TaANSACTlONS OP THE SECTIONS. 113 



Report on his Expedition up Smith's Sound in Search of Sir John Franklin. 

 Sy Dr. E. K. Kane. 



An original Letter from General Mouravieff. By Col. A. Lake. 



Return Journey across Southern Africa. By the Rev. Dr. D. Livingston. 



Sir R. I. Murchison communicated to the Section an outline of the accounts of 

 the last journey of the Rev. Dr. D. Livingston, from the western to the eastern coast 

 of South Africa, as contained in three long and highly interesting letters addressed 

 to him by that eminent explorer and! successful missionary. The first of these was 

 written at Linyanti, on the river Chobe, from whence he had been accompanied 

 across the continent, to St. Paul di Laonda, on the west coast in 10° S. Lat., by 

 the natives, whose fidelity to him during his perilous adventures had been rewarded 

 by being instructed and reconducted to their native place, and is dated the I6th of 

 October, 1855 ; the second from the Hill Chanyune, on the banks of the Zambesi, 

 the 25th of January, 1856 ; the third from Tete, or Nyungwe, lower down the 

 same river. 



The map about to be constructed by Dr. Livingston, of the vast unexplored region, 

 has been for some time in preparation b}' Mr. Arrowsmith for publication in the 

 volumes of the Royal Geographical Society ; and some of the information contained 

 in the letters recently received will occasion improvements in that map, — the chief 

 points of which have, for the first time, been fixed by astronomical observations, 

 which the undaunted traveller was enabled to accomplish even under all the priva- 

 tions and dangers of his two remarkable journeys. These observations have beeri 

 calculated by Mr. M'Clear, the astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope. 



Not endeavouring to detail the names of all the African chiefs and places alluded 

 to, but pointing out generally the line of route pursued. Sir Roderick read those 

 passages of the first letter which confirmed, by actual observation, a theory he had 

 himself formed in the year 1852*, of the probable physical condition of the interior 

 of Africa in modern as well as in ancient times, from the examination of a geological 

 map of the Cape Colony by Mr. Bain, and from the earlier discoveries of the 

 Lake Njami by Dr. Livingston and his former associates, Oswell and Vardon ; viz. 

 that crests of hard rocks constitute both the eastern and western flanks of the con- 

 tinent, through which the rivers, escaping by deep fissures, have proceeded from a 

 broad central watery region of no great altitude. Of this interior basin, intersected 

 by a network of rivers. Dr. Livingston gives a clear account, — some of the waters 

 even flowing northwards into the Zaire or Congo, and others south-eastwards into 

 the Zambesi. 



The chief geological and mineralogical characteristics of the eastern and western 

 flanking crest-lands are described, including coal-fields, iron and other ores, and hot 

 springs issuing from igneous and metamorphic rocks. The internal or watery basin, 

 on the contrary, is everywhere occupied by calcareous tufa, often of considerable 

 thickness, in which are enclosed the remains of existing shells and animals of 

 the land and water of the present day. A collection of fossil bones found to 

 the south of the last explorations, and consigned to Dr. Buckland, has been 

 unfortunately lost; with measurements of chief altitudes as determined by the 

 ebullition of water. The return journey from St. Paul di Loanda to Linyanti was 

 facilitated for a time by the possession of two asses, given to the author by friends 

 in the Portuguese settlement of Loanda ; these animals being insensible to the sting 

 of the Tsetse, which destroys oxen and other animals. 



In the second letter, Dr. Livingston, then within a few days' march of the Portu- 

 guese eastern station of Tete, gives a lively and graphic sketch of the remainder of 

 the route he pursued in proceeding across the eastern hilly region ; and his descrip- 

 tion of the scenery (aa read to the Section), where the broad river Zambesi, after 

 forming great rapids, is compressed into a narrow gorge and cascades over a lofty 

 precipice, amidst the most luxuriant and extraordinary vegetation, afforded the 

 liveliest gratification. This rocky region is very salubrious, and in passing through 



* Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. 

 1856. 8 



