580 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



which never fail to excite his enthusiasm are the signs of good in the poor 

 heathen people, and the hope perpetually renewed and expressed, that his 

 lifelong labours may benefit them. But it is when we reflect upon the double 

 chance which has preserved for us the present minute and inestimable record 

 of these labours that the book becomes thus almost sacred — stamped as it is 

 with the character of a treasure rescued from oblivion by what cannot but 

 appear the direct will of Heaven. These two volumes embrace the painstaking 

 and faithful day-by-day register of all the immense travel from the mouths 

 of the Rovuma to Lake Nyassa, thence to Tanganyika, thence again to Lake 

 Bangweolo, after that to the labyrinth of inland waters tied together by the 

 Lualaba, across Tanganyika once more to Ujiji, and yet again away upon the 

 final journey which, commenced at Unyanyembe, terminated in the Explorer's 

 death at Ilala. Merely to name the stations along this amazing route makes 

 a long sentence — and day by day, until his last hour, the steadfast Living- 

 stone noted down for us everything he saw and heard of import upon that 

 vast path, the result comprising two copious volumes, from which African 

 geographers may drink deep for many a month to come. And all this pre- 

 cious treasure-house of research, from 1865 to 1873, has been saved by two 

 memorable incidents — the happy rescue effected in the first place by Stanley, 

 and the bold and loyal behaviour of the negroes, Chumah and Susi. To the 

 American — now pursuing under our joint Commission the task of his friend 

 and master — the public owes the first portion of the journals which Mr. 

 Waller has edited so lovingly, for it was Mr. Stanley who brought down 

 Letts' Diary, containing all the story of these marches from the Rovuma to 

 Ujiji. The second, and if possible, more precious part, has been redeemed 

 from the loneliness of the wilderness wherein the traveller perished, by 

 nothing except the splendid fidelity of those very negroes for whose sake 

 Livingstone lived and died. Could he have wished a nobler testimony to his 

 labours ? Could there have been a more eloquent comment upon this great 

 pioneer's work ? It is as if Africa herself had, from her l darkest places, pre- 

 sented these precious records to us, saying, ' Do not forget him or me!' It is as 

 if the Power whom Livingstone served had chosen this plain means of signi- 

 fying approval of his labours, and stamping them as far too pure and noble 

 to be lost — putting it into the hearts of poor, ignorant blacks to risk all in the 

 self-imposed task of bringing back to us in England the body and the books 

 of their Leader. Is it chance which has preserved for us every note of these 

 brave years of toil ? We might say so of other strange events, but not of 

 the extraordinary incidents which have secured to us the possession of what 

 we have here — the complete narrative, namely, Livingstone's last six years 

 of wanderings. 



^".The exceptional character of the book as regards its origin extends to 

 the manner in which it will be read. Who will not turn at once to the latter 



