The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

for Linyanti. Making detours to the north
and south in order to visit towns or places of
interest, he reached Sekeletu at Linyanti
in August of the same year. Having thus
proved to the Makololo the existence of a
route to the sea by the west, but seeing the
impracticability of using that route as a
carriage-path, ho resolved upon attempting an
eastern route by way of the Zambesi :
Having found it impracticable to open up a carriage-
path to the west, it became a question as to which part of
the east coast we should direct our steps. The Arabs
had come from Zanzibar through a peaceful country.
They assured me that the powerful chiefs beyond the
Cazembe on the N.E., viz. Moatutu, Moaroro, and
Mogogo, chiefs of the tribes Batutu, Baroro, and Bagogo,
w.,uld have no objection to my passing through their
country. They described the population there as located
in small villages like the BaLonde, and that no difficulty
is experienced in travelling amongst them. They men-
tioned also that, at a distance of ten days beyond Cazembe,
their path winds round the end of Lake Tanganyenka.
But when they reach this lake a little to the north-west
of its southern extremity, they find no difficulty in obtaining
canoes to carry them over. They sleep on islands, for it
is said to require three days in crossing, and may thus be
forty or fifty miles broad. Here they punt the canoes the
whole way, showing that it is shallow. There are many
small streams in the path, and three large rivers. This
then appeared to me to be the safest; but my present
object being a path admitting of water rather than land
carriage, this route did not promise so much as that by
wit of the Zambesi or Leeambye. The Makololo knew
all the country eastwards as far as the Kafue, from having
lived in former times near the confluence of that river
with the Zambesi, and they all advised this path in
preference to that by the way of Zanzibar. The only
difficulty that they assured me of was that in the falls of
Victoria. Some recommended my going to Sesheke, and
crossing over in a N.E. direction to the Kafue, which is
only six days distant, and descending that river to the
Zambesi. Others recommended me to go on the south
bank of the Zambesi until I bad passed the falls, then get
canoes and proceed further down the river. All spoke
strongly of the difficulties of travelling on the north bank,
on account of the excessively broken and rocky nature
of the country near the river on that side. And when
Ponuane, who had lately headed a foray there, proposed
that I should carry canoes along that side, till we reached
the spot where the Leeambye becomes broad and placid
again, others declared that, from the difficulties he him-
self had experienced in forcing the men of his expedition
to do this, they believed that mine would be sure to
desert me, if I attempted to impose such a task upon
them. Another objection to travelling on either bank of
the river, was the prevalence of the tsetse, which is so
abundant, that the inhabitants can keep no domestic
animals except goats.
While pondering over these different paths, I could not
help regretting my being alone. If I had enjoyed the
company of my former companion, Mr. Oswell, one of us
might have taken the Zambesi, and the other gone by
way of Zanzibar. The latter route was decidedly the
easiest, because all the inland tribes were friendly, while
the tribes in the direction of the Zambesi were inimical,
and I should now be obliged to lead a party, which the
Batoka of that country view as hostile invaders, through
an enemy's land; but as the prospect of permanent water
conveyance was good, I decided on going down the
Zambesi.

On the 3rd of Nov., 1535, Dr. Livingstone
started on his homeward voyage. How he suc-
ceeded, and what adventures he met with, his
narrative must tell. Suffice it for the present
to say, that by alternately descending the rivers,
cutting across the land at extensive bends,
and rejoining the river again, he reached its
mouth at Quilimane in safety in the month of
May, '56. To Dr. Livingstone's subsequent
arrival and reception in England we need not
allude; we need only say that he is most
anxious to return to the field of his labours,
and who so fit AS he ?

It is necessary to give this brief
introductory summary of the extent and
direction of Dr. Livingstone's travels be-
fore we can venture to define results or
draw conclusions from his labours. After
dwelling upon the geological features of
Southern Africa, Dr. Livingstone arrives at a
similar conclusion to that pronounced, un-
known to him at the time, by Sir Roderick
Murchison in 185:2, viz., that the interior of
Central Africa for ages has been a vast lacus-
trine country, and that the basin-shaped struc-
ture of Central Southern Africa extends from
Lake Ngami to Lake Tchad. Dr. Livingstone
first heard of this prediction in the autumn
of 1855. "There was not much use," he
writes, "in nursing my chagrin at being thus
" fairly cut out' by the man who had foretold
" the existence of the Australian gold before
" its discovery, for here it was, in black and
" white. In his easy-chair he had forestalled
" me by three years, though I had been work-
- ing hard through jungle, marsh, and fever,
" and, since the light dawned on Loy mind at