252 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONS, LL.D. 



stone has said, with his usual modesty, that he has not done much, that any 

 of us might have done as much. I beg to differ from him. As to my own 

 small excursion on the Limpopo, after what I have heard to-day, I feel so 

 ashamed of myself, that I fancy I have only just returned from Blackheath. 



Colonel Steele, F.R.GLS. : My travels in South Africa were much like 

 Captain Vardon's. Dr. Livingstone was my earliest companion in Africa, but 

 we travelled such a short distance in company, that I am afraid anj^ remarks 

 I could offer, beyond again returning my best thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Living- 

 stone for their hospitality, would be of no importance to the society. 



The President : Colonel Steele's modesty has prevented him from stating 

 that without the instruments with which he had provided Dr. Livingstone, he 

 could not have made the excellent observations which have been obtained. 



Mr. Gordon Cumming begged to confirm what Captain Vardon had said 

 with respect to the kindness with which Dr. Livingstone received all parties 

 who visited him. He was not aware that Dr. Livingstone had alluded to the 

 insect (the tsetse) whose bite is fatal to cattle. One year, while hunting in 

 the mountains, he, Mr. Cumming, lost all his horses and oxen from the bites 

 of this fly, and if it had not been for the kindness of Dr. Livingstone in at 

 once sending him his own cattle, he would scarcely have been able to have 

 extricated himself from his dilemma and returned to Europe. 



Mr. J. Crawfurd, F.R.G.S. : Perhaps Dr. Livingstone will have the 

 goodness to give us some notion of the state of society among these people, 

 especially among the tribes that inhabit the plateau valley. That ought to be 

 a place in which there is a considerable civilisation with a decent form of 

 government. They seem to have many advantages, an excellent climate, 

 excellent soil, and an excellent supply of water. What is the state of the arts 

 among those people ? Do they understand the art of making malleable iron 

 or steel ? Do they know the use of any other metal, or the use of alloys, as 

 those of copper ? Can they weave, or make bread ? What plants do they 

 cultivate ? And what are they likely to produce in exchange for our mer- 

 chandise ? I strongly suspect, from what Dr. Livingstone has said respecting 

 the women, that the great portion of the labour, even of the field, is left to 

 them, and is not performed by the men, otherwise how could the women be 

 able to feed the men ? They must work in order to procure that with which 

 the men are fed. I expect the men are idle and the women laborious. Some 

 men would appear to have as many as five wives. How come they to 

 monopolise so many ? 



Dr. Livingstone said : The new articles of commerce that I observed are 

 chiefly fibrous substances, some of them excessively strong, and like flax. 

 They abound in great quantities on the north bank of the Zambesi. There 

 are also great quantities of a tree, the bark of the root of which is used by 

 the Portuguese and natives as the Cinchona. It has been employed in fever 



