DR. LIVINGSTONE.

Waka Maori, Volume 10, Issue 5, 10 March 1874, Page 56

DR. LIVINGSTONE.

(Continued from " Waka" of 24th Feb., 1874.) [Perhaps it may be proper to mention that this little sketch of Dr. Livingstone's life and adventures is compiled principally from his own published travels, and from a small volume published by Ward, Locke, and Tyler, of London, entitled "Livingstone and Stanley."] The Eev. David Livingstone, the African traveller and missionary, was born at Blantyre, upon the banks of the Clyde, near Glasgow, about 1817. He was the son of parents in humble life but of excellent character; He was descended from a respectable line of honest Highland ancestors. His grandfather was a small farmer in TJlva, one of the Hebrides, where his father was born. In the introductory autobiographical sketch prefixed to his book of travels he says : —" Grandfather could give particulars of the lives of his ancestors for six generations of the family before him; and the only point of the tradition I feel proud of is this: 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 deathbed 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 I never could discover that there was a dishonest man among 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!' " And Dr. Livingstone was worthy of his ancestry,—he was an honest man. His grandfather, finding his farm in Ulva insufficient to support a numerous family, removed to Blantyre, and his sons were received as clerks in the cotton mills of Blantyre, on the banks of the beautiful Clyde, above Glasgow. Dr. Livingstone's uncles all entered the army during the last French war, and distinguished themselves greatly in the field. His father remained at home, and carried on a small

business in tea in the neighbourhood of the cotton mills. _ He died in February, 1856, when, as Dr. Livingstone writes, " I was at the time on my way below Zumbo, expecting no greater pleasure in this country than sitting by our cottage fire and telling him my travels." When David Livingstone was ten years old, his father's means were so small that it was decided the boy should be sent out to work, by way of adding to the family purse; so that, while boys of his own years were at school, the future illustrious explorer was hard at work (as a "piecer ") in a cotton factory. At this time his passion for books and learning was so great, that it almost absorbed every other consideration. _ Certainly he lost sight of the downright hard work in which he was engaged, and thought only of possessing books. "With a portion of his first week's wages he purchased a Latin Grammar, and he says, "I pursued the study of that language for many years afterwards with unabated ardour, at an evening school which met between the hours of eight and ten. The dictionary part of my labours was followed up till twelve o'clock, or later, if my mother did not interfere by jumping up and snatching the book out of my hands. I had to be back at the factory by six in the morning, and continue my work, with intervals for breakfast and dinner, till eight o'clock at night." This extraordinary example of perseverance under difficulties that would have crushed the spirits of most lads, was indicative of the immense energy which he afterwards displayed in penetrating to the mysterious centre of that vast continent which "kings, philosophers, all the great minds of antiquity, longed to know, and longed in vain." And when one considers the case of the poor boy —a child in years, but a man in heart—toiling arduously during the long factory hours of the day, and at night devoting himself to severe study instead of resting his wearied body in sleep, it is not difficult to account for the greatness to which he attained. In addition to his regular studies, he was at this time reading everything that came in his way ; but his supreme delight was in works on scientific subjects and books of travel. The latter he read with especial delight; and as he read, the resolution to hereafter travel and explore was formed, and grew until he thought of it day and night. But there were difficulties apparently insurmountable in the way. He was a poor lad, only half educated, and out of any direct channel through which he might proceed abroad. Another youth with the same craving for seeing the world would have desponded, and finally, regarding his wishes as vain, sunk down into the ordinary operative, and forgot in a few years all his youthful aspirations ; but Livingstone was determined to succeed, and he set himself the task of studying medicine and theology, with a view to find employment in the East as a missionary. At this time his anxiety to complete his studies was so great that he read not merely far into the night, but also while at work in the mill, placing the volume upon a portion of the

machine at which he was working, so that he could catch a sentence now and again, which he analyzed as he stood. over the machine. Eor nine years he remained at the mill, struggling on in the pursuit of knowledge without assistance. Shortly after this his wages were increased, and he was enabled to procure first-class instruction in medicine, Greek, and theology. David Livingstone's father being an eminently pious man, early taught his son to fear God and love the truth; and the lessons which he received in these early years he never afterwards forgot, He was not only illustrious as a traveller and explorer, but he was, as Mr. Stanley said, a man upon whom the hand of God had been laid. His blameless life called forth the admiration of honest, true-hearted men everywhere, and this may in a great measure be attributed to the early teachings of his excellent father. Having at length completed his studies, Dr. Livingstone regarded China as the field in which he might, labour as a medical missionary with profit to the natives of that country. "When, however, about to embark for China, the opium war broke out, and it was not deemed expedient for him to proceed thither. At this time there was an active and energetic missionary in Africa named Eobert Moffat, who had been about thirty years in the country, labouring principally in the Bechuana country, which is a division of Southern Africa about 700 miles in a northeast direction from Cape Town. . Dr. Livingstone having taken a deep interest in the labours of this missionary, determined to join him, and he accordingly left his country in 1840 for Cape Town. He remained there but a short time, when he started for Kuruman, in the interior, going round by Algoa Bay, eastward of Cape Town. Kuruman is the most distant missionary station inland from Cape Town, situate in the Bechuana country. After he had laboured four years in that country he married the eldest daughter of the Eev. E. Moffatt, and she accompanied him in his travels till her death in 1862. From 1840 till his return to England at the close of 1856, he laboured perseveringly as a missionary at Kuruman and many other stations in Southern Africa, and made several expeditions into the interior. At one time he retired to a spot called Litubaruba, situate some 200 miles north of Kuruman, and there cut himself off frop all European society for about six months, by which means he became acquainted with the habits, ways of thinking, laws, and language of that section of the Bechuanas called Bakwains. He also acquired a knowledge of the language, habits, and religious notions of several savage tribes, and crossed the continent twice from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. His mode of travelling was in covered-in waggons, drawn by a number of oxen, and sometimes he travelled mounted on the oxen themselves. He was always accompanied by a number of the natives as guides and hunters. In one of his early journeys to the

Bakaa Mountains, some 300 miles north-east o£ Kuruman, he had to perform the journey for the most part on foot, in consequence of some of the oxen having become sick. Some of the natives who had recently joined his party, and did not know that he understood a little of their language, were overheard by him discussing his appearance and powers:—"He is not strong; he is quite slim 5> and only appears stout because he puts himself into those bags (trousers) ; he will soon knock up." But they soon found he was able to keep them at the top of their speed for days together. These mountains had been visited before by a trader, who with all his people perished from fever. Dr! Livingstone's object in undertaking this journey was to establish a mission station among the Bakwains; but on returning to Kuruman to bring up his luggage, the news followed him that the friendly Bakwains had been driven from their homes by another tribe in an outbreak of war for the possession of cattle—a very common cause of war amongst the tribes in the interior of Africa. He was obliged, therefore, to look out anew for a suitable place for a mission- station. _ As some of the people from the Bakaa Mountains district had accompanied him on his return to Kuruman, he made a journey of some hundreds of miles to the residence of their chief Sekomi, for the purpose of restoring them to that chief. This journey he performed on ox-back. Returning again towards Kuruman, he selected the valley of Mabotsa as the site of a missionary station, and removed thither in 1843. Here an occurrence took place which was very nearly fatal to him. The people of the village'Mabotsa were much troubled by lions, which leaped into their cattle pens by night and destroyed their cows. They even attacked the herds in open day. This was so unusual that the people believed they were bewitched —" given," as they said, " into the power of the lions by a neighbouring tribe." They went once to attack the animals, but returned without killing any. It is well known that if one in a troop of lions be killed, the others leave that part of the country. The next time, therefore, the herds were attacked, Dr. Livingstone went with the people, in order to encourage them to rid themselves of the annoyance by destroying one of the marauders. They found the lions on a small hill, which was covered with trees. A circle of men was formed round it, and they gradually closed up, ascending pretty near to each other. Livingstone was down below on the plain with a native named Mebalwe. They saw one of the lions sitting on a rock within the now closed circle of men. Mebalwe fired at him, and the ball struck the rock on which the animal was sitting. He bit at the spot struck, as a dog does at a stick or a stone thrown at him; then, leaping away, broke through the opening circle of men and escaped. The men were afraid to attack him on account of their belief in witchcraft. The circle was again formed, but they allowed two other lions to escape in the same way. According to the custom of the country, they should have speared the lions in their attempt to escape. The party then returned towards the village, and, in going round the end of the hill

Livingstone saw one of the lions seated on a rock as before, with a little bush in front of him. He took aim through the bush at a distance of thirty yards from the animal, and fired both barrels into his body. The men called out, "He is shot! He is shot!" Livingstone saw the lion's tail erected in anger behind the bush, and turning to the people he said, " Stop a little till I load again." He was in the act of ramming down the bullets when he heard a shout. Starting and looking half round he saw the lion in the act of springing upon him. In the same instant the lion caught him by the shoulder and they both came to the ground together, the lion growling in his ear, and shaking him as a dog would a rat. He says he had no sense of pain or feeling of terror ; he was in a sort of dreamy state, though quite conscious of all that was happening. Turning round to relieve himself of the weight, as the beast had one paw on the back of his head, he saw the eyes of the lion directed to Mebalwe, who was trying to shoot him at a distance of about ten yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels, and the lion immediately left Livingstone and seized Mebalwe by the thigh. Another man attempted to spear the lion while he was biting Mebalwe. He caught this man by the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he fell down dead. The bone of Dr. Livingstone's arm was crunched into splinters, and eleven teeth wounds were left in his arm. • Dr. Livingstone became very much attached to a chief of the Bakwains named Sechele. This chief embraced Christianity, and was afterwards of great assistance to Livingstone in his travels. Seeing the anxiety of Dr. Livingstone that the people should believe in Christ, he once said, "Do you imagine these people will ever believe by your merely talking to them ? I can make them do nothing except by thrashing them; and, if you like, I shall call my head men, and with our whips we will soon make them believe altogether." The idea of using persuasion and entreaty to common people to become Christians, whose opinion on no other matter would he condescend to ask, was especially surprising to him. On the day on which he and his children were baptized, great numbers attended to see the ceremony. Some thought, from a calumny circulated by enemies to Christianity in the south, that the converts would be made to drink an infusion of " dead men's brains," and were astonished to find that water only was used at baptism. In reference to Dr. Livingstone's desire to visit some of the tribes in the interior of the country, he said, pointing to the great Kalahari Desert, " You can never cross that country to the tribes beyond. It is utterly impossible even for us black men, except in certain seasons, when more than the usual supply of rain falls, and an extraordinary growth of water melons follows. Even we who know the country would certainly perish without them." But, assisted by Sechele himself, Livingstone did subsequently cross that desert, which had never previously been crossed by any white man, though often attempted, but always with fatal consequences.

The government of these people is patriarchal, each man being chief of his own children. They build their huts around his, and the greater the number of children, the more his importance increases. Hence children are esteemed a great blessing, and are always treated kindly. A poor man attaches himself to a rich one, and is considered his child. The principal chief has his house in the middle of the town, and the other chiefs with their dependants build all around it. Some parts of Africa at certain seasons o£ the year are subject to excessive droughts; many of the rivers dry up entirely, and the whole country is scorched up; many of the animals die from want of water, which is only to be obtained by sinking deep wells, and not always then. There are priests or magicians inevery tribe who profess to be able to bring rain. The chief Sechele was himself a noted " rain doctor," and believed in it implicitly. On the occasion of one of these droughts the Bakwains believed that Dr. Livingstone had bound Sechele with some magic spell, and he received deputations of the old counsellors, entreating him to allow the chief to make only a few showers; —"The corn will die if you refuse, and we shall become scattered. Only let him make rain this once, and we shall all, men, women, and children, come to the school and sing and pray as long as you please." The rain-doctor performs his incantations, using lions' hearts, and the internal parts of various wild animals, serpents' skins, and plants and roots of every description; the people wait, and when rain comes it is ascribed to the agency of the rain-doctor and his spells. "Very great numbers of large animals congregate near the springs in these seasons of drought, and the natives kill large numbers of them in a trap called a " hopo." The hopo consists of hedges, in the form of the letter V, which are very thick and high near the angle. Instead of the hedges being joined there, they are made to form a lane of about'fifty yards in length, at the extremity of which a pit is formed, about eight feet deep, and about twelve feet in breadth and length. Trunks of trees are laid across the margins of the pit, so as to form an overlapping border, rendering escape almost impossible. The whole is carefully covered with green rushes, effectually concealing the pit. The hedges are frequently a mile long, and about as much apart at their extremities. A tribe, therefore, making a circle three or four miles round the country adjacent to the opening, and gradually closing up, are sure to enclose a large body of game of various kinds. They then drive it up with shouts to the narrow part of the hopo, and men secreted there throw their javelins into the affrighted herds, and on the animals rush to the opening presented at the converging hedges, and into the pit, till that is full of a living mass. Some escape by running over the backs of the others. It is a frightful scene. The men, wild with excitement, spear the lovely animals with mad delight; others of the poor creatures, borne down by the weight of their dead and dying companions, every now and then make the whole mass heave in their smothering agonies. The Bakwains often killed in this way sixty or seventy head of large game in a single week

and every one, rich and poor, partook of the prey. "We cannot afford time or space to pursue Dr. Livingstone's adventures further in this issue; but we trust to be able to continue the subject in our next.