Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/400

 Livingstone was taken to pieces and carried round the Murchison rapids, and on arrival at Mponda's obtained satisfactory evidence that Livingstone was alive, together with information as to his further journeys into the interior. The expedition returned to England in the beginning of 1868, leaving the Search, which under another name continued to run on the Upper Shire.

From the Loangwa river Livingstone travelled through the country of the Ba-bisa towards Lake Tanganyika, passing aver the dolomite mountains of Mushinga at altitudes up to six thousand feet in a fine climate. The want of other food compelled him to subsist principally upon African maize, and the loss of his goats deprived him of milk, and he noted in his journal, 'Took my belt up three holes to relieve hunger.' On 20 Jan. 1867, near Lisunga, a serious disaster occurred in the desertion of two Wa-yao porters with their loads, one of which contained the medicine-chest with all the drugs, and Livingstone was left in the heart of Africa at a very unhealthy time of year, when he was daily drenched with heavy rains, without medicines. His despondency was so great on this occasion that he wrote in the diary, 'Felt as if I had received my death-sentence.' On 28 Jan. he crossed the Tshambezi or Chambeza, which flows into Lake Bangweolo, and travelled through a country which he describes as dripping forests and oozing bogs,' and on 31 Jan. arrived at Tshitapangwa, the town of the chief of the Ba-bemba. Thence he sent letters by a party of Swahili slave-traders, which reached England safely, and he was able to order stores and medicine to meet him at Ujiji. After three weeks' stay he continued his journey, entering the Ulunga country on 10 March ill with fever and scarcely able to keep up with his people, and on 1 April came in sight of Tanganyika lake. Here, at Pambete, near Niamkolo, at the south end of the lake, he spent a fortnight, too ill to move, with fits of insensibility and temporary paralysis in his limbs. Going westwards, he crossed a high range of mountains and descended into the valley of the Lofu, where a party of Arabs received him with kindness. He was detained in the Lofu, at Tshitimbwa's town, for over three months by a war in Itawa. He made the acquaintance of an Arab named Hamidi bin Muhammad, better known later by his nickname, Tippoo Tib. The delay gave Livingstone much-needed rest, and he obtained a great deal of valuable information from the Arabs. When the war was over he started, on 22 Sept., in the wake of a large Arab caravan, and passed through the country of Itawa without any trouble, making for Lake Moero, which he reached on 8 Nov., his health having again broken down on the way. From the north-east shores of Moero he turned south and entered the country of the chief Kazembe, a tyrant who lopped off the ears and hands of his people for very trivial offences. The land was fertile and there was abundance of food. Livingstone remained a month, and on 22 Dec. paid another visit to Lake Moero, exploring the eastern shores. He then rejoined the Arabs, and stayed for some time in their settlement at Kabwabwata. On 16 April 1868 he started with only five attendants, the rest having deserted, for Lake Bangweolo, passing through Kazembe's country, where he remained some weeks. He discovered the lake on 18 July, and while he was exploring the northern end his Arab friends engaged in hostilities with Kazembe's people, by whom Livingstone was nearly killed on account of his relation with the Arabs. He finally got safely out of Kazembe's country, and joining the Arabs, re-entered Itawa towards the end of October. He remained some time at Kabwabwata nursing himself through an attack of fever, and speculating whether lakes Moero and Bangweolo were the real sources of the Nile. Early in 1869 he started with the Arabs for Ujiji, but his health was extremely bad. On 14 Feb. he arrived on the west shore of Tanganyika, and obtaining canoes from an Arab, coasted the lake towards the north, struck across to the east side, and on to Ujiji, where he arrived on 14 March 1869. Here he found that the stores sent to meet him had mostly been stolen, and he had to send for more. He rested for some months, and on 12 July he started for the cannibal country of Manyema, to the west of the lake, to find the Lualaba river. He joined a party of Arabs and Swahilis and passed through the Guha and Bambare countries north-westward to the village of Moenekus, where he remained until 5 Nov., resting, and endeavouring to recover his health, in which he was partially successful. In company with the Arabs he travelled as far north as the Binanga Hills (about 3° 30’ S. lat.) He then turned south again, and after more than a year's wandering he finally reached the banks of the Lualaba at Nyangwe on 1 March 1871. He remained there in ill health, and vainly endeavouring to get canoes until the middle of July, when an atrocious massacre of Manyema women by the Swahilis, arising out of a trivial quarrel, took place, and though through Livingstone's intervention a sort of peace was patched up, he was too horrified at the crimes of the Arab slave-raiders to travel under their escort, and on