THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1913. DAVID LIVINGSTONE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 22 March 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1913. DAVID LIVINGSTONE.

The centenary of David Liviugstoue, which was celebrated on March 19th, revives the history of one of the most notable characters the world Inns produced. Chambers tells us that bom at Blantyre; in Lanarkshire, in 1813, David Livingstone was of humble parentage. At the age of ten, he became a worker in a cotton-factory at Blantyre, and continued in that laborious occupation for fourteen years. His thirst for knowledge led him to read all that he could lay Ms hands on. He used also to attend a nightclass, after the long hours of the fae> toi'y, for the study of Latin. The reading of Dick's "Philosophy of a Future State" was not - only the means of a profound impression r^ t J,J S 'o}«i m .md, but the desire to devote 1110 life as a missionary. Deeply impressed with the advantages of medical training to a missionary, he resolved to qualify himself in medicine, as well as the other attainments looked for in a missionary. The London Missionary Society having accepted the offer of Iris services, he went to London to complete his studies. His first desire was to labour in China, b',vc, war having broken out between that country and Great Brjtliii, this wish could not be fulfilled. The Rev. Robert Moffatt's visit at this time to England turned many hearts to Africa—Livingstone's among the rest; ultimately he was appointed to that field, and, having beeii ordained on November 20th, 1840, lie set sail for" Africa. For some years Livingstone laboured as a missionary in the Bechuana country. Repulsed by tile Boers in an effort to plant native missionaries in the Transvaal, he directed his steps northward, discovered Lake Ngami, and found the country there traversed by fine rivers and inhabited by : a dense population. Hi* anxiety to benefit this region led finally to his undertaking to explore the whole country westwards to the Atlantic and eastward to the Indian Ocean. The journey _ occupied i'l'om June, 1352, to May, 1806, when Livingstone- arrived at Quilimane. It was accomplished with a mere handful of followers, amid sicknesses, perils, and difficulties -innumerable. But a vast' Store of valuable information was gathered respecting the country, :ts products ; and 'native tribes. His discoveries included the maier.-tic Victoria Falls of the Zambezi river. Livingstone's return to England was marked by extraordinary public enthusiasm. The explorer had been so long away from civilisation that ho could scarcely speak a sentence of his own language. He spent fifteen months in England and Scotland^ during which he published in 1857 his "Missionary Travels." The wanderlust came upon him then and he was appointed by the British Government chief of an expedition for exploring the Zambesi. Setting out in 1858 he explored the Zambesi, Shire and Rovuma rivers. His wife, daughter of Dr. Moffatt, died in Africa in 1862 and was buried at Shupanga. In 18f53 the expedition was recalled, but at his own cost Livingstone exolored the northern hanks of Lake on loot. Then hs liU little

steamer" to Bombay and readied Eng-kj«rs£-1864. His second book, "The Zanibesi and its Tributaries" (1865), wtta-ajesigned to expose the Portuguese stere-tradera and to find meant of establishing a settlement for missions and commerce near the head of the Rovuma. The third and last of his great journeys was undertaken at the instance of the Royal Geographical Society and wub to settle a disputed question regarding the watershed of Central Africa, and the century-old mvstery of the sources of the Nile. In March, 1866, he started from Zanzibar, pressed westward through in- j numerable hardships and in 1869 discovered two*, more of the great chain j of African lakes. He had covered six hundred miles of new country and only a hundred-miles Temained to be explored and theAgreat question ofthe source of the Nile would have been solved, but fcickness, failure of supplies and trouble with native porters snatched tho last link in the chain of evidence from Livings tone' h ©rasp and he had to return to Ujiji on Lake Tanganika. Circumstantial accounts of his death were received in England and he was mourned as another martyr to tho cause of science. \ After -several years the New York Herald undertook what was probably the Bret of great newspaper enterprises, and sent an expedition under Stanley to search for the mi&aing explorer. "Find Livingstone',' were his laconic instructions, and after a stirring journey from Zanzibar the great explorer was found at Ujiji on October 28, 1871. Despite all Stanley's entreaties Livingstone refused to leave Africa until he had traversed the country west of Lake Tanganika and settled whether the mighty Lualaba river was really the Nile, as he believed, or the Congo, as it was subsequently proved to be. In this endeavour he perseverd, subject to many disappointments, and always suffering from bad health. He pushed west-; ward undauntedly, but on May morning, 1873, he was found, kneeling by his bedside, his face buried in his bands, lii« body cold in death. His faithful natives embalmed the body and bore it reverently to the coast. It was conveyed to England and on April 18, 1874, "with a nation|b lamentations'* was laid to rest in the great Abbey.