LIVINGSTONE'S SAFETY ASSURER 373 



for our dear friend Livingstone realized. I hope we shall find that he has 

 been successful, and is pushing his way to the Albert Nyanza, thence to 

 emerge via the Nile, on the Mediterranean. He will have been the first man 

 who has not only crossed the continent, but has passed through the whole 

 length of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to the mouth of the Nile. But 

 the essential part of his work will have been done before he reaches the Nile, 

 and he may safely return towards Zanzibar, if so minded, with laurels suffi- 

 cient to constitute him the greatest of all explorers, and the African traveller 

 par excellence. You see I am very sanguine that our friend is still alive. The 

 manner in which we obtained the testimony was very satisfactory. In the 

 first place, I picked up the news amongst the native traders. I then addressed 

 the caravan people, and drew out their story while they were unsuspicious of 

 its interest, so that neither Hindee traders nor Suaheli men had an object to 

 tell lies, nor any idea how to act if they wished merely to please. Besides, 

 our conversation was carried on without an interpreter, and, although making 

 no pretence to a full knowledge of the language, I knew quite sufficient to 

 be able to express myself, and dispense with that feeble source of conference, 

 an interpreter. With the prospect of letters from Livingstone so near, we may 

 well refrain from all speculation on the subject of his geographical discoveries." 



The reports recorded by Dr. Kirk in the above were further confirmed 

 from other sources, and by the time that the Search Expedition under the 

 command of Mr. E. D. Young returned with the intimation that the story of 

 Ah Moosa was a fabrication, concocted by him to screen the desertion of him- 

 self and the other Johanna men, the public were in the daily expectation of 

 hearing from Dr. Livingstone himself. Mr. Young and Mr. Faulkner made 

 their report to the Royal Geographical Society on the 27th of January, 1868. 

 Unfortunately Sir Roderick Murchison was not present at the meeting on 

 account of illness- He addressed a letter to the Members of the Society, in 

 which he said, with justifiable pride, that his "friends of the Geographical 

 Society will recollect that, from the first, I expressed my belief that the 

 Johanna men had deserted Livingstone, and had concocted a false and wholly 

 incredible account of his death. I subsequently gave as an hypothesis of 

 their reasons for deserting that they were coast-men, and acquainted only 

 with the Zambesi and its tributaries ; and that when their chief decided upon 

 plunging into the heart of Africa, they fled from him; and, indeed, they 

 assigned as their motive to the native chief, to whom they told the truth, that 

 it was fear which prevailed on them. Had they only re-told this story to the 

 Consul at Zanzibar, what sufferings of the friends of Livingstone would they 

 not have averted, instead of bringing on themselves the execrations of every 

 one ! I hope some measures will be taken to make these wretches feel that, 

 in reporting to British authorities, they must speak the truth." 



The public waited with impatience for news from the great traveller 



