Jules Verne (43 page)

Livingstone left Litoubarouba on the 15th of January, 1853, penetrated
to the center of the country of the Bamangouatos, and, on May 23d,
he arrived at Linyanti, where the young sovereign of the Makalolos,
Sckeletou, received him with great honor.

There, the doctor held back by the intense fevers, devoted himself to
studying the manners of the country, and, for the first time, he could
ascertain the ravages made by the slave-trade in Africa.

One month after he descended the Chobe, reached the Zambezi, entered
Naniele, visited Katonga and Libonta, arrived at the confluence of
the Zambezi and the Leeba, formed the project of ascending by that
watercourse as far as the Portuguese possessions of the west, and,
after nine weeks' absence, returned to Linyanti to make preparations.

On the 11th of November, 1853, the doctor, accompanied by twenty-seven
Makalolos, left Linyanti, and on the 27th of December he reached
the mouth of the Leeba. This watercourse was ascended as far as the
territory of the Balondas, there where it receives the Makonda, which
comes from the east. It was the first time that a white man penetrated
into this region.

January 14th, Livingstone entered Shinte's residence. He was the
most powerful sovereign of the Balondas. He gave Livingstone a good
reception, and, the 26th of the same month, after crossing the Leeba,
he arrived at King Katema's. There, again, a good reception, and
thence the departure of the little troop that on the 20th of February
encamped on the borders of Lake Dilolo.

On setting out from this point, a difficult country, exigencies of the
natives, attacks from the tribes, revolt of his companions, threats of
death, everything conspired against Livingstone, and a less energetic
man would have abandoned the party. The doctor persevered, and on the
4th of April, he reached the banks of the Coango, a large watercourse
which forms the eastern boundary of the Portuguese possessions, and
flows northward into the Zaire.

Six days after, Livingstone entered Cassange, where the trader Alvez
had seen him passing through, and on the 31st of May he arrived at
Saint Paul de Loanda. For the first time, and after a journey of two
years, Africa had just been crossed obliquely from the south to the
west.

David Livingstone left Loanda, September 24th of the same year. He
skirted the right bank of that Coanza that had been so fatal to Dick
Sand and his party, arrived at the confluence of the Lombe, crossing
numerous caravans of slaves, passed by Cassange again, left it on
the 20th of February, crossed the Coango, and reached the Zambezi at
Kawawa. On the 8th of June he discovered Lake Dilolo again, saw Shinte
again, descended the Zambezi, and reentered Linyanti, which he left on
the 3d of November, 1855.

This second part of the journey, which would lead the doctor toward
the eastern coast, would enable him to finish completely this crossing
of Africa from the west to the east.

After having visited the famous Victoria Falls, the "thundering
foam," David Livingstone abandoned the Zambezi to take a northeastern
direction. The passage across the territory of the Batokas (natives
who were besotted by the inhalation of hemp), the visit to Semalembone
(the powerful chief of the region), the crossing of the Kafone, the
finding of the Zambezi again, the visit to King Mbourouma, the sight
of the ruins of Zambo (an ancient Portuguese city), the encounter with
the Chief Mpende on the 17th of January, 1856 (then at war with the
Portuguese), the final arrival at Tete, on the border of the Zambezi,
on the 2d of March—such were the principal halting-places of this
tour.

The 22d of April Livingstone left that station, formerly a rich one,
descended as far as the delta of the river, and arrived at Quilimane,
at its mouth, on the 20th of May, four years after leaving the Cape.
On the 12th of July he embarked for Maurice, and on the 22d of
December he was returning to England, after sixteen years' absence.

The prize of the Geographical Society of Paris, the grand medal of
the London Geographical Society, and brilliant receptions greeted the
illustrious traveler. Another would, perhaps, have thought that repose
was well earned. The doctor did not think so, and departed on the
1st of March, 1858, accompanied by his brother Charles, Captain
Bedinfield, the Drs. Kirk and Meller, and by Messrs. Thornton and
Baines. He arrived in May on the coast of Mozambique, having for an
object the exploration of the basin of the Zambezi.

All would not return from this voyage. A little steamer, the "My
Robert," enabled the explorers to ascend the great river by
the Rongone. They arrived at Tete, September the 8th; thence
reconnoissance of the lower course of the Zambezi and of the Chire,
its left branch, in January, 1859; visit to Lake Chirona in April;
exploration of the Manganjas' territory; discovery of Lake Nyassa
on September 10th; return to the Victoria Falls, August 9th, 1860;
arrival of Bishop Mackensie and his missionaries at the mouth of the
Zambezi, January 31st, 1861; the exploration of the Rovouma, on the
"Pioneer," in March; the return to Lake Nyassa in September, 1861, and
residence there till the end of October; January 30th, 1862, arrival
of Mrs. Livingstone and a second steamer, the "Lady Nyassa:" such were
the events that marked the first years of this new expedition. At
this time, Bishop Mackensie and one of his missionaries had already
succumbed to the unhealthfulness of the climate, and on the 27th of
April, Mrs. Livingstone died in her husband's arms.

In May, the doctor attempted a second reconnoissance of the Rovouma;
then, at the end of November, he entered the Zambezi again, and sailed
up the Chire again. In April, 1863, he lost his companion, Thornton,
sent back to Europe his brother Charles and Dr. Kirk, who were both
exhausted by sickness, and November 10th, for the third time, he saw
Nyassa, of which he completed the hydrography. Three months after he
was again at the mouth of the Zambezi, passed to Zanzibar, and July
20th, 1864, after five years' absence, he arrived in London, where
he published his work entitled: "Exploration of the Zambezi and its
Branches."

January 28th, 1866, Livingstone landed again at Zanzibar. He was
beginning his fourth voyage.

August 8th, after having witnessed the horrible scenes provoked by the
slave-trade in that country, the doctor, taking this time only a few
cipayes
and a few negroes, found himself again at Mokalaose, on the
banks of the Nyassa. Six weeks later, the majority of the men forming
the escort took flight, returned to Zanzibar, and there falsely spread
the report of Livingstone's death.

He, however, did not draw back. He wished to visit the country
comprised between the Nyassa and Lake Tanganyika. December 10th,
guided by some natives, he traversed the Loangona River, and April 2d,
1867, he discovered Lake Liemmba. There he remained a month between
life and death. Hardly well again August 30th he reached Lake Moero,
of which he visited the northern shore, and November 21st he entered
the town of Cayembe, where he lived forty days, during which he twice
renewed his exploration of Lake Moero.

From Cayembe Livingstone took a northern direction, with the design of
reaching the important town of Oujiji, on the Tanganyika. Surprised by
the rising of the waters, and abandoned by his guides, he was obliged
to return to Cayembe. He redescended to the south June 6th, and six
weeks after gained the great lake Bangoneolo. He remained there till
August 9th, and then sought to reascend toward Lake Tanganyika.

What a journey! On setting out, January 7th, 1869, the heroic doctor's
feebleness was such that be had to be carried. In February he at last
reached the lake and arrived at Oujiji, where he found some articles
sent to his address by the Oriental Company of Calcutta.

Livingstone then had but one idea, to gain the sources of the valley
of the Nile by ascending the Tanganyika. September 21st he was at
Bambarre, in the Manonyema, a cannibal country, and arrived at the
Loualaba—that Loualaba that Cameron was going to suspect, and Stanley
to discover, to be only the upper Zaire, or Congo. At Mamohela the
doctor was sick for eighty days. He had only three servants. July
21st, 1871, he departed again for the Tanganyika, and only reentered
Oujiji October 23d. He was then a mere skeleton.

Meanwhile, before this period, people had been a long time without
news of the traveler. In Europe they believed him to be dead. He
himself had almost lost hope of being ever relieved.

Eleven days after his entrance into Oujiji shots were heard a quarter
of a mile from the lake. The doctor arrives. A man, a white man, is
before him. "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"

"Yes," replied the latter, raising his cap, with a friendly smile.

Their hands were warmly clasped.

"I thank God," continued the white man, "that He has permitted me to
meet you."

"I am happy," said Livingstone, "to be here to receive you."

The white man was the American Stanley, a reporter of the New York
Herald
, whom Mr. Bennett, the proprietor of that journal, had just
sent to find David Livingstone.

In the month of October, 1870, this American, without hesitation,
without a word, simply as a hero, had embarked at Bombay for
Zanzibar, and almost following Speke and Burton's route, after untold
sufferings, his life being menaced several times, he arrived at
Oujiji.

The two travelers, now become fast friends, then made an expedition
to the north of Lake Tanganyika. They embarked, pushed as far as Cape
Malaya, and after a minute exploration, were of the opinion that the
great lake had for an outlet a branch of the Loualaba.

It was what Cameron and Stanley himself were going to determine
positively some years after. December 12th, Livingstone and his
companion were returning to Oujiji.

Stanley prepared to depart. December 27th, after a navigation of eight
days, the doctor and he arrived at Ousimba; then, February 23d, they
entered Kouihara.

March 12th was the day of parting.

"You have accomplished," said the doctor to his companion, "what
few men would have done, and done it much better than certain great
travelers. I am very grateful to you for it. May God lead you, my
friend, and may He bless you!"

"May He," said Stanley, taking Livingstone's hand, "bring you back to
us safe and sound, dear doctor!"

Stanley drew back quickly from this embrace, and turned so as to
conceal his tears. "Good-by, doctor, dear friend," he said in a
stifled voice.

"Good-by," replied Livingstone, feebly.

Stanley departed, and July 12th, 1872, he landed at Marseilles.

Livingstone was going to return to his discoveries. August 25th, after
five months passed at Konihara, accompanied by his black servants,
Souzi, Chouma, and Amoda, by two other servants, by Jacob Wainwright,
and by fifty-six men sent by Stanley, he went toward the south of the
Tanganyika.

A month after, the caravan arrived at M'oura, in the midst of storms,
caused by an extreme drought. Then came the rains, the bad will of the
natives, and the loss of the beasts of burden, from falling under the
stings of the tsetse. January 24th, 1873, the little troop was at
Tchitounkone. April 27th, after having left Lake Bangoneolo to the
east, the troop was going toward the village of Tchitambo.

At that place some traders had left Livingstone. This is what Alvez
and his colleague had learned from them. They had good reason to
believe that the doctor, after exploring the south of the lake, would
venture across the Loanda, and come to seek unknown countries in the
west. Thence he was to ascend toward Angola, to visit those regions
infested by the slave-trade, to push as far as Kazounde; the tour
seemed to be all marked out, and it was very probable that Livingstone
would follow it.

Mrs. Weldon then could count on the approaching arrival of the great
traveler, because, in the beginning of June, it was already more than
two months since he had reached the south of Lake Bangoneolo.

Now, June 13th, the day before that on which Negoro would come to
claim from Mrs. Weldon the letter that would put one hundred thousand
dollars in his hands, sad news was spread, at which Alvez and the
traders only rejoiced.

May 1st, 1873, at dawn, Dr. David Livingstone died. In fact, on April
29th, the little caravan had reached the village of Tchitambo, to the
south of the lake. The doctor was carried there on a litter. On the
30th, in the night, under the influence of excessive grief, he moaned
out this complaint, that was hardly heard: "Oh, dear! dear!" and he
fell back from drowsiness.

At the end of an hour he called his servant, Souzi, asking for some
medicine, then murmuring in a feeble voice: "It is well. Now you can
go."

Toward four o'clock in the morning, Souzi and five men of the escort
entered the doctor's hut. David Livingstone, kneeling near his bed,
his head resting on his hands, seemed to be engaged in prayer. Souzi
gently touched his cheek; it was cold. David Livingstone was no more.

Nine months after, his body, carried by faithful servants at the price
of unheard-of fatigues, arrived at Zanzibar. On April 12th, 1874, it
was buried in Westminster Abbey, among those of her great men, whom
England honors equally with her kings.

To what plank of safety will not an unfortunate being cling? Will not
the eyes of the condemned seek to seize any ray of hope, no matter how
vague?

So it had been with Mrs. Weldon. One can understand what she must have
felt when she learned, from Alvez himself, that Dr. Livingstone had
just died in a little Bangoneolo village.

It seemed to her that she was more isolated than ever; that a sort of
bond that attached her to the traveler, and with him to the civilized
world, had just been broken.