The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-08-10 00:00:00

LIV INGSTONE'S DESPATCHES.

The Yoreitpo Office h.mt issued a series of del,pe.b.be,
Seoul Or. Livingstone, brought by Mr. Stanley, and
delivered to Loid Glanville on the Ist inst. In many
particulars they traverse the same ground as the letters
addressed to Mr. James Gordon Bennett, arid the in-
formation derived through Mr. Stanley. The first
letter is addressed to Lord Stanley from ' Bambarre,
al anyuema country, say about 150 W. of
November 15, 1870." It states that the Doctor, no soon
as he had sufficiently recovered from a severe illnes to be
able to march from Ujiji, went up by lake Tanganyika
about sixty miles, and struck away north-westward
into the country the Manly ema, or Manynerna, "the
reputed cannibals." Ilis object was "to follow down
the central line of drainage of the great Nile Valley,
which he had seen passing through the great Lake
Bangweolo, and changing its name from Chambese to
Luapula; then again, on passing through Lake Meoro,
assuming the name of Lualaba, and, after forming a
third lake, Kamolondo, becoming itself a great riverain
lake, with many islands in it." After mentioning the
meeting with "a band of Ujijian traders earryinglB,ooo
lbs. weight of ivory, bought in this new field for a
mere trifle in thick copper bracelets and beads," Living-
stone proceeds to describe the country :
In going wslit of Bambarre, In order to embark on the
Imalabe, I went down the Learns, a river of from 100 yards
to 200 yards I,road, which rises in the mountains opposite
Ujiji, and flows across the great bend of the Lualaba. When
near its confluence. I found myself among people who had
lately been maltreated thy the slaves, and they naturally
looked on site 149 of the same tribe as their per...,
tors. Airicens are not generally unreasonable, though
smarting under wrongs, if you can fairly make them
understand your claim to innocence, arid do not
appear as having your " back np." The women
here were panicularly outspoken in asserting our identity
with the cruel strangers. On callieg to one vociferous lade,
who gave me the head trader's name, to look at my colour
riot see if it were the some sold!, she replied, with a bitter
little laugh, "Then you must be Tie father :" The worst the
men •lid was to turn out in force, armed with their large
!Tears slid wooden shields, and show no out of their districts.
Glad that DO eolliel4,ll Wok place, we returned to ilambarre,
and then, with our friend Miihrimml, struck away due north;
he to loiv ivory, and Ito reach another part of Lualraba anti
buy a canoe.
The country Is extremely beautiful, brit difficult to travel
over. .The mountains of light grey granite stand like islaM
in new re.l sendstone, and mountain and valley are all clad
in .mantle of different shades of green. The vegetation is
indescribably rink. Through the gross—if grass it cm he
called, which is over halt an inch In iliarneter in the stalk,
and from ten to twelve feet high—nothing hut elephants c.n
walk. bite leaves of this megatherium grass are armed with
minute spikes, which. as we worm our way along elephant
walks, rub disagreeably on the side of the fan where the gun
Is hell, and the hand is made sore by fending it off the other
side for hours. The rains were fairly set salty November; and
In the mornings, or after a shower, these leaves were loaded
with moisten, which wet us to the bone. The voile) s are
deeply undulating, and in each innumerable dells have to
be crossed. There may be only a thread of water at the
bottom, but the mild, mire, or (Soother) "elem." is griev-
ous ; thirty or forty yards of the path on each side of the
stream see worked by the feet of passengers into an adhesive
compound. By plachig a foot on each side of the narrow
way, one may waddle & little distance along, but the rank
crop of grasses, gingers, and hushes cannot spare the few
inches of s,dl reqnired fir the side of the foot, and down he
comes into the slough.. . •
Every now and then the tenders, with rueful faces, stand
panting: the sweat trickles ilowu my face, and I suppose
that I look as grim as they, though I try to cheer them with
the hope that good prices will reward them at the coast for
Ivory obtained with so much toiL In some cases the subsoil
has given way beneath the elephant's enormous weight: the
deep bole is filled with mud, and one taking it all to be
snout oat( deep, steps in to the top 4,1 the thigh. and flaps
on to a seat soft enough, but not luzurieue ; a Merry laugh
relax.s the facial rouslee, though I have nip other reason for
it than that it is better to laugh than to cry.
Some of the numerous rivers whleh in this region flow into
tirolii`ni are covered with living vegetable bridges—' species
of dark glossy -leaved grass, with its roots and leaves, felts
itself let° a mat that rover. the whole stream. When stepped
upon it yields twelve or fifteen inches, and that amount of
water rises up on the leg. At every step the foot has to be
raie.l high enough to place it on the unbent mass in front.
This high stepping fatigues like walking on deep snow. Here
and there holes appear which we could not sound with a
stick six feet long they gave the impression that anywhere
one might plump through and finish the chapter. Where the
water is shallow, the lotus, or sacred lily, sends Its roots to
the bottom, and spreads its broad leaves over the floating
bridge, so as to make believe that the mat ta its own; but the
grass referred to lathe real felting and supporting agent, for
it often performs duty as bridge where no lilies grow. The
bridge is called by "kintefwettdwe," as if he who
first coined it was gasping for breath after plunging over a
mile of it.
Bad water and frequent wettines told on us all, by
chtderale symptoms and Pere of flesh. . . . By getting
drenched to the skin once too often in Martino, I had
pneumonia, and that was worse than ten fevers—that is,
fevers treated by our medicine, and not by the dirt supplied