Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-01-14
DR.. Liyingstone,s Discoveries in Africa.

The discoveries of Dr. Livingstone IN Africa
are considered of great commercial value, lie
lived with a tribe of Bechnanas for eight years
and in co-operation with Mr.. Oswald. discovered
Lake Ngam IIetraced by himself the course
of the great river Zamhesi, in Eastern Africa
and extending two thousand miles.
This immense stream. whose discovery Is The
great fruit of the journey, is in itself an enigma
without parallel. But small portion of its wa
ters reach the sea-coast Like the Abyssnlar
Nile, it falls through basalticr cleft, near the
middle of its course, which reduces its breadth
from 900 to 20 yards. Above these falls il
spreads ont periodically into great sea, filling
hundreds of lateral channels. Below, it is {
TRANQUIL stream of a totally. different character
Its mouths seem to be closing. The southern
most was nayigable when the Portuguese first ar
rived in the country, 800 years ago, but 1t ha
long since ceased to be practicable. The Quil
| lilnane mouth has of late years been impossible
even for canoe, from July to February, and TO
200 or 800 miles up the river, navigation is nev
err attempted in the dry season. And in Thu
very month of July, when the lower portion
the river after its April freshets, has sunk to
mere lriblet. above the falls the river spreads
out like sea over hundreds OF square miles
This. with frequent cataracts. and the hostillt,
of the natives, would seem to be an effectual ha
to the high hopes of fat trade and illllousterlns
| in which English merchants and journals arr
now indulgng.
During this unprecedented march, alone ant
among savages, to whom white face was {
miracle, Dr. Livingstone was compelled to strug
gle through indescribable hardships. The hos
| tility of the natives he conquered by his init
mate knowledge of their character and the Be
chuana tongue, to which theirs is related. lie
waded rivers and slept in the sponge and ooze
of marches. being often so drenched as to be COM
PEELED to turn his armpt into watch pocket
His cattle were destroyed by the terrible tse-tse
fly, and he was too poor to purchase canoe
Lions were numerous, being worshipped by many
of the tribes rs the receptacles of the departed
souls of their chiefs; dangerous, too, as his
crushed arm testiies. However, he thinks the
fear of African wild beasts greater in England
than in Africa. Many Of his documents were
lost while crossing a river, in which he came
near losing his life also, but lie has memoranda
of the ATTITUDES and longitudes of multitude of
cities. towns rivers and mountains, which will
90 far to fill up the unknown region" in our
aliases.
Toward the interior he found the country more
fertile and more populous. The natives wor-
shipped idols, believed in transmgrated cxis-
tence after death, and performed religious cere-
monies in groves and woods. They were less
ferocious and suspicious than the sea-board
tribes and had tradition of the deluge and
more settled governments. Some of them prac-
tised incubation and used quinine, and all were
eager for trade, being entirely dependent on Eng
lish calico for clothing, small piece of which
would purchase slave. Their language was
sweet and expressive. Although their women,
on the whole, were not well treated, a man hav-
ing as many wives as lie choose, they were COM
plete mistresses of their own houses and gar
dens, which the husband dared not enter in his
wife's absence. They were fond of show and
glitter, and as much as $3.50 had been given for
an English rifle. On the arid platena of the in
terror water-melons supplied the place. of water
for some months of the year, as they do on the
plains of Hungary in summer A Quaker tribe
on the river Zanga, never fight, never have con-
sumption, scrofula, hydrophobia, cholera, or
measles. These advantages, however, are coun-
terbalanced by the necessity of assiduous de-
votion to trade and raising children to make
good their loss from the frequent inloads other
FIGHTING neighbors