He was strongly disposed to think that in the account of the sources given to Herodotus by the Registrar of Minerva in the temple of Saïs, that individual was not joking, as the father of history supposed. He thought that in the watershed the two conical hills, Crophi and Mophi might be found, and the fountains between them which it was impossible to fathom; and that it might be seen that from that region there was a river flowing north to Egypt, and another flowing south to a country that might have been called Ethiopia. But whatever might be his views or aims, it was ordained that in the wanderings of his last years he should bring within the sympathies of the Christian world many a poor tribe otherwise unknown; that he should witness sights, surpassing all he had ever seen before of the inhumanity and horrors of the slave-traffic--sights that harrowed his inmost soul; and that when his final appeal to his countrymen on behalf of its victims came, not from, his living voice but from his tomb, it should gather from a thousand touching associations a thrilling power that would rouse the world, and finally root out the accursed thing.
A very valuable testimony was borne by Sir Bartle Frere to the real aims of Livingstone, and the value of his work, especially in this last journey, in a speech delivered in the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, 10th November, 1876:
"The object," he said, "of Dr. Livingstone's geographical and scientific explorations was to lead his countrymen to the great work of Christianizing and civilizing the millions of Central Africa. You will recollect how, when first he came back from his wonderful journey, though we were all greatly startled by his achievements and by what he told us, people really did not lay what he said much to heart. They were stimulated to take up the cause of African discovery again, and other travelers went out and did excellent service; but the great fact which was from the very first upon Livingstone's mind, and which he used to impress upon you, did not make the impression he wished, and although a good many people took more and more interest in the Civilization of Africa and in the abolition of the slave-trade, which he pointed out was the great obstacle to all progress, still it did not come home to the people generally. It was not until his third and last journey, when he was no more to return among us, that the descriptions which he gave of the horrors of the slave-trade in the interior really took hold upon the mind of the people of this country, and made them determine that what used to be considered the crotchet of a few religious minds and humanitarian sort of persons, should be a phase of the great work which this country had undertaken, to free the African races, and to abolish, in the first place, the slave-trade by sea, and then, as we hope, the slaving by land."
In September an Arab slaver was met at Marenga's, who told Musa, one of the Johanna men, that all the country in front was full of Mazitu, a warlike tribe; that forty-four Arabs and their followers had been killed by them at Kasunga, and that he only had escaped. Musa's heart was filled with consternation. It was in vain that Marenga assured him that there were no Mazitu in the direction in which he was going, and that Livingstone protested to him that he would give them a wide berth. The Johanna men wanted an excuse for going back, but in such a way that, when they reached Zanzibar, they should get their pay. They left him in a body, and when they got to Zanzibar, circulated a circumstantial report that he had been murdered. In December, 1866, Musa appeared at Zanzibar, and told how Livingstone had crossed Lake Nyassa to its western or northwestern shore, and was pushing on west or northwest, when, between Marenga and Maklisoora, a band of savages stopped their way, and rushed on him and his small band of followers, now reduced to twenty. Livingstone fired twice, and killed two; but, in the act of reloading, three Mafite leaped upon him through the smoke, one of them felled him with an axe-cut from behind, and the blow nearly severed his head from his body. The Johanna men fled into the thick jungle, and miraculously escaped. Returning to the scene of the tragedy, they found the body of their master, and in a shallow grave dug with some stakes, they committed his remains to the ground, Many details were given regarding the Sepoys, and regarding the after fortunes of Musa and his companions. Under cross-examination Musa stood firmly to his story, which was believed both by Dr. Seward and Dr. Kirk, of Zanzibar. But when the tidings reached England, doubt was thrown on them by some of those best qualified to judge. Mr. Edward D. Young, who had had dealings with Musa, and knew him to be a liar, was suspicious of the story; so was Mr. Horace Waller. Sir Roderick Murchison, too, proclaimed himself an unbeliever, notwithstanding all the circumstantiality and apparent conclusiveness of the tale. The country was resounding with lamentations, the newspapers were full of obituary notices, but the strong-minded disbelievers were not to be moved.