LETTER FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE. 355 



Early in November, the following letter was received, from Dr. Living- 

 stone. It was dated from Ngomano, 18th May, 1866, and was the first 

 communication of any importance received from him since he had passed into 

 the interior : — 



" When we could not discover a path for camels through the Mangrove 

 swamps of the mouth of the Rovuma, we proceeded about twenty-five miles 

 to the north of that river, and at the bottom of Mikindany bay entered a 

 beautiful land-locked harbour, called Kinday or Pemba. The entrance seems 

 not more than three hundred yards wide ; the reef on each side of the 

 channel showing so plainly of a light colour that no ships ought to touch. 

 The harbour is somewhat the shape of the spade on cards, the entrance being 

 like the short handle. There is nearly a mile of space for anchorage, the 

 southern part being from ten to fourteen fathoms, while the north-west portion 

 is shallow and rocky. It is a first-rate harbour for Arab dhows, the land rising 

 nearly all round from two to three hundred feet. The water is so. calm, Arabs 

 can draw their craft to the shore to discharge and take in cargo. They are 

 also completely screened by the masses of trees growing all round it from sea- 

 ward observation. 



" The population consists of coast Arabs and their slaves. The six 

 villages in which they live are dotted round the shore, and may contain three 

 hundred souls in all. They seemed to be suspicious, and but for our having 

 been accompanied by H.M.S. Penguin, would have given trouble. The 

 ordinary precaution of placing a sentry over our goods caused a panic, and 

 the Sirkar or head man thought that he gave a crushing reply to my explana- 

 tions when he blubbered out, ' But we have no thieves here.' 



" Our route hence was S.S.N, to the Rovuma, which we struck at the 

 spot marked on the chart as that at which the Pioneer turned in 1861. We 

 travelled over the same plateau that is seen to flank both sides of the Rovuma 

 like a chain of hills from four to six hundred feet high. Except where the 

 natives who are called Makonde have cleared spaces for cultivatiou, the whole 

 country within the influence of the moisture from the ocean is covered with 

 dense jungle. The trees in general are not large, but they grow so closely 

 together as generally to exclude the sun. In many places they may be said 

 to be woven together by tangled masses of climbing-plants, more resembling 

 the ropes and cables of a ship in inextricable confusion than the graceful 

 creepers with which we are familiar in northern climates. 



" Trade paths have already been made, but we had both to heighten and 

 widen them for camels and buffaloes. The people at the sea-coast had 

 declared that no aid could be got from the natives. When we were seven 

 miles off, we were agreeably surprised to find that for reasonable wages we 

 could employ any number of carriers and wood-cutters we desired. As they 

 were accustomed to clear away the gigantic climbers for their garden ground, 



