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| layout | title | author | date |
|---|---|---|---|
| post | The Death of a Hero | David Jentes | 2025-01-30 03:00:00 |
Livingstone waited in the trade center for five months until more supplies arrived from the coast. After the wait, he began his last journey, which was around the south shore of Lake Tanganyika. He crossed a river and headed south, but he got hopelessly lost. He got dysentery and hemorrhoids on March 31, 1873.
A month before, Livingstone wrote in his journal, “Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in despair. I encourage myself in the Lord my God, and go forward.” On April 22, he could no longer walk and had to be carried. He wrote, “It is not all pleasure, this exploration.” The expedition stopped at a village called Chitambo in northeast Zambia. He made his last diary entry on April 27, 1873. At midnight on April 30, he said to Susi, “All right, you can go now.” During the night, one of his companions looked in and saw him kneeling by his cot in prayer. The next morning, he was found in the same position, dead.
Livingstone’s companions cut out his heart and other organs before embalming his body with raw salt. They wrapped his body in cloth and bark and slung it on a pole. They carried it across East Africa until they reached the trade center that they departed from on October 20, 1873. They turned the body over to Englishmen that were looking for Livingstone, but travelled along with them to see the funeral. A funeral ceremony and burial was held at Westminster Abbey on April 18, 1874.