He is a very fine example of the perseverance,
doggedness, and tenacity which characterise the Anglo-Saxon
spirit; but his ability to withstand the climate is due not only
to the happy constitution with which he was born, but to the
strictly temperate life he has ever led. A drunkard and a man of
vicious habits could never have withstood the climate of Central
Africa.
The second day after my arrival in Ujiji I asked the Doctor if he
did not feel a desire, sometimes, to visit his country, and take
a little rest after his six years' explorations; and the answer
he gave me fully reveals the man. Said he:
"I should like very much to go home and see my children once
again, but I cannot bring my heart to abandon the task I have
undertaken, when it is so nearly completed. It only requires
six or seven months more to trace the true source that I have
discovered with Petherick's branch of the White Nile, or with
the Albert N'Yanza of Sir Samuel Baker, which is the lake
called by the natives `Chowambe.' Why should I go home before
my task is ended, to have to come back again to do what I can
very well do now?"
"And why?" I asked, "did you come so far back without finishing
the task which you say you have got to do?"
"Simply because I was forced. My men would not budge a step
forward. They mutinied, and formed a secret resolution - if I still
insisted upon going on - to raise a disturbance in the country, and
after they had effected it to abandon me; in which case I should
have been killed. It was dangerous to go any further. I had
explored six hundred miles of the watershed, had traced all the
principal streams which discharge their waters into the central
line of drainage, but when about starting to explore the last
hundred miles the hearts of my people failed them, and they set
about frustrating me in every possible way. Now, having returned
seven hundred miles to get a new supply of stores, and another
escort, I find myself destitute of even the means to live but for
a few weeks, and sick in mind and body."
Here I may pause to ask any brave man how he would have comported
himself in such a crisis. Many would have been in exceeding hurry
to get home to tell the news of the continued explorations and
discoveries, and to relieve the anxiety of the sorrowing family
and friends awaiting their return. Enough surely had been
accomplished towards the solution of the problem that had exercised
the minds of his scientific associates of the Royal Geograpical
Society. It was no negative exploration, it was hard, earnest
labor of years, self-abnegation, enduring patience, and exalted
fortitude, such as ordinary men fail to exhibit.
Suppose Livingstone had hurried to the coast after he had
discovered Lake Bangweolo, to tell the news to the geographical
world; then had returned to discover Moero, and run away again;
then went back once more only to discover Kamolondo, and to race
back again. This would not be in accordance with Livingstone's
character. He must not only discover the Chambezi, Lake
Bangweolo, Luapula River, Lake Moero, Lualaba River, and Lake
Kamolondo, but he must still tirelessly urge his steps forward to
put the final completion to the grand lacustrine river system. Had
he followed the example of ordinary explorers, he would have been
running backwards and forwards to tell the news, instead of
exploring; and he might have been able to write a volume upon the
discovery of each lake, and earn much money thereby. They are
no few months' explorations that form the contents of his books.
His `Missionary Travels' embraces a period of sixteen years; his
book on the Zambezi, five years; and if the great traveller lives
to come home, his third book, the grandest of all, must contain the
records of eight or nine years.
It is a principle with Livingstone to do well what he undertakes to
do; and in the consciousness that he is doing it, despite the
yearning for his home which is sometimes overpowering, he finds,
to a certain extent, contentment, if not happiness. To men
differently constituted, a long residence amongst the savages
of Africa would be contemplated with horror, yet Livingstone's mind
can find pleasure and food for philosophic studies. The wonders of
primeval nature, the great forests and sublime mountains, the
perennial streams and sources of the great lakes, the marvels of
the earth, the splendors of the tropic sky by day and by night -
all terrestrial and celestial phenomena are manna to a man of
such self-abnegation and devoted philanthropic spirit. He can
be charmed with the primitive simplicity of Ethiop's dusky
children, with whom he has spent so many years of his life;
he has a sturdy faith in their capabilities; sees virtue
in them where others see nothing but savagery; and wherever
he has gone among them, he has sought to elevate a people
that were apparently forgotten of God and Christian man.
One night I took out my note-book, and prepared to take down
from his own lips what he had to say about his travels; and
unhesitatingly he related his experiences, of which the following
is a summary:
Dr. David Livingstone left the Island of Zanzibar in March, 1866.
On the 7th of the following month he departed from Mikindany Bay
for the interior, with an expedition consisting of twelve Sepoys
from Bombay, nine men from Johanna, of the Comoro Islands, seven
liberated slaves, and two Zambezi men, taking them as an
experiment; six camels, three buffaloes, two mules, and three
donkeys.
