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DR. LIVINGSTON, AND HIS AFRICAN to races to whom it had not previously

DAVID

DISCOVERIES.

AVID LIVINGSTON was born in the year 1813, at Blantyre, a village in the neighborhood of Glasgow. In In youth he exhibited the marks of a resolute and vigorous character; and the parents were frequently congratulated upon the promising conduct of their son. A portion of his time was spent in a cotton factory, and the remainder in attending classes, both literary and medical, at the University of Glasgow. Much was he interested in the latter study, and such encouragement was given him to prosecute it, as, under ordinary circumstances, would have led to his establishment as a practitioner in his native country. But the purpose had been previously formed to devote himself to the cause of missions; and in the year 1837 he offered his services to the London Missionary Society. This offer being accepted, he continued his studies, both ministerial and medical, under its auspices; obtained his medical diploma; was ordained as an evangelist to South Africa; and sailed early in 1841 for his destined sphere of labor. In the April of that year the missionary landed at Port Elizabeth, on the west coast of Algoa Bay, with a brave heart and high objects in view, though little appreciating at that time the perils and fatigue to be encountered in penetrating the unknown lands of a region" whose soil is fire, and wind a flame." Dangers from exposure to intense heat, from length of way, from hostile and treacherous natives, from wild animals and venomous snakes, from starvation, from the dire torment of thirst, from miasmatic swamps, and from disease in various forms, have been confronted by this remarkable man, with a fearlessness which provokes admiration, and with a success in which the blessing of Providence upon his mission is signally apparent. From the coast Dr. Livingston proceeded to Kuruman, where, after spending three months, devoted to preliminary inquiries, he entered actively upon his mission, and commenced that career of perilous enterprise in which his face has been furrowed with hardships, and blackened by exposure to the fierce sun of tropical latitudes. From the first he contemplated gazing upon earth and sky which no European had ever seen, and preaching the Gospel

been conveyed. To qualify himself for this task, he sought an accurate acquaintance with the language of the natives— the soft, mellifluous, Italian-like tongue of the Bechuanas-spoken by the numerous sections of the nation, scattered over a vast range of country, extending from the borders of the Orange River far into intertropical Africa. With this object in view he separated from civilized society to dwell among them; boldly pushed his way northward to the Bamangwato, dwelling under the tropic; founded a station with another tribe at Mabotsa, on returning to the south, to which he brought a missionary from Kuruman in 1843; and having married a daughter of Mr. Moffat, he took up his own residence, in 1845, with Sichele, the chief of the Backwains.

These tribes, and many others known by different names, are essentially the same people, Bechuanas, formed into separate communities, independent of each other, dwelling in towns and villages, under the government of hereditary rulers. Only the Bechuanas of the south have yet come within the sphere of improving European influences. Those who are beyond it, like their brethren formerly in similar circumstances, are the wildest savages, inveterate thieves, the dupes of rain-makers, but occasionally their butchers, when the wizards have raised high expectations of showers which the heavens refuse to fulfill. So far from being given to idolatry, not the least trace of it is found among them, for no notion is entertained of any superior being; and no distinction is known between man and brute, except that man may be the greater rogue of the two. They stretch northward, with their dingy brown complexion, beautified with grease and red ocher, to the eboncolored races, black and bright as jet, the true negroes, with whom they intermingle.

Early in the present century the rumor of a great lake in the interior of Southern Africa reached the ears of Europeans; but as no information respecting it of a trustworthy nature could be obtained, its existence remained doubtful. The rumor grew stronger with the northerly progress of discovery. Still, travelers and hunters in vain expended their energies and resources in attempts to ascertain the truth or falsity of the report; and in Mr. Moffat's map, of 1842, the lake figures as an

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undetermined natural feature of the country. These failures were caused by the Kalahari desert, the Sahara of the south, which it was found impossible to cross, owing to the want of water; but the happy thought occurred to Dr. Livingston, that, by skirting the terrible wilderness on the eastern side, instead of attempting the direct passage, he might solve the geographical problem by a circuitous route, and remove the vail from a fertile and populous region, if an extensive freshwater expanse really existed. Accordingly, accompanied by Messrs. Murray and Oswell, gentlemen travelers, with wagons, bullocks, and a retinue of native attendants, he started on the expedition.

The party left Kolobeng on the 1st of June, 1849. "I do not wish," wrote the explorer, "to convey hopes of speedily effecting any great work through my own intrumentality; but I hope to be permitted to labor, as long as I live, beyond the line of other men's things, and plant the seed of the Gospel where others have not planted, though every excursion for that purpose will involve separation from my family for periods of four or five months." This was a noble aspiration, and nobly has its sincerity been illustrated, the separation from home, wife, children, and countrymen having been undergone for years, instead of months. For three hundred miles the route lay through a dreary and sterile region, where the principal vegetation consisted of "wait-a-bit" thorns, and no water could be obtained for successive days, causing intense distress to the travelers and their cattle. After proceeding in a northerly direction for upward of a month, they emerged from this arid waste, and found themselves, on the 4th of July, on the banks of a fine and stately river, the Zouga, flowing to the eastward. A broad belt of reeds and rushes fringed the stream, with timber and fruit-trees, among which the enormous baobob, from sixty to seventy feet round the stem, reared its head above the highest giant of the forest, while beautiful parasitical plants and creepers hung in festoons among the branches. Here and there limestone rocks formed the margin, rendering the scenery charming, and reviving in the mind of the Scotchman the remembrance of his native Clyde. Learning from inhabitants on its borders that the river issued from a distant lake, the adventurers ascended its course, and, after VOL. XI.-16

a passage of about three hundred miles, following the windings, early in August they joyfully beheld the oft-reported and long - mysterious expanse, brilliantly reflecting from its surface the bright sky of Africa.

The lake is known locally by a variety of names, as Inghàbé, the "giraffe," Noka ea Mokorion, "lake of boats," and Ngami, "the waters," the last of which has been adopted by geographers. Though not so large as at first represented, it is a fine sheet of water, perhaps seventy miles in circuit, considerably contracted in the middle, so as to resemble, according to some early native descriptions, the shape of a pair of spectacles. The discovery of this new field for the missionary, the geographer, the naturalist, and the trader, excited no little interest in the civilized world; and appropriately the Royal Geographical Society of London awarded to Dr. Livingston one half of the royal premium for the year, in the shape of a chronometer watch. Fain would he have gone further north, especially on learning that he was only about ten days' journey from Sebitoané, chief of the Makololo, of whom he had previously heard as anxious to be brought in direct communication with the white men. But as the means of advancing at that time were wanting, the party retraced their steps to Kolobeng.

In 1851, having carefully prepared for another effort, Dr. Livingston, again accompanied by his family, and also by Mr. Oswell, who had been in the interval to the Cape, started from Kolobeng. After crossing the Zouga, a northerly course led them to some great superficial depressions, or "salt-pans," coated with saline incrustations, and containing springs of brackish water. Bending round to the northwest, a well-wooded limestone region was traversed, then a dismal swamp, and finally, having struck on the large river Chobe, its channel conducted the travelers to Linyanti, the capital of the Makololo, and residence of Sebitaoné. The chief was manifestly delighted at the visit. Being a Bechuana from the south, little difficulty was experienced in communicating with him.

The country which had now been entered, presented a totally different aspect to any that had yet been traversed. It was a vast level, rich and fertile, intersected with numberless streams, and hence

called, in the language of the natives, "rivers upon rivers." The Chobe was found to flow into a main channel to the eastward—a great trunk river-which, as afterward traced, finds its way, under various names, the Leambye, Secheke, and Zambesi, to the Mozambique Channel and the Indian Ocean. On first visiting its banks, at the end of a remarkably dry season, it presented a very large volume of water, about a quarter of a mile in breadth; and though the banks were from fifteen to twenty feet high, evidence appeared of an annual overflow to the distance of fifteen miles from them. "When the wind blows," says Dr. Livingston, " waves of considerable size rise on its surface, and accidents frequently occur in crossing. It was quite calm when I went over in the morning; but as the time for taking an altitude of the sun approached, the waves were running so high that it was only by great persuasion I could induce the people to paddle me back again." But though a fine region, with a large population of blacks, it was evidently unsuitable for the permanent residence of Europeans, owing to the periodical inundations, and consequently malarious climate. Impressed with this conviction, yet bent upon bringing the newly-discovered races within the pale of Christian effort, the intrepid missionary returned with his companions to Kolobeng, and determined upon sending his wife and children to England, in order to devote himself to a more extensive scheme of exploration for the benefit of the tribes in the far interior.

With a left arm that wanted "mending," having been broken in a struggle with a lion which he had shot, and with an affection of the throat that required skillful treatment, Dr. Livingston accompanied his family to Cape Town, took leave of them, and returned northward.

Attended only by natives, he started from Kuruman, taking with him, in a bullock waggon, a pontoon boat brought from the Cape. Before the close of the year 1852 he had regained his former position, but reached it through almost insuperable difficulties. The whole face of external nature was changed. On his last visit the waters were at their lowest level. Now the streams were at the highest point, and the country was deluged. In addition to this difficulty, sudden illness disabled the whole party, with the exception of the

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leader and one lad. He was obliged, therefore, to proceed in advance with this lad, in order to obtain help to bring along the invalids and the wagon. Embarking in the pontoon on the inundation, they passed over miles of flooded lands, in search of the Chobe, and at last discovered it tumbling along, after having climbed a high tree to look out. But to reach the stream required no ordinary toil and endurance. A broad chevaux-de-frise presented itself, of Nature's workmanship, consisting of tall papyrus reeds, and flags, growing out of the water, the whole interlaced with a convolvulus kind of creeper. Having broke through this barrier with great labor, dragging the pontoon after them, a "horrid sort of grass" was encountered, six feet high, with serrated edges, which cut the hands cruelly, and made havoc with strong moleskin garments. Three days and nights were spent, constantly wet up to the middle, in getting through this miserable jungle. After launching on the river, it soon carried them down to a village of the Makololo, to whom it seemed as if the white man had fallen from the clouds, so unapproachable did they consider themselves from the state of the streams; and yet he had come as if "riding on a hippopotamus," alluding to the pontoon. The necessary force was speedily dispatched to bring along the party left behind.

Often as the profusion of animal life had been remarked by the traveler, he was perfectly astonished at the herds of large game in this region; and, never having heard the sound of a rifle, they were perfectly indifferent to the presence of man. Cowper's lines were remembered, and felt to present a life-like picture:

"The beasts that roam over the plain,
My form with indifference see;
They are so unacquainted with man,

Their tameness is shocking to me."

One evening eighty buffaloes, the most dangerous of all African quadrupeds when under irritation, slowly defiled before the camp fire, and the lion's roar was heard in close proximity. At such times, when those occupations which divert the mind were over for the day, the wanderer must have felt powerfully the isolation of his position, cut off completely from the communion of the civilized world, all kindred spirits hundreds of miles away, alone in the midst of savages. Though his companions were most eager to serve him, yet,

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as barbarians, they could not understand | They offered no food, except at an enora civilized and Christian man, and inadvertently tried his patience to the utmost by the savagery of their revels and usages. But a conviction of being in the path of duty, which never wavered for a moment, brought freshly to remembrance, in the time of need, the consoling thought: "Yet I am not alone; for the Father is with me."

From this preliminary examination of the river and the country to the northward, Dr. Livingston returned to Linyanti, and, having sent back the party from Kuruman to that station, he set out again toward the north, on the 10th of November, accompanied by twenty-seven native attendants.

Soon after entering upon this new direction, the sorest troubles and greatest dangers of the pilgrimage were experienced. On approaching the bounds of civilization, the extremes of barbarism were encountered; for the native tribes, depraved by the slave trade, received the advancing party as a spoil and a prey.

But

mous price; they allowed no passage
through their villages without exacting a
heavy fine; they availed themselves of the
meanest pretext to extort a present, and
swords and spears were brandished to en-
force submission to their rapacity.
for a firm yet calm bearing, and the care
of Providence, the traveler would undoubt-
edly have lost his life. As it was, he had
to part with everything, and was in ex-
treme distress, when happily a far-inland
Portuguese colonist was met with, by whose
assistance he reached Cassange. From
this point all his wants were liberally sup-
plied by the colonial authorities, and the
party entered Loando in May, 1854, where
Mr. Gabriel, her majesty's arbitrator-the
only Englishman in the place-hospitably
accommodated Dr. Livingston. "I shall
never forget," says he, "the delicious
pleasure of lying down on his bed, after
sleeping six months on the ground." The
astonishment of his twenty-seven faithful

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