The Express.
London, England, 1859-01-04 00:00:00

DR. LIVINGSTONE'S EXPEDITION.

The following letters have just been received by a
statism= in °largo, from Dr. Livingstone. They will be
Ned with interest

"Steam Launch Ma-Robert, River Zambesi,
June 23, 1858.

"My dear dir,—By the departure of the colonial vessel
Pearl I am enabled to oommtinkste with my friends at
home by the overland Indian route, and I have much
Meanie in informing you that we have been very clearly
favoured with neither ever since we left Liverpool. I
feel thankful for the mercy which has watched over us, for,
with the weight on our deck. a gal* would have wrought •
fearful stramash. I wee obliged to part with Mrs. L. and
Omen at the Cape, but we there met Mr. and Mrs. Moffat
from K oroman, and she will go with them thither, and
afterwards join me by the overland way beyond that. This
we felt to be a trial, but now see it was for the best,
for the Portuguese and natives are at war, and cannot
pass up the river. You ere aware that I did not see the
bower portion of the Zambesi, but left it at Memo, • duos
70 miles from ha month. This lower part had to be all ex-
plored, and that took up about • month, from the number
of mouths it possums. We found • very good bar and har-
bour at the river or branch by which we entered. It is
called Kongone, and has ten mouths, if I may so call them
sucking water by them out of the main stream. One of thee;
is & natural canal, five miles long, through which we entered
the Zambesi. Our ship, the Pearl, was a screw, and would
not back readily, and was quite too deep for exploring. We
were, moreover, hampered by very stringent orders not to
run any risk t..f detaining her in the river, but rather land our
goods on an island, and send her off. This we have done,
though with • paddle steamer of five or six feet draught we
could have gone to Tete. We an below Masao, and next week
will go to Tete, where nay men are welting ice J. It la
said that many of them have died dr Ma pox, a disease
unknown In their owe country ; but the rest have parchaM
pig*, goats, and poultry with their earnings, and use either
to slaughter or sell them till I come. We went up to Memo
In the Ma-Robert, and encountered the enemy, consisting
of 200 well-armed natives (with Tower muskets). We sp-
proached them slowly, and when within hail I called out that
we wan English, and pointed to the English ensign. They
gave • shout of joy, and we soon saw them running down with
banana. for vale. NVe mean to keep free of the quarrel on both
the native sad Portuguese eldee, end get away beyond them
As soon as posable. My brother found very good ootton in the
delta; bat all complain that TOM ruin their cultivation. Of
the river I can now speak with confidence, as I had the com-
pany of three naval officers. It is generally from 1,000 to
2,000 yard* wide; but when it has islands, ft spreads out to
21 or 3 miles. These are the worst parts; in the narrower
parts we have from 3to 7 fathoms. In these broad parts a
channel of 2or 21 fathoms cen be found only by seerchlog.
One of my friends remarked, it was more like an Inland see
than • river. I still adhere to the opinion I have all along
expressed, that a vessel drawing from four to six feet water
could run upon it daring seven or eight months of the year
with ease. We all enjoy good hmlth, no cam of fever
having appeared &newt us, and we have been in the delta
five weeks. But this I knew beforehand to be the healthy
season, or winter, and selected health in preference to a full
river.—l am, &c., " DAVID LIVINGSTONE."

Tete, Sept. 14, 1858.

"My deer Sir,—l wrote you a long letter by the Pearl,
but unfortunately, by some mistake, it was unseat, so I have
now to tell you that we spent some time getting • proper en-
trance into the Zambesi, se the main entrance seemed unsafe.
We entered by • wide branch, and having been about • month
exploring the delta, and the river falling fast, it warn resolved
to land all our goods on an island, and carry them up by sue.-
erosive trips in oar small steam launch. This we have been
doing as fast as we could. This you are aware of probably me
this. and possibly also of the very fevourable opinion respect-
ing the value of this river expressed by the two naval officers
who accompanied me. I see it now several feet lower then
they did, and as It is spread main many places below Lopata
to from one to three miles in width, you may be sure we
have difficulties in finding the deep channel. Formerly I
believed, from what the Portuguese told me, that this
river was navigable during only aim or eight months in the
year. I now believe that it could be navigated with one
of the 30-inch steamers 10 months, if not the whole year.
When we got to Lupata—where the river is no longer divided
into many channe6--our difficulties in navigation ended.
Here the gentlemen at once yielded to my suggestion, and
dug out a ton and a half of coals, the very first ever taken
out of the earth in this country. Mr. Hee, a Glaegowegian,
pronounces them to be good, and promising better, as they
are got from the eu-fsce in the bank of the Mitatue where
they have been exposed to the action of floods and atmo-
sphere for ages. There is an immense coalfield here,
and many of the reams crop out. With coal, and the
beet iron ore in abundance surely Africa will not always be
thetrodden-down nation it has been. Our vessel was the

•-
first that ever steamed at Tete, and we were visited as if We
had been another Leviathan. The country was in • state of
war' and no Portuguese duet pass, but we did, our pass-
port being the English name. This is against our pruepects,
for everything stands still, or goes back, when war rages.
We had gone from the Portuguese to the native
side, from time to time, unmolested, being equally friendly
to both parties. Many of the officers wished to accept my
mediation, and the rebels all did, bat the governor would
not give in. A decisive blow is to be struck soon, but the
rebels being meetly runaway slaves, they will bold out.
Two who acted as pilot& on board once wanted me to buy
them, to get out of the serape. It is sad to see so tine a
country in this state. We moot some vary fine cotton grow-
ing wild wherever it has once been sown. It is long In the
staple, and has been introduced as its name Imports. The
other has a short strong staple which clings to the seed, and
Is more like wool in the hand than cotton. We have also
lignom vier than ebony; but I must leave all these things
to be reported on by my companions. My men were still at
Tete, though thirty of them had died of small-pox, end six
Lad been killed by a neighbouring chief. The poor fellows
received me with great joy, and us less glad war I too see
them. All the party is now well. We have had Moms, but
no crest fever. I think, as both we and the Pearl escaped,
it wee greatly owing to pushing with all vigour away from
the mangrove swamps at the mouth of the river. These are
the hotbeds of fever.—l am, ice.,
"DATTD LIVINGSTONE."