The Conquest of the Desert 



From the very first Livingstone saw the im- 

 portance of the Shire Valley and Lake Nyassa 

 as the key to Central Africa : and he was pre- 

 pared to spend a great part of his private means 

 to aid in settling this region. On the 4th of 

 August 1859, he writes in his journal : " I have 

 a very strong desire to commence a system of 

 colonisation of the honest poor ; I would give 

 £2000 or £3000 for the purpose." Livingstone 

 longed to develop by means of an industrious 

 peasantry those regions which he had discovered. 

 He died without being able to put his ideas into 

 practice. Surely we in South Africa with our 

 vast wealth, in peace and comfort, might spare 

 a little to carry forward his life dream ! 



In his book on " Livingstone and Central 

 Africa," Sir Harry Johnston, in speaking of the 

 spot where the explorer's heart lies buried, says 

 that in the gold rush of the future on the shores 

 of Lake Bangweolo, the local inhabitants will 

 probably be too busy or too mean to spend 

 their money on monuments to his memory. 



We do not believe this to be true of South 

 Africans. But is there a solitary statue to the 

 immortal traveller in the whole of the Union ? 

 And if not : why not in Pretoria ? 



Livingstone belongs to the whole nation. To 

 186 



