The New York herald., 1871-12-23

Oar Africss ExplsrIsx Bxpednion-Dr. Liv.
iassteas asd shs Sources Of tho Nile.
wherein spoke OF most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents BY nooa and aed:
Wherein OF antrcs vast ana descrts idle.
Rough quarrles, rocks, and hills whose hcads 'ouca
II was my nint to speak--such was the process;
And OF the cannibas that each other eat
The Anthropophagi. and men whose heaus
DO grow beneath their shoulders This TO near
Would DeSteinona seriously lncuhe -
When General Sherman, on the verge Of
the winter of 1866, struck out from the
ruins of Atlanta on his famous 'march to the
sea-" and when, being cut of from all COM
munication with the outside world, we had
not heard from him for many days, visitor at
the White House in search of information on
the subject was answered by ''Honest Old
Abe to this effect ''No, sir; we have no
news from Sherman. We only know that he
left Atlanta to shift for himself in the enemy's
country. We know where he went in; but
We don't know where he will come out. Still,
we think ne viii como out somewhere,
and we are waiting 10 hear from him." SO
had we been waiting and hoping for many
days for tidings from our experienced Oriental
traveller charged with the bold enterprise Of
an expedition into the heart of Eastern
Equatorial Africa in search Of DR.. Living
stone, when the welcome letter came to hand
which we had the honor to lay before our
readers yesterday morning. General Sher-
man came out at Savannah, aud his first de-
spatch from that point was the present Of the
conquered city to President Lincoln as
Christmas gift. It was happy thought and
we adopt it in submitting the opinion that
more acceptable Christmas Offering to the
readers of the NEW York HERALD could not
have been devised for them than the exceed
ingly interesting letter from our African
explorer which we have laid before them,
dated ''Kwihara, District Of Unyanycmbe,
July 4, 1871"
An African exploring expedition Is a new
thing in the enterprises Of modern journalism,
and in this, as In many other great achieve
ments of s'the third estate" to the NEW YORK
HERALD will bslong the credit Of the first bold
adventure in the cause of humanity, civlliza.
tion and science. The idea of this costly and
hazardous undertaking was suggested from the
success of our Abyssinian adventure accom-
panying the memorable expedition OF General
Napier; and from the admirable letters
of our commissioner In this present under
taking, published from time to time, from
Egypt and from different countries Of Western
and Central Asia, back to the traditional
site on the Euphrates of the Garden of Eden.
traveller of this varied and extensive
experience we were satisfied, was the very
man to detail on the perilous search in the
wilds OF Africa for Dr. Livingstone. 1t will
be observed, too, that in the necessary men,
carriers and equipments of his expedition, our
commissioner exhibits the sterling qualities of
an old African campaigner and the careful
attention to all essentials of sagacious mill
tary leader. We are sorry that, from the slow
pace at which all things move in Equatorial
Africa, our faithful agent was delayed in his
departure from the coast until on his march he
was caught in the rainy season, and that seri-
Gus attacks Of sickness to himself and his
company were the consequences, in crossing
the dismal swamp OF Makata; bat we rejoice
to know that the brave chief of the expedition
and his followers, all things considered, accom-
plished the toughest part of their appointed
journey in pretty good condition. We are
thus encouraged in the hope that this expedi-
tion will settle all doubts In reference to DR..
Livingstone, and we hope, too, that it will
accomplish something more than the solution
of the Livingstone mystery.
From Bagomoyo, on the east coast Of AZ
RIGA, near Zanzibar, to Ujij on Lake Taugan-
yika, where DR.. Livingstone is supposed to
be, the distance is some niue hundred miles,
straight into the heart of the Continent. At
Kwihara, in Unyanyembe, our expedition had
accomplished five hundred and twenty-five
miles Of this distance. 1t had reached that
vast and lofty tableand which stretches from
the great equatorial lakes of the Nile down to
the diamond fields of South Africa-that ele-
waited plateau from which the rivers fow east
ward into the Indian Ocean, westward into
the Atlantic, or norlhwardly into the Nile.
But this abeand abounds in lakes, like the
plateau Of Minnesota With it's countless lakes,
which are the sources of the Mississippi, flow
ing south, and the Red River of the North
The African lakes of the region at the head Of
the Nile aud southward are not SO numerous
as those Of Minnesota, but they are larger,
approaching in their dimensions our great
lakes Lake Tauganyka is indeed reported to
be from six to seven hundred miles in length
with width varying from twenty to sixty
miles. And here we come TO the question
which it has been the special object Of Dr..
Livingstone to settle in this long sojourn of his
at U!iji and thereabouts on Lake Tanganyika.
IL is the question whether thIs lake is dis
charged through the Nile into the Mediterra-
mean or through the Congo into the Atlantic.
DR.. Livingstone has expressed the opinion,
bolayo that 0atd Iaka l. diacLa rcod yrto