Livingstone

“ Livingstone, the lion-hearted pathfinder in Africa, goes out as the fearless explorer, the dauntless and resourceful missionary, faced by poisoned arrows and the guns of Arabs and marched with only his black companions for thousands of miles through marsh and forest, over mountain pass and across river swamps, in loneliness and hunger, often with bleeding feet, on and on to the little hut in old Chitambo's village in Ilala, where he crossed the river. ”

“ The son of a worthy weaver in Blantyre, Scotland, Livingstone's early life was that of a poor boy, working in a spinning-mill, quiet, sober, affectionate, and faithful in every relation of life. Moved at last by the thirst for knowledge that has distinguished many a humble Scotch boy, he entered the University at Glasgow, studying during the winter months and spending the summers at his trade in the factory, fitting himself all the while for the conquests he little dreamed he was to achieve over difficulties almost insurmountable. ”

“ In Livingstone I have seen many amiable traits. His gentleness never forsakes him; his hopefulness never deserts him. No harassing anxieties, distraction of mind, long separation from home and kindred, can make him complain. He thinks "all will come out right at last;" he has such faith in the goodness of Providence. The sport of adverse circumstances, the plaything of the miserable beings sent to him from Zanzibar—he has been baffled and worried, even almost to the grave, yet he will not desert the charge imposed upon him by his friend, Sir Roderick Murchison. ”

“ I was told to find Livingstone. It is to find Livingstone I am here. It is to find Livingstone I am going. Don't you see, old fellow, the importance of the mission; don't you see what reward you will get from Mr. Bennett, if you will help me? I am sure, if ever you come to New York, you will never be in want of a fifty-dollar bill. So shake yourself; jump about; look lively. Say you will not die; that is half the battle. Snap your fingers at the fever. I will guarantee the fever won't kill you. I have medicine enough for a regiment here! ”

“ Probably no human being was ever in circumstances parallel to those in which Livingstone now stood. Years had passed since he had heard from home. The sound of his mother-tongue came to him only in the broken sentences of Chuma or Susi or his other attendants, or in the echoes of his own voice as he poured it out in prayer, or in some cry of home-sickness that could not be kept in. In long pain and sickness there had been neither wife nor child nor brother to cheer him with sympathy, or lighten his dull hut with a smile. ”

“ I have often heard our servants discuss our respective merits. "Your master," say my servants to Livingstone's, "is a good man—a very good man; he does not beat you, for he has a kind heart; but ours—oh! he is sharp—hot as fire"—"mkali sana, kana moto." From being hated and thwarted in every possible way by the Arabs and half-castes upon first arrival in Ujiji, he has, through his uniform kindness and mild, pleasant temper, won all hearts. ”

“ God grant, dear reader, that if ever you take to travelling in Central Africa, you find as good and true a man, for your companion, as I found in noble David Livingstone. For four months and four days he and I occupied the same house, or, the same tent, and I never had one feeling of resentment against him, nor did he show any against me, and the longer I lived with him the more did my admiration and reverence for him increase. ”

“ Livingstone, the traveller, regarded all the sons of humanity, whether they were black or white, of whatever race, as the sons of the one great Father, equally good and precious in his sight, and all of one blood; but Livingston the bard devoted all his energies to the patriotic rehearsal, in prose and verse, of the doughty deeds and ancient prowess of our Scottish ancestors ”

“ It is a principle with Livingstone to do well what he undertakes to do; and in the consciousness that he is doing it, despite the yearning for his home which is sometimes overpowering, he finds, to a certain extent, contentment, if not happiness. To men differently constituted, a long residence amongst the savages of Africa would be contemplated with horror, yet Livingstone's mind can find pleasure and food for philosophic studies. ”

“ It was Livingstone's great joy to begin this long journey with a blessed act of humanity, boldly summoning a trader to release a body of captives, so that no fewer than eighteen souls were restored to freedom. As he proceeded he obtained but too plain evidence of the extent to which the slave traffic prevailed, uniformly finding that wherever slavers had been, the natives were more difficult to deal with and more exorbitant in their demands. ”

“ In him, religion exhibits its loveliest features; it governs his conduct not only towards his servants, but towards the natives, the bigoted Mohammedans, and all who come in contact with him. Without it, Livingstone, with his ardent temperament, his enthusiasm, his high spirit and courage, must have become uncompanionable, and a hard master. Religion has tamed him, and made him a Christian gentleman: the crude and wilful have been refined and subdued; religion has made him the most companionable of men and indulgent of masters—a man whose society is pleasurable. ”

“ Livingstone then passed on to the country of the Bakhatla, where he had purposed to erect his mission-station. The country was fertile, and the people industrious, and among other industries was an iron manufactory, to which as a bachelor he got admission, whereas married men were wont to be excluded, through fear that they would bewitch the iron! When he asked the chief if he would like him to come and be his missionary, he held up his hands and said, "Oh, I shall dance if you do; I shall collect all my people to hoe for you a garden, and you will get more sweet reed and corn than myself." ”

“ Scandal is so rampant among the natives of Africa that even men of high character have sometimes suffered from its lying tongue; but in the case of Livingstone there was such an enamel of purity upon his character that no filth could stick to it, and none was thrown. What Livingstone did in order to keep his word to his poor attendants was a wonder in Africa, as it was the admiration of the world. ”

“ Ten years of discovery were not enough for him; he only dreamt of fresh explorations. Livingstone is not a traveller; he is a missionary, whom no amount of suffering can dishearten. This man, at times a miracle of boldness and energy, but always just and impartial, is adored by his small caravan of Arabs and blacks.
"Stanley, in consequence of Livingstone's energetic resistance, was obliged to depart alone, but all honour to him! He has nobly fulfilled his mission, he has taken his revenge on those who dared to doubt his veracity, and the Times thanks him in the name of England." ”

“ With this small body of men, whither can I go? I have over one hundred loads in the storeroom. Livingstone's caravan is also here; his goods consist of seventeen bales of cloth, twelve boxes, and six bags of beads. His men are luxuriating upon the best the country affords.
If Livingstone is at Ujiji, he is now locked up with small means of escape. I may consider myself also locked up at Unyamyembe, and I suppose cannot go to Ujiji until this war with Mirambo is settled. Livingstone cannot get his goods, for they are here with mine. ”

“ We walked side by side; the men lifted their voices in a song. I took long looks at Livingstone, to impress his features thoroughly on my memory.... 'Now, my dear Doctor, the best friends must part. You have come far enough; let me beg of you to turn back.' 'Well,' Livingstone replied, 'I will say this to you: You have done what few men could do,--far better than some great travelers I know. ”

“ This is Livingstone! He must be Livingstone! He can be no other; but still;—he may be some one else—some one from the West Coast—or perhaps he is Baker! No; Baker has no white hair on his face. But we must now march quick, lest he hears we are coming, and runs away.
I addressed my men, and asked them if they were willing to march to Ujiji without a single halt, and then promised them, if they acceded to my wishes, two doti each man. ”

“ 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. ”

“ No betting man would have backed the field for a shilling. She waltzed with him whenever he asked her, to the utter oblivion and annihilation of previous engagements, whereat the Frenchmen chafed inexpressibly, cursing and gnashing their teeth when, after the ball was over, they went forth into the outer darkness. Nothing but Livingstone's extraordinary reputation in the shooting-galleries, added to a certain ferocity of demeanor which had become habitual to him of late, saved him from more than one serious quarrel. ”

“ It was certainly, thought Livingstone, a most agreeable way to do sight-seeing, in the company of two such good-looking girls, one of them with money to burn. Of course he could have wished, they all would have preferred, some one less lumpish than that great, grim Crittenden to complete their quartet. But not every American is capable, thought Livingstone, tying his necktie in the morning and looking at himself in the glass, not every American is capable of taking on European polish. And of an American business-man what could you expect? ”

“ The mention of the two longitudinal ridges, and of the refusal of the people to give more than two canoes, side by side with the most solemn appeals, would have been incongruous, or even irreverent, if Livingstone had not felt that he was dealing with the living God, by whom every step of his own career and every movement of his enemies were absolutely controlled. ”

“ Livingstone arrived at Ujiji, October 16th, almost at death's door. On the way he had been trying to cheer himself up, since he had found it impossible to contend against the obstinacy of his men, with, "It won't take long; five or six months more; it matters not since it cannot be helped. I have got my goods in Ujiji, and can hire other people, and make a new start again." ”

“ On reaching the island of St Vincent from Ashanti in 1874 he first heard that Livingstone was dead, and that the body was on its way to England. After the funeral of Livingstone some time was spent in negotiations for sending Stanley again to Africa, there to determine geographical problems left unsolved by the deaths of Livingstone and Speke, and the discovery by Sir Samuel Baker of Albert Nyanza, a lake then reputed to extend inimitably in a southerly direction. ”

“ There is another point in Livingstone's character about which readers of his books, and students of his travels, would like to know, and that is his ability to withstand the dreadful climate of Central Africa, and the consistent energy with which he follows up his explorations. His consistent energy is native to him and to his race. ”

“ Livingstone saw no prospect of obtaining a suitable station, and with great reluctance he made up his mind to retrace the weary road, and return to Kolobeng. The people were very anxious for him to stay, and offered to make a garden for him, and to fulfill Sebituane's promise to give him oxen in return for those killed by the tsetse.
Setting out with the wagons on 13th August, 1851, the party proceeded slowly homeward. On 15th September, 1851, Livingstone's Journal has this unexpected and simple entry: "A son, William Oswell Livingstone [32] , born at a place we always call Bellevue." ”

“ Livingstone, written a year before, were received on the coast, showing that he was alive and well. He had travelled many thousands of miles, being the first white man that had ever penetrated those dark and mysterious regions in the heart of Africa. But now, in the autumn of 1869, more than twenty months had passed since any word of his had come out of the darkness, and the world was ready to believe that the faithful missionary and explorer had dared his fate too often, and had died in the jungles of Africa. ”

“ As a market for our manufactures, it is capable, even with a moderate amount of civilization, of becoming one of our most extensive customers. The voice that proclaimed these things in 1857 was the voice of one crying in the wilderness; but it is now repeated in a thousand echoes.
In stimulating African exploration the influence of Livingstone was very decided. He was the first of the galaxy of modern African travelers, for both in the Geographical Society and in the world at large his name became famous before those of Baker, Grant, Speke, Burton, Stanley, and Cameron. ”

“ This entry in his diary was written on the eve of Livingstone's great journey to the West Coast. Having sent his wife and family to England, he determined to find a way from the centre of Africa to the West Coast. It was a forlorn hope; but, says Livingstone, "Cannot the love of Christ carry the missionary where the slave trade carries the trader? I shall open up a path to the interior or perish." ”

“ To the memory of the man whose labours on behalf of the negro race deserves the commendation of all good men, Livingstone has contributed a monument more durable than brass or stone.
Entering Webb's River from the south-south-west, a little north of Kamolondo, is a large river called Lufira, but the streams, that discharge themselves from the watershed into the Lualaba are so numerous that the Doctor's map would not contain them, so he has left all out except the most important. ”

“ He had accomplished his mission, and by it he established his reputation as a leader of men and an explorer of great promise. His story, made public in a picturesque narrative, How I Found Livingstone (1872) , was at first received in London with some incredulity, owing in part to his connexion with American journalism of a type then unfamiliar and distasteful; but the journals of Livingstone, which he brought home, silenced the critics, and from Queen Victoria Stanley received a gold snuff-box set with brilliants and her thanks for the services he had rendered. ”