Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/398

 Livingstone mission. A place called Magomero was chosen and the bishop was invited by the Mañanja chief to settle there. While Livingstone and the missionaries were on their way they were attacked by the Wa-yao slaveraiders. In self-defence they had to fire a volley from their rifles, which dispersed the enemy, but they decided not to pursue the Wa-yao and release the Mañanja captives they had taken, and proceeded to Magomero. After the mission was safely established, Livingstone turned with his expedition to the west, and leaving the Pioneer at Tshibisa's, engaged porters, carried the gig round the Murchison Cataracts, and on 2 Sept. 1861 sailed into Lake Nyasa. He explored the western coast, rounding the mountain promontory which he had named Cape Maclear. He found the slave-trade flourishing on shore, and horrible cruelties accompanying it. By the end of October their goods were exhausted and no provisions were procurable; so they had to return, and reached the Pioneer on 8 Nov., having suffered more from hunger than on any previous journey. They were visited by Bishop Mackenzie, who reported favourably of the mission, and it was arranged that the Pioneer should bring up the bishop's sister. Miss Mackenzie, who was expected with Mrs. Livingstone from the Cape, and an appointment was made for January 1862 at the mouth of the Ruo, where the bishop was to meet them. The Pioneer was stranded for five weeks on a shoal, and only reached the Zambesi on 11 Jan. On the 30th she met H.M.S. Gorgon at the Luabo mouth with Mrs. Livingstone, Miss Mackenzie, Mrs. Burrup, and other members of the mission, and a new boat, the Lady Nyassa, ordered by Livingstone at his own cost. The party at once, with Captain Wilson of the Gorgon, made for the Ruo, and not finding the bishop there, went on to Tshibisa, where they heard of his death and that of Mr. Barrup, his companion. The next few weeks were occupied in conveying to the Gorgon the ladies and all the mission party, except Horace Waller and Hugh Rowley, who decided to remain. On 4 April 1862 the Gorgon sailed with the mission party, and on 11 April Livingstone and his wife and party left for Shupanga with further sections of the Lady Nyassa. The season was unhealthy, and about the middle of the month Mrs. Livingstone was prostrated with fever, and in spite of every attention from her husband and Dr. Kirk, died on the 27th, and was buried under the large baobab tree at Shupanga.

Greatly overcome by this calamity, Livingstone worked on with resignation and dogged determination. On 23 June the Lady Nyassa was launched on the Zambesi, but as the waters of the Shire had fallen too low to allow of ascending, Livingstone made another attempt to ascend the Rovuma, leaving Kongoni in the Pioneer on 6 Aug. He navigated the river for 160 miles, and finding that it was navigable no further, he returned to the Zambesi at the end of November, and reached Shupanga on 19 Dec., leaving again on 10 Jan. 1863 with the Lady Nyassa in tow. All up the Shire they saw the most sickening scenes of destruction due to slave-raids. On arrival at the Murchison Falls the Lady Nyassa was unscrewed and the party began to make a road by which to transport the pieces over the forty miles round the falls. But neither native labour nor supplies were obtained. Dysentery attacked the party, and Kirk and Charles Livingstone were ordered home; but when they were about to start David Livingstone fell ill and Kirk remained till he was convalescent. Kirk finally left on 9 May 1863. Livingstone, hoping to find the boat he had left above the falls, on his return from the lake, went with Rae, who had rejoined the expedition, to the Upper Shire, but found the boat had been burned by the Mañanja three months before. On returning to the Pioneer on 2 July 1863 he found a despatch awaiting him from Lord Russell, ordering the withdrawal of the expedition. On receiving this despatch Livingstone wrote to Mr. Waller: 'I don't know whether I am to go on the shelf or not. If I do, I make Africa the shelf.' As it was impossible for the Pioneer to reach the sea until the floods of December, Livingstone arranged to have the Lady Nyassa screwed together again, and while this was doing to have a boat carried past the cataracts; but by the carelessness of his men the boat was wrecked. Livingstone then organised a little expedition from the crew of the Pioneer, and eventually reached Kota-Kota, on the shores of Lake Nyasa, where they were kindly received by the Arabs. During a short stay they collected information about the slave-trade, and then,going due west along the great route to Central Africa which leads to Lake Bemba or Bangweolo and the Upper Congo, reached a place called Tshimanga, in the vicinity of the Loangwa river, where Livingstone was truly told that he was only ten days' journey from Lake Bangweolo. But as the pay of his men was positively to cease on 31 Dec, Livingstone felt that, great as the temptation was to go on, it would be unfair to the men, and he retraced his steps to Lake Nyasa, which he reached on 8 Oct., and regained the