748 THE LAST WORDS. 



"On the 30th of April, 1873, Chitambo came early to pay a 

 visit of courtesy, and was shown into the doctor's presence, but 

 he was obliged to send him away, telling him to come again on 

 the morrow, when he hoped to have more strength to talk to 

 him, and he was not again disturbed. In the afternoon he 

 asked Susi to bring his watch to the bedside, and explained to 

 him the position in which to hold his hand, that it might lie in 

 the palm whilst he slowly turned the key. 



" So the hours stole on till nightfall. The men silently took 

 to their huts, whilst others, whose duty it was to keep watch, 

 sat round the fires, all feeling that the end could not be far off. 

 About Up. m. Susi, whose hut was close by, was told to go to 

 his master. At the time there were loud shouts in the distance, 

 and, on entering, Dr. Livingstone said, 'Are our men making 

 that noise ? ' ' No/ replied Susi ; ' I can hear from the cries 

 that the people are scaring away a buffalo from their dura fields.' 

 A few minutes afterwards he said slowly, and evidently wan- 

 dering, 'Is this the Luapula?' Susi told him they were in 

 Chitambo's village, near the Mulilamo, when he was silent for 

 a while. Again, speaking to Susi, in Suaheli this time, he 

 said, 'Sikun'gapi kuenda Luapula?' (How many days is it to 

 the Luapula?) 



" ' Na zani zikutatu, Bwana ' (I think it is three days, mas- 

 ter), replied Susi. 



"A few seconds after, as if in great pain, he half sighed, 

 half said, ' Oh dear, dear ! ' and then dozed off again. 



" It was about an hour later that Susi heard Majwara again 

 outside the door, ' Bwana wants you, Susi.' On reaching the 

 bed the doctor told him he wished him to boil some water, and 

 for this purpose he went to the fire outside, and soon returned 

 with the copper kettle full. Calling him closC, he asked him to 

 bring his medicine-chest and to hold the candle near him, for 

 the man noticed he could hardly see. With great difficulty Dr. 

 Livingstone selected the calomel, which he told him to place by 

 his side ; then, directing him to pour a little water into a cup, 

 and to put another empty one by it, he said in a low, feeble 

 voice, 'All right; you can go out now.' These were the last 

 words he was ever heard to speak. 



" It must have been about 4 a. m. when Susi heard Majwara's 





