Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 575, 8 May 1858, Page 3

Extracts.

DR. LiyiStGSTON'S DISCOVERIES.

(From a Review in the * Times.')

Thei-'volume'before us contains the Tesult of no less than 16 years'' residence and travel in the interior of Southern Africa;; although the £reat; feat of 'the author—the ■'■'.traversing the entire continent^ from Loanda on the West, to Quilimane 'on ;the : Eastern coast-r-was reserved for the three last'of them."; Dr. Livingston originally embarked for Africa as early as '1840/. under the auspices of -tKoi .Lon^ou " Missionary Society. A: genuine simplicity of mind, •which peeps out continually in the course of his narrative, has induced him to prefix a few1 pages of ihtroductiori, containing the history of his previous life. Like many jother men of mark, he is almost1 self-educated." He was put into a cotton factory as a "piecer " at.the age of 10; and with\part of his first .week's wages purchased Ruddiman's :i Rudiments of Latin. Although engaged in his work from 6 o'clock in the morning: till 8 at night,;the thirst for knowledge induced him to attend an evening school for two hours more. This seems hot to have been at.: all an/ uncommon case at the factory; and the circumstance is an encouraging one for those who hold that the exigencies of our manufacturing1 system do not preclude a •high degree of mental culture in the artisan. The -fact is that when an occupation is purely mechanical the mind of the labourer may occupy itself with muelv that is1 entively foreign te'the s operation iiv; hand without any detriment to' the latter. 1. Drl1: liivingston used to place his book xtn a'portion of the, spinningjehnyi so rthat he 'could: catch sentence after sentence as he passed;at his.work.

" Thus,"; says, he,,'" I kept up a pretty constant study"undisturbed by the.roar of the machinery, and to this part of my •education I owe 'my present power of completely abstracting the mind from surrounding noises, so as to read and ■write with perfect comfort amid the play of children or near the dancing arid songs of savages. " ; • ■' ..';■ .;■'■• '■ i;-■■;.'■: . •■ ■'

His early ambition1 was to proceed to China as a; medical missionary,- but;'when he hadi qualified for; this office, the>\opium war was i raging, and! some friends induced him to, change both the character arid the sphere of i duty vhe had. proposed to'himself and> theup-; shot was Vthat,'after a^ cow^se of theological | trainingfboth in Grlasgow and^Englandj he pro- j ceeded as (ai clerical imissionary> to J Kuruman,; then thefurthesi inland: station *of the London Society. That energy-which harried' him stib-j sequently < throhgh. ;the hardships and 'perils of' travel: exhibited^ -itself at1 'the•' outset of' 'his; career. The first step "he ■toofci was to to j a solitary^ spot /called <Lepelole> and :.there • cut; himself off from all. European society'for six! months, rgaining-'by'tHis ordeal ■acompleto in-; sight into tlie'' habits, ways of tliinking s and | language of tlie tribe,,which was subsequently; his main' instrument': in-obtaining access' to j regions'tnatwould-otherwisehave1 been barred: to the boldest explbrorii! In 1848 he to Mabotsa! (1at.:25 degrees Mmihutesi!long.! 26 degrees -30 :minutes), a ; site'; which Jhe ; had j ] aelected for a: ioaissionary' station, in a beTauti-j -fill valleys and ''• .there" and in the neighbour-! hioqd for nearly six- years employed hiniself in the porformanco of his* duties *in a large liberal spirit.

"Sending the Gospel to the heathen," says he, "must include much more than is implied in the usual picture of a missionary,—namely, a man going about with a Bible under his arm. The promotion of commerce ought to be specially attended to, as this, more speedily than anything else, demolishes that sense of isolation which heathenism engenders, and make the tribes feel themselves mutually dependent on and-mutually beneficial to each other. . My observations on this subject make me extremely desirous to promote the preparations of the raw; materials of European manufactures in Africa, for by that means we may not only put a stop to the slave trade, but introduce the negro into the body corporate of nations. . . . Success in this, in both- Eastern and Western Africa, would lead in the course of time to a • much larger diffusion of the blessings of civilization than efforts exclusively spiritual arid educational confined to! any one small tribe. These, however, it would, of course, be extremely desirable to carry on at the same time at large central and healthy stations, for neither civilization nor Christianity can be promoted alone. In fact, they are inseparable." This conviction of the reciprocal benefits conferred upon each, other by commercial and religious intercourse seems to have been the principal motive in impelling; our traveller to undertake a. journey which.lea to the discovery of .the Lake.Ngamii a most important link in the chain of, ,■: his;. subsequent achievements. Sechele; a chief of theßakwains, who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the Doctor's station, owed; the reinstation in his chieftainship to one Sebituane, a sort of African -Napoleon, who, after a series of stirring adventures, had, at the time of Dr. Livingstone's arrival in Africa, possessed; himself of a widely extended powei", of which the centre was a town called Linyanti (lat. 18 degrees 17 minutes 20 seconds,-long. 23 degrees 50 minutes 9 seconds.) The great ■wish of his life had been to establish a direct intercourse with the white:men. Sechele, who was extremely attached to Dr. Livingston, and had embraced .Christianity, spoke to' him oh the; subject of Sebituane's power and generosity, and excited in the Doctor a strong desire to make the acquaintance of so remarkable a personage. The influence of Sebituane, if not his actual sway, extended southwards beyond the Lake Ngami, which from, the enormous quantities of elephants that haunt it and theneighr bouring region may be considered the principal source of the ivory supply. But between this attractive object and the country of; Sechele there lay an extensive, desert which had the reputation of being impassable by Europeans, at any rate, except just after the conclusion of the rainy season, in the months of March and April, when pools of rain water might possibly be found here and there. < In spite, however, of the threatened dangers, Dr. Livingston .deter? •mined to; attempt to cross, •<The opposition of the Boers, of whom he makes most bitter com.plaints; had prevented anything more being effected in the way of missionary enterprise among the tribes to the eastward, and he formed the bold resolution of striking out a fresh path in afregioh far distant from theif influence.'" This great'plain,.howcver, which Dr. Livingston attempted to cross, is not so entirely devoid of the means of subsistence as its name, the Kalahari Desert, might lead one to suppose. If the cone-shaped mass of land which forms the promontory of the Cape be supposed divided into three longitudinal strips, each region will present a special peculiarity of climate. The easternmost strip is mountainous and well wooded, its seaboard gorges being clad with gigantic, timber. It is well watered with streams and flowing rivers, the annual, supply of rain is considerable, and the inhabitants (Caffres or Zulus) are a tall, brave, and well developed race. The next strip or zone, which embraces, the centre of the continent, consists mainly of springs and streams, and a-very scanty supply of rain. Without artificial irrigation, no European grain can be raised, and every few years there are severe droughts. One of these Occurred during Dr. Liviugston's residence, and •proved a great obstacle to his success, as it was associated in the minds of all the people with \ his attempts at proselytizing. They believed; that he;: had bound Sechele with some magic: spell, and he continually received deputations of the more influential counsellors entreating that ■ fche; victim might.be allqwed only to make a few: showers; for,unfortunately, this Bakwain chief; had enjoyed; the reputation of being an extremely skilful rainmaker, and the despair of his subjects; at the condition to which they saw: themselves reduced was such that one feels sur- i prised they should have confined themselves to -expostulations : with the supposed cause of the mischief.

"' We like you,''said Sechele's uncle, a very influential:and sensible man, 'as well as if, you: had been born, among us, but we wish you would; give up that everlasting preaching'and praying;; we cannot become familiar with that at all.; You see we never get rain| while those tribes' who never pray as we do'obtain abundance.'; • Only let the chief make rain this once,' groaned! the deputation, 'and we will all—men, women, and: children—come to the school and sing and prayas long as you please.' Sechele himself, how-, ever,, remained stanch to rhis: hew creed. His; only doubts were as to the method of conversion: best adapted for his subjects. 'Do you imagine! these people will ever believe by your merely; talking to them?' he said once to the patient; teacher 5 • I can make. them do nothing except by thrashing thein,\atid if you like I shall call; my head men, and with our litupa (whips of rhinoceros hide) we will soon make them all believe' together.' " . . I ' Tim central strip of .Southern Africa is inhabited by Beehuanas, of which the Bakwains; are one tribe. Dr. Livingston considers them as of the same stock with the;Caffres. but inferior to then! in physical development as well as in carriage, although in both these points they are superior to the inhabitants of the

westernmost of the three divisions—a level region of vast extent, including the Kalahari Desert, upon which scarcely any rain ever falls. It is inhabited by Bushmen and Bakalahari, the former being the remnants of the aboriginal race of South Africa, the latter of a swarm of Bechuanas, who in early times emigrated from the central region. These still retain the love of their ancestors for agriculture and domesticated animals,' even under the unfavourable circumstances of their present location; but the Bushmen are reals nomads, never rearing any domestic animal except the dog, or cultivating the. soil. They follow the wild animals in thenmigrations, as wolves are said in America to accompany the herds of buffaloes,, and prey upon them as they range from place to place. Our author describes them as possessing thin wiry forms, capable of great exertion under severe privations, of low stature, but not (as is commonly believed) absolutely dwarfish. They, as well as the Bakalahari, possess an intense love of liberty; and the scarcity of water in the desert they, inhabit is a more effectual guarantee for it than the most powerful armies or fleets. The manner of-proeuring water is very singular. The is remarkably flat, 'but intersected in£ different parts by the beds of' ancient rivers, cutting through a soil of light coldure'd soft sand, nearly pure silica. Theses-beds contain much alluvial soil, and this being-hard baked by "the burning sun, rain water stands in pools' Here and there for several months. ' Sometimes the Bushmen cover these with sand for the sake of security, and even make a fire over the spot, but this does not prevent the attainment of the precious liquid.

"When they-wish to draw water for use the women come with 20. or 30 of their water vessels in a bag or net on. their backs. These water vessels consist of. ostrich eggshells, with a hole in the end of each such as would admit one's finger. The women tie a bunch of grass to one end of a reed about two feet long, and insert it in a hole dug as deep as the arm will reach; then ram down the wet sand firmly round it. Applying the mouth -to the free end of the reed, they form a vacuum in the grass beneath, in which the water collects, and in a short time rises into the mouth, ;An eggshell is placed on the ground alongside the reed, some inches below the mouth of the, sucker, and a straw guides the water into, the hole of the vessel, as she draws .mouthful after .mouthful from below. The whole stock of water is thus passed through the woman's mouth as a pump, and when taken home is carefullyburied. I have come into villages where, had we acted a domineering,part and rummaged every hut, we should have found nothing, but by sitting down iquietly and waiting withipatience until the villagers were led to form a favourable opinion of us, a woman would bring out a-sheilful of the precious fluid from I know not where." . ...>•■■.! ';%' '■■,'

: . Addison was certainly right in making his African hunter ".bless his. stars' tffd "think it luxury"; when he chanced to? light.:;on "an untasted S p r ] n^/^_^gy^_Ji^^uJ ji^ TO^4^i^. j.«.,«7»c», is oy no means the worse modification of the element which the traveller in Africa is compelled to accept with thankfulness. At one place (Nchokotsa),—

"The water was bitter, and presented indications not to be mistaken of having passed through animal systems before." . At another (Koobe), —

"There was such a mass of mud in the pond, worked up by the wallowing rhinoceros to the consistency of mortar, that only by great labour could we get a space cleared at one side for the water to ooze through and collect in for the oxen. Should the rhinoceros come backj a single roll in the great mass we had thrown on one side would have rendered all our labour vain. It was therefore necessary for us to guard the spot by night. On these great flats all around we saw in the white sultry glare herds of zebras, gnus, and occasionally buffaloes, standing for days looking wistfully towards the wells for a share of the nasty water."

But for its own children the Kalahari Desert is not without resources. There aye large quantities of grass rising in tufts, with bare spaces between, which serves for food to some species of antelopes that can subsist for months without drinking. In the stomachs of elands, when killed, there is sometimes found a considerable quantity of water, although it was impossible that the animals while liviag could have had access to any. Other creatures such as the steinbock, the gemsbock, and thi porcupine, are enabled to subsist by digging lip bulbs and tubers containing moisture. One of these, named Leroshua, is a real blessing to man as well as beast. It appears above the ground in the form of a small plant with a stalk not thicker than a crow-quill, but on digging dowi a foot or 18 inches a tuber is found of the size of a child's head, containing a mass of cellular tissue filled with fluid like a young turnip. Another kind called Mohuri, a herbaceous creeper, deposits underground a number of tubers as lai^e as a man's head, at spots in a circle of a yard radius- around the stem. The natives strike the ground on the circumference with stones, and, when the difference of sound indicates thY existence of the waterbearing tuber beneath! they dig down and find it about a foot beneajh. the surface. Yet more remarkable is the Water melon,'which, when a little more rain| than usual falls, covers vast tracts of the country. In; 1852 an English traveller took advantage of , their abundance to go straight across the desert ; from a point a little south of Kolobeng, lit. 24 deg., long. 26 deg. to Lake Ngami, His Wen; subsisted on the water melon for no less than 21 successive da}'s without drinking, an 4on reaching water at the^expiration of that juime appeared indifferent to it. I It was on the Ist of August, 1849, that take' Ngami lay expanded before the eyes of JDr. Livingston ancl his companions, the first Ejiro- \

peans that had ever visited it. They had left \ j Kolobeng on the Ist of June, but only about half of the interval had been consumed in crossing the desert. Early in July they came upon the Zouga, a fine river running out of the lake, and on which, after following its banks for nearly a hundred miles, they embarked in canoes navigated by the friendly inhabitants of the country. Nothing could be more erroneous than the opinions which have been entertained of this part of Africa except, perhaps, those relative to the tract north of the equator, which have been refuted by the almost contemporaneous discoveries of Dr. Barth. Instead of being the centre of a sterile plain, lake Ngami is the lowest point of an immense tract of coun- ( trysail excellently watered and thickly wooded. [It is in fact the reservoir of a number of rivers which drain a surface extending from 12 deg. to 21 deg. of latitude, and 18 deg. to 23 deg. of longitude. Estimating the elevations above the level of the sea by the temperature at which water boiled, Dr. Livingston calculated that he had descended 2000 feet after leaving Kolobeng before he reached the lake. Sebituane was unfortunately about 200 miles to the north of Ngami when the travellers arrived on its banks, and the jealousy of a native chief succeeded in opposing an effectual obstacle to any further progress. The next year Livingston renewed the attempt, but on reaching the lake his children fell--sick of fever, and he was obliged to return to "the pure air of the desert" on their, account. A third trial was at last successful. Instead of going westward to the lake, a northern route through the desert was taken under the guidance of" a Bushman. The risk or this proceeding may be imagined from the circumstance that between certain springs and the country of Sebituane the guide gave no hopes of water in less than a month. Happily he was mistaken m this particular, being in fact altogether disqualified for the task he had undertaken, for on the second day he lost himself. " On the fourth day he vanished altogether, and the party were left to their own resources. The supply of water in the waggons had been wasted by one of the servants, and there was none to satisfy the pressing demands of the missionary's children.. At last they saw some birds, and afterwards the trail of a rhinoceros, an infallible evidence of the existence of water. The oxen were unyoked, and at once rushed off to the westward towards a river which was found in that direction.. It was not until the afternoon of the next day that some of the people returned with 'watery and in the meantime there was every prospect of the poor children perishing before their parents' eyes. Indeed, although rescued from the horrible fate which seemed impending, the travellers were not to : escape scatheless. The oxen, in their rush towards the river, had passed through a small patctroftre.es haunted by a kind of fly called tsetse, the bite of which, although producing no move pain to man than the sting of _s^.i2)Qsai3ifoJbi_nQaiJjp-..ceriain_fleaf;h t6..boTS«—ov_ or dog. The animal is not startled by the bite, but in a few days the eye and nose begin to run, the coat to. stare, a swelling appears under the jaw, and sometimes at the navel; emaciation commences, and at last purging comes on, ■ and the creature dies in a state of extreme exhaustion. Sometimes the disease is months in running its course; at others,, especially when the animal is in good condition, daggering and blindness come on soon after the infliction of the bite, as if the brain were affected. The strangest part of the whole is that the poison affects neither the mule, the ass, nor the goat, nor yet calves while sucking. The wild animals, too, appear to possess an immunity from ill effects, at least zebras, buffaloes, and antelopes are seen feeding quietly in the midst of tsetse, although here it is possible that death may follow after a t time, either naturally or by the agency of some of the Carnivora, to which herbivorous animals generally fall victims as soon as their activity diminishes. The apparent inadequacy of so insignificant a cause as the bite of a smally fly to produce such terrible effects, and of such an anomalous character, made some of the party imagine that the mischief must be caused by some poisonous plant. But one of them settled that point by riding a horse up to a small hill infested by the insect, and remaining only long enough to take a view of the country and catch some specimens of tsitse on the animal, which was not suffered to graze. In ten days the horse was dead. The adventure we have just related cost Dr. Livingston 43 of hi 3 own oxen. Fortunately, they lasted out till he reached Sebituane, who received him with a warm welcome, but added, " Your cattle are all bitten by the tsStse and will certainly die; but never mind, I have oxen and will give you as many as you need." Yet the animals hed been carefully watched, and while under the superintendence of the travellers scarcely a score of flies had ever settled on them."

The chief whom our traveller had with such difficulty reached was not destined long to enjoy that intercourse with white men which had been the wish of his heart. He fell ill of inflammaticu iv the lungs originating in a former wound, and died—" the best specimen of a native chief," says Dr. Livingston, ''that I ever saw." At his death the chieftainship dovolved, according to his desire, on a daughter who was absent 12 days' journey to the north. Altogether'there was a sad fatality about the expedition. The Makololo (Sebituane's subjects) had only the year before commenced the slave trade., Except for the obstacles thrown in his way by Lecheelate*be, the chief on the banks of the Lake Ngaini, to which we have adverted, Div Livingston would have arrived in time to prevent such a misfortune. The seducers were the Maxnbari, a tribe near Bihe (latitude 12 degrees 30 minutes, long* 17 degrees), who had been accustomed to trade with the Barotse, a

negro race whose country the Makolold arid their chief had conquered. From the time of the conquest the sale of children was forbidden^ but unfortunately, in 1850, the Mambslvi, after" a long interval, returned with a number of old Portuguese guns. Sebitiiane had only recently come out victor from a contest for actual exist* ence with a Caffre tribe beyond the river Zambesi, and thought these guna wotiM be excellent in any future invasion of his enemies* He offered cattle or ivory, but the traders would take nothing but boys of l<fc years of age. The temptation was great, and 8 old muskets were secured in exchange for as many Barotse youths. The Mambari now ventured on a further step. They proposed a ferity against some tribes to the eastward, on the Conditions that while the Makololo were to keep1 all the cattle, they should have the human! captives as a recompense for the loan of their" guns. Two hundred slaves were the produce' of this wicked affair, and, worse still, the Makololo, in the course of the expedition fell in with some Arabs from Zanzibar, who gave them three English muskets in return for about 30 of their captives. Thus a tribe, hitherto uncontaminated by the horrible traffic in human flesh, was brought into communication with slave markets both on the Eastern and Western coasts of Africa. The ice was broken, and the following year ftr, Livingston found many of the Makololo gentry clothed m baise of different colours and cotton prints, all purchased by the sale of their own sei'fs. To stop the evil only one course was now feasible,and that was by opening up a highway from' the coast into the centre of the country, to supply those very goods which had been obtained by slave dealing, in direct exchange for ivory and other products of the country. To this object Dr. Livingston proposed to devote himself. Mamochisane, the daughter of the deceased eh!e c, inherited her father's partiality for the white men. The last' words he spoke had been an expi-ession of kindness to one of the doctor's children, and now hissuccessor sent the travellers permission to visit any part of her dominions they pleased. Avail--ing themselves of this, the doctor and his companion, Mr. Oswell, were rewarded in the end of June 1851, with the view of a magnificent river, with a deep channel, from 300 to 600 yards broad, although seen at its lowest. This was the Zambesi, which falls into the sea at about lat. 19 deg. on the eastern side of Africa, and which the Portuguese charts had represented as rising considerably to the east of the1 point (lat. 17 deg. 31 mm. 38 sec, long. 25 deg. 13min. E.), where it showed itself rolling a body of , water of such magnitude. Here, it was> obvious, the most favourable conditions presented themselves for the solution of the greatsocial problem. Here was a highway, ample' enough for any amount of commerce. ; Was it also continuous ? To all- appearance it promised a direct communication with the Indian Ocean ..jon_i;b.e^tf»o.^-fln^ on.iJio..Jwesdj^tlie.menjijs.of.jy.ater carriage to some point not far distant from the valley of the Coanza. The paramount chief oir its banks was favourable to the opening of thetrade for which it offered facilities. Everything seemed to recommend the resolution at which our traveller arrived, to return to the Cape, send his family to England, and, freed from the impedimenta which wife and-children involve, even when, as in the case of a missionary's family, they are "to the manner born," to explore alone the new region that offered itself, How he sped in this, the most perilous as the most important of all his undertakings, we purpose to describe in a future notice.