324 LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI 



On the T^tli of Septem])er, 1850, \\w "reat l^ake Nyassa was 

 discovered. This lake is more than three hundred miles in length, 

 and about forty miles in width. It fills a long trench, which is some 

 six hundred feet deep below the level of the lake, and is walled in on 

 the east by a lofty range of mountains, reaching in the northeast an 

 elevation of ten thousand feet. The lake was found to be right in the 

 track of a great inland trade. From the country of Katanga and 

 Cazembe, from those densely peopled districts lying west of the 

 Nyasa, came Arab caravans bringing the products of the country — 

 ivory, malachite, copper ornaments, and too often, even then, gangs 

 of slaves — down to the east coast, to the ports of the Portuguese and 

 the Arabs, to Iboe, Mozambique and Kilwa. 



One of the results of l>ivingstone's many letters home, urging the 

 necessity and pointing out the advantages of opening up the Shire 

 valley and the shores of Lake Nyassa by missionary labor and the 

 founding of a colony, was evidenced early in 1861 by the arrival of 

 several members of the Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Africa. 

 At their head, to guide and control, was Bishop Mackenzie, a hard- 

 working and patient man. With them arrived the "Pioneer," a 

 steamer sent by the Government in reply to Livingstone's request, and 

 which was to be utilized now for work on the Shire. The 

 "Ma-Robert" had succumbed to her many ailments by making a final 

 exit on a sandbank near Sena. Livingstone in the meanwhile had 

 written home to his friend, Mr. James Young, asking him to purchase 

 another steamer out of the ample funds which "Missionary Travels" 

 had raised for him, and consequently good days appeared to be in 

 store for those who had been exhausting time and strength in their 

 heavily handicapped struggle for the regeneration of Africa. 



Up to this point a good deal had been done in spite of all diffi-^ 

 culties. The Kongone arm of the Zambesi and an important entrance 

 from the sea had been discovered, navigated, and laid down in charts ; 

 the navigability of the Zambesi as far as the Kebrabasa Falls was 

 demonstrated; the great river Shire had been practically discovered 

 and navigated for the first time. Lake Shirwa was another discovery; 

 and, to cap the whole, there had been found, lying amid the lofty ridges 

 which some four hundred miles inland run parallel with the coast of 



