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EXPLORATION-AFRICA-LIVINGSTONE.

and afterwards as a spinner; but like many another Scotch lad he worked hard at his calling during the summer and in winter attended the college classes. Young Livingstone was as assiduous at Anderson's College, Glasgow, as he was industrious at the Blantyre mills. By the time he was sixteen years old he had a good knowledge of Horace and Virgil, and had read with avidity such books as Dr. Dick's Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of a Future State, besides dipping pretty intelligently into scientific works, and indeed any other books he could get hold of except novels, with which he had no concern. He had probably even then some idea of being a missionary, for soon afterwards he distinctly desired to prepare himself for becoming a pioneer of Christianity in China; with the hope that by teaching the true religion to the inhabitants of the far East he might lead to the material benefit of some portions of that great empire. As one step towards the fulfilment of his wish he commenced studying medicine, in which he ultimately attained some proficiency and passed the necessary examinations. At the same time, taking Patrick's Plants of Lanarkshire as a manual, he made some progress in botany, and explored both the botany and the geology of the district. At the age of nineteen he was attending the medical and the Greek winter classes in Glasgow, and the divinity lectures of Dr. Wardlaw in the summer; but he was still at work at the factory, where he placed his book on the "spinning- jenny" so that he could catch sentence after sentence while he went on with his labour, and keep up constant study undisturbed by the roar of machinery. In 1838 he offered his services to the London Missionary Society, on account, he said, of the unsectarian character of that institution, which "sends out neither Episcopacy nor Presbyteranism, but the gospel of God to the heathen." This early expression was perhaps as illustrative of the broad,simple character of Livingstone's religion as the remarkable reference which he long afterwards made to the deserted and ruined convents at Loanda, when he spoke of them as "decayed missionary establishments;" and they had justified the title, for he mentions it was

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"not an uncommon sight to see a black sitting in the evening, with his fire stick in one hand and a pen in the other, writing in a beautiful hand a petition to a commandant.” Having been accepted as a candidate for missionary work he was summoned to London to undergo the usual examinations before the directors of the society, and was then sent with other probationers to a training establishment at Chipping Ongar, in Essex, where he pursued his studies in languages, for which he showed remarkable aptitude. It was a simple life that he led during his probation before being ordained to the work that lay before him, and "the pale, thin, modest, retiring young man, with a peculiar Scotch accent," as one of his companions described him to be—was ready not only to learn but to labour, for we find him grinding the corn to make the brown-bread for the household, chopping the wood for the fires, and either alone or in company with one of his fellow probationers taking long walks of sixteen or eighteen miles. When once his natural reserve yielded to friendly advances he was found to be peculiarly frank, kindly, and helpful, and the variety of his early studies gave him many opportunities of showing practical fitness for the work of the pioneer, while his healthy religious freedom was equally in favour of his ability to carry the gospel to those who had never heard its message of liberty and peace. It was no longer to China that he directed his attention. "The opium war" and other occurrences had for a time interfered with missionary work in that country, and he had been already looking toward Africa, when, in 1840, just as he had passed into manhood, he was appointed to a South African station. For eight or nine years he laboured zealously at Kolobeng in the interior beyond the Orange River, while Robert Moffat was pursuing his arduous duty in the same region at Kuruman, then the most distant outpost of Christianity till Livingstone pushed onward two hundred miles further north. It was no wonder that these two men became cordially united in the work which they had so earnestly undertaken, and their friendship was consolidated by the marriage of the young missionary with Moffat's daughter,

who, with three native teachers, formed his sole staff from 1845 to 1849, when he united the work of the explorer to that of the teacher, and started in search of Lake Ngami, to which, in company of his wife, he made his "great journey" in 1852. In the ten years previous to 1855 he had led some independent expeditions into the interior of Southern Africa, and had become acquainted with the languages, habits, and religious notions of several savage tribes at that time unknown to Englishmen. He had twice crossed the African Continent a little south of the tropic of Capricorn, from the shores of the Indian Ocean to those of the Atlantic. In 1855 the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society was awarded to him for his services to science. There is no space in these pages to follow the details of his discoveries-nor is it necessary, since he published a full account of his travels in books which have been widely circulated and are still read with deep interest. Before his return to England in 1856 it was calculated that Livingstone must have passed over no less than 11,000 miles of land, for the most part untrodden by any European, and up to that time believed to be inaccessible. He returned, as his friend and admirer, Sir Roderick Murchison, said, "as the pioneer of sound knowledge who,by his astronomical observations,had determined the sites of various places, hills, rivers, and lakes, hitherto nearly unknown, while he had seized upon every opportunity of describing the physical features, climatology, and even geological structure of the countries which he had explored, and pointed out many new sources of commerce as yet unknown to the scope and enterprise of the British merchant." Lord Ellesmere too spoke of the scientific precision with which the unarmed and unassisted English missionary had left his mark upon so many important stations in regions hitherto blank upon our maps. In a letter to the Times Livingstone strongly recommended the encouragement of the growth of cotton in the interior of Africa, as one of the means of opening up commercial intercourse between this country and the tribes of Central and Southern Africa, and of gradually but certainly and finally suppressing the slave

trade and advancing human progress and civilization.

But Livingstone was preparing for further researches. Supported by encouragement and practical aid both from our own and from the Portuguese government, with personal expressions of sincere interest from the queen and Prince Albert, and after the public recognition of his services at a banquet at the London Tavern, and the subscription of a Livingstone testimonial fund by the leading merchants, bankers, and citizens of London, he set out with the other members of his expedition to the eastern coast of Africa, where the Zambesi falls into the ocean. Here two small steamers were placed at their disposal and they ascended the river to the interior. The results of the explorations were the discovery of the minor lakes, Nyassa and Shirwa, and after traversing a great extent of country 300 miles to the north-west of Nyassa, the finding of the mouths of the Zambesi, and exploring the immense surrounding territory. The premature attempt of the mission afterwards sent out, chiefly by Oxford and Cambridge, to establish a station on the banks of the river, failed; first, by the death of Bishop Mackenzie, who fell a victim to the climate, and afterwards by the hopelessness of the endeavour and the necessity for its abandonment by Mackenzie's successor-Bishop Tozer --but the discoveries were made, and the country is no longer a terra incognita. The reader who would learn the particulars of Livingstone's researches on this expedition may find them in the explorer's own "narrative" of the discovery of a large tract of fertile soil, rich in cotton, tobacco, and timber, though subject to periodical drought; and of the establishment of an excellent port, the capacities of which had been overlooked by previous travellers. Some of his conclusions have been disputed by other writers, but the enormous value of his discoveries could not be denied In this expedition, which had been prepared by members of the Geographical Society, and in which he was assisted by the advice of Captain Washington, hydrographer to the admiralty, Commander Bedingsfield, R.N., Dr. Kirk of Edinburgh, Mr. Baines the African

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A CROWNING TESTIMONIAL.

and Australian traveller, and by his everfaithful friend and companion, his devoted wife, he was enabled, to use the expression of Sir R. Murchison, "to reach the high watersheds that lie between his own Nyassa and the Tanganyika of Burton and Speke, and to establish the fact that those lakes did not communicate with each other; and that, if so, then there was, to say the least, a high probability that the Tanganyika, if it did not empty itself to the west, through the region of Congo, must find an exit for its waters northwards by way of the Nile."

Many of the particulars of this slight sketch of Livingstone's explorations appeared in the Times of January 28th, 1874, in a sad obituary notice. But to the shadowed page recording his death we may again have to turn. It is sufficient here to state that, in 1865, he left England for the third and last of his journeys to Central Africa; where, under the auspices of the Geographical Society, he was to seek a solution of the old mystery-the real sources of the Nile. It will not be out of place to recall two or three simple incidents among the honours and congratulations that welcomed the missionary explorer during his stay in England in 1857-58.

The city of Glasgow made him free of its time-honoured guild; the burghers of Hamilton, his birthplace, were proud to present to him the freedom of their busy town; and the manager and people of the Blantyre works, where he wrought as a piecer-boy, were only too happy to meet and entertain him. Congratulatory addresses poured in upon him from all quarters, and he received invitations out of number to attend public meetings, to be got up especially to honour him; but none of these attentions were so affecting and significant as the spontaneous offering of the boys of the Stockport Ragged School, and the manner in which it was received and responded to. Here are the letters which explain the simple occurrence.

Wycliffe Villa,

Stockport, January, 1857. My dear Sir, I think it will give you pleasure to receive the inclosed thirty postage stamps. Mr. Jackson, the master of our

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Stockport Ragged Industrial, told his pupils of your journeys and adventures, and the motives by which you were actuated. One of the lads said, "Let's give him some money!" and with one consent they resolved to do so, and immediately commenced a subscription. Some gave all their money, and others, who had no penny, sold their marbles to obtain it. If you could see the lads, and knew who and what they are, you would be as much astonished as myself, and you would admit the offering is not only spontaneous, but as munificent as the one presented you at the Mansion House.--Rejoicing in your honours as homage done to the cause of the Saviour, I am, dear sir, yours very respectfully,

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Mission House, Bloomfield Street,
London, 23d January, 1857.

My dear Sir, I beg you will assure the boys, who so generously expressed their approbation of my labours in Africa, that nothing has delighted me more since my return to England than their honest, spontaneous deed. I give them all my warmest thanks, from a heart overflowing with emotion, and wishing that God may abundantly bless them with His favour and love. I have very little time to write to any one, as I am engaged in the preparation of a narrative of my late explorations, and must keep my word with one hundred and ten poor native Africans, who accompanied me from the centre of the country to the east coast, and now await the fulfilment of my promise at Tette. I ought to be back to them in April, but I fear, after all I can do, I must be about two months later than my appointed time in April. Were it not for this, I should try and visit the boys and speak with them; but as this can scarcely be, I would just commend them all to the care of our blessed Lord Jesus, and ask them to try Him as their friend and guide through life. They may make Him their confidant, for He listens to every prayer wafted to Him from the lowliest bosom. "In Him we live, and move, and have our being;" and He is as tender and compassionate to every one of them, and knows all their cases and cares, as if they

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