The Personal Life of David Livingstone eBook

William Garden Blaikie
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 677 pages of information about The Personal Life of David Livingstone.

The Personal Life of David Livingstone eBook

William Garden Blaikie
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 677 pages of information about The Personal Life of David Livingstone.
of observations regularly prosecuted—­Dreadful state of the country from rain—­Hunger—­Furious attack of ants—­Greatness of Livingstone’s sufferings—­Letters to Sir Thomas Maclear, Mr. Young, his brother, and Agnes—­His sixtieth birthday—­Great weakness in April—­Sunday services and observations continued—­Increasing illness—­The end approaching—­Last written words—­Last day of his travels—­He reaches Chitambo’s village, in Ilala—­Is found on his knees dead, on morning of 1st May—­Courage and affection of his attendants—­His body embalmed—­Carried toward shore—­Dangers and sufferings during the march—­The party meet Lieutenant Cameron at Unyanyembe—­Determine to go on—­Ruse at Kasekera—­Death of Dr. Dillon—­The party reach Bagamoio, and the remains are placed on board a cruiser—­The Search Expeditions from England—­to East Coast under Cameron—­to West Coast under Grandy—­Explanation of Expeditions by Sir Henry Rawlinson—­Livingstone’s remains brought to England—­Examined by Sir W. Fergusson and others—­Buried in Westminster Abbey—­Inscription on slab—­Livingstone’s wish for a forest grave—­Lines from Punch—­Tributes to his memory—­Sir Bartle Frere—­The Lancet—­Lord Polwarth—­Florence Nightingale.

When Stanley left Livingstone at Unyanyembe there was nothing for the latter but to wait there until the men should come to him who were to be sent up from Zanzibar Stanley left on the 14th March; Livingstone calculated that he would reach Zanzibar on the 1st May, that his men would be ready to start about the 22d May, and that they ought to arrive at Unyanyembe on the 10th or 15th July.  In reality, Stanley did not reach Bagamoio till the 6th May, the men were sent off about the 25th, and they reached Unyanyembe about the 9th August.  A month more than had been counted on had to be spent at Unyanyembe, and this delay was all the more trying because it brought the traveler nearer to the rainy season.

The intention of Dr. Livingstone, when the men should come, was to strike south by Ufipa, go round Tanganyika, then cross the Chambeze, and bear away along the southern shore of Bangweolo, straight west to the ancient fountains; from them in eight days to Katanga copper mines; from Katanga, in ten days, northeast to the great underground excavations, and back again to Katanga; from which N.N.W. twelve days to the head of Lake Lincoln.  “There I hope devoutly,” he writes to his daughter, “to thank the Lord of all, and turn my face along Lake Kamolondo, and over Lualaba, Tanganyika, Ujiji, and home.”

His stay at Unyanyembe was a somewhat dreary one; there was little to do and little to interest him.  Five days after Stanley left him occurred his fifty-ninth birthday.  How his soul was exercised appears from the renewal of his self-dedication recorded in his Journal: 

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The Personal Life of David Livingstone from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.