THE LATE DR. LIVINGSTONE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1722, 10 February 1874, Page 2

THE LATE DR. LIVINGSTONE.

Oar last English telegrams announced I the death of the famous African explorer, Dr David Livingstone. The following notice of him is from "Mcii of the Time" :— Livingstone, The Rev. David, African traveller and missionary, was - botn at Blantyre, upon the banks of the Clyde, near Glasgow, about 1817. Though descended from a respectable line ,of Highland ancestors, his parents were in humble circumstances, and his father, who kept a small tea-dealer's shop ab Hamilton, is represented by his son in the autobiographical sketch prefixed to his travels, as having been much too honest and conscientious to become a wealthy man. He died in 1856, having lived to witness the fruits of that love of honest' industry, active exertion, and benevolence, which he early instilled, into the breast of his son. , David Livingstone, sent as a youth to 'earii his livelihood in the cotton mills of Blantyre, was, even at that time^posaessed with a genuine love of learning. Enabled by hard labor to purchase the means of gratifying his. thirst t fori information, he pursued his studies at Glasgow during the winter months, resuming his occupation at the mills during 1 the summer vacation of the classes; . In this way he contrived to pick up some acquaintance with the classical writers, and ' at the age of : seventeen, could repeat portions of Horace and; Virgil. , Ab he grew to manhood, he.resolved. to, ; deypte! himself to missionary life, cherishing a hope that Africa or China would t be the scene of his ' labors.. , His fishes in this respect were realised, for after having studied medicine for a few years, during which period he attended~,one or two courses of theological lectures by thelate Dr Wardlaw, and having been admitted as a Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians. and Surgeons in 1838, he offered himself to the London Missionary, Society for missionary work in Africa, and his offer was accepted. Having been ordained r lb'' the pastoral office in 1840, he soon after left England for ' Port Natal,. Pwherei he became acquainted with. hiscountiyman, the Rev. Robert Moffat, pne /( of,' the most activef and enterprising of . African missionaries^ whose 'daughter he eventually married,' and she accompanied Juin „in; ,his travels until her. premature c death"in JLß62. From, 1840, till his '"returi .16' England at the clbse of 1866; he iabored iperseveringly asone of the agents fof; the \ London Missionary Society at :Kuruman^ and several other' stations "in ' Southern Africa, and made several expeditions into the interior. He became acquainted with the language, habits, and religions notions of several sa^gC tribes, and twice crossed the entire continent, a little south of the itropic of Capricorn, from the shorea of the Indian Ocean to those of the Aplantic. In May, 1855, the Victoria, or Patron's Gold Medal, was bestowed upon him by the Royal Geographical Society for having " traversed South Africa from the Cape

of Good 1 Hope, by Lake Ngami toLinganti, and thence to the , Western Coast, in ten degrees south latitude." In 1855 Dr Livingstone retraced his steps eastwards, and having again traversed those regions- as far aS?Linganti, followed the Zambesi down "Jo its mouths upon the shore of the Indian Ocean, thus completing the entire journey across] Southern Africa:' He returned to i England at the cloao o£ 1856; arid was present at a meeting .of. /the Royal Geographical Society, December 15, when the president, Sirß.. Murchison, reminded his audience that, they were met together fbr the purpose--6f welcoming Dr' r Livingstone, on his; return home from South .Africa, after an absence of sixteen years, during which,, whilst endeavoring to spread the blessings of Christianity through lands never before trodden by the foot of any , European, he had made geographical discoveries of incalculable importance. . In alliiis various journeys, Dr Livingstone ' had travelled over no fewer; than 11,000 miles oE African territory, and' lie h0 come back to England as the pioneer of -sound and useful knowledge ; for, by his astronomical observations he had determined the .sites of numerous places, hills, rivers, and lakes, nearly all of which had been hitherto, uuEhtfwn, while he had seized i'pon every opportunity of describing the physical ■ ;featjares, climatology, and geological structure pf the countries which he had explored^ 'and had pointed out many new sources of commerce as yet unknown to the scope and the enterprise-, of the British merchant;"; lilt/" is impossible at present to forma proper estimate: of the value b'fDr Livingstone's explorations in South Africa, considered merelyin a commercial point of view. This distinguishedtraveller modestly-propoundedi his views on the; question of African civilisation, by recommending the growS**of cotton upon an extensive scale in the interior of that continent, ari"d[ the opening up of commercial relations between this country and the South African tribes, as measures" likely to 'contribute to the abolition of the slave, .trade^and to advance the cause of. European civilisation. In March, 1858, he returned 7 to Africa, accompanied by a 'small band of assistants, sent out by Her Majesty's Government. He entered Lake.;Nyass,a, Sept. 2, 1861, aud made further explorations. His wife, who had accompanied . him in many of his perilous ' journeys, diedfof fever at Shupango, April 27, 1862, did what was termed the Zambesi' expedition "was recalled in July, 1863. Dip Livingstone reached London, July 20, 1864, and after giving interesting particulars respecting his discoveries, and making arrangements > for other explorations, again quitted England in April, 1865.' A report reached England early in March, 1867, to the effect that Dr Livingstone had fallen in a skirmish with the natives near Lake Nyassa ; but the accuracy of the rumor was : questioned. An expedition to the interior of Africa t in search pf r this distinguished traveller, left England under the v command of Mr E. ,D. Young, June •, 1867. On January 18, 1868, : intelligence was received in London to the effect that "the members of the Search" were- satisfied that Dr Livingstone was stilly alive, and this conclusion was soon shown to be correct;- as on the Bth April letters were received here from the great traveller himself, dated froinft district far beyond the place , where* he^as said to have been murdered, ' and announcing that lie' tow in good health. In July, 1868, he was near Lake Bangweolo, in South Central Africa, whence he wrote to •' say he might, safely, assert that the chief sources of the Nile ' arise between lOdeg. and :12deg., south latitude, or nearly in the position assigned to them by Ptolemy, I whose. Riyer Rhapta is probably the

Rovuma. This letter is printed in the Times of November 10, 1869. Another communication was received from Dr Livingstone, dated TJjiji, May 13, 1869 ; and on Jannary 24, 1871, news arrived in this country that he had made an extensive journey to the west of Lake Tanganyika — a circumstance which accounts for the long-continued absence of all information respecting him. Dr LivingBtone has written "Travels and ReBearches in South Africa," published in 1857; and "Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries," in 1865.