Before he left England in 1865, Dr. Livingstone arranged that his travelling equipment should be as compact as possible.  An old friend gave him some exceedingly well-made tin-boxes, two of which lasted out the whole of his travels.  In these his papers and instruments were safe from wet and from white ants, which have to be guarded against more than anything else.  Besides the articles mentioned below, a number of letters and despatches in various stages were likewise enclosed, and one can never sufficiently extol the good feeling which after his death invested all these writings with something like a sacred care in the estimation of his men.  It was the Doctor’s custom to carry a small metallic note-book in his pocket:  a quantity of these have come to hand filled from end to end, and as the men preserved every one that they found, we have a daily entry to fall back upon.  Nor was less care shown for his rifles, sextants, his Bible and Church-service, and the medicine chest.

Jacob’s entry is as follows, and it was thoughtfully made at the back end of the same note-book that was in use by the Doctor when he died.  It runs as follows:—­

“11 o’clock night, 28th April.

“In the chest was found about a shilling and half, and in other chest his hat, 1 watch, and 2 small boxes of measuring instrument, and in each box there was one. 1 compass, 3 other kind of measuring instrument. 4 other kind of measuring instrument.  And in other chest 3 drachmas and half half scrople.”

A word is necessary concerning the first part of this.  It will be observed that Dr. Livingstone made his last note on the 27th April.  Jacob, referring to it as the only indication of the day of the month, and fancying, moreover, that it was written on the preceding day, wrote down “28th April.”  Had he observed that the few words opposite the 27th in the pocket-book related to the stay at Kalunganjovu’s village, and not to any portion of the time at Chitambo’s, the error would have been avoided.  Again, with respect to the time.  It was about 11 o’clock P.M. when Susi last saw his master alive, and therefore this time is noted, but both he and Chumah feel quite sure, from what Majwara said, that death did not take place till some hours after.

It was not without some alarm that the men realised their more immediate difficulties:  none could see better than they what complications might arise in an hour.

They knew the superstitious horror connected with the dead to be prevalent in the tribes around them, for the departed spirits of men are universally believed to have vengeance and mischief at heart as their ruling idea in the land beyond the grave.  All rites turn on this belief.  The religion of the African is a weary attempt to propitiate those who show themselves to be still able to haunt and destroy, as war comes or an accident happens.

On this account it is not to be wondered at that chief and people make common cause against those who wander through their territory, and have the misfortune to lose one of their party by death.  Who is to tell the consequences?  Such occurrences are looked on as most serious offences, and the men regarded their position with no small apprehension.