Religion & morality > David Livingstone

278 Dr. Livingstone.
water. On two rocky islands men till the land, rear
goats, and catch fish; the villagers ashore are em¬
bowered in the palm-oil palms of the West Coast of
Africa. Four considerable streams flow into Liemba,
and a number of brooks, from 12 to 15 feet broad,
leap down the steep rocks and form splendid cascades,
that made the dullest of my attendants pause and
remark with wonder.”
The next letter received from Livingstone was
written from Ujiji, and dated May, 30th 1869. It
was by no means a cheerful one. The doctor stated
that his stores had been plundered, and he was sadly
in want of men and supplies. The Arab traders who
were interested in the slave trade were anxious to
thwart him, and no one would take charge of his letters.
He had written thirty-four letters, all of which had
been lost. While waiting for help he intended ex¬
ploring a country said to be inhabited by cannibals,
called Manyema, and the lakes to the west of Tan¬
ganyika. On the receipt of this letter, the President
of the Royal Geographical Society at once petitioned
Government to grant aid to the great traveller in his
sore need. A sum of ^Ci,ooo was readily furnished,
and it was arranged to supply Livingstone with fresh
stores and men, by parties of natives sent by the
consul of Zanzibar to the interior. At the beginning
of the year 1872 it became known that this method
of relief had failed, and as more than two years had
passed since a scrap of writing from Livingstone had
reached the coast, although he was believed to be but
a few hundred miles in the interior, grave fears were