Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 6: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 6: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
He set out in August, 1865, _via_ Bombay and Zanzibar. On March 19,
1866, he started from the latter place, first of all trying to find
a suitable settlement, then striking westward in order to solve the
geographical problem. Through the ill-behavior of some of his
attendants a report of his death was circulated, but an expedition,
headed by Mr. E. D. Young, R. N., ascertained that the report was
false. Livingstone pressed westward amid innumerable hardships, and
in 1869 discovered Lakes Meoro and Bangweolo. All the while he was
doing what he could for the religious enlightenment of the natives.
Obliged to return for rest to Ujiji, where he found his goods
squandered, he struck westward again as far as the river Lualaba,
thinking it might possibly be the Nile, but far from certain that it
was not, what it proved afterward to be, the Congo. Returning after
severe illness once more to Ujiji, Livingstone found there, Mr. H.
M. Stanley, who had been sent to look for him by the proprietor of
the _New York Herald_. But no consideration would induce him to
return home till he had made one more effort to solve the
geographical problem.
He returned to Lake Bangweolo, but fell into wretched health. His
sufferings always increasing, when he reached Chitambo's village in
Ilala, he was obliged to give in. On the morning of May 1, 1873, he
was found by his attendants on his knees, dead. His faithful people
embalmed his body as best they could, carried it amid the greatest
perils to the shore, where it was put on board a British cruiser,
and on April 18, 1874, it was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Among the remains brought home were his "Last Journals," brought
down to within a few days of his death; these were published in
1874. Stanley suggested the name of Livingstone for the main stream
of the Congo (hence the Baptist Mission on the Lower Congo was
called the "Livingstone Inland Mission"), and Mr. H. H. Johnston
proposed that part of the East African territory acquired by Britain
in 1890--the lower drainage area of the Zambesi--should be called
Livingstone Land.
* * * * *
The following letter, written by him to his children in 1853, during
his first exploring tour, gives the character of the man, and shows
his deep religious feeling:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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