July 4, 1872J 



NATURE 



1S5 



head a naval cap with a faded gilt band round it. In an 

 instant he recognised the Eu ipean as none other than 

 Dr. Livingstone himself; and h^ was about to rush for- 

 ward and embrace him, when the thought occurred he 

 was in the presence of Arabs, who, being accustomed to 

 conceal their feelings, wore very Hkely to found their 

 estimate of a man upon the manner in which he conceals 

 his own. A dignified Arab chieftain, moreover, stood by, 

 and this confirmed iMr. Stanley in his resolution to show- 

 no symptoms of rejoicing or excitement. Slowly ad- 

 vancing towards the great traveller, he bowed and said, 

 " Dr. Livingstone, I presume ?" to which address the 

 latter, who was fully equal to the occasion, simply smiled 

 and replied " Yes." It was not till some hours afterwards, 

 when alone together, seated on a goat slcin, that the two 

 white men exchanged those congratulations which both 

 were eager to express, and recounted their respective 

 difficulties and adventures. 



Mr. Stanley's statement is that Dr. Livingstone ap- 

 peared to be in remarkably good health, stout and strong, 

 quite undismayed by all that he had gone through, and 

 eager only to finish the task he had imposed upon himself. 

 Dr. Livingstone's story of his adventure was to the 

 following eifect: — In March 1866, he started from Zanzi- 

 bar. The expedition which he led consisted of twelve 

 Sepoys, nine Johanna men, seven liberated slaves, and 

 two Zambesi men — in all thirty persons. At first Dr. 

 Livingstone travelled along the left bank of the Rovuma 

 River ; but, as he pursued his way, his men began to 

 grow disaffected and frightened, and, in spite of all his 

 efforts to manage and keep them together, most of them left 

 him and returned to their homes, spreading everywhere the 

 report of his death as a reason for their reappearance there. 

 In August 1S66, he arrived in the territory of Mponda, a 

 chief who rules over a tribe living near the N'yassa Lake ; 

 and here Wikoteni, a protege of the Doctor's, insisted 

 upon being absolved from going any further. After rest- 

 ing for a short time in Mponda's ground, Dr. Livingstone 

 proceeded to inspect the "heel" of the N'yassa Lake ; and 

 it was while carrying out this enterprise that the Johanna 

 men, who had till now remained faithful, deserted him. 

 In December 1866, having collected a numbecof natives. 

 Dr. Livingstone decided upon advancing in a northerly 

 direction ; and, in pursuance of this determination, he 

 traversed the countries of Babisa, Bobembene, and Bo- 

 runga, as well as the region of Londa. 



Approaching King Cazembe's territory, he crossed a 

 thin stream called the Chambe^i ; and here he found him- 

 self in great difficulty, being for a long while unable to 

 discover to what the river belonged. The confusion which 

 he experienced was greatly increased by the fact that Por- 

 tuguese travellers had previously reported the existence 

 of such a stream, and had asserted that it was a tributary 

 of the great Zambesi river, having no connection whatever 

 with the Nile. These statements Di-. Livingstone was 

 disinclined to believe, and, determined to satisfy himself 

 as to the rise and falling of the Chambezi, he made up his 

 mind to devote himself to the task at once. From the 

 beginning of 1867 to the middle of March 1869, he tra- 

 versed the banks of the mysterious stream, tracing it 

 where it ran, correcting the errors of the Portuguese 

 travellers, and proving conclusively that the Chambezi 

 was not the head of the Zambezi river, as had been 

 hitherto supposed. So constantly did he remain at this 

 work, and so frequent were the inquiries which lie made 

 in every direction, that the natives, in astonishment at 

 his persistence, supposed him to be insane ; and their fre- 

 quent remark was, " The man is mad ; he must have water 

 on the brain." Their ridicule had, however, no effect 

 upon him, for he continued his work in spite of every 

 opposition, and as the result of his labours in this region, 

 coupled with his further researches, he has estalDlished 

 conclusively (i) that the Portuguese Zambezi and the 

 Chambezi arc totally distinct streams ; and (2) that the 



Chambezi is the head waters of the Nile. He found that 

 starting from n° south, the River Nile rolled on until 

 it attained the extraordinary length of 2,600 miles. 



In the midst of his wanderings Livingstone came upon 

 Lake Liemba, which he discovered to be fed by Lake 

 Tanganyika. His map of the last-mentioned lake shoAS 

 that the southern portion of it resembles in shape the 

 lower part of the kingdom of Italy. He found that it 

 rises in 8° 42" south, is 325 miles in length, being thus 

 seventy-three miles longer than was supposed by Captain 

 Burton and Captain Speke. Leaving Tanganyika, the 

 Doctor crossed INIarungua, and came m sight of a small 

 lake, called Lake Muero, which he found to be six miles in 

 length, and to be fed by the Chambezi. In his way he traced 

 the Chambezi running through three degrees of latitude,and 

 having thus satisfied himself of the total independence of 

 the Zambezi, he returned to King Cazembe's country, and 

 then made his way to Ujiji, where, early in 1869, he wrote 

 letters and despatched them by messengers. A short rest 

 was made at Ujiji, and having explored the head of the 

 Tanganyika lake, and thus finding out that the River 

 Rusizi flowed into the lake, and not out of it, as had been 

 supposed, he made preparations for another, and as he 

 then hoped, a final journey of exploration. 



Leaving Ujiji in June 1869, he pushed through the 

 Uguhba country, and after fifteen days' march he cam.e to 

 Mamgcma, which he found to be a virgin country, the in- 

 terior of which seemed utterly unknown to anybody. As 

 he was about to proceed, however, he was seized with an 

 illness u-hich at one time almost threatened to put an end 

 to his explorations. Ulcers formed in his feet, and for 

 six weary months he was obliged to rest and wait. As 

 soon as he had recovered he started oft" in a northerly 

 direction, and came shortly afterwards to a broad river 

 called Lualaba, which flowed in a northerly, westerly, and 

 southerly direction. Strongly suspecting that this river 

 was but a continuation of the Chambezi, which enters the 

 Banguereolo, Luapula, and Muero lakes, he retraced his 

 steps to Lake Kamolondo, and thence working his way to 

 lat. 4° south, and after a long and difficult journey, he 

 found the point where the Lualabi and Chambezi joined, 

 and proved them to be both one and the same rivtr. 



He followed the course of the latter river for several 

 hundred miles, and had come within 180 miles of that part 

 of the Nile which has already b;en traced, when the men 

 he had with him mutinied, and deserted him. Having 

 now neither stores nor followers, he v/as ob'iged to retire to 

 Ujiji, weary and destitute. It was soon after this that Mr. 

 Stanley found him. In fact, the English explorer arrived 

 at Ujiji on the i6th of October, 1871, and it was, as 

 already stated, no later than the 3rd of November when 

 the American searcher made his entrance into Ujiji. 



On Nov. 20 Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley left Ujiji 

 in company, and explored the northern end of Lake Tan- 

 ganyika, confirming by a second inspection the observa- 

 tions which Dr. Livingstone had previously made ; and 

 after 28 days thus pleasantly spent, they returned to 

 Ujiji, and there passed Christmas Day together. On 

 Dec. 26 they left for Unyanyembe, and, arriving there, 

 stayed together till March 14, when Mr. Stanley, intrusted 

 witli letters from Dr. Livingstone, started for the coast, 

 leaving the explorer to continue his searches for some 

 time longer. 



Dr. Livingstone states that he considers he has yet two 

 problems to solve in connection with the Nile. The first, 

 the complete exploration of the remaining 180 miles 

 which lie between the spot where he was compelled to 

 turn back and the part already traced ; and he should 

 investigate the truth of a report which has several times 

 reached him respecting four fountains, which he has been 

 told, supply a large volume of water to the Lualaba. To 

 complete this task, Livingstone estimates that he will 

 require sixteen or eighteen months. Mr. Stanley, how- 

 ever, is of opinion that it will occupy a longer peri jd. 



