PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Personal Life of David Livingstone
Blaikie, William Garden · 185,849 words · 259 reading sections
Preface.
CHIEFLY FROM HIS UNPUBLISHED JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE IN THE POSSESSION OF HIS FAMILY W. GARDEN BLAIKIE, D.D., LLD. _Author of "Heroes of Israel," etc._ The purpose of this work is to make the world better acquainted with the character of Livingstone. His discoveries and researches have been given to the public in…
667 wordsSECTION 2A.D. 1842-1843.
1880 * * * * * Ulva--The Livingstones--Traditions of Ulva life--The "Baughting-time"--"Kirsty's Rock"--Removal of Livingstone's grandfather to Blantyre--Highland blood--Neil Livingstone--His marriage to Agnes Hunter--Her grandfather and father--Monument to Neil and Agnes Livingstone in Hamilton Cemetery--David Living…
260 wordsSECTION 3A.D. 1849-1852.
Description of Mabotsa--A favorite hymn--General reading--Mabotsa infested with lions--Livingstone's encounter--The native deacon who saved him--His Sunday-school--Marriage to Mary Moffat--Work at Mabotsa--Proposed institution for training native agents--Letter to his mother--Trouble at Mabotsa--Noble sacrifice of Livi…
307 wordsSECTION 4A.D. 1854-1856.
Unfavorable feeling at Cape Town--Departure of Mrs. Livingstone and children--Livingstone's detention and difficulties--Letter to his wife--to Agnes--Occupations at Cape Town--The Astronomer-Royal--Livingstone leaves the Cape and reaches Kuruman--Destruction of Kolobeng by the Boers--Letters to his wife and Rev. J. Moo…
328 wordsSECTION 5A.D. 1858-1859.
Mrs. Livingstone--Her intense anxieties--Her poetical welcome--Congratulatory letters from Mrs. and Dr. Moffat--Meeting of welcome of Royal Geographical Society--of London Missionary Society--Meeting in Mansion House--Enthusiastic public meeting at Cape Town--Livingstone visits Hamilton--Returns to London to write his …
370 wordsSECTION 6A.D. 1861-1862.
Down to Kongone--State of the ship--Further delay--Letter to Secretary of Universities Mission--Letter to Mr. Braithwaite--At Tette--Miss Whately's sugar-mill--With his brother and Kirk at Kebrabasa--Mode of traveling--Reappearance of old friends--African warfare and its effects--Desolation--A European colony desirable…
359 wordsSECTION 7A.D. 1864.
Livingstone again buckles on his armor--Letter to Waller--Launch of "Lady Nyassa"--Too late for season--He explores the Rovuma--Fresh activity of the slave-trade--Letter to Governor of Mozambique about his discoveries--Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear--Generous offer of a party of Scotchmen--The Expedition proceeds up Zamb…
304 wordsSECTION 8A.D. 1865-1866.
Dr. Livingstone and Sir R. Murchison--At Lady Palmerston's reception--at other places in London--Sad news of his son Robert--His early death--Dr. Livingstone goes to Scotland--Pays visits--Consultation with Professor Syme as to operation--Visit to Duke Argyll--to Ulva--He meets Dr. Duff--At launch of a Turkish frigate-…
293 wordsSECTION 9A.D. 1869-1871.
Dr. Livingstone goes to mouth of Rovuma--His prayer--His company--His herd of animals--Loss of his buffaloes--Good spirits when setting put--Difficulties at Rovuma--Bad conduct of Johanna men--Dismissal of his Sepoys--Fresh horrors of slave-trade--Uninhabited tract--He reaches Lake Nyassa--Letter to his son Thomas--Dis…
437 wordsSECTION 10A.D. 1872-1873.
Mr. Gordon Bennett sends Stanley in search of Livingstone--Stanley at Zanzibar--Starts for Ujiji--Reaches Unyanyembe--Dangerous illness--War between Arabs and natives--Narrow escape of Stanley--Approach to Ujiji--Meeting with Livingstone--Livingstone's story--Stanley's news--Livingstone's goods and men at Bagamoio--Sta…
331 wordsSECTION 11A.D. 1813-1836.
History of his life not completed at his death--Thrilling effect of the tragedy of Ilala--Livingstone's influence on the slave-trade--His letters from Manyuema--Sir Bartle Frere's mission to Zanzibar--Successful efforts of Dr. Kirk with Sultan of Zanzibar--The land route--The sea route--Slave-trade declared illegal--Eg…
766 wordsSECTION 12A.D. 1813-1836.
There were traditions of Ulva life that must have been very congenial to the temperament of David Livingstone. In the "Statistical Account" of the parish to which it belongs[2] we read of an old custom among the inhabitants, to remove with their flocks in the beginning of each summer to the upland pastures, and bivouac…
687 wordsSECTION 13A.D. 1813-1836.
The Ulva emigrant had several sons, all of whom but one eventually entered the King's service during the French war, either as soldiers or sailors. The old man was somewhat disheartened by this circumstance, and especially by the fate of Charles, head-clerk in the office of Mr. Henry Monteith, in Glasgow, who was press…
805 wordsSECTION 14A.D. 1813-1836.
Neil Livingstone and Agnes Hunter were married in 1810, and took up house at first in Glasgow. The furnishing of their house indicated the frugal character and self-respect of the occupants; it included a handsome chest of drawers, and other traditional marks of respectability. Not liking Glasgow, they returned to Blan…
659 wordsSECTION 15To Show The Resting-Place Of
[Footnote 3: _Last Journals_ vol. i. p. 55] The home in which David Livingstone grew up was bright and happy, and presented a remarkable example of all the domestic virtues. It was ruled by an industry that never lost an hour of the six days, and that welcomed and honored the day of rest; a thrift that made the most o…
253 wordsSECTION 16For Poor And Pious Parents.
David Livingstone's birthday was the 19th March, 1813. Of his early boyhood there is little to say, except that he was a favorite at home. The children's games were merrier when he was among them, and the fireside brighter. He contributed constantly to the happiness of the family. Anything of interest that happened to …
815 wordsSECTION 17For Poor And Pious Parents.
The many-sidedness of his character showed itself early; for not content with reading, he used to scour the country, accompanied by his brothers, in search of botanical, geological, and zoological specimens. Culpepper's _Herbal_ was a favorite book, and it set him to look in every direction for as many of the plants de…
866 wordsSECTION 18For Poor And Pious Parents.
At first he had no thought of being himself a missionary. Feeling "that the salvation of men ought to be the chief desire and aim of every Christian," he had made a resolution "that he would give to the cause of missions all that he might earn beyond what was required for his subsistence[6]." The resolution to give him…
879 wordsSECTION 19A.D. 1836--1840.
His desire to be a missionary to China--Medical missions--He studies at Glasgow--Classmates and teachers--He applies to London Missionary Society--His ideas of mission work--He is accepted provisionally--He goes to London--to Ongar--Reminiscences by Rev. Joseph Moore--by Mrs. Gilbert--by Rev. Isaac Taylor--Nearly rejec…
708 wordsSECTION 20A.D. 1836--1840.
It was in the winter of 1836-37 that he spent his first session in Glasgow. Furnished by a friend with a list of lodgings, Livingstone and his father set out from Blantyre one wintry day, while the snow was on the ground, and walked to Glasgow. The lodgings were all too expensive. All day they searched for a cheaper ap…
758 wordsSECTION 21A.D. 1836--1840.
Dr. Graham's assistant devoted himself to practical chemistry, and made for himself a brilliant name by the purification of petroleum, adapting it for use in private houses, and by the manufacture of paraffin and paraffin-oil. Few men have made the art to which they devoted themselves more subservient to the use of man…
831 wordsSECTION 22A.D. 1836--1840.
In his application to the London Missionary Society, Livingstone stated his ideas of missionary work in comprehensive terms: "The missionary's object is to endeavor by every means in his power to make known the gospel by preaching, exhortation, conversation, instruction of the young; improving, so far as in his power, …
701 wordsSECTION 23A.D. 1836--1840.
"He won those who came near him by a kind of spell. There happened to be in the boarding-house at that time a young M.D., a saddler from Hants, and a bookseller from Scotland. To this hour they all speak of him in rapturous terms. "After passing two examinations, we were both so far accepted by the Society that we wer…
715 wordsSECTION 24A.D. 1836--1840.
"He never became a preacher" [we shall see that this does not apply to his preaching in the Sichuana language], "and in the first letter I received from him from Elizabeth Town, in Africa, he says: 'I am a very poor preacher, having a bad delivery, and some of them said if they knew I was to preach again they would not…
829 wordsSECTION 25A.D. 1836--1840.
The meeting at Exeter Hall was held to inaugurate the Niger Expedition. It was on this occasion that Samuel Wilberforce became known as a great platform orator[16]. It must have been pleasant to Livingstone in after-years to recall the circumstance when he became a friend and correspondent of the Bishop of Oxford. [Fo…
734 wordsSECTION 26A.D. 1836--1840.
"My acquaintance with David Livingstone was through the London Missionary Society, when, having offered himself to that Society, he came to London to carry on those medical and other studies which he had commenced in Glasgow. From the first, I became deeply interested in his character, and ever after maintained a …
750 wordsSECTION 27A.D. 1836--1840.
[Footnote 17: Not in the same _parish_, as stated afterward by Professor Owen. Hunter was born in East Kilbride, and Livingstone in Blantyre. The error is repeated in notices of Livingstone in some other quarters.] On all his fellow-students and acquaintances the simplicity, frankness, and kindliness of Livingstone's …
737 wordsSECTION 28A.D. 1836--1840.
The meeting of Livingstone with Moffat is far too important an event to be passed over without remark. Both directly and indirectly Mr. Moffat's influence on his young brother, afterward to become his son-in-law, was remarkable. In after-life they had a thorough appreciation of each other. No family on the face of the …
541 wordsSECTION 29A.D. 1841-1843.
His ordination--Voyage out--At Rio de Janeiro--At the Cape--He proceeds to Kuruman--Letters--Journey of 700 miles to Bechuana country--Selection of site for new station--Second excursion to Bechuana country--Letter to his sister--Influence with chiefs--Bubi--Construction of a water-dam--Sekomi--Woman seized by a lion--…
821 wordsSECTION 30A.D. 1841-1843.
On leaving the ship at Algoa Bay, he proceeded by land to Kuruman or Lattakoo, in the Bechuana country, the most northerly station of the Society in South Africa, and the usual residence of Mr. Moffat, who was still absent in England. In this his first African journey the germ of the future traveler was apparent. "Cros…
764 wordsSECTION 31A.D. 1841-1843.
His instructions from the Directors were to go to Kuruman, remain there till Mr. Moffat should return from England, and turn his attention to the formation of a new station farther north, awaiting more specific instructions, He arrived at Kuruman on the 31st July, 1841, but no instructions had come from the Directors; …
670 wordsSECTION 32A.D. 1841-1843.
In regard to the spot selected for a mission, there were many considerations in its favor. In the immediate neighborhood of Kuruman the chiefs hated the gospel, because it deprived them of their supernumerary wives. In the region farther north, this feeling had not yet established itself; on the contrary, there was an …
700 wordsSECTION 33A.D. 1841-1843.
In fulfillment of a promise made to the natives in the interior that he would return to them, Livingstone set out on a second tour into the interior of the Bechuana country on 10th February, 1842. His objects were, first, to acquire the native language more perfectly, and second, by suspending his medical practice, whi…
703 wordsSECTION 34A.D. 1841-1843.
It was unfortunate that the teacher whom Livingstone stationed with Bubi's people was seized with a violent fever, so that he was obliged to bring him away. As for Bubi himself, he was afterward burned to death by an explosion of gunpowder, which one of his sorcerers was trying, by means of burnt roots, to _un_-bewitch…
757 wordsSECTION 35A.D. 1841-1843.
On his way home, in passing through Bubi's country, he was visited by sixteen of the people of Sebehwe, a chief who had successfully withstood Mosilikatse, but whose cowardly neighbors, under the influence of jealousy, had banded together to deprive him of what they had not had the courage to defend. Consequently he ha…
684 wordsSECTION 36A.D. 1841-1843.
The people are all under the feudal system of government, the chieftainship is hereditary, and although the chief is usually the greatest ass, and the most insignificant of the tribe in appearance, the people pay a deference to him which is truly astonishing.... I feel the benefit often of your instructions, and o…
812 wordsSECTION 37A.D. 1841-1843.
He was able to give his father a very encouraging report of the mission work (July 13, 1842): "The work of God goes on here notwithstanding all our infirmities. Souls are gathered in continually, and sometimes from among those you would never have expected to see turning to the Lord. Twenty-four were added to the Churc…
674 wordsSECTION 38A.D. 1841-1843.
"Janet may be pleased to learn that I am become a poet, or rather a poetaster, in Sichuana. Half a dozen of my hymns were lately printed in a collection of the French brethren. One of them is a translation of 'There is a fountain filled with blood;' another, 'Jesus shall reign where'er the sun;' others are on 'The…
665 wordsSECTION 39A.D. 1841-1843.
Returning to Kuruman from this journey, in June, 1843, Livingstone was delighted to find at length a letter from the Directors of the Society authorizing the formation of a settlement in the regions beyond. He found another letter that greatly cheered him, from a Mrs. M'Robert, the wife of art Independent minister at C…
759 wordsSECTION 40A.D. 1841-1843.
He then proceeds to details in a most characteristic way, giving the number of huts in every village, and being careful in every case, as his argument proceeded on there being a small population, rather to overstate than understate the number: "In view of these facts and the confirmation of them I have received from …
891 wordsSECTION 41A.D. 1841-1843.
The first act of the missionaries on arriving at their destination was to have an interview with the chief, and ask whether he desired a missionary. Having an eye to the beads, guns, and other things, of which white men seemed always to have an ample store, the chief and his men gave them a cordial welcome, and Livings…
662 wordsSECTION 42A.D. 1841-1843.
[Footnote 20: See Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 356.] Dr. Livingstone's mind had that wonderful power which belongs to some men of the highest gifts, of passing with the utmost rapidity, not only from subject to subject, but from one mood or key to another entirely different. In a letter to his family, written about this ti…
782 wordsSECTION 43A.D. 1843-1847.
Description of Mabotsa--A favorite hymn--General reading--Mabotsa infested with lions--Livingstone's encounter--The native deacon who saved him--His Sunday-school--Marriage to Mary Moffat--Work at Mabotsa--Proposed institution for training native agents--Letter to his mother--Trouble at Mabotsa--Noble sacrifice of Livi…
705 wordsSECTION 44A.D. 1843-1847.
There was one drawback to the new locality: it was infested with lions. All the world knows the story of the encounter at Mabotsa, which was so near ending Livingstone's career, when the lion seized him by the shoulder, tore his flesh, and crushed his bone. Nothing in all Livingstone's history took more hold of the pop…
666 wordsSECTION 45A.D. 1843-1847.
In a letter to the Directors, Livingstone briefly adverts to Mebalwe's service on this occasion, but makes it a peg on which to hang some strong remarks on that favorite topic--the employment of native agency: "Our native assistant Mebalwe has been of considerable value to the Mission. In endeavoring to save my life …
652 wordsSECTION 46A.D. 1843-1847.
On his way home from Kuruman, after the engagement, he writes to her cheerily from Motito, on 1st August, 1844, chiefly about the household they were soon to get up; asking her to get her father to order some necessary articles, and to write to Colesberg about the marriage-license (and if he did not get it, they would …
574 wordsSECTION 47"D. Livingston."
A few weeks later he writes: "As I am favored with another opportunity to Kuruman, I gladly embrace it, and wish I could embrace you at the same time; but as I cannot, I must do the next best to it, and while I give you the good news that our work is making progress, and of course the time of our separation becomi…
460 wordsSECTION 48"D. Livingston."
In due time the marriage was solemnized, and Livingstone brought his wife to Mabotsa. Here they went vigorously to work, Mrs. Livingstone with her infant-school, and her husband with all the varied agencies, medical, educational, and pastoral, which his active spirit could bring to bear upon the people. They were a ver…
692 wordsSECTION 49"D. Livingston."
"I often think of you, and perhaps more frequently since I got married than before. Only yesterday I said to my wife, when I thought of the nice clean bed I enjoy now, 'You put me in mind of my mother; she was always particular about our beds and linen. I had had rough times of it before.'... "I cannot perceive th…
760 wordsSECTION 50"D. Livingston."
In some of his journeys, Livingstone had come into close contact with the tribe of the Bakwains, which, on the murder of their chief, some time before, had been divided into two, one part under Bubi, already referred to, and the other under Sechéle, son of the murdered chief, also already introduced. Both of these chie…
817 wordsSECTION 51"D. Livingston."
While residing at Chonuane, Livingstone performed two journeys eastward, in order to attempt the removal of certain obstacles to the establishment of at least one of his native teachers in that direction. This brought him into connection with the Dutch Boers of the Cashan mountains, otherwise called Magaliesberg. The B…
756 wordsSECTION 52"D. Livingston."
When Livingstone met the Dutch commandant he received favorably his proposal of a native missionary, but another obstacle arose. Near the proposed station lived a Dutch emigrant who had shown himself the inveterate enemy of missions. He had not scrupled to say that the proper way to treat any native missionary was to k…
665 wordsSECTION 53"D. Livingston."
With all his other work, he was still enthusiastic in science. "I have written Professor Buckland," he says to Mr. Watt (May, 1845), "and send him specimens too, but have not received any answer. I have a great lot by me now. I don't know whether he received my letter or not. Could you ascertain? I am trying to procure…
317 wordsSECTION 54A.D. 1847-1852.
Third Station--Kolobeng. Want of rain at Chonuane--Removal to Kolobeng--House-building and public works--Hopeful prospects--Letters to Mr. Watt, his sister, and Dr. Bennett--The church at Kolobeng--Pure communion--Conversion of Sechéle--Letter from his brother Charles--His history--Livingstone's relations with the Boe…
724 wordsSECTION 55A.D. 1847-1852.
First there was a temporary house to be built, then a permanent one, and Livingstone was not exempted from the casualties of mechanics. Once he found himself dangling from a beam by his weak arm. Another time he had a fall from the roof. A third time he cut himself severely with an axe. Working on the roof in the sun, …
760 wordsSECTION 56A.D. 1847-1852.
[Footnote 26: Mr. Gordon Cumming.] The prayer regarding Sechéle was answered soon. Reviewing the year 1844 in a letter to the Directors, Livingstone says: "An event that excited more open enmity than any other was the profession of faith and subsequent reception of the chief into the church." During the first years a…
947 wordsSECTION 57A.D. 1847-1852.
All this made it very clear to Livingstone that his favorite plan of planting native teachers to the eastward could not be carried into effect, at least for the present. His disappointment in this was only another link in the chain of causes that gave to the latter part of his life so unlooked-for but glorious a destin…
660 wordsSECTION 58A.D. 1847-1852.
"_Dec._ 16.--Passed by invitation to Hendrick Potgeiter. Opposed to building a school.... Told him if he hindered the Gospel the blood of these people would be required at his hand. He became much excited at this. "_Dec._ 17.--Met Dr. Robertson, of Swellendam. Very friendly. Boers very violently opposed.... Went t…
704 wordsSECTION 59A.D. 1847-1852.
Not only in these scenes of active missionary labor, but everywhere else, Livingstone was in the habit of preaching to the natives, and conversing seriously with them on religion, his favorite topics being the love of Christ, the Fatherhood of God, the resurrection, and the last judgment. His preaching to them, in Dr. …
665 wordsSECTION 60A.D. 1847-1852.
But this does not exhaust his labors. He is deeply interested in philological studies, and is writing on the Sichuana language: "I have been hatching a grammar of the Sichuana language," he writes to Mr. Watt. "It is different in structure from any other language, except the ancient Egyptian. Most of the changes ar…
587 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.