THE DEATH OF DR. LIVINGSTONE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1190, 6 September 1867, Page 4

THE DEATH OF DR. LIVINGSTONE.

(To the Editor of The Times ) Sir, —The hopes you have raised of the safety of Dr. Livingstone by the extract you have reproduced to-day from the OOimes of India, will be, unhappily, but short-lived. The same journal, of a subsequent date, May 1? (a copy of which I enclose,) gives details of the savage attack and conflict »vhich resulted in the death of him whom every civilized nation mourns.—l am, &c., M. Mull. 36, Gordon-square, W.C., June 29. " The hopes raised by the news which vre published on the 15th of May of the rumoured safety of Dr. Livingstone have, speedily been dispelled, and there can no longer be ->&ny doubt that he was killed by a savage of the Mafite tribe. The narrative of the Sepoy belonging to the Marine Battalion (21sfc Native Infantry) who formed one of the doctor's escort, and who arrived from Zanzibar in the Gazelle on the 14th of May, turns out to be altogether inaccurate ; and, substantially, the tale told ,by Moosa is proved correct.

"The Nadir Shah, a vessel of war belonging to the Sultan of Zanzibar, at present used as a trader, reached Bombay on the 15th of May in cargo; and from information we obtained on board we are enabled to give a more detailed account of the circumstances in connexion with the melancholy story of the doctor's fate than has yet been published. The Nadir Shah left Zanzibar on the forenoon of the 28th March, so that the news she brings is nearly a month later than that brought up by the Gazelle, and three days later than the last despatch received from Zanzibar by>the Bombay Government.

" Dr., Livingstone took his departure from Zanzibar in March, 1866, and was conveyed in Her Majesty's ship Penguin to Pigancli at the mouth of the Eovuma river. The expedition consisted of Dr. Livingstone and 35 men, 10 of whom were natives of Johanna, one of tho Comoro Islands, 14 Africans, and 12 Sepoys of the Bombay Marine Battalion. It was thought by Dr. Livingstone that these Africans would be of service to him on his journey into the interior. The Africans were formerly slaves, who had been liberated and educated in the Bombay Presidency. There was no other European in the party except the doctor himself. The beasts taken were—six camels, four buffaloes, from Bombay, five asses, and two mules, and amongst the baggage there were forage, gunpowder, &c. The Penguin started from Zanzibar on the 10th March, 1866, and the men in the doctor's train and the beasts were taken from i anzibar in a large dhow which was towed by the Penguin. In three days the Penguin arrived off the Eovuma river, but owing to the strong current, the dhow could not be got into the mouth, of the stream. The expedition then made for Minkindany Bay, about 30 miles northward of Cape Delgoa, where Dr. Livingstone and his party were successfully landed on the 28th of March.

" The Joil anna men, who had been engaged for tlie doctor's service by Mr. Sundley, the English Consul at Johanna, were considered preferable for the seivice to Zanzibar men. On the march into the interior the Sepoys seem to have suffered much, and Dr. .Livingstone thought it necessary to leave them on the route to enable them to return to Zanzibar. In. returning they had but little to cat, and ran great risk of starving. One by one, all the Sepoys fell ill, and the sickness that attacked the havildar was fatal, as he died of dysentery. None of the 12 Sepoys who started with the doctor reached Nyassa, and those who survived returned, to Zanzibar in August or September. In October last the Johanna men made their appearance in Zanzibar, and presented themselves before Dr. Seward, the British Consul, when for the first time the intelligence was received of the disaster which had befallen Dr. Livingstone. From the accounts of these Johanna men it would seem that the expedition readied Lake Nyassa in safety and crossed the lake. They on westward, and in the course of some time reached Goomany, a fishing village on a river. This would appear to have been on the second or third week of August last. The people of Goomany warned Dr. Livingstone that the Mafites, a wandering predatory tribe, were ' out on a plundering expedition, and that it would not be safe to continue the journey. But tlie dangers thus presented to view were not sufficient to deter a man who had braved so many , before; and, treating the warnings as but of slight moment, he crossed the river in canoes the next morning, with his baggage and train of followers, in safety. Previously to this time the whole of the baggage animals had perished on the journey from the want of water; and on , reaching the further side of the river the baggage had to be carried by the doctor's men. Being a fast walker, Dr. Livingstone kept some distance in advance of the baggage-encumbered men; and Moosa only, or Moosa and a few others of the party, kept up with him. The march had continued some distance when Dr. Livingstone saw three armed men ahead, and thereupon he called out to Moosa, " The Mafites are out, after all," or some such words as those; and these seem to have been the last words he uttered. The threo Mafites were armed witli bows and arrows and other weapons, and they immediately commenced hostilies. Evidently the men must have closed on, the doctor, when, finding matters desperate, he drew his revolver and shot two of his assailants, but while thus disposing of the two the third managed to got behind Dr. Livingstone, and with one blow from an axe clove in his head. The wound was mortal, but the assassin quickly met his own doom, for a bullet from Moosa's musket passed through his body, and the murderer fell dead beside his victim. Moosa states that the doctor died instantly, and that finding the Mafites were out lie ran back to the'baggage party and told them that their master had been killed. The baggage was hastily abandoned, and the Johanna men, Moosa, and the rest of the party sought safety by a hasty flight, which, according to Moosa's story, they continued until sunset, when they reached a secure hiding place in the jungle. They held a consultation, and it is alleged that Moosa prevailed on them to go back to look after the body of their late master, and that on regaining the place where the murder had been perpetrated they found Dr. Livingstone's body lying there. The doctor s watch had been carried away, together with his clothes, the only article that remained on the body being the trousers. Moosa the men who had accompanied him ' scratched' a hole in the ground just deep enough to bury the body in, and there left in a far remote and unknown spot the remains of the self-denying and noble man who, all too soon for his country and for the cause of civilization, but not too soon to have carnt an enduring fame, found his end at the hand of nn ignoble savage. The corpses of the threo Mafites were lying ou the spot where they had fallen ; but no attention was paid to them by Moosa, who on searching cpuld find no memento of his late master to bring with him to Zanzibar. Jn making their way to the coast great hardships were experienced by Moosa and other survivors of the party, who were in such a starving condition that they had to live upon the berries'they could gather by the way until they fell ; with an Arab caravan, which entertained them in i kindly. They were thus enabled to reach Keel- ] wall, in the territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar. 1 They wereprovided with clothes and necessar- i ies and sent on to Zanzibar, at which place they i reported all tho circumstances to Dr. Seward, by whom they were closely examined. Dr. 1 Jtidcl, of Zanzibar, an old associate of Living- ! stone, also questioned them carefully, and found that their statement of the country through which they alleged they had passed correctly ' answered to the leading features of the wilds ; through which Dr.-Livingstone had intended to track his way. 1

The Johanna men were taken to Johanna and carefully interrogated by the Sultan or Kajah, as well as by Mr. Sundley, and their answers tallied with Moosa's narrative Tho Johanna men asked Mr. Sundley tj pay them tbe nine months wages due to' them for their services with the expedition, and, as they were entitled to what they demanded, the money was them. Some of the men who went away Wivh the expedition, and who were not accounted tor as having died, were still missing. On the 26th of December Dr. Seward left Zanzibar in her Majesty's ship Wasp and procceded to Keelwah, but he was unable to obtain details" mformat ion or to gather additional