392 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



stone, and at what time he might be expected to return. In the journey 

 from the place at which he disembarked, Mikindany Bay, to the south 

 end of the Lake Nyassa, he occupied seven months ; but for three weeks or 

 more of that time he remained at Mataka. The distance traversed from the 

 coast was only five hundred miles. During these months people often asked 

 in England, ' Why does Livingstone not send us some account of his pro- 

 ceedings ? The Sepoys have returned, but they have brought no despatches.' 

 He was sorry to say that the Sepoys had behaved extremely ill. We had 

 now, in Livingstone's handwriting, the statement that they were the worst of 

 companions, inferior even to the Johanna men. He entrusted to the Sepoys 

 a despatch which they never delivered. The next part of Livingstone's 

 journey, after crossing the Shire, was to the west and northwards, taking a 

 circuitous course, in order to avoid the Mazitu (called the Mavite to the east of 

 Lake Nyassa.) It occupied five months, the date of the despatches being the 

 1st of February, when he was at Bemba. The progress made at this point 

 would enable us to judge of the time he was likely to take in accomplishing 

 the remainder of his journey. We now know that he had arrived at Ujiji, on 

 the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, by about the middle of October last. 

 The distance between Bemba and Ujiji was only 500 miles ; but he was de- 

 lighted to hear that the traveller had been so long on this part of his route, 

 because it implied that he had devoted himself to examining Lake Tangan- 

 yika, which had never yet been explored. 



"When Burton and Speke crossed the Lake in the northern part at Ujiji, 

 they knew nothing of the southern part, except from information furnished by 

 Arabs. If Livingstone found the waters flowing northwards from the neighbour- 

 hood of Bemba, whence he wrote, and into Lake Tanganyika, he would continue 

 his journey to the northern end. There would then be before him another great 

 problem, the solution of which would be the settlement of the geography of the 

 whole interior of Africa. If, according to the theory of Mr. Findlay, which 

 had been read before the Society, the waters of Lake Tanganyika flowed into 

 the Albert Nyanza, the geographical object of Livingstone's expedition would 

 be accomplished. He would be upon the waters of the Nile, and having deter- 

 mined that great physical problem, he would probably turn to the eastward, 

 and reach the coast at Zanzibar. If, on the contrary, it proved, as shown in 

 the original map of Burton and Speke, that a mountain range separated Tan- 

 ganyika from Albert Nyanza, the outflow of the waters of Tanganyika must 

 be sought for on its western side ; for being fresh, these waters must have a 

 free outlet in some direction. In this case, Livingstone might be induced to 

 follow that river wherever he found it. It was known that there was no outflow 

 to the east, because the country on thai side had been explored, and no great 

 stream found. To follow such a western outlet would lead him far across the 

 great unknown western interior of Africa. 



