22 LATEST ACCOUNTS FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE [Nov. 28, 1859. 



would then ask for what sort of vessels is it navigable ? During the time the 

 river was at its highest, which was from November to March — the South 

 African summer — the places on its banks were so unhealthy that they could 

 not be passed without great risk ; so that, at the most, for one half of the year 

 the river was not navigable. With two and three feet water only in its upper 

 course, what sort of a navigable river was that ? The Zambesi could not be 

 made available for commercial purposes in the English sense of the term. 

 The next point respected the growth of wheat. Now, what he (Mr. Crawfurd) 

 really had said on a former occasion was, that the natural country for the 

 gi'owth of wheat was not within the troj^ics — that nearer than 25° or 26° latitude 

 wheat could not be grown to advantage. He did not say it might not be grown 

 within the tropics at a high elevation — even upon the very equator itself. Dr. 

 Livingstone saw a few patches of wheat growing on the mud-banks of the 

 Zambesi in 16° of latitude, but at what elevation he does not state : that circum- 

 stance, however, did not prove that wheat was the proper grain to grow in that 

 country. Kice had been grown in this country — a capital crop was obtained 

 some years ago near Windsor — but it did not follow that rice was the proper crop 

 to be grown in Britain. Now a word about indigo. He (Mr. Crawfurd) com- 

 plained of the African indigo for its being too short, and not for its being too 

 long. Dr. Livingstone was totally mistaken about that matter. As to cotton, he 

 would say in plain terms, you will never get good cotton from the savages of 

 Africa. It is impossible that such a people should produce cotton fit for the 

 manufactures of this country. The Hindoos were a highly civilised peoi:)le in 

 comparison with Dr. Livingstone's negroes ; but, if we were to depend upon the 

 people of Hindostan, nine-tenths of the greatest manufacture of this country 

 would perish at once ; and if we were to depend on African cotton, we should 

 speedily be in a worse condition than we were two hundred years ago. Dr. 

 Livingstone had broached the subject of African colonisation, and thought a 

 region in the 16th degree of latitude a proper locality for Scotchmen to plant 

 themselves in. He (Mr. Crawfurd) was not the Scotchman to go there him- 

 self, and he strongly advised Dr. Livingstone's twenty Scotch families, with 

 their highly respectable pastor, to let it alone. According to Dr. Livingstone, 

 they might get a hundred square miles of land for a song, but they might just 

 as well get a hundred square miles of cloud above their heads, for all the good 

 such land would do them. 



Mr. Lyons M'Leod, f.r.g.s., said, from his experience of the Niger expedi- 

 tion he was convinced that the proper time for ascending the rivers of Africa 

 was during the rainy season. The Zambesi should not be ascended later in the 

 year than March ; and at that time he had not the slightest doubt that a vessel 

 drawing eight feet of water could not only reach Tete, but anchor at Zumbo, 

 and have the whole of the interior of Africa at command. Some months ago 

 he had stated in that room that wheat was grown at Tete, and his statement 

 had now been confirmed by Dr. Livingstone. He had also said that sugar 

 was grown — that the natives were not only acquainted with the sugar-cane, 

 but actually made sugar, not very good, indeed, because the process of manu- 

 facture was but ill-understood. He had remarked that an abundance of 

 cotton was to be found all over Eastern Africa. And not only so, but he had, 

 brought specimens of the cotton home. The commonest of all, which was not 

 thought to be fit for the manufactures of this country, was spun into stockings 

 by the ladies of Liberia, so that what we despise is valuable there. He had 

 brought home specimens of timber ; it was said that the wood was not adapted 

 for any purpose whatever, and certainly not for ship-building ; however, at the 

 instance of the Admiralty, these specimens were sent down to Woolwich. A 

 vessel, moreover, of 500 tons burden, built of Seychelles timber, had been sub- 

 mitted by the owners to the Admiralty, to be pulled to pieces if desired ; and 

 si)ecimens of the timber of that vessel might now be seen in Somerset House, 



