The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death

The Last Journals of David
Livingstone, in

Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume I (of 2), 1866-1868,
by David Livingstone, Edited by Horace Waller
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Title: The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from
1865 to His Death, Volume I (of 2), 1866-1868
Author: David Livingstone
Editor: Horace Waller
Release Date: September 7, 2005 [eBook #16672]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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JOURNALS OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, IN CENTRAL AFRICA,
FROM 1865 TO HIS DEATH, VOLUME I (OF 2), 1866-1868***

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THE LAST JOURNALS OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, IN CENTRAL
AFRICA, FROM 1865 TO HIS DEATH.
Continued by a Narrative of His Last Moments and Sufferings,
Obtained from His Faithful Servants Chuma and Susi,
by
HORACE WALLER, F.R.G.S., Rector Of Twywell, Northampton.
IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I. [1866-1868]
With Portrait, Maps, and Illustrations.
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street.
1874

INTRODUCTION.
In the midst of the universal sorrow caused by the intelligence that Dr.
Livingstone had lost his life at the furthest point to which he had
penetrated in his search for the true sources of the Nile, a faint hope
was indulged that some of his journals might survive the disaster: this
hope, I rejoice to say, has been realized beyond the most sanguine
expectations.

It is due, in the first place, to his native attendants, whose faithfulness
has placed his last writings at our disposal, and also to the reader,
before he launches forth upon a series of travels and scientific
geographical records of the most extraordinary character, to say that in
the following narrative of seven years' continuous work and new
discovery no break whatever occurs.
We have not to deplore the loss, by accident or carelessness, of a single
entry, from the time of Livingstone's departure from Zanzibar in the
beginning of 1866 to the day when his note-book dropped from his
hand in the village of Ilala at the end of April, 1873.
I trust it will not be uninteresting if I preface the history with a few
words on the nature of these journals and writings as they have come to
hand from Central Africa.
It will be remembered that when Mr. Stanley returned to England in
1872, Dr. Livingstone entrusted to his care a very large Letts' diary,
sealed up and consigned to the safe keeping of his daughter, Miss
Agnes Livingstone. Upon the confirmation of the worst news, this book
was examined and found to contain a considerable portion of the notes
which her father made during his travels previous to the time of Mr.
Stanley's meeting him.
The Doctor's custom was always to have metallic note-books in use, in
which the day's jottings were recorded. When time and opportunity
served, the larger volume was posted up with scrupulous care.
It seems, however, that in the last three or four years of his life this
excellent rule had to give way to the toils of travel and the exhaustion
of most distressing illnesses. Whilst in the Manyuema country he ran
out of note-books, ink, and pencils, and had to resort to shifts which at
first made it a very debateable point whether the most diligent attempt
at deciphering would suceeed after all. Such pocket-books as remained
at this period of his travels were utilized to the last inch of paper. In
some of them we find lunar observations, the names of rivers, and the
heights of hills advancing towards the middle from one end, whilst
from the other the itinerary grows day by day, interspersed with map

routes of the march, botanical notes, and carefully made drawings. But
in the mean time the middle portion of the book was filling up with
calculations, private memoranda, words intended for vocabularies, and
extracts from books, whilst here and there the stain of a pressed flower
causes indistinctness; yet the thread of the narrative runs throughout.
Noting but his invariable habit of constantly repeating the month and
year obviates hopeless confusion. Nor is this all; for pocket-books gave
out at last, and old newspapers, yellow with African damp, were sewn
together, and his notes were written across the type with a substitute for
ink made from the juice of a tree. To Miss Livingstone and to the Rev.
C.A. Alington I am very much indebted for