David Livingstone – The young missionary and his appealing vision.
David told the committee of the missionary society that he elected to go to Africa, they arranged to send him. On the morning of November 17, 1840, 27 year old David Livingstone bade farewell to his father on the Broomielaw quay in Glascow and boarded his prepared ship, the George. He would never accompany his dad again. The ship George sailed about the Cape of Good Hope and into the bay of Algoa, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. Here is where David landed and began the great travel inland. David and his attendants travelled on foot and horseback with an ox cart to carry their supplies. The days were blisteringly boiling and the nights clear and chilled. They slept below stars huddled in blankets. They came to the village of the Kuruman, where Robert Moffat lived. Robert was not home, he was back in England on a visit. Kuruman had in the past been dry and depleted, but now it was replete with fruit trees and fields. Robert Moffat had been a greenskeeper before he became a missionary. David stayed only long enough for the oxen to convalesce and rest. The people here named themselves the Bakwena the “people of the crocodile.”David waited for six months for word from the missionary society in London. He cultured the language and routine of the Bakwena. David instructed the people about God. He also helped the people irrigate the land. After period of time the letter came. This trek took him to the people named the Mabotsa “people of the monkey” where he helped them annihilate a lion and got damaged in the shoulder which would never revive entirely.
David stayed in Mabotsa for a long time. The villagers helped him build a brick house and he lived with them and instructed their children. His friend Robert Moffat expressed word that he was returning to Kuruman. So David went to meet him. It was then that he met Mary, Robert’s eldest daughter. Rapidly they were engaged. Mr. Moffat had been born in Africa and knew well the duties and hardships of missionary existence. It took some time to equip for the marriage ceremony, have a homestead built and send for a marriage license from England.
The village had a marriage feast for David Livingstone and Mary Moffat when Mary arrived.
David and Mary felt that the time had come to move on, they packed all of their effects and moved up north to a village of Chonuane, forty miles to the north. David built a school and another stone home. They had their first little darling here, a son. They baptized him Robert after Mary’s father. It was a very waterless place, and when it came time to move on the local people went with the Livingstones. They settled in a place that they called Kolobeng. They built a school, irrigated and introduced gardens and stayed there for a few years. Mary and David had two more children, Thomas and Agnes.
David and his family then travelled on to Lake Ngami. They wanted to reach “the land of many rivers” but travel was arduous and the children were often unwell because of the hard living environment. Little did David know that he was about to discover the Victoria Falls.
For additional facts on Victoria Falls or David Livingstone, visit http://www.livingstonesadventure.com. This is part 2 in a four part series of articles about David Livingstone to be found on this website.
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