In Addition To These, The
Altitudes, Variations Of The Compass, Latitudes And Longitudes, As
Calculated On The Spot, Appear In The Map By Mr. Arrowsmith, And It
Is Hoped May Not Differ Much From The Results Of The Same Data In
Abler Bands.
The office of "skipper," which, rather than let the
Expedition come to a stand, I undertook, required no great
Ability in
one "not too old to learn:" it saved a salary, and, what was much
more valuable than gold, saved the Expedition from the drawback of
any one thinking that he was indispensable to its further progress.
The office required attention to the vessel both at rest and in
motion. It also involved considerable exposure to the sun; and to my
regret kept me from much anticipated intercourse with the natives,
and the formation of full vocabularies of their dialects.
I may add that all wearisome repetitions are as much as possible
avoided in the narrative; and, our movements and operations having
previously been given in a series of despatches, the attempt is now
made to give as fairly as possible just what would most strike any
person of ordinary intelligence in passing through the country. For
the sake of the freshness which usually attaches to first
impressions, the Journal of Charles Livingstone has been incorporated
in the narrative; and many remarks made by the natives, which ho put
down at the moment of translation, will convey to others the same
ideas as they did to ourselves. Some are no doubt trivial; but it is
by the little acts and words of every-day life that character is
truly and best known. And doubtless many will prefer to draw their
own conclusions from them rather than to be schooled by us.
CHAPTER I.
Arrival at the Zambesi - Rebel Warfare - Wild Animals - Shupanga -
Hippopotamus Hunters - The Makololo - Crocodiles.
The Expedition left England on the 10th of March, 1858, in Her
Majesty's Colonial Steamer "Pearl," commanded by Captain Duncan; and,
after enjoying the generous hospitality of our friends at Cape Town,
with the obliging attentions of Sir George Grey, and receiving on
board Mr. Francis Skead, R.N., as surveyor, we reached the East Coast
in the following May.
Our first object was to explore the Zambesi, its mouths and
tributaries, with a view to their being used as highways for commerce
and Christianity to pass into the vast interior of Africa. When we
came within five or six miles of the land, the yellowish-green tinge
of the sea in soundings was suddenly succeeded by muddy water with
wrack, as of a river in flood. The two colours did not intermingle,
but the line of contact was as sharply defined as when the ocean
meets the land. It was observed that under the wrack - consisting of
reeds, sticks, and leaves. - and even under floating cuttlefish bones
and Portuguese "men-of-war" (Physalia), numbers of small fish screen
themselves from the eyes of birds of prey, and from the rays of the
torrid sun.
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