The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-01 00:00:00

DR. LIVINGSTONE'S EXPEDITION.

(From the Cape Town Mail, Jan. 18.)

Further intelligence has reached us from Dr.
Livingstone since the departure of the last mail,
her Majesty's steamer Lynx having arrived from
the East Coast. When she was at the Kongone,
on the 12th Dec. last, Dr. Livingstone was in the
enjoyment of excellent health. The little steam
launch, supplied to the Zambezi expedition by Mr.
Macgregor Laird,is not at all adapted for navigat-
ing the Zambezi, being neither able to carry nor
to tow, nor to attain whilst burning wood a speed
of more than four knots per hour. Notwithstand-
ing the repairs by the Lynx's engineers, the little
craft's plates are in such a corroded condition, that
she will, in all probability, be abandoned, after
taking Dr. Livingstone back to Tete. Mr. T.
Baines, the artist of the Livingstone expedition to
the Zambezi, came down to Cape Town in the
steamer Lynx. fie left Dr. Livingtone with his
brother, Rev. C. Livingstone, Dr. Kirk, the bota-
nist, and Mr. Rea, the engineer, at the mouth of
the Kongone. They were about to return to Tete,
whence they were to proceed to the country of the
doctor's old friend, Sekeletu, the chieftain of the
Makololo, on which excursion they would probably
be absent about eight months. They expected that,
against their return, a new steamer would be sent
out from England. The Ma Robert has been com-
pletely used up, its bottom being quite chafed
from the work in which it has been engaged ; and
it was doubtful when the Lynx left whether it
could convey the doctor from Kongone to Tete. The
navigation of the Zambezi is still an open ques-
tion, so far as experience has yet gone ; bat it is
expected that during the flood season it will be
found in every respect to meet all anticipations.
Mr. Thornton, the geologist, left Tete in July last,
in company with some Portnguese traders, on an
independent expedition into the interior of the
country. He was, however, expected to return at
the commencement of the present year, and it is
likely he will be able to furnish some interest-
ing information regarding the lands through which
he travelled. The party had all, more or less, suf-
fered from fever ; but Dr. Livingstone had endured

the least. Mr. Baines, after—severe attacks of
,African fever, has been compelled to retire; but
not before he has secured a series of magnificent
illustrations of the country through which he has
travelled and the discoveries the Livingstone expe-
dition has made.

The following letters have been received from
Dr. Livingstone himself :
" Kongone Harbour, Dec. 8.

" I assure you we were very glad of the stores
you sent us, for we are all much knocked up by the
trip to Nyassa on foot. We left the vessel of Laird's
at Blubisus, 16 deg. 2 min. S., and when we re-
turned, after forty days' march, we had sore long-
ings for refreshments, but might as well have longed
for a kiss from the Pope's toe. Kirk and Rae
volunteered to walk to Tete, to bring away Baines
and Thornton, and materials to tinker the launch,
as she leaked badly, and a terrible march they had
of it. No water, except that of which the natives
made salt, and no food. The man who carried their
salt provisions, having missed the road, came in two
days after them to Tte. After Mr. Livingstone
had taken observations in 16 deg. 2 min. S., we
dropped down to the mouth of the Shire. The Zam-
bezi took off the rust which had filled up many
holes in the boat, and I vr as at last floreedto run down
to this and beach her. And here we are tinkering
instead of doing good service in the cause of African
civilisation. So much for Mr. Laird's launch.
We have a fine mountainous country adjacent
to the Shire. Travelling this round by lake
Nyassa, we saw the Shire flowing out of it in
15 deg. 25 min. S. We saw no signs of the lake
having an annual rise, although we were there at
the end of the dry season. There was a lot of rub-
bish three or four feet from the edge, which seemed
to have been washed up by the wind, and there are
two mounds, like raised beaches, 30 or 40 feet from'
the present shore, as if it had been at a higher
level in early times, but the lake does not fill and
become low, The Shire lows out of it the whole
year, and there is only a fall of about three feet in
it, from the wet to the dry season. It is from 80 to
120 yards wide, generally with a two fathom
channel, and a two-and-a-half knot currant We
are not troubled with sandbanks as in the Zam-
bezi, and it is deep all over, even to the edges. We
conclude, a lake giving off such a stream, must be
very large indeed, and has e large feeders at the
South end eight or ten miles broad. All thwitives
could tell us was that the river goes a long way to
wbsltiagteed,
the north, and then turns round into the sea. We
butto t
w return,as
satisfactoryas t he
launchto show was inm my
esinkingre obliged
companions, Kirk, Livingstone, and Rea, a spear-
men of the fine country through which I had
travelled far into the interior, and which you philo-
sophers set down as a vast sandy desert. lam
v
much steamerrelisha
7igomiles'
coming eyestrp
or e r y
no 1'), anxious
for I a
on foot, and would give anything for four
donkeys.
There is nothing to be got here but •
pigs. We go
next to the Makalolo country."
" Kongone Harbour, Dec. 2.
"We have discovered another lake,•
Nyassa, or
Myinyesi. This seems a grand opening. I be-
lieve that the Lord is preparing a great work in
Africa. The country is superb, abounding in run-
ning rills of deliciously cool water, that is, the
high lands. Mr. Rea, Dr. Kirk, and Mr. Living-
stone were with me. They never saw such a fine
country. There are changes of climates within a
few miles of each other, and it is a cotton field supe-
rior in many respects to the American. One lake,
Ohirwa, or Tamandua, is ninety miles long, but no
one could tell how long Nyassa was. The Shire
comes flowing out of it the whole year. There are
33 miles of cataract in it. We saw slave trade,
and are sure this could be abolished by missions. I
have applied to the Church Missionary Society to
occupy this field, for the
merce will produce a change in this country. I see
matters opening up where I never contemplated
ss orkin g, an d. I think that much
good may be done
for Africa by colonisation of our own honest Chris-
tian poor, along with missionaries and ministers.
We go np to Tete, and thence to Sekeletu's by
land. This will probably be an eight months' trip.
" Dr. Livingstone states that the river Shire is
put down wrong on the map, as it ought to be on
the west of the Morambaba mountain. He was
then (Nov. 3) returning from tracing the Shire
into Lake Myinyesi. There are 33 miles of cata-
ract in the Shire in lat. 15.55, and there is no pro-
bability of their being passable, as the river never
varies more than three feet in depth. A road could
easily be made past them. There you enter a cot-
ton-growing region of unknown extent. A portion
of the land east of the Shire is arranged in ter-
races from 1,200 to 3,000 feet of altitude, which
afford changes of climate within a few miles of
each other. The upper terrace is 12 miles broad,
and well supplied with cool running water. Mount
Zouba plain on the same terrace, and about 7,000
or 8,000 feet high, was really cool. In lat. 14 25
the Shire was.found gently flowing out of Nyassa.
Tamandua or lake Shirwa (Bigwater) is about 90