In the midst of the universal sorrow caused by the intelligence that
Dr. Livingstone had lost his life at the furthest point to which he
had penetrated in his search for the true sources of the Nile, a faint
hope was indulged that some of his journals might survive the
disaster: this hope, I rejoice to say, has been realized beyond the
most sanguine expectations.

It is due, in the first place, to his native attendants, whose
faithfulness has placed his last writings at our disposal, and also to
the reader, before he launches forth upon a series of travels and
scientific geographical records of the most extraordinary character,
to say that in the following narrative of seven years' continuous work
and new discovery _no break whatever occurs_.

We have not to deplore the loss, by accident or carelessness, of a
single entry, from the time of Livingstone's departure from Zanzibar
in the beginning of 1866 to the day when his note-book dropped from
his hand in the village of Ilala at the end of April, 1873.

I trust it will not be uninteresting if I preface the history with a
few words on the nature of these journals and writings as they have
come to hand from Central Africa.

It will be remembered that when Mr. Stanley returned to England in
1872, Dr. Livingstone entrusted to his care a very large Letts' diary,
sealed up and consigned to the safe keeping of his daughter, Miss
Agnes Livingstone. Upon the confirmation of the worst news, this book
was examined and found to contain a considerable portion of the notes
which her father made during his travels previous to the time of Mr.
Stanley's meeting him.