The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-02-16
RECALLS [ABORS Of
DAVID LIVINGSTONE
Sir John Kirk, Only Survivor
of Great Missionary's Party,
Tells of Adventures.
ABOLISH SLAVE TRADE
Veteran Relates How He
Forced Sultan to Give Up
Human Traffic.
SLAVE TRADE
Special Cable to The Tribune,

Special Cable to The Tribune.
LONDON, Feb. 15.-The approaching
centenary of David Livingstone, the
| great African missionary, which will
be held here on March 10 next, brings
into interesting relief the only sur
vivor of the Livingstone party, Sir
John Kirk. Sir John is now living in
retirement at Sevenoaks. and is ap-
preaching his eighty-6rst year, He was
the real originator Of the British en-
pire In East Africa, and when seen re-
Gently at his home he talked most
entertainingly of his experiences with
Livingstone.
"You see these arrows" remarked
Sir John. AS he spoke he pointed to
a sheaf Of arrows hanging on the wall
Of his dining-room.
"Most Of them" he continued,
"were shot at Livingstone and myself
as we explored the Rovuma. I picked
them up from the deck of the boat"
He sat resting his hands on his
ebony stick, his eyes cleaning momen-
tarily as he told stories Of his
wonderful life in Africa, where, after
Livingstone had been laid in West
minister Abbey, he himself carried on
the great work by putting an end to
the slave trade on the east coast, and
by helping to lay the foundations OF
Uganda and Nigeria.
Escapes Hippopotamus.
AS he strolled in his garden he
pointed out strange ornaments at the
side Of the path-the skulls Of an ele-
phaut and q hippopotamus.
I think l am the only man. said
he,. "who has had his thigh between
the jaws Of bippopotamus and es-
capped. Livingstone and / were travel,
ing in boats up the Shire. was lying
back in the gunwale steering, and
! taking little notice Of anything save to
keep the boat from running into a
bunch Of reeds, letting my leg rest
carelessly the whilo along the edge of
the boat.
HSuddenly bucketful Of water was
hurled into the boat by the snout of
a hippopotamps. He opened his enorm.
GUS jaws-the lower jaw under the
boat, the upper over my leg. Had he
closed his jaws he would have crushed
the boat and carried away my leg, but
for some mysterious reason he turned
and dived. We never saw him again.
One of our Makololo men turned to me
and said Of the dehverance, It's God g
| providence only
Livingstone lack Of any sense of
fear amounted almost to weakness -
remarked Sir John. "He would 90
into the most perilous positions with
out a tremor or touch Of hesitation.
1 never knew him to show sign of
timorousness in any circumstances
whatever.
eyes" he continued, with growing
enthusiasm, "he was true mission
4 ,<,l
he had no personal ambition. His one
idea was to benefit Africa and Afri-
cans.'
Ends Slave Trade.
Then Sir John told the wonderful
story Of how he ended the slave trade
on the east coast, traffic which had
left deserts in place Of poPulous vii.
lagos, and was attended by horrible in.
ter-racial destruction that depopulated
the central African lake plateau.
Sir Bartle Frere had failed to In
duce the Sultan Of Zanzibar to sign the
treaty for the stoppage of the slave
trade. The sultan knew that with the
local Arab chiefs taking their existing
view Of the traffic, his signature of the
treaty would be followed by his death
within forty eight hours.
"Sir Bartle Frere went and the mat
ter was left to me" " said Sir John. "I
got together tho independent Arab
chiefs, who were largely in control of
the trade, and said to them, in the
presence OF the sultan:
ffI have seen what the slave trade
means in the country around the lakes
and have seen what you do there. This
slave trade will cease and shall cease,
Sultan Gives In.
''I told them what blockade was
that / had ono gunboat there, that
eight more gunboats were coming, and
that If they WISHED their ordinary trade
apart from the slave trade to &c
on, and their own power TO continue
they had better come to terms.
pressed this matter on them, because
. the sultan could not have signed the
,, treaty in face Of their opposition. They
went 10 him saying, 'For God sake
Sign this treaty
J 1.-THE sultan signed. At that time
his total income was $35o,0OO a year
He said to mo. fYou have ruined HE
financially I told him that nothing
, Of the sort would happen, In q few
} yeara he was reaping an income Of 81,
100000 a year from legitimate trade
Afterward when ] wanted anything
from him, and he doubted whether il
| would nc TO Ma adVanpaRes Woulc
} remind him Of this matter. That alwayf
moved him."
Sir Johns part in the ending Of the
slave trade by this trenty was the stop
page Of the sources Of supply-thnt Is
he mnde slave hunting and the traffic in
slaves illegal, closing the markets and
, stopping the carRoes. Tho actual hold
! ing of slaves was not made illegal, but
the later abolition Of the holding OF
slavfs was made possible in a much
easier way by this preliminary block.
ling up Of the source Of supply.