38 THE EAST COAST. 



The regions south of Mozambique remained almost unknown 

 until the establishment of the English colony at Natal. At a 

 comparatively recent date the earlier history of this settlement 

 was attended with most distressing complications with the 

 natives, but at length Natal rose so far above adversity as to be- 

 come perhaps the most desirable field of emigration on the con- 

 tinent. The remarkable natural advantages have greatly assisted 

 the labor of industry and ar£ in making this district the " Ely- 

 sium " of South Africa. The tribes who surround the beautiful 

 homes and carefully cultivated fields and blooming gardens of 

 the foreigners retain none of their early hostility; cultivating 

 more the peaceful habits so well and wisely recommended to 

 them, they are rather pleasant neighbors, affording in their ig- 

 norance an ample field for the philanthropist and Christian, and 

 in their strange sports and rivalries entertainment unsurpassed. 

 But after Natal had been made to blossom as a rose, there still 

 remained a considerable extent of the African coast vailed in 

 almost absolute darkness. All that vast region between Abys- 

 sinia and the equator was still the land of fable. This " terra 

 incognita " was believed to be the ancient Regio Cinnamonifera, 

 to have undergone great revolutions, to be possessed by inde- 

 pendent tribes of Gallas and Soumalis, and to teem with aroma- 

 tics, spices, myrrh, aloes, ivory, ostrich feathers, indigo, cotton, 

 and other valuable articles of commerce, yet it was still unex- 

 plored. 



About the time that David Livingstone was taking his first 

 lessons in African life, Lieutenant Christopher, in command 

 of the Honorable East India Company's war-brig " Tigris," 

 touched at several points on this coast, and made a few short 

 journeys into the country. 



But the grandest realms of wonder here were just beginning to 

 absorb modern attention. The inquiry of the ancients was being 

 taken up with new enthusiasm. The theories of Pacy and the 

 Abyssinians and of Bruce had been set aside. A search for the 

 true source of the Nile had succeeded that for the outlet of the 

 Niger as the grand problem. And rivalling this more nearly 

 than any other question was the eagerness to know what lay be- 

 neath that vast blank which extended from the Cape Colony to 

 Soudan and from Lower Guinea to Zanguebar. 



