Along with his surgical kit and medicine chest, David Livingstone always carried a microscope and sextant—with which he observed God's creation with awe and wonder. In his writings, he described his discoveries with a lively sense of imagination.

"The birds of the tropics have been described as generally wanting in power of song," he said, comparing them to English song birds. The bird chorus "is not so harmonious and sounded always as if the birds were singing in a foreign tongue. … The mokwa reza gives forth a screaming set of notes like our blackbird when disturbed, then concludes with what the natives say is 'pula, pula' (rain, rain), but is more like 'weep, weep, weep.'

"These African birds have not been wanting in song," he concluded, "they have only lacked poets to sing their praises."

Wild animals great and small figure prominently in his journals and books: rampaging rhinoceroses and drowsy hippopotamuses, wise ants and savage alligators. But of the hundreds of species he cataloged, ...

FREE E-Newsletter Sign up for the ChristianHistory.net e-mail newsletter. Discover more about your Christian heritage with this weekly e-newsletter that features key people, topics, and events from the history of Christianity.      RSS Feed   RSS Help