Mar. 26, I860.] DR. LIVINGSTONE ON LAKES NYINYESI AND SHIRWA. 87 



througli His Excellency Count Platen, f.r.g.s. ; Meteorological 

 Papers pnblislied by the Board of Trade, &c. 



The Papers read were — 



1. Dr. Livingstone on Lalies ISfyinyesi, or Nyassa and Shirwa, in Eastern 



Africa. 



Communicate^ from the Foreign Office by the Right Hon. Lord John 

 Russell, f.r.g.s. 



Dr. Livingstone, in company with Mr. C. Livingstone, Dr. Kirk, 

 and Mr. Eae, has traced the Shire River np to its point of departure 

 from Lake Nyinyesi or Nyassa, and found that there were only 33 

 miles of cataract to be passed. After this interruption the river 

 became smooth again, and continued so right into the lake, in 

 lat. 14° 25' S. The country adjacent to the Shire is formed of three 

 well-defined terraces. The first of these is the actual valley of the 

 river, elevated from 1200 to 1500 feet above the level of the sea, 

 and exactly like the valley of the Nile at Cairo. The second ter- 

 race lies east of this, and is upwards of 2000 feet in altitude, and 

 3 to 4 miles broad. The third terrace is, again, eastwards of this, 

 and exceeds 3000 feet in altitude. It is bounded on the east by 

 Lake Shirwa, and by a range of very lofty mountains. Based upon 

 this last terrace is Mount Zomba, rising to an additional height of 

 7000 feet. Thus at a few miles' distance from each other very 

 various climates exist. The second and third terraces were cool, 

 and even cold, and largely supplied with running brooks. 



The terraces are extensively cultivated with cotton, of foreign 

 origin. No information could be obtained of the length of Lake 

 Nyassa; that of Lake Shirwa is 90 miles. The two lakes are 

 separated by a narrow isthmus. There was no appearance of the 

 water of Lake Nyassa ever rising or falling much. The Eiver 

 Shir(^ does not vary more than 2 or 3 feet from the wet to the dry 

 season. It issues from the lake in a stream of from 80 to 150 yards 

 broad, 12 feet deep, and running at 2^ knots an hour. 



All trade from the interior to the coast, lawful and unlawful, 

 crosses the narrow isthmus that separates the two lakes, and it is 

 there that Dr. Livingstone thinks slave exportation might most 

 easily be checked. The natives were intelligent, and are gi'eat 

 agriculturists : the worst feature about them was frequent drunken- 

 ness, from over-use of native beer and Indian hemp. 



The Chairman ventured to say that the Secretary of State for Foreign 

 Affairs seldom received from consuls and diplomatists a clearer account of 

 the physical geography of a region than was given in the few pages sent home 

 by his friend Dr. Livingstone, and now communicated to us by Lord John 

 Russell. 



