The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-07-27
Letter from DR.. Livingstone.
THE SLAVE TRADE ON THE EAST coAs

| SAhtAt 0aAy S0s-A A0 24gluNt uh6
another letter from DR.. Livingstone, re.
ceived by cable from London, and ad.
dressed to Mr.. Bennett. The following
Is an extract:
"1n trying to make the Eastern African
slave trade better known to the Ameri.
Guns, l Indulge in the hope that am aid.
ing, although in a small degree, the good
time coming yet, when slavery as well as
piracy, will be chased from the world.
Many have but faint idea Of the evil that
trading in slaves intlicts on the victims
and authors Of It's atrocities. The slaves
generally, and especially those onthe
west coast at Zanzibar and elsewhere, are
extremely ugly. l have no prejudice
against their color. Indeed, any one who
lives long among them forgets they
are black, and feels that they are lust
fellow.men, but low, retreating forehead,
prominent jaws, long heels, and other
physical peculiarities commons among
slaves. A West African negro always
awakens the same feeling Of an American.
l would not utter syllable calculated to
press down either class more deeply in the
mire IN which 1t is already sunk, but l
wish to point out that these are not typi.
cal Africans any more than typical Eng.
llshmen, and that the. natives on nearly all
the highlands Of the interior continent
are as rule fair average specimen oi
humanity. l happened to be present
when all the head men of the great chief
Nisama, who lives west Of the south
end OF TOngyanyka, had come together
to make peace with certain Arabs.
who had burned their chief town
and l am certain one could not see more
finely formed and intellectual heads in
any assembly in London or Paris, and the
faces and forms correspond finely with |
the shape Of the heads. Nisama himself
had been sort Of Napoleon for fighting
and conquerlng in his younger days. |
Many OF the women are very pretty, and |
like all ladies, would have, been much
prettier if they had only let themselves
alone. Fortunately the dears could |
not change their charming black |
eyes and beautiful ioreheads' nicely |
rounded limbs, well shaped forms,
and small hands and feet, but must adorn
themselves, and this they do, 70, the hus.
sizes y by filing splendid teeth to points
like cats teeth. They are not black, but
OF light, warm, brown color. Cazembes'
Queen, Moaria Nyombe by name, would |
be esteemed u real beauty either In Lon.
don, Paris or New York, yet she had |
small hole through the cartilage near the
tip Of her fine, slightly acquiline nose,
The Doctor details the peculiarties of
the people called Rua, and tells of mum.
ber OF them who were captives dying Of
broken heart. They had no complaint
but pain in the heart, and they pointed
out its seat correctly, though many be.
lieve the heart is situated underneath the
top OF the stcrnum or breast bone. This
to me was the most startling death ever
saw.
The water shed is broad belt tree,
covered upland some seven hundred miles
in length, from west to east. The general
attitude is between four and five thou.
sand feet above the sea, and noun.
tains stand on it at various points |
which are between 5000 and 1000 feet
above the ocean level. On this water
shed springs arise which are well nigh |
innumerable. These springs join each
other and form brooks which again con.
verge and become rivers or say streams Of
twenty, forty or eighty yards that never
dry up-all flow toward the centre of an
immense valley which believe to be the
valley OF the Nile. In this trough we
have at first three large rivers, then all
unite in one enormous lacustrine river, a
central line of drainage, which name
Webb's Lualaba. In this great valley
there are five great lakes; the one near
the upper end is called Lake Bemba, or
more properly Bargnala, but it Is not a |
source OF the Nile, for no large river be.
gins in lake 1t is supplied by river
called Chambezi, and several others which
may be considered sources, and out OF
1t flows the larger river Luapula which |
enters Lake MOera and comes out as the
great lake river Lualaba TO form Lake
Komolonda. But still jim the great
valley lies Lake Lincoln, which II
named as my tribute Of love to
the great and good man America enioyed
for some time and lost. One of the three
great rivers / mentioned, Bartle Freres or
Ludra, falls into the Komolondo. Lake
Lincoln becomes a lacustrine river, and It
too joins the central line of drainage, but
lower down, and all these united form
tIth lake, which the slaves sent to me
instead OF my men, forced me, to my great
grief, to leave as the unknown lake. By
my reckoning, the chronometers being
oil dead, it is five degrees of longitude
west oil Speke's position at Uiiii. This
makes it probable that the great la
custrine river in the valley is the western
branch Of the Pethericks Nile. Tho Ba-
her Ghazal and not the eastern branch
which Spoke, Grant and Baker, believes
to be the river ot. Egypt. If correct this
would make 1t the Nile. Only, alter all,
the Bahar Ghazal enters the eastern arm
found that that mighty river left It's
washings and flowed right away to the
north. The two great western drains the
Ludra and Tomano running to the
northeast before joining the central line,
or main webbs OF the Lualaba. It told that
the western side OF the great valley was
high like the eastern, and as this main
IS reported to go. into large reedy lakes, it
can scarcely be aught else than the west.
ern arm OF the Nile; but besides all this
in which 1t Is quite possible Imay be
mistaken. We have two fountains on
probably the seventh hundred miles Of
water shed, and giving rise to two rivers,
the Leambai or upper Zambezi and the
Aatne, which, flow into inner
Ethiopia, and two fountains are
reported to rise in the same quarter and
forming the Lutira and Tomaine flow, as
we have seen to othe north. The country
abounds in food Of all kinds, and the rich
soil raises everything planted in great
luXurlance. A friend OF mine tried rice,
and in between three and four months
the crop increased ono hundred and
twenty lold. Three measures of seed
yielded three hundred and sixty measures.
Maize is SO abundant that | have seen
iorty;tive loads, each above sixty pounds