39 8 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 



the Nile. He refers in a generous spirit to the discoveries 

 of other travellers, mistaken though he regarded their 

 views on the sources, and is particularly complimentary 

 to Miss Tinne : — 



" A Dutch lady whom I never saw, and of whom I know nothing 

 save from scraps in the newspapers, moves my sympathy more than 

 any other. By her wise foresight in providing a steamer, and pushing 

 on up the river after the severest domestic affliction — the loss by 

 fever of her two aunts — till after she was assured by Speke and 

 Grant that they had already discovered in Victoria Nyanza the sources 

 she sought, she proved herself a genuine explorer, and then by trying 

 to go S.w. on land. Had they not, honestly enough of course, given 

 her their mistaken views, she must inevitably, by boat or on land, have 

 reached the head-waters of the Nile. I cannot conceive of her 

 stopping short of Bangweolo. She showed such indomitable pluck 

 she must be a descendant of Van Tromp, who swept the English 

 Channel till killed by our Blake, and whose tomb every Englishman 

 who goes to Holland is sure to visit. 



" We great he-beasts say, ' Exploration was not becoming her sex.' 

 "Well, considering that at least 1600 years have elapsed since Ptolemy's 

 informants reached this region, and kings, emperors, and all the great 

 men of antiquity longed in vain to know the fountains, exploration 

 does not seem to have become the other sex either. She came much 

 further up than the two centurions sent by Nero Caesar. 



" I have to go down and see where the two arms unite — the lost 

 city Meroe ought to be there, — then get back to Ujiji to get a supply 

 of goods which I have ordered from Zanzibar, turn bankrupt after I 

 secure them, and let my creditors catch me if they can, as I finish up 

 by going round outside and south of all the sources, so that I may be 

 sure no one will cut me out and say he found other sources south of 

 mine. This is one reason for my concluding trip ; another is to visit 

 the underground houses in stone, and the copper mines of Katanga 

 which have been worked for ages (Malachite). I have still a seriously 

 long task before me. My letters have been delayed inexplicably, so I 

 don't know my affairs. If I have a salary I don't know it, though the 

 Daily Telegraph abused me for receiving it when I had none. Of this 

 alone I am sure — my friends will all wish me to make a complete 

 work of it before I leave, and in their wish I join. And it is better to 

 go in now than to do it in vain afterwards." 



" I have still a seriously long task before me." Yet 

 he had lately been worse in health and weaker than he 

 had ever been ; he was much poorer than he expected to 

 be, and the difficulties had proved far beyond any he had 



