1 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:04,040 BBC Four Collections - 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,600 specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive. 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:09,560 For this collection, Sir David Attenborough 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:13,040 has chosen documentaries from the start of his career. 5 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:16,200 More programmes on this theme, and other BBC Four Collections, 6 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,080 are available on BBC iPlayer. 7 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,920 On August 4th, 1851, an obscure Scots missionary 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:30,160 and a white hunter arrived here from South Africa. 9 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:31,200 For weeks past, 10 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,960 they'd been travelling through unknown territory in South Africa. 11 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,080 They had come up and fringed the eastern edge of the Kalahari Desert, 12 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:44,440 and on that day, they arrived here on the far south bank of this river. 13 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,560 It was very windy, and there were a lot of waves on the river. 14 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,720 They had considerable difficulty in getting a canoe to bring them over. 15 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,560 But when at last they got to this village, they were greeted 16 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:55,000 with astonishment and surprise. 17 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,200 Hundreds of people gathered round to look at them, 18 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,920 for theirs were the first white faces that had ever been seen here. 19 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:07,760 This place is called Sesheke, and the big river they call the Liambi. 20 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:09,960 The Scots missionary was overjoyed to see it, 21 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:13,400 for although its lower reaches and its mouth on the east coast of Africa 22 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,560 had been known for centuries, this was the first time 23 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,840 that it had been identified in the centre of the continent. 24 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,800 They still call it the Liambi today, 25 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,480 but the name we know it by better is the Zambezi. 26 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,600 David Livingstone was born on 19th March, 1813, 27 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,280 at Blantyre on the banks of the Clyde near Glasgow. 28 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,160 His father worked in the cotton mill, and as a child of ten, 29 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:01,880 David was sent to work there, too. 30 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:04,480 He had been reared in a devoutly religious home, 31 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:08,960 and when he was 21, he decided to become a medical missionary. 32 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:11,920 With his meagre savings and help from his family, 33 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:14,280 he paid for courses in medicine and divinity 34 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,360 at Anderson College, Glasgow. 35 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,640 While he studied, he was accepted by the London Missionary Society. 36 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:24,000 Robert Moffat, the most celebrated missionary of the time, 37 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,680 fired Livingstone's imagination with stories of the great work 38 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,480 waiting to be done in unknown Africa. 39 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,280 Livingstone determined to help. 40 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,240 And so, in 1840, he sailed for Cape Town, 41 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,560 joined Moffat at his mission, Kuruman, 42 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,920 and as soon as he could, set out for the unknown north. 43 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:45,720 LION ROARS 44 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,920 As a result of this mauling by a lion, 45 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:53,720 he was never again to have the full use of his left arm. 46 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:58,520 His wounds were so severe, he had to return to Kuruman to convalesce. 47 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,360 There, he fell in love with Moffat's daughter, Mary. 48 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:07,320 On 2nd January, 1845, they were married in the Little Mission Church 49 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:12,400 and soon afterwards, accompanied by his bride, he returned north, 50 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,920 preaching, studying native languages and customs, 51 00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:16,920 building missions and raising a family. 52 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:22,840 In June 1849, he set out on an expedition to cross the Kalahari. 53 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,320 The natives said it was impossible, but Livingstone did it 54 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,280 and reached Lake Ngami, the first of his great discoveries. 55 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,040 He was determined to follow up this triumph, 56 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:36,160 but to do so, he would have to leave his young family. 57 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,240 He decided to send them back to England. 58 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:42,600 "When my children ask me, 'When shall we return to Kuruman?' he wrote, 59 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:46,400 "I must reply, 'Never. The mark of Cain is on your foreheads. 60 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:48,440 "'Your father is a missionary.'" 61 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:53,440 Then, he set out again for the unknown north. 62 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:57,560 On November 19th, 1853, he was back here in Sesheke 63 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,160 and fired with a great ambition. Until that time, 64 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,560 it had been widely believed that central Africa was covered 65 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,640 by a large desert, a sort of southern Sahara. 66 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:11,160 Livingstone already knew otherwise and he saw the Zambezi River 67 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,880 as a great avenue up which the civilising influences of Christianity 68 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:20,160 and trade might spread in order to combat the evil of slavery 69 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,840 that was already rampant among the tribes of central Africa. 70 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:27,480 So he formed an astonishingly bold plan. 71 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,600 He determined that, alone, except for his African paddlers and porters, 72 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,760 he would travel up the Zambezi towards its source 73 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,680 and then strike out for the west coast of Africa. 74 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:42,400 Once there, he would return down the Zambezi back here to Sesheke, 75 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,240 and continue on downstream to the mouth of the Zambezi 76 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:50,600 and the Indian Ocean. It was a journey of not less than 3,000 miles. 77 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,840 Much of the country he would be going through was unknown. 78 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:57,800 Many of the tribes he would meet doubtless would be hostile. 79 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,760 Perhaps no-one but Livingstone would have dared to have such a bold dream. 80 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,080 Certainly, no-one knew better than he of the dangers 81 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:08,160 and the difficulties involved. 82 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,400 And so began the long obsession with the Zambezi 83 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,520 that was to dominate so much of Livingstone's life. 84 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:19,160 An obsession that at first was to lead to spectacular success 85 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,400 and worldwide fame and then to bring him failure, 86 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:25,920 deep personal grief, and finally, to mark 87 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,560 the beginning of the long tragedy that was to cloud his last years. 88 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:44,040 The people say that it was under this tree which blew down only a year ago 89 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,120 that Livingstone pitched his tent. 90 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,160 Already, before his journey had really begun, 91 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:53,440 he was stricken by fever, and so weak that he hadn't the strength 92 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,040 to go out and hunt for meat for himself. 93 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:00,240 But the chief of Sesheke hospitably sent him gifts of honey and milk 94 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:02,720 and fruit and maize. 95 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:06,520 Weak though he was, Livingstone nonetheless found the strength 96 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,680 to preach both in the morning and the afternoon, and was listened to 97 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:11,920 by audiences of over 600. 98 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,000 After four days, the fever left him 99 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,040 and he felt strong enough to set out on his journey westwards 100 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,320 along the river. The list of equipment that he took with him 101 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,240 seems pitifully, almost ludicrously, small. 102 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,760 He had three muskets for his men. 103 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:36,320 A pistol, a rifle and a shotgun for himself, together with ammunition. 104 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,560 For food, he had 20 pounds of coffee, a few pounds of tea 105 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:42,160 and a few biscuits. 106 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,440 He had with him a tin containing respectable clothes, 107 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,160 so that he might look smart when he reached civilisation 108 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:51,920 on the west coast, another with a few books, 109 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,200 a sextant and a chronometer with which to plot his position 110 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,440 and a magic lantern with which to help him 111 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:03,040 in his preaching to the people. He also had a few medicines. 112 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,600 He had a horse blanket on which to sleep, 113 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,360 a sheepskin rug with which to cover himself 114 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,440 and a tent which wasn't waterproof. That was all. 115 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:17,040 He writes that he had "a secret scorn for impedimenta" 116 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,000 and that if he failed on this journey, 117 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,960 it wouldn't be through a lack of what he derisively terms "knick-knacks, 118 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,640 "so extensively advertised as being essential for the traveller", 119 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,240 but rather because he would have "lacked the pluck". 120 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,480 A century ago, the whole of this part of Africa 121 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,400 swarmed with immense herds of game - 122 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,160 wildebeest, sable, eland, antelope of all sorts - 123 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:47,560 and Livingstone rejoiced in the sight. 124 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,840 On one occasion, he lay in the grass watching game for so long 125 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:53,760 that his men, thinking he was ill, 126 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,960 came up and frightened the animals away. 127 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,400 Although he was not trained as a naturalist, 128 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,640 he was an acute observer and regularly noted details 129 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:06,880 of natural history that were original contributions to science. 130 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,480 On his previous journey to Lake Ngami, 131 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,040 he had discovered a completely new species of antelope, the lechwe. 132 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,000 Now on the Zambezi, he saw it again. 133 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,520 "It presents a noble appearance," he wrote, 134 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:23,160 "as it stands gazing with head erect at the approaching stranger. 135 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:25,960 "When it resolves to decamp, it lowers its head 136 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:29,600 "and lays its horns down to a level with its withers. 137 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:33,160 "It then begins a waddling trot which ends in its galloping 138 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:34,640 "and springing over bushes. 139 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,080 "It invariably runs to the water 140 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:40,120 "and crosses it by a succession of bounds, 141 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,280 "each of which appears to be from the bottom. 142 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,280 "We thought the flesh good at first, but soon got tired of it." 143 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:59,560 Birds, too, were a source of daily delight to him. 144 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:03,400 He counted not only the number of different species he saw, 145 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:05,640 but how many individuals of each kind. 146 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,600 He noted their habits, their local names 147 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:13,600 and he described in detail their colours and their shape. 148 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:15,480 In their variety and number, 149 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,760 he saw a manifestation of the work of the God 150 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,960 to whom he had dedicated his life. 151 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:26,240 "The welkin rings in the cool morning," he wrote in his journal, 152 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,320 "with the singing of birds which, if not so delightful 153 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:31,680 "as the merry chorus of the birds of home, 154 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:34,720 "with which I am familiar from infancy, 155 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:39,200 "at once strikes the ear by their loveliness and multifariousness 156 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:43,720 "as the embodiment of joysome hearts willing the praises of him 157 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:47,000 "who fills them to overflowing with gladness." 158 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:54,000 The Sioma Falls mark the beginning of the great plains of Barotseland. 159 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,520 Livingstone thought that the scenery here was the loveliest he had seen. 160 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:02,120 Men from the riverside village carried his canoes round the falls 161 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,480 and that night, at their request, he preached and showed them 162 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:09,240 slides of biblical scenes on his magic lantern. 163 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:14,640 Then he pushed on north, up the Zambezi, drawing this map as he went. 164 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,920 In spite of heavy rains and a severe bout of fever, 165 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,880 he travelled 400 miles in the next six weeks 166 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:25,280 and reached the town of Shinte, the capital of a great chief. 167 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,840 Here, he and the hundred Makololo porters who had come with him 168 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,680 from Sesheke were given a splendid ceremonial reception, 169 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:36,240 during which the chief received the obeisance of his head men. 170 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,000 Chiefs in this part of Africa are still revered, 171 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,280 and their people to this day pay homage in just the way that 172 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:49,800 Livingstone described - by rubbing earth and ashes on their bodies. 173 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:12,120 Livingstone was surprised to find women admitted to the meeting. 174 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,680 Here, however, they had much more importance in tribal life 175 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:17,760 than they were accorded further south. 176 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,720 Indeed, Livingstone's guide for the past few days 177 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,240 had been the chief's niece, a strapping, rather bossy girl 178 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,240 whose body, Livingstone noted, 179 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:31,120 was smeared all over with a mixture of fat and red ochre 180 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,240 as a protection against the weather - 181 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:38,040 a necessary precaution - for, like most of the ladies, 182 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,160 "she was otherwise in a state of frightful nudity". 183 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:50,560 Many of the customs of the people he encountered here 184 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:54,080 horrified Livingstone, even though he was much more understanding 185 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:58,960 and sympathetic about these matters than many of his contemporaries. 186 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:03,880 In his book, he wrote, "I shall not often advert to their depravity." 187 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,200 He felt that little good could come from investigating in detail 188 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,120 the nature of their customs and beliefs. 189 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:14,160 And so he wrote little for public eyes about such things. 190 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:16,000 But it was not from ignorance. 191 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,520 "The more intimately I become acquainted with barbarians," 192 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:21,520 he wrote in the privacy of his journal, 193 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,120 "the more disgusting does heathenism become. 194 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,680 "It is inconceivably vile. They need a healer. 195 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:32,000 "May God enable me to be such to them." 196 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:38,440 But the practices that so appalled him are still carried on today. 197 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:41,240 When boys are taken away to be initiated by the men 198 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,480 at a secret place in the bush, 199 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,280 the Makushi devil still appears in the half-deserted village 200 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:49,320 to taunt the abandoned mothers, 201 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,920 and they in turn sing in reply to placate him. 202 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:22,720 Up to this point, Livingstone and his men had been travelling in canoes, 203 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:26,960 but north of Shinte, the Zambezi swings eastward in a huge arc 204 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:29,760 and so Livingstone took a short cut over land. 205 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,680 For five days, he journeyed through rolling hills 206 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:35,680 until at last he saw the river once more ahead of him. 207 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,800 And so, Livingstone came down yet again to the Zambezi River 208 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:43,640 here at Cazombo in Angola. 209 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,880 This was the highest point on the river that he was to reach 210 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,120 and he came down across those plains over there. 211 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:53,400 He was travelling during the rainy season, and for many nights past, 212 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,560 he hadn't been able to get a clear view of the heavens. 213 00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:01,200 On this night, he did manage to take some observations of the stars 214 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:06,040 and was much encouraged at being able to plot his position with accuracy. 215 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,200 He crossed the river just over there. 216 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,800 It took him four hours, he records in his journal, 217 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,400 and when he came up on this, the western bank, 218 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,760 he looked back and he saw those hills. 219 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:23,440 He asked one of the local people what they were and the man said, "Piri," 220 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,080 so Livingstone duly noted in his journal 221 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:27,880 that these were the Piri Hills. 222 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:31,160 In fact, "piri" is just the local word meaning "a hill", 223 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:34,040 but the "Piri Hills" they've been ever since. 224 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,840 And from here, he continued westwards towards the coast 225 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,840 and Luanda, the capital of Angola. 226 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,680 It took him four months of hard, lonely travel 227 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,920 before he reached there. And by the time he got there, 228 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:51,120 he was broken in health. 229 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:55,440 He had dysentery, he had had over 30 attacks of malaria, 230 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,280 he was so feeble that he couldn't ride on his ox 231 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:00,560 for more than ten minutes at a time. 232 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:02,880 He was hoping that when he got to Luanda, 233 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:06,600 he would find letters from his wife, Mary, who was back in England, 234 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:11,120 and from his children, but there were no letters for him when he got there. 235 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:13,960 There were, however, a number of English ships 236 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:17,800 including a British cruiser, HMS Polyphemus. 237 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:20,080 The captain of the Polyphemus 238 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:24,040 offered Livingstone an immediate passage back home. 239 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:28,800 To a man who had been travelling for over 14 years in central Africa, 240 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,760 who was broken in health, 241 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:37,040 such an offer must have been almost unbelievably attractive. 242 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,440 And yet Livingstone refused it, 243 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:43,480 because to accept it would mean breaking faith with the Makololo men 244 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:48,920 who had come with him all the way from Sesheke on the Middle Zambezi. 245 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,720 It never occurred to him that he could desert them. 246 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,720 "Without me," he said, "they will never find their way back home." 247 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,680 So he stayed in Luanda to try and regain his health. 248 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,840 He stayed there for nearly four months, and then once more, 249 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,360 with the Makololo, he turned his back on the sea and on England 250 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:12,360 and marched back into central Africa and the Middle Zambezi. 251 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:17,600 For much of the way, he was able to follow his previous route, 252 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:22,040 but it still took him five months to get back to the Zambezi. 253 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,720 When they did so, his men speared a hippo 254 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,400 and had a great feast, for it was the first meat 255 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:31,840 they had eaten for a long time, but the hippos nearly had their revenge. 256 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,960 Fortunately, no-one was hurt and they paddled on downriver. 257 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,040 They got back to Sesheke 258 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,440 one year, seven months after they had left it. 259 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,280 He was now on the verge of making the most spectacular 260 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,240 of all his discoveries. 261 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:07,320 When he had first arrived in Sesheke in 1851, the people had told him 262 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:11,280 of a great waterfall which they called Mosi-oa-Tunya, 263 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:13,040 "the smoke that thunders". 264 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,800 That lay downstream, but Livingstone's mind at the time 265 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,400 was set on going upstream towards the west coast 266 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:21,040 and he never investigated it. 267 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:25,280 But now, in November, 1855, he was back in Sesheke 268 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,600 and he was going downstream. 269 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:30,280 As he travelled in the canoe, he had with him 270 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:34,760 this small pocket book, which is now preserved in the National Museum 271 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:37,840 here in the town of Livingstone. 272 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,160 In it, he noted down the bare facts of the journey. 273 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:43,360 Here is Sesheke. 274 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:47,080 These figures are the hours that he took as he went downriver. 275 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:50,640 Up here, he's noted the nature of the rocks he passes. 276 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,640 "Porphyry, with crystals covered with copper." 277 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:57,760 And on the end here, perhaps the conversation of his paddlers, 278 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,360 because he's put down a few of the local words. 279 00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:03,480 "Mor - cattle. Mor mutamin - a tale bearer. 280 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:06,320 "Somri - the camel thorn." 281 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,640 And then, on the next page, come the details of his approach to the falls. 282 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,840 "Mosi-oa-Tunya bears south-southeast from Sekota islet. 283 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:18,360 "Burly baobab, very graceful palm, 284 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:22,120 "cedar and cypress form of motsouri." 285 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:24,440 "Rounded masses of tropical vegetation. 286 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:31,160 "After 20 minutes, sail thence on 16th November, 1855. 287 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:36,560 "Saw three or five large columns of vapour rising 100 or more feet." 288 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:46,680 And so he came to this spot and looked right over the very edge 289 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:51,040 of the falls, the first white man ever to do so. 290 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,800 Even today, this spot is seldom visited 291 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,680 because in order to get to it, you have to weave your way through 292 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:01,720 the rapids just above the edge of the falls, and when you contemplate 293 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:06,080 what lies immediately ahead, this can be a little alarming. 294 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:09,440 Livingstone's own comment is a typical understatement. 295 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:11,360 "For a moment," he wrote, 296 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:14,280 "I thought we were going to go right into the gulf, 297 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,880 "and I felt a tremor, but I said nothing 298 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:22,000 "believing I could face the difficulty as well as my guides." 299 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,600 Until now, he had never used anything but the local African name 300 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,280 for all of his geographical discoveries, 301 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,560 but here for the first and last time, 302 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:35,440 he broke with this rule and he called these the Victoria Falls. 303 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:55,680 He carved his initials on this tree, 304 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:00,600 initials that were later renewed by other visitors to the falls, 305 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,800 but now they have long since disappeared 306 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,120 having been overgrown by the bark. 307 00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:08,480 And then, noting that this place was continually drenched by spray 308 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,120 from the falls, he thought it would be a good place 309 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:16,920 for a garden, so he planted apricot stones, peaches and coffee, 310 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:18,880 noting, with a rare flash of humour, 311 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:24,120 that he thought that Mosi-oa-Tunya would be a more careful nurseryman 312 00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:27,920 and keep the place better watered than would his Makololo. 313 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,720 But since that time, hippo, whose spoor 314 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,120 are still very common round here, 315 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:35,720 trampled those gardens and they have disappeared, too. 316 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,120 In his notebook, he put down his first estimates 317 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,360 of the size of the falls, and perhaps because he was 318 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:53,760 so anxious not to exaggerate, he grossly underestimated. 319 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,880 He wrote that they were 100 feet deep. 320 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,560 In reality, at one end, they are twice that depth, 321 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,120 and at the other, over three times - 350 feet - 322 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:07,720 a fact that he was to discover when he visited the falls 323 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:11,080 five years later, leaned over the edge and dropped a plumb line 324 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:15,280 down into the chasm with some bullets tied to the end as weights. 325 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,520 He was equally cautious in his first notes about the length 326 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:25,160 of the falls, estimating them to be not less than 600 yards long. 327 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:30,560 They are in fact 1,900 yards in length. 328 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:36,360 In structure, they are unique, and at first sight, puzzling, 329 00:21:36,360 --> 00:21:40,400 for the river plunges into a long trench in the Earth's surface, 330 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,360 from the middle of which a very narrow gorge leads off 331 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:45,840 to carry the waters on downstream. 332 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,800 Livingstone speculated in detail in his book 333 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:53,000 about the geological factors that had created this formation. 334 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:57,120 He believed that this chasm had been produced by some great earthquake 335 00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:59,680 which had cracked the Earth's surface, 336 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,800 and that the Zambezi had then simply tumbled into the crack. 337 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:07,360 He didn't realise that this gorge has been created by the river itself, 338 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:10,400 eroding along a line of weakness crossing its bend. 339 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:18,280 Only at one point among all these mathematical facts and sober theories 340 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:22,040 does his description of this astounding place become lyrical. 341 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:25,400 "No-one can imagine the beauty of the view 342 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,320 "from anything witnessed in England," he wrote. 343 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:32,360 "It had never been seen before by European eyes, 344 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:36,040 "but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon 345 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,240 "by angels in their flight." 346 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:45,040 Below the falls, the party once more encountered huge herds of game. 347 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:48,320 Livingstone had 114 Makololo carriers with him, 348 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:53,400 and although he himself hated killing, his men had to be fed. 349 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,480 In the past, he had described with compassion the sufferings of animals 350 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:01,080 hunted by Africans who drove them into pits where they died 351 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:02,880 in a welter of blood and spears. 352 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,160 Now, his men speared a baby elephant 353 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:10,120 and then slaughtered its mother 354 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:13,320 when she tried to protect her young with her own body. 355 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:15,400 In his journal, he wrote, 356 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,320 "I turned away from the spectacle 357 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,920 "of the destruction of these noble animals 358 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,560 "which might be turned to such good account in Africa 359 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,320 "with a feeling of sickness." 360 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:31,800 They marched on downstream until they reached Zumbo. 361 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,840 The Portuguese had been settled around the mouth of the Zambezi 362 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,240 since the 16th century, and Zumbo, 500 miles upriver, 363 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,600 was the farthest point that they had penetrated inland. 364 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:47,040 Here, in the 17th century, they had built a tiny fortress. 365 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:49,080 But when Livingstone reached it, 366 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:52,120 the place had already been deserted for 50 years. 367 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:55,680 It must have looked much the same then as it does today. 368 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,080 As he wandered around the crumbling ruins, 369 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,680 he asked the African inhabitants why the Portuguese had left. 370 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:03,360 The people wouldn't tell him, 371 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:06,840 but Livingstone, doubtless, knew well enough. 372 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,080 Hidden in the hills outside Zumbo 373 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,680 there still remains a hole in the rock 374 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:15,240 that can be sealed with boulders. 375 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,480 This is a slave pit. 376 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,560 In it, hundreds of Africans were kept imprisoned 377 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,480 until they were collected by Arab traders. 378 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,520 The Portuguese inhabitants of Zumbo had not only condoned this practice 379 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,320 but sometimes played an active part in it. 380 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,360 As a result, they had been in a continual state of war 381 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:35,240 with the local people. 382 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,280 No wonder they were eventually driven out of the settlement. 383 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:41,760 The slave trade, however, still flourished. 384 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,640 Arabs still travelled among the people of central Africa 385 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,960 setting one tribe against another, taking prisoners from both 386 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,360 and then leading them down to the slave markets on the coast. 387 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:54,960 The dreadful savagery and cruelty of this iniquitous practice 388 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,720 shocked Livingstone deeply, and its extermination 389 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,280 became as important an aim of his explorations 390 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,080 as the spreading of Christianity. 391 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,680 Around here, Livingstone encountered great numbers of buffalo - 392 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,200 aggressive creatures that could beat off a lion 393 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:11,840 and sometimes attacked men. 394 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:21,160 RUMBLE OF BUFFALO STAMPEDING 395 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:23,280 SHOUTING 396 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:27,560 The porter who was tossed in this charge, although badly hurt, 397 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:32,480 revived after what Livingstone described as "a good shampoo", 398 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,240 and after only a week, he was able to hunt again. 399 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:43,480 A few miles downstream from Zumbo, Livingstone ran into trouble. 400 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,840 During the night, his encampment was surrounded by the local people. 401 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,440 In the morning, he found himself threatened 402 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:52,320 by armed warriors with spears. 403 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,000 The local witchdoctors came out and lit fires 404 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,040 in which they burnt spells 405 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,080 and they uttered strange and horrible incantations 406 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,000 in an attempt to frighten Livingstone's porters. 407 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:04,960 Livingstone met the threat 408 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,600 with his usual mixture of piety and practicality. 409 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,240 He wrote in his journal, 410 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,440 "We resolved to wait and put our trust in him 411 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:16,240 "in whose hands lie the hearts of all men." 412 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,880 Then he made some preparations for any battle. 413 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:23,560 He killed an ox to give his men a good meal of red meat 414 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:25,000 and put good heart in them. 415 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,560 That certainly worked because one of his men said to him 416 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,000 in a rather bloodthirsty way, "You've seen us with elephants. 417 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,640 "Wait till you see what we do to men." 418 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:37,840 Livingstone himself hadn't much doubt about the outcome of any battle 419 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,400 because he writes rather grittily, "If the chief attacks, 420 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,120 "he will find that it's the worst mistake of his life". 421 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:46,960 But it didn't come to that. 422 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:51,080 The chief sent over two old men and they asked Livingstone who he was. 423 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:55,800 Livingstone replied, "I am a Lekoa," meaning an Englishman. 424 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:59,280 The old men said, "We don't know a tribe called the Lekoa. 425 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,720 "We thought you were Mazunga" - meaning Portuguese. 426 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,160 To show that he wasn't Portuguese, Livingstone bared his chest 427 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,200 and showed his white skin. 428 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,000 The old men marvelled and said they had never seen skin so white. 429 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,240 Surely Livingstone must be a member of that white tribe 430 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,080 who loved the black men. 431 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,160 Livingstone said that he was. 432 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,000 So peace was established. 433 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,120 The chief told him that the way down to Tete, 434 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:27,280 the Portuguese settlement 200 miles further downriver 435 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,000 on the north bank, over there, 436 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:34,080 was a hard trek over the mountains 437 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:38,920 and it was much easier to cross onto this southern bank of the Zambezi. 438 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,280 That afternoon they gave him canoes. 439 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:43,720 Livingstone and his party made the crossing. 440 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,360 But it was too late to get right across 441 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:50,120 so they camped for the night on one of these islands 442 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:52,480 And, just in case there was any treachery, 443 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:55,240 Livingstone and his men slept in the canoes. 444 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,160 The next morning, they completed the crossing. 445 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,880 Livingstone was so grateful to get over to this southern bank, 446 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,080 that he sent gifts over to the chief. 447 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,280 Two spoons and a shirt. 448 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:10,400 Had he but known, in crossing the Zambezi at this point 449 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,680 he was sowing the seeds of catastrophe. 450 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,280 And so the party marched on in a great semicircle, 451 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,200 crossing gently rolling country 452 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:25,240 and leaving the Zambezi away to the north, hidden by mountains. 453 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:28,200 Although the going was now comparatively easy, 454 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,760 it nevertheless took them six weeks to reach Tete. 455 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:38,880 Then, as now, the little town of Tete was clustered around its fortress. 456 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,720 As Livingstone neared it, he was so weak from exhaustion and starvation 457 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:44,760 that he could scarcely walk. 458 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,240 So the Governor of Tete sent out a party of men with a hammock 459 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:52,520 to carry the explorer into town across those plains. 460 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,720 His great journey was now virtually over 461 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,240 for, although the coast still lay some 200 miles away, 462 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,720 the way there was comparatively well known 463 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,680 and there were several Portuguese settlements that could give him help. 464 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,200 So, Livingstone stayed here and rested for six weeks 465 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,160 to try and regain his strength. 466 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,760 Then, leaving his Makololo porters here 467 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,880 with the promise that he would be back to collect them 468 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,280 to take them back home to the centre of Africa, 469 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:22,440 Livingstone got into a canoe and sailed down to the coast. 470 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:27,320 He reached Quelimane on the coast on 20th May, 1856. 471 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,880 His great journey had taken him almost three years. 472 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,440 He had walked across a continent. 473 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,400 He had filled in huge spaces on the map. 474 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,560 He had brought back detailed and accurate observations 475 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:41,200 of the animals and the plants, 476 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,120 the rivers and the rocks, the people and the climate. 477 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,240 And he had done it alone. 478 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,400 It was perhaps the greatest journey 479 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,760 in the whole history of African exploration. 480 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,840 At the coast, a British man o' war was awaiting him to take him home 481 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,280 and when he got home, he was given a hero's reception. 482 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:04,640 The Royal Geographical Society presented him with its gold medal. 483 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,400 The Royal Society elected him a fellow - 484 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,040 the highest academic honour of all. 485 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,680 Queen Victoria received him at the Palace 486 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:15,640 and the public mobbed him in the streets. 487 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,360 He wrote an account of his travels 488 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,640 in a book that instantly became a bestseller 489 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:22,320 and went through eight editions. 490 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,760 He was made a Freeman of the cities of London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, 491 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:29,800 and learned scientific societies vied with each other 492 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:32,560 to persuade him to take part in their excursions. 493 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:38,400 He preached before huge congregations at Oxford and at Cambridge 494 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,320 and in a sermon that stirred all Britain, 495 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,800 he called for help in the fight against slavery. 496 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,640 "I beg to direct your attention to Africa," he cried, 497 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,120 adding prophetically, "I know that in a few years 498 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:56,720 "I shall be cut off in that country which is now open. 499 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,040 "Do not let it be shut again. 500 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,040 "Do you carry on the work that I have begun? 501 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:03,480 "I leave it with you." 502 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,880 The whole world was at his feet. 503 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,600 But from now on, the fates seemed to turn against him. 504 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:14,240 The London Missionary Society, in whose service he had crossed Africa, 505 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,720 decided that it was time that he stopped his wanderings 506 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,600 and settled down on a mission station somewhere. 507 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:24,560 But Livingstone's heart was still here on the Zambezi. 508 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:29,320 For one thing, his Makololo porters were waiting here in Tete for him. 509 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,800 And, for another, he had not yet demonstrated conclusively 510 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,160 to the world that the Zambezi was navigable - 511 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:40,440 that it was, indeed, God's highway to the centre of the dark continent. 512 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,760 So Livingstone resigned from the Missionary Society 513 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,720 and instead took an appointment from the Foreign Office 514 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,640 as her Majesty's Consul to the Coast of East Africa. 515 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,920 And once more he set out for the Zambezi. 516 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:57,680 This time, instead of having a band of African tribesmen with him 517 00:31:57,680 --> 00:31:59,880 he had six Europeans - 518 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:03,880 a geologist, a botanist, a naval officer as a navigator, 519 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,960 a marine engineer, an artist - Thomas Baines - 520 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:08,680 and his brother Charles, 521 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:13,280 whose function was somewhat vaguely described as being "moral agent". 522 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,200 And instead of canoes, they had a metal ship 523 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:21,120 that was brought out from Scotland in parts and assembled on the coast. 524 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:24,040 They called the ship after Livingstone's wife. 525 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,640 Down in South Africa, she had been known to the local people 526 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,000 not by her own name but the name of her firstborn son. 527 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,320 So they called the ship the Ma Robert. 528 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:38,600 And it was this very different collection of people and equipment 529 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:41,680 who, on September 8th, 1858, 530 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:46,960 anchored down in the Zambezi, here below this fortress in Tete. 531 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,760 His reunion with the Makololo was heart-warming. 532 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:54,880 They rushed into the river and carried him ashore singing. 533 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,400 Livingstone was in tears. 534 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:00,200 But from then on, everything seemed to go wrong. 535 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,440 In the hot, sultry climate tempers frayed. 536 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:06,760 Livingstone, who had such astonishing influence over Africans, 537 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:09,880 seemed to have no talent for leading men of his own race 538 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,480 and the expedition was rent with quarrels. 539 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,280 The naval commander refused to take orders and had to be dismissed. 540 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:17,880 Livingstone's brother Charles 541 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,600 did little except spread malicious gossip among the party. 542 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,200 Baines began to paint a series of pictures of Tete 543 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,600 and its festivals, that are splendid evocations 544 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:31,600 of the curious, hybrid society created here by the Portuguese. 545 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,680 But Livingstone considered that this was a waste of time, 546 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:36,640 and the two men quarrelled bitterly. 547 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,320 The Ma Robert consumed such prodigious quantities of wood 548 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:44,000 that they had to refuel with maddening frequency. 549 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:45,640 Yet her engines were so feeble 550 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,160 that she couldn't keep up with a native canoe. 551 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:52,280 And her hull was so thin that it dented with alarming ease. 552 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,800 And when, at last, they coaxed her upriver, beyond Tete, 553 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:57,520 to the section of the Zambezi 554 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:00,160 that Livingstone had bypassed on his way down 555 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,440 at the end of his previous expedition, 556 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:04,920 they came to the biggest disaster of all. 557 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,800 This was what he had imagined would be merely a few rapids. 558 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:14,000 This, he had planned to clear out of the way 559 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:17,880 with a few judiciously placed charges of dynamite. 560 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,600 This was the Kebrabasa Gorge, 561 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:22,560 as great a barrier to navigation 562 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,120 as the Victoria Falls themselves. 563 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,240 The party made several despairing reconnaissances. 564 00:34:28,240 --> 00:34:30,840 Baines drew many sketches. 565 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,320 But the conclusion was obvious and inescapable. 566 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:35,160 They were impassable. 567 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,680 Livingstone saw the gorge at the end of the dry season, 568 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,760 when its basalt fangs are exposed. 569 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:44,840 Rocks like these stretch upstream, 570 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:48,520 creating a succession of whirlpools and cataracts 571 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,400 that stretch for 50 miles 572 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,000 and that no-one has ever managed to negotiate 573 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,160 in a canoe or anything else. 574 00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:59,760 This discovery was a devastating blow for Livingstone. 575 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:02,080 For years, he had dedicated himself 576 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,520 to showing to the world that the Zambezi was, 577 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,160 "God's highway to the interior". 578 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:11,320 And now, the Zambezi, HIS river, had failed him. 579 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,920 But then, with astonishing tenacity and resilience, 580 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:19,400 he changed his field of exploration. 581 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:21,560 He retired downriver to Shupanga, 582 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:25,080 close to the junction of the Shire River and the Zambezi, 583 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:28,920 and turned his efforts into exploring north up the Shire. 584 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,920 The contributions he made to geographical knowledge 585 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:36,720 were of immense importance, for he discovered Lake Nyasa. 586 00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:39,000 And his work laid the foundations 587 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,080 for what was to become Nyasaland, and is now Malawi. 588 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:48,120 But for Livingstone, one suspects, this was only second best. 589 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:52,520 In the years that followed, 590 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,360 disaster succeeded disaster. 591 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:56,840 The Ma Robert sank. 592 00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:00,400 His own expedition was rent with bitter quarrels. 593 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:04,240 A universities expedition that came out as a result of his preaching 594 00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:07,320 at Oxford and Cambridge to settle up the Shire River 595 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:11,600 was badly mismanaged and the missionaries died of fever. 596 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,040 And then, Mary Moffat, his wife, 597 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:16,320 came out to join him here at Shupanga. 598 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:18,920 In nearly 20 years of married life, 599 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:23,440 she'd spent barely four with her husband in a settled home. 600 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:26,800 And three months after she arrived, she died. 601 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:41,440 And so, this remote spot on the banks of his beloved Zambezi 602 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:46,080 became, for him, the saddest place in all the world. 603 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:52,040 Nine months later, Livingstone left the Zambezi for ever. 604 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:57,080 After a year in England, he returned again to Africa, 605 00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:59,160 but not, this time, to the Zambezi River, 606 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:02,520 but farther north to the great lakes of Nyasa and Tanganyika. 607 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:08,240 And so began the long, lonely wanderings of his last years. 608 00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:10,800 In a way, it was quite like the old times. 609 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:16,200 Livingstone was once more alone, except for his African porters, 610 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,600 and once more, he was striving to exterminate the slave trade. 611 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:21,760 He was now an old man, 612 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:25,160 and the long years of hard living had taken their toll. 613 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:29,040 In a letter to his daughter, Agnes, he wrote that his teeth were now 614 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,080 "broken through tearing at maize, and some were missing". 615 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:35,320 And with a touch of the old, sardonic humour, he added, 616 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:36,960 "If you expect a kiss from me, 617 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,480 "you must take it through a speaking trumpet." 618 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:43,480 Five years after he had disappeared into the interior, 619 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,800 Stanley came out and discovered him 620 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:47,920 living on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. 621 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,120 Ironically, he was now dependent for food and protection 622 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:55,040 on the very people he had come to exterminate, the Arab slavers. 623 00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:58,920 Livingstone refused to return to civilisation with Stanley. 624 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,560 For now, he was obsessed with an idea. 625 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:04,480 He wanted to find the source of the Nile. 626 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,720 In fact, Burton and Speke had already discovered it, 627 00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:10,520 but Livingstone refused to accept their findings. 628 00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:12,480 The Arabs had told him of a hill 629 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,680 where four fountains or springs took their rise, 630 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,120 two flowing north and two flowing south, 631 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,880 and Livingstone was convinced that the northward-flowing ones 632 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,080 were the source of the Nile. 633 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:24,800 The idea obsessed him, 634 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:26,960 as he staggered and waded through the swamps. 635 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:28,640 And the day before he died, 636 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,520 he was carried into a village, by his porters, in a hammock. 637 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:33,520 And he summoned the elders 638 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,920 and he asked them if they knew of such a hill. 639 00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:38,280 They didn't. 640 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,560 But such a place does exist. 641 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:42,680 It lies right in the heart of Africa, 642 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:45,200 and the two northward-flowing streams 643 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,960 are the source not of the Nile, but of the Congo. 644 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:53,200 And it could be that, in striving to reach it in his last days, 645 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:56,160 Livingstone was once more obsessed, though unwittingly, 646 00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:57,840 with the river that had brought him 647 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,440 his greatest triumphs and his deepest tragedy. 648 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,760 Because the two southward-flowing streams from that hill 649 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,720 form this, the Zambezi. 650 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:10,560 BIRDSONG