Dec. 15, 1856.] LIVINGSTON. 243 



chiefs go into the lion, and consequently when they meet a lion they salute 

 and honour it. In travelling, the natives never sleep on the ground ; they 

 always make little huts up in the trees. We had a good many difficulties 

 of the nature I have described, with the different tribes on the confines of 

 civilisation. The people in the centre of the country seem totally different 

 from the fringe of population near the coast. Those in the centre are very 

 anxious to have trade. You may understand their anxiety in this respect 

 when I inform you, that the chief of the Makololo furnished me with 27 

 men and 15 oxen, canoes, and provisions, in order to endeavour to form a 

 path to tlie West Coast; and on another occasion the same man furnished 

 110 men, to try and make another path to the East Coast. We had found 

 the country so full of forest, and abounding with so many rivers and so 

 much marsh, that it was impossible to make a path to the west, and so we 

 came back and endeavoured to find one to the east. In going that way, we 

 never carried water a single day. Any one who has travelled in South Africa, 

 knows the difficulty of procuring water, but we were never without water a 

 single day. We slept near water, passed by water several times during the day, 

 and slept near it again. The western route being impracticable for waggons, 

 we came back, and my companions returned to their friends and relatives. I 

 did not require to communicate anything about our journey, or speak even a 

 word about wliat we had seen ; as my men got up in all the meetings which were 

 held, and told the people of what had passed. One of the great stories they told 

 was, " We have been to the end of the world. Our forefathers used to tell us 

 that the world has no end, but we have been to the end of the world. We 

 went marching along, thinking that what the ancients had told us was true, 

 that the Avorld had no end ; but all at once the world said to us, ' I am finished ; 

 there is no more of me ; there is only sea in front.' " All my goods were gone 

 when I got down into the Barotse valley, among the Makololo, and then they 

 supplied me for three months ; and in forming the eastern path, which I hojDe 

 will be the permanent one into the interior of the country, the chief furnished 

 me with twelve oxen for slaughter and abundance of other provisions, without 

 promise or expectation of payment. At one time it was thought, instead of 

 going down the way we came, we should go on the other or south side of the 

 river. But this river forms a line of defence against the Matabele, where my 

 father-in-law, Mr. Moffat, went. I was persuaded by some to go in that direc- 

 tion. But when I had heard the opinions of all who knew the country, and 

 those who had lived in that direction, I resolved to go north-east, and strike the 

 Zambesi there. 



In passing up towards Loanda, we saw that the face of the country was 

 different, that it was covered with Cajje heaths, rhododendrons, and Alpine 

 roses, showing that we must be on elevated ground. Then we came to 

 a sudden descent of 1000 feet, in which the river Coango seemed to have 

 formed a large valley. I hoped to receive an aneroid barometer from Colonel 

 Steele, but he had gone to the Crimea. In going back, therefore, I began 

 to try the boiling point of water, and I found a gradual elevation from 

 the west coast until we got up to the point, where we saw the Cape heaths 

 and rhododendrons ; then, passing down inland, we saw the rivers running 

 towards the centre of the country, and the boiling point of water showed 

 a descent of the surface in that direction too. This elevated ridge is formed 

 of clay slate. In going north-east, towards the Zambesi, Ave found many 

 rivulets, running back towards the centre of the country. Having gone 

 thither, we found the elevation the same as it was on the western ridge, and the 

 other rivers, as described by the natives, flowing from the sides into the centre, 

 showing that the centre country is a valley — not a valley compared to the sea, 

 but a valley with respect to the lateral ridges. There were no large mountains 

 in that valley ; but the mountains outside the valley, although they appeared 



