In talking to the men about their intentions, Lieutenant Cameron had serious doubts whether the risk of taking the body of Dr. Livingstone through the Ugogo country ought to be run. It very naturally occurred to him that Dr. Livingstone might have felt a wish during life to be buried in the same land in which the remains of his wife lay—it will be remembered that the grave of Mrs. Livingstone is at Shupanga, on the Zambesi. All this was put before the men; but they steadily adhered to their first conviction, that it was right, at all risks, to attempt to bear their master home, and therefore they were no longer urged to bury him at Kwihara.
To the new-comers it was of great interest to examine the boxes which the men had conveyed from Bangweolo. As we have seen, they had carefully packed up everything at Chitambo’s—books, instruments, clothes, and all which would bear special interest in time to come, from having been associated with Livingstone in his last hours.
It cannot be conceded for a moment that these poor fellows would have been right in forbidding this examination, when we consider the relative position in which natives and English officers must always stand to each other; but it is a source of regret to relate that the chief part of Livingstone’s instruments were taken out of the packages and appropriated for future purposes. The instruments with which all his observations had been made throughout a series of discoveries extending over seven years—aneroid barometers, compasses, thermometers, the sextant, and other things—have gone on a new series of travels, to incur innumerable risks of loss, while one only of his thermometers comes to hand.
We could well have wished these instruments safe in England with the small remnant of Livingstone’s personal property, which was allowed to be shipped from Zanzibar.
The Doctor had deposited four bales of cloth as a reserve stock with the Arabs, and these were immediately forthcoming for the march down.
Lieutenant Cameron gave the men to understand that it was agreed Lieutenant Murphy should return to Zanzibar, and asked that if they could attach his party to their march; if so, the men who acted as carriers should receive six dollars a man for their services. This was agreed to. Susi had arranged that they should avoid the main path of the Wagogo; inasmuch as, if difficulty was to be encountered anywhere, it would arise among these lawless, pugnacious people.
By making a ten days’ detour at “Jua Singa,” and traveling by a path well known to one of their party, through the jungle of Poli ya vengi, they hoped to keep out of harm’s way, and to be able to make the cloth hold out with which they were supplied. At length the start was effected, and Dr. Dillon likewise quitted the expedition, to return to the coast. It was necessary to stop, after the first day’s march, for a long halt; for one of the women was unable to travel, they found, and progress was delayed till she could resume the journey. There seem to have been some serious misunderstanding between the leaders of Dr. Livingstone’s party and Lieutenant Murphy soon after setting out, which turned mainly on the subject of beginning of the day’s march. The former, trained in the old discipline of their master, laid stress on the necessity of very early rising, to avoid the heat of the day, and perhaps pointed out more bluntly than pleasantly, that if the Englishmen wanted to improve their health, they had better do so too. However, to a certain extent, difficulty was avoided by the two companies pleasing themselves.
Making an early start, the body was carried to Kasekera by Susi’s party, where, from an evident disinclination to receive it into the village, an encampment was made outside. A consultation now became necessary. There was no disguising the fact that if they kept along the main road intelligence would precede them concerning that in which they were engaged, stirring up certain hostility, and jeopardizing the most precious charge they had. A plan was quickly hit upon. Unobserved, the men removed the corpse of the deceased explorer from the package in which it had hitherto been conveyed, and buried the bark case in the hut in the thicket around the village in which they had placed it. The object now was to throw the villagers off their guard, by making believe that they had relinquished the attempt to carry the body to Zanzibar. They feigned that they had abandoned their task, having changed their minds, and that it must be sent back to Unyanyembe, to be buried there. In the mean time the corpse of necessity had to be concealed in the smallest space possible, if they were actually to convey it secretly for the future; this was quickly managed.
Susi and Chuma went into the wood and stripped off a fresh length of bark from an n’gombe-tree; in this the remains conveniently prepared as to length, were placed, the whole being surrounded with calico in such a manner as to appear like an ordinary traveling bale, which was then deposited with the rest of the goods. They next proceeded to gather a fagot of mapira-stalks, cutting them in lengths of six feet or so, and swathing them round with cloth, to imitate a dead body about to be buried. This done, a paper, folded as to represent a letter, was duly placed in a cleft stick, according to the native letter-carrier’s custom, and six trustworthy men were told off ostensibly to go with the corpse to Unyanyembe. With due solemnity the men set out. The villagers were only too thankful to see it, and no one suspected the ruse. It was near sundown. The bearers of the package held on their way till fairly beyond all chance of detection, and then began to dispose of their load. The mapira-sticks were thrown, one by one, far away into the jungle, and when all were disposed of, the wrappings were cunningly got rid of in the same way. Going further on, first one man, and then another sprung clear from the path into the long grass, to leave no trace of footsteps, and the whole party returned by different ways to their companions, who had been anxiously awaiting them during the night. No one could detect the real nature of the ordinary-looking bale, which henceforth was guarded with no relaxed vigilance, and eventually disclosed the bark coffin and wrappings containing Dr. Livingstone’s body, on the arrival at Bagamoio. And now, devoid of fear, the people of Kasekera asked them all to come and take up their quarters in the town—a privilege which was denied them so long as it was known that they had the remains of the dead with them.
But a dreadful event was about to recall to their minds how many fall victims to African disease.