The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-22 00:00:00

THE AFRICAN EXPLORERS.

The following intelligence of the Livingstone
' Expedition has been received at the Cape of Good
Hope, and is published by the South African
Advertiser of June 20 :
" Her Majesty's steamer Gorgon, Commander Wilson,
recently arrived in Algoa Bay, bringing the Rev. Mr.
Stewart and other passengers from the Zambezi, with
detailed intelligence from correspondents in that quarter,
of which the following is the substance :
" From Quillemaine, after parting with the Rapid, Dr,
Livingstone returned to the Zambezi mouth, and reached
Shupanga in the middle of December. After a delay of
about three weeks there, occcasioned by some repairs re-
quiring to be made tb the Pioneer, the doctor proceeded up
the river to the Shire on the 10th of January, the steamer
Lady Nyassa being taken in tow by the Pioneer; and on
the 27th of February (the date of the latest advices), he was
within 30 miles of his destination—the lower end of the
Murchison. Falls, where, unfortunately, both ships were said
to be fast on a sandbank, near the Upper end of the Ele-
phant Marsh. Hopes, however, were entertained of a rise
in the river, and that the vessels would shortly be got off.
"There was a considerable amount of fever and sickness
among the crew, but up to the date mentioned there had
been no fatal cases. From the Murchison Falls it was under-
stood that Dr. Livingstone would endeavour to push over-
land with his own little steamer, the Lady Nyassa, for the
further exploration of the great Lake Nyassa.
" Of the Rev. Mr. Stewart's movements, it appears that
after arriving in the Zambezi, about this time last year, he
waited five months at Shupanga, in hope of accompanying
Dr. Livingstone when he ascended the river. In the be-
ginning of July, when he found that there were to be fur-
ther delays, he resolved to start alone; and, having secured
a canoe and a crew of natives, he ascended, partly,
of course, on foot, to within 50 miles of Lake Nyassa,
where he was stopped by the simple impossibility of procur-
ing food Ho then returned and went eastward to Mago-
nero, the former station of the Oxford and Cambridge
Mission. During his stay at the miss on station he speaks
of having received every possible kindness ; and in the jour..
net's he made in the surrounding country had always the
advantage and pleasure of some one of its members accom -
ponying him. After leaving the station, in September, he
ascended the Zambezi beyond Tette as far as the Kabra-
basa Rapids. There the same obstacle that prevented his
going further on the Shire—namely, scarcity of food, again
encountered him, and obliged him to return. From Ka-
bradasa he descended the river Quillemaine, and came
on to Mozambique. From the Portuguese authorities
g enerally he met with every civility ; and from his Excel-
lency the Governor-General of Mozambique he received
the substantial kindness of a good airy house to live in
while waiting there for a ship."

The Advertiser also publishes extracts from letters
received from the station on the river Shire, by
which it appears the Universities' Mission has
fallen into great difficulty and distress in conse-
qUence of a famine that prevails throughout the
whole of that region. The Rev. H. C. Scudamore
died on the morning of New Year's-day of exhaus-
tion, produced by fever. His death is a great loss
to the mission. The famine is caused by a drought
and in some districts is aggravated by native wars.
The Rev. Mr. Rowley says, " the deaths from
starvation must have been beyond conception
frightful." He adds :

" About us, where war has not been, and a little corn has
been grown through the year on their lands and banks of
the river, one-third at least of the people have died from
want of food. The villages are either in ruins, or, where
there are inhabitants, they are the weak, the aged, and the
young child, en, who are day by day dying off. Frequently
the dead lie unburied in the huts, the air being pestiferous
with the rotting corpses. The stronger are roaming about
the country in search of what they can pick up or steal for
food, but in most cases their search is in vain—they lie
down and die by the wayside. so numerous are such deaths
that one cannot, I think, go along any path from our place
without coming across human remains; we know that
several corpses are now lying within two miles of us.
" The Shire has been literally the river of death. The
pool creatures miming about in search of food are reckless
of.consequences ; they try to steal the corn growing on the
river banks or islands; but the owners, wolfishly alert,
generally detect them ; and, as these small crops have been
for a long time their only hope, they are pitiless, and either
cut the throats of the thieves and throw them into the
river, or throw them in alive. I believe hundreds have
perished in this way. Dead bodies are repeatedly seen
floating down."

It is feared that the Mission must be abandoned,
and that the missionaries will return to Johanna,
Natal, or the Cape.

A*
64
eirtigat

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, July 21.
Their Rota: Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Wales, attended by the Marchioness of Carmar-
then, Lieutenant-General Knollys, and Captain
Grey, arrived at Osborne yesterday evening on a
visit to her Me.jesty.

The Prince and Princess traxelled to Southamp-
ton, where the Royal yacht Fairy was waiting to
convey them to Osborne.

The Judge•Advocate-General arrived yesterday
and had an audience of the Queen this afternoon.

PRINCE ALFRED IN THE HIGHLANDS.—The
Scotsman says :—On Sunday afternoon the Racoon, with
his Royal Highness Prince Alfred on board, which is now
corning southward along the west coast, went up Loch
Linnhe, coming to a little above Coran Ferry. It was ex-
pected yesterday his Royal Highness would fish the Lochy ;
but the continued drought has rendered the water so low,
that anglers are in despair, and slight hope was entertained
that he would win any remarkable success.
The Prince and Princess Troubetzkoi, accom-
panied by their family and a large suite of attendants,
arrived at the Brunswick, Jermyn-street, last night, from
St. Petersburg.

The Duchess of Roxburghe and Miss Dalton
have left the Clarendon Hotel for Scotland.

The Earl and Countess Jermyn leave town on
Monday next on a visit to Lord and Lady Wharncliffe, at
Wortley Hall, Yorkshire.

The Earl and Countess de Grey leave Cirlton-
gardens on the Ist pros. for Studley Park, near Ripon.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales
will be the guests of the noble earl and countess from the
4th to tke 6th of the month, when their royal highnesses will
rroceoa. to Abergeldie, in Scotland, for the shooting season.
Lard Lyttelton and family have left town for
Hagley Hall, Worcestershire,

Tne marriage of Mr. Des Vceux and Lady Alice
Egerton (youngest daughter of the Earl of Wilton) will
take place about the middle of the ensuing month.
Sir Alexander and Lady Arabella Bannerman
left town yesterday for their seat in Scotland,
The Countess d'Apponyi and the Countess Marie
Paumgarten will leave town early in the ensuing week for
Germany for the autumn.

A marriage is arranged and will shortly take
place between Lieut.-Col. Gordon, Scots Fusilier Guards,
son of the late Lord Francis Gordon, and Miss Constance
Lennox Peel, only daughter of Mr. Laurence and the late
Lady Jane Peel.

Mrs. W. E. Gladstone and Miss Gladstone will
leave town either on Saturday or Monday next for Hawar-
den Castle, Flintshire. The Right Hon. the Chancellor of
the Exchequer will join Mrs. Gladstone and family at Ha-
warden directly after the close of the Parliamentary session.