33 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



falls is, by a measurement made in the year 1800, rather more than 

 that number of yards ; and tbe depth, from its edge to the surface of 

 the basin water, about 400 feet. On account of clouds, Livingstone 

 was unable to take the position of the falls ; but Kalai, a few miles 

 above (north) is, according to his observation, in lat. 17 51' 54" S., and 

 long. 25 41' E. 



Passing the confluence of the Kafue, on January 14, 1856, he 

 reached that of the Loangwa, where are the ruins of Zumbo, formerly 

 a Portuguese settlement, and probably the farthest point inland to 

 which they have penetrated from the east, long. 30 32' E. Crossing 

 from the north side of the Zambesi, along which he had hitherto been 

 travelling, on February 6th, he entered the extensive district of Chi- 

 cova, where silver-mines were said to have once existed. After exam- 

 ining the geological structure of the country a soft gray sandstone 

 he was unable to meet with traces of silver ; but crossing some dikes 

 of basalt running north and south, " the sandstone," he says, " is then 

 found to have been disturbed, and at the rivulet called Xake we found 

 it tilted up and exhibiting a section which was coarse sandstone above, 

 sandstone flag, shale, and lastly, a thin seam of coal." This seam, it 

 is true, was not traced far, being displaced by a fault formed by a 

 dike of basalt. But its existence can hardly be deemed an unimportant 

 matter, especially when it is considered that the discovery was made 

 in the very centre of a cotton-producing district, that iron is plentiful 

 in the hills to the north,, and that, if, as Livingstone thinks, silver may 

 not prove to be one of the products of the country, gold certainly is, 

 specimens of which the writer has in his possession. That the Portu- 

 guese of the lower settlements have not availed themselves more of 

 the advantages thus offered them, is owing much to their indolence 

 and want of enterprise, but more to the hostility of the tribes of these 

 districts, who vigorously oppose any attempts to advance into their 

 territory. A considerable quantity of gold, however, comes into their 

 nands, though it is all obtained from natives living on the borders, 

 who bring it to their settlements. The gold in the form of dust is put 

 into goose-quills, and one quill is sold for twenty-four yards of calico. 

 A singular superstition keeps down the produce. The natives believe 

 the earth to consist of a thin, flat, pancake-like crust of matter, poised 

 in space ; and, for fear of breaking through this crust, and falling 

 headlong into the fathomless depths that they suppose yawn for them 

 below, they will never venture to dig deeper than the level of their 

 chin. Whenever a flake or nugget of gold is met with, it is put back 

 into the earth again, under the impression that it forms the seed of the 

 gold ! 



Striking away from the river southward, Livingstone failed on this 

 occasion to see the rapids of Kebrabasa, 50 miles above Tette. 

 These rapids no doubt present a formidable barrier to the navigation 

 of the Zambesi especially at one point where the whole volume of- 



