The Personal Life Of David Livingstone
by
William Garden Blaikie
Part 7 out of 10
some persons weak to feel a chord vibrating to the dust of her who rests
on the banks of the Zambesi, and think that the path by that river is
consecrated by her remains."
Meanwhile, Dr. Livingstone was busy with his pen. A new energy had been
imparted to him by the appalling facts now fully apparent, that his
discoveries had only stimulated the activity of the slave-traders, that
the Portuguese local authorities really promoted slave-trading, with its
inevitable concomitant slave-hunting, and that the horror and desolation
to which the country bore such frightful testimony was the result. It
seemed as if the duel he had fought with the Boers when they determined
to close Africa, and he determined to open it, had now to be repeated
with the Portuguese. The attention of Dr. Livingstone is more and more
concentrated on this terrible topic. Dr. Kirk writes to him that when at
Tette he had heard that the Portuguese Governor-General at Mozambique
had instructed his brother, the Governor of that town, to act on the
principle that the slave-trade, though prohibited on the ocean, was
still lawful on the land, and that any persons interfering with
slave-traders, by liberating their slaves, would be counted robbers. An
energetic despatch to Earl Russell, then Foreign Secretary, calls
attention to this outrage.
A few days after, a strong but polite letter is sent to the Governor of
Tette, calling attention to the forays of a man named Belshore, in the
Chibisa country, and entreating him to stop them. About the same time he
writes to the Governor-General of Mozambique in reply to a paper by the
Viscount de Sa da Bandeira, published in the Almanac by the Government
press, in which the common charge was made against him of arrogating to
himself the glory of discoveries which belonged to Senhor Candido and
other Portuguese. He affirms that before publishing his book he examined
all Portuguese books of travels he could find; that he had actually
shown Senhor Candido to have been a discoverer before any Portuguese
hinted that he was such; that the lake which Candido spoke of as
northwest of Tette could not be Nyassa, which was northeast of it; that
he did full justice to all the Portuguese explorers, and that what he
claimed as own discoveries were certainly not the discoveries of the
Portuguese. A few days after, he writes to Mr. Layard, then our
Portuguese Minister, and comments on the map published by the Viscount
as representing Portuguese geography,--pointing out such blunders as
that which made the Zambesi enter the sea at Quilimane, proving that by
their map the Portuguese claimed territory that was certainly not
theirs; adverting to their utter ignorance of the Victoria Falls, the
most remarkable phenomenon in Africa; affirming that many so-called
discoveries were mere vague rumors, heard by travelers; and showing the
use that had been made of his own maps, the names being changed to suit
the Portuguese orthography.
Livingstone had the satisfaction of knowing that his account of the trip
to Lake Nyassa had excited much interest in the Cabinet at home, and
that a strong remonstrance had been addressed to the Portuguese
Government against slave-hunting. But it does not appear that this led
to any improvement at the time.
While stung into more than ordinary energy by the atrocious deeds he
witnessed around him, Livingstone was living near the borders of the
unseen world. He writes to Sir Thomas Maclear on the 27th October, 1862:
"I suppose that I shall die in these uplands, and somebody
will carry, out the plan I have longed to put into practice.
I have been thinking a great deal since the departure of my
beloved one about the regions whither she has gone, and
imagine from the manner the Bible describes it we have got
too much monkery in our ideas. There will be work there as
well as here, and possibly not such a vast difference in our
being as is expected. But a short time there will give more
insight than a thousand musings. We shall see Him by whose
inexpressible love and mercy we get there, and all whom we
loved, and all the lovable. I can sympathize with you now
more fully than I did before. I work with as much vigor as I
can; and mean to do so till the change comes; but his
prospect of a home is all dispelled."
In one of his despatches to Lord Russell, Livingstone reports an offer
that had been made by a party consisting of an Englishman and five
Scotch working men at the Cape, which must have been extremely
gratifying to him, and served to deepen his conviction that sooner or
later his plan of colonization would certainly be carried into effect.
The leader of the party, John Jehan, formerly of the London City
Mission, in reading Dr. Livingstone's book, became convinced that if a
few mechanics could be induced to take a journey of exploration it would
prove very useful. His views being communicated to five other young men
(two masons, two carpenters, one smith), they formed themselves into a
company in July, 1861, and had been working together, throwing their
earnings into a common fund, and now they had arms, two wagons, two
spans of oxen, and means of procuring outfits. In September, 1862, they
were ready to start from Aliwal in South Africa[66].
[Footnote 66: The recall of Livingstone's Expedition and the removal of
the Universities Mission seem to have knocked this most promising scheme
on the head. Writing of it to Sir Roderick Murchison on the 14th
December, 1862, he says: "I like the Scotchmen, and think them much
better adapted for our plans than those on whom the Universities Mission
has lighted. If employed as I shall wish them to be in trade, and
setting an example of industry in cotton or coffee planting, I think
they are just the men I need brought to my band. Don't you think this
sensible?"]
After going to Johanna for provisions, and to discharge the crew of
Johanna men whose term of service had expired, the Expedition returned
to Tette. On the 10th January, 1863, they steamed off with the "Lady
Nyassa" in tow. The desolation that had been caused by Marianno, the
Portuguese slave-agent, was heart-breaking. Corpses floated past them.
In the morning the paddles had to be cleared of corpses caught by the
floats during the night. Livingstone summed up his impressions in one
terrible sentence:
"Wherever we took a walk, human skeletons were seen in every direction,
and it was painfully interesting to observe the different postures in
which the poor wretches had breathed their last. A whole heap had been
thrown down a slope behind a village, where the fugitives often crossed
the river from the east; and in one hut of the same village no fewer
than twenty drums had been collected, probably the ferryman's fees. Many
had ended their misery under shady trees, others under projecting crags
in the hills, while others lay in their huts with closed doors, which
when opened disclosed the mouldering corpse with the poor rags round the
loins, the skull fallen off the pillow, the little skeleton of the
child, that had perished first, rolled up in a mat between two large
skeletons. The sight of this desert, but eighteen months ago a
well-peopled valley, now literally strewn with human bones, forced the
conviction upon us that the destruction of human life in the middle
passage, however great, constitutes but a small portion of the waste,
and made us feel that unless the slave-trade--that monster iniquity
which has so long brooded over Africa--is put down, lawful commerce
cannot be established."
In passing up, Livingstone's heart was saddened as he visited the
Bishop's grave, and still more by the tidings which he got of the
Mission, which had now removed from Magomero to the low lands of
Chibisa. Some time before, Mr. Scudamore, a man greatly beloved, had
succumbed, and now Mr. Dickenson was added to the number of victims. Mr.
Thornton, too, who left the Expedition in 1859, but returned to it, died
under an attack of fever, consequent on too violent exertion undertaken
in order to be of service to the Mission party. Dr. Kirk and Mr. C.
Livingstone were so much reduced by illness that it was deemed necessary
for them to return to England. Livingstone himself had a most serious
attack of fever, which lasted all the month of May, Dr. Kirk remaining
with him till he got over it. When his brother and Dr. Kirk left, the
only Europeans remaining with him were Mr. Rae, the ship's engineer,
and Mr. Edward D. Young, formerly of the "Gorgon," who had volunteered
to join the Expedition, and whose after services, both in the search for
Livingstone and in establishing the mission of Livingstonia, were so
valuable. On the noble spirit shown by Livingstone in remaining in the
country after all his early companions had left, and amid such appalling
scenes as everywhere met him, we do not need to dwell.
Here are glimpses of the inner heart of Livingstone about this time:
"1_st March_, 1863.--I feel very often that I have not long
to live, and say, 'My dear children, I leave you. Be manly
Christians, and never do a mean thing. Be honest to men, and
to the Almighty One.'"
"10_th April_.--Reached the Cataracts. Very thankful indeed
after our three months' toil from Shupanga."
"27_th April_.--On this day twelvemonths my beloved Mary
Moffat was removed from me by death.
"'If I can, I'll come again, mother, from out my resting-place;
Though you'll not see me, mother, I shall look upon your face;
Though I cannot speak a word, I shall hearken what you say,
And be often, often with you when you think I'm far away.'
"TENNYSON."
The "Lady Nyassa" being taken to pieces, the party began to construct a
road over the thirty-five or forty miles of the rapids, in order to
convey the steamer to the lake. After a few miles of the road had been
completed, it was thought desirable to ascertain whether the boat left
near the lake two years before was fit for service, so as to avoid the
necessity of carrying another boat past the rapids. On reaching it the
boat was found to have been burnt. The party therefore returned to carry
up another. They had got to the very last rapid, and had placed the boat
for a short space in the water, when, through the carelessness of five
Zambesi men, she was overturned, and away she went like an arrow down
the rapids. To keep calm under such a crowning disappointment must have
I taxed Livingstone's self-control to the very utmost.
It was now that he received a despatch from Earl Russell intimating
that the Expedition was recalled. This, though a great disappointment,
was not altogether a surprise. On the 24th April he had written to Mr.
Waller "I should not wonder in the least to be recalled, for should the
Portuguese persist in keeping the rivers shut, there would be no use in
trying to develop trade," He states his views on the recall calmly in a
letter to Mr. James Young:
"_Murchison Cataracts_, 3_d July_, 1863.--... Got
instructions for our recall yesterday, at which I do not
wonder. The Government has behaved well to us throughout, and
I feel abundantly thankful to H.M.'s ministers for enabling
me so far to carry on the experiment of turning the
industrial and trading propensities of the natives to good
account, with a view of thereby eradicating the trade in
slaves. But the Portuguese dogged our footsteps, and, as is
generally understood, with the approbation of their Home
Government, neutralized our labors. Not that the Portuguese
statesmen approved of slaving, but being enormously jealous
lest their pretended dominion from sea to sea and elsewhere
should in the least degree, now or any future time, become
aught else than a slave 'preserve,' the Governors have been
instructed, and have carried out their instructions further
than their employers intended. Major Sicard was removed from
Tette as too friendly, and his successor had emmissaries in
the Ajawa camp. Well, he saw their policy, and regretted that
they should be allowed to follow us into perfectly new
regions. The regret was the more poignant, inasmuch as but
for our entering in by gentleness, they durst not have gone.
No Portuguese dared, for instance, to come up this Shire
Valley; but after our dispelling the fear of the natives by
fair treatment, they came in calling themselves our
'children.' The whole thing culminated when this quarter was
inundated with Tette slavers, whose operations, with a
marauding tribe of Ajawas, and a drought, completely
depopulated the country. The sight of this made me conclude
that unless something could be done to prevent these raids,
and take off their foolish obstructions on the rivers, which
they never use, our work in this region was at an end....
Please the Supreme, I shall work some other point yet. In
leaving, it is bitter to see some 900 miles of coast
abandoned to those who were the first to begin the
slave-trade, and seem determined to be the last to abandon
it."
Writing to Mr. Waller at this time he said: "I don't know whether I am
to go on the shelf or not. If I do, I make Africa the shelf. If the
'Lady Nyassa' is well sold, I shall manage. There is a Ruler above, and
his providence guides all things. He is our Friend, and has plenty of
work for all his people to do. Don't fear of being left idle, if willing
to work for Him. I am glad to her of Alington. If the work is of God it
will came out all right at last. To Him shall be given of the gold of
Sheba, and daily shall He be praised. I always think it was such a
blessing and privilege to be led into his work instead of into the
service of the hard taskmasters--the Devil and Sin."
The reason assigned by Earl Russell for the recall of the Expedition
were, that, not through any fault of Dr. Livingstone's, it had not
accomplished the objects for which it had been designed, and that it had
proved much more costly than was originally expected. Probably the
Government felt likewise that their remonstrances with the Portuguese
Government were unavailing, and that their relations were becoming too
uncomfortable. Even among those most friendly to Dr. Livingstone's great
aim, and most opposed to the slave-trade, and to the Portuguese policy
in Africa, there were some who doubted whether his proposed methods of
procedure were quite consistent with the rights of the Portuguese
Government. His Royal Highness the Prince-Consort indicated some feeling
of this kind in his interview with Livingstone in 1857. He expressed the
feeling more strongly when he declined the request, made to him through
Professor Sedgwick of Cambridge, that he would allow himself to be
Patron of the Universities Mission. Dr. Livingstone knew well that from
that exalted quarter his plans would receive no active support. That he
should have obtained the support he did from successive Governments and
successive Foreign Secretaries, Liberal and Conservative, was a great
gratification, if not something of a surprise. Hence the calmness with
which he received the intelligence of the recall. Toward the Portuguese
Government his feelings were not very sweet. On them lay the guilt of
arresting a work that would have conferred untold blessing on Africa. He
determined to make this known very clearly when he should return to
England. At a future period of his life, he purposed, if spared, to go
more fully into the reasons of his recall. Meanwhile, his course was
simply to acquiesce in the resolution of the British Government.
It was unfortunate that the recall took place before he had been able to
carry into effect his favorite scheme of placing a steamer on Lake
Nyassa; nor could he do this now, although the vessel on which he had
spent half his fortune lay at the Murchison Cataracts. He had always
cherished the hope that the Government would repay him at least a part
of the outlay, which, instead of L3000, as he had intended, had mounted
up to L6000. He had very generously told Dr. Stewart that if this should
be done, and if he should be willing to return from Scotland to labor on
the shores of Nyassa, he would pay him his expenses out, and L150
yearly, so anxious was he that he should begin the work. On the recall
of the Expedition, without any allowance for the ship, or even mention
of it, all these expectations and intentions came abruptly to an end.
At no previous time had Dr. Livingstone been under greater
discouragements than now. The Expedition had been recalled; his heart
had not recovered from the desolation caused by the death of the Bishop
and his brethren, as well as the Helmores in the Makololo country, and
still more by the removal of Mrs. Livingstone, and the thought of his
motherless children; the most heart-rending scenes had been witnessed
everywhere in regions that a short time ago had been so bright; all his
efforts to do good had been turned to evil, every new path he had opened
having been seized as it were by the devil and turned to the most
diabolical ends; his countrymen were nearly all away from him; the most
depressing of diseases had produced its natural effect; he had had
worries, delays, and disappointments about ships and boats of the most
harrassing kind; and now the "Lady Nyassa" could not be floated in the
waters of which he had fondly hoped to see her the angel and the queen.
It is hardly possible to exaggerate the noble quality of the heart that,
undeterred by all these troubles, resolved to take this last chance of
exploring the banks of Nyassa, although it could only be by the weary
process of trudge, trudge, trudging; although hunger, if not starvation,
blocked the path, and fever and dysentery flitted around it like imps of
darkness; although tribes, demoralized by the slave-trade, might at any
moment put an end to him and his enterprise;--not to speak of the
ordinary risks of travel, the difficulty of finding guides, the
liability to bodily hurt, the scarcity of food, the perils from wild
beasts by night Und by day,--risks which no ordinary traveler could
think of lightly, but which in Livingstone's journeys drop out of sight,
because they are so overtopped and dwarfed by risks that ordinary
travelers never know.
Why did not Livingstone go home? A single sentence in a letter to Mr.
Waller, while the recall was only in contemplation, explains: "In my
case, duty would not lead me home, and home therefore I would not go."
Away then goes Livingstone, accompanied by the steward of the "Pioneer"
and a handful of native servants (Mr. Young being left in charge of the
vessel), to get to the northern end of the lake, and ascertain whether
any large river flowed into it from the west, and if possible to visit
Lake Moero, of which he had heard, lying a considerable way to the west.
For the first time in his travels he carried some bottles of wine,--a
present from the missionaries Waller and Alington; for water had
hitherto been his only drink, with a little hot coffee in the mornings
to warm the stomach and ward off the feeling of sinking. At one time
the two white men are lost three days in the woods, without food or the
means of purchasing it; but some poor natives out of their poverty show
them kindness. At another they can procure no guides, though the country
is difficult and the way intersected by deep gullies that can only be
scaled at certain known parts; anon they are taken for slave-dealers,
and make a narrow escape of a night attack. Another time, the cries of
children remind Livingstone of his own home and family, where the very
same tones of sorrow had often been heard; the thought brought its own
pang, only he could feel thankful that in the case of his children the
woes of the slave-trade would never be added to the ordinary sorrows of
childhood. Then he would enjoy the joyous laugh of some Manganja women,
and think of the good influence of a merry heart, and remember that
whenever he had observed a chief with a joyous twinkle of the eye
accompanying his laugh, he had always set him down as a good fellow, and
had never been disappointed in him afterward. Then he would cheer his
monotony by making some researches into the origin of civilization,
coming to the clear conclusion that born savages must die out, because
they could devise no means of living through disease. By and by he would
examine the Arab character, and find Mahometanism as it now is in Africa
worse than African heathenism, and remark on the callousness of the
Mahometans to the welfare of one another, and on the especial glory of
Christianity, the only religion that seeks to propagate itself, and
through the influence of love share its blessings with others. Anon he
would dwell on the primitive African faith; its recognition of one
Almighty Creator, its moral code, so like our own, save in the one
article of polygamy; its pious recognition of a future life, though the
element of punishment is not very conspicuous; its mild character
generally, notwithstanding the bloodthirstiness sometimes ascribed to
it, which, however, Livingstone held to be, at Dahomey for example,
purely exceptional.
Another subject that occupied him was the natural history of the
country. He would account for desert tracts like Kalahari by the fact
that the east and southeast winds, laden with moisture from the Indian
Ocean, get cooled over the coast ranges of mountains, and having
discharged their vapor there had no spare moisture to deposit over the
regions that for want of it became deserts. The geology of Southern
Africa was peculiar; the geographical series described in books was not
to be found here, for, as Sir Roderick Murchison had shown, the great
submarine depressions and elevations that had so greatly affected the
other continents during the secondary, tertiary, and more recent
periods, had not affected Africa. It had preserved its terrestrial
conditions during a long period, unaffected by any changes save those
dependent on atmospheric influences. There was also a peculiarity in
prehistoric Africa--it had no stone period; at least no flint weapons
had been found, and the familiarity and skill of the natives with the
manufacture of iron seemed to indicate that they had used iron weapons
from the first.
The travelers had got as far as the river Loangwa (of Nyassa), when a
halt had to be called. Some of the natives had been ill, and indeed one
had died in the comparatively cold climate of the highlands. But nothing
would have hindered Livingstone from working his way round the head of
the lake if only time had been on his side. But time was inexorably
against him; the orders from Government were strict. He must get the
"Pioneer" down to the sea while the river was in flood. A month or six
weeks would have enabled him to finish his researches, but he could not
run the risk. It would have been otherwise had he foreseen that when he
got to the ship he would be detained two months waiting for the rising
of the river. On their way back, they took a nearer cut, but found the
villages all deserted. The reeds along the banks of the lake were
crowded with fugitives. "In passing mile after mile, marked with the
sad proofs that 'man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands
mourn,' one experiences an overpowering sense of helplessness to
alleviate human woe, and breathes a silent prayer to the Almighty to
hasten the good time coming when 'man to man, the world o'er, shall
brothers be for all that.'" Near a village called Bangwe they were
pursued by a body of Mazitu, who retired when they came within ear-shot.
This little adventure seemed to give rise to the report that Dr.
Livingstone had been murdered by the Makololo, which reached England,
and created no small alarm. Referring to the report in his jocular way,
in a letter to his friend Mr. Fitch, he says, "A report of my having
been murdered at the lake has been very industriously circulated by the
Portuguese. Don't become so pale on getting a letter from a dead man."
Reaching the stockade of Chinsamba in Mosapo, they were much pleased
with that chief's kindness. Dr. Livingstone followed his usual method,
and gained his usual influence. "When a chief has made any inquiries of
us, we have found that we gave most satisfaction in our answers when we
tried to fancy ourselves in the position of the interrogator, and him
that of a poor uneducated fellow-countryman in England. The polite,
respectful way of speaking, and behavior of what we call 'a thorough
gentleman,' almost always secures the friendship and good-will of the
Africans."
On 1st November, 1863, the party reached the ship, and found all well.
Here, as has been said, two months had to be spent waiting for the
flood, to Dr. Livingstone's intense chagrin.
While waiting here he received a letter from Bishop Tozer, the successor
of Bishop Mackenzie, informing him that he had resolved to abandon the
Mission on the continent and transfer operations to Zanzibar. Dr.
Livingstone had very sincerely welcomed the new Bishop, and at first
liked him, and thought that his caution would lead to good results.
Indeed, when he saw that his own scheme was destroyed by the Portuguese,
he had great hopes that what he had been defeated in, the Mission would
accomplish. Some time before, his hopes had begun to wane, and now the
news conveyed in Bishop Tozer's letter was their death-blow. In his
reply he implored the Bishop to reconsider the matter. After urging
strongly some considerations bearing on the duty of missionaries, the
reputation of Englishmen, and the impression likely to be made on the
native mind, he concluded thus: "I hope, dear Bishop, you will not deem
me guilty of impertinence in thus writing to you with a sore heart. I
see that if you go, the last ray of hope for this wretched, trodden-down
people disappears, and I again from the bottom of my heart entreat you
to reconsider the matter, and may the All-wise One guide to that
decision which will be most for his glory."
And thus, for Livingstone's life-time, ended the Universities Mission to
Central Africa, with all the hopes which its bright dawn had inspired,
that the great Church of England would bend its strength against the
curse of Africa, and sweep it from the face of the earth. Writing to Sir
Thomas Maclear, he said that he felt this much more than his own recall.
He could hardly write of it; he was more inclined "to sit down and cry."
No mission had ever had such bright prospects; notwithstanding all that
had been said against it, he stood by the climate as firmly as ever, and
if he were only young, he would go himself and plant the gospel there.
It would be done one day without fail, though he might not live to
see it.
As usual, Livingstone found himself blamed for the removal of the
Mission. The Makololo had behaved badly, and they were Livingstone's
people. "Isn't it interesting," he writes to Mr. Moore, "to get blamed
for everything? But I must be thankful in feeling that I would rather
perish than blame another for my misdeeds and deficiencies."
We have lost sight of Dr. Stewart and the projected mission of the Free
Church of Scotland. As Dr. Livingstone's arrangements did not admit of
his accompanying Dr. Stewart up the Shire, he set out alone, falling in
afterward with the Rev. Mr. Scudamore, a member, and as we have already
said ultimately a martyr, of the Universities Mission. The report which
Dr. Stewart made of the prospects of a mission was that, owing to the
disturbed state of the country, no immediate action could be taken.
Livingstone seemed to think him hasty in this conclusion. The scheme
continued to be ardently cherished, and some ten or twelve years
after--in 1874--in the formation of the "Livingstonia" mission and
colony, a most promising and practical step was taken toward the
fulfillment of Dr. Livingstone's views. Dr. Stewart has proved one of
the best friends and noblest workers for African regeneration both at
Lovedale and Livingstonia--a strong man on whom other men may lean, with
his whole heart in the cause of Africa.
In the breaking up of the Universities Mission, it was necessary that
some arrangement should be made on behalf of about thirty boys and a few
helpless old persons and others, a portion of the rescued slaves, who
had been taken under the charge of the Mission, and could not be
abandoned. The fear of the Portuguese seemed likely to lead to their
being left behind. But Livingstone could not bear the idea. He thought
it would be highly discreditable to the good name of England, and an
affront to the memory of Bishop Mackenzie, to "repudiate" his act in
taking them under his protection. Therefore, when Bishop Tozer would not
accept the charge, he himself took them in hand, giving orders to Mr.
E.D. Young (as he says in his Journal), "in the event of any Portuguese
interfering with them in his absence, to pitch him over-board!" Through
his influence arrangements were made, as we shall see, for conveying
them to the Cape. Mr. R.M. Ballantyne, in his _Six Months at the Cape_,
tells us that he found, some years afterward, among the most efficient
teachers in St. George's Orphanage, Cape Town, one of these black girls,
named Dauma, whom Bishop Mackenzie had personally rescued and carried on
his shoulders, and whom Livingstone now rescued a second time.
Livingstone's plan for himself was to sail to Bombay in the "Lady
Nyassa," and endeavor to sell her there, before returning home. The
Portuguese would have liked to get her, to employ her as a
slaver--"But," he wrote to his daughter (10th August, 1863), "I would
rather see her go down to the depths of the Indian Ocean than that. We
have not been able to do all that we intended for this country, owing to
the jealousy and slave-hunting of the Portuguese. They have hindered us
effectually by sweeping away the population into slavery. Thousands have
perished, and wherever we go human skeletons appear. I suppose that our
Government could not prevail on the Portuguese to put a stop to this; so
we are recalled. I am only sorry that we ever began near these slavers,
but the great men of Portugal professed so loudly their eager desire to
help us (and in the case of the late King I think there was sincerity),
that I believed them, and now find out that it was all for show in
Europe.... If missions were established as we hoped, I should still hope
for good being done to this land, but the new Bishop had to pay
fourpence for every pound weight of calico he bought, and calico is as
much currency here as money is in Glasgow. It looks as if they wished to
prohibit any one else coming, and, unfortunately, Bishop Tozer, a good
man enough, lacks courage.... What a mission it would be if there were
no difficulties--nothing but walking about in slippers made by admiring
young ladies! Hey! that would not suit me. It would give me the
doldrums; but there are many tastes in the world."
Looking back on the work of the last six years, while deeply grieved
that the great object of the Expedition had not been achieved, Dr.
Livingstone was able to point to some important results:
1. The discovery of the Kongone harbor, and the ascertaining of the
condition of the Zambesi River, and its fitness for navigation.
2. The ascertaining of the capacity of the soil. It was found to be
admirably adapted for indigo and cotton, as well as tobacco, castor-oil,
and sugar. Its great fertility was shown by its gigantic grasses, and
abundant crops of corn and maize. The highlands were free from tsetse
and mosquitoes. The drawback to all this was the occurrence of
periodical droughts, once every few years.
But every fine feature of the country was bathed in gloom by the
slave-trade. The image left in Dr. Livingstone's mind was not that of
the rich, sunny, luxuriant country, but that of the woe and wretchedness
of the people. The real service of the Expedition was, that it had
exposed slavery at its fountain-head, and in all its phases. First,
there was the internal slave-trade between hostile native tribes. Then,
there were the slave-traders from the coast, Arabs, or half-caste
Portuguese, for whom natives were encouraged to collect slaves by all
the horrible means of marauding and murder. And further, there were the
parties sent out from Portuguese and Arab coast towns, with cloth and
beads, muskets and ammunition. The destructive and murderous effects of
the last were the climax of the system.
Dr. Livingstone had seen nothing to make him regard the African as of a
different species from the rest of the human family. Nor was he the
lowest of the species. He had a strong frame and a wonderfully
persistent vitality, was free from many European diseases, and could
withstand privations with wonderful light-heartedness.
He did not deem it necessary formally to answer a question sometimes
put, whether the African had enough of intellect to receive
Christianity. The reception of Christianity did not depend on intellect.
It depended, as Sir James Stephen had remarked, on a spiritual
intuition, which was not the fruit of intellectual culture. But, in
fact, the success of missions on the West Coast showed that not only
could the African be converted to Christianity, but that Christianity
might take root and be cordially supported by the African race.
It was the accursed slave-trade, promoted by the Portuguese, that had
frustrated everything. For some time to come his efforts and his prayers
must be directed to getting influential men to see to this, so that one
way or other the trade might be abolished forever. The hope of obtaining
access to the heart of Africa by another route than that through the
Portuguese settlements was still in Livingstone's heart. He would go
home, but only for a few months; at the earliest possible moment he
would return to look for a new route to the interior.
CHAPTER XVI.
QUILIMANE TO BOMBAY AND ENGLAND.
A.D. 1864.
Livingstone returns the "Pioneer" to the Navy, and is to sail in the
"Nyassa" to Bombay--Terrific circular storm--Imminent peril of the
"Nyassa"--He reaches Mozambique--Letter to his daughter--Proceeds to
Zanzibar--His engineer leaves him--Scanty crew of "Nyassa"--Livingstone
captain and engineer--Peril of the voyage of 2500 miles--Risk of the
monsoons--The "Nyassa" becalmed--Illness of the men--Remarks on African
travel--Flying-fish--Dolphins--Curiosities of his Journal--Idea of a
colony--Furious squall--Two sea-serpents seen--More squalls--The
"Nyassa" enters Bombay harbor--Is unnoticed--First visit from officers
with Custom-house schedules--How filled up--Attention of Sir Bartle
Frere and others--Livingstone goes with the Governor to Dapuri--His
feelings on landing in India--Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear--He visits
mission-schools, etc., at Poonah--Slaving in Persian Gulf--Returns to
Bombay--Leaves two boys with Dr. Wilson--Borrows passage-money and sails
for England--At Aden--At Alexandria--Reaches Charing
Cross--Encouragement derived from his Bombay visit--Two projects
contemplated on his way home.
On reaching the mouth of the Zambesi, Dr. Livingstone was fortunate in
falling in, on the 13th February, with H.M.S. "Orestes," which was
joined on the 14th by the "Ariel." The "Orestes" took the "Pioneer" in
tow, and the "Ariel" the "Lady Nyassa," and brought them to Mozambique.
The day after they set out, a circular storm passed over them, raging
with the utmost fury, and creating the greatest danger. Often as Dr.
Livingstone had been near the gates of death, he was never nearer than
now. He had been offered a passage on board the "Ariel," but while there
was danger he would not leave the "Lady Nyassa." Had the latter not been
an excellent sea-ship she could not have survived the tempest; all the
greater was Dr. Livingstone's grief that she had never reached the lake
for which she was adapted so well.
Writing to his daughter Agnes from Mozambique, he gives a very graphic
account of the storm, after telling her the manner of their leaving
the Zambesi:
"_Mozambique_, 24_th Feb._, 1864.--When our patience had been
well nigh exhausted the river rose and we steamed gladly down
the Shire on the 19th of last month. An accident detained us
some time, but on the 1st February we were close by
Morumbala, where the Bishop [Tozer] passed a short time
before bolting out of the country. I took two members of the
Mission away in the 'Pioneer,' and thirteen women and
children, whom having liberated we did not like to leave to
become the certain prey of slavers again. The Bishop left
twenty-five boys, too, and these also I took with me, hoping
to get them conveyed to the Cape, where I trust they may
become acquainted with our holy religion. We had thus quite a
swarm on board, all very glad to get away from a land of
slaves. There were many more liberated, but we took only the
helpless and those very anxious to be free and with English
people. Those who could cultivate the soil we encouraged to
do so, and left up the river. Only one boy was unwilling to
go, and he was taken by the Bishop. It is a great pity that
the Bishop withdrew the Mission, for he had a noble chance of
doing great things. The captives would have formed a fine
school, and as they had no parents he could have educated
them as he liked.
"When we reached the sea-coast at Luabo we met a man-of-war,
H.M.S. 'Orestes.' I went to her with 'Pioneer,' and sent
'Lady Nyassa' round by inland canal to Kongone. Next day I
went into Kongone in 'Pioneer'; took our things out of her,
and handed her over to the officers of the 'Orestes.' Then
H.M.S 'Ariel' came and took 'Nyassa' in tow, 'Orestes' having
'Pioneer.' Captain Chapman of 'Ariel' very kindly invited me
on board to save me from the knocking about of the 'Lady
Nyassa,' but I did not like to leave so long as there was any
danger, and accepted his invitation for Mr. Waller, who was
dreadfully sea-sick. On 15th we were caught by a hurricane
which whirled the 'Ariel' right round. Her sails, quickly put
to rights, were again backed so that the ship was driven
backward and a hawser wound itself round her screw, so as to
stop the engines. By this time she was turned so as to be
looking right across 'Lady Nyassa,' and the wind alone
propelling her as if to go over the little vessel. I saw no
hope of escape except by catching a rope's-end of the big
ship as she passed over us, but by God's goodness she glided
past, and we felt free to breathe. That night it blew a
furious gale. The captain offered to lower a boat if I would
come to the 'Ariel,' but it would have endangered all in the
boat: the waves dashed so hard against the sides of the
vessel, it might have been swamped, and my going away would
have taken heart out of those that remained. We then passed a
terrible night, but the 'Lady Nyassa' did wonderfully well,
rising like a little duck over the foaming billows. She took
in spray alone, and no green water. The man-of-war's people
expected that she would go down, and it was wonderful to see
how well she did when the big man-of-war, only about 200 feet
off, plunged so as to show a large portion of copper oh her
bottom, then down behind so as to have the sea level with the
top of her bulwarks. A boat hung at that level was smashed.
If we had gone down we could not have been helped in the
least--pitch dark, and wind whistling above; the black folks,
'ane bocking here, another there,' and wanting us to go to
the 'bank.' On 18th the weather moderated, and, the captain
repeating his very kind offer, I went on board with a good
conscience, and even then the boat got damaged. I was hoisted
up in it, and got rested in what was quite a steady ship as
compared with the 'Lady Nyassa.' The 'Ariel' was three days
cutting off the hawser, though nine feet under water, the men
diving and cutting it with immensely long chisels. On the
19th we spoke to a Liverpool ship, requesting the captain to
report me alive, a silly report having been circulated by the
Portuguese that I had been killed at Lake Nyassa, and on the
24th we entered Mozambique harbor, very thankful for our kind
and merciful preservation. The 'Orestes' has not arrived with
the 'Pioneer,' though she is a much more powerful vessel than
the 'Ariel.' Here we have a fort, built in 1500, and said to
be of stones brought from Lisbon. It is a square
massive-looking structure. The town adjacent is Arab in
appearance. The houses flat-roofed and colored white, pink,
and yellow; streets narrow, with plenty of slaves on them. It
is on an island, the mainland on the north being about a mile
off."
The "Pioneer" was delivered over to the Navy, being Her Majesty's
property, and proceeded to the Cape with the "Valorous," Mr. Waller
being on board with a portion of the mission flock. Of Mr. Waller
(subsequently editor of the _Last Journals_) Dr. Livingstone remarked
that "he continued his generous services to all connected with the
Mission, whether white or black, till they were no longer needed; his
conduct to them throughout was truly noble, and worthy of the
highest praise."
After remaining some weeks at Mozambique for thorough repairs, the
"Lady Nyassa" left on 16th April for Johanna and Zanzibar. She was
unable to touch at the former place, and reached Zanzibar on the 24th.
Offers were made for her there, which might have led to her being sold,
but her owner did not think them sufficient, and in point of fact, he
could not make up his mind to part with her. He clung to the hope that
she might yet be useful, and to sell her seemed equivalent to abandon
all hope of carrying out his philanthropic schemes. At all events, till
he should consult Mr. Young he would not sell her at such a sacrifice.
At Zanzibar he found that a naval gentleman, who had been lately there,
had not spoken of him in the most complimentary terms. But it had not
hurt him with his best friends. "Indeed, I find that evil-speaking
against me has, by the good providence of my God, turned rather to my
benefit. I got two of my best friends by being spoken ill of, for they
found me so different from what they had been led to expect that they
befriended me more than they otherwise would have done. It is the good
hand of Him who has all in his power that influences other hearts to
show me kindness."
The only available plan now was to cross the Indian Ocean for Bombay, or
possibly Aden, in the "Nyassa" and leave the ship there till he should
make a run home, consult with his friends as to the future, and find
means for the prosecution of his work. At Zanzibar a new difficulty
arose. Mr. Rae, the engineer, who had now been with him for many years,
and with whom, despite his peculiarities, he got on very well, signified
his intention of leaving him. He had the offer of a good situation, and
wished to accept of it. He was not without compunctions at leaving his
friend in the lurch, and told Livingstone that if he had had no offer
for the ship he would have gone with him, but as he had declined the
offer made to him, he did not feel under obligation to do so.
Livingstone was too generous to press him to remain. It was impossible
to supply Mr. Rae's place, and if anything should go wrong with the
engines, what was to be done? The entire crew of the vessel consisted of
four Europeans; namely, Dr. Livingstone--"skipper," one stoker, one
carpenter, and one sailor; seven native Zambesians, who, till they
volunteered, had never seen the sea, and two boys, one of whom was
Chuma, afterward his attendant on the last journey. With this somewhat
sorry complement, and fourteen tons of coal, Dr. Livingstone set out on
30th April, on a voyage of 2500 miles, over an ocean which he had
never crossed.
It was a very perilous enterprise, for he was informed that the breaking
of the monsoon occurred at the end of May or the beginning of June.
This, as he came to think, was too early; but in any case, he would come
very near the dangerous time. As he wrote to one of his friends, he felt
jammed into a corner, and what could he do? He believed from the best
information he could get that he would reach Bombay in eighteen days.
Had any one told him that he would be forty-five days at sea, and that
for twenty-five of these his ship would be becalmed, and even when she
had a favorable wind would not sail fast, even he would have looked pale
at the thought of what was before him. The voyage was certainly a
memorable one, and has only escaped fame by the still greater wonders
performed by Livingstone on land.
On the first day of the voyage, he made considerable way, but Collyer,
one of his white men, was prostrated by a bilious attack. However, one
of the black men speedily learned to steer, and took Dr. Livingstone's
place at the wheel. Hardly was Collyer better when Pennell, another of
his men, was seized. The chief foes of the ship were currents and calms.
Owing to the illness of the men they could not steam, and the sails were
almost useless. Even steam, when they got it up, enabled them only to
creep. On 20th May, Livingstone, after recording but sixteen knots in
the last twenty-four hours, says in his Journal: "This very unusual
weather has a very depressing influence on my mind. I often feel as if I
am to die on this voyage, and wish I had sent the accounts to the
Government, as also my chart to the Zambesi. I often wish that I may be
permitted to do something for the benighted of Africa. I shall have
nothing to do at home; by the failure of the Universities Mission my
work seems vain. No fruit likely to come from J. Moffat's mission
either. Have I not labored in vain? Am I to be cut off before I do
anything to effect permanent improvement in Africa? I have been
unprofitable enough, but may do something yet, in giving information. If
spared, God grant that I may be more faithful than I have been, and may
He open up the way for me!"
Next day the weather was as still as ever; the sea a glassy calm, with a
hot glaring sun, and sharks stalking about. "All ill-natured," says
honest Livingstone, "and in this I am sorry to feel compelled to join."
There is no sign of ill-nature, however, in the following remarks on
African travel, in his Journal for 23d May:
"In traveling in Africa, with the specific object in view of
ameliorating the benighted condition of the country, every
act is ennobled. In obtaining shelter for the night, and
exchanging the customary civilities, purchasing food for
one's party and asking the news of the country, and answering
in their own polite way any inquiries made respecting the
object of the journey, we begin to spread information
respecting that people by whose agency their land will yet be
made free from the evils that now oppress it. The mere animal
pleasure of traveling is very great. The elastic muscles have
been exercised. Fresh and healthy blood circulates in the
veins, the eye is clear, the step firm, but the day's
exertion has been enough to make rest thoroughly enjoyable.
There is always the influence of the remote chances of danger
on the mind, either from men or wild beasts, and there is the
fellow-feeling drawn out to one's humble, hardy companions,
with whom a community of interests and perils renders one
friends indeed. The effect of travel on my mind has been to
make it more self-reliant, confident of resources and
presence of mind. On the body the limbs become wall-knit, the
muscles after six months' tramping are as hard as a board,
the countenance bronzed as was Adam's, and no dyspepsia.
"In remaining at any spot, it is to work. The sweat of the
brow is no longer a curse when one works for God; it is
converted into a blessing. It is a tonic to the system. The
charms of repose cannot be known without the excitement of
exertion. Most travelers seem taken up with the difficulties
of the way, the pleasures of roaming free in the most
picturesque localities seem forgotten."
Toward the end of May a breeze at last springs up; many
flying-fish come on board, and Livingstone is as usual intent
on observation. He observes them fly with great ease a
hundred yards, the dolphin pursuing them swiftly, but not so
swiftly as they can fly. He notices that the dolphin's bright
colors afford a warning to his enemies, and give them a
chance of escape. Incessant activity is a law in obtaining
food. If the prey could be caught with ease, and no warning
were given, the balance would be turned against the feebler
animals, and carnivora alone would prevail. The cat shows her
shortened tail, and the rattlesnake shakes his tail, to give
warning to the prey. The flying-fish has large eyes in
proportion to other fish, yet leaps on board very often at
night, and kills himself by the concussion.
Livingstone is in great perplexity what to do. At the rate at
which his ship is going it would take him fifteen days to
reach Bombay, being one day before the breaking of the
monsoon, which would be running it too close to danger. He
thinks of going to Aden, but that would require him to go
first to Maculla for water and provisions. When he tries Aden
the wind is against him; so he turns the ship's head to
Bombay, though he has water enough for but ten or twelve days
on short allowance. "May the Almighty be gracious to us all
and help us!"
His Journal is a curious combination of nautical observations
and reflections on Africa and his work. We seem to hear him
pacing his little deck, and thinking aloud:
"The idea of a colony in Africa, as the term colony is
usually understood cannot be entertained. English races
cannot compete in manual labor of any kind with the natives,
but they can take a leading part in managing the land,
improving the quality, in creating the quantity and extending
the varieties of the productions of the soil; and by taking a
lead, too, in trade, and in all public matters, the
Englishman would be an unmixed advantage to every one below
and around him, for he would fill a place which is now
practically vacant.
"It is difficult to convey an idea of the country; it is so
different from all preconceived notions. The country in many
parts rises up to plateaus, slopes up to which are
diversified by valleys lined with trees; or here and there
rocky bluffs jut out; the plateaus themselves are open
prairies covered with grass dotted over with trees, and
watered by numerous streams. Nor are they absolutely flat,
their surface is varied by picturesque undulations. Deep
gorges and ravines leading down to the lower levels offer
special beauties, and landscapes from the edges of the higher
plateaus are in their way unequaled. Thence the winding of
the Shire may be followed like a silver thread or broad lake
with its dark mountain mass behind.
"I think that the Oxford and Cambridge missionaries have
treated me badly in trying to make me the scapegoat of their
own blunders and inefficiency.... But I shall try equitably
and gently to make allowances for human weakness, though that
weakness has caused me much suffering."
On 28th May they had something like a foretaste of the breaking of the
monsoon, though happily that event did not yet take place. "At noon a
dense cloud came down on us from E. and N.E., and blew a furious gale;
tore sails; the ship, as is her wont, rolled broadside into it, and
nearly rolled quite over. Everything was hurled hither and thither. It
lasted half an hour, then passed with a little rain. It was terrible
while it lasted. We had calm after it, and sky brightened up. Thank God
for his goodness."
In June there was more wind, but a peculiarity in the construction of
the ship impeded her progress through the water. It was still very
tedious and trying. Livingstone seems to have been reading books that
would take his attention off the very trying weather.
"Lord Ravensworth has been trying for twenty years to reader the lines
in Horace--
'Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo
Dulce loquentem.'
And after every conceivable variety of form this is the best:
'The softly speaking Lalage,
The softly smiling still for me.'
Pity he had nothing better to engage his powers, for instance the
translating of the Bible into one of the languages of the world."
The 10th of June was introduced by a furious squall which tore the fore
square-sail to ribbons. A curious sight is seen at sea: "two
serpents--said to be often seen on the coast. One dark olive, with light
yellow rings round it, and flattened tail; the other lighter in color.
They seem to be salt-water animals."
Next day, a wet scowling morning. Frequent rains, and thunder in the
distance. "A poor weak creature. Permit me to lean on an
all-powerful arm."
"The squalls usually come up right against the wind, and cast all our
sails aback. This makes them so dangerous, active men are required to
trim them to the other side. We sighted land a little before 12, the
high land of Rutnagerry. I thought of going in, but finding that we have
twenty-eight hours' steam, I changed my mind, and pushed on for Bombay,
115 miles distant. We are nearer the land down here than we like, but
our N.W. wind has prevented us from making northing. We hope for a
little change, and possibly may get in nicely. The good Lord of all
help us!
"At 3 P.M. wind and sea high; very hazy. Raining, with a strong head
wind; at 8 P.M. a heavy squall came off the land on our east. Wind
whistled through the rigging loudly, and we made but little progress
steaming. At 11 P.M. a nice breeze sprang up from east and helped us.
About 12 a white patch reported seemed a shoal, but none is marked on
the chart. Steered a point more out from land; another white patch
marked in middle watch. Sea and wind lower at 3 A.M. At daylight we
found ourselves abreast high land at least 500 feet above sea-level.
Wind light, and from east, which enables us to use fore and aft
try-sails. A groundswell on, but we are getting along, and feel very
thankful to Him who has favored us. Hills not so beautifully colored as
those in Africa....
"At 7 P.M. a furious squall came off the land; could scarcely keep the
bonnets on our heads. Pitchy dark, except the white curl on the waves,
which was phosphorescent. Seeing that we could not enter the harbor,
though we had been near, I stopped the steaming and got up the
try-sails, and let Pennell, who has been up thirty hours, get a sleep.
"13_th June_, 1864.--We found that we had come north only about ten
miles. We had calms after the squall, and this morning the sea is as
smooth as glass, and a thick haze over the land. A scum as of dust on
face of water. We are, as near as I can guess by the chart, about
twenty-five miles from the port of Bombay. Came to Choul Rock at
mid-day, and, latitude agreeing thereto, pushed on N. by W. till we came
to light-ship. It was so hazy inland we could see nothing whatever, then
took the direction by chart, and steered right into Bombay most
thankfully. I mention God's good providence over me, and beg that He may
accept my spared life for his service."
Between the fog and the small size of the Nyassa, her entrance into the
harbor was not observed. Among Livingstone's first acts on anchoring was
to give handsome gratuities to those who had shared his danger and
helped him in his straits. Going ashore, he called on the Governor and
the police magistrate, but the one was absent and the other busy, and so
he returned to the ship unrecognized. The schedules of the custom-house
sent to be filled up his first recognition by the authorities of
Bombay. He replied that except a few bales of calico and a box of beads
he had no merchandise; he was consigned to no one; the seamen had only
their clothes, and he did not know a single soul in Bombay. As soon as
his arrival was known every attention was showered on him by Sir Bartle
Frere, the Governor, and others. They had been looking out for him, but
he had eluded their notice. The Governor was residing at Dapuri, and on
his invitation Livingstone went there. Stopping at Poona, he called on
the missionaries, and riding on an elephant he saw some of the "lions"
of the place. Colonel Stewart, who accompanied him, threw some light on
the sea-serpent. "He told us that the yellow sea-serpent which we had
seen before reaching Bombay is poisonous; there are two kinds--one dark
olive, the other pale lemon color; both have rings of brighter yellow on
their tails."
Landing in India was a strange experience, as he tells Sir Thomas
Maclear. "To walk among the teeming thousands of all classes of
population, and see so many things that reading and pictures had made
familiar to the mind, was very interesting. The herds of the buffaloes,
kept I believe for their milk, invariably made the question glance
across the mind, 'Where's your rifle?' Nor could I look at the elephants
either without something of the same feeling. Hundreds of bales of
cotton were lying on the wharves.".
"20_th June_, 1864--Went with Captain Leith to Poona to visit the Free
Church Mission Schools there, under the Rev. Mr. Mitchell, Gardner, etc.
A very fine school of 500 boys and young men answered questions very
well.... All collected together, and a few ladies and gentlemen for whom
I answered questions about Africa. We then went to a girls' school; the
girls sang very nicely, then acted a little play. There were different
castes in all the schools, and quite mixed. After this we went to
College, where young men are preparing for degrees of the University
under Dr. Haug and Mr. Wordsworth; then to the Roman Catholic Orphanage,
where 200 girls are assembled, clothed, and fed under a French Lady
Superior--dormitory clean and well aired, but many had
scrofulous-looking sore eyes; then home to see some friends whom Lady
Frere had invited, to save me the trouble of calling on them. Saw Mr.
Cowan's daughter."
"21_st June_, 1864.--... Had a conversation with the Governor after
breakfast about the slaving going on toward the Persian Gulf. His idea
is that they are now only beginning to put a stop to slavery--they did
not know of it previously.... The merchants of Bombay have got the whole
of the trade of East Africa thrown on their hands, and would, it is
thought, engage in an effort to establish commerce on the coast. The
present Sultan is, for an Arab, likely to do a good deal. He asked if I
would undertake to be consul at a settlement, but I think I have not
experience enough for a position of that kind among Europeans."
On returning to Bombay, he saw the missionary institutions of the Scotch
Established and Free Churches, and arranged with Dr. Wilson of the
latter mission to take his two boys, Chuma and Wikatani. He arranged
also that the "Lady Nyassa," which he had not yet sold, should be taken
care of, and borrowing L133, 10s. for the passage-money of himself and
John Reid, one of his men, embarked for old England.
At Aden considerable rain had fallen lately; he observed that there was
much more vegetation than when he was there before, and it occurred to
him that at the time of the Exodus the same effects probably followed
the storms of rain, lightning, and hail in Egypt. Egypt was very far
from green, so that Dr. Stanley must have visited it at another part of
the year. At Alexandria, when he went on board the "Ripon," he found the
Maharaja Dhuleep Singh and his young Princess--the girl he had fancied
and married from an English Egyptian school. Paris is reached on the
21st July; a day is spent in resting; and on the evening of the 23d he
reaches Charing Cross, and is regaled with what, after nearly eight
years' absence, must have been true music--the roar of the
mighty Babylon.
The desponding views of his work which we find in such entries in his
Journal as that of 20th May must not be held to express his deliberate
mind. It must not be thought that he had thrown aside the motto which
had helped him as much as it had helped his royal countryman, Robert
Bruce--"Try again." He had still some arrows in his quiver. And his
short visit to Bombay was a source of considerable encouragement. The
merchants there, who had the East African trade in their hands,
encouraged him to hope that a settlement for honest traffic might be
established to the north of the region over which the Portuguese claimed
authority. As Livingstone moved homeward he was revolving two projects.
The first was to expose the atrocious slave-trading of the Portuguese,
which had not only made all his labor fruitless, but had used his very
discoveries as channels for spreading fresh misery over Africa. The
thought warmed his blood, and he felt like a Highlander with his hand on
his claymore. The second project was to find means for a new settlement
at the head of the Rovuma, or somewhere else beyond the Portuguese
lines, which he would return in the end of the year to establish.
Writing a short book might help to accomplish both these projects. As
yet, the idea of finding the sources of the Nile was not in his mind. It
was at the earnest request of others that he undertook the work that
cost him so many years of suffering, and at last his life.
CHAPTER XVII.
SECOND VISIT HOME.
A.D. 1864-65.
Dr. Livingstone and Sir R. Murchison--At Lady Palmerston's reception--at
other places in London--Sad news of his son Robert--His early death--Dr.
Livingstone goes to Scotland--Pays visits--Consultation with Professor
Syme as to operation--Visit to Duke of Argyll--to Ulva--He meets Dr.
Duff--At launch of a Turkish frigate--At Hamilton--Goes to Bath to
British Association--Delivers an Address--Dr. Colenso--At funeral of
Captain Speke--Bath speech offends the Portuguese--Charges of
Lacerda--He visits Mr. and Mrs. Webb-at Newstead--Their great
hospitality--The Livingstone room--He spends eight months there writing
his book--He regains elasticity and playfulness--His book--Charles
Livingstone's share--He uses his influence for Dr. Kirk--Delivers a
lecture At Mansfield--Proposal made to him by Sir R. Murchison to return
to Africa--Letter from Sir Roderick--His reply--He will not cease to be
a missionary--Letter to Mr. James Young--Overtures from Foreign
Office--Livingstone displeased--At dinner of Royal Academy--His speech
not reported--President Lincoln's assassination--Examination by
Committee of House of Commons--His opinion on the capacity of the
negro--He goes down to Scotland--_Tom Brown's School Days_--His mother
very ill--She rallies--He goes to Oxford--Hears of his mother's
death--Returns--He attends examination of Oswell's school--His
speech--Goes to London, preparing to leave--Parts from Mr. and Mrs.
Webb--Stays with Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton--Last days in England.
On reaching London, Dr. Livingstone took tip his quarters at the
Tavistock Hotel; but he had hardly swallowed dinner, when he was off to
call on Sir Roderick and Lady Murchison.
"Sir Roderick took me off with him, just as I was, to Lady Palmerston's
reception. My lady very gracious--gave me tea herself. Lord Palmerston
looking well. Had two conversations with him about slave-trade. Sir
Roderick says that he is more intent on maintaining his policy on that
than on any other thing. And so is she--wonderfully fine, matronly lady.
Her daughters are grown up. Lady Shaftesbury like her mother in beauty
and grace. Saw and spoke to Sir Charles Wood about India, 'his Eastern
Empire,' as he laughingly called it. Spoke to Duke and Duchess of
Somerset. All say very polite things, and all wonderfully considerate."
An invitation to dine with Lord Palmerston on the 29th detained him for
a few days from going down to Scotland.
"_Monday,_ 25_th July_.--Went to Foreign Office.... Got a dress suit at
Nicol & Co.'s, and dined with Lord and Lady Dunmore. Very clever and
intelligent man, and lady very sprightly. Thence to Duchess of
Wellington's reception. A grand company--magnificent rooms. Met Lord and
Lady Colchester, Mrs. F. Peel, Lady Emily Peel, Lady de Redcliffe, Lord
Broughton, Lord Houghton, and many more whose names escaped me. Ladies
wonderfully beautiful--rich and rare were the gems they wore.
"26_th July.--Go_ to Wimbledon with Mr. Murray, and see Sir Bartle
Frere's children.... See Lord Russell--his manner is very cold, as all
the Russells are. Saw Mr. Layard too; he is warm and frank. Received an
invitation from the Lord Mayor to dine with Her Majesty's Ministers.
"27_th July_.--Hear the sad news that Robert is In the American army....
Went to Lord Mayor Lawrence's to dinner...."
With reference to the "sad news" of Robert, which made his father very
heavy-hearted during the first part of his visit home, it is right to
state a few particulars, as the painful subject found its way into
print, and was not always recorded accurately. Robert had some promising
qualities, and those who knew and understood him had good hopes of his
turning out well. But he was extremely restless, as if, to use
Livingstone's phrase, he had got "a deal of the vagabond nature from
his father;" and school-life was very irksome to him. With the view of
joining his father, he was sent to Natal, but he found no opportunity of
getting thence to the Zambesi. Leaving Natal, he found his way to
America, and at Boston he enlisted in the Federal army. The service was
as hot as could be. In one battle, two men were killed close to him by
shrapnel shell, a rifle bullet passed close to his head, and killed a
man behind him; other two were wounded close by him. His letters to his
sister expressed his regret at the course of his life, and confessed
that his troubles were due to his disobedience. So far was he from
desiring to trade on his father's name, that in enlisting he assumed
another, nor did any one in the army know whose son it was that was
fighting for the freedom of the slave. Meeting the risks of battle with
dauntless courage, he purposely abstained, even in the heat of a charge,
from destroying life. Not long after, Dr. Livingstone learned that in
one of his battles he was wounded and taken prisoner; then came a letter
from a hospital, in which he again expressed his intense desire to
travel. But his career had come to its close. He died in his nineteenth
year. His body lies in the great national cemetery of Gettysburg, in
Pennsylvania, in opening which Lincoln uttered one of those speeches
that made his name dear to Livingstone. Whatever degree of comfort or
hope his father might derive from Robert's last letters, he felt
saddened by his unsatisfactory career. Writing to his friend Moore (5th
August) he says: "I hope your eldest son will do well in the distant
land to which he has gone. My son is in the Federal army in America, and
no comfort. The secret ballast is often applied by a kind hand above,
when to outsiders we appear to be sailing gloriously with the wind."
"29_th July_.--Called on Mr. Gladstone; he was very
affable--spoke about the Mission, and asked if I had told
Lord Russell about it.... Visited Lady Franklin and Miss
Cracroft, her niece.... Dined with Lord and Lady Palmerston,
Lady Shaftesbury, and Lady Victoria Ashley, the Portuguese
Minister, Count d'Azeglio (Sardinian Minister), Mr.
Calcraft--a very agreeable party. Mr. Calcraft and I walked
home after retiring. He is cousin to Colonel Steele; the
colonel has gone abroad with his daughter, who is delicate."
"_Saturday, 31st July_, 1864.--Came down by the morning train
to Harburn, and met my old friend Mr. Young, who took me to
Limefield, and introduced me to a nice family."
Dr. Livingstone's relation to Mr. Young's family was very close and
cordial. Hardly one of the many notes and letters he wrote to his friend
fails to send greetings to "Ma-James," as he liked to call Mrs. Young,
after the African fashion. It is not only the playful ease of his
letters that shows how much he felt at home with Mr. Young,--the same
thing appears from the frequency with which he sought his counsel in
matters of business, and the value which he set upon it.
"_Sunday, 1st August_.--Went-to the U.P. church, and heard
excellent sermons. Was colder this time than on my former
visit to Scotland.
"_2d August_.--Reached Hamilton. Mother did not know me at
first. Anna Mary, a nice sprightly child, told me that she
preferred Garibaldi buttons on her dress, as I walked down to
Dr. Loudon to thank him for his kindness to my mother.
"_3d August_.--Agnes, Oswell, and Thomas came. I did not
recognize Tom, he has grown so much. Has been poorly a long
while; congestion of the kidney, it is said. Agnes quite
tall, and Anna Mary a nice little girl."
The next few days were spent with his family, and in visits to the
neighborhood. He had a consultation with Professor Syme as to a surgical
operation recommended for an ailment that had troubled him ever since
his first great journey; he was strongly urged to have the operation
performed, and probably it would have been better if he had; but he
finally declined, partly because an old medical friend was against it,
but chiefly, as he told Sir* Roderick, because the matter would get into
the newspapers, and he did not like the public to be speaking of his
infirmities. On the 17th he went to Inveraray to visit the Duke of
Argyll. He was greatly pleased with his reception, and his Journal
records the most trifling details. What especially charmed him was the
considerate forethought in making him feel at his ease. "On Monday
morning I had the honor of planting two trees beside those planted by
Sir John Lawrence and the Marquis of Lansdowne, and by the Princess of
Prussia and the Crown Prince. The coach came at twelve o'clock, and I
finished the most delightful visit I ever made."
Next day he went to Oban, and the day after by steamer to Iona and
Staffa, and thereafter to Aros, in Mull. Next day Captain Greenhill took
him in his yacht to Ulva.
"In 1848 the kelp and potatoes failed, and the proprietor, a writer from
Stirling, reduced the population from six hundred to one hundred. None
of my family remain. The minister, Mr. Fraser, had made inquiries some
years ago, and found an old woman who remembered my grandfather living
at Uamh, or the Cave. It is a sheltered spot, with basaltic rocks
jutting out of the ground below the cave; the walls of the house remain,
and the corn and potato patches are green, but no one lives there...."
Returning to Oban on the 24th August, "... I then came to the Crinan
Canal, and at Glasgow end thereof met that famous missionary, Dr. Duff,
from India A fine, tall, noble-looking man, with a white beard and a
twitch in his muscles which shows that the Indian climate has done its
work on him.... Home to Hamilton."
The Highlanders everywhere claimed him; "they cheered me," he writes to
Sir Roderick, "as a man and a brother."
The British Association was to meet at Bath this autumn, and Livingstone
was to give a lecture on Africa. It was a dreadful thought. "Worked at
my Bath speech. A cold shiver comes over me when I think of it. Ugh!"
Then he went with his daughter Agnes to see a beautiful sight, the
launching of a Turkish frigate from Mr. Napier's yard--"8000 tons weight
plunged into the Clyde, and sent a wave of its dirty water over to the
other side." The Turkish Ambassador, Musurus Pasha, was one of the party
at Shandon, and he and Livingstone traveled in the same carriage At one
of the stations they were greatly cheered by the Volunteers. "The cheers
are for you," Livingstone said to the Ambassador, with a smile. "No,"
said the Turk "I am only what my master made me; you are what you made
yourself." When the party reached the Queen's Hotel, a working man
rushed across the road, seized Livingstone's hand, saying, "I must shake
your hand," clapped him on the back, and rushed back again. "You'll not
deny now," said the Ambassador, "that that's for you."
Returning to Hamilton, he notes, on 4th September: "Church in the
forenoon to hear a stranger, in the afternoon to hear Mr. Buchan give an
excellent sermon." On 5th, 6th, 7th, he is at the speech. On 8th he
receives a most kind invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Webb of Newstead
Abbey, to make their house his home. Mr. Webb was a very old friend, a
great hunter, who had seen Livingstone at Kolobeng, and formed an
attachment to him which continued as warm as ever to the last day of
Livingstone's life. Livingstone and his daughter Agnes reach Bath on the
15th, and become the guests of Dr. and Miss Watson, of both of whom he
writes in the highest terms.
"On Sunday, heard a good sermon from Mr. Fleming Bishop Colenso called
on me. He was very much cheered by many people; it is evident that they
admire his pluck, and consider him a persecuted man. Went to the theatre
on Monday, 19th, to deliver my address. When in the green-room, a loud
cheering was made for Bishop Colenso, and some hisses. It was a pity
that he came to the British Association, as it looks like taking sides.
Sir Charles Lyell cheered and clapped his hands in a most vigorous way.
Got over the address nicely. People very kind and indulgent--2500
persons present, but it is a place easily spoken in."
When Bishop Colenso moved the vote of thanks to Dr. Livingstone for his
address, occasion was taken by some narrow and not very scrupulous
journals to raise a prejudice against him. He was represented as sharing
the Bishop's theological views. For this charge there was no foundation,
and the preceding extract from his Journal will show that he felt the
Bishop's presence to be somewhat embarrassing. Dr. Livingstone was
eminently capable of appreciating Dr. Colenso's chivalrous backing of
native races in Africa, while he differed _toto coelo_ from his
theological views. In an entry in his Journal a few days later he refers
to an African traveler who had got a high reputation without deserving
it, for "he sank to the low estate of the natives, and rather admired
_Essays and Reviews_"
The next passage we give from his Journal refers to the melancholy end
of another brother-traveler, of whom he always spoke with respect:
"23d _Sept_.--Went to the funeral of poor Captain Speke, who, when out
shooting on the 15th, the day I arrived at Bath, was killed by the
accidental discharge of his gun. It was a sad shock to me, for, having
corresponded with him, I anticipated the pleasure of meeting him, and
the first news Dr. Watson gave me was that of his death. He was buried
at Dowlish, a village where his family have a vault. Captain Grant, a
fine fellow, put a wreath or immortelle upon the coffin as it passed us
in church. It was composed of mignonette and wild violets."
The Bath speech gave desperate offense to the Portuguese. Livingstone
thought it a good sign, wrote playfully to Mr. Webb that they were
"cussin' and swearin' dreadful," and wondered if they would keep their
senses when the book came out. In a postscript to the preface to _The
Zambesi and its Tributaries_, he says, "Senhor Lacerda has endeavored
to extinguish the facts adduced by me at Bath by a series of papers in
the Portuguese official journal; and their Minister for Foreign Affairs
has since devoted some of the funds of his Government to the translation
and circulation of Senhor Lacerda's articles in the form of an English
tract." He replies to the allegations of the pamphlet on the main
points. But he was too magnanimous to make allusion to the shameless
indecency of the personal charges against himself. "It is manifest,"
said Lacerda, "without the least reason to doubt, that Dr. Livingstone,
under the pretext of propagating the Word of God (this being the least
in which he employed himself) and the advancement of geographical and
natural science, made all his steps and exertions subservient to the
idea of ... eventually causing the loss to Portugal of the advantages of
the rich commerce of the interior, and in the end, when a favorable
occasion arose that of the very territory itself." Lacerda then quoted
the bitter letter of Mr. Rowley in illustration of Livingstone's plans
and methods, and urged remonstrance as a duty of the Portuguese
Government. "Nor," he continued, "ought the Government oL Portugal to
stop here. It ought, as we have said, to go further; because from what
his countrymen say of Livingstone--and to which he only answers by a
mere vain negation,--from what he unhesitatingly declares of himself and
his intentions, and from what must be known to the Government by private
information from, their delegates, it is obvious that such men as
Livingstone may become extremely prejudicial to the interests of
Portugal, especially when resident in a public capacity in our African
possessions, if not efficiently watched, if their audacious and
mischievous actions are not restrained. If steps are not taken in a
proper and effective manner, so that they may be permitted only to do
good, if indeed good can come from such," etc.
"26_th Sept_.--Agnes and I go to-day to Newstead Abbey,
Notts. Reach it about 9 P.M., and find Mr. and Mrs. Webb all
I anticipated and more. A splendid old mansion with a
wonderful number of curiosities in it, and magnificent
scenery around. It was the residence of Lord Byron, and his
furniture is kept" [in his private rooms] "just as he left
it. His character does not shine. It appears to have been
horrid.... He made a drinking cup of a monk's skull found
under the high altar, with profane verses on the silver
setting, and kept his wine in the stone coffin. These Mrs.
Webb buried, and all the bones she could find that had been
desecrated by the poet."
In a letter to Sir Thomas Maclear he speaks of the poet as one of those
who, like many others--some of them travelers who abused
missionaries,--considered it a fine thing to be thought awfully
bad fellows.
"27_th_.--Went through the whole house with our kind hosts,
and saw all the wonders, which would require many days
properly to examine....
"2_d October_.--Took Communion in the chapel of the Abbey.
God grant me to be and always to act as a true Christian.
"3_d._--Mr. and Mrs. Webb kindness itself personified. A
blessing be on them and their children from the Almighty!"
When first invited to reside at Newstead Abbey, Dr. Livingstone
declined, on the ground that he was to be busy writing a book, and that
he wished to have some of his children with him, and in the case of
Agnes, to let her have music lessons. His kind friends, however, were
resolved that these reasons should not stand in the way, and
arrangements were made by them accordingly. Dr. Livingstone continued to
be their guest for eight months, and received from them all manner of
assistance. Sometimes Mr. and Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Goodlake (Mrs. Webb's
mother), and his daughter Agnes would all be busy copying his journals.
The "Livingstone room," as it is called, in the Sussex tower, is likely
to be associated with his name while the building lasts. It was his
habit to rise early and work at his book, to return to his task after
breakfast and continue till luncheon and in the afternoon have a long
walk with Mr. Webb. It is only when the book is approaching its close
that we find him working "till two in the morning." One of his chief
recreations was in the field of natural history, watching experiments
with the spawning of trout. He endeared himself to all, high and low;
was a special favorite with the children, and did not lose opportunities
to commend, in the way he thought best, those high views of life and
duty which had been so signally exemplified in his own career. The
playfulness of his nature found full and constant scope at Newstead; he
regained an almost boyish flow of animal spirits, reveled in fun and
frolic in his short notes to friends like Mr. Young, or Mr. Webb when he
happened to be absent; wrote in the style of Mr. Punch, and called his
opponents by ludicrous names; yet never forgot the stern duty that
loomed before him, or allowed the enjoyment and _abandon_ of the moment
to divert him from the death-struggle on behalf of Africa in which he
had yet to engage.
The book was at first to be a little one,--a blast of the trumpet
against the monstrous slave-trade of the Portuguese; but it swelled to a
goodly octavo, and embraced the history of the Zambesi Expedition.
Charles Livingstone had written a full diary, and in order that his name
might be on the title-page, and he might have the profits of the
American edition, his journal was made use of in the writing of the
book; but the arrangement was awkward; sometimes Livingstone forgot the
understanding of joint-authorship, and he found that he could more
easily have written the whole from the foundation, At first it was
designed that the book should appear early in the summer of 1865, but
when the printing was finished the map was not ready; and the
publication had to be delayed till the usual season in autumn.
The entries in his Journal are brief, and of little general interest
during the time the book was getting ready. Most of them have reference
to the affairs of other people. As he finds that Dr. Kirk is unable to
undertake a work on the botany and natural history of the Expedition,
unless he should hold some permanent situation, he exerts himself to
procure a Government appointment for him, recommending him strongly to
Sir R. Murchison and others, and is particularly gratified by a reply to
his application from the Earl of Dalhousie, who wrote that he regarded
his request as a command. He is pleased to learn that, through the kind
efforts of Sir Roderick, his brother Charles has been appointed Consul
at Fernando Po. He sees the American Minister, who promises to do all he
can for Robert, but almost immediately after, the report comes that poor
Robert has died in a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina. He delivers
a lecture at the Mechanics' Institute at Mansfield, but the very idea of
a speech always makes him ill, and in this case it brings on an attack
of Haemorrhoids, with which he had not been troubled for long. He goes to
London to a meeting of the Geographical Society, and hears a paper of
Burton's--a gentleman from whose geographical views he dissents, as he
does from his views on subjects more important. In regard to his book he
says very little; four days, he tells us, were spent in writing the
description of the Victoria Falls; and on the 15th April, 1865, he
summons his daughter Agnes to take his pen and write FINIS at the end of
his manuscript. On leaving Newstead on the 25th, he writes, "Parted with
our good friends the Webbs. And may God Almighty bless and reward them
and their family!"
Some time before this, a proposal was made to him by Sir Roderick
Murchison which in the end gave a new direction to the remaining part of
his life. It was brought before him in the following letter:
"_Jan._ 5, 1865.
"MY DEAR LIVINGSTONE:--As to _your future_, I am anxious to
know what _your own wish is_ as respects a renewal of African
exploration.
"Quite irrespective of missionaries or political affairs,
there is at this moment a question of intense geographical
interest to be settled: namely, the watershed, or watersheds,
of South Africa.
"How, if you would really like to be the person to finish off
your remarkable career by completing such a survey,
unshackled by other avocations than those of the geographical
explorer, I should be delighted to consult my friends of the
Society, and take the best steps to promote such an
enterprise.
"For example, you might take your little steamer to the
Rovuma, and, getting up by water as far as possible in the
rainy season, then try to reach the south end of the
Tanganyika. Thither you might transport a light boat, or
build one there, and so get to the end of that sheet
of water.
"Various questions might be decided by the way, and if you
could get to the west, and come out on that coast, or should
be able to reach the White Nile (!), you would bring back an
unrivaled reputation, and would have settled all the great
disputes now pending.
"If you do not like to undertake _the purely geographical
work_, I am of opinion that no one, after yourself, is so
fitted to carry it out as Dr. Kirk. I know that he thinks of
settling down now at home. But if he could delay this
home-settlement for a couple of years, he would not only make
a large sum of money by his book of travels, but would have a
renown that would give him an excellent introduction as a
medical man.
"I have heard you so often talk of the enjoyment you feel
when in Africa, that I cannot believe you now think of
anchoring for the rest of your life on the mud and sand-banks
of England.
"Let me know your mind on the subject. When is the book to
appear? Kind love to your daughter.--Yours sincerely,
"ROD'CK I. MURCHISON."
Livingstone begins his answer by assuring Sir Roderick that he never
contemplated settling down quietly in England; it would be time enough
for that when he was in his dotage. "I should like the exploration you
propose very much, and had already made up my mind to go up the Rovuma,
pass by the head of Lake Nyassa, and away west or northwest as might be
found practicable." He would have been at this ere now, but his book
chained him, and he feared that he could not take back the "Lady Nyassa"
to Africa, with the monsoon against him, so that be must get a boat to
explore the Rovuma.
"What my inclination leads me to prefer is to have
intercourse with the people, and do what I can by talking, to
enlighten them on the slave-trade, and give them some idea of
our religion. It may not be much that I can do, but I feel
when doing that I am not living in vain. You remember that
when, to prevent our coming to a standstill, I had to turn
skipper myself, the task was endurable only because I was
determined that no fellow should prove himself indispensable
to our further progress. To be debarred from spending most of
my time in traveling, in exploration, and continual
intercourse with the natives, I always felt to be a severe
privation, and if I can get a few hearty native companions, I
shall enjoy myself, and feel that I am doing my duty. As soon
as my book is out, I shall start."
In Livingstone's Journal, 7th January, 1865, we find this entry:
"Answered Sir Roderick about going out. Said I could only feel in the
way of duty by working as a missionary." The answer is very noteworthy
in the view of what has so often been said against Livingstone--that he
dropped the missionary to become an explorer. To understand the precise
bearing of the proposal, and of Livingstone's reply, it is necessary to
say that Sir Roderick had a conviction, which he never concealed, that
the missionary enterprise encumbered and impeded the geographical. He
had a special objection to an Episcopal mission, holding that the
planting of a Bishop and staff on territory dominated by the Portuguese
was an additional irritant, rousing ecclesiastical jealousy, and
bringing it to the aid of commercial and political apprehensions as to
the tendency of the English enterprise. Neither mission nor colony could
succeed in the present state of the country; they could only be a
trouble to the geographical explorer. On this point Livingstone held his
own views. He could only feel in the line of duty as a missionary.
Whatever he might or might not be able to do in that capacity, he would
never abandon it, and, in particular, he would never come under an
obligation to the Geographical Society that he would serve them
"unshackled by other avocations than those of the geographical
explorer."
A letter to Mr. James Young throws light on the feelings with which he
regarded Sir Roderick's proposal:
"_20th January, 1865_--I am not sure but I told you already
that Sir Roderick and I have been writing about going out,
and my fears that I must sell 'Lady Nyassa,' because the
monsoon will be blowing from Africa to India before I get
out, and it won't do for me to keep her idle. I must go down
to the Seychelles Islands (tak' yer speks and keek at the map
or gougrafy), then run my chance to get over by a dhow or
man-of-war to the Rovuma, going up that river in a boat, till
we get to the cataracts, and the tramp. I must take Belochees
from India, and may go down the lake to get Makololo, if the
Indians don't answer. I would not consent to go simply as a
geographer, but as a missionary, and do geography by the way,
because I feel I am in the way of duty when trying either to
enlighten these poor people, or open their land to lawful
commerce."
It was at this time that Mr. Hayward, Q.C., while on a visit to
Newstead, brought an informal message from Lord Palmerston, who wished
to know what he could do for Livingstone. Had Livingstone been a vain
man, wishing a handle to his name, or had he even been bent on getting
what would be reasonable in the way of salary for himself, or of
allowance for his children, now was his chance of accomplishing his
object. But so single-hearted was he in his philanthropy that such
thoughts did not so much as enter his mind; there was one thing, and one
only, which he wished Lord Palmerston to secure--free access to the
highlands, by the Zambesi and Shire, to be made good by a treaty with
Portugal. It is satisfactory to record that the Foreign Office has at
last made arrangements to this effect.
While the proposal on the part of the President of the Geographical
Society was undergoing consideration, certain overtures were made to Dr.
Livingstone by the Foreign Office. On the 11th of March he called at the
office, at the request of Mr. Layard, who propounded a scheme that he
should have a commission giving him authority over the chiefs, from the
Portuguese boundary to Abyssinia and Egypt; the office to carry no
salary. When a formal proposal to this effect was submitted to him, with
the additional proviso that he was to be entitled to no pension, he
could not conceal his irritation. For himself he was just as willing as
ever to work as before, without hope of earthly recompense, and to
depend on the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread;" but he
thought it ungenerous to take advantage of his well-known interest in
Africa to deprive him of the honorarium which the most insignificant
servant of Her Majesty enjoyed. He did not like to be treated like a
charwoman. As for the pension, he had never asked it, and counted it
offensive to be treated as if he had shown a greed which required to be
repressed. It came out, subsequently, that the letter had been written
by an underling, but when Earl Russell was appealed to, he would only
promise a salary when Dr. Livingstone should have settled somewhere! The
whole transaction had a very ungracious aspect.
Before publishing his book, Dr. Livingstone had asked Sir Roderick
Murchison's advice as to the wisdom of speaking his mind on two somewhat
delicate points. In reply, Sir Roderick wrote: "If you think you have
been too hard as to the Bishop or the Portuguese, you can modify the
phrases. But I think that the truth ought to be known, if only in
vindication of your own conduct, and to account for the little success
attending your last mission."
We continue our extracts from his Journal:
"_26th April_, 1865.--In London. Horrified by news of
President Lincoln's assassination, and the attempt to
murder Seward."
"_29th April_.--Went down to Crystal Palace, with Agnes, to a
Saturday Concert. The music very fine. Met Waller, and lost a
train. Came up in hot haste to the dinner of the Royal
Academy.... Sir Charles Eastlake, President; Archbishops of
Canterbury and York on each side of the chair; all the
Ministers present, except Lord Palmerston, who is ill of gout
in the hand. Lord Russell, Lord Granville, and Duke of
Somerset sat on other side of table from Sir Henry Holland,
Sir Roderick, and myself. Lord Clarendon was close enough to
lean back and clap me on the shoulder, and ask me when I was
going out. Duke of Argyll, Bishops of Oxford and London, were
within earshot; Sir J. Romilly, the Master of the Rolls, was
directly in front, on the other side of our table. He said
that he watched all my movements with great interest.... Lord
Derby made a good speech. The speeches were much above the
average. I was not told that I was expected to speak till I
got in, and this prevented my eating. When Lord John Manners
complimented me after my speech, I mentioned the effect the
anticipation had on me. To comfort me he said that the late
Sir Robert Peel never enjoyed a dinner in these
circumstances, but sat crumbling up his bread till it became
quite a heap on the table.... My speech was not reported."
"_2d May_.--Met Mr. Elwin, formerly editor of the
_Quarterly_. He said that Forster, one of our first-class
writers, had told him that the most characteristic speech was
not reported, and mentioned the heads--as, the slave-trade
being of the same nature as thuggee, garrotting; the tribute
I paid to our statesmen; and the way that Africans have been
drawn, pointing to a picture of a woman spinning. This
non-reporting was much commented on, which might, if I needed
it, prove a solace to my wounded vanity. But I did not feel
offended. Everything good for me will be given, and I take
all as a little child from its father.
"Heard a capital sermon from Dr. Hamilton [Regent Square
Church], on President Lincoln's assassination. 'It is
impossible but that offenses will come,' etc. He read part of
the President's address at second inauguration. In the light
of subsequent events it is grand. If every drop of blood shed
by the lash must be atoned for by an equal number of white
men's vital fluid,--righteous, O Lord, are Thy judgments! The
assassination has awakened universal sympathy and
indignation, and will lead to more cordiality between the
countries. The Queen has written an autograph letter to Mrs.
Lincoln, and Lords and Commons have presented addresses to
Her Majesty, praying her to convey their sentiments of horror
at the fearful crime."
"_18th May,_ 1865.--Was examined by the Committee [of the
House of Commons] on the West Coast; was rather nervous and
confused, but let them know pretty plainly that I did not
agree with the aspersions cast on missions."
In a letter to Mr. Webb, he writes _a propos_ of this examination:
"The monstrous mistake of the Burton school is this: they
ignore the point-blank fact that the men that do the most for
the mean whites are the same that do the most for the mean
blacks, and you never hear one mother's son of them say, You
do wrong to give to the whites. I told the Committee I had
heard people say that Christianity made the blacks worse, but
did not agree with them. I might have said it was 'rot,' and
truly. I can stand a good deal of bosh, but to tell me that
Christianity makes people worse--ugh! Tell that to the young
trouts. You know on what side I am, and I shall stand to my
side, Old Pam fashion, through thick and thin. I don't agree
with all my side say and do. I won't justify many things, but
for the great cause of human progress I am heart and soul,
_and so are you_."
Dr. Livingstone was asked at this time to attend a public meeting on
behalf of American freedom. It was not in his power to go, but, in
apologizing, he was at pains to express his opinion on the capacity of
the negro, in connection with what was going on in the United States:
"Our kinsmen across the Atlantic deserve our warmest
sympathy. They have passed, and are passing, through trials,
and are encompassed with difficulties which completely dwarf
those of our Irish famine, and not the least of them is the
question, what to do with those freedmen for whose existence
as slaves in America our own forefathers have so much to
answer. The introduction of a degraded race from a barbarous
country was a gigantic evil, and if the race cannot be
elevated, an evil beyond remedy. Millions can neither be
amalgamated nor transported, and the presence of degradation
is a contagion which propagates itself among the more
civilized. But I have no fears as to the mental and moral
capacity of the Africans for civilization and upward
progress. We who suppose ourselves to have vaulted at one
bound to the extreme of civilization, and smack our lips so
loudly over our high elevation, may find it difficult to
realize the debasement to which slavery has sunk those men,
or to appreciate what, in the discipline of the sad school of
bondage, is in a state of freedom real and substantial
progress. But I, who have been intimate with Africans who
have never been defiled by the slave-trade, believe them to
be capable of holding an honorable rank in the family of
man."
Wherever slavery prevailed, or the effects of slavery were found, Dr.
Livingstone's testimony against it was clear and emphatic. Neither
personal friendship nor any other consideration under the sun could
repress it. When his friends Sir Roderick and Mr. Webb afterward
expressed their sympathy with Governor Eyre, of Jamaica, he did not
scruple to tell them how different an estimate he had formed of the
Governor's conduct.
We continue our extracts from his Journal and letters:
_24th May._--Came down to Scotland by last night's train;
found mother very poorly; and, being now eighty-two, I fear
she may not have long to live among us."
_27th May_ (to Mr. Webb)--"I have been reading _Tom Brown's
School Days_--a capital book. Dr. Arnold was a man worth his
weight in something better than gold. You know Oswell" [his
early friend] "was one of his Rugby boys. One could see his
training in always doing what was brave and true and right."
"_2d June._--Tom better, but kept back in his education by
his complaint. Oswell getting on well at school at Hamilton.
Anna Mary well. Mother gradually becoming weaker. Robert we
shall never hear of again in this world, I fear; but the Lord
is merciful and just and right in all his ways. He would hear
the cry for mercy in the hospital at Salisbury. I have lost
my part in that gigantic struggle which the Highest guided to
a consummation never contemplated by the Southerners when
they began; and many other have borne more numerous losses."
"_5th June_.--Went about a tombstone for my dear Mary. Got a
good one of cast-iron to be sent out to the Cape.
"Mother very low.... Has been a good affectionate mother to
us all. The Lord be with her.... Whatever is good for me and
mine the Lord will give.
"To-morrow, Communion in kirk. The Lord strip off all
imperfections, wash away all guilt, breathe love and goodness
through all my nature, and make his image shine out from
my soul.
"Mother continued very low, and her mind ran on poor Robert.
Thought I was his brother, and asked me frequently, 'Where is
your brother? where is that puir laddie?'... Sisters most
attentive.... Contrary to expectation she revived, and I went
to Oxford. The Vice-Chancellor offered me the theatre to
lecture in, but I expected a telegram if any change took
place on mother. Gave an address to a number of friends in
Dr. Daubeny's chemical class-room."
"_Monday, 19th June_.--A telegram came, saying that mother
had died the day before. I started at once for Scotland. No
change was observed till within an hour and a half of her
departure.... Seeing the end was near, sister Agnes said,
'The Saviour has come for you, mother. You can "lippen"
yourself to him?' She replied, 'Oh yes.' Little Anna Mary was
help up to her. She gave her the last look, and said 'Bonnie
wee lassie,' gave a few long inspirations, and all was still,
with a look of reverence on her countenance. She had wished
William Logan, a good Christian man, to lay her head in the
grave, if I were not there. When going away in 1858, she said
to me that she would have liked one of her laddies to lay her
head in the grave. It so happened that I was there to pay the
last tribute to a dear good mother."
The last thing we find him doing in Scotland is attending the
examination of Oswell's school, with Anna Mary, and seeing him receive
prizes. Dr. London, of Hamilton, the medical attendant and much-valued
friend of the Livingstones, furnishes us with a reminiscence of this
occasion. He had great difficulty in persuading Livingstone to go. The
awful bugbear was that he would be asked to make a speech. Being assured
that it would be thought strange if, in a gathering of the children's
parents, he were absent, he agreed to go. And of course he had to speak.
What he said was pointed and practical, and in winding up, he said he
had just two things to say to them--"FEAR GOD, AND WORK HARD." These
appear to have been Livingstone's last public words in his
native Scotland.
His Journal is continued in London:
"8_th August_.--Went to Zoological Gardens with Mr. Webb and
Dr. Kirk; then to lunch with Miss Coutts" [Baroness Burdett
Coutts]. "Queen Emma of Honolulu is to be there. It is not
fair for High Church people to ignore the labors of the
Americans, for [the present state of Christianity] is the
fruit of their labors, and not of the present Bishop. Dined
at Lady Franklin's with Queen Emma; a nice, sensible person
the Queen seems to be.
"9_th August_.--Parted with my friends Mr. and Mrs. Webb at
King's Cross station to-day. He gracefully said that he
wished I had been coming rather than going away, and she
shook me very cordially with both hands, and said, 'You will
come back again to us, won't you?' and shed a womanly tear.
The good Lord bless and save them both, and have mercy on
their whole household!"
"11_th August_.--Went down to say good-bye to the
Duchess-Dowager of Sutherland, at Maidenhead. Garibaldi's
rooms are shown; a good man he was, but followed by a crowd
of harpies who tried to use him for their own purposes.... He
was so utterly worn out by shaking hands, that a detective
policeman who was with him in the carriage, put his hand
under his cloak, and did the ceremony for him.
"Took leave at Foreign Office. Mr. Layard very kind in his
expressions at parting, and so was Mr. Wylde.
"12_th August_.--"Went down to Wimbledon to dine with Mr.
Murray, and take leave. Mr. and Mrs. Oswell came up to say
farewell. He offers to go over to Paris at any time to bring
Agnes" [who was going to school there] "home, or do anything
that a father would. ["I love him," Livingstone writes to Mr.
Webb, "with true affection, and I believe he does the same to
me; and yet we never show it."]
"We have been with Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton for some time--good,
gracious people. The Lord bless them and their household! Dr.
Kirk and Mr. Waller go down to Folkestone to-morrow, and take
leave of us there. This is very kind. The Lord puts it into
their hearts to show kindness, and blessed be his name."
Dr. Livingstone's last weeks in England were passed under the roof of
the late Rev. Dr. Hamilton, author of _Life in Earnest_, and could
hardly have been passed in a more congenial home. Natives of the same
part of Scotland, nearly of an age, and resembling each other much in
taste and character, the two men drew greatly to each other. The same
Puritan faith lay at the basis of their religious character, with all
its stability and firmness. But above all, they had put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness. In Natural History, too, they had an
equal enthusiasm. In Dr. Hamilton, Livingstone found what he missed in
many orthodox men. On the evening of his last Sunday, he was prevailed
on to give an address in Dr. Hamilton's church, after having in the
morning received the Communion with the congregation. In his address he
vindicated his character as a missionary, and declared that it was as
much as ever his great object to proclaim the love of Christ, which they
had been commemorating that day. His prayers made a deep impression;
they were like the communings of a child with his father. At the railway
station, the last Scotch hands grasped by him were those of Dr. and Mrs.
Hamilton. The news of Dr. Hamilton's death was received by Livingstone a
few years after, in the heart of Africa, with no small emotion. Their
next meeting was in the better land.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FROM ENGLAND TO BOMBAY AND ZANZIBAR.
A.D. 1865-1866.
Object of new journey--Double scheme--He goes to Paris with Agnes--Baron
Hausmann--Anecdote at Marseilles--He reaches Bombay--Letter to
Agnes--Reminiscences of Dr. Livingstone at Bombay by Rev. D.C. Boyd--by
Alex. Brown, Esq.--Livingstone's dress--He visits the caves of
Kenhari--Rumors of murder of Baron van der Decken--He delivers a lecture
at Bombay--Great success--He sells the "Lady Nyassa"--Letter to Mr.
Young--Letter to Anna Mary--Hears that Dr. Kirk has got an
appointment--Sets out for Zanzibar in "Thule"--Letter to Mr. Young--His
experience at sea--Letter to Agnes--He reaches Zanzibar--Calls on
Sultan--Presents the "Thule" to him from Bombay Government--Monotony of
Zanzibar life--Leaves in "Penguin" for the continent.
The object for which Dr. Livingstone set out on his third and last great
African journey is thus stated in the preface to _The Zambesi and its
Tributaries:_ "Our Government have supported the proposal of the Royal
Geographical Society made by my friend Sir Roderick Murchison, and have
united with that body to aid me in another attempt to open Africa to
civilizing influences, and a valued private friend has given a thousand
pounds for the same object. I propose to go inland, north of the
territory which the Portuguese in Europe claim, and endeavor to commence
that system on the East which has been so eminently successful on the
West Coast: a system combining the repressive efforts of Her Majesty's
cruisers with lawful trade and Christian missions--the moral and
material results of which have been so gratifying. I hope to ascend the
Rovuma, or some other river north of Cape Delgado, and, in addition to
my other work, shall strive, by passing along the northern end of Lake
Nyassa, and round the southern end of Lake Tanganyika, to ascertain the
watershed of that part of Africa."
The first part of the scheme was his own, the second he had been urged
to undertake by the Geographical Society. The sums in aid contributed by
Government and the Geographical society were only L500 each; but it was
not thought that the work would occupy a long time. The Geographical
Society coupled their contribution with some instructions as to
observations and reports which seemed to Dr. Livingstone needlessly
stringent, and which certainly ruffled his relation to the Society. The
honorary position of Consul at large he was willing to accept for the
sake of the influence which it gave him, though still retaining his
opinion of the shabbiness which had so explicitly bargained that he was
to have no salary and to expect no pension.
The truth is, if Livingstone had not been the most single-minded and
trustful of men, he would never have returned to Africa on such terms.
The whole sum placed at his disposal was utterly inadequate to defray
the cost of the Expedition, and support his family at home. Had it not
been for promises that were never fulfilled, he would not have left his
family at this time as he did. But in nothing is the purity of his
character seen more beautifully than in his bearing toward some of those
who had gained not a little consideration by their connection with him,
and had made him fair promises, but left him to work on as best he
might. No trace of bitter feeling disturbed him or abated the strength
of his love and confidence.
Dr Livingston went first to Paris with his daughter, and left her there
for education. Passing on he reached Marseilles on the 19th August, and
wrote her a few lines, in which he informed her that the man who was now
transforming Paris [Baron Hausmann] was a Protestant, and had once
taught a Sunday-school in the south of France; and that probably he had
greater pleasure in the first than in the second work. The remark had a
certain applicability to his own case, and probably let out a little of
his own feeling; it showed at least his estimate of the relative place
of temporal and spiritual philanthropy. The prayer that followed was
expressive of his deepest feelings toward his best-beloved on earth:
"May the Almighty qualify you to be a blessing to those around you,
wherever your lot is cast. I know that you hate all that is mean and
false. May God make you good, and to delight in doing good to others. If
you ask He will give abundantly. The Lord bless you!"
From a Bombay gentleman who was his fellow-traveler to India a little
anecdote has casually come to our knowledge illustrating the
unobtrusiveness of Livingstone--his dislike to be made a lion of. At the
_table-d'hote_ of the hotel in Marseilles, where some Bombay merchants
were sitting, the conversation turned on Africa in connection with
ivory--an extensive article of trade in Bombay. One friend dropped the
remark, "I wonder where that old chap Livingstone is now." To his
surprise and discomfiture, a voice replied, "Here he is." They were fast
friends all through the voyage that followed. Little of much interest
happened during that voyage. Livingstone writes that Palgrave was in
Cairo when he passed through, but he did not see him. Of Baker he could
hear nothing. Miss Tinne, the Dutch lady, of whom he thought highly as a
traveler, had not been very satisfactory to the religious part of the
English community at Cairo. Miss Whately was going home for six weeks,
but was to be back to her Egyptian Ragged School. He saw the end of the
Lesseps Canal, about the partial opening of which they were making a
great noise. Many thought it would succeed, though an Egyptian Commodore
had said to him, "It is hombog." The Red Sea was fearfully hot and
steamy. The "Lady Nyassa" hung like a millstone around his neck, and he
was prepared to sell her for whatever she might bring. Bombay was
reached on 11th September.
TO AGNES LIVINGSTONE.
"_Bombay, 20th Sept_., 1865.--... By advice of the Governor,
I went up to Nassick to see if the Africans there under
Government instruction would suit my purpose as members of
the Expedition. I was present at the examination of a large
school under Mr. Price by the Bishop of Bombay. It is partly
supported by Government. The pupils (108) are not exclusively
African, but all showed very great proficiency. They excelled
in music. I found some of the Africans to have come from
parts I know--one from Ndonde on the Rovuma--and all had
learned some handicraft, besides reading, writing, etc., and
it is probable that some of them will go back to their own
country with me. Eight have since volunteered to go. Besides
these I am to get some men from the 'Marine Battalion,' who
have been accustomed to rough it in various ways, and their
pensions will be given to their widows if they should die.
The Governor (Sir Bartle Frere) is going to do what he can
for my success.
"After going back to Bombay I came up to near Poonah, and am
now at Government House, the guest of the Governor.
"Society here consists mainly of officers and their wives....
Miss Frere, in the absence of Lady Frere, does the honors of
the establishment, and very nicely she does it. She is very
clever, and quite unaffected--very like her father....
"Christianity is gradually diffusing itself, leavening as it
were in various ways the whole mass. When a man becomes a
professor of Christianity, he is at present cast out,
abandoned by all his relations, even by wife and children.
This state of things makes some who don't care about
Christian progress say that all Christian servants are
useless. They are degraded by their own countrymen, and
despised by others, but time will work changes. Mr. Maine,
who came out here with us, intends to introduce a law whereby
a convert deserted by his wife may marry again. It is in
accordance with the text in Corinthians--If an unbelieving
wife depart, let her depart. People will gradually show more
sympathy with the poor fellows who come out of heathenism,
and discriminate between the worthy and unworthy. You should
read Lady Buff Gordon's _Letters from, Egypt_. They show a
nice sympathizing heart, and are otherwise very interesting.
She saw the people as they are. Most people see only the
outsides of things.... Avoid all nasty French novels. They
are very injurious, and effect a lasting injury on the mind
and heart. I go up to Government House again three days
hence, and am to deliver two lectures,--one at Poonah and one
at Bombay."
Some slight reminiscences of Livingstone at Bombay, derived from
admiring countrymen of his own, will not be out of place, considering
that the three or four months spent there was the last period of his
life passed in any part of the dominions of Great Britain.
The Rev. Dugald C. Boyd, of Bombay (now of Portsoy, Banffshire), an
intimate friend of Dr. Stewart, of Lovedale, writing to a correspondent
on 10th October, 1865, says:
"Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of meeting Livingstone
at dinner in a very quiet way.... It was an exceedingly
pleasant evening. Dr. Wilson was in great 'fig,' and
Livingstone was, though quiet, very communicative, and
greatly disposed to talk about Africa.... I had known Mrs.
Livingstone, and I had known Robert and Agnes, his son and
daughter, and I had known Stewart. He spoke very kindly of
Stewart, and seems to hope that he may yet join him in
Central Africa.... He is much stouter, better, and
healthier-looking than he was last year....
"12_th October_.--Livingstone was at the _tamasha_ yesterday.
He was dressed very unlike a minister--more like a
post-captain or admiral. He wore a blue dress-coat, trimmed
with lace, and bearing a Government gilt button. In his hand
he carried a cocked hat. At the Communion on Sunday (he sat
on Dr. Wilson's right hand, who sat on my right) he wore a
blue surtout, with Government gilt buttons, and
shepherd-tartan trousers; and he had a gold band round his
cap[67]. I spent two hours In his society last evening at
Dr. Wilson's. He was not very complimentary to Burton. He is
to lecture in public this evening."
[Footnote 67: Dr, Livingstone's habit of dressing as a layman, and
accepting the designation of David Livingstone, Esquire, as readily as
that of the Rev. Dr. Livingstone, probably helped to propagate the idea
that he had sunk the missionary in the explorer. The truth, however, is,
that from the first he wished to be a lay missionary, not under any
Society, and it was only at the instigation of his friends that he
accepted ordination. He had an intense dislike of what was merely
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