Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/395

 Livingstone St. Helena or home; but he would not leave 'his Makololo followers to return without his assistance, now that he knew the difficulties of the journey and the hostilities of the tribes on the Portuguese frontier. He suffered much from dysentery. It was not until 20 Sept. that he started on his return journey, well supplied with stores, and with the good wishes of the officials. He passed round by sea to the mouth of the river Bengo, and ascending the river arrived at Kalung-wembo on the 28th, and made a detour to visit the town of Massango and the country at the confluence of the rivers Lucalla and Coanza. On returning to Golungo-Alto he visited the remains of the old Jesuit settlements, and wrote in terms of intelligent approbation of the work of the Jesuits. Several of his men were here laid up with fever, and it was not until the end of November that Livingstone was able to resume his journey, making another detour to visit the famous rocks of Pungo Andongo. Soon after his arrival he received news of the total loss off Madeira of the mail steamer Forerunner, by which he had sent off despatches and maps describing his journey from Cape Town to Loanda. He stayed for about a fortnight at Pungo Andongo with Colonel Manoel Antonio Pires, a wealthy Portuguese merchant and farmer, and set doggedly to work to write out a fresh description from his notes and from memory, and sent it home before proceeding further inland. The narrative of this journey excited much interest at home, and the Royal Geographical Society, on the motion of Sir Roderick Murchison, awarded Livingstone its gold medal.

On 1 Jan. 1855 Livingstone left Pungo Andongo, and reached Kasanji in a fortnight and the Quango on the 28th, and crossing that stream passed without difficulty through the country of the previously hostile Bashinje. As he was about to enter the Kioko country the heavy rains and the swampy condition of the land brought on a severe attack of rheumatic fever. Fortunately, Senhor Pascoal, a half-caste Portuguese, arrived in his camp when he was at the worst, and by the application of leeches saved his life. When convalescent and moving on to join Pascoal, who had preceded him to procure food, Livingstone's party were attacked from behind by quarrelsome natives. Livingstone got off his riding-ox, and in spite of his weak health presented a six-barrelled revolver at the chiefs stomach. This prompt action at once converted him to a friend. Livingstone and Pascoal travelled together through the gloomy forests of Kioko and southern Lunda as far as Kabango, where they parted company in June. Livingstone collected considerable information about the Kasai and the rivers joining it, which later knowledge has shown to be singularly correct.

Livingstone and his Makololo were received with rejoicing by their old friend Katema near Lake Dilolo, and by Shinte further south. Everywhere they were greeted with affection by the Ba-lunda people of the Upper Liba; but unfortunately, on returning to the Zambesi Valley they had returned to the tsetse fly, and Livingstone lost his riding-ox 'Sinbad,' which had carried him all the way from the Barotse country to Angola and back again. When the party reached the town of Libonta on 27 July, and were back in the Makololo country, they were received with extravagant demonstrations of joy, and their progress down the Barotse Valley was a continuous triumph. On his arrival at Sesheke letters informed him that Sir R. Murchison had already formulated the same theory of the dish-like contour of the African continent as Livingstone had arrived at independently from his own observations. On arrival at Linyanti in September, Livingstone found the wagon and stores he had left there with Sekeletu in November 1853 perfectly safe. A meeting of the Makololo people was called to receive Livingstone's report and the presents he had brought from Loanda, and these and the experience of his followers produced so good an impression that many Makololo volunteered to accompany him to the East Coast, whither he was now bound.

On 3 Nov. 1855 Livingstone left Linyanti, accompanied by Sekeletu and two hundred Makololo. The chief supplied him with twelve oxen, a number of hoes and other trade goods, and plenty of butter and honey. They arrived at Sesheke on the 13th, and Livingstone, with some of the party, sailed down the Zambesi, while the rest, drove the cattle along the banks. In following the course of the Zambesi Livingstone discovered the Victoria Falls, where a water-channel a mile wide is suddenly contracted to thirty yards, with a drop of 320 feet, and continues for some thirty miles the bed of a roaring torrent. On 20 Nov. Sekeletu bade farewell to Livingstone at the falls, leaving him a company of 114 men to escort him to the coast. Passing through the Batoka country and the southern borders of the land inhabited by the Bashukulombwe, he managed with his usual tact to appease the suspicions of these people, who had not seen a white man before. On 14 Jan. 1856 he reached the confluence of the Loangwa and the Zambesi, and arrived at Zumbo next day. He reached Tete on