n, sent for them, treated them kindly, and enabled
them to reach Gondokoro, which they did on 23rd March 1865, after an
absence of two years. They had long since been given up as lost, and
it was an immense joy to reach Cairo at last and to find that, in the
words of Baker, "the Royal Geographical Society had awarded me the
Victoria Gold Medal at a time when they were unaware whether I was
alive or dead and when the success of my expedition was unknown."

CHAPTER LXVII

LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY

In the year 1865 "the greatest of all African travellers" started on
his last journey to central Africa.

"I hope," he said, "to ascend the Rovuma, and shall strive, by passing
along the northern end of Lake Nyassa and round the southern end of
Lake Tanganyika, to ascertain the watershed of that part of Africa."

Arrived at Zanzibar in January 1866, he reached the mouth of the Rovuma
River some two months later, and, passing through dense thickets of
trees, he started on his march along the northern bank. The expedition
consisted of thirteen sepoys from Bombay, nine negroes from one of
the missions, two men from the Zambesi, Susi, Amoda, and others
originally slaves freed by Livingstone. As beasts of burden, they had
six camels, three Indian buffaloes, two mules, four donkeys, while
a poodle took charge of the whole line of march, running to see the
first man in the line and then back to the last, and barking to hasten
him up.

"Now that I am on the point of starting on another trip into Africa,"
wrote Livingstone from Rovuma Bay, "I feel quite exhilarated. The mere
animal pleasure of travelling in a wild, unexplored country is very
great. Brisk exercise imparts elasticity to the muscles, fresh and
healthy blood circulates through the brain, the mind works well, the
eye is clear, the step firm, and a day's exertion makes the evening's
repose thoroughly enjoyable."

But misfortunes soon began. As they marched along the banks of the
Rovuma the buffaloes and camels were badly bitten by the tsetse fly,
and one after another died. The cruelty of the followers to the animals
was terrible. Indeed, they were thoroughly unsatisfactory.

One day a party of them lagged behind, killed the last young buffalo,
and ate it. They told Livingstone that it had died and tigers had come
and devoured it.

"Did you see the stripes of the tiger?" asked Livingstone.

Yes; all declared that they had seen them distinctly--an obvious