Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1868-05-23
DR.. Livingstone.


Rodcrick Hutchinson, was read at the meeting
of the Geographical Society in London, on the
9th of April:
"BEMBA, I'd Feb, 1867.
"MY DEAR SIR RoDERIcK This is the
first opportunity have had OF sending
a letter to the coast, and it is by party
of black Arab slave-traders from Baga
moyo. near Zanzibar They had pene-
trated here for the first time, and came
by shorter way than we did. In my
despatch to Lord Clarendon, l gave but
meager geographical report, because
the traders would not stay more than
half a day; but, having written that
through the night, persuaded them to
give me an hour or two this morning,
and if yours is fuller than his lordship's,
you will know how to manage. men
toned to him that l could not go round
the northern end of the Lake Nyassa,
| e, ause the Johanna men w9uld have
fled at first sight Of danger; and they
did actually flee, on the mere report Of
the acts Of the terrible Mazitu, at its
southern extremity Had l got them
fairly beyond the lake, they would have
stuck to me; but SO long as we had
Arab slave parties passing us they were
not to be depended Oh, and they were
such inveterate thieves, it was quite re-
lief to get rid Of them, though my fol
lowing was reduced thereby to nine At-
rican boys, freed ones, from school at
Nassic, Bombay. | intended to cross at
the middle of the lake, but all the Arabs
lat the crossing staiion) fled as soon as
they heard that the English were com
ing, aud the owners Of two dhows now
in the lake kept them ont Of sight, lest
| should barn them as slavcrs. | re-
maned at the town of Mataka, which is
on the watershed between the sca-coast
and the lake, and about so miles from
the latter There are at least thousand
houses Gn the town), and Mataka is the
most powerful chief in the country. |
was in his district, which extends TO the
lake, from the middle Of July TO the end
of September. He was anxious that
some of the liberated boys should re,
main with him, ard l tried my best to
induce them. but in vain. He wished
to be shown how to make use of his cat.
tie in agriculture promised to try and
get some ether boys, acquainted with IN
dian agriculture, for him. That is the
best point | have seen for an influential
station and Mataka showed some sense
of right when its people went, without
his knowledge, TO plumber at part OF
the lake-he ordered the captivcs and
cattle to be sent back. This was his
own spontaneous act, and it took place
before our arrival; but | accidentally
saw the strangers. They consisted of
"a women and children, about dozen
boys, and so head of cattle and calves.
| gave him-a trinket in memory OF. his
so7d conduct, at which he was delight
ed, for it had not been without opposi-
ton that be carried out his orders, and
in triumph Leaving the sh0 OF the
lake we enGcavored to ascend Kinks
range, bnt the people below were afraid
of those above, and it was only after an
old friend, Katosa or Kiemasura, had
turned out with his wives to carry our
extra loads that we got mp. 1t is only
the edge Of plateau, peopled by varl-
ous tribes of Manganja, who had never
been engaged in shaving in fact they
had driven away a lot of Arab slave-tra
ders a short time before. We used to
think them all Maravi, but Katosa is the
only Maravi chief we know. The Kan
thunda, or climbers, live on the noun
tains that rise out of the plateau. The
Chipeta live more on the plains there
the Echewa still further north. We
went west among a very hospitable peo-
PIE till we thought we were past the lon
gitude Of the Mazitu; we then turned
north, and all but walked into the hands
of a marauding party Of that people
After 4 rather Zigzag course, we took up
the point we had left in 1868, or say 90
min. west of Chimanga's crossed the
Lonewa in u deg. 40 min. s., as it flows
in the bed of an ancient lake, and after
emerging ont of this great hollow we as
cended the plateau of Lol,isa at the south
ern limit of II deg. S. The hills on one
part of it rise up 10 COCO #. above the
sea. While we were in the lowlands |
could easily supply our party with meat,
large game being abundant, hut mp on
these highlands of the Babisa no game
was to be found. The country, having
become depopulated by the shaving in
which the people engaged, is now vast
forest, with here and there, at wide in
tervals, a miserable hamlet. The grain
is sown in little patches in the forest,
a~d the people had nothing to sell. We
had now a good deal Of actual gnawing
hunger, as day after day we trod the
sloppy, dripping forests, which yield
some wretched wild fruits, and lots Of
mushrooms. A woman can collect load
of half a hundred weight after cooking,
they round them into what they call a
.porridge but woe is me they are good
only for producing dreams of roast beef
of by gone days, They collect six kinds,
and reject about ten, some as large as
the crown cf ones hat. When we got
to the ChamLcze, which was true to the
character of the Zambesi, in having
abundant animal life in its waters, we
soon got an antelope on its banks. We
crossed it in 10 deg. 81 min. 1t was
flooded with clear water, but the lines
of bushy trees which showed its actual
banks were not more than 40 yards apart.
We arrived here (at Bemba) on the last
day of January it is stockaded vii