110 REPORT 18G7. 



their master, they invariably plead excuses that cannot he proved to be false, such as 

 sickness, or pretended lameness, that incapacitates them from mra-ching ; but the 

 hardihood of the Johanna men in committing themselves, by the confession of their 

 cowardice, is a surprising instance of veracity that could only have been prompted 

 by the urgency of the calamity. To confess the death of the master is the 

 extreme of moral courage, as a native woidd di-ead the suspicion that might fall 

 upon him as the murderer ; therefore the story of poor Livingstone's murder, 

 although diifering in details, as described to various people by ^Mooc-a, I thoroughly 

 believe to be substantially correct ; and this belief, I regret to say, is shared by 

 Dr. Kirk, our Vice-Consul at Zanzibar, who was Livingstone's former companion on 

 the expedition to the Nyassa. 



With, this sad conviction that Livingstone has passed away for ever, and that 

 his bones now lie beneath that fatal soil of Africa that has been his glorious stage, 

 I can only, as a fellow traveller in the rough path of African research, exclaim : 

 • — " Peace to his memory ! honour to those remains that moulder in the dust, a 

 sacrifice to philanthropy in that distant and hopeless field, where the hand of 

 friendship is s]uirned, and where a min-derous stab is the reward for Christian 

 enterprise ! " There is no stone to mark the spot where the gi-eat traveller lies ; 

 but as a gallant sailor's corpse is given to the waves, and rests in death within the 

 element with which in life he struggled, so rests the body of our tired pilgrim, 

 covered with the soil of jVfiica, as with a flag that enfolded him in victory. His 

 name will never die, but, deeply gra^•en on the hearts of all mankind, it will descend 

 in history. 



Awl now, before I close this address, I must refer with pride and satisfaction to the 

 vigour aud alacritj' that has been exhibited, not only by the Eoyal Geographical 

 Society, at the earnest instance of our sterling President, Sir Eoderick Murchison, 

 but also by Her Majesty's Government, in despatchiug, without a moment's unne- 

 cessary delay, an expedition to Eastern Africa to investigate the fate of Living- 

 stone. Should he be no more, the arrival of an armed expedition in his search 

 will be a lesson to the savage tribes that no Englishman can disappear without an 

 inquiry into the cause ; and good service will be done to geography bj' the party 

 under Mr. Young, who, provided with a steel boat, vrill be able to decide whether 

 the Nj-assa is fed by a river from the north. 



The most interesting African proldem yet remains to be solved. Within the 

 last few years we have determined the great reservoirs of the Nile, and we have 

 proved that the river, hitherto so mysterious, is the oft'spriug of two great 

 causes — the vast equatorial reservoirs the Victoria and Albert Lakes, and the 

 sudden rains of Abyssinia that in July, August, and September cause the 

 inundation in Lower Egypt : that jiortion of the question I shall shortly pub- 

 lish as tlie ' Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia.' But although the mystery of ages is 

 solved, much remains to be explored. We Imow but a portion of those immense 

 reservoirs ; and geogTaphers will not remain content with the bare fact that the 

 Nile issues from those lalces ; but England, that has untied the knot, must gather 

 in the extremity of the line. The death of Livingstone is a fearful drag upon the 

 wheel of African exploration. There are many as brave, many as adventiu-ous ; but 

 there are few who conrbine the qiualifications of patience and endurance that are 

 so sorel}' needed in that most difficult of all thorny paths, " African research." 

 Still we must not despair : we have of late years acquired an ally that is the grand 

 supporter of geographical exploration, a svipporter that assists us through paths 

 that were closed before the providential aid appeared ; and in those swamps whose 

 fat.al malaria slew with infernal certainty the brave aud daring explorers of former 

 times, quinine is the guard and faithful escort of the traveller. Anned with this 

 cuirass, we can penetrate through countiies hitherto impassable. The advancement 

 of science has so far practically augmented the power to civilize, that, with drugs 

 hitherto unknown, conveniences that preserve the traveller from the vicissitudes of 

 climate, such as waterproofs &c. &c., fire-arms of deadly precision, astronomical 

 instruments, steel and india-rubber boats of infinite variety, not only can we push 

 through obstacles that were formerly insurmountable, but we can return with 

 scientific results, and leave behind us in those savage countries a path and intro- 

 duction for future travellers. 



