The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume II (of 2), 1869-1873: Continued By A Narrative Of His Last Moments And Sufferings, Obtained From His Faithful Servants Chuma And SusiLivingstone, David
History
The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume II (of 2), 1869-1873: Continued By A Narrative Of His Last Moments And Sufferings, Obtained From His Faithful Servants Chuma And Susi
Livingstone, David
Africa, Central -- Description and travel
Bambarré, _25th August, 1870._--One of my waking dreams is that the
legendary tales about Moses coming up into Inner Ethiopia with Merr his
foster-mother, and founding a city which he called in her honour
"Meroe," may have a substratum of fact. He was evidently a man of
transcendent genius, and we learn from the speech of St. Stephen that
"he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in
words and in deeds." His deeds must have been well known in Egypt, for
"he supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God by His
hand would deliver them, but they understood not." His supposition could
not be founded on his success in smiting a single Egyptian; he was too
great a man to be elated by a single act of prowess, but his success on
a large scale in Ethiopia afforded reasonable grounds for believing that
his brethren would be proud of their countryman, and disposed to follow
his leadership, but they were slaves. The notice taken of the matter by
Pharaoh showed that he was eyed by the great as a dangerous, if not
powerful, man. He "dwelt" in Midian for some time before his gallant
bearing towards the shepherds by the well, commended him to the priest
or prince of the country. An uninteresting wife, and the want of
intercourse with kindred spirits during the long forty years' solitude
of a herdsman's life, seem to have acted injuriously on his spirits, and
it was not till he had with Aaron struck terror into the Egyptian mind,
that the "man Moses" again became "very great in the eyes of Pharaoh and
his servants." The Ethiopian woman whom he married could scarcely be the
daughter of Renel or Jethro, for Midian was descended from Keturah,
Abraham's concubine, and they were never considered Cushite or
Ethiopian. If he left his wife in Egypt she would now be some fifty or
sixty years old, and all the more likely to be despised by the proud
prophetess Miriam as a daughter of Ham.
I dream of discovering some monumental relics of Meroe, and if anything
confirmatory of sacred history does remain, I pray to be guided
thereunto. If the sacred chronology would thereby be confirmed, I would
not grudge the toil and hardships, hunger and pain, I have endured--the
irritable ulcers would only be discipline.
Above the fine yellow clay schist of Manyuema the banks of Tanganyika
reveal 50 feet of shingle mixed with red earth; above this at some parts
great boulders lie; after this 60 feet of fine clay schist, then 5
strata of gravel underneath, with a foot stratum of schist between them.
The first seam of gravel is about 2 feet, the second 4 feet, and the
lowest of all about 30 feet thick. The fine schist was formed in still
water, but the shingle must have been produced in stormy troubled seas
if not carried hither and thither by ice and at different epochs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account