Mar. 9, 1857.] PARKER ON THE QUILIMANE AND ZAMBESI RIVERS. 317 



Tete. There are many reedy islands, bnt open spaces between them, in which 

 the deep channel is always found. At a range of mountains called Lopata, the 

 river was narrowed, but very deep, and it was at least 300 yards broad at the 

 narrowest part. Twenty miles above Tete, there was a rapid, which he, unfor- 

 tunately, did not see, as he was obliged to leave the course of the river at that 

 part, in consequence of numerous rivulets which, filling with the rising river, 

 interfered with his progress. The rapids consisted of a number of rocks, jutting 

 out of the stream, which were very dangerous when the water was low. Higher 

 up, was a crack or fissure made through a high ridge of land for about 30 

 miles, through which the river ran, forming the most wonderful sight he had 

 ever seen. He thought the fissure must have prevented the Portuguese of old 

 from going up by way of the river, and he believed they never went into the 

 valley in that neighbourhood, which should be regarded as an English dis- 

 covery. On an island there, called Kalai, he saw the grave of a chief with 70 

 elephants' tusks planted round it, rotting in the sun and rain, and 30 tusks on 

 the graves of his relatives ; and all through the country elephants' tusks were 

 similarly used as gravestones — a use to which he believed they would not 

 have been applied, even in the case of the chief, if they could have found a 

 market for them. It was the same as at Lake Ngami, where the tusks were 

 allowed to rot for want of a market. A trader who accompanied him on the 

 occasion of the discovery of the lake, purchased 10 tusks for a musket worth 15s. 

 A market having been established, the tusks would no longer be allowed to rot ; 

 in fact, so fond were these people of traffic, that he believed they would rob 

 their fathers' graves, if they could get a penny by it. Wax, also, was often 

 thrown away, because no market was found for it. As soon as the opportunity of 

 selling it presented itself, there could be no doubt that the natives would collect 

 and dispose of it as they did in the west. One great object which he proposed 

 to himself in going back, was to endeavour to make the Zambesi a permanent 

 path for commerce. He had no doubt that if the people on both sides found 

 there was a certainty of getting their goods purchased, they would cultivate 

 and collect the produce of the country most willingly, for one remark- 

 able feature in African tribes was their great desire for barter. He often 

 found great difficulty in passing through some of their villages, the natives 

 trying to stop him and his party, so that they might remain long enough to 

 be compelled to buy their supper. If they only remained to supper, they 

 could get off pleasantly enough the next morning. Several Englishmen and 

 Frenchmen had formerly asked for liberty to go up the Zambesi, but they had 

 been always refused permission to ascend. We had been guilty of that sort 

 of dog in the manger policy ourselves, and were not therefore in a position to 

 look down upon the Portuguese for acting in the same manner. He had been 

 told, however, that they had lately made all the ports on the east coast of 

 Africa perfectly free to commerce. 



Mr. J. Crawfurd, f.r.g.s., asked the distance from the mouth of the Luabo 

 to the fissure described by Dr. Livingston .?^ 



Dr. Livingston" replied that the distance was between four and five hundred 

 miles by way of the river. 



Mr. Crawfurd. — And do you consider the river navigable for four or five 

 hundred miles ? 



Dr. Livingston. — With the exception of those first rapids. It is nearly 

 300 miles up to the first rapid, and the fissure is 150 miles past that. 



Mr. Crawfurd said if the river was navigable, he could not understand 

 how the Portuguese, who were so close to it, should have always preferred the 

 Quilimane. They had been in the neighbourhood almost from the time of 

 Vasco de Gama, and he could not conceive how they could have been so 

 absolutely stupid as not to have discovered that there was a superior branch 

 of the river close to them. But if the river really was navigable to the extent 



