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