Missionary travels and researches in South Africa. Volume 2 (1857). Including a sketch of sixteen years' residence in the interior of Africa

Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (1857) is David Livingstone's major literary accomplishment. It serves as the primary public statement of both his personal objectives as a missionary and explorer and his theories about the future prospects of south-central Africa. When Missionary Travels was first published in 1857, reviewers noted that the existing ideas about south central Africa would have to undergo a radical transformation. Land thought to be dry and mountainous was discovered to be fertile grassland with a wide variety of animal life, and the peoples that lived there, while sometimes suspicious, were often welcoming to an outsider. And great rivers existed as well; the Zambesi River was unknown to Europeans until Livingstone's visit.Dr. David Livingstone had lived in Africa for a number of years when he undertook the journey he writes about in this book. It is a remarkable story, told without self-aggrandizement. Livingstone walked over 4,000 miles, from Cape Town, South Africa through the Kalahari Desert to the coastal town of Loanda (now Luanda, Angola), and back along the Zambesi River to the east coast of Mozambique. Only members of the Makololo tribe, with whom he had established a firm friendship, accompanied him. His mission was to stop the slave trade.Livingstone begins the book with a brief overview of his personal life that reveals a fierce determination: he learned Latin, Greek, medicine and theology while still employed as a cotton-spinner in a Scottish mill. He had hoped to go to China as a missionary but went to Africa instead, and he describes some of his early experiences there. Livingstone pushed through the Kalahari Desert and the savannas and travelled along the Zambesi river. Eventually he came to the falls known by the natives as "Mosi oa tunya" ("smoke does sound there") and which he named "Victoria":"After twenty minutes' sail from Kalai we came in sight, for the first time, of the columns of vapor appropriately called "smoke", rising at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five columns now arose, and, bending in the direction of the wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered with trees; the tops of the columns at this distance appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were white below, and higher up became dark, so as to simulate smoke very closely. The whole scene was extremely beautiful; the banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of color and form. At the period of our visit several trees were spangled over with blossoms...It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."He encountered a variety of peoples including both the nomadic Bushmen and the Bakalahari with their enormous herds, and he includes numerous descriptions of terrain and animal life. Sensitive descriptions of indigenous religious practices and customs also abound, and Livingstone assesses people and situations without romanticizing them. This is an important book, and reading it helps us to understand not only the Africa of the past but of the present. Dr. David Livingstone had lived in Africa for a number of years when he undertook the journey he writes about in this book. It is a remarkable story, told without self-aggrandizement. His mission was to stop the trade in human slaves. Dr. Livingstone walked over 4,000 miles, from Cape Town, South Africa through the Kalahari Desert and west to the coastal town of Loanda. He then turned east, followed the Zambesi River, and ended his travels in Mozambique. Only members of the Makololo tribe accompanied him.Volume One includes a sketch of his early life and descriptions of his journey in the savannas of Africa. He also recounts the story of the lion that attacked him in Mabotsa. In Volume Two he describes how he came to the falls known by the natives as "Mosi oa tunya" ("smoke does sound there") and which he named after Queen Victoria.Livingstone encountered a variety of peoples, from nomadic Bushmen to herders like the Bakalahari, and sensitive descriptions of indigenous religious practices and customs, as well as numerous descriptions of terrain and animal life abound. He also demonstrates his ability to assess people and situations without romanticizing them. Missionary Travels is an adventure classic that is both historically invaluable and eminently readable. Chapter 19 - Guides Prepaid 3 Chapter 20 - Continued Sickness 42 Chapter 21 - Visit a Deserted Convent 64 Chapter 22 - Leave Pungo Andongo 84 Chapter 23 - Make a Detour Southward 108 Chapter 24 - Level Plains 130 Chapter 25 - Colony of Birds Called Linkololo 156 Chapter 26 - Departure from Linyanti 181 Chapter 27 - Low Hills 205 Chapter 28 - Beautiful Valley 231 Chapter 29 - Confluence of Loangwa and Zambesi 258 Chapter 30 - An Elephant-Hunt 284 Chapter 31 - Kind Reception from the Commandant 307 Chapter 32 - Leave Tete and Proceed Down the River 335 Appendix 370 The Christian missionary and explorer Dr. Livingstone was, in 1849, among the first Europeans to penetrate into the interior of Africa. He faced pestilence, animal attacks, and the brutal traffic in human beings that he was determined to eradicate.