516 LIFE OF DA VII) LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



visiting the underground excavations, to proceed to the head of Lake Lincoln^ 

 whence he would retire along Lake Kamolando towards Ujiji and home. He 

 distinctly stated that it was not his intention to return northward through 

 the Manyueme (Manyema) country ; and as he estimated the duration of the 

 journey from Ujiji and back again at eight months, it is not unreasonable to 

 infer that the design had been completely carried out, and that Livingstone 

 was on his homeward journey when attacked by the disease to which he fell 

 a victim. This supposition is rendered more probable by the fact, that when 

 the Doctor left Unyanyembe he was well supplied with stores and provisions, 

 and that he is reported by his servants to have been nearly destitute at the 



time of his death As a mark of respect to the memory of Dr. 



Livingstone, the flag-staff of this agency was kept at half-mast from sunrise to 

 sunset on the 5th of January. This example was followed by His Highness 

 the Sultan, by Her Majesty's ships of war then in harbour, the Briton and 

 the Daphne, and by the consular representatives of other foreign powers in 

 Zanzibar, from all of whom I received letters of condolence on the death of 

 this eminent explorer and distinguished servant of the Queen." 



Many people were unwilling to believe the story of Dr. Livingstone's 

 death, even when told so circumstantially, and so implicitly credited by Lieu- 

 tenant Cameron and the European officials at Zanzibar. He had been so often 

 reported as dead, and he had turned up again, patiently and devoutly carry- 

 ing out his self-imposed task, that it was difficult to believe that the great 

 traveller and distinguished Christian missionary had perished when his work 

 was all but concluded, and the civilised world was waiting eagerly for the 

 opportunity of showing him how high was the respect and admiration which 

 his life of heroic self-sacrifice had evoked. 



We have reason to believe that the members of his own family in Scot- 

 land, hoping against hope, had refused to accept the report of his death as 

 final. The brief letter addressed by Lieutenant Murphy to Dr. Kirk, and 

 dated the 20th of January, 1874, from Mpuapwa, ten days' journey from the 

 coast, in which he states that he was bringing the body of Dr. Livingstone 

 to Zanzibar, extinguished the last ray of hope which had hitherto afforded 

 some comfort to those near and dear to him. 



When Lieutenant Murphy left him, Lieutenant Cameron, although suffer- 

 ing from long-protracted illness, and deserted by many of his followers, was 3 

 preparing to start for Ujiji for the papers left there by Dr. Livingstone. 



No higher encomium on the character of Dr. Livingstone and the genuine 

 value of his achievements can be passed now, or in after-time, than the 

 devotion of his native followers. In circumstances of no common trial and 

 difficulty, they have borne the body of their loved leader across more than a 

 thousand miles of all but pathless country. No doubt Livingstone himself 

 would give the directions which have resulted in the preservation of his body, 



