The Express.
London, England, 1864-09-20 00:00:00

DR. LIVLNG.3TONE'S LECTURE.

Is the evening Dr. Livingstone delivered a lecture at the
Theatre which was crowded is every pert.

Sir Roderick Murchison on taking the chair, said their pre-
sident. Sir Charles Lyon, had been pleased to ask him to
take the chair oa that occasion, and all who knew bow loos
he (Sir IL Murchison) bad been connected with Dr. Living-
stone would be sure that he did so with the most sincere
gratification. For many wears he watched the toilsome
efforts of his distioguished-frisod, and when after travereing
and re-traversing South Africa, he was received with accla-
mation after lb years' absence, besides his geographical
diacoveries, he wise to them se au unwearied and zealous
missionary, who by hie kindness and goodness had impressed
the poor natives with the belief that he was the envoy
of a great queen who loved the black man. To the honour
of the government they rewarded such services by appoint-
ing him consul at Quillinume, at the month of the Zambesi
river, which be bad followed from nearly its source to the
sea, ;ind described es one of the finest falls in the world,
far rupassing Niagara. They would remember that a grand
tammet was given to wish him God speed when he started
froin this country as consul, at which 2,000 persona were
present; but u honours like these (sod Livingstooe has
been honoured through the length and breadth of the land)
will sot support a man and his family, who, bereaved of
an affectionate wife, the brave and attached companion of
her illustrious husband in his travels, he hoped that now
the consulate which he occupied had been abolished, for
reasons that Dr Livingstone would explain, that her Ms-
jarty's government would grant some pension to the
man who has laLaared in so good a vocation
is the heart of Africa for twenty years, and who
in his zeal to carry out his mission had expanded much of
the means be bad acquired in the sale of his own work, in
order to provide himself with a steam vessel, drawing little
water, and in which be could ascend the shallow river, and
thus heck the transit of slaves from the iatenor. The whole
British nation would rejoice with him. if the great and po-
pular minister who now directs publie affairs should, in
our gracious Queen's name, grant some befitting recom-
pense to the good and well beloved Livingstone. He had
only further to explain that big friend was now in some
degree affected in his voice, and as be misfit not be able to
read the whole of his lecture, Mr. C. Markham' secretary
of the geographical section. would read a portion of it, Mr.
Arrowsmith would point to the positions on the great map.
He might alms add that the assistant-g 1 secretary,3lr.
Griffiths, has made such exoellent arrangements that whilst
Dr. Livinptoue is lecturing here, his lecture will lie
road in another place to many hundreds rf associates who
could not find room in the theatre, and that whet this as-
sembly was adjourned his friend would move to the other
room, nod then thank that assembly which is met to do
him honour also.

Dr. Livingstone then delivered the following lecture:—ln
order that the remarks I have to offer may be clearly under-
stood, it is necessary to cal to mind some things which
took place previous to the Zunbesi expedition being seat
oat ; sad most of you are, no doubt, aware that previous
to the discovery of Lake Ngami and the well-watered
country in which the Makololo dwell, the idea prevailed
that a large part of the interior of Africa was composed
of vest sandy deserts into which rivers ran and were
lost. In a journey from sea to sea, across the coati-
neat, somewhat north of the lake first discovered, it wee
found that there, too, the country was well watered. Large
rids of fertile soil were covered with forest, and occupied
with &considerable population. We bad, thee, the form of
the continent revealed to be an elevated plateau, somewhat
depressed in the enact, with fissures at the aides, by which
the rivers escaped to the sea ; and this great fact in physicist
geography can Dever be referred to without mentioning the
remarkable hypotheeis by which the distin4aished President
of the Royal Geographical Society (Sir IL Murchison)
clearly delineated it before it was verified by actual obser-
vation of the altitudes of the country and courses of the
riverm It was published in one of his famous anniversary ad-
dresses ; and be has bees equally happy in his lastaddrese in
pointing out the ancient geologicad condition of the interior
of this continent, as probably the oldest in the world—a
fact we, who were on the spot, could but dimly guars. But
he seems to have the faculty of collecting facts from every
source, sod oreentrating them into a focus in a way Do nue
else can accomplish. (Cheers.) We maletatsed it only after
he has made it ell plain in his study at home. Then fol-
lowed the famous travels of Dr. Berth and Francis Gahm. ;
the meat interesting di.coverise of lake Zaaganyika and
Victoria Nyawya, of etptain Berton and ()spier Speke,
whose sad low we all now so deeply deplore, and anon,
of Laces Shirwe and Nyeasa; the doeovertes of Van
der Thicken and several others ; hot lea of all, the gr.nd
discovery of the main source of the Nils, which every
Englishman must feel proud to know was aremplished
by our countrymen Spoke and Grant. In all this expiora-
Coo, the main object in view has tot lama merely to dis-
cover objects of air days wonder—to gaze, and be
gazed at by barbarians —I would not give a fig to discover
even • tribe with Mile—but, in proceeding to the west
rant to find a path to the *ea. whereby Instil commerce
might be introduced to aid mignionary efforts, was very
much struck by observing the decide.), influence of that
which is Lorin as Lord Paltnerstou'e existed several
hundreds of miles from the ocean. I found piracy had base
abolia'aed, sod that the slave trade had hien so far sup-
pressed as to h+ spoken of as a thing as of the pest—that
lawful commerce had increases' front IV tsr t. iu ivory and
gold dust to between two end three milikois—oes million
of which V. in palm oil, to our own country; Dist over
twenty missions had lean established, with schools in
which 12,000 pupils were taught ; that life and proton)
were secure on the coast, and comparative peace min
blisbed in large portioas of the interior ; and all this was at
▪ time when, from reading the speeches of wall-informed
gentlemen at brine, I hail come to the conclusion that oar
crises had done nothing hot muskrate the evils of the slave
trade. Well, not finding what I wished by going to the west
coast, I cams down the Zawheei to the east coast, and there
I ford the country sealed op. The same efforts had
been made by our cruisers here, as on the west roost,
bet in aresoneeite of foreigners being debarred from
aster'eegg the country, neither trailers nor missionaries bad
estabiieheil themselves. The trade was only in a little
wary, sad gold dust, and slaves ; jug as is was en
the west coast before Lord Palmerstoo's policy came into
aware.. It seemed to me, therefore, that, as the Pin-
toren government professed itself willing to aid in
opining the country, and we had • large river, the Zam-
beq which being full wham I drat descended, it seamed a

THE E:

famous inlet to the higher lands and interior generally. I
knew the actives to be almost all food of trading, and,
when meay from the influence of the slave trade, friendly
sod milt; the soil feriae, and cptton and ....her products
widely cultivated It therefore appeared to me that if I
could opera this region to lawful commerce, I should sup-
plement the efforts of our cruisers in the same way as
nos been done by traders and misaiocaries on the west coast,
land perform a good service to Africa and to England.
To aczoniplish this was the main object of the Zambesi
expedition. and in speakiog of what was done, it is to be
uuderatuoil that Dr. Kink, Mr. Livingstone, and others,
co.nposed it; and when 1 speak in the plural number I
mean them, lied wish to bear testimony to the seal sail
untiring energy with which my compantoos worked.
They were
hard fare, and were their services required in any other
capacity, might be relied on to perform their duty.
The first discovery we made was • navigable entrance
to the Zambesi, about • degree west of the Quillimane
River, which had always been represented as the mouth
of the Zambesi, in order, as some maintained, that the
men of war might be induced to watch the false mouth,
while slaves were quietly shipped from the real mouth.
This mistake has lately been propagated is a map by the
colonial minister of Portugal. On ascending Zambesi, we
found that the Portuguese authorities, to whom their
government had kindly commeaded us, had 'early all fled
down to the sea coast, end the country was in the hands
of the natives, many of whom, by their brands, we saw
had been slaves. As they were all quite (timidly with us,
we proceeded to our work, and ascended the river in •
little steamer, which, having been made of steed platen, a
material never before tried, and with en eosin* and boiler,
the sweepings of some shop, very thou failed us. Indeed,
the common canoes of the country passed us with ease, and
the people in them looked back, wonderioe whet this puffing
asthmatic thing could mean. The crocodiles thought it
was a land animal swimming, and rushed et it in hopes of
hat* a feast The river, for the first 300 miles, is from
half a mile to throe miles wide. During half the year the
water is abundant and deep; during the other hall,
or the dry season, It ft very shallow, but with properly-
constructed vessels much might be made of it during the
whole of ordinary years. We proCeede4 se soon as we could
to the rapid' above Zoete, our iotetti,lon having originally
been to go so as far as the Great Victoria ills, and do what''
we meld with the Makololo, but our steamer could net Stearn
a four knot current. We then turned off to an giant of
the Zambesi, which flows into it about 100 miles front the 1
sea ; it is called the Shire, and, as far as we know, was never
explored by any European before. It flows in • valley about
200 miles long and •A) broad. Ranges of hills shut in the
landscape ou both sides, while the river itself winds
excessively among mashes ; in one of these we
counted 800 elephants, all in sight at one time. The
population was very large ; crowds of natives, armed with
boas and poisoned arrows, lined the banks, and seemed
disposed to resent any injury that might be inflicted. But
by can and civility we gave them no occasion for com-
mencing hostilities, though they were once just on the
point of discharging their arrows. On • second visit they
were more friendly, and the women and children appeared.
We had so far gained their coofidence that we left the
steamer at Murchison's Cataract. Dr. Kirk and I proceed-
ing on foot to the N.N.E., discovered Lake Shirwa. This
lake is not large ; it is said to have no outlet, and this is
probably the case, for It. water is brackish ; it abounds in
fish, hippopotami, and leeches. The scenery around is very
beautiful, the mountains on the east rising to • height of
8,000 to 9,000 feet. We were now among Manganja, a
people who had not been visited by Europeans, and as I am
auto asked what sort of folk these savages are I may answer
they were as low as any we ever met except Bushmen, yet
they all cultivate the soil for their sugarcanes They
rase large quantities of maize, or Indian oorn, and soother
grain, which grows in a stalk 10 or 12 feet high, with grain
very mach like the hemp-seed given to canaries, and called
by the Arabs dem (Halms georghum); mother kind of
grain (teutsetum); several kinds of beans, pumpkins,
and melons ; cucumbers, from the seeds of which a five oil
is extracted ' • cassava, from which our tapioca is made ;
ground-nuts, which yield an oil fit for cooking ; castor-oil,
with which they anoint their bodies ; and tobacco and In-
dian hemp for smoking. The labour in the fields seemed to
lie performed by the whole family. men, women, sod
children being generally seen is the field. toge-
ther. Each family had a patch of cotton, just
as our forefathers had each a patch of lint,
and this cotton was span and woven by the men, while
the women malted and ground the con, and made the
beer. Near many of the villages furnaces were erected
for smelting iron from the ore, and excellent hoes were
made very cheap. All were very eager traders, and very
few were hunter., so they can scarcely be called savage*,
though without a doubttelei were degraded enough.
Thar life bee always ap to me to be one of fear.
They may be attacked y other tribes, and sold into
slavery ; and the idea this brings is, that they will be taken
away, fattened, and eaten by the whites. The slave-
trotter calls them beasts and savages, and they believe the
stave-traders to be cannibals. They also live in fear of
witchcraft, and suspected persona are frequently compelled
to drink the ordeal water, which is just about as seeable
a means of detecting witches as our former mode of duck-
ing in a pond. If the suspected person vomits, acs is
innocent; if not, guilty; and yet we laugh heartily
at our forefathers believing that the woman who
sank in the pond was innocent, and guilty if she
swam—jut u monomaniacs do with their illusions.
Cultivating large tracts of land for grain, • favourite way
of narag the produce is to convert it into beer. Is is ant
very intoxicating, but when they consume large quantities
they do becomes little elevated. When a family brews a
large quantity, the friends and neighbours are invited to
driek acd bring their hoes with them. They let off the
excitement in merrily hoeing their friend', field. At other
times they consume large quantities for the same object as
our regular topers at borne. We entered one village, and
found the pile all tipsy together. On seeing us the men
tried to induce the women to run away, but the ladies too
were, as we mildly put it, " a little overcome." and laughed
at the idea of their reusing. The village doctor arranged
matters by bringing • large pot of the liquid, with the inten-
tion apparently. of reducing us to the general level. Well,
the people generally, if we except the coast tribes, are ear y
much like these, without the drunkenness. Wherever the
tzetze exists the people possess no cattle,as this insect proves
fatal to all domestic sot orals, except the goat, man. and donkey.
Its bite doss no harm to man nor to the donkey, though
one we took through • tzetu district did die, probably from
over fatigue. We made no discovery as to the nature of
the carious poison injected by the insect, nor could we
bed out where it laid its eggs. Where the alave.trade is
unknown, the cattle are the only cause of war. The
Makololo will travel • mouth for the sake of lifting cattle :
this is not considered stealing, and when the question is
put, why should you lift what does not belong to you, they
return the Scotch answer, why should these Makalaka
or black fellows, possess cattle if they can't defend them!
Having secured the good will of all the people below and
adjacent to Murchison's maraca, we next proceeded fur-
ther north, and discovered the Shire flowing in • broad
gentle stream out to Like Nyasia, about sixty miles above
the cataracts. The country on each aide of the river
rod lake rises up in what, from below, seems ranges
of mountains, bat when they have been ascended they turn
out to be elevated plateaux—cool and well-w with
streams. To show the difference of temperature, we were
drinking the waters of the Shire at Si degrees, and by one
day's march up the ascent, of between 3,000 and 4,000 feet,
we had it at 65 degrees. or 19 degrees lower. It felt as if
iced. We had no troub,e with the people. No dues were
leviel nor fines demanded. Though the Manganja were quite
independent in their bearing towards us, sod strikingly
differeet from what they afterwards became, our opera-
tans were roofloed chiefly to gaining the friendship of the
different tribes, and imparting what information wa could,
with a view to lettuce them to cultivatei smarm for ex-
portation. It has already been mentioned that each
family had its own cotton patch ; some of these were
of considerable extent; one field, close to Zedune
cataract I lately foetid to be 630 paces on one side,
and the cotton was of excellut quality, sot requiring re-
planting oftener than ogee in three years, and no fear of is.
jury by frost. After careful examinatiou, 1 have no besita-
coon is re-smarting that we have there one of the finest cot-
too fields la the world. In remonstrating with the chiefs
stand selling their people ieto slavery, they justified them-
'elves on the plea that tone were sold except criminals. The
crimes may not always be very great, but I cosjectare,
from the extreme ugliness of many slava, that they are the
degraded criminal chines ; sod it is not fair to take
the typical negro from among them any more then it would
be to place • Bill Sykes," or some of Patch's garotters,
es
the typical Juba Bull. For years I had
been looking out for the typical negro, and never felt
satisfied that I had got him, for many of them are
the pictures of the Old _tamest ; otheis,larring colour, •
which we soon forget, closely rescrable acquaintances at
bocce. Bat Mr. Winwood Bead, in his work "Savage
Afros,' seems to have lighted right on the head of the idea,
in saving that DO typical negro ia seen in the portraits and ,
monument, of the ancient Fe/elitism.. When we had suc-
ceeded in gaining the good will of the people which crowded
the whole Shire valley, the miesioii Limier the late Bishop
Mackenzie tame into the country. Dr. Kirk had performed
• journey from the Murchistin Cataracts across to Zette, •
Portuguese village upon the Zambesi. Slave hunters then
were sent along Dr. Kirk's route by the gelation
of the present govcrotuett, and alling Otero/mina
" children." The scamps! They joined themselves
to another tribe called Ajawa, then in the act, •
of naigratiog from the south-east, and who bad been semis-
towed to t..ke slaves annually down to Quillinnoe,
and other settlements on the coat. Furnishing the Ajawa '
with armies and anniuultioc they found it easy to drive
those who were armed only with bows and arrows before
them. When Dr. Kirk and Mr. Charles Livingstone
and I went up to show Bishop Mackenzie on to the
highlands, we mat a part of these Portuguese slaves •
coming with- 84 ureter bmad sod led towards Zette.
The head of the party we knew perfectly. having
had him on our employment is Zette. No force
sax employed, for even the slaves of the governor knew
that they were doing wrong, and fled, leaving the whole,
of the captives on oar heads. Bishop Mackenzie received
them gladly, sod in • fertile country, with laud free, in the
course of a year nr two, might, by training some 60
boys to habits of industry, have rendered his malice lode-
peodeat as far as Dative support was concerned. Haviag
been espied in the formation of two mashies io another
part of the eonstry, and having bees familiar with the his-
tory of several, I sever knew a miasma undertaken under
more favourable auspices. This would be the opinion of all
who have exonauoed similar enterprises in other parts, and
it was that of the geed bishop binaelL Hs was so the.
roughly univalliski and of such • genial dispositioa that he