on good terms with my professional brethren, I am not without hope that some of their means of re-establishing the secretions (and to this, indeed, all their efforts are directed) may be well adapted for this complaint.

I did not think it my duty to go towards Mosioathunya, for though a hilly country, the proximity to Mosilikatze renders it impossible for the Makololo to live there; but I resolved to know the whole Barotse country before coming to the conclusion now reached that the ridge E. of Nariele is the only part of the country that can be fixed on for a mission. I therefore left Sekeletu's party at Nariele, the Barotse capital, and went northwards. The river presents the same appearance of low banks, without trees, till we come to 14° 38' lat. Here again it is forest to the water's edge, and tsetze. I might have turned now; but the river Londa, or Leeba, comes from the capital of a large state of the former name, and the chief being reported friendly to foreigners, if I succeed in reaching the W. coast, and am permitted to return by this river, it will be water-conveyance for perhaps two-thirds of the way. We went, therefore, to the confluence of the Leeba or Londa (not Lonta as we have written it) with the Leeambye: it is in 14° 11's. The Leeba comes from the N. and by W. or N.N.W.; while the Leeambye there abruptly quits its northing and comes from the E.N.E. (The people pointed as its course due E. Are the Maninche or Bashukulompo river and Leeambye not one river, dividing and meeting again down at the Zambese?) The Loeti, with its light-coloured water, flows into the Leeambye in 14° 18'. It comes from Lebale, which is probably a country through which a Portuguese merchant informed me he had passed, and had to cross as many as ten considerable rivers in one day: the Loeti comes from the W.N.W. The current of the Leeambye is rapid; 100 yards in 60 seconds of time, or between 4 and 5 miles an hour. Our elevation must have been considerable; but I had to regret having no means of ascertaining how much it was. The country flooded by the river ends on the W. bank before we reach the Loeti, and there is an elevated table-land, called Mango, on which grows grass, but no trees. The Barotse country, when inundated, presents the appearance of a lake from 20 to 30 miles broad and 100 long.

The Makololo quote the precedent of Santuru, who, when he ruled this country, was visited by Mambari, but refused them permission to buy his people as slaves. This enlightened chief deserves a paragraph, and as he was a mighty hunter, you will glance at it with no unfriendly eye. He was very fond of rearing the young of wild animals in his town, and, besides a number of antelopes, had two tame hippopotami. When I visited his first

capital, the people led me to one end of the mound and showed me some curious instruments of iron, which are just in the state he left them. They are surrounded by trees, all of which he transplanted when young. "On these," said the people, "Santuru was accustomed to present his offerings to the gods" (Barimo-which means departed souls too). The instruments consisted of an upright stem, having numerous branches attached, on the end of each of which was a miniature axe, or hoe, or spear. Detached from these was another, which seemed to me to be the guard of a basket-hilted sword. When I asked if I might take it as a curiosity, "O no, he refuses." "Who refuses?" "Santuru." This seems to show a belief in a future state of existence. After explaining to them the nature of true worship, and praying with them in our simple form, which needs no offering on the part of the worshipper except that of the heart, we planted some fruit-tree seeds, and departed in peace.

I may relate another incident which happened at the confluence of the Leeba and Leeambye. Having taken lunar observations, we were waiting for a meridian altitude for the latitude, before commencing our return. My chief boatman was sitting by, in order to bind up the instruments as soon as I had finished. There was a large halo round the sun, about 20° in diameter. Thinking that the humidity of the atmosphere which this indicates might betoken rain, I asked him if his experience did not lead him to the same view. "O no," said he, "it is the Barimo who have called a peecho (assembly). Don't you see they have placed the Lord (sun) in their centre?"

On returning towards Nariele, I went to the eastern ridge in order to examine that, and to see the stockade of the Portuguese slave-merchant, which was at Katongo. He had come from the furthest inland station of the Portuguese, opposite Benguela. I thought of going westward on my further travels in company with him, but the sight of gangs of poor wretches in chains at the stockade induced me to resolve to proceed alone.

Some of the Mambari visited us subsequently to their flight, of which I spoke before. They speak a dialect very much resembling the Barotse. They have not much difficulty in acquiring the dialects, even though but recently introduced to each other. They plait their hair in threefold cords, and arrange it down by the sides of the head. They offered guns and powder for sale at a cheaper rate than traders can do who come from the Cape Colony; but the Makololo despise Portuguese guns, because different from those in the possession of other Bechuanas-the bullets are made of iron. The slave-merchant seemed anxious to show kindness, influenced probably by my valuable passport and

letter of introduction from the Chevalier Duprat, who holds the office of arbitrator in the British and Portuguese mixed commission in Cape Town. This is the first instance in which the Portuguese have seen the Leeambye in the interior. The course of Pereira must be shifted northwards. He never visited the Barotse so the son and companions of Santuru assert; and the event of the visit of a white man is such a remarkable affair among Africans, it could scarcely be forgotten in a century.

I have not, I am sorry to confess, discovered a healthy locality. The whole of the country of Sebituane is unhealthy. The current of the river is rapid as far as we went, and showed we must have been on an elevated table-land; yet the inundations cause fever to prevail very extensively. I am at a loss what to do, but will not give up the case as hopeless. Shame upon us missionaries if we are to be outdone by slave-traders! I met Arabs from Zanzibar, subjects of the Imaum of Muscat, who had been quite across the continent. They wrote Arabic fluently in my note-book, and boldly avowed that Mahomet was greatest of all the prophets.

At one time, as I mentioned above, I thought of going W. in company with the slave-traders from Katongo, but a variety of considerations induced me to decide on going alone. I think of Loanda, though the distance is greater, as preferable to Benguela, and as soon as the rains commence will try the route on horseback. Trees and rivers are reported, which would render travelling by means of a waggon impossible. The Portuguese are carried in hammocks hung on poles; two slaves carry a man. It does not look well.

I am sorry to say that the boers destroyed my celestial map, and thereby rendered it impossible for me to observe as many occultations as I had intended. I have observed very few; these I now send to Mr. Maclear, in order that he may verify my lunars. If I am not mistaken, we have placed our rivers, &c. about 2° of longitude too far E. Our waggon-stand, instead of being 26° E., is not more than 23° 50′ or 24°. It is probable that an error of my sextant, of which I was not aware, deranged the calculations of the gentleman who kindly undertook to examine them. I send many lunar observations too, and hope it may be convenient for Mr. Maclear to examine them, and let you know whether I am right or wrong in my calculations. The map prepared by Mr. Oswell and myself need not be altered yet. It is admirably well adapted for all we pretended to, viz. a guide to future investigators. In the enclosed sketch you will see I give no more than I saw. I took the bearings of every reach of the river, both in ascending and descending, and allowing for the variation of the compass (210 W.) reduced the sketch according to the latitudes and longitudes obtained by observations; I am not well satisfied

with the reduction. I have not been able to insert the islands, and other remarks which would convey information, as well as the form of the river; but you will see how nearly my sketch from actual observation agrees with our map from native information; and I shall send an unreduced sketch, in order that, if you wish it, a finer pen than mine may reduce it. The watch performs remarkably well, though deranged for some time by an unfortunate knock; I think it will yet do good service. If you know any one at Loanda on the W. coast, send me a thermometer, graduated to show the point of ebullition of water at different heights, but please remember not to lay out much on that which may be lost. I should like to ascertain the watershed of the E. and W. The continent seems to be an elevated table-land, sloping chiefly towards the E.

Sportsmen have still some work before them in the way of discovering all the fauna of Africa. This country abounds in game; and, beyond Barotse, the herds of large animals surpass anything I ever saw. Eilands and buffaloes, their tameness was shocking to me: 81 buffaloes defiled slowly before our fire one evening, and lions were impudent enough to roar at us. On the S. of the

Chobe, where bushmen abound, they are very seldom heard: these brave fellows teach them better manners. My boatman informed me that he had seen an animal, with long wide spreading horns like an ox, called liombikalela-perhaps the modern bison; also another animal, which does not live in the water, but snorts like a hippopotamus, and is like that animal in size-it has a horn, and may be the Asiatic rhinoceros. And we passed some holes of a third animal, which burrows from the river inland, has short horns, and feeds only by night. I did not notice the burrows at the time of passing, but I give you the report as I got it. Sable antelopes abound, and so does the nakong; and there is a pretty little antelope on the Sesheké, called "teeanyane," which seemed new to me. These animals did not lie in my line, so you must be content with this brief notice.

The birds are in great numbers on the river, and the sand-martins never leave it. We saw them in hundreds in mid-winter, and many beautiful new trees were interesting objects of observation; but I had perpetually to regret the absence of our friend Mr. Oswell. I had no one to share the pleasure which new objects impart, and, instead of pleasant conversation in the evenings, I had to endure the everlasting ranting of Makololo.

Believe me yours,

most affectionately,

DAVID LIVINGSTON.

Particulars of the Observations by which the several Longitudes are determined.

Extracts from a Letter addressed by Thomas Maclear, Esq., to
Sir John Herschel.

Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope,
April 19th, 1854.

MY DEAR SIR JOHN,-By this day's mail for England I send to Lieut.-Colonel Steele the observations and the results from them made by Dr. Livingston for the geographical points along his route in 1853. By the last mail I forwarded to the same gentleman a despatch from Livingston, intended for the Royal Geographical Society.

Having reduced the observations, I can vouch for their correctness; they include four occultations.

The remarkable geographical fact is the existence of a very large river, which he navigated in canoes in the company of a horde of natives, from about lat. 18° 20' to lat. 14° 11'.

I give you the latitudes and longitudes of the points where he observed for both, and the latitudes of all the points where he observed. A tracing of the river will also be ready in time for the post. One, on a large scale, has been sent to Colonel Steele, drawn by Livingston, but it will require a little correction as derived from my calculations.

Another remarkable fact is the detection of a Portuguese slave merchant's stockade. It was said that slave merchants in that quarter, and so far south, is new-in other words, the game is wearing out in the northern direction.

Where there is plenty of rank vegetation, heat, and moisture, you may conjecture that there is likely to be plenty of fever, and such is the case. Livingston has had the fever no less than eight times. At a spot a little south of the Chobe river the whole of his party was laid prostrate at one time; this spot he names the Fever Ponds.

At the date of his writing to me (Sept. 29, 1853) he was preparing for a push towards Loanda, on the west coast, thence to return to his late track through Londa, the capital of a powerful state down the Leeba. If spared to accomplish this, he will rip up and expose to the public an interesting section of this terra incognita.

In order to accomplish his task without personal anxiety, he sent his wife and family home to England last year. Such a man deserves every encouragement in the power of his country to grant. He has done that which few other travellers in Africa can boast of; he has fixed his geographical points with very great accuracy; and still he is only a poor missionary.

Yours, my dear Sir John, faithfully,

T. M.