The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-04 00:00:00

DR. LIVINGSTONE'S DISCOVERIES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.
Sir,—l few days ago, when in the south of Eng-
land, rreceived a long letter from Dr. Livingstone,
dated Tette, March 9 ; this morning I have received
another, dated River Zambesi, May 30.
As many of Dr. Livingstone's friends will doubt-
less feel an interest in the accounts which he gives
of his expedition, I now enclose extracts from both
letters, which are at your service for publication.—
I am sir, yours respectfully, J. A. TURNER.
Pendlebury-house, Sept. 30, 1859.
FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE TO MR J. A. TURNER.
" Tette, 9th March, 1859.
"My dear Mr. Turner,— . . . I hope to
have an opportunityof sending you a package about
the end of May, for I have written to the Admiral
requesting one of his cruisers to call on the Queen's
birthday at the mouth of the Kongone, and furnish
us with some salt provisions. It will not reach you,
I should think, for three or four months after May.
We may not meet a cruiser then, but will bury a
bottle, and appoint a time, perhaps a month later.
'The box will go to the Admiralty, and I think Capt.
Washington, the hydrographer, will be good enough
to forward it. If you wish to suggest anything, the
captain will at any time communicate with me.
" I believe we have proved that, during a large
portion of the year, Europeans may come up this
river with safety. We have had some fever, but
on the edge of the highlands here people are known
to be safe. We have also shown that the Zambesi
may be navigated during most of the year in flat-
bottomed boats. I came up here in our vessel,
which draws two feet six inches, when the river
was at its lowest, and it was unusually low this
last year. Now it stands from nine to 13 feet
higher than it did then—this from accurate marks
—and it will continue to do so till the end of May.
"We have found that it is not necessary to give
the people cotton seed, as their own seed yields cot-
ton which we think quite as good as the upland
American ; and some is quite as long as the Egyp-
tian. This all imported cotton, or Tonge Manga'
(foreign). The ' Tonje Kadja,' or native, is remark-
ably strong, curly. or rather woolly to the feel, like
their own hair. Both plants, though burned down
annually, spring up again as fresh and vigorous as
ever. The country to the north of this is all cotton
land together. I have drawn attention to Angola
as part of the north country, and I hear that the
Government has got a report from a German natu-
ralist, Dr. Welweitch, which fully confirms all I
advanced about it. Sugar canes grow equally well.
I could collect some cartloads of indigo from the streets
and immediate vicinity of Tette. I can speak with
confidence now. It is of excellent quality.
When asked about oils, in Manchester, I mentioned
that from cucumber seeds; and one of the news-
papers facetiously compared it to the idea of ex-
tracting sunbeams from cucumbers.' I now find
that the oil referred to is the best for the table, and
it is made not only from the yellow oval cucumber
I saw before, but from melon seeds too. They are
just ripening now, but I shall try and enclose a
bottle of cucumber oil for Mrs. Turner.
" Can your sons not make a model of a vessel of
really light draught ? This, after all the newspaper
talk of drawing only 13 in., never drew less than
2ft. lin. or 2ft. 2in.; and is so weak, with her 10-
horse single engine, that a breeze holds the paddles,
and stops her. Three and a half knots, in a current,
brings her to a standstill in another way, though
working more steam than her maker allowed. The
steel plates are excellent material for a hot climate ;
they seem to rust none at all, except where kept
wet and dry alternately, as on deck.
" We have a rapid above this, but when the river
is full the cataracts in it disappear. We are unable
to ascend in this vessel ; she is only 1-16 in. in thick-
ness, and can carry no cargo whatever. So, in ad-
dition to the risk of doubling her up in hauling her
through, we would soon be without supplies after
we had succeeded. We expect another vessel out
with sufficient power to stem the rapids.
"In the meantime we have gone 100 miles up
the Shire, and find it admirably adapted for steam
navigation all the way—the people had plenty of
cotton for their own use, and sold us cotton and
yarn in small quantity. I enclose (box) specimens.
Provisions are abundant, but the people had never
been visited by Europeans before, and of course
never sold cotton before. This river is said to come
out of Lake Nyanja ; we were stopped by a cataract.
" Now that my attention has been specially
directed to the subject, I feel more than ever con-
vinced that Africa north of about 15 deg. south
latitude, is incomparably the best adapted for the
produce of cotton of any locality in the world. The
parallel of Tette suffers from droughts, but there
are none in the country beyond. I expect very
little to be done by the Portuguese.
"It seems our cruisers cannot touch a French
vessel engaged in the emigration scheme. This has
sot the slave trade a-going, though it eats out both
power and commerce. The free emigrants are sent
down the river in chains ! It is vexatious to see the
infatuation by which this emigration is dictated.
They cannot raise sugar in Bourbon without guano;
here the cane grows well without manure, and it is
called indigenous. The natives north of this (not
20 miles off) make sugar, and I buy it for our own
and the Kroomen's stores, at the rate of two yards
of your white calico for a pot weighing 251bs. ; yet
the labourers are exported to a worse soil.
" I have set up the skeleton of the sugar mill, and
little engine, to show what can be done with ma-
chinery. The Commandant, an enlightened man,
and a very warm friend of ours, thought as well as
we that it would do good ; but I have come to the
conclusion, on seeing the slave trade revive again,
which owing to the vigilance of the cruisers had
been repressed, that the colonisation of the healthy
highlands by our own countrymen will be the most
effectual means of winding up the difficulty. I have
no doubt our people would make themselves rich,
while virtually crowning with success our long-
continued efforts for the abolition of the slave trade.
I have ventnred to suggest this in a despatch on
the slave trade. A few Portuguese, not numbering,
if the convict soldiery be excluded, more than 30
or 40, keep other nations out of this immense terri-
tory.
"I would have written to you long ago, but have
been sailing master during most of our stay. Our
naval officer resigned, and repeated the resignation,
from an idea that we could not move, either hand
or foot, without him. I was obliged to teach him
better, by mounting the paddle-box myself, and
sending him home. I have guided the vessel some
1,600 miles ; this has prevented my writing, as
otherwise I would have done, to my friends.
The officer above-mentioned rejected a steamer
which would have suited us admirably. I
acquiesced, trusted to his judgment, not
knowing then his liability to sea-sickness, and
I fear the Government may refuse to let us have her
now. I have applied for her months ago. Will you
make inquiry if they are going to send her ?
" Kindest salutations to Mrs. Turner and your
family. "DAVID LIVINGSTONE.
" To James Aspinall Turner, Esq., M.P."

" River Zambesi, May 30, 1859.

" My dear Mr. Turner—We have -lately disco-
vered a very fine inland lake called Shirwa (Sheer-
wah) by going up the river Shire (pronounced
Sheerey) about 100 miles in this vessel, then some
50 more on foot. The lake is from 20 to 30 miles
wide at the broad part and 50 or 60 long. It is
very beautiful, being surrounded on all sides by
lofty mountains ; and it is reported abouit 2,000
feet above the level of the sea itself. It is reported
to be separated from a very much larger lake,
Nyanja (or, as we ascertained its proper name to
be, Nyinyesi, or The Stars), by a strip of land only
five or six miles wide—and, as we afterwards dis-
covered, a portion of Shirwa is only about 30 miles
distant from the Shire, which is at all times navi-
gable by this vessel.
" The country through which we travelled was
quite a highland one—in ten days we were 1,500
feet above the vessel. The Shire rushes over seve-
ral cataracts in that portion which we saw when on
foot, and becoming confined in a narrow channel of
30 yards, has always a rapid current. It gave me
an idea of water power without dams, equal to drive
all the mills in England—such a cotton country we
have seen nowhere except Angola. The further we
went the more important did the crop appear to be
to the inhabitanls. They plant it at a time of the
year that allows of the growth through the winter,
and coming to maturity before the rain commences
Insects come forth to injure the crops. Every
one 'Tina and. weaves the cotton, which is chiefly of
the strong indigenous kind. Chiefs may be seen
setting,
picking,
have
arranginge rove
the with their
fingers. They
aveno trade in ivory—or any-
thing else except slaves. I never saw so much land
under cotton anywhere, and the
.cou.ntry being. so
elevated, it is healthy, the is exactly like
that of Londa in the
°
fthe country—run-
ning streams abound and this is the region
that I have always pointed out its the proper coun-
try for cotton and sugar.
In coming down the Shire the people brought
cotton in small bags for sale —a bunch or rove as
large- as one's head cost only one foot of callso not
worth a penny—l send it to you in the box.
But before proceeding
further, I must say that
having been disappointed in meeting a man-of-war
on the 24th, the box must remain atmgenna till the
end of July, when we hope a ship will meet the
vessel at the Kongone. • * Well, our prospects
do look bright. The Shire cotton. trade is as
ready for development as that in the Niger, had we
agents such as the Sierra Leone missions afford ;
but the Portuguese, instead of collecting the dif•
ferent articles which we point out to them as of

undo übted commercial value, busy themselves only
in a paltry trade in ivory. . .
" station is to be put up at the mouth of the
Shire by way of claiming all our explorations in
the north, and a custom-house is to be erected at the
mouth of the Zambesi, whose navigability we alone
disco•vexed. They durst not enter the Shire till
about the end of last year, when a rebel party ran
away wd allowed them to go about three miles
into the .river. _

" We have had fever amongst us, but of so mild
a character in consequence of being well provided
for, that I failed to recognise it as that from which
I suffered so severely when destitute of every com-
fort. We cure it readily ; it looks more like a com-
mon cold th3n fever. .

" DAVID LIVINGSTONE."

GLOUCESTER ELECTION COMMISSION

GLOUCESTER, MONDAY EVENING.

The inquiry into corrupt practices at Gloucester
elections was continued to-day. The two hon.
members were present, and one of them (Mr. Price)
was examined. _ _

Mr. W. P. Price was examined at some length
as to his interview with the deputation from Glou-
cester at the Reform Club in London. He corro-
borated the account given by Mr. Wilton, Mr.
Innell, and Mr. Moffat as to that interview, at
which Messrs. Innell and Wilton sought a Liberal
candidate, and Mr. Monk consented to stand. As
to the proportion in which the expenses were to be
divided, Mr. Price said he thought the best plan
was for each candidate to pay his own expenses.
At that time he (Mr. Price) was, as it were, wearing
a mask on his face, inasmuch as he was treating
the matter as if he fully intended to be a candidate,
whereas he did not intend to stand at all, and had
been in correspondence with his agents, Messrs.
Ellis, Elliott, and Swan, of Gloucester, as to his
intention of retiring and the best mode of doing so.
Remembered at the interview at the Reform Club
that a programme was produced of the sums re-
quired for the purposes of the election • it showed
a total of £1,200, and some one said that it could
not at all events exceed £1,500. His (Mr. Price's)
election in 1852 costa little over £BOO, which included
£125 which he gave to the Mayor to distribute among
the charities in place of his being " chaired," to
which he had a great objection. His election in
1857 cost £350. He did not suppose that Mr.
Monk, being a stranger, would be able to keep his
expenses within such a limit, but he thought his
election might cost £5OO. Saw Mr.Moffat afterwards,
and he asked him to let him (Mr. Moffat) know how
the canvass was going on. Understood by that
that Mr. Moffat was acting as Mr. Monk's friend.
He might have had a conversation with Mr. Moffat

in the House of Commons after that, but he did not
remember it. He wrote two letters on the subject
of the election, the first within about 10 or 12 days
of tho election, and the second two or three days
before the nomination. About that time he was
applied to by Mr. Innell and Mr. Wilton about
providing the expenses necessary for carrying on
the election. He replied that Mr. Ellis would pay
his expenses, but he had nothing to do with Mr.
Monk's expenses. The parties, however, continued
to be urgent in their applications to him for money,
and he thought that it would be well to communi-
cate with Mr. Moffat, and he accordingly wrote to
him, recommending that a sum, £5OO he believed,
should be transmitted to Gloucester, and if he ex-
pressed any opinion at all no doubt he recommended
that it should be sent by private hand. He had no
other way of sending it. If he had wanted the
money in the ordinary course for himself he should
have directed it to be paid to Messrs. Williams,
Deacon, and Co., to his credit with the Gloucester-
shire Banking Compaßy, but in the first place, he
did not know who was going to send it ; nor,
secondly, who would receive it. He thought, there-
fore, the best plan would be to send it down by
private hand. The messenger's railway fare would
cost no more than the banker's commission. In his
second letter he mentioned Mr. John Wilton as the
most proper person to send it to. No agent had
been appointed for Mr. Monk at that time. It was
possible that the second letter which he wrote was
addressed to Sir W. G. Hayter, instead of Mr.
Moffat, as he knew Sir W. G. Playter would be one
of the last members of the house in town. Did not
know at the time when he wrote to Mr. Moffat or
Sir W. Hayter that £2OO had been paid into the
Gloucester County Bank. He had only had one letter
from Mr. Moffat, which had unfortunately been de-
stroyed. He remembered its contents, which were
very brief, as follows I'v© seen Sir W. G.
Hayter behind the Speaker's chair. I have pro-
vided
the money, and he will take charge of it as
I am going to Ashburton." Witness went on to say
that he did not know of any messenger being em-
ployed until Mr. Monk told him that something
like 70 messengers had been employed. Re then
went with Mr. Monk to the committee-room and
ordered them to be taken off. -Was not aware that
112 messengers had been engaged, and had never
seen more than a dozen or 15 about the committee-
room. Was in the House of Commons at the time
of the passing of the act which regulated the audit-
ing of the accounts—the Corrupt Practices at
Elections Act. Tie considered it, however, as so
much waste paper. Every attempt to introduce
efficient amendments which would really tend to
prevent bribery having been opposed by both par-
ties, he troubled no more about it. Ho considered
it merely as homage paid by vice to virtue.
(Laughter.) Did not think the act could have the
slightest effect, or was intended to have the slightest
effect, upon corrupt practices. It had been effectual
in putting an end to bands and colours ; but more
than used to be spent in colours and music was now
spent in other ways. Did not think it required the
expenditure of a large sum of money to gain an
election for the Liberals in Glocester. The sum
which he had paid was exactly the amount men-
tioned in the auditor's account, and not a shilling
more, nor had he been asked for more. That was
£4OO more than his election cost him in 1857, and
£lOO more than it would have cost him in 1859 had
his election been conducted on his own account.
Was quite sure there was 'no intention on the part
of Mr. Monk to bribe, and it was unnecessary on
his (Mr. Price's) part. Was a candidate for Glo-
cester for the first time in 1847, but he retired,
finding that if he went to the poll he should imperil
Sir Maurice Berkeley's return. He had become a
candidate on that occasion entirely with the view
of keeping the Liberal party together. The Liberal
party in Glocester always desired to have a local
candidate, and the Conservative party—a rich one
—concurred in the opinion already expressed, that
the Liberal party was strong enough to return two
Liberals if corrupt practices were not resorted to,
and that without bribery no Conservative would
have a chance. A good deal had been said in that
city about dividing the representation; but if they
took off the 200 or 300 venal voters, and polled the
rest, there would be a great majority for the
Liberals.

By Mr. Fitzgerald—Did not pay any money
himself ; Mr. Ellis paid what was necessary for
him.

By Mr. Welford—Never heard of Thompson or
Clarke until the election was over.
By Mr. Vaughan—Never heard from Sir R. W.
Carden what the election cost him, because he had
never held any intercourse with Sir Robert in his
life. -Mr. Norris, M.P. for Abingdon, told witness
that he had been dining with Sir R. Carden at a
sheriff's dinner, when Sir Robert told him (Mr.
Norris) that his election and petition had cost him
£41500 is 1857, and that his unsuccessful election
in 1859 had cost him £l,OOO, and £2,000, or £3,000
more for the petition. Had heard that Sir R. W.
Carden frequently boasted, on the Stock Exchange,
of the large sums of money that he had spent for
political purposes. He (Mr. Price) was morally as
sure of the fact as he could be of anything that he
bad not seen. with h s own eyes that gross and sys-
tematic bribery had been carried ou4 at the last
election.

By Mr. Fitzgerald—Left the payment and ap-
portionment of his election expenses entirely to Mr.
Ellis. Did not consider himself liable for another
shilling, but if Mr. Ellis asked him for £l,OOO he
should consider he owed it. Did not believe there
had been bribery in 1857—not direct bribery, the
buying votes like pigs at so much per head.
Mr. D. M. Walker, proprietor of the Gloucester
Journal, deposed that on the 21st of April, Mr.
Robert Wilton represented to him that money was
wanting for the necessary preliminary expenses of
the election on the Liberal side. Witness suggested
that Mr. Ralli should be applied to, and that the
money—no sum was mentioned—should be sent to
Mr. Robert Wilton. Two days afterwards the
money was paid to the credit of Mr. Wilton in a
bank in London. It had been the custom of Glou-
cester that the candidate himself should not be ap-
plied to for money until after the election. As a
Gloucester man, he felt the position in which the
character of the city was placed, but he wished to
express his opinion that the principal cause of the
demoralisation among the constituency was the scan-
dalous manner in which, year after year, money had
been spent in elections to the Town Council. Before
the _Reform Act the Gloucester election were compa-
ratively pure. But still at that time there was a
system of giving head money, and large sums were
paid for travelling expenses; voters coming down
from London, bringingtheir wives and families with
them, and having to be maintained for a week.
By Mr. Welford—Should think that upwards of
200 of the voters in Gloucester are venal. Among
themarealarge proportion of outlying voters and
inthe town itself.
C.
a Riggs,gmrera.t.wmiallinyamfreeen salesman
engaged
nodtur can-
set
Co., corn merchants, was actively eLucy and
the last week of the last election, butng
in preparing a asnet-
yaw any voteri. Was engaged