CHAP. IV. LAKE NYASSA DISCOVERED. 91 



We discovered Lake Nyassa a little before noon of the 

 16th September, 1859. Its southern end is in 14° 25' 

 S. Lat., and 35° 30' E. Long. At this point the valley is 

 about twelve miles wide. There are hills on both sides of 

 the lake, but the haze from burning grass prevented us at 

 the time from seeing far. A long time after our return 

 from Nyassa, we received a letter from Captain E. B. Old- 

 field, E.N., then commanding H.M.S. " Lyra," with the in- 

 formation that Dr. Eoscher, an enterprising German who 

 unfortunately lost his life in his zeal for exploration, had 

 also reached the Lake, but on the 19th November following 

 our discovery ; and on his arrival had been informed by 

 the natives that a party of white men were at the southern 

 extremity. On comparing dates (16th September and 19th 

 November) we were about two months before Dr. Eoscher. 



It is not known where Dr. Eoscher first saw its waters ; 

 as the exact position of Nusseewa on the borders of the 

 Lake, where he lived some time, is unknown. He was 

 three days north-east of Nusseewa, and on the Arab road 

 back to the usual crossing-place of the Eovuma, when he 

 was murdered. The murderers were seized by one of the 

 chiefs, sent to Zanzibar, and executed. He is said to have 

 kept his discoveries to himself, with the intention of pub- 

 lishing in Europe the whole at once, in a splendid book of 

 travels. 



The chief of the village near the confluence of the 

 Lake and Eiver Shire, an old man, called Mosauka, hear- 

 ing that we were sitting under a tree, came and kindly 

 invited us to his village. He took us to a magnificent 

 banyan-tree, of which he seemed proud. The roots had 

 been trained down to the ground into the form of a 

 gigantic arm-chair, without the seat. Four of us slept in 

 the space betwixt its arms. Mosauka brought us a present 

 of a goat and basket of meal " to comfort our hearts." 

 He told us that a large slave party, led by Arabs, were 



