L. J. Procter

“ Here Livingstone is left to himself; the natives know—can tell him nothing; his chronometers are defective, and he cannot depend on his reckonings; but he traces the northeast set of the Lufira and Lomami, and sees that the western, like the eastern boundary of the great valley, is elevated. He observes, too, that the central line of the Lualaba maintains a steady though sinuous northward flow; hence, he is led to the conclusion that this river and lake system has nothing to do with the Congo, but that his tedious wanderings have been to and fro among the head-waters of the Nile. ”

“ He might often be seen talking to the Makololo he had brought down from the country of Sekeletu, and their attention and respect, as they listened or replied to him, plainly showed the influence he had with them. Indeed, one of Livingstone's strongest points, and one that has conduced, no doubt, as much to his safety as his success, is his power of understanding and dealing with the natives, and of winning their confidence, while he overawes their truculence. ”

“ Livingstone's idea has been mentioned, on first hearing of these lakes in the interior, that, on the supposition of a central dividing line, between the north and south river systems, the region about them would be found to be the water-shed of the Nile. This theory it seems to have been his object now to establish, by tracing, if he could, a northern outflow from Tanganyika into Sir S. Baker's great lake, the Albert Nyanza. "Go," said Sir Roderick, even before he left England, "and you will then be the real discoverer of the sources of the Nile!" ”

“ With his never-relinquished idea of establishing a central trading-mart, and purging Africa from its slave-trade, whether Portuguese or Arab, he exhibits the old steadiness in completing a self-set task, the same tenacity of purpose. He is certainly endeavoring to end as he thought good to begin: "It is better to lessen human woe than to discover the sources of the Nile."—Fraser's Magazine. ”

“ Most men would; but not Livingstone. Feeling more than ever, after his experience on the Zambési, the enormous evils of the slave-trade which prevails along its banks; feeling, too, that the best corrective was to go with commerce and civilization as the handmaids of religion, he endeavored, by public speeches at most of our principal places, to increase the interest in the country his return had excited. At Manchester and Liverpool a strong feeling was aroused among the mercantile and cotton-manufacturing communities ”

“ The Kasai, with the Quango and Lubilash—the two former rising west of the water-shed in the latitude of Lake Bangweolo—were always presumed, on Portuguese authority, to be the sources of the great western river. Can the Lualaba—proved to be connected with the Loeki or Lomami—take a westward course after its prolonged northing, and, overthrowing Livingstone's assumption, become the Congo feeder? If not, another question arises: What is the course of the Lualaba after leaving the Unknown Lake? Do these great waters find a channel to the eastward, and empty themselves into the Albert Nyanza? ”

“ Having appropriated their territory, they had compelled the natives themselves to live, if not in absolute slavery, yet under a system of unpaid labor very closely allied to it. Livingstone, with his missionary views, was of course looked upon as an interloper, and hated in a corresponding degree. To add to the grievance of the settlement at Kolobeng, his subsequent discovery of Lake Ngami had encouraged traders to advance from the south, who, by giving the natives ideas about commercial matters they never had before, tended to raise disaffection toward themselves. ”

“ But its existence can hardly be deemed an unimportant matter, especially when it is considered that the discovery was made in the very centre of a cotton-producing district, that iron is plentiful in the hills to the north, and that, if, as Livingstone thinks, silver may not prove to be one of the products of the country, gold certainly is, specimens of which the writer has in his possession. ”

“ That the Portuguese of the lower settlements have not availed themselves more of the advantages thus offered them, is owing much to their indolence and want of enterprise, but more to the hostility of the tribes of these districts, who vigorously oppose any attempts to advance into their territory. A considerable quantity of gold, however, comes into their hands, though it is all obtained from natives living on the borders, who bring it to their settlements. ”

“ Looking down from the brink opposite, masses of dense white vapor conceal the seething volume of fallen water below, from which feathery columns of spray like those described, rainbow-covered and the source of ceaseless showers, perpetually ascend far up into the air. ”

“ Oswell and Major Vardon, the great Kalahari Desert was crossed, and Lake Ngami discovered, in August, 1849. Livingstone's opinion of this country deserves notice: "Not only the natives," he says, "but Europeans whose constitutions have been impaired by an Indian climate, find the tract of country indicated"—the southern borders of the Kalahari—"both healthy and restorative.... Cases have been known in which patients have come from the coasts with complaints closely resembling, if they were not actually those of consumption; and they have recovered by the influence of the climate alone." ”

“ An expedition was formed, composed of picked men, who, as well as assisting Livingstone in the direct objects of his undertaking, were to examine and report on scientific matters. This object, as concisely stated in Livingstone's second book, was "to explore the Zambési, its mouths and tributaries, with a view to their being used as highways for commerce and Christianity to pass into the vast interior of Africa." ”

“ Livingstone himself, who is, by this time, we hope, once more among the waters of Rua and Manyema, with ample stores, and well attended. In two years, though probably more, he may be able to give us his own account. But, in prosecuting the researches, whose successful issue will leave him, in the words of his late friend Sir Roderick Murchison, "the most glorious of all explorers in African geography," it is not to be forgotten that he has other, and what must be admitted to be nobler, aims. ”

“ It is common throughout the whole of Central Africa, and infests certain well-defined districts, usually those frequented by game; numbers may be found in a particular spot, and yet a few yards farther on not a singly fly is to be seen. It only bites in the daytime.
Starting at night, therefore, to get safely through the "tsetse" tract, on November 4th Livingstone arrived at the island of Kalai, where the rapids commence above the "Victoria Falls," as he loyally named them. They are known among the natives as "Mosi oa tunya" (Smoke does sound there) . ”

“ Nothing can be grander than their appearance, which is perhaps unique. Columns of vapor, darkening upward from a white base, first become visible, rising at distinct intervals like jets of smoke in the far distance. ”

“ The westward route being thus out of the question, instead of availing himself of the offer of a passage home from the officers of H.M.'s cruisers at Loando, Livingstone determined to retrace his steps, and seek a path along the Zambési to the east.
In August, 1854, he is once more at Linyanti; on November 3d, starting down the Zambési with a large retinue of Makololo.
The country beyond Linyanti is greatly infested by the "tsetse" fly, the bite of which, fatal to oxen, horses, and dogs, is perfectly harmless to man, as well as to goats and sheep, and wild animals. ”

“ And then as to Tanganyika and the Albert Nyanza. Dr. Livingstone and Stanley together proved that the first lake has no outlet at its northern end, and that the Rusizi a river with eighteen tributaries, coming from the small lake Kivo—is an inflowing stream, and not a drain. What will be done in this direction? What may be the result of discovering some other outlet from a lake extending over 360 miles of latitude, and this, too, when the Albert Nyanza to the south shall be no longer, as at present, unexplored? ”

“ He had shown, too, that the African, with all his faults, was open to the influence of reason, truth, and kindness, that he was capable of improvement, and often eager for it: while all that he wrote of such chiefs as Sechele and Sebituane had corroborated the opinion of every unprejudiced observer that the country could produce men of a far higher stamp than was generally believed. ”

“ Though the natives of the Shiré country were found to grow very little cotton, and that, moreover, of an inferior quality, there can be no doubt that the soil is cotton-producing, and that, with proper attention, and the introduction of the better sorts of the plant, its cultivation would be remunerative. The land will grow sugar-cane, cereals on the upland plateaux—the wheat near Tette is exceptionally fine—the tropical fruits that are known, and some that are not. Indigo grows wild. ”

“ A tribal war, which was raging on the Shiré, and a drought of unusual length and severity, threw insuperable obstacles in the way of the expedition, causing a famine in the higher country, and a disastrous loss of time in the journeys to the coast, which were rendered necessary to procure provisions. ”

“ The subsequent death of three more of the missionaries, besides two of the expedition and Mrs. Livingstone—added to the illness from which most in the country suffered—gave to it a character for malignancy of climate which might apply to the valley regions, but not to the highlands. ”

“ Paul de Loando, the capital of Angola on the west coast, and thence across south Central Africa in an oblique direction to Quelimane in Eastern Africa." Besides geographical research, Livingstone tells us that his object was to find if he could "a healthy district that might prove a centre of civilization, and open up the interior by a path to either the east or west coast." ”

“ Thus his sagacity brought him to anticipate the existence of facts which have since been confirmed by the travels of Burton, Speke, and Grant, and Sir S. Baker; and which only remain to be thoroughly investigated and defined in the completion of those researches the exciting story of whose partial accomplishment we have recently heard. ”

“ First, a vast water-shed between latitude 10° and 12° S., a tree-covered belt, some 700 miles from east to west. From a plain 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, mountains rise to a height of from 6,000 to 7,000 feet, taking the same level. Countless brooks on this wide upland converge and form broad streams that flow toward the centre of a far-extending trough, which Livingstone supposes to be the valley of the Nile. Three large rivers form primary sources in this great valley ”

“ Being promoted at nineteen to higher work in the factory, the increased wages he received enabled him, by working during the greater part of the year, to support himself at Glasgow while attending the medical, Greek, and divinity classes, which were held in the winter. ”

“ A subsequent journey in the same direction brought him to the town of Sebituane, chief of the Makololo, from whom he met with a most cordial reception. Unfortunately, the chief fell sick and died shortly after his arrival; but the promise of assistance made before this occurred was confirmed by his successor, a daughter, Ma-Mochisane. In order to confer with her on the matter, Livingstone made a journey to Shesheke, where she lived, 130 miles to the northeast, in company with Mr. ”