The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-05 00:00:00

DR. LIVINGSTONE'S EXPEDITION.

The following letters have just been received by
a gentleman in Glasgow from Dr. Livingstone :
" Steam Launch Ma-Robert, River Zambesi,
June 23, 1858.
" My dear Sir,—By the departure of the colonial
vessel Pearl I am enabled to communicate with my
friends at home by the overland India route, and I
have much pleasure in informing you that we have
been very clearly favoured with weather ever since
we left Liverpool. I feel thankful for the mercy
which has watched over us, for, with the weight
on our deck, a gale would have wrought a fearful
stramash. I was obliged to part with Mrs. Living-
stone and Oswell at the Cape, but we there met
Mr. and Mrs. Moffatt from Kuruman, 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 Por-
tuguese and natives are at war, and cannot pass up
the river. You are aware that I did not see the
lower portien of the Zambesi, but let it at Mazao,
a place 70 miles from its mouth. This lower part
had to be all explored, and that took up about a
month, from the number of mouths it posseses. We
found a very good bar anti liuiLvur nt th.. river nr
branch by which we entered. It is called Kongene,
and has ten mouths, if I may so call them, sucking
water by them out of the main stream. One of
these is a 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 of detaining her in the river, but rather land
our goods on an island and send her off. This we
have done, though with a paddle steamer of five or
six feet draught we could have gone to Tete. We
are below Mazaro, and next week will go to Tete,
where my men are waiting for me. It is said
that many of them have died of smallpox, a disease
unknown in their own country; but the rest
have purchased pigs, goats, and poultry with
their earnings, and refuse either to slaughter or
sell them till I come. I went up to Mazaro in
the Ma-Robert, and encountered the enemy,
consisting of 200 well-armed natives (with Tower
muskets). We approached them slowly, and, when
within hail, I called out that we were English, and
.pointed to the English ensign. They gave a shout
of joy, and we soon saw them running down with
bananas for sale. We mean to keep free of the
quarrel on both the native and Portuguese sides,
and get away beyond them as soon as possible. My
brother found very good cotton in the delta ; but all
complain that wars ruin their cultivation. Of the
river I can now speak with confidence, as I had the
company of three naval officers. It is generally
from 1,000 to 2,000 yards wide; but when it has
islands it spreads out to two and a half or three
miles. These arc the worst parts ;in the narrower
parts we have from three to seven fathoms. In
these broad parts a channel of two or two and a half
fathoms can be found only by searching. One of
my friends remarked it was mnre like an inland sea
than a river. I shall adhere to the opinion I have
all along expressed, that a vessel drawing from
four to six feet water could run upon it during
seven or eight months of the year with ease. We
all enjoy good health, no case of fever having ap-
peared among us, and we have been in the delta
five weeks. But this I know beforehand to be the
healthy season, or winter, and selected health in
'reference to a full river.—l am, &c.,
" DAVID LIVINGSTONE."

"'fete, Sept. 14, 1858.
"My dear Sir,—l wrote you a long letter by the
Pearl, but, unfortunately, by some mistake it was
unsent, so I have now to tell you that we spent
some time getting a proper entrance into the
Zambesi, as the main entrance seemed unsafe. We
entered by a side branch, and having been about a
month exploring the delta, and the river falling
fast, it was resolved to land all our goods on an
island, and carry them, up by successive trips in our
small steam launch. This we have been doing as fast
as we could. This you are aware of probably ere
this, and possibly also of the very favourable
opinion respecting the value of the river expressed
by the two naval officers who accompanied me.
I see it now several feet lower than they did, and
as it is spread out in many places below Lupata
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 six or eight
mouths in the year. I now believe that it could be
navigated with one of the 30. inch steamers ten
months, if not the whole year. When we got to
Lupata, where the river is no longer divided into
many channels, our difficulties in navigation ended.
Here the gentlemen at once yielded to my sugges-
tion, and dug out a ton and a half of coals, the very
first ever taken out of the earth in this country.
Mr. Rae, a Glasgowegian, pronounces them to be
good, and promising better, as they arc got from
the surface in the banks of the Muatoze,when they
have been exposed to the action of floods and atmo-
sphere for ages. There is au immense coalfield here,
and many of the scams crop out. With coal and the
best iron ore in abundance,- surely Africa will not
always be the trodden•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 Le-
viathan. The country was in a state of war, and
no Portuguese durst pass, but we did, our passport
being the English name. This is against our pro-
spects, for everything stands still, or goes bactk,
when war rages. We had gone from the Por
u-
guese to the native side, from time to time, unmo-
lested,being equally friendly to both parties. Many
of the officers wished to accept my mediation, and
the rebels all did, but the Governor would not give
in. A decisive blow is to be struck soon, but the
rebels being mostly runaway slaves, they will hold
out. Two who acted as pilots on board once wanted
me to buy them, to get out of the scrape. It is sad
to see so fine a country in this state. We meet some
very fine cotton ro growing wild whever it has once