PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Personal Life of David Livingstone
Blaikie, William Garden · 185,849 words · 259 reading sections
"Mary."
Through the great success of the volume and the handsome conduct of the publishers, the book yielded him a little fortune. We shall see what generous use he made of it--how large a portion of the profits went to forward directly the great object to which his heart and his life were so cordially given. More than half we…
511 wordsSECTION 122A.D. 1857-1858.
FIRST VISIT HOME--_continued_. Livingstone at Dublin, at British Association--Letter to his wife--He meets the Chamber of Commerce at Manchester--At Glasgow, receives honors from Corporation, University, Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, United Presbyterians, Cotton-spinners--His speeches in reply--His brother Charl…
811 wordsSECTION 123A.D. 1857-1858.
In the course of the same month his foot was again on his native soil, and there his reception was remarkably cordial. In Glasgow, the University, the Corporation, the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, the United Presbyterians, and the Associated Operative Cotton-spinners of Scotland came forward to pay him honor. A …
705 wordsSECTION 124A.D. 1857-1858.
"My great object," he said, "was to be like Him--to imitate Him as far as He could be imitated. We have not the power of working miracles, but we can do a little in the way of healing the sick, and I sought a medical education in order that I might be like Him. In Africa I have had hard work. I don't know that any…
780 wordsSECTION 125A.D. 1857-1858.
[Footnote 53: Dr. Livingstone gave practical evidence of his sincerity in these remarks in the case of his elder daughter, saying, in reply to one of her guardians with whom she was residing, that he had no objections to her joining the Church of Scotland. This, however, she did not do; but afterward, when at Newstead …
806 wordsSECTION 126A.D. 1857-1858.
Among the other honors conferred on him during this visit to Britain was the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. Some time before, Glasgow had given him the honorary degree of LL.D. In the beginning of 1858, when he was proposed as a Fellow of the Royal Society, the certificate on his behalf was signed, amo…
773 wordsSECTION 127A.D. 1857-1858.
"I beg to direct your attention to Africa: I know that in a few years I shall be cut off in that country, which is now open; do not let it be shut again! I go back to Africa to try to make an open path for commerce and Christianity; do you carry out the work which I have begun, I LEAVE IT WITH YOU!" In a prefatory…
731 wordsSECTION 128A.D. 1857-1858.
Among the subjects that had occupied Dr. Livingstone's attention most intensely during the early part of the year 1857 was that of his relation to the London Missionary Society. The impression caused by Dr. Tidman's letter received at Quilimane had been quite removed by personal intercourse with the Directors, who woul…
772 wordsSECTION 129A.D. 1857-1858.
"We managed your affair very nicely," Lord Palmerston said to Livingstone at a reception at Lady Palmerston's on the 12th December. "Had we waited till the usual time when Parliament should be asked, it would have been too late." Lord Shaftesbury, at the reception, assured him that the country would do everything for h…
744 wordsSECTION 130A.D. 1857-1858.
Before we come to the last adieus, it is well to glance at the remarkable effect of Dr. Livingstone's short visit, in connection with his previous labors, on the public opinion of the country in regard to Africa. In the first place, as we have already remarked, there was quite a revolution of ideas as to the interior o…
763 wordsSECTION 131A.D. 1857-1858.
[Footnote 57: We have ascertained that the correspondent was the late Mr. Keddie, of the Glasgow Free Church College, who got his information from Mr. James Young.] "He was honored by the Queen with a private interview.... She sent for Livingstone, who attended Her Majesty at the palace, without ceremony, in his bla…
768 wordsSECTION 132A.D. 1857-1858.
[Footnote 58: Livingstone purposed to bequeath to Professor Owen a somewhat extraordinary legacy. Writing afterward to his friend Mr. Young, he said: "If I die at home I would lie beside you. My left arm goes to Professor Owen, mind. That is the will of David Livingstone."] On no topic was the applause of the company …
752 wordsSECTION 133A.D. 1857-1858.
"What a glorious prospect is before you! the commencement of the civilization of Africa, the extension of our knowledge of all the kingdoms of nature, the production of great material benefits to the Old World, the gradual healing of that foul and fetid ulcer, the slave-trade, the one grand disgrace and weakness o…
398 wordsSECTION 134"A. Sedgwick."
Sir Roderick, too, had a kind parting word for his friend: "Accept my warmest acknowledgments for your last farewell note. Believe me, my dear friend, that no transaction in my somewhat long and very active life has so truly rewarded me as my intercourse with you, for, from the beginning to the end, it has been one con…
470 wordsSECTION 135A.D. 1858-1859.
Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone sail in the "Pearl"--Characteristic instructions to members of Expedition--Dr. Livingstone conscious of difficult position--Letter to Robert--Sierra Leone--Effects of British Squadron and of Christian Missions--Dr. and Mrs. Moffat at Cape Town--Splendid reception there--Illness of Mrs. Livingst…
704 wordsSECTION 136A.D. 1858-1859.
"It is unnecessary for me to enjoin the strictest justice in dealing with the natives. This your own principles will lead you invariably to follow, but while doing so yourself, it is decidedly necessary to be careful not _to appear_ to overreach or insult any one by the conduct of those under your command.... "Th…
830 wordsSECTION 137A.D. 1858-1859.
Sierra Leone was reached in a fortnight. Dr. Livingstone was gratified to learn that, during the last ten years, the health of the town had improved greatly--consequent on the abatement of the "whisky fever," and the draining and paving of the streets through the activity of Governor Hill. He found the Sunday as well k…
849 wordsSECTION 138A.D. 1858-1859.
On the 1st May, 1858, the "Pearl" sailed from Simon's Bay, and on the 14th stood in for the entrance to the Zambesi, called the West Luabo, or Hoskins's Branch. Of their progress Dr. Livingstone gives his impressions in the following letter to his friend Mr. James Young: "'PEARL,'10_th May_, 1858. "Here we are, off C…
830 wordsSECTION 139A.D. 1858-1859.
The first important fact in the history of the Expedition was the discovery of the advantage of the Kongone entrance of the Zambesi, the best of all the mouths of the river for navigation. Soon after a site was fixed on as a depôt, and while the luggage and stores were being landed at it, there occurred an unfortunate …
726 wordsSECTION 140A.D. 1858-1859.
One of his first endeavors after reaching Tette was to ascertain how far the navigation of the Zambesi was impeded by the rapids at Kebrabasa, between twenty and thirty miles above Tette, which he had heard of but not seen on his journey from Linyanti to Quilimane. The distance was short and the enterprise apparently e…
725 wordsSECTION 141A.D. 1858-1859.
Some passages in Livingstone's private Journal give us a glimpse of the more serious thoughts that were passing through his mind at this time: "_March_ 3, 1859.--If we dedicate ourselves to God unreservedly He will make use of whatever peculiarities of constitution He has imparted for his own glory, and He will in …
676 wordsSECTION 142A.D. 1858-1859.
Some idea of the voluminous correspondence carried on by Dr. Livingstone may be formed from the following enumeration of the friends to whom he addressed letters in May of this year: Lords Clarendon and Palmerston, Bishop of Oxford, Miss Burdett Coutts, Mr. Venn, Lord Kinnaird, Mr. James Wilson, Mr. Oswell, Colonel Ste…
789 wordsSECTION 143A.D. 1858-1859.
"My dear Agnes, you must take Him to be your Father and Guide. Tell Him all that is in your heart, and make Him your confidant. His ear is ever open, and He despiseth not the humblest sigh. He is your best friend and loves at all times. It is not enough to be a servant, you must be a friend of Jesus. Love Him and …
763 wordsSECTION 144A.D. 1858-1859.
[Footnote 59: This was incredible. Livingstone wrote to his friend José Nunes that it took all hands a day and a half to cut one day's fuel.] A third trip up the Shiré was made in August, and on the 16th of September Lake Nyassa was discovered. Livingstone had no doubt that he and his party were the discoverers; Dr. R…
688 wordsSECTION 145A.D. 1858-1859.
From the very first Livingstone saw the importance of the Shiré Valley and Lake Nyassa as the key to Central Africa. Ever since, it has become more and more evident that his surmise was correct. To make the occupation thoroughly effective, he thought much of the desirableness of a British colony, and was prepared to ex…
732 wordsSECTION 146A.D. 1858-1859.
In his letter to Mr. Young he expressed his conviction that a great desideratum in mission agency was missionary emigration by honest Christian poor to give living examples of Christian life that would insure permanency to the gospel once planted. He had always had a warm side to the English and Scottish poor--his own …
702 wordsSECTION 147A.D. 1860.
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--Reappearence of old friends--African warfare and its effects--Desolation--A European colony desirable…
906 wordsSECTION 148A.D. 1860.
A few more general topics are touched on in a letter to Mr. Braithwaite: "I am sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Sturge. He wrote me a long letter on the 'Peace principle,' and before I could study it carefully, it was mislaid. I wrote him from Tette, as I did not wish him to suppose I neglected him, and mentioned…
667 wordsSECTION 149A.D. 1860.
"See to what a length I have run. I have become palaverist. I beg you to present my respectful salutation to the Archbishop and Mrs. Whately, and should you meet any of the kind contributors, say how thankful I am to them all." From Tette he writes to Sir Roderick Murchison, 7th February, 1860, urging his plan for …
716 wordsSECTION 150A.D. 1860.
The country bore the usual traces of the results of African warfare. At times a clever chief stands up, who brings large tracts under his dominion; at his death his empire dissolves, and a fresh series of desolating wars ensues. In one region which was once studded with villages, they walked a whole week without meetin…
670 wordsSECTION 151A.D. 1860.
"This is July, 1860, and no letter from you except one written a few months after we sailed in the year of grace 1858. What you are doing I cannot divine. I am ready to believe any mortal thing except that Louis Napoleon has taken you away to make paraffin oil for the Tuileries. I don't believe that he is supreme …
760 wordsSECTION 152A.D. 1860.
When the party reached the outskirts of Sekelétu's territory the news they heard was not encouraging. Some of the men heard that in their absence some of their wives had been variously disposed of. One had been killed for witchcraft, another had married again, while Masakasa was told that two years ago a kind of wild I…
691 wordsSECTION 153A.D. 1860.
On coming among his old friends the Makololo, he found them in low spirits owing to protracted drought, and Sekelétu was ill of leprosy. He was in the hands of a native doctress, who was persuaded to suspend her treatment, and the lunar caustic applied by Drs. Livingstone and Kirk had excellent effects[60]. On going to…
664 wordsSECTION 154A.D. 1860.
Leaving Seshéke on the 17th September, they reached Tette on the 23d November, 1860, whence they started for Kongone with the unfortunate "Ma-Robert." But the days of that asthmatic old lady were numbered. On the 21st December she grounded on a sand-bank, and could not get off. A few days before this catastrophe Living…
752 wordsSECTION 155A.D. 1860.
"My love to Mary and all the children, with all our friends at Congleton." In a letter to Mr. James Young, Dr. Livingstone gives good reasons for not wishing to push the colonization scheme at present, as he had recommended to the Universities Mission to add a similar enterprise to their undertaking: "If you read al…
887 wordsSECTION 156A.D. 1861-1862.
Beginning of 1861--Arrival of the "Pioneer"--and of the agents of Universities Mission--Cordial welcome--Livingstone's catholic feelings--Ordered to explore the Rovuma--Bishop Mackenzie goes with him--Returns to the Shiré--Turning-point of prosperity past--Difficult navigation--The slave-sticks--Bishop settles at Magom…
737 wordsSECTION 157A.D. 1861-1862.
Dr. Livingstone, as we have seen, welcomed the Mission right cordially, for indeed it was what he had been most eagerly praying for, and he believed that it would be the beginning of all blessing to Eastern and Central Africa, and help to assimilate the condition of the East Coast to that of the West The field for the …
693 wordsSECTION 158A.D. 1861-1862.
Writing to his son Robert, Livingstone thus describes the attack made by the Ajawa on him, the Bishop, and the missionaries: "The slave-hunters had induced a number of another tribe to capture people for them. We came to this tribe while burning three villages, and though we told them that we came peaceably, and to…
818 wordsSECTION 159A.D. 1861-1862.
But the lake slave-trade was going on at a dismal rate. An Arab dhow was seen on the lake, but it kept well out of the way. Dr. Livingstone was informed by Colonel Rigdy, late British Consul at Zanzibar, that 19,000 slaves from this Nyassa region alone passed annually through the custom-house there. This was besides th…
651 wordsSECTION 160A.D. 1861-1862.
The "Pioneer" was detained for five weeks on a shoal twenty miles below Chibisa's, and here the first death occurred--the carpenter's mate succumbed to fever. It was extremely irksome to suffer this long detention, to think of fuel and provisions wasting, and salaries running on, without one particle of progress. Livin…
944 wordsSECTION 161A.D. 1861-1862.
"As the vessel approached," says Dr. Stewart, "I could make out with a glass a firmly built man of about the middle height, standing on the port paddle-box, and directing the ship's course. He was not exactly dressed as a naval officer, but he wore that gold-laced cap which has since become so well known both at h…
792 wordsSECTION 162A.D. 1861-1862.
Livingstone says in his book that the unfavorable judgment which he had formed of the Bishop's conduct in fighting with the Ajawa was somewhat modified by a natural instinct, when he saw how keenly the Bishop was run down for it in England, and reflected more on the circumstances, and thought how excellent a man he was…
655 wordsSECTION 163A.D. 1861-1862.
[Footnote 64: Mr. Rowley afterward (February 22, 1865) expressed his regret that this letter was ever written, as it had produced an ill-effect. See _The Zambesi and its Tributaries_, p. 475 _note_.] [Footnote 65: It must not be supposed that the letter of Mr. Rowley expressed the mind of his brethren. Some of them we…
685 wordsSECTION 164A.D. 1861-1862.
On the 21st of April Mrs. Livingstone became ill. On the 25th the symptoms were alarming--vomitings every quarter of an hour, which prevented any medicine from remaining on her stomach. On the 26th she was worse and delirious. On the evening of Sunday the 27th Dr. Stewart got a message from her husband that the end was…
670 wordsSECTION 165A.D. 1861-1862.
"11_th May, Kongone_.--My dear, dear Mary has been this evening a fortnight in heaven,--absent from the body, present with the Lord. To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise. Angels carried her to Abraham's bosom--to be with Christ is far better. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, 'Behold, the Lord cometh with t…
870 wordsSECTION 166A.D. 1861-1862.
For a whole month before this letter was written, poor Mary had been sleeping under the baobab-tree at Shupanga! In Livingstone's letter to Mrs. Moffat he gives the details of her illness, and pours his heart out in the same affectionate terms as in his Journal. He dwells on the many unhappy causes of delay which had …
840 wordsSECTION 167A.D. 1861-1862.
The reply of Mrs. Moffat to her son-in-law's letter was touching and beautiful. "I do thank you for the detail you have given us of the circumstances of the last days and hours of our lamented and beloved Mary, our first-born, over whom our fond hearts first beat with parental affection!" She recounts the mercies that …
364 wordsSECTION 168A.D. 1862-1863.
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…
802 wordsSECTION 169A.D. 1862-1863.
A few days after, a strong but polite letter is sent to the Governor of Tette, calling attention to the forays of a man named Belshore, in the Chibisa country, and entreating him to stop them. About the same time he writes to the Governor-General of Mozambique in reply to a paper by the Viscount de Sa da Bandeira, publ…
688 wordsSECTION 170A.D. 1862-1863.
[Footnote 66: The recall of Livingstone's Expedition and the removal of the Universities Mission seem to have knocked this most promising scheme on the head. Writing of it to Sir Roderick Murchison on the 14th December, 1862, he says: "I like the Scotchmen, and think them much better adapted for our plans than those on…
671 wordsSECTION 171"Tennyson."
"10_th April_.--Reached the Cataracts. Very thankful indeed after our three months' toil from Shupanga." "27_th April_.--On this day twelvemonths my beloved Mary Moffat was removed from me by death. "'If I can, I'll come again, mother, from out my resting-place; Though you'll not see me, mother, I shall look upon …
653 wordsSECTION 172"Tennyson."
Writing to Mr. Waller at this time he said: "I don't know whether I am to go on the shelf or not. If I do, I make Africa the shelf. If the 'Lady Nyassa' is well sold, I shall manage. There is a Ruler above, and his providence guides all things. He is our Friend, and has plenty of work for all his people to do. Don't fe…
912 wordsSECTION 173"Tennyson."
Why did not Livingstone go home? A single sentence in a letter to Mr. Waller, while the recall was only in contemplation, explains: "In my case, duty would not lead me home, and home therefore I would not go." Away then goes Livingstone, accompanied by the steward of the "Pioneer" and a handful of native servants (Mr. …
694 wordsSECTION 174"Tennyson."
The travelers had got as far as the river Loangwa (of Nyassa), when a halt had to be called. Some of the natives had been ill, and indeed one had died in the comparatively cold climate of the highlands. But nothing would have hindered Livingstone from working his way round the head of the lake if only time had been on …
658 wordsSECTION 175"Tennyson."
And thus, for Livingstone's life-time, ended the Universities Mission to Central Africa, with all the hopes which its bright dawn had inspired, that the great Church of England would bend its strength against the curse of Africa, and sweep it from the face of the earth. Writing to Sir Thomas Maclear, he said that he fe…
872 wordsSECTION 176"Tennyson."
Looking back on the work of the last six years, while deeply grieved that the great object of the Expedition had not been achieved, Dr. Livingstone was able to point to some important results: 1. The discovery of the Kongone harbor, and the ascertaining of the condition of the Zambesi River, and its fitness for naviga…
495 wordsSECTION 177A.D. 1864.
Livingstone returns the "Pioneer" to the Navy, and is to sail in the "Nyassa" to Bombay--Terrific circular storm--Imminent peril of the "Nyassa"--He reaches Mozambique--Letter to his daughter--Proceeds to Zanzibar--His engineer leaves him--Scanty crew of "Nyassa"--Livingstone captain and engineer--Peril of the voyage o…
1,162 wordsSECTION 178A.D. 1864.
The "Pioneer" was delivered over to the Navy, being Her Majesty's property, and proceeded to the Cape with the "Valorous," Mr. Waller being on board with a portion of the mission flock. Of Mr. Waller (subsequently editor of the _Last Journals_) Dr. Livingstone remarked that "he continued his generous services to all co…
723 wordsSECTION 179A.D. 1864.
On the first day of the voyage, he made considerable way, but Collyer, one of his white men, was prostrated by a bilious attack. However, one of the black men speedily learned to steer, and took Dr. Livingstone's place at the wheel. Hardly was Collyer better when Pennell, another of his men, was seized. The chief foes …
751 wordsSECTION 180A.D. 1864.
Livingstone is in great perplexity what to do. At the rate at which his ship is going it would take him fifteen days to reach Bombay, being one day before the breaking of the monsoon, which would be running it too close to danger. He thinks of going to Aden, but that would require him to go first to Maculla for wa…
664 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.