NATURE 



257 



THURSDAY, AUGUST i, 1873 



DR. LIVINGSTONE 



THE publication of two letters in the New York Herald 

 from Ur. Livingstone has thrown some new light 

 upon the discoveries on which the famous traveller has 

 been engaged since 1867. The letters purport to have 

 been written by the great traveller himself, but they bear 

 unmistakeable marks of having been manipulated to 

 suit the tastes of the readers of that very sensational 

 newspaper. Yet, until the traveller's own journals are be- 

 fore the world, we must be content to gather as much 

 information as may be picked up from this source, 

 doubtful though it be. 



These discoveries include the great mountain range 

 separating the drainage of the Zambesi from that to 

 the northward ; a great valley receiving numerous 

 streams, which Livingstone believes to be the true 

 sources of the Nile ; and a beautiful lake, called 

 Liemba, which appears to form the southern extreme of 

 Tanganyika. But the chief interest centres in the great 

 valley commencing south of Lake Tanganyika, from 

 which it is completely separated by intervening hills, 

 and then turning to the north and west. It receives a 

 vast quantity of rain, and appears to be subject to inunda- 

 tions. Its river, from its source in the southern moun- 

 tains to Lake Bangweolo, is called the Chambese. Thence 

 it turns due north, and flows, under the new name of 

 Luapula, past Cazembe's town — first visited by the Portu- 

 guese — into Lake Moero. The great river then forces 

 its way northward through the mountains of Rua, under 

 the name of Lualaba, and spreads out into a vast lake 

 named Ulenga, or Kamalondo, in the Manyema country. 

 It then takes a westerly, and for a time even a southerly 

 course, under the name of Lulira, spreading out into a 

 lake called Lake Lincoln by the explorer ; which also 

 receives another important feeder from the mountain 

 range to the south, called Lom.ame. Finally, the now 

 mighty river turns to the north and enters an unknown 

 land; for this was Livingstone's farthest point. But he 

 heard that it flows into another unvisited lake, called 

 Chowambe, and he believes it to be the Nile. 



The discovery of this valley for an extent of some 700 

 miles, with its great river, receiving numerous affluents 

 and flowing through four great lakes, has occupied Living- 

 stone for the last five years. During 1867 and 1S68 he 

 crossed the mountains from the Zambesi valley, visited 

 Cazembe, followed the river through two lakes, and traced 

 it until it passed into the gorge of the Rua mountains. 

 He then turned aside to the Tanganyika lake, to 

 pick up the supplies that he expected to find at L'jiji, 

 on its banks. His last letter was dated from Ujiji, on 

 May 30, 1S69. From L'jiji he set out to complete his 

 work by connecting the Lualaba, where he left it in the 

 mountains, with Baker's lake. But this expedition seems 

 to have been a failure. He indeed crossed Lake Tangan- 

 yika again, penetrated into the Manyema country north 

 of the Rua mountains, and traced the great river for some 

 distance farther, and through two lakes, until he found it 



VOL. VI. 



to be flowing due north. But here his men became 

 mutinous, and he was obliged to return to Ujiji last year 

 disheartened, and sorely in want of succour and fresh 

 supplies. 



That succour was at hand. Never has traveller been 

 so keenly watched by those at home ; never has assistance 

 been forwarded with such lavish generosity. Fortunately 

 Livingstone's old friend and fellow-traveller, during six 

 long years of hardship and anxiety, Dr. John Kirk, had 

 been appointed resident medical oUicer at Zanzibar, and 

 he has superintended the measures for the e.xplorer's 

 relief with affectionate and untiring zeal. The first supplies, 

 however, which Livingstone found at Ujiji in 1869, 

 were sent up by Dr. Seward, Kirk's predecessor. Kirk 

 sent up a second supply, while Livingstone was in 

 the Manyema country, a great part of which was 

 stolen by the men in charge. The mistaken policy of 

 entrusting these supplies to natives was not Dr. Kirk's, 

 but was apparently adopted under orders from the 

 Foreign Office. A third large instalment of supplies was 

 sent up, and Kirk zealously superintended its despatch 

 from the mainland at Bagamoyo. It safely reached 

 Unyanyembe, and has been of the greatest service to 

 Livingstone. But the Geographical Society, and the 

 people of England, were not satisfied with these measures. 

 The great Explorer had not been heard of since May 

 1869, ^nd an expedition was resolved upon to seek him 

 out, and relieve his necessities. Liberal subscriptions, 

 amounting to upwards of 5,000/., poured in, and, as is 

 well known, the Expedition sailed for Zanzibar under the 

 brightest auspices last February. Thanks to the hearty 

 and zealous co-operation of Dr. Kirk, the equipment was 

 completed on the 27th of last April, and the members of 

 the Expedition were on the mainland, and ready to start 

 for the interior. Had it not been for an unforeseen in- 

 trusive element, in the shape of the Correspondent of a 

 sensational American newspaper, all would have gone 

 well, and the Explorer would by this time have been 

 fully furnished forth with all necessary supplies and in- 

 struments, and with assistance which would have ensured 

 the verification and completion of his discoveries. We 

 cannot but feel that the members of the Expedition com- 

 mitted a very grave error in judgment in abandoning 

 their work on very insufficient grounds. 



It seems that the editor of the New York Herald, in 

 looking about for fresh startling sensations wherewith to 

 feed the appetites of his public, turned his attention to 

 Livingstone and his discoveries, and despatched a corre- 

 spondent to " interview " the great traveller, and so fur- 

 nish new material for those large type headings and 

 wonderful paragraphs in which that well-known paper de- 

 lights to indulge. So far no harm had been done, ex- 

 cept that a New York Herald " Correspondent " was the 

 very worst messenger that could have been selected. 

 For it was to his interest to keep all he had done, 

 all Livingstone had told him, a close secret until 

 a wondrous version of it could appear in New York. 

 Carefully concealing his object while at Zanzibar, 

 the correspondent advanced into the interior, found 

 Dr. Kirk's ample supplies waiting at Unyanyembe, 

 and after some difficulties caused by his own mismanage- 

 ment, reached L^jiji, where he found Dr. Livingstone. 

 There is some mention of Mr. Stanley, the correspondent, 



