Recall, and Last Visit to England

R. LIVINGSTONE’S heart was saddened also by the further news from the mission that several more of the missionaries had succumbed to the African fever. Of his own party some were so reduced by illness that they had to return to England, and now there were but two Europeans in it besides himself. We do not need to dwell on the noble spirit shown by Livingstone in remaining in the country in loneliness and sorrow, amid such appalling scenes as everywhere met him. His devotion to duty in spite of every obstacle, speaks for itself.

At the Murchison cataracts the Zady Nyassa was taken to pieces, while the party began to construct a road around the thirty-five or forty miles of the rapids, in order to convey the steamer to the lake. But before this work was completed Livingstone received a dispatch from Earl Russell, recalling the expedition. Ofcourse this was a great disappointment, though not altogether a surprise. The reasons given for the recall of the expedition were that, though not through any fault of Dr. Livingstone’s, it had not accomplished the objects for which it had been designed, and that it had proved much more costly than had been originally expected. Perhaps, too, the government felt that its remonstrances with the Portuguese government were of no avail, and that their relations were becoming too uncomfortable.

It was unfortunate that this recall should have occurred before Livingstone had been able to place the steamer, on which he had spent half his fortune,on Lake Nyassa. He had hoped that the British government would at least partially reimburse him for this outlay, but it was never done.

At no previous time had Livingstone been so completely hemmed in by discouragements as now. The expedition had been recalled, and his hopes of seeing the Lady Vyassa floating on the waters of the lake had been brought to an end; he had been grievously afflicted in the death of Bishop Mackenzie and his associates, and had received a still more crushing blow in the loss of his wife; disease had wasted and depressed him; he had had disappointments and delays without number, and apparently all his efforts to do good had been turned to evil. But, undeterred by all these troubles, he resolved to take the last opportunity of exploring the banks of the Nyassa, even if it could only be by the wearisome process of “trudge-trudging.” Why should he not go home, and seek in the companionship of his children and friends the comfort and the rest that he needed? A single sentence in a letter to a friend, written while the recall was only in contemplation, explains why: “In my case duty would not lead me home, and home, therefore, I would not go.”

So, with a small company of attendants, Livingstone sets out to visit the northern end of the lake, and if possible, to reach Lake Moero, of which he had heard as lying at some distance to the west. But this object he is unable to accomplish, as they are detained by illness, and he has not sufficient time at his disposal, the strict orders of government being that he must get the Pioneer down to the sea while the river is in flood. A month or six weeks more would have enabled him to finish his researches, but he does not dare to take the risk. On reaching the vessel, however, in November, 1868, he finds, to his intense chagrin, that two months have to be spent waiting for the flood. As usual, though, he endeavors to make the best of an unpleasant situation. “The first fortnight after our return to the ship,” he writes, “was employed in the delightful process of resting, to appreciate which aman must have gone through great exertions. In our case the muscles of the limbs were as hard as boards, and not an ounce of fat existed on any part of the body.”

While waiting here he received a letter from Bishop Tozer, the successor of Bishop Mackenzie at the mission, telling him that he had resolved to abandon the station, and transfer operations to Zanzibar. Against this Livingstone protested, but without avail, and thus, for his lifetime, ended the Universities’ Mission on the Shiré, with all the bright hopes which it had inspired. This, he writes, he feels much more than the recall of the expedition. When he thinks of it, it seems as if he must “sit down and ery.” Notwithstanding all that has been said against it, he believes that the climate is a favorable one for mission enterprise, and he would himself go and plant the gospel there were he only younger. He believes that it will be done some day without fail, though he may not live to see it. How his hopes were finally realized we shall see a little farther on.

When, as Livingstone tells us, his patience was well-nigh exhausted, the river rose, and he gladly started down the Shiré in the Pioneer, with the Lady Vyassa in tow. On the way they had at one time to spend the night in a marsh where the water was as black as ink, and emitted such an odor of sulphuretted hydrogen as to make the air most offensive. Happily no ill effects followed, though fever was feared. The next morning every particle of white paint on both ships was so blackened that scrubbing with soap and water could not clean it. The brass was all turned to a bronze color, and even the iron and ropes had taken on a new tint. They tarried in the foul and blackening emanations from the marsh to receive on board about thirty poor orphans, and a few helpless widows, whom Bishop Mackenzie had attached to the mission. The bishop had formed a little free community in connection with the mission, in which all who had been able to support themselves by cultivating the soil had been encouraged to do so; but now that the mission had been given up, these little and helpless ones could not be abandoned without casting odium upon the English name, and bringing reproach upon the cause of Christ, and so they were carried to the Cape and cared for there. Mr. R. M. Ballantyne tells us that he found some years afterwards among the most efficient teachers in St. George’s Orphanage, Cape Town, one of these black girls named Dauma, whom Bishop Mackenzie had personally rescued from the slaves and carried on his shoulders, and whom now Doctor Livingstone rescued a second time.

This experience in the marsh certainly does not give one a very favorable impression of the healthfulness of the locality, but we must remember that it was the Shiré heights that had been supposed to be particularly adapted to a mission station. From this more bracing climate the missionaries had unfortunately been driven by famine to the fertile but fever-smitten valley below.

The work of the mission as carried on at Zanzibar nas been chiefly with the great numbers of slaves rescued on the high seas by British cruisers. These on being brought back have been trained and taught before being sent inland to their homes. <A great work has been done also in translating the Bible into different dialects; and on the site of the old slavemarket of Zanzibar, once one of the vilest spots on earth, there now stands a fine church, a fitting memorial of what has been accomplished. But the desire of Livingstone’s heart that the blessings of the gospel should be carried to the people scattered about Lake Nyassa, as was the original purpose of the Mission, was at last to be realized, though too late for him to behold it except by the eye of faith; unless, indeed, he has been permitted to look down from the “heavenly battlements” upon the work which was begun under his inspiration.

In 1876 a settlement was made in the Nyassa region by a missionary and sixty freed slaves from the training-school at Zanzibar. Others have since joined him, and besides spreading a knowledge of the gospel, the mission has done most efficient service in checking the slave-traffic, having established a chain of stations along the old slave-trade routes from Lake Nyassa to the sea. A missionary steamer on the lake proves of constant service. A third branch of the Universities’ Mission is maintained in the Rovuma district. The present force of European workers numbers sixty-two, about half of whom are artisans pursuing their several crafts, all, however, actuated by the same purpose of consecration to the Lord’s work.

On reaching Mozambique the Pzoneer was delivered over tothe navy, being the property of the English government. Doctor Livingstone’s plan was now to sail to India and sell the Lady Nyassa before returning home. “The Portuguese would have bought her to use as a slaver,” he wrote in a letter to his daughter, “but I would rather see her go down to the depths of the Indian Ocean than that.”

His engineer left him for a better situation on reaching Zanzibar, so Livingstone had to take charge himself, and to navigate his vessel from Zanzibar to Bombay, a distance of 2500 miles with a crew of three Europeans and seven natives who had never before seen the ocean, and most of whom were disabled by illness during the voyage. For forty-five days he was on an ocean he had never crossed, for twenty-five of which his vessel was becalmed. The voyage was a memorable one, but has been so far eclipsed by the still greater wonders performed by the great explorer on land that little has been heard of it.

Upon reaching Bombay he sold his ship for a third of what it had cost him, and then sailed for England. So ended in disappointment and seeming defeat this third period of his African life,