The life of David Livingstone, LL. D., the great missionary explorer

Prefatory Note

1STE does not see that much preface is needed now to a life of Dr. Livingstone, for his name has become a household word ; but perhaps a few sentences, by way of justification, may be allowed for adding one more to the already numerous biographies which we have. And undoubtedly the great reason is, the perennial human interest there is for all — young and old, learned and unlearned — in the record of his eventful life. Other explorers we have had whose fame rose as high, but it lasted only for a few years. The influences of Dr. Livingstone's life-work, on the other hand, are so far-reaching that his fame is above the passing feelings of the times. Although ten years have nearly passed since he died, his memory is as green and fresh to-day as ever. Indeed, no one can read his life without admiring and loving the man. Above his greatness as an explorer rises the massiveness of his character ; and his large-hearted love for the poor negro, his deep hatred of the accursed slave trade, his sturdy

4 PREFA TOR Y NOTE.

independence, strong iron will, stern tenacity of purpose, and calm fortitude under trouble or disaster, stamps him a truly great man. Goethe tells us that —

"Great men, like celestial fire-pillars, Go before us on the march,"

and such an one was Dr. Livingstone. The ultimate results of his travels in opening up the hitherto unknown continent of Africa are really incalculable. His life, which he sacrificed for the country he cared so much for, is a seed which will grow and flourish for a thousand years to come.

Already we have had many missions and expeditions following up in the paths he opened, and although the results are not great as yet, one cannot doubt but that a mighty future is in store for Africa.

2d June 188&

1 it^u\

Chapter I. Page

Early Years — Education — Arrival at Cape Town as a Missionary 7 CHAPTER II.

South Africa and its People — The Bushmen, the Hottentots, the

Kaffres, and the Bechuana Tribes, and their Habits, &c. . 18

Chapter III

Dr. Livingstone arrives at Kuruman — Missionary Experiences — Letters and Reports — Adventure with a Lion — Marriage — The Bakwains attacked by the Boers .... 34

CHAPTER IY.

The Kalahari Desert— Discovers Lake Ngami — Yisits Sebituane

— Death of Sebituane 55

CHAPTER Y.

Extracts from Published Letters— The Slave Trade . . . 71 CHAPTER VI.

Starts on his Great Journey — Ascends the Leeambye and the

Leeba — Reaches Loanda— Yisits Sainte— Weak from Fever 87

CHAPTER VII.

Stay at Loanda — Starts on Return Journey — Dr. Livingstono

again Struck Down with Fever — Arrival at Linyanti . . 120

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII. '

PAG 38

Starts for the East Coast— The Victoria Falls— The Batoka Tribes — Reaches Zumbo — Departure ftffb England -— Enthusiastic Reception . . . *^'^> ^£ ' . 133

CHAPTER IX. - "

Dr. Livingstone and his Fellow-travellers Leave for Africa — Ascends the Zambesi and the Shire — Discovers Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa . 159

CHAPTER X.

Starts for Linyanti— The "Go-Naked" Tribes— The Victoria

Falls 181

CHAPTER XI.

Return Journey — Arrival and Death of Mrs. Livingstone — Dr.

Livingstone Returns to England 195

CHAPTER XII.

Starts a Third Time for Africa — Re-ascends the Rovuma — His Reported Murder — Search Expedition — Letters from Livingstone . . 220

CHAPTER XIII.

The " New York Herald's " Expedition in Search of Livingstone — Stanley and Livingstone at Ujiji — Expedition to the Rusizi — Arrive at Unyanyembe — Stanley Bids the Great Traveller Farewell 246

CHAPTER XIV.

Livingstone's Account of his Explorations — His Theory of the Connection between the Lualaba and the Nile — Horrors of Slave Trade 288

CHAPTER XV.

Expeditions sent to Dr. Livingstone — His Death and Burial in

Westminster Abbey ........ 314

AND EXPLORATIONS

OP

DAYID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

Chapter I. Early Years — Education — Arrival At Cape Town As A Missionary

AVID LIVINGSTONE was born at Blantyre, near Glasgow, in 1813. He was the son of humble but respectable parents, whose simple piety and worth were noticeable even in a community which, in those days, ranked above the average for all those manly and self-denying virtues which, a few generations ago, were so characteristic of the lower classes of Scotland. Humble and even trying circumstances did not make them discontented with their lot, nor tend to make them forget the stainless name which had descended to them from a line of predecessors whose worldly circumstances were hardly better than their own.

In the introduction to his "Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa," published in 1857, Dr. Living stone gave a brief and modest sketch of his early years, together with some account of the humble, although notable family from which he could trace his descent. " One greatgrandfather," he tells us, "fell at the battle of Oulloden, fighting for the old line of kings, and one grandfather was a small farmer in Ulva, where my father was born. It is one of that cluster of the Hebrides thus spoken of by Sir Walter Scott

* And Ulva dark, and Colonsay, And all the group of islets gay That guard famed Staffa round.'

" Our grandfather was intimately acquainted with all the traditionary legends which that great writer has since made use of in 'The Tales of a Grandfather,' and other works. As a boy I remember listening with delight, for his memory was stored with a never-ending stock of stories, many of which were wonderfully like those I have since heard while sitting by the African evening fires. Our grandmother, too, used to sing Gaelic songs, some of which, as she believed, had been composed by captive Highlanders languishing among the Turks s ,s

The reverence of the true Highlander for his ancestors, and his knowledge of them and their doings for many generations, have been frequently the subject of mirth to the Lowlanders or Sassenachs, as they are termed by the Celts ; but in such instances as that of the family of which we are treating, these feelings are not only virtues, but become the incentives to bold and manly effort in the most trying circumstances. Livingstone tells us that his grandfather could rehearse traditions of the family for six generations before him. One of these was of a nature to make a strong impression on the imaginative and independent mind of the boy, even when almost borne down with toil too severe for his years. He says : " One of these poor hardy islanders was renowned in the district for great wisdom and prudence ; and it is related that, when he was on his death-bed, he called all his children around him, and said, * Now, in my lifetime, I have searched most carefully through all the traditions I could find of our family, and 1 never could discover that there was a dishonest man among

EARLY YEARS.

our forefathers, If, therefore, any of you or any of your children should take to dishonest ways it will not be because it runs in our blood ; it does not belong to you. I leave this precept with you : Be honest / ' "

With pardonable pride and some covert sarcasm, Livingstone points out that at the period in question, according to Macaulay, the Highlanders " were much like Cape Kaffres, and any one, it was said, could escape punishment for cattle stealing by presenting a share of the plunder to his chieftain." Macaulay's assertion was true of the clans and bands of broken men who dwelt near the Highland line ; but even in their case these cattle-lifting raids hardly deserved the designation of pure theft, as even up to the middle of the last century they looked upon the Lowlanders as an alien race, and consequently enemies whom it was lawful to despoil. The conduct of the needy and ambitious nobles who drove them from their native glens and mountains, where their fathers had lived and hunted for centuries, with a view to possessing themselves of their inheritance, too often furnished a sufficient excuse for the deeds of violence and plunder which figure so prominently in the annals of the country down even to the days of George II.

Like most of the Highlanders, his ancestors were Roman Catholics, but when Protestantism got fairly established in Scotland, the apo3tacy of the chief was followed by that of the entire clan. Livingstone says, "They were made Protestants by the laird (the squire) coming round, with a man having a yellow staff, which would seem to have attracted more attention than his teaching, for the new religion went long afterwards, perhaps it does so still, by the name of * the religion of the staff.' "

In the olden time, religion to them was only secondary to their devotion and attachment to their chief, and never seems to have taken any firm hold of their imaginations. The country was poor in money, and the priests they were

LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

familiar with were needy and ignorant; and within the Highland line there were no splendid edifices or pomp of worship to rouse their enthusiasm, so that the abandonment of their old mode of worship entailed no sacrifice.*

With the breaking-up of the clans and the introduction of industrial occupations, and the teaching and preaching of devoted adherents of the new religion, the minds of the Highlanders were moved, and for many generations, and even at the present day, the Presbyterian form of worship has no more zealous adherents than the people of the Highlands of Scotland. The man with the yellow staff was, in all likelihood, one of the commissioners sent out by the General Assembly to advocate the cause of the new religion among those who were either indifferent about it, or were too remote from Edinburgh to be affected by the deadly struggle for supremacy which was going on between the old creed and the new religion.

Towards the end of the last century, finding the small farm in Ulva insufficient for the maintenance of his family, Livingstone's grandfather resnoved to Blantyre, where he, for a number of years, occupied a position of trust in the employment of Messrs. Monteith & Co., of Blantyre Cotton Works, his sons being employed as clerks. It formed part of the old man's duty to convey large sums of money to and from Glasgow, and his unflinching honesty in this and other ways won him the respect and esteem of his employers, who

* In " Waverley," Sir Walter Scott very happily illustrates the nonreligious character of the Highlanders about the middle of last century. "Waverley had just parted with Fergus Mclvor, and was approaching a Lowland village, "and as he now distinguished not indeed the ringing of bells, but the tinkling of something like a hammer against the side of an old mossy, green, inverted porridge pot that hung in an open booth, of the size and shape of a parrot's cage, erected to grace the east end of a building resembling an old barn, he asked Galium Beg if it were Sunday. 'Oouldna say just preceesely, Sunday seldom cam aboon the Pass o' Bally-Brough.'"

EARLY YEARS.

it settled a pension on him when too old to continue his services.

Livingstone's uncles shared in the patriotic spirit which pervaded the country during the war with France, and entered the service of the king; but his father having recently got married settled down as a small grocer, the returns from which business were so meagre as to necessitate his children being sent to the factory as soon as they could earn anything to assist in the family support. David Livingstone was but ten years of age, in 1823, when he entered the mill as a " piecer," where he was employed from six o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock at night, with intervals for breakfast and dinner. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, this early introduction to a life of toil would have been the commencement of a lifetime of obscurity and privation. Let us see how David Livingstone bore and conquered the cruel circumstances of his boyhood, and made for himself a name which is known and respected throughout the civilized world, and is accepted by the savage inhabitants of Central Africa as conveying to their minds the ideal of all that is best in the character of " the white man."

Between the delicate " piecer " boy of ten and the middleaged man who returned to England after an absence of sixteen years, in December 1856, with a world-wide reputation, there was a mighty hill of difficulty nobly surmounted, and we cannot attach too much importance to the mode in which he conquered those difficulties and hindrances, which, but that they are mastered every now and again in our sight by some bold and daring spirit, we are almost' inclined to think insurmountable. It is a true saying, that every man who has earned distinction must have been blessed with a parent or parents of no mean order, whatever their position in society. What his ancestors were like we gather from his own brief allusion to them ; and the few remarks he makes regarding his parents and their circumstances, supis LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

plemented by some information procured from one who knew them, enables us to give a picture of his home surroundings, which will assist us materially in estimating the courageous spirit which carried the delicate and overworked boy safely through all his early toils and trials.

To the mere observer, Livingstone's father appeared to be somewhat stern and taciturn, and an overstrict disciplinarian where the members of his family were concerned ; but under a cold and reserved exterior he sheltered a warm heart, and his real kindliness, as well as his truth and uprightness, are cherished in the memories of his family and his intimates. He was too truthful and conscientious to become rich as a small grocer in a country village ; while his real goodness of heart induced him to trust people whose necessities were greater than their ability or desire to pay, to the further embarrassment of a household his limited business made severe enough.

He brought up his children in connection with the Church of Scotland, from which he seceded a few years before his death, and joined an Independent congregation worshipping in Hamilton, some miles distant. Speaking of the Christian example he set before his family, his famous son says, " He deserved my lasting gratitude and homage for presenting me from infancy with a continuously consistent pious example, such as that, the ideal of which is so beautifully and truthfully portrayed in Burns' Cottar's Saturday Night.'" He was a strict disciplinarian, and looked with small favour on his son's passion for reading scientific books and works of travel; but his son had much of his own stubborn and independent temperament where he supposed himself to be in the right ; and sturdily preferred his own selection of books to " The Cloud of Witnesses," " Boston's Fourfold State," or " Wilberforce's Practical Christianity." His refusal to read the latter work procured him a caning, which was the last occasion his father applied the rod.

As in the case of many a young man in like circumstances, his father's importunity and unfortunate selection of authors fostered a dislike for merely doctrinal reading, which continued until years afterwards, when a perusal of 11 The Philosophy of Religion," and " The Philosophy of a Future State," by Dr. Thomas Dick, widened his understanding, and gratified him by confirming him in what he had all along believed, "that religion and science are not hostile, but friendly to each other." Both his parents had taken much pains to instil the principles of Christianity into his mind, but it was only after becoming acquainted with the writings of Dr. Dick and others that their efforts bore fruit. The depth of his religious convictions may be realised when we contemplate the sacrifices he afterwards made in his evangelistic labours, but his strong understanding saved him from becoming either a sectary or a bigot. While there was no more earnest-minded or devoted servant of Christ than Dr. Livingstone, there was none so liberal and so large-hearted in his acceptance of all honest and God-fearing men who strove to do good whatever their creed might be.

His father died in February 1856, at the time when his son was making his way from the interior of Africa to the coast, on his return to England, "expecting no greater pleasure in this country than sitting by our cottage fire and telling him my travels. I revere his memory." The applause of the best and highest in the land, in the social circle or in the crowded assembly, with hundreds hanging on his every word, was as nothing compared to the long talks he had looked forward to with the kindly though stern father he had not seen for so many years ; but it was not to be. He has small notions of the strength of filial affection in the heart of such a man who cannot sympathise with his sorrow and disappointment.

His mother, a kindly and gentle woman, whose whole

LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D.

thoughts were given up to the care of her children and the anxieties consequent upon narrow means, was the constant instructor of her children in religious matters. Her distinguished son tells us that his earliest recollection of her recalls a picture so often seen among the Scottish poor — " that of the anxious housewife striving to make both ends meet." Her loving and kindly nature acted as a valuable counterpoise to the strict and austere rule of the father, and kept alive in the hearts of her children a love and respect for all things sacred, which an enforced, study of dry theological books might have endangered or destroyed.

The little education which the " piecer " boy of ten had received had aroused within him the desire for more, and the genuineness of this desire was proved by the purchase of a copy of " Ruddiman's Rudiments of Latin " with a portion of his first week's earnings. For many years he pursued the study of Latin with enthusiastic ardour, receiving much assistance in this and other studies at an evening school, the teacher of which was partly supported by the intelligent members of the firm at Blantyre Works, for the benefit of the people in their employment. Livingstone's work hours were from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. ; school hours from eight to ten, and private reading and study occupied from ten to twelve ; and at the latter hour it was often necessary for his mother to take possession of his books and send the youthful student to bed. Eighteen hours out of the twenty-four were given up to toil and self-improvement, a remarkable instance truly of determined effort on the part of a mere boy to acquire knowledge which his hard lot would almost have seemed to have placed beyond his reach.

Even when at work the book he was reading was fixed upon the spinning-jenny, so that he could catch sentence after sentence as he passed in his work. At sixteen years of age he tells us that he knew Horace and Virgil better than he did in 1857. Notwithstanding the limited leisure

EARLY YEARS.

at his disposal, he made himself thoroughly acquainted with the scenery, botany, and geology of his district. In these excursions he was frequently accompanied by his elder and younger brothers, John and Charles; but he was much alone, and while his temper was far from being moody or morose, he was fond of rambling about, his only companion being a book of travels or a scientific treatise. His thirst for knowledge was stronger than his desire for boyish pastimes.

At nineteen years of age Livingstone was promoted to the laborious duties of a cotton spinner, and while the heavy toil pressed hard upon the young and growing lad, he was cheered by the reflection that the high wages he now earned would enable him, from his summer's labour, to support himself in Glasgow during the winter months while attending medical and other classes at the University ; to attend which he walked to and from his father's house daily, a distance of nine miles. He never received a particle of aid from any one, nor did the resolute youth seek or expect such, well knowing that his difficulties and trials were no greater than those of dozens of his fellows who sat on the same benches with him in the class-rooms. The religious awakening which we have already alluded to, which occurred when he was about sixteen years of age, inspired him with a fervent ambition to be a pioneer of Christianity in China, and his practical instincts taught him that a knowledge of medicine would be of great service in securing him the confidence of the people he was so desirous of benefiting, besides ensuring his appointment as a medical missionary in connection with a society of that name recently formed in his native land.

At the conclusion of his medical curriculum he had to present a thesis to the examining body of the University, on which his claim to be admitted a member of the faculty of physicians and surgeons would be judged. The subject was one which in ordinary practice required the use of the stethoscope for its diagnosis, and it was characteristic of the independence and originality of the man, that an awkward difference arose between him and the examiners as to whether the instrument could do what was claimed for it. This unfortunate boldness procured him a more than ordinarily severe examination, through which he passed triumphantly. Alluding to this in after years, he drily remarked that "the wiser plan would have been to have had no opinions of my own." Looking back over the years of toil and hardship which had led up to this important stage in his career, and looking forward to the possibilities of the future, he might well say that " it was with unfeigned delight I became a member of a profession which is preeminently devoted to practical benevolence, and which with unwearied energy pursues from age to age its endeavours to lessen human woe."

Writing in 1857, he tells us that on reviewing his life of toil before his missionary career began, he could feel thankful that it was of such a nature as to prove a hardy training for the great enterprises he was destined afterwards to engage in; and he always spoke with warm and affectionate respect of the sterling character of the bulk of the humble villagers among whom he spent his early years.

The outbreak of the opium war with China compelled him reluctantly to abandon his cherished intention of proceeding to that country, but he was happily led to turn his thoughts to South Africa, where the successful labours of Mr. (now Dr.) Robert Moffat were attracting the attention of the Christian public in this country. In September 1838, he was summoned to London to undergo an examina* tion by the directors of " The London Missionary Society," after which he was sent on probation to a missionary training establishment conducted by the Rev, Mr. Cecil, at Chipping Ongar, in Essex. There he remained until th&

EARLY YEARS.

r;

early part of 1840, applying himself with his wonted diligence to his studies, and testifying his disregard for hard labour by taking more than his full share of the work of the establishment: such as grinding the corn to make the household bread, chopping wood, gardening operations, etc., etc. ; part of the training at Chipping Ongar being a wise endeavour to make the future missionaries able to shift for themselves in the uncivilised regions in which they might be called upon to settle.

At Chipping Ongar he indulged his habit of making long excursions in the country round ; and on one occasion he walked to and from London, a distance of fifty miles, in one day, arriving late at night completely exhausted, as he had hardly partaken of any food during the entire journey. From his earliest years, up to his attaining manhood, his training, both mental and physical, had been of the best possible kind to fit him for the great career which lay before him, which may be said to have had its commencement w hen he landed at Cape Town in 1840.

Chapter II

SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE — THE BUSHMEN, THE HOTTEN- TOTS, THE KAFFRES, AND THE BECHUANA TRIBES, AND THEIR HABITS, ETC.

HE tract of country now known to us as Cape Colony was originally occupied by the Dutch about the middle of the 17th century. A large proportion of the original settlers were of German origin, but a considerable number were of French, many French families having settled there between the years 1680 and 1690, driven thither by the persecution to which Protestants were at that time subjected in France. The French and German settlers enslaved the native Hottentots, Kaffres, and Bushmen, and compelled them to labour for them on their farms ; and down to a very recent period this enforced servitude of the native tribes was the occasion of constant warfare and murder. In 1796 the Oape settlement was taken by the English, but on peace being concluded between the two nations, it was restored to the Dutch in 1803. War breaking out shortly after, the Colony was again taken possession of by England, and has continued to be a dependency of this country ever since. From that time many people from England have settled in the country, both in the towns and throughout the country districts. Cape Colony, from east to west, measures nearly six hundred miles, and from north to south four hundred and fifty miles. The Colony of Natal is one hundred and seventy-five miles in length by about a hundred and twenty in breadth. The population, of Cape Colony, including British Kaffraria and

SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE.

*9

Natal, is about a million, more than one half of whom aie natives.

The abolition of slavery in the British dependencies freed the Hottentots, the Kaffres, and the Bushmen ; but at the time Dr. Livingstone commenced his career in Africa the Dutch Boers still compelled the labour of those tribes in the neighbourhood of their settlements who were too weak to resist them. The usual method was to manufacture a cause of quarrel, which would give a colourable pretext for attacking a native settlement, when they would carry off a number of the young of both sexes, who became slaves in everything save the name. We believe that the exposure of this traffic by Dr. Livingstone and his celebrated father-in-law, Dr. Moffat, has resulted in a complete stoppage of this iniquitous traffic ; but it was not effected until many missionaries were driven from their settlements by the Boers, who very naturally objected to their teaching the natives that all men were equal in the sight of God. As we shall see further on, Dr. Livingstone suffered at their hands ; but as he, in addition to being a missionary, was also a great explorer and discoverer of hitherto untrodden regions in the far interior, his denunciations had an effect in high quarters which those of a mere preacher of the Gospel to the heathen would not have had, and the local Government put a stop to the detestable practice. As in every other quarter of Africa where it exists, slavery was at the root of all the wars and bloodshed which made it so difficult and dangerous for white men, whatever their object, to penetrate into the interior.

Previous to Dr. Livingstone's arrival in Africa, Dr. Moffat and a devoted band of labourers had been working zealously and successfully among the Hottentot, Bushmen, and Bechuana tribes; and the former had made frequent journeys to the north, and had reached points further to the northward than any of his predecessors and contemporaries

LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.B.

After Livingstone, he is the most notable figure in African Missionary enterprise, and has spent upwards of fifty years of his life in evangelistic labours in South Africa, displaying a courage and a devotedness truly apostolic. When in his prime he was a man of commanding exterior. Upwards of six feet in height, possessed of physical power and endurance above the ordinary, and having a singular faculty of adapting himself to circumstances whatever their nature, he gained a great ascendancy over the chiefs of the interior and their followers. The noble old man, although over eighty years of age, is still alive, and was the most notable figure among those who stood by the grave of his great son-in-law in Westminster Abbey.

The mode of travelling in and around the Kalahari Desert and the districts to the south is on horseback, or in waggons drawn by oxen. These waggons are heavy lumbering wooden structures, on broad wheels, to enable them to pass easily over the stretches of loose sandy soil which are of frequent occurrence at a distance from the few rivers and streams which intersect the country. These waggons are drawn by dxen — a team, or span, consisting of from four to twelve oxen, according to the weight of the baggage carried. To the north of the Kuruman River, the travellers must carry their food, water, and bedding, and encamp for the night in the open air, unless when they can lodge with a friendly tribe. In the most favourable seasons the country to the north of Cape Colony is very scantily supplied with water, and in a period of drought the suffering from want of water on the part of the natives is very great. As all the animals on which they depend for food migrate during the continuance of a drought, the suffering of the people is greatly intensified, and many tribes move their quarters in search of a land more fortunately situated.