Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-08-07
HIGHLY INTERESTING LETTER
FROM DIR. LIVINGSTONE.
Horrors Of the African Slave Trade

i ne lOilOhluk - du GAlIhCl Ol Ut
Livingstone's letter to the n. Y. Her
aid, received by cable from London
In trying to make the eastern Afri
can slave trade better known Il
Americans, indulge the hope that
am aiding, although in small degret
the good time coming yet when sla
very as well as piracy will be chased
from the world. Many have but 6
faint idea of the evils that trading in
slaves infiicts on the victims and au
thors of It's atrocities. The slaves gen.
orally, and especially those on the
West coast, at Zanzibar and elsewhere
are extremely ugly. / have no preju-
dice against their color. Indeed, any
one who lives long among them for.
gets they are black, and feels they are
lust fellow men, But low, retreating
foreheads, prognathous jaws, long
heels, and other physical peeuliarities
common among slaves and West Afri-
can negroes, always awaken some
feelings of aversion. L would not ut
ter a syllable calculated to press down
either class more deeply in the mire
in which 1t is already sunk, but wish
to point ont that these are not typical
Africans any more than typical En-
glishmen, and that the natives on
nearly all the high lands of the interi-
or continent are as a rule fair average
specimens of humanity. / happen
ed to be present when all the head
men of the great chief Msama who
lives west of the south end Of Tangy-
anyka, came together to make peace
with certain Arabs who had burned
their chief town, and l am certain one
could not see more finely formed, in
tellectual heads IN any assembly in
London or Paris, and faces and forms
eOrrespOnded with finely shaped
heads. Msana himself had been a sort
of Napoleon for fighting and conquer
ing 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 them
selves alone. Fortunately the dears
could not change charming black eyes,
beautiful foreheads, nicely rounded
limbs, well shaped fOlms and small
hands and feet, but must adorn them
selves. And this they do-oh, the
hussies-by filing splendid teeth to
points like cats teeth. They are not
black. but of a light warm brown
color. Cazembe's Queen, Moaria
Nyombe by name, would be esteemed
a real beauty either in London, Paris
or New York, and yet she made a
small ht lie through the cartilage near
the top of her fine, slightly aquiline
nose.
The Doctor details the peculiarities
of a people called Rua, and tells of a
number of them who were captives
diving of broken hearts. They had
no complaint but pain in the heart,
and they pointed out its seat correctly,
though many believe the heart to be
situated underneath the top OF the
sternum or breast bone. This, TO me,
was the most startling death l ever
saw.
The watershed is broad belt, tree
covered upland, some seven hundred
miles in length from west 10 east
The general altitude is between four
and five thousand feet above the sea,
ard mountains stand on it at various
points, which are between six and
seven thousand feet above the ocean
level. On this watershed springs arise
which are we'll nigh innumerable.-
These springs join each other and
form brooks, which again converge
al d become rivers, or say streams OF
twenty, forty or eighty yards, that
never dry. All flow toward the center
of an immense valley, which L be-
lieve to be the valley of the Nile. In
this trough we have at first three large
rivers. Then all unite. into one enor-
NOUS lseustrine ri ser the central line
of drainage, which / name Webb's
LuaIaba. In this great valley there
are five great lakes, ohe near the up
per end is called Lake Bemba, or
more properly Bangwolo, but it is not
a source OF the Nile, for no large riv-
er begins in lake. 1t is supplied by
a river called GhambeZi and several
others. which may be considered sour
ees. and out of it flows the larger river
Luapula, which enters Lake Moera
and comes out as the great lake river
Lualaba TO form Lake Komolondo,
west of Komolondo. But still in the
great valley lies Lake Lincoln, which
[ name as my tribute of love to the
great and good man America enjoyed
for some time and lost. One of three
great rivers 1 mentioned, Bartle,
Freres or Lufira, falls into the KOmo-
londo, and Lake Lincoln becomes
lacusIrine river, and it too joins the
ce entral line of drainage, but lower
down; and all these united form the
fifth lake, which the slaves sent to
me instead of men forced me to my
great grief to leave as the unknown
lake, By my reckoning, the chro-
nometers being all dead, it is five de-
grees of longitude west of Speke's po-
sitiop at Uiiji. This makes it proba-
BILE that the great lacustrine river in
the valley is the western branch of
Petherick's Nile, the branch which
Speke, Grant and Baker believed to
be the river of Egypt If correct,
this would make it the Nile only after
all the Bahar Ghazel entered the east
ern arm. 1 found that mighty river
left its washing and flowed right away
10 the north, the two great western
drains, the Luira and Tomaine, run
ming northwest before joining the
central line or main. Webb's Luala-
ba told that the western side OF the
great valley was high like the eastern,
and as this main is reported to go into
arge recdy lakes, it can scarcely be
aught else than the western arm OF the
Nile. But besides all this, in wich 1t
s quite possible may be mistaken,
we have two fountains, or probably
he seventh hundred miles of water
lhed, and giving rise to two rivers,
he Leambia or Upper Zambezi and
he Kafne, which flow into inner
Ethiopia: and two fountains are re-
ported to rise in the same quarter,
md forming the Lufira and Tomalne,
low, as we have seen, to the north.
The country abounds in food OF all
kinds, and the rich soil raises every
hing planted in great luxurianee- A
riend of mine tried rice, and in be-
ween three and four months the crop
increased one hundred and twenty
old. Three measures OFFS ed yielded
hree hundred and sixty measures
The maize is so abundant that L have |
cen forty-five loads each above sixty !
pounds weight, given fer single goat.
Maize dura, or nolcus, sorghum, hen
listum, cassava, sweet potatoes and |
ANS furnish in no stinted measure |
arnaceous ingredients for diet. Palm !
,il, ground nuts and forest tree afford
fatty material food. Bananas and
are in great profusIOn, and
he sugar cane, the saccharine, the |
,alm, toddy beer of bananas, tobacco
nd vague canabis, salina .luXuries OF
ife, and villages swarm with gnats
heep, hogs, pigs and fowls, while
lephants, buffalo and Zebras and |
.oEos or ool iIIas WELD to expert hun /