DR. LIVINGSTONE.
It is encouraging to the hope that the reported rescue of Dr Livingstone is authentic, to observe that in India, where they are better able than elsewhere to estimate the probabilities of the matter, the news seems to have obtained general credence. The Madras Times writes in the following lively strain on the receipt of the telegram : —“ Dr Livingstone is alive; and that noble British lion is in charge of a Yankee showman of the first water. The indefatigable special correspondent of the New York Herald, grandiloquently styled the ‘ Commissioner,’ has sought out, found, and seized hold of the great traveller. Never did a journalist perform such a feat. ‘lt licks all creation !’ We dimly remember having road of this special correspondent some time ago. We have an indistinct recollection of this American swearing ho intended to cross oceans, leap over mountains, pierce the undiscovered wilds of Central Africa, and bear the missing doctor from the lair of the goiilla to the land of the almighty stars and stripes. But the Yankee, with all his brag, has actually performed the feat—at least it looks very much like it. The doctor (says the dispatch) is safe with him. Perhaps the telegram ought to read that the special is safe with the doctor! . . . A scene dimly rises before our imagination. The great explorer is calmly sitting on the peak of the ‘ tallest mountain of the moon.’ He is clothed in the sublimely simple garments of primeval man, and is thoughtfully engaged in trying to masticate his only luggage —his note-book, wherein an; jotted down the invaluable nob s of his long wanderings. Ajittle spring trickles from under his feet, and the runnel tlmrefrom broadens as it rushes down to flow into a mighty Nyanza, which spreads blue to the northern horizon. The doctor has climbed to this lonely elevation that he may die there. It is the source of the Nile! * llis only desire is to leave his bleached bones and his pocket-hook just at th.'.t place which will attest to those who may discover them, that, ere dying, the doctor accomplished the mission of his life. But the pangs of hunger are too severe. The pocket-book is an irresistible luxury. Its brass clasp only remains, and the doctor is about to surrendre himself to the King of Terrors, when, lo! a being approaches! The doctor scarcely deigns io throw even a cursory glance upon this being. He supposes the creature to be one of his well' known friends, the gorillas. But to his amazement he notices that this being, though extremely like a gorilla, is tailless. The next moment the being rushes up to the doctor, exclaiming, ‘ Wall, and how air ) cw, ole boss !’ This being is the special correspondent of the New York Herald— who at once telegraphs (by the cable he lias, during his journey, laid behind him as ho went on ) that the doctor is safe with him !”
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Bibliographic details
Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 248, 25 July 1872, Page 3
Word Count
492DR. LIVINGSTONE. Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 248, 25 July 1872, Page 3
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