The President of
the Royal Geographical Society, at a special meeting held to welcome him,
formally invited him to
Give to the world a narrative of his travels.
Some knavish booksellers paid him the less acceptable compliment
of putting forth spurious accounts of his adventures, one at least of which
has been republished in this country. Livingstone, so long accustomed
to a life of action, found the preparation of his book a harder task
than he had imagined. "I think," he says, "that I would rather
cross the African continent again than undertake to write another book."
We trust that he will yet do both. He would indeed have set out
on another African journey nearly a year ago to conduct
his faithful Makololo attendants back to their own country,
had not the King of Portugal relieved him from all anxiety on their account,
by sending out directions that they should be supported at Tete
until his return.
Our abstract does, at best, but scanty justice to the most interesting,
as well as most valuable, of modern works of travel. It has revolutionized
our ideas of African character as well as of African geography.
It shows that Central Africa is peopled by tribes barbarous, indeed,
but far from manifesting those savage and degrading traits which
we are wont to associate with the negro race. In all his long pilgrimage
Livingstone saw scarcely a trace of the brutal rites and bloody superstitions
of Dahomey and Ashanti.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 1063 of 1070
Words from 303966 to 304216
of 306638
