190 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



much more to the Christian missionary, with its numerous inhabitants, living 

 and dying under a twofold tyranny ! " 



With the following extracts we exhaust Dr. Livingstone's allusions to his 

 memorable journey to Loanda and back, and its results and probable conse- 

 quences. The letter from which these extracts are taken was addressed to 

 Sir Roderick Murchison : — 



"By a note dated Cabango, in August last, I endeavoured to convey an idea 

 of the country between Cassange andthatpoint, and, if the rough tracing enclosed 

 reached its destination, you will have remarked that there was little absolutely 

 new to communicate. The path followed is that usually trodden by native Por- 

 tuguese, who are employed by Angolese merchants to trade with Matiamvo — the 

 ' Muata-ya-nvo ' of some — the paramount chief of the negro tribes called Londa 

 (Lunda) or Balonda. There is another and straighter course situated a little 

 farther north, and I suppose it is there the scarcity of water mentioned by 

 others is experienced. We never found it necessary to carry a supply, and 

 almost always spent the night at villages situated on streams or rivulets. A 

 Portuguese merchant and planter, Senhor Graca, of Monte Allegre, whose 

 acquaintance I had the pleasure of making, was once a visitor to Matiamvo ; 

 and his notes, having been published in the Government Gazette or ' Boletim ' 

 of Loanda, might, I conceive, still be found in Lisbon. A severe and long- 

 continued attack of fever, soon after crossing the Quango, made me so very 

 feeble and deaf, that I was glad to avail myself of the company and friendly 

 aid of three native Portuguese, whose employer, Senhor Neves of Cassange, 

 very politely enjoined them by letter to forward my plans by every means in 

 their power. The virtue of the Chiboque was thereby not much exposed 

 to temptation to take advantage of my weakness — a temptation which 

 often proves rather too powerful for the goodness of more enlightened speci- 

 mens of humanity. The most then I could effect in the circumstances was to 

 put down the rivers with greater precision than any of my predecessors, who 

 have uniformly been unfurnished with instruments. 



" The rate of travelling of such traders may be interesting to those who 

 examine their accounts of journeys to otherwise unknown regions. I found the 

 average between a great number of regular sleeping stations to be 7 geo- 

 graphical miles. The average time required was 3£ hours, and the speed 2 

 geographical miles an hour. The stoppages from all causes amounted to 20 

 days monthly ; so that a month's journey means actually one of 10 days, or 70 

 miles. The carriers are very unwilling to help each other ; hence the sickness 

 of one man often stops the march of the whole party. When we parted with 

 them, our own rate was 10| geographical miles per day. This required an 

 average of five hours' march at the rate of two geographical miles an hour, 

 and we travelled twenty days each month. The negro step was quicker than 

 ours, but we generally overtook them while resting, and arrived in equal times. 



