following the footpaths of wild animals. Dif- ferent kinds of antelopes are abundant, as well as wild^ pigs; so there is no lack of food. The head-man of the village furnished grain, and quickly conducted the party on. All were friendly except Selole, who, having been somewhile before, with other chiefs, attacked and robbed by an Italian, named Simoens, who had married a chief's daughter, and came up the river from Tette with some armed slaves, suspected that Livingstone was another Italian, or Simoens, who had been killed in the expedi- tion, come to life again. But he was soon pacified by an explanation, although he and others continued to view the party with suspicion, and it required constant care and watchfulness to keep them together, and safe from an attack. An office something like that of the priesthood exists among the chiefs of these parts, who are supposed to have power to propitiate the Deity. Supposing that he possessed this power, hunters of elephants, hippopotami, and followers of other vocations came to Livingstone to beg for medicines which would give them success. The missionary pointed them to a higher power for aid in all their good undertakings. A strong, muscular race of people were those about this part of the course .of the Zambesi, which was their great highway. Both men and women cultivate the ground. They have the lower lip deformed by artificial means, which so disfigures most of the tribes. Their villages are picturesquely situated among the hills, and their valleys are occupied by gardens, where maize and native corn grow luxuriantly. They cannot keep oxen, for the tsetse, and look upon white men as marauders, having been much robbed by the half-caste Portuguese, whom they call Bazunga. " They have words of peace all very fine," they say; "but lies only, as the Bazunga are great liars." They knew not then that they might trust the Makoa, the "English." . ■. • , f HOMEWARD BOUND. 143 XYI. HOMEWARD BOUND. REACumG, on the 14th, the confluence of the Loangwa and the Zambesi, the party crossed the former river on the 15th, in the presence of a large armed concourse of natives, from whom they expected an attack. This how- ever, did not take place, and they proceeded along the bottom of the range, called Mazanzwe, where they found remains of houses and a church, indicating the site of a once flourishing commercial settlement of the Portuo-uese, who were now at war with the native tribes around which rendered the course of a white traveller amono- them somewhat perilous. They pass several inhabited islands in the Zambesi, which belong to independent chiefs who do pretty much as they like. They are greatly de- layed in their march by being obliged to stop at every village, the people of which would consider it an insult if the travellers had passed without doing so. Rain falls daily, and everything is beautifully fresh and green. Their oxen, however, are bitten by the tsetse, and cannot march above two miles an hour ; and they are anxious, too, on account of the uncertainty of their reception by each chieftain, in whose territories they advance. The people of Mpende surround their encampment at night with strange, wild cries, and seem about to attack them ; but are content with the performance of certain incantations intended to render them powerless or at least to frighten them. When Livingstone sends Arord to the chief that he is an Englishman, his reply is, "We don't know that tribe ; we suppose you are a Mazuno-a (Portuguese), the tribe with which we have been fight- ing." Assured that this was not the case, somethinj^ tikcj the truth dawned upon the native mind, and the excla- mation broke forth, " You must be one of that tribe that loves the black man." What an honorable distinction is this! It established friendly relations, and the chief did all he could to aid their progress. The people of a large 144 THE WEAVER BOY. island are ordered to ferry them across the river, here 1,200 vards wide, and 700 or 800 deep. They are now among the Babisa. To the north lies Senga, which abounds in iron ore. English cotton goods begin to be abundant, and the name of an Englishman is a passport to the favor of the natives. " He is a man," say they ; "his countrymen are enemies to the slave trade." Aid when the slaves themselves report Livingstone's approach to Tette, then about ten days\|ourney olF, they say, " Oh, this is our brother who is coming !" Still the enmity of all the tribes on the north of the Zambesi to the Portu- o-uese, and their practice of making night attacks, renders travelling more dangerous the nearer they come to Tette, which, however, they at length reach on the 3rd of March, and are hospitably entertained by the command- ant, who does all he can to recover Livingstone from his emaciated conilition, and ivpke his followers content to remain awhile. A house of his own is assigned them, until they can build huts for themselves, in order that they may escape the bite of a venomous insect, called the tampan, or carapatos. The town, or village, of Tette is built on a slope up from the river, close by whose edge stands the fort, which has been the salvation of the Portuguese power in this quarter. Although it mounts but few guns, and has only thatched apartments for the residence of the troops, yet it is strong enough to resist the attacks of the natives, and to keep them in some kind of awe. Latterly, however, they have approached very near to it, burning^ and destroying the houses to its very walls. This wa» •done while the commandant was absent on an expedition against Nyande, a man of mixed Asiatic and Portuguese breed, who had built a stockade at the confluence of the Luenya and the Zambesi, and levied black-mail upon all the traders who passed up or down. Learning that the commandant was on the way to attack him, this worthy despatched his son with a strong party up the left bank of the river, who plundered and burnt the place, in which there are about thirty houses for Europeans, l)uilt of stone, cemented with mud instead of mortar, and thatched HOMEWARD BOUND. 145 with reeds and grass, and 1,200 huts for natives. The house of the commandant, with the church and fort, were not destroyed by the rebels, who carried off all the cattle they could find, and much other plunder. When news c^' this counter-move reached the army before Nyande's stockade, a panic seized the men ; they dispersed and fled home, each by the way he thought best, and being thus separated, many of them were captured by Katolosa, " a half-caste," who had hitherto professed to be friendly with the Portuguese, while another, name Kisaka, who lived on the opposite bank of the Zambesi, also rebelled. He imagined, or chose to say, that his father had been be- witched by the Portuguese, and in revenge he plundered all the plantations of the rich merchants who had their villas on the north bank of the river. 1 hus were the people of Tette impoverished, and the trade of the place ruined. An etfort was afterwards made to punish the chief rebels, who kept the Portuguese shut up in their fort for two years, so that they could only get goods suffi- cient to buy food, by sending them overland along the north bank of the Zambesi to Quillimane. This man was eventually pardoned by the home government, probably because he was able to bribe largely. Major Sicard, the Commandant of Tctte, when Livingstone reached the place, had considerable influence with the natives, which he had exerted to restore peace, which, however, had not lasted long. He bad been told by some natives that " The Son of God, who was able to take the sun down from the heavens, and place it under Irs arm (this was in allu- sion to the sextant and artificial horizon), had come," and having previously heard that Livingstone was on his way thither, felt sure that this was he, and prepared to receive him. There is much coal in the vicinity of Tette, and iron ; and a gold field, which is only fitfully and partially worked by the natives, lies at no great distance. Large crops might be raised of maize, indigo, and cotton, with other tropical produce ; and labor is cheap, or might be did not the goose with the golden eggs get constantly killed, by the deportation as slaves of the natives, who 146 THE WEAVER BOY. would gladly work for low wages. As it is, a fine coun- try is made comparatively unproductive, and what might be a thriving and industrious population, thinned, and converted into blood-thirsty ruffians, by the odious slave traffic. ^ ^ ' ' There was formerly an establishment of Jesuits, called Micombo, at a distance of about ten miles from Tette ; but this has been suppressed, and the only religious teach- ers now in this part of the country are two gentlemen of color, natives of Goa, to whom the European residents of the town send their children for education. There is but one school in the place, where the native children are taught to read and write. Livingstone was anxious to stait for Quillimane early ir^ April ; but suddenly ^her.e occurred n change o^ tem- perature, and the commandant himself and many others in the place were prostrated with an attack of fever. The only medical man there was the apothecary with the troops ; and the missionary was glad to exert his med- ical skill in the service of those who had treated him so kindly. His stock of quinine was exhausted ; but he found that a plant, possessing strong febrifuge properties, grew plentifully in the country ; and he used this with much success. When the commandant was fairly re- covered, and Livingstone sufficiently strong, he prepared to descend the Zambesi. Selecting sixteen men who could manage canoes to accompany him, he left the rest at Tette, where Major Sicard gave them a portion of land, in which to cultivate their own corn, supplying them with sufficient for sustenance in the mean time. They had also permission to hunt elephants and purchase goods with the ivory and dried meat, that they might have something to take home when they returned. Many more would have accompanied Livingstone ; but he heard that food was scarce at Quillimane, and therefore took no more than he absolutely required. Leaving Tette on the noon of the 2 2d, the party pro- ceed on their canoe-voyage down the noble river, with whose name that of Livingstone will be ever associated. Past the stockade of the rebel Nyande they go, not ap- HOMEWARD BOUND. 147 proaching it nearer than they are obliged ; it is composed of living trees, and therefore cannot well be burnt. It might soon be destroyed by the guns of a vessel, but musketry would have little effect on it. On the 2Vth they arrive at Senna, which stands on the right bank of the Zambesi, with many reedy islands in front of it, and much stagnant water about, which renders the place un- healthy. Stagnation and rain seem to be its marked characteristics. Like Tette, it has suffered greatly in the wars between the natives and the Portuguese. An old fort of sundried bricks, with the grass growing over its walls, and mended at places with palings, offered but a mockery of resistance to an invader. A tribe of the warlike Zulus, called the Landeens, visit the village periodically*, ^and levy fines upoh the inhabitants. In league with them appear to be the half-castes, who convey information to them when resistance is contemplated, or any attempt made to coerce them, and who pay them tri- bute when it is forbidden by the commandant, Senor Isidore, a man of considerable energy, who was about to surround the village with palisades, to protect it against these enemies. Many of the natives here had been in- structed in boatbuilding and carpentry, at the expense of the commandant, and were now employed by him in constnicting boats and launches of from £25 to £100 value, and in the wood-work of houses, — in both of which branches of trade they evinced great skill and dex- terity. All colonial Portuguese officials are so badly paid, if they receive pay at all, that they are obliged to engage in some kind of commerce by which to support themselves, and it is happy if they do not take to slave- dealing, as too many of them do ; hence the always covert and often open encouragement given to it by those in authority. Manica lies three days' journey to the north-west of Gorongozo, which can be seen from Senna. It is the best gold country known in Eastern Africa, and is supposed by some to be identical with the ancient Ophir of Scripture. The Portuguese say that there is a small tribe of arabs there who have become completely assimilated with the other natives. There are said to be 148 THE WEAVER BOY. several caves in the country, with walls of hewn stone, which the people say were the work of their ancestors. Livingstone left Senna on the 1 1 th, and was accompanied to his boats by the commandant and the principal inhabi- tants, w^ho had furnished an abundant supply of provisions. About thirty miles below Senna they pass the mouth of the river Zangwe on the right, and five miles lower that of the Shire on the left. It appeared to be about two hundred yards wide, and brought down into the Zambesi immense quantities of a cigantic duckweed, and another aquatic plant, which barotse called njefu ; it bore in the petiole of the leaf a pleasant-tasted nut, which was so highly esteemed by Sebituane that hre^ KaleP'' — "Thou art slippery, slippery, tnily ! " Lords of the right bank of the Zambesi are the war- like Landeen, and every year they come in force to Senna 156 . THE WEAVER BOY. -and Shiipauga for the tribute which tlie Portuguese pay, and the more land they find under cultivation the more tribute ihey demand ; so that it is like a tax upon im- provement, and operates to retard it. The merchants of Senna, on whom the tax chiefly falls, complain of it bitterly ; but a refusal to pay would involve a war with these savage people, who, with much flourishing of spears, and smiting of shields, and grotesque dancing and ge.Nticulating, advance their claim, and back it with iin imposing array of stalwart warriors. Like true lords of the soil, they even levy contributions on those who use the timber growing therein ; thus, for permission to cut down timber of the Gunda trees, which makes good boatmasts, and has medicinal properties, a Portuguese of Quillimane pays them 300 dollars a year. The Governor of the Province of Mozambique made Shupanga his head-quarters during the Mariano war. Ilis residence stands on a gentle slope whicli leads down to the Zambesi, with a fine mango-orchard to the south, while to the north stretch away cultivated fields and for- ests of palms and other tropical trees, beyond which towers the lofty mountain, Morambala, amidst the white clouds, while yet more distant hills are seen faint and far in the blue horizon. Beautiful are the green islands in front, reposing on the sunny bosom of the tranquil waters ; and pleasant the shade beneath the great baobab- tree, where now, far from their native land, rest in peace those w'ho were very dear to the leader of this expedition — one, especially, whose grave is marked with a white cross, of whom we shall by and by have more to say. The Province of Mozambique costs the home govern- ment between £5,000 and £0,000 annually, and yields nothing in return, great as its capabilites are. The Portu- guese officials generally were very friendly towards Livingstone, notwithstanding his denunciations of the slave-trade, from which most of them derive considerable profits. Colonel Munes and Major Sicard were especially kind, causing wood to be cut for the small steamer, Ma- Robert, whicli had now been put together, and 8endinf<: men to help in unloading her. Ebony and lignum vita< ABOUT SENNA AND TETTE. 157 were the woods often burnt in her furnaces ; what should we think of using them for such a purpose in England ? On the lYth of August, 1858, the expedition started for Tette. The Zambesi from Shupanga to Senna is wide and full of islands, and the black pilot often took the wrong channel, and ran the vessel aground, which greatly incensed the Krooman sailors, who had the work of getting her off; she was badly constructed, and con- sumed an immense amount of wood ; it took a long while to get «am, and when in motion her progress was so glow, that ' - heavily laden country canoes nearly kept up with her, and the lighter ones shot ahead, the pad- dlers looking back at the toiling " asthmatic," as Living- 8tone called her. She does, however, at length reach the shoal channel, on which Senna stands, and, as she could not be taken up, is left at ISTyaruka, a small town six miles below, and the party walk up in Indian file through gardens and patches of wood, with singing birds all around them ; but somehow it is not like the sweet songsters of the woods and fields at home, it seems all in a foreign tongue ; the natives, whom they meet going to their work in the gardens, the men being armed, and the women carrying hoes, greet them courteously, with bows and coiirtesies, standing aside to let them pass. XVIII. 'about senna and tette. On a low plain, on the right bank of the Zambesi, f^tands Senna, surrounded by a stockade of living trees, to defend its inhabitants from the atta'^ks of enemies. There arc a few large houses, some in ruins, a weather- beaten cross, marking the site of a church, the remains of an old monastery, and a dilapidated mud fort close by the river. There is little or no trade in the village, and the Senna merchants send parties oi slaves into the inte- rior to hunt for and pureh^se ivory. Let no one iniafj-liK* 158 THE WEAVER BOY. he is safe from fever at Senna, because he does not take it on the first day ; it is sure to come on the second or soon after. Its redeeming feature is Senor H. A. Ferrao, a native of the place, ot \\hich his father was formerly governor. The benevolence of this gentleman is un- bounded ; no one is ever sent from his door hungry He feeds the starving natives in times of scarcity, when hundreds claim him as their master whom he never sees at any otiier time. He received the travellers kindly, and gave them a bountiful breakfast. "When it's to their mterest, blacks work very hard," said some of the prin- cipal men of the place, who came to confer with Living- stone about cotton cultivation by free natives ; and this seems to be the opinion of the most men who have had an opportunity of observing the negro on his own soil, or in any way working for himself The party w^ere also entertained by another very honorable Portuguese of Senna, Major Tito A. d'A. Sicard, w^ho told Livingstone that his discovery of the Kongone entrance to the Zam- besi had ruined Quillimane. He also said that when the war was over, he would take Livingstone's goods uj) to Tette in canoes ; and this promise he afterwards per- formed. They return to their little steamer, and receive a visit from a head-man with a " seguati," or present, consisting of a few ears of maize, for which he expected to receive at least double value in return. This seems to be a very common practice. Say to the shrewd African, when he makes his offering, " We will buy it." " Oh, no sir ; it is a seguati ; it is not for sale." It is something like the reply given in our own country, when one asks the price of a service performed. "I'll leave it to your generosity, sir." And this castoraary, if crafty piece of politeness, was generally submitted to, with the understanding that the offer was a compliment and nothing more. At a little island called Xyamotobsi, the travellers find a party of hippopotamus hunters, who have been driven by war from their own island. These hunters are a dis- tinct people, seldom intermarrying with others. One reason for this probably is, that many of the native tribe«* ABOUT SENNA AND TETTE. 159 look with as much abhorrence BOW, spin, weave, and talk, and milk the cows. The men seem to pay a dowry with their wives instead of getting one with them. The mountaineers of Europe are reckoned hospitable, generous, and brave ; those of this part of Africa are feeble, spiritless, and cowardly, even when contrasted with their own countrymen on the plains. Some Europeans aver that Africans and themselves are descended from monkeys; some Africans beliave that souls at death pass into the bodies of apes; most writers believe the blacks to be savages ; nearly all blacks be- lieve the whites to be cannibals. The nursery hobgoblin of the one is black, of the other white. Without going further on with these unwise comparisons, we must smile at the heaps of nonsense which have been written about the negro intellect." After going on to remark on the nonsense which is often addressed to aborigines by trav- ellers, as if they were children, and the ludicrous mistakes which are made through ignorance of their language, he continues, " Quite as sensible, if not more pertinent, an- swers will usually be given by Africans to those who know their language, as are obtained from our uneducated poor ; and could we but forget that a couple of centuries back the ancestors of the common people in England, probably our own great-great-grandfathers, were as unen- lightened as the Africans are now, we might maunder away about intellect, and fancy that the tacit influence would be drawn that our own is arch-angelic. Tlie low motives which often actuate the barbarians do, unfortu- nately, bear abundant crops of mean actions among ser- vants, and even in higher ranks of more civilized people ; but we hope that these may decrease in the general im- provement of our race by the diflusion of true religion." 166 THE WEAVER BOY. XIX. UP THE smUE. Finding it impossible to ascend the Zambesi beyond the rapids of Kebrabasa with a steamer like the " Ma- Robert," of only ten-horse-power, E.ivingstone sent off an application to government for a more suitable vessel, and witli characteristic energy turned his attention at once to the Shire, a northern tributary, which joins it about one hundred miles from the sea. So covered Avas the surface witli duckweed and other aquatic plants, and so hostile the natives who lived on its banks, that, after two or three attempts to explore it -by the Portuguese, the task had been given up as hopeless. But, nothing <]aunted Livingstone turned the bow' of his little steamer into those waters, which no European had ever navigated far up, bidding defiance alike to the poisoned arrows of the blood-thirsty Manganga, and other perils of the way. The first attempt was made in January, 1859, when the river yas encumbered by the floating weeds, but not sufficiently so to prevent a canoe or any other craft getting up; and this nearly ceased after the first twenty- five miles, at which point they reached a marsh from which it appeared chiefly to come. A little beyond this was a lofty hill, called Mount Morambala, and here they first experienced the hostility of the natives, who had sent their women out of the way, and were evidently prepared lo resist their advance. A chief, named Tin- gane, who was notorious for being adverse to all inter- course between the Portuguese half-caste traders and the natives further inland, collected his followers to the number of five hundred, and commanded the party to stop. The men behind trees were observed taking aim at those on board the steamer, rnd a conflict seemed inevitable. But Livingstone, without exhibiting any sign of alarm, went on shore, into the midst of the excited savages, and calmly explained to the chief that he was English, and had come neither to take slaves nor UP THE 8HIRB. 167 to fight, but to opoii a way for bis countrymen to come and purchase cotton, or whatever they had to sell except slaves. His fearlessness and candor had due effect, and Tingane became at once quite friendly. In all his communications with the natives, Living- «tone always spoke openly and plainly of the English detestation of slavery. The efforts made by his coun- trymen to suppress the slave-trade were by this time pretty well known to those who had engaged in the traffic at all, and they could quite understand the motives which induced him to come among them, and advise them to plant and sell cotton and other products, instead of capturing and selling their fellow-men. The belief, too, in a Supreme Being, who is Maker and Ruler of all things, and in the continued existence of departed spir- its, being universal among them, they were quite pre- pared to see and acknowledge the force of his arguments, founded on the will of that great Father of all, as revealed in his book. The idea that this great and good Being is displeased with his children for killing and sell- ing each other gains a ready assent, and they respect the teacher of such doctrines, even when they, from self interested motives, continue in their evil ways. It is difficult to make them feel that they have any relation- ship with the Son of God, who appeared among men, and still speaks to them in his book, although the story of his life and sufterings always awakens their interest and admiration. Their moral perceptions are so blunted that they cannot understand, and their eyes so darkened that they can but see indistinctly the beauty of the pic- ture presented to Ihem ; nor can they comprehend how divine a thing it is to follow in the steps of such a leader. Their moral elevation can be secured only by the instruction and example of good Christian men residing among them for a long period. So Livingstone found ready credence for his words and approval of his course of action, even from those who made no resolutions of amendment themselves, but kept on in their evil ways. ; Their further progress up the river was not interrupted 168 THE WEAVER BOY. until Ihcy came to the lowest of a series of cataracts, to which they gave the name of the distingnished presi- dent of the Geographical Societ}^, Sir Roderick Mur- chison. Not deeming it prudent to risk a land journey beyond the falls, among a strange and savage people, who looked with suspicion upon their movements, they resolved on returning to Tette. They were now about one hundred miles up the Shire, as the crow flies, but had probably gone double that distance in following the windings of the river. Down stream their progress was much faster than it had been up, being aided bj' the cur- rent. The floating hippopotami got out of the steamer's way ; but a huge crocodile would sometimes rush at it with open jaws, thinking it some great beast, and go suddenly down like a stone when a yard or two from it, having doubtless discovered the mistake. In the middle of March, 1859, Livingstone started for a second trip up the Shire. From the natives, who were now ver}'- friendly, he easily obtained rice, fowls, and corn. About ten miles below the cataracts, he found the chief, Chibisba, a remarkably shrewd and intelligent man, with whom he entei'cd into amicable relations. He had sent an invitation to the white man to come and drink beer with him when he flrst visited the spot; but his messengers were so terrified at the sight of the steamer, that they jumped out of their canoe, which they left to drift down stream, and swam away to the shore as for dear life, first shouting out the invitation, which nobody understood. A great deal of fighting had fallen to the lot of Chibisba ; but then it was never his fault, but always some one else who begun it. He was a firm believer in the divine right of kings, and felt that he could do no wrong, — for was he not a chief, clothed with authority and possessed of wisdom ? His people reverenced and feared him, and, it was thought, so did the crocodiles, to protect his people from the bite of which he placed a medicine in the river, so that they could bathe cr swim without danger. • •• » F'^m Chibisba's village, near which they left their ^: ^A, the parcy set out' in search of Lake Shirwa, of UP THE SHIRE. KjO which they had heard, and which, after many difficul- ties and dangers, they reached on tjie 18th of April. They found it to be a considerable body of brackish, bitter water, with islands like hills arising out of it, abounding in leeches, fisli, crocodiles, and hippopotami ; the shores were covered with weeds and papyrus; the length of the lake might probably be about sixty or eighty miles, by twenty broad. But this, the}' were told was nothing in extent when compared with another lake to the north, from which it is separated only by a nar- row tongue of land. Finding the people to be still suspicious of their movements, and even in some instances hostile, and wishing to gain their confidence before proceeding fur- ther, they resolved to return to the ship, which they did by a new passage to the southward, close by Mount Chir- adzuru, among the relatives of Chibisba, and thence, by the pass Zedi, down to the Shire. They find their quar- termaster, who was left in charge, stricken with fever, and treat him with large doses of calomel, which were very elfectual. On the 23d of June, "Ma- Robert" is again anchored in front of Tette, where she undergoes repairs, and is then dispatched down the Kongone to receive supplies from one of H. M. cruisers. The Kroomon, who had hitherto navigated the ship, were here dismissed, and the crew^ made up of Makololo. The newly invented steel-plates, of which "Ma- Eobert'' was built, were but the sixteenth of an inch thick, and they now^ began to show that they were not adapted for this kind of service. Some chemical action on the metal caused small holes in them, from which minute cracks ramified in all directions, so that the bot- tom soon became like a sieve; as soon as one hole was stopped another was discovered. Add to this source of discomfort, the frequent heavy showers which fell, flood- ing the cabin-floor, and wetting the cushions on which they slept, spoiling the botanical specimens laboriously collected by Dr. Kirk, and doing other mischief. A quantity of the stores with which they had been sup- plied were spoiled. The assertion of the Portuguese, 1 1 170 THE WEAVER BOY. that they had known the Kongone entrance to the Zam- besi long before I^ivingstone went up it, was contradicted by the testimony of one Paul, a relative of the rebel Mariano, who had just been to Mozambique to " arrange" with the authorities, and who now told Livingstone that the governor-general knew nothing of the Kongone, but thought that the Zambesi entered the sea at Quillimane. About the middle of August the ship again left Tette, and for the third time steamed up the Shire, between the ranges of wooded hills which bound the valley through which it flows. Past the hill, called Morambala — ''the lofty watch-tower" — they go, from whoso preci- pitous side next the river a village peeps out. Here the people have a bracing atmosphere, and are above mos- quito range. During the rainy season fleecy clouds rest upon the top ; farther down, lemon and orange trees grow wild, and pine-apples when planted. Amid the great trees, at the base, are found antelopes, rhinoceri, monkeys, and large birds. A hot spring bubbles up on the plain, at the north end, which boils an egg in two or three minutes. To the west is a rich plain, forming the tongue of land between the Shire and Zambesi, with clumps of palm and acacia trees. According to the re- ports of the canoe-men, lions come here after the large game. On, now, for many miles, winding through a marsh, like a broad sea of fresh green grass, and then before thepi stands the dome-shaped mountain Makanga, or Chikanda, with other gigantic peaks, stretching away to the north, and forming the eastern boundary of the valley ; then past a broad belt of palms, where game is abundant, ami elephants have been feeding on the sweet, fruity nuts. Here the great serpents, called pythons, twine among the branches, and the buffaloes charge furi- ously upon the men who are cutting wood, so that they can only escape by jumping into the river. These are pleasant incidents to enliven the way. Then, in the evening, the men go fishing, agitating the waters, directly after throwing in the line, to attract the atten- tion of the finny people, as the (^isciples of Isaac Walton do at home. Maize, pumpkins, and tobacco fringe the UP THE SHIRE. 171 marshy banks, belonging to the natives of the hills, who, besides raising their crops, catch fish and dry it for future consumption. A deep stream, about thirty yards wide, now flows in from a body of open water, several miles across. Natives are busy at different parts, fill- ing their canoes with nyika, a kind of lotus root, which is extensively use as food ; when boiled or roasted it re- sembles chesnuts. This lagoon is called Nyanja ea Mot- opCj — *' Lake of Mud," — and out of it the chief part of the duckweed which covers the Shire flows. Another name for it is JVz/an^a Pangono, *' Little Lake," while Nyanja Mukulu, " (rreat Lake," is the name applied to the Elephant Marsh farther up the river ; and these Nyanjas appear to have been the boundaries of Portu- guese geographical knowledge in this district. Of the existence of the Shire cataract, only one hundred and fifty miles from Senna, they do not seem to have been aware. Steaming on for another day, they come to the village of Chikanda-Kadze, a female chief, and ask to purchase rice for the men. Time seems to be of no account here ; so they are coolly told if they wait until next day they shall have some. Forty hungry men have to be fed, however, and they go a few miles farther to another village. All around them are rich lands, waiting only for tillage to yield an abundant supply. " Plenty," thinks Livingstone, <' has the Almighty Father given. Oh, that there should be so many perishing for lack of food!" One of the men is here drowned by the cap- sizing of a boat, which they are obliged to tow astern to lighten the steamer, as she could not carry all the hands they needed. Next day they reach the village called Mboma, where the people are eager to sell rice, and where in the even- ing a native minstrel brings his one-stringed fiddle, and serenades them with a number of wild but not unmusi- cal songs. Heihas a quaint kind of instrument, which looks like a small drum, made out of a carved calabash, with a long handle, parallel with which, and on the top of the drum, is stretched the single string, and screwed 172 THB WEAVER BOY. tight with a peg, round which it is wound. The bow is much curved, and clumsily made ; but our savage Paga- nini managed to scrape hOme sweet sounds out of the calabash with it. He talked of spending the night with his " white comrades," in the big canoes ; but as this would have been too much of a good thing, they bought him off with a piece of cloth, and sent him away happy. Next day, on goes the vessel, puffing along close to bank. A huge hippopotamus is frightened from his morning bath by this strange monster, and, in his hurry to escape rushes directly under a trap. Down comes the heavy beam, driving the poisoned hard-wood spike a foot deep into his flesh. In agony he plunges back into the river ; but he dies in a few hours, and his carcass floats, to be drawn ashore by the natives, who cutout the meat just around the wound, and feast on the rest, re- joicing. More and more crazy and leaky does *• Ma- Robert" become, and Livingstone has christened her the " Asthmatic," she labors and breathes so heavily. The cabin floor is always wet, and has become a favor- ite breeding-place for mosquitoes, whose presence com- monly indicates that the spot is malarious, and warns man off to one more healthy. Tingane, the beat of whose war-drums can speedily muster hundreds of armed men, is again visited, and is found very friendly, Soon they come in sight of the majestic mountain, Pirone, to which they give the name of Mount Clarendon. The river Ruo, which is said to have its source in the Milanje mountains, flows into the Shire a little above Tingane's, and a short way beyond this lies the great Elephant Marsh, in which vast herds of these animals find shelter and safety from the attacks ol'the hunters, who cannot follow them into the swamps. As many as eight hundred of these monstrous and sagacious creatures were counted from the steamer's deck : truly a magnificent spectacle ! Such herds as these are mostly found in remote and secluded districts, and they generally select a level tract of country, over-grown with rank and luxuriant vegeta- tion, through or near which flow large streams or rivers, UP THl 8HIR1. 173 in which they delight to bathe, walking deep into the water, and throwing it up in streams with their trunks, and letting it fall over them. A very noble object is th« lordly elephant, tranquilly browsing amidst the wild magnificence of an African forest, or taking his morn- ing bath in the strong glare of the burning sun, which seems in no way to ati'ect him. Terrible, too, is his anger, as with trunk upreared, and shrill trumpeting, he rushes after his assailant with a swiftness wonderful in so ponderous an animal. The mounted hunter has to put his horse to its utmost speed, and even then cannot perhaps escape, except by turning tjuddenly round, and letting his pursuer go crashing on like an avalanche through every obstacle. Baldwin and other traveller! relate some marvellous escapes which they had from in- furiated elephants, which they had wounded but not unto death. Wonderful is the quantity of lead they will sometimes take before they succumb ; and it is only bj poisoning their assegais that the natives can succeed in killing them without fire-arms- Great numbers of wild fowl congregate about these marshes ; plotuses, and cormorants with snaky necks, are there, and flocks of pretty ardettes, of a light-yellow color when at rest, but seemingly of a pure white when they stretch their wings and fly off over the green sur- face of the swamp, to settle, it may be, on the backs of buftaloes and elephants which are hidden in the rank vegetation. Snowy pelicans glide over the water, fish- ing, while melancholy herons stand motionless, and gaze intently into the pools. Disturbed by the noise of the steamer, the large black and white spur-winged goose springs up, and circles round for a while, then settles down again with a splash. From the clumps of reeds rise on the wing hundreds of linon-golos, which build in the low trees, from whose pith hats are made ; and charming little red and yellow weavers fly in and out of the tall grass, or hang to their pendant nests, chattering to their mates within. Overhead are kites and vultures, beating the ground in search of carrion, while the equally foul-feeding marabout stalks solemn and stately on th« 174 THE WEAVER BOY. • same quest. Men and boys in groups are busily search- ing for lotus and other roots, and some are standing up in canoes, on the weedy ponds, spearing fish, or stooping down to examine their sunken baskets. As evening ap- proaches, hundreds of pretty hawks are wheeling and circling above the reeds and grass, or darting in among them to catch the locusts and dragon-flies on which they feed. The scissor-bills, in flocks, are standing in the water, ploughing it with their lower mandibles, which are nearly an inch longer than the upper. Everywhere is there this exuberance of life, turning the stagnant marsh into a scene of beauty and enjoyment. At the south-eastern end of the marsh is a forest of palm-trees, whose gray trunks and green tops give a pleasing tint to the color of the scene. This is the Borassus palm, not an oil-bearing tree, but very useful ; the fibrous pulp round the large nuts is eaten by men and ele- phants ; the sap that flows freely out when the top of the root-shoot is cut off makes palm wine, which is not intoxicating when fresh, but highly so after standing a while ; used as yeast, it makes bread very light. Dur- ing summer, men and boys remain by the trees night and day, living upon the nuts and wine, with fish from the river. As they pass beyond the marsh into the higher country, the population continues to increase. At one place is a long line of temporary huts, where crowds of men and women are hard at work makinc; salt, with which the soil is here impregnated. In such soil it is observed the cotton is of finer staple than elsewhere, and both on the Shire and Zambesi there are large tracts of this rich, brackish soil, admirably adapted for the cultivation of this valuable plant. A number of low fertile islands now stud the river, and the large village of the chief, Mankokwe, who owns a number of them, is passed on the right bank. And so on, till they reach, on the 25th of August, Dakanamoio island, opposite the cliff on which Chibisba's village stands. This chief is away on the Zambesi, but his head-man is very civil, and pro- mises guides and whatever else may be required. Clean- ing, sorting, spinning, and weaving cottoM is here the ON LAKE NTA6SA. ITS* common employment. Each family has its cotton-patch, just as in Scotland, each, in days gone by, used to have its patch of flax, from which most of the homely gar- ments of the family were made ; but here, not only is the cotton useful as clothing, it stands in the place of money, being the common medium of exchange. XX. ON LAKE jSTYASSA. On the 28th of August, 1859, a party, numbering forty -two in all, four being whites, thirty-six Makololo, and two native guides, left the ship, bent on the discovery of Lake Nyassa. Crossing the valley in a north-easterly direction, they roach the foot of the Manganja hills, up which they climb by a toilsome road. On reaching an elevation of a thousand feet, and looking back, they be- hold a lovely prospect, which we must not pause to describe. Resuming their wear}- march, they at length halt at Makolongwe, the village of Chitimba, which stands in a woody hollow, on the first of the three terraces of these hills. Like all Manganja villages, it is surrounded by a hedge of poisonous euphubia, so thick as to be im- penetrable ; no grass grows beneath this sombre tree by which fire could be conveyed to the huts inside, and the branches act as a fender to all flying sparks. After the usual chaffering with the people of the village for the needful provisions, the party sleep under the trees, the air being cool and pleasant, and free from mosquitoes. At early dawn the camp is again in motion, and the as- cent is continued until the upper terrace is reached ; there is three thousand feet above the sea-level. The fertile plains, the wooded hills, the majestic mountains, and other features of this splendid scenery, now gazed on with delight for the first time by European eyes, were seen to great advantage from this elevated plateau. The air was fresh and bracing as that of the 176 THE WEAVER BOY. ♦Scottish mouotiiins, and here in some of the passes they found bramble-berries, reminding them of homo and its thousand endearing associations. They spent a; week crossing the highlands in a northerly direction, then descended into the upper Shire valley, which has an elevation above the sea of 1,200 feet ; it is wonderfully fertile, and supports a large population. A pleasant and well-watered land in this Manganja country ; rivers and streams abound in it ; its highlands are well wooded, and along its water-courses grow trees of great size and height ; it is a country good for cattle, yet the people have only goats and sheep. Every village has its chief, or head-fnan, and all those of a certain district pay allegiance to a paramount chief, called Rondo, or Rundo. Part of the upper Shire valley has a lady-chief, named Nyango, in whose do- minions women rank higher, and are treated more re- spectfully, than their sisters on the hill. There, if a chief calls his wife to his presence, she drops down on her knees, clasps her hands in reverence, and receives his orders in this position. All the women of the hill- tribes knelt beside the path as the travellers passed ; but there was a great difference when they got to Nyango's country. The head-men of the villages here consult their wives before concluding a bargain, and are much influenced by their opinion. The sites of the villages here are chosen with much judgment and good taste; a flowing stream is always near, and the ground is shaded by leafy trees. At the end of the villages is the boalo^ or *' sproading-place," usually comprising an area of twenty or thirty yards, made smooth, and close beside it the favorite baobab, or banyan tree. During the day the men sit and work here, and smoke tobacco and bang, and in the delicious moon-light nights they sing their national songs, dance, and drink beer. The first place to which a party of travellers proceed on entering a village is the boalo^ where mats made of split reeds are usually spread for them to rest on. The natives then gather about, and the guides tell them who ON LAKE NYASSA. 177 their visitors are, whence they come, where they want to go, when return, and what are their objects. Tho chief is duly informed of all this, and will perhaps come at once to greet the strangers. If, however, he is timid and suspicious, he will stay until he has used divination, or summoned his warriors from outlying hamlets. As soon as he makes his appearance, all the people begin to clap their hands in unison, and continue doing so until he has sat down opposite his guests. Then his coun- sellors take their places beside him ; he makes a remark or two, and is silent for a few seconds. The guides, who are the spokesmen for the party, then sit down in front of the chief, lind they and he and his counsellors lean forward, looking earnestly at each other, until the chief says some such word as '' Ambuiatu" (our father, or master), or "Moio " (life), and all clap their hands; another word, two claps ; a third, yet more clapping. Then each touches the ground with both hands placed together. Then all rise, and lean forward, with measured clap ; then sit down again, with clap, clap, clap, grow- ing fainter until it dies away. It is ended by a smart loud clap by the chief. In this kind of court etiquette, perfect time is kept. The guides now tell the chief, in blank verse often, all they have told his people, with the addition perhaps of some suspicions of their own. He asks some questions, and converses with the stran- gers ; But always through the guides, for direct conver- sation is not customary. All parties are wonderfully polite and ceremonious until the usual presents are ex- changed, when etiquette is thrown aside and eager bar- gaining commences. It would be interesting to multiply such pictures of savage life and manners, and show how nearly some of them approach to those of a higher state of civilization. Interesting, too, would it be to dwell on the features of the panorama which is unrolled before us, as we ascend these African rivers and explore its vales and mountains, where everything is so new and strange ; but we must hasten on to tell how the intrepid pioneers of the Gospel pushed their way on, on through numerous obstacles 178 THE WEAVER BOY. and dangers, until they stood by Lake Nyassa, a little before noon, on the 16th of September, 1859, undoubtedly the first Europeans who had looked upon that inland sea, notwitstanding all that Portuguese authorities may say to the contrary, and the claims since set up by one or two other travellers to its discovery. Dr. Roscher, an enterprising German, was, it seems, the nearest to them in point of time, he having reached the lake on the 19th of November, so that he was only two months later than Livingstone, who struck upon its northern end in 14^ 25' S. lat., and 30° 30' E. long. The exact position of Nusseewa, on the borders of the lake, where the G-er- man staj^ed for some time, is not known ; he was mur- dered by the natives, on his way back by the Arab road to the usual crossing-place of the Rovunma. His mur- derers were seized by one of the chiefs and sent to Zan- zibar, where they were executed. The particulars here stated lire derived from the statements made by Dr. Roscher's servants after the}^ had reached the coast. We shall have more to say about this lake presently; now we must turn our attention to the groat curse which rests upon its borders and desolates some of the most fertile and beautiful places that a tropical sun ever shone upon. Close to the confluence of the lake with the river Shire is one of the great slave-paths from the interior, and Livingstone was told by an old chief, who hospitably entertained him, that a large slave-party, led by Arabs, was encamped close by. They had been to Cazembe's country, and were returning with plenty of slaves, ivory, and malachite. Some of the leaders came to see our travellers, and offered them young children for sale, probably wishing to get rid of the incumbrance. On learning, however, that these were English, they hastened away and decamped in the night. Som'^. of this party were afterwards taken near the coast, by H. M. ship "Lynx," and the slaves released. They were a villainous-looking set, armed with muskets, and ready to commit any atrocity. Livingstone could probably have set these captives free, but he knew not what to do with them, and it left to themselves they would no doubt have ON LAKE NYASSA. 179 been again taken and sold by any of the Manganja chiefs who could lay hands on them ; for these will even sell their own people to the Ajawa and slave-dealers, who are enconraged to come among them for this kind of traffic. " We do not sell many, and only those w^ho have committed crimes," they say, when remonstrated with ; but there is no doubt that others are sold, as well as criminals. It is easy to get up an accusation of witch- craft, or other assumed crime, against any person, and the temptation is strong upon them : they have little else to give for the brass rings, pottery, and cloth offered by the traders, for up in the hills they have little or no ivory. Hence it is that orphans and other friendless people often disappear from their villages, and no ques- tions are asked about them; and all down the mountain slopes and through the Shire villages, coastward, goes tbe daily-increasing cavalcade of human misery, the wretched captives manacled and fastened to each other, kept apart, so that they cannot give mutual assistance, by the insertion of the necks of the stronger of them in forked sticks, with pins through the extremity of the forks, and guarded by brutes in human guise, who would not hesitate to leave a sick and fainting fellow-creature to perish by the way, or to cast to the crocodiles, dead or alive, a child who might encumber the march. Truly,— '' Man's inhumanity to raau JJoes make the angels mourn." Constantly, in his explorations up the Shire and around Lake Nyassa, did Livingstone come upon ruined villages, and fugitives, hiding amoH^ the reeds and tall grasses, perishing of hunger and exposure, while skeletons and human forms in every stage of decomposition attested the frightful character of the deeds \vhich are committed in carrying out this horrible traffic, which has converted a peaceful and industrious people into idle and dissolute robbers and assassins, or miserable crouching creatures, who scarcely dare to call their souls their own, — who look upon every stranger as an enemy, and have no con- 180 THE WEAVER BOT. tidence even in their own friends and relatives. Urged by the greed of gain, one portion of a tribe will not un- frequently set upon and overcome the other, that they may sell the conquered ones, — some members of a family will seize and sell the rest ; hence all social ties are broken, and a state of demoralization ensues, compared to which a simple btate of primitive savagery is inno- ■cence itself. Livingstone found the Manganja tribes more suspicious and less hospitable than those on the Zambesi, and no wonder. Often a party has come to a peaceful village on pretence of trading, got permission to remain for -a while, and begun to cultivate plots of ground for their maintenance, then suddenly in the night thrown oft' the mask, attacked the village, slaughtered those who re- sisted, and carried oft* the rest as slaves. This had been repeated in so many instances that it seemed quite like- ly that, when the rites of hospitality were extended to strangers, the people might be entertaining not angels, but devils, unawares. A small steamer, placed upon Lake Nyassa, might do much to suppress this traffic, and re- store confidence and peace to the natives, and Living- stone strongly advocates this measure. The Englishman is known everywhere as " the friend of the black man," and he is feared and respected by the slave traders; hi^ constant presence in those inland waters, around which the detestable traffic is carried on, would assure the op- pressed natives of succor and safety, and act as a check upon the Mangf\ i chiefs and the half-caste traders, and also upon the F^ i ■ iguese officials, who would be conscious of an ever-watchful eye being kept upon their proceed- ings, and feel compelled to 'observe treaty obligations better than they now do. Legitimate trade, too, might be amazingly developed by the constant presence of a small body of active and energetic men, capable of in- structing the natives in improved, modes of culture, and pointing out the value of the products of their rich and fertile soil, which are now growing to "waste. And all this might be done without firing oft' a single gun in hos- tility, or sacrificing a human life. Poor Bishop Macken- ON LAKE NTASSA. 181 zie, when he attempted to form a settlement among the hilk above the Shire, unhappily got embroiled in the qnarrels of the natives, in which no missionary should ever take part, and so his^efforts were rendered nugatory, and his valuable life was sacrificed. Livingstone compares the outline of Lake Nyassa lo that of Italy, it being somewhat like a boot in shape, that is, looking at it from the southern end. The nar- rowest part, which is about the ankle, is eighteen or twenty miles across. From this it widens to the north until it becomes fifty or sixty miles over. The whole length is about two hundred miles, in a direction nearly due north and south. The western shore is a succession of bays, the depth varying, at a mile out, from nine to fifteen fathoms. In one rockj' bay where'soundings were taken, it was one hundred fathoms. It seems likely that no anchorage can be found ^far Jffrom the shore. The lake appears to be surrounded by mount- ains; thoj^e on the west side being only the edges of high table-lands. Like all bodies of [water that are so enclosed, it is subject to sudden and tremendous storms. At one moment the surface may be perfectly calm, and the next lashed into fury by a squall of wind, that rushes down from a mountain gorge with the force of a perfect hurricane. Livingstone's boat was caught in one of these storms, when anchored a mile from the shore, in seven fathoms of water. There was a furious surf on the beach, and the big waves, driven by the wind, came rolling on in threes, with their crests driven into spray streaming behind them. If any one of these had struck the vessel there wouK have been an end of her, and|probably all on board ; but, happily, she escaped, after riding it out for six hours. These storms usually occur^in September and October, and during their prevalence the travellers had to beach the boat every night to prevent her being swamped at her moorings. The annual rise of the water in the lake is about three feet. This does not take place until January, although the rains begin in November. On the low and fertile land, which borders the lake on the west and south, the population is very dense. On the 182 THE WEAVER BOY. beach of every little sand}- ba^^ dark crowds stand gazing at the novel sight of a boat under sail. When the travellers land they are immediately surrounded by hundreds, who hasten to stare at the chirombo (wild animals). If they sit down to take a meal, they are hedged in by a thicket of dusky forms, who watch their proceedings with great interest. They are quite civil, and attempt no exactions in the shape of fines or dues. They catch large quantities of fish, and cultivate the soil. Near the north end of the lake the vessel sailed through what seemed at first a dense fog, but proved to be a crowd of Ynidges, or gnats, called b\^ the natives " kungo " (a cloud or fog). They filled the air to an im- mense height, and swarmed upon the waters in count- less millions. The people gather these insects by night, and, after boiling, press them into cakes, which they eat as food. fe*^^ The men or the lake fish chiefly by night. They have fine canoes, which they manage with great dex- terity, standing erect while they paddle. They do not mind a heavy sea ; but sufler much from fever. Al- though there are manj^ crocodiles in the lake they seldom attack human beings, having plenty of fish, which they can easily see in the clear water. The natives here are all tattooed from head to foot; and the women make themselves hideous with the lip-ring and other ornaments, as they consider them. Livingstone says, ** Some ladies, not content with the upper pelele. go to extremes, as ladies will, and insert another in the under lip, through a hole opposite the lower gums. A i'iiw peleles are made of a blood-red kind of pipe-clay, much in iHshion, sweet things in the way of lip-rings, so hideous to behold that no time nor usaiice could make our eyes rest upon them without aversion." A northern chief, who generously entertained the travellers, asked, ])ointing to his own bracelet, which was studded with copper, and much prized, '* Do they wear such things in your country ? On receiving a negative reply, ho took his oft^and gave it to Livingstone; and his wife did the same with hers. Another asks them to come and spend TO MAKOLOLO COUNTRY AND BACK. 183 a whole day drinking his beer, which is quite ready. The slave-trade was going on at a terrible rate on the lake ; an Arab " dhow," crowded with wretched captives, was running regularly across it. 19,000 slaves from this Nyassa county alone, pass annually through the custom- house at Zanzibar, and it has been estimated that not above one in ten of those in the interior reach the coast. XXI. TO THE MAKOLOLO COUNTEY AND BACK. All these facts, and many more, Livingstone obtained . on his second visit to Lake Nyassa, when his explor- ation of it extended from September 2nd to October 27th, 1861. In the interim between his first and second visits many things had happened, of which but a very brief summary can be given. Leaving Dr. Kirk and his as- sociates to pass overland from the Shire to Tette, Living- stone once more takes poor *' Ma-Robert" down to Kon- gone, and has her beached for repairs. While there, H. M. S. "Lynx" calls in for supplies. One of her boats is capsized on the heavy breakers on the bar, and the mail- bags, containing government despatches and private letters for the travellers, are lost. The governor of Quillimane comes down in a boat to find out the best place for ships to anchor, and boats to land. He takes the fever, and goes back without accomplishing his mis- sion. A Portuguese naval officer is subsequently sent to examine the difierent entrances. He goes and looks, and publishes a report, using, without acknowledgment, Livingstone's soundings. On the way back, opposite Expedition Island, *' Ma-Robert's" furnace-bridge breaks down : more waiting for repairs. At Shupanga they re- mained eight days for cotton cloth from Quillimane ; ihey can do nothing with the natives without this, any more than they can do with the slave-traders, who give four yards for a man, three for a woman, but who 184 THE WEAVER BOT. letches more if she is young and handsome, and two for a child, if it is not thrown in as a make-weight. As many as two hundred pieces of this cotton cloth, besides beads and brass wire, have been paid to different chiefs by a t*^ader for leave to pass through their territory, during a trip of six months, and this territory is mark- ed in the Portuguese maps as belonging to them. Twenty-four fowls are sold in the market of Senna for two yards of calico. If you want to engage a native to perform any kind of work, the stipulated price will bs so much calico. It is a cumbersome kind of money, but the only kind in general use at present. Learning that it would be difficult for his party to obtain food beyond Kebrabasa, before the new crop comes in, Livingstone determines on delajnng his departure for the interior until May, and runs down again to Kongone, hoping to get letters and despatches from the man-of-war that was to call in March. At Senna, he hears news of the lost mail, which had been picked up on the beach, and for- warded to Tette, passing him somewhere on the river. Having now a prospect of obtaining a steamer proper for the navigation of the lakes, which could be unscrew- ed and taken up the rapids in pieces, the engineer, Mr. Eice, was sent home to superintend her construction. He took with him botanical specimens collected by Dr. Kirk forKew Gardens. Feeling bound by his promise to take the Makololo back to their own country, Livingstone determined U) discharge this obligation now. He therefore made pre- parations for this long expedition, and set out on the 15th of May. The men did not leave so willingly as one would have expected. Some of them had taken toth.em- selves wives of the slave-women, and had children, who were claimed by the women's masters, and therefore could not be taken away. Some of these preferred to re- main where they were. By a law of Portugal, all bap- tized children of slave-women are free ; but this law becomes void on the Zambesi ; "possibly," as the officials ftay, laughing, When these Lisbon-made laws are referred to, "by the heat of the climate they lose their force." So TO MAKOLOLO COUNTRY AND BACK. 1S5 the Makololo rviiiiain with their wives and pickaninnies^ and the party set off without them, accompanied by three men, sent by a merchant of Tette, with presents for Se- kolotu, whom they reach on the IStli of August, at his new town of Seshckc, still afflicted with leprosy, and fretful and suspicious, issuing contradictory orders, and evidently much worse in mind and body than when Livingstone left him. He is, however, kind as ever to bis white father, as he calls the missionary, and wel- comes back his people with joy. Strange and wonderful adventures have they goLc through in the out and home journeys, and long tarriancc lit Tette. They are men of consequence now, great travel- lers, who have seen both ends of the world, and all that is 'n it; big ships with cannon and white men with mus- kets, thousands upon thousands ; mountains higher than iho moon, with white caps on their heads, and clouds halfway down them ; and rivers that wind round and round the earth, and come back again ; and lakes deeper than ihe sea, with fish so thick in them that you might walk on their backs; beautiful birds, with feathers like the rainbows above the i^reat Smoke-Falls of the Zam- bosi, and songs sweeter than anything thay had ever heard ! Such riches ! Beads, and ivory, and brass wire, mountains of them ; and cotton cloth enough to spread all the way from Loanda on the west, to Quillimane on the east coast ! But they were glad to be back again with their father, Sekeletu, in that quiet valley. They had suffered as well as seen much, and the cruelties ex- ercised upon their dark-skinned brethren by the fierce Ajawa and white traders had sorely iTightened and af- flicted them. Yes, glad to be back again with something to talk about, for the rest of their lives. And they were never weary of praising the good missionary who had brought them back, and shown such tender care and iolicitude for them. " Why does not he bring Ma-Rob- trt, and live among us ?" said they. " But she comes not. Poor Sckhose went to fetch her, and was swallow- ed up in the angry waters. Will she ever como ? We hope so !" This was the burden of their story, and ad- Biiring groups gathered around them to hear it. 12 186 THE WEAVER BOY. Not long does Livingstone remain with Sekeletu. On the 17th of September he sets out again, conveyed by Pitsane and Leshore, two Makololo head-men, who go on a diplomatic mission to the tributary chief, Sinamane, who lives below the i'alls, and will be able to supply canoes for the passage down the river. Leshore was commissioned to commend the party to whatever help the Batoka could render. This worthy had a Qurious way of inspiring confidence in the people of the villages by or through which they passed. His followers were men of the subject tribes, and, according to his account, great rascals. " Look out," he shouted, as soon as he came within hearing, '4ook out for your property, and see that my fellows don't steal it." But we must not pause by the way, although there is much to engage our attention. With the thunderous sounds of the great Smoke Falls in our ears, and their misty columns, glorified by rainbows, behind us, we pass on to where the Zambesi runs broad and smooth again, and where dwells Sinamane of 'Hhe long spears," the most redoubtable of the Batoka chiefs, who, in his pos- session of the river, held the key of the Makololo country which could hardly be invaded by their old enemies, the Matabele, while he remained in alliance with Sekeletu. They spend a quiet Sunday with this chief in his islet called Chilombe, and there part company with their convoy. In five canoes, furnished by Sinamane, and manned by his people, they pass down the river, which is here 250 yards wide, and flows serenely on, between high banks, towards the north-east. The Batoka are great tobacco cultivators; they salute the travellers by hand-clapping, in the usual way. At a large island, called Mosanga, lives the chief Moemba, who, hearing that Livingstone had called Sinamane's people together to talk to them about the Saviour, wished his also to be " Sundayed." The canoes of the other chief were here sent back, and fresh ones obtained to take the party on ; and so the whole passage was accomplished, with fresh relays at each slopping place, as people here would post from inn TO MAKOLOLO COUNTRY AND BAOK. 187 to inn ; and with them, as with us, the pay was always ready in such coin as was well understooQ and valued. On they go, down the rapids of Nakansalo, near Kari- ba, without having a cunning man to pray to the gods for their safety. Through herds of hippopotami, with crocodiles tugging at one they killed, and had in tow ; with excited natives rushing along the banks, and clam- mering for the meat ; past rocks and tree-covered hills, gardens and villages, — on they go, amid a people, friend- ly aud industrious, who bring them food in abundance, 80 that they have a merry time of it. Past the beautiful" island of Kalabi, and the village of Sequasha, the grea* elephant-killer, who has travelled far, and can speak a dozen different dialects ; he has brought home some Am- erican clocks from Tette, which have got him into trouble. He set them all going, in the presence of a chief, who was frightened at the strange sounds they made, and looked upon them as witchcraft agencies. So a council was called, and it was decided that Sequasha must be heavily fined for his exhibition of clock-work. The fun of ^it was, nobody had the least idea of the use of these time-measures. Now the Zambesi is full of islands, to which buffaloes are attracted by the fresh young grass ; now it is nar- rowed again by the mountains of Mburuma, and there ie another rapid, which the canoes enter without previous survey, and the large waves of the mid-current begin to fill them. Without a moment's hesitation, two of the men jump overboard from Livingstone's canoe, and de- sire a third to do so, although he cannot swim ; for, say they, " The white man must be saved." Holding on to the gunwale, amid the foaming waters, they guide the canoe safely down, and nobly do their duty. A passing call upon their old friend, Mpende, who had to pay a fine for driving away the clouds, and causing a drought; and then through thunderstorms and turbid waters they go, amid the Banyai, and past the base of the Manyerere mountain, where the coal seams crop out. Then on to Kebrabasa rapids, where two of the canoes are swamped, and much valuable property, including a chronometer, 18S THE WEAVER BOY. barometer, notes of the journey, and botanical drawings, is lo8t. Thus, amid storm and sunshine, joy and sorrow, like tho journey of life, they go, and reach their destin- ation, which is Tette, on the 28rd of November. XXII. MISSIONAKIES AND SLAVE-TRADERS. The new ship, called the '^ Pioneer," reached the coast ©n the 31st of January, 1861, but the weather being kiormy. she did not venture in until February 4th. At vho same time two of H. M. cruisers, bringing the Ox- lord and Cambridge Missions to the tribes of the Shire and Lake Nyassa, consisting of Bishop Mackenzie, with .six Englishmen, and five colored men from the Cape. The " Pioneer" was under orders to explore the!Rovama, and it was arranged that the bishop should proceed in her with Livingstone, while the rest of the mission party returned for the present to Johanna, with the British Consul. On the 25th of February, the "Pioneer" an- chored in the mouth of the Rovunia, and there waited for Mackenzie, who did not come until the 4th of March, when the ascent of the river was commenced ; but they had only proceeded about thirt}^ miles up, when the water suddenly fell, and as the March flood was the last of the season, and there was danger of their vessel get- ting stranded, they decided on putting her back to the tea without delay, then return to the Shire, see the mis- ision party safely settled, and afterwards to explore Lake Nvassa, and the Rovuma downwards from the lake. So they went over to Johanna for the missionaries, and from thence to the Kongone mouth of tho Zambesi, up which they passed into the Shire. The *' Pioneer " was an ex- cellent vessel in every respect, except her draught of water, which was too great for the upper part of the river, where she frequently grounded, when much time and labor were consumed in getting her afloat again. MISSIONARIES AND SLAVE-TRADERS. 189 Up this river Charles Livingstone had given much atten- tion to the subject of cotton growing, in which he had en- deavored to induce the natives to engage, and with some success. In this district a cotton field of great extent was opened, and if the mission about to bo established were only moderately successful, a new era of happinesj^ and prosperity might be looked for here. The confidenca of the natives was gained, they had a great desire to trade, and would gladly avail themselves of opportunitiei which might be oHered them of doing so. It had been settled to attempt to found a mission station on the high ground which overlooked the Shire, belonging to the friendly chief Chibisba, and now having reached thia point, they learned that there was war in the Manganja country, and the slave-trade was^going on briskh'. Marauding partico of the Ajawa were desolating th« land, and there seemed little chance that missionarv work could be carried on successfully at present. Still it was resolved to take the goods up the hills, and attempt to establish the mission. Accordingly, on the 25th of July, they started for the highlands, to show the bishop his new scene of operation. Halting at a village tha second day, they were t?ld that a slave-party, on its way to Tette, w^ould presently pass* that road, and, in a few minutes, a long train of maracied men, women and chil- dren came along the road ; the black drivers armed with muskets, and decked with finery, marched before, be- hind, and at the middle of the line in a jaunty manner, and ever and anon blew exultant notes out of long tin horns. Seeing the white men. they darted off into tha forest as fast as their legs would carry them. The chief of the party alone remained, and could not well escape, because he had his hand tightly clasped in that of the leading slave. He was at once recognized by Living- stone as a well-known slave of the late Commandant of Tette. He said he had bought the captives ; but thej asserted that they had been taken in war, and whilo the inquiry was going on, he, too, darted off, and escaped with the rest. Then all hands were busy, cutting free the women and children, and releasing tha 190 THE WEAVER BOT. necks of the men from the forked sticks into which they were firmly penned. The poor people could hardly believe their ears when told that they were free, and might go where they liked, or remain under the protec- tion of their liberators. This they at once decided on doing, and set to work with alacrity, making a fire with the slave sticks and bonds, wherewith to cook the meal which they carried with them for breakfast. They told Livingstone that two women had been shot the day be- fore for attempting to untie the strings ; that one mother had her infant's brains knocked out because she could not carry her load and it ; and that a man who had fallen from fatigue had been despatched with an axe. Such are the tender mercies of the wicked, and yet people talk of self-interest as a preventive of undue cruelty of the master to his slaves ! Eighty-four persons, chiefly women and children, were thus liberated, and attached by the strongest ties of love and gratitude to the missionary. Sixty-four more captives were freed in the course of the journey to the highlands, where the bishop wished to settle, although the actual spot was not decided on, until he received a spontaneous invita- tion from a chief named Chigunda to come and- live with him at Magomero, where he said there was room enough for both. A resolution having been made to visit the Ajawa chief, and endeavor to persuade him to give up his evil ways, and direct the energies of his people to more peaceful pursuits, and learning that he was burning a village a few miles off, they leave their rescued captives, and set off to seek the desired interview. Crowds of Manganja, who are fleeing from the war in front, meet them, leaving all they possessed, except the little food which they can carry. They pass field after field of Indian corn, or beans, standing ripe for harvest j but none are there to cut it down. Soon the smoke of the burning villages is seen, and triumphant shouts ax'e heard mingled with the wailing of the Manganja women over the slain. The bishop and his party kneel down and pray. On rising they see a long lite of the Ajawa MISSIONARIES AND SLAVE-TRADERS. 191 warriors, with their captives rounding the hill. Their presence only makes the conquerors more furious. They are surrounded and attacked, and in self-defence fire their rifles and drive them off. This was a bad commence- ment of a missionary enterprise, and it led to other tronhleSj which eventually broke up the mission, and caused the death of Bishop Mackenzie, who appears to have been a very earnest, energetic, and estimable man. He was placed in a very diflGicult position, and no doubt made some grave mistakes, for some of which it has been said Livingstone was to a certain extent answQ^rable. But had his advice been followed, many of those disas- ters which occurred would have, no doubt, been avoided. The connection of the members of the Zambesi Expedi- tion with the Bishop's Mission ceased immediately after the above events took place, for the ship then returned to prepare for the journey to Lake IN'yassa, the results of which have already been given in Chapter XX. With the after collisions that took place between Mackenzie and the slavers, Livingstone not only had no part, but the steps which led to them were taken contrary to his advice. We may as well mention here that only once more did our traveller see Bishop Mackenzie. He came down from his station, after the return of the party >to Lake Nyassa, with some of the "Pioneer's" men, who bad been up on the hills for the benefit of their health. He then was well, and in excellent spirits. The Ajawa, having been defeated and driven off, had sent word that they wished to live at peace with the English. Many of the Manganja had settled round the station, to be under the protection of the bishop ; and it was hoped that the slave-trade would soon cease in the highlands and the people be left in the secure enjo3inent of their industry. Three other Europeans had joined the mis- sion, one a surgeon ; another, Mr. Burrup, expected his wife out, and two other ladies, the bishop's sisterS; who were coming there to make up an agreeable and mutually helpful party. But soon after all this is changed. The Ajawa, incited by the half-caste rebel, Mariano, who, al- though sentenced to a three 3^ears' imprisonment, had 192 THE WEAVER BOY. effected his escape with plenty of iirma and ammunition, were committini^ p;rcater depredations than ever. A party, sent by the bishop to find a short route down the Shire, were misled by their guides to an Anguro slave- tniding village. lietreating, they were attacked, and their goods and carriers captured, the others barely escaping with their lives. The wives of the captured carriers came to Mackenzie, imploring him to rescue their husbands from slavery, and it seemed to him a duty to endeavor to effect this object. He therefore went with an armed party to the village, which was burned and the prisoners liberated. This took place during the rains there ; and the wet, hunger, and expo- sure brought on an attack of diarrhoea. While they were still suffering from this, the bishop and Mr. Burrup set out on an expedition down to the Ruo, by the Shire. Going on by night, the canoe was upset by one of the strong eddies of the river. Clothing, medicines, tea. coffee, — all were lost. Fever seized on the bishop ; be was at once prostrated ; and on an island, called Malo, in the mouth of the Ruo, he died in a native hut, the wretched shelter of which was grudged by the owner. His grave was dug on the edge of a dark forest, and in the dusk of the evening his body was convej-ed there by his faithful attendants, who had watched over him to the last. Mr. Burrup, himself far gone with dysentery, staggered out, and repeated from memory, *' Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Not long did Mr. Burrup survive him. He was taken back to the mission station, and expired soon after he reached it. Deprived of its leader, the mission fled from the highlands down into the lower Shire valley, where it lost more of its chief members by fever, always prevalent there. Oh, this fever ! what a terrible scourge it is in all tropical lands ! How it prostrates the strength of the strongest, and hurries off the weak to a premature death ! Many times was Liv- ingstone stricken down by it ; but his iron constitution and temperate habits enabled him to fight the pest, and MISSIONARIES AND SLAVE-TRADERS. 19/5 rise triumphantly from the bed of sickness on which it so often Uiid him. A sad record would that be whicli .should give the muster-roll of its victims. Good Bishop Mackenzie and his fellow-worker, with two others of th« mission who died in the Shire valley, are the , latest wo have to notice. Hitherto, it had spared the members of the Zambesi Expedition, but now it seized upon a line, healthy young man, the carpenter's mate, who had come out in the " Pioneer," and he died suddenly, to the great regret of Livingstone. This was in November, IB 61, about two years and a half from the commencement ot' the expedition that had enjoyed a long immunity, that is, from death, for the leader and several of the ])arty had suffered from the attacks more or less violent, but not terminatiog fatally ; but now, as if to make up for lost time, the pest followed them very closely. They were on the Shire, detained by a shoal tive weary weeks, waiting for the permanent rise of the river, with marshes all around them, when the young man died. Released at length from this place of peril, they got down to th« Zambesi on the 10th of January, and then steamed down to the coast. On the 30th arrived H. M. ship •* Gorgon," with Mrs. Livingstone and the ladies who were to join the Universities' Mission, which had been t;o disastrously broken up. The sections of a new iron steamer, intend- ed for the navigation of Lake Nyassa, also arrived, and were brought in with the help of the officers and men oi" the " Gorgon." But they were detained six months iu the delta, the "Pioneer'' not being equal to the work assigned her, of carrying the portions of the new vessel up to Shupanga, where she was to be put together. The captain of the " Gorgon" took the mission ladies out of the marlarious influence of this part, conveying them in his gig to the mouth of the Ruo, where it was expected the bishop would be waiting for them ; but, not finding him there, he proceeded on to the station, and there learned the melancholy news which we have already re- lated ; so they brought the bereaved and sorrow-stricken ladies back to the *' Pioneer." And soon a greater grief than any he had yet known fell upon Livingstone. 194 THE WEAVER BOT. Captain Wilson and Dr. Kirk, who had accompanied him, became dangerously ill of fever ; and for a time only one of his men wa3 fit for duty, all the rest being tick with the malaria, or the vile spirit sold to them by the Portuguese officials ; and, saddest of all, that dear wife from whom he had been so long parted, also took the infection. About the middle of April she sickened, and speedily sank. Obstinate vomiting came on, which noth- ing could allay ; all medical aid was useless, and her eyes were closed in the sleep of death as the sun set on the eve of the Christian Sabbath, April 27th, 1862. What a sad Sabbath was that for the bereaved missionary, so far away from the comforting and sustaining influences of home ! It required fortitude and faith to enable him to bear up against this blow, and say to his heavenly Father, ^' Thy will be done ! " No Ma-Eobert now for the expectant Makololo; no helpmate now for the lonely man who had suffered and done so much in the cause of Christ. Calmly she sleeps under the shade of the baobab-tree at Shupanga. The white cross planted on her g^^ave shines out of the gloom on that green slope that margins the Zambesi river. Many who pass that way will see it, and ask about her and her brave husband, who has writ- ten her epitaph in these words : '^ Those who are not aware how this brave, good English wife made a de- lightful home at Kolobeng, a thousand miles iuland from the Cape, and, as the daughter of Moffat, and a Christian lady, exercised a most beneficial influence over the rude tribes of the interior, may wonder that she should have braved the dangers and toils of this down-trodden land. She knew them all ; and, in the disinterested and dutiful attempt to renew her labors, was called to her rest instead. " Fiat Domlne voluntas tua /' " The next victim to fever is Mr. Thornton, who, prompted by his generous nature, had volunteered to fetch from Tette a supply of goats and sheep for the survivors of Bishop Mackenzie's mission, who were suf- fering for want of fresh meat in the Shire valley. He accomplished his task, and also took bearings by the way; but the journey was too much for his strength. MISSIONARIES AND SLAVE-TRADERS. 195 He returned in a greatly exhausted condition ; dysentery and fever set in, and he died on the 21st of April, 1863. Soon after this, nearly the whole of the expedition were attacked by dysentery. Dr. Kirk and Charles Liv- ingstone suffered so severely that it was thought advis- able to send them home ; so that their council and assist- ance was lost to the part;)", which they left on the 19th of August. After it had been decided that these two officers, and all the whites that could be . spared, should be sent down to the coast, to wait for a passage to Eng- land, Livingstone himself fell ill with dysentery, which reduced him almost to a shadow. Dr. Kirk remained with him until the worst had passed, before leaving for home. Previous to these events, the "Lady Nyassa," as the new steamer was called, was put together, launched, and on the 10th of Januarv, 1863, she entered the Shire, towed by the *'Pioneer;" she was taken to pieces below the first cataract and carried up piecemeal over about 40 miles of land portage, trees having to be cut down and stones removed to clear a way. No fresh pro- visions could be obtained except what was shot, and the food for the native crew had to be brought 150 miles from the Zambesi. Little help could be got from the natives, as the slave-traders had depopulated the district; but, before they could effect their object, a despatch was received from the home government, ordering the recall of the expedition. The devastation caused by slave- hunting and famine was on every side of them. From the great Shire valley labor had been as completely swept away as it had been from the Zambesi, wherever Portuguese power or influence extended. So the " Lady Nyassa" is screwed together again, and it is resolved to take her along the northern end, and collect data, and then sail down the river, while the ''Pioneer" has to wait for the December floods before she can return. In the interim Livingstone visits much of the country adjacent to the lake, and is everywhere horrified by the sights and sounds of woe which attest the suffering and wide-spread devastation of the slavo-traffic. While this 196 THE WEAVER BOY. is connived at b}* the Portuguese government, it seenii utterly impossible that much good can be effected by missionary or any other effort, and he is sorrowfully compelled to acquiesce in the wisdom of the orders which he has received from England. On the west coast, w^here the slave-trade does not exert such a baneful influence, Livingstone found, when he was there in 1861, that there were 110 principal mission stations, 13,000 children in the schools, and 19,000 members of tho churches. Bishop Tozer, who was Mackenzie's succes- sor as the head of the Universities' Mission, thought so badly of his prospects of success here, that, after makin;;- a faint effort to form a settlement at a place about as high as Ben-Nevis, on the humid tops of misty Moram- bala, were few were likely to join it, retired from the scene, and went home to recommend the abandonment of the enterprise altogether. Livingstone by no means gave up heart or hope. To Christianize South Africa, — this was now the cherished object of his life, and when, in obedience to orders, he turned his back upon this great mission-field, now so familiar and so dear to him, — doubly dear as the last resting-place of her whom he first loved and married there, and steamed out of Zanzibar in the little '' Lady IS'yassa," bound on ti voj^age of 2,500 miles to Bombay, he resolved to return as soon as opportunity served, and renew his efforts for the con- version and civilization of the black people, who were indeed to him "men and brethren." The *'Lady Nyassa" was a capital sea-boat; she left Zanzibar on the 30th of April, 1864, and reached Bom- bay in the beginning of June, having encountered very stormy weather. Her crew consisted of thirteen souls in all, seven native Zambesians, two boys, and four Europeans ; namely, one stoker, one carpenter, one sailor, and Livingstone himself, who directed the navi- gation. The Africans proved excellent sailors, although not one of them, before they volunteered for the service, had ever seen the sea; they were selected from hun- dreds who were willing to go with the good missionary wheresoever he might take them; and it is curioui to MISSIONARIES AND SLAVE-TRADERS. 197 remark that during the whole voyage only one of them was laid down with sea-sickness, although the white giiilor and carpenter, who were most anxious to do their duty, were each of them rendered incapable of it for a week or more. Often, when the little vessel was pitch- ing bows under in a heavy sea, one of these ebony Jack tars, lithe of limb, and nimble as monkeys, would climb out along a boom, reeve a rope through a block, and come back with the end of it in his teeth, although at every lurch of the vessel he was submerged in the foaming brine. At first Livingstone had to take the wheel every alternate four hours ; but, as this was very wearisome, he initiated his Africans into the mysteries of steering, which some of them were soon able to man- age very well. Their wages were ten shillings per month, and this no doubt was their great temptation for entering on so untried a career, although attachment to, and confidence in, the missionary, had much to do with it. So on went the little '-Lady Nyassa," dancing grace- fully, as only a lady can. up the east coast with the cur- rent, at the rate of 100 miles a day, to within ten degrees of the equator ; then out into the wide and trackless ocean, with the dolphins and flying-fish and sharks all around her. Amid storms and calms she went, until the sea-weeds and serpents floating past her told that land w^as not far off, and soon they sight it, although nearly hidden in a heavy mist; and now the daring voyagers with their bark, so small as to|be unob- peryed, are amid the forest of masts in Bombay^Harbor. 198 THE WEAVER BOY. XXIII. HOPES AND FEAES. Our concluding chapter must be one over which rests the shadow of a terrible suspense. While we write, it is yet uncertain whether the devoted friend of Africa, the intrepid explorer and great discoverer, whose career we have endeavored to trace, has sealed his devotion with his life, and thus added another name to the noble army of martyrs ; or whether he is yet pressing on into unex- plored regions, and making fresh discoveries that will astonish the world, and open to Christianity and com- merce lands and peoples that have as yet had no place in geography or history. From various and scattered sources we gather the few facts respecting Livingstone's last expedition which we are enabled to set before our readers. It was organized in Bombay, and consisted of eleven Christianized Africans, from a Church Mission there, two of them being young Ajawa, whom Livingstone had brought with him to India ; eleven Sepoys of the Bombay Native In- fantry ; and some Johanna men, the chief of whom, named Ali Moosa, had been with the doctor during the two years of his last exploration of the Zambesi and Lake Nvassa. As a British consul, Livingstone was now invested with a certain amount of governmental authority, and might command such services as he required in carry- ing out the objects of his expedition. From the Foreign Office Despatches, which were read at a meeting of the Eoyal Geographical Society, held in March, 1867, we learn that the last letter received from him was dated May 18th, 1866. He was then at the confluence of the Niende and the Rovuraa, in the same route as that pur- sued by the German explorer. Dr. Koscher, who was murdered in 1860, after having struck upon Lake Nyassa, at a date about two months later than that of its discov- ery by Livingstone, who now, at a place called Ngomano, HOPES AND PEARS. 199 crossed the Rovuma, and remained some time with a friendly chief. Beyond this point it seemed no white man had ever penetrated, and travelling was now especi- ally dangerous, as all the country around was devasted by the Mafite, a marauding tribe of Zulus, who had settled on the west of Nyassa, and caused great terror by their depredations. There was also a greiit drought, which added to the difficulties of the way. Food was scarce, and the means of transport greatly diminished by the death of all the camels and many of the oxen with which the party had been provided, they having been bitten by the tsetse. Still Livingstone resolved to push on, as his practice ever had been, in spite of difficulties. He took* a westerlj^ direction, and, after a day's march, parted with the Rovuma, whose course they had follow- ed for some time. Then they passed over several plains and tracts of forest land, but thinly peopled, the hill blopes clothed with bamboo jungle, which led into a mountainous region inhabited by Waino and Makua tribes, who were very friendly. Here was a cool climate and much cattle, and chiefs of considerable power ruled over the scattered villages. The party, however, had been much weakened by desertions ; all the Sepoys had left and returned towards the coast, except the havildar, or leader, who had promised at the outset to stand by Livingstone, and did so until he died, as we shall hear presently. Some of the educated Africans had also ab- sconded, reducing the whole number of followers to about twenty. Livingstone knew that his only chance of preventing further desertions was to keep them marching on, so as to increase the distance from home, and so lessea the chance of a successful flight. On, therefore, he went, and, after eight days' march, reach- ed Makata, near the northern end of Lake Nyassa, which was crossed in canoes lent by the inhabitants of a small fishing-village, at a part where it was but six miles wide, and landed at Kampunda, from thence to Marenga and Maksura, lying to the north-west, and then, after two days' march over a marshy tract of mud, ''into a land full of fear and dread." The sick havildar, who had 200 THE WEAVER BOT. faithfully kept with Livingstone while ho was able, worn down by dysentery and fatigue, had to be left behind at Kampunda, where he breathed his last soon after. On, then, into the country of the dreaded Mafite, whose chief may peihaps be reached and propitiated, or whose mar- auding parties may not be fallen in with, for the country is wide and desolate ; thej' are few in number, and their parties must be far between. So on : since Marenga and the mud-marsh are left behind, a day and a half has passed, and the travellers are not molested, the yet un- discovered Lake Tanganyika lies somewhere in this dir- ection, the last, and perhaps the greatest of the chain of lakes which furnish the head-waters of that ancient and mysterious river Nile. This is ''the missing link" of a great geographical puzzle, and Livingstone is anxious to grasp it, to finish the solution of the dark problem which has puzzled geographers in all ages of the world's history. But the dream of success is rudely dissipated. It is about 9 A. »i., and he is marching on at the head of his Y>arty, over level ground, covered with grass three feet high, and scattered jungle and forest bush, when he and his negroes, the Johanna men being some distance be- hind, are suddenly attacked by a party of the* Mafite, who come on with a rush uttering their war-cry, and Ktricking their shields with their broad-bladed speai*s and axes. A musket-shot from Livingstone binngs down one or two of the attacking party, and checks their advance for a moment only. The negroes present their pieces; but owing to trepidation their fire is harmless, and the yelling savages are upon them, just as the doctor is in the act of reloading. One swift stroke at the back of the neck with an axe nearly severs his head from his body, and he falls dead. The Johanna men, who arc coming on with iheir burdens, stop aghast, throw them down, and hide themselves in the interposing thickets. Only Moosa, who is somewhat in advance, and gets be- hind a tree for shelter, sees all that passes, — notes the partial stripping of the dead body of his leader, and waits until the foe have retired, then, collecting his scared HOPES AND FEARS. 201 countrymen, cautiously approaches the spot. A shallow ^rave in the sand is scraped with some sticks, and the^ood missionarj^ with that horrible gash in the neck, which must have caused instant death, is placed therein. And then, leavini^ the bodies of three or four negroes, and several of the Mafite who have fallen in the conflict, to be devoured by the vultures and wild beasts, the party make a quick and stealthy retreat, without troubling themselves about the goods they were carrying, but glad enough to escape with their lives. Thus lies hidden from the sunlight and the starlight, alike from foes and friends, '' the stricken temple of a grand spirit, the body of an apostle of freedom, whose martyrdom should make sacred the shores of that sea which his labors made known to us, and which, now baptized with his life's blood, men should henceforth know as Lake Living- stone." Bat what if all this should not be true ? By some com- petent judges of its credibility, the story is not believed. The Johanna men are known to be great liars, and Moosa, from whom the particulars are derived, has given two or more different and irreconcilable versions of it. Making their way, as he states, with all possible speed to Kampunda, they there witness the death of the havil- dar of the Sepoys, are deprived of their weapons by the chief of that place, join an Arab slave caravan, recross Nyassa, and make for Keetwa, a great slave outlet on the Zanibar coast. But when within eight days' journey of this place, they again encounter the Mafite, who scatter the caravan, seize the slaves and ivory, and send the Arab traders fleeing for their lives. Eventually they reach Keetwa, in a most destitute condition, and from thence, by the kindness of the people, they are sent on to Zanzi- bar, where they arrive on the 6th of December, and tell their sad story of disaster. They can give no Jdea of the date of Livingstone's death. Supposing that it really took place as they state, we may conjecture that it was some time in September. The exact spot must also be an uncertainty at present. We can but hope thut the whole is a fictitious narrative, made up by Moosa to excuse his 13 202 THE WEAVER BOT. too probable desertion of Livingstone in a time of great difficulty and peril. This report of the murder of Dr. Livingstone v7as first made known here in a letter from Dr. Kirk, at Zanzibar, dated 26th December, and addressed to Mr. Bates, Assist- tan Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, whose President, Sir R. Murchison, published it on the 7th of March. Dr. Kirk believed in its authenticity ; but there were others who entertained grave doubts on the subject. Circumstantial accounts of the untimely death of the in- trepid explorer had before reached England, and his friends cherished the hope that he might still be aliv ., and pushing on his researches. Afterwards came de- spatches from Dr. Seward, Acting Political Agent and British Consul at Zanzibar, where the vessels of all na- tions which was then at the port had exhibited their flacTS half-mast hicrh on the arrival of the sad intellii>ence above related. They stated that himself and Dr. Kiik were about to sail for Quiloa, a port more to the south, to make inquiries of the Arabs there, and gain what in- telligence they could. Then came other desjiatches relat- ing briefly the result of these inquiries. Nothing was learned which contradicted the evidence of the Johanna men, nor which directly confirmed their story; but all that they related was consistent with Dr. Kirk's know- ledge of the country said to have been traversed. So from that time to this the minds of Livingstone's friends, and of those especially interested in the profc^ecution of geographical discoveries and the spread of Christianity, have been agitated by alternate hopes and fears, and the latter seem to have greatly ])redominated at the meet- ings of the Geographical Society, when this subject has been discussed. Sir R. Murchison, the distinguished president, and others who have spoken, have for the most part been forced to confess their belief that science and religion have indeed lost a most devoted and useful servant. That distinguished explorer. Sir Samuel Baker, at a meeting of the British Association held as recent as September 9, 1867, said : — **With regard to the fate of Livingstone I regret to be HOPES AND FEARS. 203 forced to the conclusion that the great traveller is dead. The hopes of those who believe to the contrary rest on the well-founded belief that the Johanna men who had escaped the slau<^hter, and brought home the news, had trumped up the story to excuse their return. It was the very fact of their power of consummate lying that con- vinced him of the truth of their statement. Natives are scientific liars. Thc}^ do not lie absurdly, like Europe- ans ; but they concoct their falsehoods with such fore- sight that the lie itself is an example of profound skill. No native would commit himself to so inartistic a lie as to declare a man dead who is still alive, and might be- come a witness at a future time against him. The hardi- hood of the Johanna men in committing themselves by the confession of their cowardice, is a surprising instance of veracity that could only have boen prompted by the urgency of the calamity. The death of Livingstone is a fearful drag on the wheel of African exploration. We know but a portion of those immense lake reservoirs in Central Africa; and geographers will not remain con- tent with the bare fact that the Nile issues from these lakes. England, that has untied the knot, must gather in the extremity of the line." On the other hand, we have, more recently still, a letter from Mr. J. S. Moffat, Livingstone's brother-in-law, andhimself an African missionary. Writing to the edi- tor of the "Cape Argus," under date September IT, he says : — '•People are incessantlj'- asking me whether I have not given up all hope respecting Dr. Livingstone. There appears to me no necessity for us to make up our minds on the subject at present. I put off writing to you until we should hear once more from England, and, as no further inteiliirence about Dr. Livini^stone has been re- ceived, I shall say once for all what appears to me to be the state of the case. "All the evidence to the effect that Dr. Livingstone was mnrdcred by the Matite, comes through one channel, namely, the Johanna men, with Moosa at their head 204 THE WEAVER BOT. Two or three different accounts have been given by these men, and no one account is reconcible with the others. I will not occupy space or time b}^ goi"g into details, but anyone may satisfy himself on this point. " Reports have been received through other channels, not corroborating, but absolutely contradicting, the ac- count given by the Johanna men. Arab traders have come from the immediate vicinity of the spot where the murder is alleged to have occurred, and 3'et have not heard of an event which could not have failed to cause a good deal of excitement through an extended region. A message has been sent to thoSultan of Zanzibar, by a chief inland, that Livingstone had passed his territories alive and well, at a point boyond the scene of the sup- posed niurder. " What has become of the Africans who were with Livingstone ? He started from the coast with three sorts of people. The Sepoys soon came back, unable to bear the hardships of the climate and journey. The Johanna men came back with the story which has made so much noise in the world. But where arc the negroes, of whom there were nine or ten, who had been sent with Living- stone and the Sepoj^s from Bombay ? It is not said that they were killed. What has become of them? "Great stress is laid on Dr. Kirk's opinion. Granted. No man is better qualified to judge, but has he made up his mind? He wrote at the first blush of the affair, and said he feared it was true. A month later he wrote and said it was not well to go spreading reports, and put- ting things in the papers. We had better wait for more evidence. I am not aware that he has expressed himself very decidedly since then. "The continued silence of Dr. Livingstone is said to look bad. How Ions: has he been silent ? Not much more than twelve months. He w'as silent longer than that when he crossed the continent further south, at a narrower place. I myself have been twelve months without communication with the civilized world, though I have never been in such secluded regions as those to which Livingstone was directing his course when the HOPES AND FEARS. 205 Johanna men say he was killed. If Livingstone is oif the caravan routes which lead to the coast near Zanzibar, he is not likely to find any one to carry his letters; If, as I think quite possible, the negr-^es are still with him, having got so far, he would not be likely to return, but would continue his journey, and I should not be in the least surprised if he turned up in some most unexpected quarter. ''Probably the Johanna men, like their neighbors on the continent, can tell most circumstantial lies. My father has been killed and buried too, before now, with all the necessary formalities ; and so have I, oa a smaller scale. "My own belief is that when the Johanna men found that Livingstone was going into a region too remote for their taste, they did what many servants, black and white, have done before them, — took to their heels some fine night when the explorer was asleep, and made the best of their way to Zanzibar. 1 am, etc., **JoHN Smith Moffat." On this letter the editor of the ^'Dail}^ Telegraph," in a similar spirit of hopefulness to that which dictated it, remarks : — " Is Livingstone at this moment pursuing his dauntless way through strange regions in the heart of Africa, with tribes and towns around him of whose name civilization has never heard ; or is he Ivintj — all of him that can die — in the tropical thicket, dismembered, perhaps, by wild beasts, and his bones bleached with alterate dews and fierce sunshine? Were those Johanna men not arrant liars, who brought news that they saw him murdered, and had buried him ; or, while we write, is he sitting in some equatorial village, wondering what false story his runaway scoundrels have told at the coast to save them- ^06 THE WEAVER BOY. selves from the calaboose, and to get their pay and pas- sage homo ? We are at the mercy of ' tidings,' and can- not know at any moment, as Hood wrote, whether it is only Space that stretches its barrier between us, or Death. For our own pan, we have never despaired of the brave traveller. We have alvvavs been of Sir Roder- iclv Murchison's opinion, that the evidence of the travel- ler's death was utterly inconclusive, and that, while any- thing could be done to discover his fate, it was a national duty to do it. In the same hopeful spirit, the brother- in-law of Livingstone, Mr. J. S. Moffat, himself a distin- guished explorer in Africa, has written to the ' Cape Argus.' It may be objected that the tendency to san- guine views would naturally be stronj^est in the doctor's kindred ; but if that is to weaken arguments for hope, it will silence us all, since all Englishmen are ' brothers' to the gallant pioneer. Nor has Mr. Moffat's analysis of the case to be read as if it were a plea for doing some- thing: It must be understood that we have done some- thing already, and by this time the steel boat and its crew, which we sent out to ascertain Livingstone's fate, are high up the Shire river; so that the letter has all the interest of the calm, fair, and thoughtful statement. The writer points out, as we have done, that the sinister view of the doctor's case rests solely upon the accounts of the Johanna porters. Now, first of all, lying is as natural as eating and drinking to those gentry, and the Johanna men have given, at least, two or three irrecon- cilable versions of their narrative. Against them is the negative evidence of Arab traders who have since passed through the Mafite villages where the murder is reported to have been perpetrated, and though they heard of the white man, they heard nothing r bout his death. Mr. Moffat adds that, in a message to the Sultan of Zanzibar, a chief of the interior has mentioned that Livingstone pavssed his territories alive and well, and those territories lie beyond the Mafite. Again, what has become of the negroes who accompanied the doctor ? He had three sorts of attendants at starting, and first his Sepoys gave it up and came back ; then his Johanua people fied to HOPES AND FEARS. 207 the coast, bringing the story of his death ; but where are the ten African servants ? The path was open to them ; their homes lay beyond the Mafite ; they are not said to have been killed; what has become of (hem? As to the silence of Livingstone, Mr. Moitat points out that it has lasted only twelve months, which is not so long as the time that the doctor spent in crossing the continent further south at a narrower part ; nor is it nearl}'' so long as the interval during which we had no news of Grant and Speke. Once ott'the caravan routes to the sea, the explorer would find no means of communi- cation, and he is too real a traveller to hang back be- cause no royal mail is handy. Mr. Moffat remarks that he has himself been wholly cut off in the African wilder- ness from his friends and the civilized world for a year ; nay, that both he and his father have been circumstanti- ally killed and buried in the same way as Dr. Living- stone. His conclusion is that the Johanna men found their master going too far to suit their travelling stom- achs, and that they bolted when he was asleep, hatching their tale up, with many anxious rehearsals, on the jour- ney down to Zanzibar. This conclusion seems quite reasonable, and not even the weighty authority of Sir Samuel Baker forces us to despair of good news from the expedition of inquiry. It may yet be that we shall see Livingstone again, with a budget of discoveries that will make his name even more illustrious than it is now among the pioneers of civilization." It cannot, however, be long before the public suspense is relieved by some authentic intelligence ; a searching expedition, commanded by Mr. E. D. Young, an old com- panion of Livingstone in his Shire and Nyassa expedi- tions, and under the auspices of the government, hav- ing left this country early in June. An enterprising volunteer, Mr. H. Faulkner, is with Mr. Young, and two other Englishmen. They took out with them a boat thirty feet long, by eight broad, and three and a quarter deep, built in Chatham dock-yard, of steel plates but little thicker than a penny piece, in sections, so that it can easily be taken to pieces, and carried past the rapids 208 THE WEAVER BOT. and other obstructions to navigation. Accounts have been received from the Cape that H. H. ship "Petrel" had taken on board the party wiih their portable vessel, on July 15th, and was to sail immediately for the mouth of the Zambesi, where the boat was to be put toi^ether, some natives aided to the party, Moosa himself being probably one of them, and the ascent made to Lake Nyassa, wliere they can get within fifty miles of the reported murder. In all probability the little company is, while we write, at, or very near to this spot, and has obtained information of the truth of Moosa's story, or proof of its falsehood. Let us hope that it may be the latter, and that Dr. Livingstone is still, as Bishop Mac- kenzie has described, "mai'ching on with a Arm, steady, and determined tread, that kept mo in mind he had walked across Africa." If not, let us mourn his loss, and say with a writer in the *'Korth British Review" : — " It is a proud thing to be a great public link in the chain of human progress. That honor belongs to Dr. Livingstone, as certainly as it did to Columbus before him. The brazen gates, which hitherto preserved the interior of a vast region from the white man's approach, have at length been compelled to turn on their liinges. Through the opening thus made, the arts and intelli- gence of the more scholarly continents may flow. Through that the streams of commerce may sweep, and w^ater a territory which for mercantile purposes has long been regarded as an irreclaimable waste. Through that too, the holier current of Christianity may glide, and spread gladness and moral vendure over a heathen wilderness, where no blade of pure spirituality was lately to he seen. And the children shall ask their fathers, *' By whom was this done? Who had power to open the gates, and let in light on a sealed and darkened land ?' And the fathers will reply, ' It was David Livingstone, once a poor factory lad, then a simple missionary, after- wards a patient explorer, and finally a man who left his impress upon the fortunes of millions of his fellow-crea- tures ; for, like all true heroes, instead of toiling for him- self, he gave hi< services to God and mankind." HOPES AND FEARS. 209 Pages on pages of similar testimony to the greatness of Livingstone's work ; and tlio nobility of his charac- ter, might we quota ; but enough has been sead to show how high he stands in the estimation of the thoughtful and religious world. One more extract we may give from an appreciative article from the {Ten of that large- hearted philanthropist and true Christian man, Elihu Burritt, in whose ** Bond of Brotherhood," for April, 1807, the article appeared, with what we should take to be an excellent likeness of the great explorer : — " Who that saw and heard Livingstone at the British Association at Bath, three ycai's ago, will ever forget that face, or the accents of that voice, when he stood up before the great assembly and apologized for the obso- leteness of his mother tongue to his lips ? His very face showed the burning of twenty years of torrid suns, lie had come out of the blistering heats of the fever-breath- ing miasmas of Central x\frica, to tell, in his quiet way and half-stammering speech, wliat he had seen, suftereJ, and done in the wilds of that savage land, to add to the common stock of human knowledge. , So long had ho trained his lips to the uncouth languages of those heathen tribes, that his own seemed like a strange one to his tongue. How many who listened to that stor}', and looked upon that furrowed, sun-smitten iace, said to them- selves, 'Enough ! well done ! no man could do more for science ; now settle down to quiet rest in your native land.' ' Not so,' said he, or thought in his heart. The furrows of threescore vcars and more lidiced his countcn- ance, though he had seen butfift3\ All the red blood of middle manhood seemed exuded from his system, or ))oisoned in it, by the malarious breath of African morasses. But his work was not done. Once more to the breach 1 once moro ! Once more to make and mark footprints in the central sands of that unexplored conti- nent that others should follow and name. Once more into the darkness of that hot-sinned land. Once more with the lantern and mining I'od of science, to penetrate the hidden mysteries with i^lcams oi light." 210 THE WEAVER BOY. SAFETY OF DE. LIVINGSTONE. The following letter from the Doctor to Sir Roderick Murchison, was read at the meeting of the Geographical Society in London, on the 27th of April : — "Bbmba, Jc&. 2, 1867. " My dear Sm Roderick, — This is the first opportunity I have had of sending a letter to the coast, and it is by a party of black Arab slave-traders from Bagamoyo, near Zanzibar. They had penetrated here for the first time, and came by a shorter way than we did. In my despatch to Lord Clarendon I gave but a meagre geographical report, because the traders would not stay more than half a day ; but, having written that through the niirht, I persuaded them to give me an hour or two this morning, and if yours is fuller than his lordship's you will know how to manage. I mentioned to him that I could not go round the northern end of the Lake Nyassa, because the Johanna men would have fled at first sight of danger ; and they did actually flee, on the mere report of the acts of the terrible Mazitu, at its southern extremity. Had I got them fairly beyond the lake, they would have stuck to me ; but so long as we itad Arab slave-parties passing us they were not to be depended on, and they were such inveterate thieves, it was quite a relief to get rid of them, though my following was reduced thereby to nine African boys, freed ones, from a school at Nassic, Bombay. I in- tended to cross at the middle of the lake, but all the Arabs (at the crossing station) fled as soon as they heard that the English were coming, and the owners of two dhows now in the lake kept them out of sight lest I shou'd burn them as slavers. I remained at the town of Mataka, which is on the water-shed between the seacoast and the lake ; and about fifty miles from the latter. There are at least a thousand houses (in the town), and Mataka is the most powerful chief in the country. I was in his district, which extends to the lake, from the middle of July to the end of September. He was anxious that some of the liberated boys should remain with liiuj, and 1 tiied 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 Jigriculture, for him. 'J'hat is the best point I have seen for an in- riueutial 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 spontanea >us act, and it took place before our ai rival ; but I accidentally saw the strangers. They consisted of fiity-four women and children, about a dozen boys, and thirty head SAFETY OP DE. LIVINGSTONE. 211 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, we endeavored to ascend Kirk's range, but the people below were afraid of those above, and it was only after an old friend, Katosa or Kiemasura, 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 Manganja, who had never been engaged in slaving ; in fact they had driven away a lot of Arab slave-traf'ers a short time before. We used to think them all Maravi ; but Katosa is the only Maravi chief we know. The Kauthunda, or climbers, live on the mountains that rise out of the plateau. The Chipeta live more on the plains there ; the Echewa still fuither north. We went west among a very hospitable people till we thought we were past the longitude of the Mazitu ; we then turned north, and all but walked 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 20 min. west of Chimanga's, crossed the Longwa in 12 deg. 45 min. S., 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 II deg. S. The hills on one part of it rise up to six thousand six hundred feet above the sea. While we were in the lowlands I could easily supply our party with meat, large game being abundant; but upon these highlands of the Babisa no game was to be found. The country, having become depopulated by the slaving in which the people engaged, is now a vast forest, with here and there, at wide intervals a miserable hamlet. The grain is sown in little patches in the forest and the people had nothing to sell. We had now a good deal of actual gnawing hunger, as day after day we trod the sloppy, dripping forests, which yield some wretched wild fruits, and lots of mush- rooms. A woman can collect a load of half a hundred weight; after cooking, they pound them into what they call porridge ; but woe is me ! they are good only for producing dreams of roast beef of by-gone days. They collect six kinds, and reject about ten, some as large as the crown of one's hat. When we got to the Chambeze, which was true to the character of the Zambezi, in havmg abundant animal life in its waters, we soon got an antelope on its banks. We crossed it in 10 deg. 34 min. It was flooded with clear water, but the lines of bushy tree-, which showed its actual banks, were not more than forty yards apart. We arrived here (at Bemba) on the last day of January ; it is a stockaded village, with three lines of defence, the inner one having a deep, dry ditch around it. I think, if I am not mistaken, that we are on the water-shed we seek between the Chambeze and Loapula. I have not had time to take observations, as it is the rainy season, and almost always cloudy ; but we sUall rest a little here and get 212 THE WEAVER BOY. some flesh on our bones. "VVe are about 10 deg. 10 min. S. 31 deg. 50 min. E. Altitude about four thousand five hundred feet above the sea. The Loapula, or Luapula, is said to be a very large river ; but I hope to send fuller information from Tanganyika. I have done all the hunting niyself, have enjoyed good health, and no touch of fever ; but we lost all our medicine, — the sorest loss of goods I ever sustained ; so I am hoping, if fever comes, to fend it off by native remedies, and trust in the watchful care of a Higher Power. The chief hero seems a jolly, frauk person, but unless the country is insecure I don't see the use of his lines of circum- vallation. He presented a cow on our arrival, and a huge elephant's tusk because I had sat on it. I 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 cither. Some letters 1 had written in hopes of meeting an Arab slave-trader; but they all ' ske laddled' as soon as they heard that the English were coming. I could not get any information as to the route followed by the Portuguese in going to Cazembe, till we were on the Babisa plateau. It was then pointed out that they had gone to the westward of that which from the Loangwa valley seems a range of mountains. The makers of maps have placed it (the Portuguese route), much too far east. The repetition of names of rivers, which is common in this country, probably misled them. There are four Loangwas flowing into Lake Nyassa. Would you kindly say to Capt. Kichards that I had to draw some rifles and ammunition from her Majesty's ship ' Wasp,' and I shall feel obliged if he makes that right? With kindest regards to Lady Murchison, I am ever, affectionately yours, "David Livingstone." Extract from a letter from Dr. Livingstone to Mr. Young, of Kelly : — February 1. " I am in Bemba, or Lobemba, and at the chief man's place which has three stockades around it, and a deep, dry ditch around 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 Christ- mas feast off it to-morrow, as I promised the boys a blow-out when we came to a place of plenty. We have had precious hard times ; and I would not complain if it had not been gnawing hunger for many a day, and our bones sticking through as if they would burst the skin. When we were in a part where game abounded, I filled the pot with a first-rate rifle given me by Captain Eraser ; but else- where we had but very short rations of a species of millet called ' macre," which passes the stomach almost unchanged. The sorest grief of all was the loss of the medicine-box which your friend at SAFETY OF DR. LIVINGSTONE. 218 Apothecaries' Hall so kindly fitted up. All other things I divided among the bundles, so that if one or two were lost we should not be rendered destitute of such articles ; but this I gave to a steady boy and trusted him. He exchanged for a march with two volun- teers, who behaved remarkably well, till at last hungry marches through dripping forests, cold, hungry nights, and fatiguing days, overcame their virtue, and they made off with * Steady's' load, all his clothes, our plates, dishes, much of uor powder, and two guns, and it was impossible to trace them after the first drenching shower, which fell immediately after they left us. The forests are so dense and kafy one cannot see fifty yards on any side. This loss, with all ou 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, and trust in Him who has led me hitherto, to help me still." APPENDIX. FliNDING OF DR. LIVINGSTONE B7 MR. H. M. STANLEY, Correspondent of the New York Herald. \ IlfTEODUOTION". THE PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE FRUITS OF LIVINGSTONE'S TRIUMPH. It is the misfortune of almost ever)'- generation to dote over the deeds of remote and bygone ages and to depreci- ate its own. The exploits which most affect the world's destiny do not, it is true, betray their significance by a flash and need to be scanned and interpreted in the calm light of human history. The great man whose name heads this chapter may notlive to discover the true import of his own achievements, and certainly, in the course of nature, cannot hope to reap the harvest which he has sown. The great impediment to the realization of the toils of such a man as Livingstone lies in the incredulity of the human mind. The world is not deficient in the supply of a numerous class who resemble the pertinacious King of Anam, who refused to believe that water sometimes froze in Europe, because it had never been known to freeze in Anara. When Sir John Ross in 1818 penetrated far with- in the Artie circle he found a fine tribe of savages inhabit- ing a region of icy grandeur between the prongs of the Gretfiland glacier, but shut out from civilization and the sun by the great ice wall ; and when the gallant explorer told them his ship had come from the south they tenaciously insisted, (316) INTRODUCTION. 2 I 7 " It Is not true ; there is nothing but ice there I" So in- tense and blind is the resistance which many otberwise sagacious and reasoning minds offer to the story and con- clusions of great pioneers of science and research that when Sir Ibaac Newton, on the strictest mathematical principles, arrived at and announced the deduction that the earth was a spheroid, many of the philosophers of the world of the highest repute, among them the great Ber- noulli, entered the list against him and declared it an ob- long figure with a greater polar than equatorial extent. The great hero of explorations in Equatorial Africa has met with a similar fate among the geographical doctors and speculative scientists of his ov/n country, but he will sur- vive their criticisms, and already we may begin to forecast the fame that awaits him and the advantages which the whole human family will ultimately reap from his self-sacri- ficing and herculean labors. The esteem in which geogra- phical discovery has ever been held may furnish some clue to the real value of Livingstone's researches. The first circumnavigator of the globe, the indeflitigable Magellan, was almost immortalized by posterity. Sir Francis Drake, who followed his illustrious example, was knighted, his voy- age in the Golden Hind celebrated in song and the famous bark thronged by thousands of his admiring countrymen. Even in our later period, when the world is more phlegma- tic and utilitarian, the very bones of a loet explorer (Sir John Franklin) were so anxiously and energetically sought for, that in 1866 Sir Leopold McClintock estimated the foot ex- plorations accomplished in the search, amid mountains of ice, at forty thousand miles. History fidly attests how all geographical discovery, by its influence both directly and reflexively, not only seryes to quicken and fecundate all the sciences, but to rouse the human mind itself from its 2 1 8 INTRODUCTION. lethargy, and introduce it to neiv worlds of thought. But no portion of the earth yields such abundant treasures to the explorer as the torrid zone, in which lies the scene o^ Livingstone's exploits. The tropics, as Humboldt has suggested, not only give rise to the most powerful impres- sions by their organic richness and fertility, but they reveal to man, by the uniformity of atmospheric variation and the development of vital forces in their fauna and flora, and by the contrasts of climate and vegetation at different levels, the invariability of planetary lands, mirrored, as it were, in terrestrial phenomena. Africa is emphatically the land of greatest natural productions, of which we have heretofore known less than we do of the surface of the moon, and not much more than the spectroscope has taught us of the photosphere of the sun. Into the most hidden wilds of this vast land mass — nearly four times as large as Europe — the penetratmg genius of Livingstone has pushed geo- graphic research and planted the germs of future civiliza- tion and empire. In solving, as we may now justly assume he has done, the ancient problem of the Nile, the old ex- plorer has produced the key with which all the secrets of the great Southern Continent may be unlocked and its splendid plateaux, its opulent river valleys and its chains of enormous navigable lakes, seated and embowered high above the sea, may be thrown open to the enterprise of all coming generations. In large sections of this newly-found world — although, like Andean South America, lying almost under the Equator — nature has piled up upon a series of gigantic parterres and terraces every variety ot climate and soil, and compensated by cool and lofty elevations for the severity of a vertical sun. If to the nations of extra-tropi- cal countries and high latitudes it seems improbable that a great civilization can be erected in the new world brought INTRODUCTION. 219 to light by Livingstone, we have only to recall the historic development of the Equatorial South American States and of the famous Carthagenian, Persian and Egyptian civiliza- tions of old, flourishing under climatic and physical condi- tions no better than those of the Upper Nilatic basin. But, to be more specific, it is easy to see that the day is not distant when European commerce and culture, crossing the Suez Isthmus by its great canal and descending the Nile valley, must prove an entering wedge to the newly- explored country. The present traffic of Equatorial Africa does not at present extend south of Gondokoro, on the White Nile. But once connect this point with known routes of travel and communication, piercing the western drainage of Lakes Tanganyika, Moero, Lincoln, Bangweolo and the valleys of the Lualaba and the Chambezi, and we shall soon have not a lonely and forlorn explorer fighting his way into the darkness and slavery of these regions, but richly freighted caravans of trade, conveying the treasures of knowledge, the blessings of emancipation and peace and the truths of Christianity to these very strongholds of bar- barism and benighted heathendom. When Magellan first circumnavigated the earth, his re- nowned historian tells us, it was gravely asserted over Europe that no one else would ever dare so foolhardy an undertaking again, so little did men dream that the ocean, which had opened a way for his keel, would soon be fur- rowed by the countless fleets and argosies of commerce. We doubt not, in like manner, the successful experiment of the African explorer will be followed by the world's pioneers of adventure, traffic and emigration. But, apart from all the promises of material advantage fiom Dr. Livingstone's work, there remains the moral bene- fit to be derived. One germ of true civilzation, planted in 2 20 INTRODUCTION. tlie wilds of Africn, brings them into sympatliy and unison with the rest of manliind. Cue touch of nature makes the whole world kin. The undying seed of true Christianity once sown will prove fruitful beyond man's most sanguine expectations, and may be expected to outlive the most adverse influences and noxious miasma of heathenism. The future historian, in summing up the results which attended the marvellous labors and Atlantean undertakings of Livingstone, will accord him the honor of settling and solving '* the problem of the ages," of satisfying the de- mands of scientific and cosmographical research in the great tropical Continent, beside that of opening a new world to commerce and civilization, and of planting the standard of civil liberty in the midst of it. The explorer himself will ever stand forth in history a colossal spectacle of moral heroism, which needs no monument nor memorial to perpetuate its influence. PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. Much of what follows, having originally appeared in the form of letters chieily from Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stan- ley — doubtless not intended for publication in book form — written, too, at long intervals, and under a very great variety of circumstances ; no intelligent ?eader will expect to find an unbroken narrative throughout. The intense eagerness of the public for reliable informa- tion from the old hero is such, that all idea of literary finish will be lost in the contemplation of the man and his herculean achievements. The very thought that while we read this — far away, in the very heart of South Africa — alone, among savages, under a vertical sun, a voluntary exile from every thing we count dear and precious, the venerable pioneer pursues his giant aim — the opening up of that boundless continent to civilization, religion and commerce should absorb every thought and fill the soul of every reader with sympathy. And if there lives a man or woman disposed to enquire qui honoy we ask such an one to go back some four hun- dred years to Portugal and Spain, where a devoted en- thusiast was seen travelling from court to court, and from thence to the palaces of the nobles and others, yet spurned from them all as a mouomaniac, till, as a beggar for bread at a convent gate, he finds a sympathizer in -the superior, whose influence obtains for him, (but not till seven (221) 2 22 publishers' preface. years have run their — to him — weary course,) — his long sought for commission, and in due time he is afloat in com- mand of three mere wherries and 120 men, with which to cross the stormy Atlantic, and discover an unknown con- tinent, a task however difficult which he accomplished, de- spite mutiny, etc. Yet the man who opened up this great continent, now the home of countless millions, received for his reward a convoy home to Spain as prisoner in chains, and Christopher Columbus died a pauper. The king of Spain honoring the body he had allowed to starve with a pompous funeral. But, says the objector, my question is not answered. Well, the answer is, look at America, which by the way should have been named Columbia in 1485, and 1872. Well, apart from the slave question, and the religious aspect of the great African continent — and these outweigh all others — the latent wealth which there awaits develop- ment defies the powers of mind to comprehend. Let us hope that a much more fitting reward awaits our own veteran explorer of the 19th century than was accorded to the no less deserving veteran of the 15 th. Of this, how- ever, we may be certain, if our own people fail in their duty to Dr. Livingstone, our neighbors and kindred, who have lately furnished a man to find him, will put us to shame by doing what we may fail to do. The duty of the British nation is plain, and let us hope it will be nobly fulfilled. But little the old Christian hero recks. The man who has braved and endured what he has for thirty years — thinks not of the things that perish in the using, beyond their daily use to him ; Livingstone's reward is on high, where "they that turn many to righteous- ness shall shine as the stars for ever and even" "M THE FINDING OF * DR. LIVINGSTONE BY H. M. STANLEY. The object of this department of the work is to bring together the scattered information which has reached this country and the United States respecting Mr. Stanley's won- derful discovery of J Jr. Livmgstone. It was thought that the various accounts, gathered together would be a conveni- ence to the reading public as a carefully prepared account of his extraordinary journey. The pages in this book which v^^ill possess the greatest interest to the reader are those giving Mr. Stanley's de- spatches to the Ne7v York Herald^ now for the 'first time published in this country entire and without abridejement. On the 3rd July, 1872, a summary of these despatches was published in the London papers, but, like most summaries, it omitted details of considerable interest. It is to be regretted that doubts have been expressed in certain quarters as to the reliability of the information and despatches brought by the energetic young American, but any one who has followed the public journals during the past months will have found but little diliiculty in arriving at the true meaning of much of the correspondence that has appeared. The fact that Dr. Livingstone chose to write to a N^w York journal, in a manner somewhat different from that in which he would have written to an English (223) 224 THE FINDING OF paper, Is no reason why doubt should be cast upon the story of his brave discoverer. It was open to any inquirer to apply at our Foreign Office, where the answer would have been given — as it was given to the writer many days since — that despatches had been received from Dr. Livingstone through the agency of Mr. Stanley, and that the authorities there were perfectly satisfied that they were in the Doctor's own hand- writing. The many /r;'^^//<7/ allusions to Dr. Livingstone in Mr. Stanley's despatches alone offer a sufficient test of the genuine character of the letters and news he has brought us. "Were it worth while, many parallels might be adduced, but we will just take one — trivial enough in itself, but suffi- cient to show our meaning. Mr. Stanley states that at that memorable meeting — now a matter of history — the great traveller wore a naval officer's cap with a faded gilt band. Now, amongst the Doctor's intimate friends it is known that a cap of this kind is a favorite with him, and when he was preparing his well-known book on the Zam- besi, and resided for six mondis at Xewstead Abbey, as the guest of Mr. Webb, its generous proprietor, he invariably wore such a cap, nor could he be prevailed upon to part w^ith it for a covering such as clergymen usually wear. The fact is trivial enough, but it is just such trivialities as this which go to make the true portrait. ' - Literary composition is not a favorite occupation with Dr. Livingstone. He prefers to state facts, leaving to others the task of putting them on paper, and it is not altogether improbable that Mr. Stanley may have suggested those allu- sions to General Grant, Hawthorne, and various American matters, in the second letter to Mr. Gordon IJennet, which have so surprised some of the Doctors English friends. Indeed, this second letter may have been written by Mr. Stanley, principally from Livingstone's dictation. It was an American who brought the great traveller relief, and what more natural tlian that his letters of thanks should be addressed to the American rather than to the English peo- ple ? A quotation from Nathaniel Hawthorne, suggested by Mr. Stanley, would be just as appropriate as one from DR. LIVINGSTONE. 225 Oliver Goldsmith ; and an allusion to President Grant might be supposed to possess as much interest to the Ameri- can people as a reference to our Mr. Gladstone. But all this is idle talk in the face of Lord Granville's note to Mr, Stanley. His lordship's letter, dated from the Foreign Ofllce, reads : — August 2nd, 1872. Sir, — I was not av/are until you mentioned it that there was any doubt as to the authenticity of Dr. Livingstone's de- spatches, which you delivered to Lord Lyons on the 31st of July. But in consequence of what you said, I have in- quired into the matter, and I find that Mr. Hammond, the Under Secretary of the Foreign Office, and Mr. Wylde, the head of the Consular and Slave Trade Department, have not the slightest doubt as to the genuineness of the papers which have been received from Lord Lyons, and which are being printed. I cannot omit this opportunity of expressing to you my admiration of the qualities which have enabled you to achieve the object of your mission, and to attain a result which has been hailed with so much enthusiasm both in the United States and in this country. — I am, Sir, your obedient Granville. Henry Stanley, Esq. Some of our journals have endeavored to throw cold water upon Mr. Stanley's marvellous and intrepid feat, but to the honor of the London Daily Telegraphy it has not only main- tained one consistent opinion throughout, but has been at special pains to inform the public in advance of all the other London journals. 226 THE FINDING OF DR. LIVINGSTONE. In June, 1849, Dr. Livingstone made his first exploring journey, travelled circuitously northwards for a month, and, at a distance of three hundred miles from his starting point, came upon the beautiful Zanga river. Along the banks of this river he proceeded for another month, and then discov- ered Lake Ngami, with the native settlement of Bakalahars upon its borders. This was at least three hundred miles, in a straight line, from any missionary station. Upon the re- port of his discovery reaching England, Livingstone became at once famous. The Geographical Society bestowed upon him its royal award, which was conferred, at that time, upon no other person, except the great American explorer, Fre- mont, the then recent unsuccessful candidate for the presi- dency of the United States. It was immediately felt that the existence of an extensive inland lake in Southern Africa, fed entirely by rivers from the north, seemed to point the way to vast and unknown countries in the remote interior, well watered, fertile, wealthy, and populous. In 1850, Livingstone resumed his researches in the same direction, his wife accompanying him as far as Lake Ngami. Thence he pushed on still northwards for two hundred miles, and discovered another large lake. Here he heard that the slave traders had only preceded him by one year. So important were these results, that, in 1852, the Lon- don Missionary Society voted him two years' leave of ab- sence, to explore the central regions of Africa, Mrs. Living- stone and her family returning to England in the mean- time. A hundred and sixty men accompanied him, with a flotilla of thirty canoes. Thus prepared he rushed up the great northern river, sometimes traveling at the rate of fifty miles a day ; but by the time he had reached Loanda, on the coast, he had been plundered to his last blanket and coat For twelve months he wandered about through un- known regions. From Loanda he went to Angola, and thence crossed the whole continent to the channel of the Mozambique. There he took ship for England, and arrived early in December. The chief records of his journey were DR. LIVINGSTONE. 22^ unfortunately lost in the river, but he retained sufficient to add enornaously to our knowledge of African ethnology, natural history, languages, geography, and geology. His great achievements may be described in a few words. He explored the immense region of Southern Africa, from the eastern to the western coast, hundreds of miles from the limits of all former research ; discovered new climates, cities, nations, rivers, lakes, ranges of mountains, and curi- ous systems of manners, laws, and religious beliefs. First, he travelled from the Cape of Good Hope, northwards, to Lake Ngami, and thence to Linganti, a locality more than twenty-four degrees of latitude from the head of the Cape. He was now within ten degrees of that mystic line, the equator, which has been supposed, in Central Africa, to run through uninhabitable deserts, " whose soil is fire, and wind a flame ;" but he found the region abounding in streams, bright with vegetation, and alive with all forms of the ani- mal creation. Striking off westwards, he reached the settle- ments on the coast, and returning thence to the central point of his explorations, travelled eastwards to the coast on the other side of the continent. This was what no traveller had ever done before. From the Cape almost to the equator, from west to east, from ocean to ocean ! Mark these routes upon the map with a red line, and the track of Livingstone's adventures will be found to cross vast spaces hitherto unmarked by a single geographical sign. In future, across those blank spaces will be indicated the course of the Coanga, Kasye, Leambye, and Gambia rivers. From this sketch it will be perceived that Dr. Living- stone's discoveries have not only been vast in their extent, but they are in their nature of the highest importance. Scotland may well be proud of having given birth to such a man ! In March, 1867, a report reached England to the effect that Livingstone had been foully murdered by the natives near Lake Nyassa ; but the accuracy of the rumour was doubted, although Dr. Kirk, Her Majesty's Consul at Zan- zibar, and formerly the companion of Livingstone in his travels, sent this letter to the acting secretary of the Royal Geographical Society : — 228 THE FINDING OF ZanziUir, December 26^A, 1866. My dear Bates, I have written fully to Sir Roderick three weeks ago, 7'ia the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena, again via Mauritius and Suez, with all information we yet have got regarding poor Livingstone. • > ' As I am going to Kilwa and Mikadany for a few days, to see if anything is there known of the sad story, and to seek for any letters which may have been sent by Dr. Living- stone before crossing Lake Nyassa, I write a note to you that you may get by 'any ship passing here during my absence. On the 5th of December nine Johanna men of the party which accompanied Dr. Livingstone came to Zanzibar, re- porting that ou the west of Nyassa, some lime between the end of July and September, they were suddenly attacked by a band of Mazite, and that Dr. Livingstone, with half his party, were murdered. Those who returned escaped, as they say, through being behind and unseen, and they all depose to having helped to bury the dead body of their leader the same evening. Although in the details, and in other things, the accounts of the various men differ, they all agree that they saw the body, and that it had one wound — that of an axe — on the back of the neck. One man saw the fatal blow given. The attack was sudden, and Dr. Livingstone had time to overpower those that faced him, and was struggling to reload when cut down from behind. I fear the story is true, and that we shall never know more of its details. Full statements have gone home, but this may reach Aden by an American vessel during my absence. You will see, if this arrives first, that we have sad news from the Society on the way. ' - V I remain, yours, • J. Kirk. DR. LIVINGSTONE. 229 After the receipt of this and similar letters from Dr. Kirk, an expedition to search after the distinguished traveller was organized by those who doubted the story of his death. The expedition was placed under the command of Captain R. D. Young, and left England June 9, 1867. About the middle of the following month the party reached Simon's Town, and proceeded at once in search of the great tra- veller. In Dr. Kirk's account of the circumstances connected with the reported death of Dr. Livingstone it was said that the latter, having crossed the north end of Lake Nyassa, passed through villages named Makarta, and subsequently Matarka, Maponda, Marenga, and Maksowa. The search- ing party having reached Lake Nyassa, were driven by a gale into a small bay, where they found a native who re- ported to them that a white man had been there eight or ten months previously. Captain Young and the rest of the expedition feared at first that the news was too good to be true, and it was re- solved to endeavor to reach a point higher up, at w'hich there was an Arab crossing-place, near Mont Mombo, a point about twenty miles from the spot at which the boat was anchored. In carrying this intention into effect, they fell in with a large party of native fishermen, and on com- municating with them received a similar account to that which had been previously given them. These people de- scribed the dress and appearance of the " white man," which tallied pretty closely with those of Dr. Livingstone. The men having been shown some surveying instruments, appeared to recognize and to understand the use of t-liem. One of them produced a spoon, and a second a knife, which they had received as presents from Dr. Livingstone. As a further test, Captain Faulkner exhibited a case of photo- graphs, and without any hesitation that of Dr. Livingstone was recognized as the picture of the white man. This gave the searching party increased confidence, and they proceed- ed to the crossing-place. On arriving there the same story was repeated, with the addition that the white man had en- deavored to cross the lake, but finding all the boats were on the opposite side, he went towards the south, and passed 230 THE FINDING OF through the villages already named. The searching party- then sailed across the lake, but, obtaining nOj|j||fe||j^7ation, made for the south. ^^^^ They shortly afterwards came across a lar^BH|Ju^e, and here the same story was repeated. ^ It is known that Marenga, the chief of tl'.e village of that name, was extremely civil to Livingstone, and so he was found to be by those in search of him. It appears that he had ferried Dr. Livingstone across a lake forming an inden- tation in the banks of Nyassa, which he might have circled on foot at the cost of a detour. Marenga gave the search- ing party every information in his possession, and presented them with a very acceptable supply of fresh provisions. It will be remembered that it was at this point that the Johanna men abandoned Livingstone. While Livingstone went across the marsh, the natives skirted the margin, and on returning to the village, reported they were being led into a hostile country, and at once made their way for the seaboard. The last place named by Dr. Kirk, Maksowa, was two days' journey from Marenga. The chief of this village had been driven away, but a number of his men were collected who had been employed to convey the baggage of Dr. Livingstone twenty miles further in a north-westerly direction. Captain Young regarded the information as conclusive ; bi't, with a view of discovering the position of Maponda's settlement, proceeded on a little farther. The village was found about a mile from the mouth of the Shire. Maponda was away from the village on a trading expedition, but his mother, who was at home, informed the party that Dr. Livingstone had passed through there, and that some of his party subsequently returned. The mother of the chief further produced a Prayer Book, containing the name of one of the Doctor's followers, who had been left beTiind on account of lameness. , . The Johanna men represented this boy, who was named Waikatanoe, as having deserted. It appears that at this time the boy was absent with the chief, so that the exploring party had no opportunity of a personal interview with him. DR. LIVINGSTONE. 23 1 The evidence which had been obtained from so many- different points, and from such a number of witnesses, satisfied Captain Young that the object they had in view had been obtained, and acting upon the instruction issued to them, he resolved to return. There appeared not the slightest reason to doubt the substantial correctness of the information obtained, that Livingstone had passed through the most dangerous portion of his journev, and had made good his advance into the interior with the apparent inten- tion of descending the Nile into Egypt. The conclusions arrived at by Captain Young's party were found to be v/ell founded, for on the 8th of April, 1867, letters were received in London from the great travel- ler himself, dated from a district far beyond the place where he was said to have been murdered, and announcing that he was in good health. In July, 1868, he was near Lake Bangweolo, in South Central Africa, whence he wrote to say he believed he might 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 Rhapta is probably the Rovuma. Another communication was received from Dr. Living- stone dated Ujiji, May 13, 1869 ; and on January 24, 187 1, news arrived in this country that he had made an extensive journey to the west of Lake Tanganyika. We have alluded to Livingstone's exploration of the country around the Zambesi. The object of that expedition is admirably told in his own words in a speech which he made shortly before starting on his journey : — I will explain to you how I mean to endeavour to follow up the discoveries which have been made. The central part of the African continent was supposed for a long time to be a great sandy plain. Certain rivers were known to be flowing in towards the centre, but they were not known farther, and they were supposed in consequence to become lost. But instead of that, the grand view burst gradually on my mind of a very fine, well-watered country ; and not only that, but of certain well-watered healthy localities on both sides of the country which were suitable for a European 232 THE FINDING OF residence. Efforts have been made for centuries to get into the interior of Africa, but, unfortunately, it has always been attempted through the unhealthy parts near the coast. On the southern part of the country we had the Kalihari desert, and the expedition which was sent out from Cape Town under Dr. Smith was prevented from penetrating the interior by this same Kalihari desert. The unhealthy coasts presented a barrier on both sides, and this desert jiresented an obstacle on the south ; but when Messrs. Oswald, Mur- ray, and myself succeeded in passing round that desert, then we came into a new and well-watered country beyond. When I passed into that country, I had not the smallest idea that there was such a want of cotton as I found to be the case when I went home to England. But there I saw the cotton growing wild and almost everywhere, and that suf^ar was collected all over the country (although the peo- ple did not know that it could be produced from the sugar- cane) ; and I found, further, that this was a great market for labour. When I lived at Kolenbeng, men left that tribe, and I found some of them within 200 miles of Cape Town, seeking to obtain work. Now here we have the produce and here we have the labour, and I hope we may secure a healthy standing point, from which Europeans may push their commercial and their missionary enterprise to the unhealthy regions beyond. We proceed first of all up the River Zambesi, and have the full authority of the Portuguese for so doing. This river is very large ; it is difficult to convey to the people of such a dry country as this an idea of its size, but the nar- rowest part that I saw seemed almost to be equal to the Thames at London Bridge. It was not known to be a large river, on account of its being separated into five or six branches at its mouth, before it reaches the sea. But, when we get inland, we have a noble stream, and we have at least 250 miles of the stream without a single obstruction. Then we come into a large coal field, and this seems to contain the elements of future civilization. Then I may state that, as we have to examine the river, our expedition will be a practical one. It is not like those that have been sent to the North Pole. We hope to have something to show when we come back. " DR. LIVINGSTONE. 233 Our l)otnnist is an cconcmic bolnnist, and the geologist is a prac tical mining geologist ; and the navai officer, Capt. r>eddingfjcld, has had a great deal of experience in African rivers, and lias not been deterred by the fear of suffering from African fever, any more than myself, from volunteer- ing to go on this expedition. He goes to examine the river system, and give us correct information about the river sys- tem and its navigability. And then we have an artist and a photographer, to give an idea of what is to be seen in the country. But I think this expedition is placed in a somewhat peculiar position. I never heard of another expedition being similarly situated. My companions are all put on their mettle. They are aware that it is ver)' well known that when alone I did some- thing ; and if we don't do well now in this expedition, peo- ple will say, " Why, those fellows have prevented him from doing what he might." So they are all put on their mettle, and I have the greatest confidence in their desire to accom- plish the great objects of our expedition. We find that in the middle of the country there are a great many of the Zambesi. Several of them I have ex- amined myself, and found they went out a few miles — some ten or twelve miles — and then came in again to the main stream. Now, the natives pointed out a number more, and they say these other streams come out of the main branch, and enter it again, after passing some hundreds of miles. This is a most interesting point, because if the departing and returning branches are really seen, then we may go up them in a small steam launch, and have a navigable pathway into an immense extent of the country beyond. We will not be then obliged to pass the great fall of Victoria, which cannot be passed in any vessel. If we have a navigable pathway in the country beyond, then there is a prodigious extent of country, all well adapted for the cultivation of those products which we now get through slave labour. And what I hope to effect is this : I don't hope to send down cargoes of cotton and sugar ; perhaps that result will not be in my lifetime. But I hope we shall make a begin- ning, and get in the thin edge of the wedge, and that we 14 234 THE FINDING OF shall open up a pathway intq the interior of the country, and by getting right into the centre, have a speedy passage by an open pathway, working from the centre out towards the sides. When going into the country, we don't mean to leave our Christianity behind us. I think we made somewhat of a mistake — indeed, a very great mistake — in India ; but where we are going, we shall have no need to be ashamed of our Christianity. We go as Christians ; we go to speak to the people about our Christianity, and to try and recom- mend our religion to those with whom we come in contact. I have received the greatest kindness from all classes of people in the interior. I have found that in proportion as we approach the confines of civilization, do the people be- come worse. Such is the fact — the nearer we come to civiHzation, we find the people very much worse than those who never have had any contact with the white man. Here we are compelled to take a rather long and very reluctant farewell of the brave explorer, who, intent on the all-absorbing object of his life, and, as described by his dis- coverer, " an utter stranger to fear," has once more plunged into savage equatorial Africa, resolved to complete his self- imposed task, or like his intrepid countryman, Mungo Park, leave his bones to cry to heaven against that " sum of all villanies," the slave trade. But thanks to the indomitable enterprise of Mr. J. G. Bennett, who originated the idea and furnished with no niggard hand the means, a man is found — hardly less brave than Livingstone himself — who freely takes his own life in his hand, and in due time the aston- ished world is electrified with the announcement that Dr. Livingstone is found and relieved by Mr. H. M. Stanley, whose Letters follow and speak for themselves. - .J r A>' ■''.'■■*. ■: '>'■ LETTERS OF MR. H. M. STANLEY, THE LAND OF THE MOON. A Graphic Pm Picture of Unyamhezi — Scenic Characteris- tics^ Inhabitants and Cultivation of Central Africa — Life in the Herald Camp at Kwihara — Curiosities of African Cuisine and Social Amenities — Arraignment of Dr. Kirk — Outbreak of the Mirambo War — Attack by the Arabs and the Herald Force on his Village — Slaugh- ter and Rout of the Arabs — Desertion of the Herald Men — Plunder and Burning of Tabora — Heroic Death of Khamis Bin Abdallah — Disgusting Savage Rites with the Dead — On to Ujiji. J, Kwihara, Unyanyembe, Sept. 21, 1871. How can I describe my feelings to you, that you may comprehend exactly the condition that I am in, the condi- tion that I have been in, and the extremely wretched con- dition that the Arabs and slave trading people of the Mrima — the hill land or the coast — would fain keep me in ? For the last two months I have been debating in my own mind as to my best course. Resolves have not been wanting, but up to to-day they have failed. I am no nearer the ob- ject of my search apparently than I was two years ago, when you gave me the instructions at the hotel in Paris called the "Grand Hotel." This object of my search you know is Livingstone — Dr. David Livingstone — F. R. G. S., LL. D., &c. Is this Dr. David Livingstone a myth ? Is there any such person living ? If so, where is he ? I ask everybody — Omani, Arab-half-caste, Wamruia-pagazis — but (237) 238 THE FINDING OP no man knows. I lift up my head, shake off day dreams and ask the silent plains around and the still dome of azure upheaving to infinity above, where can he be ? No answer. The altitude of my people, the asinine obstinacy of Bom- bay, the evidently determined opposition of the principal Arabs to my departure from here, the war with Mirambo, the other unknown road to Central Lake, the impossibility of obtaining pagazis, all combine, or seem to, to say : — **Thou shalt never find him. Thou shalt neither hear of him. Thou shalt die here." Sheikh, the son of Nasib, one of the ruling powers here, declares it an impossibility to reach Ujiji. Daily he vexes me with "There is no road ; all roads are closed ; the Wak- onongo, the Wagara and the Wawendi are coming from the south to help Mirambo ; if you go to the north, Usukuma is the country of Mirambo's mother; if you take the Wild- jankuru road, that is Mirambo's own country. You see, then, sir, the impossibility of reaching the Tanganyika. My advice is that you wait until Mirambo is killed, then, inihal- lah (please God) the road will be open, or go back." And often times I explode, and cry out : — *'What ! wait here until Mirambo is killed ? You were five years fighting Manura Sera ! Go back ! after spending $20,000 ! O Sheikh, the son of Nasib, no Arab can fathom the soul of a muzungu (white man) ! I go on and will not wait till you kill Mirambo; I go on, and will not go back until I shall have seen the Tanganyika, and the day after to-morrow I start." "Well, master," he replied, "be it as you say; but put down the words of Sheikh, the son of Nasib, for they are worthy to be remembered." He has only just parted from me, and to comfort myself after the ominous words I write to you. I wish I could write as fast as the thoughts crowd my mind. Then what a wild, chaotic and incoherent letter you would have ! But my pen is stiff, the paper is abominable, and before a sentence is framed the troubled mind gets somewhat calmer. I am spiteful, I candidly confess, just now ; I am cynical — I do not care who knows it. Fever has made me so. My whining white servant contributes toward it. The stubborn- DR. LIVINGSTONE. 239 ness of Bombay — "incarnation of honesty," Burtorn calls him — is enough to make one cynical. The false tongues of these false-hearted Arabs drive me on to spitefulness ; the cowardice of my soldiers is a proverb with me. The rock daily, hourly growing larger and more formidable against which the ship of the expedition must split — so says e\^ry- body, and what everybody says must be true — makes me fierce and savage-hearted. Yet I say that the day after to-morrow every man Jack of us who can walk shall march. But before the expedition tries the hard road again — be- fore it commences the weary, weary march once more — can I not gain some information about Livingstone from the scraps of newspapers I have been industriously clipping for some time back ! May they not with the more mature knowledge I have obtained of the interior since I went on this venture give me a hint which I might advantageously adopt ? Here, they are, a dozen of them, fifteen, twenty, over thirty bits of paper. Here is one. Ah, dolor of heart, where art thou ? This mirtlVprovoking bit of 'newspaper is almost a physician to me. I read :— • ' •• • , . .- '1 . , ' Zanzibar, Feb. 6, 1870* ' I am also told by Ludha Damjee that a large caravan, laden with ivory, and coming from Nayamweze, has com- pletely perished from this disease in Ujiji. To you who stay at home in America may be accorded forgiveness if you do not quite understand where " Nayam- weze" or "Ujiji" is; but to the British politico and Her Britannic Majesty's Consulf Dr. John Kirk, a former com- panion of Livingstone, a man of science, a member of the Royal Geographical Society, and one who is said to be in constant communication with Livingstone, forgiveness for such gross ignorance is impossible. A parallel case of ignorance would be in a New York editor writing, "I am also told by Mr. So and So that a large wagon train, bring- ing silver bricks from Montana, has perished in Alaska." Ujiji, you must remember, is about a month's march west- ward of Unyamwezi — not "Nayamweze" — and to me it is 240 THE FINDING OF inconceivable how a person in the habit of writing weekly to his government about Livingstone should have conceived Ujiji to be somewhere between the coast and "Nayam- weze," as he calls it. But then I am spiteful this morning of September 21, and there is nothing lovable under the sun at this present time except the memory of my poor little dog " Omar/' who fell a victim to the Makata Swamp. Poor Omar! ^ - -v ♦ Amid these many scraps of clippings all about Living- stone there are many more which contain as ludicrous mis- takes, mostly all of them having emanated from the same scientific pen as the above. I find one wherein Sir R. Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical Society, stoutly maintains that Livingstone's tenacity of purpose, un- dying resolution and herculean frame will overcome every obstacle. Through several scraps runs a vein of doubt and unbelief in the exist^ence of the explorer. irh& writers seem to incline that he has at last succumbed. But to the very latest date Sir Roderick rides triumphant ever all doubts and fears. At the very nick of time he has always a letter from Livingstone himseK, or a despatch from Livingstone to Lord Clarendon, or a private note from Dr. Livingstone to his friend Kirk at Zanzibar. Happy Sir Roderick ! Good, Sir Roderick ! a healthy, soul-inspiring faith is thine. Well, I am glad to tell you the outspoken truth, tor- mented by the same doubts and fears that people in Amer- ica and England are — to-day uncommonly so. I blame the fever. Yet, though I have heard nothing that would lead me to believe Livingstone is alive, I derive much com- fort in reading Sir Roderick's speech to the society of which he is President. # -' '" - -' ■ But though he has tenacity of purpose and is most reso- lute of travellers, he is but a man, who, if alive, is old in years. I have but to send for Said bin Habib, who claims to be the Doctor's best friend, and who lives but a rifle shot from the camp of the Herald and Livingstone expeditions, and he will tell me how he found him so sick with fever that it seemed as if the tired spirit was about to take its eternal rest I have but to ask Suliman Dowa, or Thomas, how he found "old Daoud Fellasteen" — David Livingstone DR. LIVINGSTONE. 24 1 — and he will tell me he saw a very old man, with very gray beard and moustache, who ought to be home now in- stead of wandering among those wild cannibals of Manyema. What made me to-day give way to fears for Livingstone's life was that a letter had reached Unyanyembe, from a man called Sherif, who is in charge of Livingstone's goods at Ujiji, wherein he asked permission from Said bin Salim, the Governor here, to sell Livingstone's goods for ivory, where- in he states further that Sherif had sent his slaves to Man- yema to look tor the white man, and that these slaves had returned without hearing any news of him. He (Sherif) was therefore tired of waiting, and it would be much better if he were to receive orders to dispose of the white man's cloth and beads for ivory. . It is strange that these goods, which were s'^nt to Ujiji over a year ago, h'ave noi J'et been touched, and the fact that Livingstone has not been in Ujiji to receive his last year's supplies puzzles also Said bin Salim, Governor of Unyanyembe, or, rather, of Tabora and Kwihara, as well as it puzzles Sheikh, the son of Nasib, accredited Consul of Syed Burghash, Sultan of Zanzibar and Pemba at the Courts of Rumanika and Mtesa, Kings respectively of Karagwah and Uganda. In the storeroom where the cumbersome moneys of the Neiv York Herald Expedition lie piled up bale upon bale, sack after sack, coil after coil, and the two boats, are this year's supplies sent by Dr. Kirk to Dr. Livingstone — seven- teen bales of cloth, twelve boxes of wine, provisions, and little luxuries such as tea and coffee. When I came up with my last caravan to Unyanyembe I found Livingstone's had arrived but four weeks before, or about May 23id last, and had put itself under the charge of a half-caste called Thani Kati-Kati, or Thani, "in the middle,'* or "between." Before he could get carriers he died of dysentery. He was succeeded in charge by a man from Johanna, who, in something like a week, died of small-pox ; then Mirambo's war broke out, and here we all are, September 21, both ex- peditions halted. But not for long let us hope, for the third time I will make a start the day after to-morrow. To the statement that the man Sherif makes, that he ha? 342 THE FINDING OF sent slaves to Manyema to search for Dr. Livingstone, I pay not the slightest attention. Sherif. I am told, is a half- caste. Half Arab, half negro. Happy amalgamation ! All Arabs and all half castes, especially when it is in their interest to lie, lie without stint. What and who is this man 5herif, that he should, unasked, send his slaves twenty days •off to search for a white man ? It was not for his interest to send out men, but it was policy to say that he had done :so, and that his slaves had returned without hearing ot him. He is, therefore, in a hurry to sell off and make money at the expense of Livingstone. This man has treated the old traveller shamefully — like some other men I know of, who, if I live, will be exposed through your columns. But why should I ^iot do so now ? What better time is there than the present ? Well, here it is — coolly, calmly and deliber- ately. I have studied the whole thing since I came here, and cannot do better than give you the result of the search- ing inquiries instituted. It is the case of the British Public vs. Dr. John Kirk, Acting Political Agent and Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Zanzibar, as I understand it. The case is briefly this : — Some time in October, 1870, Henry Adrian Churchill, Esq., was Political Agent and Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Zanzibar. He fitted out during that month a small expedi- tion to carry supplies to Dr. Livingstone, under the escort of seven or eight men, who were to act as armed soldiers, porters or servants. They arrived at Bagomoyo, on the mainland, during the latter part of October. About the latter part of October or the early part of November Mr. Churchill left Zanzibar for England, and Dr. John Kirk, the present occupant of the consular chair, succeeded him as "acting" in the capacity Mr. Churchill heretofore had done. A letter bag, containing letters to Dr. Livingstone, was sealed up by Dr. John Kirk, at Zanzibar, on which was written "November i, 1870 — Registered letters for Dr. David Livingstone, Ujiji," from which it appears that the letter bag was closed on the ist November, 1870. On the 6th January, 1871, your correspondent in charge of the Neio York Herald Expedition arrived at Zanzibar, and then and there heard of a caravan being at Bagomoyo, bound DR. LIVINGSTONE. * 243 for the interior with supplies for Dr. Livingstone. On the 4th of February, 1871, your correspondent in charge of the Herald Expedition arrived at Bagomoyo and found this caravan of Dr. Livingstone's still at Bagomoyo. On or about the i8th February, 187 1, appeared off Bagomoyo Her Britannic Majesty's gunboat Columbine, Captain Tucker, having on board Dr. John Kirk, acting Her Majes- ty's Consul. Three days before Dr. John Kirk arrived at Bagomoyo Livingstone's caravan started for the interior, hurried, no doubt, by the report that the English Consul was coming. That evening about the hour of seven p. m. your correspondent dined at the French mission in com- pany with the peres^ Dr. Kirk and Captain Tucker of the Columbine. The next morning Dr. Kirk and Captain Tucker and another gentleman from the Columbine, and Pere Homer, Superior of the French mission, left for Kikoko, first camp on the Unyanyembe road beyond the Knigani River ; or, in other words, the second camp for the up caravans from Bagomoyo. Pere Homor returned to Bagomoyo the evening of the same day ; but Messrs. Kirk and Tucker, the French Consul M. Diviane, and, I believe, the surgeon of the Columbine, remained behind that they might enjoy the sport which the left bank of the Knigami offered them. A good deal of ammunition was wasted, I heard, by the naval officers, because, "you know, they have only pea rifles," so said Dr. Kirk to me. But Dr. Kirk, the com- panion of Livingstone and something of a sportsman, I am told bagged one hartbeest and one giraffe only i.i the four or five days the party was out. M. Diviane, or Divien, hurried back to Bagomoyo and Zanzibar with a piece of the aforesaid hartbeest, that the white people on that island might enjoy the sight and hear how the wondrous animal fell before the unerring rifle of that learned showman of wild beasts. Dr. John Kirk. Showman of wild beasts did I say ? Yes. Well I adhere to it and repeat it. But to proceed. At the end of a week or thereabouts the party were said to have arrived at the French mission again. I rode up from the camp of the Herald Expedition to see them. They were sitting down to dinner, and we all heard 244 THE FINDING OF the graphic yam about the death of the hartbeest. It was a fine animal they all agreed. "But, Doctor, did you not have something else?" (Ques- tion by leader of Herald Expedition.) "No! we saw lots of game, you know — giraffe, zebra, wild boar, &c. — but they were made so wild, you know, by the firing of pea rifles by the officers, that immediately one began to stalk them off they went. I would not have got the hartbeest if I had not gone alone." Well, next morning Dr. Kirk and a reverend /^^r^ came to visit the caipp of the ^vith a spirit and style I have never seen else- where. He had not much to oft'er, to be sure, but what he had was mine and his. The wan features which I had thought 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 16 298 THE FINDING OF frame enclosed a very young and exuberant soul. The meal — I am not sure but we ate three meals that after- noon — was seasoned with innumerable jokes and pleasant anecdotes, interesting hunting stories, of which his friends Webb,i,Oswell, Vardon and Gumming (Gordon Gumming) were always the chief actors. You have brought me new life, he said several times, so that I was not sure but that there was some little hysteria in this joviality and abundant animal spirits, but as I found it continued during several weeks I am now disposed to think it natural. Another thing which specially attracted my attention was his wonderfully retentive memory. When we remember the thirty^years and more that he has spent in Africa, deprived of books, we may well think it an uncommon memory that can recite whole poems of Burns, Byron, Tennyson and Longfellow. Even the poets Whittier and Lowell were far better known to him than to me. He knew an endless num- ber of facts and names of persons connected with America much better than I, though it was my peculiar province as a journalist to have known them. One reason,|perhaps, for this fact may be that the Doctor never smokes, so that his brain is never befogged, even temporarily, by the fumes of the insidious weed. Besides, he has lived all his life almost, we may say,|iwithin himself — in a world of thought which re- volved inwardly, seldom awaking out of it except to attend to the immediate practical necessities of himself and his ex- pedition. The immediate necessities disposed of, he must have relapsed into his own inner world, into which he must have cunjured memories of his home, relations, friends, acquaintances, familiar readings, ideas and associations, so that wherever he might be, or by whatsoever^ he was sur- rounded, his own world had attractions far superior to that which the external world by which he was surrounded had. Dr. Livingstone^is a truly pious man — a man deeply im- bued 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 thanhis business, is not of the theoretical kind — simply DR. LIVINGSTONE. 299 contenting itself with avowing its peculiar creed and ignor- ing all other religions as wrong and 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, if not in deed, by shining example. It is not aggressive, which sometimes is troublesome and often im- pertinent. In him religion exhibits its loveliest features. It governs his conduct towards his servants, towards the natives and towards the bigoted Musselman — even all who come in contact with him. Without religion Livingstone, with his ardent temperament, his enthusiastic nature, his high spirit and courage, might have been an uncompanion- able 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 made him, to speak the ear- nest, sober truth, the most agreeable of companions and in- dulgent of masters. I have been frequently ashamed of my impatience while listening to his mild rebuke to a dishonest or lazy servant, whereas had he been one of mine his dishonesty or laziness had surely been visited with prompt punishment. I have often heard our servants discuss our respective merits. " Your master," says 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 — mka/i sana-kana mo^o." From being hated and thwarted in every possible way by the Arabs and half castes on his first arrival at Ujiji, through his uniform kindness and mild pleasant temper he has now won all hearts. I perceived that universal respect was paid to him by all. Every Sunday morning he gathers his little flock around him and has prayers read, not in stereotyped tone which always sounds in my ears insincerely, but in the tone re- commended by Archbishop Whatley — viz., natural, unaf- fected and sincere. Following them he delivers a short address in the Kisawahiti language about what he has been reading from the Bible to them, which is listened to with great attention. 300 THE FINDING OF There is another point in Livingstone's character about which we, as readers of his books and students of his tra- vels, would naturally wish to know something — viz., his ability to withstand the rigors of an African climate, and the consistent energy with which he follows the exploration of Central Africa. Those who may have read Burton's " Lake Region's of Central Africa" cannot have failed to perceive that Captain Burton, the author, was very well tired of Africa long before he reached Ujiji, and that when he reached Ujiji he was too much worn out to be able to go any further, or do anything but proceed by boat to Uvira, near the northern head oi the Tanganyika — a task he per- formed, we must admit, in no enviable humor. We also know how Speke looked and felt when Baker met him at Gondakoro ; how, after merely glancing at the outflow of Lake Victoria into the Victoria Nile, he was unable or in- disposed to go a little further west to discover the lake which has made Baker famous and given him a knighthood. Also, do we not all know the amount of Baker's discovery of that lake, and what resolutions he made after his return to civilization from his visit to the Albert Lake ? When I first met the Doctor I asked him if he did not feel a desire to visit his country and take a little rest. He had then been absent about six years, and the answer he gave me freely shows what kind of man he is, and how dif- ferently constituted he is from Burton, Speke, or Baker. Said he : — " I would like very much to go home and see my chil- dren once again, but I cannot bring my heart to abandon the task I 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 before my task is ended, to have to come back again to do what I can very well do now ?" " And why," I asked, " did you come so far back without finishing the short task which you say you have yet to do ?" '* Simply because I was forced; my men which would not budge a step forward. They mutinied and formed a secret resolution that if I still insisted on going on to raise a dis- • DR. LIVINGSTONE. 301 turbance in the country, and after they had effected it to abandon me, in which case I should be killed. It was dangerous to go any farther. I had explored six hundred miles of the watershed, had traced all the principal streams which discharged their waters into the central line of drain- age, and when about starting to explore the last one hun- dred miles the hearts of my people failed, and they set about frustrating me in every possible way. Now, having returned seven hundred miles to get a new supply of stores and another escort, I felt myself destitute of even the means to live but for a few weeks, and sick in mind and body." Let any reader study the spirit of the above remark, and compare it with those which animated a Burton, a Speke or a Baker. How would those gentlemen have comported themselves in such a crisis, unprepared, as we all know they were, for the terrible fevers of Central Africa ? Again, about a week after I had arrived in Ujiji, I asked Livingstone if he had examined the northern head of the Tanganyika. He answered immediately he had not, and then asked if people expected he had. I then informed him that great curiosity was felt about the connection that was supposed to exist between Tanganyika and Lake Albert. One party said that a river flowed out of the Tanganyika into the Albert ; another party held that it was impossible, since the Tanganyika was, to according Burton and Speke, much lower than the Albert. Others were inclined to let the subject alone until they should hear from him, the only one capable at the present time to set the matter at rest for- ever. The Doctor replied to these remarks that he was not aware so much importance was attached to the Tanganyika, as his friends at home, instead of writing to him, contented themselves with speculating as to where he should come out •of Africa, and thus he had been kept ignorant of many things of which those who took any interest in him should have informed him. " I did try before setting out for Manyema to engage -canoes and proceed northward, but I soon saw that the peo- ple were all confederating to fleece me as they had Burton, ^nd had I gone under such circumstances I should not have 302 THE FINDING OF been able to proceed to Manyema to explore the central line of drainage, and of course the most important line — far more important than the line of the Tanganyika; for whatever connection there may be between the Tanganyika and the Albert the true sources of the Nile are those emptying into the central line of drainage. In my own mind I have not the least doubt that the Rusizi River flows from this lake into the Albert. For three months steadily I observed a current setting northward. I verified it by means of water plants. '* When Speke gives the altitude of the Tanganyika at only 1, 880 feet above the sea I imagine he must have fallen into the error by frequently writing the Anno Domini, and thus made a slip of the pen ; for the altitude is over two thousand eight hundred feet by boiling point, though I make it a little over three thousand feet by barometers. Thus you see that there are no very great natural difficulties on the score of altitude, and nothing to prevent the reasonable supposition that there may be a water connection by means, of the Rusizi or some other river between the two lakes. Besides, the Arabs here are divided in their statements. Some swear that the river goes out of the Tanganyika, others that it flows into the Tanganyika." " Well Doctor," said I, *' if I were you, before leaving this part of the country of Unyanyembe, perhaps never to return here — for one knows not what may occur in the meantime — I would go up and see, and if you like I will accompany you. You say you have no cUth and only five men. I have enough cloth and men for all your purposes. Suppose you go up and settle his vexed question, for so far as I see by the newspapers everybody expects it of you." Many a traveller, as I have shown, would have pleaded fatigue and utter weariness of mind and body, but Living- stone did not. That very instant the resolve was made ; that very instant he started to execute it. He sent a man to Said Ben Majid to request the loan of his canoe, and his baggage was got ready for the voyage. Not yet recovered from the sore effects of his return from his unsuccessful and lengthy journey to accompHsh the object that lay so near his heart ; yet suffering from an attack of diarrhoea and DR. LIVINGSTONE. 303 the consequent weakness it induced, the brave spirit was up again eager as a high-spij:ited boy, for the path otduty pointed out. The above is but a sketch of the main points in the great , traveller's character, whose personal story I am about to relate. It was necessary that the reader should know what sort of man this Doctor Livingstone was, after I whom the New York Herald thought proper to despatch a special conespondent, with an expedition, at no matter what cost. After this study of him, I cannot better sum up his charac- ter than by using the words of one of my own men : — " He is a good man, an extremely good and kind man." It is not true, then, that his quondam companion did not know the nature of the man with whom he lived and travelled, who said that Livingstone would run away from any other white man who would come after him ; and, is it likely that the intellect of the facetious gentleman who stated his belief that " Livingstone had married an African princess, and had settled down for good," could fathom the single-minded - traveller and upright man David Livingstone ? Dr. David Livingstone left the Island of Zanzibar in March, 1866. On the 7th of the following month he de- parted from Mikindini Bay for the interior, with an expedi- tion consisting of twelve Sepoys from Bombay, nine men from Johanna, of the Comoro Isles, seven liberated slaves, and two Zambezi men (taking them as an experiment), six camels, three buffaloes, two mules and three donkeys. He thus had thirty men, twelve of whom — viz., the Sepoys — were to act as guards for the expedition. They were mostly armed with the Enfield rifles presented to the Doctor by the Bombay Government. The baggage of the expeditions-con- sisted of ten bales of cloth and two bags of beads, which were to serve as currency by which they would be enabled to purchase the necessaries of life in the countries the Doc- tor intended to visit. Besides the cumbrous moneys they carried several boxes of instruments, such as chronometers, air thermometers, sextant and artificial horizon, boxes con- taining clothes, medicines and personal necessaries. From the southern extremity of the Tanganyika he crossed Marangu and came in sight of Lake Moero. Tracing this 304 THE FINDING OF lake, which is about sixty miles in length, to its southern head, he found a river called the Luapula entering it from that direction. Following the Luapula south he found it issue from the large lake of Bangweolo, which is as large in superficial area as the Tanganyika. In exploring for the waters which emptied into the lake he found by far the most important of these feeders was the Chambezi. So that he had thus traced the Chambezi from its course to Lake BangAveolo, and issue from its northern head under the name of Luapula, and found it enter Lake Moero. Again he returned to Cazembis, well satisfied that the river running north through three degrees of latitude could not be the river running south under the name of the Zambezi, though there might be a remarkable resemblance in their names. At Cazembis he found an old white-bearded half-caste named Mohammed ben Salib, who was kept ^s a kind of prisoner at large by the King because of certain suspicious circumstances attending his advent and stay in his country. Through Livingstone's influence Mohammed ben Salib ob- tained his release. On the road to Ujiji he had bitter cause to regret having exerted himself in the half-caste's behalf He turned out to be a most ungrateful wretch, who poisoned the minds of the Doctor's few followers and in- gratiated himself in their favor by selling the favors of his concubines to them, thus reducing them to a kind of bond- age under him. From the day he had the vile old man in his company manifold and bitter misfortunes followed the Doctor up to his arrival in Ujiji, in March, 1869. From the date of his arrival until the end June, (1869), he remained in Ujiji. whence he dated those letters which, though the outside world still doubted his being alive, satis- fied the minds of the Royal Geographical people and his inti- mate friends that he was alive, and Musa's tale an ingenious but false fabrication of a cowardly deserter. It was during this time that the thought occurred to him of sailing around the Lake Tanganyika, but the Arabs and natives were so bent upon fleecing him that, had he undertaken it the remainder of his goods would not have enabled him to ex- plore the central line of drainage, the initial point of which he found far south of Cazembis, in about latitude eleven DR. LIVINGSTONE. 305 degrees, in the river Chambezi. In the days when tired Captain Burton was resting in Ujiji, after his march from the coast near Zanzibar, the land to which Livingstone, on his departure from Ujiji, bent his steps, was unknown to the Arabs save by vague report. Messrs. Burton and Speke never heard of it, it seems. Speke, who was the geographer of Burton's expedition, heard of a place called Uruwa, which he placed on his map according to the general direction in- dicated by the Arabs; but the most enterprising of the Arabs, in their search after ivory, only touched the frontiers of Rua, as the natives and Livingstone call it ; for Rua is an immense country, with a length of six degrees of latitude and as yet an undefined breadth from east to west. At the end of June, 1869, Livingstone took dhow at Ujiji and crossed over to Uguhha, on the western shore, for his last and greatest series of explorations, the results of which was the discovery of a series of lakes of great magnitude connected together by a large river called by different names as it left one lake to flow to another. From the port of Uguhha he set off in company with a body of traders, in an almost direct westerly course, through the lake country of Uguhha. Fifteen days march brought them to Bambarre, the first important ivory depot in Manyema, or, as the natives pronounce it, Manuyema. For nearly six months he was detained at Bambarre from ulcers in the feet, with copious discharges of bloody ichor oozing from the sores as soon as he set his feet on the ground. When well, he set ofi" in a northerly direction, and after several days, came to a broad, lacustrine river, called the Lualaba, flowing northward and westward, and, in some places southward, in a most confusing way. The river was from one to three miles broad. By exceeding pertinacity he contrived to follow its erratic course until he saw the Lualaba enter the narrow but lengthy Lake of Kamolondo, in about latitude 6 deg. 30 min. south. Retracing it south he came to the point where he had seen the Luapula enter Lake Moero. - ^ ". One feels quite enthusiastic when listening to Living- stone's description of the beauties of Moero scenery. Pent in on all sides by high mountains clothed to their tips with 306 THE FINDING OF^ the richest vegetation of the tropics, Moero discharges^ its superfluous waters through a deep rent in the bosom of the mountains. The impetuous and grand river roars through the chasm with the thunder of a cataract ; but soon after leaving its confined and deep bed it expands into the calm and broad Luaiaba, expanding over miles of ground, making great bends west and south-west, then, curving northward, enters Kamalordo. By the natives it is called the Luaiaba, but the Doctor, in order to distinguish it from the other rivers of the same name, has given it the name of Webb's River, after Mr. Webb, the wealthy proprietor of Newstead Abbey, who the Doctor distinguishes as one of his oldest and most consistent friends. Away to the south-west from Kamolondo is another large lake, which discharges its waters by the important river Locki, or Lomami, into the great Luaiaba. To this lake, known as Chebungo by the natives. Dr. I^ivingstone has given the name of Lincoln, to be hereafter distinguished on maps and in books as Lake Lincoln, in memory of Abraham Lincoln, our murdered President. This was done from the vivid impression pro- duced on his mind by hearing a portion of his inauguration speech read from an English pulpit, which related to the causes that induced him to issue his emancipation piocla- mation, by which memorable deed 4,000,000 of slaves were forever freed. To the memory of a man whose labors in behalf of the negro race deserves the commendation of all good men Livingstone has contributed a monument more durable than brass or stone. Entering Webb's River from south-southwest, a little north of Kamolondo, is a large river called Lufira, but the streams which discharge themselves from the watershed into the Luaiaba are so numerous that the Doctor's map would not contain them, so he has left all out except the most impor- tant. Continuing his way north, tracing the Luaiaba through its manifold and crooked curves as far as latitude 4 degrees south, he came to another large lake called the Unknown Lake ; but here you may come to a dead halt, and readf it thus : — ****** Here was the furthermost point. From here he was compelled to return on the weary road to Ujiji, a distance of 600 miles. . ' :: DR. LIVINGSTONE. 307 In this brief sketch of Doctor Livingstone's wonderful travels it is to be hoped that the most superficial reader, as well as the student of geography, comprehends this grand sys- tem of lakes connected together by Webb's River. To assist him, let him procure a map of Africa, by Keith Johnston, embracing the latest discoveries. Two degrees south of the Tanganyika, and two degrees west, let him draw the outlines of a lake, its greatest length from east to west, and let him call it Bangweolo. One degree or thereabout to the north- west let him sketch the outlines of another but smaller lake and call it Moero ; a degree again north of Moero another lake of similar size, and call it Kamolondo, and still a degree north of Kamolondo another lake, large and as yet of undefined limits, which, in the absence of any specific term, we will call it the Nameless Lake. Then let him connect these several lakes by a river called after different names. Thus, the main feeder of Bangweolo, the Chambezi ; the river which issues out of Bangweolo and runs into Moero, the Luapula ; the river connecting Moero with Kamolondo, Webb's River ; that which runs from Kamolondo into the Nameless Lake northward, Lulaba; and let him write in bold letters over the rivers Chambezi, Luapula, Webb's River and the Lualaba the " Nile," for these are all one and the same river. Again, west of Moero Lake, about one degree or thereabouts, another large lake may be placed on his map, with a river running diagonally across to meet the Lualaba north of Lake Kamolondo. This new lake is Lake Linclon, and the river is the Lomami River, the confluence of which with the Lualaba is between Kamolondo and the Nameless Lake. Taken altogether, the reader may be said to have a very fair idea of what Doctor Livingstone has been doing these long years, and what additions he has made to the study of African geography. That this river, distinguished under several titles, flowing from one lake into another in a northerly direction, with all its crooked bends and sinuosities, is the Nile, the true Nile, the Doctor has not the least doubt. For a long time he did doubt, because of its deep bends and curves — west, and south-west even — but having traced it from its headwaters, the Chambezi, through seven degrees of latitude — that is, from latitude 308 THE FINDING OF eleven degrees south to a little north of latitude of four degrees south — he has been compelled to come to the con- clusion that it can be no other river than the Nile. He had thought it was the Congo, but he has discovered the sources of the Congo to be the Kasai and the Quango, two rivers which rise on the western side of the Nile water-shed in about the latitude of Bangweolo ; and he was told of another river called the Lubilash, which rose from the north and ran west. But the Lualaba the Doctor thinks cannot be the Congo, from its great size and body and from its steady and continual flow northward through a broad and extensive valley, bounded by enormous mountains, westerly and easterly. The altitude of the most northerly point to which the Doctor traced the wonderful river was a little over two thousand feet, so that though Baker makes out his lake to be 2,700 feet above the sea, yet the Bhar Ghazal, through which Petherick's branch of the White Nile issues into the Nile, is only a little over tw^o thousand feet, in which case there is a possibility that the Lualaba may be none other than Petherick's branch. It is well known that trading sta- tions for ivory have been established for about five hundred miles up Petherick's branch. We must remember this fact when told that Gondokoro, in latitude four degrees north, is 2,000 feet above the sea, and latitude four degrees south, where the Doctor has halted, is only a little over 2,000 feet above the sea. That two rivers, said to be 2,000 feet above the sea, separated from each other by eight degrees of lati- tude, are the same stream may, among some men, be regarded as a startling statement. But we must restrain mere expressions of surprise and take into consideration that this mighty and broad Lualaba is a lacustrine river — broader than the Mississippi — and think of our own rivers, which though shallow, are exceedingly broad — instance our Platte River flowing across the prairies of Colorado and Ne- braska into the Missouri. We must wait also until the alti- tude of the two rivers — the Lualaba, where the Doctor halted, and the southern poin^ on the Bhar Ghazal, where Petherick has been — are known with perfect accuracy. The expedition travelled up the left bank of the Revuma River, a route as full of difficulties as any that could be DR. LIVINGSTONE. 309 chosen. For miles Livingstone and his party had to cut their way with their axes through the dense and almost im- penetrable jungles which lined the river's banks. The road was a mere footpath, leading, in the most erratic fashion, in and through the dense vegetation, seeking the easiest outlet from it without any regard to the course it ran. The pagezis were able to proceed easily enough, but the camels, on account of their enormous height, could not advance a step without the axes of the party first clearing the way. These tools of foresters were almost always required, but the ad- vance of the expedition was often retarded by the unwilling- ness of the Sepoys and Johanna men to work. Soon after the departure of the expedition from the coast the murmur- ings and complaints of these men began, and upon every oc- casion and at every opportunity they evinced a decided hos- tility to an advance. In order to prevent the progress of the Doctor, in hopes that it would compel him to return to the coast, these men so cruelly treated the animals that before long there was not one left alive. Failing in this they set about instigating the natives against the white man, whom they accused most wantonly of strange practises. As this plan was most likely to succeed, and has it was dangerous to have such men with him, the Doctor arrived at the conclusion that it was best to discharge them and accordingly sent the Sepoys back to the coast, but not without having first furnished them with the means of subsistence on their journey to the coast. These men were such a disreputable set that the natives talked of them as the Doctor's slaves. One of their worst sins was their custom to give their guns and ammu- nition to carry to the first woman or boy they met, whom they impressed for that purpose by either threats or promises which they were totally unable to perform and unwarrant- able in making. An hours' march was sufficient to fatigue them, after which they lay down on the road to bewail their hard fate and concoct new schemes to frustrate their leader's purposes. Towards night they generally made their appear- ance at the camping ground with the looks of half dead men. Such men naturally made but a poor escort, for had the party been attacked by a wandering tribe of natives of any 3IO THE FINDING OF Strength the Doctor could have made no defence, and no other alternative would be left to him but to surrender and be ruined. The Doctor and his little party arrived on the i8th July, 1866, at a village belonging to a chief of the Mahiyaw, situated eight days' march south of the Rovuma and overlooking the watershed of the I^ke Nyassa. The territory lying between the Rovuma River and this Mahiyaw chieftain was an uninhabited wilderness, during the transit of which Livingstone and the expedition suffered consider- ably from hunger and desertion of men. Early in August, 1866, the Doctor came to Mponda's country, a chief who dwelt near the Lake Nyassa. On the road thither two of the liberated slaves deserted him. Here, also, Wakotani (not Wikotani) 2, protege of the Doctor, insis- ted upon his discharge, alleging as an excuse, which the Doctor subsequently found to be untrue, that he had found his brother. He further stated that his famly lived on the east side of the Nyassa Lake. He further said that Mponda's favorite wife was his sister. Perceiving that Wakotani was unwilling to go with him further the Doctor took him to Mponda, who now saw and heard of him for the first time, and, having furnished the ungrateful boy with enough cloth and beads to keep him until his ** big brother" should call for him, left him with the chief, after first assur- ing himself that he would have honorable treatment from that chief The Doctor also gave Wakotani writing paper (as he could read and write, being some of the accompUshments acquired at Bombay, where he had been put to school) that should he at any time feel so disposed he might write to Mr. Horace Waller or to himself The Doctor further enjoined on him not to join any slave raid usually made by his countrymen, the men of Nyassa, on their neighbors. Upon finding that his application for a discharge was successful, Wakotani endeavored to induce Chumah, another /r^/^^g of the Doctor's, and a companion or chum of Wakotani, to leave the Doctor's service and proceed with them, promising as a bribe a wife and plenty of pombe from his " big brother." Chumah, on referring the matter to the Doctor, was advised not to go, as he (the Doctor) strongly suspected that Wakotani wanted only to make him his slave. Chu- mah wisely withdrew from his tempter. DR. LIVINGSTONE. - 311 From Mponda's country he proceeded to the heel of the Nyassa, to the village of a Babisa chief, who required medi- cine for a skin disease. With his usual kindness he stayed at this chiefs village to treat his malady. While here a half-caste Arab arrived from the western shore of the lake, who reported that he had been plundered by a band of Ma- Zitu at a place the Doctor and Musa, chief of the Johanna men, were very well aware was at least a hundred and fifty miles north north-west of where they were then:' stopping. Musa, however, for his own reasons — which will appear presently — eagerly listened to the Arab's tale, and gave full credence to it. Having well digested its horrifying contents, he came to the Doctor to give him the full benefit of what he had heard with such willing ears. The traveller patiently listened to the narrative — which lost none of its portentous significance through his relation, such as he believed it bore for himself and master — and then asked Musa if he believed it. '* Yes," answered Musa, readily ; " he tell me true, true. I ask him good, and he tell me true, true.'' The Doctor, however, said he did not believe it, for the Ma-Zitu would not have been satisfied with simply plunder- ing a man ; they would have murdered him ; but suggested, in order to allay the fears of his Moslem subordinate, that they should both proceed to the chief with whom they were staying, who, being a sensible man, would be able to advise them as to the probability or improbability of the tale being correct. Together they proceeded to the Babisa chief, who, when he had heard the Arab's story, unhesitatingly de- nounced the Arab as a liar and his story without the least foundation in fact, giving as a reason that if the Ma-Zitu had been lately in that vicinity he would have heard of it soon enough. But Musa broke out with " No, no. Doctor ; no, no, no. I no want to go to Ma-Zitu. |[ I no want Ma-Zitu to kill me. I want see my father, my mother, my child, in Johanna, I no want Ma-Zitu kill me." Ipsissima verba. These are Musa's words. To which the Doctor replied, " I don't want Ma-Zitu to kill me either ; but, as you are afraid of them, I promise to go straight! west until we get far past the beat of the Ma-Zitu." 312 - THE FINDING OF ^ Musa was not satisfied, but kept moaning and sorrowing, saying, *' If we had 200 guns with us I would go, but our small party they will attack by night and kill all." The Doctor repeated his promise, " But I will not go near them ; I will go west." As soon as he turned his face westward Musa and the Johanna men ran away in a body. The Doctor says in commenting upon Musa's conduct, that he felt strongly tempt- ed to shoot Musa and another ringleader, but was never- theless glad that he did not soil his hands with their vile blood. A day or two afterwards another of his men — Simon Price by name — came to the Doctor with the same'tale about the Ma-Zitu, but, compelled by the scant number of his people to repress all such tendencies to desertion and faint-he artedness, the Doctor " shut him up " at once and forbade him to utter the name of the Ma-Zitu any more. Had the natives not assisted him he must have despaired of ever being able to penetrate the wild and unexplored in- terior which he was now about to tread. " Fortunately," as the Doctor says with unction, ^' I was in a country now, after leaving the shores of the Nyassa, where the feet of the slave-trader had not trodden. It was a new and virgin land, and^of course, as I have always found it in such cases, the^natives were .really good and hospitable, and for very small portions of cloth my baggage was conveyed from village to village by them." In many other ways the traveller in his extremity was kindly treated by the undefiled and unspoiled natives. On leaving this hospitable region in the early part of De- cember, 1866, the Doctor entered a country where the Ma- Zitu had exercised their customary spoilating propensities. The land was swept clean of all provisions and cattle, and the people had emigrated to other countries beyond the bounds of these ferocious plunderers. Again the expedition was besieged by famine and was reduced to great extremity. To satisfy the pinching hunger it suffered it had recourse to the wild fruits which some parts of the country furnished. At intervals the condition of the hard-pressed band was made worse by the heartless desertion of some of its mem- DR. LIVINGSTONE. 3l3 bers, who more than once departed with the Doctor's per- sonal kit — changes of clothes, and linen, &c With more or less misfortunes constantly dogging his footsteps, he tra- versed in safety the countries of the Babisa, Bobema, Bar- unga, Baulungu and Londa. In the country of Londa lives the -famous Cazembe — made known to Europeans first by Dr. Lacerda, the Portu- guese traveller. Cazembe is a most intelligent prince ; is a tall, stalwart man, who wears a peculiar kind of dress, made of crimson print, in the form of a prodigious kilt. The mode of arranging it is most ludicrous. All the folds of this enormous kilt are massed in front, which causes him to look as if the peculiarities of the human body were reversed in his case. The abdominal parts are thus covered with a balloon-like expansion of cloth, while the lumbar region, which is by us jealously clothed, with him is only hj^lf draped by a narrow curtain which by no means suffices to obscure its naturally fine proportions. In this State dress King Cazembe received Dr. Livingstone, surrounded by his chiefs and body guards. A chief, who had been deputed by the King and elders to find out all about the white man, then stood up before the assembly and in a loud voice gave the result of the inquiry he had instituted. He had heard the white man had come to look for waiters, for rivers and seas. Though he did not understand what the white man could want with such things he had no doubt that the object was good. Then Cazembe asked what the Doctor pro- posed doing and where he thought of going. The Doctor replied that he had thought of going south, as he had heard of lakes and rivers being in that direction. Cazembe asked : — " What can you want to go there for ? The water is close here. There is plenty of large water in this neighborhood." Before breaking up the assembly Cazembe gave orders to let the white man go where he would through his country undisturbed and unmolested. He was the first Englishman he had seen, he said, and he liked him. Shortly after his introduction to the King the Queen en- tered the large house surrounded by a body guard of Amazons armed with spears. She was a fine, tall, hand- X7 314 THE FINDING OF some young woman, and evidently thought she was about to make a great impression upon the rustic white man, for she had clothed herself after a most royal fashion, and was armed with a ponderous spear. But her appearance, so different from what the Doctor had imagined, caused him to laugh, which entirely spoiled the effect intended, for the laugh of the Doctor was so contagious that she herself was the first who imitated, and the Amazons, courtier-like, followed suit. Much disconcerted by this, the Queen ran back, fol- lowed by her obedient damsels — a retreat most undignified and unqueenlike compared to her majestic advent into the Doctor's presence. But Livingstone will have much to say about his reception at this Court and about this King and Queen ; and who can so well relate the scenes he witnessed, and which belong exclusively to him, as he himself ^ Soon after his arrival in the country of Londa, or Lunda, and before he had entered the district of Cazembe, he had crossed a river called the Chambezi, which was quite an im- portant stream. The similarity of the name with that large and noble river south, which will be forever connected with his name, misled Livingstone at that time, and he accord- ingly did not pay it the attention it deserved, believing that the Chambezi was but the head-waters of the Zambezi; and consequently had no bearing or connection with the sources of the river of Egypt, of which he was in search. His fault was in relying too implicity upon the correctness of Portu- guese information. This error cost him many months of tedious labor and travel. From the beginning of 1867 — the time of his arrival at Cazembe — to the middle of March, 1869 — the time of his arrival in Ujiji — he was mostly en- gaged in correcting the errors and corruptions of the Portu- guese travellers. The Portuguese, in speaking of the River Chambezi, invariably spoke of it as *' our own Zambezi " — that is, the Zambezi which flows through the Portuguese possessions of the Mozambique. " In going to Cazempis from Nyassa," said they, '' you will cross our own Zam- bezi." Such positive and reiterated information like this not only orally, but in their books and maps was naturally confusing. When the Doctor perceived that what he saw and what they described was at variance, out of a sincere DR. LIVINGSTONE. 315 wish to be correct, and lest he might have been mistaken himseK he started to retravel the ground he had travelled before , ^ver and over again he traversed the several countries vatered by the several rivers of the complicated water system like an uneasy spirit ; over and over again he asked the same questions from the different peoples he met until he was obliged to desist, lest they might say, " The man is mad ; he has got water on the brain." But these travels and tedious labors of his in Londa and the adjacent countries have established beyond doubt first, that the Chambezi is a totally distinct river from the Zam- bezi of the Portuguese, and secondly, that the Chambezi, starting from about latitude eleven degrees south, is none other than the most southerly feeder of the great Nile, thus giving this famous river a length of over two thousand six hundred miles of direct latitude, making it second to the Mississippi, the longest river in the world. The real and true name of the Zambezi is Dombazi. When Lacuda and his Portuguese successors came to Cazembe, crossed the Chambezie and heard its name, they very naturally set it down as " our own Zambezi," and without further in- quiry sketched it as running in that direction. During his researches in that region, so pregnant in dis- coveries, Livingstone came to a lake lying northeast of Cazembe, which the natives called Liemba, from the coun- try of that name, which bordered it on the east and south. In tracing the lake north he found it to be none other than the Tanganyika, or the south-eastern extremity of it, which looks on the Doctor's map very much like an outline of Italy. The latitude of the southern end of this great body of water is about nine degrees south, which gives it thus a length, from north to south, of 560 geographical miles. Webb's River, or the Lualaba, from Bangweolo is a lacustrine river, expanding from one to three miles in breadth. At intervals it forms extensive lakes, then con- tracting into a broad river it again forms a lake, and so on to latitude four degrees north, and beyond this point the Doctor heard of a large lake again north. Now, for the sake of argument, suppose we give this nameless lake a length of four degrees of latitude, as it may be the one dis- .316 THE FINDING OF t:overed by Piaggia, the Italian traveller, from which Pet- herick's branch of the White Nile issues out through reeds, marshes and the Bahr Ghazal into the White Nile south of Gondokoro. By this method we can suppose the rivers one — for the lakes extending over so many degrees of latitude would obviate the necessity of explaining the differences of altitude apart. Also, that Livingstone's instalments for observation and taking altitude may have been in error, •and this is very likely to have been the case, subjected as they have been to rough-handling during nearly six years of travel. Despite the apparent difficulty about the altitude there is another strong reason for believing Webb's River, or the Lualaba, to be the Nile. The water-shod of this river, 600 miles of which Livingstone has travelled, is drained by a valley which lies north and south between the eastern and western ranges of the watershed. This valley or line of drainage, while it does not receive the Kasal and the Quango, receives rivers flowing from a great distance west — for instance, the important tributaries Luflra and Lomami, and large rivers from the east, such as the Lindi and Luamo ; and while the most intelligent Portuguese travel- lers and traders state that the Kasai, the Quango and Lubilash are the head waters of the Congo river, no one as yet has started the supposition that the grand river flowing north, and known to the natives as the Lualaba, was the Congo. If this river is not the Nile, where, then, are the head waters of the Nile ? The small river running out of the Victoria Nyanza and the river flowing out of the little Lake Albert have not sufficient water to form the great river of Egypt. As you glide down the Nile and note the Asna, the Giraffe, the Sobat, the Blue Nile and Atbara, and follow the river down to Egypt, it cannot fail to impress you that it requires many more streams, or one large river, larger than all yet discovered, to influence its inundations and replace the waste of its flow through a thousand miles of desert. Perhaps a more critical survey of the Bahr Ghazal would prove that the Nile is influenced by the waters that pour through '* the small piece of water resem- bling a duck pond buried in the sea of rushes," as Speke DR. LIVINGSTONE. II7 describes the Bahr Ghazal. Livingstone's discovery an- swers the question and satisfies the intelligent hundreds,who, though Bruce and Speke and Baker, each in his turn had declared he had found the Nile sources, yet doubted and hesitated to accept the enthusiastic assertions as a final solution of the Nile problem. Even yet, according to Livingstone, the Nile sources have not been found ; though he has traced the Lualaba through seven degrees of latitude flowing north, and though neither he nor I have a particle of doubt of its being the Nile, not yet can the Nile question be said to be solved and ended, for three reasons — First — He has heard of the existence of four fountains, two of which give birth to a river flowing north — Webb's River, or the Lualaba ; two to a river flowing south, which is the Zambezi. He has heard of these fountains repeatedly from the natives. Several times he has been within one hundred and two hundred miles from them, but something always interposed to prevent him going to see them. Ac- cording to those who have seen them, they rise on either side of a mound or hill which contains no stones. Some have even called it an ant hill. One of these fountains is said to be so large that a man standing on one side can- not be seen from the other. These fountains must be dis- covered, and their position taken. The Doctor does not suppose them to lie south of the feeders of Lake Bangweolo. Second — Webb's River must be traced to its connection with some portion of the Old N ile. Third — The connection between the Tanganyika and the Albert Nyanza must be ascertained. When these three things have been accomplished, then, and not till then, can the mystery of the Nile be explained. The two countries through which this marvellous lacustrine river — the Lualaba — flows with its manifold lakes and broad expanses of water, are Rua — the Umwa of Speke — and Mayema. For the first time Europe is made aware that between the Tanganyika and the known soures of the Congo there exist teeming millions of the negro race who never saw or heard of the white peoples who make such noisy and busy stir outside of Africa. Upon the minds of those who had the good fortune to see the first specimen of these 31 8 THE findi>;g of remarkable wliite races Livingstone seems to have made a favorable impression, though, through misunderstanding his object and coupling him with the Arabs who made horrible work there, his life has been sought after more than once. These two extensive countries, Rua and Manyema, are populated by true heathens — governed not as the sovereign- ties of Karagwah Wumdi and Uganda, by despotic kings, but each village by its own sultan or lord. Thirty miles out- side of their own immediate settlements the most intelligent of those small chiefs seem to know nothing. Thirty miles from the Luaiaba there were but few people who had ever heard of the great river. Such ignorance among the natives of their own countries, of course, increased the labors of Livingstone. Compared with these all tribes and nations in Africa with whom Livingstone came in contact may be deemed civilized. Yet in the rrts of home manufacture these wild people of Manyema are far superior to any he had seen. When other tribes and nations contented them- selves with hides and skins of animals thrown negligently over their shoulders, the people of Manyema manufactured a cloth from fine grass which may favorably compare with the finest grass cloth of India. They also know the art of dye- ing them in various colors — black, yellow and purple. The Wanguana or freed men of Zanzibar, struck with the beauty of this fine grass fabric, eagerly exchange their cotton cloths for fine grass cloth, and on almost every black man returned from Manyema I have seen this native cloth converted into elegantly made dafnirs (Arabic) — short jackets. These countries are also very rich in ivory. The fever for going to Manyema to exchange their tawdry beads for the precious tusks of Manyema is of the same kind as that which impelled men to the gulches and placers of California. Colorada, Montana and Idaho ; after nuggets to Australia, and diamonds to Cape Colony. Manyema is at present the El Dorado of the Arabs and the Wamrima tribes. It is only about four years since the first Arab returned from Manyema with such wealth of ivory and reports about the fabulous quantities found there that ever since the old beaten tracks of Karagwah, Uganda, Ufipa and Marunga have been com- paratively deserted. The people of Manyema, ignorant of DR. LIVINGSTONE. 319 the value of the precious article reared their huts upon ivory stanchions. Ivory pillars and doors were common sights in Manyema, and hearing of these one can no longer wonder at the ivory palace of Solomon. For generations they had used ivory tusks as doorposts and eave stanchions, until they had become perfectly rotten and worthless. But the advent of the Arabs soon taught them the value of the article. It h^ now risen considerably in price, though yet fabulously cheap. At Zanzibar the value of ivory per frarsilah of thirty-five pounds weight is from fifty dollars to sixty dollars, according to its quality. In Unyanyembe it is about one dollar and ten cents per pound ; but in Man- yema it may be purchased for from half a cent to one and a quarter cent's worth of copper per pound of ivory. The Arabs, however, have the knack of spoiling markets by their rapacity and wanton cruelty. With muskets a small party of Arabs are invincible against such people as those of Manyema, who until lately never heard the sound of a gun. The report of a musket inspires mortal terror in them, and it is almost impossible to induce them to face the muzzle of a gun. They believe that the Arabs have stolen the lightning, and that against such people the bow and arrow can have but little eft'ect. They are by no means devoid of courage, and they have often declared that were it not for the guns not one Arab would leave the country alive, which tends to prove that they would willingly en- gage in fight with the strangers, who have made themselves so detestable,|were it not that the startling explosion of gun- powder inspires them with such terror. Into whichever country the Arabs enter they contrive to render their name and race abominated. But the main- spring of it all is not the Arab's nature, color or name, but simply the slave trade. So long as the slave trade is per- mitted to be kept up at Zanzibar so long will these other- wise enterprising people, the Arabs, kindle against them throughout Africa the hatred of the natives. On the main lines of travel, from Zanzibar into the interior of Africa, none of these acts of cruelty are seen, for the very good reason that they have armed the natives with guns and taught them how to use weapons, which they are by no means loath to 320 THE FINDING OF do whenever an 6pportunity presents itself. When too late, when they have perceived their folly in selling guns to the natives, the Arabs repent and begin to vow signal vengeance on the person who will in future sell a gun to a native. But they are all guilty of the same folly, and it is strange they did not perceive that it was folly when they were doing so. In former days the Arab, protected by his slave escort armed with guns, could travel through Usegubha, Urori- Ukonongo, Uflipa, Karagwah, Unyoro andaJganda, with only a stick in his hand ; now, however, it is impossible for him or any one else to do so. Every step he takes, armed or unarmed, is fraught with danger. The Waseguhha near the coast halt him, and demand the tribute or give him the option of war ; entering Ugogo he is subjected every day to the same oppressive demand, or to the other fearful alter- native. The Wanyamwezi also show their readiness to take the same advantage ; the road to Karagwah is besieged with difficulties ; the terrible Mirambo stands in the way, defeats their combined forces with ease and makes raids even to the doors of their houses in Unyanyembe, and, should they succeed in passing Mirambo, a chief stands be- fore them who demands tribute by the bale, against whom it is useless to contend. These remarks have reference to the slave trade inaugurated in Manyema by the Arabs. Har- assed on the road between Zanzibar and Unyanyembe, minatory natives with bloody hands on all sides ready to revenge the slightest affi*ont, the Arabs have refrained from kidnapping between the Tanganyika and the sea ; but in Manyema, where the natives are timid, irresolute and divided into small, weak tribes, the Arabs recover their audacity and exercise their kidnapping propensities un- checked. The accounts which the Doctor brings from that new region are most deplorable. He was an unwilling spectator of a horrible deed — a mas- sacre committed on the inhabitants of a populous district — who had assembled in the market place, on the banks of the Lualaba, as they had been accustomed to for ages. It seems the Wa-Manyema are very fond of marketing, believ- ing it to be the summum bonum of human enjoyment. They find unceasing pleasure in chaffering with might and main DR. LIVINGSTONE. 32 1 for the least mite of their currency — the last bead — and when they gain the point to which their peculiar talents are devoted they feel intensely happy. The women are exces- sively fond of their marketing, and as they are very beauti- ful, the market place must possess considerable attractions for the male sex. It was on such a day, with just such a scene, that Tagomoyo, a half-caste Arab, with his armed slave escort, commenced an indiscriminate massacre by firing volley after volley into the dense mass of human beings. It is supposed that there were about two thousand present, and at the first sound of the firing these poor people all made a rush for their canoes. In the fearful hurry to avoid being shot the canoes were paddled away by the first for- tunate few who got possession of them. Those that were not so fortunate sprang into the deep waters of the Lualaba, and, though many of them became an easy prey to the voracious crocodiles that swarmed to the scene, the majority received their deaths from the bullets of the merciless Tagomoyo and his villanous band. The Doctor believes ^) as do the Arabs themselves, that about four hundred people mostly women and children lost their lives, while many more were made slaves. This scene is only one of many such which he has unwillingly witnessed, and he is utterly unable to describe the loathing he feels for the inhuman per- petrators. Slaves from Manyema command a higher price than those of any other country, because of their fine forms and general docility. The women, the Doctor says repeatedly, are re- markably pretty creatures, and have nothing except their hair in common with the negroids of the West Coast. They are of a very light color, have fine noses, well-cut and not over full-lips, and a prognathous jaw is uncommon. These women are eagerly sought after for wives by the half-castes of the East Coast, and even the pure Amani Arabs do not disdain connection with them. To the north of Manyema Living- stone came to a light-complexioned race of the color of Portuguese, or our own Louisiana quadroons, who are very fine people, and singularly remarkable for commercial cute- ness and sagacity. The women are expert divers for oysters, which are found in ijreat abundance in the Lualaba. 322 THE FINDING OF Rua, at a place called Katanga, is rich in copper. The copper mines of this place have been worked for ages. In the bed of a stream gold has been found washed down in pencil-shaped lumps, or particles as large as split peas. Two Arabs have gone thither to prospect for this metal, but as they are ignorant of the art of gulch mining it is scarcely possible that they will succeed. From these highly important and interesting discoveries Doctor Livingstone was turned back when almost on the threshold of success by the positive refusal of his men to accompany him further. They were afraid to go unless accompanied by a large force of men, and as these were not procurable in Manycma the Doctor reluctantly turned his face towards Ujiji. It was a long and weary road back. The journey had now no interest for him. He had travelled it before when going westward, full of high hopes and aspirations, impatient to reach the gaol which promised him rest from his labors ; now returning unsuccessful, baffled and thwarted when almost in sight of the end, and having to travel the same road back on foot, with disappointed expectations and defeated hopes preying on his mind, no wonder that the brave old spirit almost succumbed and the strong constitution was almost wrecked. He arrived at Ujiji, Oct. 26th, almost at death's door. On the way he had been trying to cheer himself up, since he had found it impossible to contend against the obstinancy of his men, with *' it won't take long, five or six months more ; it matters not, since it can't be helped. I have got my goods in Ujiji, and can hire other people and make a new start." These are the words and hopes with which he tried to delude himself into the idea that all would be right yet ; but imagine, if you can, the shock he must have suffered when he found that the man to whom was entrusted his goods for safe keeping had sold every bale for ivory. The evening of the day Livingstone had returned to Ujiji, Susi and Chuma, two of his most faithful men, were seen crying bitterly. The Doctor asked them what ailed them, and was then informed for the first time of the evil tidings that awaited him. Said they : " All our things are sold, sir. Shereef has sold everything for ivory." DR. LIVINGSTONE. 323 Later in the evening Shereef came to see him and shame- lessly offered his hand, with a salutatory " Yambo." Living- stone refused his hand, saying he could not shake hands with a thief. As an excuse Shereef said he had divined on the Koran and that told him the Hakim (Arabic for Doctor) was dead. Livingstone was now destitute. He had just enough to keep himself and his men alive for about a month, after which he would be forced to beg from the Arabs. He had arrived in Ujiji, October 26. The Herald Expedition arrived November jo, from the coast — only six- teen days difference. Had I not been delayed at Unyan- yembe by the war with Mirambo I should have gone on to Manyema, and very likely have been travelling by one road, ' while he would have been coming by another to Ujiji. Had I gone on two years ago, when I first received instruc- tions, I should have lost him without doubt. But I am detained by a series of circumstances, which chafed and fretted me considerably at the time, only to permit him to reach Ujiji sixteen days before I appeared. It was as if we were marching to meet together at an appointed rendezvous — the one from the west, the other from the east. The Doctor had heard of a white man being at Unyan- yembe, who was said to have boats with him, and he had thought he was another traveller sent by the French govern- ment to replace Lieutenant Le Sainte, who died from fever a few miles above Gondokoro. I had not written to him because I believed him to be dead, and of course my sud- den entrance into Ujiji was a great surprise to him as it was to the Arabs. But the sight of the American flag, which he saw waving in the van of the expedition, indicated that one was coming who could speak his own language, and you know already how the leader was received. CONJOINT EXPLORATIONS. ,$..;l ■' Ujiji, Lake Tanganyika, ) Dec. 23rd, 187 1. j A few days after the arrival of the Herald Expedition at Ujiji, I asked the Doctor if he had explored the head of the Tanganyika. He said he had not, " he had not thought it of so much importance as the central line of drainage ; besides, when he had proposed to do it, before leaving for Manyema, the Wajiji had shown such a disposition to fleece him that he he had desisted from the attempt." Your correspondent then explained to him what great importance was attached to the lake by geographers, as stated in the newspapers, and suggested to him that it were better, seeing that he was about to leave for Unyanyembe, and that something might occur in the mean while to hinder him from ever visiting it, to take advantage of the offer I made of putting myself, men, and effects of the expedition at his service for the purpose of exploring the northern head of the Tanganyika. . . . He at once accepted the offer, and, like a hero, lost no time in starting. On the 20th of November, Dr. Livingstone and your correspondent, with twenty picked men of the Herald Expedition Corps, started. Despite the assertion of Arabs that the Warundi were dangerous, and would not let us pass, we hugged their coast closely, and when fatigued, boldly encamped in their country. Only once were we obliged to fly — and this was at dead of night — from a large party which we knew to be surrounding us from the land side. We got to the boat safely, and we might have punished them severely if the Doctor had been so disposed. Once also we were stoned, but we paid no heed to them, and kept (224) DR. LIVINGSTONE. 325 on our way along their coast until we arrived at Mokam- ba's, one of the chiefs of Usige. Mokamba was at war with a neighbouring chief, who lived on the left bank of the Rusizi. That did not deter us, and we crossed the head of the Tanganyika to Mugihewah, governed by Ruhinga, brother of Mokamba. Mugihewah is a tract of country on the right bank of the Rusizi, extending to the lake. With Mokamba and Ruhinga we became most intimate ; they proved to be sociable, good- natured chiefs, and gave most valuable information con- cerning the countries lying to the north of Usige ; and if their information is correct. Sir Samuel Baker will be obliged to curtail the ambitious dimensions of his lake by one degree, if not more. A Mgwana living at Mokamba's on the eastern shore of the lake, had informed us that the River Rusizi certainly flowed out of the lake, and after joining the Kitangule, emptied into the Lake N'yanza (Victoria). When we entered Ruhinga's territory of Mugihewah, we found ourselves but 300 yards from the river about which a great deal has been said and written. At Unyanyembe I was told that the Rusizi was an affluent. • ^ ' At Ujiji all Arabs but one united in saying the same thing, and within ten miles of the Rusizi a freedman of Zanzibar swore it was an affluent. On the morning of the eleventh day of our departure from Ujiji, we were rowed towards the river. We came to a long narrow bay, fringed on all sides with tall, dense reeds, and swarming with crocodiles, and soon came to the mouth of the Rusizi. As soon as we had entered the river, all doubt vanished before the strong, turbid flood against which we had to contend in the ascent. After about ten minutes we entered what seemed a lagoon, but which was the result of a late inundation. About an hour higher up, the river began to be confined to its proper banks, and is about thirty yards broad, but very shallow. Two days higher up, Ruhinga told us the Rusizi was joined by the Loanda, coming from the north-west. ^26 THE FINDING OF There could be no mistake then. Dr. Livingstone and myself had ascended it, had felt the force of the strong inflowing current — the Rusizi was an influent, as much so as the Malagarazi, the Linche, and Rugufu, but with its banks lull it can only be considered as ranking third among the rivers flowing into the Tanganyika. Though rapid, it is extremely shallow ; it has three mouths, up which an ordi- nary ship's boat, loaded, might in vain attempt to ascend. Burton and Speke, though they ascended to within six hours' journey by canoe from the Rusizi, were compelled to turn back by the cowardice of the boatmen. Had they ascended to Meuta's capital, they could easily have seen the head of the lake. Usige is but a district of Wumdi, governed by several small chiefs, who owe obedience to Mwezi, the great King of Wumdi. We spent nine days at the head of the Tanganyika, exploring the islands and many bays that indent its shores. In returning to Ujiji we coasted along the west side of the Tanganyika, as far as the country of the Wasansi, whom we had to leave on no amicable terms, owing to their hostility to Arabs, and arrived at Ujiji on the i8th of December, having been absent twenty-eight days. Though the Rusizi river can no longer be a subject of curiosity to geographers — and we are certain that there is no connection between the Tanganyika and Baker's Lake, or the Albert N'yanza, — it is not yet certain that there is no oonnection between the Tanganyika and the Nile river. The western coast has not all been explored ; and there is reason to suppose that a river runs out of the Tanganyika through the deep caverns of Kabogo Mountain, far under- ground and out on the western side of Kabogo into the Lualaba, or the Nile. Livingstone has seen the river about forty miles or so west of Kabogo (about forty yards broad at that place), but he does not know that it runs out of the mountain. . . This is one of the many things which he has yet to examine. ' DEPARTURE FROM UJIJI. KwiHARA, Unyanyembe, Feb. 21st, 1872. After spending Christmas at Ujiji, Doctor Livingstone, escorted by the Herald Expedition, composed of forty Wan- guana soldiers, well armed, left for Unyanyembe on the 26th of December, 187 1. In order to arrive safely, untroubled by wars and avari- cious tribes, we sketched out a, road to Unyanyembe, thus : — Seven days by water south to Urimba. Ten days across the uninhabited forests of Kawendi. Twenty days through Unkonongo, direct east. Twelve days north through Unkoriongo. Thence five days into Unyanyembe, where we arrived without adventure of any kind, except killing zebras, buf- faloes, and giraffes, after fifty-four days' travel. The expedition suffered considerably from famine, and your correspondent from fever, but these are incidental to the march in this country. The Doctor tramped it on foot like a man of iron. On arrival at Unyanyembe, I found that the Englishman, Shaw, whom I had turned back as useless, had about a month after his return succumbed to the climate of the inteiior and liad died, as well as two Wauguana of the expedition who had been left behind sick. Thus, during less than twelve months, William Lawrence Farquhar, of Leith, Scotland, and John William Shaw, of London, England, the two white men I had engaged to assist me, had died ; also eight baggage-carriers and eight soldiers of the expedition had died. I was bold enough to advise the Doctor to permit the expedition to escort him to Unyanyembe, through the country it was made acquainted with while going to Ujiji, for (327) 328 THE FINDING OF the reason that were he to sit down at Ujiji until Mirambo was disposed of, he might remain a year there, a prey to high expectations, ending always in bitter disappointments. I told him, as the Arabs of Unyanyembe were not equal to the task of conquering Mirambo, that it were better he should accompany the Herald Expedition to Unyanyembe, and there take possession of the last lot of goods brought to him by a caravan which left the sea-coast simultaneously with our expedition. The Doctor consented, and thus it was that he came so far back as Unyanyembe. It ?s erroneously supposed by his friends that Dr. Living- stone ib most industriously attended to, that he receives an- nually, if not semi-annually, large supplies of cloth, beads, and necessaries. Your correspondent begs to inform his friends that the flerald expedition found him turned back from his explorations when on the eve of being terminated thoroughly, by the very man sent to him by the British Consulate ; that the expedition found him sitting down at Ujiji utterly destitute, robbed by the very men sent by the British Consul at Zanzibar with his caravan ; that the Herald Expedition escorted him to Unyanyembe only in time to save his last stock of goods, for they were rapidly being made away with by the very men entrusted by the British Consu- late with the last lot of goods ; that it was only by an acci- dent that your correspondent saw a packet of letters ad- dressed to Livingstone, and so forcibly took one of Living- stone's men to carry the letters to his employer. When we arrived at Unyanyembe, two bales of cloth, two bags of beads, and one case of brandy had already disap- peared out of the last lot. Neither are the supplies or letters hurried up to him. He might have waited long at Ujiji waiting for goods and letters that never would come, if the Herald Expedition had not informed him. Though the distance from Zanzibar to Unyanyembe is but three months for a loaded caravan, yet the Consulate's trusty men stopped on the sea-coast, within a stone's throw (figuratively speaking) of the Consulate, over three and a half months, and Livingstone got his goods thirteen a half DR. LIVINGSTONE. 329 months after they left the sea-coast, and only at three months from the coast Livingstone had to come for them himself a distance of 350 miles. Within the time that the British Consul's men took to convey Livingstone's goods and letters a distance of only 525 miles, the Herald Expedition was formed, and marched 2,059 English statute miles, and before the fourteenth month of its departure from the sea-coast, the Herald Expedition will have arrived at the sea-coast, be paid off, and disbanded^ In the matter of supplies, then, being sent to Livingstone semi-annually or annually, there is no truth whatever. The cause is extreme apathy at Zanzibar, and the reckless character of the men sent. Where English gentlemen are so liberal, and money so plentiful, it should be otherwise. When preparing to return to the coast, your correspon- dent, in command ,of your expedition, turned over to Dr. Livingstone nine bales of mixed cloths, 980 pounds of as- sorted beads, well adapted to Rua and Manyema, and 350 pounds of brass wire, besides one portable boat to cross rivers, a supply of carpenters' tools, revolvers, carbines, and several hundred pounds of ammunition. KwiHARA, Unyanyembe, March 12th, 1872. The day after to-morrow the Herald Expedition will leave the Land of the Moon — Unyamwezi — for the sea-coast. Your correspondent has been commissioned by Doctor Livingstone, if there is time before the first ship leaves Zan- zibar, to send him fifty well-armed men from Zanzibar, to act as soldiers and servants for a new expedition which he is about to organize for rapid exploration of a few doubtful points, before returning home to declare to those concerned that he has finished his work. He will leave Unyanyembe for Ufipa, thence to Liemba and Marumgu, and crossing the Luapula river at Chicumbi's, will make his way to the copper mines of Katanga, in Rua ; then eight days south, to discover the fountains of Herodo- 18 S3^ THE FINDING OF tus ; then return by Katanga to the underground houses of Rua, ten days north-east of Katanga ; thence to Lake Ka- molondo, and by River Lafira to Lake Lincoln ; thence back to Lualaba, to explore the lake north of Kamolondo ; thence return by Uguhha to Ujiji, or by Marumgu, through Urori, to the coast, and England. This is his present programme, which he thinks will only take him eighteen months ; but, as I have told him, I think it will take two years. Though he is now going on for sixty years of age, he looks but forty-five or fifty — quite hale and hearty. He has an enormous appetite, which has abated nothing of its powers since I have known him. He is in need of no rest : he needed supplies ; he has got them now, and every- thing he needs. Thourh sick and thin when I sa^^' him at Ujiji, he is now fleshy and ' stoutish, and must weigh about 1 80 pounds. Though I have hung my balance scales temptingly before his eyes, I have never been able to get him to weigh himself I have not the slightest fears about his health, or of any danger coming to him from the natives. Before the full text of the preceding letters of Mr. Stanley had reached England, the following intelligence had been transmitted from Bombay : — " Messrs. Stanley, Henn, New, and Morgaro sailed from Zanzibar for Seychelles on the 29th en r$ute for Europe in the screw steamer Star^ Messrs. W. Oswald and Co. Mr. Stanley, with his usual activity, chartered the steamer. Two days before leaving, Mr. Stanley despached men and supplies to Dr. Livingstone, who awaits them at Unyau- yembe. *' Mr. Stanley was very anxious to go to Bagamoyo to start the party, and accompany them for one day's march, when they would be sure to go on*; but he was unable to do so without being detained for one month longer in Zanzi- bar or Seychelles. The head native employe in the American Consulate went to Bagamoyo for this purpose, and, in the DR. LIVINGSTONE. 33^ event of difficulty occurring, arrangements were made for insuring the forwarding of the reHef expedition with all des- patch. Heavy rains still continue, and the country to the west of Bagamoyo may be impassable. " Mr. Stanley has sent the suppHes in charge of an Arab, along with 5 7 men, well armed, and in light marching order. These men \vall be at the disposal of the Doctor, being under engagement to that effect." . i ■{f(f ,?-t I •., -J ':"•>■•-'; -M' :; ■»i- STANLEY AT BRIGHTON. HIS STATEMENT BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. Mr. Stanley's first appearance in public in England|has more than equalled the general expectation, high as |this ran here. Soon after nine the great concert hall in Middle street began to fill, and ft-om this time till eleven, when the proceedings commenced, people poured in by the hundred, until every available seat was occupied, except a row of velvet chairs in front of and facing the platform, reserved for the Emperor and Empress of the French, the Prince Imperial and suite. Mr. John Locke, M. P., Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Professor Fawcett, M. P., Mr. Edwin Chadwick, Dr. Carpenter, Lady Burdett Coutts, Sir John Bowring, Dr. Price, and Admiral Richards, the Hydro- grapher of the Navy, were among the first arrivals. The imperial party came in a few minutes before eleven ; then the leading members of the geographical section took their seats upon the platform, Mr. Francis Galton in the chair, with Sir Henry Rawlinson, Dr. Beke and Consul Petherick on his left ; and Mr. Stanley, Admiral Richards and others on his right. There was just the kind of enthusiasm which might have been looked for, both when Mr. Stanley ap- peared and when his name was mentioned by the President. Again and again did the audience, which numbered frova a thousand to fifteen hundred people, express their voci- ferous welcome ; the Emperor and Empress applauded as heartily as the rest, and Mr. Stanley having to rise more than once to bow his acknowledgments. Determination and pluck are written upon the young traveller^* face in characters which are unmistakeable, and if ever a man (332) DR. LIVINGSTONE 333 " looked the part " he has been called upon to play, it is the intrepid discoverer of Livingstone. Further, Mr. Stanley developed this morning qualities which prove him to be pre-eminently qualified for a branch of public life which would enable him to confer great pleasure upon an indefinite number of people ; and if it has not already oc- curred to him to deliver a course of lectures in London and our leading provincial towns, I beg to present him with the suggestion, and to predict for him in that capacity enormous success. Gifted with great powers of expression, a sonorous voice, no little humor, abundant capacity for re- tort and for holding his own pleasantly and firmly, Mr. Stanley's triumphant debut this morning before many of the leading geographers of the world furnished a remark- able example of the power of mother wit and practical ex- perience. Altogether the impression left by Mr. Stanley upon his hearers was in the highest degree favorable, 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 in debate. But Mr. Stanley is essentially the man for a platform and a popular assem- bly, and if he could be induced to deliver a lecture and illustrate it with drawings, diagrams and maps he would furnish the public with an extremely attractive and instruc- tive entertainment. Meanwhile, people are asking what public honor is to be paid him and when it will be an- nounced. His achievement is not one which England can pass by, and some mark of recognition by the government would never seem more grateful than now. PRESIDENT GALTON^S OPENING ADDRESS. The President, in introducing Mr. Stanley, said : — The proceedings to-day will be opened by an account by Mr. H. W. Stanley of the parts of Africa visited by him — that is, the northern part of Tanganyika and the Rusizi, and the new route from Unyanyembe ; and it will be followed by the reading of extracts from the despatches of Dr. Living- stone — extracts bearing solely on the geographical aspect of 334 THE FINDING OF the question. These extracts will be illustrated by a large map drawn in the map room of the Royal Geographical Society, whose President sits at my left (Sir H. Rawlinson). Afterwards Mr. Stanley will relate his wanderings, and point out what he considers to be the corrections which ought to be made, 'speaking from his recollection, of the route map made by Dr. Livingstone himself, which he has seen, and a copy of which to my knowledge exists in this kingdom. Then a short paper will be read which has been sent to us by Colonel Grant (Speke and Grant), who, I regret, is not present, and the discussion will follow. I will now detain you one moment longer, to explain how the circumstances stood previous to Mr. Stanley's expedition ; and it is ne- cessary I should do so, for much misconception prevails on the subject. It is about six years ago that a rumor reached England of Dr. Livingstone's death — a rumor which you recollect was doubted by our own President (Sir Rod- erick Murchison), and which was afterwards wholly dis- proved by the expedition sent out specially from England, under Captain Young, for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of it ; and, again, by letters received from Dr. Living- stone himself, dated in 1869, only three years ago. We had previously received from letters him — viz., in 186 7 and 1868. They requested that supplies should be sent, and await him at Ujiji. The route from the coast was first opened up by Captain Burton and Captain Speke, and they found it was a perfectly open caravan road, along which there was no difficulty whatever other than is common in caravan roads in uncivilized countries — no difficulty what- ever in transmitting provisions and supplies. Supplies were actually sent by that route. I have a list of four parties which went with supplies — viz., in 1867, 1868, 1869 and 1870, and the supplies sent from the coast in 1869 actually reached Livingstone, not only at Unyanyembe, but in Ujiji. But in that year a difficult state of circumstances arose. Cholera broke out, and it was impossible for caravans to pass through. Most of the men died, and supplies were stopped at Unyanyembe. Afterwards war broke out, and the route which could be travelled in ordinary times be- came closed, or almost closed. It was then a matter of DR. LIVINGSTONE. 335 great consideration with the Royal Geographical Society what steps they should take ; but at that time we heard that Mr. Stanley, actuated by honorable motives and de- spatched by the New York Herald, had actually started {in search of Dr. Livingstone. Supplies and letters were there- fore placed in his hands to be delivered to Dr. Livingstone. The Royal Geographical Society, not wishing in any way to compete vnth an existing expedition, took no other steps. Afterwards a nnnor reached England, happily unfounded, that Mr. Stanley had got to Unyanyembe and that his ex- pedition had been broken up ; that in consequence of the wars of the Arabs it had succumbed, and that he was him- self ill of fever and incapable of pushing on in his mission. Although we knew little reliance was to be placed in such rumors we resolved to send out that expedition, of which you have heard so much and which you know has returned. It happened that before we sent out the expedition Mr. Stanley had actually shaken hands with Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji. (Loud cheers.) When the expedition reached the coast of Africa and was ready to start, they met Mr. Stanley's advance return party and in a few days afterwards Mr. Stanley himself (Cheers.) Now I have explained to the best of my ability the simple facts of the case, and I now call upon Mr. Stanley to give us his account of his most adventurous expedition. STANLFA''S NARRATIVE. Mr. Stanley then stepped forward on the platform and was again loudly cheered. He said : — Ladies and gentle- men, I consider myself in the light of a troubadour, to relate to you the tale of an old man who is tramping on- ward to discover the source of the Nile — to tell you that I found that old man at Ujiji, and to tell you of his woes and sufferings and how he bore his misfortunes with the Chris- tian patience and endurance of a hero. Before I started for central Africa I knew nothing of that great broad tract in the centre of the African Continent. My duty led me to fields of journalism — my duty carried me far away from Central Africa.' If I had ever dreamed that I should visit the heart of Africa I should have smiled at myself. 236 THE FINDING OF Now, while I was following my duties at Madrid, I re- ceived a telegram to come to Paris on important business. I went and found Mr. James Gordon Bennett, the younger, of the New York Herald — (cheers) — I found him in bed ; I knocked at his door. He said, ** Come in," and then demanded my name. • ** My nan-^e is Stanley." " Oh, you are the man I want. Do you knovr where Livingstone is ?" " I declare to you I do not." (Laughter.) " Do you suppose he is alive ?" " I really don't know." " What do you think of it ?" I replied, ** It passes all my comprehension." (Laughter.) '* Well, I think he is alive, and I want you to find him." (Laughter.) I thought it was a most gigantic task, but I dared not say " no " to Mr Bennett, I answered, " If you send me to Central Africa I shall go there." (Loud cheers.) He said, " Well, go, I believe he is alive, and you can find him." I said, " Mr. Bennett, have you the least idea how much that little journey will cost? (Laughter.) The Burton and Speke expedition cost between ^2,000 and ;^4,ooo. Are you ready to incur that expense ?" Mr. Bennett responded, " Draw ;^i,ooo, and when that is finished draw another ;^i,ooo, and when that is done draw another ;^ 1,000, and when you have got rid of that draw another and another." (Cheers.) When I was in such a position what was I to do ? I saw he was determined I should go and find Dr. Living- stone^ and I went. He would take no apologies or ex- cuses, so I said, " What it is open to poor human nature to do, I will do — I bid you good night" (Laughter and cheers.) ... ., Now, ladies and gentlemen, I had never read any book on Central Africa, and, indeed, I thought Dr. Livingstone a myth. I knew books and newspapers had said much about him, and that all people gloried in him, yet I had a doubt about his being alive. Before I started on my mis- DR. LIVINGSTONE. 337 sion I had to give a description of the opening of the Suez Canal, and then I had to visit the vast temple of Solomon under ground. (Mr. Stanley then mentioned other duties he had to discharge, which included journeys to the Dead Sea, Caucasus, Persia, Bagdad, the Euphrates Valley Rail- way, and other places.) When I reached Zanzibar I began to study books on Central Africa, and to draw up an estimate of the cost of my expedition in search of Dr. Livingstone. I first put it down at $3,000, but I had to increase it several times until it reached $20,000. Mr. Stanley then related the difficulty he had in learning the names of the currency among the natives in trading, and how he asked every Arab he met whether a white man had been seen in the country, and the conflicting information he received on the subject. One said he saw one at Ujiji, and he was very fat and fond of rice. (Laughter.) Another said a white man had been wounded when he was engaged in hunting. When I got to Unyanyembe, the great central depots of the Arabs, I asked the Governor where the fat man was. He said he lived at Ujiji somewhere, and was a great eater of butter. (Laughter.) I thought that was good news. I said, " Do you think he is alive?'" *' Ah ! great master, I don't say he is alive, because there has been war there." He said he had divined on the Koran, and found Livingstone was dead. Now my next point was Ujiji, from Unyanyembe. I had never been in Africa before. There were no rail- roads, no telegraphs, no balloons, and there was a war raging in the country. First I must cut my way through this war country. We went on for two days, but on the third we made a most disgraceful retreat. (Laughter.) All my men deserted me. I made my way to the camp of the Arabs, and I said there is a war going on, and it is between the Arabs and the natives. I will find my own way to Livingstone. One of them said, " Oh, great master, you must not do that. I must write to the Sultan and say you are obstinate, that you are going to get killed." " All right," said I ; " there are jungles. If one way is closed we can try another. If that is closed we can try another, and so on. I want to go to Ujiji." ^^8 THE FINDING OF So on the 23rd September last year I started, and went directly south until I came to the frontier of the adjoining country, and when I came to the corner of it I found there was another war there. In fact I was going straight into it. I had to go up north now, and came to the salt pans of which Br *<:on speaks. In crossing the river I had such little incide s as a crocodile eating one of my donkeys. (Laughter.) I came next to a land notorious for its robbers. I did not know this, and one night I called a council of my principal men. I told them I could not stand this tribute taking. They asked, " What will you do, master?" I said, " The thing is to go into the jungle and make direct west." At the dead of the night we went into the bamboo jungle, and on the fourth day we stood on the last hill. We had crossed the last stream ; we had traversed the last plain, we had climbed the last mountain, and Ujiji lay em- bowered in the palms beneath us. (Cheers.) Now, it is customary in Africa to make your presence known by shouting and shooting guns. We fired our guns as only exuberant heroes can do. I said, ** I suppose I shall not find the white man here. We must go on to the Congo and away to the Atlantic Ocean, but we must find this white man." So we were firing away, shouting, blowing horns, beating drums. All the people came out, and the great Arabs from Muscat came out. Hearing we were from Zanzibar, and were friendly and brought news of their relatives, they welcomed us. And while we were travelling down that steep hill, down to this little town, I heard a voice saying, " Good morning, sir." (Loud cheers and laughter.) I turned and said sharply, " Who the mischief are you ?" " I am the servant of Dr. Livingstone, sir." I said, "What ! Is Dr. Livingstone here?" "Yes, he is here. I saw him just now." I said, Do you mean to say Dr. Livingstone is here ?" " Sure.'' " Go and tell him I am coming." (Laughter and cheers.) Do you think it possible for me to describe my emotions as I walked down those few hundred yards ? This man, David Livingstone, that I beHevcd to be a myth, was in front of me a few yards. I confess to you that were it not for certain feelings of pride, I should have DR. LIVINGSTONE. 339 turned over a somersault. (Laughter.) But I was ineifably happy. I had found Livingstone ; my work is ended . It is only a march home quick ; carry the news to the first telegraph station, and so give the word to the world. (Cheers.) A great many people gathered around us. My attention was directed to where a group of Arabs was standing, and in the centre of this group a pale, careworn, grey-bearded old man, dressed in a red shirt, with a crimson 3 oho, with a gold band round his cap, an old tweed pair of pants, his shoes looking the worse for wear. Who is this old man ? I ask myself. Is it Livingstone ? Yes, it is. No, it is not. Yes, it is. " Dr. Livingstone, I presume ?" "Yes." (Loud cheers.) Now it would never have done in the presence of the grave Arabs, who stood there stroking their beards, for two white men to kick up their heels. No ; the Arabs must be attended to. They would carry the story that we were children — fools. So we walked side by side into the verandah. There we sat — the man, the myth, and I. This was the man; and what a woeful tale of calamities that wrinkled face, those grey hairs in his beard, those silver Hnes in his head — what a woeful tale they told ! Now we begin to talk. I don't know about what. I know we talk, and by-and-by come plenty of presents from the Arabs. We eat and talk, and whether Livingstone eats most or I eat most I cannot tell. I tell him many things. He asks, " Do you know such and such a one ?" " Yes." '* How is he ?" *' Dead.^' " Oh, oh l" " And such a one ?" " Alive and well." " Thanks be to God." "And what are they all doing in Europe now?" "Well, the French are kicking up a fuss ; and the Prussians are around Paris, and the world is turned topsy-turvy." It is all a matter of won- der for Livingstone. He soon turned in to read his letters. And who shall stand between this man and the outer world? I should like to say a great deal more to you, but I want you to find out one thing, and that is — I want you to find out what this man Livingstone was — what was his character —that this man can stand the fatigues, brave the dangers and sufferings of Central Africa. What is there in him which makes him go on while others turn back ? What is It in him who has discovered so many lakes and rivers and 340 THE FINDING OF Streams, passed over so many virgin countries and through so many forests, that makes him say, " It is not enough ?" This is what I want to know. I asked him if he had been up to the Lake Tanganyika yet. There is a great deal said about that. He said the central line of drainage ab- sorbed all his means. I proposed to him we should go there with my men and material, and make a pleasure party of it He said, •' I am your man." I said, " Thej think we should go there." " Very well ; it shall be done to- morrow." And to-morrow we went. Now, it is about what Livingstone and myself discovered at the northern end of Lake Tanganyika that the Royal Geographical Society has requested me to read you a formal paper on the subject. (Cheers.) Mr. Stanley then read his paper descriptive of Lake Tan- ganyika, at the conclusion of which the following conversa- tion ensued : — The President — You have amply testified by your ap- plause your appreciation of the touching and interesting narrative you have just heard. One almost regrets — if one might be allowed to parody a remark of Sydney Smith's — that more eminent African discoverers were not lost in and that more able correspondents like Mr. Stanley have not gone there in search of them. (Cheers.) I will say no more now, because we have much to do. I will simply ask Mr. Stanley how much furthur Lake Tanganyika extends to the northward than the farthest point reached by Captains Burton and Speke ? Mr. Stanley — Captains Burton and Speke halted on a sandy patch thirteen miles from the extremest end of Tan- ganyika. Had they gone half way up the mountain re- ferred to in my address, where resided the king of the TJrundi, they must have seen the northern end of Tangan- yika plainly ; but resting where they did, they simply reached the point where the eastern and western ranges meet, and where the eastern overlaps the western. At the extremest end Tanganyika is fifteen or sixteen miles broad. The President — I should like to ask another question, and that regards the sweetness or the brackishness of the DR. LIVINGSTONE. . 341 water of Lake Tanganyika. This is important, because the question of whether the Rusizi is an effluent or influent de- pends upon the character of the water. , . Mr. Stanley — I could not wish a nicer or sweeter water to make a cup of tea or coffee than the water of Lake Tan- ganyika. (Laughter and cheers.) Mr. Clements R. Markham then read extracts from Dr. Livingstone's Foreign Office despatches, which are published in full, in this volume. Mr. Stanley, in reply to a further question put by the President, explained that many of the places marked on the existing maps did not correspond with the places where they were put on the maps of Dr. Livingstone. — Mr. C. R. Markham next read the following paper from Colonel Grant, a portion of which had only arrived by post that morning : — " The two letters from Dr. Livingstone to Mr. Gorden Bennett, of the New York Herald, inform us that he had traced the southern wrters from ii to 5 south latitude, and he supposed that they must flow on to the Nile by the Bahr-Gazal, at 9 degrees north latitude. I must say that this is an extravagant idea which cannot be for a moment entertained, for there are many circumstances precluding such a thing. The distance still unexplored by Dr. Livingstone may be roughly stated as 1,000 miles be- tween his most advanced position and the mouth of the Gazal. In this distance we have Speke's Mountains of the Moon and the great bend to the west of the Nile, at 7 degrees 8 minutes north latitude, as the principal obstruc- tions to Dr. Livingstone's theory. We have also 300 miles of longitude between the two positions ; but the curious ob- jection to Dr. Livingstone's reaching the Nile is the fact that we already know — that the source of Gazal was visited and determined a few years ago by the eminent botanist, Schweinfurth, who fully satisfied all geographers that the source of the Gazal is north of the equator, not, as Dr. Livingstone supposes, 1 1 degrees south of it. My observa- tions of the Gazal were in March, 1863, when descending the Nile from Gondokoro with my late companion, and show that it is insignificant when compared with the Nile. 342 THE FINDING OF It seems to be a swamp with little current, for the Nile branch along which we were sailing was not increased in width by the water of the Gazal. The Nile maintained its width of IOC yards till after the Giraffe and Sooba joined it, and then the stream was increased to a width of 500 yards. The Gazal had no perceptible stream ; at the junction its waters were still and looked like a backwater half a mile across, and surrounded by rushes. Mr. Oatman and others told us that no boats were able to ascend it that year, 1865, as its channel was choked with reeds. There is therefore no regular traffic on it by boats. Some years it is com- pletely blocked — a contrast to the Nile, which is navigable to large boats all the year round between Gondokoro and Khartoom. If anything were wanting to prove that the Gazal has no connection with the southern waters of Living- stone, reference might be made to several men who have been into the Gazal country, but Dr. Schweinfurth, who is now in Europe, would be most able to give definite infor- mation. The narrative of Dr. Livingstone contains some curious incidents which are quite novel to me, for on our journey from Zanzibar to Egypt, when travelling on the watershed of the Nile, we never saw any trace of cannibals, any signs of gorillas, neither did we find that any race of natives kept pigs in the domesticated state. They eat one species of wild pig, but no race of natives in this valley of the Nile was ever seen to keep pigs tame. Oysters must be a misprint. Taking into consideration these remarkable differences from the country we traversed, I cannot but think that Dr. Livingstone, having no chronometer to fix the longitude, got further to the west than he supposes, and that he has been among races similar in most respects to those on the west coast of Africa, visited by Mons du Chaiilu. In conclusion, this fresh discovery of lakes and rivers by Livingstone defines a distinct new basis, and leaves clearer than ever the position given by Speke to the Nile in 1863." ... • • Consul Petherick said he was the first Englishman who ever navigated the Bahr-il-Gazal. He navigated it in 1853, and since then he had navigated it annually up to 1858. He had no astronomical instruments, and his account was DR. LIVINGSTONE. 343 kept by dead reckoning. He reached the head waters going southward ; it was then a large lake. He navigated it in several directions to find an outlet. He navigated it afterwards in 1862 or 1863. It was then a swamp reduced to the breadth of his boat and it was with the greatest diffi- culty that he navigated it at all. When he first navigated it it was very much swollen, and was then in the same condi- tion which he believed the Victoria Nyanza was in when Captain Speke was there. The lake was then inundated, and appeared much larger than it was found to be in subse- quent years. He fully believed he had a proof of that in ascending to Gondokoro where he found what Captain Speke found. He found its banks were overrun with water, and he had to go over ninety miles of water before he could reach land. It was said that the Bahr-il-Gazal was overrun with weeds, and he sent a man to try to get into it. The boat was driven back. In 1853 he took a more numerous expedition and succeeded. The water was much reduced, which was to be accounted for by the greater or less quantity of rain falling in Central Africa. On returning he measured the volume of water, and above the Bahr-il-Gazal it was 18,000 feet a second. The Bahr-il-Gazal it was im- possible to measure, and he was obliged to go down, and he found the water going into the Bahr-il-Gazal to be a little more than one-third the volume of that going down the Nile. He believed he had fully satisfied himself that the waters flowed to the southward. There must be a water- shed separate from that of Bahr-il-Gazal, and the watershed must be from east to west. It was certain that Dr. Living- stone must have made a mistake in believing that the East- ern Nile waters flowed through the Bahr-il-Gazal. Dr. Livingstone had given him an honor that did not belong to him. He did not claim to be the discoverer of the sources of the Nile, but merely to be the discoverer of some of the tributaries. The water that Dr. Livingstone was pursuing northwards must find some other outlet — where he did not profess to say. ^ The President said, leaving the question of the Bahr-il- Gazal, he wished to ask whether the water it contributed to the Nile was or was not equivalent to the Luatala of Dr. Livingstone ? 344 THE FINDING OF Mr. Petherick said, judging from the despatches sent home by Dr. Livingstone, he should say it contained a great deal more water. A native told him that the Luatala was but a short distance off; but all who had travelled in Africa knew that no reliance was to be placed on the statements of natives in these matters, as very few, if any of them, ever went beyond the frontiers of the district inhabited by their own tribe. The President then called on Mr. Oswell, through whose assistance it was, he said, that Livingstone first penetrated into Central Africa. Mr. OswELL, who spoke from the body of the room, said he would not go into the geograghical question, but he availed himself of the opportunity of expressing his gratitude to Dr. Livingstone. Dr. Livingstone had sustained a great loss in the death of Mrs. Livingstone, who was tiie best helpmate the traveller ever had. During all his experience of Mrs. Livingstone there was only one instance in which he knew of her breaking down, and then it was not through fear for herself, but through fear for her husband. (Cheers.) He trusted to have an opportunity before leaving the room of shaking hands with Mr. Stanley, and telling him how much he thanked him for what he had done. It was usually said that Livingstone — their dear old Livingstone — was the real true African lion ; the young gentleman on the platform might be considered the real true young African Hon. (Laughter and cheers.) DR. LIVINGSTONE. 345 SIR HENRY RAWLINSON ON LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY'S WORK. Sir Henry Rawlinson was very glad of this opportunity, as the President of the Royal Geographical Society, to bear testimony to the great value which they attached to Mr. Stanley's services in searching for Dr. Livingstone — (cheers.) That he should have succeeded in forcing his way from the sea to Tanganyika through a country desolated by sickness and war, and that he should have successfully overcome all the difficulties and dangers in his way in or- der to succor Dr. Livingstone reflected the greatest credit on himself, and also upon the country with which he was connected. As there had been some misconception on the subject, he took this opportunity of disclaiming, on the part of the Royal Geographical Society, the slightest feeling of jealousy. (Cheers.) He was especially glad to be able to refer to the address which he had delivered to the Royal Geographical Society at the commencement of the last ses- sion, when he announced Mr. Stanley's journey, wished him every possible success, and stated that if he succeeded he would be received in this country v.'ith the same cordial spirit and the same honor as any Englishman would. (Cheers.) He would now, with their permission, make a few remarks on the geographical question — upon the work on which Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley had been en- gaged — he meant the exploration of inner Africa. Dr. Livingstone's great discovery was this great system of river drainage in inner Africa ; but he had strong misgivings as to whether he was upon the Nile basin. He might have been upon the Congo. Dr. Livingstone's doubts were raised, no doubt, by the levels and the tale told by his o^vn instru- ments. He followed up this great river system from the watershed, 7,000 feet high, to a point four deg. south latitude, where according to the aneroid barometers, he had reached a level of about two thousand feet. What became of this great river system it was impossible for them authoritatively to determine. All that they knew was that an extensive river system had been found in the middle of Africa ; but ^he ascertaining of the points to which these rivers flow must 19 34^ THE FINDING OF await further discovery, which he trusted would be made by Dr. Livingstone himself, for he (Sir H. Rawlinson) should be sorry if he did not carry out the ^eat work on which he had been so long engaged to a successful issue. In a matter of this kind they must at present be satisfied with conjec- ture ; but putting all the arguments side by side and com- paring the results one with another, his leaning was to the supposition that this great river system formed a large cen- tral inland lake. He should doubt if it ever reached the Tchad. There is a great space in the interior of the Con- tinent which might well be occupied by such a lake, which would drain all the surrounding mountains and the western slope of the hills which bound Albert Nyanza and the Bahr- il-Gazal, as well as absorb all the drainage from the south. The discovery of that lake would, he trusted, crown the African labors of Dr. Livingstone. At the present moment he was on his way to the sources of these rivers, and then, having satisfir.:* limself on that point, he would turn north- wards, with t'.? supplies which he had been furnished in a great ni'^asure through Mr. Stanley, and follow down the stream beyond the point where he was previously arrested. His great difficulty on former occasions was through the in- capacity or hostility of his attendants. It was gratifying to know that he had now at his command a body of efficient and faithful followers. He was thus in a position to follow out his discoveries to their legitimate issue, and he (Sir H. Rawlinson) only trusted that he would soon ascertain where the river system debouched, which would be the crowning result of his African travels. (Cheers.) MR. Stanley's defence of Livingstone's work. Mr. Stanley expressed his thanks to Sir H. Rawlinson and Mr. Oswell for their complimentary references to him- self, and then proceeded to say : — Captain Grant states that there is a discrepancy between Dr. Livingstone's and Capt. 5peke's statement. I don't see that there is any at all. The Nyanza has nothing to do with the Lualabu. That is proved ; for between them exists the great Lake Tanganyika. It was objected that there were no gorillas in the country DR. LIVINGSTONE. 347 near this lake, but that is no reason why they should not exist in Central Africa. Captain Grant says that Dr. Living- stone has made a mistake about the river Lualabu ; but what I want to know is, how a geographer resident in England can say there is no such river when Dr. Livingstone has seen it? (Laughter.) Dr. Beke says that Dr. Livingstone has not discovered the sources of the Nile. Dr. Livingstone himself says that he thinks he has discovered them ; but there is this difference between them — that Dr. Livingstone is encamped by the shores of Lualabu, and thinks that he has discovered the sources of the Nile and gives reasons for his belief. He says that he has traced this chain of lakes and rivers from 1 1 south to 4 south ; and Dr. Beke, who has never been within 2,000 miles of the Lualabu, says that he has not discovered the sources of the Nile. (Cheers.) This was not a question of theory, but of fact. Theory won't settle it ; it must be settled by men who, like Dr. Livingstone, have fought and labored for thirty-five years at the task. I think that Dr. Livingstone has discovered the sources of the Nile, and that he has good ground for his be- lief ; and I am quite sure that when he returns two years hence and says, **I have discovered the sources of the Nile," there will not be one recalcitrant voice saying, ''You have not." (Cheers.) Dr. Beke further says — The moun- tains close up, and a river interposes, which prevents the Lualabu from entering the Bahr il Gazal. Now, in my be- lief, there is nothing whatever impossible in the Lualabu flowing into the Bahr il Gazal, seeing the great bends which the latter river makes. It runs west a distance of four de- grees. It then nms southwest, next north and then east. As it proceeds it receives several rivers flowing from east to west and from the west to the east. If the Nile has not been discovered, what, let me ask, has been discovered ? (Laughter and cheers.) What is that great and mighty river the Lualabu ? Where does it go to ? Does it go into a lake, as Sir Henry Rawlinson supposes ? What ! the Lua- labu flow into a lake I — into a marsh ! — into a swamp ! (Laughter.) Why, you might just as well say that the Mis- sissippi flows into a swamp ! (Laughter and cheers.) All the rivers flowing into the Tanganyika are nothing whatever 348 THE FINDING OF compared with the Lualabu, which at some places is from three to five miles broad. If the Lualabu enters a swamp, where does all the water go ? (Cheers.) No native ever told Livingstone that the Lualabu went west. On the con- trary, they all said that it ran north, and yet a German geo- grapher comes forward and says he saw a little river. He may have done so, but that does not prevent the Lualabu from being a big river. (Laughter.) I never heard of an Englishman who had discovered anything, but a Herr of some sort came forward and said he had been there before. (Loud laughter.) Do you mean to tell me that Dr. Living- stone has spent six years searching for the sources of the Congo ? Not a bit of it. What he wants is to find out the sources of the Nile. The sources of the Congo may go where they like so far as he is concerned. I have not the slightest doubt that he will yet come home with the true story of the sources of the Nile. (Loud cheers.) These gentlemen have not asked a single question which I have not asked of Dr. Livingstone. I asked him, if he had dis- covered the source of the Nile at 2,000 feet above the sea, how he could account for the discrepancy as to the degrees of latitude which have been mentioned ? "Well," he said, "that is what baulks me." (Laughter.) But still he adher- ed to his opinion, and you must recollect that he has ar- rived at it with hesitation and humility, after six years' travel and hard work ; also that his thermometers, barometers, and other instruments, which were new when he started, may now be in error. Discrepancies that may now seem to exist may hereafter be cleared up. Theory and practice must fight ; which will win, do you think ? I think fact — I think practice. I think, if a man goes there and says, " I have seen the source of river," the man sitting in his easy chair or lying in bed cannot dispute the fact on any ground of theory. (Hear, hear.) The best way is to go there and disprove Dr. Livingstone may be right. We cannot now solve the problem. You must go there and disprove what Dr. Livingstone has said for yourself, or else listen to and believe those who have been there. (Cheers.) LAKE TANGANYIKA. PAPER READ BY MR. STANLEY BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. The following paper was read before the geographical section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at the meeting at Brighton, August 1 5, by Henry M. Stanley, correspondent of the New York Herald : Gentlemen of the Royal 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 medal- ist " and associate. Dr. David Livingstone. I found him in the manner already described, the story of which, in brief, is familiar to everybody. He was but little improved in health, and but a little better ihan the " ruckle of bones" he came to Ujiji. With the story of his sufferings, his perils, and many narrow escapes, related, as they were, by himself, the man who had endured all these and still lived, I sympa- thized. What he suffered far eclipses that which Ulysses suffered, and Livingstone needs but a narrator like Homer to make his name as immortal as the Greek hero's ; and, to make another comparison, I can liken his detractors in England and Germany only to the suitors who took advan- tage of Ulysses' absence to slander him and torment his poor 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 (349) 350 ^ THE FINDING OF 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 nearly believing, the gentleman who told me personally that Liv- ingstone was a narrow-minded, crabbed soul, with whom no man could travel in peace ; that Livingstone kept no jour- nals nor notes, and that if he died his discoveries would surely be a loss to the world. I believed then with the gentleman that Livingstone ought to come home and let a younger man — that same gentleman, for instance — go and finish the work that Livingstone 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 im- pressed with these views of things when James Gordon Bennett, Jr., of the New 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 mono- syllables in the affirmative, though I thought it might prove a very hard task. What if Livingstone refused to see me or hear me ? " No matter," said I to myself, in my inno- cence, " I shall be successful if I only see him." You your- selves, gentlemen, know how I would stand to-day if I had come back from the Tanganyika without a word from him, since but few believed me when Livingstone's own letters appeared. But how fallacious were all my beliefs ! Now that I know the uprightness and virtue of the man, I wonder how it was possible that I could believe that Dr. David Liv- ingstone was married to an African princess and had settled down. Now, that I know the strict morality of his nature, the God-fearing heart of the man, 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 DR. LIVINGSTONE. 35 1 maligned. I wonder now whetlier Livingstone is the same man whom a former fellow traveller of his called a tyrant 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 young man ought to displace, now that I have become acquainted with his en- thusiasm, his iron constitution, his sturdy frame, his courage and endurance. I have been made aware, through a news- paper published in London, called the Stcwdard, 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 and 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 lies in my power to ex- plain away this "confusion" I shall be most happy to do so. There are also some such questions as the following pro- pounded : — Why did not Dr. Livingstone return with Mi. 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 this time at Zanzibar ? To the first I would answer, because he did not want to come with Mr. Stanley ; and, may L ask, was Mr. Stanley Dr. Livingstone's keeper, that as soon as he had found him he should box him up with the superscription, " This side up with care ?"' To the second I would answer that Dr. Livingstone was not aware that there was another corres- pondent present at the interview when he imparted his in- formation to the correspondent of the New York Herald. To the third question, " W^hy did not the relief expedition go on and relieve him ?" I would answer that Livingstone was already relieved, and needed no stores. To the fourth question, "What has Dr. Kirk been doing all this time at Zanzibar?" I would reply that Dr. Kirk's relations in Eng- land may probably know what he has been doing better than I do. Also, in answer to that article in the Siandardy and to similar articles in other newspapers, I must confess that I cannot see wherein those letters of Dr. Livingstone 352 THE FINDING OF to James Gordon Bennett are disturbing, grotesque or unex- pected, 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 incohtrent ;" that Sir Henry Rawlinson's letter is " most discouraging ;" that the only theory to be gleaned from Dr. Livingstone's letters is " simply impossible ;" that the Standard^ echoing the opinion of geographers, is "more in the dark than ever." Here is a field ot 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 mo- ment, let us now turn our attention to that large body of water called the Tanganyika. England is the first and foremost country in African dis- coveries. Her sons are known to have 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 Africa. The noblest heroes of geography have been of that land. She reckons Bruce, Clapperton, Lander, Ritchie, Mungo Park, Laing, Baikie, Spekc, Burton, Grant, Baker and Livingstone as her sons. Many of these have fallen stricken to death by the poison- ous 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 that can point the exact localities where they died ? Look at that skeleton of a continent ! We can only say they died in that unknown centre of Africa — the great broad blank between the eastern and western coasts. Before I brought with me any pro- ducible 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 itWj that the most glorious name among the geographical heores — the most g- 3US nan i among fearless missionaries — had been addeu .