The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-03 00:00:00

Dr, Livingstone,

The following communication from Sir Roderick
Murchison will be read with interest and gratifica-
tifieation, as imparting information concerning the
movements of Dr Livingstone, and serving to allay
the painful anxiety excited by the reported murder
of the energetic explorer of African territory :
I have received letters from my distinguished friend Dr
Livingstone, by the last of which, dated Mozambique,
Feb. 24, I learn that he was in good health, and was about
to proceed to Bombay, there to endeavour to sell the Lady
Nyassa steam vessel, which he had constructed at his own
cost. When he received at Shupanga the notice of the abo-
lition of his consulate he was unable for want of water to
transport the Pioneer steamer down the Zambesi. Knowing
that he must wait till the rains filled the stream, he, with
his well-known zeal, resolved to devote all the time which
must intervene to execute a journey into the interior along
the western banks of the Shire, and, if possible, to deter-
mine if the Lake Nyassa, which he had formerly examined,
was supplied by waters from the north, and which were
supposed to issue from the Lake Tanganyika of Burton
and Speke, Unfortunately, the boat which he had pre-
pared to ascend the shire was lost in one of the cataracts.
Nothing daunted, he pushed on upon foot, attended by his
faithful Macololo and the steward of the Pioneer, and
keeping to the north-west explored a range of mountains
running north and south, about 6,000 ft. above the sea,
with rich valleys beneath them, at an altitude of 2,000 ft.
Arriving at Kotakota Bay of the great lake, in lat. 12
deg. 55 min. S., where that vast sheet of water is reduced
to a narrow channel, he there found the transfer of slaves
across to the east coast to be in full vigour, and he deeply
regretted that he had not been permitted to continue
his services by bringing his little steamer, the Lady Nyassa
up to this point, as he could with her most effectively check
this slave transit. The Pioneer, constructed by the Go-
vernment, was found to draw too much water for interior
navigation. The account of his journey from there to the
west and north, which is full of interesting new data, will
be given to the Royal Geographical Society on June 13.
With the sincerest desire to prosecute his researches to the
north by west, his sense of duty impelled Dr Livingstone
to return to the Zambesi, before he could determine by per-
sonal survey the direction in which the waters flow at the
north end of the Lake Nyassa, but he collected much valu-
able native information, which will produce interesting dis-
cussions among geographers. Suffering temporarily from
severe illness, and being under strict orders to abandon the
Zambesi expedition, he felt compelled to return to complete
his official duties by taking the Fioneer down that river,
and with his companions he therefore travelled back nearly
700 English miles in 55 days, and reaching Shupanga he
thence descended the stream. True to his word, he under-
took to send to the Cape the native boys and children, who
had been freed and partially instructed. Let us hope that
he may not suffer much pecuniary loss by the sale of his
own Lady Nyassa, expressly constructed at his coat, to stop
the slave trade across the Shir 6, and that our Government
will not be oblivious of the hearty and devoted services of
this meritorious missionary and explorer.
P.S. In a letter from Shupanga, on the Zambesi, dated
Feb. 10, Livingstone adds, to a detail of his recent explora-
tions in the interior, the following paragraph :—" I hope a
report of my being murdered had not reached my family,
as they may believe it the more readily on account of the
lies already propagated. I have never known any difficulty
with an interior tribe, or any other not engaged in slaving."

GOVERNMENT SIJCESSES IN THE FP,ENCII ELEC4
TlONs.—The Government appear to have won a
double electioneering victory in the South. M, Bravay,
whose name is known in England chiefly in connection with
the steam rams, has been returned by a large majority in
the first circumspection of the Gard. He had been elected
twice already, and the Corps Legislative had quashed his
election-14,765 votes were recorded in his favour ; his
opponent, M. Chabanon, only polling 6,381. In the fourth
circumscription of the same department the Opposition
candidate was also defeated by the gentleman supported by
the Administration—the numbers at the close of the voting
were as follows :—M. Andre, 14,490 ; M. Pasquet, 5,311,
Some curiosity is felt as to whether the Legislature will
again unseat M. Bravay, who is objected to apparently for
the sole cause that slanderous rumours have been circulated
against him which do not appear to have a shadow of a
foundation, but which the peculiar procedure of French
1 courts in the matter of libel did not enable him to disprove,