GOING HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO.
A.D. 1860.
Down to Kongone--State of the ship--Further delay--Letter to Secretary
of Universities Mission--Letter to Mr. Braithwaite--At Tette--Miss
Whately's sugar-mill--With his brother and Kirk at Kebrabasa--Mode of
traveling--Reappearence of old friends--African warfare and its
effects--Desolation--A European colony desirable--Escape from
rhinoceros--Rumors of Moffat--The Portuguese local Governors oppose
Livingstone--He becomes unpopular with them--Letter to Mr. Young--Wants
of the country--The Makololo--Approach home--Some are disappointed--News
of the death of the London missionaries, the Helmores and others--Letter
to Dr. Moffat--The Victoria Falls re-examined--Sekelétu ill of
leprosy--Treatment and recovery--His disappointment at not seeing Mrs.
Livingstone--Efforts for the spiritual good of the Makololo--Careful
observations in Natural History--The last of the "Ma-Robert"--Cheering
prospect of the Universities Mission--Letter to Mr. Moore--to Mr.
Young--He wishes another ship--Letter to Sir Roderick Murchison on the
rumored journey of Silva Porto.
It was necessary to go down to Kongone for the repair of the ship.
Livingstone was greatly disappointed with it, and thought the greed of
the vendor had supplied him with a very inferior article for the price
of a good one. He thus pours forth his vexation in writing to a friend:
"Very grievous it is to be standing here tinkering when we might be
doing good service to the cause of African civilization, and that on
account of insatiable greediness. Burton may thank L. and B. that we are
not at the other lakes before him. The loss of time greediness has
inflicted on us has been frightful. My plan in this Expedition was
excellent, but it did not include provisions against hypocrisy and
fraud, which have sorely crippled us, and, indeed, ruined us, as a
scientific Expedition."
Another delay was caused before they went inward, from their having to
wait for a season suitable for hunting, as the party had to be kept in
food. The mail from England had been lost, and they had the bitter
disappointment of losing a year's correspondence from home. The
following portions of a letter to the Secretary of the Committee for a
Universities Mission gives a view of the situation at this time:
"RIVER ZAMBESI, 26_th Jan._, 1860.
"The defects we have unfortunately experienced in the
'Ma-Robert,' or rather the 'Asthmatic,' are so numerous that
it would require a treatise as long as a lawyer's
specification of any simple subject to give you any idea of
them, and they have inflicted so much toil that a feeling of
sickness comes over me when I advert to them.
"No one will ever believe the toil we have been put to in
woodcutting. The quantity consumed is enormous, and we cannot
get sufficient for speed into the furnace. It was only a
dogged determination not to be beaten that carried me
through.... But all will come out right at last. We are not
alone, though truly we deserve not his presence. He
encourages the trust that is granted by the word, 'I am with
you, even unto the end of the world.'...
"It is impossible for you to conceive how backward everything
is here, and the Portuguese are not to be depended upon;
their establishments are only small penal settlements, and as
no women are sent out, the state of morals is frightful. The
only chance of success is away from them; nothing would
prosper in their vicinity. After all, I am convinced that
were Christianity not divine, it would be trampled out by its
professors. Dr. Kirk, Mr. C. Livingstone, and Mr. Rae, with
two English seamen, do well. We are now on our way up the
river to the Makololo country, but must go overland from
Kebrabasa, or in a whaler. We should be better able to plan
our course if our letters had not been lost. We have never
been idle, and do not mean to be. We have been trying to get
the Portuguese Government to acknowledge free-trade on this
river, and but for long delay in our letters the negotiation
might have been far advanced. I hope Lord John Russell will
help in this matter, and then we must have a small colony or
missionary and mercantile settlement. If this our desire is
granted, it is probable we shall have no cause to lament our
long toil and detention here. My wife's letters, too, were
lost, so I don't know how or where she is. Our separation,
and the work I have been engaged in, were not contemplated,
but they have led to our opening a path into the fine
cotton-field in the North. You will see that the discoveries
of Burton and Speke confirm mine respecting the form of the
continent and its fertility. It is an immense field. I crave
the honor of establishing a focus of Christianity in it, but
should it not be granted, I will submit as most unworthy. I
have written Mr. Venn twice, and from yours I see something
is contemplated in Cambridge.... If young men come to this
country, they must lay their account with doing everything
for themselves. They must not expect to find influence at
once, and all the countries near to the Portuguese have been
greatly depopulated. We are now ascending this river without
vegetables, and living on salt beef and pork. The slave-trade
has done its work, for formerly all kinds of provisions could
be procured at every point, and at the cheapest rate. We
cannot get anything for either love or money, in a country
the fertility of which is truly astonishing.
A few more general topics are touched on in a letter to Mr. Braithwaite:
"I am sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Sturge. He wrote me a
long letter on the 'Peace principle,' and before I could
study it carefully, it was mislaid. I wrote him from Tette,
as I did not wish him to suppose I neglected him, and
mentioned the murder of the six Makololo and other things, as
difficulties in the way of adopting his views, as they were
perfectly unarmed, and there was no feud between the tribes.
I fear that my letter may not have reached him alive. The
departure of Sir Fowell Buxton and others is very unexpected.
Sorry to see the loss of Dr. Bowen, of Sierra Leone--a good
man and a true. But there is One who ever liveth to make
intercession for us, and to carry on his own work. A terrible
war that was in Italy, and the peace engenders more uneasy
forebodings than any peace ever heard of. It is well that God
and not the devil reigns, and will bring his own purposes to
pass, right through the midst of the wars and passions of
men. Have you any knowledge of a famous despatch written by
Sir George Grey (late of the Cape), on the proper treatment
of native tribes? I wish to study it.
"Tell your children that if I could get hold of a
hippopotamus I would eat it rather than allow it to eat me.
We see them often, but before we get near enough to get a
shot they dive down, and remain hidden till we are past. As
for lions, we never see them, sometimes hear a roar or two,
but that is all, and I go on the plan put forth by a little
girl in Scotland who saw a cow coming to her in a meadow, 'O
boo! boo! you no hurt me, I no hurt you.'"
At Tette one of his occupations was to fit up a sugar-mill, the gift of
Miss Whately, of Dublin, and some friends. To that lady he writes a
long letter of nineteen pages. He tells her he had just put up her
beautiful sugar-mill, to show the natives what could be done by
machinery. Then he adverts to the wonderful freedom from sickness that
his party had enjoyed in the delta of the Zambesi, and proceeds to give
an account of the Shiré Valley and its people. He finds ground for a
favorable contrast between the Shiré natives and the Tette Portuguese:
"They (the natives) have fences made to guard the women from
the alligators, all along the Shiré: at Tette they have none,
and two women were taken past our vessel in the mouths of
these horrid brutes. The number of women taken is so great as
to make the Portuguese swear every time they speak of them,
and yet, when I proposed to the priest to make a collection
for a fence, and offered twenty dollars, he only smiled. You
Protestants don't know all the good you do by keeping our
friends of the only true and infallible Church up to their
duty. Here, and in Angola, we see how it is, when they are
not provoked--if not to love, to good works....
"On telling the Makololo that the sugar-mill had been sent to
Sekelétu by a lady, who collected a sum among other ladies to
buy it, they replied, 'O na le pelu'--she has a heart. I was
very proud of it, and so were they.
"... With reference to the future, I am trying to do what I
did before--obey the injunction, 'Commit thy way to the Lord,
trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.' And I hope
that He will make some use of me. My attention is now
directed specially to the fact that there is no country
better adapted for producing the raw materials of English
manufactures than this....
"See to what a length I have run. I have become palaverist. I
beg you to present my respectful salutation to the Archbishop
and Mrs. Whately, and should you meet any of the kind
contributors, say how thankful I am to them all."
From Tette he writes to Sir Roderick Murchison, 7th February, 1860,
urging his plan for a steamer on Lake Nyassa: "If Government furnishes
the means, all right; if not, I shall spend my book-money on it. I don't
need to touch the children's fund, and mine could not be better spent.
People who are born rich sometimes become miserable from a fear of
becoming poor; but I have the advantage, you see, in not being afraid
to die poor. If I live, I must succeed in what I have undertaken; death
alone will put a stop to my efforts."
A month after he writes to the same friend, from Kongone, 10th March,
1860, that he is sending Rae home for a vessel:
"I tell Lord John Russell that he (Rae) may thereby do us
more service than he can now do in a worn-out steamer, with
35 patches, covering at least 100 holes. I say to his
Lordship, that after we have, by patient investigation and
experiment, at the risk of life, rendered the fever not more
formidable than a common cold; found access, from a good
harbor on the coast, to the main stream; and discovered a
pathway into the magnificent Highland lake region, which
promises so fairly for our commerce in cotton, and for our
policy in suppressing the trade in slaves, I earnestly hope
that he will crown our efforts by securing our free passage
through those parts of the Zambesi and Shiré of which the
Portuguese make no use, and by enabling us to introduce
civilization in a manner which will extend the honor and
influence of the English name."
In his communications with the Government at home, Livingstone never
failed to urge the importance of their securing the free navigation of
the Zambesi. The Portuguese on the river were now beginning to get an
inkling of his drift, and to feel indignant at any countenance he was
receiving from their own Government.
Passing up the Zambesi with Charles Livingstone, Dr. Kirk, and such of
the Makololo as were willing to go home, Dr. Livingstone took a new look
at Kebrabasa, from a different point, still believing that in flood it
would allow a steamer to pass. Of his mode of traveling we have some
pleasant glimpses. He always tried to make progress more a pleasure than
a toil, and found that kindly consideration for the feelings even of
blacks, the pleasure of observing scenery and everything new, as one
moves on at an ordinary pace, and the participation in the most
delightful rest with his fellows, made traveling delightful. He was
gratified to find that he was as able for the fatigue as the natives.
Even the headman, who carried little more than he did himself, and
never, like him, hunted in the afternoon, was not equal to him. The
hunting was no small addition to the toil; the tired hunter was often
tempted to give it up, after bringing what would have been only
sufficient for the three whites, and leave the rest, thus sending "the
idle, ungrateful poor" supperless to bed. But this was not his way. The
blacks were thought of in hunting as well as the whites. "It is only by
continuance in well-doing," he says, "even to the length of what the
worldly-wise call weakness, that the conviction is produced anywhere,
that our motives are high enough to secure sincere respect."
As they proceeded, some of his old acquaintances reappeared, notably
Mpende, who had given him such a threatening reception, but had now
learned that he belonged to a tribe "that loved the black man and did
not make slaves." A chief named Pangola appeared, at first tipsy and
talkative, demanding a rifle, and next morning, just as they were
beginning divine service, reappeared sober to press his request. Among
the Baenda-Pezi, or Go-Nakeds, whose only clothing is a coat of red
ochre, a noble specimen of the race appeared in full dress, consisting
of a long tobacco-pipe, and brought a handsome present.
The country bore the usual traces of the results of African warfare. At
times a clever chief stands up, who brings large tracts under his
dominion; at his death his empire dissolves, and a fresh series of
desolating wars ensues. In one region which was once studded with
villages, they walked a whole week without meeting any one. A European
colony, he was sure, would be invaluable for constraining the tribes to
live in peace. "Thousands of industrious natives would gladly settle
round it, and engage in that peaceful pursuit of agriculture and trade
of which they are so fond, and, undistracted by wars and rumors of
wars, might listen to the purifying and ennobling truths of the gospel
of Jesus Christ." At Zumbo, the most picturesque site in the country,
they saw the ruins of Jesuit missions, reminding them that there men
once met to utter the magnificent words, "Thou art the King of Glory, O
Christ!" but without leaving one permanent trace of their labors in the
belief and worship of the people.
Wherever they go, Dr. Livingstone has his eye on the trees and plants
and fruits of the region, with a view to commerce; while he is no less
interested to watch the treatment of fever, when cases occur, and
greatly gratified that Dr. Kirk, who had been trying a variety of
medicines on himself, made rapid recovery when he took Dr. Livingstone's
pills. He used to say if he had followed Morison, and set up as
pill-maker, he might have made his fortune. Passing through the Bazizulu
he had an escape from a rhinoceros, as remarkable though not quite as
romantic as his escape from the lion; the animal came dashing at him,
and suddenly, for some unknown reason, stopped when close to him, and
gave him time to escape, as if it had been struck by his color, and
doubtful if hunting a white man would be good sport.
At a month's distance from Mosilikatse, they heard a report that the
missionaries had been there, that they had told the chief that it was
wrong to kill men, and that the chief had said he was born to kill
people, but would drop the practice--an interesting testimony to the
power of Mr. Moffat's words. Everywhere the Makololo proclaimed that
they were the friends of peace, and their course was like a triumphal
procession, the people of the villages loading them with presents.
But a new revelation came to Dr. Livingstone. Though the Portuguese
Government had given public orders that he was to be aided in every
possible way, it was evident that private instructions had come, which,
unintentionally perhaps, certainly produced the opposite effects. The
Portuguese who were engaged in the slave-trade were far too much devoted
to it ever to encourage an enterprise that aimed at extirpating it.
Indeed, it became painfully apparent to Dr. Livingstone that the effect
of his opening up the Zambesi had been to afford the Portuguese traders
new facilities for conducting their unhallowed traffic; and had it not
been for his promise to bring back the Makololo, he would now have
abandoned the Zambesi and tried the Rovuma, as a way of reaching Nyassa.
His future endeavors in connection with the Rovuma receive their
explanation from this unwelcome discovery. The significance of the
discovery in other respects cannot fail to be seen. Hitherto Livingstone
had been on friendly terms with the Portuguese Government; he could be
so no longer. The remarkable kindness he had so often received from
Portuguese officers and traders made it a most painful trial to break
with the authorities. But there was no alternative. Livingstone's
courage was equal to the occasion, though he could not but see that his
new attitude to the Portuguese must give an altered aspect to his
Expedition, and create difficulties that might bring it to an end.
A letter to Mr. James Young, dated 22d July, near Kalosi, gives a free
and familiar account of "what he was about":
"This is July, 1860, and no letter from you except one
written a few months after we sailed in the year of grace
1858. What you are doing I cannot divine. I am ready to
believe any mortal thing except that Louis Napoleon has taken
you away to make paraffin oil for the Tuileries. I don't
believe that he is supreme ruler, or that he can go an inch
beyond his tether. Well, as I cannot conceive what you are
about, I must tell you what we are doing, and we are just
trudging up the Zambesi as if there were no steam and no
locomotive but shank's nag yet discovered....
"We have heard of a mission for the Interior from the English
Universities, and this is the best news we have got since we
came to Africa. I have recommended up Shiré as a proper
sphere, and hasten back so as to be in the way if any
assistance can be rendered. I rejoice at the prospect with
all my heart, and am glad, too, that it is to be a Church of
England Mission, for that Church has never put forth its
strength, and I trust this may draw it forth. I am tired of
discovery when no fruit follows. It was refreshing to be able
to sit down every evening with the Makololo again, and tell
them of Him who came down from heaven to save sinners. The
unmerciful toil of the steamer prevented me from following my
bent as I should have done. Poor fellows! they have learnt no
good from their contact with slavery; many have imbibed the
slave spirit; many had married slave-women and got children.
These I did not expect to return, as they were captives of
Sekelétu, and were not his own proper people. All professed a
strong desire to return. To test them I proposed to burn
their village, but to this they would not assent. We then
went out a few miles and told them that any one wishing to
remain might do so without guilt. A few returned, but though
this was stated to them repeatedly afterward they preferred
running away like slaves. I never saw any of the interior
people so devoid of honor. Some complained of sickness, and
all these I sent back, intrusting them with their burdens.
About twenty-five returned in all to live at Tette. Some were
drawn away by promises made to them as elephant-hunters. I
had no objection to their trying to better their condition,
but was annoyed at finding that they would not tell their
intentions, but ran away as if I were using compulsion. I
have learned more of the degrading nature of slavery of late
than I ever conceived before. Our 20 millions were well spent
in ridding ourselves of the incubus, and I think we ought to
assist our countrymen in the West Indies to import free labor
from India.... I cannot tell you how glad I am at a prospect
of a better system being introduced into Eastern Africa than
that which has prevailed for ages, the evils of which have
only been intensified by Portuguese colonization, as it is
called. Here we are passing through a well-peopled, fruitful
region--a prolonged valley, for we have the highlands far on
our right. I did not observe before that all the banks of the
Zambesi are cotton-fields. I never intended to write a book
and take no note of cotton, which I now see everywhere. On
the Chongwe we found a species which is cultivated south of
the Zambesi, which resembles some kinds from South America.
"All that is needed is religious and mercantile
establishments to begin a better system and promote peaceful
intercourse. Here we are among a people who go stark naked
with no more sense of shame than we have with our clothes on.
The women have more sense and go decently. You see great
he-animals all about your camp carrying their indispensable
tobacco-pipes and iron tongs to lift fire with, but the idea
of a fig-leaf has never entered the mind. They cultivate
largely have had enormous crops of grain, work well in iron,
and show taste in their dwellings, stools, baskets, and
musical instruments. They are very hospitable, too, and
appreciate our motives; but shame has been unaccountably left
out of the question. They can give no reason for it except
that all their ancestors went exactly as they do. Can you
explain why Adam's first feeling has no trace of existence in
his offspring?"
When the party reached the outskirts of Sekelétu's territory the news
they heard was not encouraging. Some of the men heard that in their
absence some of their wives had been variously disposed of. One had been
killed for witchcraft, another had married again, while Masakasa was
told that two years ago a kind of wild Irish wake had been celebrated in
honor of his memory; the news made him resolve, when he presented
himself among them, to declare himself an inhabitant from another world!
One poor fellow's wail of anguish for his wife was most distressing
to hear.
But far more tragical was the news of the missionaries who had gone from
the London Missionary Society to Linyanti, to labor among Sekelétu's
people. Mr. and Mrs. Helmore and several of his party had succumbed to
fever, and the survivors had retired. Dr. Livingstone was greatly
distressed, and not a little hurt, because he had not heard a word about
the mission, nor been asked advice about any of the arrangements. If
only the Helmores and their comrades had followed the treatment
practiced by him so often, and in this very valley at this time by his
brother Charles, they would probably have recovered. All spoke kindly of
Mr. Helmore, who had quite won the hearts of the people. Knowing their
language, he had at once begun to preach, and some of the young men at
Seshéke were singing the hymns he had taught them. Rumors had gone
abroad that some of the missionaries had been poisoned. In some quarters
blame was cast on Livingstone for having misled the Society as to the
character of Sekelétu and his disposition toward missionaries; but
Livingstone satisfied himself that, though the missionaries had been
neglected no foul play had taken place; fever alone had caused the
deaths, and want of skill in managing the people had brought the
remainder of the troubles. One piece of good news which he heard at
Linyanti was that his old friend Sechéle was doing well. He had a
Hanoverian missionary, nine tribes were under him, and the schools were
numerously attended.
Writing to Dr. Moffat, 10th August, 1860, from Zambesi Falls, he says:
"With great sorrow we learned the death of our much-esteemed
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Helmore, two days ago. We were too late
to be of any service, for the younger missionaries had
retired, probably dispirited by the loss of their leader. It
is evident that the fever when untreated is as fatal now as
it proved in the case of Commodore Owen's officers in this
river, or in the great Niger Expedition. And yet what poor
drivel was poured forth when I adopted energetic measures for
speedily removing any Europeans out of the Delta. We were not
then aware that the remedy which was first found efficacious
in our own little Thomas on Lake 'Ngami, in 1850, and that
cured myself and attendants during my solitary journeyings,
was a certain cure for the disease, without loss of strength
in Europeans generally. This we now know by ample experience
to be the case. Warburg's drops, which have a great
reputation in India, here cause profuse perspiration only,
and the fever remains uncured. With our remedy, of which we
make no secret, a man utterly prostrated is roused to resume
his march next day. I have sent the prescription to John, as
I doubt being able to go so far South as Mosilikatse's.
Again the grand Victoria Falls are reached, and Charles Livingstone, who
has seen Niagara, gives the preference to Mosi-oa-tunya. By the route
which they took, they would have passed the Falls at twenty miles'
distance, but Dr. Livingstone could not resist the temptation to show
them to his companions. All his former computations as to their size
were found to be considerably within the mark; instead of a thousand
yards broad they were more than eighteen hundred, and whereas he had
said that the height of fall was about 100 feet, it turned out to be
310. His habit of keeping within the mark in all his statements of
remarkable things was thus exemplified.
On coming among his old friends the Makololo, he found them in low
spirits owing to protracted drought, and Sekelétu was ill of leprosy. He
was in the hands of a native doctress, who was persuaded to suspend her
treatment, and the lunar caustic applied by Drs. Livingstone and Kirk
had excellent effects[60]. On going to Linyanti, Dr. Livingstone found
the wagon and other articles which he had left there in 1853, safe and
sound, except from the effects of weather and the white ants. The
expressions of kindness and confidence toward him on the part of the
natives greatly touched him. The people were much disappointed at not
seeing Mrs. Livingstone and the children. But this confidence was the
result of his way of dealing with them. "It ought never to be forgotten
that influence among the heathen can be acquired only by patient
continuance in well-doing, and that good manners are as necessary among
barbarians as among the civilized." The Makololo were the most
interesting tribe that Dr. Livingstone had ever seen. While now with
them he was unwearied in his efforts for their spiritual good. In his
Journal we find these entries:
[Footnote 60: In 1864, while residing at Newstead Abbey, and writing his
book, _The Zambesi and its Tributaries_, Dr. Livingstone heard of the
death of Sekelétu.]
"_September_ 2, 1860.--On Sunday evening went over to the
people, giving a general summary of Christian faith by the
life of Christ. Asked them to speak about it afterward.
Replied that these things were above them--they could not
answer me. I said if I spoke of camels and buffaloes tamed,
they understood, though they had never seen them; why not
perceive the story of Christ, the witnesses to which refused
to deny it, though killed for maintaining it? Went on to
speak of the resurrection. All were listening eagerly to the
statements about this, especially when they heard that they,
too, must rise and be judged. Lerimo said, 'This I won't
believe.' 'Well, the guilt lies between you and Jesus,' This
always arrests attention. Spoke of blood shed by them; the
conversation continued till they said, 'It was time for me to
cross, for the river was dangerous at night.'"
"_September_ 9.--Spoke to the people on the north side of
the river--wind prevented evening service on the south."
The last subject on which he preached before leaving them on this
occasion was the great resurrection. They told him they could not
believe a reunion of the particles of the body possible. Dr. Livingstone
gave them in reply a chemical illustration, and then referred to the
authority of the Book that taught them the doctrine. And the poor people
were more willing to give in to the authority of the Book than to the
chemical illustration!
In _The Zambesi and its Tributaries_ this journey to the Makololo
country and back occupies one-third of the volume, though it did not
lead to any very special results. But it enabled Dr. Livingstone to make
great additions to his knowledge both of the people and the country. His
observations are recorded with the utmost care, for though he might not
be able to turn them to immediate use, it was likely, and even certain,
that they would be useful some day. Indeed, the spirit of faith is
apparent in the whole narrative, as if he could not pass over even the
most insignificant details. The fish in the rivers, the wild animals in
the woods, the fissures in the rocks, the course of the streams, the
composition of the minerals and gravels, and a thousand other phenomena,
are carefully observed and chronicled. The crowned cranes beginning to
pair, the flocks of spurwinged geese, the habits of the ostrich, the
nests of bee-eaters, pass under review in rapid succession. His sphere
of observation ranges from the structure of the great continent itself
to the serrated bone of the konokono, or the mandible of the ant.
Leaving Seshéke on the 17th September, they reached Tette on the 23d
November, 1860, whence they started for Kongone with the unfortunate
"Ma-Robert." But the days of that asthmatic old lady were numbered. On
the 21st December she grounded on a sand-bank, and could not get off. A
few days before this catastrophe Livingstone writes to Mr. Young:
"_Lupata, 4th Dec_., 1860.--Many thanks for all you have been
doing about the steamer and everything else. You seem to have
gone about matters in a most business-like manner, and once
for all I assure you I am deeply grateful.
"We are now on our way down to the sea, in hopes of meeting
the new steamer for which you and other friends exerted
yourselves so zealously. We are in the old 'Asthmatic,'
though we gave her up before leaving in May last. Our
engineer has been doctoring her bottom with fat and patches,
and pronounced it safe to go down the river by dropping
slowly. Every day a new leak bursts out, and he is in
plastering and scoring, the pump going constantly. I would
not have ventured again, but our whaler is as bad,--all eaten
by the teredo,--so I thought it as well to take both, and
stick to that which swims longest. You can put your thumb
through either of them; they never can move again; I never
expected to find either afloat, but the engineer had nothing
else to do, and it saves us from buying dear canoes from the
Portuguese.
"_20th Dec._--One day, above Senna, the 'Ma-Robert' stuck on
a sand-bank and filled, so we had to go ashore and leave
her."
The correspondence of this year indicates a growing delight at the
prospect of the Universities Mission. It was this, indeed, mainly that
kept up his spirits under the depression caused by the failure of the
"Ma-Robert," and other mishaps of the Expedition, the endless delays and
worries that had resulted from that cause, and the manner in which both
the Portuguese and the French were counter-working him by encouraging
the slave-trade. While professedly encouraging emigration, the French
were really extending slavery.
Here is his lively account of himself to his friend Mr. Moore:
"TETTE, _28th November_, 1860.
"MY DEAR MOORE,--And why didn't you begin when you were so
often on the point of writing, but didn't? This that you have
accomplished is so far good, but very short. Hope you are not
too old to learn. You have heard of our hindrances and
annoyances, and, possibly, that we have done some work
notwithstanding. Thanks to Providence, we have made some
progress, and it is likely our operations will yet have a
decided effect on slave-trading in Eastern Africa. I am
greatly delighted with the prospect of a Church of England
mission to Central Africa. That is a good omen for those who
are sitting in darkness, and I trust that in process of time
great benefits will be conferred on our own overcrowded
population at home. There is room enough and to spare in the
fair world our Father has prepared for all his progeny. I
pray to be made a harbinger of good to many, both white
and black.
"I like to hear that some abuse me now, and say that I am *no
Christian. Many good things were said of me which I did not
deserve, and I feared to read them. I shall read every word I
can on the other side, and that will prove a sedative to what
I was forced to hear of an opposite tendency. I pray that He
who has lifted me up and guided me thus far, will not desert
me now, but make me useful in my day and generation. 'I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee.' So let it be.
"I saw poor Helmore's grave lately. Had my book been searched
for excellencies, they might have seen a certain cure for
African fever. We were curing it at a lower and worse part of
the river at the very time that they were helplessly
perishing, and so quickly, that more than a day was never
lost after the operation of the remedy, though we were
marching on foot. Our tramp was over 600 miles. We dropped
down stream again in canoes from Sinamanero to
Chicova--thence to this on shank's nag. We go down to the sea
immediately, to meet our new steamer. Our punt was a sham
and a snare.
"My love to Mary and all the children, with all our friends
at Congleton."
In a letter to Mr. James Young, Dr. Livingstone gives good reasons for
not wishing to push the colonization scheme at present, as he had
recommended to the Universities Mission to add a similar enterprise to
their undertaking:
"If you read all I have written you by this mail, you will
deserve to be called a literary character. I find that I did
not touch on the colonization scheme. I have not changed in
respect to it, but the Oxford and Cambridge mission have
taken the matter up, and as I shall do all I can to aid them,
a little delay will, perhaps, be advisable.
"We are waiting for our steamer, and expect her every day;
our first trip is a secret, and you will keep it so. We go to
the Rovuma, a river exterior to the Portuguese claims, as
soon as the vessel arrives. Captain Oldfield of the 'Lyra' is
sent already, to explore, as far as he can, in that ship. The
entrance is fine, and forty-five miles are known, but we keep
our movements secret from the Portuguese--and so must you;
they seize everything they see in the newspapers. Who are my
imprudent friends that publish everything? I suspect Mr.
----, of ----, but no one gives me a name or a clue. Some
expected me to feel sweet at being jewed by a false
philanthropist, and bamboozled by a silly R. N. I did not,
and could not, seem so; but I shall be more careful
in future.
"Again back to the colony. It is not to sleep, but
preparation must be made by collecting information, and
maturing our plans. I shall be able to give definite
instructions as soon as I see how the other mission works--at
its beginning--and when we see if the new route we may
discover has a better path to Nyassa than by Shiré--we shall
choose the best, of course, and let you know as soon as
possible. I think the Government will not hold back if we
have a feasible plan to offer. I have recommended to the
Universities Mission a little delay till we explore,--and for
a working staff, two gardeners acquainted with farming; two
country carpenters, capable of erecting sheds and any rough
work; two traders to purchase and prepare cotton for
exportation; one general steward of mission goods, his wife
to be a good plain cook; one medical man, having knowledge of
chemistry enough to regulate _indigo_ and sugar-making. All
the attendants to be married, and their wives to be employed
in sewing, washing, attending the sick, etc., as need
requires. The missionaries not to think themselves deserving
a good English wife till they have erected a comfortable
abode for her."
In the Royal Geographical Society this year (1860), certain
communications were read which tended to call in question Livingstone's
right to some of the discoveries he had claimed as his own. Mr.
Macqueen, through whom these communications came, must have had peculiar
notions of discovery, for some time before, there had appeared in the
Cape papers a statement of his, that Lake 'Ngami of 1859 was no new
discovery, as Dr. Livingstone had visited it seven years before; and
Livingstone had to write to the papers in favor of the claims of Murray,
Oswell, and Livingstone, against himself! It had been asserted to the
Society by Mr. Macqueen, that Silva Porto, a Portuguese trader, had
shown him a journal describing a journey of his from Benguela on the
west to Ibo and Mozambique on the east, beginning November 26, 1852, and
terminating August, 1854. Of that journal Mr. Macqueen read a copious
abstract to the Society (June 27, 1859), which is published in the
Journal for 1860.
In a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison (20th February, 1861),
Livingstone, while exonerating Mr. Macqueen of all intention of
misleading, gives his reasons for doubting whether the journey to the
East Coast ever took place. He had met Porto at Linyanti in 1853, and
subsequently at Naliele, the Barotse capital, and had been told by him
that he had tried to go eastward, but had been obliged to turn, and was
then going westward, and wished him to accompany him, which he declined,
as he was a slave-trader; he had read his journal as it appeared in the
Loanda "Boletim," but there was not a word in it of a journey to the
East Coast; when the Portuguese minister had wished to find a rival to
Dr. Livingstone, he had brought forward, not Porto, as he would
naturally have done if this had been a genuine journey, but two black
men who came to Tette in 1815; in the Boletim of Mozambique there was no
word of the arrival of Porto there; in short, the part of the journal
founded on could not have been authentic. Livingstone felt keenly on the
subject of these rumors, not on his own account, but on account of the
Geographical Society and of Sir Roderick who had introduced him to it;
for nothing could have given him more pain than that either of these
should have had any slur thrown on them through him, or even been placed
for a time in an uncomfortable position.