The Personal Life of David Livingstone Part 31

There was one piece of news brought by Stanley to Livingstone that was far from satisfactory. At Bagamoio, on the coast, Stanley had found a caravan with supplies for Livingstone that had been despatched from Zanzibar three or four months before, the men in charge of which had been lying idle there all that time on the pretext that they were waiting for carriers. A letter-bag was also lying at Bagamoio, although several caravans for Ujiji had left in the meantime. On hearing that the Consul at Zanzibar, Dr. Kirk, was coming to the neighborhood to hunt, the party at last made off. Overtaking them at Unyanyembe, Stanley took charge of Livingstone's stores, but was not able to bring them on; only he compelled the letter-carrier to come on to Ujiji with his bag. At what time, but for Stanley, Livingstone would have got his letters, which after all were a year on the way, he could not have told. For his stores, or such fragments of them as might remain, he had afterward to trudge all the way to Unyanyembe. His letters conveyed the news that Government had voted a thousand pounds for his relief, and were besides to pay him a salary[74]. The unpleasant feeling he had had so long as to his treatment by Government was thus at last somewhat relieved. But the goods that had lain in neglect at Bagamoio, and were now out of reach at Unyanyembe, represented one-half the Government grant, and would probably be squandered, like his other goods, before he could reach them.

[Footnote 74: The intimation of salary was premature. Livingstone got a pension of 800 afterward, which lasted only for a year and a half.]

The impression made on Stanley by Livingstone was remarkably vivid; and the portrait drawn by the American will be recognized as genuine by every one who knows what manner of man Livingstone was:

"I defy any one to be in his society long without thoroughly fathoming him, for in him there is no guile, and what is apparent on the surface is the thing that is in him.... Dr.

Livingstone is about sixty years old, though after he was restored to health he looked like a man who had not pa.s.sed his fiftieth year. His hair has a brownish color yet, but is here and there streaked with gray lines over the temples; his beard and moustaches are very gray. His eyes, which are hazel, are remarkably bright; he has a sight keen as a hawk's. His teeth alone indicate the weakness of age; the hard fare of Lunda has made havoc in their lines. His form, which soon a.s.sumed a stoutish appearance, is a little over the ordinary height, with the slightest possible bow in the shoulders. When walking he has a firm but heavy tread, like that of an overworked or fatigued man. He is accustomed to wear a naval cap with a semicircular peak, by which he has been identified throughout Africa. His dress, when first I saw him, exhibited traces of patching and repairing, but was scrupulously clean.

"I was led to believe that Livingstone possessed a splenetic, misanthropic temper; some have said that he is garrulous; that he is demented; that he is utterly changed from the David Livingstone whom people knew as the reverend missionary; that he takes no notes or observations but such as those which no other person could read but himself, and it was reported, before I proceeded to Africa, that he was married to an African princess.

"I respectfully beg to differ with all and each of the above statements. I grant he is not an angel; but he approaches to that being as near as the nature of a living man will allow.

I never saw any spleen or misanthropy in him: as for being garrulous, Dr. Livingstone is quite the reverse; he is reserved, if anything; and to the man who says Dr.

Livingstone is changed, all I can say is, that he never could have known him, for it is notorious that the Doctor has a fund of quiet humor, which he exhibits at all times when he is among friends." [After repudiating the charge as to his notes, and observations, Mr. Stanley continues:] "As to the report of his African marriage, it is unnecessary to say more than that it is untrue, and it is utterly beneath a gentleman even to hint at such a thing in connection with the name of Dr. Livingstone.

"You may take any point in Dr. Livingstone's character, and a.n.a.lyze it carefully, and I would challenge any man to find a fault in it.... His gentleness never forsakes him; his hopefulness never deserts him. No hara.s.sing anxieties, distraction of mind, long separation from home and kindred, can make him complain. He thinks 'all will come out right at last'; he has such faith in the goodness of Providence. The sport of adverse circ.u.mstances, the plaything of the miserable beings sent to him from Zanzibar--he has been baffled and worried, even almost to the grave, yet he will not desert the charge imposed upon him by his friend Sir Roderick Murchison. To the stern dictates of duty, alone, has he sacrificed his home and ease, the pleasures, refinements, and luxuries of civilized life. His is the Spartan heroism, the inflexibility of the Roman, the enduring resolution of the Anglo-Saxon--never to relinquish his work, though his heart yearns for home; never to surrender his obligations until he can write FINIS to his work.

"There is a good-natured _abandon_ about Livingstone which was not lost on me. Whenever he began to laugh, there was a contagion about it that compelled me to imitate him. It was such a laugh as Teufelsdrockh's--a laugh of the whole man from head to heel. If he told a story, he related it in such a way as to convince one of its truthfulness; his face was so lit up by the sly fun it contained, that I was sure the story was worth relating, and worth listening to.

"Another thing that especially attracted my attention was his wonderfully retentive memory. If we remember the many years he has spent in Africa, deprived of books, we may well think it an uncommon memory that can recite whole poems from Byron, Burns, Tennyson, Longfellow, Whittier, and Lowell....

"His religion is not of the theoretical kind, but it is a constant, earnest, sincere practice. It is neither demonstrative nor loud, but manifests itself in a quiet, practical way, and is always at work. It is not aggressive, which sometimes is troublesome if not impertinent. In him religion exhibits its loveliest features; it governs his conduct not only toward his servants but toward the natives, the bigoted Mohammedans, and all who come in contact with him. Without it, Livingstone, with his ardent temperament, his enthusiasm, his high spirit and courage, must have become uncompanionable, and a hard master. Religion has tamed him and made him a Christian gentleman; the crude and willful have been refined and subdued; religion has made him the most companionable of men and indulgent of masters--a man whose society is pleasurable to a degree....

"From being thwarted and hated in every possible way by the Arabs and half-castes upon his first arrival at Ujiji, he has, through his uniform kindness and mild, pleasant temper, won all hearts. I observed that universal respect was paid to him. Even the Mohammedans never pa.s.sed his house without calling to pay their compliments, and to say, 'The blessing of G.o.d rest on you!' Each Sunday morning he gathers his little flock around him, and reads prayers and a chapter from the Bible, in a natural, unaffected, and sincere tone; and afterward delivers a short address in the Kisawahili language, about the subject read to them, which is listened to with evident interest and attention."

It was agreed that the two travelers should make a short excursion to the north end of Lake Tanganyika, to ascertain whether the lake had an outlet there. This was done, but it was found that instead of flowing out, the river Lugize flowed into the lake, so that the notion that the lake discharged itself northward turned out to be an error. Meanwhile, the future arrangements of Dr. Livingstone were matter of anxious consideration. One thing was fixed and certain from the beginning: Livingstone would not go home with Stanley. Much though his heart yearned for home and family--all the more that he had just learned that his son Thomas had had a dangerous accident,--and much though he needed to recruit his strength and nurse his ailments, he would not think of it while his work remained unfinished. To turn back to those dreary sponges, sleep in those flooded plains, encounter anew that terrible pneumonia which was "worse than ten fevers," or that distressing haemorrhage which added extreme weakness to extreme agony--might have turned any heart; Livingstone never flinched from it. What a reception awaited him if he had gone home to England! What welcome from friends and children, what triumphal cheers from all the great Societies and _savants_, what honors from all who had honors to confer, what opportunity of renewing efforts to establish missions and commerce, and to suppress the slave traffic! Then he might return to Africa in a year, and finish his work. If Livingstone had taken this course, no whisper would have been heard against it. The n.o.bility of his soul never rose higher, his utter abandonment of self, his entire devotion to duty, his right honorable determination to work while it was called to-day never shone more brightly than when he declined all Stanley's entreaties to return home, and set his face steadfastly to go back to the bogs of the watershed. He writes in his journal: "My daughter Agnes says, 'Much as I wish you to come home, I had rather that you finished your work to your own satisfaction, than return merely to gratify me.' Rightly and n.o.bly said, my darling Nannie; vanity whispers pretty loudly, 'She is a chip of the old block,' My blessing on her and all the rest."

After careful consideration of various plans, it was agreed that he should go to Unyanyembe, accompanied by Stanley, who would supply him there with abundance of goods, and who would then hurry down to the coast, organize a new expedition composed of fifty or sixty faithful men to be sent on to Unyanyembe, by whom Livingstone would be accompanied back to Bangweolo and the sources, and then to Rua, until his work should be completed, and he might go home in peace.

A few extracts from Livingstone's letters will show us how he felt at this remarkable crisis. To Agnes:

"_Tanganyika_, 18_th November_, 1871--[After detailing his troubles in Manyuema, the loss of all his goods at Ujiji, and the generous offer of Syed bin Majid, he continues:] "Next I heard of an Englishman being at Unyamyembe with boats, etc., but who he was, none could tell. At last, one of my people came running out of breath and shouted, 'An Englishman coming!' and off he darted back again to meet him. An American flag at the head of a large caravan showed the nationality of the stranger. Baths, tents, saddles, big kettles, showed that he was not a poor Lazarus like me. He turned out to be Henry M. Stanley, traveling correspondent of the _New York Herald_, sent specially to find out if I were really alive, and, if dead, to bring home my bones. He had brought abundance of goods at great expense, but the fighting referred to delayed him, and he had to leave a great part at Unyamyembe. To all he had I was made free. [In a later letter, Livingstone says; 'He laid all he had at my service, divided his clothes into two heaps, and pressed one heap upon me; then his medicine-chest; then his goods and everything he had, and to coax my appet.i.te, often cooked dainty dishes with his own hand.'] He came with the true American characteristic generosity. The tears often started into my eyes on every fresh proof of kindness. My appet.i.te returned, and I ate three or four times a day, instead of scanty meals morning and evening. I soon felt strong, and never wearied with the strange news of Europe and America he told. The tumble down of the French Empire was like a dream...."

A long letter to his friend Sir Thomas Maclear and Mr. Mann, of the same date, goes over his travels in Manyuema, his many disasters, and then his wonderful meeting with Mr. Stanley at Ujiji. Speaking of the unwillingness of the natives to believe in the true purpose of his journey, he says: "They all treat me with respect, and are very much afraid of being written against; but they consider the sources of the Nile to be a sham; the true object of my being sent is to see their odious system of slaving, and _if indeed my disclosures should lead to the suppression of the East Coast slave-trade, I would esteem that as a far greater feat than the discovery of all the sources together_. It is awful, but I cannot speak of the slaving for fear of appearing guilty of exaggerating. It is not trading; it is murdering for captives to be made into slaves." His account of himself in the journey from Nyangwe is dreadful: "I was near a fourth lake on this central line, and only eighty miles from Lake Lincoln on our west, in fact almost in sight of the geographical end of my mission, when I was forced to return [through the misconduct of his men] between 400 and 500 miles. A sore heart, made still sorer by the sad scenes I had seen of man's inhumanity to man, made this march a terrible tramp--the sun vertical, and the sore heat reacting on the physical frame. I was in pain nearly every step of the way, and arrived a mere ruckle of bones to find myself dest.i.tute." In speaking of the impression made by Mr. Stanley's kindness: "I am as cold and non-demonstrative as we islanders are reputed to be, but this kindness was overwhelming. Here was the good Samaritan and no mistake.

Never was I more hard pressed; never was help more welcome."

During thirteen months Stanley received no fewer than ten parcels of letters and papers sent up by Mr. Webb, American Consul at Zanzibar, while Livingstone received but one. This was an additional ground for faith in the efficiency of Stanley's arrangements.

The journey to Unyanyembe was somewhat delayed by an attack of fever which Stanley had at Ujiji, and it was not till the 27th December that the travelers set out. On the way Stanley heard of the death of his English attendant Shaw, whom he had left unwell. On the 18th of February, 1872, they reached Unyanyembe, where a new chapter of the old history unfolded itself. The survivor of two head-men employed by Ludha Damji had been plundering Livingstone's stores, and had broken open the lock of Mr. Stanley's store-room and plundered him likewise.

Notwithstanding, Mr. Stanley was able to give Livingstone a large amount of calico, beads, bra.s.s wire, copper sheets, a tent, boat, bath, cooking-pots, medicine-chest, tools, books, paper, medicines, cartridges, and shot. This, with four flannel shirts that had come from Agnes, and two pairs of boots, gave him the feeling of being quite set up.

On the 14th of March Mr. Stanley left Livingstone for Zanzibar, having received from him a commission to send him up fifty trusty men, and some additional stores. Mr. Stanley had authority to draw from Dr. Kirk the remaining half of the Government grant, but lest it should have been expended, he was furnished with a cheque for 5000 rupees on Dr.

Livingstone's agents at Bombay. He was likewise intrusted with a large folio MS.* volume containing his journals from his arrival at Zanzibar, 28th January, 1866, to February 20, 1872, written out with all his characteristic care and beauty. Another instruction had been laid upon him. If he should find another set of slaves on the way to him, he was to send them back, for Livingstone would on no account expose himself anew to the misery, risk, and disappointment he had experienced from the kind of men that had compelled him to turn back at Nyangwe.

Dr. Livingstone's last act before Mr. Stanley left him was to write his letters--twenty for Great Britain, six for Bombay, two for New York, and one for Zanzibar. The two for New York were for Mr. Bennett of the _New York Herald_, by whom Stanley had been sent to Africa.

Mr. Stanley has freely unfolded to us the bitterness of his heart in parting from Livingstone. "My days seem to have been spent in an Elysian field; otherwise, why should I so keenly regret the near approach of the parting hour? Have I not been battered by successive fevers, prostrate with agony day after day lately? Have I not raved and stormed in madness? Have I not clenched my fists in fury, and fought with the wild strength of despair when in delirium? Yet, I regret to surrender the pleasure I have felt in this man's society, though so dearly purchased.... _March 14th._--We had a sad breakfast together. I could not eat, my heart was too full; neither did my companion seem to have an appet.i.te. We found something to do which kept us longer together. At eight o'clock I was not gone, and I had thought to have been off at five A.M.... We walked side by side; the men lifted their voices in a song. I took long looks at Livingstone, to impress his features thoroughly on my memory.... 'Now, my dear Doctor, the best friends must part. You have come far enough; let me beg of you to turn back.' 'Well,' Livingstone replied, 'I will say this to you: You have done what few men could do,--far better than some great travelers I know. And I am grateful to you for what you have done for me. G.o.d guide you safe home, and bless you, my friend,'--'And may G.o.d bring you safe back to us all, my dear friend. Farewell!'--'Farewell!"... My friendly reader, I wrote the above extracts in my Diary on the evening of each day. I look at them now after six months have pa.s.sed away; yet I am not ashamed of them; my eyes feel somewhat dimmed at the recollection of the parting. I dared not erase, nor modify what I had penned, while my feelings were strong. G.o.d grant that if ever you take to traveling in Africa you will get as n.o.ble and true a man for your companion as David Livingstone! For four months and four days I lived with him in the same house, or in the same boat, or in the same tent, and I never found a fault in him. I am a man of a quick temper, and often without sufficient cause, I daresay, have broken the ties of friendship; but with Livingstone I never had cause for resentment, but each day's life with him added to my admiration for him."

If Stanley's feeling for Livingstone was thus at the warmest temperature, Livingstone's sense of the service done to him by Stanley was equally unqualified. Whatever else he might be or might not be, he had proved a true friend to him. He had risked his life in the attempt to reach him, had been delighted to share with him every comfort he possessed, and to leave with him ample stores of all that might be useful to him in his effort to finish his work. Whoever may have been to blame for it, it is certain that Livingstone had been afflicted for years, and latterly worried almost to death, by the inefficency and worthlessness of the men sent to serve him. In Stanley he found one whom he could trust implicitly to do everything that zeal and energy could contrive in order to find him efficient men and otherwise carry out his plans. It was Stanley therefore whom he commissioned to send him up men from Zanzibar. It was Stanley to whom he intrusted his Journal and other doc.u.ments. Stanley had been his confidental friend for four months--the only white man to whom he talked for six years. It was matter of life and death to Livingstone to be supplied for this concluding piece of work far better than he had been for years back. What man in his senses would have failed in these circ.u.mstances to avail himself to the utmost of the services of one who had shown himself so efficient; would have put him aside to fall back on others, albeit his own countrymen, who, with all their good-will, had not been able to save him from robbery, beggary, and a half-broken heart.

Stanley's journey from Unyanyembe to Bagamoio was a perpetual struggle against hostile natives, flooded roads, slush, mire, and water, roaring torrents, ants and mosquitos, or, as he described it, the ten plagues of Egypt. On his reaching Bagamoio, on the 6th May, he found a new surprise. A white man dressed in flannels and helmet appeared, and as he met Stanley congratulated him on his splendid success. It was Lieutenant Henn, R.N., a member of the Search Expedition which the Royal Geographical Society and others had sent out to look for Livingstone.

The resolution to organize such an Expedition was taken after news had come to England of the war between the Arabs and the natives at Unyanyembe, stopping the communication with Ujiji, and rendering it impossible, as it was thought, for Mr. Stanley to get to Livingstone's relief. The Expedition had been placed under command of Lieutenant Dawson, R.N., with Lieutenant Henn as second, and was joined by the Rev.

Charles New, a Missionary from Mombasa, and Mr. W. Oswell Livingstone, youngest son of the Doctor. Stanley's arrival at Bagamoio had been preceded by that of some of his men, who brought the news that Livingstone had been found and relieved. On hearing this, Lieutenant Dawson hurried to Zanzibar to see Dr. Kirk, and resigned his command.

Lieutenant Henn soon after followed his example by resigning too. They thought that as Dr. Livingstone had been relieved there was no need for their going on. Mr. New likewise declined, to proceed. Mr. W. Oswell Livingstone was thus left alone, at first full of the determination to go on to his father with the men whom Stanley was providing; but owing to the state of his health, and under the advice of Dr. Kirk, he, too, declined to accompany the Expedition, so that the men from Zanzibar proceeded to Unyanyembe alone.

On the 29th of May, Stanley, with Messrs. Henn, Livingstone, New, and Morgan, departed in the "Africa" from Zanzibar, and in due time reached Europe.

It was deeply to be regretted that an enterprise so beautiful and so entirely successful as Mr. Stanley's should have been in some degree marred by ebullitions of feeling little in harmony with the very joyous event. The leaders of the English Search Expedition and their friends felt, as they expressed it, that the wind had been taken out of their sails. They could not but rejoice that Livingstone had been found and relieved, but it was a bitter thought that they had had no hand in the process. It was galling to their feelings as Englishmen that the brilliant service had been done by a stranger, a newspaper correspondent, a citizen of another country. On a small scale that spirit of national jealousy showed itself, which on a wider arena has sometimes endangered the relations of England and America.

When Stanley reached England, it was not to be overwhelmed with grat.i.tude. At first the Royal Geographical Society received him coldly.

Instead of his finding Livingstone, it was surmised that Livingstone had found him. Strange things were said of him at the British a.s.sociation at Brighton. The daily press actually challenged his truthfulness; some of the newspapers affected to treat his whole story as a myth. Stanley says frankly that this reception gave a tone of bitterness to his book--_How I Found Livingstone_--which it would not have had if he had understood the real state of things. But the heart of the nation was sound; the people believed in Stanley, and appreciated his service. At last the mists cleared away, and England acknowledged its debt to the American.

The Geographical Society gave him the right hand of fellowship "with a warmth and generosity never to be forgotten." The President apologized for the words of suspicion he had previously used. Her Majesty the Queen presented Stanley with a special token of her regard. Unhappily, in the earlier stages of the affair, wounds had been inflicted which are not likely ever to be wholly healed. Words were spoken on both sides which cannot be recalled. But the great fact remains, and will be written on the page of history, that Stanley did a n.o.ble service to Livingstone, earning thereby the grat.i.tude of England and of the civilized world.

CHAPTER XXII.

FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO.

A.D. 1872-73.

Livingstone's long wait at Unyanyembe--His plan of operations--His fifty-ninth, birthday--Renewal of self-dedication--Letters to Agnes--to _New York Herald_--Hardness of the African battle--Waverings of judgment, whether Lualaba was the Nile or the Congo--Extracts from Journal--Gleams of humor--Natural history--His distress on hearing of the death of Sir Roderick Murchison--Thoughts on mission-work--Arrival of his escort--His happiness in his new men--He starts from Unyanyembe--Illness--Great amount of rain--Near Bangweolo--Incessant moisture--Flowers of the forest--Taking 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 sh.o.r.e--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 sh.o.r.e 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:

"19_th March, Birthday_.--My Jesus, my King, my Life, my All; I again dedicate my whole self to Thee. Accept me, and grant, O gracious Father, that ere this year is gone I may finish my task. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. So let it be. DAVID LIVINGSTONE."

Frequent letters were written to his daughter from Unyanyembe, and they dwelt a good deal upon his difficulties, the treacherous way in which he had been treated, and the indescribable toil and suffering which had been the result. He said that in complaining to Dr. Kirk of the men whom he had employed, and the disgraceful use they had made of his (Kirk's) name, he never meant to charge him with being the author of their crimes, and it never occurred to him to say to Kirk, "I don't believe you to be the traitor they imply;" but Kirk took his complaint in high dudgeon as a covert attack upon himself, and did not act toward him as he ought to have done, considering what he owed him. His cordial and uniform testimony of Stanley was, "altogether he has behaved right n.o.bly."

On the 1st May he finished a letter for the _New York Herald_, and asked G.o.d's blessing on it. It contained the memorable words afterward inscribed on the stone to his memory in Westminster Abbey: "All I can add in my loneliness is, may Heaven's rich blessing come down on every one--American, English, or Turk--who will help to heal the open sore of the world." It happened that the words were written precisely a year before his death.

Amid the universal darkness around him, the universal ignorance of G.o.d and of the grace and love of Jesus Christ, it was hard to believe that Africa should ever be won. He had to strengthen his faith amid this universal desolation. We read in his Journal:

"13_th May_.--He will keep his word--the gracious One, full of grace and truth; no doubt of it. He said: 'Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out;' and 'Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will give it.' He WILL keep his word: then I can come and humbly present my pet.i.tion, and it will be all right. Doubt is here inadmissible, surely, D.L."

His mind ruminates on the river system of the country and the probability of his being in error:

"2l_st May_.--I wish I had some of the a.s.surance possessed by others, but I am oppressed with the apprehension that, after all, it may turn out that I have been following the Congo; and who would risk being put into a cannibal pot, and converted into black man for _it?_"

"31_st May_.--In reference to this Nile source, I have been kept in perpetual doubt and perplexity. I know too much to be positive. Great Lualaba, or Lualubba, as Manyuema say, may turn out to be the Congo, and Nile a shorter river after all[75]. The fountains flowing north and south seem in favor of its being the Nile. Great westing is in favor of the Congo."

[Footnote 75: From false punctuation, this pa.s.sage is unintelligible in the _Last Journals_, vol. ii. p. 193.]