[Sam]

David Livingstone arrived in Africa in 1840 with two goals: to explore the continent and to end the slave trade. In England, his writings and lectures ignited the public's imagination regarding the "Dark Continent" and elevated Livingstone to the status of a national hero.

In 1864 Livingstone returned to Africa and mounted an expedition through the central portion of the continent with the objective of discovering the source of the Nile River. As months stretched into years, little was heard from the explorer. Rumors spread that Livingstone was being held captive or was lost or dead. Newspapers headlined the question "Where is Livingstone?" while the public clamored for information on the whereabouts of their national hero. By 1871, the ruckus had crossed to the shores of America and inspired George Bennett, publisher of the New York Herald, to commission newspaper reporter Henry Stanley to find Livingstone.

Henry Stanley was a remarkable man. Orphaned at an early age he spent his formative years in a workhouse in Wales, crossed the Atlantic at age 15 as a crewman of a merchant ship and jumped ship in New Orleans. Befriended by a local merchant, he took the man's name - Henry Stanley - as his own and went on to fight in the Civil War before working his way into a career in journalism.

Leading an expedition of approximately 2,000 men, Stanley headed into the interior from the eastern shore of Africa on March 21, 1871. After nearly eight months he found Livingstone in Ujiji, a small village on the shore of Lake Tanganyika on November 10, 1871.

When Sir Henry Morton Stanley conducted his famed search for Dr. David Livingston in Africa, he was confronted by a particularly powerful tribe that tried to hinder him from proceeding. The guide who was with him explained that if he wanted to continue his search, he would have to cut covenant with the chief of that tribe. He wasn't sure what that implied, so he asked. The guide explained that there would be an exchange of gifts, and that blood - Dr. Stanley's as well as the chief's - would have to be shed. Dr. Stanley agreed and they began the process.

Before the blood was shed, they had to exchange gifts. Dr. Stanley was not in good health and took a goat with him everywhere he went for its milk. When the chief said that he wanted that goat, therefore, it was a difficult decision for Stanley to make. If he failed to please the chief and did not successfully cut the covenant, he would not be allowed to continue his search.

In the end, he yielded and gave the goat and, in exchange, he received a tall spear wrapped with copper. To Dr. Stanley, this did not seem like a very impressive gift. After all, what practical good would it be to him? Nevertheless, the covenant was completed, and he departed on his journey.

The very next time his party met someone along the way, a very unusual thing happened. The person they met bowed before Dr. Stanley. He didn't understand this at first, until he was told that the chief had given him the symbol of his own authority. Stanley had been worried about losing a goat, but now he could request a whole herd of goats if he wanted to.