DR. KIRK'S REPORT. 363 



charging, their heads dressed with feathers visible above the large Kaffre 

 shields of ox-hide. Their arms were spears and battle-axes. 



" On seeing Dr. Livingstone and his boys with levelled muskets, they 

 checked their charge for a moment, and came on with a hissing sound when 

 they found they were not fired on. Dr. Livingstone then shot the foremost 

 man : he dropped dead. The others fired, and, as the smoke cleared away, 

 Moosa saw three men facing Dr. Livingstone. Moosa was at this time stand- 

 ing behind a tree, in order to fire. Seeing the Mazitu suddenly so close, ho 

 appears to have been panic-stricken. Dr. Livingstone had emptied his gun, 

 and was endeavouring to re-load, when faced by these three Mazitu, who cut him 

 down with a blow from a battle-axe, which severed the neck-bone, so that the head 

 dropped forward, and he fell instantly. What happened in the field after thia 

 is unknown. Moosa ran off, and, having been behind, probably was unseen, 

 while the Mazitu attacked those who were with the Doctor and had fired. 



"Moosa in his flight met his men; they had already heard the firing a 

 little way in front, and were prepared to throw down their loads and make 

 off. This they now did, and ran to a distance, where they hid themselves in the 

 bush. Near sunset they came out ; and, desirous of seeing if any of the loads 

 still remained, they stealthily approached the place. Finding nothing where 

 they had thrown them down, and seeing no one, they became bolder and 

 cautiously advanced, when they saw Dr. Livingstone's body stripped of all 

 but the trousers, and presenting one wound in the back of the neck. They 

 scraped a hole in the soil, and placed the body there, covering it over with 

 the earth. They did not stay longer; near Livingstone's corpse were the 

 bodies of two of the boys, which they recognised in the dim light by the 

 unragged trousers still on them. The corpses of two Mazitu lay near — it might 

 be twenty yards off — their shields by their sides, but their spears and axes had 

 been carried off. Nothing remained to bring away ; the Mazitu had taken all, 

 The nine Johanna men who had come back saw two boys dead. One Johanna 

 man, and all the Bombay and Zanzibar boys, are missing ; and there is little 

 chance that any one of them ever returns, taking as truth the statements 

 solemnly made by the Johanna man and his eight companions, who all declare 

 that, although, with the exception of Moosa, none saw Dr. Livingstone fall, 

 yet they assisted afterwards in depositing the body in a shallow grave. 



" I shall not now follow in detail the narrative of the return journey. Dr. 

 Livingstone was gone ; it has, therefore, little interest. It was only a gang 

 of ignorant negroes, destitute of everything, and fearing every man they saw, 

 endeavouring first to avoid habitations, then joining a coast caravan, which 

 they met after crossing the lake at Kampunda. On the way to the coast at 

 Kilwa, the party was suddenly attacked by a band of Mazitu and dispersed. 

 Ever} 7 one fled, the Johanna men now for the second time; ivory and slaves 

 were abandoned, and left to the will of the dreaded marauders. No account 



