The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-10-22
DIR. LIVINGSTONE ON AFRICA.


The most important feature OF Mondays pro- |
ocedings was tho lecture of DR.. Livingstone, Civ
ing a digest OF his African experiences So great |
was the anxiety to hear It that, whio the Doctor |
himself read II to crowded audience at tho |
theatre, il was also read at the Mineral Water |
Hospital. The following is the main portion Of |
it,
"Tho slave trade Is a gigantic evil which meets |
us at ovory step in that country. We cannot |
move through any part without meeting cap |
turcd men and women, bound, and sometimes |
gagged so no good can bo done if this crying |
evil is no. sTarplcd with. The good bishop had |
somo 200 people entirely at hl5 disposal and /
would soon have presented to the country an
| example of a free community supported by It's |
own 10 rdusry, where fair dealing could he met, |
| which would undoubtedly have eNcrtcd inn |
menso influence for wherever the English name |
Is known il is associated with freedom and fair |
| play, Some seem 10 take pleasure IN running down
! their fclow-COunirymCn, but the longer live |
| 7 like them tho better. They carry with them |
/ sCme sense of law and justice, aud spirit Of
| kiudliutss, and were | IN q difficulty should |
| prefer gong TO an Euglishmnn in preference %
| any Othcr for aid ana ,s for Engishwomon, they
| do undoubtedly make the best wives, mothers
/ sisters, aud daughters in the world IL 10 ;his
| CCuvc cti0n that makes me, in my desire TO see
! slavery abolished and human happiness pro-
! mOtCd, urdCuty wish 20 have some of our coun-
! trymcn transplantcdto arcgou where they would
! both give and receive benefit where every deCen
! Christian EugIishman, whether Churchman o
Dissenter learned or unlcarnod liberal or biyoted,
| would actually become blessing by Introducing
| better system than that which has prevailed for
ages. We conducted Bishop Mackenzie and
| party up to the highlands, aud after spending
three OF four days with them, returned, and never
had any more connection with the conduct of that
! mission. We carricda boat past Murchison's Cata-
rsots by these the river descended at five different
! leaps of great beauty, 1900 feet in u distance Of
about forty miles. Above that We had sixty miles
! Of fine, deep river, flowing plaCdly on TO Lake
! N'yassa As we sailed into this fine fresh water
! lake, We were naturally anxious 10 know its
| depth-lO y, 20, 80 iathoms-then no bottom
| with all our line; and John Neal, our sailor, at
| last pronounced it ht for the Great Eastern 20
| sail in. We touched the bottom in a bay with
| a line Of 100 fathoms, and mile out could
| find no bottom nc ll6 tathOms. Ii contains plenty
| OF fish, and great numbers of natives daily
engogo in catching them with nets, hooks,
| spears, torches, and poison. The water remains
about 20 degrees, and the Crocodiles, having
plenty OF fish to eat rarely attack men. II is from
twenty to fifty or sixty miles broad, and we saw
at least 22i miles of its length As seen from the
lake II seems surrounded by mountains, and
from these furious storms come suddenly down
aud raise high seas which are dangerous for
boat but the native canoes formed SO as to go
easily along the surf. The apparent mountains on
the west were ascended last year, and found to DO
only the edges of great plateau 5000 feet above
! the sea- This is cool, well watered, and well pco-
| pied with Mangania and Marani, some of whom
possess cattle; and have no doubt but that the
first bardships over, and properly housed and fed
! Europeans would enjoy life and comfort. This part
| of Africa has exactly the same form as Western
! India at Bombay, only this is a little higher and
| cooler. Well, having now fair way into the
| high audS, by means of tho Zambesi and the
! Shine and a nayigahlc course of river and lake Of
| 400 miles, across which nearly all the slaves of
the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf rs well rs
some for Cuba, went, and nearly all the lnhabit-
! ants Of this densey populated country actually
| knowing how TO cultivate cotton, IL seemed likely
that their strong propensity to trade might be
easily turned to the advantage of our own cOuu-
try us well as theirs. And here beg to remark
that on my first journey my attention not having
then been turned to the subject noticed only
a few cases Of its cultivation but In this l saw
much more than l had previously any idea
of. The native cotton is short in tho staple,
strong, much like wool in the hand, and as
good as Upland American; a second has
been introduced, as is seen in the name,
being foreign cotton; and third variety of
very superior quality, very long in the fibre,
though usually believed to belong to South
America, was found right in the middle of the
cOntinent-in the country Of tho MakOlOlo.-
A tree Of il was eight inches in diameter, or like
planting not oftcner than once In three years.
There is no danger of frost either, to injure the
crops. No sooner, however had we begun our
labors among the Manganja, than the African
Portuguese, by supplying the a. ma with arms
and ammunition, to be paid for in slaves, pro-
duced the utmost confusion. Village after
village was attacked and burned, for the Nam
| ganja, armed only wlth bows and arrows could
| not stand bcforftire. arms. The bowmans way
| Of fighting is to lie in ambush, and shoot at
| his enemy unawares; while those with guns
making great noise, cause the bowmen to run
away, ard the women and children become cap
| tiycs. This process Of savc-huntug went on for
| some months, and then panic seized the Man
gauja nation. All fed down to the river, only
anxious to get that between them and their cne-
mics but they had left all their food behind
them, and starvation of thousands ensued. The
Shire valley, where thousands lived AT our first
visit was converted into literally q valley Of dry
bones. One cannot now walk q mile without
seeing a human skeleton. Open hut in the
now deserted village, and there lies the unburied
skeleton. In some | opened there were two
skeletons, and little one rolled up in mat
lying between them. l have always hated
putting the blame Of my failure upon any
one else, from conviction that a man
ought TO succeed in all feasible projects In spite
Of everybody, and now am not TO he under
stood as casting slur on the Portuguese in
Europe. The YiscOunt Llvradio, the Wis
count de Sa' da Bandeira, and others, are as
anxious to see the abolition of the slave trade
as could be desired. But the evil is done by
the assertion in Europe of dominion in Africa,
when il is quite well known that they have only n
few halfcastcs, the children of cOnycts by black
women, who have actually TO pay tribute to the
pure natives. Were they OF the smallest benefit
TO Portugal; if any one ever made fortune and
went home to spend 1t in Lisbon; or If any
pleasure whatever could be derived by the
| Portuguese Government from spending $4,000
annually on needy governors who all conniye at
the slave trade, the thing could he understood.
| But Portugal gains nothing but q shocking
bad name as the first that began the slave, trade
and the last to end il. To us il is serious mat
ter to see Lord PalmerstOn's policy, which has
been so eminently successful on the west, so
| largely neutralized on the east coast. A great
nation like ours cannot get rid Of its obligations
10 other members of the great community OF
nations. The police Of the sea must be lmain-
tanned ard should we send no more cruisers to
suppress the slave trade, we would soon be Obliged
10 send them % suppress piracy, for no traffic en-
gcnders laWlessncss as does this Odious trade.
The plan / proposed required steamer on
Lake Nyassa to take up the ivory trade, as
It is by the aid of that trade that the traffic
in slaves is carried on. The Government
sent out steamer, which, though an excel
lent one was TOO deep for the Shire. Another
steamer was then built az my own expense.
This was all that could be desred-made TO
unscrew in twenty-four pieces-and the Lazy
of N'yaSsa or Lady Of the Lake was actually
unscTewed and ready for conveyance at the foot
of Murchison's Caaracts, when the people being
swept away in the manner / have mentioned,
work was hindered which l confidently believe
NYor1l bova aufirp1v changed the state of the