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



3 miles wide ; it abounds with hippopotami, hut the water is not good to 

 drink. The country is very fertile ; during their march six Zulahs joined them 

 from a party of about forty near Shupanga : these people came up this way after 

 they were dispersed under Dingaan, at Natal, by the emigrant farmers. 

 Upon their arriving at the village where they intended to pass the night, tliey 

 found great difficulty in procuring food, the natives asking enormous prices, 

 whereupon their Zulah chief came to their assistance, explaining that they 

 were not Portuguese but Englishmen, liberators of the blacks, and that they 

 could walk like men and had not to be carried ; he had also heard of the white 

 man living with Moselekatse : in the end they were supplied with everything 

 they wanted, and were treated most hospitably without payment. 



On their return they took a round through an immense forest that Dr. Kirk 

 might get samples of the sandal wood and buaze ; in addition to these trees 

 they saw ebony and lignumvitse. Dr. Kirk also found six different kinds of 

 Indiarubber. It was remarked to him by a Portuguese, that ''he could not 

 understand our going 600 miles up the country to grow cotton that would never 

 pay to be brought down to the coast when there was such a place as Shupanga 

 so much nearer, healthy, the river navigable, and abundance of wood for use 

 or exportation." The size of some of the trees near must be very large, as he 

 measured one canoe 35 feet long, 4 feet deep, and 4 feet wide, of a kind of 

 mahogany. 



When he was at Quillimane the trade was almost dead ; this was partly 

 caused by the wars, but more, he was told by an American merchant, by the 

 restrictions and difficulties thrown in the way of trade by the government. 

 He had been obliged to take money for his goods, as there was little or nothing 

 for barter. He had collected a small quantity of ivory, Indiarubber, and 

 columba-root ; the latter said to grow in abundance, but owing to the dry 

 season burning up the leaves, the natives could readily discover the root ; this 

 gentleman had asked to go up to Tete to trade, but it was not allowed. 



In conclusion he would now add his testimony to that of numerous English 

 officers, to the ready assistance, great hospitality, and kind attention of the 

 Portuguese generally ; but he would especially mention Colonel Nunes, at 

 whose house he was entertained for two months. The Colonel has been in the 

 country thirty-five years, and is always ready with any information in his 

 power. He was bound to say that his description of the rapids proved to be 

 most correct : he also mentioned the lakes to the north of the Morumbala ; he 

 described them as a chain of lakes from which the Shire took its rise, and also 

 another river that he understood him to run to the eastward of the mountains. 

 During his stay at Quillimane a caravan of " Mujoas," from the Lakes,* paid 

 their annual visit, and brought with them for sale iron hoes, ivory, and a few 

 slaves. The women had the peculiar bone thrust through the upper lip, 

 mentioned by Dr. Livingstone, making them look perfectly hideous. So little 

 demand was there for slaves at that time that an able-bodied man was offered 

 at 6 fathoms of cloth, vali^d at li dollars. 



The Chairman observed that although the very small steamer, the Ma 

 Bobert, had been found by Dr. Livingstone to be too weak for the navigation 

 of the Zambesi, no reflection could be cast upon her builder. That vessel had 

 been constructed upon a given plan and for a particular purpose ; and before 

 she'went out she was approved of by the Admiralty. But it had been found 

 that this vessel was inadequate to do the work ; her cabin was half water logged, 

 and her bottom so full of holes that if Dr. Livingstone did not receive another 

 vessel from the British Government, he must (as he wrote to his friends) 

 procure one out of his own small means. This, however, he (the Chairman) 

 felt confident the British nation would not allow ; and he had great satisfac- 

 tion in saying that Lord John Russell supported the request of Dr. Livingstone, 

 and desired to furnish him with a new vessel. 



