TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 185 



most entire and best-preserved of any Roman antiquity of that kind in Britain;" and 

 every enlightened lover of his country must feel grateful to the present proprietor, Mr. 

 Home Drummond, and to those who before him have been the proprietors of the 

 estate at Ardoch, for the careful manner in which it is preserved for the gratification 

 of the students of history. 



Extracts from a Letter of Dr. Kirk to Alex. Kirk, Esq., relating to the 

 Livingstone Expedition. Communicated by Dr. Shaw. 



The extracts form the very latest intelligence which has reached England of the 

 intrepid travellers. 



After, in a former letter, giving an account of the explorations of the mouths of the 

 river in the steam launch, of their crossing the surf in the launch, and at last getting 

 the ' Pearl' as far up as was thought safe, and of his erecting the iron house on a 

 long narrow island, which they named Expedition Island, and landing the goods, where 

 he was to remain in charge till they could be by degrees transported to Cheepanga, and 

 how, with the return of the Hermes, he sent off several specimens which are now at 

 Kew, Dr. K. proceeds as follows — date, Sept. 22 : — 



" When I sent my last letter, via Ceylon, the 'Pearl' had just left, and I was in charge 

 on Expedition Island, while the Doctor was transporting the goods by degrees to 

 Scuna. Here we made ourselves very comfortable. I built the iron house, had the 

 goods all safe, and made a nice open veranda in front, thatched with reeds and co- 

 vered with tarpaulin, so that we resisted both sun and rain ; but of the latter we had 

 very little. The island was a narrow strip, about three-fourths of a mile long, in 

 shape something like an alligator. I made a survey of it, and kept up tide-gauge 

 barometers and thermometers. ........ 



" While our party were busy transporting the goods up to Scuna, war had been going 

 on between the Portuguese and the rebels of the country, and the latter were fortu- 

 nately thrashed, and fled to the mountain parts opposite Scuna. 



" Our chief depot has been Chupanga, where, in company with Thornton, I have 

 been on detached service. This was for some time the head-quarters of the Portu- 

 guese army, and now there are several officers stationed there, whom I found to be 

 very kind fellows, and from whom I received much valuable assistance. I made a 

 trip, while waiting there, to a lake elevated considerably above the Zambesi. During 

 our walk, which took us three days, at the rate of about twenty miles a-day, we met 

 some curious people, but were glad to find all friendly. I returned thus quickly, as I 

 expected the Doctor back from Tete, whither he had gone on his first trip with the 

 powder, which it would have been unsafe to have left in a country at present at war. 

 I received, however, instead, a letter from him, stating that the water is so low at 

 places where the river spreads to an excessive width, that the pinnace could not be 

 taken up at once, until the channel had been previously surveyed by the launch ; that 

 the pinnace was left somewhat a little beyond Scuna, in charge of Baines ; that the 

 launch would proceed to Tete, return, pick up the pinnace, and afterwards return to 

 Chupanga. 



" On hearing this, I had determined on another short excursion, when, to our sur- 

 prise, up came a boat with two officers of the ' Lynx,' with mails from the Cape. I 

 went oft', in company with theofficers, to the governor, at the foot of MounnballerHills, 

 two days' journey up the river-shore, and was unfortunate enough to come up shortly 

 after he had taken a tremendously fortified place, surrounded by lines of stockades 

 and mud works pierced for artillery and musketry. The rebels must have been many 

 thousands strong, and probably want of ammunition caused them to evacuate the 

 place, otherwise almost impregnable, for the Portuguese got four pieces of cannon 

 (three of them bronze) and an immense quantity of provisions. We found the governor 

 anxious to do anything for us he could, and got from him four canoes to return to the 

 mouth of the river to bring up the things from the ' Lynx.' We escorted the canoes to 

 the mouth of the river, which turned out to be a new one to us, but with so bad a bar 

 that it would have been most imprudent to have attempted to take the canoes over it 

 (though, having a splendid surf-boat, we crossed it all right), for a few days previously 

 the cutter had been upset, and six hands lost out often. I now asked the captain to 

 send a boat up the river to catch the Doctor alive and bring him down, which would pro- 

 bably preclude the necessity of his coming down atChristmas,andMr. Medlicott accord- 



