, 1874-02-25
DIX. LIVINGSTONE IN AFRICA.

DIR. LIVINGSTONE IN AFRICA.
The report of Or. Livingstone's death which
reached England on the 9th and of which we
had Geographic intelligence a couple weeks ago,
seems now TO be generally credited even by
his son. 1t came from the Acting Consul Gen
cral at Zanzibar, and was sent to him by Lieu
tenant Cameron, of the relief expedition from
Unyanysmbe, in a letter dated the Goth Ooto-
Der last. The statement is that Livingstone
died of dysentery, after q fortnights illness,
shortly after leaving Lake Bemba for the east
ward; and that his death was due to this disease,
caused by walking through a marsh, sometimes
for hours at a time up to his waist in Watoro
Ten of his ninety followers had died from the
like cause, and the rest were marching for
Unyanyembe where Lieutenant Cameron was.
Livingstone's body was, it is said, embalmed
in salt, and might be expected in Zanzibar in
February. 1t has been remarked on this that
it is not very easy to see why Lieutenant
Cameron was pushing on" as he says, "tO
Ujji, If he really was convinced that Living
stones body was in its way to him, and II Is
difficult to know how it could have taken him
three months to transmit the intelligence be
had received from Unyanyembe to Zanzibar.
Still the hope that the death Of Livingstone
is again a false rumour, seems to be very
slender this time and it is no doubt true that
Livingstone 'has fallen at last upon the bat
tle-iold Of his heroic and devoted labours and
perhaps with the long-sought gu8rdon Of a
LIES devotion already in his grasp
The Daily News says ellis friends
and cOuntrymen may well DO ~pard0ned
for th0ir reluctance to accept the sad
tidiugs until the evidence Of his death had been
confirmed by dispatches from the leader of the
last expedition Of relief. Reports even more
ciroumstantial Of his having suocumbed to the
treaohery Of his attendants, or the sudden
attack Of some savage tribe, or to fever and
fatigue, have reached the Government and the
Geographical Society more than once before,
and have been rejected with an incredulity
which was happily justified by subsequent in
q%uiries. For q period of nearly thirty years,
except during tho too brief int! walls Of rest at
home, Livingstone has in truth carried his life
in his hand. He has lived always, in a manner,
at the point of death, or rather be has died a
hundred deaths. lie has again and again look
cd death in the face with mistaken constancy
of spirit and undisturbed serenity of purpose.
From poisoned arrows and from poisoned food,
from the jaws of wild beasts, from the slow
consuming rayages of fever and dySentery,
from wasting sickness and innumerable hard
ships, he has been rescued we know not now
often, not by timely suocour or unforeseen
deliverance, but by his own dauntIess spirit
and unoonquerable faith. He seemed to bear
charmed life, but the charm was the equal
temper Of his own heroic soul. The highlands
and the lakes of Central Africa he sought and
searched with a step as elastic and a heart as
buoyant as ever in his boyhood had bounded
over the heather of his native hills and glad
dened the fresh blue waters of his Scottish
lochs. We all expected him back among US
again, a veteran and a pilgrim crowned with
triumphs and h%onours, to pass the calm eve
ming of his days at his own fireside, and to
recount to many an eager and listening ear the
marvellous adventures of his African apostle
late. 1t may be that the well-earned reward
ID repose would after time have chafed and