736 THE LAST BIRTHDAY. 



cise for first-class convicts. Much of the country was of course 

 utterly desolate. No human being could live in the midst of 

 such floods ; all was water, water ; no land ; a wilderness of 

 water; the antipode; the scorching wilderness of sand, where 

 poor Chobo wandered. 



The floods gave the sites of the little villages that were seen 

 the appearance of islands, and the doctor seems to have had the 

 impression that they were really in the shallow portions of the 

 lake. Much of the time the entire party had to be transported 

 from place to place in the small, unsafe canoes of fishermen. 

 The old disorder recurred more frequently and violently, and 

 most solemn and anxious reflections forced themselves on the 

 sufferer. We see them in such words as the following, which 

 were found entered in his pocket-book : " If the good Lord 

 gives me favor and permits me to finish my work, I shall 

 thank and bless him, though it has cost me untold toil, pain, 

 and trouble; this trip has made my hair all gray." Only one 

 hope seemed to be left them ; the water on the plain was deeper 

 and deeper. The Lofu had been crossed and the Chambeze was 

 before them — beyond, the island-home of Matipa. After inex- 

 pressible hardships and perplexities, that place was reached on 

 the 2d of March. There was no memory or tradition of any 

 European having been there before. The difficulties inseparable 

 from the locality were increased now by the perfidy of Mapida, 

 who under most flattering pretences was soon found to be act- 

 ing the villain. The promised canoes did not come. The days 

 passed, and the 19th of March. The last birthday came in the 

 midst of the greatest trials ; on that day Dr. Livingstone wrote 

 the characteristic lines : " Thanks to the Almighty Preserver of 

 men for preserving me thus far on the journey of life. Can I 

 hope for ultimate success? so many obstacles have arisen ! Let 

 not Satan prevail over me, O my Lord Jesus." Verily, he 

 knew in whom he had believed ; God was there : an omnipresent 

 God! 



At length the canoes were obtained ; only when the chief 

 and his people had received a hint that the peaceable man might 

 become dangerous. And on the little islet Luangwa, surrounded 

 by that wilderness of water, the brave man wrote again in his 

 journal : " Nothing earthly shall make me give up my work in 



