God grant, dear reader, that if ever you take to travelling in
Central Africa, you find as good and true a man, for your
companion, as I found in noble David Livingstone. For four months
and four days he and I occupied the same house, or, the same tent,
and I never had one feeling of resentment against him, nor did he
show any against me, and the longer I lived with him the more did
my admiration and reverence for him increase.
What were Livingstone's thoughts during the time which elapsed
between my departure for the coast, and the arrival of his
supplies, may be gathered from a letter which he wrote on the 2nd
of July to Mr. John F. Webb, American Consul at Zanzibar.
I have been waiting up here like Simeon Stylites on his pillar,
and counting every day, and conjecturing each step taken by our
friend towards the coast, wishing and praying that no sickness
might lay him up, no accident befall him, and no unlooked-for
combinations of circumstances render his kind intentions vain
or fruitless. Mr. Stanley had got over the tendency to the
continued form of fever which is the most dangerous, and was
troubled only with the intermittent form, which is comparatively
safe, or I would not have allowed him, but would have accompanied
him to Zanzibar. I did not tell himself so; nor did I say what I
thought, that he really did a very plucky thing in going through
the Mirambo war in spite of the remonstrances of all the Arabs,
and from Ujiji guiding me back to Unyanyembe. The war, as it
is called, is still going on. The danger lay not so much in
the actual fighting as in the universal lawlessness the war
engendered.
I am not going to inflict on the reader a repetition of our march
back, except to record certain incidents which occurred to us as we
journeyed to the coast.
March 17th. - We came to the Kwalah River. The first rain of the
Masika season fell on this day; I shall be mildewed before I reach
the coast. Last year's Masika began at Bagamoyo, March 23rd, and
ended 30th April.
The next day I halted the Expedition at Western Tura, on the
Unyamwezi frontier, and on the 20th arrived at Eastern Tura; when,
soon after, we heard a loud report of a gun, and Susi and Hamoydah,
the Doctor's servants, with Uredi, and another of my men, appeared
with a letter for "Sir Thomas MacLear, Observatory, Cape of Good
Hope," and one for myself, which read as follows:
Kwihara, March 15, 1872.
Dear Stanley,
If you can telegraph on your arrival in London, be particular,
please, to say how Sir Roderick is. You put the matter exactly
yesterday, when you said that I was "not yet satisfied about the
Sources; but as soon as I shall be satisfied, I shall return and
give satisfactory reasons fit for other people." This is just as
it stands.
I wish I could give you a better word than the Scotch one to "put
a stout heart to a stey brae" - (a steep ascent) - for you will do
that; and I am thankful that, before going away, the fever had
changed into the intermittent, or safe form. I would not have
let you go, but with great concern, had you still been troubled
with the continued type. I feel comfortable in commending you
to the guardianship of the good Lord and Father of all.
I am gratefully yours,
David Livingstone.
I have worked as hard as I could copying observations made in one
line of march from Kabuire, back again to Cazembe, and on to Lake
Baugweolo, and am quite tired out. My large figures fill six
sheets of foolscap, and many a day will elapse ere I take to
copying again. I did my duty when ill at Ujiji in 1869, and am
not to blame, though they grope a little in the dark at home.
Some Arab letters have come, and I forward them to you.
D. L.
March 16, 1872.
P.S. - I have written a note this morning to Mr. Murray,
50, Albemarle Street, the publisher, to help you, if necessary,
in sending the Journal by book post, or otherwise, to Agnes.
If you call on him you will find him a frank gentleman. A pleasant
journey to you.
David Livingstone.
To Henry M. Stanley, Esq.,
Wherever he may be found.
Several Wangwana arrived at Tura to join our returning Expedition,
as they were afraid to pass through Ugogo by themselves; others
were reported coming; but as all were sufficiently warned at
Unyanyembe that the departure of the caravan would take place
positively on the 14th, I was not disposed to wait longer.
As we were leaving Tura, on the 21st, Susi and Hamoydah were sent
back to the Doctor, with last words from me, while we continued our
march to Nghwhalah River.
Two days afterwards we arrived before the village of Ngaraisa,
into which the head of the caravan attempted to enter but the
angry Wakimbu forcibly ejected them.
On the 24th, we encamped in the jungle, in what is called the
"tongoni," or clearing.
This region was at one period in a most flourishing state; the
soil is exceedingly fertile; the timber is large, and would be
valuable near the coast; and, what is highly appreciated in
Africa, there is an abundance of water. We camped near a smooth,
broad hump of syenite, at one end of which rose, upright and grand,
a massive square rock, which towered above several small trees in
the vicinity; at the other end stood up another singular rock,
which was loosened at the base.
