446 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 



thing like a dry plain, he would ever and anon beg of 

 them to lay him down. At last they got him to Chit- 

 ambo's village, in Ilala, where they had to put him under 

 the eaves of a house during a drizzling rain, until the 

 hut they were building should be got ready. 



Then they laid him on a rough bed in the hut, where 

 he spent the night. Next day he lay undisturbed. He 

 asked a few wandering questions about the country — 

 especially about the Luapula. His people knew that the 

 end could not be far off. Nothing occurred to attract 

 notice during the early part of the night, but at four in 

 the morning, the boy who lay at his door called in alarm for 

 Susi, fearing that their master was dead. By the candle 

 still burning they saw him, not in bed, but kneeling at 

 the bedside, with his head buried in his hands upon the 

 pillow. The sad yet not unexpected truth soon became 

 evident : he had passed away on the furthest of all his 

 journeys, and without a single attendant. But he had 

 died in the act of prayer — prayer offered in that rever- 

 ential attitude about which he was always so particular ; 

 commending his own spirit, with all his dear ones, as was 

 his wont, into the hands of his Saviour ; and commending 

 Africa — his own dear Africa — with all her woes and 

 sins and wrongs, to the Avenger of the oppressed and the 

 Redeemer of the lost. 



If anything were needed to commend the African race, 

 and prove them possessed of qualities fitted to make a 

 noble nation, the courage, affection, and persevering 

 loyalty shown by his attendants after his death might 

 well have this effect. When the sad event became 

 known among the men, it was cordially resolved that 

 every effort should be made to carry their master's 

 remains to Zanzibar. Such an undertaking was ex- 

 tremely perilous, for there were not merely the ordinary 

 risks of travel to a small body of natives, but there was 

 also the superstitious horror everywhere prevalent con- 



