LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY 335 



kneeling on his knees beside the bed, his face resting on both hands, 

 and his body leaning against the edge. They gazed in doubt for a few 

 moments; but there was no stir, no breathing. One stepped forward 

 and laid his hand on the worn and hollow cheek. It was cold. The 

 master was indeed dead ! 



While in the act of praying to his God, the heroic soul had passed 

 away. We shall never know what prayer he made ; but, knowing the 

 set purpose of his life, the great desire with which his whole being 

 was possessed, we may well and with reverence think that in com- 

 mitting his spirit into the hands of the God who gave it he did not 

 omit to plead for the healing of that great "open sore of the world," 

 in probing which he had laid down his life. 



The beauty of his character Avas not lost on the poor blacks who 

 were with him. With a fidelity which is rare in story, and a sense of 

 responsibility almost unknown to benighted Africa, his servants pre- 

 pared to convey his body and personal effects back to his own people. 

 They buried his heart and' internal organs under a tree, and marked 

 the grave so that it might be recognized. His body they dried in the 

 sun, and embalmed in the best v/ay they could. Wrapping it in calico 

 and bark, and covering the whole with canvas, they set out on their 

 long and difficult journey to Zanzibar. Numerous dangers threat- 

 ened them, and time and again they were surrounded by hostile bands — 

 hostile chiefly through a superstitious fear of the dead. But still they 

 persevered ; and, after behaving with a courage and devotion worthy of 

 their beloved' master, they at length brought his mortal remains safely 

 to the coast, together with the whole of his personal effects. Nearly 

 a year had been occupied by the journey. Not a note or jotting of 

 |all those last seven years of Livingstone's life was lost, and it is 

 entirely owing to Susi and Chuma and their faithful companions that 

 this is so. Our debt to these fine fellows no reward could wipe out. 

 It is an enduring obligation. 



On the 15th of April, 1874, the body, accompanied by Susi and 

 Chuma, arrived in England. It was taken to the rooms of the Geo- 

 graphical Society, and there identified — partly by the false joint in the 

 upper arm, which had developed when the lion mangled him long years 

 before at Mabotsa. 



