William Garden Blaikie

“ If the good Lord permits me to put a stop to the enormous evils of the inland slave-trade, I shall not grudge my hunger and toils. I shall bless his name with all my heart. The Nile sources are valuable to me only as a means of enabling me to open my mouth with power among men. It is this power I hope to apply to remedy an enormous evil, and join my poor little helping hand in the enormous revolution that in his all-embracing Providence He has been carrying on for ages, and is now actually helping forward. ”

“ He needs no epitaph to guard a name Which men shall prize while worthy work is known; He lived and died for good--be that his fame: Let marble crumble: this is Living--stone."--_Punch_. Eulogiums on the dead are often attempts, sometimes sufficiently clumsy, to conceal one-half of the truth and fill the eye with the other. In the case of Livingstone there is really nothing to conceal. ”

“ He seemed to me to possess in the most wonderful degree that union of opposite qualities which were required for such a work as opening out heathen Africa to Christianity and civilization. No man had a keener sympathy with even the most barbarous and unenlightened; none had a more ardent desire to benefit and improve the most abject. In his aims, no man attempted, on a grander or more thorough scale, to benefit and improve those of his race who most needed improvement and light. ”

“ The generous and hearty appreciation of Livingstone by the medical profession was well expressed in the words of the _Lancet_: "Few men have disappeared from our ranks more universally deplored, as few have served in them with a higher purpose, or shed upon them the lustre of a purer devotion." ”

“ For thirty years his life was spent in an unwearied effort to evangelize the native races, to explore the undiscovered secrets, and abolish the desolating slave-trade of Central Africa, and where, with his last words he wrote: "All I can say in my solitude is, may Heaven's rich blessing come down on every one--American, English, Turk-- who will help to heal this open sore of the world." ”

“ Livingstone was the only man who understood races, and how to deal with them for good; that he was the one true missionary. We cannot console ourselves for our loss. He is irreplaceable. "It is not sad that he should have died out there. ”

“ On the subject of Missions he says, at a later period, 8th November: "The spirit of missions is the spirit of our Master; the very genius of his religion. A diffusive philanthropy is Christianity itself. It requires perpetual propagation to attest its genuineness."
Thanks to Mr. Stanley and the American Consul, who made arrangements in a way that drew Livingstone's warmest gratitude, his escort arrived at last, consisting of fifty-seven men and boys. ”

“ Waller has pointed out, from his own sad observation of numerous cases in connection with the Universities Mission, that malarial poisoning is usually unattended with the apprehension of death, and that in none of these instances, any more than in the case of Livingstone, were there any such messages, or instructions, or expressions of trust and hope as are usual on the part of Christian men when death is near. ”

“ Livingstone's son, on their way to relieve his father, had been seen at Bagamoio some months previously. As they approached Unyanyembe, they learned that the party was there, but when Chuma ran on before, he was disappointed to find that Oswell Livingstone was not among them. Lieutenant Cameron, Dr. Dillon, and Lieutenant Murphy were there, and heard the tidings of the men with deep emotion. Cameron wished them to bury the remains where they were, and not run the risk of conveying them through the Ugogo country; but the men were inflexible, determined to carry out their first intention. ”

“ In fact, it was the confidence I placed in the undying vigor of my dear friend Livingstone which has sustained me in the hope that I might live to enjoy the supreme delight of welcoming him back to his own country.' But that consummation was not to be. He himself was gathered to his rest just six days before Stanley brought news and relief to the forlorn traveler on Lake Tanganyika. ”

“ A couple of Europeans beginning and carrying on a mission without a staff of foreign attendants, implies coarse country fare, it is true; but this would be nothing to those who at home amuse themselves with vigils, fasting, etc. A great deal of power is thus lost in the Church. Fastings and vigils, without a special object in view, are time run to waste. They are made to minister to a sort of self-gratification, instead of being turned to account for the good of others. They are like groaning in sickness: some people amuse themselves when ill with continuous moaning. ”

“ As a man of science, I am less competent to judge, for my knowledge of his work is to a great extent second-hand; but derived, as it is, from observers like Sir Thomas Maclear, and geographers like Arrowsmith, I believe him to be quite unequaled as a scientific traveler, in the care and accuracy with which he observed. ”

“ If anything were needed to commend the African race, and prove them possessed of qualities fitted to make a noble nation, the courage, affection, and persevering loyalty shown by his attendants after his death might well have this effect. When the sad event became known among the men, it was cordially resolved that every effort should be made to carry their master's remains to Zanzibar. ”

“ Soon after they reached Bagamoio a cruiser arrived from Zanzibar, with the acting Consul, Captain Prideaux, on board, and the remains were conveyed to that island previous to their being sent to England.
The men that for nine long months remained steadfast to their purpose to pay honor to the remains of their master, in the midst of innumerable trials and dangers and without hope of reward, have established a strong claim to the gratitude and admiration of the world. ”

“ They all pick up feathers or grass, and hop from side to side of their mates, as if saying, 'Come, let us play at making little houses.' The wagtail has shaken her young quite off, and has a new nest. She warbles prettily, very much like a canary, and is extremely active in catching flies, but eats crumbs of bread-and-milk too. Sun-birds visit the pomegranate flowers, and eat insects therein too, as well as nectar. The young whydah birds crouch closely together at night for heat. ”

“ Great Lualaba, or Lualubba, as Manyuema say, may turn out to be the Congo, and Nile a shorter river after all [75] . The fountains flowing north and south seem in favor of its being the Nile. Great westing is in favor of the Congo. ”

“ Such an undertaking was extremely perilous, for there were not merely the ordinary risks of travel to a small body of natives, but there was also the superstitious horror everywhere prevalent connected with the dead. Chitambo must be kept in ignorance of what had happened, otherwise a ruinous fine would be sure to be inflicted on them. The secret, however, oozed out, but happily the chief was reasonable. Susi and Chuma, the old attendants of Livingstone, became now the leaders of the company, and they fulfilled their task right nobly. ”

“ The English have been worse propagators of nonsense than Portuguese. 'Geography of Nyassa' was thought to be a learned way of writing the name, though 'Nyassi' means long grass and nothing else. It took me twenty-two months to eliminate the error into which I was led, and then it was not by my own acuteness, but by the chief Cazembe, who was lately routed and slain by a party of Banyamwezi. He gave me the first hint of the truth, and that rather in a bantering strain: 'One piece of water is just like another; Bangweolo water is just like Moero water, Chambeze water like Luapula water ”

“ I have seen the woes inflicted, and I must still work and do all I can to expose and mitigate the evils. Though hard work is still to be my lot, I look genially on others more favored in their lot. I would not be a member of the 'International,' for I love to see and think of others enjoying life. ”

“ We all highly admire and appreciate your indomitable energy and perseverance, and the Geographical Society will do everything in its power to support you, so as to compensate in some measure for the loss you have sustained in the death of your old friend Sir Roderick Murchison. ”

“ Livingstone, when the men should come, was to strike south by Ufipa, go round Tanganyika, then cross the Chambeze, and bear away along the southern shore of Bangweolo, straight west to the ancient fountains ”

“ Stanley from Unyanyembe to Zanzibar; among the new men were some Nassick pupils who had been sent from Bombay to join Lieutenant Dawson. John and Jacob Wainwright were among these. To Jacob Wainwright, who was well-educated, we owe the earliest narrative that appeared of the last eight months of Livingstone's career. How happy he was with the men now sent to him appears from a letter to Mr. Stanley, written very near his death: "I am perpetually reminded that I owe a great deal to you for the men, you sent. With one exception, the party is working like a machine. ”

“ The forty days of Lent might be annually spent in visiting adjacent tribes, and bearing unavoidable hunger and thirst with a good grace. Considering the greatness of the object to be attained, men might go without sugar, coffee, tea, as I went from September, 1866, to December, 1868, without either. ”

“ There are many flowers in the forest; marigolds, a white jonquil-looking flower without smell, many orchids, white, yellow, and pink asclepias, with bunches of French-white flowers, clematis--_Methonica gloriosa_, gladiolus, and blue and deep purple polygalas, grasses with white starry seed-vessels, and spikelets of brownish red and yellow. Besides these, there are beautiful blue flowering bulbs, and new flowers of pretty, delicate form and but little scent. To this list may be added balsams, composite of blood-red color and of purple ”

“ Nor do we think Lieutenant Cameron was entitled to take away the instruments with which all Livingstone's observations had been made for a series of seven years, and use them, though only temporarily, for the purpose of his Expedition, inasmuch as he thereby made it impossible so to reduce Livingstone's observations as that correct results should be obtained from them. ”

“ The members of the Expedition suffered much from sickness; it was broken up at Unyanyembe, when the party bearing the remains of Dr. Livingstone was met. The other party, under command of Lieutenant Grandy, was to go to the West Coast, start from Loanda, strike the Congo, and move on to Lake Lincoln. This Expedition was fitted out solely at the cost of Mr. Young. ”

“ This they all know, and it pleases them to have it recognized. It might be good policy to hire a respectable Arab to engage free porters, and conduct the mission to the country chosen, and obtain permission from the chief to build temporary houses.... ”

“ His mind ruminates on the river system of the country and the probability of his being in error:
"2l_st May_.--I wish I had some of the assurance possessed by others, but I am oppressed with the apprehension that, after all, it may turn out that I have been following the Congo; and who would risk being put into a cannibal pot, and converted into black man for _it?_" "31_st May_.--In reference to this Nile source, I have been kept in perpetual doubt and perplexity. I know too much to be positive. ”

“ And Livingstone, while still in pursuit of his quest, and within ten months of his death, learned in the heart of Africa the tidings which he chronicled in his journal [76] ."
[Footnote 76: _Life of Sir R. I. Murchison_, vol. ii. pp. 297-8.]
At other times he is ruminating on mission-work:
"10_th July_.--No great difficulty would be encountered in establishing a Christian mission a hundred miles or so from the East Coast.... To the natives the chief attention of the mission should be directed. It would not be desirable or advisable to refuse explanation to others ”