Mar. 9, 1857.] PARKER ON THE QUILIMAKE AND ZAMBESI RIVERS. 315 



animal with a barbed lance, to which is attached, by a cord 3 or 

 4 fathoms long, an inflated bladder. The natives follow in their 

 canoes, and look out to fix more harpoons as the animal rises to 

 blow, and, when exhausted, despatch him with their lances. It 

 is, in fact, nearly similar to a whale-hunt. Elephants and lions 

 are also abundant on the western side; the latter destroy many 

 of the blacks annually, and are much feared by them. Alligators 

 are said to be numerous, but I did not see any. 



The voyage up to Maruru occupied seven days, as I did not work 

 the men at the oar, but it might be done in four ; we returned to 

 the bar in two and a half days. 



There is another mouth of the Zambesi, 7 miles to the westward 

 of Luabo, which was visited by the ' Castor's ' pinnace ; and I was 

 assured by Lieut. Hoskins that the bar was better than the one I 

 visited. 



The President, in invitiDg discussion on the subject of these papers, re- 

 ferred especially to Dr. Campbell's commimication, which, he said, was 

 replete with interest in geological and geographical points of view. 



Dr. Livingston pointed out on the chart various rivers 'that he crossed in 

 the district of the Congo, which, he said, flowed generally towards the centre 

 of the country, and then turned awa}" to the north. When he came to the 

 Quango, he found it running due north, and the Portuguese whom he met, 

 who had been making inquiries amongst the natives, told him that they 

 believed it to form with the Kasai, the Congo or Zaire. He understood from 

 some officers he met at Loando, that there was an immense body of water, 

 discharging itself into the sea ; he thought it might be possible to navigate 

 the Kasai or Loke down to the sea, and on his return he had intended to go 

 some distance down the river, to ascertain that point. When he came to 

 Cabango, he met some people who came from a town under a chief called Mai, 

 and tlicy informed liini that at that town there was a large waterfall on the 

 river, and that after it passed the waterfall, the river joined the Quango. The 

 Kasai was much the largest river, and when it joined the Quango it became 

 the Zaire. He asked one of the men to imagine himself standing in the town 

 of Mai, and to point out the confluence of the Kasai and the Quango. The 

 man pointed west, and said, " Five days in that direction, the Quango and 

 Kasai join together and form the Zaire." He also said he believed there was 

 another branch coming from the north. If persons did not believe the ac- 

 counts of these natives, it would be well if they would go and examine for 

 themselves. With regard to the Zambesi, he came down that river at a dif- 

 ferent time of the year from that at which Captain Parker went up to the 

 beginning of the delta — the point at which he. Dr. Livingston, left it, being 

 severely attacked by fever. Having traced on the chart the course of the 

 Zambesi and the Quilimane river and their slight connection with each other, 

 Dr. Livingston said, he was informed by the Portuguese, that Captain Parker 

 had come to the end of the delta, and was delightej(J Avith the appearance of 

 the river up to that point. The mountains mentioned by Captain Parker 

 were those opposite Sena. They formed a very high range, about 8 or 10 miles 

 long, and at the top was a hot, sulphureous formtain. The people who lived 

 on the mountain had been fighting with the Portuguese; hence the latter 

 declined to accompany him there. On the opposite side there was a very high 

 mountain to be seen in the distance, called the Gorongozo, with certain in- 



