DR. LIVINGSTONE.

Waka Maori, Volume 10, Issue 12, 16 June 1874, Page 144

DR. LIVINGSTONE.

(Concluded from The Waka of sth May, 1874.) We have been unable, from a press of other matter to continue in our last two issues the history of DrLivingstone's travels. As the other tribes amongst which he travelled were in all respects very similar to those already described, and his further adventures in Africa of a similar character to those already related, we do not consider that a lengthened description of them would be interesting to our Maori readers, therefore we propose to briefly epitomize the whole subject in the present chapter. In our last chapter (Waka, sth May), we said that Dr. Livingstone started from the town of Linyanti in November, 1853, with Sekeletu and his principal men, to embark on the Chobe river. They descended this river to its confluence with the Zambesi, up which they ascended to Sesheke, where they arrived on the 19th of November. This place, it will be remembered, was before visited by Dr. Livingstone, and is described in a previous chapter. Sekeletu remained at this place, and Livingstone and his party travelled in a northerly direction to the confluence of the river Leeba and Zambesi, where they arrived on the 27th of December. They then proceeded in a north-west direction, and arrived at the Portuguese town of Loanda, on the west coast of Africa, on the 31st of May, 1854;. They travelled the greater part of this journey by land, but by taking advantage of the courses of the rivers, when favourable, they were enabled to get over a considerable distance by canoe. They passed through the territories of numerous large tribes, the chiefs of which received them more or less favourably. In some places they were detained, and asked to pay for permission to pass on. But on the whole, they were treated with kindness. Dr. Livingstone suffered much from dysentery on the way. They were well received at Loanda, and gratuitously supplied with necessaries and clothing. Every one of the natives who accompanied Livingstone had a suit of clothes given to him, and a horse and other presents were given for Sekeletu. Some of Her Majesty's cruisers came into the port whilst Livingstone was there, and offered to convey him homewards; but he would not allow his Makololo friends to attempt a return to their country without his assistance, now that he knew the difficulties of the journey and the hostility of the tribes living on the Portuguese frontier. They left Loanda on the 20th of September, 1854;, on their return journey to Linyanti, the town of the chief Sekeletu, which place they reached in September, 1855, after many perils from hostile tribes, and much suffering from sickness on the way. The Makololo people expressed great satisfaction with the route which had been opened up to the west coast, and Sekeletu immediately made arrangements to send a fresh party with a ioad of ivory to Loanda. This party in due time arrived safely at Loanda, and Mr. Gabriel, the English Commissioner at that place for the suppression of slavery, behaved very generously to them, and made them presents, as he had previously done to Dr. Livingstone's party. The road, however, was impracticable for carriages or waggons of any kind, and it then became a question as to which part of the east coast they should endeavour to open up communication with. After much consultation it was determined to take the route by the north bank of the Zambesi River, which flows out on

the east coast at Kilimane. Sekeletu appointed a party of men to accompany Livingstone on this journey, amongst whom was one named Sekwebu, who had been captured when a little boy by a tribe living near Tete, the most inland station of- the Portuguese settled on the east coast at the mouth of the Zambesi. This man had travelled along both banks of the Zambesi several times, and was intimately acquainted with the dialects spoken by the tribes on its banks. On the 3rd of November Livingstone and his party left Linyanti to commence their journey eastward to the coast. They were accompanied by Sekeletu and 200 of his followers. At Sesheke Sekeletu supplied Dr. Livingstone with twelve oxen, also some hoes and beads to purchase a canoe when he should strike the Zambesi, below the falls of Victoria, so named by Livingstone himself. On the 13th November they left Sesheke, some sailing down the river to the confluence of the Chobe, while others drove the cattle along the banks. Some ten miles down the river they came to the beginning of the rapids, where they were obliged to leave the river and proceed along the bank on foot. After a couple of days journeying along the banks they came to an island named Sekote, near to the Zambesi Falls. Livingstone, accompanied by Sekeletu and others, visited these They are caused by a crack about eighty feet wide in the hard rock from the right to the left bank ot the Zambesi, and then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or forty miles of hills. Into this fissure the Zambesi, a thousand yards broad, leaps down a hundred feet, and then becomes compressed into a space of fifteen or twenty yards. There is an island just at the edge of the fissure in the centre of the river. Dr. Livingstone landed upon this island, from the left bank of which he could see the seething rolling mass of white water moving away through the prolongation of the fissure. Prom the fall a great jet of white vapour, exactly like steam, mounted up a height of 200 or 300 feet, and then condensing came down in a constant shower, wetting the party to the skin. Livingstone named these falls the " Victoria Ealls." Sekeletu and his large party having conveyed Dr. Livingstone thus far, and furnished him with 114 men to carry elephant's tusks to the coast to purchase various commodities required by the tribe, started on their homeward journey from the island of Sekote, on the 20th of November, whilst Livingstone and his party pursued their course eastward. Brevity compels us to forego any description of the journey to Tete, where they arrived in the month of March, 1556. They were much annoyed on the journey by the troublesome tsetse fly. The men often lived for days together on various kinds of fruit, more particularly that of a tree called moslmka, which they found growing on the Zambesi in prodigious numbers. The fruit resembles small apples, and has a taste like that of a pear. They also obtained fish and.various kinds of water fowl, wild geese, &c. They killed some elephants on the way, the flesh of whicJi was eaten by the natives. Livingstone gives some interesting accounts of the wild

animals frequenting the banks of the Zambesi, also of the habits and customs of the numerous tribes of natives through whose territories they passed, but which our space precludes us from noticing. The party was hospitably received by the Commandant at Tete, a Portuguese station containing about 1,200 houses, built of stone, and numbering some 4,500 inhabitants, including natives. Living! stone remained at this place till the 22nd of April, and then descended the Zambesi to Kilima,ne on the coast, which he reached on the 20th of May, 1856, being very nearly four years since he started from Cape Town. Prom Kilimane he embarked in H.M. brig "Frolic," and eventually reached England in December, 1856. His native followers he left at Tete, to await his return from England, having made the necessary arrangements for their comfortable subsistence during his absence. Tekwebu, at his own earnest request, accompanied Livingstone on board ship; but on the passage he became insane, jumped overboard, and was lost. Dr. Livingstone had been sixteen years absent from England, and in his various journeys had travelled over no less than 11,000 miles of African territory. The following is extracted from an English paper:— In March, 1858, he returned to Africa, accompanied by a small band of assistants, sent out by Her Majesty's Government. He entered Lake Nyassa, September 2, 1861, and made further explorations. His wife, who had accompanied him in many of his perilous journeys, died of fever at Shupanga, April 1862, and what was termed the Zambesi expedition was recalled in July, 1563. Dr. Livingstone reached London, July 20, 1864, and after giving interesting particulars respecting his discoveries, and making arrangements for other explorations, again quitted England in April, 1865. A report reached England in March, 1567, to the effect that Dr. Livingstone had fallen in a skirmish with the natives near Lake Nyassa, but the accuracy of the rumour was questioned. An expedition to the interior of Africa in search of this distinguished traveller, left England, under the Command of Mr. E. D. Young, June 9, 1867. On January IS, 1868, intelligence was received in London to the effect that the members of the Bearch Expedition were satisfied that Dr. Livingstone was still alive, and this conclusion was soon shown to be correct, as on the Bth of April letters were received here from the great traveller himself, dated from a place far beyond the district where he was said to have been murdered, and announcing that he was in good health. In July, 1868, he was near Lake Bangweolo, in South Central Africa' from whence a letter was received from him, and published in the _ Times of November 10, 1869. Another communication was received from Dr. Livingstone, dated Ujiji, may 13, 1869." Eor some two or three years nothing authentic had been heard of his movements; although in

January, 1871, it was reported that lie had made an extensive journey to the west of Lake Tanganyika—a great lake in the interior of Africa, over a hundred miles in length, and of great depth ; it is thought that in the north it is 3,000 feet deep. At length a wealthy proprietor of a newspaper in New York, America, Mr. James Grordon Bennett, despatched a gentleman named Henry M. Stanley, in search of the lost explorer. This intrepid and indefatigable man started on his dangerous journey to the interior of Africa with forty-eight native soldiers, and a large number of baggage carriers. lie took with him a large quantity of cotton goods; carpenters' tools ; ammunition, guns, and revolvers, and everything likely to be of service to the party should the search extend beyond the time originally calculated upon. Two white men only accompanied him, both strong able men, but both ware stricken with fever and died. Stanley himself was also several times stricken with fever, hut his iron constitution enabled him successfully to withstand its attacks. Two also of the native soldiers and eight luggage-carriers succumbed, also two horses and twenty-seven asses. Mr. Stanley was also subjected to great danger from hostile and treacherous tribes, who were then at war with each other, and through whose territories he had to pass. At length, surmounting all these difficulties and dangers, he had the satisfaction, on the 10th of November, 1871, of finding Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji, a town situated at Lake Tanganyika. He accompanied Dr. Livingstone on an expedition to the head of the lake, and then returned to Ujiji, having been twenty-eight days absent. He then persuaded Livingstone to return with him to Unyanyembe for the purpose of taking charge of the stores lying there, and the whole party set out on the 26th of December. They were fifty-four days accomplishing this journey. As the route lay out of the way where supplies could be had, the expedition often suffered for want of food, and Mr. Stanley writes that he was fever-stricken on many occasions during the march. Dr. Livingstone travelled on foot the whole of the way. Oil reaching Unyanyem.be, Mr. Stanley presented to the Doctor the goods he had brought for him, including guns and ammunition. Being now well stocked with barter articles, Livingstone only wanted fifty good men to enable him to continue his explorations. These men Mr. Stanley afterwards sent to him from the coast; also a further supply of goods for barter. As Mr. Stanley had the object of his mission, he returned to Europe, bringing with him letters from Dr. Livingstone, whom he left hale and well. The expenses of this expedition, amounting to over £4,000, were defrayed by Mr. James Gordon Bennett. From that time no certain information was received of the movements of Dr. Livingstone up to the time of his death, as related in the first chapter of this sketch. Stanley received the thanks of the Queen for his prudence and zeal in opening a communication with Livingstone," and he was lionized everywhere he appeared, both in England and in other countries. By late mails we have information that Dr. Livingstone died on the 4th of May, 1873, at Muilala, beyond Lake Bemba. He rode a donkey, but was subsequently carried, and thus arrived at Muilala, when he said, " Build me a hut to die in." The hut

was built by bis followers, wbo first made bim a bed. He suffered greatly, groaning day and night. On the tbird day be said, " I am very cold; put more grass over the but." His followers did not speak or go near him. On the fourth day he became insensible, and died about midnight. He had been suffering with chronic dysentery for several months past, and, although well supplied with stores and medicine, he seems to have had a presentiment that the attack would be fatal. His followers preserved his body in salt, and dried it in the sun for twelve and interred in Westminster Abbey on the 18th of April, 1874, as stated in the Waka of sth of May last. J