The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-22 00:00:00

LETTER FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE:

A letter has been received in Edinburgh from
Livingstone, by a friend of the celebrated traveller. The
following are extracts :—" Country of the Chipeta, Nov.
10, 1866.—1 t has been quite impossible to send a letter
coastwise ever since we left the Rovuma. The Arab
slavetraders take to their heels as soon as they hear that
the English are on the road. I am a perfect bugbear to
them. Eight parties thus skedaddled, and last of all my
Johanna men, frightened out of their wits by stories
told them by a member of a ninth party who had been
plundered of his Blades, walked off and left me to
face the terrible Mazitu with nine Nassick boys.
The fear which the English name has struck into
the souls of the slavetraders has thus been an incon-
venience. I could not go round the north end of the lake
for fear that my Johanna men, at sight of danger, would
do there what they actually did at the southern end,
and the owners of two dhows now on the lake kept them
out of sight, lest I should burn them as slavers, and I could
not cross in the middle. Rounding the southern end, we
got up Kirk's range, and among Manganja not yet made
slave-sellers. This was a great treat, for, like all who have
not been contaminated by that blight, they were very
kind, and, having been worried enough by unwilling
Sepoys and cowardly Johanna men, I followed
my bent by easy marches among friendly, gene-
rous people, to whom I tried to impart some new
ideas in return for their hospitality. The country is
elevated, and the climate cool. One of the wonders told
of us in successive villages was that we slept without fires.
The boys having blankets did not need fire, while the inha-
bitants, being scantily clad, have their huts plastered
inside and out, and even the roofs, to snake themselves
comfortable. Our progress since has been slow from
other and less disagreeable causes. Some parts have been
denuded of food by marauding Mazitu or Zulus we have
been fain to avoid these, and gone zigzag. Once we nearly
walked into the hands of a pas:ty, and several times we
have been detained by rumours of the enemy in front.
January 1867.—1 mention several causes of delay. Imust
add, the rainy season is more potent than all, except
hunger. In passing through the Babisa country we found
that food was not to be had. The Babisa are great slave-
traders, and have, in consequence, little industry. This
seems to be the chief cause of their having no food to spare.
The Tains, too, are more copious than I ever saw then
anywhere in Africa ; but we shall get on in time.
February I.—l am in Bemba, or Lobemba, and at the
chief man's place, which has three stockades around it,
and a deep dry ditch round the inner one. He seems a
fine fellow, and gave us a cow to slaughter on our arrival
yesterday. We are going to hold a Christmas feast off it
to-morrow, as I promised the boys a blow-out when we
came to a place of plenty. We have had precious hard
lines ; and I would not complain if it had not been gnaw-
ing hunger for many a day, and our bones sticking through
as if they would burst the skin. When we were in a part
where game abounded I filled the pot with a firstrate
rifle given me by Captain Fraser ; but elsewhere we had
but very short rations of a species of millet called macre,'
which passes the stomach almost unchanged. The sorest
grief of all was the loss of the medicine-box which your
friend at Apothecaries' Hall so kindly fitted up. All
other things I divided among the bundles, so that if one or
two were lost we should not be rendered destitute of such
articles ; but this I gave to a steady boy, and trusted him.
He exchanged for a march with two volunteers, who
behaved remarkably well, till at last hungry marches
through dripping forests, cold hungry nights, ana
fatiguing days overcame their virtue, and they made off
with ' Steady's' load—all his clothes, our plates, dishes,i
much of our powder, and two guns, and it was impossible
to trace them after the first drenching shower, which fell
immediately after they left us. The forests are so dense
and leafy that one cannot see fifty yards on any:side. This
loss, with all our medicine, fell on my heart like a sentence
of death by fever, as was the case with poor Bishop
Mackenzie ; but I shall try native remedies, trusting Him
who has led me hitherto to help me still. We have been
mostly on elevated land, between 3,000 and 5,000 feet
above the sea. I think we are now on the water-shed fo7
which I was to seek. We are now 4,500 feet above the sea
level, and will begin to descend when we go. This may be
put down as 10deg. 10min. south lat., and long. 31deg.
50min. 2sec. We found a party of black half-caste Arab
slaves here, and one promises to take letters to Zanzibar,
but they give me only half a day to write. I shall send
what I can, and hope they will be as good as their word.
We have not had a single difficulty with the people, but
we have been very slow. Eight miles a day is a g'od
march for us, loaded as the boys are ; and we have often been
obliged to go zigzag, as I mentioned. Blessings on you all.
Love to Mrs. —. From yours ever affectionately,
" DAVID LIVINGSTONF."