Mr. Cumming’s first successful encounter with elephants was one of the most exciting of all. It is thus related:

“Having followed the spoor for a short distance, old Mutchuisho became extremely excited, and told me that we were close to the elephants. Two or three men quickly ascended the tallest trees that stood near us, but they could not see the elephants. Mutchuisho then extended men to the right and left, while we continued on the spoor.

“In a few minutes one of those who had gone off to our left came running breathless to say that he had seen the mighty game. I halted for a minute, and instructed Issac, who carried the big Dutch rifle, to act independently of me, while Kleinboy was to assist me in the chase. I bared my arms to the shoulder, and, having imbibed a draught of aqua pura from the calabash of one of the spoorers, I grasped my trusty two-grooved rifle, and told my guide to go ahead. We proceeded silently as might be for a few hundred yards, following the guide, when he suddenly pointed, exclaiming, ‘Klow!’ and before us stood a herd of mighty bull elephants, packed together beneath a shady grove about a hundred and fifty yards in advance. I rode slowly toward them, and, as soon as they observed me, they made a loud rumbling noise, and, tossing their trunks, wheeled right about and made off in one direction, crashing through the forest and leaving a cloud of dust behind them. I was accompanied by a detachment of my dogs, who assisted me in the pursuit.

“The distance I had come, and the difficulties I had undergone to behold these elephants, rose fresh before me. I determined that on this occasion at least I would do my duty, and, dashing my spurs into Sundays’ ribs, I was very soon much too close in their rear for safety. The elephants now made an inclination to my left, whereby I obtained a good view of the ivory. The herd consisted of six bulls; four of them were full-grown, first-rate elephants; the other two were fine fellows, but had not yet arrived at perfect stature. Of the four old fellows, two had much finer tusks than the rest, and for a few seconds I was undecided which of these two I would follow; when, suddenly, the one which I fancied had the stoutest tusks broke from his comrades, and I at once felt convinced that he was the patriarch of the herd, and followed him accordingly. Cantering alongside, I was about to fire, when he instantly turned, and, uttering a trumpet so strong and shrill that the earth seemed to vibrate beneath my feet, he charged furiously after me for several hundred yards in a direct line, not altering his course in the slightest degree for the trees of the forest, which he snapped and overthrew like reeds in his headlong career.

“When he pulled up in his charge, I likewise halted and as he slowly turned to retreat, I let fly at his shoulder, ‘Sunday’ capering and prancing, and giving me much trouble. On receiving the ball the elephant shrugged his shoulder, and made off at a free majestic walk. This shot brought several of the dogs to my assistance which had been following the other elephants, and on their coming up and barking another headlong charge was the result, accompanied by the never-failing trumpet as before. In his charge he passed close to me, when I saluted him with a second bullet in the shoulder, of which he did not take the slightest notice. I now determined not to fire again until I could make a steady shot; but, although the elephant turned repeatedly, ‘Sunday’ invariably disappointed me, capering so that it was impossible to fire. At length, exasperated, I became reckless of the danger, and, springing from the saddle, approached the elephant under cover of a tree, and gave him a bullet in the side of the head, when, trumpeting so shrilly that the forest trembled, he charged among the dogs, from whom he seemed to fancy that the blow had come; after which he took up a position in a grove of thorns, with his head toward me. I walked up very near, and, as he was in the act of charging (being in those days under wrong impressions as to the impracticability of bringing down an elephant with a shot in the forehead), stood coolly in his path until he was within fifteen paces of me, and let drive, at the hollow of his forehead, in the vain expectation that by so doing I should end his career. The shot only served to increase his fury—an effect which, I had remarked, shots in the head invariably produced; and, continuing his charge with incredible quickness and impetuosity, he all but terminated my elephant-hunting forever. A large party of the Bechuanas who had come up yelled out simultaneously, imagining I was killed, for the elephant was at one moment almost on the top of me; I, however, escaped by my activity, and by dodging round the bushy trees.

“The elephant held on through the forest at a sweeping pace; but he was hardly out of sight when I was loaded and in the saddle, and soon once more alongside. He kept crashing along at a steady pace, with blood streaming from his wounds. It was long before I again fired, for I was afraid to dismount, and ‘Sunday’ was extremely troublesome. At length I fired sharp right and left from the saddle: he got both balls behind the shoulder, and made a long charge after me, rumbling and trumpeting as before. The whole body of the Bamangwato men had now come up, and were following a short distance behind me. Among these was Mollyeon, who volunteered to help; and being a very swift and active fellow, he rendered me important service by holding my fidgety horse’s head while I fired and loaded. I then fired six broadsides from the saddle, the elephant charging almost every time, and pursuing us back to the main body in our rear, who fled in all directions as he approached.

“The sun had now sunk behind the tops of the trees; it would very soon be dark, and the elephant did not seem much distressed, notwithstanding all he had received. I recollected that my time was short, and therefore at once resolved to fire no more from the saddle, but to go close up to him and fire on foot. Riding up to him, I dismounted and, approaching very near, I gave it him right and left in the side of the head, upon which he made a long and determined charge after me; but I was now very reckless of his charges, for I saw that he could not overtake me, and in a twinkling I was loaded, and, again approaching, fired sharp right and left behind his shoulder. Again he charged with a terrific trumpet, which sent ‘Sunday’ flying through the forest. This was his last charge. The wounds which he had received began to tell on his constitution, and he now stood at bay beside a thorny tree, with the dogs barking around him. These, refreshed by the evening breeze, and perceiving that it was nearly over with the elephant, had once more come to my assistance. Having loaded, I drew near and fired right and left at his forehead. On receiving these shots, instead of charging, he tossed his trunk up and down, and by various sounds and motions, most gratifying to the hungry natives, evinced that his demise was near. Again I loaded and fired my last shot behind his shoulder: on receiving it, he turned round the bushy tree beside which he stood, and I ran round to give the other barrel, but the mighty old monarch of the forest needed no more; before I could clear the bushy tree he fell heavily on his side, and his spirit had fled.”

Such is a specimen of the “sport” which the wilds of Africa offer to the ambitious hunter. That it is in some respects rather serious sport may be imagined from the description as well as from Mr. Cumming’s statement of his losses during his four expeditions into the interior. These were forty-five horses and seventy head of cattle, the value being at least $3,000. “I also,” he says, “lost about seventy of my dogs,” which would convey the idea of a considerable kennel, the dogs all told. But he usually had only about thirty at a time. Many were killed by lions, while elephants made way with a still larger number.

The expeditions of Mr. Du Chaillu, an American naturalist, in Equatorial Africa, were more valuable to the cause of science than those of Mr. Cumming in South Africa, and scarcely less interesting as the explorations of a hunter. Like Cumming, he was a highly successful hunter, and he was also much more—a student of natural history imbued with a love of science and having a genius for it. As Mr. Cumming’s starting point was the extreme of South Africa, under English domination, Mr. Du Chaillu had his headquarters beneath the equator on the west coast, and under the immediate eyesight, so to speak, of the American Presbyterian Mission for the Gaboon country. Mr. Du Chaillu afterwards established his home in the Camma country, and building himself a little village of huts near the junction of the N’poulounay and Fernand Vas rivers, and not far from the coast, named it “Washington.” From the Gaboon and then from this African “city of Washington,” this celebrated traveller made several explorations of the interior, much of the time among idolatrous and cannibal tribes. Enduring many hardships, overcoming many almost insurmountable difficulties, he not only gave to the world an extremely interesting account of hunting expeditions but a description of the singular people and wonderful country he was the first white man to visit which forms a valued acquisition to the stock of geographical and scientific knowledge.[7]

Whilst he was very successful in procuring specimens of most of the animals and birds in equatorial Africa to a distance of several hundred miles from the coast, he devoted special attention to hunting the ape, and was more successful in killing the species commonly known as the gorilla than any one else of Christendom has ever been. The greater difficulty of hunting the animal considered, he was as successful with the gorilla as Mr. Cumming had been with the elephant.

The troglodytes gorilla, or great chimpanzee of the equatorial region of West Africa has long been the most dreaded, perhaps, of all the wild beasts of that continent. And it is probably true that in unmixed ferocity when assailed he does not have his equal. The nature of this fierce animal—much like man in some particulars of physical formation, totally dissimilar in all other respects—may be learned from an instance or two of Mr. Du Chaillu’s hunting him. The account of his killing his “first gorilla” is as follows:

“We started early and pushed for the most dense and impenetrable part of the forest (this was in the country of the Fan negroes, cannibals, a little more than one degree north of the equator and something less than two hundred miles east of the mouth of the Gaboon river), in hopes to find the very home of the beast I so much wished to shoot. Hour after hour we travelled, and yet no signs of gorilla. Only the everlasting little chattering monkeys—and not many of these—and occasional birds. In fact, the forests of this part of Africa are not so full of life as in some other parts to the south.

“Suddenly Miengai uttered a little cluck with his tongue, which is the native’s way of showing that something is stirring, and that a sharp look-out is necessary. And presently I noticed, ahead of us seemingly, a noise as of some one breaking down branches or twigs of trees. This was the gorilla, I knew at once, by the eager and satisfied looks of the men. They looked once more carefully at their guns, to see if by any chance the powder had fallen out of the pans; I also examined mine, to make sure that all were right; and then we marched on cautiously. The singular noise of the breaking of tree-branches continued. We walked with the greatest care, making no noise at all. The countenances of the men showed that they thought themselves engaged in a very serious undertaking; but we pushed on, until finally we thought we saw through the thick woods the moving of the branches and small trees which the great beast was tearing down, probably to get from them the berries and fruits he lives on.

“Suddenly, as we were yet creeping along, in a silence which made a heavy breath seem loud and distinct, the woods were at once filled with the tremendous barking roar of the gorilla. Then the under-brush swayed rapidly just ahead, and presently before us stood an immense male gorilla. He had gone through the jungle on his all fours; but when he saw our party he erected himself and looked us boldly in the face. He stood about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight I think never to forget. Nearly six feet high (he proved two inches shorter), with immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with fiercely-glaring large deep gray eyes, and a hellish expression of face, which seemed to me like some nightmare vision: thus stood before us this king of the African forests.

“He was not afraid of us. He stood there, and beat his breast with his huge fists till it resounded like an immense bass-drum, which is their mode of offering defiance; meantime giving vent to roar after roar.

“The roar of the gorilla is the most singular and awful noise heard in these African woods. It begins with a sharp bark, like an angry dog, then glides into a deep bass roll, which literally and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder along the sky, for which I have sometimes been tempted to take it where I did not see the animal. So deep is it that it seems to proceed less from the mouth and throat than from the deep chest and vast paunch.

“His eyes began to flash fiercer fire as we stood motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair which stands on his forehead began to twitch rapidly up and down, while his powerful fangs were shown as he again sent forth a thunderous roar. And now truly he reminded me of nothing but some hellish dream creature—a being of that hideous order, half man half beast, which we find pictured by old artists in some representations of the infernal regions. He advanced a few steps—then stopped to utter that hideous roar again—advanced again, and finally stopped when at a distance of about six yards from us. And here, as he began another of his roars and beating his breast in rage, we fired, and killed him.

“With a groan which had something terribly human in it, and yet was full of brutishness, it fell forward on its face. The body shook convulsively for a few minutes, the limbs moved about in a struggling way and then all was quiet—death had done its work, and I had leisure to examine the huge body. It proved to be five feet eight inches high, and the muscular development of the arms and breast showed what immense strength it had possessed.

“My men, though rejoicing at our luck, immediately began to quarrel about the apportionment of the meat—for they really eat this creature. I saw that we should come to blows presently if I did not interfere, and therefore said I should give each man his share, which satisfied all. As we were too tired to return to our camp of last night, we determined to camp here on the spot, and accordingly soon had some shelters erected and dinner going on. Luckily, one of the fellows shot a deer just as we began to camp, and on its meat I feasted while my men ate gorilla.”

Another hunt resulted fatally to one of the natives. It is thus related:

“The next day we went on a gorilla-hunt. All the olako was busy on the evening of my arrival with preparations; and as meat was scarce, everybody had joyful anticipations of hunger satisfied and plenty in the camp. Little did we guess what frightful death was to befall one of our number before the next sunset.

“I gave powder to the whole party. Six were to go off in one direction for bush-deer, and whatever luck might send them, and six others, of whom I was one, were to hunt for gorilla. We set off toward a dark valley, where Gambo, Igoumba’s son, said we should find our prey. The gorilla chooses the darkest, gloomiest forests for its home, and is found on the edges of the clearings only when in search of plantains, or sugar-cane, or pine-apple. Often they choose for their peculiar haunt a piece of wood so dark that even at midday one can scarce see ten yards. This makes it the more necessary to wait till the monstrous beast approaches near before shooting, in order that the first shot may be fatal. It does not often let the hunter reload.

“Our little party separated, as is the custom, to stalk the wood in various directions. Gambo and I kept together. One brave fellow went off alone in a direction where he thought he could find a gorilla. The other three took another course. We had been about an hour separated when Gambo and I heard a gun fired but little way from us, and presently another. We were already on our way to the spot where we hoped to see a gorilla slain, when the forest began to resound with the most terrific roars. Gambo seized my arms in great agitation, and we hurried on, both filled with a dreadful and sickening fear. We had not gone far when our worst fears were realized. The poor brave fellow who had gone off alone was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, and I thought at first quite dead. His bowels were protruding through the lacerated abdomen. Beside him lay his gun. The stock was broken, and the barrel was bent and flattened. It bore plainly the marks of the gorilla’s teeth.

“We picked him up, and I dressed his wounds as well as I could with rags torn from my clothes. When I had given him a little brandy to drink he came to himself, and was able, but with great difficulty, to speak. He said that he had met the gorilla suddenly and face to face, and that it had not attempted to escape. It was, he said, a huge male, and seemed very savage. It was in a very gloomy part of the wood, and the darkness, I suppose, made him miss. He said he took good aim, and fired when the beast was only about eight yards off. The ball merely wounded it in the side. It at once began beating its breasts, and with the greatest rage advanced upon him.

“To run away was impossible. He would have been caught in the jungle before he had gone a dozen steps. He stood his ground, and as quickly as he could reloaded his gun. Just as he raised it to fire the gorilla dashed it out of his hands, the gun going off in the fall, and then in an instant, and with a terrible roar, the animal gave him a tremendous blow with its immense paw, frightfully lacerating the abdomen, and with this single blow laying bare part of the intestines. As he sank, bleeding, to the ground, the monster seized the gun, and the poor hunter thought he would have his brains dashed out with it. But the gorilla seemed to have looked upon this also as an enemy, and in his rage flattened the barrel between his strong jaws.

“When we came upon the ground the gorilla was gone. This is their mode when attacked—to strike one or two blows, and then leave the victims of their rage on the ground and go off into the woods.”

During his explorations in equatorial Africa, Du Chaillu discovered two new species of ape—Troglodytes calvus and T. Koola-Kamba—and also a number of other mamalians, birds, serpents, and reptiles, before unknown to naturalists.

Contrary to a somewhat prevalent belief, many diseases prevail among wild animals. “The free life of nature” is subject to woes, and needs the physician’s aid, after all. “I have seen,” says Dr. Livingstone, “the gnu, kama or hartebeest, the tressebe, kukama, and the giraffe, so mangy as to be uneatable even by the natives. Great numbers also of zebras are found dead with masses of foam at the nostrils, exactly as occurs in the common ‘horse-sickness.’ I once found a buffalo blind from ophthalmia standing by the fountain Otse. The rhinoceros has often worms on the conjunction of his eyes. All the wild animals are subject to intestinal worms besides. The zebra, giraffe, eland and kukuma have been seen mere skeletons from decay of their teeth as well as from disease. The carnivera, too, become diseased and mangy; lions become lean and perish miserably by reason of the decay of their teeth.” Cumming also speaks of seeing extensive plains thickly covered with the bones of wild animals which had died of disease.

As a rule, however, the animals are healthy. Their variety and vast numbers are beyond calculation. In a single day, Cumming saw the fresh spoor of about twenty varieties of “large game” and most of the animals themselves. These included elephant, black and white rhinoceros, hippopotamus, camelopard, buffalo, blue wildebeest, zebra, water-buck, sassayby, koodoo, pallah, springbok, serolomootlooque, wild boar, duiker, steinbok, lion, leopard. This is the habitat also of keilton, eland, oryx, roan antelope, sable antelope, hartebeest, klipspringer, grys steinbuck, and reitbuck. A little farther on he thus speaks of the game he saw while taking breakfast:

“We resumed our march at daybreak on the 28th and held on through boundless open plains. As we advanced, game became more and more abundant. In about two hours we reached a fine fountain, beside which was a small cover of trees and bushes, which afforded an abundant supply of fire-wood. Here we outspanned for breakfast: it was a fine cool morning, with a pleasant breeze. The country was thickly covered with immense herds of game, consisting of zebra, wildebeest, blesbok, and springbok. There could not have been less than five or six thousand head of game in sight of me as I sat at breakfast. Presently the whole of this game began to take alarm. Herd joined herd, and took away up the wind; and in a few minutes other vast herds came pouring on up the wind, covering the whole breadth of the plain with a living mass of noble game.”

And again:

“When the sun rose next morning I took coffee, and then rode west with two after-riders, in the hope of getting some blesbok shooting. I found the boundless undulating plains thickly covered with game, thousands upon thousands checkering the landscape far as the eye could strain in every direction. The blesboks, which I was most desirous to obtain, were extremely wary, and kept pouring on, on up the wind in long continued streams of thousands, so swift and shy that it was impossible to get within six hundred yards of them, or even by any stratagem to waylay them, so boundless was the ground, and so cunningly did they avoid crossing our track.”

It might thus appear that if there is a sportsman’s paradise anywhere it is Africa.

Perhaps it would not be too much to say that about all the birds known to ornithology, and many yet unknown in the books upon that science are to be found in Africa. The ostrich, the largest of birds, is found only in Africa. It sometimes attains the height of eight feet. It is swift of foot, its cry is much like the roar of the lion, and its appearance at a distance is very stately; but it is extremely stupid. Its feathers have long been highly valued in commerce. Another most remarkable bird, peculiar to Africa, is the secretary. This is a bird of prey, feeding solely on serpents, which it pursues on foot and destroys in great numbers. It has been described as “an eagle, mounted on the long, naked legs of a crane.” Waterfowl of all kinds abound, and there are wild geese which have brilliant and variegated plumage. The most of the forests of South Africa are alive with countless numbers of an almost endless variety of birds, but in the equatorial regions they are much less numerous, though there are many of those varieties which are characterized by bright, gorgeous plumage.

“Snake stories” are proverbially tinged with the colors of the imagination; but the serpents and reptiles of Africa are no jesting topic to the inhabitants. Many of the serpents are particularly venomous. Dr. Livingstone states that the picakholu is so copiously supplied with poison, that “when a number of dogs attack it, the first bitten dies almost instantaneously, the second in about five minutes, the third in an hour or so, while the fourth may live several hours.” The puff adder and several vipers are very dangerous. There is one which “utters a cry by night exactly like the bleating of a kid. It is supposed by the natives to lure travellers to itself by this bleating.” Several varieties, when alarmed, emit a peculiar odor, by which their presence is made known. The deadly cobra exists in several colors or varieties. There are various species of tree-climbing serpents, which appear to have the power of fascination. This belief of Dr. Livingstone in the fascinating power of some serpents is also entertained by Mr. Du Chaillu, and avowed as correct by the eminent naturalist, Dr. Andrew Smith in his “Reptilia.” The eminent hunter of the gorilla says the presence of serpents in Africa is a “great blessing to the country. They destroy great numbers of rats and mice, and other of the smaller quadrupeds which injure the native provisions; and it is but just to say they are peacefully inclined, and never attack man unless trodden on. They are glad enough to get out of the way; and the most feared snake I saw in Africa (the Echidna nasicornis) was one which is very slow in its movements, from which cause it happens that it oftener bites people than others, being unable to get out of the way quickly. Though serpents abound in all parts of the country, I have travelled a month at a time without seeing one.” The natives, though bare legged, are rarely bitten. There are several species of boa, which attain great size and weight. The variety known as the natal rock python, which is often seen in interior south Africa, though entirely without venom, like other boas, is very destructive of birds and animals. “They are perfectly harmless,” says Dr. Livingstone, “and live on small animals, chiefly the rodentia; occasionally the steinbuck and pallah fall victims, and are sucked into its comparatively small mouth in boa-constrictor fashion. The flesh is much relished by Bakalahari and Bushmen. They carry away each his portion, like logs of wood, over their shoulders.” Cumming killed one of these boas measuring fourteen feet in length. They have been known to measure nearly thirty feet in length, and to capture and swallow half-grown cattle. The Caffre of South Africa is very skilful in slaying the python with his spear. He is thus often pinned to the earth by a single throw and dispatched at leisure; then cut up into snake-logs and carried off for food.

Among the innumerable insects of Africa—the fatal tsetse fly and the devastating locust have already been mentioned—the most interesting, perhaps, is the ant. It exists in great variety and prodigious numbers. There are countless ant-hills in different parts of Africa, which are larger than a majority of the individual homes of the natives of the southern and central portions of the continent. Human works, to be of the same relative size as these homes of insects would tower five or six times above the pyramids of Egypt, and would require a base correspondingly large. Among themselves in Africa some of the species are warriors and cannibals; they fight their enemies and eat the vanquished. Other species are exceedingly destructive of the timbers of houses, eating out the insides and leaving useless shells. Others consume vast quantities of decaying animal matter, and still others the decaying vegetation, including great trees, of the tropics. Many are exceedingly fierce in nature. Among these is the bashikouay ant of equatorial Africa. It is, perhaps, relatively the most voracious of all living things, and the most destructive. Unlike other large-sized ants it does not build houses, but excavates holes in the earth for place of retreat during storms. Its nature and habits are fully described by Du Chaillu:

“This ant is very abundant in the whole region I have travelled over in Africa. It is the dread of all living animals from the leopard to the smallest insect. It is their habit to march through the forests in a long regular line—a line about two inches broad and often several miles in length. All along this line are larger ants, who act as officers, stand outside the ranks, and keep this singular army in order. If they come to a place where there are no trees to shelter them from the sun, whose heat they can not bear, they immediately build underground tunnels, through which the whole army passes in columns to the forest beyond. These tunnels are four or five feet underground, and are used only in the heat of the day or during a storm.

“When they get hungry the long file spreads itself through the forest in a front line, and attacks and devours all it comes to with a fury which is quite irresistible. The elephant and gorilla fly before this attack. The black men run for their lives. Every animal that lives in their line of march is chased. They seem to understand and act upon the tactics of Napoleon, and concentrate, with great speed, their heaviest forces upon the point of attack. In an incredibly short space of time the mouse, or dog, or leopard, or deer is overwhelmed, killed, eaten, and the bare skeleton only remains.

“They seem to travel night and day. Many a time have I been awakened out of a sleep, and obliged to rush from the hut and into the water to save my life, and after all suffered intolerable agony from the bites of the advance-guard, who had got into my clothes. When they enter a house they clear it of all living things. Roaches are devoured in an instant. Rats and mice spring round the room in vain. An overwhelming force of ants kills a strong rat in less than a minute, in spite of the most frantic struggles, and in less than another minute its bones are stripped. Every living thing in the house is devoured. They will not touch vegetable matter. Thus they are in reality very useful (as well as dangerous) to the negroes, who have their huts cleaned of all the abounding vermin, such as immense roaches and centipedes at least several times a year.

“When on their march the insect world flies before them, and I have often had the approach of a bashikouay army heralded to me by this means. Wherever they go they make a clean sweep, even ascending to the tops of the highest trees in pursuit of their prey. Their manner of attack is an impetuous leap. Instantly the strong pincers are fastened, and they only let go when the piece gives away. At such times this little animal seems animated by a kind of fury which causes it to disregard entirely its own safety and to seek only the conquest of its prey. The bite is very painful.

“The negroes relate that criminals were in former times exposed in the path of the bashikouay ants, as the most cruel manner of putting to death.

“Two very remarkable practices of theirs remain to be related. When, on their line of march, they must cross a stream, they throw themselves across and form a tunnel—a living tunnel—connecting two trees or high bushes on opposite sides of the little stream. This is done with great speed, and is effected by a great number of ants, each of which clings with its fore claws to its next neighbor’s body or hind claws. Thus they form a high, safe tubular bridge, through which the whole vast regiment marches in regular order. If disturbed, or if the arch is broken by the violence of some animal, they instantly attack the offender with the greatest animosity.

“The bashikouay have the sense of smell finely developed, as indeed have all the ants I know of, and they are guided very much by it. They are larger than any ant we have in America, being at least half an inch long, and are armed with very powerful fore legs and sharp jaws, with which they bite. They are red or dark-brown in color. Their numbers are so great that one does not like to enter into calculations; but I have seen one continual line passing at good speed a particular place for twelve hours. The reader may imagine for himself how many millions on millions there may have been contained here.”

And yet the ants of Africa are the chief agents employed in forming a fertile soil. “But for their labors,” remarks Dr. Livingstone, “the tropical forests, bad as they now are with fallen trees, would be a thousand times worse. They would be impassible on account of the heaps of dead vegetation lying on the surface, and emitting worse effluvia than the comparatively small unburied collections do now. When one looks at the wonderful adaptations throughout creation, and the varied operations carried on with such wisdom and skill, the idea of second causes looks clumsy. We are viewing the direct handiwork of Him who is the one and only Power in the universe; wonderful in counsel; in whom we all live, and move and have our being.”

There are vast numbers of annoying insects in all portions of the continent, which in this respect, perhaps, is neither better nor worse than other parts of the world, where little annoyances make up the great sum of human misery. It is only one of many proofs that Africa is the region of contrasts, that the greatest animals flee from a little insect, the life of scores of whom might be stamped out by a single footstep, yet the aggregate labors of which preserve the continent from desolation and decay.

CHAPTER XV.
LIVINGSTONE’S LAST JOURNEY AND DEATH.

It will be recollected that Stanley bade Dr. Livingstone farewell on the 14th of March, 1872, at Kwihara, and that, on his arrival at Zanzibar, he sent back to Dr. Livingstone the men and means he had expressed a wish for.

From some unexplained cause, this party of recruits, with their stores, was exceedingly slow in reaching Dr. Livingstone. According to the account given Mr. Stanley by Dr. Livingstone’s body-servant, Jacob Wainwright, after the funeral, in London, “The Doctor expressed great joy, when he at last saw the caravan of freemen for which he had been anxiously waiting, before the resumption of his explorations.” After allowing them a few days’ rest at Unyanyembe, Dr. Livingstone and his party started on his last exploring journey. They traveled southwest by way of Kasagera and Kigandu to Kisera, a district ruled by King Simba. Here the Doctor had a relapse of his old malady, the Chronic Dysentery, which so weakened him that he was compelled to take to riding a donkey. He did not yet regard the attack as dangerous, and accordingly pursued his march, still southwestward, to Mpathwa, and thence into the valley of the Rungwa, where he found many boiling springs; thence he pressed on through Ufipa and Uemba (or Uremba), to Margunga. In the marshes of Uemba (or Uremba) one of their two donkeys died. Traveling along the Moungo, they reached the district called Kawendi, where a lion killed the remaining donkey. Thenceforward, the Doctor, getting daily weaker, had to be borne in a kitanda (a native bed resembling a hammock); he still refused to yield, but urged his party on till they came to the head-waters which empty themselves into Lake Bangweolo. Here they made use of Stanley’s boat, which they had carried a distance of eleven hundred miles. They crossed the Chambezi, and attempted to push their way along the southern shore to Lake Bangu, and toward the Fountains of Herodotus, reported to be at Katanga (Katanda?), where he hoped to pause and recruit his health. Perceiving, however, how rapidly he was growing weaker, he determined to hasten back to Unyanyembe, and accordingly at last turned his face northward; but on arriving at Kitumbo, he seemed suddenly to realize that his last hour was drawing near, and he tried to stop there, but the chief refused to permit it, and he was forced to proceed farther north toward Kibende. On their arrival at a small village in the district of Mullala, his tent was pitched, and he was placed therein. But, fearing the heat of the sun, he directed that a hut should be built for him “to die in.” This was done, and he was carefully removed to it. His last entry in his diary is dated April 27th, 1873, thirteen months and thirteen days after his parting from Mr. Stanley, and in that entry he records his extreme illness and his inability to proceed farther. After this, he seems to have resolutely prepared for the great journey of death.

The boy Majwara states that, during the intervals between the paroxysms of extreme pain, the doctor prayed constantly for his family, and frequently uttered the word “home!” After his being placed in his hut, Dr. Livingstone would permit no one to stay with him except Majwara, and occasionally Susi, though the rest each morning called and greeted him with the customary words “Yambo, bana!” (“Good-morning, master!”)

Majwara, on the last morning, made some tea for the Doctor and administered stimulants, which appeared to have no effect. At about midnight of May 1st, Dr. Livingstone quietly breathed his last.

The next morning, the faithful attendants held a consultation as to what was to be done with the remains. Their movements had to be kept very secret, because, if the fact of the death were discovered by the natives, there was reason to fear that their superstitions would lead them to prevent the removal of the corpse.

Fargalla, one of the men sent by Mr. Stanley, then disemboweled the body, and, after leaving the village a safe distance, they hung it in the sun for five days, to dry it thoroughly, after which they packed it carefully in bark.

These steps were taken with the view the better to carry out their determination of sending the body home to England. After the heart and intestines had been carefully removed a solemn funeral service was held, and they were committed to the earth, Jacob Wainwright officiating as leader in the religious ceremonies.

They then set out on their long journey to Unyanyembe, a journey which consumed six weary months, owing to repeated attempts of natives to bar their march, which necessitated much loss of time in pursuing circuitous routes.

Meanwhile, the fourth Search and Relief Expedition arrived at Zanzibar in February, 1873. This expedition was under the leadership of Lieutenants Murphy and Cameron and Dr. Dillon, and had been sent out by the Royal Geographical Society. Sir Bartle Frere was then at Zanzibar endeavoring to forward the efforts of the Government to suppress the slave trade, in response to the earnest representations of Dr. Livingstone. He rendered the expedition such aid as he could, and it proceeded to Unyanyembe, where it arrived in August. In October, a messenger brought in the sad news of Dr. Livingstone’s death. Dr. Dillon, who was sick, with Lieut. Murphy, soon after started to return from their expedition, but at Kasegera Dr. Dillon, under a temporary attack of insanity, committed suicide.

Leaving to the ensuing chapter the notes of the homeward voyage of the party who bore Dr. Livingstone’s remains to England, we cannot better close this chapter than by copying an interesting letter from Mr. Holmwood, the British Vice-Consul at Zanzibar, to Sir Bartle Frere, then the President of the Royal Geographical Society. We have already given the substance of the information, as detailed by Jacob Wainwright, but the letter is interesting enough to justify its insertion, notwithstanding the repetitions and occasional apparent discrepancies.

“Zanzibar, March 12, 1874.

“My Dear Sir Bartle—No doubt you will hear from several interested in Dr. Livingstone; but, as I do not feel sure that any one has thoroughly examined the men who came down with his remains, I briefly summarize what I have been able to glean from a careful cross-examination of Majwara, who was always at his side during his last days, and Susi, as well as the Nassick boys, have generally confirmed what he says. I inclose a small sketch-map, merely giving my idea of the locality, and have added a dotted line to show his route during this last journey of his life.

“The party sent by Stanley left Unyanyembe with the Doctor about the end of August, 1872, and marched straight to the south of Lake Tanganyika, through Ufipa, crossing the Rungwa River, where they met with natural springs of boiling water, bubbling up high above the ground. On reaching the Chambezi or Kambezi River, they crossed it about a week’s journey from Lake Bemba, also crossing a large feeder; but by Susi’s advice Livingstone again turned northward, and recrossed the Kambezi, or Luapula, as he then called it, just before it entered the lake.

“He could not, however, keep close to the north shore of Lake Bemba, owing to the numerous creeks and streams, which were hidden in forests of high grass and rushes. After making a detour, he again struck the lake, at a village where he got canoes across to an island in the centre, called Matipa. Here the shores on either hand were not visible, and the Doctor was put to great straits by the natives declining to let him use their canoes to cross to the opposite shore. He therefore seized seven canoes by force, and when the natives made a show of resistance he fired his pistol over their heads, after which they ceased to obstruct him. Crossing the lake diagonally, he arrived in a long valley; and the rains having now set in fully, the caravan had to wade rather than walk, constantly crossing blind streams, and, in fact, owing to the high rushes and grass, hardly being able to distinguish at times the land, or rather what was generally dry land, from the lake.

“Dr. Livingstone had been weak and ailing since leaving Unyanyembe; and when passing through the country of Ukabende, at the southwest of the lake, he told Majwara (the boy given him by Stanley, who is now in my service) that he felt unable to go on with his work, but should try and cross the hills to Katanga (Katanda?) and there rest, endeavoring to buy ivory, which in all this country is very cheap (three yards of merikani buying a slave or a tusk), and returning to Ujiji through Manuema to recruit and reorganize.

“But as he approached the northern part of Bisa (a very large country), arriving in the province of Ulala, he first had to take to riding a donkey, and then suffer himself to be carried on a kitanda (native bedstead), which at first went much against the grain. During this time he never allowed the boy Majwara to leave him, and he then told that faithful and honest fellow that he should never cross the high hills to Katanda. He called for Susi, and asked how far it was to the Luapula, and on his answering ‘three days’ remarked ‘he should never see his river again.’

“On arriving at Ilala, the capital of the district, where Kitambo the Sultan lived, the party were refused permission to stay, and they carried Livingstone three hours’ march back toward Kabende. Here they erected for him a rude hut and fence, and he would not allow any to approach him for the remaining days of his life except Majwara and Susi, except that every morning they were all desired to come to the door and say ‘Good-morning!’

“During these few days he was in great pain, and could keep nothing, even for a moment, on his stomach. He lost his sight so far as hardly to be able to distinguish when a light was kindled, and gradually sank during the night of the 4th of May, 1873. Only Majwara was present when he died, and he is unable to say when he ceased to breathe. Susi, hearing that he was dead, told Jacob Wainwright to make a note in the Doctor’s diary of the things found by him. Wainwright was not quite certain as to the day of the month; and as Susi told him the Doctor had last written the day before, and he found this entry to be dated 27th April, he wrote 28th April; but, on comparing his own diary on arrival at Unyanyembe, he found it to be the 4th of May; and this is confirmed by Majwara, who says Livingstone was unable to write for the last four or five days of his life. I fancy the spot where Livingstone died is about 11.25 degrees south and 27 degrees east; but, of course, the whole of this is subject to correction, and, although I have spent many hours in finding it all out, the Doctor’s diary may show it to be very imperfect.

“I fear you will find this a very unconnected narration, but my apology must be that the Consul-General is not well, and the other assistant absent on duty, and there is much work for me to do. Mr. Arthur Laing has been entrusted with the charge of the remains and diaries, which latter he has been instructed to hand to Lord Derby.

“Trusting that you are in the enjoyment of good health, and with great respect, believe me, dear Sir Bartle, your most obedient servant,

“Frederick Holmwood.

“To the Right Hon. Sir Bartle Frere, K. C. B., G. C. S. I., etc., President of the Royal Geographical Society.”