The Personal Life of David Livingstone: Chiefly from his Unpublished Journals and Correspondence in the Possession of His FamilyBlaikie, William Garden
Religion
The Personal Life of David Livingstone: Chiefly from his Unpublished Journals and Correspondence in the Possession of His Family
Blaikie, William Garden
Livingstone, David, 1813-1873
On the 1st May, 1858, the "Pearl" sailed from Simon's Bay, and on the
14th stood in for the entrance to the Zambesi, called the West Luabo, or
Hoskins's Branch. Of their progress Dr. Livingstone gives his
impressions in the following letter to his friend Mr. James Young:
"'PEARL,'10_th May_, 1858.
"Here we are, off Cape Corrientes ('Whaur's that, I
wonner?'), and hope to be off the Luabo four days hence. We
have been most remarkably favored in the weather, and it is
well, for had our ship been in a gale with all this weight on
her deck, it would have been perilous. Mrs. Livingstone was
sea-sick all the way from Sierra Leone, and got as thin as a
lath. As this was accompanied by fever, I was forced to run
into Table Bay, and when I got ashore I found her father and
mother down all the way from Kuruman to see us and help the
young missionaries, whom the London Missionary Society has
not yet sent. Glad, of course, to see the old couple again.
We had a grand to-do at the Cape. Eight hundred guineas were
presented in a silver box by the hand of the Governor, Sir
George Grey, a fine fellow. Sure, no one might be more
thankful to the Giver of all than myself. The Lord grant me
grace to serve Him with heart and soul--the only return I can
make!... It was a bitter parting with my wife, like tearing
the heart out of one. It was so unexpected; and now we are
screwing away up the coast.... We are all agreeable yet, and
all looking forward with ardor to our enterprise. It is
likely that I shall come down with the 'Pearl' through the
Delta to doctor them if they become ill, and send them on to
Ceylon with a blessing. All have behaved well, and I am
really thankful to see it, and hope that God will graciously
make some better use of us in promoting his glory. I met a
Dr. King in Simon's Bay, of the 'Cambrian' frigate, one of
our class-mates in the Andersonian. This frigate, by the way,
saluted us handsomely when we sailed out. We have a
man-of-war to help us (the 'Hermes'), but the lazy muff is
far behind. He is, however, to carry our despatches to
Quilimane...."
A letter to Dr. Moffat lets us know in what manner he was preparing to
teach the twelve Kroomen who were to navigate the "Ma-Robert," and his
old Makololo men:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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