57. David Livingston [Livingstone], Banks of the Zouga, to Rev Arthur Tidman, Mission House, Blomfield Street, London

Account of journey north across the bed of the Zouga; description of area traversed including salt pans, hard flat country covered with Mopane trees, dry and difficult tract of country and the river Mababi; reached the Chobe, the river on which Sebitoane [Sebetwane] lived; reception by Sebitoane, wh...

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Order number: CWM/LMS/Africa/Odds/Livingstone, Box 3
Date(s) of creation: 1 Oct 1851
Level: Item
Format: Archive           

Order number: CWM/LMS/Africa/Odds/Livingstone, Box 3
Summary: Account of journey north across the bed of the Zouga; description of area traversed including salt pans, hard flat country covered with Mopane trees, dry and difficult tract of country and the river Mababi; reached the Chobe, the river on which Sebitoane [Sebetwane] lived; reception by Sebitoane, who offered to replace the cattle which were all affected by the Tsetse fly; illness and death of Sebitouane [Sebetwane, chief of the MaKololo, died of pneumonia on 7 July 1851]; description of Sebitouane; remained two months with Sebitouane's people; description of the land occupied by the Makololo - "hundreds of miles intersected with numerous rivers and branches of rivers coming out of these & returning into them again. These are flanked with large reedy boggy tracts of country", in which "tsetse abound" - all of which present insuperable barriers to waggon travelling; proceeded 100 miles farther on horseback to see the Sesheke or River of the Borotse [the upper Zambesi], which contains a waterfall called Mosiatunya [later named the Victoria Falls by Livingstone]; description of the river at this point; rapids on the river between Sesheke and the chief town of Sebitoane's daughter [Mamochisane, Mma-Motsisane, who resumed power after her father's death]; refers to Sebitouane's contact with slave traders, described as "a party of people called Mambari" and Portuguese traders; suggests that "English manufactures might come up the Zambesi during the months of June, July, & August or September, by the hands of Englishmen & for legitimate purposes, as well as by these slave dealers for their unlawful ends", and the importance of establishing a settlement in the region; only possible to undertake this mission if he can secure "two years devoid of family cares" and proposes sending his wife and children to England; Providence calls him "to the regions beyond"; seeks the support of the directors for his family with the intention of sending them to live with his parents in Scotland; sends a map and describes the manner in which it was put together, "The rivers only which we have seen are likely to be correct. The others were drawn by natives on the ground or on paper, and as they were drawn by many and different individuals, and all gave the same general outline, we hope the sketch may assist future observers"; requests that a copy of the map be sent to Captain Steele and another to the Royal Geographical Society.
Extent: 6pp
Access status: Open
User restrictions: For permission to publish, please contact Archives & Special Collections, SOAS Library in the first instance
Format: Archive