The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-03-13
The Last Days of Livingstone.

Dig Liyingstone's Journals, edited by his
/frisnd the Rev. Horace Waller, have been pub
nshed. They give a complete narrative OF his
travels from the time Of his leaving Zanzibar in
the beginning of 1866 to the end of April 1873,
when his notebook dropped from his hand in the
village OF llala1 Not a single entry has been
lost. The chief if not the sole interest of the
second volume will be found in the account given
Of the last days and the death of DIR. Livingstone.
On the 9th April (lS73) he seems to have been
almost dying. No entry at all was made in his
diary after that which follows Sc Knocked up
quite, and remain. Recover. Sent to buy mich
goats. We are on the banks of the Molilama.''
These were the last words that David Livingstone
wrote, and from this point we have to trust en-
tirely to the narrative of the men On the Both
April, 1873, Chitambo came early 10 pay a visit
of courtesy, and was shown into the Doctors
presence, but he was obliged to serd him away,
telling him 20 come again on the morrow, when
he hoped to have more strength to talk to him,
and he was not again disturbed. In the after
noon he asked Susi to bring his watch to the bed
side, and explained to him the position in which
to hold his hand that il might lie in the palm
whilst he slowly turned the KEY. So the hours
stole on till nightfall. The men silently took to
their huts, whilst others, whose duty it was to
keep watch, sat round the fires, all feeling that
the end could not be far off. About IL P. NJ,
Susi, whose hut was close by, was told to go to
his master. At the time there were loud shouts
in the distance, and on entering, DIR. Livingstone
said, Z" Are our men making that noise ?" mo-"
replied Susi, al can hear from the cries that the
people are soaring away a buffalo from their dura
felds.,' A few minutes afterwards he said slowly,
and evidently wandering, "a Is this the Luapula ?"
Susi told him they were in Chitambo's village,
near the Mulalamo, when ne was silent for a while.
Again, speaking to Susi, In Suaheli this time, he
said, 'Sikun' gapi kuenda Luapula?" (How
many days is it to the Luapula ?') "Na zoni
Zikutatu Bwana -" II think it is three days, mas
teri, replied Susi. A few seconds after, as if in
great pain, he then sighed, half said, "Oh dear,
dear! ' and then dozed of again. 1t was about
an hour later that Susi heard Majwara again out
side the door, Bwana wants you, Susi.' On
reaching the hut, the Doctor told him he wished
him to boil some water, and for this purpose he
went to the FIRE outside, and soon returned with the
copper kettle full. Calling him close, he asked
him to bring his medicine chest, to hold the can
die near him, for the man noticed be could hardly
see. With great difficulty DIR. Livingstone
selected the calomel, which he told him to place
by his side; then, directing him to pour a little
water into a cup and to put another empty one
beside it, he said in n low, feeble voice, "All
right, you can go now" These were the last
words he was ever heard to speak.
1t must have been about 4 A. NJ. when Susi
heard Majwara's step once more. "Come to
Bwana. L am afraid don't know if he is
alive" Tho tau 5 evident alarm made Susi run
to arouse Chumah. Chumah, Chowpere, Mat
thew, and Muanyasere, and the six men, went
Immediately to the hut. Passing inside, they
looked towards the bed. DIR. Livingstone was
not lying on it, but appeared to be engaged in
prayer, and they instinctiyely drew backwards for
the instant. Pointing to him, Majwara said,
"When | lay down he was just as he is now, and
it is because | find that he does not move that l
fear he is dead" They asked the lad how long
he had slept. Majwara said he could not tell,
but he was sure that it was some considerable
time. The men drew nearer. A candle, stuck
by its own wax to the top of the box, shed a
light sufficient for them to see his form. Doctor
Livingstone was kneeling by the side of his bed,
his body stretched forward, his head buried in
his hands upon the pillow For a minute they
watched him he did not stir; there was no sign
of breathing. Then one of them, Matthew, ad-
vaEced softly to him, and placed his hands to his
cheeks. 1t was sufficient life had been extinct
some time, and the body was almost cold. Liv-
~ingstone was dead.
His sad-hearted servants raised him tenderly
up and laid him full length on the bed; then
carefully covering him, they went out into the
damp night air to consult together. 1t was not
long before the cocks crew, and it is from this
circumstance, coupled with the fact that Susi
spoke to him some time shortly before midnight,
that we are able to state with tolerable certainty
that he expired early on the LIST of Nav.