June 23, 1856.] LIVINGSTON.. 93 



rities from which Mr. Cooley had formed his opinions, and he beh'eved that 

 that gentleman's views were quite erroneous. He conceived that the main 

 direction of the streams in question was to the N.E., and not to the N.W. 

 Of these the Casai was one of the most important, and it certainly ran to the 

 E., and not to the W., as Gra^a says. This view was confirmed by the reports 

 of the Arabs who crossed from Benguela to the East Coast. Dr. Livingston 

 deserved the greatest credit for the correction he had made. The difficulty in 

 making observations in a country like this was immense, and it is only a 

 matter of wonder that he has made so few mistakes. No traveller had done 

 so much for African geography as Livingston, and he hojjed that this coun- 

 try would not allow him to go unrewarded. 



Sir Eoderick Murchison paid a tribute of respect to the merits both of 

 Mr. Cooley and Mr. Macqueen for their great labour and research. He was sure 

 that the Society could but hope that the report of Dr. Livington's safe ar- 

 rival at Tete * was true. That remarkable man was the only European who 

 had traversed and retraversed South Africa ; he was not merely an explorer, 

 but a scientific observer ; and the accuracy of his statements was well known. 

 Sir K. Murchison therefore believed that Dr. Livingston would have among 

 geographers, a reception fully as warm as that given to General Williams by 

 the British nation. 



Mr. G ALTON cordially joined in the expressions of gratitude offered to Dr. 

 Livingston on behalf of African geography, for he had made a certainty of so 

 many important questions that had before been matters of pure speculation. 

 Members of the Society were aware that an expedition would probably be sent 

 before long to Eastern Africa, and he thought it due to the just appreciation of 

 any discoveries it might make, that geographers should take note of our pre- 

 sent state of exceeding ignorance about the whole interior of that continent, 

 notwithstanding that so much learned and ingenious labour had been spent in 

 endeavouring to determine it. He would simply beg the Society to glance at 

 three maps which wxre hung in different parts of the room in which they were 

 assembled : two of them represented the respective opinions of Mr. Cooley and 

 Mr. Macqueen, two of our best informed African geographers ; the third was 

 the compilation of Mr. Erhardt, from most abundant native testimony ; and 

 yet these three maps were as utterly dissimilar and discordant in all Uieir phy- 

 sical features as it was well possible to imagine. 



The President said that all would concur with Mr. Macqueen as to the 

 difficulty of making observations in a country like Africa, where not only the 

 land itself, but the climate also, was so much against them. The observa- 

 tions of Dr. Livingston had been submitted to Mr. Maclear, the astronomer at 

 the Cape, and had been highly approved of by him. 



He would here say a few words on the expedition to Eastern Africa referred 

 to by Mr. Galton. The expedition was to start from the East coast, and to ex- 

 plore the region of Lake Nyassi, and the country between it and the Indian 

 Ocean. The Lake was, according to Mr. Erhardt's estimation, 600 miles in 

 length, by 300 in breadth. The district around it abounded in copper, and 

 was thickly populated. Since Mr. Erhardt's paper was read, the Council of 

 the Society had been in communication with the Government respecting an 

 expedition to the country, which, if it took place, would be conducted by men 

 of enterprise. 



* Report received from Mr. Sunley, writing from Mozambique. — Ed. 



