The Personal Life of David Livingstone: Chiefly from his Unpublished Journals and Correspondence in the Possession of His FamilyBlaikie, William Garden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The Personal Life of David Livingstone: Chiefly from his Unpublished Journals and Correspondence in the Possession of His Family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
"The slave-hunters had induced a number of another tribe to
capture people for them. We came to this tribe while burning
three villages, and though we told them that we came
peaceably, and to talk with them, they saw that we were a
small party, and might easily be overcome, rushed at us and
shot their poisoned arrows. One fell between the Bishop and
me, and another whizzed between another man and me. We had to
drive them off, and they left that part of the country.
Before going near them the Bishop engaged in prayer, and
during the prayer we could hear the wail for the dead by some
Manganja probably thought not worth killing, and the shouts
of welcome home to these bloody murderers. It turned out that
they were only some sixty or seventy robbers, and not the
Ajawa tribe; so we had a narrow escape from being murdered.
"How are you doing? I fear from what I have observed of your
temperament that you will have to strive against fickleness.
Every one has his besetting fault--that is no disgrace to
him, but it is a disgrace if he do not find it out, and by
God's grace overcome it. I am not near to advise you what to
do, but whatever line of life you choose, resolve to stick to
it, and serve God therein to the last. Whatever failings you
are conscious of, tell them to your heavenly Father; strive
daily to master them and confess all to Him when conscious of
having gone astray. And may the good Lord of all impart all
the strength you need. Commit your way unto the Lord; trust
also in Him. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will
bless you."
Leaving the "Pioneer" at Chibisa's, on 6th August, 1861, Livingstone,
accompanied by his brother and Dr. Kirk, started for Nyassa with a
four-oared boat, which was carried by porters past the Murchison
Cataracts. On 23d September they sailed into Lake Nyassa, naming the
grand mountainous promontory at the end Cape Maclear, after
Livingstone's great friend the Astronomer-Royal at the Cape.
All about the lake was now examined with earnest eyes. The population
was denser than he had seen anywhere else. The people were civil, and
even friendly, but undoubtedly they were not handsome. At the north of
the lake they were lawless, and at one point the party were robbed in
the night--the first time such a thing had occurred in Livingstone's
African life[61]. Of elephants there was a great abundance,--indeed of
all animal and vegetable life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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