382 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 



among them till he died. He had more spunk than a hundred country 

 dogs — took charge of the whole line of march, ran to see the first in 

 the line, then back to the last, and barked to haul him up ; then, when 

 he knew what hut I occupied, would not let a country cur come in sight 

 of it, and never stole himself. We have not had any difficulties with 

 the people, made many friends, imparted a little knowledge sometimes, 

 and raised a protest against slavery very widely." 



The year 1867 was signalised by a great calamity, 

 and by two important geographical feats. The cal- 

 amity was the loss of his medicine-chest. It had 

 been intrusted to one of his most careful people ; but, 

 without authority, a carrier hired for the day took it 

 and some other things to carry for the proper bearer, then 

 bolted, and neither carrier nor box could be found. "I 

 felt," says Livingstone, "as if I had now received the 

 sentence of death, like poor Bishop Mackenzie." With 

 the medicine-chest was lost the power of treating himself 

 in fever with the medicine that had proved so effectual. 

 We find him not long after in a state of insensibility, 

 trying to raise himself from the ground, falling back with 

 all his weight, and knocking his head upon a box. The 

 loss of the medicine-box was probably the beginning of 

 the end ; his system lost the wonderful power of recovery 

 which it had hitherto shown ; and other ailments — in the 

 lungs, the feet, and the bowels, that might have been kept 

 under in a more vigorous state of general health, began 

 hereafter to prevail against him. 



The two geographical feats were — his first sight of 

 Lake Tanganyika, and his discovery of Lake Moero. In 

 April he reached Lake Liemba, as the lower part of 

 Tanganyika was called. The scenery was wonderfully 

 beautiful, and the ah 1 of the whole region remarkably 

 peaceful. The want of medicine made an illness here very 

 severe ; on recovering, he would have gone down the lake, 

 but was dissuaded, in consequence of his hearing that a 

 chief was killing all that came that way. He therefore 

 returns to Chitimba's, and resolves to explore Lake 



