248 LIVINGSTON. [Deo. 15, 1H56. 



numbers of slaves.. It was before the time of the great exiX)rtation of slaves 

 began. The chiefs had no objection to their washing for gold, provided they 

 gave a small present first. Then there is coal near Tete ; no fewer than eleven 

 seams exist, one of which I found to be 58 inches in diameter. The coal 

 has been lifted up by volcanic action. There is also a hot spring there. The 

 thermometer stands at 160°. The coal from two of these seams could be 

 easily exported, as they are situated on a small river, about two miles below 

 Tete, and the coal could with very little trouble be brought down. When 

 you go up the Luabo, or largest branch, the river is rather naiTow, but as you 

 ascend it gets much broader. The Mutu is another river that joins the 

 Zambesi. At the point of junction of the Mutu or Quilimane river with the 

 Zambesi, the beginning of the Delta, that river is three-quarters of a mile 

 broad. When I passed down to that point it was a deep, large river, as it 

 was then full. The Portuguese tell me there is always a large body of water 

 in the river, during certain months in the year. This gi-eat body of water, 

 spread over a large space, is in the dry season shallow, except in the channel, 

 which is rather winding. At some seasons the channel changes its course. 

 There are many reedy islands in it, and these are sometimes washed away. 

 During five months of the year there is plenty of water for navigation, and 

 during the whole year there is water enough for canoes. A vessel of light 

 draught like the Portuguese launches, could go up to about 20 miles beyond Tete 

 with the greatest ease, during those months. At Kebrabassa in Chicova, there 

 are rapids, caused by certain rocks jutting out of the stream. I did not see 

 them, as we were obliged in our descent to leave the river, on account of the 

 rivulets being filled by the large river coming into flood, and to pass down by 

 land all the way from the hill Pinkue to Vunga, and thence to Tete. There 

 is another rapid called Kansala. Beyond that the river is smooth again, until 

 you come to the " Great Falls of Victoria," where it would be quite impossible 

 for any one to go up, as it is a deep fissure or cleft. 



Mr. Consul Brand, f.r.g.s. — 1 am unwilling to be altogether silent on the 

 present interesting occasion, having resided a good many years in that part of 

 the West Coast of Africa which Dr. Livingston visited, and where our Associate 

 Mr. E. Gabriel still resides. I had been obliged by ill health to leave the 

 country shortly before Dr. Livingston's arrival ; but the Doctor could not have 

 fallen into better hands than into those of Mr. Gabriel. It was from a letter 

 addressed by Mr. Gabriel to Lord Ellesmere, that this Society first heard of Dr. 

 Livingston's arrival at Cassange. Mr. Gabriel immediately sent an invitation to 

 the Doctor to take up his abode with him, during his stay at Loanda, and at his 

 house the Doctor and his faithful companions found a home. The Doctor's first 

 Eeport from Loanda to the London Missionary Society, was written at his sick-bed 

 by Mr. Gabriel's own hand. He accompanied the Doctor part of the way on 

 his return journey through Angola, and from that time up to the present, I have 

 been in the habit of receiving from him letters manifesting the deepest interest 

 in the Doctor's progress in the intei'ior of Africa. I wish to mention these facts 

 in justice to Mr. Gabriel, because on my arrival the other day in England, I 

 received a letter from him simultaneously with Dr. Livingston's arrival, in which 

 he expresses the utmost anxiety for the Doctor's safety. I have written, and a 

 letter is now on its way to Loanda, announcing the Doctor's safe arrival among 

 us. But it is not only to Mr. Gabriel that I would allude ; for when Dr. Living- 

 ston arrived at Loanda, I was delighted to hear how he had been received by the 

 Portuguese. I resided nearly nine years among this people, and 1 can testify 

 that I never received gi'eater acts of kindness from any other nation, than from 

 them. I had among them some of my best friends, whose friendship was 

 unequivocally tested under trials and in sickness, and I was delighted to hear 

 that the same kindness which I had experienced at their hands had been 

 experienced by Dr. Livingston. I am glad to have this opportunity of testifying, 



