Bright days then are in store for Africa. The race of Ham shall not always be accursed. God will yet more enlarge Japhet, who shall dwell in the tents of Shem; but Canaan shall not for ever be his servant. All mankind are brothersone in blood-one in interests-one in hopes and fears for the world to come. Let them then act as brothers, and as the offspring of one common father who pitieth his children, and who will never leave nor forsake the work of his own hands. That time shall come when the earth shall be filled with a knowledge of God's unapproachable glory; but for it the Church must wait, hope against hope, and fight. And then, having come out of great tribulation, and washed her robes white in the blood of the Lamb, she shall, through the instrumentality of her missionaries, gather her children out of every clime and kindred under heaven to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Christ and of God. "Waft, waft, ye winds, His story, And you, ye waters roll; Till, like a sea of glory, It spread from pole to pole; EXTRACTS FROM DR LIVINGSTONE'S LETTERS. These Extracts are numbered and arranged according to the dates of the Letters to which they belong. No. 1. Addressed to Mr JOHN LAIRD, Birkenhead, builder of the Launch. MY DEAR SIR, Ma Robert, Zambesi, 21st June, 1858. As you will no doubt feel anxious to hear how we got on with the launch, I am happy to be able to inform you that we entered what has been called West Luabo (properly Luave) on the 15th of May, and finding a fine safe harbour, we proceeded at once to take out the three compartments of the Ma Robert from the Pearl. The first day was sufficient for getting her into the water, and putting her together, by the admirable and simple contrivance your son invented. We had only to stand on a compartment in sufficient numbers to sink it down, and drawing it to the middle section, the bolts slipped in with the greatest ease; and on the evening of the third day she was ready to act as pilot to the larger vessel, and has been doing admirable service ever since. She goes puffing away on this great Zambesi now, to the infinite disgust of the hippopotami, whole herds of which rush off pell-mell as soon as we approach them, and the crustiest old bachelor among them dares not to do her battle. It would be an immense boon if Government would send out such vessels to run up creeks and rivers, and chase slavers, instead of taking it out of the poor sailor's muscles at the oar, but you would require to make them broader than this, and not quite so long; the length might be borne with if they were four or five feet broader, and no objection would be taken to this, as the men of war would carry them with care between masts. Allow me also to suggest as an improvement, two plates near the bottom of each compartment, with plugs which, when the compartments were once put together, might be taken out and bolts inserted. I mention this because our after compartment shows some symptoms of the bottom bolts, or dowels, becoming loose. I venture also to suggest the greater width, as we can't carry luggage at present, and four feet additional width, with, perhaps, a little more power, would make her perfect. She has done exceedingly well, and tows a large launch far better than we expected. Now, as I am done with criticism, which you may think sufficiently presumptuous, I beg to be most kindly remembered to Mrs Laird and all your family. John Laird, Esq. (Signed) No. 2. DAVID LIVINGSTONE. Addressed to His Excellency Sir GEORGE GREY, Governor of the Cape. May, 1858. I SHALL commence without preface, in the middle of things, by saying that I have just come down from Teté to the mouth of the river (Kongone), and will start in a day or two for the same point. The gentlemen there (at Teté), through the influence of Major Sicard, at once acceded to my proposition to get me some coals, and in three or four days we were furnished with a ton and a half, the very first ever dug in this country. The engineer pronounces them to be of a very good kind, though being from the surface, where, in the bank of the Muatize, they have been exposed to the action of air and floods for ages. Mr Thornton, the geologist, thinks equally well of them. They contain very little sulphur. I could not ascend the river (Revulene) into which the Muatize flows, to load at the seam itself, as there was only a few inches of water at a bar across its confluence with the Zambesi, but large canoes brought them down. At other times of the year we could have sailed up in this launch, which draws 2ft. 6 in., with the greatest ease. There is no end of the finest (specular) iron ore; so with coal (of which many seams or parts of an immense seam crop out) and iron, surely something will yet be done in Africa. This was the first thing of the steamer kind ever seen at Teté, and we were visited with as much interest as is the Leviathan. Foremost among our visitors were my Makololo companions. They grasped my hands and arms convulsively, and lullilooed for joy. About thirty of them have died from small pox, and six were killed by a rebel chief, who, in defiance of Portuguese authority, holds a stockade at the confluence of the Luenya. This grieves them and me more than anything. The excuse is he did it in a fit of drunkenness. There were three such rebels, half-caste Portuguese of Goa, who defied the Portuguese. One who had a stockade at the mouth of the Shire, has just now been conquered by the governor of Killimane. The war has been against us, though we have gone from one side to the other, without molestation, as friends of both, or rather as English, for it is the English name that was our passport. I came one night to a party after dark, and created an alarm, but that was quelled when I called out "Mglze.”—The river is now nearly at its lowest ; and, unlike the muddy rivers of the west, it may be styled one of sand-there is very little mud, comparatively. Below Lupata, it is spread out from one mile to three in width, with many islands. In the wide parts I experienced considerable difficulty, and especially in one part called Shigogo; but when we approached Lupata, where all the river is in one body, our difficulties end. At Kebrabasa we shall have another obstacle to surmount. It is described as a number of rocks jutting out of the stream, and narrowing the channel, which is deep and tortuous. There is no water-fall, but we shall go and examine it carefully as soon as we get up; and this being low water, we shall be able to give a clear idea of the whole. If we could travel as geographers do, with the legs of a pair of compasses, we might have been there long ago. At present, we are taking up our luggage from stage to stage, and having been deceived by a false report on the engine of this vessel, it is rather slow work. It consumes an enormous quantity of fuel, and half our time, when we have no coals, is spent in wood-cutting. This, however, led to our discovering that lignum vitæ abounds, and there is also ebony, and teak, or African oak; but we cannot yet say how much. The canoes pass us and look back at the "Asthmatic," as I call her now. The vessel herself is all very well, though drawing much more than was predicted; but the engine turns out a wretched piece of gingerbread when worked on wood alone. From the information I formerly received from the Portuguese, I believed that the river could be navigated during only six or nine months in the year, but it is now not far from its lowest, and I begin to think that a vessel drawing only two feet might run the whole year; but this we shall be able to decide next month. It begins to rise again in that following. The Portuguese ought to do something in the lighthouse way, and if they would only be at the expense of a few piles at three places, all obstructions from shallowness of water would vanish. Taking the river as a whole, there is no lack of water,-witness |