THE LAST DAYS OF DR LIVINGSTONE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 211, 11 February 1875, Page 3

THE LAST DAYS OF DR LIVINGSTONE.

Dr Livingstone’s Journals, edited by his friend the Rev Horace Waller, have, been published. They give (says a correspondent of the Daily Times) a complete narrative ot his trave s from the time of his leaving Ziiizih r in the neg Mining of 18(111 to the end of April 1873, when his note-hook dropped from his hand in the vi.lage of Llala. Not. a single cutty has been Inst. The chief it not the sole interest of the second volume will be found in the account given of the last days and the death of Dr Livingstone. On the 27th April (1873) he seems to have been almost dying. No entry at all was made in his diary after that which follows: —Knocked up quite, and remain. Recover. Sent to buy milch goats. We are on the hanks of the Molilama.” These were Hie last words that David Livingstone wrote, and from this point we have to trust entirely to the narrative of the men:—

On the 30ih April, 1873, Chitambo came early to pay a visit of courtesv, and was shown into the doctor’s presence, but he was obliged to send him away, telling him to come again on the morrow, when he hoped to have more strength to talk to him, and he was not again disturbed. In the afternoon he asked Susi to bring his watch to the bedside, and explained to him the position in which to hold his hand that it might lie in the p.ilm whilst he slowly turned the key. So the hours stole on till nightfall. The men silently took to their huts, whilst others, whose duty it was to keep watch, sat round the fires, all feeling that the end could not be far off. About 11 p.m. Susi, whose hut was close by, was told to go to his master. At the time there were loud shouts in the distance, and on entering Dr Livingstone said, “Are our men making that noi ; e ?” “ No,” replied Susi, “ I can hear from the cries that the people are scaring away a buffalo from their d ra fields.” A lew minutes afterwards he said slowly, and evidently w-ndering, “ Is this the Lnapuala? ’ •msi told him they were in Chitambo’s village, near the Muldamo, when he was silent for a while. Again, speaking to Susi in buaheli this time, he said, “ Sikun gapi kuenda Luapula?" (How many days is it to the Luapula?”) ‘Na zoni zikutau Bwana.” (I think it is three days, master), replied Susi, A few seconds after, as if in great pain, he then sighed, half said, “ Oh dear, dear 1” and then dozed off again. It. was about an hour later that Suzi heard Majwara again outside the door—“ Bwana wants you, Suzi ” On reaching the hut, the I toctcr told him he wished to boil some water, and for this purpose he went to the fire outside, and soon returned with the copper kettle full. Calling him close, he asked him to bring his medicine chest, to hold the caudle near him, for the man noticed he could hardly see. With great difficulty Di Livingstone selected the calomel, which he fold him to place by his side ; then, directing him to pour a little water into a cup and to put another empty one beside it, he said in a low feeble voice, “ All right, you can go now.” Those were the last words he was °ver heard to speak. It must have been about 4 a.m. when Susi heard Majwara’s step once more. “ Come to Bwana. I am afraid —I don’t know if he is alive.” The lad’s evident alarm made Susi run to arouse Chumah. Chumah, Chowpere, Matthew, and Muanyasere, and the six men, went immediately to the hut. Passing inside, they looked towards the bed. Dr Livingstone was not lying on it, but appeared to be engaged in prayer, and they instinctively drew backwards for the instant. Pointing to him. Majwara said, “ When 1 lay down he was just as he is now, and it is because I find that he does not move that I fear he is dead.” They asked the lad how long he had slept. Majwara said he could not tell, but be was sure that it was some considerable time. The men drew nearer. A candle, stuck by its own wax to the top of the box, shed a light sufficient for than to see his form. Doctor Livingstone was kneeling by the side of his bed, his body stretched forward, hishead buried in his hands upon the pillow, For a minute they watched him ; he did not stir ; there was no sign of breathing. Then one of them, Matthew, advanced softly to him, and placed his hands to his cheeks. It, was sufficient ; life had been extinct some time, and the body was almost cold. Livingstone was dead.

“His sad-hearted servants raised him tenderly up and laid him full length on the bed; then carefully covering him, they went out into the damp night air to consult together. It was not long before the cocks crew, and it is from this circumstance, coupled with the fact that Susi spoke to him some time shortly before midnight, that we are able to state with tolerable certainty that he expired early on the Ist of May.”