The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death Volume Ii Part 13

_16th August, 1871._--To Luamo River. Very ill with bowels.

_17th August, 1871._--Cross river, and sent a message to my friend.

Katomba sent a bountiful supply of food back.

_18th August, 1871._--Reached Katomba, at Moenemgoi's, and was welcomed by all the heavily-laden Arab traders. They carry their trade spoil in three relays. Kenyengere attacked before I came, and 150 captives were taken and about 100 slain; this is an old feud of Moenemgoi, which the Arabs took up for their own gain. No news whatever from Ujiji, and M.

Bogharib is still at Bambarre, with all my letters.

_19th-20th August, 1871._--Rest from weakness. (_21st August, 1871._) Up to the palms on the west of Mount Kanyima Pa.s.s. (_22nd August, 1871._) Bambarre. (_28th August, 1871._) Better and thankful. Katomba's party has nearly a thousand frasilahs of ivory, and Mohamad's has 300 frasilahs.

_29th August, 1871._--Ill all night, and remain. (_30th August, 1871._) Ditto, ditto; but go on to Monandenda's on River Lombonda.

_31st August, 1871._--Up and half over the mountain range, (_1st September, 1871_) and sleep in dense forest, with several fine running streams.

_2nd September, 1871._--Over the range, and down on to a marble-capped hill, with a village on top.

_3rd September, 1871._--Equinoctial gales. On to Lohombo.

_5th September, 1871._--To Kasangangazi's. (_6th September, 1871._) Rest. (_7th September, 1871._) Mamba's. Rest on 8th. (_9th September, 1871._) Ditto ditto. People falsely accused of stealing; but I disproved it to the confusion of the Arabs, who wish to be able to say, "the people of the English steal too." A very rough road from Kasangangazi's. .h.i.ther, and several running rivulets crossed.

_10th September, 1871._--Manyuema boy followed us, but I insisted on his father's consent, which was freely given: marching proved too hard for him, however, and in a few days he left.

Down into the valley of the Kapemba through beautiful undulating country, and came to village of Amru: this is a common name, and is used as "man," or "comrade," or "mate."

_11th September, 1871._--Up a very steep high mountain range, Moloni or Mononi, and down to a village at the bottom on the other side, of a man called Molembu.

_12th September, 1871._--Two men sick. Wait, though I am now comparatively sound and well. Dura flour, which we can now procure, helps to strengthen me: it is nearest to wheaten flour; maize meal is called "cold," and not so wholesome as the _Holeus sorghum_ or dura. A lengthy march through a level country, with high mountain ranges on each hand; along that on the left our first path lay, and it was very fatiguing. We came to the Rivulet Kalangai. I had hinted to Mohamad that if he harboured my deserters, it might go hard with him; and he came after me for two marches, and begged me not to think that he did encourage them. They came impudently into the village, and I had to drive them out: I suspected that he had sent them. I explained, and he gave me a goat, which I sent back for.

_13th September, 1871._--This march back completely used up the Manyuema boy: he could not speak, or tell what he wanted cooked, when he arrived.

I did not see him go back, and felt sorry for the poor boy, who left us by night. People here would sell nothing, so I was glad of the goat.

_14th September, 1871._--To Pyanamosinde's. _(15th September, 1871.)_ To Karungamagao's; very fine undulating green country. _(16th and 17th September, 1871.)_ Rest, as we could get food to buy.

_(18th September, 1871.)_ To a stockaded village, where the people ordered us to leave. We complied, and went out half a mile and built our sheds in the forest: I like sheds in the forest much better than huts in the villages, for we have no mice or vermin, and incur no obligation.

_19th September, 1871._--Found that Barua are destroying all the Manyuema villages not stockaded.

_20th September, 1871._--We came to Kunda's on the River Katemba, through great plantations of ca.s.sava, and then to a woman chief's, and now regularly built our own huts apart from the villages, near the hot fountain called Kabila which is about blood-heat, and flows across the path. Crossing this we came to Mokwaniwa's, on the River Gombeze, and met a caravan, under Na.s.sur Masudi, of 200 guns. He presented a fine sheep, and reported that Seyed Majid was dead--he had been ailing and fell from some part of his new house at Darsalam, and in three days afterwards expired. He was a true and warm friend to me and did all he could to aid me with his subjects, giving me two Sultan's letters for the purpose. Seyed Burghash succeeds him; this change causes anxiety.

Will Seyed Burghash's goodness endure now that he has the Sultanate?

Small-pox raged lately at Ujiji.

_22nd September, 1871._--Caravan goes northwards, and we rest, and eat the sheep kindly presented.

_23rd September, 1871._--We now pa.s.sed through the country of mixed Barua and Baguha, crossed the River Longumba twice and then came near the great mountain ma.s.s on west of Tanganyika. From Mokwaniwa's to Tanganyika is about ten good marches through open forest. The Guha people are not very friendly; they know strangers too well to show kindness: like Manyuema, they are also keen traders. I was sorely knocked up by this march from Nyangwe back to Ujiji. In the latter part of it, I felt as if dying on my feet. Almost every step was in pain, the appet.i.te failed, and a little bit of meat caused violent diarrhoea, whilst the mind, sorely depressed, reacted on the body. All the traders were returning successful: I alone had failed and experienced worry, thwarting, baffling, when almost in sight of the end towards which I strained.

_3rd October, 1871._--I read the whole Bible through four times whilst I was in Manyuema.

_8th October, 1871._--The road covered with angular fragments of quartz was very sore to my feet, which are crammed into ill-made French shoes.

How the bare feet of the men and women stood out, I don't know; it was hard enough on mine though protected by the shoes. We marched in the afternoons where water at this season was scarce. The dust of the march caused ophthalmia, like that which afflicted Speke: this was my first touch of it in Africa. We now came to the Lob.u.mba River, which flows into Tanganyika, and then to the village Loanda and sent to Kasanga, the Guha chief, for canoes. The Longumba rises, like the Lob.u.mba, in the mountains called Kabogo West. We heard great noises, as if thunder, as far as twelve days off, which were ascribed to Kabogo, as if it had subterranean caves into which the waves rushed with great noise, and it may be that the Longumba is the outlet of Tanganyika: it becomes the Lua.s.se further down, and then the Luamo before it joins the Lualaba: the country slopes that way, but I was too ill to examine its source.

_9th October, 1871._--On to islet Kasenge. After much delay got a good canoe for three dotis, and on _15th October, 1871_ went to the islet Kabiziwa.

_18th October, 1871._--Start for Kabogo East, and _19th_ reach it 8 A.M.

_20th October, 1871._--Rest men.

_22nd October, 1871._--To Rombola.

_23rd October, 1871._--At dawn, off and go to Ujiji. Welcomed by all the Arabs, particularly by Moenyeghere. I was now reduced to a skeleton, but the market being held daily, and all kinds of native food brought to it, I hoped that food and rest would soon restore me, but in the evening my people came and told me that Shereef had sold off all my goods, and Moenyeghere confirmed it by saying, "We protested, but he did not leave a single yard of calico out of 3000, nor a string of beads out of 700 lbs." This was distressing. I had made up my mind, if I could not get people at Ujiji, to wait till men should come from the coast, but to wait in beggary was what I never contemplated, and I now felt miserable.

Shereef was evidently a moral idiot, for he came without shame to shake hands with me, and when I refused, a.s.sumed an air of displeasure, as having been badly treated; and afterwards came with his "Balghere,"

good-luck salutation, twice a day, and on leaving said, "I am going to pray," till I told him that were I an Arab, his hand and both ears would be cut off for thieving, as he knew, and I wanted no salutations from him. In my distress it was annoying to see Shereef's slaves pa.s.sing from the market with all the good things that my goods had bought.

_24th October, 1871._--My property had been sold to Shereef's friends at merely nominal prices. Syed bin Majid, a good man, proposed that they should be returned, and the ivory be taken from Shereef; but they would not restore stolen property, though they knew it to be stolen.

Christians would have acted differently, even those of the lowest cla.s.ses. I felt in my dest.i.tution as if I were the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves; but I could not hope for Priest, Levite, or good Samaritan to come by on either side, but one morning Syed bin Majid said to me, "Now this is the first time we have been alone together; I have no goods, but I have ivory; let me, I pray you, sell some ivory, and give the goods to you." This was encouraging; but I said, "Not yet, but by-and-bye." I had still a few barter goods left, which I had taken the precaution to deposit with Mohamad bin Saleh before going to Manyuema, in case of returning in extreme need. But when my spirits were at their lowest ebb, the good Samaritan was close at hand, for one morning Susi came running at the top of his speed and gasped out, "An Englishman! I see him!" and off he darted to meet him.

The American flag at the head of a caravan told of the nationality of the stranger. Bales of goods, baths of tin, huge kettles, cooking pots, tents, &c, made me think "This must be a luxurious traveller, and not one at his wits' end like me." _(28th October, 1871.)_ It was Henry Moreland Stanley, the travelling correspondent of the _New York Herald,_ sent by James Gordon Bennett, junior, at an expense of more than 4000_l._, to obtain accurate information about Dr. Livingstone if living, and if dead to bring home my bones. The news he had to tell to one who had been two full years without any tidings from Europe made my whole frame thrill. The terrible fate that had befallen France, the telegraphic cables successfully laid in the Atlantic, the election of General Grant, the death of good Lord Clarendon--my constant friend, the proof that Her Majesty's Government had not forgotten me in voting 1000_l_. for supplies, and many other points of interest, revived emotions that had lain dormant in Manyuema. Appet.i.te returned, and instead of the spare, tasteless, two meals a day, I ate four times daily, and in a week began to feel strong. I am not of a demonstrative turn; as cold, indeed, as we islanders are usually reputed to be, but this disinterested kindness of Mr. Bennett, so n.o.bly carried into effect by Mr. Stanley, was simply overwhelming. I really do feel extremely grateful, and at the same time I am a little ashamed at not being more worthy of the generosity. Mr. Stanley has done his part with untiring energy; good judgment in the teeth of very serious obstacles. His helpmates turned out depraved blackguards, who, by their excesses at Zanzibar and elsewhere, had ruined their const.i.tutions, and prepared their systems to be fit provender for the grave. They had used up their strength by wickedness, and were of next to no service, but rather downdrafts and unbearable drags to progress.

_16th November, 1871._--As Tanganyika explorations are said by Mr.

Stanley to be an object of interest to Sir Roderick, we go at his expense and by his men to the north of the Lake.

[Dr. Livingstone on a previous occasion wrote from the interior of Africa to the effect that Lake Tanganyika poured its waters into the Albert Nyanza Lake of Baker. At the time perhaps he hardly realized the interest that such an announcement was likely to occasion. He was now shown the importance of ascertaining by actual observation whether the junction really existed, and for this purpose he started with Mr.

Stanley to explore the region of the supposed connecting link in the North, so as to verify the statements of the Arabs.]

_16th November, 1871._--Four hours to Chigoma.

_20th and 21st November, 1871._--Pa.s.sed a very crowded population, the men calling to us to land to be fleeced and insulted by way of Mahonga or Mutuari: they threw stones in rage, and one, apparently slung, lighted close to the canoe. We came on until after dark, and landed under a cliff to rest and cook, but a crowd came and made inquiries, then a few more came as if to investigate more perfectly: they told us to sleep, and to-morrow friends.h.i.+p should be made. We put our luggage on board and set a watch on the cliff. A number of men came along, cowering behind rocks, which then aroused suspicion, and we slipped off quietly; they called after us, as men baulked of their prey. We went on five hours and slept, and then this morning came on to Magala, where the people are civil, but Mukamba had war with some one. The Lake narrows to about ten miles, as the western mountains come towards the eastern range, that being about N.N.W. magnetic. Many stumps of trees killed by water show an encroachment by the Lake on the east side. A transverse range seems to shut in the north end, but there is open country to the east and west of its ends.

_24th November, 1871._--To Point Kizuka in Mukamba's country. A Molongwana came to us from Mukamba and a.s.serted most positively that all the water of Tanganyika flowed into the River Lusize, and then on to Ukerewe of Mteza; nothing could be more clear than his statements.

_25th November, 1871._--We came on about two hours to some villages on a high bank where Mukamba is living. The chief, a young good-looking man like Mugala, came and welcomed us. Our friend of yesterday now declared as positively as before that the water of Lusize flowed into Tanganyika, and not the way he said yesterday! I have not the smallest doubt but Tanganyika discharges somewhere, though we may be unable to find it.

Lusize goes to or comes from Luanda and Karagwe. This is hopeful, but I suspend my judgment. War rages between Mukamba and Wasmashanga or Uasmasane, a chief between this and Lusize: ten men were killed of Mukamba's people a few days ago. Vast numbers of fishermen ply their calling night and day as far as we can see. Tanganyika closes in except at one point N. and by W. of us. The highest point of the western range, about 7000 feet above the sea, is Sumburuza. We are to go to-morrow to Luhinga, elder brother of Mukamba, near Lusize, and the chief follows us next day.

_26th November, 1871._--Sunday. Mr. Stanley has severe fever. I gave Mukamba 9 dotis and 9 fundos. The end of Tanganyika seen clearly is rounded off about 4' broad from east to west.

_27th November, 1871._--Mr. Stanley is better. We started at sunset westwards, then northwards for seven hours, and at 4 A.M. reached Lohinga, at the mouth of the Lusize.

_28th November, 1871._--Shot an _Ibis religiosa._ In the afternoon Luhinga, the superior of Mukambe, came and showed himself very intelligent. He named eighteen rivers, four of which enter Tanganyika, and the rest Lusize: all come into, none leave Tanganyika.[15] Lusize is said to rise in Kw.a.n.geregere in the Kivo lagoon, between Mutumbe and Luanda. Nyabungu is chief of Mutumbe. Luhinga is the most intelligent and the frankest chief we have seen here.

_29th November, 1871._--We go to see the Lusize Eiver in a canoe. The mouth is filled with large reedy sedgy islets: there are three branches, about twelve to fifteen yards broad, and one fathom deep, with a strong current of 2' per hour: water discoloured. The outlet of the Lake is probably by the Longumba River into Lualaba as the Luamo, but this as yet must be set down as a "theoretical discovery."

_30th November, 1871._--A large present of eggs, flour, and a sheep came from Mukamba. Mr. Stanley went round to a bay in the west, to which the mountains come sheer down.

_1st December, 1871, Friday._--Lat.i.tude last night 3 18' 3" S. I gave fifteen cloths to Lohinga, which pleased him highly. Kuansibura is the chief who lives near Kivo, the lagoon from which the Lusize rises: they say it flows under a rock.

_2nd December, 1871._--Ill from bilious attack.

_3rd December, 1871._--Better and thankful. Men went off to bring Mukamba, whose wife brought us a handsome present of milk, beer, and ca.s.sava. She is a good-looking young woman, of light colour and full lips, with two children of eight or ten years of age. We gave them cloths, and sheasked beads, so we made them a present of two fundos. By lunars I was one day wrong to-day.

_4th December, 1871._--Very heavy rain from north all night. Baker's Lake cannot be as near as he puts it in his map, for it is unknown to Lohinge. He thinks that he is a hundred years old, but he is really about forty-five! Namataranga is the name of birds which float high in air in large flocks.

_5th December, 1871._--We go over to a point on our east. The bay is about 12' broad: the mountains here are very beautiful. We visited the chief Mukamba, at his village five miles north of Lohinga's; he wanted us to remain a few days, but I declined. We saw two flocks of _Ibis religiosa,_ numbering in all fifty birds, feeding like geese.