Expedition to the Zambesi
R. LIVINGSTONE had told his faithful followers in Africa that nothing but death should prevent his returning to them, and he kept his word. In March, 1858, with his beloved wife, his youngest son, and the members of the expedition, he set sail from Liverpool. The steamer also carried the sections of a steam-launch, called J/a Robert, from Mrs. Livingstone’s African name, meaning the mother of Robert, the eldest son. This boat it was hoped would be of the greatest use in the exploration of the Zambesi and its tributaries. Now at last the future seemed to open brightly before him. Ample funds were at his disposal, as well as a force adequate to all the demands of such an expedition. Instead of wearily tramping over the country he now had a little steamer to carry him where he liked, and last, but not least, his wife hoped not to leave him again.
But these bright hopes were not to be all realized. His first great disappointment occurred when on arriving at Cape Town the poor health of Mrs. Livingstone prevented her accompanying him further. She accordingly went to her parents at Kuruman, hoping at some future time to rejoin her husband on the Zambesi.
At first the expedition prospered in spite of some drawbacks. The remainder of 1858 and almost all of 1859 were occupied in exploring the Zambesi and its tributary, the Shiré. The discovery of the beautiful Lake Nyassa took ylace in September, 1859. From the very first, Livingstone saw the importance of this lake and the Shiré valley as the key to Central Africa. Since then it has been more and more evident that his opinion was correct. He thought much of the desirability of a British colony, and if twenty or thirty families from among the Scotch or English poor would come out as an experiment, he was ready to give £2000 towards the enterprise, without saying from whom the assistance came. He felt that the surest way to discourage the trade in slaves was to develop the trade in cotton, and that Christian families would do more to promote the cause of Christ among the natives than solitary missionaries could do. The configuration of the Shiré valley is particularly favorable for colonization, three broad plateaus rising from the river, one above another, to the height of 5,000 feet. As to the fertility of the land, the statement was made in 1887 that while of three coffee plants taken out to the Shiré hills eight years before from the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens only one had survived, the fruits of that one had already amounted to seventy bags of many hundred weight, and of the finest growth. “The culture is a commercial success,” says the organ of the present Universities’ Mission, “and should result in time in covering all the hills and plateaus around the lake with this best foe of the slave-trade, and best substitute for the fast disappearing ivory.”
But to go back to our expedition, the Dla Robert, which had promised so well at first, soon disappointed them greatly. Her consumption of coal was enormous, the furnace had to be started hours before the steam was serviceable, she snorted so horribly that she was called “The Asthmatic,” and, after all, canoes could easily pass her when she was making her utmost speed. Dr. Livingstone was greatly mortified to find that he had been deceived. He had
50 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE
thought that he was getting a great bargain, because the ship-builder had professed to do so much through “love of the cause.”
We can have little idea of the trials of such an expedition even at its best. Now the heat and the mosquitoes, the delays, the stoppages on sandbanks, the almost incredible struggle for fuel —Livingstone writes that it took all hands a day and a half to cut one day’s fuel — the monotony of existence, the malarious climate, the frequent attacks of illness, all had a most trying effect; ‘Very curious,” writes Livingstone, “are the effects of African fever on certain minds. Cheerfulness vanishes, and the whole mental horizon is overcast with black clouds of gloom. The liveliest joke cannot provoke even the semblance of a smile. Nothing is right; nothing pleases the fever-stricken victim.”
The commander had difficulties also in managing his own countrymen which he did not have with the natives. He was so conscientious, so thoroughly in earnest himself, that he could endure nothing that seemed like trifling with duty.
Travelling, even in a civilized country and surrounded by all the conveniences and even luxuries at the service of the modern tourist, is said to be peculiarly apt to bring out the disagreeable traits in one’s character. But those who continued to enjoy his friendship never wearied of speaking of Livingstone’s delightful qualities as a companion in travel, and of the warm sunshine which he had the faculty of spreading about him.
It is not often that Dr. Livingstone speaks of the delicacies of his table, but once on this trip so novel a dish is served up that he has to tell us about it.
“June, 1859. We had been very abundantly supplied with first-rate stores, but we were unfortunate enough ta lose a considerable portion of them, and had now to bear the privation as best we could. On the way down we purchased a few gigantic cabbages and pumpkins at a native village below Mazaro. Our dinners had usually consisted of but a single course, but we were surprised the next day by our black cook from Sierra Leone bearing in a second course. ‘What have you got there? was asked in wonder. ‘A tart, sir” ‘A tart! Of what is it made” ‘Of cabbages, sir.’ As we had no sugar, and could not ‘ make believe’ as in the days of boyhood, we did not enjoy the feast that Tom’s genius had prepared.”
Wherever he goes Dr. Livingstone studies the trees, plants and fruits of the region with a view to commerce. He is no less interested to watch the treatment of fever when cases occur, and is gratified to observe the efficacy of medicines of his own preparation.,
Once he has an escape from a rhinoceros as remarkable as that from the lion. The animal came dashing at him, and suddenly stopped from some unknown reason when close to him, giving him time to escape. Apparently the unwonted sight of a white man had filled the beast with astonishment, and quite destroyed his presence of mind.
Coming among his old friends, the Makololo, in 1860, their expressions of kindness and confidence greatly touched him. But this confidence was wholly the result of his way of treating them. “It ought never to be forgotten,” says he, “that influence among the heathen can be acquired only by patient continuance in well-doing, and that good manners are as necessary among barbarians as among the civilized.” Such ~ was his theory, and such no less his practice. He, too, could have confidence in them, as appears from the fact that he found on his retwn to Linyanti that the wagons and other articles which he had left there seven years before had been untouched, save by the weather and the white ants.
While among these people Livingstone labored unweariedly for their spiritual good. The last subject on which he preached to them at this time was the great resurrection. They told him that they could not believe it possible that the particles of the body should ever be reunited. Dr. Livingstone gave them in reply a chemical illustration, and then referred to the-authority of the Book from which the doctrine was derived; and the poor people were more willing to give in to the authority of the Bible than to the chemical illustration. Here, as always, the reference to the truth of the Bible and its Author seemed to have far more influence over the native mind than any cleverness of illustration, though that doubtless, too, had a certain weight of its own.