or 

 1030 



WH 



Mi 



Sc*)H<3i3 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the midst of the universal sorrow caused by the intelli- 

 gence that Dr. Livingstone had lost his life at the furthest 

 point to which he had penetrated in his search for the true 

 sources of the Nile, a faint hope was indulged that some 

 of his journals might survive the disaster : this hope, I 

 rejoice to say, has been realized beyond the most sanguine 

 expectations. 



It is due, in the first place, to his native attendants, whose 

 faithfulness has placed his last writings at our disposal, 

 and also to the reader, before he launches forth upon a series 

 ■of travels and scientific geographical records of the most 

 extraordinary character, to say that in the following narra- 

 tive of seven years' continuous work and new discovery no 

 break whatever occurs. 



We have not to deplore the loss, by accident or care- 

 lessness, of a single entry, from the time of Livingstone's 

 departure from Zanzibar in the beginning of 1866 to the 

 day when his note-book dropped from his hand in the village 

 of Ilala at the end of April, 1873. 



I trust it will not be uninteresting if I preface the history 

 with a few words on the nature of these journals and writings 

 as they have come to hand from Central Africa. 



It will be remembered that when Mr. Stanley returned to 

 England in 1872, Dr. Livingstone entrusted to his care a 

 very large Letts' diary, sealed up and consigned to the safe 

 keeping of his daughter, Miss Agnes Livingstone. Upon 

 the confirmation of the worst news, this book was examined 

 and found to contain a considerable portion of the notes 



a 2 



