3-052-510 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Grave of Mr. Keith Johnston, at Beho Beho, East Central Africa, 1880. 'The lamented death of this gentleman, on June 28 last year, at Beho-Beho, in East Central Africa, on the journey from the seaport of Dar-es-Salaam towards Lake Nyassa...Mr. William Beardall, the engineer...engaged in constructing the road which is being made there...visited the spot in December last, six months after Mr. Johnston's death, writes: "The grass hut built for Mr. Johnston, and in which he died, is still standing. He is buried about twenty-five yards off, under a big 'Inkuyu' tree, which stands just inside the belt of jungle surrounding the village. His initials and the date of his death are cut in the bark of the tree. The natives gave me to understand that the grave was some distance off, away in the bush...just before sunset on the day of my arrival two green pigeons settled together on the Inkuyu tree. I shot them, and, going to pick them up, came upon the grave" Mr. Beardall's sketch of the grave has furnished us with an Illustration'. Alexander Keith Johnston led a Royal Geographical Society expedition to Lake Nyasa and Lake Tanganyika. After only six weeks, he died from malaria and dysentery in the village of Beho Beho (now in Tanzania). From "Illustrated London News", 1880.