Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 2.djvu/355

Rh A letter from Livingstone himself, dated February, 1867, and received many months later, confirmed the facts brought out by Young: but, after the arrival of that, nothing but vague and unreliable rumors reached England. "We were again left in doubt as to the fate of the intrepid traveller. At last tidings came. A letter appeared in the Times of December 13, 1869, written by Dr. Livingstone to Dr. Kirk, at Zanzibar, and dated Ujiji, 30th May, 1869. After referring to the untrustworthiness of the Arab traders, both in taking charge of goods and carrying letters—which accounts, by-the-way, for his long silences—the doctor writes as follows:

This letter refers to his discoveries east and west of the southern extremity of Tanganyika, and the unvisited lake is Kamolondo. Comparing this with Livingstone's account of his earlier explorations, in recent letters which have reached us, it helps, it would seem, to establish their authenticity, regarding which some are skeptical.

Then we were startled by the following:

And so might others, if on consideration they could have persuaded themselves that, after hearing some native rumor, the thoughts in the Portuguese informant's mind had been unconnected with his wish! But time passes; and then we learn how a solitary American most