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



confined to a channel of only 30 to 60 yards wide, with perpendicular 

 and water-worn sides of from 60 to 80 feet high. This narrow 

 channel wound, from side to side, through a^ry upper bed of about 

 a quarter of a mile broad, that was strewn with huge blocks and 

 boulders in the wildest confusion, and was overflooded by the river at 

 the time when it was high. Even in this narrow channel the river 

 rarelj^ ran more than 4 knots an hour : that speed was, however, too 

 much for Dr. Livingstone's steamer (of which he bitterly complains). 

 He therefore left her behind, and continued his examination on foot. 

 The journey was exceedingly toilsome. The worst cataract seen, 

 was one where the fall appeared to be 30 feet, and where the river 

 was confined between precipices of 500 or 600 feet high. 



A second expedition was made to these rapids in January, under 

 the command of Mr. C. Livingstone and Mr. Baines, at a time when 

 the Zambesi was nearly at its highest. The party started in a boat 

 and went as far up the rapids b}^ paddling and by tracking as it was 

 possible to venture : they then continued their exploration on foot. 

 The face of the river had become greatly altered ; but the minute 

 report of Mr. Baines appears to hold out little hope of its navigability 

 under any circumstances. He speaks of one rapid with a fall of 

 3 feet 9 inches, and of eddies along which no vessel larger than a 

 boat could venture with safety, lest her head and stern should be 

 caught by the opposing currents. At one place the river was in part 

 taken up by " upheavings of the water 4 feet or more in height, 

 rising and falling in most undescribable confusion," and elsewhere 

 by eddies and a shallow flat covered with sharp stones. The great 

 fall seen by Dr. Livingstone was still there, but did not appear so 

 formidable. Mr. Baines has made drawings of the rapids, which 

 are to be seen in the Society's rooms. Mr. C. Livingstone's opinion, 

 and Dr. Livingstone's conclusions, appear more favourable than those 

 of Mr. Baines. 



Shirwa Expedition. — At the time that Messrs. C. Livingstone and 

 Baines were examining the Kebra-brasa rapids, Dr. Livingstone and 

 Mr. Kirk explored the Shire in the steamer. They were obliged to 

 leave her in lat. 1 6*^ 2', long. 35** e., whence, travelling on foot — at first 

 alongside the river and then leaving it and going to the n.e. — they 

 reached a lake of large size, hitherto unknown to Europeans, and 

 called the Shirwa. The steamer was ultimately taken up an afiluent 

 of the Shire to within 30 miles of the lake. The lake has no outlet : 

 its waters are bitter, but drinkable. It is 2000 feet above the sea, 25 to 

 30 miles broad, and GO to 70 miles long, in addition to a narrow 

 southern prolongation of 15 miles more, and it is stated to be sepa- 

 rated from Lake Nyanja, on the north, by a strip of land of no more 



