Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-04-21
LNINGSTONE'S GUARD.
An Interview with One of Them in South
Africa-Wonderfu knowledge
of Country.

A letter to the editor of The Mission
airy Review recently received from Mrs.
j. NJ Bailey of the G.. NJ. S. agency,
Mombasa, British East Africa, gives
some interesting details in regard to the
last sickness of David Livingstone and
the men who bore his body to the coast
Mrs. Taylor was led to write through
reading in the New Acts of the Apos-
ties" the account of Livingstone's body
guard. 1t occurred to her that she
might see Matthew and ask him Il few
details of that wonderful journey which
had never been given TO the public She
writes:
Matthew Wellington was one of the
six boys from Mask who came over from
India to help find David Livingstone in
Africa. He is still alive, Il hale and
hearty man, probably 30 and 60 years of
age. He is an overseer in government
employment, IN the public works depart
ment. | have known him since 1880, and
his daughter Florence is Il good girl-n
teacher in our c. NJ. :. school on the
mainland, Freretown. One son. Henry,
the oldest. is no good, hut John, the
younger, is = steady lad. Ruth, the
mother is Il capable woman, good wife
and mother,
Matthew, one Sunday morning after
service, came and told me about the.
starting ana the journey; the meeting
and serving his master. Livingstone: his
wonderful knowledge Of country and peo-
pie and languages. He spoke of his
WEAKNESS of body sometimes, and his
trouble TO get food for the porters of his
camp. lie dWclt on the misSionary's up
right, pure, clean life, his keeping the
Sabbath with prayer and reading with
/ bis men, and his feast at Christmas for
| them. He told of Livingstone's weak
ness and death, after journeying up to
| the very last, as long as he could ride Il
| donkey or walk.
Matthew then graphically described
| the embalming, and added the informa-
/ ton that for fourteen days the body lay
i'll the sun, then it was turned over and
exposed for another fourteen days. He
also told what | have never heard before
| that the legs were doubled ND from the
| knee to the body TO make the burden less
| like 4 corpse i'll carrying it across couu-
| try. This shows the ingenuity of the ma
tive mind in an emergency. The heart
and viSccra were all buried.
The chief thought in the boys mind
was to do everything according to their
orders at NasK, from the Royal Geo
graphical sOciety's letter: Bring him or
| find him, alive or dead. to the coast.
| This was their duty. and they stuck to
the letter of the directions
Matthew described the first coffin
made ut BagamOyo on the coast of the
French mission. and then, so natural to =
native mind, spoke of the glory of Il cof-
| fin of lead or tin, and the outer wooden
one with brass handles. at the consulate
of Zanzibar. lie said that Jacob was a
clever, intelligent boy, more so than any
| of the others, and no one grudged him
! the honor of the journey to England
tie was afterward a teacher in the C
! VI, s. for time, but is now dead.
Matthew has lived in Mombasa OF
| e'reretown ever since. He told me All
lhese details in Terarhill, as | felt
should get the facts more fully in Il
native language than iii English