The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-04 00:00:00

URNEFINGS 02 DR. LIVINGSTONE.

The following letter ft,,,
Dr,Livingstone
Governor Sir George Grey-,
to
has been laid before
the Capetown Chamber of Com,erce :
Mohilla Island, near Coiner,
April 4, 1861.
My dear Sir George,—You wi. probably have
heard ere this reaches you, that we NN it to Rovuma
in February, and made an attempt teascend that
river in March. Our progress was arre,ted when
only some 30 miles from the mouth, by °serving
that the water was falling at the rate of seven
inches a-day—we had come over some par, not
more than five or six feet deep, and our vessel has
drawing four and a half feet—so we had to make
up our minds whether to proceed further and remain
among a people whom we did not know till the
next flood, or come back, and work on our old
"spoor" up the Shire. The detention would have
been such a waste of time for those who remained at
Johanna, and would not have advanced the object
of those who had come to Rovuma more effectually
than by spending the same period up the Shire.
For the general good, therefore, we returned, and
were favoured by a rise in the river of three or
four feet. This last is said to be the last flood of the
year, and made us fully alive to the fact that,from
one cause or another, we were quite two months too
late for successful exploration.
From the little that we saw we are disposed to
think favourably of the river as an entrance into
Eastern Africa. It has a sandy bottom, three
quarters of a mile broad, and partakes much of the
character of the Zambesi. Unlike that river with
its abominable bars, it flows into a magnificent bay.
And the only danger in its mile-wide mouth is a sort
of " bore" formed by the water of the river of a
few fathoms meeting the ocean tide of nineteen
fathoms; at full tide it is all smooth. By
keeping near the shore it is quite safe at
all periods of the tide. We have a very
short delta, and the land rises up from the bank in
a gentle slope to three or four hundred feet. It is
well wooded, the ebony attaining a much larger
size than it does anywhere on the Zambesi. The
country is very beautiful, but there is something
wrong among the people. Food seemed scarce in a
soil where everything could grow. Half-caste
Arabs appear to lord it over the general population,
and they were inclined to do the same with us.
When my brother took the Makololo on shore to cut
wood, some of them came and assumed the airs we
read of in countries further north. They demanded
payment for the weod, and he offered to give it pro-
vided that they should cut it. But no, they would
seize that already cut. The Makololo were un-
armed, but made a rush to their arms ; they would
not let their white men be imposed on ; the Bas-
tards made a rush the other way, and could scarcely
be prevailed on to come back and take up the vege-
tables they had left behind. But for this little show
of pluck we should have had the company of these
half-castes at every village, fines levied on every
possible pretext, and the word passed on beyond
their beat that we were a hoard of she asses to be
milked for the public benefit. It is of the utmost
importance here, as in Europe, for the people to feel -
that you are not dependent on them. If they see
that you can get on without them, they are much
more obliging. . . . I have always found that the
presence of a trusty band of Makololo, though use-
less for ship work, was invaluable on land. It was
not without considerable regret that we gave up
the project of a land journey with them up to Ro-
vuma. It was the worst season for travelling;
rain and heavy dews would have cut us up. in
fact, the same reasons that prevailed for the
postponement of the landing of the mission still
continue in force. By the time we reach the
Shire we shall be in the healthier season, and a
beginning will be made of the general labours from
the other end of Nyassa to that which we looked
on by the Rovuma. It is curious that all the people
declare that Rovuma comes out by Nyassa; this,
according to a curious idea that has come over the
geographical mind in England, must mean that
Nyassa comes out of Rovuma. I wish our friends
would only tell us all about it beforehand. It Would
save us a great deal of trouble, and deliver us from
the perplexity of guessing and grumbling. We see,
for instance, Shire never discolours in flood, but is
always of a dark mossy hue, carries a great deal of
mica, has a muddy bottom, and never rises or falls
more than a few feet. Rovuma rises some five or
six feet, is very brown and muddy, but has a sandy
bottom, water carries little or no mict, and tastes of
rain rather than moss. Now, anything positive, if
given beforehand, will be thankfully received,
though it come from the archives of Prester John.
P.S.—Johanna, at William Sunley's, H.M. Con-
sul, Comoro Islands.—We require two well-trained
strong mules, fit for and used to either harness or
the saddle, and two good strong Scotch carts with
harness, &c., complete, to transport goods past
Murchison's Cataract. I propose to submit a spot
near the village Market, " Chizanze's," not far from
the bottom of Zomba, for the bishop's inspection.
The head man, called Chibaba, is a fat, frank, jolly
fellow; the elevation some 3,000 or 4,000 feet abore
the sea, cool in the hottest part of the season, and
well watered, This will be a sanatorium, and there
stands Zomba's top, a day's journey up, inhabited,
and a fine rivulet. Some work will be required to
find a good sloping kloof up to the plateau. All
have had fever, except one. Indeed, but two of the
entire expedition have escaped, yet nothing serious
occurred.—l am, &c.,
DAVID LIVINGSTONE.
Letters, dated River Rovuma, 23d of March,
have been received by the Bishop of Capetown
from Bishop Mackenzie. The mission party appear
to have been well, and in good spirits. At the close
of his letters the Missionary Bishop says :—" As to
the future, Dr. Livingstone is sending up a boat to
the Senna for beads, and some other of the things
he has left there, and the Pioneer must await their
return, which will be on Monday probably. Then
we shall be ready to start up the Shire, having only
one other stoppage for wood before we reach the
Murchison Cataract. Then, as I think I told you,
Livingstone most kindly proposes to come with us
to the plateau south of the summit of Zomba, a
high table land (from three to four thousand feet
above the sea), in some part of which, he thinks, we
shall find a desirable site for the mission ; after
which we shall apply ourselves to making acquaint-
ance with our neighbours, learning their language,
getting up our stores, and making ready for our
ladies, whom we expect about the end of the year."

THE COST OF THE AMERICAN WAR;

(From the Money Market Review.)

The paper known as the" Continental Currency'
of the old American revolution was issued to supply
the then rebels with the sinews of war, just as the
Treasury notes are now issued ; and the former,
like the latter, were to be paid in specie on de-
mand. The first issue took place in 1775, and
was limited to two million dols., which was then
considered a very large sum. A year afterwards
the amount in circulation was 20 millions, and
although the ardour of the people for indepen-
dence had not in the least cooled, depreciation at
once ensued. " Continental currency" was in
everybody's hands, and everybody wanted to get
rid of it, for specie if possible, or for any other
article that promised to be useful. The necessi-
ties of the war involving, however, still further
issues, 200 millions were afloat in 1780; and 30
dols. in " continental currency" were freely given
in exchange for one silver dollar. At that point
Congress intervened, and made the "continental
currency" a legal tender; but the doing so accom-
plished nothing. An attempt was then made to
tax the States, but objections were raised, and
evasions became so general that an appeal be-
France, Holland, and other countries. In 1783
be-
came necessaryihoetene
lts altisot it
w, and is there not a danger that
not
tonk
privateeep its individuals
promises
? and to
the amount of this currency in circulation was no
less than 500 million dollars. The war being then
ended, the currency was repudiated on all hands,
and from that day to this nothing has been done by
the Federal Government
o boetitnopgrrmoe
bdaaedbeelmewi
in
thatll also
specieaechin issue
sitsk sion-
tovl ehafmel
find
Treasury
etepbadereseooul
Federal
promises.
convenient
es
nnes. t
Government will once more in the end
History is valueless, unless we learn from it what
it teaches u
th s. e
huge
The
cPoasrttoiefutlahres
oaldboAvememriecnan wartioned
especting
to the Americans, and the consequences of the
country being flooded with Government paper, point
a warning which is peculiarly applicable at the
present moment.

PASSAGES IN CONTRACT STEAM VESSELS.—We
are happy to be in a position to state that the Admiralty have
at length remedied an old and very great grievance respect-
ing the passage allowance granted to the assistant-engineers
of the Royal Navy, and that in future first .class passes will
be furnished to those officers when ordered to proceed in
troop ships and contract steam vessels,—United Service
Gazette.

MEDICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.—At the last
meeting of this society—Mr. W. Coulson, president, in the
chair—an important communication " on the nature and
action of mineral waters" was read by Dr. Althaus. A
short historical account of the use of mineral waters having
been given, the author dwelt especially upon the tempera..
ture of the springs, the part played in them by carbonic
acid, and the physiological action of the spas. He also
gave a report on the new lithia springs at Baden, which
had last year been discovered by Professor Bunsen, of
Heidelberg, and which had during the last season, for the
first time, been extensively used in cases of chronic gout
and lithiasis with highly satisfactory results. The quan-
tity of lithia contained in them is not equalled by that
any other springs, and they are used for drinking as wel
for bathing•

THIRD EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, Seven o'clock.

TATTE.RSALLS'-(T11.1S EVENING).

LIVERPOOL CUP.
10 to 1 agst Lady Ripon (taken)
100 to 8 agst Gabriel d'Estreis (taken)
100 to 7 agst Russley (taken)
THE DERBY, 1862.
11 to 1 agst Buckstone (taken)
12 to 1 agst The Marquise (taken and offered)
13 to 1 agst Old Calabar (taken)
25 to 1 agst SVingrave (taken)
25 to 1 agst Caterer (taken)
30 to 1 agst Ace of Clubs (taken)
33 to 1 agst Spite (taken)
40 to 1 agst Malek (taken)
40 to 1 agst Nottingham (taken)
40 to 1 agst Typee colt (taken)
1000 to 15 agst Lord Burleigh (taken)
1000 to 15 agst Hubert (taken)
1000 to 10 agst Berkeley (taken)