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expressed his final determination." (Pp. 120, 121.) To Cape-Town, a distance of one thousand miles, the Chief actually went; but there his resources failed him, and he was compelled to return to his own country.

This is a sad story; but it is one that ought to be known, for it furnishes an illustration of the manner in which the native tribes of South Africa have been treated by many of the Boers for a long time past. There is much reason to believe that the Kaffirs would never have been so inimical as they have been to the English colonists, had they not been previously oppressed and wronged by the Boers. That treaties will not bind these men, and that they are unworthy to be trusted with independence, is fully proved in the pages before us: and, if slavery and the slavetrade are not to flourish in the interior of South Africa, the British Government must in some way interfere.

But we must now accompany the traveller in his exploration to the north. It had been long known by the natives that there was, in that direction, a large lake of fresh water. But, though its position had been pointed out, no European had ever reached it; the Kalahari desert having proved to many, who made the attempt, an impassable barrier. Of this desert Dr. Livingstone gives a very striking description. It occupies a large space north of the Orange River from South lat. 29° to 21°, and from 24° East long. to near the west coast. Though it contains no running water, and very little water in wells, yet it is by no means destitute of vegetation, or of inhabitants: for, "it is covered with grass, and a great variety of creeping plants; besides which there are large patches of bushes, and even trees." Some of its products are of a very remarkable kind; but the most surprising plant is the water-melon, (Cucumis caffer,) called by the natives" Kengwe, or Kēme." This one plant bears two kinds of melons; one bitter, which is very deleterious; the other sweet, and quite wholesome. It affords food to the elephant, the rhinoceros, the antelope, and many other animals; in a word, it is "a common blessing" both to man and beast. The human inhabitants of this desert are the Bushmen, who live in it from choice, and the Bakalahari, a tribe of Bechuanas, who were driven into it by war.

To cross this desert, the explorer knew, would be impracticable; and he therefore resolved to skirt it on the east. On the 1st of June, 1849, he set out from Kolobeng, accompanied by two friends, Messrs. Oswell and Murray, and a considerable number of native attendants. The progress of the travellers was slow, and the difficulties they encountered, especially from the want of water, were numerous. On the 4th of July they reached the Zouga, a river running to the N.E. "The people were friendly," says Dr. Livingstone," and informed us that this water came out of the 'Ngami" (the lake of which the travellers were in search). "This news gladdened our hearts; for we now felt certain of reaching our goal. We might, they said, be a moon on the way; but we had the river Zouga at our feet, and by following it we should at last reach the broad water." (P. 63.) They ascended this river, and found its banks "beautifully wooded" for many

miles. The natives ply the stream in rude canoes hollowed out of the trunks of trees, regarding these vessels as the Arab does his camel, and preferring to sleep in them while on a journey, to spending the night on shore. Meeting with a large tributary which flowed into the Zouga, the traveller asked the natives whence it came. "O, from a country full of rivers so many, no one can tell the number-and full of large trees," was the reply he drew forth. "This was the first confirmation of statements I had heard from the Bakwains," observes he, "that the country beyond was not the large sandy plateau' of the philosophers. The prospect of a highway capable of being traversed by boats to an entirely unexplored and very populous region, grew from that time forward stronger and stronger in my mind; so much so, that, when we actually came to the lake, this idea occupied such a large portion of my mental vision, that the actual discovery seemed of but little importance. I find I wrote, when the emotions caused by the magnificent prospects of the new country were first awakened in my breast, that they might subject me to the charge of enthusiasm, & charge which I wished I deserved, as nothing good or great had ever been accomplished in the world without it.'"* (P. 65.)

Thus it ever is with noble minds. No sooner have they made one grand discovery, or accomplished one grand project, than they direct their eager, re-animated eyes to another. They look at the point they have reached, not as the ultimatum of their wishes, but merely as another step in advance; and such, in accordance with the unquenchable hope which had been indulged, the discovery of the lake proved in regard to future researches in Southern Africa. It was, as we shall see, a grand discovery; and had Dr. Livingstone advanced no further, he would have been entitled to the highest praise. But this was merely the key that unlocked still greater treasures, and laid open to the civilized world a vast and hitherto unknown territory. We have seen a little of South Africa ourselves; and this is one reason, perhaps, why we partake, in some small measure, the enthusiasm of which Dr. Livingstone speaks. No wonder he was an enthusiast; but it will prove a happy thing for Africa,-ay, and we hope, for England too,-that he was one. But we are anticipating the narrative.

The lake was at length reached, and on the 1st of August, 1849, "this fine-looking sheet of water" was beheld by Europeans for the first time. "The direction of the lake seemed to be N.N.E. and S.S.W. by compass. The southern portion is said to bend round to the west, and to receive the Teoughe from the north at its north-west extremity. We could detect no horizon where we stood looking S.S.W.; nor could we form any idea of the extent of the lake except by reports of the inhabitants of the district; and, as they professed to go round it in three days, allowing twenty-five miles a day would make it seventy-five, or less than seventy geographical miles in circumference." (Pp. 65, 66.)

» Letters published by the Royal Geographical Society. Read 1fth of February and 8th of April, 1850.

This magnificent lake is supplied with water by rivers descending from the north, and is subject, of course, to annual inundations, occasioned by the tropical rains. It lies in a depressed part of the country, two thousand feet lower than Kolobeng, and is the most southern portion of the great river-system of the north. Out of it flows the Zouga, a broad and deep river, which is but a continuation of the Tamunak'le which flows into it. The Zouga is upwards of two hundred miles in length, and flows into Kumadau, a small lake about three or four miles broad and twelve long : but, unlike most rivers, it becomes smaller as it proceeds; for the supply of water fails before the entire bed is filled. "The water is not absorbed so much as lost in filling up an empty channel, from which it is to be removed by the air and sun. There is, I am convinced, no such thing in the country as a river running into sand and becoming lost. This phenomenon, so convenient for geographers, haunted my fancy for years; but I have failed in discovering anything except a most insignificant approach to it." (P. 68.)

A large tribe, called the Bayeiye, reside in the vicinity of the lake; and beyond it, another, called the Makololo. Dr. Livingstone's object was to visit the Chief of this latter tribe; but he was prevented, and returned to Kolobeng. His description of the Zouga is full of interest. The trees which adorn the banks are stately indeed. There flourish the enormous baobab, the beautiful palmyra, and a tree called the motsouri, the foliage of which resembles an orange-tree, the form a cypress, and the fruit a plum. Wild indigo abounds, and is called by the boys mohetólo, or the "changer," because the juice of it changes the colour of their ornaments of straw. Two kinds of cotton grow in the country, and the Mashona convert it into cloth, and dye it blue with this plant. With animal life the region literally teems. Elephants are found "in prodigious numbers ;" and the travellers discovered an entirely new species of antelope, called leché or lechwi, of a light brownish-yellow colour, which is never seen a mile from water. The natives state that there are ten kinds of fish in their river; and, "in their songs of praise to the Zouga, say, 'The messenger sent in haste is always forced to spend the night on the way, by the abundance of food you place before him." " Naturalists of almost all classes will revel in the pages of this most captivating story.

In the year 1850, Dr. Livingstone, accompanied by Mrs. Livingstone * and their children, paid a second visit to the lake; but, in consequence of fever, which seized his native servants, he was again arrested in his progress before reaching the Makololo. A third effort was more successful, though an insect called the Tsétse, (Glossina morsitans,) a little larger than the common fly, which infests the country through which he urged his way, was most destructive to his oxen. The bite of this insect is certain death to the ox, horse, and dog; but is perfectly harmless to man, and to wild animals.

* A daughter of the Rev. Robert Moffat.

The Chief of the Makololo, whose name was Sebituane, having heard that white men were in search of him, came more than a hundred miles to welcome them, and gave them a most cordial and friendly reception. He was the greatest warrior ever heard of beyond the Colony, and had run a career of varied fortune, having been sometimes conquered, but more frequently the conqueror. He had no sooner seen the white man than he fell sick of inflammation of the lungs, and died. The Christian stranger visited him but a few moments before his departure, having with him his little boy Robert. "After sitting with him some time," says the Missionary, "and commending him to the mercy of God, I rose to depart; when the dying Chieftain, raising himself up a little from his prone position, called a servant, and said, 'Take Robert to Maunku,' (one of his wives,) and tell her to give him some milk.' These were the last words of Sebituane." (P. 90.)

On the death of Sebituane, the chieftainship devolved on his daughter Ma-mochisane; from whom the travellers obtained permission to visit any part of the country they chose. They availed themselves of the liberty granted, and, having journeyed one hundred and thirty miles to the northeast, discovered, in the very centre of the continent, a large river called the Zambesi, which was up to this time unknown, even to the Portuguese. "We saw it at the end of the dry season, at the time when the river is about at its lowest ; and yet there was a breadth of from three hundred to six hundred yards of deep flowing water. Mr. Oswell said he had never seen such a fine river, even in India. At the period of its annual inundation it rises fully twenty feet in perpendicular height, and floods fifteen or twenty miles of lands adjacent to its banks." (P. 91.)

The importance of this discovery can scarcely be over-estimated; but we must leave for a future paper the consideration of advantages which will probably arise from it. Dr. Livingstone resolved, for several reasons, to give up the Mission at Kolobeng, to send his family to England, and to explore the country alone. He accordingly went to Cape-Town in April, 1852, and there placed his family on board a homeward-bound ship, hoping to follow them in the course of two years. No small sacrifice this: it required no little confidence in the care of God. But the Missionary felt that a great work was before him, and determined, with the truest heroism, to make the sacrifices necessary for its accomplishment. How noble, too, the conduct of the Missionary's wife, in giving up her husband for so hazardous an enterprise, and (for her children's sake) coming home to England, alone, to endure a separation, as it proved, not of two years, but of nearly five!

And now the dauntless man entered upon his great journey, which extended from the southern extremity of the continent to St. Paul de Loanda, the capital of Angola, on the west coast; and thence across South Central Africa, in an oblique direction, to Kilimane, (Quilimane,) in the east. Passing over a considerable part of his narrative, we join our traveller at Linyanti, the principal town of the Makololo, (lat. 18° 17′ 20′′ S.,

long. 23° 50′ 9′′ E.,)—on his arriving at which place, the whole population, to the amount of six or seven thousand, turned out to see the waggons in motion, having never before witnessed so wonderful a phenomenon! From hence, accompanied by Sekeletu, (who had succeeded to the chieftainship in the stead of his sister Ma-mochisane,) and by about one hundred and sixty attendants, he proceeded up the river to Sesheke, (lat. 17° 31′ 38′′ S., long. 25° 13′ E.,) on the banks of the Zambesi, or, as it is also called, the Leeambye, both words signifying "the large river," or the river par excellence. Thence the party proceeded up the Leeambye to the north-west, in thirty-three canoes, each having from six to ten paddlers, who stood upright and kept the stroke with great precision. "The river is indeed a magnificent one, often more than a mile broad, and adorned with many islands of from three to five miles in length. Both islands and banks are covered with forest; and most of the trees on the brink of the water send down roots from their branches like the banian, or Ficus Indica. The islands at a little distance seem great rounded masses of sylvan vegetation reclining on the bosom of the glorious stream." (P. 212.) Never before had the eyes of a European gazed on this gorgeous scenery; and well, therefore, might the emotions of the visiter from afar be of the most gratifying kind. His remarks bring to mind the words of Mungo Park, when he came in sight of the Niger, near Sego: "I saw with infinite pleasure the great object of my mission, the long sought-for, majestic Niger, glittering to the morning sun, as broad as the Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the eastward. I hastened to the brink, and, having drunk of the water, lifted up my fervent thanks in prayer to the great Ruler of all things, for having thus far crowned my endeavours with success." But, in his progress, our traveller had difficulties to encounter of no ordinary kind. Owing to rapids and falls, the river was not always navigable; and then he was compelled to toil along the banks, sometimes on foot, sometimes on ox-back; and having reached the Leeba, another river which flows into the Leeambye, the party returned to Linyanti, having been nine weeks on the tour. During this period, "I had been," says Dr. Livingstone, " in closer contact with Heathenism, than I had ever been before; and though all, including the Chief, were as kind and attentive to me as possible, and there was no want of food, (oxen being slaughtered daily, sometimes ten at a time, more than sufficient for the wants of all,) yet to endure the dancing, roaring, and singing, the jesting, anecdotes, grumbling, quarrelling, and murdering of these children of nature, seemed more like penance than anything I had before met with in the course of my Missionary duties. I took thence a more intense disgust at Heathenism than I had before, and formed a greatly elevated opinion of the latent effects of Missions in the south, among tribes which are reported to have been as savage as the Makololo. The indirect benefits, which to a casual observer lie beneath the surface and are inappreciable, in reference to the probable wide diffusion of Christianity at some future time, are worth all the money and labour that have been expended to produce them." (P. 226.)

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