DAVID LIVINGSTONE

Shannon News, 31 December 1926, Page 3

DAVID LIVINGSTONE

NOTED AFRICAN EXPLORER.

EPIC STORY PIT HIS LOSS AND finding.

! There has recently appeared in •‘The Times,” of London, a letter signed by Field-Marshal Lord Haig, SiV James Barrie. and Colonel John Buchan, urging the Preservation of the cottage home ot David ® stone, the explorer, in Scotland, which, it appears, is threatened with demolition. "That humble home at Blantyre, on the banks of the Clyde, the letter runs, “with the old school and cotton mill near by, holds too many associations of simple and heroio endeavour for this ago to allow it to disappear. With it would go our most vital personal link with the great missionary and explorer, leaving a gap which no other memorial could possibly fill.*’ . The appeal should ,have some interest for Americans, when it is remembered that it was with the assistance of American money that Livingstone was found in the heart of Africa after having been lost sigh; of by the civilised World for some years (writes H. Le Clerc Phillips, in the New Y,ork “Times”). The finding of the. old Scottish explorer by Henry M. Stanley is, indeed, one of the most sensational incidents in the annals of travel and exploration. And had James Goi don Bennett, the younger, not conceived the hazardous plan of sending one of hia star reporters to find Livingstone ‘‘alivo or dead,” it is mors, than probable that the explorer’s life would have ended somewhat sooner than it actually did. Early Years in Scotland. < David Livingstone, who more than any man helped to fill in ihe virtually blank map of the Africa of his day, was born of humble parentage on March 19, 1813. At the age of ten he went to work in a cotton mill, but with that; dogged perseverance which is characteristic of the Scotsman, managed r to find time to learn Latin, although,the mill absorbiu no less than fourteen hours a ; day. Nevertheless, by the time that he was sixteen he could read Virgil and Horace with ease. Beforo he was twenty ho developed a taste for missionary work. The taste grew stronger, and in 1838, having joined the London Missionary Society, ho travelled do the capital to bo examined by tho board of the society. He was accepted, and went into training. Then Livingstone _ returned to London to walk tho h\>apitals. On December 8, 1840, he loft England, little dreaming that on his return his native land would be ringing with his name. „ Ho landed in South Africa determined at all costs to posh inward to tho unknown heart of the Dark - Continent. Steadily he trekked northward, acquiring a solid knowledge of various native languages. Hi s fame as a medicine man spread far and wide, and frequently natives would walk 130 miles" for treatment. In 1844 Livingstone married, and -yvith his. wife continued to push into tho interior of the unknown continent. Ho had for some time past had _ the .desire to cross Africa from west - to east; but it was not until 1852, when his wife and children sailed for England, that he was at last free for this daring exploit. Leaving the interior, he set out for the west, coast, * and in due time reached Loanda. He had pushed from the interior to the coast; ho had now to travel across the continent to the east coast. Return Home Famous. Livingstone accomplished this-feat, and suddenly found himself famous. He had spent something liko thirteen yeaTS in the heart of the Dark Continent, and now England called him home. On his arrival in London Lord Palmerston showored him with attentions, appointing him Consul of East. Africa; Queen Victoria received him, and tho wide sale of'the book he had written relieved him of all financial, anxieties. ! Hitherto, Livingstone’s only capital had been his character and his medical knowledge; henceforth his country was behind him. Ho returned to Africa charged to explore tho Zambesi, but a combination of circumstances made these travels less successful than his first explorations. In 1864 he was again in England, and it was during this same ysar that hia son Robert camo to the United States and enlisted in the Federal Army. Robert died in hospital from wounds, and was buried in the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Livingstone’s third and last expedition to Africa started in 1864. This time his objject was to explore the resources of the Nile. He had long since resigned from missionary work, concentrating all his efforts on combating the slave traffic and on scientific and geographical discovery. Tho years passed by and gradually the outside world realised that the great. African explorer had not been heard of for some time. Where was ho ? Was he dead ? Inquiries were made, but Livingstone had disappeared into the heart of the immense African continent, and no one could now give any clue as to his whereabouts. America, no less than his own country, began to speculate as to his fate; and in 1869 an American translated his speculations into action. .Tames Gordon Bennett, owner of the New York “Herald,” summoned to his office in Paris, one of his most successful reporters, the young WelshAmericam originally known as John Rowlands and now as Henry Morton Stanley. “Find Livingstone,” was Bennett’s command. In 1871 Stanley landed in Zanzibar. He went inland, and when near Ujiji, on ,tlie eastern bank of Lake Tanganyika, he heard from natives that in that town was a white man like himself. Could this be Livingstone ?

I'other. His caravan pressed forward, ! Stanley decided that it could be none and as it neared the noted slave and ivory market town volleys were fired to attraction the attention of the inhabitants. Presently' natives and A.rab traders came running toward the. advancing column, which was flying the Stars and Stripes at its head and the flag of Zanzibar at its rear. Two natives came forward and spoke to Stanley, and then raced back into the town. Tlieso men were Susi and Chuman, members of Livingstone s expedition. Meeting With Stanley. Tjio relief party advanced, and Stanley has told of the intense excitement he felt. Presently he saw coming toward him a little group of mem One o'f them was white. He was old and bent and grey, and his well-used clothes were patched in many placea The relief party still marched forward. At last it was within speaking distance of the white man. It halted, jfind Stanley, raising his hat, stepped up to the grey, bent old man. “Hr. Livingstone, I presume ?” he said, as the old nian also raised his hat. - Livingstone had also arived at Ujiji about a month before.' He was ill, worn, and disheartened. In his journal is the entry: “When my spirits were at their lowest ebb the Good Samaritan was close at hand, for one morning Susi came running at the top of his speed and gasped out, ‘An Englishman! I see him:’ ” That night Livingstone had champagno for dinner. Stanley relates that both ate until they could eat no more. Under the American explorer’s caro and good feeding Livingstone became strong again and rapidly put on flesh.

When Livingstone was fully restored to health he and Stanley set' out to explore Lake Tanganyika. But the 'old Scotsman refused to return to England with Stanley. There was still work to bo done in .Africa. And so, after four months of the closest companionship they parted, Stanley to the white world and Livingstone to continuo ihis exploration of the sources of tho Nile as soon as Stanley had sent him a new party of native followers from Zanzibar. Livingstone entrusted the young American with his journals, 1 sealed wjth five seals, and Stanley bade farewell to the “old man in grey clothes, who, with bended head and slow steps, was returning to : his solitude.” The American was the last whito man that Livirigstono set eyes on. . ■

Death Of Livingstone. Whdn the fifty-six natives sent from tho coast, by Stanley arrived at Unyanyembe, where , Livingstone was waiting for them, the old explorer once again turned his face toward the interior of tho continent. But eight j months later he was spent. On April 30, 1873,’ in Chitambo's village in the country of Ilala, on tho south-west shoro of Lake Bangweoli, ha sank. During tho next morning ho died —• alone. Entering his hut soon' after' daybreak, his servants found him kneeling by his bed, his face ; buried in the pillow. At first they thought he was praying arid withdrew., : They returned and touched him, and realised that their master had gone: , What follows is an historic example o,f devotion and heroism on the part of African natives. The scholar 6f the 'party; p. negro named Jacob Walnwright, made a rude catalogue of the explorer’s belongings, beginning: “Id the chest was found about a phi fling arid a The body of Livingstone they carefully embalmed, although nothing but salt and a little brandy were fit their disposal. The heart .was buried beneath a tree in the village, , \Vhere to-day a monument marks the I spot. After drying the body of their master in the sun, they packed it'and then set out on the daring journey to Zanzibar. At one point tney literally had to fight their way to the coast. But these devoted men did not abandon their burden, and on February 15, 1874, less than nine months after Livingstone’s death, they delivered liis remains to the British Consul at Zanzibar.

Livingstone had often said that* he desired no better burial than beneath the leaves of an African forest, where, he said, there was'more “elbow room*’ than in England. But it was not to be. Instead, his countrymen buried him in England’s Valhalla of tho great.